Bird tattoos

Pictured here are two participants in last weekend's 13th International Tattoo Festival at Tobacco Dock in East London, England.   
Splendid birds in full wingspan are traditional tattooing motifs and symbols of freedom.

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BarrytheBirder

Cardinals won't leave bird bath either...

 Photos by BarrytheBirder

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BarrytheBirder

Hot weather keeps robins in the birdbath

Photos 
by
Barry 
the
Birder

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wish.

Barry

the

Birder

Orange Duck or Duck l'Orange?

 Photo:Prasanna Kumar Mamadala

Of course I have heard of tasty Duck l'Orange (French: Canard a l'Orange) for many years.   But this week, I have learned of the Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea), a.k.a. the Orange Duck.   I came across it in an email from my friend Kersi Parekh, which included a photo.   I immediately thought this might be one of the most beautiful ducks in the world.   I quickly compared it, in my mind, with the North American Wood Duck and the East Asian Mandarin Duck, plus a few others, and decided it did have a unique, colourful presence even if not the most beautiful appearance in the world.   Its numbers are steady or increasing in central and eastern Asia, but declining in Europe.   Nevertheless, it is rated by I.U.C.N. as "least concern".   Wikipedia claims it is mainly nocturnal and omnivorous but does that mean it feeds in the dark?   Perhaps it feeds bumping around underwater or while stumbling around on land, in the gloom of dusk and dawn.   Its lovely appearance however is best viewed in the full light of day.   

Photo: Sayanti Sikder

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BarrytheBirder

Snowy Egrets (Egretta thula)

BAD HAIR DAY

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BarrytheBirder

California Condors continue comeback

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

California Condors huddle around a watering hole in the Ventana wilderness east of Big Sur, California.   Three decades after being to the brink of extinction, the California Condor is staging an impressive comeback, thanks to captive breeding programs and reduced use of lead ammunition near their feeding grounds.

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BarrytheBirder

Grus americana

 Photo: Johann Schmacher/Vireo/Audubon

  JAIL FOR WHOOPING CRANE KILLERS

The recent convictions of shooters in Texas and Louisiana have sent messages that shooting a Whopping Crane is a serious offence and that the shooter faces time in jail, fines and other penalties.   In October, 2016, a young man was sentenced to five years of federal probation after pleading guilty to a violation of the Endangered Species Act for the 2016 shooting deaths  of two Whooping Cranes belonging to a reintroduced flock in Louisiana.   He was back in federal court for violating the terms of his probation, for using a semi-automatic rifle to hunt from a roadway in Texas.   The probation terms prohibited his owning or possessing firearms, ammunition or any other dangerous weapon.   He is also prohibited from hunting or fishing anywhere in the U.S.A. A U.S. Magistrate Judge sentenced the man to 11 months in jail to be followed by a one-year term of supervised release.   The judge waived the 200 hours of community service of the 2016 sentence, so the convicted man could work to obtain money to pay two restitution amounts of $12,907.50 each to the International Crane Foundation and to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.

USDA photo by John Noll

In a separate case, in 2014, a Whooping Crane was found in Louisiana with a gunshot wound and had to be euthanized because of the injury.   Louisiana officials investigated the shooting.   In 2017, a 21-year-old man pleaded guilty in federal court, to violations that included hunting birds out of season, hunting from a vehicle on a public road, not having a valid hunting licence, and wanton waste of migratory game birds.   The man had also been arrested in 2015 of felony witness-intimidation charges.   He made guilty pleas and was sentenced to 45 days in federal prison for each of the five convictions to run concurrently and a $2,500 fine.   The fine must be paid within one year, or the man will have to serve 45 days in federal prison for each of the five convictions to run consecutively.  

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BarrytheBirder

Astonished bird banders

    Photo above by BarrytheBirder

Photo below by David Chang van Oordt

The Yellow Warbler pictured at right was was netted by University researchers at Cornell, on June 24, 2017, in Ithaca, New York.   It had been banded 3 weeks earlier in Coprdoba, Colombia, SA.   This recorded band recovery was the first ever between North and South America for a Yellow Warbler, despite the fact that more than 130,000 of them have been banded in northeastern North America alone in the last few decades.   It probably made the entire 2,320 mile trip in about three weeks, in its rush to get a jump on the spring mating season..   It also likely made the trip via a single, non-stop flight across the Gulf of Mexico.

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BarrytheBirder

Nothing is easy in Australia

Photo: Genevieve Vallee / Alamy

A Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aquila audax) is seen grappling with a dead bat entangled in barbed wire, in the isolated town of Burketown, Queensland, in the far north-western shire of Burke, in Australia.

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BarrytheBirder

Can look side-to-side and up-and-down

Photo: Robin Chittenden/Alamy

EURASIAN WRYNECK

(Jynx torquilla)

The Eurasian Wryneck (pictured here in Suffolk, UK.) aquired its name from its ability to turn its head almost 180 degrees.   It is part of the woodpecker family and males and females look alike....wherever they're facing.
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BarrytheBirder

Feather proves existence of bird for first time in a century

Photo: Australian Wildlife Conservancy/AFP/Getty Images

aAUSTRALIAN  NIGHT  PARROTa

A feather from one of the world's most elusive birds, the Australian Night Parrot (Geopsittacus occidentalis) found in South Australia, is the first proof in more than a century that it lives there.
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BarrytheBirder

2017 Greenpeace Photo Competition

These two photos were among the 12 top images in Greenpeace's Best Wildlife Shots chosen recently by a panel of judges.

 Photo: Doris Potter

'Sap Sippers'

by Doris Potter

The sapsucker drilling holes in the tree above has two butterflies, a Green Comma (left) and a Mourning Cloak (right) waiting patiently to sip sap from the holes drilled by the bird.

Photo: Nicola Bryan

Junco in Cherry Tree

by Nicola Bryan

The Dark-Eyed Junco pictured in this blooming cherry tree is a member of the Oregon Group, a.k.a. "Oregon Junco".   It is typically found on the western coast of Canada and the US.

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BarrytheBirder

Massive replica of Bowerbird bower is part of art exhibition

Photo: Marcus Leith

Artist, Andy Holden, and his ornithologist father Peter Holden created this huge replica of an Australian Bowerbird's bower as part of an exhibition entitled Natural Selection in London's former Newington Library.   The project was commissioned by Artangel and runs until November 5, 2017. Andy Holden is particularly interested in how bower-building and nest-building relate to art-making.   Do birds create their intricate constructions because instinct tells them to drop moss on twigs, or do they have a vision of their home in mind, suggesting a higher consciousness?   The Australian Bowerbird fashions a unique inverted arch of sticks purely for displaying the objects it collects, like "a set for a performance".   Bowerbirds range from 8" to 16" long and the bowers are usually slightly taller than the birds.   This information was taken, in part, from an article by Skye Sherwin in a recent online edition of Britain's The Guardian.

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BarrytheBirder

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017 Finalists

Below is a selection of three of the finalists in this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest, sponsored by Britain's prestigious Natural History Museum.   Grand prize winners will be announced in October.

Bald Eagle by Klaus Nigge (Germany)

Finalist 2017 ~ Animal Portraits

After several days of constant rain, this Bald Eagle was soaked to the skin.   Full concentration on the eagle's expression created an intimate portrait, enhanced by the overcast light of the rainy day.

Resplendent Delivery by Tyohar Hastiel (Israel)

Finalist 2017 ~ Behaviour: Birds

Tyohar watched a pair of Resplendent Quetzels for more than week as they delivered fruit to their chicks.   ResplendentQuetzels usually nest in thicker forest, but this pair had picked a tree in a partly logged area in the Costa Rican cloud forest of San Gerardo de Dota.   The additional light made it easier for Tyohar to catch the iridescent colour of the male's dazzling emerald and crimson body plumage and tail streamers.

Arctic treasure by Sergey Gorshkov (Russia)

Finalist 2017 ~ Animal Portraits

An Arctic Fox carries its egg trophy from a raid on a Snow Goose nest and heads for a suitable feasting spot.

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BarrytheBirder

Large Old World Vulture...

Photo: Alamy Stock Photo

A Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus), a.k.a. Eurasian Griffon, is seen flying over the Uvac River in the Uvac Special Nature Preserve in Serbia.   This large vulture can be up to 4 ft. long and have a wingspan of 9 ft., with a weight of up to 25 lbs.   Reports of Griffon Vultures weighing up to 33 lbs. are thought to be birds raised in captivity.  

Photo: Khaled Al Ghanem

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BarrytheBirder

Butterflies at hummingbird feeders

For the last two weeks or so it has been Monarch butterflies passing through the backyard flower beds, but this week it is the Mourning Cloaks that have been showing up, at the hummingbird feeders in particular (see below).

Photos by BarrytheBirder

This Mourning Cloak (above)

visited one hummingbird feeder in particular, several times over the last few days and spent a considerable amount of time on each occasion drawing nectar from the bird feeder.

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BarrytheBirder

Population is booming...

Photo: Ian Ward / National Trust

Arctic Terns (Sterna Paradisaea) are seen above on the Farne Islands, Northumberland, UK.   The terns here are booming in population thanks to the conservation efforts on this stretch of coast recently bought by the National Trust.

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BarrytheBirder

Ceryle rudis in Turkey

Photo: All Ihsan Ozturk / Anadolou Agency / Getty Images

Pied Kingfisher on north side of Mediterranean

A Pied Kingfisher is seen above drinking from Lake Ercek, in Van Province, in far-eastern Turkey.   Normally an African native, this Pied Kingfisher has crossed northward across the Mediterranean Sea -- not likely the first, or last, to do so.

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BarrytheBirder

Gulls on horse farm

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Over a hundred Ring-billed Gulls have occupied the pastures and a pond on this horse farm, near the Holland Marsh, on Hwy. 9, for the past few summers.   Often dozens of Canada Geese join them, as well as the occasional cormorant (see photo at left).   I believe these gulls are far-ranging in the area between Lake Simcoe to the north and Lake Ontario to the south, but have an affinity for this horse farm at certain times each day.   I must pay attention to see how long they continue to visit this spot when winter arrives and the pond freezes over. 

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BarrytheBirder

A few interesting magpie facts...

Photo: care2

After posting yesterday's blog about the photo of a magpie and Spanish Imperial Eagle sharing the same perch, my wife directed me to the six interesting magpie facts listed below.

1. Magpies don't actually like shiny things - they're scared of them.
2. Magpies have been known to steal other birds' eggs and even young chicks.
3. Magpies are closely related to crows, jays and ravens and therefore are highly intelligent.
4. Magpies recognize themselves in mirrors, one of only seven animal species in the world to do so.
5. A group of magpies is called a 'parliament'...apparently for their stately appearance and cawing exchanges with each other.
6. Magpies have extremely long tails and can make swift turns in the air to avoid larger avian predators.

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BarrytheBirder

Here's an interesting photograph...

Photo: Alamy

There's no telling, I suppose, what led these two bird species, a Magpie and a young Spanish Imperial Eagle, to share the same branch.   The eagle does appear however, to be ever so slightly unimpressed by the smaller bird's presence.

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BarrytheBirder

Dendroica virens

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Black-throated Green Warbler

(Immature)

An immature Black-throated Green Warbler is seen perched in a cedar hedge, in my backyard, in King City, Ontario (just north of Toronto), Canada.

Photo: Christina Rollo / Alamy

(Female)

A female Black-throated Green Warbler is seen perched on pink flowers in Binghampton, NY, US.   The birds breed in the north-eastern US and southern Canada in summer and then migrate to Mexico.   They are very abundant.
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BarrytheBirder

How many bird species in the world?

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Are there 9,000 or 20,000 species in the world?

It's been almost a year since a study doubled the number of bird species in the world by redefining 'species'.   Joel Cracraft, an evolutionary biologist and ornithologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and some colleagues, settled on a new figure at 18,043.   But it could be as high 20,000.   The new figure is an extrapolation of a study of 437 biological bird species, which on average, were split into 2.4 taxa each.   A current list of 9,159 species therefore grew to over 18,000.   How accurate and valid is this extrapolation?   No one really knows.   What I know is that I was right, a long time ago, to forget about being a lister. Now I just enjoy myself watching and listening and appreciating the simple existence of my feathered friends.   Which means I can experience the presence of a single species a hundred times and never stop marvelling at its differences and similarities to me.   Amen.

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BarrytheBirder

What would they tell us if they could speak?

Photo: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters

Marabou Storks stand on a pile of recyclable plastic materials at the Dandora dumping depot on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya.

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BarrytheBirder

Bird on a wire...

Photo: Donald Devine/Alamy

An immature male Ruby-throated Hummingbird perches on a fence in Searcy, Arkansas, US. It appears to be sticking its long nectar-sucking tongue out at something or someone.

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BarrytheBirder

British Trust of Ornithology ~ Part 5

Andean Condor in flight over mountain peaks

by Ben Hall, UK.

Gold award winner 

in the birds in the enviroment category

An Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) circles the thermals looking for prey in its dramatic habitat of Torres del Paine National Park, Chile.

A perfect landing

by Bret Charman, New South Wales, Australia

Gold award winner in the birds in flight category

"I was photographing Australian Pelicans (Pelicanis conspicillatus) on the edge of a small mangrove swamp.   They were resting in the calm, shallow waters and the soft evening light was providing the perfect conditions to capture reflections.   I was photographing a portrait of an individual when I heard the wing beats of another bird coming in to land and took the snap".

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BarrytheBirder

British Trust of Ornithology ~ Part 4

Barn Owl hovering

by Roy Rimmer, UK.

Category: bird behaviour

Barn Owl (Tyto alba) at Wigan, UK.

Grey Heron
by Ahmad Alessa, Kuwait
Silver award winner in the attention to detail category
Grey Heron (Ardea cinera) photographed in Hungary

Camouflage
by Daniel Stenberg, Sweden
Honourable mention - birds in the environment category
Mallard (Anasplaty rhynchos) in central Stockholm, Sweden

Calling for the Sun
by Ondrej Pelanek, Czech Republic
Gold award winner
Young bird photographer of the year

Whiskered Tern (Childonias hybrida) in wetlands in Hungary 

More photos tomorrow... 

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BarrytheBirder