Field Sparrow - Photo Album

Great Blue Heron in High Falls, Ga.

The other day I went on a trip visiting a great place to do camping or for just picnic. This such place is High Falls Pk. in Jackson, Georgia.

I have been there before in several occasions, I love the scenery! Also is the place where I saw my first Great Blue Heron! I could take only one picture at that time. So I've been trying to see if they are nesting in that area. Exactly as I wished! In this particular visit I saw not one but two!! :) and you can imagine. I had a feast with my telephoto lens. I bring you 4 shots taken that day. I'm happy now!
Photographs are © H.J. Ruiz - "My Winged Pals"

Superb Starling

Superb Starling - Spec. Name: Lamprotornis Superbus

Superb Starling

This is a member of the starling family of birds. It can commonly be found in East Africa, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Used to be known as Spreo superbus

This species is 18 to 19 cm (7–7.5 inches) long. Adults have black heads and iridescent blue-to-green back, upper breast, wings, and tail. The belly is red-orange, separated from the blue breast by a white bar. The undertail coverts and the wing linings are white. Juveniles have duller plumage with no more than a suggestion of the white breast band. Their irises are brown, later grayish white, eventually the adult's cream-color.

The Superb Starling has a long and loud song consisting of trills and chatters. At midday it gives a softer song of repeated phrases. There are several harsh calls, the most complex of which is described as "a shrill, screeching skerrrreeee-cherrrroo-tcherreeeeeet."

This species feeds on the ground.

The Superb Starling is similar to Hildebrandt's Starling also found in East Africa. The Superb Starling is distinguished by having white eyes, as opposed to red eyes in the Hildebrandt's.

Photographs are © H. J. Ruiz - "My winged Pals"
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A well deserved bath! Photo Album

This European Starling is taking a refreshing bath, after all the temperature is well over 90 degrees! He's been busy foraging for some food but the heat is making it difficult to continue.

Eared Dove

Eared Dove - Spec. Name: Zenaida Auriculata

Eared Dove

This is a New World tropical dove. It is a resident breeder throughout South America from Colombia to southern Argentina and Chile, and on the offshore islands from the Grenadines southwards. It may be a relatively recent colonist of Tobago and Trinidad. It appears to be partially migratory, but details are little known, although migration may be driven by food supplies.

It is a close relative of the North American Mourning Dove. With that species, the Socorro Dove, and possibly the Galápagos Dove it forms a superspecies. The latter two are insular offshoots, the Socorro birds from ancestral Mourning Doves, the Galápagos ones from more ancient stock.

The Eared Dove is 8 inches long with a long wedge-shaped tail, and weighs normally about 112 g. Adult males have mainly olive-brown upperpart plumage, with black spots on the wings. The head has a grey crown, black line behind the eye, and the blue-black on the lower ear coverts. These black markings give the species its English and specific name. The underparts are vinous, and the tail is tipped with cinnamon. The bill is black and the legs dark red.

Photograph taken in Lima, Peru © H.J. Ruiz - "My Winged Pals"

Weekly Photo Art

Neotropic Cormorant

Neotropic Cormorant - Spec. Name: Phalacrocorax Brasilianus

This bird is 64 cm long with a 100 cm wingspan. Adults males weigh from 1.1 to 1.5 kg, adult females 50 to 100 grams less. Birds of the southern populations tend to be bigger than the more northerly birds. It is small and slender, especially compared to the larger, heavier-looking Double-crested Cormorant. It has a long tail and frequently holds its neck in an S-shape. Adult plumage is mainly black, with a yellow-brown throat patch. During breeding, white tufts appear on the sides of the head, there are scattered white filoplumes on the side of the head and the neck, and the throat patch develops a white edge. The upper wings are somewhat greyer than the rest of the body. Juveniles are brownish in color.

Its diet consists mainly of small fish, but will also eat tadpoles, frogs, and aquatic insects. Information about its prey is sparse, but inland birds seem to feed on small, abundant fish in ponds and sheltered inlets, less than 10 cm in length, with an individual weight of a gram or two, such as Poecilia spp. especially the sailfin molly Poecilia latipinna. This cormorant forages for food by diving underwater, propelling itself by its feet. Its dives are brief, between 5 and 15 seconds. It is also known to forage in groups, with several birds beating the water with their wings to drive fish forward into shallows.

Neotropic Cormorants

Neotropic Cormorants are monogamous and breed in colonies. The nest is a platform of sticks with a depression in the center circled with twigs and grass. It is built a few metres above the ground or water in bushes or trees. Up to five chalky, bluish-white eggs are laid. Most pairs lay 3 eggs, but the mean number hatched is less than 2. The eggs soon become nest-stained. Both sexes incubate for about 25–30 days, and both parents feed the young until around the 11th week. By week 12, they are independent. One brood is raised per year.

Unlike other cormorants, this bird can often be seen perching on wires.

This bird is largely a permanent resident, with some birds occasionally wandering north in the warmer months.

Photos are © H.J. Ruiz - “My Winged Pals”


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Southern Ground Hornbill

Southern Ground Hornbill - Spec. Name: Bucorvus Leadbeateri

Description
The largest member of the hornbill famliy, the southern ground-hornbill makes its home in Gorongosa National Park’s savannas, woodlands, and grasslands. These pre-historic-looking birds are black with white flight feathers and a red wattle. You can recognize females by the blue patch on their red wattle. Males have bare facial skin and a wattle that can expand. These neck wattles are used to make booming or grunting sounds, often just before dawn, which can sound like lions roaring in the distance.

Southern ground-hornbills are carnivorous—eating lizards, frogs, snakes, snails, and insects. They are able to fly, but spend the majority of their time on the ground.  They hunt in groups by walking (instead of hopping), probing, pecking, and digging at the ground.

These birds live in cooperative breeding groups made up of a dominant pair and several  subordinate adult males.  This dominant pair successfully breeds only once every nine years, with only one surviving chick per nest.

Southern Ground Hornbill

They have established territories, and neighboring groups chase each other in aerial pursuits. Ground hornbills can live to 50 years old and are revered locally for their medicinal properties and their traditional role in producing rain. 

Conservation

Although the southern ground-hornbill have decreased in numbers in other parts of Southern Africa, (including nearby Kruger National Park) due to the slow development of their young and their extremely slow breeding cycle, this bird is thriving in Gorongosa National Park.  Because of the protections that the national park provides, the species is not susceptible to poison from agricultural areas and other habitat disruptions that affect the bird’s survival in more populous regions. 

During the long civil war in Mozambique, the park’s wildlife was severely diminished.  Today, Gorongosa National Park presents an area with little competition for food and a lack of predators, particularly of the nests and the young.  We will continue to monitor the health and size of the park’s southern ground-hornbill population.

Photograph © H.J. Ruiz “My Backyard Visitors”

Transcription from information given by: Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique

Weekly Photo Art

Blue-headed Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo, Vireo Solitarius

Blue-headed Vireo

This is a small songbird. Adults are mainly olive on the upperparts with white underparts and yellowish flanks; they have a grey head, dark eyes with white "spectacles" and white wing bars. They have a stout bill and thick blue-grey legs. This bird, along with the Cassin's Vireo and Plumbeous Vireo, were formerly known as the "Solitary Vireo"

Their breeding habitat is open mixed deciduous and coniferous woods in Canada east of the Rockies and the northeastern United States. They make a bulky cup nest suspended from a fork in tree branch. The male helps with incubation and may sing from the nest.

These birds migrate to the southern and southeastern United States south to Central America.

They forage for insects in the upper parts of trees, sometimes flying out to catch them. They also eat some berries, especially in winter.


Photographs © H.J. Ruiz "My Winged Pals"

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Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Common Raven

Common Raven - Spec. Name: Corvus Corax


This bird is also known as the Northern Raven, is a large, all-black passerine bird. Found across the northern hemisphere, it is the most widely distributed of all corvids. There are at least eight subspecies with little variation in appearance— although recent research has demonstrated significant genetic differences among populations from various regions. It is one of the two largest corvids, alongside the Thick-billed Raven, and is possibly the heaviest passerine bird; at maturity, the Common Raven averages 63 cm(25 inches) in length and 1.2 kg (2.6 pounds). Common Ravens typically live about 10 to 15 years in the wild, although lifespans of up to 40 years have been recorded. Young birds may travel in flocks, but later mate for life, with each mated pair defending a territory.

Common Raven

The Common Raven has coexisted with humans for thousands of years and in some areas has been so numerous that it is considered a pest. Part of its success comes from its omnivorous diet; Common Ravens are extremely versatile and opportunistic in finding sources of nutrition, feeding on carrion, insects, cereal grains, berries, fruit, small animals, and food waste.

Some remarkable feats of problem-solving have been observed in the species, leading to the belief that it is highly intelligent. Over the centuries, it has been the subject of mythology, folklore, art, and literature. In many indigenous cultures, including those of Scandinavia, ancient Ireland and Wales, Bhutan, the northwest coast of North America, and Siberia and northeast Asia, the Common Raven has been revered as a spiritual figure or god.

Photograph © H.J. Ruiz "My Winged Pals"

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Kori Bustard

Kori Bustard - Spec. Name: Ardeotis Kori 


This is a large bird native to Africa. It is a member of the bustard family. It may be the heaviest bird capable of flight.

The Kori Bustard is mostly grey in color, with a black crest on its head and yellow legs. Kori Bustards are often found with bee-eaters riding on their backs as they stride through the grass. The bee-eaters make the most of their walking perch by hawking insects from the bustard's back that are disturbed by the bustard's wandering. This is a large and heavy bird, and it avoids flying if possible. It spends most of its time on the ground, foraging for the seeds and lizards which make up most of its diet.

Kori Bustards are omnivorous birds, although they tend to be more carnivorous than other species of bustards. Insects form a large portion of their diet, especially when they are chicks. They also eat a variety of small mammals, lizards, snakes, seeds, and berries of plants. They have been observed eating carrion. They are purported to eat the gum from the Acacia tree. Discrepancy exists however, as to whether they are eating the gum itself, or the insects that might be stuck to the gum. Kori Bustards are one of the few species of birds that drink water using a sucking motion rather than scooping it up as most birds do.

Kori Bustard

Photograph © HJ Ruiz

Photo Album

Mourning Dove

Houese Finch (F)

Eastern Bluebird (M)

Tufted Titmouse

Random photos of various species of birds.

White-Crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow- Spec. Name: Zonotrichia Leucophrys

White-crowned Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrows appear each winter over much of North America to grace our gardens and favorite trails (they live in parts of the West year-round). The smart black-and-white head, pale beak, and crisp gray breast combine for a dashing look – and make it one of the surest sparrow identifications in North America. Watch for flocks of these sparrows scurrying through brushy borders and overgrown fields, or coax them into the open with backyard feeders. As spring approaches, listen out for this bird’s thin, sweet whistle.

• Size & Shape
  The White-crowned Sparrow is a large sparrow with a small bill and a long tail. The head can look distinctly peaked or smooth and flat, depending on the bird’s attitude.

• Color Pattern
  First impressions of White-crowned Sparrows tend to be of a plain, pale-gray bird; next your eye is drawn to the very bold black-and-white stripes on the head and the pale pink or yellow bill. Learn this bird's size and shape so you're ready to identify young birds that have brown, not black, markings on the head.

• Behavior
  You’ll see White-crowned Sparrows low at the edges of brushy habitat, hopping on the ground or on branches usually below waist level. They’re also found in open ground (particularly on their breeding grounds) but typically with the safety of shrubs or trees nearby.

• Habitat
  Look for White-crowned Sparrows in places where safe tangles of brush mix with open or grassy ground for foraging. For much of the United States, White-crowned Sparrows are most likely in winter (although two races live year round in the West, along the coast and in the mountains).

Copyright © 2011 Cornell University --- Photographs © 2011 H.J. Ruiz

Rock Pigeon

Rock Pigeon - Spec. Name: Columba Livia

Rock Pigeon

A common sight in cities around the world, Rock Pigeons crowd streets and public squares, living on discarded food and offerings of birdseed. In addition to the typical blue-gray bird with two dark wingbars, you'll often see flocks with plain, spotted, pale, or rusty-red birds in them. Introduced to North America from Europe in the early 1600s, city pigeons nest on buildings and window ledges. In the countryside they also nest on barns and grain towers, under bridges, and on natural cliffs.

• Size & Shape: Larger and plumper than a Mourning Dove, Rock Pigeons are tubby birds with small heads and short legs. Their wings are broad but pointed wings and the tail is wide and rounded.
• Color Pattern: Variable in color, but most birds are bluish gray with two black bands on the wing and a black tip to the tail. Most birds have iridescent throat feathers. Wing patterns may include two bars, dark spots, or can be plain. The tail is usually dark tipped.
• Behavior: Pigeons often gather in flocks, walking or running on the ground and pecking for food. When alarmed, the flock may suddenly fly into the air and circle several times before coming down again.
• Habitat: Pigeons are familiar birds of cities and towns. You'll also see them around farmland and fields, as well as in their archetypal habitat, rocky cliffs.

• Note: Photographs are © H.J. Ruiz

Weekly Photo Art

American Robins

Purple Finch

Purple Finch - Spec.Name:  Carpodacus Purpureus 

Purple Finch (M)

This is a bird in the finch family Fringillidae.
The Purple Finch is one of 24 birds in the genus Carpodacus and is included in the finch family, Fringillidae, which is made up of passerine birds found in northern hemisphere and Africa. The Purple Finch was originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789.

There are two subspecies of the Purple Finch, C. p. purpureus and C. p. californicus. C. p. californicus was identified by Spencer F. Baird in 1858. It differs from the nominate subspecies in that it has a longer tail and shorter wing. The plumage of both males and females are darker, and the coloration of the females is more greenish. The bill of C. p. californicus is also longer than that of the nominate subspecies.

Description

Purple Finch (F)

Adults have a short forked brown tail and brown wings and are about 15 cm (4 in) in length and weigh 34 g (1.2 oz). Adult males are raspberry red on the head, breast, back and rump; their back is streaked. Adult females have light brown upperparts and white underparts with dark brown streaks throughout; they have a white line on the face above the eye.

Habitat and distribution

Their breeding habitat is coniferous and mixed forest in Canada and the northeastern United States, as well as various wooded areas along the U.S. Pacific coast. They nest on a horizontal branch or in a fork of a tree.

Birds from northern Canada migrate to the southern United States; other birds are permanent residents.

The Purple Finch population has declined sharply in the East due to the House Finch. Most of the time, when these two species collide, the House Finch out competes the Purple Finch. This bird has been also displaced from some habitat by the introduced House Sparrow.

Behavior

Diet: These birds forage in trees and bushes, sometimes in ground vegetation. They mainly eat seeds, berries and insects. They are fond of sunflower seeds, millet, and thistle.

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Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Phoebe - Spec. Name: Sayornis Phoebe

This is a small passerine bird. This tyrant flycatcher breeds in eastern North America, although its normal range does not include the southeastern coastal USA.

Eastern Phoebe

It is migratory, wintering in the southernmost USA and Central America. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe. This is one of the first birds to return to the breeding grounds in spring and one of the last to leave in the fall. They arrive for breeding in mid-late March, but they return to winter quarters around the same time when other migrant songbirds do, in September and early October; migration times have stayed the same in the last 100 years.
This species appears remarkably big-headed, especially if it puffs up the small crest. Its plumage is gray-brown above. It has a white throat, dirty gray breast and buffish underparts which become whiter during the breeding season. Two indistinct buff bars are present on each wing. Its lack of an eye ring and wingbars, and its all dark bill distinguish it from other North American tyrant flycatchers, and it pumps its tail up and down like other phoebes when perching on a branch. The Eastern Phoebe's call is a sharp chip, and the song, from which it gets its name, is fee-bee.

The Eastern Wood-pewee (Contopus virens) is extremely similar in appearance and voice. It lacks the buff hue usually present on the lighter parts of the Eastern Phoebe's plumage, and thus has always clearly defined and contrasting wing-bars. It also does not bob its tail habitually, and appears on the breeding grounds much later though it leaves for winter quarters at about the same time as the Eastern Phoebe.

The breeding habitat of the Eastern Phoebe is open woodland, farmland and suburbs, often near water. This phoebe is insectivorous, and often perches conspicuously when seeking food items. It also eats fruits and berries in cooler weather.
It often nests on human structures such as bridges and buildings. Nesting activity may start as early as the first days of April. The nest is an open cup with a mud base and lined with moss and grass, built in crevice in a rock or man-made site; 3-8 eggs are laid. Both parents feed the young and usually raise two broods per year. The Eastern Phoebe is occasionally host to thenest-parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater).

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Shiny Cowbird

 Shiny Cowbird - Spec. Name: Molothrus Bonariensis 

Shiny Cowbird

This is a passerine bird in the New World family Icteridae. It breeds in most of South America apart from the most dense jungles, mountains and deserts (although spreading into these habitats as they are modified by humans), the coldest southernmost regions (e.g. Tierra del Fuego), and on Trinidad and Tobago. It has relatively recently colonised Chile and many Caribbean islands, and has reached the USA, where it is probably breeding in southern Florida. Northern and southernmost populations are partially migratory.

It is a bird associated with open woodland and cultivation. The male’s song is a purr and whistle, purr purr purrte-tseeeee. The male’s call is a sharp whistled tsee-tsee, but the female makes a harsh rattle.

Like most other cowbirds, it is a brood parasite, laying its eggs in the nests of many other bird species, such as (in Brazil) the Rufous-collared Sparrow and the Masked Water-tyrant. The eggs are of two types, either whitish and unspotted, or pale blue or green with dark spots and blotches. The host’s eggs are sometimes removed, and if food is short their chicks may starve, but larger host species are less affected. The incubation period of 11–12 days is shorter than that of most hosts. Extermination of the Shiny Cowbird within the tiny range of the Pale-headed Brush-finch has resulted in a population increase in this critically endangered species.

The male Shiny Cowbird is 20.3 cm long, weighs 45 g and is all black with an iridescent purple-blue gloss. The smaller female is 19 cm long and weighs 31 g. Her plumage is dark brown, paler on the underparts. She can be distinguished from the female Brown-headed Cowbird by her longer, finer bill, pale superciilium and stronger face pattern. There is an all-black plumage variation, and the northern subspecies M. b. cabanisii of Panama and northern Colombia is paler than the nominate M. b. bonariensis. Juveniles are like the female but more streaked below.

This abundant and gregarious bird feeds mainly on insects and some seeds, including rice, and forages on the ground or perches on cattle.

Carolina Wren

Carolina Wren - Spec.Name: Thryothorus Ludovicianus

This is a common species of wren, resident in the eastern half of the USA, the extreme south of Ontario, Canada, and the extreme northeast of Mexico. A distinct population in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, Belize and extreme north of Guatemala is treated either as a subspecies Thryothorus ludovicianus albinucha, or as a separate species, White-browed Wren Thryothorus albinucha. Following a 2006 review, these are the only wrens remaining in the genus Thryothorus. T. ludovicianus is the state bird of South Carolina; its specific name ludovicianus means "from Louisiana".


Typically 14 cm long (6–7 in) and about 20 g in weight, it is a fairly large wren; among the United States species it is second largest after the Cactus Wren. The upperparts are rufous brown, and the underparts a strong orange-buff, usually unmarked but faintly barred on the flanks in the southwest of the range. The head has a striking pure white supercilium (eyebrow) and a whitish throat. The race albinucha is duller brown above and has additional white streaking on the head.

It is easiest to confuse with the Bewick's Wren, a fairly close relative, which differs in being smaller but with a longer tail, grayer-brown above and whiter below. The Carolina and White-browed Wrens differ from the House Wren in being larger, with a decidedly longer bill and hind toe; their culmen has a notch behind the tip.