Wild Side Ornithology Club

[beautress]

OK, Marion. I plugged in "Small, Dark brown bird" into my search engine and got this:

1. Brown Rock Chat --insectivores

Problem: they're an old-world bird.


2. Wren

3. Winter wren (northwest coastal state)


4. Grasshopper Sparrow (smallest sparrow)

See how hard it is to find a bird someone else saw? The only solid brown bird I could find was the chat. Unfortunately, it lives in India.




​

2.

 

[Marion Morrison]

OK, Marion. I plugged in "Small, Dark brown bird" into my search engine and got this:

1. Brown Rock Chat --insectivores

Problem: they're an old-world bird.


2. Wren

3. Winter wren (northwest coastal state)


4. Grasshopper Sparrow (smallest sparrow)

See how hard it is to find a bird someone else saw? The only solid brown bird I could find was the chat. Unfortunately, it lives in India.




​

2.

They looked like the chat. Skinnier body like that, very small. Sparrows raid my wasp nests all the time, they are kinda nice to have around. They hit that nest 2-3x a day, grab a larva or full-grown wasp and eat it.

 

[beautress]

Sorry, we only have one chat known to this continent, and it has light colored parts and was 4.7". So did the smallest brown bird I could find here, the Bushtit, and it was 4.3" and pictured below, nothing like a chat at all.

Great article and list of similar-sized birds that you may be able to locate the birds you actually saw, keeping in mind that a group of birds as nervous as bushtits may never stay in one place long enough to look like the model bird above, and therefore may be smaller due to dehydration or whatever other problem the group encountered to make them look as small as they were. Also, if there was a storm from a different area than North America in which the birds got transported to the North American continent in that manner, isolated groups do appear from time to time on the other side of the world from here: I'm hoping one of the species below looks like your elusive little fellows. Virginia creepers comes to mind, but that may not be the birds you saw.

Bushtit Fact Sheet

Similar Birds: ​

• Wrentit (Chamaea fasciata)​
• Verdin (Auriparus flaviceps)​
• Pygmy Tit (Psaltria exilis)​
• Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptilia caerulea)​
• Black-Tailed Gnatcatcher (Polioptila melanura)​
• Gray Vireo (Vireo vicinior)​
• Juniper Titmouse (Baeolophus ridgwayi)​
• Oak Titmouse (Baeolophus inornatus)​

 

[beautress]

Also, Marion, I visited my old favorite bird identification area, a dot gov that can help, and I just highlighted and copied a group of small birds you might look up sometime to see if one of them is the small flock you saw: Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter

• Bushtit-Family: Aegithalidae
  • Bushtit Psaltriparus minimus
• Nuthatches-Family: Sittidae
  • Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitta canadensis
  • White-breasted Nuthatch Sitta carolinensis
  • Pygmy Nuthatch Sitta pygmaea
  • Brown-headed Nuthatch Sitta pusilla
• Creeper-Family: Certhiidae
  • Brown Creeper Certhia americana
• Wrens-Family: Troglodytidae
  • Cactus Wren Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus
  • Rock Wren Salpinctes obsoletus
  • Canyon Wren Catherpes mexicanus
  • Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus
  • Bewick's Wren Thryomanes bewickii
  • House Wren Troglodytes aedon
  • Winter Wren Troglodytes troglodytes
  • Sedge Wren Cistothorus platensis
  • Marsh Wren Cistothorus palustris

 

[beautress]

OK, Marion. I plugged in "Small, Dark brown bird" into my search engine and got this:

1. Brown Rock Chat --insectivores

Problem: they're an old-world bird.


2. Wren

3. Winter wren (northwest coastal state)


4. Grasshopper Sparrow (smallest sparrow)

See how hard it is to find a bird someone else saw? The only solid brown bird I could find was the chat. Unfortunately, it lives in India.




​

2.

They looked like the chat. Skinnier body like that, very small. Sparrows raid my wasp nests all the time, they are kinda nice to have around. They hit that nest 2-3x a day, grab a larva or full-grown wasp and eat it.

Marion, did you check out the above post? I'm sorry. I forget that if I don't hit "reply" the person you're talking to at USMB is not duly notified. lol Hope you figured out what it is. I know that Black Guillemots are generally arctic circle birds that dwell mainly on European shores and even inland lakes where they enjoy dipping. I had the unique pleasure of observing these strange black birds that looked like confetti as they flew in and out of my backyard lake area, because they have an enlongated white spot on or beneath their wings, red mouths and red legs. It took me a couple of days of researching books and online, but I finally identified them because I took good notes and went straight to it. They hung around for a couple of weeks, which was a delight to look out on the late and watch them swoop over the surface en masse. The glitter of their frenetic wing flying was awesome to see. Never noticed any bird like them Then one day, they disappeared. The following summer I saw only one pair, not in a group as before. It is just so wonderful to know that you can find the bird you are looking for if you just take notes. I talked to some bird folk when I went to an Audubon presentation at the local library. Unfortunately, none of them had ever had the joy of noticing the flock, but online I found someone who knew that occasionally, a flock will get isolated in the eye of a great storm that can travel thousands of miles before it lands. These birds may have just stopped here on their way back to wherever they came from once they had a chance to recharge their strength with the good eating they found in my pond that would keep them here two weeks before going back to wherever they came from. One thing that bothered me a little was that their appearance was their blackness was a shade to the dusky but very, very dark brown color rather than sleek black, but the markings and red mouths and legs were the reason I knew I had identified them right. Maybe something in the winds that brought them to Walker County, Texas lightened their color, or they dipped in an oil slick somewhere. There are derricks dotting the countryside within a couple of hundred miles from here, which would be nothing for the migratory birds that black guillemots are. Either that, or they are such secretive birds they fly all over east Texas, seldom staying at the same area unless a few years have passed, long enough for their feeding grounds to replenish whatever they dined upon. But for me, seeing them fly was a treat I shall never forget.

 

[beautress]

Back to the Audubon flip page calendar, January 3, 2019 is the Little Blue Heron, for which they show one of the white morphs or a young Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea flying, and it looks like an adult. The little blue heron is not common in my lake, but I see a family of their cousins, the Great White Egrets in my Freedom Lake which are too elegant to describe here. Apparently the Little blue heron is common in the lake areas of Mississippi, according to what I read of them at the Audubon website or the Pautuxent Bird Identification Infocenter.

Here's what I found somewhere at the government or Audubon sites. Credits on the pictures when opened.

​

 

[beautress]

For January 4, my Audubon flip a page shows the beautiful Regal Sunbird or Cinnyris regius. Of course, it is exotic, so I had to go to Bing to get this African Congo cutie. Audubon only has North American birds. It is an amazing website, though, complete with maps, the sound of the bird, and full description that reflects someone's enchantment about sighting this or that little feathered friend.

 

[beautress]

Whooper Swan, Cygnus, cygnus

​

​

01.05.2019 - Today's Audubon Page-a-Day shows 5 swans swimming on a snow-surrounded lake. I saw my first swan when I was about 4-8 years old at what was then called the Houston Zoological Gardens, and more recently, The Houston Zoo. In 1971, my husband and I saw some on our honeymoon near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. When he was transferred to Oregon, we saw them swimming near the Shakespearean Festival area at Ashland, Oregon in 1982; in 2006, we saw some more on our Baltic Sea tour in a park pond in Poland.​

Swans are majestic birds, but they're not just a pretty face in the bird world. In April of 2012, in a residential pond in Des Plains, Illinois, a man was killed when a swan overturned his kayak, then according to eyewitnesses, drowned when the swan blocked him from swimming to shore. How dangerous are swans?

​

The ornithologist consulted by the author of the article printed in the UK, thought the aggressor bird was likely a male mute swan that only gets riled when someone approaches the nest where young swans are being tended. Continental swan attacks are very rare to almost never according to the report.

​

Even though they are exceedingly good parents to their babies, approaching one in the springtime (or any other time) is not the best of good ideas. They are intolerant of outsiders when raising a brood.

 

[beautress]

Monday, January 7, 2019 my page-a-day bird from Audubon Soci3ety lists the Violet Sabrewing, Campylorerus hemilejucurus this day, but doesn't say a word, so I haveta go look it up. Wikipedia: Violet sabrewing - Wikipedia

The violet sabrewing (Campylopterus hemileucurus) is a very large hummingbird native to southern Mexico and Central America as far south as Costa Rica and western Panama.

It is a species of the understory and edges of mountain forests, especially near streams. The female violet sabrewing lays two white eggs in a relatively large cup nest on a low horizontal branch, usually over a stream.

The violet sabrewing is 15 cm (5.9 in) long; the male weighs 11.5 g (0.41 oz) and the female 9.5 g (0.34 oz). It is the largest hummingbird found outside of South America and the largest sabrewing. The adult male is deep violet, with a dark green back and wing coverts. The shafts of the male's outer primary flight feathers are thickened and flattened to give the distinctive feature which gives the sabrewings their English and scientific names. The three outer pairs of feathers of the otherwise black tail are white; this gives rise to the scientific species name, hemileucurus translating as "half-white tail", but several other sabrewings share the tail pattern, not least the white-tailed sabrewing of Venezuela and Tobago​

 

[beautress]

01.09.2019

The Atlantic Puffin
Fratercula arctica – “little brother of the north”​

 

[beautress]

01.10.2019

Roseate Spoonbill
Platalea ajaja

​

 

[beautress]

01.08.2019

Ring-necked Pheasant
Phasianus colchicus
​

 

[beautress]

Today's Audubon Page-a-Day is showing a huge flock of Pied Avocets in flight. Boy, would I ever like to have seen that due to their wing markings.

Pied Avocets
Recurvirostra avosetta


I think it captured the frenetic nature of wing patterns for birds in a huge flock. The only other bird I've actually seen that has unique markings is the Black Guillemot. They're absolutely awesome in vitro.​

 

[beautress]

Pied avocet - Wikipedia
Recurvirostra avosetta
​

The pied avocet is a striking white wader with bold black markings. Adults have white plumage except for a black cap and black patches in the wings and on the back. They have long, upturned bills and long, bluish legs. It is approximately 16.5–17.75 in (41.9–45.1 cm) in length of which the bill is approximately 2.95–3.35 in (7.5–8.5 cm) and the legs are approximately 3–4 in (7.6–10.2 cm). Its wing-span is approximately 30–31.5 in (76–80 cm).[8] Males and females look alike. The juvenile resembles the adult but with more greyish and sepia tones.

The call of the avocet is a far-carrying, liquid, melodious kluit kluit.[8]

Behaviour[edit]

Pied avocet (juvenile) near Oosterend, Texel island, the Netherlands
These birds forage in shallow brackish water or on mud flats, often scything their bills from side to side in water (a feeding technique that is unique to the avocets[9]). They mainly eat crustaceans and insects.

Their breeding habitat is shallow lakes with brackish water and exposed bare mud. They nest on open ground, often in small groups, sometimes with other waders. 3–5 eggs are laid in a lined scrape or on a mound of vegetation.

​

 

[beautress]

Red-legged honeycreeper
Cyanerpes cyaneus
​

This morning, I flipped the page-a-day calendar to its weekend page for January 12 and 13 (Sat-Sun) and today's bird is a Red-legged Honeycreeper is found. Then at Wikipedia, it says:

Overview -The red-legged honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus) is a small songbird species in the tanager family (Thraupidae). It is found in the tropical New World from southern Mexico south to Peru, Bolivia and central Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, and on Cuba, where possibly introduced.
The red-legged honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus) is a small songbird species in the tanager family (Thraupidae). It is found in the tropical New World from southern Mexico south to Peru, Bolivia and central Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, and on Cuba, where possibly introduced.

Description

The red-legged honeycreeper is on average 12.2 cm (4.8 in) long, weighs 14 g (0.49 oz) and has a medium-long black, slightly decurved, bill. The male is violet-blue with black wings, tail and back, and bright red legs. The crown of its head is turquoise, and the underwing, visible only in flight, is lemon yellow. After the breeding season, the male moults into an eclipse plumage, mainly greenish with black wings.
Females and immatures are mainly green, with paler, faintly streaked underparts. The legs are red-brown in the female, and brown in young birds.

Read more on Wikipedia​

So now, it's just a matter of presenting some pictures that I can find, because the Page-a-Day birds don't seem to be online, not ever. On the calendar, though, the bird is a lovely purple with a black mask on his eyes, a light-colored bluish cap, black back and wings, not to mention fluorescent hot hot red legs.

 

[beautress]

Red-legged honeycreeper
Cyanerpes cyaneus​

This bird appeared diverse in colors--some were royal blue, some were turquoise, some were green. The description said the females were brown, but none were shown. Maybe I better reload the verbiage for description. Will post the differences below when done. Change description...etc...

Ok, I found more stuff on the Red-legged honeycreeper pairs, mom feeds baby, color morphs, etc. Very few were the lovely shade of purple the calendar shows, most were a brilliant royal blue. It is not clear to me whether this was a case like butterflies being able to show one color when feeding, and morph to a more spectacular color when preening or trolling for a mate.. <giggle> I loved both colors of the males, but the females appeared green, not brown as the Wikipedia description said. Colorblind issues aside, the shape and beauty of this bird is fascinating. Occasionally, some exotic bird will make its way up to my Walker County Texas home, or the nearby woods, but I've yet to notice a Red-legged honeycreeper. The only red-legged bird I've seen here was a flock of Black guillemots, and they are generally arctic birds that dwell in northern areas of Europe (Great Britain to the Arctic Circle and Baltic Sea area, I think. I have NO IDEA how a flock of Black Guillemots would arrive here, but the few days they hung around Freedom Lake was a treat I will never, never forget. I will definitely keep an eye out for the Red-legged honeycreeper should I be so lucky one finds its way a few hundred miles north of their usual areas, but summers bring unusual things--could be that when the eye of a hurricane disperses, it frees the birds trapped in its eye at or near my area. One year the most beautiful green bird I ever saw--iridescent Kelly green to be exact--arrived on my property, and it was so beautiful, about 18 inches from the tip of its elegant beak to the tip of its slightly elongated tail. It was stunning, and I sifted through every bird book I have including a 5" thick encyclopedia, and I never saw the bird that was looking me over, too. Nature is truly full of intrigue and diversity, and what I beheld, I have never, never seen another like it nor found it anywhere, and got zero response when I emailed a few bird organizations. Oh, and I have no history of alternative drug use and am not on any kind of prescription meds. But I know what I saw, and it's loveliness is a little part of my heart years later, because I truly loved every moment it hung around eyeing me and vice-versa.

 

[beautress]

Snowy Owls Rock!

]

​

 

[beautress]

Bald Eagle
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
America's National Bird

From a book I wrote entitled "Aesthetics of Southwest Album Applique Quilt" becki marsh Copyright, 1992​

• Wingspan: 71 inch – 91 inch​
• Weight: 6.61 pound – 14 pound​
• Speed: 35 mph – 43 mph (Gliding) · 75 mph – 99 mph (Diving)​

From National Geographic: Bald Eagle | National Geographic

About the Bald Eagle

The bald eagle, with its snowy-feathered (not bald) head and white tail, is the proud national bird symbol of the United States—yet the bird was nearly wiped out there. For many decades, bald eagles were hunted for sport and for the "protection" of fishing grounds. Pesticides like DDT also wreaked havoc on eagles and other birds. These chemicals collect in fish, which make up most of the eagle's diet. They weaken the bird's eggshells and severely limited their ability to reproduce. Since DDT use was heavily restricted in 1972, eagle numbers have rebounded significantly and have been aided by reintroduction programs. The result is a wildlife success story—the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has upgraded the birds from endangered to least concern.

Example of Bald Eagle behavior known as kleptoparasitism​

​

Behavior
Bald Eagles are powerful fliers—soaring, gliding, and flapping over long distances. In one of several spectacular courtship displays, a male and female fly high into the sky, lock talons, and cartwheel downward together, breaking off at the last instant to avoid crashing to earth. Bald Eagles frequently harass birds including Ospreys and other eagles to steal their food, and occasionally do the same to mammals such as river or sea otters. On the ground, Bald Eagles walk in an awkward, rocking gait. Capable of floating, a Bald Eagle may use its wings to “row” over water too deep for wading. Though often solitary, Bald Eagles congregate by the scores or even the hundreds at communal roosts and feeding sites, particularly in winter. These groups can be boisterous, with birds jostling for position and bickering over prey. During breeding season you may see Bald Eagles defending their territories from a variety of intruders, including raptors and ravens, coyotes and foxes. When feeding at carcasses, Bald Eagles may push Black and Turkey Vultures out of the way; other species including ravens, coyotes, bobcats, and dogs sometimes hold their own. Bald Eagles are often harassed or chased by their fellow raptors and by songbirds including blackbirds, crows, and flycatchers. Bald Eagle Life History, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

​

 

[beautress]

01.15.2019 The Audubon Page-a-Day Calendar is showing the Royal Flycatcher's (Onychorhynchus coronatus) unique headdress today, and what a showy feathered hat it is. One enthusiast I read this morning said when the plain-looking bird displays his crown, you never forget it. Please open the pictures below to see what this enthusiast meant.

​

 

[beautress]

01.16.2019 The Daily Picture: Adélie Penguins

On March 5, 2018, The New York Times ran a story about scientists who found a "supercolony" of Adélie Penguins in Antartica's Danger Islands. It's a happy find for bird lovers, but the author was intrigued because in order to support such a colony of birds, there had to be a very abundant supply of food for them. A Supercolony of Penguins Has Been Found Near Antarctica



Apparently the diet of Adélie Penguins is carnivorus--they eat krill and fish that are smaller than themselves according to sources. Their chicks are fed when the parents regurtigate food, and both parents participate in feeding them.