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I discovered that there are actually a fair number of ducks and other waterfowl that are wrongly called geese. True geese belong to the tribe or sub-family Anserini within the larger family Anatidae that encompasses ducks, geese and swans. But they are not just any ducks. Others are not so clearly defined.
There really isn’t much to say about the Mottled Duck. It is one of several species in the Mallard -complex of ducks, along with American Black Duck , Mexican Duck , and quite a few others. Essentially the Mottled Duck is the southern analog to the American Black Duck. What a bird!
Then, at 6 PM, as the sun disappeared completely over the horizon, the ducks on the pond started massing on the west end of the pond, with many small flocks from all over the pond flying in to the west end until it was basically covered with ducks. I hope you enjoy what I did manage to get… Am I ever glad that I am a birder!
What I am getting at here is that I have seen lots and lots of Ruddy Ducks at Jamaica Bay but never one that looked like this particular individual. She was essentially cream-colored, much lighter than the typical female Ruddy Duck. Anyway, enjoy the images and keep an eye out for odd ducks! Go check it out! Get yours today!
processed the entire genomes of 48 bird species and compared nearly 42 million base pairs of DNA (Hackett et al. ’s bird family tree in a new tab and follow along as you read. Now we move on to the Neognathae , which also has two very deep branches that lead to all the other living species of birds. Open Jarvis et al.’s
We have observed huge flocks of Galahs there on previous visits and other times there are more bird species, but only one or two of each species. Walking out onto the bridge we soon observed a good mixture of other bird species. Brolga had come into drink and there were all three species of Ibis present.
This fear of the dark and deep is the reason why I am happy and grateful every day I wasn’t born a duck. Seriously, ducks must be the toughest creatures ever, the Chuck Norrises of the bird world, because they endure this thing all the time. He doesn’t go there for the ducks, but for the fish.
One of the sweetest subsections of the duckfamily has to be the sawbills, formally known as mergansers. Mergansers are a family of diving waterfowl in Merginae , the seaduck subfamily of Anatidae. It is also a species in rapid decline, considered vulnerable by some authorities and endangered by others.
The month and this particular period is all the more auspicious for me and mine, as so many friends and families celebrate spring birthdays. My family took our annual post-Easter Egg hunt hike at Powder Mills Park, where I spied several gorgeous matched pairs of Wood Ducks along with lots of different woodpecker species.
In late July, I travelled a half hour north of Morelia to Lake Cuitzeo (kweet-SAY-oh) to see if our two inevitable first migratory species from up north, Baird’s Sandpiper and Wilson’s Phalarope, had begun arriving. At that point, neither species was yet present, and there wasn’t much of a lake, either.
While the P-a-P Wildfowl Trust’s main thrust is the breeding and release of five duckspecies, the habitat encourages a number of native wetland birds to inhabit and proliferate the area. Due to the plethora of bird species around, invariably we were to experience something breathtaking.
As it turned out, the remaining water was too shallow for ducks, except a few Northern Shovelers. Admittedly, early May is too late to find most duckspecies in Michoacán, even in a good year.) But I did find a wonderful surprise on that trip , a species to which I will return below. Verdins were everywhere.
And now we enter into a family of birds more or less unknown to non-birders. And truth told, over the years they’ve been something of a square peg for ornithologists too, not fitting precisely into any of the known families of birds. The feet, pushed to the very back of the body, are adorned with bizarre webbing.
In Broome we only have one species of Gull-the Silver Gull Larus novaehollandiae. It can appear to be a different species due to the distinct differences. You can clearly see from the photograph below of two Pacific Gulls Larus pacificus in Tasmania earlier this year that they are a much larger species!
This year’s total of waterbirds species nesting on the islands wetlands was 18 with one species of grebe, four species of herons, one ibis, five species of ducks, two species of gallinules, five species of waders and one species of Tern. The wading species also had a successful year.
The Peterson Reference Guide to Seawatching offers two types of information: Species Accounts–descriptions of 112 birds within 15 families as they appear over and on the water, and Where to Watch, brief descriptions of 47 sites on the North American eastern coast and interior recommended for seawatching. No rails or gallinules.
Did I dare dip my toe into this catalog of tantalizing species? Not a great place for a family vacation, though I think Duncan will disagree. The Indexes show images of the most common birds of the area against a painted background, with page references to species accounts. Now, I’m not so sure. Back to the field guide!
The best laid plans… Last week, I had hoped to get permission to get onto the campus of one or Morelia’s many universities, to look for a family of Wood Ducks that apparently have arrived to spend the winter in its unusual habitat of marshy forest. In fact, it was guaranteed before I got out of bed! cuerpoRRUÍN!
So, the basic idea is to show 15 species of Australian birds in each post and give you the usual trivia about them. This species has also eliminated the need for childcare – the chicks emerge from this pile on their own and never even get to see their parents. Similarly, the Grey Shrikethrush is neither a shrike nor a thrush.
I spent this past weekend in Saugerties at my folks’ house in order to look for Easter eggs, let Desi enjoy time with his cousins, and generally have a good ol’ time with family. I had no luck with the rails or bitterns but I did manage to see quite a few species, including some that were very cooperative.
It was also great to finally travel overseas again, meet a lot of people I did not know (and some I did), to be in a new country… and not just the new country, but its best birding area, where almost all local hotspots are yellow (150+ species) and several are ochre (200+ sp.), impressive for Central Europe.
we received an inquiry about a bird “about the size of a small duck, much bigger than a jay… a crest similar to a jay or a roadrunner and it has a remarkably long neck.&# The Green Heron ( Butorides virescens ) is a spectacular species familiar to anyone who pays attention to the places where water meets land.
They are endemic to New Zealand, but unlike many endemic species that have not suffered at the hands of humans, in fact they have expanded their range as forests have been opened up for pasture. They are the only endemic duckspecies that hunting is permitted for, in fact, the other species being either too rare or outright extinct.
There are beautiful beaches, a plethora of amazing food and drinks, a multitude of family fun locations, a world-renowned zoo, and one of the biggest birding festivals in the US. My family visited San Diego every year as part of a Disneyland-SoCal Road trip to escape the rainy Christmases at home near Portland, Oregon.
We are back from our ten-day family vacation to Berlin and Prague and it was awesome. Mandarin Ducks are countable in Germany. As soon as I spotted Aix galericulata though, I remembered, and was pleased to add the species to my life list. Nothing, that’s what! There is some pretty cool bird graffiti in Berlin.
At last count, there are 25 species of birds named for U.S. But only two states have more than one bird named for them: Hawaii and California, with nine and seven extant and eponymous species, respectively. Sand Point Family Vineyards: Cabernet Sauvignon 2015 (Lodi Appellation). Good birding and happy drinking!
Always bringing her camera along, Erika is building her life-list by trying to check off at least one new species each week in her field guide. There were people at the basin, and the most popular species of the day, the semi-professional photographer, was already plentiful that morning. Her blog can be found at: [link].
That is because we receive so many extra species from up north, which can double the number of potential species in many of our most important avian families: Ducks, Hummingbirds, Wood Warblers, New World Sparrows, Tyrant Flycatchers, and many others. I went back to Las Mesas, just east of Morelia, a week ago.
But a vast number of species DO exhibit dazzling displays of color. This might explain why many predominantly-white bird species have entirely black or black-tipped feathers in their wings. This pigment group is the rarest of the three pigment groups and is found in only a handful of bird families.
One always wants to see as many species as possible in a single day, whether on an ocean island with few species, or in Suffolk, England. It was in this latter region that he reports seeing 60 species on his first outing of this year. But how many species can one see over a few hours in the highlands of central Mexico?
After the birding bugs bites, the abundance of new and colorful birds makes it easy to overlook or even blatantly ignore sparrows, “seagulls”, female ducks, and flycatchers. At first glance, every single species seems to be nothing more than an eye-ring and pair of wing bars. The Yellow-olive Flycatcher is one such species.
Of course Africa could not to be left out of the pink weekend so I have researched all African species whose official or alternative names include the word “pink”. Its mostly found on the ground in thickets or the edges of dense vegetation and usually in small family parties. Another not very pink species is the Pink-footed Puffback.
Occasionally it would duck as the camera shutter clicked, but apart from that it seemed quite unconcerned. They are placed in the Cisticolidae family which has representatives throughout the Old World and whose Christmas get-togethers also include the eponymous Cisticolas, the Apalises (Apali?) and Camaroptera.
So I contacted him for the exact location, which turned out to be a beautiful 14-acre property that belongs to his family, and he kindly invited me over. But the Mexican Ducks say otherwise. Which it was! We didn’t manage to make it happen the first Monday, but on the 28th of June, we birded his property together.
It also summarizes the vagrancy status of every bird family in the whole wide world, which makes it fun to read as well as superbly educational. per cent of individuals of a species at a given time” and a vagrant bird as a bird that shows up outside of this range (p. The Family Accounts are the fun part of the book.
Here, thousands of Amur Falcons hunt for insects during the southern summer, Wattled Cranes and Denham’s Bustards may be seen, impressive Long-tailed Widowbirds display over the grasslands and the waterbodies are a haven to many hundreds of waterbirds, including Maccoa and White-backed Ducks. Photo by Adam Riley. Photo by Adam Riley.
Between March and May, we say goodbye to more than half our duck and wood warbler species, as well as about half of all our shorebirds, vireos, hummingbirds, buntings, sparrows, and orioles, and many members of other avian families. And there is some sweetness in these bittersweet months. They are our summer consolation prizes.
and 180 bird species ( Ferruginous Duck , Black Woodpecker ; Icterine , Eastern Olivaceous and Barred Warblers ) recorded so far. I made this tour myself several days ago (late July), and will report mostly on the species I actually found, as well as some mammals. mi, to the Vrbovski turnoff.
The bird family that got his attention was originally the herons, egrets and other wading birds, but as time went on New World warblers, woodpeckers and ducks fueled the passion further. If you see him on the field or contact him, he will be sure to join you since birding is always better with an extra pair of binoculars.
By age 2 she could identify over 10 species of birds in our Johannesburg, South Africa, yard by call alone. Astounding because she picked up birding before she could speak and surprising because this ability was definitely not inherited from anyone in my family, myself included. And perhaps 20 others by sight.
Primarily, Lapwings are an Old World family with over 20 species including Australasia’s Masked Lapwing , Asia’s Yellow-wattled Lapwing and the Red-wattled Lapwing of the Middle East. Masked Lapwing Africa is the spiritual home of the Vanellus family, boasting as many as 14 species including the abundant Crowned Lapwing.
My Eastern Sibley served me well, replacing the Peterson’s with which I learned my ducks and waders. I was a little sad to see that the newer editions don’t have the second signature birds (Wood Duck for Eastern, Tufted Puffin for Western) and regional maps on the spine. This means that loons are no longer first!
It seems he had looked long and wide for this species. They have come over the years seeking specific species. For the most part, I have been able to show them the species they sought. For the most part, I have been able to show them the species they sought. But he regularly visits family in Morelia.
Back when I was a kid growing up in California’s San Mateo County in the 60s and 70s, my family would occasionally drive 45 minutes west and south to Bean Hollow State Beach. He pointed out the differences in the day’s five gull species, all of which flew fairly close to the bluff from which we watched.
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