Green Heron (Butorides virescens) a.k.a. Green-backed Heron

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Although I am particularly partial to the Great Blue Heron, my next favourite heron is the Green Heron.   If for no other reason, it is the heron I see most often, other than the Great Blue, in the area of southern Ontario where I live.   I see them nearby in ponds, marshes and wooded creeks, where they jerk their short tails up and down as they stalk the water's edge.

They are small (18") and dark, with orange-yellow legs.   They have a chestnut neck and dark back glossed with green or blue.  Their black crown feathers are sometimes raised in a bushy crest.

Generally solitary, the Green Heron will be found in a variety of habitats and even perches in trees often.

They are found across the U.S.A., southern Canada and in Mexico.

Although known historically as the Green Heron, they are now commonly known as the Green-backed Heron.

They winter along coasts from Oregon and Massachusetts south to South America.

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BarrytheBirder

Female Wood Duck and female Mandarin Duck are almost identical...

Female Mandarin Duck

Female Wood Duck

While male Wood Ducks and Mandarin Ducks are quite distinctive in appearance their female counterparts are very similar (see photos above).   I wonder if the two species ever inter-breed? 

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BarrytheBirder

Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapilla)

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Black-capped Chickadees are native to Canada and the United States.   They are found in Canada across most provinces and territories, from Newfoundland to British Columbia and up to the Yukon.   In the United States they are found widely across the northern states, extending down into parts of New Mexico in the west and to Georgia along the Appalachian Mountains in the east.

Birdlife International also lists Saint Pierre and Miquelon, an overseas collective of France, where they are native and residents.

There are an estimated 43 million adults birds.   

There are 7 species of chickadees recognized in North America, while the broader genus (Poecile) includes 15 species worldwide (with the Eurasian members commonly known as "tits").

Other Chickadee species in North America include the Carolina Chickadee, Mountain Chickadee, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Boreal Chickadee, Gray-headed Chickadee and the Mexican Chickadee.

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BarrytheBirder 

Lewis's Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis)

                                                       Lewis's Woodpecker - photo by Nathan DeBoer

The Lewis's Woodpecker is a large, dark, black-backed woodpecker with an extensive pinkish red belly (the only north-American woodpecker so coloured).   It has a wide gray collar and dark red face patch.   It also has a greenish-black head and back.

The pink underparts and wide black wings are the best marks and the sexes are similar.

It has a straight crow-like flight and a fly-catching habit.

This not-so-usual woodpecker is scare and localized in the western U.S.A. and Mexico.   It is common in open woodlands of interior foothills and valleys, but less common on the Pacific coast.

Main food is insects, mostly caught in the air, but also eats fruit, acorns and other nuts.   It stores acorns, which it first shells, in tree bark crevices.

They are generally silent birds.

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BarrytheBirder

Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon)

                                                                        Photos by BarrytheBirder

The Belted Kingfisher is the only kingfisher in most of North America.  It is a solitary bird of watersides almost everywhere, perched on branches above streams and lakes or on low coastal rocks.

The large-headed Belted Kingfisher has a bushy crest and spear-shaped bill. They hover over small fish and then plunge-dive headfirst into water.

They excavate nest burrows in steep banks.   They fly with rapid, deep, irregular wingbeats.

They breed from Alaska to Newfoundland and south to central California and the Gulf Coast.   They winter on open water from southeast Alaska to Nova Scotia and south to South America.

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BarrytheBirder

What is the ornithological definition of a warbler?

 

Yellow Warbler photo by BarrytheBirder

In ornithology, a songbird is a perching bird belonging to the suborder Passeri (also called oscines) within the larger order of passerine birds (Passeriformes).

KEY SCIENTIFIC  TRAITS

The Syrinx: Songbirds are defined by a specialized, highly developed vocal organ called a syrinx with fine muscular control.

Learned Vocalizations: Unlike many other birds that make instinctual sounds, true songbirds typically learn and perform complex vocalizations and songs.

Perching feet:   As passerines, they share a distinct toe arrangement - three toes pointing forward and one pointing backward - that helps them grip branches easily.

Not always melodic: Despite the name, not every species in this suborder produces musical songs; some have harsh calls or simple vocalizations, yet they still share the same anatomical structure.

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BarrytheBirder

Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)

Champion long-distance migrant of the world???

The Arctic Tern nests in the Canadian Arctic and northern territories, and winters in Antarctica, travelling an annual distance of more than 40,000 kilometres!

They are common to fairly common on the breeding grounds in the far north, but are steadily declining on the southern end of their breeding range along the Atlantic Coast.

They are distinguishable from similar terns by their short red bills, short legs and necks.

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BarrytheBirder

Great Blue Herons about to head south...

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Great Blue Herons winter from British Columbia and southern New England southward to Mexico.

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BarrytheBirder

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Mute Swans are an old world species introduced to the United States from Europe in the 19th century.   They are most commonly seen in ponds of public parks and gardens as well as in the wild.

A black knob at the base of the orange bill is a prominent feature.

Mute Swans usually hold their long necks in a S-curve, with the bill pointed down, and often swim with their wings arched over their backs.

They give a variety of hisses and snorts, but are usually silent...however wingbeats are noisy in flight.

Mute swans can be aggressive, especially in defense of their nests.

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BarrytheBirder

Peregrine Falcon - Big fish

 

Photograph Alexander Askalsky/Shay Shohat

Don't think I've ever seen an osprey with this big a fish!

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Barry theBirder

Tundra Swam (Cygnus columbianus)

Photo - National Audubon Society

Not the largest Swan in North America, but the most widespread and common.   It breeds on arctic tundra and winters primarily on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

They are common on the breeding range and but rare on the wintering range.   Overall, they are increasing in population.

Swans are usually associated with water and they are exceptionally fast swimmers.   When flying, 'Tundras' are large spectacular birds with long triangular wings, snow white to the tips of their flight feathers.

Dabblers, 'Tundras' plunge their long necks and heads beneath water to pick aquatic vegetation and roots of submerged plants.

'Tundras' mate and pair for life and are solitary nesters over the tundra.

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BarrytheBirder

Trumpeter Swan (Cygnus buccinator)

Photo by BarrytheBirder

A huge swan that weighs more than any other bird in Canada and the U.S.A.   It was formerly endangered but is now doing well in the northwest and is being introduced into areas farther east (including northern plains and great Lakes region).    

It is larger than all other swan breeds with a massive all-black bill.   Its voice is one of rich, bugling notes.

Trumpeter Swans tend to hold their necks kinked back at the base.

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BarrytheBirder

Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)

Photo by Matt Davis / Macauley Library

The Ring-necked Pheasant was introduced from Asia as a game bird in California in 1857, and then in larger numbers elsewhere.  The Asian Red-necked Pheasant is one of the most widely distributed and popular birds among hunters.   Thousands are harvested annually in southern Canada and the northern United States.   

They are managed as game birds in North America, but some populations are not self-sustaining, and occasional releases from captivity help maintain populations.

Roughly 50 Pheasant species (many endangered) are spread across about 16 different genera, with the Ring-necked Pheasant, Golden Pheasant and Silver Pheasant among the most well-known.

Pheasants are native to Eurasia, particularly in regions stretching from China to Malaysia.

Female

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BasrrytheBirder

BarrytheBirderThe Ring-necked Pheasant

Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

 
                                                     Photo - Macauley Library

The Turkey Vulture is commonly known as the "buzzard".   It is a large bird that ranges throughout the United States, southern Canada and south to South America.

It gets its name from the red skin on its head and its dark body feathers that resemble a turkey.   Its length is 55 to 81 cm., its wingspan is 173 to 183 cm., while it weighs in at 1.5 kg.

These birds soar just above treetops and up to 61 metres high, searching for prey by sight and smell.   They feed mainly on carrion and refuse.

They are most often seen in flight, when their two-toned wings, black in front and silver gray behind, are most visible.   Soaring birds hold their wings above their backs in a shallow V and rock from side to side as if unsteady in the air.

Their voices are silent except at the nest site, when kissing sounds are made.

These birds are common in their mapped range, but have expanded both summer and winter ranges northward, and their population is common with a very slight increase overall.

They are notably resistant to most diseases, especially those found to be in carrion.

                                                  Photo - Macauley Library

Black Vulture

The smaller Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus), with the gray head, shows large white patches at the base of its primaries.   Its tail is shorter than the Turkey Vulture and its wings are shorter but broader, and it feet extend to the edge of its tail or beyond.

Flight includes rapid flapping and short glides usually with wings flat.

While gregarious and aggressive, they not as good at spotting carrion as the Turkey Vulture.

They are common near human settlements and in open country, and often scavenge in garbage dumps.   Their range is limited to the southern United States and Mexico, but their range is expanding northward in both summer and winter. 

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BarrytheBirder 

Blue-winged Warbler replacing Gold-winged Warbler...

Blue-winged Warbler

Photo- All About Birds

Golden-winged Warbler

Photo- All About Birds

Here's a bit of an unfortunate tale.   The Blue-winged Warbler and the Golden-winged Warbler, like all warblers at this time of year, are heading south.

These are two attractive warblers that share the same habitats, i.e. southern Canada and the north-eastern United States.

Sadly over time, the Blue-winged Warbler is steadily taking over the Golden-winged Warbler's range.

They both inhabit brushy meadows, overgrown pastures, power-line cuts, and second-growth woodland borders and bogs.

The Blue-winged Warbler prefers a greater diversity of habitat however than the Golden-winged Warbler.   The Blue-Winged's range is expanding at the northern edge, gradually replacing the Golden Wing's range. 

Who knows how long this ongoing replacement situation will last?   Will extinction eventually prevail?

Meanwhile both these species continue to winter in southern Mexico and Central America and they are always a joy to see in their summer range.

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Barry the Birder

Prairie Falcon (Falco mexicanus)

Photo by All about Birds

Yesterday it was about the Peregrine Falcon, today it is about the Prairie Falcon.   The Prairie Falcon is very similar to the Peregrine Falcon in size.   It is slightly shortly, but has a similar wingspan.   It is pale brown above, creamy white and heavily spotted below.   Its crown is streaked; facial markings are narrower and plumage paler overall than Peregrine Falcon.

Prairie Falcons inhabit dry, open country and prairies.   They prey chiefly on birds and small mammals.

They are found from southern-western Canada, the western U.S. and in Mexico.  Small numbers will winter throughout their breeding range.

The Prairie Falcon  is one of the larger birds of prey found in western North America.   While similar to the Peregrine Falcon, it is different in terms of its colour, and hunting patterns.

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BarrytheBirder

 

Common Loon (Gavia immer)

Photo: American Birding Association

There is a widely held impression that the top ten most iconic and frequently observed bird species in Canada are the

Common Loon

Canada Goose

Black-capped Chickadee

American Robin

Bald Eagle

Blue Jay

Northern Cardinal

Downey Woodpecker 

Mallard Duck

Red-winged Blackbird

I have see, heard or photographed all ten of these species over the last several decades, but it is always the Common Loon that comes to mind as my favourite.   As a teenager and young adult, I made many canoe trips in south-central Ontario and the loud, soulful wail of the Common Loon resounds in my head to this day at 84 years of age. 

I hope if I have one last chance at a canoe trip, at 85 years of age, I will once more hear the loon's unforgettable and unique call on a remote Ontario lake.

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Barry the Birder

Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)

Photo: National Wildflife Federation/Merrifield, Virginia

The Peregrine Falcon is the world's fastest diving bird.   The record-setting falcon was once clocked at a speed of 186 miles (300 kilometres) an hour. 

Peregrines are global birds, found on every continent except Antarctica.   They can travel long distances, sometimes between continents, to get from their wintering grounds to their breeding grounds.

North American Peregrine Falcons can be both migratory or non-migratory.   Some live year-round in Alaska, the Midwest, the Northeast, the southwest, and along the western coastline.

It has been my experience to find them nesting here in Aurora, Ontario, 35 kilometres north of Toronto, on Lake Ontario, for the past 4 to 5 years.

With their global range, Peregrine Falcons can be found in many habitats including mountains, forest, cities, valleys, deserts and coast lines.

Peregrines eat mostly other birds, consuming a variety of species

(about 450 North American species have been recorded as prey), and the number worldwide may be as many as 2,000 species.

Falcons nest on cliffs up to 1,300 metres high, and sometimes higher, including along the rim of the Grand Canyon.

Males usually select several possible nesting sites, with the female making the final choice.

Peregrines can live up to 15 years and even longer.

Their total migration routes can stretch from Alaska to southern Argentina and return, wracking up over 20,000 kms. per round trip., second longest of any bird of prey in the western hemisphere.

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BarrytheBirder

Last Swainson's Hawk on Aug.30th

Photo by BarrytheBirder

I'm almost certain I saw my last Swainson's Hawk of the season yesterday.   These birds have already started their southern migration and many will end up in southern Argentina in another two months.

Below are some of the photos I have taken of Swainson's Hawks over the past year or so here in Aurora, north of Toronto on Lake Ontario...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Photos by BarrytheBirder

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BarrytheBirder