Attention-getting plumage...

Photo: Costfoto / Barcroft Images

A Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) delivers food to her young, in a tree trunk, at a park in Shanghai, on the coast of the Yellow Sea in China.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Starlings at sunset...

Photo: Dave Biggs

Spooked starlings make a hasty exit from a tree in Bayston Hill, Shropshire, England.   The photo was the winner in the Urban Wildlife category of the British Wildlife Photography Awards in 2011.
Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder

Global population runs well into the millions...

Photo: Keith J. Smith / Alamy

A Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) is seen perched on a hedgerow in Wilton, Northhamptonshire, UK.   This raptor appears across Europe and Asia and migrates from its main range in western Russia as far as South Africa; a distance of just over 10,000 km or 1/4 of the Earth's circumference.

The eyes have it...

Photo: Biju Boro / AFP / Getty Images

A Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) is seen looking out from it nest in a tree in the city of Guwahati, in north-east India.
Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder

Orange clouds in China...

Photo:

A silhouetted bird flys in front of clouds illuminated by the rising sun in Karancssag, north-east of Budapest, Hungary.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

For the love of chickens...

Photo: Aletheia Casey

Ella in Callala Bay

Australia National Photographic Portrait

prize finalist 2019

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

The collapse of biodiversity...

Photo: Sam Hobson / WWF

This photo by Sam Hobson was part of a picture essay by The Guardian newspaper in support of the wildlife charity WWF's support of the IPBES (Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, www.ipbes.net).   IPBES, the independent global scientific body on biodiversity of more than 130 governments has just published it report on the current state of life on Earth.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder 

Pecking order for orange juice among Baltimore Orioles...

 Photos by BarrytheBirder

In my backyard, the male Baltimore Oriole (above) is the first to dine on the half oranges.   He is followed by the mature adolescent male (below) who is followed by the female (at bottom).   Naturally, the mature male always gets the lion's share.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Spring arrivals today...

 Above and at left are a male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Below are three male Baltimore Orioles.
Below them is a Scarlet Tanager and at bottom, a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird.   There were also 12 more  species at the feeders today.   It was our best ever spring migrant day in the backyard! 

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

International Garden Photographer of the Year competition...

Photo: Alan Price

Black & White Photo Project 2019

Alan Price's photograph of a Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) in Criccieth, Wales, was a finalist in this year's competition.   The Blue Tit is a European bird that is common and widespread throughout the British Isles.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Big prize for a big gull...

HERRING GULL

(Larus argentatus)

This Herring Gull photograph, taken by Steve Young, won the top prize at the British Wildlife Photography Awards in 2010.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Cassowary kills Florida man...

Photo: Christian Ziegler

This Cassowary was photographed in north-east Queensland, Australia, in 2012, by Christian Ziegler for National Geographic.   In Florida, this past week, a large Cassowary killed its 75-year-old owner, who fell to the ground and was set upon by the huge bird.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Canada Goose nests at entrance to Pierre Berton Library

 Photo by BarrytheBirder

A pair of Canada Geese have taken up residence at the entrance to the Pierre Berton Resource Library, just south of Kleinburg, on the south side of Rutherford Road.   Their nest is in one of the large round planters near the front entrance and is cordoned off with bright yellow hazard tape.   Library patrons and dozens of school students  walk right by the geese throughout the day.   The geese are not totally oblivious to the traffic about them, but seem at complete ease with the situation.

The gander is never far from his mate's nest in the planter and both male and female will even sleep at the same time, despite human traffic passing them by at all times.   It seems a good example of necessity being the mother of invention.

Please comment 

if you wish.

Barry

the Birder

Rose-breasted Grosbeak appears...

 Photos by BarrytheBirder

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

(Phuecticus ludovicianus)

The first Rose-breasted Grosbeak of the spring season showed up on Saturday.   It didn't stay long at the feeders because of the numerous and pesky starlings.  It was a very welcome sight however, especially in flight with its flashing black and white wings.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

First White-crowned Sparrow of the spring arrives...

Photo by BarrytheBirder

A White-crowned Sparrow showed up in the backyard on Saturday, May 4th, approximately 2 weeks after the first White-throated Sparrow arrived.   This is normal but both species seemed to be a bit later than usual.   No surprise however, given the cold, wet spring we have had here in southern Ontario this year.
Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder

A diving seabird of the family Phalacrocorax...

Photo: Costfoto / Barcroft Images

A large, all black cormorant, looking magnificent, but daunting and menacing at the same time is seen taking off in Yichun, Heilongjiang, China.  The province of Heilongjiang is a northernmost, hinterland province of China and  is surrounded by other provinces, plus Mongolia, Russia, Japan and North Korea.
Please comment if you wish.
BarrytheBirder

Grey Heron triumphant...

Photos: Martial Trezzini / EPA / AP

A successful Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) catches and holds onto a carp which it has found in Geneva, Switzerland.   My guess is that this is the maximum size of fish this heron can swallow.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Albatross, the film: ode to a victim of the plastic soup...

Photo: Plastic Soup Foundation

Amsterdam, 18 April 2018 - Halfway through the film, the image suddenly stops.   A close-up of an albatross feeding its chick.   The albatross parent regurgitates food and slips it into the throat of of the hungry chick.  The image stops at the point that a blue piece of plastic glides into the chick's throat.   The American filmmaker, Chris Jordan, has worked on Albatross - a love story for our time from the heart of the Pacific for years.   The film is about the largest colony of albatrosses in the world on Midway, a remote archipelago in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean, and the devastation that the plastic soup is bringing to the colony.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

Two new White Eye species...

Photo: Sean Kelly

Researchers from Ireland and Indonesia and the conservation group Operation Wallacea have described two new species of White Eyes, a widespread family of 140 passerine bird species from Africa, Asia and Australasia.   The new species occur on islands offshore of Sulawesi, a large Indonesian island known for its weird and wonderful plants and animals.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder

"Einstein of the Bird World"...

                                                                                                   Photo: Nathan Emery

AFRICAN GREY PARROT

(Psittacus erithacus)

A recent item in The Guardian says that African Grey Parrots are known for their ability to mimic human speech.  However, this has placed them in grave danger.  The parrots are being pushed toward extinction in the wild to feed the pet trade.   Wikipedia states that this bird is not just a top talker, but is also known for incredible intelligence, which gives it the nickname "Einstein of the Bird World".

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder