Herons, Woodpeckers, and Pigeons

Grey Heron

Here's a Grey Heron I met in the spring of 2022. Some people claim that this is a species that's a rare visitor from Europe, but they're all over central New Jersey. I think I saw 4-5 of them just this week!*

April 20, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 191969839, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Ivory-billed Woodpecker

There are people who claim the Ivory-billed Woodpecker is extinct because they haven't been able to find 1. Though the Ivory-billed Woodpecker isn't as easy to find in central NJ as Grey Herons are, if you listen for maniacal laughter and/or unusually loud drumming, a lot of times it'll turn out to be an Ivory-billed Woodpecker.*
January 20, 2018 at the Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary
Photo 13123129, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Passenger Pigeon

This is another bird some people consider to be extinct, a Passenger Pigeon. This is almost impossible to defend since these birds are all over central NJ, far more commonly seen than Grey Herons and probably 1 of the top 10 most commonly seen backyard birds.*
November 16, 2022 at Duke Farms
Photo 251084755, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

* April Fools!!!

Special thanks to the Great Blue Heron, Pileated Woodpecker, and Mourning Dove that impersonated their relatives in this post:
  • FWIW sightings of Grey Herons and Ivory-billed Woodpeckers here in the US usually turn out to be Great Blue Herons and Pileated Woodpeckers respectively.
  • Though I don't think there are many Passenger Pigeon "sightings", they were supposed to resemble Mourning Doves.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Northern Watersnake

Image
This April I went to Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge with the hope (among other hopes) of seeing the Northern Watersnakes during mating season. There were 2 problems with this: I think it was slightly late in the season for this. The boardwalk trail where I had seen them in the past was partially closed due to repairs. So although I didn't see any of the 2+ intertwined snakes that I'd seen in the past, but there were still Northern Watersnakes warming themselves in the sun: April 13, 2023 at Great Swamp Photo 272117862, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) And here's another one coming out of the water. April 13, 2023 at Great Swamp Photo 272119139, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Read more

Female Brown-headed Cowbird

Image
Like quite a few birds, this bird is easier to identify when spotted with her significant other ; she's a Brown-headed Cowbird . Due to their tendency to be monogamous plus plain old birds-of-a-feather behavior, I usually see them with prominently brown-headed males around, greatly improving my confidence in IDing them. My understanding is that Brown-headed Cowbirds are the only obligate brood parasites in my area. Obligate brood parasites have essentially lost all their parenting skills, and thus if they were ever unable to fool other birds into raising their young, they would (almost certainly) go extinct [1]. There are, however, other brood parasites in New Jersey. These are called facultative brood parasites, and these birds will usually raise their own offspring, but will also engage in brood parasitism. (Exactly when birds perform facultative brood parasitism seems variable; one source said it occurred when resources were scarce while another said it occurred when resource
Read more

Rooftop Turkey Vultures

Image
I met these Turkey Vultures by just walking out of my apartment. (I theoretically could have gotten a picture without going outside, but that extra layer of glass can degrade picture quality a little.) Although they don't show up on these rooftops daily, they're not an uncommon visitor to my apartment complex. Similar to this spot of the woods , I wouldn't expect this to be a great place to find carcasses. I'm thinking they're here mostly because: They don't have to worry much about predators up there. They get a pretty good view of the area in case something should happen to succumb. (This apartment was near the top of a hill, providing a better view than most of the other apartments.) Since this picture was from February, it's probably a slightly warmer spot, especially near those furnace vent pipes. Although these are Turkey Vultures, it's also not unusual to see Black Vultures up there too. February 28, 2023 at Finderne Photo 264703396, (c) jpviole
Read more