Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus)

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Photo- Macaulay Library

Official bird of Alberta, Canada, since 1977.

The Great Horned Owl is found almost everywhere across Canada, the U.S. (including Alaska) and Mexico.   They are fairly common and widespread.

It is perhaps the most powerful owl, often attacking animals larger and heavier than itself, including skunks, domestic cats and even porcupines!   Also takes snakes.

They are chiefly nocturnal, becoming active at dusk. 

They are big - 22" (56 cm) with a wingspan of up to 61 cm.

They hunt mostly at night and are frequently harassed by smaller crows in daylight.

Their habitats can vary from city to forest, and their nest can be found in trees, caves, or on the ground.

All in all, a big, bold and beautiful creature.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Northern Goshawk (Accipiter striatus)

Image by Melani Marfield

(Note orange-red eyes)

Photo by istock / Henk Bogaard

A large, agile and powerful hunter, the Northern Goshawk is generally scarce and not often seen across lower Canada and northern U.S., while it lurks in deep, conifer-dominated forests and mountains.

It pursues prey as large as snowshoe, plus hares and grouse, plus poultry, other birds and small to medium mammals, even occasionally eating fish and some large insects. They sometimes carry mammalian prey to water and kill it by drowning.   Their hunting is mostly inside forests.

They sometimes winter irregularly south of their mapped range when southward irruptions occur in some years.

They are generally uncommon to rare, but are steadily increasing and stable in most areas, after hitting bottom in the 1970s.

This a large accipiter: 21-26" (53-66 cm) - WS 40-46" (102-117 cm), with conspicuous eyebrow flaring behind the eye, separating the adult's dark crown from the blue-gray back.

One of the 12 accipiters in its part of the world in Canada and the U.S.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Wagtails - 14 species worldwide...

 

White Wagtail

Cornell Lab photo

There are 14 species of Wagtails in the world, three or four of which make it to Alaska and down the west coast of British Columbia and the west coast of the U.S., including the White Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Gray Wagtail and Black-basked Wagtail.

Wagtails are sparrow-size ground dwellers with slender bills.  Most of them pump their tails up and down as they walk about looking for insects and spiders.

The four species that do make it as far as Alaska and farther south are the White Wagtail, the Black-tailed Wagtail,  the Yellow Wagtail and the Gray Wagtail.   Some Wagtails are also reported as casual or accidental in the U.S. Carolinas, Canada's Quebec and Newfoundland, plus Greenland and Iceland.

Worldwide, Wagtails are also found in Eurasia, Morocco, sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Africa, Cambodia, Laos, Europe, Siberia and Mongolia.   Some wintering birds may reach Australia.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

 

Steller's Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri)

Steller's Jay Photo by Jeff Max - Macaulay Library

Steller's Jay Photo by Rob Palmer Photography

Designated as the provincial bird

of British Columbia in 1987.

The Steller's Jay is recognized as the only 

crested jay in the west of Canada and the U.S.

The Steller's Jay was named after the Arctic explorer Georg Wilhelm Steller who discovered it on the Alaska Coast in 1741.

It has a black head and crest and a sooty black back and breast.  There is also some white or blue striping on the head in some populations.

This bird is omnivorous, eating a wide variety of creatures, including frogs, snakes, the eggs and young of other birds, many kinds of insects, even carrion.

The Steller's Jay population is common in pine-oak forests and coniferous woodland in the West but is accidental in the East.

In winter, family groups often frequent bird feeders.

They frequently mimic the calls of other birds, including hawks and loons.

They are not migratory.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

   

 

Green Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)

Photo by Scott Martin - Macaulay Library

Blue Jays - brash and flashy...

Green Jays - gaudy and noisy...

Image - Birds of the World

While the Blue Jay is found across southern Canada and in the eastern U.S., The Green Jay is found in Texas, Central America and parts of northern South America only.   A gaudy tropical jay, it is seen  commonly in riverside woods, oak groves, parks, suburbs, and dry brushlands of southern Texas.   They typically show up in small flocks.

Colour-wise, they are unmistakable, being mostly green, paler and yellow below, with purple and black head, and bright yellow outer tail  feathers.

My National Geographic Field Guide says the Green Jay's green and blue plumage blends with dappled sunlight and shade in woodland habitats.

National Geographic goes on to say that Green Jays are resident and locally common  in woodland and brushy areas of the lower Rio Grand Valley and locally further north and south.

Its expanding northern population occurs from southern Texas down through eastern Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras, and in a second, narrower band along the Pacific Slope in Mexico.

It South American population extends from northeastern Venezuela west and then south along the Andes Mountains to Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and northwest Bolivia.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Western Grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis)

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Western Grebe

Carving by Liza Chia - Art Feather Inc.

(Purchased by me almost 30 years ago in Toronto, Ontario)

The Western Grebe is a large (25") graceful swimmer that is common on many freshwater marshes in south-western Canada and the north-western U.S.A.   It is also found on coastal bays in winter.

It is striking black and white, with a swan-like neck, long thin yellowish-green bill and red eyes.   It is comparable to winter-plumage loons.

Many grebes have courtship dances, the Western Grebe, like the Clark's Grebe, performs a spectacular splashy race across water, with loud calls.

The Western Grebe is a highly aquatic and graceful swimmer that swims extremely well underwater but is almost helpless on land.

BarrytheBirder

Please comment if you wish.

Labnrador Duck (Camptorhynchus labradorius)

Painted images of female and male

Labrador Ducks

by John James Audubon

The Labrador Duck is an extinct North American Duck species.  It was the first known endemic North American species to become extinct after the Columbian Exchange, with the last reported sighting occurring in 1878 in Elmira, New York, while the last preserved specimen was shot in the fall of 1875 in Long Island, New York, by someone named J. G. Bell.

It was a rare duck before European settlers arrived, and because of its rarity, information on the bird is not abundant, though some, such as habitat, characteristics, dietary habits and reasons for extinction are known.

55 Labrador Duck specimens are preserved in museum collections around the world.

Taxonomically, the Labrador Duck was also as the skunk duck, a vernacular name it shared with the surf scoter and the Common Goldeneye (both, black and white-looking ducks).   Another common name was the Sand Shoal Duck, referring to its habit of shallow water feeding.

The female's plumage was grey.   The male's plumage was black and white, with wings entirely white except for the primaries.  This duck had an oblong head with small, beady eyes, and it bill was almost as long as its head!

They were thought to have laid eggs on the islands in the St. Lawrence Gulf.

This duck has been considered the most enigmatic (puzzling) of all North American birds.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Gray-headed Chickadee (Poecile cincta)

Photo by Jessie Barry / Macaulay Library

Many have heard of the Black-capped Chickadee,

but few have heard of the Gray-headed Chickadee...including me.

The Gray-headed Chickadee is perhaps the hardiest of all chickadees.   A subarctic chickadee formally called the Siberian Tit, it is a Eurasian native of Siberia and Alaska.   It is found in northern Alaska, and small parts of Canada's Yukon and Northwest Territories.

The Gray-headed Chickadee is ever-so-slightly larger (by 1/4") than the the Black-capped.   There are 7 Chickadee species, in total, in North America.

1. Black-capped Chickadee

2. Carolina Chickadee

3. Mountain Chickadee

4. Chestnut-backed Chickadee

5. Boreal Chickadee

6. Mexican Chickadee

7. Gray-headed Chickadee

The Gray-headed Chickadee is generally scarce.   It is a permanent resident of the northern edges of the treeline and visits human habitations in winter, sometimes dining on scraps of frozen meat.   They are tame and nomadic in winter, appearing in pairs or small groups.

Fred J. Alsop III says in his DK Birds of Canada Field Guide that Gray-headed Chickadees "Forage in conifers and shrubs, gleaning insects from trunks, branches, and foliage...Feeds on insects, insect larvae, spiders and food scraps...Also eats conifer seeds and berries".

They are seldom seen, but can be found in spruce at or near the timberline in summer and in willow and alder thickets in winter.

Black-capped Chickadee

(for comparison)

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Two hawks that were my nemesis for years...

 

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus)

Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii)

For the first many years as birdwatcher, my wife and I maintained several birdfeeders on the two  countryside properties where we lived, a few kilometres north of Toronto, above Lake Ontario. 

We loved feeding the many songbird species that visited our feeders, but were always dismayed when Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks also visited the feeders to prey upon the smaller birds feeding on the seeds.

I have come to appreciate the two small raptors species for all of their remarkable exploits and appearance.

Both of these Accipiters have huge ranges in Canada, the U.S.A. and even parts of Mexico.

While the Sharp-shinned preys chiefly on small birds at feeders, especially in winter, the Cooper's Hawk also eats songbirds but occasionally adds small mammals to its diet.

Fred J. Alsop III, in his 'Birds of Canada Field Guide', says Sharp-shins declined in the 1950s through the 1970s due to pesticides and heavy metal pollutants in their environment, then made some comeback, but are perhaps declining again.  Meanwhile the same writer says that Cooper's Hawks declined in the mid 20th century mainly due to pesticides but are now stable of increasing in most places.

Alsop also states that Cooper's Hawks are are territorial, and will not allow the similar, and ever-so-slightly smaller, Sharp-shinned  in the same woodlands.

Because I was so against these two small raptors all those years ago, I never did get any photos of them.   That was pity, because they are both very attractive creatures.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis)

Photo by Gerrit Vyn / Macaulay Library

Yesterday it was The Eastern Kingbird

...today it is the Western Kingbird.

I didn't know this bird existed until I stumbled across it yesterday while writing about the Eastern Kingbird.

The Western Kingbird  is slightly smaller than the Eastern Kingbird and is found only in the western half of the U.S., plus a wee bit of southern Canada and Northern Mexico.

It is an eye-catching bird with ashy gray and bright lemon-yellow plumage.

It is a familiar summertime sight in open habitats across western North America.

This flycatcher, with the white-edged black tail, sallies forth to capture flying insects from conspicuous perches on trees , fences, or utility poles.

Like the Eastern Kingbird, it will chase away intruders, like Red-tailed Hawks, Crows or American Kestrels, with its snapping bill and flared crimson feathers that are normally unseen beneath their gray crowns.

They have taken advantage of their ongoing habitat development by taking advantage of telephone poles and other artificial structures as nesting sites, and fences and utility wires as perches for hunting.

Their range rapidly expanded during the 20th century as agricultural expansion created more suitable foraging and nesting areas.

This Kingbird is a neotropical migrant, and heads to southern Mexico, Central America, and the Pacific coast of southern Mexico through western Nicaragua in the winter. 

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Wild Turkeys surviving in winter...

Males displaying

All photos by BarrytheBirder

Foraging in winter

Wild Turkeys are found across lower Canada and most of the central and eastern United States and they are not migratory.  They do not fly south for the winter.

In many parts of their range, movement to wintering areas begins with the first snowfalls in mid-to-late November.   These are not great journeys, but more relocations to places with better food access and shelter (see photo below)...

As for keeping warm, wild turkeys are large birds and body mass is itself an advantage.   Larger animals lose heat more slowly relative to their volume, which is why turkeys can handle cold better than smaller birds.   Their plumage provides good insulation over most of their bodies, except for their bare heads and necks.   So Wild Turkeys simply bury their heads under their back feathers when temperatures plunge.

Roosting is when a bird is most vulnerable to wind chill, and turkeys are choosy about their roost trees.   Both stationary and roosting teurkey select conifer forests and avoid open agricultural and residential land covers.

The biggest winter challenge for a turkey is not the cold itself, but food access.   The most nutritious winter foods are red oak acorns, corn, and persistent fruits of shrubs like juniper, winterberry holly or barberry.

Deep powder snow is very problematic because turkeys have difficulty walking through it, cannot scratch down to the ground beneath it, and lose energy rapidly wading through it.   Hard-crusted sno is actually easier for turkeys to walk on, but it also locks food away beneath an impenetrable layer.

These factors explain why Wild Turkeys have a definite northern boundary to their range.   Populations that push into southern Canada or the far northern U.S. face winters that are too long and snowy for reliable survival.

Moreover, predators threats are real, with cyotes and bobcats as the primary killers.

The species' big comeback over the past many decades owes as much to habitat management and reintroduction programs as to this bird's own hardiness.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Red-tailed Hawks don't come around anymore

I have lived in Aurora, Ontario, for just over five years, after having lived in neighbouring King Township for 70 years.   I now live in a retirement residence in south Aurora, several kilometres north of Toronto on Lake Onrtario, and have become accustomed to Swainson's Hawks inhabiting the wooded part of the town that I now live in.

The many Swainson's Hawks that surround Delmanor Retirement Residence where I live in Aurora, have seen to it that Red-tailed Hawks don't come anywhere near to where I now live.

Each year, in October, I think maybe, just maybe, A Red-tailed Hawk or two might show up around Delmanor after the Swainson's Hawks have migrated south.

Alas, Red-tailed Hawks are not as at ease around humans as the Swainson's Hawks are; even though they are found in more habitats than any other North American buteo and are the most common hawk on the continent, (although there is some population decline due to loss of habitat).

Once again, the Red-tails just don't seem to want anything to do with where the Swainson's have been.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

What is the origin of the name Osprey?

Photo by BarrytheBirder

The English word first appeared around 1460, evolving from the the Anglo-French word ospriet, which itself derived from the Medieval Latin avis praedae ("bird of prey").

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

McKay's Bunting (Plectrophenax hyperboreus)

   

McKay's Bunting

(Plectrophenax hyperboreus)

Likely, the whitest

of all North American 

songbirds...

Macauley Library photo...

Yesterday, it was the Snow Bunting...today it is the McKay's Bunting.   the two buntings are the same size, but their ranges are vastly different.

While the Snow Bunting is found across most of Alaska, arctic and lower Canada, and the northern United States, the McKay's Bunting's breeding range is limited to just four Bering Sea islands: Hall, St. Paul's, St. Mathews and St. Lawrence.

It winters on the western end and southeastern coasts of Alaska.

Its song is a loud, trilled flutelike warbling, similar to a Snow Bunting's song.

They forage on the ground, eating seeds, flowers, leaflets, insects and spiders.

This bird has one of the smallest ranges in North America.   Apart from the four islands mentioned above, during the breeding season the McKay's Bunting is uncommon in winter in coastal Alaska.   It is however accidental south along the coast towards Oregon.

This small bird is also seriously threatened by native and introduced predators on its nesting islands.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

 

                               

Snow Bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis)

                                                                 Photo by BarrytheBirder

I know it's only mid-October, but I'm already looking forward to seeing one of my favourite winter birds: the Snow Bunting.   A day in winter is always more enjoyable when I am motoring about and come across a small flock of these winter warriors.

Male (above) - Female (below)

Photos by Christoph Moning / Macaulay Libray

Fred Alsop in his Birds of Canada Field Guide says this bird "...can survive temperatures as low as fifty degrees Celsius below zero and often tunnels in the snow in the shelter of grass tussocks or shrubs to keep warm".

They certainly make my winters more enjoyable and shorter when I take the time to watch them frolicking, and even bathing, in the snow.

Males have white rumps and females (non-breeding) have cinnamon rumps and shoulders.

They are fairly common on their arctic breeding grounds where they are found on rocky shores and dry tundra, feeding for seeds, insects and caterpillars, plus small crustaceans and mollusks on coastal shores.   In winter they are found in stubby and grassy fields, on coastal beaches and around sand dunes.

I lived in an large agricultural area north of Toronto, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, for decades and watched the Snow Buntings gleaning from farm fields continuously.   I never heard their trilling musical notes because they only sing on the breeding grounds.

As a bonus, my wife and I would sometimes see these birds in winter foraging with Lapland Longspurs and Horned Larks.

Winter is always shorter when Snow Buntings are around and about.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

World's official national birds

 Around 97 countries in the world now have official national birds, while roughly 34 additional countries have recognized national birds unofficially, which leaves 74 countries without a national bird, officially or unofficially.

Audubon Photo

* The American Eagle is the national bird of the U.S.A.

Photo by Vitali Khustocka/ Macaulay Library

* The Gray Jay (or Canada Jay) is the unofficial bird of Canada.

* The European Robin is the United Kingdom's unofficial bird.

* The Gallic Rooster is the unofficial bird of France.

* The Spanish Eagle is the unofficial bird of Spain.

* The Italian Sparrow is the unofficial bird of Italy

* The White-throated Dipper is the national bird of Norway.

Crimson Sunbird photo by Shirley Hg - Gettry Images

* The Crimson Sunbird is the national bird of Singapore.

* The Steppe Eagle is the national bird of Egypt.

* The Rufous-bellied Thrush is the national bird of Brazil.

* The Himalayan Monal is the National bird of Nepal.

* The Blue Crane is the national bird of South Africa.

* The Indian Peafowl is the national bird of India.

Photo by Getty Images

* The Red-crowned Crane is the unofficial bird of China.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Wood Thrush (Hylocichia musteline)

Wood thrush photo by Fernando Burgalin Sequeria / Macauley Library

While anticipating writing about yesterday's 'Thrasher' blog and today's 'Thrush' blog, I asked Google to tell me the difference between the two species.   Well, did I get more than I bargained for?   Way more!

But, info-overload aside...

Wood Thrushes are widespread across south-eastern Canada and and all of the U.S., except Florida.

As seen in the photo above, they are reddish-brown above, brightest on the crown and nape.   They have a fairly bold white eye ring, conspicuous on a streaked face.   They are whitish below, with large black spots on throat, breast and sides.   They have stronger markings than other the North American thrushes.

My '2nd Edition' National Geographic  Field Guide describes the Wood Thrush as a large plump bird, common in swamps and most deciduous or mixed woods, but seemingly declining in numbers in recent years.

For now...more on Thrashers and Thrushes on another occasion.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Brown Thrasher (Toxostoma rufum)

Photo by Martina Nordstrand / Macauley Library

There are 8 North American Thrasher species, of which the foxy- brown, Brown Thrasher is the most widespread.   It is found in southern Canada and across the central and eastern United States.

Thrashers are to many the most melodious birds in North America.

The Brown Thrasher is reported to have the biggest song repertoire of all North America birds with more than 1,100 types recorded!

They are fairly common in hedgerows  and woodland edges in their range, but are rare in the west and Maritimes.

According to my 'Kenn Kaufman' bird guide, the Brown Thrasher is declining in may areas.  

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Keeping it in perspective...

 

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Northern Parula (Parula americana)

Adult male photo by Ryan Schain/ Macauley Library 

Arguably, the smallest of the warblers...at 4 1/2" (11 cm), the Northern Parula is a short-tailed warbler, gray-blue above with yellowish green upper back, and two bold white wing bars.   Its throat and breast are bright yellow and its belly is white.

The adult male has reddish and black bands across the breast, but in female and immature male, the bands are fainter or absent.

They range in mixed or coniferous woods, especially near water where Spanish Moss or "Old Man's Beard" lichen grows, which are both used for construction of nests.

Parulas allow close approach.   They are active, acrobatic foragers, sometimes hanging upside down in the hunt for insects on tree trunks, leaf clusters or ends of branches.

They also hover-glean and hawk flying insects.

Being one of the smallest of all warblers, they are frequently dominated by other birds, including some other warbler species.  They are also sadly sometimes cowbird hosts.

They suffer from habitual loss due to logging and clearing of hardwoods.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Warblers have migrated south...

Photo by Barry the Birder

Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petchia)

Most of the 35 warbler species that summer in Canada and Alaska have finished their fall migration south to the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America.    The countries in Central America are Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

Central American countries are, on average, about 6,750 to 7,750 kilometers (4,200  to 4,800 mi.) away from Alaska in a straight line.  

Photo by Barry the Birder

Orange-crowned Warbler

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Where do Great Blue Herons migrate in winter?

Northern populations of Great Blue Herons migrate to coastal areas of the southern United States, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and northern South America, such as Venezuela and Columbia.

Many birds from Canada and the northern United States fly to warmer southern states including Florida, plus other Gulf Coast regions.

Year-round residents in the Pacific northwest, lower coastal British Columbia, south Florida, and parts of North Carolina often do not migrate and stay put year-round.

Some Great Blue Herons remain in northern areas (such as parts of Ontario and New England) if they can find pockets of open water or alternative food such as mice or other small rodents.

An all-white morph with yellowish legs in southern Florida is called the Great White Heron and was formerly called a separate species.

The large "Great Blue' is the most familiar and widespread heron in North America, flapping slowly overhead even miles from open water, or patiently standing at watersides patiently waiting to spear fish or other creatures.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder