10,000 Birds

APRIL 25, 2012

Most of the Osprey breeding in North America are migratory, only Florida, the Caribbean and Baja California host non-migratory breeders 1. Osprey pairs usually form at the nest site where females are fed almost exclusively by their mates prior to egg laying behavior 1. This pair copulated several times while I was observing.

California 201

California North America Sacramento Breeders 201

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 7, 2015

They nest on large inland lakes in western North America and migrate to the Pacific coast in winter, however they maintain local populations year-round in California. They normally lay 3 to 4 eggs per clutch. Click on photos for full sized images.

California 145

California North America Eggs America 145

10,000 Birds

JUNE 18, 2014

The featured image above shows a female incubating eggs from my first resident breeding pair back in 2007. The four to six eggs are white and unmarked. It’s not as clear as the photo of the eggs above but I did not want to disturb the female as she was circling the nest to resume her duties.

Eggs 163

Eggs North America 2007 Woodpeckers 163

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2013

Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a surprise American Golden-Plover at Big Egg Marsh in Queens, a very good bird for the east coast in spring, as they tend to migrate north through the center of North America. How about you? What was your best bird of the weekend?

2013 176

2013 North America Birds Eggs 176

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 9, 2015

The nickel was placed in the nest for the photo to show me the size of the egg for identification purposes, then removed. Even though the female lays only two eggs per nest attempt, they enjoy a protracted breeding season in which multiple nesting attempts can occur every 30 days, and in Southern locations, nearly year round.

Hunters 175

Hunters Hunting North America Game 175

10,000 Birds

JUNE 2, 2015

And of eggs and nests and birds on nests. Into the Nest , as the title says, is about the courting, mating, egg-laying, nesting, and parenting behavior of “familiar birds”. Cedar Waxwings exchange berries, carry nesting material, eggs. Egg biology, from Part I. Oops, the curmudgeon in me slipped.) Peregrine Falcon nests.

Eggs 263

Eggs Family 2006 New York 263

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

The Bank Swallow ( Riparia riparia ) is North America’s smallest swallow. References: 1 Birds of North America Online. It can be distinguish from the Northern Rough-winged Swallow by its dark breast band and the white of the throat curling up behind its ear. Click on photos for full sized images.

North America 188

North America 2014 California Birds 188

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 8, 2015

The Brown Pelican occurs in both the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America and northern South America. They nearly disappeared from North America between the late 1950s and early 1970s because of pesticides entering the food chain. Brown Pelicans in non-breeding plumage.

Pelicans 157

Pelicans North America Peru Fish 157

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 1, 2015

Now, more than ever, they are an iconic piece of the birding landscape, for David Sibley’s “ The Sibley Field Guide to to Birds of Eastern North America ,” features none other than an American Goldfinch on the cover! Unlike many other songbirds, these goldfinches subsist entirely on a vegetarian, seed-based diet.

New Jersey 150

New Jersey United States Legislature Iowa 150

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2012

Today, the species has all but disappeared east of the Mississippi River and has declined in western parts of its range, most likely caused by the expansion of the House Wren which destroys and removes their eggs from nest sites 1. References: 1 Birds of North America Online. This is what I am used to seeing.

Mississippi 172

Mississippi North America Eggs America 172

10,000 Birds

JULY 1, 2015

When I first approached the nest tree I saw an adult squirrel climbing the snag near the sapsucker entrance and, knowing that squirrels will eat bird eggs and nestlings, I was quite concerned. References: 1 Birds of North America Online. Click on photos for full sized images. It should be here later today.

Squirrels 157

Squirrels Woodpeckers North America Eggs 157

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They may be about bird eggs ( The Most Perfect Thing: The Inside (and Outside) of a Bird’s Egg , 2016), or a 17th-century ornithologist ( Virtuoso by Nature: The Scientific Worlds of Francis Willughby, 2016), or How Bullfinches learn songs from humans ( The Wisdom of Birds: An Illustrated History of Ornithology. 266-67).

Dissection 219

Dissection Birds Research Europe 219

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2020

But the Kentish Plover was sheltering its young under its body, and the Little Ringed Plover was incubating an egg — right in the middle of downtown Madrid! But the Great Swallow-tailed Swift is one of the largest Swifts in North America. These two shorebirds are exceedingly common in western Europe.

Austria 146

Austria Spain 2019 Birds 146

10,000 Birds

JULY 23, 2014

In North America and the Caribbean, they are found mostly in suburban, urban, and agricultural areas where grain, roost, and nest sites are available. They usually lay two eggs per clutch and most often, successive clutches will be laid while adults are still attending fledglings! This next map is data from 2007 through 2008.

Breeders 178

Breeders 2002 North America Bahamas 178

10,000 Birds

JULY 3, 2013

The White-headed Woodpecker is a non-migratory bird found in mixed coniferous forests dominated by pine trees in far western North America. White-headed Woodpeckers usually lay 4 to 5 eggs in a clutch and we’ve seen at least three different nestlings here now. References: 1 Birds of North America Online.

Woodpeckers 154

Woodpeckers North America America Eggs 154

10,000 Birds

JULY 21, 2012

Photo Essay: Green-rumped Parrotlets from Egg to Adult Wednesday, 18 July An unusual auk baby. Baby Mute Swans – “immutabilis morph” Cavity Nesting Birds of North America and Their Babies!

Costa Rica 165

Costa Rica Birds North America Albatross 165

10,000 Birds

MARCH 22, 2018

Pairs average 59 successful copulations per clutch, starting 14 days before, and peaking a few days before, the start of egg-laying 1. Pairs copulate most often in early morning, at the same time as egg-laying 1. References: 1 Birds of North America Online.

Eggs 109

Eggs North America Fish America 109

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 10, 2016

The most common species here in North America is the Loggerhead Shrike , Laniidae ludovicianus which has 11 subspecies. Each nesting pair will have 4-8 eggs, and there is some reference to location being a factor on that quantity. Of those eleven, two, the L.i. Migrans and L.i.

Butcher 115

Butcher Birds North America Mexico 115

10,000 Birds

JULY 22, 2014

But they don’t live in North America. I find it astonishing that people argue of whether feral cats are bad for birds in North America. In North America, you’ve got Bears at the large end, Cats in the middle, and at the smaller end, the Mustilids. Unless we put them there. Have you ever seen the Dryfus Lion?

Feral Cats 255

Feral Cats North America Feral Cats 255

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 7, 2011

The female chooses the nest site, builds the nest, lays around 10 eggs over a two week period and incubates them for about a month. References: 1 Birds of North America Online a. entrance hole. The male seldom sticks around once the female begins incubation. The young are born precocial and leave the nest within 48 hours.

Jordan 163

Jordan North America Abandon Abandoning 163

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 3, 2023

Harrison, and Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds, 2nd ed. It covers 403 species: 172 nonpasserine species and 231 passerine species in the Species Accounts, 198 species beautifully illustrated by the author in the Plates section. These books are concerned with behavior. The identification guide by Paul J.

Wildlife Rehabilitation 255

Wildlife Rehabilitation Birds Family Collecting 255

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2012

She will be a great fit on 10,000 Birds and I ask you all to give her a warm welcome (and feel free to ask her about those robin eggs that it seems like half of North America wants to know what to do with).

2009 157

2009 North America Bird Rescue Suffering 157

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2015

Western Bluebirds ( Sialia mexicana ) like the male shown above, as well as Eastern Bluebirds ( Sialis sialis ) and Mountain Bluebirds ( Sialis currucoides ) have all benefited from 90 years of nest boxes and bluebird trails, monitored by thousands of bluebird enthusiasts across North America.

Tenant 161

Tenant Farming Illinois North America 161

10,000 Birds

APRIL 10, 2013

All four major flyways in North America — the aerial migration routes traveled by billions of birds each year — converge in one spot in Canada’s boreal forest, the Peace-Athabasca Delta in northeastern Alberta. About three billion birds fly north to the Boreal Forest each spring to build nests and lay eggs.

Obama 246

Obama 2008 United States Industry 246

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 13, 2014

References: 1 Birds of North America Online. This is an excerpt from that report: “Because much native nesting habitat has been converted to agriculture and stored grains provide an essentially limitless food resource, tricolors have since the 1980s nested in large numbers in association with dairies.

Blackbirds 187

Blackbirds California 2014 2013 187

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 18, 2014

One of the two sub-species of Red Knot occurring in North America, the Rufa subspecies breeds in the Canadian Artic Region and migrates along the east or Atlantic coast of the United States. In both cases, knots, which feed on the crabs’ eggs, can miss their peak refueling opportunity.

Endangered Species 160

Endangered Species Protection Delaware Species 160

10,000 Birds

JULY 28, 2013

This pair first appeared four years ago, and are amongst the most northerly known breeding Pacific Loons in North America. I could see from the road there was an egg in the nest and when a Glaucous Gull began circling the nest I expected one of the pair to lift from the lake and return to defend the nest.

Abandon 166

Abandon Abandoning Abandonment Eggs 166

10,000 Birds

JUNE 22, 2011

Here’s a photo of a House Finch nest before the eggs hatch and the hatchlings start producing fecal sacs. v=fHSgyxRQXvg References: 1 Birds of North America Online _ Poop Week is a week of themed posts on 10,000 Birds that cover the intersection of poop and birding, a fertile precinct if there ever was one.

Bald Eagle 243

Bald Eagle Chickens Birds North America 243

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 29, 2015

Photo Credit: Invasive and Exotic Species of North America (www.invasive.org). Some of these snakes had evidence of birds in their stomachs and some were gravid with up 55 eggs nearly ready to be laid. I volunteered to help with the first python round up in 2010 when the first large African Pythons were captured. Rock Python.

Pythons 181

Pythons Florida Mammals Reptiles 181

10,000 Birds

APRIL 30, 2013

In North America, at least in the eastern part of it, we celebrate the return of the Baltimore Oriole to parks and farms this time of year. The two dozen species are, nearly to an individual, long bodied and bicolored. Troupials raise their own chicks, generally 3 to 4 per clutch, they just steal the nest in which they raise them.

Baltimore 177

Baltimore Broker North America Raised 177

10,000 Birds

JULY 17, 2012

Horned Larks breed widely over North America, including up here in the High Arctic. I had hoped to have some Semipalmated Plover chick photos for comparison but as of last night they seem to be still at the egg stage. Let’s start with the altricial birds, shall we? Here are five in a nest, close to fledging.

Eggs 187

Eggs North America Breeding Europe 187

10,000 Birds

JUNE 19, 2013

Plus the fact that they only lay one egg per season which is incubated for about four weeks and the chicks don’t fledge for another fifty days gives you some notion as to why these birds are a Species of Special Concern. Photo from Wikipedia Commons taken by Terry Gray.

California 209

California North America Costa Rica Niger 209

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Within a group, 1–7 male co-breeders compete for matings with 1–3 joint-nesting females who lay their eggs in the same nest cavity. References: 1 Birds of North America Online a. Most Acorn Woodpeckers are cooperative breeders and live in family groups of up to a dozen or more individuals.

Woodpeckers 184

Woodpeckers Breeders Groups North America 184

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2012

Cliff Swallows migrate to North America from their wintering grounds in South America to nest in large colonies, sometimes numbering in the thousands. It is illegal for any person to take, possess, transport, sell, or purchase them or their parts, such as feathers, nests, or eggs, without a permit.

San Diego 165

San Diego illegal California South America 165

10,000 Birds

MAY 30, 2019

It was advisable to remove them at night, to keep them calm, to establish immediately a feeding board on which they would be fed chopped beef and egg to start, then fresh birds, rabbit or squirrel. Nestlings weren’t taken until their down had been replaced by feathers. By 1999, the Peregrine Falcon was removed from the U.S.

Falcons 178

Falcons California Condor Alaska Texas 178

10,000 Birds

MAY 29, 2011

Friends of mine came home from those lakes with tales of Sandhill Cranes , Snowy Owls with eggs in the nest and others. A tantalizing report from them included a brown owl, the likely suspect a Short-eared Owl slightly north of its accepted range.

Bald Eagle 125

Bald Eagle Iceland Owls North America 125

10,000 Birds

MARCH 7, 2011

This happened to me recently on a birding trip, with somewhat egg-on-the-face results. Bill has led birding trips all across North America and has spoken or performed at more than 100 birding and nature festivals worldwide. I was on a birding quest trip with my friend Geoff Heeter.

2011 218

2011 Birds Michigan Ohio 218