Posts

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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Ring-Billed Gull
The ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis)is a medium-sized gull. The genus name is from Latin Larus which appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird. The specific delawarensis refers to the Delaware River. The ring-billed gulls' breeding habitat is near lakes, rivers, or the coast in Canada and the northern United States. They nest colonially on the ground, often on islands. This bird tends to be faithful to its nesting site, if not its mate, from year to year. The ring billed Gull is omnivorous. Their diet varies with location and season, but major items include insects, fish, earthworms, grain, rodents, and refuse. They often in forage in freshly plowed fields for grubs and earthworms. Adult Ring-billed Gulls are noisy birds with a varied vocal repertoire. Among their most common utterances is a high-pitched, rising squeal of what may sound like indignation or outrage, followed by a series of short exclamatory notes. Here is a link so you can listen to them too. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Great Blue Heron
The great blue heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America, as well as far northwestern South America, the Caribbean and the Galápagos Islands. Great Blue Herons occupy a variety of habitats in fresh water and marine coastal ecosystems: lakes, ponds, rivers, flooded farmlands and meadows, irrigation ditches, and wetlands. Nesting sites require tall trees, such as are found in wooded swamps. Nests are often on islands safe from predators. Their diet consists mainly of small fish, though they have also been observed feeding on shrimp, crabs, aquatic insects, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. Herons locate their food by sight and usually swallow it whole. Great Blue Herons are most vocal on the breeding grounds, where they greet their partner with squawking roh-roh-rohs in a “landing call” when arriving at the nest. A disturbance can trigger a series of clucking go-go-gos, building to a rapid frawnk squawk that can last up to 20 seconds. If directly threatened, birds react with a screaming awk lasting just over 2 seconds. Chicks give a tik-tik-tik call within minutes of hatching. Both male and female Great Blue Herons snap their bill tips together as part of breeding and territorial displays, a behavior that may be analogous to a songbird’s territorial song. Paired birds often “clapper” at each other, chattering the tips of the bill together. Here is a link so you can hear their funky sounds. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Western Bluebird
The western bluebird (Sialia mexicana) is a small stocky bird with a length of 15 to 18 cm (5.9 to 7.1 in). The adult male is bright blue on top and on the throat with an orange breast and sides, a brownish patch on back, and a gray belly and undertail coverts. The adult female has a duller blue body, wings, and tail, a gray throat, a dull orange breast, and a gray belly and undertail coverts. Both sexes have a thin straight bill with a fairly short tail. Immature birds have duller colors than the adults, and have spots on their chest and back. This bird Breeds in semi-open areas including pine woods, oak woods, streamside groves, ranch country, sometimes in pinyon-juniper woods, but avoiding hot dry regions. They also winter in many kinds of open or semi-open habitats, especially in pinyon-juniper, also in desert, farmland, others. Insects make up majority of diet, especially in summer; they feed heavily on grasshoppers, caterpillars, beetles, ants, also many other insects. Berries and small fruits are important in their diet, especially in winter; among those eaten are fruits of mistletoe, juniper, and elderberry. Western Bluebird songs tend to be a string of various call notes, particularly the kew note along with other stuttering or whistled notes. The result is a soft, hesitant song that can last 1-2 seconds. The most common call is a soft, quavering kew that may be given from a perch or in flight and is often given several times in succession. They also make a harsher, double-noted che-check when changing position, and a chattering call when disturbed. Western Bluebirds also clap their bill mandibles together in aggressive situations, making a clicking sound. Here is a link so you can hear their song too. ... read full post
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AnarchoBolshevik in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Laughing Owl, a bird that became extinct in 1914
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Sceloglaux_albifacies_albifacies_juvenile.jpg
It was endemic to New Zealand. This photograph was taken in 1909.
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Purple Martin
The purple martin is a passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It is the largest swallow in North America. Despite its name, the purple martin is not truly purple. Purple martins' breeding range is throughout temperate North America. Their breeding habitat is open areas across eastern North America, and also some locations on the west coast from British Columbia to Mexico. Martins make their nests in cavities, either natural or artificial. Purple martins feed entirely on insects. Vast amounts of insects, caught in flight, are consumed daily. A popular misconception is that martins are a major predator of mosquitoes. Extensive studies of feeding habits have shown that mosquitoes make up less than 3% of the martin's daily diet. Purple Martins sing with boisterous, throaty chirps and creaky rattles. During courtship, males make a croak song that can be 4 seconds long; he only does this when a female is nearby, often before dawn and from inside the nest cavity. Females make a chortle song. The loudest song is the dawn song, which males sing before daylight, possibly to attract other martins to the colonial nest site. The building blocks of their songs are also used as calls, in a variety of situations. In addition, martins make a hee-hee call while fighting over territories and zwrack and zweet calls during stressful interaction with other species. Females use a choo call for leading fledglings. Males sometimes make click sounds during courtship by snapping their bills together. Here to the sounds of this little purple bird. ... read full post
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AnarchoBolshevik in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Peregrine rearing Herring Gulls
https://yewtu.be/watch?v=Lwdxo32NelY
Warning: Shows carnivorism.
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher
The blue-gray gnatcatcher(Polioptila caerulea) is a very small songbird native to North America. This bird lives in open woods, oaks, pines, thickets. Their breeding habitat varies with region. In the east, they live mostly in deciduous forest dominated by oak, ash, or maple, or in southern pine woods with understory of oak. In the west, they live often in more scrubby habitat, including pinyon-juniper woods, chaparral, streamside trees, oak forest. The blue-grey gnatcatcher feeds on a wide variety of small insects, including leafhoppers, treehoppers, plant bugs, leaf beetles, caterpillars, flies, small wasps, and many others. Also eats many spiders. Males have two song types. The simpler is a variable series of 4 to 8 short, soft phrases. This is sung early in the nesting season and, once nesting has begun, shortly after sunrise and in territorial disputes. It may occasionally be sung on wintering grounds. More complex songs are sung from early morning to midday. These continuous jumbles of sharp chips, high-pitched whistles, and mewing notes are 10 seconds or more long and often include mimicked bits from the repertoires of jays, tanagers, towhees, vireos, warblers, sandpipers, and other species. Songs may be sung from elevated perches, while feeding, or while in motion. Both sexes use high-pitched, nasal calls. A sharp, mewing zeee, or chay contact call is uttered in bursts of 2 to 6 notes about a second apart. A two note bee-beee version of this, with the first note slurred downward, seems to indicate mild agitation. Greater agitation provokes high pitched trills. They use a faster, louder, sharper version of the contact call in aggressive encounters. Mobbing calls are similar to these aggressive calls, but more urgent-sounding. Other calls include high-pitched whistles, a two-note hiccup used by the female during nest site selection, and isolated mimicry of other species. Like many other birds loud bill snapping is part of territorial defense and mobbing by both sexes. Snapping usually occurs when diving on an intruder from above or in fluttering aerial combat, often after bursts of aggressive calling. Here is a link so you can hear this beautiful bird too. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Dark-eyed Junco
The dark-eyed junco is a species of junco, a group of small, grayish New World sparrows. The species is common across much of temperate North America and in summer it ranges far into the Arctic. It is a variable species, much like the related fox sparrow, and its systematics are still not completely resolved. Juncos like to live in conifer and mixed woods, during the summer. In winter, open woods, undergrowth, roadsides, brush. Over its wide range, breeding habitat is consistently coniferous or mixed woodland, usually in rather open situations such as edges or clearings. Winters in many kinds of semi-open habitats including woodland edges, thickets, brushy places, suburban areas. Close to half of summer diet of adults consists of insects, including caterpillars, beetles, grasshoppers, true bugs, and others, also spiders. Feeds heavily on seeds of weeds and grasses, especially in winter. Also eats some berries. Young are fed mostly insects. Male Dark-eyed Juncos sing an even, musical trill of 7-23 notes that lasts up to 2 seconds. It’s similar to the songs of both the Chipping Sparrow and the Pine Warbler, and is loud enough to be heard from several hundred feet away. Both sexes sing a much quieter song as well, a series of whistles, trills, and warbles that may sound like an American Goldfinch. This song typically doesn’t carry any farther than about 40 feet. Juncos have a high, short chip note that they often give in rapid succession when they fly and more slowly as they forage; the note may encourage other juncos to follow. A sharp but musical kew seems to indicate aggression and encourages two birds to move apart; it’s usually given by the dominant bird. You may also hear juncos give a high, fast twittering call of 6–19 notes during altercations or as birds flush. Here is a link so you can listen to this bird too. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Mourning Dove
The mourning dove is a member of the dove family, Columbidae. The bird is also known as the American mourning dove, the rain dove, the chueybird, colloquially as the turtle dove, and it was once known as the Carolina pigeon and Carolina turtledove. Found in almost any kind of open or semi-open habitat in temperate parts of North America, including forest clearings, farmland, suburbs, prairies, deserts. Feeds almost entirely on seeds (99% of diet). Favors seeds of cultivated grains, also those of grasses, ragweeds, many other plants. Occasionally eats snails, and very rarely any insects. When singing the song (or “perch-coo”) is given mainly by unmated males from a conspicuous perch. It’s a soft coo-oo followed by two or three louder coos. You can often hear paired males give the three-parted “nest call” while nest-building: a coo-OO-oo, highest in the middle. Females sometimes call ohr ohr while sitting on the nest. Interestingly, when taking off and landing, Mourning Doves’ wings make a loud whistling that may help startle predators or warn flock mates. They also can clap their wings together during takeoff much the way Rock Pigeons do. Here is a link so you can hear this wondrous bird too. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Marsh Wren
The marsh wren is a small North American songbird of the wren family. It is sometimes called the long-billed marsh wren to distinguish it from the sedge wren, also known as the short-billed marsh wren. Marsh Wrens occupy wetlands filled with cattails, sedges, bulrushes, and Phragmites as well as cordgrass-filled saltmarshes year-round. In the winter they also use brushy thickets near wetlands, tidal salt-marshes, and weedy agricultural canals. Marsh Wrens pick insects and spiders from stems and leaves of marsh vegetation. They tend to forage close to water, but occasionally fly up to catch a passing insect. gurgling and buzzy trills. Though each note may only last for 1–2 seconds, they can carry on for up to 20 minutes, hardly ever repeating the same note. Males in the eastern United States sing a more liquid and less harsh song than males in the West. Eastern males begin each song with a nasal buzz, whereas western males begin with a sharp chuck. Western males also have a more complex set of vocalizations. Males and females call to alert each other of danger and to indicate their location. The call is a grating, somewhat buzzy chit. In flight, males and females give a longer series of nasal calls. Here is a link so you can hear the wonderful sounds of this bird. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Yellow-billed magpie
The yellow-billed magpie, also known as the California magpie, is a large corvid that inhabits California's Central Valley and the adjacent chaparral foothills and mountains. It lives in open oak woodlands of the Central Valley, the Coast Ranges, and the Sierra Nevada foothills. The well-studied diet of this bird includes hundreds of different species of larval and adult butterflies, moths, grasshoppers, ants, bees, beetles, bugs, flies, and spiders. They also eat arthropods such as ticks, sometimes picking them off deer or horses. This bird has real song, though courting males deliver a bubbly, warbling set of calls often termed “babble-song.” Both sexes give a similar rapid-fire set of harsh calls, very similar to Black-billed Magpie. Here is link so you can listen to this bird too. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Chuck-will's-widow
The chuck-will's-widow is a nocturnal bird of the nightjar family Caprimulgidae. It is mostly found in the southeastern United States near swamps, rocky uplands, and pine woods. It migrates to the West Indies, Central America, and northwestern South America. The Chuck-will’s-widow feeds on large night-flying insects, especially beetles and moths, also many others. Also occasionally takes small birds, including warblers, sparrows, and hummingbirds. This bird is generally very quiet but there song sounds like they are saying “chuck will’s widow” with the first chuck being very quiet or inaudible at a distance. Here is a link to listen to this bird. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Vermillion Flycatcher
The vermilion flycatcher is a small passerine bird in the tyrant flycatcher family found throughout South America and southern North America. It is a striking exception among the generally drab Tyrannidae due to its vermilion-red coloration. In all seasons, the Vermilion Flycatcher can be found in any open country in the American Southwest, including arid scrublands, farmlands, deserts, parks, and canyon mouths. Vermilion Flycatchers eat mostly flying insects. They capture insects on the wing by flying suddenly out from an exposed perch. These foraging flights are often short and direct, and often involve a swift swoop that takes them in a looping circle out and back to the same perch. The common song of the Vermilion Flycatcher, given exclusively by the male, is a chirpy, accelerating p-p-p-pik-zee, often repeated several times. A sharp, squeaky pisk pisk. Adults also chatter to each other in a vocalization that is described as similar to the song, but slower. Here is a link so you can listen to this bird too. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Tufted Puffin
The tufted puffin, also known as crested puffin, is a relatively abundant medium-sized pelagic seabird in the auk family found throughout the North Pacific Ocean. It is one of three species of puffin that make up the genus Fratercula and is easily recognizable by its thick red bill and yellow tufts. The tufted puffin is found throughout the upper latitudes of the North Pacific Ocean. It spends the winter at sea, and nests during spring and summer in coastal colonies from California north to Alaska, and from Siberia south to Japan. Tufted puffins capture and eat prey primarily underwater, in mid-water depths. In the non-breeding season they mostly prey on squid and krill although they will also eat small fishes, octopus, sea jellies, and crabs. Tufted Puffins have low, rather guttural calls sounding like growling, purring, and wailing. Here is a link so you can listen to listen to them too. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Northern Saw-Whet Owl
The northern saw-whet owl is a species of small owl in the family Strigidae. The species is native to North America. Saw-whet owls of the genus Aegolius are some of the smallest owl species in North America. They can be found in dense thickets, often at eye level, although they can also be found some 20 ft up. The main prey items of the Northern Saw-whet Owl are mice, and especially deer mice of the genus Peromyscus. orthern Saw-whet Owls are forest birds. They breed in extensive forests across northern North America, also sometimes using more open habitats such as the shrubsteppe of the West as long as there are nest sites available. They winter in dense forests across the central and southern U.S. Northern Saw-whet Owls have a distinctive too-too-too song, an insistent series of whistled notes on roughly the same pitch, given at a rate of about 2 notes per second. Males calling to advertise their territory can be heard up to half a mile away. Other males respond with a softer, faster, lower version of the song. Females also use a version of the song during courtship. Saw-whets give whines, guttural sounds, high tssst calls, squeaks, and high-pitched barks. Here is a link so that you can listen to this goofiest of goobers. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Mississippi Kite
The Mississippi kite is a small bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Mississippi kites have narrow, pointed wings and are graceful in flight, often appearing to float in the air. It is common to see several circling in the same area. The Mississippi kite lives mainly at lower elevations and can be found in a variety of habitats, including riparian forest, open woodland, and prairies. Within its breeding range, it has even been seen in wooded suburban neighborhoods. The Mississippi Kite prefers to dine mainly on large insects such as cicadas, grasshoppers, beetles, wasps, and dragonflies. This kite also feeds on small birds, bats, frogs, toads, and lizards. The Mississippi Kite’s call is a high, 2-syllable whistle: a quick note followed by a long one that trails down in pitch. It calls while flying or perched to advertise its presence, and uses a more emphatic version when a predator is present, often attracting other kites to join in. It may add extra syllables during interactions with its mate or nestlings. Here is a link so you can listen to them too. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Parasitic Jaeger
The parasitic jaeger or Arctic skua, is a seabird in the skua family Stercorariidae. It is a migratory species that breeds in Northern Scandinavia, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Northern Canada, Alaska, and Siberia and winters across the southern hemisphere. Breeding Parasitic jaegers eat mainly adult, young, and eggs of shorebirds, waterfowl, terns, and songbirds. They also eat insects, small mammals, berries, carrion, and offal. When on the ocean, they harass other seabirds until they give up their catch. The main call of this bird is a series of 3 to 4 (sometimes up to 12) two-parted notes, given a bit faster than one per second on the ground or in flight. There’s also a shorter, irregular series of staccato notes that may be given during attacks and chases. Here is a link so you can listen to them too. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Montezuma Quail
The Montezuma quail is a stubby, secretive New World quail of Mexico and some nearby parts of the United States. It is also known as Mearns's quail, the harlequin quail, and the fool quail. This bird’s song sounds like a descending whistle combined with a buzz. Concerning their other calls, these birds are often silent; but Females give a quavering, descending series of metallic whistles with an otherworldly quality; males give a similarly strange buzzy descending whistle that might be mistaken for an insect. Foraging coveys give soft, chicken-like purring, clucking, and moaning sounds. Here is a link so you can listen to them too. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Smooth-Billed Ani
The smooth-billed ani is a bird in the cuckoo family. It is a resident breeding species from southern Florida, the Caribbean, parts of Central America, south to western Ecuador, Brazil, northern Argentina and southern Chile. On the topic of calls, a high, nasal, rising quer-leek call is the most commonly heard; this is sometimes written as ah-nee and may be the source of the bird’s name. Other calls include squeals, screams, barks, growls, and coughs heard in group interactions. Here is a link so you can listen to them. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Common Poorwill
The common poorwill is a nocturnal bird of the family Caprimulgidae, the nightjars. It is found from British Columbia and southeastern Alberta, through the western United States to northern Mexico. The bird's habitat is dry, open areas with grasses or shrubs, and even stony desert slopes with very little vegetation. The male’s song during the breeding season is a repeated, whistled poorwillip. This gives the species its name, as the final syllable is difficult to hear at any distance. Birds that have been disturbed give growling, barking, and hissing calls. Birds that have been flushed sometimes clap the wingtips together. Here’s a link so you can listen to poor will too. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
White-Rumped Sandpiper
The white-rumped sandpiper is a small shorebird that breeds in the northern tundra of Canada and Alaska. This bird can be difficult to distinguish from other similar tiny shorebirds; these are known collectively as "peeps" or "stints". These birds are not often spotted. Males sing a bizarre, mechanical-sounding, insectlike song, which alternates rapidly between a wiry buzzing sound and a low, guttural or snoring sound. A very high-pitched, electric-sounding tzeet often likened to a mouse squeak. Click here to listen to them. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Brown Creeper
The brown creeper, also known as the American treecreeper, is a small songbird, the only North American member of the treecreeper family Certhiidae. Only the male sings, and usually only on the breeding grounds, though sometimes during migration as well. His song is a jumble of high, thin notes that lasts up to 1.5 seconds. It’s sometimes likened to singing the phrase trees, beautiful trees. Creepers may join single songs together two or three times in a row. Although the delicate song carries well through the woods the thin, high notes can be easily missed. Males and females make high, wavering call notes that sound like a small chain being dropped into a heap; these notes are noticeably longer than the very short call notes of many other birds. Creepers give these calls all year long and especially while foraging. Their calls can be hard to distinguish from the calls of Golden-crowned Kinglets. They use other variations of calls during flight, courtship chases, courtship feeding rituals, and aggressive interactions. Here is a link so you can listen to the tree creeper itself. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Spotted Towhee
The spotted towhee is a large New World sparrow. The taxonomy of the towhees has been debated in recent decades, and until 1995 this bird and the eastern towhee were considered a single species, the rufous-sided towhee. Another outdated name for the spotted towhee is the Oregon towhee. Spotted Towhees have a fairly simple song, a drier faster take on the Eastern Towhee’s drink-your-tea song that often omits the middle section. It lasts about 1.5 seconds. The song starts with one or two (up to eight) short introductory notes and then a fast trill that can sound like a taut rubber band being plucked, or a piece of paper stuck into a fan. Some Spotted Towhee songs have just the trill phrase only. Spotted Towhees make a catlike mew call, a little more than a half-second long. It seems to be used for scolding as well as by perched or foraging birds. Pairs sometimes exchange a soft, lisping call to stay in contact. Spotted Towhees also give a high, thin flight call. Here is a link so you can listen to this funny little bird too. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Common Raven
The common raven is a large all-black passerine bird. It is the most widely distributed of all corvids, found across the Northern Hemisphere. Common Ravens make many different kinds of calls varying from a low, gurgling croak to harsh grating sounds and shrill alarm calls. Scientists have placed their vocalizations into as many as 33 different categories based on sound and context. The most commonly heard is the classic gurgling croak, rising in pitch and seeming to come from the back of the throat. It’s much deeper and more musical than a crow’s simple, scratchy caw. Ravens make this call often. It’s audible for more than a mile, and ravens often give it in response to other ravens they hear in the distance. Among their other calls, ravens make short, repeated, shrill calls when chasing predators or trespassers, and deep, rasping calls when their nests are disturbed. Dominant females sometimes make a rapid series of 12 or so loud knocking sounds that lasts about a second. Common Ravens can mimic other birds, and when raised in captivity can even be taught words. Displaying males and females snap their beaks audibly. Females performing the rapid knocking call often end it with a bill snap. Given this many think that Ravens could have their own language. Here is a link so you can listen to them talk as well. ... read full post
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Ocommie63 in hnaa_hobb_el_tayur
Atlantic Puffin
The Atlantic puffin, also known as the common puffin, is a species of seabird in the auk family. It is the only puffin native to the Atlantic Ocean; two related species, the tufted puffin and the horned puffin are found in the northeastern Pacific. Atlantic Puffins are silent at sea. On land males often give a piglike grunt while flicking their head back to attract a female. In their breeding burrows they make a growling call similar to the sound of a muted toy chainsaw. Here is a link so you can hear them too!!! ... read full post