Tuesday, April 30, 2013

69 Canvasback
  • The Canvasback is part of the duck species so a group of are called; Brace / Flush / Raft / Team / Paddling.
  • This is fast flying duck sought after by hunters. It can reach speeds of 70 miles per hour.  Wow.
  • It has a beautiful white back with a striking red brown head.
  • In the past when lead shot was used in hunting this bird suffered in lead poisoning because it would pick up shot from the bottom of ponds when eating seeds,insects and vegetation.  Now lead is not used and their numbers have increased.
  • It is a diving duck and has powerful legs and with wide web feet.
  • The female lays up to a dozen eggs in the grasses along a marsh or pond.
68 Northern Shoveler

  • A group of Northern Shovelers are called a; Brace / Raft / Team / Paddling / Flush.
  • These very colorful ducks are bottom feeders. they use their wide bill to sift through the mud to get food, hence shoveler.  The edge of the bill have 110 fine projections called lamellae to filter the food out.
  • Pairs of Shoveler stay together for life.
 

Sunday, April 28, 2013

67 Turkey Vulture

  • A group of Turkey Vultures are called a; Cast / Committee / Meal / Vortex / Wake.
  • We saw this pair of vultures on April 26th, 5 miles east of the house.
  • New world vultures are said to be closer related to storks than they are to old world vultures. 
  • These are carrion eaters. They have a sophisticated immune system to protect them from the decaying flesh.  They have a very good sense of smell, unlike most birds, that aids them in finding dead animals.
  • They will have 2 chicks each year that both parents help to raise.
  • They get their name from the turkey like head and large dark body size they share with turkeys.  
  • They travel on thermals. In the spring they follow the roads to get the heat rising off the black top.  I was very surprised to see them with all the snow still here.
  • Vultures don't have a syrinx in which to vocalize, so they use grunts and hissing to communicate.
66 Sandhill Crane
  • A group of Sandhill Cranes are called a; Construction / Dance / Sedge / Siege / Swoop.
  • Fossils of cranes date back 10 million years making it the oldest living bird with that old of fossils.
  • The brownish color sometimes seen on these cranes is preening with weeds and mud heavy in iron oxide.
  • During mating some crane pares vocalize, this is known as unison calling.  They will dance, run, jump in the air and through their heads back in song.  Some will even doo this other times of the year besides during breeding season. 
  • Cranes are hunted in some states and provinces.
  • Males take an active role in incubating, defending the nest and raising the young.


Wednesday, April 24, 2013


65 Wild Turkey
  • A group of wild Turkeys are called a; Crop / Dole / Gang / Posse / Raffle.
  • The turkey is a North American bird.  It is a very sought after hunting bird and at the turn of the 20th century it was thought to have decreased to only 30,000 birds due to land usage and hunting.  Now with good wildlife conservation there are believed to be over 7,000,000 Wild Turkeys.
  •  There are over 5,500 feathers on a turkey, including 18 tail feathers that make up the fan.   Although the turkey is thought to be a black bird with a colorful head and feet its feathers have an incandescent color of rich browns, yellows and blues.
 


  •  This bird has a history with Native American Indian.  It is believed to be first domesticated by the Mayans in Mexico near Coba 100 BC.
  • Indians have used the birds as food and the feathers in ceremonies and clothing.
  • This is a depiction of Pocahontas with a turkey robe.

  • Feathers used in fletching of arrows.

  • Head dress or bonnet.

  • Turkey wing medicine wand.
  • There are 5 mains subspecies, 6 if you include a rarer southern Mexican.  
  • It is believed that the name came from Turkish traders that brought the bird to England but there are dozens of ideas to where the name came from.
  • Turkeys have very powerful legs and wings.  They can run up to 25 miles per hour and fly at speeds of 55 mile per hour.  They have very good sight, 3 time better than mans but at night they are almost blind.   They take to the trees to roost at night to get away from predators.
 

  •  Turkeys are precocial, meaning they are hatched with feathers and able to cope for themselves.  The Tom, what male turkeys are called, has very little to do with raising the Jake or Jennies, what baby chicks are called.  In fact he can mate with many hens during breeding season and then off he goes to puff himself up and look pretty.
  • Domesticated turkeys are raised to eat.  They lack the instinct and speed of its ancestors.  The largest domestic turkey was Tyson said to be 86 pounds.  Yikes that's a lot of bird.
  • At Christmas we have turkey and some years we put a chicken, inside a goose, inside a turkey, Turgoosehen.  It is a lot of work to debone them all but the flavor is unreal with the fat from the goose marinating the other birds.
  • They are omnivorous, meaning they eat nuts, fruit and small amphibians.
  • They are found in all states, Mexico and Canada except for Alaska and Hawaii.  






Tuesday, April 23, 2013

64 Golden Eagle
  • A group of Golden Eagles are called a; Aerie / Convocation / Jubilee /  Soar / Tower.
  • These are one of the largest birds of prey.  I have seen one as tall as a fence post, not knowing what was standing there, it lifted off the ground, my brother and I could not believe the wings size and span.
  • They eat small to mid sized mammals, birds and amphibians.
  • In Eurasia they have been used for falconry.  They have been trained to hunt large mammals like the grey wolf. Yes, I said the grey wolf up to 100 pounds.  This is one bird not to mess with.  It has been known to attack people who come too close to their nest.
 
  • Nest are huge, up to 6 feet across off the ground on cliff faces or in the tallest of trees.  They lay 3 to 4 eggs.
  • They are protected birds, even having a feather is a felon. But the Hopi tribes of North America have special permit to use these birds in special ceremonies where the birds are raised to adulthood and sacrificed.
  • They can fly up to 30 to 80 miles per hour and dive at speeds of 150 miles per hour or greater.  They can have a territory of up to 60 square miles.
  • They generally hunt in pairs.
  • Their talons can exert a pressure of up to 750 psi, or 15 times greater than mans.  I don't want to shake hands with this bird.

  • Very small birds or mammals will use the nest for protection because their size doesn't intrest this large bird.
  • They are long lived for a bird. 28-32 years in the wild and up to 45 years in captivity.
  • Lots of people mistake a juvenile Bald Eagle for a Golden Eagle. Things to look for; the larger size, full dark brown color, golden brown head and neck, yellow talons, feathers right down to the talons, white pattern on wings in flight, your dog or brother missing, (just kidding).  Some Golden Eagles may not have this white on the wings depending on region.




63 Great Blue Heron
  • A group of Great Blue Heron are called a; Battery / Hedge / Pose / Rockery / Scattering.
  • I like a Pose.  This bird when seen seems to always be posing.  Although it has several very interesting poses.
  • These birds love fish farms, this can be a problem but studies have shown that they pick off the sick.  So it works out for the hatchery. 
  • They have a great appetite for fish of all sizes and have been known to chok themselves to death on too large a meal.  Yikes.
  • They will also eat small mammals , frogs, snakes, insects and so on, what they can find when fish aren't available.
  • These birds nest in trees.  It is very odd seeing a bird of this size land in a tree.  The nests are in groups called a Heronry.  the Heron is very temperamental and do not like to be disturbed when nesting.  If they are they could abandon the nest.  When I was young there was a Heronry on the river and we were not allowed down there until late spring after the Herons had left the nest. 
  • Here are some poses.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

62 American Kestrel
  • A group of American Kestrels are called a; Hover / Flight / Soar.
  • We took this picture of a mature male near St. Lazare.  
  • Most people growing up called this bird a Sparrow Hawk, but it is a Kestrel.
  • They migrate to the prairies during breeding season. 
  • These very colorful predator.  It is the smallest of the falcons and is used for falconry.
  • They eat a variety of insects, birds, amphibians and mammals.  They have been known to sit on polls at stadiums during the evening games useing the lights that attract moths to capture and eat.  Smart bird.
  • They are not very good house keepers, squirting feces on the walls of the nest and leaving uneaten prey the place becomes a smelly mess by the time they leave it.
  • It is tough being the smallest bird of prey, they are under attack from many other hawks, owls, snakes, and some mammals.
  • In the winter the females fly south first and live in more open areas, where as the males travel south latter and live in more wooded areas.
  • The Kestrel uses ultraviolet light to track paths that voles and mice use.
  • They store excess food in clumps on trees or posts to use when hunting is poor.



Sunday, April 14, 2013

61 Horned Lark
  • A group of Horned Lark go by many names; Ascension / Chattering /  Happiness / Springul.
  • I like Happiness because of their cheerful song.
  • On the prairie they are known as farm birds.  They eat weed seeds, grass seeds and grains, insets and mollusks at the waters edge.  In other parts of the world they are shore birds.  Here they like the open ground of the prairie.
  • These birds return yearly to their birth ground, this is known as Philopatric.  This keeping to a small territory for breeding has resulted in 15 subspecies. 
  • They nest on the ground in a tightly woven nest of fine grasses.
  • They usually nest as early as February.  Not this year, there is still 2 feet of snow on the ground as of April 14th.  Yikes.
  • These are the birds most likely to be killed by wind turbines.  Poor fellas. 


Friday, April 12, 2013

60 Purple Finch
  • A group of Purple Finches are called a; Charm / Trembling / Company.
  • This male was at our feeder this morning. Apr/12th. 
  • They are quite different then the house in that the coloration is all over.  It is said that a Purple Finch is like a sparrow dipped in Raspberry Jam.  Notice the brown purple wings you won't see on the House Finch.
  • These birds eat seeds and berries.
  • They have an interesting courtship.  The males sing a warbling song and can mimic other birds in its chorus, while jumping up and down, up to 12 inches.  Cool.
  • They don't winter here but fly up from the southern states.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Spring is almost here.  So far we have seen a Murder,  Knot, Pod, Wedge, Gaggle, and Development that have returned to Southern Manitoba Canada. These birds along with the ones that winter here bring our total to 59 in the Big Year.
This will be the sight in the next few days.


59 White-winged Crossbill
  • A group of Crossbills are called a; Crookedness / Wrap.
  • These are big eaters, they can consume up to 3,000 conifer seeds in one day.  They have a special pouch in their throat, kind of a flying chipmunk. 
  • This one was at our feeder, unlike its cousin the Red Crossbill it has a bigger bill and two distinct white bars on its wings.  Otherwise they share the same coloring, Pink males, Olive color females.
  • These birds will nest year round depending on the abundance of feed.
  • They have a very distinct fight pattern, lunging, wings coming right to sides.
  • They molt in the fall and have unpigmented barbules in their feathers that wear away come spring leaving them a bright pink.  All about attracting that female for breeding season.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

58 Broad-winged Hawk
  • A group of Broad-winged Hawks are called a; Boil / Knot / Stream / Tower.
  • These birds migrate 3,000 to 6,000 Km flying up to 100 a day.  They fly in very large flocks up to 1,000 and only fly over land.
  • They eat frogs, salamanders, snakes, mice, voles, chipmunks, small birds, insects and other small mammals.  They are very neat eaters and are known to skin the frogs and snakes that they catch and pluck the birds.
  • During courtship the male will perform an aerial acrobat, dives, cartwheels and so on to catch the eye of the female.
  • They rarely drink water and rely chiefly on liquids they get from their prey.
  • They have a very large range of coloration depending on age and sex.  They have a short tail and broad wings that tapper on the ends.  We tend to only see the light morph coloration.