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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.
I found this Eastern Phoebe perched on a branch overhanging a small creek. A handsome flycatcher, with nice cream colored breast feathers. He was busy snatching small insects that were close to the water's surface. I am sure he will be getting ready to migrate south soon, as the weather yesterday was as cool as it has been since last June; winds of change are in the air. View large for best detail.
Thank you for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the weekend~!
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
We came across a couple of migrating Nashville warblers in the briar patch that were exceptionally yellow. We had thrown out some sunflower seeds here, but these birds had no interest in them. They were flighty, flitting about the area and then returning. A great encounter with some birds we only see briefly during migration.
Our beautiful world, pass it on.
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.
I have a neighbor who grows native Texan flowers and plants, which attract hundreds of butterflies. So beautiful to walk by.
More available here: www.mage.space/u/PapiAlpha
Partial MidJourney Render - Post work done with Photoshop and Gigapixel AI.
Image Copyright © Λlpha Λrt 2024 All Rights Reserved
This bird, discovered by a resident of Pinawa, is the first of its species seen in Manitoba and the third such bird reported for all of Canada on ebird.ca. It apparently migrated north rather than south to Mexico, Guatamala, etc.
2016 Warbler species #22
Photos taken while complying with UK Coronavirus lockdown.
The true finches are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Fringillidae. Finches have stout conical bills adapted for eating seeds and often have colourful plumage. They occupy a great range of habitats where they are usually resident and do not migrate. They have a worldwide distribution except for Australia and the polar regions. The family includes species known as siskins, canaries, redpolls, serins, grosbeaks and euphonias. Many birds in other families are also commonly called "finches". These groups include: the estrildid finches (Estrildidae) of the Old World tropics and Australia; some members of the Old World bunting family (Emberizidae) and the American sparrow family (Passerellidae); and the Darwin's finches of the Galapagos islands, now considered members of the tanager family (Thraupidae). Finches and canaries were used in the UK, Canada and USA in the coal mining industry, to detect carbon monoxide from the eighteenth to twentieth century. This practice ceased in the UK in 1986. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finch
Challenging
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It's silence that stands out the most
Itensifying pinks
Quiet fluo greens
Beauty that radiates from the inside
Very quietly migrating out
Shhh !
I was very surprised to see swans flying through the area yesterday morning, but I'm glad they did! Beaturiful to see them flying in the early morning light.
One of the butterflies migrating south. "South winds have been holding the butterflies back. During most of October, a persistent weather pattern has remained in place. Cold fronts have been weak and have only twice dipped as far south as Texas. On only 4 of the last 19 days has the wind blown down from the north.
The pattern finally broke on October 12th. In the absence of headwinds butterflies moved across Texas in a clear pulse — including this remarkable report of an estimated 5,000 monarchs." Text credit to "Monarch Butterfly Journey North."
Monte Vista NWR, Monte Vista, CO
Three lone Snow Geese land amongst Canada Geese and migrating Sandhill Cranes in the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge.
A family of Qashqai during their spring migration in search of greener pasture in the Zogros Mountain in Central Iran. The Qashqai are a nomadic group of Turkish origin that lives in Iran and still lead a traditional life.
"On warm summer evenings, Common Nighthawks roam the skies over treetops, grasslands, and cities. Their sharp, electric peent call is often the first clue they’re overhead. In the dim half-light, these long-winged birds fly in graceful loops, flashing white patches out past the bend of each wing as they chase insects. These fairly common but declining birds make no nest. Their young are so well camouflaged that they’re hard to find, and even the adults seem to vanish as soon as they land." Cornell
A blue-morph Snow Goose (Anser caerulescens) and three white morphs accompanied by two Ross's Geese (Anser rossii). A cool fact from Cornell "Populations of arctic-nesting geese, especially Ross’s Geese and Snow Geese, have changed the plant communities in the places where they nest. Their large, growing colonies strip vast areas of vegetation, in some areas nearly down to bare ground. Some of these denuded areas of tundra are visible from space." Press L to view larger, a short cut I just learned.