Another Egret

The yellow feet and curly tail are dead give aways. Yes, this is a snowy egret (Egretta thula) and one of the medium sized members of the Egret family. These birds spend their lives in South America and come into our area during summer breeding season. I took these pictures on Lake Millwood during March. This bird was sharing the small bay with a Great Egret and an alligator.

"Comeback kid"

The symbol of the Audubon Society of which I am a proud member, the Great Egret (Ardea alba) was nearly wipped out in the United States during the 1800's and early 1900's. Populations declined as much as 95% as these birds were hunted down for their feathers. With the help of such conservation organizations as the Audubon Society, the Great Egret is doing well today. Like its cousin the Cattle Egret, the Great Egret is a very cosmopolitan bird with populations in both the New and Old World. It is the largest New World Egret and can live to be over 20 years old. The only threat to these birds today is the constant destruction of wetlands, which is a big problem for so many birds today. Why is it that mankind insists on building on the shores of the ocean or other bodies of water? Such practices destroy land vital to so many plants and animals and when flood or storms come (as they always do) we all get to pay the price for these foolish building practices in the form of higher insurance premiums. And what about all those tax dollars going into maintaining levies and dikes? I am sorry citizens of New Orleans, but to live in a city that is below sea level is foolish and the tax dollars to try to keep such a city dry could be spent more wisely addressing issues that have solutions.

Memories of Winter

The recent weather has made me wish for a few days of winter when these fellows, American Goldfinches (Cardeulis tristis), covered up my feeders. The hot weather has made my bird feeders rather desolate these days. With the exceptional Cardinal or Sparrow in the late evening, the only activity my feeders are seeing now are the two gray squirrels that like to hang from their hind feet and eat my sunflower seeds. Now the hummingbird feeders, that is another story. The activity there is constant. We even got a torrential downpour yesterday evening and there were the hummingbirds still fighting each other over their spot at the feeder. I don't know how they kept from drowning.

Worthy of an Oscar

"And the Oscar goes to . . ." the Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus). If you have any experience with these little birds, you know what great actors they can be when they feel you are getting too close to their nest, which is little more than a rocky depression in the field. The parents will act injured by flopping and limping around trying to draw your attention away from their eggs. I always thought it was a neat bird growing up here in Arkansas, since it looked like it belonged on some beach and not in some cow pasture. I did get to see its close cousin, the Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus), up in Maine where their nesting sites on the beaches are protected because of their threatened status in that area. These cousins look similar except the Piping Plover has one chest band and the Killdeer has two. The Killdeer gets its name from the sound it makes and they are practically year round residents of all of the continental U.S. Part of their success comes from the fact that they don't mind people. In fact, I took these pictures in the sub-division where my daughter and her family lives. The birds were all over the place running amongst and dodging the neighborhood kids.

Earning their Stripes

First year male (no red visible)

Probably a 2nd year male (little red visible)

Older, More Dominant Male (larger red stripe)

Female

The red-winged blackbird (Agelaius pheoniceus) is one of the most studied birds. Many papers have been written showing a correlation between the size of the red epaulets (stripe) and the number of females that are attracted. The size of the epaulets have also been shown to correlate to the size of the territory a bird controls; the larger the red stripe, the more area the bird controls. Sounds a whole lot like stripes in the military. With the exception of the female in the last pic, notice the different size red stripes in these birds. It usually takes at least two years for the red stripe to appear above the cream color stripe. From the second year on, the size of the red stripe will be dependent upon good genes and nutrition. So the next time you see one of these real common birds, take notice of the size of the red stripe.

"Redbird"

As common as they might be throughout the year in our backyards, the Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) is an extremely beautiful bird that brightens up any feeder. No wonder this conspicuous bird is the state bird of seven different states (Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and North Carolina).

Bird of Peace

Dinner line

Dressed for dinner: Red stockings and blue eye-shadow

What is more soothing in the early morning or late afternoon hours than the cooing of a Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)? Then there are the many references to this bird in the Bible; the dove is used as a symbol of peace and gentleness, and even the Holy Spirit (which makes them especially welcome visitors to my backyard). As you can see in the pictures, I have numerous doves that I feed each day. They prefer to eat the seeds that have fallen to the ground and are seldom seen eating directly from the feeders. I think they are beautiful, sleek birds that are extremely sociable; I have counted over a dozen birds feeding at one time in perfect harmony with each other and with other birds. By the way, these guys have a ravenous appetite eating up to 20% of their own body weight per day. They are the most abundant game bird in the U.S. with annual harvests of 20 million each year. That's right. We hunt and eat doves down here in the South; it was always the first hunting season to open (Sept.). We would fry (of course) only the breast meat, which was dark meat as opposed to a chicken. I personally have not hunted doves since I was a kid; too much effort for too little meat. As a result of clearing forests and lack of hunting, dove numbers have climbed to an estimated 350 million. The oldest dove on record lived to be 31 years old (no spring chicken!).