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BarrytheBirder
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I have been a birder for longer than I can remember, but up until now, I have known almost nothing about plovers. I have just discovered that plovers are found all over the world except in the Sahara and the polar regions! And now I have discovered that Killdeers are plovers. Who knew?!?
There are 40 to 65 true plover species in the world. Plover bird species include plovers, dotterels, and lapwings.
The highest overall species richness is concentrated in the Afrotropics (Africa) and the Australasian region, with Australia and various parts of sub-Saharan Africa supporting exceptionally high numbers of resident and endemic plover and lapwing species.
There are roughly 8 native plover species in Canada, adding up to millions of individual birds in total!
More on another occasion...
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Barry the Birder
The Madagascan Fish Eagle is officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the rarest eagle species, with an estimated population of only about 120 breeding pairs remaining in the wild along Madagascar's northwestern coast.
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BarrytheBirder
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Unmistakeable in appearance
Each time I see a male Northern Cardinal, I have to think, for me, it is the most recognizable of all songbirds. In my part of the world (Eastern North America), It is the only overall red bird with a crest, a black face, and a cone-shaped reddish bill. To me, it is unmistakeable and one of my favourite backyard birds. My Audubon Handbook describes it as 'one of the most familiar North American songbirds'.
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Barry the Birder
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In ornithology, a songbird is a perching bird belonging to the suborder Passeri (also called oscines) within the large order of passerine birds (Passeriformes). They are defined by a specialized, highly developed vocal organ called a syrinx that allows them to produce, complex, learned vocalizations.
The sub-order Passeri, commonly known as true songbirds or oscines, contains roughly 4,100 to 4,500 species. This group makes up the majority of the larger Passeriformes order (perching birds), which holds about 6,500 total species.
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BarrytheBirder
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Point Pelee National Park is the southernmost mainland point of Canada. It shares the same latitude as Northern California. It is famous for extreme biodiversity, rare Carolinian forests, and serving as a major migration crossroads for birds and butterflies.
Point Pelee acts as a "migrant trap" where migratory flyways converge over Lake Erie. Tired songbirds resting after night flights, rare Carolinian habitats, and over 390 recorded bird species make it a 'world-famous birding destination'
Point Pelee's tip is a narrow spit of land jutting into Lake Erie that stops exhausted birds from flying further inland, concentrating thousands of colourful songbirds, hawks and waterfowl into an extremely tiny area.
Point Pelee has been described as a crossroads where migration routes from Texas and Florida cross, serving as welcome stop for exhausted migrants. It shares the same latitude as northern California.
Point Pelee is famed for its diverse habitats, featuring rare forests, savannahs, beached, and huge freshwater marshes that shelter unique and noteworthy wildlife.
Autumn activity presents a different wave of migration, including raptors, monarch butterflies and dragonflies moving south.
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BarrytheBirder
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Photo - Cornell Lab - All About Birds
Sandhill Crane races vary in size (L 34-48", WS 73-90"). Adults are gray, with dull red skin on crown and lores, whitish chin, cheek, cheek , and upper throat., with slatey primaries.
Sandhills are sometimes confused with Great Blue Herons (which lack bustles).
Their common call is a trumpeting, rattling 'gar-oo-oo', often audible for more than mile, and often heard from flocks high overhead.
Migrating flocks heading south ly at great heights, sometimes too high to be seen.
They are locally common in Canada and the northern United States. They breed on tundra and in marshes and grasslands. In winter, they feed regularly in dry fields, returning to water at night. They are rare on the east coast.
They can be highly social and very localized, occurring in large flocks in some places and be absent elsewhere.
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BarrytheBirder
While Brand-new scientific bird species descriptions are rare globally (with most additions occurring via taxonomic splits or remote tropical expeditions), tropical nations in South America and Southeast Asia continue to dominate total avian richness and reporting growth. Ongoing deep-field work in the Andes, Amazon Basin, and Indonesian Islands occasionally yields new phenotypic or genetic discoveries.
Top countries for total bird diversity
Columbia - 1,917 species
Peru - 1,892 species
Brazil - 1,864 species
Indonesia - 1,730 species
Ecuador - 1,684 species
White-chested White-Eye (Zosterops albo gularis)
A landmark scientific study published in the journal Science projects more than 1,300 bird species will likely go extinct over the next 200 years. The rate is more than double the 610 historical bird extinctions over the past 130,000 years.
Confirmed 21st century bird extinctions so far include:
Po'ouli (Melamprosops): last seen and died in captivity in 2004 0n the island of Maui, Hawaii.
White-chested White-eye (Zosterops albogularis): believed to have gone extinct around 2005 on Christmas Island.
Cryptic Treehunter (Cichlocolaptes mazarbarnetti)\): last recirded in 2007 in northeastern Brazil.
Kaua'i Nukupu'u (Hemignathus hanapepe): Formally evaluated and tracked with recent localized extinctions up to 2007 in Hawaii.
Alagoas Foliage-gleaner (Philydor novaesi) Declared extinct after last being seen around 2011 in Brazil.
Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris): Formerly categorized following updated assessments up to 2024 after prolonged absence from its wintering and breeding grounds.
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Barry the Birder
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BarrytheBirder
Ruby-throated Hummingbird photo by BarrytheBirder
There are 366 species of hummingbirds recognized in the family Trochilidae. Most of these birds live in Central and South America. The highest number of types live near the equator in countries like Ecuador and Columbia. Only about 24 types visit the United States and Canada (like the 'Ruby-throated', pictured above); fewer than 20 breed there.
Rarest hummingbirds species in the world...
The Santa Marta Sabrewing (Campylopterus phainopeplus) and the Turquoise-throated Puffleg (Eriocnemis godini) are widely considered to be the rarest hummingbird species in the world. Both have critically endangered populations estimated at fewer than 50 to 250 mature individuals, and both have spent years "lost to science".
Hummingbird wings beat between 12 and 80 times per second during normal hovering and flight, but can spike up to 200 times per second during fast courtship dives. The exact flap rate depends on the bird's size and specific species.
BarrytheBirder
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Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Photo by Barry the Birder
The Ruby-throated Humm9ingbird is one of 10 species of 'hummers' to be found in the United States and lower Canada. It is the only 'hummer seen regularly (the others stray in).
The Ruby-throated is common in summer but may be overlooked. Look for it it in forest edges, parks and gardens. Most winter in the tropics.
The adult male has an iridescent ruby throat, which may look black in most lights. Its white chest contrasts with dark throat, green sides, tail all black. Females are green above, whitish below.
Red-throateds breed from Alaaka to south Oregon and western Montana. They winter in Mexico and occasionally in southern California. They wander annually to Gulf Coast, from Texas east to Florida.
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RarrytheBirder
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