Tag: birds

Butorides virescens

Published on by HashiLeave a comment

Green Herons are short and stocky (for a heron) with a thick neck that is often drawn down into the body. It’s only when they strike at food that you can see the length of the neck.

Although Green Herons are fairly common across the U.S., their population has suffered a decline of approximately 1.3% per year between 1966 to 2019, resulting in a cumulative decline of about 51%, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. In the past, people hunted Green Herons for food and controlled their numbers near fish hatcheries. Today they, like so many creatures, are negatively impacted by habitat loss from the destruction of wetlands.

Sitta canadensis

Published on by HashiLeave a comment

The bird bath camera continues to bring us surprises. While it’s a little tedious scrolling through the many, many house finch captures, it’s worth it when we see a new arrival. The red-breasted nuthatch is another winter visitor to our region. Like other nuthatches, these move quickly over trunks and branches probing for food in crevices and under flakes of bark. They creep up, down, and sideways without regard for which way is up. Such fun to see this one at the bath.

Catharus guttatus

Published on by Hashi1 Comment

Seen on the wildlife camera, a new-to-us visitor enjoying a drink and a splash. We are in the winter range of the Hermit Thrush, and very happy to welcome this one to our garden, as they rarely visit backyards. I haven’t heard its lovely, melancholy song, but I’m keeping my ears open.

Pygoscelis adeliae

Published on by HashiLeave a comment

The Adélie penguin is a truly Antarctic creature—one of only four penguin species to nest on the continent itself. During the breeding season, they need bare, rocky ground on which to build their rough nests of stones. Two eggs are laid; these are incubated for 32 to 34 days by the parents taking turns (shifts typically last for 12 days).

The birds live most of their lives on sea ice, far from land. Adélie penguins living in the Ross Sea region migrate an average of about 13,000 kilometres (8,100 mi) each year as they follow the sun from their breeding colonies to winter foraging grounds and back again.