birds
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Tree Swallows
Tachycineta bicolor. The problem is staying on. Remember how the male American Kestrel bunched up his claws so not to dig into his partner’s back? Here, the male bites some head feathers. Ouch!
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Even More Swedish Birds
Ladusvala. (Barn) Swallow (Hirundo rustica).This is most common species of swallow in the world. The European subspecies H. rustica rustica is very much less rufus underneath than the New World H. rustica rythrogaster and has a longer tail.Here’s another profile that should look familiar.The Eurasian Nuthatch (Sitta europaea).Nötväcka.Whooper Swans at distance, through a window just…
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Raptor Wednesday
The male of the #BrooklynKestrels pair is stashing prey in a rotted-out knot in his favorite perching tree. This photo is through the screen, rain, and foliage. But with those two little songbird feet sticking up like an amateur gangland corpse disposal, you get the drift. Have seen a few bodies cached here since discovering…
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Forecast: Birds
A very few of the birds noted on recent trips to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, Central Park, and Green-Wood Cemetery:Exploration of nest box at Jamaica Bay’s West Pond. Troglodytes aedon. And then suddenly there were three of these bubbly-voiced House Wrens zooming about. But don’t fall for the small-is-cute thing. I reported this collar. Waiting…
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B.B. Cuckoo
The Black-billed Cuckoo is relatively elusive, which is surprising for such a long-tailed creature. “Sluggish and secretive” says Cornell’s All About Birds about Coccyzus erythropthalmus. I was surprised on Friday when a popped into eye-level view at Brooklyn Bridge Park. I see the Yellow-billed (C. americanus) more often — and that isn’t that often. Both…
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Weekend Kestrels
The female is rarely seen these days. She emerges from the cornice nest and flies up to the London Plane on 41st Street to take food bought up by her mate. Here she briefly perches on the avenue London Plane.It gets gory from here… The male with prey in the fog.An hour later, the fog…
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More Swedish Birds
Skata. Magpie (Pica pica).Makers of massive stick nests.Björktrast. Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris). Like one of our fledgling Robins (T. migratorius) on steroids.And speaking of thrushes, the Common Blackbird (T. merula). Koltrast: the Swedish national bird. Cue “blackbird singing in the dead of night” — our Robins start up around 4 a.m.Kaja. Jackdaw (Corvus monedula). On the…
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Raptor Wednesday
I wrote about the local Kestrels for the Brooklyn Bird Club’s excellent Clapper Rail. Several days of hunting portrayed here. By now, I guess that there are young in the nest.
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Gulled
Black-headed Gull, Common (or Mew) Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, and European Herring Gull. (A single click will make this picture larger.)Lesser Black-backed and Herring comparison. Yellow legs versus pink legs, in addition to the size and wing color. Some outtakes.
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Svenska fåglar
Större hackspett. Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major). That belly! Spotted in Göteborg’s Slottsskogen park.Sädesärla. White Wagtail (Motacilla alba). Spotted everywhere.Knipa. Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula). These are females, and if you look closely you’ll see they’re banded. They were in the zoo’s pond. Others were seen in Göteborg’s canals, as well as on lake Vänern.Bofink. Chaffinch…
Backyard and Beyond 