Here are a few raptors, birds of prey, I’ve photographed over the past year.
The Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks are members of the Buteo family. They forage in more open areas and prefer small rodents. The Goshawk and Sharp-shinned Hawks are members of the Acipiter family. They are built to forage in in forested areas and prefer birds. The Merlin is a small falcon. Though they have there preferences, they’ll eat whatever they can catch.
Note: Please click on caption to see these images at higher resolution.
The Black-tailed Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) are found on the western Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, Southwestern United States and the West Coast of North America.
Deer are ungulates, meaning they are hooved. They are also ruminants which means they eat and send their food to the rumen; one of its stomachs. Later, it regurgitates the cud (food) from its rumen, chews it and sends it to its other stomach to digest. Male deer, like moose and elk, have antlers. Antlers are made of bone which are shed and regrown each year. (Animals like sheep, goats, cattle, and antelope have horns. Horns are made of bone covered with keratin which are permanent; not shed and regrown.) The prongs on an antler are referred to as points; a 6 point buck has 3 prongs on each antler.
Male deer are called bucks, female deer are called doe and the
babies are called fawns. During most of the year, deer segregate themselves by
sex; bucks in groups and doe, along with their young, in separate groups.
Each year, deer go through a reproductive cycle that begins
with the “rut”[i].
The rut is the time when male deer fight for the right to breed with a harem of
females and concludes with impregnated doe. As the rut commences and bucks have
regrown their antlers, the bucks attempt to form a harem. One buck may challenge
another for the right to breed with a harem. Bucks will lock antlers and push
and fight until one is pushed backwards and loses the challenge. It is a
dangerous time for bucks; they can become permanently injured. The ultimate
winner breeds with the females as they enter estrus. Gestation is about 200
days.
In mid-to-late winter, the bucks drop their antlers. When
the antlers regrow, they are covered with a furry skin commonly called velvet. When
the antlers have completed their growth, the velvet dries and causes irritation
for the bucks. The bucks rub their antlers against a tree to remove the velvet.
About the time autumn begins, when the fawns have grown and the bucks’ antlers have regrown, the rut begins again.
Note: Please click on caption to see images at higher resolution.
Here are some more bird photos that I have taken in the past year. Take a close look at Hutton’s Vireo with Chick. Though it is well camouflaged, there is a baby in the nest with mom. The Bewick’s Wren is also attending a nest deep in the cavity of the tree.
Please click on caption to see image at higher resolution!
Over the course of the current year, I have been busily photographing
many birds; so many that I have gotten behind in my posts. Over the next few
months I’ll do my best to catch up, interspersed with some other interesting
aspects of nature such as the golden leaves of the aspens along the eastern
sierra. In this post, I’ll start with sharing some birds that I find especially
beautiful.
The Bullock’s Oriole (Icterus bullockii) is found in the
western part of North America. They like open areas near trees where they can
find caterpillars, fruit and nectar.
The Hooded Oriole (Icterus cucullatus) is
found in the southwestern United States. However, in breeding season they
reside in western California also. They live in more open areas, and especially
like palm trees. They like fruit, nectar and the sugar water in hummingbird
feeders.
The Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorumlives) can be
found across much of the United States. They are social birds that flock
together in trees. Their preferred diet is fruit and berries but sometimes practice
the aerobatics of flycatchers chasing insects. Waxwings get their name from a
waxy substance they secrete from their wingtips.
Here in the Sacramento area, we see the waxwings in the winter and the orioles in the summer.
I have mixed emotions about squirrels. I enjoy watching
these industrious creatures foraging for food. I love watching them chase each
other. I especially like their alarms when they rapidly shake their paw and
cluck loudly. But, they do consume a lot of food meant for the birds at our
backyard feeder. So, for the most part, I enjoy them.
As I have travelled, I have learned there are a large variety
of squirrels. There are tree squirrels like the gray, red and fox varieties who
live in nests in trees. There are ground squirrels who nest in burrows under
the ground. Chipmunks and marmots are a type of ground squirrel. It has been
many years, but I’ve even seen flying, or more appropriately, gliding
squirrels.
One of the more interesting squirrels in this post is the
black morph of the Eastern Fox Squirrel. I’ve done some research on these
squirrels and learned that there is evidence that black squirrels were once the
most common. But as we settled North America and cleared forests, evolutionary
pressure selected the lighter colored squirrels. To me, they are uncommon, but
I have spoken with some folks who are aware of places where they are more
common.
Here are some of the squirrels I have seen in my travels over the past year.
Note: Please click on caption to see image at higher resolution.
We recently spent a few days on the beach at Waldport, OR.
It is located in Oregon Dunes area of the coast. Just outside of town sets a
beach amongst a craggy, old volcanic lava flow. It is a beautiful beach with
many tidal pools left teeming with wildlife as the tide recedes.
On this visit, the birds really took center stage. We saw
some seals, but they were offshore and all I could see were heads bobbing. So,
they weren’t photo worthy. But we found some Pelagic Cormorants (Phalacrocorax
pelagicus); one with a chick on the nest. We found Western Gulls (Larus
occidentalis), many of which were recently fledged juveniles.
The Pelagic Cormorant is found along coastal waters and eats
fish and marine invertebrates. It roosts and nests on steep, inaccessible rocky
cliffs. It swims and dives for food.
The Western Gull is the common gull that you find on US West
Coast beaches. They like fish, marine invertebrates, bird eggs and jelly fish. They
will also scavenge on carrion and human refuse.
Our experience with the Western Gull brought some amusement. The juveniles were in the water and along the shore. When they wandered too far inland, an adult would chase after and send it back to the shoreline with the others. In the early morning, we even saw adults force the young into the tidal pools to splash and bathe. It was great fun.
Note: Please click on caption to see image at higher resolution
Last May, we visited some family in the San Diego area. On
one of those days, we visited some spots along the shore that teemed with
wildlife. It was a great time.
Please note that the wild Red-crowned Parrot is a wild bird. Pet releases and other incidents have allowed a colony of these birds to establish themselves in the San Diego area.
Note: Please click on caption to see image at higher resolution.
I’ve been traveling a lot this year. In my travels, I have seen and photographed many interesting birds. I just haven’t made the time to share them. Here are a few of them. Others will follow.
First up is the Gray Jay. It is a corvid like other jays but
is smaller and has a much less raucous voice. In November 2016 the BBC reported
that Canada adopted this bird, also known as the Whiskey Jack, as its national
bird.
The other Jay in this collection is Woodhouse’s Jay. Those of us in the west don’t see Blue Jays; they are eastern birds. Mostly, we see the scrub jay. At one time, the Scrub Jay was just called the Western Scrub Jay. But recently, it was split into 3 separate species: the California Scrub Jay which we see here west of the Sierra Nevada mountains; the Island Scrub Jay which is only found in the Santa Cruz Islands, and Woodhouse’s Jay which is seen between the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Rocky mountains and from Southeastern Oregon into Mexico.
I found the Horned Lark and the Black-throated Sparrow at
Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. Ash Meadows is an oasis, a marshland in
the Mojave Desert that is fed from springs that draw from an ancient aquifer.
You’ll find it in Amargosa Valley, NV . It is a great place to visit, in the
early morning.
The Yellow-headed Blackbird is a common bird in much of the western US. It thrives in marshes among the reeds and cattails.
Note: Please click on caption to see image at higher resolution.
This past week, I had the opportunity to visit the Grand
Canyon National Park. While there, I saw a rare site: a juvenile and adult
California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus). This vulture can reach 4 ½ feet
long with a wingspan of nearly 10 feet; 25% larger than the more commonly seen Turkey
Vulture.
What makes this bird remarkable, beside its size, is that it was nearly driven to extinction. Many millennia ago, it ranged across the entire North American continent. By the time European settlers arrived, it was found mostly in the western part of North America.
During the 20thcentury, California Condor populations declined until extinction became extremely likely. In 1987 all remaining 22 wild birds were captured. These birds formed the breeding stock for a federally sponsored program aimed at reestablishing them in the wild. These condors were bred and their offspring released into the wild. The birds have begun breeding in the wild. Captive birds continue to be released. The population is now expanding.
The birds can sometimes be seen in places like the Grand Canyon but seeing them is still the exception rather than the rule. So, I feel blessed to have been able to see and photograph these magnificent birds.
Note: Please click on caption to see images at higher resolution.
Earthwatcher 