We are familiar with soaring hawks overhead in search of prey. Red-tailed Hawks, Ferruginous Hawks, Swainson’s Hawks and others we distinguish by their markings, mainly their underside because that’s what we mostly see. But occasionally it gets a little confusing because one Red-tailed Hawk, for example, might be darker or lighter than the last one […]
Avian Color Morphs Read More »
Birds and mammals like us, are homeothermic. We often say “” is a misnomer as tuna and lizards and worms and tuna can be warm blooded at times. Better to say homeothermic which means which means that mammals and birds maintain a fairly constant body temperature at all times. To do that we have to
You may have seen the photo of a Common Merganser mom leading a brood of 76, yes, 76 ducklings. They are not all hers, of course, because there is no way she could sit on and incubate that many eggs. A pair of mergansers will usually only lay a dozen eggs. These unrelated young ducks
I’ve heard stories about attacks on people by owls, but they are few and far between. They happen usually because someone got too close to an owl nest or a domesticated owl got angry with its owner. And “attack” is often too strong a word to describe the bird’s actions. There’s a video labeled “owl
The most basic definition of a species is a group of biological individuals who can interbreed. Using DNA, and morphological and behavioral studies, birds are placed into categories based upon the closeness of their relationships. Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who formalized the modern system of naming organisms called binomial nomenclature.
What Are Bird Species? Read More »
My wife visited her two horses at the stable where they are kept and found two large gopher snakes in the rafters of the barn. One had a nestling House Sparrow in its jaws. The snakes were transported away and released unharmed. I used to think that blaming nest failure on snakes was like attributing
Since 1977, House Sparrow populations have declined by 67 percent in Great Britain. Once a very common bird, the mystery of their disappearance has apparently been solved: a lack of insects. Disappearance of habitats, pesticides, and the conversion of gardens into parkin spaces have all contributed. But it’s not just House Sparrows and not just
Farm Birds Disappearing Read More »
I often hear that birds mate for life. It’s much more complicated. Yes, some birds like waterfowl and seabirds and eagles tend to have long term pair bonds and they may actually stay together for life. This “marriage” certainly makes life easier as it minimizes annual courtship, nesting, and territorial activities. There are a number
Do Birds Mate for Life? Read More »
As I write this, I am at sea about 600 miles east of the Caribbean. Very few birds are in the middle of the ocean here except for the occasional shearwater. But yesterday we had some unusual avian visitors. First I saw a white egret circle the ship a few times. I wasn’t quite sure
The title of this blog is a quote from our former president George W. Bush. Of course I refer to Canada, specifically Newfoundland, where I visited a while back in the fall season. One of the best things about traveling is learning history, culture, and especially geography. Do you know where the easternmost tip of
Our Most Important Neighbor to the North Read More »
