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
Wood Duck ( Aix sponsa ) Female Incubating Eggs in a Nest Box “Many species of cavity-nesting birds have declined because of habitat reduction. This is the female incubating eggs in the nest box… and a couple of weeks later… then, at the ripe old age of 17 days, what’s going on out here?
My feelings about shorebirds came back to me a few days later, as I observed a mixed group of peeps and Dowitchers at Mecox Inlet, eastern Long Island, not far from where Peter Matthiessen once observed the shorebirds of Sagaponack, the stars of the first pages of his classic The Shorebirds of NorthAmerica (1967).
But they don’t live in NorthAmerica. I find it astonishing that people argue of whether feral cats are bad for birds in NorthAmerica. In NorthAmerica, you’ve got Bears at the large end, Cats in the middle, and at the smaller end, the Mustilids. Unless we put them there. Have you ever seen the Dryfus Lion?
It breeds across much of NorthAmerica, is present year-round in the Caribbean, northern Central America, and the west coast of northern South America, and in winter is found across the rest of Central America. The Killdeer is a wide-ranging plover.
Most of the Osprey breeding in NorthAmerica are migratory, only Florida, the Caribbean and Baja California host non-migratory breeders 1. Osprey pairs usually form at the nest site where females are fed almost exclusively by their mates prior to egg laying behavior 1. This pair copulated several times while I was observing.
Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a surprise American Golden-Plover at Big Egg Marsh in Queens, a very good bird for the east coast in spring, as they tend to migrate north through the center of NorthAmerica. How about you? What was your best bird of the weekend?
In California, coveys break up and pairs begin forming in February or March, followed by nest building and egg laying in May or June. She will usually lay 12 to 17 eggs, averaging five per week 1 , before beginning incubation. Occasionally, larger clutches occur due to egg dumping by other females. References: 1 Baicich, Paul J.
Although it was formerly abundant and geographically widespread, Trumpeter Swan numbers and distribution were greatly reduced during the early fur trade and European settlement of NorthAmerica (1600’s to 1800’s), when it was prized for its skins and primary feathers 1. www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq1bx7Ic2FY. v=kq1bx7Ic2FY.
I think most of us in NorthAmerica have come to the somewhat disappointing conclusion that fall migration is pretty much finished for the year. Foraging in the willows with the Palm Warblers was true-blue neotropic migrant still slumming it in NorthAmerica, a Blackpoll Warbler. You’re done.
Here’s a photo of a House Finch nest before the eggs hatch and the hatchlings start producing fecal sacs. v=fHSgyxRQXvg References: 1 Birds of NorthAmerica Online _ Poop Week is a week of themed posts on 10,000 Birds that cover the intersection of poop and birding, a fertile precinct if there ever was one.
The Bank Swallow ( Riparia riparia ) is NorthAmerica’s smallest swallow. References: 1 Birds of NorthAmerica Online. It can be distinguish from the Northern Rough-winged Swallow by its dark breast band and the white of the throat curling up behind its ear. Click on photos for full sized images.
The nickel was placed in the nest for the photo to show me the size of the egg for identification purposes, then removed. Even though the female lays only two eggs per nest attempt, they enjoy a protracted breeding season in which multiple nesting attempts can occur every 30 days, and in Southern locations, nearly year round.
The featured image above shows a female incubating eggs from my first resident breeding pair back in 2007. The four to six eggs are white and unmarked. It’s not as clear as the photo of the eggs above but I did not want to disturb the female as she was circling the nest to resume her duties.
Isla Rasa was declared a sanctuary in 1964, and egg-collecting and disturbance during the breeding season are discouraged. If you want to learn a lot about bird species, I find “Birds of NorthAmerica Online” the best resource on the net. References: 1 Birds of NorthAmerica Online , 2 BirdLife International.
Today, the species has all but disappeared east of the Mississippi River and has declined in western parts of its range, most likely caused by the expansion of the House Wren which destroys and removes their eggs from nest sites 1. References: 1 Birds of NorthAmerica Online. This is what I am used to seeing.
” And then I found out that bird song doesn’t just belong to the males, that there are female birds who sing too, only not so much in NorthAmerica, and my mind was blown.**. They’re just like us–they talk with their hands (er, wings) and their feet and some are even crafty!” And, that’s it.
The female chooses the nest site, builds the nest, lays around 10 eggs over a two week period and incubates them for about a month. References: 1 Birds of NorthAmerica Online a. entrance hole. The male seldom sticks around once the female begins incubation. The young are born precocial and leave the nest within 48 hours.
Photo Essay: Green-rumped Parrotlets from Egg to Adult Wednesday, 18 July An unusual auk baby. Baby Mute Swans – “immutabilis morph” Cavity Nesting Birds of NorthAmerica and Their Babies!
In NorthAmerica and the Caribbean, they are found mostly in suburban, urban, and agricultural areas where grain, roost, and nest sites are available. They usually lay two eggs per clutch and most often, successive clutches will be laid while adults are still attending fledglings! This next map is data from 2007 through 2008.
The female alone incubates the usual 4 to 6 eggs for about two weeks beginning the day the last egg is laid. Here you can see two chicks have already hatched, one egg is split open with the chick ready to emerge and one egg has a hole in it pipped by the chick from the inside. i Kamakawiwo?ole’s
They nest on large inland lakes in western NorthAmerica and migrate to the Pacific coast in winter, however they maintain local populations year-round in California. They normally lay 3 to 4 eggs per clutch. Click on photos for full sized images.
Within a group, 1–7 male co-breeders compete for matings with 1–3 joint-nesting females who lay their eggs in the same nest cavity. References: 1 Birds of NorthAmerica Online a. Most Acorn Woodpeckers are cooperative breeders and live in family groups of up to a dozen or more individuals.
In NorthAmerica, at least in the eastern part of it, we celebrate the return of the Baltimore Oriole to parks and farms this time of year. The two dozen species are, nearly to an individual, long bodied and bicolored. Troupials raise their own chicks, generally 3 to 4 per clutch, they just steal the nest in which they raise them.
The White-headed Woodpecker is a non-migratory bird found in mixed coniferous forests dominated by pine trees in far western NorthAmerica. White-headed Woodpeckers usually lay 4 to 5 eggs in a clutch and we’ve seen at least three different nestlings here now. References: 1 Birds of NorthAmerica Online.
The Brown Pelican occurs in both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of NorthAmerica and northern South America. They nearly disappeared from NorthAmerica between the late 1950s and early 1970s because of pesticides entering the food chain. Brown Pelicans in non-breeding plumage.
She will be a great fit on 10,000 Birds and I ask you all to give her a warm welcome (and feel free to ask her about those robin eggs that it seems like half of NorthAmerica wants to know what to do with).
References: 1 Birds of NorthAmerica Online. This is an excerpt from that report: “Because much native nesting habitat has been converted to agriculture and stored grains provide an essentially limitless food resource, tricolors have since the 1980s nested in large numbers in association with dairies.
Being a westerner — raised in California, and now living in western Mexico — I was perhaps most excited about the migratory birds that breed in eastern NorthAmerica. And then there was a Green Heron , not only showing us its nest, but also an egg. Then, around 4:00 p.m., And yet, there it was. But what could I do?
This happened to me recently on a birding trip, with somewhat egg-on-the-face results. Bill has led birding trips all across NorthAmerica and has spoken or performed at more than 100 birding and nature festivals worldwide. I was on a birding quest trip with my friend Geoff Heeter.
When I first approached the nest tree I saw an adult squirrel climbing the snag near the sapsucker entrance and, knowing that squirrels will eat bird eggs and nestlings, I was quite concerned. References: 1 Birds of NorthAmerica Online. Click on photos for full sized images. It should be here later today.
Photo Credit: Invasive and Exotic Species of NorthAmerica (www.invasive.org). Some of these snakes had evidence of birds in their stomachs and some were gravid with up 55 eggs nearly ready to be laid. I volunteered to help with the first python round up in 2010 when the first large African Pythons were captured. Rock Python.
Instead, they lay their eggs in other species’ nests, and let those nest-making birds (often significantly smaller than the cowbirds) raise their young. So that is a negative mark on both their records. In contrast, the Brown-headed Cowbird is a same-continent invasive species.
North American Peregrine Falcons have also enjoyed an impressive population rebound in recent years. Most birders are familiar with this story; back in the day, the pesticide DDT was in widespread use all over NorthAmerica. While DDT is still used some places in the world, it has largely disappeared from use in NorthAmerica.
Western Bluebirds ( Sialia mexicana ) like the male shown above, as well as Eastern Bluebirds ( Sialis sialis ) and Mountain Bluebirds ( Sialis currucoides ) have all benefited from 90 years of nest boxes and bluebird trails, monitored by thousands of bluebird enthusiasts across NorthAmerica.
Northern Flicker nestlings hatch slightly asynchronously as the adults begin incubation one to two days before the last egg is laid. According to Birds of NorthAmerica Online , on day 10 or 11 their eyes are beginning to open. They also have this strange looking white fleshy fold at the jaw hinge, and a white egg tooth.
They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology. 266-67).
Cliff Swallows migrate to NorthAmerica from their wintering grounds in South America to nest in large colonies, sometimes numbering in the thousands. It is illegal for any person to take, possess, transport, sell, or purchase them or their parts, such as feathers, nests, or eggs, without a permit.
Colombina uses 13,464,000 eggs per year, meaning that a fulfilled cage-free commitment would affect the lives of nearly 48,000 hens. Update 11/11/24: Colombina has officially reinstated its global cage-free commitment and is now reporting 40% across all brands. Animal Equality has teamed up with the Open… Source
But the Kentish Plover was sheltering its young under its body, and the Little Ringed Plover was incubating an egg — right in the middle of downtown Madrid! But the Great Swallow-tailed Swift is one of the largest Swifts in NorthAmerica. These two shorebirds are exceedingly common in western Europe.
Animal rights advocates have singled out the crates, known as sow stalls, as inhumane, and several states have moved to ban or restrict their use not only in pork production, but also in the production of eggs and veal. There are alternatives we think are better for the welfare of sows.”.
Harrison, and Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds, 2nd ed. It covers 403 species: 172 nonpasserine species and 231 passerine species in the Species Accounts, 198 species beautifully illustrated by the author in the Plates section. These books are concerned with behavior. The identification guide by Paul J.
Pairs average 59 successful copulations per clutch, starting 14 days before, and peaking a few days before, the start of egg-laying 1. Pairs copulate most often in early morning, at the same time as egg-laying 1. References: 1 Birds of NorthAmerica Online.
July, as all northern hemisphere birders appreciate, is the month when the egg timer flips and everything starts pouring back out again in a steady stream south. Ponds and estuaries fill up with passage waders and the birding gets good after the summer lull as we rise slowly and surely towards the fever pitch of autumn.
And, I started daydreaming about encountering something a little different, maybe a Horned Frog, Ceratophrys cornuta, a large, squat green and brown frog of South America, with a wide mouth large enough to eat other frogs as well as reptiles. Amplexus can last from a few seconds to a few hours to a few months.
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