~Author Unknown~
Showing posts with label Birds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birds. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
Thursday, October 17, 2019
GULLS AND DUCK...
...the 'Duck' being the town of Duck, North Carolina, in the Outer Banks.
Here are two maps showing its location.
Every time I see one now, I am reminded of a man I met who gave nature talks on gulls. My whole life I had called them seagulls. When we were looking at one such 'seagull', he told me that there are no 'seagulls', just gulls. He seemed to know what he was talking about so I took him at his word...
and yet everywhere I go on the internet, they are known as 'Seagulls", even by Ogden Nash in one of his short poems.
The Sea-Gull
by Ogden Nash
Hark to the whimper of the sea-gull;
He weeps because he is not an ea-gull.
Suppose you were, you silly sea-gull.
Could you explain it to your she-gull?
I know they are not the most popular bird with some, but I have always loved them. My experiences have never been as some I have heard, and I have read some real horror stories out there. However, my whole life I remember them fondly, so I suppose this is why I enjoy them on the rare occasion we are in each other's company.
"Seagulls...slim yachts of the element."
~Robinson Jeffers~
And here are some facts I found.
There are approximately 50 species of gulls found throughout the world.
Their lifespan depends on the species. Most gulls have a lifespan from 10 to 15 years in the wild.
Gulls live in colonies that consist of few pairs of birds, or a couple of thousand birds.
Gulls are monogamous that mate for life.
They are devoted to their chicks and co-parent.
Most gulls breed once a year and have predictable breeding seasons lasting for three to five months.
Nest building is also part of the pair-bonding. Most species of gull build their nests on the ground, while other species build their nests on elevated areas, such as cliffs or trees.
The clutch size is generally three eggs.
Both male and female take turns incubating eggs, with incubation lasting 26 days.
Young chicks are brooded by their parents for about one or two weeks, and often at least one parent remains with them until they fledge, to guard them.
Both parents feed the chicks, although early on in the rearing period, the male does most of the feeding and the female most of the brooding and guarding.
They can drink fresh water or salt water, though they prefer fresh.
That being said, being marine birds, gulls are often far from sources of fresh water. Because of this they have special bill adaptations that allow them to filter the salt out of the water and make it drinkable.
Case in point, many of the world's species of gulls are the type we see all the time and display normal behavior, but there are also many who have evolved to suit their environs. The lava gull for instance has adapted to volcanic islands and is black from bill to wingtip. The swallow-tailed gull, native to the Galapagos Islands, is actually nocturnal, and specializes in hunting squid, swooping down in the moonlight to capture its prey.
Seagulls have existed on the earth for at least 30 to 33 million years.
In many cultures, seagulls are symbolic of freedom, versatility and a carefree lifestyle.
All gulls belong to the Laridae bird family, along with terns, kittiwakes, skimmers and noddies. Noddies? Click here to find out what those are.
And bingo! This next bit refers to what I mentioned at the beginning of my post. Despite the universal use of the general term "seagull" these birds are not associated just with pelagic, marine or coastal environments, and in fact there are no birds officially named seagulls.
At least one species is found on every continent, including Antarctica, and many gulls have widespread ranges that make them familiar to birders from vastly different regions. This makes gulls one of the most widespread families of birds in the world.
A flock of gulls is called a colony, squabble, flotilla or scavenging.
Gulls are opportunistic feeders and yes, they will swoop down and steal a bag of fish and chips right out of your hands, and anything else they can get a hold of in the way of food. I've never actually experienced this but have seen on several occasions people voluntarily feeding them for the fun of it, to watch them descending by the dozens. When we were little and on holiday in a caravan (camping trailer to us over here), my father would open the small window in the roof and feed the gulls stale bread, and we delighted in feeling them peck our fingers as a whole flock grabbed all the bread they could before it ran out. Amazingly they never drew blood, and whether this was due to fast reflexes I don't remember. I might add that I learned long ago now, that to feed any wildlife human food is most definitely not what we should do, however tempting. It can be harmful to them, and to us, for so many reasons.
As far as gulls go, the California gull is quite smart. Unlike many gulls, this species favors inland environments for nesting, and often migrate through farmland. In these environments, insects are a preferred diet of choice. Which leads to the following.
The California gull (Larus californicus) is the State Bird of Utah. Not only is this the only gull to be an officially designated state bird, but it is also the only bird to be a symbolic icon for one state even though it is named after another state. The reason is that in 1848 a great crop of gulls once saved the people of Utah by eating up hordes of crickets that were destroying the crops. All day long they ate the crickets, and kept eating until these insects were gone, and then they returned to the lake islands from where they originated. And the people of Utah were saved. What a wonderful way to become a State Bird.
The Seagull Monument on Temple Square in Salt Lake City honors the gull. Two sculptured gulls stand atop the monument which was unveiled in 1913. Mahonri MacKintosh Young sculpted the monument.
The size of a gull varies widely. The little gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus) is the smallest at just 11-12 inches long, a wingspan of 24 inches, and weighing just 3-4 ounces. The Great black-backed gull (Larus marinus) is the largest gull at 28-30 inches long, with a 60-inch wing span and a weight of 3-4 pounds.
The smallest gull species in most of North America is a small bird with a black head, white body and red bill and legs. It is called the Bonaparte's gull, named after Charles Lucien Bonaparte, the illegitimate cousin of Napoleon Bonaparte. I have no idea how that came about but this History site tells us how many family members of Napoleon ended up in America. And isn't it interesting how research on Gulls can send you in so many different directions? Well, learning is fun, and I have had fun doing this post.
I bounced all over the internet last night, from one website to another. Unfortunately I wasn't very careful taking note of their addresses, even though I was fascinated with all these facts I was reading. I was up late and though my fingers were moving fast, my brain wasn't quite on the same pace. That's the way I roll on a sleepless night at three in the morning. I got caught up in the enjoyment of finding all about one of my favorite critters, and I didn't realize how late it. I am having an early night!
So, I hope you've enjoyed all these interesting facts, and my apologies if it is a bit too long. I wanted to get everything on record so that I could go back whenever I wanted, to re-read and maybe do more research while remembering to make a note of where I got my information from. From childhood I have always had a curious mind on just about everything.
by Ogden Nash
Hark to the whimper of the sea-gull;
He weeps because he is not an ea-gull.
Suppose you were, you silly sea-gull.
Could you explain it to your she-gull?
I know they are not the most popular bird with some, but I have always loved them. My experiences have never been as some I have heard, and I have read some real horror stories out there. However, my whole life I remember them fondly, so I suppose this is why I enjoy them on the rare occasion we are in each other's company.
"Seagulls...slim yachts of the element."
~Robinson Jeffers~
And here are some facts I found.
There are approximately 50 species of gulls found throughout the world.
Their lifespan depends on the species. Most gulls have a lifespan from 10 to 15 years in the wild.
Gulls live in colonies that consist of few pairs of birds, or a couple of thousand birds.
Gulls are monogamous that mate for life.
They are devoted to their chicks and co-parent.
Nest building is also part of the pair-bonding. Most species of gull build their nests on the ground, while other species build their nests on elevated areas, such as cliffs or trees.
The clutch size is generally three eggs.
Both male and female take turns incubating eggs, with incubation lasting 26 days.
Young chicks are brooded by their parents for about one or two weeks, and often at least one parent remains with them until they fledge, to guard them.
Both parents feed the chicks, although early on in the rearing period, the male does most of the feeding and the female most of the brooding and guarding.
They can drink fresh water or salt water, though they prefer fresh.
That being said, being marine birds, gulls are often far from sources of fresh water. Because of this they have special bill adaptations that allow them to filter the salt out of the water and make it drinkable.
Case in point, many of the world's species of gulls are the type we see all the time and display normal behavior, but there are also many who have evolved to suit their environs. The lava gull for instance has adapted to volcanic islands and is black from bill to wingtip. The swallow-tailed gull, native to the Galapagos Islands, is actually nocturnal, and specializes in hunting squid, swooping down in the moonlight to capture its prey.
Seagulls have existed on the earth for at least 30 to 33 million years.
In many cultures, seagulls are symbolic of freedom, versatility and a carefree lifestyle.
All gulls belong to the Laridae bird family, along with terns, kittiwakes, skimmers and noddies. Noddies? Click here to find out what those are.
And bingo! This next bit refers to what I mentioned at the beginning of my post. Despite the universal use of the general term "seagull" these birds are not associated just with pelagic, marine or coastal environments, and in fact there are no birds officially named seagulls.
At least one species is found on every continent, including Antarctica, and many gulls have widespread ranges that make them familiar to birders from vastly different regions. This makes gulls one of the most widespread families of birds in the world.
A flock of gulls is called a colony, squabble, flotilla or scavenging.
Gulls are opportunistic feeders and yes, they will swoop down and steal a bag of fish and chips right out of your hands, and anything else they can get a hold of in the way of food. I've never actually experienced this but have seen on several occasions people voluntarily feeding them for the fun of it, to watch them descending by the dozens. When we were little and on holiday in a caravan (camping trailer to us over here), my father would open the small window in the roof and feed the gulls stale bread, and we delighted in feeling them peck our fingers as a whole flock grabbed all the bread they could before it ran out. Amazingly they never drew blood, and whether this was due to fast reflexes I don't remember. I might add that I learned long ago now, that to feed any wildlife human food is most definitely not what we should do, however tempting. It can be harmful to them, and to us, for so many reasons.
As far as gulls go, the California gull is quite smart. Unlike many gulls, this species favors inland environments for nesting, and often migrate through farmland. In these environments, insects are a preferred diet of choice. Which leads to the following.
The California gull (Larus californicus) is the State Bird of Utah. Not only is this the only gull to be an officially designated state bird, but it is also the only bird to be a symbolic icon for one state even though it is named after another state. The reason is that in 1848 a great crop of gulls once saved the people of Utah by eating up hordes of crickets that were destroying the crops. All day long they ate the crickets, and kept eating until these insects were gone, and then they returned to the lake islands from where they originated. And the people of Utah were saved. What a wonderful way to become a State Bird.
The Seagull Monument on Temple Square in Salt Lake City honors the gull. Two sculptured gulls stand atop the monument which was unveiled in 1913. Mahonri MacKintosh Young sculpted the monument.
The size of a gull varies widely. The little gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus) is the smallest at just 11-12 inches long, a wingspan of 24 inches, and weighing just 3-4 ounces. The Great black-backed gull (Larus marinus) is the largest gull at 28-30 inches long, with a 60-inch wing span and a weight of 3-4 pounds.
The smallest gull species in most of North America is a small bird with a black head, white body and red bill and legs. It is called the Bonaparte's gull, named after Charles Lucien Bonaparte, the illegitimate cousin of Napoleon Bonaparte. I have no idea how that came about but this History site tells us how many family members of Napoleon ended up in America. And isn't it interesting how research on Gulls can send you in so many different directions? Well, learning is fun, and I have had fun doing this post.
So, I hope you've enjoyed all these interesting facts, and my apologies if it is a bit too long. I wanted to get everything on record so that I could go back whenever I wanted, to re-read and maybe do more research while remembering to make a note of where I got my information from. From childhood I have always had a curious mind on just about everything.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
WILDLIFE AT HUNTLEY MEADOWS PARK
The last time we had a walk here a few weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to see quite a lot of wildlife, and I put together a collage to start off today's post.
When I was taking photos of this butterfly, a gentleman came by and told me what it was. He was carrying a camera and a tripod. I wish I could remember his name! He said he had taken a photograph of the butterfly and went through several on his phone to show me. All his photos looks wonderful and he said he had an account on Flicker and mainly took videos, that I do remember. Hopefully I will come across it one of these days.
He told me this was a Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly, and I found a blog with great photos here. This is the first time I remember seeing one, or more likely had the chance to take notice. The butterfly posed very nicely for a while.
It is sipping nectar from a Climbing hempvine, botanical name Mikania scandens.
Eileen at Viewing Nature with Eileen (you can see what she says in her comments attached to this post) identified this bird as a Juvenile Little Blue Heron. Thank you Eileen. I love how our blogging friends help out, and always appreciate correct identifications.
You can learn more here.
Their habitat information was found at the above link: "you will find them at the edges of shallow water, particularly where there is adjacent emergent vegetation or overhanging bushes or trees."
A Great Egret is next. Gregg took its photos. There were several of them at the park when we were there...
many putting on a wonderful display in flight.
He also took there, two Great Blue Herons. Unfortunately most of the birds were further than we would have liked, but always grateful for whatever we can get. If you go to this YouTube link it will show you a great video of this bird.
In the next photo is a female Eastern Pond Hawk Dragonfly, Erythemis simplicicollis. You can see a photo of the male at this link.
The brown dragonfly is an Eastern Amberwing.
The last one is the Common White Dragonfly.
This looks like a Meadow Katydid.
A Blue tailed Skink and you can see one here also.
It looks like it is growing a new tail. The blogger said that although this is called a Blue-tailed skink in the US, it is actually an American Five-lined Skink. He added that the actual Blue-tailed skink lives on Christmas Island in Australia.
There weren't many frogs to be seen on this visit, and I looked really hard to find one. The only reason I saw the handsome fellow below, was I noticed a young girl with her family leaning precariously over the boardwalk. I asked what they were looking at and the girl pointed to the frog.
He is above left of center in the first photo below. I had to lean far over to see him as he was out of almost out of sight just under the boardwalk.
This is a Snapping Turtle. Its head was visible with the rest of him under water. He is prehistoric looking isn't he?
I have seen them many times at various places, mostly in the water and one time on land. They can be huge and I figured our landlubber was a grandfather of snappers. I gave him a wide berth as I have read they can be particularly aggressive on land even before reading the same at this link. Also, though most of the time you only see their head tucked into their shell, they have long necks that can swivel really fast, and that mouth would do terrible things to your fingers. Sorry for that image but forewarned is forearmed. I like these creatures and have always found them fascinating, but it is sensible to have a healthy respect for all wildlife and keep an appropriate distance.
I saved these for the last. Many of us know about the Eastern Tent Caterpillar. They aren't at all popular. When we first moved into our house almost 30 years ago, I was told by a neighbor that these caterpillars killed a tree in our yard and much to the previous owner's dismay, it fell on our roof. We noticed another tree that was dead. It had been growing next to it, and had to have it cut down before it did the same.
Eileen at Viewing Nature with Eileen (you can see what she says in her comments attached to this post) identified this bird as a Juvenile Little Blue Heron. Thank you Eileen. I love how our blogging friends help out, and always appreciate correct identifications.
You can learn more here.
Their habitat information was found at the above link: "you will find them at the edges of shallow water, particularly where there is adjacent emergent vegetation or overhanging bushes or trees."
A Great Egret is next. Gregg took its photos. There were several of them at the park when we were there...
many putting on a wonderful display in flight.
He also took there, two Great Blue Herons. Unfortunately most of the birds were further than we would have liked, but always grateful for whatever we can get. If you go to this YouTube link it will show you a great video of this bird.
In the next photo is a female Eastern Pond Hawk Dragonfly, Erythemis simplicicollis. You can see a photo of the male at this link.
The brown dragonfly is an Eastern Amberwing.
The last one is the Common White Dragonfly.
This looks like a Meadow Katydid.
A Blue tailed Skink and you can see one here also.
It looks like it is growing a new tail. The blogger said that although this is called a Blue-tailed skink in the US, it is actually an American Five-lined Skink. He added that the actual Blue-tailed skink lives on Christmas Island in Australia.
There weren't many frogs to be seen on this visit, and I looked really hard to find one. The only reason I saw the handsome fellow below, was I noticed a young girl with her family leaning precariously over the boardwalk. I asked what they were looking at and the girl pointed to the frog.
He is above left of center in the first photo below. I had to lean far over to see him as he was out of almost out of sight just under the boardwalk.
This is a Snapping Turtle. Its head was visible with the rest of him under water. He is prehistoric looking isn't he?
I have seen them many times at various places, mostly in the water and one time on land. They can be huge and I figured our landlubber was a grandfather of snappers. I gave him a wide berth as I have read they can be particularly aggressive on land even before reading the same at this link. Also, though most of the time you only see their head tucked into their shell, they have long necks that can swivel really fast, and that mouth would do terrible things to your fingers. Sorry for that image but forewarned is forearmed. I like these creatures and have always found them fascinating, but it is sensible to have a healthy respect for all wildlife and keep an appropriate distance.
I saved these for the last. Many of us know about the Eastern Tent Caterpillar. They aren't at all popular. When we first moved into our house almost 30 years ago, I was told by a neighbor that these caterpillars killed a tree in our yard and much to the previous owner's dismay, it fell on our roof. We noticed another tree that was dead. It had been growing next to it, and had to have it cut down before it did the same.
The actual moth is a cute little thing as you will see here. I was surprised to see the caterpillars around.
It seems to me that this year I have seen a lot more of these 'tents'. They are usually a common sight going down the highway, on side roads too.
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
THE BIRDS AT WILLIAMSBURG BOTANICAL GARDENS....
Continuing on our walk around the garden, I saw two kinds of birds, a Cardinal that was in the process of molting/growing his feathers back, and two or three Tufted Titmouse's, all near the birdfeeders.
These are the same kind of birds I get regularly at home but I still love to see their cousins down south.
"It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important."
~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle~
This is definitely bird therapy.
I could sit and watch them for a long time, totally mesmerized.
"You can observe a lot by watching."
~Yogi Berra~
I felt another set of eyes on me and realized I wasn't the only one observing. Who's looking at whom here?
I wonder how long it will take for him to grow his feathers back?
Have a great day and thanks for looking.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
PLAYING AROUND...
with one of my art apps on my iPad, I used a couple of the goose and duck photos from yesterday's post which can be seen here if you want to compare. While Gregg watched his baseball game, I played on the computer. It is fun coming up with the different effects. The app I used was Brushstrokes.
This one makes my eyes ache a little but I still liked the effect. It reminds me of one of those tests for color blindness. Hopefully you can see the duck?
That's better!
Another interesting effect...
and another.
I like this one.
I tried many effects but am only sharing a few.
Very special love and hugs for all of you out there today.
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