Animalium (large format picture book)

Exotic Birds

Illustrations by Katie Scott in pen and ink and coloured digitally.

Published 2014

1.   Ruby-throated Hummingbird

2.  Greater Bird-of-paradise

3.  Ruby-topaz Hummingbird (tropical South America)

4.  Rose-ringed Parakeet (West Africa to southeast Asia to Europe)

5.  Rosy-faced Lovebird (southwest Africa)

6.  Malee ring-neck Parrot (Australia)

7.  Red-breasted Toucan

8. Galah (Australia)

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Robins arrive early in March...

 Photos by BarrytheBirder 

The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is a thrush that typically arrives in Canada in early March, when daytime temperatures average 3 degrees Celsius.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Early spring - Vancouver Island - 12 years ago...

                                                                             Photos by Dave Kemp

        Rufous Hummingbird

I have been featuring bird photos by Dave Kemp from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in this space for many years.   I happened to be looking back at early spring blogs of mine recently and came across these fine Dave Kemp photos in a blog from March 28, 2013.   I thought I'd like to re-publish them here for your interest and pleasure.   

American Bittern

Marsh Wren

Red-winged Blackbird

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

What do Black-capped Chickadees eat?

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Black-capped Chickadees (Parus atricapillus) are quite common at backyard birdfeeders in southern Canada and in the northern United States, eating a wide assortment of seeds and nuts, including walnuts and peanuts, plus even some insect material.   They will also eat from the human hand (see above).  But as seen below, they are also to be found eagerly eating at suet feeders, especially in cold winter months.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Dave Kemp photos from Vancouver Island... 

   Long-tailed Duck

    Clangula hyemalis 

'Gone fishing'

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Hybrid identity?

 

Any guesses as to what this late-winter Ontario bird mixture might be?

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

 ...now been publishing this birding blog for 18 years.

I am about to receive the 1.4 millionth hit on my BarrytheBirder blogsite.  Thanks for the response folks.  

I recently celebrated my 83rd birthday and I no longer have a drivers license, so I'm not getting out and about as much as I used to.   But I look forward to continuing to publish bird pictures and remarks about them.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

First Hummingbird - last year...

This Macauley Library photo of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird is by Brian Kulvete

My partner Pat Cromie has informed me that the first Ruby-throated Hummingbird she recorded last year arrived on May 20 and the last 'hummer' was seen on September 5th.   It was Pat's reminder to me to get our two 3rd-floor balcony feeders ready for this springs' hummingbirds -- duly noted. 

 Early spring migrants in Ontario...

Red-winged Blackbird

I was asked this past week what the first birds were to arrive back in Ontario in the spring.  In fact, the inquirer thought maybe the Red-winged Blackbird was of the first.   Well, she was right.   The Red-winged Blackbird is one of the first.

By early to mid-march, in southern Ontario, one will also likely spot Robins, Tree Swallows, Killdeers, Song Sparrows, Grackles, Eastern Bluebirds, Eastern Meadowlarks and even Great Blue Herons.

Great Blue Heron

Please 

comment 

if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Interesting shot of a White-breasted Nuthatch...

 

                                                    Photo by Deborach Bifulco / Macauley Library

I was on the Cornell Lab website recently and spotted this photo above.   I'd never seen this bird in a pose such as this before, and was rather surprised at its much different appearance.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

 Macauley Library ~ Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Sunbittern

(Eurypyga helias)

Photo by Dave Curtis

I was visiting the Macauley Library website recently and was struck by this stunning photo by Dave Curtis of a Sunbittern.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Bradenton, Florida Birds by Janis Parker

 

Northern Shoveler

The pictures here were taken by Florida photographer Janis Parker, using a Nikon 180-600 telephoto lens in Bradenton, Florida.   Bradenton is located in a large marshy area of Florida which is a perfect habitat for birds such as those pictured here.

Anhinga

Great Egret

Pelican

(with a lure and hook caught in its bill)

Red-shouldered Hawk

Night Heron

Purple Gallinule (Juvenile)

Green Heron

Boat-tailed Grackle

Male Breeding Anhinga

Roseate Spoonbill

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Photos by Dave Kemp

Snow Geese on Vancouver Island

My online acquaintance Dave Kemp sent along these photos he took of Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens) on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.   The shot was likely taken while these birds were on spring or fall migration.   Normally, these big birds range from Northeast Siberia to arctic America, but they winter in northern Mexico and on the Gulf Coast.

Adult Dark Morph

Juvenile Dark Morph

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder 

 

 Point Pelee warblers on my life list...

                                                   Photo - Point Pelee Provincial Park website

I updated my birding life list in this space a couple of days ago and mentioned many of the places I had seen species over the years.   I particularly mentioned Caribbean islands, Mexico, Arizona, Florida and other southern climes.

One place I did not mention was Point Pelee on the north shore of Lake Erie in southern Ontario.   This Canadian birding hotspot is a great spot to see warblers during the migration.   My life list includes just over 24 warbler species, which can all be found at Pelee.

Pictured below are some of my warbler photographs.

Canada Warbler

Wilsons Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder   

Snow Buntings - winter acrobats...

 

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) are sparrow-sized and acrobatically swirl over snowy winter fields in small or large flocks.   No other songbird, except McKay's Bunting, shows so much white in its feathering.   In summer, in the arctic, the male has a black back, contrasting with its white head and underparts.   

It is a common, hardy breeder of far northern tundras in Alaska and Canada.  In winter its ranges through Canada and the central United States, south to the Carolinas and Oregon.

For me, they can be a joyful sight in any sunny winter setting.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Natural hot spots for many species...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

I have just written, a day or so ago, about updating my birding life list to 4,150 species.   The photos pictured here, which I took several years ago on Cozumel, off the east coast of Mexico, show just how many species of birds can occur in one spot at any given time.   In this case many species of wading birds, in particular, occured together in one place at the same time, adding substantially to my life list.

Please

comment

if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

   

Updating my birding life list...

 

Photo by Pat Cromie

Life list now at 4,150 species

I have recently counted the number of bird species I have seen, over the years, in my 32-year old copy of A World Checklist of Birds by Burt L. Monroe Jr. and Charles G Sibley.   It is the first time I have updated this list in decades.

My number of species is now 4,150.   This is quite a change from the number normally seen at the the top of this blog each day.   That low number dates back to the last time I did a count back in the early 1990s.   Now, if I could just figure out how to change that number on my computer!   One of my talented daughters will do that for me maybe.

I did notice as I was counting those 4,150 species, that the oldest bird sighting I recorded in the checklist was a Bald Eagle, which I sighted in Vancouver in July, 1961.   That occurred while I was hitchhiking from Ontario in central Canada to British Columbia on the Pacific coast, and back again.

My copy of Monroe and Sibley's A World Checklist of Birds was first published in 1990 and revised in 1993.   It lists a total 9,702 species.  Remarkably in this day and age, most checklists list double that many species.   

At 83 years age, and not be as mobile as I once was, and no longer having a  car driver's license, I don't see me adding to my life list much more.  Moreover, my days of vacationing and birdwatching in dozens of Caribbean islands and Mexican spots like the Yucatan and Cozumel, as well as American states likes like Florida and Arizona won't be repeated.

My last entry is my checklist was for a western American Swainson's Hawk, seen nearby last summer and again this winter.   At this time of year, this bird would normally have migrated to South America!

With a life list now at 4,150 species officially, I'm going to finally describe myself as a 'Birder', not a birdwatcher.

Please comment if you wish.

Barry the Birder