Wild Side Ornithology Club

[freedombecki]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq88cglxaeo]Duck underwater swimming Might be a Black guillemot - YouTube[/ame]

This I couldn't have seen the other day when the black guillimots were flying around the lake area, but someone was kind enough to leave pictures of this certainly unique creature in their part of the world, and I'm sure they were seeing the same specie of bird I saw when I didn't know what I was looking at. They are competitors, from some of the videos I've been watching, and they catch what little swimmers they're after, from the skies and to and under the water.
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[freedombecki]

Some Guillimots of another specie, flying in European northlands:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGrmPqLH1lY]The Flight of the Guillemots, Stora Karlsö, 1 November 2010 - YouTube[/ame]

I can't detract from the amazing spectre these birds are, but I have to say the show the black Guillimots put on here was total dazzle. The wing movements are, however similar. It's just that that white patch atop the wing on the Black Guillimot is like a finger snap next to silence by comparison. It's just a visual difference, I'm sure, but wow, these "common" guillimots are funky too.
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[freedombecki]

A little of my wish came true yesterday. I kept seeing darkish birds darting back and forth but landing beyond the Holly tree that is getting so large, it's starting to be a view obstruction. I need to clean up the base so I can watch those little characters. It's just that there are about 25 different pairs of birds nesting/eating berries in the tree. I've seen songbirds of every make and model in that small tree. I'm glad I left it standing, but when the birds fly away this fall, I have GOT to trim the lower limbs, and I may just wear a raincoat with hat and do it sooner. I do not want to disturb nests, but if the Guillimot family is staying, I want to see the gray chicks for myself.

Oh, yes, and just before dark last night, I was looking out there and there were those red legs, cute flight, Black Guillimot flying to the northwest side of the lake/pond. I really should call it a manmade lake, it's 2.5 acres, and definitely not a pond. Plus the resident Great Blue Heron and daily Great Egret visits make it a ton of fun for me.

 

[freedombecki]

Yesterday, I was wondering after seeing several videos of them disappearing from view, just how deep these seabirds dive for pray when they have to. I found the following source here:

DETAILED INFORMATION

General feeding behaviour
Black Guillemots are mostly bottom feeders, searching bottom vegetation for fish, but may also take prey in transit between bottom and surface [9, 10, 11, 13, 14]. They propel themselves through the water using primarily their wings.

Foraging habitat – breeding season, migration and wintering period
Black Guillemots feed mainly in shallow inshore waters during the breeding season, especially within the littoral-sublittoral boundary, but more offshore in winter [15]. They are considered the most inshore of alcids and are rarely found far offshore [27]. Black Guillemots in the Bay of Fundy, Canada, generally preferred waters of moderate current velocity (30–68 cm/s) and intermediate depth (17–31 m) [26], which appears to be related to minimizing energy expenditure. They also appeared to use passive drift with ebbing tides and short-distance flights to reposition in optimum feeding zones.
The species tends to forage over hard-bottomed areas or ledges [26, 32]. In Shetland, U.K., Black Guillemots tend to forage where the seabed is rocky and vegetated with dense stands of Laminaria kelp [18], reflecting the habitat preferences of their main prey - butterfish Pholis gunnellus and blennies (Blenniidae); in the Bay of Fundy, birds preferred islands with extensive underwater ledges, presumably because these harboured sufficient prey and provided protection from fast-moving tidal waters [26].
In areas where coastal waters freeze, birds move into offshore pack ice [7], and birds often forage along ice edges over pelagic waters and feed on less diverse fauna under sea ice [5, 23]. For instance, the observed distribution of Black Guillemots in March, April, and May in Jones Sound, North West Territories, Canada, coincides with the location of open water and associated ice edges but after the ice margin recedes and shorelines open, the distribution of Black Guillemots tends to reflect the location of breeding colonies [31]. Switching of foraging strategies allows successful overwintering in high-arctic latitudes.

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[koshergrl]

My favorites:

Belted kingfisher

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUwgjKCcnxI]Belted Kingfisher - YouTube[/ame]

 

[koshergrl]

 

[koshergrl]

Flicker:

 

[koshergrl]

I love crows...the crows here are gregarious..they will steal your lunch out of your hand (bag and all) and I don't know how many times I've seen people chasing after them at waysides, trying to retrieve their goodies, still securely packaged....

My son also had a go-around with them when he was quite young...a crow stole his burger out of his hand.

We have a murder (murder of crows, it's great) that live in my neighborhood, and they make the rounds. I have the kids throw out any leftovers that might be in the car...stray fries, bits of sandwiches, cookies....in the morning as we're leaving...the crows watch and as soon as we pull back out of the driveway, they descend. Love them.

 

[koshergrl]

And of course, hummingbirds..

 

[freedombecki]

Thanks for posting the Steller's Jay, Koshergrl. We used to have one of those hanging around the bird feeder in Wyoming, and I've actually seen one here in East Texas, although I think they're usually more west coast than anything. They have been known to follow rivers and waterways down south, so their sightings here are rare, I think. - Nope, the CBC says they are indeed occasionally found here in East Texas:

http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/CBCMap/ra4780.gif

Patuxent Bird Identification Map of Steller's Jay, CBC

Maybe that is the large blue bird that has been flying to and from the Holly tree to the lake, which is about 20 yards from my perch upstairs by the bay window. They just fly so fast, though, I can't say for sure, but I don't know what else would be that size and shade of dark blue.
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[koshergrl]

They're pretty common here. The route the kids and I take to their school takes us through the pretty neighborhood where I grew up (there were a lot fewer houses and streets when I was a girl though) and there is a Stellar who lives on one of those streets and hangs out in a big fir, he's very funny and social.

 

[koshergrl]

We also have these:

 

[freedombecki]

This bird, I love. It is the state bird of two states I've lived in, and it's song is one of the sweetest trills in the bird kingdom.

Western Meadowlark

Birdlist's Birds of Oregon
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[koshergrl]

And snowy plovers...we have nesting grounds:

Which means you can't take your dogs to certain areas at certain times of the year...

 

[koshergrl]

This bird, I love. It is the state bird of two states I've lived in, and it's song is one of the sweetest trills in the bird kingdom.

Western Meadowlark

Birdlist's Birds of Oregon​

Oh thank you! Love meadowlarks!

 

[koshergrl]

And sandpipers:

 

[freedombecki]

They're pretty common here. The route the kids and I take to their school takes us through the pretty neighborhood where I grew up (there were a lot fewer houses and streets when I was a girl though) and there is a Stellar who lives on one of those streets and hangs out in a big fir, he's very funny and social.

The Stellers Jays really are corkers, no doubt about it. They love peanuts mixed in with a nice mix of songbird seeds and nuts. Their color is so blue!

Right now, I'm listening to another corker--the mockingbird is speiling about 55 different mocked songs a minute. lol

Oh, yes, and they say the more songs the male mockingbird knows, the girl birds view him as an alpha male. People have recorded them going through a list of over 100 different bird and human trills, sounds, and songs. hahahaha. They do it for love.

 

[koshergrl]

We also have these....

I don't remember pelicans around here when I was a girl, but we definitely have them now, which probably means they were a native population that was knocked back and has come back.

Double crested cormorant...they've become a nuisance...they eat salmon, which is a problem.

 

[koshergrl]

Snow geese. I remember as a girl we would always drive out to South Jetty when they migrated in, to see them.

 

[koshergrl]

Chickadee.