4/12/2021 1 Comment Insectivores and more!I haven't posted in 3 weeks (sorry!) but in that time I've added 15 species to my Adams County year list, including some birds (such as swallows) that eat mostly bugs, which signals the next major push in migration. When insects become available as a food source again after a winter dormancy, all kinds of birds (and other animals, for that matter) are quick to follow. Here are a couple champion bug-eaters, newly arrived. I've also seen four new sparrow species: Chipping, Lincoln's, Field, and Vesper's, all pretty common here. There are still at least five more sparrows I expect to see before the year is out: Clay-colored, Grasshopper, Le Conte's, Lark, and White-throated, with Swamp as a bonus if I'm lucky. So many LBJ's ("little brown jobs," as birders call those small, earth-toned, and easily confused birds. I love the subtleties.) The most memorable sighting I had, just yesterday, was a Peregrine Falcon dive-bombing an adult Bald Eagle over marshland a few miles south of town. Eagles are powerful, but their massive bodies aren't easily maneuverable like the sleek, pointy-winged Peregrine, so it was like watching a fighter jet strafe a bomber, and the eagle soon turned tail and flew off. The Peregrine holds the record for world's fastest animal, with a diving speed of 240 mph by one measurement. Imagine being a pigeon hit at that speed....Lights. Out. Not all birds can be as cool as the Peregrine Falcon. Case in point, #110 on my year list, this Eared Grebe, which not only in appearance but even in name is everything the falcon is not. I still love it. Okay, one last bird. I love to go fishing almost as much as I love to go birding, and there have been a number of days when I've watched myself be out-fished by Osprey. I mean, the Belted Kingfisher is an amazing angler, too, but let's face it, it's catching minnows. By contrast, I've seen Osprey haul off fish I would have gladly taken home myself. I got to see two of these "fish hawks" in the past three days. Look for more on Lake Hastings!
1 Comment
Jean
4/19/2021 02:14:28 pm
I enjoy your photography so much. And it’s always wild to me that these things are just right around to see if I would look!
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