Misty morn in Kent...

Photo: Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

An early morning, moody mist engulfs several geese flying near Sundridge, Kent, England.   Sundridge is located in the Sevenoaks District of western Kent, approximately 25 kilometres  southeast of London, near to Surrey.
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BarrytheBirder

A beautiful jay ~ west of the Rockies

Photo by Don Flucker

STELLER'S JAY

Cyanocitta Stelleri

I visited the west coast of Canada many years ago, but did not see A Steller's Jay.   Subsequently, I have seen many photos over the years but did not really appreciate the beauty of this bird until I saw the photo above, taken by an old acquaintance named Don Flucker.   I knew Don when he lived in Ontario, but he now lives in British Columbia, which explains how he is able to take photos of Steller's Jays on Canada's west coast.   What a great picture with the jay in the centre, the garden background on the left and the complementary blue birdbath on the right.

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BarrytheBirder

Intersecting flocks of flying cranes

Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / AFP / Getty Images

Two 'Vs' become one 'W'

Two flocks of migrating cranes, flying in 'V' formations,  overlap in the sky to form a "W".   The photo was taken as the cranes swept across the sky over Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

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BarrytheBirder 

Storks at sunset in Lombardy, Italy

Photo: Antonio Calanni / AP

Two White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) are silhouetted on their nest by the setting sun, in Zerbolo, Italy.   Zerbolo is a small Italian commune, 30km south of Milan.  White storks are found in Europe, Africa and the Indian sub-continent.   The male and female both build a large nest (see above) which may be used for several years.
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BarrytheBirder 

Endangered parrot takes a beating

 

An extremely rare Red-necked Parrot (see photo above), found only is Dominica, is seen scavenging for food in a rainforest hit by Hurricane Maria.   Since Maria, sightings of the bird, which is displayed on the country's flag, have been few and far between.   Hurricane Maria's 280 kph. winds destroyed the ancient Dominican forest that cover the island.  Some foliage remains but the island's very identity is compromised.   A green island has become a brown island (see photo below).  Dominicans have survived the damages of Erika, as well as the ravages of Hurricane David in the 1970s and are presumably expecting the tree cover to return.   But what of the parrots?

    Photos above: Tomas Ayuso/IRIN

Photo: Animalscamp.com

The Red-necked Parrot (Amazona arausiaca) or Red-necked Amazon, is also known as the Dominican Blue-faced Amazon, the Lesser Dominican Amazon and the Jaco Parrot.   It is endemic to Dominica.

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BarrytheBirder

Blue Jays share a bite...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

"Do you come here often?"

"Yeah...best seeds on the street!"

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BarrytheBirder

Ontario's top ten birds for the 2016/2017 season

  No. 1 - Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis)   All photos by Barry Wallace

Project FeederWatch ~ Ontario Region

November 2016 to April 2017 marked the 41st year that Project FeederWatch (plus its predecessor, Ontario Bird Feeder Survey) has tracked bird species at winter bird feeders in Ontario, as well as the rest of Canada.   Following are the most recent, top ten species for Ontario:

1.   Black-capped Chickadee

2.   Downy Woodpecker

3.   Dark-eyed Junco

4.   American Goldfinch

5.   White-breasted Nuthatch

6.   Blue Jay

7.   Mourning Dove

8.   Northern Cardinal

9.   European Starling

10. Red-breasted Nuthatch

  No. 2 - Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens)

   No. 3 - Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)

   No. 4 - American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis)

   No. 5 - White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis)

  No. 6 - Blue Jay - (Cyanocitta cristata)

  No. 7 - Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)

   No. 8 Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis)

   No. 9 - European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

   No. 10 - Red-breasted Nuthatch ( Sitta canadensis)

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BarrytheBirder

91-year-old David Attenborough is back...

BIue Planet II ~ seas seen as never before

The inimitable David Attenborough is returning with the sequel to Blue Planet, but now the seas are changing faster then ever.   One of the amazing segments (see photo above) features a bird-eating fish: the very large Trevally, in a lagoon on an Indian Ocean atoll.   The Trevally has seen a tern flying low above the water and has launched itself out of the water to snatch the tern out of the air.   Young, unwary terns are particularly vulnerable.   But you'll have to view the new series to see how successful Trevallies are when they jump out of the ocean.

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BarrytheBirder   

Whose afraid of the big bad turkey?

    Photo by Jim Hadcock

Photo by BarrytheBirder

Wild Turkeys, after having been wiped out of eastern Canada and the US. a hundred years ago, are making a remarkable comeback.  But they are increasingly clashing with human residents in semi-urban areas, who say the turkeys destroy their gardens, damage automobiles, chase household pets and attack people.   The complaints are often nothing more than a turkey blocking traffic, but recently in New England, there were five cases of Wild Turkeys that became so aggressive, local police has to shoot them to protect humans.  Recently, a large male turkey attacked a woman and her child and backed off only when the mother whacked the turkey several times with a shovel.  Local officials suggested residents "...step forward and act confidently."   Whenever I come across Wild Turkeys, they are always very wary and immediately head off in the opposite direction.   I also think Wild Turkeys have learned to recognize shotguns when they see them.

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BarrytheBirder 

Australia's favourite bird?

   Photo: Martin Harvey/Getty Images/Gallo Images

Photo: J. J. Harrison

Australia seems to have a love/hate relationship with many, many of its 800 bird species.   So much so that it seems no one has ever organized a survey of Aussies to determine the country's favourite bird.   But anecdotally, it seems that the Pink and Grey Galahs have a slight edge over all other birds on the 'down under' continent and would be chosen as the favourite bird if an official contest or special survey was held.  They are undoubtedly attractive.

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BarrytheBirder

Changing Climate Photo Award...

Photo: Jose Luis Rodriguez

Jose Luis Rodriguez, 2017 Ciwem Environmental Photographer of the Year, was awarded the Ciwem Changing Climates prize for this outstanding photograph "Flight for Life", showing a kingfisher, caught mid-flight, with extreme pollution dominating the background.

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BarrytheBirder

Bird of the Year in New Zealand

                                                                                                 Photo: Wikipedia Commons

Seen above are Keas at Arthur's Pass National Park, in Canterbury, New Zealand.   The Kea (Nestor notabilis) is the world's only alpine parrot.   It has been crowned New Zealand's Bird of the Year, with thousands more votes cast for the species than there are surviving individuals.   Pity.

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BarrytheBirder

Canadian Pink-footed Goose

   Photo: Cernan Elias / Alamy

Photo: Bird Watching Magazine

Pink-footed Geese (Anser brachyrhynchus) are seen above searching for food on the marshland of the RSPB Nature Reserve in Southside, Merseyside, UK.  They are common and plentiful in northwest Europe, plus Greenland, Iceland and eastern Canada.  They are also known as Canadian Pink-footed Goose.

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BarrytheBirder

Military Macaw battling to carry on...

                                                                                                           Photo by Tim Flack

MILITARY MACAW

(Ara militaras)

Military Macaws are caught for the pet trade and are endangered by habitat loss.  In 2007, Defenders of Wildlife estimated that each year 78,500 birds were caught in Mexico and a quarter of their original habitat has been cleared for development.   Today, fewer than 10,000 are surviving in a dwindling habitat.   In 2008, Mexico issued an export ban on its 22 parrot species, but illegal local market sales continue.  The macaw's IUCN Red List Status is 'Vulnerable'.

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BarrytheBirder

Pigeons of New Guinea and Australia

The pigeons seen here were all photographed by Leila Jeffreys of Australia and are currently on display in at New York's Olsen Gruin Gallery.    Ms Jeffreys focuses on bird species diversity and these extraordinary colourful photos certainly belie the lowly reputation of the pigeon or rock dove.

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BarrytheBirder

Near Canterbury in south-east England

Photo: Dan Kitwood /Getty Images

Redshanks (Tringa Totanus) land at Oare Marshes in the Thames Estuary, Faversham, Kent, near Canterbury in south-east England.   The estuary offers harbour for migratory birds as well as resident birds.

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BarrytheBirder

Duck of many names...

Photo: STR/EPA

Whistling Tail Birds (Dendrocygna javanica) a.k.a. Black-bellied Whistling Duck, Indian Whistling Duck, and Lesser Whistling Teal, are photographed at Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Morigaon District, Assa, India.   With winter's onset, migratory birds have begun to arrive in north-east India.

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BarrytheBirder  

Bird photo winners

Natural History Museum, London

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017

53rd ANNUAL EXHIBITION

Photo: Gerry Pearce 

Behaviour: Birds Category

The Incubator Bird

by Gerry Pearce, UK/Australia

Most birds incubate their eggs with their bodies.   Not so the Australian Brush Turkey (Alectura lathami), one of a handful of birds, the megapodes, that do it with an oven.   Only the males oversee incubation.   In the winning picture above, a male has chosen to create his nest-mound near the photographer's home in Sydney, bordering Garigal National Park.   If he and his mound were to a female's liking, she would lay a clutch of eggs inside.   In the photo above, the male is piling on more insulation of brush to raise the temperature.

Photo: Ekaterina Bee

10 years and younger category
The Grip of the Gulls
by Ekaterina Bee, Italy

Like all her family, five-and-a-half year old Ekaterina Bee is fascinated by nature.  On a boat trip off the coast of central Norway, her focus was on the cloud of Herring Gulls above her.   They were after food, and as soon as Ekaterina threw them bread, they surrounded her.   She liked the expression of the bird furthest away.   "It looked very curious, as if it was trying to understand what was happening on the boat.

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BarrytheBirder

Hummingbirds can be fierce or wary...

Hungriest birds in the world 

Hummingbirds aggressively defend flowers and feeders and are particularly aggressive during mating season.   They will attack many other birds, all of which are likely larger, plus animals and even humans.   National Geographic claims hummingbirds are the hungriest birds in the world.   There are other birds, animals and even insects, that pose a threat to hummingbirds.   One of the creatures that hummingbirds are particularly wary of is hornets, such as the Bald-faced Hornets pictured below.   Any hornet, wasp or bee will make a hummingbird abandon a nectar feeder. 

Photos by BarrytheBirder

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BarrytheBirder

Lucky South Americans...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

I sometimes think that South American birders are the most fortunate in the world.   Why?   Because every hummingbird in the world is to be found there.   There are about 325 species in the world, but they are found only in the western hemisphere.   And while eight hummingbirds species nest in North America in summer and 20 or so species visit North America, in winter they are all to be found in South America.   The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that have spent the summer in my backyard, headed south three weeks ago.   Was I sorry to see them go.   Yes.   Do I feel deprived?  No.  'Hummers' in a my garden are a joy every day I see them.   The memory of their sight and sound is with me 365 days of every year.   I am a lucky birder and I never forget it.

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BarrytheBirder