BARRY the BIRDER

Oct 7, 2019

Young woodpecker learning the ropes...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

A young male Downy Woodpecker has to be forgiven for thinking perhaps this oriole nectar feeder can provide him with some nourishment. Sadly, he was mistaken, but he moved on to find rewards elsewhere in the backyard.

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BarrytheBirder

Oct 6, 2019

The upside-down world of nuthatches...

Photos

Barry

the

Birder

Red-breasted Nuthatch ~ White-breasted Nuthatch

I dare say when it comes to nuthatches at our backyard feeders, they spend more time looking and facin g downward than they do looking upwards. It has to do, of course, with footholds and the feeding port openings. Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers sometimes try to imitate the nuthatches, but look like awkward amateurs by comparison. We also see the nuthatches occasionally foraging for insects in or under tree bark, along branches or trunks. The behaviour has earned them the nickname "Upside-down Bird", in many places by many birdwatchers.

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BarrytheBirder

Oct 5, 2019

Cardinals mate for life and may have three or four broods per mating season

Photos by BarrytheBirder

NORTHERN CARDINAL

(Cardinalis cardinalis)

The Northern Cardinal is a bird we have in our backyard 12 months of the year ... usually one pair. The one pair is always very territorial when it come to other cardinal interlopers. But this year we have two pairs of adults cardinals and they have been prolific. Both pairs appear to have raised two broods this year and one of the pairs seems to be feeding a third brood (photo below). I have only just learned that male cardinals will take over the feeding of young fledglings while a female cardinal sits on a nest where she may have as many as four broods in a mating season. Cardinals mate for life and I'm thinking that our backyard, in the village of King City, Ontario, may now have a lot more of these beautiful red birds around than ever before. What a delightful possibility. Cardinals are found in south-eastern Canada, the eastern USA and down into Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. They are not native to Hawaii but were introduced there many decades ago, as were many other especially attractive birds.

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BarrytheBirder

Oct 4, 2019

Grackles think they own our garden and its birdbaths...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

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BarrytheBirder

Oct 3, 2019

Last hummingbird left my backyard on September 20

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Expert birder and author, Ken Kaufman, in his 1996 Lives of North American Birds, addresses Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and states that 'Almost all leave north America in the fall, wintering from Mexico to Costa Rica or Panama. Some may cross Gulf of Mexico but apparently most go around Gulf, concentrating along Texas coast.

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BarrytheBirder

Oct 2, 2019

The Kingbird

Photo by BarrytheBirder

KINGBIRD

(Tyrannus tyrannus)

The Kingbird, whose scientific name is the latin 'Tyrannus tyrannus', meaning tyrant, is listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as being of 'Least Concern' but adds its population trend is 'Decreasing' (insecticides, perhaps?) It eats large insects during migration and on the breeding grounds, but in winter in South America it eats mainly fruit. I have a certain affinity for Kingbirds, I suppose, because I live in the village of King City, in the municipality of King Township, in Ontario, Canada, and Kingbirds are nearby and common here in the summer. I am particularly fond of them because they are so nattily-attired and are fearless at defending their territory against much bigger birds such as hawks or crows.
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BarrytheBirder

Oct 1, 2019

Young Hairy Woodpecker gets the hang of it...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

It's taken this young Hairy Woodpecker a couple of weeks to get the hang of this feeder (pictured above). Actually, the feeder is meant for birds smaller than this 9 1/2" woodpecker, but big birds can get the seeds if they hang low enough on the screen, bend sideways and push their beaks into the reduced opening. As they say, where there's a will, there's a way.

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BarrytheBirder

Sep 30, 2019

Different, but maybe not very attractive...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

This female House Sparrow is displaying what appears to be an over-production of melanin, a dark brown or black pigment which occurs at random in its feathers. It seems however to be quite at home with the other normally-coloured House Sparrows at our backyard feeders.

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BarrytheBirder

Sep 29, 2019

One-legged juvenile European Starling copes quite well...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

The juvenile starling pictured above does not appear unusual at first glance. It does not, however, have a right leg. It's been around at the feeders in the backyard, for most of the summer. Apart from missing the entire right leg, it seems healthy and well fed; plus it is an excellent flyer. It eats with a number of other juvenile starlings but defers to them if a squabble over food breaks out. It's definitely a triumph over adversity.

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BarrytheBirder

Sep 28, 2019

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks do not hang around...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Pictured above is a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak and at right is a female. The pair showed up this spring in the backyard and then disappeared. This happens every year and we are always disappointed. Grosbeaks are common in wooded habitats and our suburban backyard just doesn't seem to be what the grosbeaks are looking for. Pity.

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BarrytheBirder

Sep 27, 2019

Menacing black beady-eyed birds...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

GRACKLES JUST HAVE THAT LOOK!

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BarrytheBirder

Sep 26, 2019

Feathered friends in our backyard garden...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Goldfinch picnic...

...followed by a sip or two

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BarrytheBirder

Sep 25, 2019

Not seeing as many Purple Finches...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Purple Finch

(Carpodacus purpureus)

We have seen fewer and fewer Purple Finches at our feeders during the last several years. I've read that House Sparrows and House Finches have pushed the Purple Finches out into the countryside and woodlands more and more. We still get a few but not like what we used to get.

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BarrytheBirder

Sep 24, 2019

Heron and egrets at the take-out counter...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Most bird photos, I suppose, are candid shots, but the one above seemed slightly opportunistic and posed. I took this photo in the Florida Keys a few years ago at a fast-food snack bar. It shows a Great Blue Heron appearing to be contemplating a take-out order, while a Great Egret (yellow bill and black feet) and a shorter Snowy Egret (black bill and yellow feet) appeared to be waiting their turn.

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BarrytheBirder

Sep 23, 2019

Fall warbler migration underway here...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Tennessee Warbler passes through...

An immature Tennessee Warbler (Vermivora peregrina), on southward migration, showed up in the backyard cedar hedge last Friday. It jumped around so quickly, and apparently so nervously, that I didn't get a picture. But I have included a Tennessee Warbler picture (above) that I took a couple of years ago, during the spring migration. It's a small, indistinctly marked warbler that looks pretty much the same, whether male or female, through its different age stages and seasons. I believe I have seen as many as 12 different warbler species in one fall migration over the last many years. I see most of them early in the morning and particularly after rain during the night before. They are always welcome.

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BarrytheBirder

Sep 22, 2019

Favourite tropical birds...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Bananaquit

(Coereba flaveola)

When my wife and I took winter vacations to the Caribbean islands several years ago, the Bananaquit seemed to be the most ubiquitous island bird we encountered and it easily became one of our favourites. I took the photo above during a one-week-stay in Antigua, just one of a myriad of locations throughout the American tropics, from the Caribbean to the southern border of Argentina, where this charmer is found. There are many geographic variations of this bird with a remarkable 41 recognized subspecies. Because they are preyed upon by rats, snakes and larger birds, they sometimes build their nests next to wasp nests for protection. It appeared to me that they also chose nesting sights nearby to the outdoor dining tables of tourists.

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BarrytheBirder

Sep 21, 2019

Pheucticus ludovicianus

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are not frequent visitors at our King City, Ontario, backyard bird feeders, but when they do make an appearance we always thrilled. What stand-outs they are!

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BarrytheBirder

Sep 20, 2019

Taking nesting material from nasturtium planter...

Photos by BarrytheBirder

Here's a Chick-a-dee that spent a day taking plant fibres from a hanging nasturtium planter, on our back deck, presumably for nearby nest construction or repairs.

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BarrytheBirder

Sep 19, 2019

One more favourite warbler photo...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Orange-crowned Warbler

(Vermivora celata)

I should have included this warbler is yesterday's blog when I posted five of my favourite warbler photos. This warbler photo is not a favourite because of its how it looks, but because of its uncommon presence in eastern Canada. I have only ever seen this bird once, but was able to get the photo above. It is one of the plainest of warblers in appearance. Even the orange stripe on its crown is rarely seen, even in western North America, where it is much more common. In fact, I only have 16 warbler pictures in my birding photo collection and I am rather pleased the 'Orange-crowned' is one of them.

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BarrytheBirder