Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

The yellow-bellied sapsucker is a small woodpecker that is native to the eastern half of North America. They breed in the northern United States and much of Canada. they spend the winter in the Gulf states, Mexico and Central America. Their main food source is tree sap, hence the name. They will drink sap from over 1000 species of trees and wooded plants but prefer sap with a high sugar content like those from birch and maple trees. In the spring they bore deep holes into the wood and stick their beaks inside to suck out sap. When the trees leaf out they bore a more shallow hole which they maintain over the summer licking the sap that flows from the hole. They will also eat insects the way that other woodpeckers do but they are just a supplement.

 Welcome to Tuesday Tweets! To join in the fun just post a photo of a bird and then link it by here by using the handy dandy link below. Then make sure you visit other sites to do a little bird watching.

What type of bird o you think of at the Holidays

What bird do you think of at the holidays? Is it a partridge in a pear tree? Or maybe it is a turkey, plump and roasted. How about a little black capped chickadee that might appear on the front of your holiday card. For me a part of the holiday's is the Christmas bird counts. This year the two that I normally participate in are both next weekend. I will no doubt see a lot of chickadees but maybe I will get to see something interesting this year. You never know.   .......   Happy Holidays!

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White Ibis

The white Ibis is an ibis that lives in the tropical and subtropical regions of North, Central and South America. They are found in a variety of habitats including coastal wetlands and mangrove swamps. The white ibis is a tactile hunter. They can often be seen wading through the water with their long beak held slightly open scraping the bottom. When they feel prey swimming through the water they grab it with their open beak. Prey typically consists of fish, aquatic insects and crustaceans. Crayfish are their favorite prey.

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Varied Thrush

The varied thrush is a robin sized bird that breeds in western Alaska, Canada, and the northwestern United States. On their breeding territory they typically forage for insects on the forest floor. During the winter birds that nest in Alaska and Canada migrate south down along the Pacific Coast primarily to California. During the fall and winter they forage in loose flocks eating berries, fruit, acorns and nuts. Once in a while one of these birds gets mixed up during migration and ends up here in Minnesota. This bird spent a winter in Roseville, MN where it mixed in with a small flock of robins. It was very popular with the birders here in Minnesota. 

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Eastern Bluebird

 As winter sets in here in the north the world seems to lose much of its color. The green leaves are gone from the trees, soon the ground will be covered with white and the skies are most often gray. Flowers and butterflies are long gone and many of the birds that remain in Minnesota during the winter are brown or shades of gray. Last year we were lucky, as it seems a few hardy eastern bluebirds decided not to migrate south. Instead they over wintered in southern Minnesota. Their bright blue color has sure helped to brighten up the bleak season. Of course last year we did not have much snow at all and the birding was pretty messed up. So if things go back to normal this winter we may have a few months to wait for the color to return to the frozen north.

Welcome to Tuesday Tweets! To join in the fun just post a photo of a bird and then link it by here by using the handy dandy link below. Then make sure you visit other sites to do a little bird watching.

Tennessee Warbler

The Tennessee warbler is a bird with a misleading name. The Tennessee warbler was named in 1832 by Alexander Wilson, a naturalist that first scientifically described the species from individuals that he observed on the banks of the Cumberland River in Tennessee. The fact is that the only time you would be likely to see a Tennessee warbler in Tennessee is during migration. These warblers nest in the boreal forests of Canada and the northern United States, including north east Minnesota. Their favorite food is the spruce budworm. During the winter they migrate down to southern Central America and northern South America where they are often found on coffee plantations. During the winter they still eat insects but they also supplement their diet with nectar, particularly from the flowers of the inga trees.

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Snail Kite

The snail kite is a raptor that is pretty rare in the United States. The only population of snail kites in the U.S. is in southern Florida. Otherwise the snail kite is found in parts of the Caribbean, Central America and south America. In Florida locally endangered because wetland draining and water level controls in southern Florida are depleting the available prey of the kite.

When it comes to prey the snail kite is a specialist. Their diet consists primarily of apple snails. Their long thin beak is perfect adapted for sliding into the snail shell to get the meat inside. In Florida snail kites have been spotted eating other prey, such as turtles, crayfish and rodents, when snails can not be found but the population of the snail kites is directly affected by the population of apple snails. I photographed this female near the Loxahatchee NWR in Florida. I know that it was a female because the males are more of a blue-gray color instead of brown like the females. This was a life bird for me.

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Ruby-throated Hummingbird

 The ruby-throated humming bird is the most widely distributed hummingbird in North America. It is also the only species of hummingbird that regularly breeds in the eastern half of the continent. The breeding range of the ruby-thoated hummer covers the eastern half of the United States and south central Canada.During the winter they migrate down to Mexico and Central America.

The feet of the ruby-throated are so small that they are not able to walk or hop like other birds. Instead they often hover, their wings beating around 53 beats per second. Nesting usually takes place in trees but because they are usually often found around people they will sometimes nest on man made items. They are often enticed to peoples homes by use of hummingbird feeders that are filled with sugar water.

Welcome to Tuesday Tweets! To join in the fun just post a photo of a bird and then link it by here by using the handy dandy link below. Then make sure you visit other sites to do a little bird watching.

TRC 2013 Calendar

This year I have worked to put together a calendar for The Raptor Center, as I have for the past few years. The calendar features many of our education birds, such as Whisper who was the featured bird for October 2013. The calendar also has pictures of birds being exercised with our flight crews, and birds being released back to the wild. I also intersperse the calendar with some of my wild raptor photos so that people can see some of the birds in their natural habitat. We also add a lot of information about the birds as well as the different species of raptors. The calendar is a bit more expensive then the cheap calendars that you can find at stores but all the proceeds go to help The Raptor Center treat and rehabilitate between 600 to 800 raptors each year. If you are interested you can purchase a calendar online here. 

Welcome to Tuesday Tweets! To join in the fun just post a photo of a bird and then link it by here by using the handy dandy link below. Then make sure you visit other sites to do a little bird watching.

Palm Warbler

 The palm warbler is a bird that is found in the eastern half of North America. They breed up in the bogs and boreal forests of Canada. Palm warblers in the western portions of the range tend to be duller with bellies that are pale yellow to white. Birds in the eastern portion of the range usually have an entirely yellow belly. Since Minnesota is on the western range our birds are not as bright. You can see the white patches on the breast of the bird pictured above. Like most warblers the Palm warbler is primarily a bug eater. I most often see them on the ground foraging in the brush for bugs. During the winter they head south and live along the gulf coast and Caribbean. During migration they will supplement their diet with seeds and berries.

Welcome to Tuesday Tweets! To join in the fun just post a photo of a bird and then link it by here by using the handy dandy link below. Then make sure you visit other sites to do a little bird watching.

Orchard Oriole

The orchard oriole is the smallest oriole in North America. They are found in the Eastern United States up to the Canadian border in the north and down into Mexico in the south. During the winter they migrate down into Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. They often do not spend a lot of time on the breeding territory, arriving late in the spring and returning to their winter habitat before the end of summer.

Orchard orioles mostly eat insects and spiders during the breeding season. Besides insects they will also eat fruit, especially during the non-breeding season. These orioles were attracted to fruit that was left in the trees at the South Padre Convention Center. Down in tropical areas of Central America, during the winter, the orchard oriole will eat nectar and pollen from flowers. While they feed at the flowers pollen often collects on their feathers and then drops off at the next flower that they visit. Thus they join butterflies and bees as important pollinators in the area.

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Nova the Northern Saw-whet Owl

 Our newest education bird at The Raptor Center is this cute little northern saw-whet owl. As their name implies the northern saw-whet are birds that are found in the north. Their range includes southern Canada, northern U.S. and parts of the Rocky Mountains. Northern saw-whets often migrate south during the winter when food becomes scarce in their northern range. They typically eat mice, particularly deer mice, which they catch while hunting at night.  

 Nova is a female northern saw-whet owl. She was named recently in a public naming contest. The name Nova is short for Nova Scotia which is a province in which the northern saw-whet was first discovered. At that time that part of Canada was a French colony called Acadia which is why the scientific name for the Northern saw-whet is Aegolius acadicus. Nova is unable to be released back to the wild because she is blind in one eye which is pretty noticeable in the photo above.

Welcome to Tuesday Tweets! To join in the fun just post a photo of a bird and then link it by here by using the handy dandy link below. Then make sure you visit other sites to do a little bird watching.

Mountain Bluebird

 

The mountain bluebird is one of three bluebird species in North America. They inhabit open range and meadows typically above 5000 feet in altitude through out the western half of the continent. Their range overlaps much of the range of the western bluebird. They typically breed from Alaska  down to New Mexico with birds in the northern part of the range migrating as far south as Mexico during the winter. They feed primarily on insects and berries and will group together in feeding flocks during the winter.

The mountain bluebird is a cavity nester. They will often compete for nest sites with the western bluebird. At one point their population was in decline because of habitat loss due to an increase in agriculture, however investments in nesting boxes by concerned land owners has helped to increase their numbers. The female builds the nest by herself. She will typically lay 4 to 8 eggs which she will incubate for about 2 weeks. The chicks take about 3 weeks until they fledge. While nesting both male and female will defend the nest.