Bird Feathers #7

The seventh in a series of occassional rundowns of what’s happening in the world of birds, birding and bird blogging.

Bird News

 A beak is a mysterious and incredible tool | A bird’s beak may be a rather curious object, but it remains a vitally important appendage.

Eagles “Cannibalizing” Other Birds as Otters Disappear | Some bald eagles in Alaska have switched to eating mainly other bird species, a new study says.

Hundreds of Birds Killed by School’s Artificial Lights | Hundreds of yellow warblers and other migratory birds died this week when they flew into a lighted school building that sits on a hill in Hambleton, W. Va.

 

Sea birds’ DNA may hold keys to aging and cancer, researcher says | Leach’s storm-petrels should die young but live a long life and break the conventional rules. First of all, they’re small, and there tends to be a relationship between body size and life span.

Beaches once thick with birds quiet thanks to Ike | One of North America’s renowned bird migration and bird watching areas is strangely silent. Blame Hurricane Ike.

The long march of the penguins | Exhausted birds are washing up on Brazil’s tropical beaches, thrown off course by changing currents.

Belfast Birds Found Covered In Grease | Something in the city of Belfast, Maine is making birds sick, and police are working with biologists to figure what it is.

Birding Blogs

Offshore Wind Power Comes to New Jersey | New Jersey has approved its first offshore wind farm, following the lead of similar projects in Delaware and Rhode Island. A DC Birding Blog

Segway Birding | In my almost four decades of seeking birds, I’ve been birding in many different ways, using many different modes of transport. Then, last week, I added a new mode of birding transport to my “life-experience list”: The Segway. Bill of the Birds

And for those who like jigsawpuzzles, try out this Bald Eagle puzzle.

Thanks to Audobon Birdscapes for the link to the puzzle site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy birding!

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Pileated Woodpecker and Cedar Waxwings

After being away for a few days, we returned home today to a few surprises in our yard. Cedar Waxwings were everywhere, including a lone Bohemian Waxwing. Juvenile and Adult Cedars were eating blueberries that we left on our high bush plants, swallowing the berries whole and getting into fights with each other and the Gray Catbirds who liked them also.

While I was in the yard trying to photograph the Cedar Waxwings, a Merlin flew by within two feet of where I stood and chased down a Song Sparrow. Narrowly missing the sparrow, the Merlin disappeared into the trees near the Winnegance Bridge.

Quite a few Warblers and Blue Jays were around, but the Warblers were to panicky to get good id’s. Tree Sparrows were very numerous along with a Savannah and Lincoln’s Sparrow.

During low tide, the river held 38 Canada Geese, one Green-Winged Teal and a lone Greater Yellowlegs.

On our way home today from our trip, we pulled off the side of the road to look at a map. As we were preparing to pull back out onto the road, a movement caught my eye. A Pileated Woodpecker was working a rotting tree stump no more than 15 feet away.

I must have looked suspect to passer-bys as I had half my body protruding out of the moon roof in our SUV taking pictures and video of this large woodpecker. At one point, a Bald Eagle flew overhead and the woodpecker slid around to the other side of the stump until all was clear. We would have never known that this fella was there if I had not seen the movement out of the corner of my eye.

Enjoy the photos and video below. *Tip* For full view of the pictures that are “tall and narrow”, press F11 on your keyboard to make your browser window as large as possible. If you do not do this, the picture will resize within your browser and you may not get the full size.

 

 

The following steaming high definition video portrays a Pileated Woodpecker searching for food in a rotted tree stump. A broadband connection is recommended to view the video.

Dimension: 518×291 | Video bit rate: 1000Kbps | File Size: 12.6mb
Playback: Click Play Button | Broadband Connection Recommended
Streaming Video of Pileated Woodpecker | ©2008 birdingmaine.com

 

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

 

Happy birding!

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Overnight bird migration

With a combination of a full moon and light northwesterly winds, a heavy migration of birds occured last night over Maine. The Maine-Bird List was alive with reports of birds in-flight and calling during the overnight hours.

As evident in the following image of the 9:00 p.m. radar, you can see that the movement was spectacular.

 Good articles on “birding by radar” can be found at Derek Lovitch’s Blog and another at David LaPuma’s Woodcreeper.com. Reading these articles can help you better understand the relationship between night time bird migration and radar. You can view my radar images at anytime of the night or day at BathMaineWeather.com. There is a controller to loop through the images from the last several hours.

I leave you with a picture of the beautiful full Harvest Moon from last night. Click the thumbnail for a full sized view.

Happy birding!

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