Pyrrhuloxia

There are a number of species of birds around the world that have names that are difficult to pronounce and spell but the pyrrhuloxia has to be near the top of the list. The name is actually a combination of two genus names Pyrrhula, which roughly means flame-colored, and Loxia, which roughly means crooked. The name refers to the red color primarily on the males and the crooked shape of the beak.

The pyrrhuloxia is a relative of the northern cardinal. They are year round inhabitants of the deserts and scrublands of the extreme south western United States and Mexico. They are omnivorous who typically forage on the ground for seeds, grasses, and insects. They will also feed on cactus blooms and fruit. Most of the moisture that they need comes from the foods that they eat. 

Eared Grebe

 I am sure that most people have heard the story f the ugly duckling. How a chick that looks different then all the other duck chicks grows up to become a beautiful swan. Well there are some species of birds that go through a similar metamorphosis each year. Take the eared grebe for example. The subject of both of these photos are eared grebes. Other then the red eye they do not look the same and I bet that if you spotted the two of them right next to each other that most people would think that they were two different species.

Of course spotting these two next to each other would be highly unlikely. The top photo is the eared grebe in its winter plumage. This photo was taken in California in February. Eared grebes migrate to the Pacific Coast, southwestern United States, and Mexico. The second photo is an eared grebe in its breeding plumage. I guess that it is hard to find a mate when you are in black and white. This photo was taken in Montana in May. Eared grebes breed on inland lakes in the western half of the U. S. and Canada.

Olive-sided Flycatcher

 The olive-sided flycatcher has a large and diverse breeding range. They breed across Canada, Alaska, the western half of the United States and the northeastern United States. Here in Minnesota they breed in the northeast corner of the state but both of these birds were photographed in the south east part of the state. During the winter these birds migrate to parts of Central America and northern South America.

Olive-sided flycatchers eat flying insects which they usually catch in flight. I watched this bird catch about a half dozen bees with in a few minutes. From his perch on the branch he would fly up into the air, looping around, and then return to his perch with a bee in his beak. Olive-sided flycatchers live in forested habitats. Burned areas are preferred habitat because there is usually plenty of burnt snags for them to hunt fromand not a lot of brush to get in their way while they hunt.

Golden-backed Snipe Fly

 Like many people I am not a big of flies. There are approximately 120,000 species of flies in the world and most of the ones that I have encountered are not on my friends list. In my experience many fly species are parasitic. They bite mammals, birds, and people and drink some of their blood. During the summer the deer and black flies in the northern two thirds of Minnesota can be almost unbearable. Then there are house flies that are always trying to raise their maggots in your food and garbage. However I did come across this rather cool looking fly in the southeastern corner of the state. The golden-backed snipe fly is native to eastern portions of North America. I am guessing that Minnesota is on the edge of their range because I have only seen these flies once in my 50 long years of life. There is not a lot of information available about this species, or most insects for that matter, but it is believed to be a predator that eats other insects instead of a parasite. So not only does it look great but it is also less biting.

Sandhill Cranes at Dusk

In the fall Crex Meadows becomes a staging grounds for hundreds of sandhill cranes gathering to fly south for the winter. During the day they visit the farm fields, some of which are a part of Crex and others are in the surrounding area. They eat left over grains and insects building up their energy reserves for the long upcoming flight south. At night they stand in the shallow lakes and pools of Crex. The waters act as protection and alarm against ground based predators that might try and sneak up on the birds in the dark. The treat for us humans is in the morning and night when the cranes are flying out or returning. In this shot the sun had just sunk below the horizon. Birds were still coming in providing me with wonderful silhouette shots against the blaze orange sky. 

Northern Parula

 The northern parula is a small American wood warbler. In mixed flocks they are usually one of the smallest birds with kinglets typically being the only smaller species. They breed in the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. They winter in southern Florida, Caribbean, and Central America.

 The northern parula breed primarily in forested habitat. The build pendulum styled nest from hanging vegetation. Birds in the north tend to use beard moss or coniferous twigs for nest construction while southern populations tend to use Spanish moss. In the middle, the southern Great Lakes region, northern parula do not breed. It is possible that this is because most of the habitat in these areas lack of epiphytes, plants that grow on other plants, that they look for to build the nests.

These birds were all photographed during migration. The top two were photographed near my home in southern Minnesota in May. Northern parula only nest in north eastern Minnesota where there are a lot of boggy areas that have trees with moss growing on them. The bottom shot was taken on South Padre Island in Texas. Northern parula do nest in east Texas but not usually that far south. This little water fountain was a first stop for many birds after making the long flight across the Gulf of Mexico.

Dorcas Copper

The dorcas copper is a small northern butterfly that is typically found around bogs or other wetland areas in Alaska, Canada, and parts of northern United States. There is typically one brood per summer from June through August. They are very similar looking to the purplish copper.

Females lay their eggs one at a time on the underside of the leaves of their host plant, which are cinquefoils. In the fall the eggs fall to the ground where they will overwinter as eggs. In spring the new caterpillars will emerge and crawl back up the new host plants and begin to eat the leaves.

Mountain Bluebird

 The mountain bluebird is found in the western half of North America. They prefer open country and breed from Alaska to Arizona. The birds that breed in the northern portions of the territory migrate down as far south as southern Mexico for the winter. Birds that breed in the southwestern United States tend to stay within their range through out the entire year. They are often found at elevations above 1500 meters but will head to lower elevations during the winter.

 Like most bluebirds the mountain bluebird is a cavity nester. They share much of their range with the western bluebird and the two species compete for nesting spots such as natural tree cavities, woodpecker excavations, nesting boxes and other man made cavities. The female, pictured above, builds the nest typically out of grasses, bark, hair and feathers. The male sometimes appears to be helping with the nest but he usually does not really do much of anything.

Nashville Warbler

 The Nashville warbler was named back in 1811 by Alexander Wilson when he first observed them near Nashville Tennessee. Unfortunately the name does not fit well since the only time that you can find Nashville warblers near Nashville Tennessee is during migration. Nashville warblers breed in Canada and the northern United States. During the winter they migrate to southern Texas, Mexico and Central America.

It is likely the birds that Wilson spotted were adults. In this species the juvenile birds tend to migrate along the coast while the adult birds choose a more inland route. There are two distinct and separate subspecies of Nashville warblers. The ruficapilla subspecies is found in the eastern half of North America. The ridgwayi subspecies breeds along the west coast of North America from northern California to southern British Columbia. This subspecies is a little brighter and used to be considered a separate species, the Calavaras warbler. Both species prefer deciduous forest or bog habitat. They eat insects which they glean from low branches and shrubs.

Long-eared Owl

 Long-eared owls are a medium sized owl that is found in North America, Europe and Asia. They prefer heavily wooded habitats usually with open fields near by for hunting. They mostly eat rodents and other small mammals. They are a nocturnal species and are active mostly late at night. This picture was taken in Minnesota in near darkness. I had to use a very high ISO in order to capture the image.

 In North America the long-eared owls are primarily found in Canada, the northern United States and the Rocky Mountain region. While many stay on their territory year round those birds in the northern portion of the range may migrate south the United States or Mexico. The reason for the migration is because of the lack of enough accessible prey during the winter. This bird was captured at the banding station at Hawk Ridge. Once banded the owl was released back into the wild.This owl was photographed in the sage at Yellowstone.

The log-eared owl is one of the species of birds that has a misleading name. These owls may look as though they have long ears on the top of their head but, like most owl their ears are holes sitting under their feathers on the sides of their head. The ears are at different heights on their head, asynchronous, which allows them to locate their prey through sound. The flat spaces on the sides of the face, facial disks, help to funnel sound into their ears giving them very good hearing. What you see on the tops of their heads are feather tufts. There are numerous tufted owls species around the world. No one knows for sure the purpose of the tufts but it is believed that they help camouflage the owl by breaking up their silhouette. They are also often used to communicate the mood of the bird.