Category Archives: birds

Decorative or functional?

  Almost all sites that treat the Great Blue Heron give a passing reference to the plumes that extend from the back of the head. When mentioning them, one site explicitly says they are decorative.  Here is a picture of … Continue reading

Posted in birds, commentary | 4 Comments

Chickadee nest

  Chickadees are cavity nesters. They carve their cavities out of dead trees starting in April. However, chickadees are selective when it comes to creating their nesting site. They tend to dig several cavities before deciding which one can be their … Continue reading

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Blue eating & hovering

  This is a continuation of the previous posting: flying blue. In that I showed Mountain Bluebirds in flight. Here I show them carrying food and (surprisingly) hovering.  Bluebirds visit us each spring, and while it is true that a … Continue reading

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Flying blue

  This is the first of two postings on the Mountain Bluebird. It concerns the birds in flight. The second concerns what they are eating. If you enter the name, Mountain Bluebird in an image search, such as Google.com, and … Continue reading

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Killdeers arrive

  The Killdeer is a shorebird with the longest (temporary) stay in these latitudes. It is common here from (perhaps) March to September. I saw my first ones on the second of April. Indeed, there were five of them, but … Continue reading

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March’s goulash

  This is a collection of March pictures that lacked a posting of their own.  Spring migrants arrive in March, although this year, their arrival was delayed by snows so most  migrants appeared later in the month. A few weren’t … Continue reading

Posted in birds, bugs, mammals | 3 Comments

Eagle recovers

  Bald Eagles can be bullies. Group effort: Of the seven pictures that accompany this posting, three were taken by Cynthia Fraser using a wider angle lens so as to capture the two eagles together (no. 3, 4, & 6). … Continue reading

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Wild Turkeys

  When I was a child here, there were no turkeys to be found locally. Wild Turkeys were introduced in the states to the south of us to appease hunters. Some subsequently wandered across the border and have become a … Continue reading

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Red-tailed Hawk soaring

  I watched two Red-tailed Hawks soaring together for about 10 minutes. Undoubtedly a mating pair, the soaring Red-tailed Hawks were in the same thermal but were rarely close enough to be captured in the same picture. Yet, now and … Continue reading

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Flying birds

  In the past couple of days, I have watched flying birds. It is striking how those that travel in flocks follow different rules when it comes to synchronizing their wings. Small birds seem to ignore synchronization, big birds often … Continue reading

Posted in birds | 3 Comments