mthew
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Raptor Wednesday
Sometimes, you just can’t figure out what the Blue Jays are going on about. Because they often do go on. A lot. But when you also hear nuthatches calling continuously, then look out! Twice recently I’ve come across these cacophonous situations. The multiple bird/multiple species alarm was resounding. Both times, mature Cooper’s Hawk had prey…
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What Goes?
Chipping Sparrow with some kind of growth under the bill. Any thoughts?That’s bird feed all around, spillage from a hanging feeder. There is an avian bill deformity virus, Avian Keratin Disorder, that has spread out from ground zero in Alaska. In that case, the bills grow much longer than usual. This looks more tumorous, but…
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Red
Redder. Reddest? The omnipresent American Robin actually sticks around during winter but changes its behavior rather radically. They become more social and range further about in nomadic, non-territorial flocks in search of fruit. This marks quite a difference from their worm and insect diet of summer, when they’re also very territorial over breeding grounds (like…
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So what is the good news in the litany of malignancy? Joshua Tree National Park is seeing vandals destroy the famed trees during Trump’s assault-on-America government shut-down. “Off-road” assholes are ripping up other national parks, too. The Instagram effect of people taking selfies in remote locations is trashing those locations. “Recent housing growth rates are…
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Hooded Mergansers
Shouldn’t be too long before these come into their breeding finery.
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Bufflehead
The purples and greens in this male Bufflehead are pretty subtle, especially on an overcast day. But that bufflehead!So named because of the resemblance to a buffalo’s head. If you say so. Was Dewlapped Duck not considered?One of our winter visitors, they bred much further north. They’re cavity nesters, and small enough to use the…
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Ruddy
A flotilla of resting Ruddy Ducks. The bills on the males will turn even bluer before it’s all over.
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Raptor Wednesday
This linden tree sported a male American Kestrel in 2017 and 2018, too. Now here’s… another? He’s facing the low winter sun. That makes for good photographs, but also gives his potential prey a good view of him.You’d think he’d want to come out of the sun, but that might throw his shadow ahead of…
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Waiting Out the Winter
Two specimens from the general area of back-of-the-beach scrublands at Fort Tilden. Big silk moth cocoons, I think.From a distance, they look like lingering leaves, of which each bush or tree still had a few.
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Grebe
The water beading off this Pied-bill Grebe… You know, I think this plumage is more interesting than the breeding plumage. This cinnamon tinge to the neck is not, by the way, found in all non-breeding birds.
