View allAll Photos Tagged Migrator
Sandhill cranes are moving north through Indiana--they are a sight and sound I never tire of experiencing.
Prothonotary warbler
This was found locally about a month ago by a local birder. Beautiful bird but never got the ideal photo.
The Friars is a small group of rocky islands to the south of Tasman Head in the south Tasman Sea. This is a habitat for one of the largest fur seal colonies in Australia. Migrating whales move up and down the east coast and despite the cold the Great White Shark is also a predator in these waters.
This is a composite image made from several infrared photographs taken with my converted Panasonic DMC-TZ40.
Reserva Laguna Nimez (Patagonia) 20240206
Laguna Nimez Nature Reserve is an IBA Important Bird Area. There is a variety of 80 species of birds, both Patagonian residents and migrators between waterbirds, landbirds, shore birds and birds of pray. It has an important nesting reed area, patagonin steppe bushes, wetland and lake shore.
At a time when water levels on the mighty Ottawa River are very high, here is a look at a recent patch of low water, and the water birds that come with open shoreline.
I was up very early to get out on the shoreline, hoping to see some early morning arrivals. This Greater Yellowlegs was pretty obsessed with finding food - here, a Giant Water Bug, the biter of toes - and tolerant of a photographer kneeling in the muck.
I feel odd doing it, but I wear splash pants and a raincoat before kneeling or laying down in the exposed riverbed. I don’t want to bring a carload of sand and mud back home, and I can throw stuff in the trunk and keep birding if I want to, without traipsing through the woods smelling of swamp.
From 4 weeks ago. Nothing like this now - as I type this, there's a couple of inches of snow on the ground.
Its been a while since ive shot and even longer since Ive edited anything. This is from when we still had leaves on plants but they were fading. During one of the swarms of siskins, this one was checking out the susan's I planted in a flower bed right by my door, basically for this pourpose.
This is a collection of favorites from September 24, 28, October 1, 4, and 5, 2023. No more have been observed in our garden since October 5, 2023. *Note that the hummer on the top left row has a deformed beak. The bottom portion crosses over the top. You can also see it closer by enlarging the photo in the comment section below.
"The ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) is a species of hummingbird that generally spends the winter in Central America, Mexico, and Florida, and migrates to Canada and other parts of Eastern North America for the summer to breed. It is the most common hummingbird in eastern North America, having population estimates of about 35 million in 2021." (Wikipedia)
I keep track annually of when the first RTHB arrives to our garden in the spring and leaves in the fall. Last year the first one arrived on May 3, 2022, and the last one present was on September 29, 2022.
as seen through my patio window. We had 2 that hung around for the later part of the summer, then there were 3. Now they all seem to have migrated onward.
iNaturalist link www.inaturalist.org/observations/312477695
Jenny Pansing photos
Temps were pushing 80 today in Memphis. Numerous Monarchs, yet to migrate, were spotted in various locations in the public gardens at Shelby Farms Park.
Member of Nature’s Spirit
Good Stewards of Nature
A colony (gaggle) of Ross' Geese (Anser rossii), migrating from the north for the winter months, block a road at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge in the central San Joaquin Valley of California. The Ross' goose is a small white goose with black primary feathers. They are among the first to annually leave their breeding grounds in Canada. The California Central Valley is currently their main wintering area. They feed on grasses, sedges and small grains, particularly waste wheat and barley in the winter months.
The species is named in honor of Bernard Rogan Ross (1827-1874), a Hudson's Bay Company trader and naturalist at Fort Resolution in Canada's Northwest Territories. Ross was significant in the field of natural history rather than the fur trade. Like many company men he contributed much to the early scientific knowledge of the northwest.
The darker-colored geese in the front of this colony are called "Specklebellies." These Pacific White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons) are a native North American goose species. The birds in the background, gathered along the top edge of this photograph, are sandhill cranes...."birds of a feather, flock together."
THIS IS NATURE AT ITS ABSOLUTE SCENIC BEST...IF YOU'RE LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE ACTUALLY WITNESSED THIS SCENE, YOU CAN CONSIDER YOURSELF ONE OF THE VERY FEW......
(I captured this amazing image standing no more than 30 ft. in front of these geese, worried every second that I would make a sound and see the birds scatter before I got the shot.)
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© EVAN READER
Copyright for this photo belongs solely to EVAN READER, GREATEST PAKA PHOTOGRAPHY. Images may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way without the express written permission of the photographer.
Got a nice treat on my river walk this morning. Several Cedar Waxwings were enjoying a treat as they migrate through the area. I rarely see these around here so it was a thrill for me!
Is it friend shaped???
Yes! Maybe!
I did this with a nod to David Bird and his Becorn series which I admire so much.
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The Orioles are getting ready to migrate so they are busy at the feeders again.
They are such a riot and compete with the finches for jelly.
I thought it would be fun to attach a Lego bird to the feeder to see their reactions.
The Orioles actually pecked at the Lego bird while the finches just got along with their little friend.
Florida Everglades - #135 in Explore 10/6/20
SUNSET - Ibis flock - In The Wild
Palm Beach County, Florida USA
Summer 2020 - Sept. 19th, 2020
*[left-double-click for a 'closer-look' at these Ibis-silhouettes]
*[a semi-abundant ibis flock following 'the-big-guy-out-front' just
before dark - moving from south-to-north - to their wild-rookery]
Over the last ten years I have been observing the amazing Ibis flocks that abundantly congregate over the Florida Everglades. Tens-of-thousands of them migrating across 'the expanse' during their mating seasons, and also throughout all of the other Florida seasons, as well. Their incredible numbers seemed to have stayed the same over the years and they are still as visually appealing to me as they were ten years ago. They are always a joy to see floating across the sunset horizon, and I always look for them with the hope of capturing that one 'lifetime image' of them in a somewhat perfect formation. I am still trying...and I still enjoy it. Thanks for looking.
Appears to be a female. Low in some brambles in the Oklahoma Cross Timbers.
Our beautiful world, pass it on.
This photograph is copyrighted and may not be used in any way without permission. Contact me at : bjack2man@yahoo.com concerning use.
American Robin Turdus migratorius
John Heinz Wildlife Refuge Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A few of these have yet to migrate. Photographed in Audubon Park in Memphis, Tennessee. Happy Friday!
Member of Nature’s Spirit
Good Stewards of Nature
Thousands of warblers and vireos pass through Winnipeg on their way south. If you are fortunate you catch a glimpse of them , if you are really lucky you may get a photo of them. This is a Yellow Throated Vireo.
Purple martins resting on a line. This time of year they gather to feed and rest while they prepare for their migration.
On my visit yesterday (3 September 25) to the Salinas de San Pedro, Spain, I found a small number of migrating waders, including Curlew Sandpipers, Dunlins, Sanderlings..
This bird breeds across Europe and temperate Asia. It is mainly resident, but many northern birds migrate further south in the winter. Mixed woodland with some conifers is favoured for breeding, including parkland and gardens.
Within a few miles of my house is an area of scattered wetlands. There are literally thousands of Geese congregating. A stop off point for a few weeks en route to Canada.
Sight of a kettle of migrating hawks is very rare in this part of the Ozarks in Norwest Arkansas. A Master Naturalist who has lived much of his life in the area told me recently that he had never seen one. We happened to be in the right place at the right time with a camera in hand.
Robin - Erithacus rubecula
Our ever reliable Little Robin...
The European robin (Erithacus rubecula), known simply as the robin or robin redbreast in the British Isles, is a small insectivorous passerine bird, specifically a chat, that was formerly classified as a member of the thrush family (Turdidae) but is now considered to be an Old World flycatcher.
The robin occurs in Eurasia east to Western Siberia, south to Algeria and on the Atlantic islands as far west as the Azores and Madeira. It is a vagrant in Iceland. In the south-east, it reaches the Caucasus range. Irish and British robins are largely resident but a small minority, usually female, migrate to southern Europe during winter, a few as far as Spain. Scandinavian and Russian robins migrate to Britain and western Europe to escape the harsher winters. These migrants can be recognised by the greyer tone of the upper parts of their bodies and duller orange breast. The European robin prefers spruce woods in northern Europe, contrasting with its preference for parks and gardens in Ireland and Britain.
Attempts to introduce the European robin into Australia and New Zealand in the latter part of the 19th century were unsuccessful. Birds were released around Melbourne, Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin by various local acclimatisation societies, with none becoming established. There was a similar outcome in North America as birds failed to establish after being released in Long Island, New York in 1852, Oregon in 1889–1892, and the Saanich Peninsula in British Columbia in 1908–1910.
The robin is diurnal, although has been reported to be active hunting insects on moonlit nights or near artificial light at night. Well known to British and Irish gardeners, it is relatively unafraid of people and drawn to human activities involving the digging of soil, in order to look out for earthworms and other food freshly turned up. Indeed, the robin is considered to be a gardener's friend and for various folklore reasons the robin would never be harmed. In continental Europe on the other hand, robins were hunted and killed as with most other small birds, and are more wary.
Robins also approach large wild animals, such as wild boar and other animals which disturb the ground, to look for any food that might be brought to the surface. In autumn and winter, robins will supplement their usual diet of terrestrial invertebrates, such as spiders, worms and insects, with berries and fruit. They will also eat seed mixtures placed on bird-tables.
The robin features prominently in British folklore, and that of northwestern France, but much less so in other parts of Europe. It was held to be a storm-cloud bird and sacred to Thor, the god of thunder, in Norse mythology. Robins feature in the traditional children's tale, Babes in the Wood; the birds cover the dead bodies of the children.
More recently, the robin has become strongly associated with Christmas, taking a starring role on many Christmas cards since the mid 19th century. The robin has appeared on many Christmas postage stamps. An old British folk tale seeks to explain the robin's distinctive breast. Legend has it that when Jesus was dying on the cross, the robin, then simply brown in colour, flew to his side and sang into his ear in order to comfort him in his pain. The blood from his wounds stained the robin's breast, and thereafter all robins got the mark of Christ's blood upon them.
An alternative legend has it that its breast was scorched fetching water for souls in Purgatory.
The association with Christmas more probably arises from the fact that postmen in Victorian Britain wore red jackets and were nicknamed "Robins"; the robin featured on the Christmas card is an emblem of the postman delivering the card.
In the 1960s, in a vote publicised by The Times, the robin was adopted as the unofficial national bird of the UK.
In 2015, the robin was again voted Britain's national bird in a poll organised by birdwatcher David Lindo, taking 34% of the final vote.
Corrected identification...Thanks Gene:
It appears now that the two ducks in the center of the photo are a pair of Canvasbacks, The two pairs -- one on either side of the central pair -- are Redheaded Ducks.
Pallid Harriers breed from the northern shores of the Black Sea all the way to Lake Baikal and from their breeding grounds most of them migrate to Sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent, with few staying closer to the Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. They are rare visitors to Central Europe too, on their way to their wintering grounds.
In the Semi-desert of Mangghystau we saw many of them migrating and hunting Chukars and smaller birds as well as mammals especially in the mornings when their prey came close to a water hole.
While the english name Pallid Harrier is a reference to the pale look of the adult male, the German name translates as Steppe Harrier, referencing the habitat in which they are often found. The bird in the picture is a juvenile and the prominent distinctive feature vs the similar looking juvenile Montagu‘s Harrier is the just visible cream-white collar, which Montagu‘s lack.
Passing by, on its way from Greenland to Africa
Traquet motteux - Oenanthe oenanthe - Northern Wheatear
Auderville, Cotentin, Normandy, France
Some individual jays migrate south one year, stay north the next winter, and then migrate south again the next year. No one has worked out why they migrate when they do.
Medium-sized, rather nondescript raptor with overall dark plumage. Varies considerably across range, but always note tail fork (can disappear when tail is fully open), and short head and neck. Juvenile averages paler and more contrastingly-marked. Flight style buoyant, gliding and changing direction with ease. Frequently forages in urban areas, rubbish dumps, aquatic habitats, and grassland, but usually avoids heavily forested areas. Sometimes solitary, but also gathers in large flocks on migration and at good feeding areas. eBird
You know I have only seen about three monarch butterflies all year and yesterday afternoon I went out on our back deck…we have a large stand of butterfly bushes some standing eight to ten feet tall in a garden straight out from the deck about fifteen feet away. Next to the deck are smaller butterfly bushes and all of them are still blooming profusely. I sat down and suddenly noticed that the taller bushes were very active and a closer look revealed dozens of Monarchs. I couldn’t get a good shot of them because they were in the tops of the bushes and when I moved closer my view was obstructed by lower branches. Luckily as I sat there watching a couple came to the closer and lower bushes…I couldn’t get a shot of the large mass of them I wanted but I did get a half dozen shots of one.
“Unlike most other insects in temperate climates, Monarch butterflies cannot survive a long cold winter. Instead, they spend the winter in roosting spots. Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains travel to small groves of trees along the California coast. Those east of the Rocky Mountains fly farther south to the forests high in the mountains of Mexico. The monarch's migration is driven by seasonal changes. Daylength and temperature changes influence the movement of the Monarch.
In all the world, no butterflies migrate like the Monarchs of North America. They travel much farther than all other tropical butterflies, up to three thousand miles. They are the only butterflies to make such a long, two way migration every year. Amazingly, they fly in masses to the same winter roosts, often to the exact same trees. Their migration is more the type we expect from birds or whales. However, unlike birds and whales, individuals only make the round-trip once. It is their children's grandchildren that return south the following fall.
Another unsolved mystery is how Monarchs find the overwintering sites each year. Somehow they know their way, even though the butterflies returning to Mexico or California each fall are the great-great-grandchildren of the butterflies that left the previous spring. No one knows exactly how their homing system works; it is another of the many unanswered questions in the butterfly world.”
When will the migration peak in your area? See Peak Migration Dates
It's that time of year for Fall migration. A clear night with a north wind will find millions of neotropicals returning to the tropics. Mortality during migration can be close to 50%. I think a lot of migration of neotropical songbirds is because there is an abundance of small insects in North America. They feed their young these insects and it's also their primary food until late summer when many speces of young and adults take advantage of grass seeds. But when they return to the tropics many have diets of fruit, nectar and flowers. Our beauiful world, pass it on.
Not the greatest picture, but I honestly don't know how to photograph through a foot of water. But I like this picture in spite of the low resolution, the creek had apparently risen a bit after the recent big storm, and was running over a patch of long dry grass.
Taylor Creek, at the south end of Lake Tahoe. Early November, 2021. Prime migration is in October, but I couldn't get there in October.
Curlew Sandpiper passing by on its way to warmer climates, a rare visitor around here
Bécasseau cocorli - Curlew Sandpiper
Urville-Nacqueville, Cotentin, Normandy, France
Bad photo, but an amazing event. Yesterday I went to the Minas Basin for the migration of the semipalmated sandpipers – an annual highlight of my summers in Nova scotia.
At first the beach looks completely covered in pebbles, but then, the keen observer notes that the pebbles are moving and the air is full of delicate cheeps. As the tide gradually creeps out (and it’s that amazing 50-foot Bay of Fundy tide I keep going on about) the pebbles separate and become hundreds of thousands of miniature birds. They’re here for the annual smorgasbord - the semipalmated sandpiper version of Burning Man – which happens every August, when the tiny mud shrimp are at their most succulent and plentiful.
The birds arrive in swarms from the Arctic and stop off here, on this specific beach at Grand Pre. to “feed up” on their way to South America for the winter. It has been this way for centuries; the Acadians recorded the event in the 1600’s. These tiny creatures will roughly double their weight over a couple of weeks, in preparation for the 72 hour, non-stop, transoceanic flight along their well established flyway. On the way back in the spring, the favored spot is Delaware Beach in New Jersey where the horseshoe crabs are spawning.
The birds’ main business on this beach is resting and feeding, but occasionally, on a whim, they will fly. And that mass movement is one of the most awesome sights I’ve seen in nature – awesome and incapable of being photographed, at least with my poor equipment.
In response to some mysterious and undetectable signal, from somewhere within their midst, they will rise as one and suddenly the beach is completely bare and the air is alive with a whir of tiny bodies, soaring and turning in a perfectly choreographed ballet that lasts for mere moments. How on earth do they know when to change direction? But change they do, exposing their glowing white undersides to the sun in simultaneous splendor – much like a long, shimmering silk scarf being swirled across the horizon of the sea.
Interesting side note…. Like many birds, the sandpipers mate for life. But they fly south with friends, live separately in South America (mainly French Guyana and Brazil where, apparently social mores are pretty lax) and then reconnect with their mates 3,000 miles later, back on the Arctic tundra when the holiday is over and it’s time to make the babies.
Early one morning , I spotted four swans heading south. These two are adults , the other two were juvies with a beak color of pink-orange.
Every year the Eastern Bar-Tailed Godwits migrate to NZ to breed. About 80,000 of them. They arrive here non-stop from Alaska and can be thin when they arrive. It is estimated that there are about 330,000 of these birds, but they are declining in recent years due to habitat loss in the Yellow Sea. From Alaska to New Zealand is the longest known non-stop flight of any bird, and also the longest journey without pausing to feed by any animal.