#ornithology

[teepeecider]

Birds of Beau Vista apple cider orchard. The Kāhu or Australasian swamp harrier is a large, tawny-brown bird of prey that occurs throughout New Zealand. It arrived after Māori settlement about 800 years ago. It is an opportunistic hunter that searches for food by slowly quartering the ground with its large wings held in a distinctive shallow V-shape. Adapted to hunt in open habitats, its numbers have benefitted from widespread forest clearance and the development of agriculture. Although carrion is a major component of the harrier’s diet in winter, it also actively hunts live prey such as small birds, mammals and insects. Seen over the orchard daily it difficult to photograph amongst the apple and pear trees but I ronically often seen perching on fence posts nearby on the side of the road. This one was feeding on road kill close by this morning. #birds #ornithology #orchard

[daily-bird-facts]

this is the absolutely stupendous-looking Kittlitz's murrelet. what a critter. what a thing. it's named after the German zoologist Heinrich von Kittlitz, who was the first European zoologist to collect a specimen of one of these things. they breed in Alaska and eastern Russia. a member of the family Alcidae, which also includes puffins; however, very unusually for an alcid - and for a seabird in general, for that matter - they nest inland and largely solitarily, in stark contrast to the vast seaside colonies of its relatives.

here, their plumage turns from black-and-white to a mottled grey-brown, which is a pattern opposed to some more familiar seasonally changing birds - rather than being for display, their more striking plumage serves as camouflage while at sea! their environment changes radically, and their cryptic coloration changes alongside it. the dark backs and light bellies common in marine life is akin to the mottled browns of terrestrial animals - viewed from below, their white fronts blend in with the sunlight from above, and viewed from below, their black backs blend in with the dark water below. inland, they highly prefer sheer mountains and areas with glaciers, fishing in their meltwater. their diet consists of small fish and large zooplankton.

allegedly, the far inland scrape nests they form, while well known to Indigenous peoples in the birds' range, were met with widespread skepticism by European naturalists before their eventual documentation. what exactly they do during the winter is hard to say, as they likely move nomadically through the sea, and they're very small birds indeed. their nests and silly downy puffball chicks are much more reliably found.

18 July 2026

[herpsandbirds]

Hi, I’m currently obsessed with Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla) after taking a field ornithology course this spring. They were very common and we caught and banded several of them, very cute and chill birds. May I request some pics of them? Thanks!!

Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla), family Parulidae, order Passeriformes, Alabama, USA

This species is not related to South American Ovenbirds (family Furnariidae), but is instead in the New World/Wood Warbler family Parulidae.

The common name comes from the oven-shaped ground nest they make, which is domed, and constructed of woven together plant materials (such as grasses and pine needles).

photograph by Robin Rudd

Florida - photograph by Ken Schmidt

New York - photograph by Tim Lenz

Minnesota - photograph by David Brislance

Maine - photograph by Puffin Ponderings

photograph by Rhododendrites

[herpsandbirds]

May I ask for some buntings? The brighter the better!

Rose-bellied Bunting (Passerina rositae), family Cardinalidae, order Passeriformes, endemic to a small area of southern Mexico

photographs: Birdquest & Saad Towheed

Orange-breasted Bunting (Passerina leclancherii), family Cardinalidae, order Passeriformes, endemic to Mexico

photograph by Greg Lavaty

Indigo Bunting (Passerina cyanea), male, family Cardinalidae, order Passeriformes

photograph by Robert S. Parker

Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris), male, family Cardinalidae, order Passeriformes, Eastern U.S.

photograph by David Morgan & Joseph Morlan 

Varied Bunting (Passerina versicolor), male, family Cardinalidae, order Passeriformes, West TX, USA

photograph by David Hollie

Lazuli Bunting (Passerina amoena), male, family Cardinalidae, order Passeriformes, Idaho, United States

photograph by Ceredig Roberts

[sunfish-visions]

Black Lored Waxbill- rediscovered 2020

[hylian-prosecutor]

New dove picture!!

new dove picture!! :D she lookin at you

thank you!!

[daily-bird-facts]

this is the cinereous antshrike of northern interior South America, with a second disjunct population in southeastern coastal Brazil. curiously, this disjunct population is the type species - as a layman, i think this of all situations would call for the separation of the species into different ones, but i digress. the cinereous antshrike contains five total subspecies, who live largely throughout the Amazon rainforest. "antshrikes" are not meaningfully related to true shrikes, though their intimidatingly hooked bill had whoever originally named them thinking otherwise. instead, they belong to the family of antbirds.

at risk of sounding like a broken record, i'll repeat the interesting fact i feel the need to bring up whenever we have an antbird; their name comes from a behavior developed by some members of the family, that being the following of swarms of army ants across the forest floor in order to catch insects which reveal themselves in their haste to escape the ants' path.

today's critter does dabble in antwatching; in fact, it is rarely ever seen outside the company of a mixed-species flock, ant-chasing or otherwise. this is to take advantage of the presence of the other birds; the ants aren't the only thing which inspires terror in insects! arboreal insects flushed from their hiding spots by birds who hadn't noticed them are another staple of this critter's diet. in fact, as more birds join the ant-watchers, it keeps its activity higher and higher in the trees, feeding on the increasingly abundant bird-flushed insects and not bothering with fighting for a good ant vantage point. (v-ant-age point?)

they exhibit the very characteristic chromatic dimorphism that antshrikes tend towards - females are red-brown and males are slate grey. all birds, however, bear a patch of white on their backs, usually hidden by their darker feathers. exposing this white patch is used as a distraction display to lead predators away from their nests. all birds also have big wet pathetic dewy eyes. all the better to see you with, my dear!

17 July 2026