Tiny bird with a big name...

Photo: Georgi Licovski / EPA

WGREAT TITW

(Parus major major)

This charming wee bird, with the otherwise provocative name, is seen in a winter setting, on a tree in the Jakupica Mountain Range in central Macedonia.   Apart from the yellow flanks, the Great Tit reminds me of the omnipresent Chickadees in my Ontario backyard cedar hedge.
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BarrytheBirder   

Snow is excellent backdrop for European Goldfinches

Photo: Rebecca Cole / Alamy Stock Photo

European Goldfinch

(Carduelis carduelis)

European Goldfinches are seen in a snowy garden at Burley Wharfedale, West Yorkshire, England.   This past winter was not particularly harsh in Britain, save for a few snowstorms late in the season, as evidenced in the photo above, by Rebecca Cole.   This bird loves niger seeds and has the perfect bill for the job.

Photo by Nexhmedin Ramadani

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Barry the Birder

Invasive mink

Photo: GB Non-native Species Secretariat

An American Mink (Neovison vison), an invasive species in Britain, attacks an unfortunate juvenile gannet.   This skilled predator consumes small mammals like voles shrews, rabbits and rats, plus fish, frogs, eels and crayfish, as well as birds and eggs.   American Mink were introduced to Britain in the 1920s, but its numbers are declining.
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BarrytheBirder 

The Turtle Dove...

Photo: Alamy Stock Photo

TURTLE DOVE

(Streptopelia turtur)

I've just acquainted myself with images and descriptions of the Turtle Dove.  A few other elegant-looking doves in the genus Streptopelia are also called 'Turtle Dove', such as the Asian Oriental Turtle Dove and the African Dusky Turtle Dove.  The Turtle Dove is quite similar to the Mourning Doves (photo below) that inhabit my Canadian backyard in both summer and cold, snowy winters.   I'm not familiar yet with the sound of Turtle Doves, but the cooing of Mourning Doves is one of my favourite, sweet and soft bird sounds.

Photo by BarrytheBirder

MOURNING DOVE

(Zenaida macroura)

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BarrytheBirder

Hawaiian Islands beach...

Photo: NOAA

One of several Layson Albatross (Phoebastria immutabilis) chicks finds itself surrounded on a beach littered with plastic marine debris, on a shore in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands.   Sadly, this is a scene to be found around the world, on beaches and on floating masses of sea debris.

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BarrytheBirder

Weddell Seal and Gentoo Penguin in Antarctica

Photo:Paul Hilton / Greenpeace

GENTOO PENGUIN

(Pygoscelis papua)

A Weddell Seal snoozes near a squawking Gentoo Penguin on Greenwich Island, part of the south Shetland Island Group in Antarctica.   The exact origin of the Gentoo name is long forgotten.   They are the only penguin species currently increasing its population and range.   Their numbers are increasing on the Antarctica peninsula but are plummeting on some surrounding islands.   They received a 'near threatened status' on the IUCN Red List in 2007.

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BarrytheBirder

Bird with an over-designed bill?

Photo:Biju Boro / AFP / Getty Images

ORIENTAL PIED HORNBILL

(Anthracoceros albarostris)

An Oriental Pied Hornbill eats a seed as it perches in a tree in Pobitora Village, on the outskirts of Guwahati, in India's northeast Assam State.   The huge bill assists in fighting, preening, constructing nests and catching prey.   Whatever its intended use, it seems an over-statement and does, in fact, compromises the hornbill's vision field somewhat.
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BarrytheBirder

Egyptian (or Nile) Goose

   Photo: Sina Schuldt / AFP / Getty Images

Photo: Andreas Trepte / Wikipedia

EGYPTIAN

GOOSE

(Alopochen aegyptiaca)

A young Egyptian Goose (a.k.a. Nile goose) is seen above hiding under its mother's belly, in Stuttgart, southern Germany.  Egyptian Geese are native to sub-Sahara Africa.

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BarrytheBirder

Beautiful Barnacle Goose photo

Photo: Ed McAskill

BARNACLE GOOSE

(Branta leucopsis)

Above is a spectacular photo by Ed McAskill of the Barnacle Goose that has mesmerized many local and Ontario birders for the last week or so, at the sewage lagoons behind the Trisan Centre in Schomberg, Ontario.   Several birders from western New York State have also made the trip to Schomberg to add this bird to their life lists.

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BarrytheBirder

Warblers welcome whenever - part 2

Photo and haiku by BarrytheBirder

the coldest season

its reputation well-earned
melts in spring's promise

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BarrytheBirder

Warblers welcome whenever...

Photo and haiku by BarrytheBirder

YELLOW WARBLER

(Dendroica petechia)

winter never wins

its harshness subdued once more

by spring's warm breath

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BarrytheBirder

Yellow-eyed Penguin numbers continue to decline

Photo: Murdo McLoed / The Guardian

Yellow-eyed Penguin

(Megadyptes antipodes)

A Yellow-eyed Penguin (above) recovers after an operation on its left foot at the Dunedin Wildlife Hospital on the South Island of New Zealand.   Numbers of the threatened penguin species continue to decline despite the work of conservation groups.

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BarrytheBirder

A 'show-off' hummingbird

Photo: Luis Robayo / AFP / Getty Images

White-Booted Racquet-tailed Hummingbird

(Ocreatus underwoodii)

A White-Booted Raquet-tailed Hummingbird (Ocreatus underwoodii) is seen, above, and up close in the cloud forest of San Antonio, in a rural area of Cali, Columbia.  This very small but spectacular and eye-catching 'hummer' is found in Venezuela, Columbia and south to Bolivia.  There are more than 300 species of hummingbirds in the world and they are all found in the western hemisphere, most of them in south America.

 Photo: Dubai Shapiro

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BarrytheBirder

Bumble-bee beware

Photo: Ali Ihsan Osturk / Anadolu Agency / Getty Images

EUROPEAN BEE-EATERS

(Merops apiaster)

Pictured above are two European Bee-eaters in Van, Turkey.   They are also known as Eurasian or Golden Bee-eaters and are found in southern Europe, northern Africa and western Asia.   They seem to be expanding their range as far north north as Great Britain, Finland and Sweden.   Bee-eaters are able to remove the stingers from bees, wasps and

hornets before devouring the insects.   Beehives are favourite targets of bee-eaters, much to the dismay of beekeepers.

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BarrytheBirder

The curse of plastic waste...

Photo: Chris Jordan

Black-footed Albatross

(Diomedea nigripes)

A 'still' photo from "Albatross", a film by Chris Jordan, shot on Midway Island, in the north Pacific Ocean, draws attention to the crisis facing birds caused by plastic waste in the oceans around the world.

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BarrytheBirder

"Call of the wild"

Photo: Daniel Beltra / Greenpeace

GENTOO PENGUIN

(Pygoscelis papua)

Seen above is a braying Gentoo Penguin in a colony on Cuverville Island in the Errera Channel, Antartic Peninsula.  The Antartic island is over 1,100 kms. south of Ushuaia, Argentina, and is home to 6,500 breeding pairs of gentoos.
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BarrytheBirder  

Common across Europe and Asis

Photo: Simon Wilkinson /REX / Shutterstock 

COMMON KINGFISHER
(Alcedo atthis)

The Common Kingfisher, above, was photographed against a background of snow at Whiteley Woods, in Sheffield, England (not a good winter for England).   There are almost 100 kingfisher species around the world.

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BarrytheBirder

BarrytheBirder

Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis) at Schomberg Lagoon

Photo: Andreas Trepte / www.photo-natur-net

Barnacle Goose in King Township

I added a new bird to my life list yesterday, courtesy of my friend and King City neighbour, Gerald Binsfeld, birder extraordinaire.   Gerald alerted me to a Barnacle Goose that was to be found in the midst of 800 Canada Geese in the pond just east of the Trisan Community Centre in Schomberg, just off Hwy. 27.   It was also a 'life bird' for Gerald and many, many other birders who came from across southern Ontario to see it.   There's probably been 200 observers at the site in just the past two days.   Gerald observed that this bird was resting much more than the Canada Geese around it.   It probably had had a rough journey from its northern European/Asian homeland, what with crossing an ocean and encountering Canadian snowstorms.   My personal observation is that the Barnacle Goose is even more attractive than the similar Canada Goose.   Now, if I could just figure out how to change that life list number, above, from 425 to 426.

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BarrytheBirder

Eurasian Eagle Owl - Bubo bubo

Photo:Ozkan Bilgin / Anadolou /Getty Images

MNo look more compelling than an owl'sM

A  Eurasian Eagle owl is ready to be released after being treated at a wildlife rehabilitation centre in Van, Turkey.

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BarrytheBirder

Bird Photographer of the Year - part 3

White-tailed Eagle

Hortobagy, Hungary

Photo: Ben Hall

Kingfisher diving

Spain

Photo: Mario Cea Sanchez

Rudy Duck

British Columbia, Canada

Photo: Jess Findlay

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder