birds
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Two Sparrows
A Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina) in the grass, where you will usually find them before they flush in little darting flocks into the nearby trees.A White-throated Sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis), whose song enlivens the winter woods, is more likely found under cover, and rooting through the leaves. They breed to the north, mostly in Canada; there…
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Barn Swallows Wallowing
It’s rare to get a good solid look at a Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), considering they zip through the air at great speed most of the time in pursuit of flying insects, but a pair were gathering mud recently for their nest.Barn Swallows build mud pellet cups; I watched one in process last year in…
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Wood Ducks
A birder named Ben mentioned he’d seen a Wood Duck with ducklings on the Upper Pool the day before, so we were on the lookout. A pair coasted on the water, but it was a single mom in the lily pads who emerged with seven ducklings (and, in fact, she gave the male of the…
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International Bird Migration Day
Magnolia Warbler male (Dendroica magnolia). An upstate NY and further north nester. Just passing through Brooklyn now … It’s International Bird Migration Day, which was developed to educate people about the transnational lives of birds. Right now, billions of individual birds are moving from Central and South America to North America, flowing from southern hemisphere…
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Look Up, Look Down, Look Out!
Come down a little closer, Scarlet Tanager! The bright morning sun is making your tail shine. Uh, yeah, like that, Piranga olivacea, male of.Meanwhile, in the grass, a male Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus). These are far more common in farm and prairie country than here in Brooklyn. I only saw my first a few years ago,…
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Goatsuckers
The Caprimulgidae family of goatsuckers are named because they were thought to suckle milk from goats. The Greeks thought so, and their man Aristotle was sure of it; the Romans ran with him, I mean, Aristotle, right? and then Linnaeus followed them. All wrong, like a good many other traditions: the birds are actually flying…
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Common Warblers
Norther Parula (Parula americana).Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla). Note that black-bordered orange racing strip on the head.Northern Waterthrush (Parkesia noveboracensis).Black-throated Blue (Dendroica caerulescens). This is a female, neither black-throated nor blue. Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas); a male, with his distinctive black mask. These were all seen in Prospect yesterday, along with numerous others, including a Kentucky, rare…
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Altamira Oriole
Big bright male Altamira (Icterus gularis).A nest in progress: a woven sack hanging from the branches. This species, which just barely makes it into South Texas, makes the largest nest in North America: they can be up to two feet long.The female is carrying something stringy here for this nest.This was another nest elsewhere. The…
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Rallidae
The Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata), formerly known as the Common Moorhen, now “split” or separated from that Eurasian species (C. chloropus). Unlike the somewhat similar American Coot (Fulica americana), this bird doesn’t have lobbed toes. Look at the long toes on this Sora Rail (Porzana carolina). All the better for walking through oozy marshes.We saw…
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Texas Birds II
Yellow-crowned Night-heron (Nyctanassa violacea).Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus).A single Snowy Egret (Egretta thula) amid a herd of Cattle Egrets (Bubulcus ibis).Brown-crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus tyrannulus).Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus savannarum).Ladder-backed Woodpecker (Picoides scalaris).Roseate Spoonbill (Ajaja ajaja).Plain Chachalaca (Ortalis vetula).Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus). White-collared Seedeater (Sporophila torqueola).Varied Bunting (Passerina versicolor).
Backyard and Beyond 