Birdy on my window... » songbird

Chickadees

magpie — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 02:32:35 +0000

These little cuties come to the back porch to eat the black oil sunflower seeds in the new feeder. YAY for new birds! =) (Don’t worry, we are still feed the crows!) There are two types here: the Black-Capped Chickadees and Chestnut-Backed Chickadees.

Aren’t they adorable?

“Mixed flocks stay together because the chickadees call out whenever they find a good source of food. This calling out forms cohesion for the group, allowing the other birds to find food more efficiently. When flocking, Black-capped Chickadees soon establish a rigid social hierarchy.”¹

They do sing but I haven’t had the pleasure of them hearing them. =( I will soon, I hope. Primarily they are insectivores but they do like seeds and berries as well.

We know they like black oil sunflower seeds! =)

wikipedia

American Robin (bird a day)

magpie — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:50:31 +0000

American Robin (male)

Originally uploaded by Wayne Weber

The bird of the day today is the American Robin, (Turdus migratorius), what a strange scientific name. =/

It is found all over the U.S. and happens to be the state bird of three states (Michigan, Connecticut and Wisconsin)! I think it has earned that popularity. It is an attractive, social bird that sings loud and clear. =) You can hear it here.

American Robins likes= to eat worms, earthworms in particular which ironically is reflected in the collective noun for American Robins: a worm of Robins. They also enjoy insects, fruits and berries.

The American Robin lives everywhere in the U.S. — lawns, woodlands, shrubs, trees, even sheltered windowsills. It winters in moist woodlands, suburbs and parks. It is a year-round bird in Washington State and Oregon.

We see this bird daily. It is typically hanging about on the grass searching for worms. Here are some of our favorite captures of the American Robin:

Mexican Chickadee (bird a day)

magpie — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:01:50 +0000

Poecile sclateri.

Originally uploaded by Pablo Lèautaud.

I found the Mexican Chickadee (Poecile sclateri) in my National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Birds of North America. I was looking for a hummingbird we wanted to identify. We feed some crows everyday and when we put out the peanuts for them the other day we noticed a hummingbird in the tree near our railing. This was very exciting for us! We may be getting a hummingbird feeder soon! YAY! =) Ok, back to the Mexican Chickadee. While flipping through the book I passed by it and wrote it down. I just had to include it as today’s bird of the day because it is a puff ball.

It is a songbird. YAY for songbirds! They are about 5 inches long and have about a 7-8 inch wingspan, weighing only about 1/4 of an ounce to not even half an ounce as adults. So, it is pretty small in relation to the other birds we’ve researched but we know there are smaller, like the hummingbird we found (Anna’s hummingbird).

The Mexican Chickadee lives in the wooded highlands in Western, Central and Northeastern Mexico, Southeastern Arizona and Southwestern New Mexico.

Lyre Bird (bird a day)

magpie — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 07:05:15 +0000

I picked the Lyre Bird for the bird of the day today because I saw this video…what an interesting bird!

He can imitate the calls/songs of at least 20 different birds and even the sounds around him (like in the video he imitates a chainsaw, a camera and a car alarm)! He is fascinating. This bird lives in Australia. They have huge tail feathers like a peacock but just fewer.

“Lyrebirds are ancient Australian animals: The Australian Museum has fossils of lyrebirds dating back to about 15 million years ago.” (Wikipedia)

Lyrebird (Wikimedia Commons)

These birds are very popular and this popularity shows in all the logos and money that brandishes its image. =)