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Dec 15, 2017

Strange call from Babblers



Photo: Chris Tzaroz / Birdlife Australia
GRAY-CROWNED BABBLER
(Pomatostomus temporalis)
The noisy, chattering call of the Gray-crowned Babbler readily announces its presence, but the most well-known call is a distinct 'yahoo', given as a duet by pairs of birds.  Females give a harsh 'ya' and males reply with a high-pitched 'hoo', but given the perfect timing it sounds as though the combined call has been given by a solitary bird.  Tricky devils.

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BarrytheBirder

Dec 13, 2017

Birds & Birders ~ Pax Vobiscum


                                                                                                                    Photo by BarrytheBirder
Purple Finch
(Carpodacus purpureus)

Christmas waves a magic wand
Over the world, and behold, 
Everything is softer 
And more beautiful.
                                                                - Norman Vincent Peale

BEST WISHES TO ALL

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BarrytheBirder

Dec 7, 2017

Loves to startle birders who get too close...


Photo by Robert Shantz / Alamy
MONTEZUMA QUAIL
(Crytonyx montezumae)
The Montezuma Quail is native to the south-west US and the northern mountains of Mexico.   It is also known as the Mearn's Quail, Harlequin Quail and the Fool Quail.   The Fool Quail name is because of its behaviour, which includes crouching motionless until being practically stepped upon before exploding straight up into noisily whirring flight.
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BarytheBirder

Dec 6, 2017

Halcyon smyrnensis

Photo: Alaa Badarneh / EPA
White-throated Kingfisher
The White-throated Kingfisher is one of over 80 species of Kingfishers in the world.   This particular species is native to southern Asia and Phillipines.   In the photo above, a White-Throated Kingfisher is seen eating a snake, near the West Bank city of Nablus, in occupied Palestine.
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BarrytheBirder 

Dec 5, 2017

Neonicotinoids make birds lose their way


 Photos by BarrytheBirder                     


An experimental research study is the first to directly show harm to songbirds, extending the known impacts of neonicotinoids beyond insects.   This has been reported by Damian Carrington, Environment Editor of The Guardian.   The world's most widely used insecticide may cause migrating songbirds to lose their sense of direction and suffer drastic weight loss, according to new research.   The work is significant because it is the first direct evidence that neonicotinoids can harm songbirds and their migration.   Farmland birds have declined drastically in North America in recent decades and pesticides have long been suspected of playing a role.   The first evidence came in 2014 when a study in Holland found bird populations fell most sharply in areas where neonicotinoid pollution was highest.   Three neonicotinoids were banned from use on flowering crops in the European Union in 2013 due to unacceptable risks to bees and other pollinators and a total outdoor ban is being considered.   Now Canada is considering a similar ban.   The research analysed the effect of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid on White-crowned Sparrows, as pictured here, that migrate from the southern US and Mexico to northern Canada in summer.   Birds were given doses equivalent to less than a single corn seed and within hours became weak, developed stomach problems and stopped eating.    They quickly lost 17-25% of their weight and were unable to identify the northward direction of their migration.   Professor Christy Morrissey, at the University of Saskachewan says seed sowing coincides with when birds are migrating north, exposing them to harm.  They (the pesticides) are applied in spring which overlaps exactly the time when they are moving north and are stopping   in agricultural fields to refuel along their way.
        
                                                                                                       

Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder

Dec 4, 2017

Ibis (Ibises - plural)

Photo: Ofer Levi
Australian White Ibis 
( Threskiornis molluca )
Pictured above is an Australian White Ibis, one of 28 Ibis species in the world (plus there are two more extinct).   The Australian White Ibis is one the bird species running for Australian Bird of the Year 2017.

Photo: Goran Bogicevic
Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder

Dec 3, 2017

Well-camouflaged woodpecker

Photo:George Reszeter / Alamy Stock Photo
GREEN IBERIAN WOODPECKER
 (Picus viridis sharpei)

A male Green Iberian Woodpecker (above) bathes in a 
woodland pond, watched by a pair
of Ring-necked 
Pheasants.

Please comment 
if you wish.
BarrytheBirder


    
 Photo: Carlos N. Bocos

Dec 2, 2017

Feisty little bird...

Photo by Wild Birds/Alamy
The American Robin in Canada is a fairly easy-going bird, gives way to many same-sized birds and never gets into squabbles, except with other robins.   But the European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) a.k.a. Robin Redbreast, or just plain Robin, is quite the opposite.   Stephen Moss, in his new book "The Robin: A Biography" says that tiny robins will get into "very violent territorial disputes" and that they will "occasionally fight to the death".   Not surprising, I suppose, Moss goes on to say that "robins rarely live longer than a year or two".   Pity.
Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder

Dec 1, 2017

An apple a day, keeps the doctor away...

Photo: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/AFP
A Common Blackbird (Turdus merula), a.k.a. Eurasian Blackbird, enjoys an apple in Kaufbeuren, south Germany.
Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder