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The shiny feathers on a male hummingbird's throat is called their gorget. The gorget on a Rufous hummingbird is a beautiful reddish bronze color. If jewels this beautiful existed, they would probably be worth more than diamonds and rubies. These feathers are iridescent and the birds are able to aim a beam of light from them. That's why the gorget looks black until they notice you and then you see the color. Rufous Hummers don't always flee from danger like other birds. Instead, they will often confront you, "flashing" their gorget at you as if to challenge you. I have met a Rufous Hummingbird on a trail who was defending his territory and just hovered in the middle of the trail chittering away at me and flashing his gorget. They are amazing birds.
Rufous Hummingbirds are migratory hummingbirds which breed from the Pacific Northwest clear up into Alaska. They winter in the Yucatan down in Mexico and this means that they make a tremendous migration every year. Some Rufous Hummers have been found to fly as much as 12,000 miles during a round-trip migration. Compare that to a Canada Goose, which most of us think of as a migratory bird: many of them only migrate a few hundred to a couple of thousand miles in a year. So who is really the migratory bird? Some people have the mistaken belief that hummingbirds migrate on the backs of geese, but I think they could teach geese a thing or two about long-distance migration!
In their northward spring migration they usually show up in our part of the north Oregon coast during late February. This is about when the manzanita trees begin to bloom and they are a favorite of the Rufous Hummers in our area. The majority of them pass through most of Oregon during March. This seems very early for such a small bird, but they are very robust and seem to do just fine. If you live in other parts of the west, I'd love to hear when you first sighted a Rufous Hummingbird this year. Mike Patterson, a birder and science teacher from Astoria, is conducting a Citizen Science project to try and learn the relationship between early Rufous Hummingbirds and early blooming native plants. If you want to help go here, read, download the forms, and fill them out with your counts.
These little birds are incredible fliers. Like all hummingbirds, Rufous Hummingbirds can hover or fly in any direction swiftly and with ease, but the Rufous Hummer excels in its flying abilities even above other hummingbirds. They are feisty birds, constantly battling each other for possession of a feeder or flower patch. Their flying skill allows them to easily drive off Anna's Hummingbirds more than twice their size.
Feeding hummingbirds is a very easy and enjoyable pastime. Hummingbirds readily find and use feeders and their food is very easy and cheap to make.
Rufous Hummingbirds will fight each other for possession of a feeder. If you see this behavior don't get too upset about it, it is just their nature. Sometimes two or three of them will set up a rotational feeding schedule but rarely will you see two or more of them on the feeder at the same time.
The foregoing is from: www.wildbirdshop.com/Birding/rufous_hummers.html
Tags: Rufous Hummingbird Selasphorus rufus Gorget Flight British Columbia Bokeh SearchTheBest specanimal
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Ambleside Pond
Always eagerly awaited by local birders and nature photographers, the Green Heron returns to the park in early April from wintering grounds as far south as Puerto Rico. It comes north each year to mate, nest and raise its young. It is rare in the Lower Mainland; the pond in Ambleside Park is the only known nesting site on the North Shore.
Tags: SpecAnimal Avian Excellence GReen Heron Blue Ribbon Winner Impressed Beauty BFGreatestHits Butorides virescens Bravo Birds_RLeche_004_TNT08 The Natures Trust of BC
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A vole is a small rodent resembling a mouse but with a stouter body, a shorter hairy tail, a slightly rounder head, and smaller ears and eyes. There are approximately 70 species of voles; they are sometimes known as meadow mice or field mice in America. The voles, together with the lemmings and the muskrats, form the subfamily Arvicolinae.
This Vole became the GBH's dinner catch :-( "there was a blue heron who swallowed a vole..."
This was a frightening/tragic photographic moment and you know, I was sorely tempted to interfere and scare the GBH into releasing the Vole, but after giving it thought I concluded that is not a role that needs filling. This was Mother Nature at her best/worst? and who would I be to deny the GBH it's dinner and it's place in the food chain. Nevertheless, I did feel sorry and more than a little in awe of this brave little soul contemplating its final moments :-( I hope that maybe the GBH choked on the vole? ;-)
Tags: Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias Vole AvianExcellence Bravo Nature Watcher MagicDonkey SpecAnimal DiamondAward BFGreatestHits Life Death food Chain NaturesFinest SpecAnimal: Photo Of The Day ExcelentPhotographer MegaShot Front Page SpecAnimal: Photo Of The Month MultiMegaShot QEMD Finch Group's Front Page Fav - January 13, 2008 Just Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Selected for JAN 2008 Photo Contest SuperbMasterpiece FlickrsBest Platinum Photo SpecAnimal: Photo Of The Year Gold Award Ysplix Birds_RLeche_005_TNT08 The Natures Trust of BC FEATHERYFRIDAY mywinners AboveandBeyondLevel2 AboveandBeyondLevel3 imagicland
Please view LARGE? A denizen of the Canadian Arctic tundra's finds likeable conditions on Canada's West Coast...
Not a great day for birding, overcast grey skies, snow on ground but managed a few raptor shots at ISO 800 (too much noise) but more importantly added to my LIFE list with some shots of Rough-legged Hawks. :-) This one is my favourite!
Rough-legged hawks have long, broad wings, a chunky body, and typically soar with their long tails fanned. They have small feet and a small beak-adaptations to arctic life. Legs are feathered to toes. These hawks exhibit a high degree of plumage variation, from extremely dark to more patterned birds often termed "light" morphs. In addition, the male, female, and juvenile birds have slightly different plumage patterns.
The foregoing is from www.birdsofprey.blm.gov/nat-res/roughleg.htm
Tags: Rough-legged Hawk Buteo lagopus ImpressedBeauty Flight Boundary Bay Foot of 72nd Street Dike Sunrise Morning Saw you first SpecNature SpecAnimals FeatheryFriday MyWinners AnimalKingdomElite Quality MagicDonkey Avian Excellence NaturesFinest Birds_RLeche_001_TNT08 The Natures Trust of BC
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Interestingness #96!
The nice thing about these Snowy's is that they roost in open areas (mostly on the ground) in plain site and close proximity to those admiring them. They sleep and they look around and sometimes if you are lucky they provide a great pose for your camera. However, there have been some problems at Boundary Bay with unethical "photographers" harassing these birds. You will see some "photographer" with a 1000mm of glass crawling over the logs and rocks trying to get 30' away from them and flushing the birds in the process. Any excess energy used by the Owls threatens their ability to migrate to the Arctic. There are signs everywhere and still some people just don't get it. You can even suggest to them directly that they are too damn close and all you get in return is a scowl or something worse. A pox on their houses :-( Photoshop will do a wonderful job of cropping and zooming in for any closeup so please remember to view them from a comfortable distance (for them!) and don't harass them needlessly. My sermon is over...Thank you.
Tags: Snowy Owl Bubo scandiacus parody funny expression the things your camera sees paparazzi Entitled Interestingness#96 cute mischevious nature i500
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