Yellow-bellied Sapsucker photographed at Big Bend National Park.
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As of a few days ago, the young Whooping Cranes of the migratory Eastern flock (Wisconsin to Florida) had only about 200 miles more to fly in order to reach their wintering grounds at St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge. This year's migration has gone much more smoothly than last year's that was plagued by all sorts of problems, both natural and bureaucratic. This year's flight was helped enormously by strong tailwinds during part of the trip.
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Melting sea ice presents a problem for the life cycle of the Emperor Penguin. They use the ice for feeding and breeding and for resting during their long journeys out to sea.
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The World Meteorological Organization has reported that 2011 was a record year for greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere on which we depend for life.
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It appears that the early ancestors of birds were more gliders than fliers. Fossil evidence indicates that their wings were not built for strong sustained flight but would easily have been able to support gliding from tree to tree.
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In 1992, the Snake River Sockeye Salmon was down to just one known fish in the wild. He was dubbed Lonesome Larry. Since then, state, tribal, and federal fish managers have painstakingly bred the fish in captivity and released it to the wild to rebuild the population. Today the wild population is up to about 2500 fish and there is real reason to hope that the species can, in fact, be saved.
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October was the 332nd consecutive month of above average temperatures on the planet. A 27-year-old person has never lived on a planet with lower than average temperatures in any month.
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Although Norway has only a few dozen wolves left, the government is seeking to cull the predators even further, giving the lie to the country's claim to environmental progressivism. Indeed, many of the Scandinavian countries, as well as Canada, are losing their vaunted environmentalist credentials under pressure from their petrochemical industries. (Sounds very much like another country we all know and love, with the initials U.S.A.)
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Orange-fronted Conures, a parakeet found from western Mexico to Costa Rica, mimic the calls of others of their species in order to start a conversation. Each of the birds has an individual "contact call" and they respond more readily when another bird mimics that call.
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Some birds have also been found to change the pitch and length of their songs in response to ambient noise. In particular, Vermilion Flycatchers in urban areas have been found to sing longer songs than their counterparts in rural area.
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Members of the crow and jay family are notorious for their mobbing behavior. If they spot a predator - a hawk or owl - they put out the call for every member of their family in the area to come and help them repel the intruder. The blog 10,000 Birds has a post with several pictures of a murder (Did you know that's the name for a group of crows?) of American Crows mobbing a Great Horned Owl that was just minding his own business.
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Around the backyard:
...The thistle socks were hung on the feeder post with care in hope that the finches soon would be there.
And, sure enough, the American Goldfinch showed up right on cue. But he wasn't interested in thistle seed. He preferred the nearby feeder with sunflower seed hearts.
I've seen only one or two of the birds at the feeders so far, but I'm sure the traffic will soon pick up.
Those sunflower seed hearts must have been very tasty!
Bird traffic around the yard has picked up a bit this week, with the arrival of the goldfinches and the Red-breasted Nuthatches. A few more of the permanent resident birds have been showing up, too.
Like this Tufted Titmouse.
And this Eastern Bluebird. I see him quite often these days on some prominent perch and often hear him singing his song.
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