Tag: Nature

Friday’s Feathered Friends-White-throated Sparrow

Posted in Bird Photography, Birding in Nevada, SparrowsTagged , , , , , , , , , 62 Comments

Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Back in late January or early February I heard there was a White-throated Sparrow up in Carson City. This is a rare bird for Nevada. The map doesn’t show it ever being here rare.

I’d never seen one before so I began the hunt for it. I only had a general location of where it was so I was covering a very large area and staying for hours photographing every sparrow and bird I saw.

I was unsuccessful 6 times over the course of about 6 weeks.

All the while this bird was being seen and reported by one guy almost every day while myself, and my neighbor were not seeing it! I can tell you it was frustrating! During this period there was another one seen, photographed, and reported on the birding site ebird.org up in Reno!

So, my neighbor and I went up and spent hours looking for it but, no joy there either. Sigh.

Then on a tip from a fellow birder who had seen it a week before in Carson City told me the which area I should try looking. I went back last week and hung around the area he suggested and got lucky! 💃💃😀The 7th times the charm!

White-throated Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow profile

Fun Facts:

  • The White-throated Sparrow comes in two color forms: white-crowned and tan-crowned. The two forms are genetically determined, and they persist because individuals almost always mate with a bird of the opposite morph. Males of both color types prefer females with white stripes, but both kinds of females prefer tan-striped males. White-striped birds are more aggressive than tan-striped ones, and white-striped females may be able to outcompete their tan-striped sisters for tan-striped males.
  • Although they look nothing alike and aren’t particularly closely related, the White-throated Sparrow and the Dark-eyed Junco occasionally mate and produce hybrids. The resulting offspring look like grayish, dully marked White-throated Sparrows with white outer tail feathers.
  • White-throated Sparrows typically nest on or near the ground. Occasional nests are built up to 15 feet off the ground in conifers. Usually, these nests are second attempts after a pair has had a ground nest robbed by a predator.
  • The oldest recorded White-throated Sparrow was at least 14 years, 11 months old, when it was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Alberta.

I have been birding a lot so have lots of birds to share in the coming weeks.

I hope you all have a lovely week-end.

Nikon D850| Nikkor 500mm PF-e| PS CC 25.5.0

Fun Facts gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

more to come…

Friday’s Feathered Friends- Western Wood Peewee

Posted in Birding in Nevada, Friday's Feathered Friends, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , 41 Comments

Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

I don’t think I’ve ever shared this bird before. This is an image I made last summer.

Western Wood Peewee

Fun Facts:

  • The breeding ranges of the nearly identical Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees overlap only in a very narrow zone in the Great Plains. Despite the birds’ physical similarity, no evidence has ever been found that the two species interbreed in that area—perhaps because their songs sound so different.
  • Where exactly the Western Wood-Pewee goes in the winter is still a mystery. Both Eastern and Western Wood-Pewees migrate to northern South America, but because they look so similar and they don’t call much on the wintering ground it’s hard to say for certain where each species spends its winter.
  • The scientific name of the Western Wood-Pewee is Contopus sordidulus. Contopus comes from the Greek word kontos which means short and pous which means foot—referring to the relatively short legs on Contopus flycatchers. Sordidulus means dirty or unkempt, a reference to the dusky brown wash to the breast and flanks.
  • The Western Wood-Pewee makes a clapping noise with its bill while chasing and attacking intruders in nest defense.
  • The oldest recorded Western Wood-Pewee was a female, and at least 8 years, 1 month old when she was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in California in 2002. She had been banded in the same state in 1995.
  • Fun Facts gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

Nikon D810| Nikkor 300mm f/4| PS CC

We’ve been under a high wind and storm watch since yesterday morning. As I write this the wind is howling at 24 mph with gusts up to 47 mph. They’re saying we may get 8 inches of snow between now and Saturday. The sun is out, the clouds are big white and fluffy in some spots to the east but, gray and looming over the Sierras to the west. As you can imagine we’re hanging out at home.

I was planning to go birding with a local birding group this morning, but due to the weather that’s been rescheduled.

I’ve been re-watching The Expanse while waiting for the new season of Vera to be released on Wednesday. After I finish The Expanse I’ll be binge watching Vera if all the episodes are available, and I’m still working my way through the Woodlands and Trees Ready to Paint class in a book. I finished exercise 6 but, the little wood bridge over the creek came out really wonky…even more wonky than my normal wonky so, I’m on my second attempt with that one, and I mixed up a dark green shade of paint that I don’t like on this second pass, so they’ll probably be a 3rd attempt at mastering exercise #6. 😀

That’s me all caught up. What’s happening with you?

more to come…

Friday’s Feathered Friends- Ruddy’s got the Blues

Posted in Bird Photography, Birding in Nevada, Friday's Feathered FriendsTagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , 47 Comments

Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Things are changin’, Ruddy is showing off his Blues and Ruddy feathers for Spring and hoping he’s got what it takes to persuade a cute little female Ruddy Duck to be his love for the season.

Ruddy Duck in Breeding Plumage

Fun Facts:

    • Ruddy Ducks lay big, white, pebbly-textured eggs—the largest of all duck eggs relative to body size. Energetically expensive to produce, the eggs hatch into well-developed ducklings that require only a short period of care.
    • The bright colors and odd behavior of male Ruddy Ducks drew attention from early naturalists, though they didn’t pull any punches. One 1926 account states, “Its intimate habits, its stupidity, its curious nesting customs and ludicrous courtship performance place it in a niche by itself…. Everything about this bird is interesting to the naturalist, but almost nothing about it is interesting to the sportsman.”
    • Pleistocene fossils of Ruddy Ducks, at least 11,000 years old, have been unearthed in Oregon, California, Virginia, Florida, and Illinois.
    • Ruddy Ducks are very aggressive toward each other and toward other species, especially during the breeding season. They are even known to chase rabbits feeding on the shore.
    • Though Ruddy Ducks are native to the Americas, one population became established in England after captive ducks escaped in 1952. This population grew to about 3,500 individuals by 1992, and now appears to be expanding into the Netherlands, France, Belgium, and Spain.
    • Ruddy Ducks get harassed by Horned Grebes, Pied-billed Grebes, and American Coots during the breeding season. The grebes sometimes attack Ruddy Ducks from below the water, a behavior known as “submarining.”
    • The oldest Ruddy Duck on record was a male and at least 13 years, 7 months old when he was found in Oregon in 1964. He was banded in British Columbia in 1951.

Fun Facts gleaned from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ruddy_Duck/

Nikon D810| Nikkor 500mm PF| PS CC 25.4

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Surprise!

Posted in Photography, Reptiles, SNAKES, Whatever WednesdayTagged , , , , , , 60 Comments

Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

I’ve been updating and cleaning up my birding records which has me going back in my files 15 years. In the Spring of 2011 several friends and I went to Death Valley and on the way home we stopped to photograph wildflowers in a big field by the side of the road, well you’ve heard the saying, beware of a snake in the grass. Beware of Rattlesnakes in the wildflowers!

That’s not the closest I’ve come to a Rattlesnake while hiking, but it was too close for comfort even with my 300mm lens.

Then we backed out of the field and headed back to our cars only to discover another Western Diamondback coiled up sleeping beside the tire of my friend’s car soaking up the warmth from the sand and car engine! The driver had to get in via the passenger side of the car.

Western Diamondback Rattlesnake

It was quite the adventure!

Nikon D300S| Nikkor 70-300mm@300mm| PS CC 25.4

Happy Valentine’s Day!💗

more to come…

Friday’s Feathered Friends- Cedar Waxing

Posted in Birding in Nevada, Friday's Feathered FriendsTagged , , , , , , , , , 41 Comments

Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

Last week while birding I saw so many Cedar Waxwings at 2 places I visited. There were about 120 in all! At one of the places they were gorging on ripe, plump red berries.

I was doing my happy dance to see that!

“I think this one looks yummy”
Gulp!

It was a great birdy day.

Fun Facts:

  • The name “waxwing” comes from the waxy red secretions found on the tips of the secondaries of some birds. The exact function of these tips is not known, but they may help attract mates.
  • Cedar Waxwings with orange instead of yellow tail tips began appearing in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada in the 1960s. The orange color is the result of a red pigment picked up from the berries of an introduced species of honeysuckle. If a waxwing eats enough of the berries while it is growing a tail feather, the tip of the feather will be orange.
  • The Cedar Waxwing is one of the few North American birds that specializes in eating fruit. It can survive on fruit alone for several months. Brown-headed Cowbirds that are raised in Cedar Waxwing nests typically don’t survive, in part because the cowbird chicks can’t develop on such a high-fruit diet.
  • Many birds that eat a lot of fruit separate out the seeds and regurgitate them, but the Cedar Waxwing lets them pass right through. Scientists have used this trait to estimate how fast waxwings can digest fruits.
  • Because they eat so much fruit, Cedar Waxwings occasionally become intoxicated or even die when they run across overripe berries that have started to ferment and produce alcohol.
  • Building a nest takes a female Cedar Waxwing 5 to 6 days and may require more than 2,500 individual trips to the nest. They occasionally save time by taking nest materials from other birds’ nests, including nests of Eastern Kingbirds, Yellow-throated Vireos, orioles, robins, and Yellow Warblers.
  • The oldest recorded Cedar Waxwing was a male and at least 7 years, 1 month old when he was recaptured and rereleased during banding operations in Maryland in 2014. He was originally banded in the same state in 2008.

Fun facts gleaned from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing

It’s snowing as I type this but, supposed to be sunny but cold on Saturday. I hope to go out birding for a bit if that forecast holds. I hope you all have a grand week-end!

more to come…

Friday’s Feathered Friends- Hooded Mergansers

Posted in Bird Photography, Birding in Nevada, Birds in the Wild, PhotographyTagged , , , , , 51 Comments

Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

I saw these in early January and since we’re on the very edge of their migration path I feel very lucky to have seen them.

The male has lovely dark coloring and a wonderful hood. During the courting season he continuously tilts his head all the way to his back and up again and back again with his hood raised as it is in this image while he swims very near the female trying to capture her as a mate. It’s called Head Throwing. He also gives her a hoarse croak. It’s pretty neat to see them courting.

Hooded Merganser Male

The female looks rather dull compared to the male but, her crown or hood is lovely too. I liked the way the sunlight lit up her hood.

Hooded Merganser Female
They were swimming somewhat far apart from each other on this morning and not interested in courting, but luckily their hoods were up.

Fun Facts:

  • Similar to other cavity-nesting ducks such as Wood Ducks, Common Mergansers, and Common Goldeneyes, Hooded Mergansers often lay eggs in nests of other ducks, both their own species and others. This is called “brood parasitism” and is similar to the practice of Brown-headed Cowbirds. In turn, other cavity-nesting duck species will parasitize Hooded Merganser nests. Female Hooded Mergansers can lay up to about 13 eggs in a clutch, but nests have been found with up to 44 eggs in them.
  • Hooded Mergansers find their prey underwater by sight. They can actually change the refractive properties of their eyes to improve their underwater vision. In addition, they have an extra eyelid, called a “nictitating membrane,” which is transparent and helps protect the eye during swimming, like a pair of goggles.
  • Hooded Merganser ducklings leave their nest cavity within 24 hours of hatching. First, their mother checks the area around the nest and calls to the nestlings from ground level. From inside the nest, the little fluffballs scramble up to the entrance hole and then flutter to the ground, which may be 50 feet or more below them. In some cases they have to walk half a mile or more with their mother to the nearest body of water.
  • On the bird family tree, Hooded Mergansers (genus Lophodytes) lie between goldeneyes (Bucephala) and the other North American mergansers (Mergus). They share many courtship behaviors and calls with both of those groups.
  • The Hooded Merganser is the second-smallest of the six living species of mergansers (only the Smew of Eurasia is smaller) and is the only one restricted to North America.
  • The oldest recorded Hooded Merganser was a male and at least 14 years, 6 months old when he was shot in Mississippi in 2009. He was originally banded in Minnesota in 1995.

Fun Facts gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

Nikon D810| Nikkor 500mm| PS CC 24.4

I hope you all have a great week-end. If the weather permits I’ll be birding this morning and will respond when I get home. If the weather is poor I’ll be here!😀

more to come…

Friday’s Feathered Friends-Golden-crowned Sparrow

Posted in Birding in Nevada, Friday's Feathered Friends, Nikon, PhotographyTagged , , , , , , , , , 49 Comments

Copyright ©2024 Deborah M. Zajac. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

I last shared this Sparrow in 2015. I don’t see many of them and I only see them during the Winter migration hanging out with the White-crowned Sparrows, but sadly, never at my feeder. Last week I saw this one.

Male Golden-crowned Sparrow

He was pretty skittish. Every time I tried getting closer he flew further away so these are pretty well cropped.

Fun Facts:

    • This sparrow is one of the least known of our songbirds, particularly on its northern breeding grounds. It has been the subject of only a few laboratory and field studies, so most of what we know about it comes from scattered notes in scientific journals.
    • Miners in the Yukon at the turn of the twentieth century woefully referred to the Golden-crowned Sparrow as the “no gold here” bird, because its song resembled that depressing phrase. They also interpreted its song to say “I’m so tired,” prompting them to dub the bird “Weary Willie.”
    • The Golden-crowned Sparrow arrives earlier and stays longer on its California wintering grounds than almost any other bird species.
    • When day length increases in the spring, the Golden-crowned Sparrow detects the change through photoreceptors (light-sensitive cells). Its body responds by putting on fat and getting an urge to migrate.
    • The oldest Golden-crowned Sparrow on record was at least 10 years, 6 months old. It was caught by a bird bander in California in 1970 and released.

Fun facts gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

I hope you all have a great week-end!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 500mm PF-e| PS CC 25.3.1

more to come…