West Coast birds by Dave Kemp

Photos by Dave Kemp

Band-tailed pigeon and  Red-shafted Northern Flicker

Photographer Dave Kemp who is languishing out on Canada's wonderful west coast has sent some of his acquaintances a few recent photographs which he has taken in the Terra Nova area of Richmond, British Columbia.   The 'two-for-one' shot above shows a Band-tailed Pigeon on the left and a Red-shafted Flicker on the right.   Both of the birds are native to the west coasts of Canada and United States.   The Band-tailed pigeon is the largest pigeon in North America, measuring up to 40 cm (16 in.) long and sometimes weighing over half a kilo or 1 pound.   Its main diet is acorns.   The Red-shafted Flicker is native to the southern area of British Columbia and all the western states of America.   The Red-shafted Flicker, of western North American and the Yellow-shafted Flicker of most of Canada and the central and eastern American states have distinctive identifying marks but the two birds do interbreed and offspring show features of both forms, well beyond their zone of contact

Spotted Towhee

The towhee in Dave Kemp's photo above is a juvenile Spotted Towhee and is native to south-western Canada and all of the western United States.   The name towhee comes from the sound of the bird's call note.   In eastern Canada and the U.S., the same bird, although somewhat different in appearance is known as the Rufous-sided Towhee.   The western and eastern versions  do interbreed and they are considered to be the same species.   These photos and many other great Dave Kemp pictures can be seen by Googling Dave Kemp's Picture Perfect Photo Gallery.

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BtheB