Birds
The Resilient Mourning Dove
This bird is widespread in North and Central America preferring open habitat where it thrives on farmlands, fields and forest openings. It even does well in urban areas. Its cooing is often mistaken for an owl call. It is mostly the males that call courting the girls. Its primary diet is seeds and it often […]
The Great Egret – Symbol of America’s Conservation Movement
Anyone visiting freshwater wetlands or salt water marshes today are bound to see dozens of great egrets wading in the shallow water hunting for fish, frogs, crayfish and insects. This was not the case in the late 1800’s when plume hunters nearly wiped out this bird, other egret species and numerous wading birds. Egret feathers, […]
The Exquisite Scarlet Ibis
One of the most stunning wading bird is the world is the scarlet ibis, a South American bird of wetlands, shorelines and mud flats in South America’s estuaries, bays and rain forests. It probes the shallow waters, mud and plants with its curved, slender bills eating crayfish, shrimp, insects, frogs, crabs, worms and small fish. […]
The Bird That Swims With Its Feet
During a recent kayak trip on Lake Tsala Apopka, Florida, I heard the cackling call of the common gallinule coming from a freshwater wetland bordering the pond. As I glided towards the marshland I saw two adults with two nearly fledged chicks swimming amongst water lilies and reeds. To a novice, the common gallinule may […]
Another Abundant Penguin Species
The chinstrap penguins are medium-sized penguins that live in the sub-Antarctic and Antarctic Islands in the south Atlantic Ocean.Theses birds avoid ice packs and prefers rocky, snow free slopes to breed. This species primary food is krill and like other penguin species leopard seals are the primary predator. Like the rockhopper penguins, this is also […]
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