American Robin

Photo and haiku by BarrytheBirder

3 weeks to first day of spring
february's last day
and the snow has disappeared
how close the robin

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BarrytheBirder

Patient pelicans...

Photo: GregNewton/Reuters

Brown Pelicans

(Pelicanus occidentalis)

Pelicans are seen keeping watchful eyes on a successful fisherman with his catch of Whiting fish, at St. John's County Pier, in St. Augustine, on the north-eastern Atlantic shore of Florida.
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BarrytheBirder

Starlings at sunset o'er the Irish Sea...

Photo: Alamy Live News

A captivating, acrobatic display by tens of thousands of Starlings is seen as they look to roost for the night under Blackpool's famous north pier, on the Lancashire coast of northwest England.   Blackpool is famous as a seaside resort on the Irish Sea.
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BarrytheBirder 

Close cousin of the Bald Eagle...

Photo: Yuri Smityuk/TASS

White-tailed Sea Eagles

(Haliaeetus albicilla)

White-tailed Eagles are seen fighting over a fish in the ice-free Bay of Zolotoy Rog in Vladivostok where they spend the winter, before moving to the north-eastern coast of the Russian Far East.   This majestic bird is also known as the Ern, Erne, Gray Eagle, Eurasian Sea Eagle and White-tailed Sea Eagle.   It has the largest wingspan, on average, of any eagle.

Ubiquitous in the West Indies...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

mBANANAQUITm

(Coereba flaveola)

February in Canada is a time of year when I look back at pictures that I have taken of birds, on islands in the Caribbean Sea.    They always warm me up.  One of my favourite pictures is the one above, of a Banaquit on the island of Antigua.  Banaquits are found everywhere in the West Indies, and from Florida down to Argentina.   To me they are island icons in the Caribbean.   There are approximately 41 subspecies of this bird throughout its broad range and the birds have a highly variable appearance.   Not surprisingly, The IUCN Red List classifies this avian charmer as being of "Least Concern".

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BarrytheBirder

Owls of Europe - most species are endangered

Great Grey Owl

All photos: Alamy Stock Photos

Owl Sense - by Miriam Darlington

There are 13 species of native owls in Europe and author Miriam Darlington, in her newest book, states that all 13 species are endangered and there numbers are all down.  She suggests the causes are new challenges of climate change and expanding human population encroaching on wild territories.   As examples, she writes that Eagle-Owls are down 60% in Finland, while in the UK, Barn Owls have sunk to less than 5,000 pairs.   And although owls have been around for 60 million years, the encroaching human tribe is a mere 200,000 years old.   Furthering that contrast, Darlington sardonically states there are, reputably, drug dealers in Liverpool, who use Eagle-Owls for protection rather than dogs.   Our world is forcing birds withersoever.   Then what?  

Tawny Owl

Eurasian Eagle-Owl

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BarrytheBirder

Downy Woodpecker

                                                    Downy Woodpecker (Male)                                                 

                                                                                              Photos by BarrytheBirder

Downy Woodpecker (Female)

Downy came and dwelt with me,

Taught me hermit lore;

Drilled his cell in oaken tree

Near my cabin door.

Downy leads a hermit life 

All the winter through;

Free his days from jar and strife, 

And his cares are few.

                                    -- John Burroughs

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BarrytheBirder

Endangered in New Zezland...

Photo: Murdo Mcleod / The Guardian

KEA

(Nestor notabilis)

The endangered Kea, captured here at the Ben Lomand Track at Queenstown in Fiordland, southern New Zealand, is the world's only alpine parrot.   It is a large bird (almost 50 cms.long) and one of the most intelligent of birds, but also mischievous and destructive.   It is known to make and use tools.

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BarrytheBirder  

At London's Natural History Museum...

Photo: Lakshitha Karunarathna

Finalist: Roller Rider

Wildlife Photographer of the Year Exhibition 2018

London's Natural History Museum

Lakshitha Karunarathna was on safari in Maasai Mara National Reserve, in Kenya, when he spotted a Lilac-breasted Roller riding a zebra.  Normally, this bird perches high up in foliage.

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BarrytheBirder

Chicken breed is completely black on the outside and inside

 Photos: amusingplanet.com

AYAM CEMANI

a.k.a. "Completely Black Chicken"

This chicken originated in Java, in Indonesia, and was introduced to Europe in 1998, by a breeder in Holland. The Ayam Cemani gets its black colouring from a genetic trait known as 'fibromelanosis', that produces black pigment cells.   Every part of this bird is black: inside and outside.  These chickens do however lay cream-coloured eggs, but they do not sit on their eggs.   Eggs are therefore hatched by artificial incubation.   Ayam Cemani are one of the world's most expensive chicken, with single birds having cost up to $2,500, and they are so exotic that it has been called the "Lamborghini of poultry".   They can be sourced online in Canada.

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BarrytheBirder

Year of the Bird Calendar 2018

Photo: Victoria Sokolowksu/GBBC

Trumpeter Swans

2018 Year of the Bird Calendar

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology 

Great Backyard Bird Count begins Monday, February 19

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BarrytheBirder

Bird Photographer of the Year 2017

Photo: Alejandro Prieto Rojas

BBest Portrait CategoryB

Pink Flamingos are seen feeding with their young in this photograph by Alejandro Prieto Rojas of Mexico, who was the Gold Award Winner and Bird Photographer of the Year 2017 Winner in the Best Portrait Category, at the Natural History Museum in London, England.

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BarrytheBirder

Off the coast of Ecuador...

Photo: Pablo Cozzaglio / AFP / Getty Images

Hitchhiking in the Galapagos

A Galapagos Marine Iguana sunbathes with a small ground finch on its back at Tortuga Bay Beach on the Santa Crus Island of Galapagos, Ecuador.

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BarrytheBirder

It's that's time of year again...

Photo: Joe Maher / Getty Images

Taking stock at ZSL London Zoo

Zookeeper Zuzana Matyasova feeds and counts Humboldt Penguins during the Zoological Society of London's annual stock take, in England.   The ZSL, at Westminster, is the oldest scientific zoo in the world, dating from 1828.

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BarrytheBirder

A break from the frigid Canadian winter...

Photo by Denise Georgekish

FRITILLARY BUTTERFLIES

This photo is meant to provide a momentary diversion from February's cruel arctic caresses.   The summertime photo of fritillary butterflies was taken by my sister Denise, at her home on the eastern shores of James Bay in Quebec.  Climate change is allowing more and more sightings of these lovely creatures at more northerly positions in Canada.   I know little about fritillarys, but my best guess about the ones pictured above are that they either 'Atlantis', 'Great Spangled' or 'Aphrodites'.   Perhaps you, dear reader, have a surer guess,

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BarrytheBirder     

Creative Photography

Photo: Xavi Bou / National Geographic

Starlings ~ Arbeca, Spain

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BarrytheBirder

Fratercula arctica

Photo by Chris MacDonald

This charming photo of Atlantic Puffin was taken by Chris MacDonald and is currently featured on Nature Canada's website. Accompanying the photo is an excellent information piece by Valerie Assinewe.
Barry theBirder

Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Photo: Jennie Stock

wwWINDBLOWN EGRETww

Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
2017 WINNER ~ ANIMAL PORTRAIT

Jenny Stock took this photo of a Little Egret, in breeding plumage, as it was feeding in a shallow section of Herdsman Lake on a windy day, when it turned and a breeze took control of its feathers.

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BarrytheBirder

Jabiru mycteria

Photo: Andre Dib / WWF

Jabirus are native to Middle and South America and are pictured above in Brazil's Pantanel wetlands.   The name Jabiru, in the Tupi-Guarani language, means 'swollen neck', due to the distinctive red around its neck (see photo below).  The neck is an inflatable pouch which accommodates its collecting and eating of fish.   The Jabiru is also known as Tujuju.

Photo:Joaquin Baldwin

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BarrytheBirder 

Gannet gives up its vigil...

Photo: Chris Bell / Friends of Mana Island

 Nigel dies surrounded by concrete gannets

Nigel the gannet who lived for the past five years on Mana Island, just off the south coast of New Zealand's 'North Island', has died.   He was surrounded by 80 life-sized concrete replica gannets.   The concrete gannet decoys were installed to attract live mating gannets to the island which had not seen a gannet in 40 years.  But Nigel was the only live gannet to appear on the island between 2013 and 2018.   He wooed many of the concrete gannets and built love nests for them but his affections were never reciprocated.   Then, early this year, three more gannets appeared at Mana Island.   Sadly, Nigel did not befriend the three newcomers and he inexplicably died shortly after their arrival.   Nigel's vigil may have been in vain, but all the people who observed his last five years are hopeful that a colony of gannets is about to spring forth on Mana Island.

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BarrytheBirder

  

European Goldfinches and American Goldfinches

Photo: The Guardian

European Goldfinch

(Carduelis carduelis)

Behold two more birds with the same name (goldfinches) but found an ocean apart. The European Goldfinch (above) was described and illustrated as early as the mid-1500s.   It is found in Europe, North Africa and western Asia.   Global warming is greatly increasing the numbers of these birds in the northern parts of its traditional range, notably in Great Britain.   The species has also been introduced to New Zealand and Australia, plus Uruguay.
The American Goldfinch (below) is a voracious seed-eater that is found from southern Canada, throughout the USA and northern Mexico.   Bird feeders in northern parts of its range allow it to survive in very cold winter temperatures.

Photo by BarrytheBirder

American Goldfinch

(carduelis tristis)

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BarrytheBirder

Show your red belly...

Photo by Ken Thomas

When it comes to Red-bellied Woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus) of which I've seen a few, I'm often frustrated like many others, by not always seeing the red belly feathers.  The bird has a knack for hiding them, it seems.   Here are two photos that readily show the two aspects of this situation, however.   I took the photograph below at a bird feeder in a friend's backyard.   The friend's name is Ted Bird.

Photo by BarrytheBirder

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BarrytheBirder

Carduelis tristis

Photos by Barry Wallace

American Goldfinches always welcome in winter

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BarrytheBirder