Bird Call

Welcome to Bird-Call

A bird blog with a fresh point of view to brighten your day.

One bird at a time. :)

A light hearted blog for birders and those who don't know they're birders. Yet. :)

 Doing my part with fluorescent eco-friendly binos.

 

Photos, original perspectives, and maybe a fact or two when you aren't looking.  

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Bird Brains

I recently had a birding accident. Sort of. With my camera and binoculars over my left shoulder, I tripped and fell. To protect my gear I put out my right hand which held my phone and it broke. My hand that is. The phone is fine. This was not the first fall I’ve had birding. But it is the first one in my living room. No joke.

To be specific, I broke a finger. My typing finger. So I've been slow to blog. To make matters worse, I’ve got a cast up to my elbow and can’t even hold my camera. Oh well.

While mending, I’ve been reading a book by Jennifer Ackerman called The Genius of Birds. As you might guess she suggests birds are pretty bright. Much more intelligent than we’ve thought anyway. She makes a good case.            

American Crow

Some birds, particularly Corvids (crows, magpies jays etc.) and parrots turn out to be especially smart. Some show intelligence equal to mammals. Occasionally even that of gorillas and orangutans.

New Caledonian crows for example use simple tools to get at food. Some, figure out how to use one tool that doesn’t work to get food to get at a more useful one that can. Some of these crows actually learn from their seniors to build elaborate hook tools to get food in the wild. Other Corvids (perhaps you’ve seen them on U-tube) famously drop nuts on busy intersection crosswalks and wait for traffic to pass. Then when the light turns red, they casually pick up the spoils.

Some crows will watch where others stash food, then go back and steal it later. (But only if they’ve previously had their own cache purloined. Bird relativism?)

Some parrots not only mimic human speech but understand and correctly use the words they’ve learned. Pigeons can recognize human faces, even in art, and of course can find their way home better than Siri.  Ornithologists daily discover new evidence of bird  intelligence.

African Gray Parrot

So the question has now become: how do those bird brains work? Scientists are beginning to put them under the microscope.

Literally.

By mapping neural connections in their brains. Or studying genes and brain chemistry associated with specific behaviors like social relationships.

And in the process they have found something fascinating: a large number of unexpected similarities between the brains of birds and humans.

For example birds' brains are divided into hemispheres that control different things, somewhat the way ours do.

Gene studies have surprised scientists with amazing similarities of song learning to the language learning process of humans. We also share the same pattern of brain activity during sleep.

The list goes on. The more they study, the more similarities they find.

Of course, I don’t think anyone is suggesting a Nobel Prize for gathering grubs on a stick. But it does seem these new findings indicate that not only are birds  smarter than we ever imagined, but that human and bird brains are more alike than we’d probably like to admit. And that's astonishing. Especially considering some birds' brains are no bigger than a pea.

Though thinking it over. It would explain a lot. :)

 

(A recent newsletter by an excellent birder and friend, Hap Ellis: Bird News Items cites two new studies bolstering Ms. Ackerman’s point.) mailto:[email protected]

My Trip to the Beach

I walked down to the beach last week to get out of the house. Tired of being cooped up.

Apparently I was not the only one.

Signs on the beach warned people, in two languages, not to go in. The water was polluted. And there were sharks. (It was, after all, shark week.)  : )

But this being America, of course there were scads of people in the water--apparently not about to let sharks deprive them of their rights.

Nor water borne bacteria.

Nor I guess, for that matter, a virus. I saw very few masks in the tightly packed crowds on the beach.

But to be fair, I did see some social distancing.

 

 By this group of gulls. :)

Busting the Bluebird Myth

Trick question: what color is a pink flamingo? Answer: gray. Naturally. : )

Lesser Flamingo

At least they're born gray and on their own would pretty much stay that way. But When you see them (say at the zoo) they’re pink right? So what’s up with that? Well. It takes some help. And here’s the secret: zookeepers feed them food coloring. Think I’m kidding? I’m not. But hey. That’s show biz.  : )  To be fair it’s just a chemical version of something found in the foods they normally eat in real life. Carotenoids [ca-ROT-a-noids]:  a group of yellow and orange pigments made largely by plants and algae.

They’re in nearly everything and most creatures consume them one way or another. Birds then throw in a few enzymes and turn them into stunning colors. For flamingos that would be pink. Or sometimes orange.

Baltimore Oriole

We (and other mammals) consume Carotenoids too.  (Like carotene in carrots.) Though not usually in great enough quantities to change our color. But it can be done. Take too many Carotenoid pills trying to get a sunless tan, and you too may turn a stunning orange. : )

Our normal skin and hair coloring comes from a pigment we produce called melanin. Some birds feathers are colored by melanin too. They are boring but durable. Look closely and you can tell them. They’re brown. Or black. :) Like juncos or crows.

Oregon Junco                         

Northern Crow

So that accounts for brown, black, pink, yellow, orange and even red in special cases. Easy.

But blue is an altogether different matter. There is no natural pigment that can make a bird blue. Carotenoids can’t make blue in birds either. So what about bluebirds? Well I hate to break it to you, but technically there’s no such thing. I know people love bluebirds, and I don’t want to ruin any lives here . So let me explain. It's an optical illusion. Kind of.                       

Blue in birds is created when light interacts with clear, colorless molecules on the surface of their feathers. It's keratin (the stuff Rhino horns and fingernails are made of). This outer layer scatters light (a little like a prism). What we see are brilliant blues. In this case beauty isn’t skin deep. Or feather deep.

  Western Bluebird

 

The feathers themselves, undereath that clear layer, are actually drab gray. If you don’t believe me, take a hammer and pound one flat. That will destroy the very thin molecular pattern on top. The feather will now be dull and dark.

But of course by that time so will the bird. :)

Elegant Trogon

If you don’t recognize this bird right off don’t feel bad. Not too many can. Fewer yet have seen one. There are not many of them in this country. And almost all are concentrated in southeastern Arizona.

It's an Elegant Trogon. Looks a little like a parrot. It’s not. More like a songbird. (You might dispute that if you heard its croaking “song.”)

They nest in abandoned woodpecker holes. Preferably near sycamores and streams.

  

Now if you took the Arizona quiz last time, I promised answers:

The name Arizona comes from:

A             A Tohono O’odham word Ali-Shonak, meaning "place of the small spring"

B             Aztec's arizuma meaning "silver-bearing"

C             Spanish zona arida, translated as “arid zone.”

D             Basque arizonac, translated as the “good oak trees.”

E              All of the above

E. It all depends on who you talk to.

The famous “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” took place:

A             In the O.K. Corral

B             Next to the O.K. Corral

C             Next to a Photographic Studio

D             Mainstreet Tombstone

C. Next to C.S. Fly’s photographic studio. Fly saw it but it was over too quickly for photos. Thirty seconds. : )

The Arizona state animal is the:

A             Coyote

B             Ringtail Cat

C             Sonoran Pronghorn (Antelope)

D             The Thing

B. For those who have driven across the desert on I-10 “The Thing” may be the most familiar. But the state animal is the seldom seen Ringtail Cat or "Ringtail" (not a cat at all—It's related to racoons).

By Robertbody at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10537526

The state reptile is:

A             Arizona Diamondback

B             Ridgenose Rattlesnake

C             Gila Monster

D             State reptile?

B. Not the Gila Monster. It seems to me if they're going to have a state reptile,this famous symbol of Arizona would be great. But for some reason they chose the Ridgenose Rattlesnake. Never heard of it. They must have picked it because by the time Arizona finally became the 48th state, all the good reptiles were taken.

Arizonans believe in:

A             Hoodoos  

B             Haboobs    

C             Havasupai  

D             All of the above

D. While the rest of us might scratch our heads, Arizonans know these things well. The Havasupai are an Indian tribe in the Grand Canyon. As for the other two see Bird-Call: "Hoodoo-What" and "Of-birds-and-haboobs."

Arizona is home to: [Choose any that apply]

A             The San Francisco Peaks

B             The London Bridge

C             The Colorado River

D             The California Condor      (Road-trip-through-time)

A,B,C,D. Missing is a town named Arizona. It’s in Texas.

AZ Garnets are mined:

A             In open pit mines

B             In Utah

C             By ants

D             In silver mines

C. They can be mined in vertical shafts, but some of the best are mined by ants. They bring the semi-precious stones to the surface as they excavate. Native Americans pick them up and sell them.

Geronimo after eluding as many as 5000 troops died:

A             From gunshot wounds

B             Of starvation

C             At the hand of fellow Apaches

D             By falling off his horse

D. Some say he was pitched off. Again it depends on who you talk to.

Who discovered Pluto at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff?

A             Percival Lowell

B             Clyde W. Tombaugh

C.            Walt Disney

B. Clyde W Tombaugh

 

Bonus question:

I have to ask: what is the state bird?

A             Black-tailed Gnat Catcher

B             Cactus Wren

C.            Arizona Woodpecker

D.           Gila Woodpecker

B. Cactus Wren

: )

 

 

 

 

 

Arizona

 

  Click to Enlarge

Can you I.D. this bird? Well to see it, you’ll have to travel to south-eastern Arizona where it breeds. Before you go take this quiz to test your knowledge of Arizona. (Answers next time.)

The name Arizona comes from:

A             A Tohono O’odham word Ali-Shonak, meaning "place of the small spring"

B             Aztec's arizuma meaning "silver-bearing"

C             Spanish zona arida, translated as “arid zone.” Thus Arizona

D             Basque term arizonac, translated as the “good oak trees.”

E              All of the above

 

The famous “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” took place:

A             In the O.K. Corral

B             Next to the O.K. Corral

C            At a photographic studio

D            Main Street Tombstone

 

The state animal is the:

A             Coyote

B             Ringtail Cat

C             Sonoran Pronghorn (Antelope)

D             The Thing

 

The state reptile is:

A             Arizona Diamondback

B             Ridgenose Rattlesnake

C             Gila Monster

D             State reptile?

 

Arizonans believe in:

A             Hoodoos

B             Haboobs

C             Havasupais

D             All of the above

 

Arizona is home to:  [Choose any that apply]

A             The San Francisco Peaks

B             The London Bridge

C             The Colorado River

D             The California Condor

E                A town Called Arizona

 

AZ Garnets are mined:

A             In open pit mines

B             In Utah

C             In Silver Mines

D            By ants

 

When on Navajo or Hopi reservations don’t:

A             Make a sketch

B             Sit next to your wife

C             Have a beer

D             Stand beside a drum

E             Do any of the above

 

Geronimo after eluding as many as 5000 troops died:

A             From gunshot wounds

B             Of starvation

C             At the hand of fellow Apaches

D             By falling off his horse

             

Who discovered Pluto at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff?

A             Percival Lowell

B             Clyde W. Tombaugh

C             Walt Disney

 

 

Bird-nerd-word: Superspecies

Superspecies: species that are very closely related but do not interbreed.

And here are three bonus words. Free:  

“Sympatric,” “Subspecies,” and “Allopatric.”

“Sympatric” species like the Western and Eastern meadowlark don’t interbreed even though they are very similar and live in overlapping areas.

Why don't they? Well sometimes they don’t like each other. Sometimes it’s just inconvenient. And sometimes they simply can’t figure out how. (Superspecies status doesn’t necessarily mean super-smart-species.)

Western Meadowlark

                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                            Eastern_Meadowlark                                                                                                                     

Now for “Subspecies.” (Obviously a notch down the pecking order.) Let’s take for example the Northern Mallard and Mexican Duck which commonly paddle around in the same pond, so to  speak. Frequent interbreeding produces hybrids and “waters down” the species. In this case the Mexican Duck's. And...unfortunately it gets demoted to subspecies status. (I say unfortunate, but please don’t feel sorry for the birds. They don’t care. It’s birders who are the real victims. We don’t get to count them on our life lists.)

 

And finally “Allopatric?” The Oak Titmouse lives in the west. The Tufted in the east. Both are superspecies. I know they don’t look especially super. But they fit the definition: they don’t interbreed because they’re separated by geography. So it never comes up.

Oak Titmouse

Tufted Titmouse

Now a word, if I may, about the name: “titmouse.” Who came up with that? It seems unmeet somehow. I know it goes way, way back. Like eight centuries. (But who’s counting?). For a science that swaps species names around yearly like a Chinese puzzle, that’s a long time. Couldn’t they come up with something more, well…modern?

It’s from the Middle English word “tit” meaning small. And Mose which came from Old Norse meising meaning something like “puny weakling.” 

Now I’m aware nobody wants to talk about the elephant in the room here, but I’m going to: frankIy I find the name inappropriate.

After all, we’re talking superspecies. Superspecies.

Wouldn’t Mighty Mose be more fitting?

 

Northern Mallard

Male Mallards’ green heads and duck tails (the original by the way) are distinctive. And familiar. On maybe the most recognizable duck in North America. Or even the world.

Plus there are 13 closely related species running around the continent. Several of those closely resemble the Mallard. The Mottled Duck, the Black Duck and one subspecies: the Mexican Duck (or Southern Mallard.) They all can be difficult to ID. Males and females of these species look like the female Mallard. Plain, that is. And to mix it up further so does the male Mallard in the off season. [See Bird-Call “Eclipse Plumage”]

And they sound more-or-less the same too: “Quack, Quack!” in 13 local dialects. One may be a little softer. One may be a little raspier. Well you get the picture.

But the Mexican Duck is probably the most difficult to distinguish. Of all of them it looks most like the Mallard female. Besides that, north of Mexico they interbreed to the point it’s hard to find a pure Mexican Duck. And even the difference in quacks is subtle.

*

So how do you tell? Listen carefully. They sound similar, but there is a difference.

Female Mallards give their famous, “Quack! Quack!” Brash and loud.

Mexican Ducks, on the other hand, say politely …

“Guac! Guac!” 

:)

 

*Mexican Duck Photo By Gary L. Clark - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45176571

 

EZ-ID-Friday

Can you name this bird? I'll tell you next time. If you can't wait, hover over the photo or look down at the bottom.

You can find this duck hanging out about anywhere in North America. Or the world for that matter. Very common.  Anywhere there are rivers and lakes. But not only there.

You’re just as likely to find them at the city park. But don’t expect them to be exactly the same. Next time you see people feeding ducks at the city pond, take a look. How many kinds do you see? Several probably. And nearly all of them came from the same species. This one

 Their colors may have shifted around a bit. Or they’re splotchy or something. It’s because they’re hybrids. (See Bird-Call “Hybridization” 07/08/2019)

They’ve bred with other species or sub-species (there are more than 60 of them related closely enough to hybridize). And that includes most domestic ducks. Several thousand years ago in China they bred the famous Peking Duck for food. Then not too awful long ago someone imported a few of them here--a sort of Peking Duck starter kit.  

They thrived. Large and white, they’ve become our common farm ducks. Of course once in a while they fly the coop. Jailbreak! But soon find they’re ill-suited for life on the lamb. So they plunk down in a city park pond somewhere looking for a handout.

They may find, however, they’re not the only freeloaders there. A few wild ducks may have already developed a taste for Cheese Doritos. So they all find themselves sharing one little pond. Over time, the wild ones get tamer.The tamer ones get wilder. And romance blossoms. And next thing you know there are little forever-mixed-up ducklings running around the park.

What they will look like when grown is anybody’s guess. And you often can’t tell the species that hybridized.

This female does not appear to be a hybrid.

So if you listened, you'd hear her trademark  ”Quack!”

Males of this species give a quieter raspy call.

 

 

And as for the white “farm ducks,” seen at city pond? Well as everyone knows this familiar duck will deliver its famous:

“AFLAC!”

 

 

 

 

Bird-nerd-word: Hybridization

Sometimes closely related but separate species are able to produce offspring. Simply put that's called Hybridization. The resulting birds can cause difficulty for birders, especially if they then hybridize with still other birds. Having features of both parents in often unpredictable ways can make identification a problem. It's not even clear if the birds recognize these differences. You might spend an hour trying to decide which of several species a bird is. Only to finally decide it's not any of them. And often, to tell the truth, you might not ever get it right.

If this happens to you, though, don't feel bad. It doesn't reflect poorly on your birding. Remember. Sorting out species in this situation is difficult. And you're not the only one with the problem. After all...how can we be expected to distinguish between hybridized species when even the birds can't?

Mallard/American Black Duck hybrid.

Maybe. :)

 

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Did you ID this Yellow-crowned Night Heron? Good call.

 

 

 

 

In my last blog I said this Yellow-crowned Night Heron was soaking up the San Diego sun. Well. I was stretching the truth a little. Not to say lying. There wasn’t sun exactly. It was more like gray-bright...ish. So what was up with the cloudy day in San Diego?  Well...believe it or not, it's normal for this time of year. Locals call it “June Gloom” or sometimes “No-sky July.” If it’s earlier then it’s “May Haze.” Later: “Fogust.”

It's caused when the marine layer (cloud cover) comes ashore. Which in turn is caused by a meteorological chain of conditions: low pressure in the northwest, westerly winds, cool water, something called the “Catalina Eddy” and warm air inland (as in desert warm). I won’t try to explain it further. That’s the best I can do.

Locals don’t always mind. They prefer it to the heat. But I feel bad for visitors. I see would be sunbathers wrapped up in everything they brought. I bet they didn’t see that part in the brochures. Temperatures are often mild, but it feels cold at the beach. And the water temperature doesn’t help. Only a few hardy souls venture into the water without a wetsuit.

A couple gray mornings ago I saw a dad and two kids trying to make the best of it. They pretty much had the beach to themselves. The clouds were dark. It was unusually cold. And windy. The dad was standing in the sand draped with umbrella, boogie boards, beach toys, towels, and chairs. But The kids were standing at the edge of the water in their suits. Their body language said, "Yeah...no. You first."

Even the heron in my photo seems to be second guessing himself.  Notice he’s standing on one leg. They do that to stay warm. It keeps them from losing heat through the bare skin on their legs. And look closer (click to enlarge) to see his plumes blowing in the breeze. He has his back to the wind. I doubt he knew what he was in for any more than the tourists.

But don’t feel too sorry for the bird. When it comes to staying warm, he has one real big advantage over kids.

Feathers. :)