Wild Side Ornithology Club

[beautress]

01.17.2019 Prothonotary Warbler, Protonotaria citrea

Prothonotary Warbler | Audubon Field Guide
Prothonotary Warbler
Protonotaria citrea In southeastern swamps in summer, this bright golden warbler sings from high in the trees. It is unique among eastern warblers in its habit of nesting in holes in trees, rather than in the open; it will sometimes nest in birdhouses placed close to the water.

They look like sweet little birds to me.




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[beautress]

Wood Ducks Rock!!! I'm glad today's calendar reminded me of them!

01.18.2019

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[beautress]

01.18.2019 and 01.19.2019, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Aegolius acadicus
Northern Saw-whet Owl

Birders who prowl through conifer groves in winter sometimes find this round-headed little gnome perched there, sitting still as if to avoid notice. Avoiding notice is a task at which this owl often succeeds; it is overlooked in many places where it occurs. Late at night in the breeding season, males give a rhythmic tooting song that may go on for hours with scarcely a break. The bird was named for this song, which reminded settlers of the sound of a whetstone sharpening a saw

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[beautress]

From USGS Pawtuxent Bird Identification Center, Northern Saw-whet Owl

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Northern Saw-whet owl Aegolius acadicus
Identification Tips:

• Length: 7 inches Wingspan: 17 inches
• Small, nocturnal, predatory bird
• Large, rounded head
• Yellow eyes
• Brownish facial disks
• Dark bill
• Brown upperparts with large white spots
• Pale underparts with large, dark irregular streaks
• Sexes similar

Similar species:
The Boreal Owl is most likely to be confused with the Northern Saw-whet Owl but lacks brown in the face, has a pale bill, has a dark border to the face and darker brown upperparts. Screech-owls have ear tufts. Pygmy-owls have longer tails and different markings.

Length and wingspan from: Robbins, C.S., Bruun, B., Zim, H.S., (1966). Birds of North America. New York: Western Publishing Company, Inc.​

Seven inches isn't very long for a bird with a 17" wingspan, but imho, these birds are flat-out cuties.

 

[beautress]

Turned over the leaf on my Audubon Page-a-day calendar and was pleased to find my favorite bird from the tropics.. In years past, I was so fascinated by the bird, I designed an applique pattern after it, but now, it just hangs on a wall in my music room. Its black and white feathers look good with music notes, which you can find in the fabric department of many stores dedicated to modern quilting and interesting fabrics. Anyway, there it sits, never to seen by anyone else but me, now that my dear man is now a real angel of heaven that he always was on this side of the Jordan.

Resplendent Quetzal
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Good description here: Resplendent quetzal - Wikipedia

The resplendent quetzal ( /ˈkɛtsəl/) (Pharomachrus mocinno) is a bird in the trogon family. It is found from Chiapas, Mexico to western Panama (unlike the other quetzals of the genus Pharomachrus, which are found in South America and eastern Panama). It is well known for its colorful plumage. There are two subspecies, P. m. mocinno and P. m. costaricensis.

The resplendent quetzal plays an important role in various types of Mesoamerican mythology. It is the national bird of Guatemala, and its image is found on the country's flag and coat of arms. It also lends its name to the country's currency, the Guatemalan quetzal (abbreviation GTQ).
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[beautress]

More Resplendent Quetzals...

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[beautress]

01.22.2019

White ibis
Eudocimus albus

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[beautress]

White ibis
Eudocimus albus
White Ibis​

Identification Tips:

• Length: 22 inches Wingspan: 38 inches
• Sexes similar
• Medium-sized long-legged long-necked wading bird
• Long, decurved bill
• Holds neck extended in flight

Adult:

• White body plumage with black tips to outer primaries
• Bill and facial skin pinkish-red
• Red legs

Immature:

• Brown head, neck, back and wings
• White belly
• Orange bill and facial skin
• Dull legs

Similar species:
Adults are unmistakable. Curlews are much smaller, mottled brown and black with white necks and bellies and usually with a distinctive head pattern. The white belly of the immature White Ibis distinguishes it from Glossy Ibis and White-faced Ibis.

From the Cornell Bird Lab: White Ibis Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Calls at Roost
Their call is a rather unmusical, harsh and nasal honk given in flight or while foraging
(The sounds at the above Cornell Link didn't sound threatening, maybe a little on the complainant side, though ..)

 

[beautress]

01.23.2019
Snowy owl
Bubo scandiacus

Amazing birds aren't scared of anything

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[Pogo]

01.17.2019 Prothonotary Warbler, Protonotaria citrea

Prothonotary Warbler | Audubon Field Guide
Prothonotary Warbler
Protonotaria citrea In southeastern swamps in summer, this bright golden warbler sings from high in the trees. It is unique among eastern warblers in its habit of nesting in holes in trees, rather than in the open; it will sometimes nest in birdhouses placed close to the water.

They look like sweet little birds to me.




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Always found this name fascinating. Not just a warbler, a prothonotary warbler

As the USS Enterprise would say.....


"Fire Prothon torpedoes!"

 

[beautress]

01.24.2019
Blue-and-yellow Macaw
Ara ararauna

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[beautress]

01.25.2019
American avocet Recurvirostra americana
American Avocet

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American avocet Recurvirostra americana
Identification Tips:

• Length: 15 inches
• Large, very long-legged shorebird
• Long, very thin, upturned black bill
• Blue-gray legs
• White rump and tail
• Sexes similar, but bill is more strongly recurved in female than in male

Adult alternate:

• Rust red head, neck and chest
• White lores and eyering
• White upper back, breast, belly and tail
• White back is bordered by two long, black stripes on the scapulars
• Black outer wing and white inner wing, with a black bar through middle of inner wing

Adult basic:

• Similar to adult alternate, but head, neck, and chest are grayish

Juvenile:

• Gray face
• Rusty wash on head and hindneck

I love these amazing birds. They are eye candy, and I have seen a couple of them out back from time to time, scavenging the side of Freedom Lake.

 

[beautress]

American Avocet Winter haunts (CBC)

American Avocet Summer preferences

Maps are at the Pawtuxent Bird Identification Center, USGS.
American Avocet and American Avocet

For the sound it makes go here:
American Avocet Sounds, All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology
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Calls: The call of male and female American Avocets is a repeated, high-pitched kleet. They are generally silent, calling only when disturbed.

 

[beautress]

01.26.2019
Red-crowned Crane
Grus japonensis

The Red-crowned Crane is the National Bird of China and is also found in Japan and Manchuria.

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[beautress]

I apologize for being late now and then, but yesterday, I spent my whole day working on a quilt for a friend of mine who is pretty bad-off due to lung cancer. His chemo has been so severe he feels weak a lot, but still finds the strength to feed his small herd of cows, take care of cats and dogs, not to mention keeps up with his squirrel and bird feeding activities. And now, it's off to the quilt room. It's really nice to take a break and go through this wonderful Audubon page-a-day Calendar to see what bird they found so fascinating they would give their tribe a page on weekdays, or a slot on the Saturday-Sunday page. I'm going to get one next year, too, but if I make it through this year publishing my online findings about these precious little winged friends, I'll be surprised. One of these days I'm going to pick some of these birds and design a quilt. Unfortunately, some birds are so amazing, I have designed a wallhanging of a t least two of them--the American Eagle in a kind of a Southwest-manufactured style, and a Resplendent Quetzal which seems to have a tai twice or evenl thrice as long as its body.

Semt from my landline using yappatalk… I kept losing cell phones, so I changed back, but by then they cancelled landlines through wires in the country, which leaves you servers that blank out completely when it rains or clouds cover the entire landscape. It doesn't seem to be raining right now, though.
Finding some random birds on bing..

Credits here:Songbirds of North America - $19.00 + Free shipping

Oh, my goodness. It's a t-shirt source! lol
That might not be such a bad shirt for a bird lover...
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[beautress]

01.28.2019
Black-collared Barbet
Lybius torquatus
Found in countries: South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia, Angola.
Information from: Black-collared Barbet (Lybius torquatus) videos, photos and sound recordings | the Internet Bird Collection | HBW Alive
A couple of Black-collared Barbets discussing something:

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[beautress]

Found some really cute pictures of these little harpies...ok, so they're enthusiastic when they speak Black-collared Barbetese to each other …

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From Wikipedia: The black-collared barbet usually is about 20–25 cm long, plump-looking and has a large head. It also has the heavy bill fringed with bristles that is characteristic of the genus Lybius.[2] This barbet has a very obvious black collar and head which gives reference to its name. It also has a fire-engine red coloring around the eyes and beak.[3] It has morphologically variable coloring because there is a replacement of a red head with a black head. It also has a more intense color and is larger than other barbets. This bird is also sexually monomorphic, which means that there is generally no phenotypic difference between the males and females of this species. The morphology, size and behavior are basically the same.[4]

The black-collared barbet is one of the many duetting species in the genus Lybius and it regularly uses duetting in its day-to-day life. There are no solitary song instances heard from this species.[5] Also, the repertoire of the duets do not vary greatly.[4] This species is readily recognized by its loud duet, commonly rendered as "too-puddly too-puddly too-puddly" or "too-doodle too-doodle"[5].... accompanied by wing-flicking. In addition to the wing-flicking, the birds in the pair face each other while calling and lean forward while bowing ceremoniously to each other. This bird produces a variety of calls including its snarling warning call and loud buzzing. The snarling could be the initiating sound of the duet.[5]

The "too-puddly" song is actually an antiphonal duet. That means that one bird out of the pair sings the first note, then the other bird in the pair sings the second note. To bystanders, this does not sound like it comes from two different birds.[3] It has distinct sexual duet roles after a greeting ceremony and the partner's notes do differ. The birds do not sing simultaneously, but are synchronized in their duets.[4] The time between when one bird stops singing to when the other bird in the pair picks the song up is called the auditory response time for the duet. The approximate auditory response time for this bird is 178 ms.[5]

This species also incorporates more wing and flight displays into their greeting ceremonies, mating, and territorial displays.[4] It is a gregarious species, often acting in concert when driving off intruders and roosting together (up to 15 recorded) in nest holes. Their flight is direct with a loud whirring of wings. More details are here: Black-collared barbet - Wikipedia​

Nature and its diversity--awesome!

 

[beautress]

01.30.2019
Common Crane, Grus grus

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[beautress]

Upland Goose
Chloephaga picta leucoptera
South American bird, male and female.

Information on the Upland Goose here: The Andes, Fauna and Nature, Part 3: Patagonia.

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[beautress]

02.01.2019
Summer Tanager
These are ever present in the summers here in Walker County, Texas. They are truly eye candy!

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