BirdsCanada.Org Appeal for Funds...

 

Art by Shaylena Stenback

I received an appeal for funds from BirdsCanada.Org recently, but the request was from 2024 and had been delayed by the recent postal strike.   I intend to make a contribution nevertheless, but wanted to share the artwork (above) that accompanied the request.   I was quite impressed by this charming coloured illustration of a Least Bittern by Shaylena Stenback.

The Least Bittern is the smallest Heron in the world, at roughly the size of a '...long-necked, long-legged American Robin'.   Interesting...as the Least Bittern is 13" (33cm.) long, while the American Robin is 10" (25 cm.) long.

Nevertheless, Doug Tozer, Director of Waterbirds & Wetlands at BirdsCanada.Org, makes an impassioned plea for funds on behalf of birds.  Doug went on to say that wetland birds like the least Bittern have seen a population increase of 21% on average since 1970, while grassland bird species have declined by 67% since 1970, and some species like the Chesnut-collared Longspur have declined by a disheartening 95%!

A quick way to reach BirdsCanada HQ is by calling 1-888-448-2473.

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BarrytheBirder

New bird for me...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Red-tailed Black Cockatoo

(Calyptorhynchus banksii)

I came across this bird recently as part of a travelling menagerie of exotic creatures that was making a presentation in the retirement community in which I live, in Aurora, Ontario.   This striking-looking creature is native to Australia, where about only 15,000 remain in the wild.

It is 60 centimeters (24") in length and can live up to 50 years, 

but its long-term prospects in the wild are not good.

 

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if you wish.

Barry the Birder

Grackle image...

                                                                  Photo by BarrytheBirder

The only reason I'm showing this photo of a Grackle, which I took some time ago, is because I didn't notice before, just how long its bill was.   All three types of Grackles in North America also have long keel-shaped tails.   This one above, with its long bill and  tail is a neat specimen.   Love that upward glance also.

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BarrytheBirder

Reliable sightings of Snowy Owls north of Newmarket...

 

                                                                Photos by BarrytheBirder

I've always found Snowy Owls, in winter,  at the western end of the Ravenshoe Sideroad, between Queensville and Keswick, north of Newmarket. My friend, Doreen Hiltz, of Holland Landing, wrote last week to say she and her son spotted some last week and got photos of one.   I have several photos of these wonderful creatures in this reliable location that stretches across the most northern reaches of the Holland Marsh, just south of Lake Simcoe's southern end.

My National Geographic Society Field Guide to the Birds of North America states the Snowy Owl is "A large white owl, with rounded head, yellow eyes.  Dark bars and spots are heavier on females, heaviest on young birds; old males may be pure white."

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BarrytheBirder

Wild Turkeys surviving the winter...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

'Meleagris gallopavo' 

I photographed these Wild Turkeys on the Oak Ridges Moraine in King Township.  These birds are the largest gamebirds in North America.   They are a bit smaller and more slender than the domesticated variety.   Males have dark iridescent bodies, red wattles and bare-skinned heads that are blue and pink, plus spurred legs.

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BarrytheBirder

 

January is suet time...

 

Downy Woodpecker downing suet

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BarrytheBirder

The delight and joy of hand-feeding chickadees...

                                                                 Photos by BarrytheBirder

Chickadees teach us that 

it is not the size of our wings, 

but the strength of our spirit that matters.

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BarrytheBirder

Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis

                                                                   Photos by BarrytheBirder

                                

If this 

beautiful 

creature 

can make it 

through 

January,

then 

so can I.

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BarrytheBirder

North Holland Marsh...Ravenshoe Sideroad

                                                                           Photo by BarrytheBirder

Does the Snowy Owl ever wish it was a Snowy Egret?

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BarrytheBirder

Sign of the times...

                                      

                                                           Photo: larrylzrd@gmail.com

                          Forwarded to me by onetime high school classmate, Rod Bell 

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace

Andean Condor - national bird of Columbia

Andean Condor

A few weeks ago, in this space, I listed the top three countries in the world for bird species.   Columbia was the top with 1,917 species.   I meant to say at the time that the national bird of Columbia is the ANDEAN CONDOR.   It is one of the largest flying birds in the world and is generally considered to be the largest raptor in the world.

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BarrytheBirder

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) - Winter Warrior

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Dark-eyed Juncos, in most forms, have a dark gray or brown head and breast, sharply set off from their white bellies.   Their white outer tail feathers are conspicuous in flight.   They were once divided into four species.   Male of the widespread "Slate-coloured" type (shown above in southern Ontario) has a dark gray hood while its upperparts are almost entirely gray or have varying amounts of brown at centre of back.   Females are brownish-gray overall.   In winter, Dark-eyed Juncos are found in a wide variety of habitats.   Their songs are musical trills of one pitch, often heard in winter.

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BarrytheBirder

Asian Rock Sparrow found on Vancouver Island!!!

                                                                           Photo by Dave Kemp

My Vancouver Island birding acquaintance,  nature photographer Dave Kemp has passed along a recent photo which he took of a Rock Sparrow (Petronia petronia) on Vancouver Island.  This bird is normally found in a very long but narrow stretch of Europe and Asia, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.   How on earth this bird got to Vancouver Island is subject to great speculation, but I suppose it is within the possibility that it crossed the Atlantic in a westerly direction to North America , or perhasps it crossed the Pacific in an easterly direction, to North America.   Whatever direction, it must have been an extraordinary crossing.   Great sighting Dave!                     

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BarrytheBirder

Some of my bird carving collection...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Top: Western Grebe 1987 - by Liza Chin

Centre: Shorebird - by F. Smith

Bottom: Loon 1983 - Ron Sadler

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BarrytheBirder

Drunk Waxwings are helped to sober-up...

Photo - Wonderae - Creativity, Inspiration, Wonder

The Waxwings pictured above happened to eat fermented fruit and then fell drunk on sidewalks.   Wise passersby collected them and put them in a safe place until they sobered up.

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BarrytheBirder

Great Blue Herons have headed south...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

It's almost Christmas and Great Blue Herons which spent the summer and fall in southern Ontario have long ago headed south.   I have to say however, that over the last 20 years or so, I did see a couple of Great Blues touch down on late-autumn ponds that had a thin skim of ice on them.   However, the herons quickly moved on...heading in a southerly direction.

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Barry the Birder 

White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)

                                                                      Photos by BarrytheBirder

The White-breasted Nuthatch is a frequent visitor to seed and suet feeders in Canadian winters and is a resident from New Brunswick west to British Columbia.   It is also widespread in the United States as far south as Texas and Florida.   Despite is 'white-breasted' moniker, is does have a rusty/brown wash on its belly.   

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BarrytheBirder

North America's most abundant dove...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

The Mourning Dove

Zenaida Macroura

     Please comment if you wish.

      BarrytheBirder

Junco thinking about lunch...

                                                                                                                       Photo by BarrytheBirder

                                                      Frozen food?

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BarrytheBirder

Crow and raven side-by-side...

I'm not sure how I came across this picture by a photographer named Garret Lau, but I always thought it showed demonstrably the difference between a crow  and a raven.  The American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) is 17.5" (45 cm) long, while the Common Raven (Corvus corax) is almost 6 inches longer than  the crow at 24" (61 cm).   The crow also has a smaller bill than the raven.   Both birds are found in a variety of habitats, but the raven is found farther north and west in North America (including the arctic), but not in the southeast of the United States.   The crow is found throughout the U.S.A. and the lower half of Canada.

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BarrytheBirder

20-year-old coloured sketch retrieved from shredder...

My oldest daughter Allison recently came across this discoloured sketch, of a Northern  Saw-whet Owl, I had done twenty years ago and which I had inadvertently included in some papers destined to be shredded. The sketch was part of my becoming a birdwatcher.   She reclaimed the sketch and put it in a small frame and gifted it to me.   It was a delightful surprise.   This transpired at a time when Allison also had me doing a personal assessment exercise in which I was asked to select a different life career than the one I had lived for decades as a community newspaper marketer.   I told her that I would have liked to have been in the art world - either art creation or art design or perhaps artistic or creative photography.   Her gesture was quite touching and brought back pleasant memories.

Please comment if you wish.

Barry Wallace

Strix nebulosa...

Great

Grey

Owl 

perches

on

girl 

photographer's 

head.

Photo by Beaumon Day

Please comment 

if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Over 18,000 bird species in the world!

Turkey Vulture photo by BarrytheBirder

There are roughly 18,043 bird species in the world, according to a study published in PLOS ONE by the American Museum of Natural History.   This is almost double the previous estimate.   The study focused on "hidden" avian diversity, which includes birds that look similar or were thought to interbreed but are actually different species.

The country in the world with the most species in the world is thought to be the South American country of Columbia, at 1,917, followed by Peru at 1,892 and Brazil at 1,864.   Canada is ranked at 615 species, (5.87%) of the global share.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder   

Red-bellied Woodpecker...

 

(Melanerpes carolinus)

Red-bellied Woodpeckers regularly come to feeders, particularly for suet.   Their breeding range has been extending northward but they are rare to Maine and the Maritimes, occuring mostly in the fall and winter.

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BarrytheBirder

Personification of simple nature art...

            (Artist unknown)

                                                                               

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BarrytheBirder

Handfeeding hungry hoverers...

 

Photo - passed along by my sister Diane Wallace in Nova Scotia

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BarrytheBirder

Welcoming each other to winter...

Photo by Barry Wallace

Slate-colored Junco and Goldfinch

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BarrytheBirder

Small and hungry winter birds in Nova Scotia

My sister Diane who lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, sent along this great photo of small and hungry winter birds being fed by hand.

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BarrytheBirder

Vancouver Island birds by Dave Kemp...

Immature Black Scoter

Photo by Dave Kemp

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BarrytherBirder

December has arrived...

                                                                       Photo by Barry Wallace

Lake Jonda, Seneca College, Dufferin Street, King Township

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BarrytheBirder

Odd-looking birdfeeders...

 

Photo by Beth O'Kelly

My sister-in-law Beth O'Kelly who lives in London, Ontario, passed along this photo taken in her backyard.   The items in the photo are not hanging, decorative Christmas trees, but rather are snow-covered bird feeders.   Beth says "the birds don't care".

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder