Ponds that Kingfishers use are about to freeze over...

 

Photos by Dave Kemp

My online acquaintance Dave Kemp on Vancouver Island in British Columbia sent along  photos of a Kingfishers that he took recently.

The Belted Kingfisher is the only Kingfisher in most of North America.  They are large-headed birds with bushy crests and spear-shaped bills.   Males and females both have slate blue breast bands, white bellies and under-tail coverts, while the females also have rust belly bands  and under-tail coverts.

They are conspicuous and common along rivers and brooks, ponds and lakes, and estuaries especially during the breeding season.

They are generally solitary and found across Canada in summer, across the U.S. year around and in the south-west U.S. and Mexico in winter.   It is the only Kingfisher found across most of its range, except along the Mexican border.

They plunge headfirst into water from a perch or a hover above water to catch small fish.   They feed primarily on fish, but also take amphibians, reptiles, insects, crustaceans and mollusks.

Their population in North America is thought to be in slight decline.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Parrots and parakeets, etc., etc.

Cockatiel

Budgerigars

Peach-faced Lovebird

Photos used here are from unidentified Google sources

According to my copy of Kenn Kaufman's BIRDS of North America, there are no surviving native members  of the parrot family in the U.S.   Plus the Carolina Parakeet is extinct and the Thick-billed Parrot no longer occurs naturally.   

That is not to say that there are no parrots and parakeets, etc. flying about the U.S., particularly in southern states like Florida, Arizona, California, Texas, etc.

However many escaped cage-birds are flying about in the lower U.S., and forming established feral nesting populations.

According to Kaufmann's guide there are as many as 16 species of these types of birds frequently seen.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

American Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

You need Eagle wings to get over things

that make no sense in this world.

--Tom Petty

Photos above by BarrytheBirder - taken in southern Ontario

Photos below by Dave Kemp - taken on Vancouver Island, B.C.

Aerial jousting

Challenging a sea lion for a free meal

Bald Eagle is big: L 31-37" (79-94 cm) W 70-90" (178-229 cm).  After the the California Condor, it is the largest raptor in North America.

Bald Eagle adults are quickly identified  by large bald heads and shortish white tails.   Adults are brown above and below; head is white, huge bill, eyes and feet are yellow.   Adult plumage is normally acquired in 4th or 5th year.

My Audubon Handbook of Eastern Birds, says Bald Eagles breed in Alaska and across southern Canada, the Northwest, Great Lakes region, and locally along Pacific and Atlantic coasts.   My Audubon Handbook also notes that Bald Eagles build massive stick nests which they may use for several years.

Bald Eagles hunt for prey, primarily fish, especially in the breeding season.   They sometimes steal fish from Osprey but capture the Osprey-released fish before they hit the ground.

Bald Eagles also eat carrion and injured or crippled waterfowl, squirrels, rabbits, and muskrats.

Bald Eagles are also solitary nesters, monogamous and thought to pair for life.

They are protected by national wildlife refuges and legally with heavy fines.

They have made a big comeback, especially in the U.S., since the 1970s, with widespread restoration programs, and banning of DDT, plus other chemical pollutants.

They have now been moved from 'endangered' status to 'threatened".

My National Geographic Field Guide says "Banning of pesticide use and intense recovery programs have increased populations of Bald Eagles that had been seriously diminished in the East".

Trumpeter Swans depart from Aurora...

                                                                         Photo by BarrytheBirder

A pair of Trumpeter Swans that made the McKenzie Marsh at the north end of Aurora, Ontario (just north of Toronto) their home all summer and through the record-setting warmest October ever, have finally decided to head south to their normal wintering grounds. These Aurora birds will head south probably just over the Canada/U.S. border to somewhere in the north central U.S. midwest.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Barred Owl (Strix varia)

Photos by BarrytheBirder

The Barred Owl is one of only three large owls with dark eyes in North America.   The other two are the Spotted Owl and the very small Flammulated Owl.

The chunky Barred Owl has dark barring on the upper breast and and dark streaking below.   Chiefly nocturnal; its daytime roost is well hidden.   Easily flushed, it does not generally tolerate close approach.

It is found across lower Canada and throughout the eastern U.S.  It is found in northern woodlands and in southern swamps, where it is known as the "hoot owl".   

It is mostly nocturnal and crepuscular but is often active in daylight, preferring deep woods, and inhabiting conifer, riparian, and swampy habitats.   

They feed on a broad variety of creatures, including small mammals, birds, frogs, salamanders, lizards, snakes, large insects, crayfish crabs and fish.

They are monogamous and thought to pair for life.

Their population is common and widespread, but swamp habitat population in the southern U.S. has diminished. 

Their range is now increasing in the northwest, where they hybridize with dark-eyed Spotted Owls.

The Barred Owls song is usually 8 or more drawn-out notes, "Who cooks for you; who cooks for you-all?"    They are often heard in daytime and respond readily to imitations of their call by coming closer and calling back.

The Barred Owl in the photos above did not appreciate my close approach with my camera and became entangled in the branches of the shrubby trees it was perched in.   It took great effort to extricate itself before flying off.

Please  comment if you wish.

BarrytheBIrder

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