Grackle (Quiscalus quicula)

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Common Grackle

Plumage appears all black at a distance.   In good light, males show glossy purplish blue head, neck, and breast.   The Common Grackle's song is a short, creaky koguba-leek; its call note, a loud chuck.   Its range is southern Canada to the Gulf states east of the Rockies.

 

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BarrytheBirder

American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)

                                                                           Photos by BarrytheBirder

The American Goldfinch is found in weedy fields, open second-growth woodlands, along roadsides, especially in thistles and sunflowers, and at feeders.

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BarrytheBirder

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis)

                                                                            Photos by BarrytheBirder

Indubitably, the most common and familiar wild goose in Canada, this bird comes in seven named subspecies in North America and varies in overall colour and size, with size decreasing northward.   It is noted for its distinctive white "chin strap".

It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is occasionally found during migration across the Atlantic in northern Europe. It has been introduced in France, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Japan, Chile, and Argentina, as well as the Falkland Islands. 

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BarrytheBirder

Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps)

Photos by BarrytheBirder

This is a short-necked, big-headed grebe which nests around marshy ponds and sloughs.   It sometimes avoids intruders by sinking into the water until only its head shows.

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BarrytheBirder

Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus)

Photo forwarded by Victor Pitt

The Northern Flicker's name is thought to come from either the sound it makes or the appearance of the feathers in flight.   Some believe it's derived from the "wicka-wicka-wicka" call it makes, or the "flicker" sound of its wings and tail as it flies.   Others suggest it's related to the bird's white rump and bright wing linings, which "flick" into view as it moves.   The name could also be related to the flickering yellow shafts of its feathers, which appear to flash as it flies, according to Audubon.   

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BarrytheBirder

North American birds are declining...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

New research from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird Status and Trends shows that North American bird declines are greatest where birds are abundant.   

Great Blue Herons, for example, are down -23%!   For every 100 Great Blue Herons that would have been seen in the 2012 bredding season, only 77 would have been seen in 2022.

Red-tailed Hawks are down -14%!   Areas between Baltimore and Philadelphia have seen losses surpassing 30% in some spots.

Declines like this, are reminders that the loss of spaces, the conversion of rural landscapes, and the pressures of climate change are reshaping even the most familiar landscapes.

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Barry the Birder

Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus)

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Pictured above is a Broad-winged Hawk that I took while being driven around by my partner Pat recently.   We were on a narrow hilly road, with almost no shoulders and were past the hawk before we were able to stop.   Pat continued for some distance until she found a spot to turn around and head back.   The hawk was still there upon our arrival and I got the two photos you see above.  I especially like the second photo because I think it shows quite well how this hawk got its name: Broad-winged Hawk.

I already have the Broad-winged hawk on my World Check List of Birds, which I saw in May of 2004.   However this current sighting is only the second time I have seen and Identified a 'Broad-Winged".   The second photo above, shows quite well how this Hawk got its given name, Broad-winged Hawk.

Ps.   My partner Pat is fairly new to listing birds, but the Broad-winged Hawk is the latest addition to her life list.

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BarrytheBirder 

One of my all-time favourite bird photos...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Pictured above is the cover of my 'ALL the BIRDS of the WORLD' hardcover 967-page checklist, published by Lynx of Barcelona.

The photo on the dust jacket is of a Philippine Eagle, by Alain Pascua.

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BarrytheBirder

'Hummers' now show up 15 hours a day...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are now showing up from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.   They stay at the feeders anywhere from 15 to 20 seconds each visit...sometimes 30 or or 40 seconds and up to a minute or two.   The longest visit so far is 3 minutes and 23 seconds!   After almost a month they are acclimatized to the balcony setting and appear well over a hundred times a day.

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One of my favourite small birds...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)

There are a few geographical forms of this bird including 'White-winged Junco", Slate-coloured Junco" and "Oregon Junco", which were considered separate species.   However, since they interbreed wherever their ranges meet, they are presently considered one species.   Their normal range is Alaska to Newfoundland south to mountains in Georgia and Mexico.   The eastern North America form, formerly called the Slate-coloured Junco, is the only one usually see in the winter, where I live in southern Ontario.   However, they also range southward in winter as far as the Gulf Coast and northern Mexico.

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BarrytheBirder

How do hummingbirds feed their nestlings?

     Photo by BarrytheBirder

Hummingbird mothers feed their babies by gathering food like nectar and insects, partially digesting it, and then regurgitating it into the nestling's mouths.   The process occurs frequently, often every 20 to 30 minutes, from dawn to dusk, as baby 'hummers' have a very high metabolism.

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BarrytheBirder

'Hummers' arrive each morning at 5 a.m.

                                                       Photo by Brian Kulvete/Macauley Library

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are now arriving at the two feeders at my partner, Pat Cromie's 3rd-floor apartment balcony in Aurora, north of Toronto on Lake Ontario, every morning just after 5 a.m. and keep coming until after 8 p.m. each evening.

The 100 to 200 visits each day last anywhere from 10 to 12 seconds up to 60 or 70 seconds each time...or somewhere in between.   I try to replenish the sugar-water every two to three days, depending on how hot the days get.

There is a cracked sunflower seed feeder on the balcony ledge beneath the hummingbird feeders where as many as seven or eight American Goldfinches also feed throughout the day.

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BarrytheBirder

Warblers abound...

 Yellow Warbler

(Photos by Barry the Birder)

Wilson's Warbler

Canada Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler

Pine Warbler

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Barry Wallace

Indigo Bunting males change colour in the fall...

                                      Male Indigo Bunting - photo by Daniel Irons (Macauley Library)

Here's something I have just learned.   Resplendent blue male Indigo Buntings turn brown in the fall. and look just like the female of the species (see photo below).

                          Female Indigo Bunting - photo by Andrew Newmark (Macauley Library) 

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BarrytheBirder

Identifying birds by cellphone...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Slowly, but surely I am joining the 20th century when it comes to identifying bird species.   In the photo above, my partner Pat is seen with her cell phone while recording and identifying bird calls, using the Merlin Bird ID.   My current bird species total is a little over 400, and that's after over 30 years of sight identifications.   At 83 years of age, I figured I had pretty much reached my maximum  lifetime number of species sighted.   

But with a cellphone program like the Merlin Bird ID, maybe I've still got a long way to go.   Of the 17 species identified on Pat's cellphone in a few minutes, over the last two days, one was a Eastern Wood-Pewee (Contopus sordidulus) ...a new species identification for my life list!

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Barry the Birder

House Wren (Troglodytes aedon)

Photos by BarrytheBirder

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BarrytheBirder