northeast-flora-and-fauna

Here's an Eastern Phoebe I met last spring. Does the phoebe think it's hiding behind that twig? Probably not, though it's hard to get into the brain of a bird and figure out what they're thinking. Perhaps a small bird could misinterpret a small twig to be providing more protection than a human would attribute to it. Although gnats are a subset of flies , there is not really a corresponding relationship between gnatcatchers (like the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher ) and the tyrant flycatchers (like the Eastern Phoebe) [1]. And their names are both somewhat misleading, with gnatcatchers and many flycatchers being general-purpose insectivores rather than gnat and fly specialists. May 3, 2023 at Duke Farms Photo 278557410, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) [1] Though gnatcatchers and flycatchers both passerines , so are crows, sparrows, warblers, and many more.

Admittedly this isn't a photo that'll make National Geographic envious, but (if I recall the encounter correctly) it came out reasonably well considering the distance the Belted Kingfisher was to me. My Sibley Guide to Birds says they're "uncommon but widespread", and their range certainly qualifies as widespread; they can be found throughout most of the US, Canada, and Mexico. In my area I don't think I'd call them uncommon; I think I'd go with something like "fairly commonly heard, less frequently seen, with many of the sightings consisting of seeing the bird flying away". My guide also says they can be found "on a prominent exposed perch", and this female (note the brown band around the belly) seems to be in exactly that kind of spot. (Despite their tendency to perch, they are not "perching birds", a term that's (usually) used to describe passerines .) I've talked before about how these birds are not only diff...

For the past couple (few?) winters I've been scattering food on the ground to feed the Dark-eyed Juncos that winter near me. This year a couple other birds have taken notice; here's a Mourning Dove that dropped by for a bite to eat. I'm a little surprised 1) That I haven't seen these birds come by before, and 2) That even now that they've discovered the food source, they still don't come by all that often. Certainly Mourning Doves are plentiful in the area, and they are happy to feed off the ground. One thing you will notice if they're out there with the Dark-eyed Juncos is that while we think of both of these as "little birds", the Mourning Dove is a much larger bird. While most of the birds we see around are passerines (e.g. crows/jays, robins, sparrows, warblers), the doves/pigeons are not. They are columbids , and are more distantly related to most of the bird feeder birds. March 2021 at Finderne