This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Green-rumped Parrotlets: from egg to adult Text and photographs copyright Nick Sly (except Rae Okawa where indicated) and are used with his permission. Getting intimate with a species over the course of the breeding cycle is one of the more rewarding aspects of birding, and field research too.
They are cosmopolitan, nesting even in urban areas, but also in golf courses and parking lots. Killdeer on nest Killdeer eggs One day while we were at work my coworker received a phone call letting her know that the eggs had started to hatch. Beyond that they don’t seem to need much.
One of my regular stops in late May and early June is Big Egg Marsh, a wonderful salt marsh just a short distance south of the much-more-famous Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. It is a great spot for Horseshoe Crabs to spawn and lay eggs so it is no wonder that shorebirds congregate to eat those eggs. Eh, Semipalmated Sandpipers.
We had been patiently awaiting the arrival of the two chicks since the eggs were laid a month ago. I took a few photos of the chick that had hatched out and the remaining egg. The egg had a clear hole in the upper right where the egg tooth was breaking through the shell. Chick and egg at the nest site.
The fencing protecting the colony was respected, of course, but the birds often came near the edge of the fencing despite the presence of several photographers. The confiding nature of the birds was, of course, greatly appreciated by the photographers, if the cacophony of clicking was any indication.
And of eggs and nests and birds on nests. Into the Nest , as the title says, is about the courting, mating, egg-laying, nesting, and parenting behavior of “familiar birds”. Cedar Waxwings exchange berries, carry nesting material, eggs. Egg biology, from Part I. Oops, the curmudgeon in me slipped.) Peregrine Falcon nests.
Tim Birkhead, a respected ornithologist with years of research under his belt, doesn’t quite achieve perfection with this book on the totality of that strange entity, the bird’s egg, but he makes a valiant effort of it and comes away with a very interesting book indeed.
I’d seen pictures of them, of course – the stocky, flamboyantly-beaked little seabirds who always seem to be wearing expressions of sympathetic concern – but I’d never seen one “in bird” (the avian equivalent of “in person”). There are boat trips to Eastern Egg Rock, as well as to other small islands. There’s one!”.
In Daurian Redstarts , personality traits (specifically, whether a bird is shy or bold) partly determine how good an individual is in rejecting cuckoo eggs in its nest. Apparently, birds that are fast in exploring new things – bold birds – are better at rejecting parasitic eggs ( source ).
This does not happen, of course, because rarities are, by definition, rare, but that doesn’t stop us from hoping. Most birders, myself included, hope to find a rarity or two on every birding outing.
Of course, the Red-billed Leiothrix is a species native to Sichuan – in Britain, it is now discussed whether to regard it as an invasive species ( source ). In one group, they added a blue egg to their nests. In the other, they added both such an egg and a peanut half-shell. Keep that in mind when somebody (Marie Kondo?)
.” His classes attracted diverse groups of students, often with little scientific background: “Students have to first pass biology, but most come in knowing next to nothing about birds except that they can fly, that they have feathers, and that they lay eggs.”. But once a week, they were “out the door by 8:05 a.m.
They generally lay four eggs, but we have only seen a maximum of three surviving chicks after a few days. A good indication that they have eggs or young is the extreme noise that they make. They will often fly at both people and other animals in defense of their eggs and young. Masked Lapwing chick hiding in a cow footprint!
It’s a gamble every year, of course. Now we gamble again (literally as well as figuratively – there’s a split-pot prize for predicting the dates of arrival, egg-laying, and other major events) on the hope that they will lay viable eggs and successfully rear young. The Ospreys have returned to Dunrovin.
Through the course of the book, the readers are introduced to real owls and the real people working to protect them. And of course, it’s great for kids that love birds (or kids in whom you want to encourage a love of birds!). One of the final spreads ends with photos of Zalea, grown and with chicks of her own.
Of course, it should not be hard to find birds angry with Matthew Gonshaw of London, a pig in human form, who was recently jailed for six months after admitting to “ten charges of theft and possession of rare eggs.” …and some seriously pissed off birds. Perhaps he should be launched from the giant slingshot?
Brown-headed Cowbirds evoke strong feelings in many birders, some of whom can’t abide a bird that lays its eggs in other birds’ nests, often to the detriment of the nest owners’ offspring. But I miss the open land with skies never ending And the challenge of laying eggs in a nest with defending.
In these situations, the birds have been treated like pests and targeted for extermination, or lost their eggs and nestlings to harvesting of the fields. Of course, the best solution would be for the birds to avoid nesting in farmland at all. federal level, and a Species of Special Concern in California.
Living in California, I am of course speaking of the Western Bluebird ( Sialia mexicana ). The female alone incubates the usual 4 to 6 eggs for about two weeks beginning the day the last egg is laid. The Western Bluebird , like all bluebirds, is a secondary cavity nester (more about cavity nesters in an upcoming post).
In my case, I used the window of my car, as the location I used to test the product was the puddles in the parking lot at Big Egg Marsh in Queens. Of course, when I take out the adapter for the scope the fact that the scope is already on a tripod should obviate the need for any further bracing.
Of course, that means that the birds I saw on September 30 are now somewhere in blogpost limbo, not having appeared in the September post but also not legitimately belonging in the October one. When there are cuckoos around – which parasitize Daurian Redstarts – the females have a higher rate of egg rejection.
Understandably, after all the trouble of incubating the eggs. Of course, being mean, I only show you one of them. Meanwhile, Little Grebes are still in a slightly earlier phase. Little Ringed Plovers are fiercely protective of their cute chicks. A Grey Night Jar does what it does best – being almost invisible.
And of course, this means the molecules will be split and changed in many ways. Or picture yourself as a bird fetus within an egg. Drinking and peeing through the egg shell? And it can be stored easily by the bird fetus within the egg. Here they are used for all sorts of things, e. And this waste needs to go, pronto.
Of course, Acorn Jay would have been appropriate, as there’s nothing this bird likes more than acorns, as I was reminded during a recent visit to the Greek island of Kefalonia. Not only eggs but nestling birds of many species fall prey to the Jay.”
Of course, this week will largely focus on the adorableness that baby birds bring. Can you handle the cuteness? But, just like with human babies, you have to admit that sometimes you anticipate fawning over a baby bird and instead nearly end up retching instead. We will have some of those less attractive baby birds as well.
That of course is true of many birds.) Nearly 90% of the nests failed during egg stage, mainly due to strong winds and depredation by American mink Neovison vison. Biotic includes predation of eggs and chicks by gulls, competition and predation by rainbow trout, and predation of eggs, chicks, and adults by mink.
Big Egg Marsh in Broad Channel, Queens, hosts a wide variety of shorebirds that come to fatten up on Horseshoe Crab eggs each and every spring. The bulk of the birds is invariably Semipalmated Sandpipers , but there are always Ruddy Turnstones , White-rumped Sandpipers , and, of course, Dunlin.
The adult Pied Oystercatcher that is sitting on the eggs will lay as flat as possible to protect the eggs. Of course Black Kites also breed and at the moment there is a nest very close to the highway. Pied Oystercatchers at a nest site with Black Kites present.
Horned Lark fledglings seem impossibly big to me, like they are larger than the adults (which of course they are not). I had hoped to have some Semipalmated Plover chick photos for comparison but as of last night they seem to be still at the egg stage. Here are five in a nest, close to fledging. With some serious legs.
Of course, that latter name could be applied to most of the Old World warblers, Jochen’s deluded thoughts about which warblers are best notwithstanding , but it particularly works for the young of the Barred Warbler. When the adult male bird has more than one mate, the femaleincubates the eggs and tends to the chicks alone.
And everyone always forgets about the brood parasitism that occurs closer to home: over 200 species of birds are known to occasionally indulge in a little intraspecific brood parasitism, that is, leaving an egg or two in the nest of another female/pair of the same species. In the old days, this was par for the course.
But, of course, there is no reason to believe that Osprey have dignity to lose, or that a silly name for a beloved bird would somehow make people less concerned about conservation. Introducing this year’s Dunrovin osprey chicks – Lunar, Sol, and Shadow, named for the eclipse that took place the night the first egg was laid.
Jonathan, of course, found this area.) Perhaps the lake’s insects function like the Atlantic Horseshoe Crab eggs that shorebirds gorge on along Chesapeake Bay during their northward spring migration? I was amazed how close to us these Baird’s Sandpipers flew while we were on the lakebed. And, if you are a bird, tasty.
Platypus have bills, bats and bugs can fly, and reptiles lay eggs, but only birds have feathers. Feathers are the unique ingredient when it comes to birds.
I went out into Big Egg Marsh hoping for a Nelson’s Sparrow and found one, though this shot is of a Saltmarsh Sparrow. This Marsh Wren was also at Big Egg Marsh and popped right up for me. The most prevalent wood-warbler all weekend was, of course, the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Ammodramus sparrows are my favorite sparrows.
I was there for Arts and Birding , a five-day adult course in photography, videography, sketching, painting, writing, or any combination thereof … plus lots of birding. The established courses fill up quickly, so Audubon keeps adding new ones and attracting renowned instructors. What was it like?”
There are of course, many other birds which feed on flying insects, such as jacamars and trogons. Having successfully claimed ownership of the nest, the Piratic Flycatchers move in, lay and incubate their eggs, and ultimately raise their young in the pirated nest. Piratic Flycatcher.
Of course, I jest a bit in the above paragraph because as a sometime New Jersey birder I have birded the Delaware Bay and seen sights such as the memorable image below, in which thousands of Red Knots, Dunlins, and Short-billed Dowitchers fly up as if connected telepathically. The visual beauty and textual facts are a strong combination.
We can, of course, count wild, native, species. Of course, there are a lot more rules that apply to both birds that can and can’t be counted, and one of the most entertaining ways to get a bunch of birders to make a Facebook discussion thread go on forever is to innocently ask a question about some esoteric aspect of listing rules.
Feel free to insert your own French joke here (though of course in the US, restaurants now serve Freedom Frogs rather than French Frogs). Of course, hearing about this immediately makes me think I have to show the photo of a Yellow-eyed Babbler below. This included recording a total of 77,760 minutes of video.
Another strange aspect – already mentioned further up – is that these owls almost seem to be able to change their shape – from a round egg shape to a very prolonged branch-like shape. Though of course, young owls growing up in such an artificial environment may later turn out to be snobbish and elitist.
It is much more interesting to consider the fact that some (actually, many) dinosaurs were bird-like, and of course, this similarity had to do with their common ancestry. One of the most interesting differences between birds and dinosaurs has to do with their eggs. The nature, distribution, and evolution of bird song is unclear.
Black Noddy ( Anous minutus ) Everyone’s favourite tern is of course the beautify White Tern , famous for nesting in the most lunatic of locations such as on bare branches. This one found a ledge on one of the buildings a suitable place to lay an egg, a location which is positively decadent for the species.
I guess the whole point about this band name is to suggest -ironically, of course – utter blandness. Hints of potential warming in the HBW species description: “Date of first egg-laying on Honshu now 7 days earlier than it was 25 years ago” There are also quite a few Cuckoos.
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 30+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content