bird sighting-Mourning Dove

Mom, Ian and John Paul had just pulled out of the garage. Aiden and I were about to start working when the phone rang. It was Mom. Aiden picked up and she told us to come out front because there were some Mourning Dove on our front walkway and under trees in our front yard. Aiden and I grabbed the camera and hurried outside. There were eight, total, Mourning Doves in front of our house. Mourning Doves are a common sighting in our area. What was different is that the birds were all sitting perfectly still and it was drizzling rain…I don’t know. It was just very beautiful. I took a couple pictures (which are still waiting to be uploaded–I’ll post them here when I do) then headed back inside.

Mourning Dove – Zenaida macroura
Order: COLUMBIFORMES
Family: Pigeons and Doves (Columbidae)
The Mourning Dove

A medium-sized dove with gray-brown upperparts and buff-brown underparts. Eyes are dark with a small, black spot beneath. Bill is dark. Wings are gray-brown with black spots and dark primaries. Tail is long and pointed with black-edged white tips on outer feathers. Sexes are similar.

The Mourning Dove breeds from southeastern Alaska, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick southward to Mexico and Panama. Spends winters north to the northern U.S. Favorite habitats include open fields, parks, and lawns with many trees and shrubs.

March of the Penguins: Life in a Land of Extremes

Last Friday night my family and I watched the critically claimed movie, March of the Penguins.  I do not dislike the movie, nor do I laud it as a favorite.  The director’s drive, or vision for the movie, to my mind, was to show the extremely brutal weather of the South Pole, the habits and traditions of the emperor penguin, and what beings do for love.

            The weather of the South Pole is unimaginably cold, harsh and downright brutal.  The coldest weather to yet be recorded is a mind-boggling -129° F (-89° C) which was recorded on July 21, 1983.  The Antarctic has been described as “… the coldest, highest, windiest, driest, and iciest continent on earth.” 

            The largest penguin, the Emperor stands about 1.3 m (4 ft) and weighs between 20 and 45 kg (44 to 99 lb.).  They have short wings that help them to dive up to 900 feet under water to catch larger fish. They can swim 10-15 kilometers an hour.  To protect themselves against the cold, groups of adults and young huddle close to one another. They eat fish and squid that they catch in their sharp beaks while swimming under water.  When Emperor Penguins are courting they display brilliant orange ear patches. They breed during the long darkness of the Antarctic winter, gathering at rookeries during the months of April and May.  They do not build nests or establish territories. After mating, the female lays one large egg. The egg is then immediately rolled to sit on the top of the male’s feet. If the couple doesn’t take extreme care, the egg will freeze during the exchange.  The egg is then incubated or kept warm on the male’s feet by a thick fold of skin that hangs from the belly of the male. The males manage to survive by standing huddled in groups for up to 9 weeks. During this time the female returns to the open sea to feed. During the time the male incubates the egg, he may lose up to half his body weight because he does not eat. If the chick hatches while the female is still away, the male will regurgitate a small meal for the chick.  That meal will keep it alive a day or two more.  Once the female returns, the male will go to the open sea to feed. The male will return in a few weeks and both male and female will tend to the chick by keeping it warm and feeding it food from their stomachs. After 7 weeks of care, the chicks form groups called “crèches” and huddle together for protection and warmth. They are still fed by the parents. The chicks know their parents by the sound of their call. The chicks are fully grown in 6 months, which is the beginning of the summer season in the Antarctic. At this time all the penguins return to the open sea.  

            The movie, March of the Penguins isn’t just a survival movie.  It is a simple example of instinct to love.  We know in our minds that penguins don’t feel and love the way humans do.  But when we see the father standing guard over his egg even to the extent of forgoing food for over 4 months, as humans we think, “That’s got to be love.”  Maybe it is love.  Love at its most pure and unadulterated.  Love so deeply imbedded in a being that it is no longer a choice.  But then maybe love wouldn’t be love is it wasn’t a choice.  These thoughts are all invoked by that movie. 

            I don’t know anything about the person who came up with the idea, or feel of March of the Penguins.  He could be a devoted Catholic who wanted to bring topics to our secular world in a more secular way.  He could be a pagan who worships the penguin.  He could be one of neutral or no faith who loves nature and sees beauty in life that he wanted to share with the world.  Whatever his motives, whether I agree with them or not, March of the Penguins can be watched, enjoyed and have meaning taken from it by people from all ends of the continuum.  

Bibliography:

Antarctic Connection http://www.antarcticconnection.com/antarctic/weather/index.shtml Canadian Museum of Nature http://www.nature.ca/NOTEBOOKS/ENGLISH/emperor.htm 

Penguins around the World http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/proj/penguins/emperor.html 

A Shower of Roses

Sunday was the feast of St. Therese of Lisiuex, known also as The Little Flower. One of St. Therese’s most widley known quotes is as follows,

“I will let fall from Heaven …

a Shower of Roses.”

A rose is a flowering shrub of the genus Rosa, and the flower of this shrub. There are more than a hundred species of wild roses, all from the northern hemisphere and mostly from temperate regions. The species form a group of generally thorny shrubs or climbers, and sometimes trailing plants, reaching 2–5 m tall, rarely reaching as high as 20 m by climbing over other plants.

The name originates from Latin rosa, borrowed through Oscan from colonial Greek in southern Italy rhodion (Aeolic wrodion), from Aramaic wurrdā, from Assyrian wurtinnu, from Old Iranian *warda (cf. Avestan warda, Sogdian ward, Parthian wâr).

The leaves of most species are 5–15 cm long, pinnate, with (3–) 5–9 (–13) leaflets and basal stipules; the leaflets usually have a serrated margin, and often a few small thorns on the underside of the stem. The vast majority of roses are deciduous, but a few (particularly in southeast Asia) are evergreen or nearly so.

The flowers of most species roses have ten parts (five petals and five sepals) with the exception of Rosa sericea which often has only four of each; and are usually white or pink, though in a few species yellow or red. The ovary is inferior, developing below the petals and sepals.

Rosa canina hips

The aggregate fruit of the rose is a berry-like structure called a rose hip. Rose species that produce open-faced flowers are attractive to pollinating bees and other insects, thus more apt to produce hips. Many of the domestic cultivars are so tightly petalled that they do not provide access for pollination. The hips of most species are red, but a few (e.g. Rosa pimpinellifolia) have dark purple to black hips. Each hip comprises an outer fleshy layer, the hypanthium, which contains 5–160 “seeds” (technically dry single-seeded fruits called achenes) embedded in a matrix of fine, but stiff, hairs. Rose hips of some species, especially the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) and Rugosa Rose (Rosa rugosa), are very rich in vitamin C, among the richest sources of any plant. The hips are eaten by fruit-eating birds such as thrushes and waxwings, which then disperse the seeds in their droppings. Some birds, particularly finches, also eat the seeds.

Most roses have thorns or prickles. The thorns are typically sickle-shaped hooks, which aid the rose in hanging onto other vegetation when growing over it. Some species such as Rosa rugosa and R. pimpinellifolia instead have densely packed straight spines, probably an adaptation to reduce browsing by animals, but also possibly an adaptation to trap wind-blown sand and so reduce erosion and protect their roots (both of these two species grow naturally on coastal sand dunes). Despite the presence of the thorns, roses are frequently browsed by deer. A few species of roses only have vestigial thorns that have no points.

For more information on the rose, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose

For more information on St. Therese of Lisiuex, go to: http://www.littleflowerpilgrimages.com/st__therese.htm

I copied the information about roses from this site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose

Water Fowl at Freestone Park

College admissions asks. “What were you doing for biology on Monday, September 25, 2006?”

Oh! That’s an easy one, “I was sitting under a tree with two of my fellow homeschoolmates at Freestone Park while observing the various water fowl in and around the pond across from me.”

Now, isn’t that a nice, quick, water-tight reply? And the great thing is that it is totally legit! Why can’t everyone see how beautiful homeschooled highschool can be? …but I digress.

——————-

You wouldn’t think that there would be any water fowl observations to be made in this dry, dry dessert that I call home. Well, guess again. There are a number of natural and man-made lakes in Arizona. Many of them I have been lucky enough to visit. Today I was at Freestone Park, a very nice complex of playgrounds and a man-made pond.

The American Coot is a new favorite of mine. Often mistaken for a duck, the American Coot is a common waterbird. Its all black body and white chicken-like beak distinguish this swimming rail from the real ducks. When I first saw it in the water, I thought its body looked very similar to that of a mallard’s, just a little smaller in scale. Then, when I saw it out of the water, I was so surprised! The American Coot’s body is round and fat! I still laugh when I see it.

Now, the Great Blue Heron (pictured in this post) is my oldest water fowl favorite. I started loving that graceful bird when my family and I lived in
Pennsylvania. I would watch it out of our kitchen window, perched on the bridge over our creek or flying over our house. The Great Blue Heron is the largest and most widespread heron in North America. It can be found along the ocean shore or the edge of a small inland pond. An all white form is found from southern Florida into the Caribbean, and used to be considered a separate species, the “Great White Heron.” I still consider it a treat to catch a glimpse of the Great Blue Heron.

Cactus Wren

The Cactus Wren is Arizona’s State bird and one of my favorites. It was one of the first, if not the absolute first, bird we identified once we moved to Arizona.

The Cactus Wren is a large and bulky bird with the measurements of:

Length: 8.5″

Wing Span: 11″

Weight: 1.4 oz (39g).

The Cactus Wren is brown speckled on the top and cream speckled on the stomach and throat. It never cocks its tail when it perches like other wrens do. The Cactus Wren’s sound it low, grating, chugging, a unmusical krrr krrr krrr krrr krrr krrr krrr krrr that is slightly lower at the beginning but quickly up to speed, with little variation in pitch or tempo.

It is wonderful being able to observe this bird so often, I can watch it right outside most any window in our home.

Birding by the Ocean

 I love being at the ocean and since our family has taken up birding I can appreciate its beauty even more. Our most recent trip to
San Diego afforded us many bird sitings. Some were birds we have seen before at the ocean. Others were new discoveries. There isn’t much that is more beautiful than a gull sailing over the horizon or a little plover running on the sand.Of our new discoveries my favorite was the Brown Pelican. It was quite wonderful to watch them, about four or five, flying over the ocean, then diving down to catch some food. Pelicans are an often fantasized bird, so it was nice to see them in real life—a first for me.The Barn-Swallow (shown in this post) is the other bird we had not seen before. The Barn-Swallow actually wasn’t supposed to be in the San Diego region at the time we were there. That is what is called an unusual siting. Nevertheless we heartily enjoyed watching those birds flit around in the sky.

Now, onto the birds we have seen before. The bird that pops into my head when I think of the Ocean is the gull. On our long road trips to the shore we search the sky for the first sea gull—a sure sign of the ocean. What I didn’t know, but learned a couple years ago, is that there are many types of gulls. There are 25 different varieties of the gull listen in The Sibley Guide to Birds. On the last visit we only identified one type of gull, the Herring Gull . Here is a link for more information about this bird: Herring Gull (Larus argentatus).

After we came home, I noted that we didn’t see any Ring-Billed Gulls while we were in San Diego. That was surprising, because when we went earlier in the year there were multitudes of the Ring-Bills. When we got home I looked up the Ring-Bills and found out that they are in southern CA for only the winter. So that’s why we didn’t see them when we went in July but did see them when we went in March.When we first went down to the shore, we noticed an area with netting fence marking it. After inquiring about it, we discovered that it was closed off because the Snow Plovers were hatching. Here is a link for more information on the Snowy Plover.

The Caspian Tern and Forster’s Tern were more birds we saw frequently. The Caspian Tern is the largest tern in North America. It has pale gray upperparts, and a white throat, breast, flanks, rump and tail. The all-black cap on the mature adults extends forward to below the eye. Males and females are of like plumage, though the males average slightly larger. For more information on the Caspian Tern: Caspian Tern: Detailed Information. As for the Forster’s Tern it is a medium-sized, primarily white tern with a black cap and dark eyes. The back and wings are a pale silvery-gray, contrasting with the white of the neck and belly. The primaries and the deeply forked tail on the breeding adult bird are also a pale gray, with the primaries appearing as white as they become worn. During the breeding season, the large bill is orange and tipped in black, and the legs are bright orange or orange-red. For more information: Forster’s Tern: Detailed Information. 

The Common Snipe  and the Sandpiper are two of my favorites. It is funny to watch the Snipe run along the shore with its abnormaly long beak, fat body and skinny legs. The Snipe is not as stocky as its close relative, the woodcock, and has long legs and pointed wings like many shorebird species. A small bird with an erratic flight pattern composed of twists and dives. For more information on the Snipe. While on the other hand, the delicate Sandpiper is also a joy to watch. The Sandpiper is one of the best known of American shorebirds. Its habit of endlessly bobbing the rear part of its body up and down has earned it the vernacular name “Teeter-tail.” When flushed from the margin of a pond or stream, it is easily identified by its distinctive flight-short bursts of rapidly vibrating wingbeats alternating with brief glides. Most of our shorebirds breed in the Far North; this is one of the few that nests in the United States. For more information on the Sandpiper.

Birding, and especially ocean birding, is a pastime that should be more widely known. I enjoy very much the time spent birding and look forward to many more years of this hobby..

Grand Canyon Birds

When we got to the Grand Canyon I was suprised by how many different birds we saw. So many of them were new to us because the Grand Canyon area is of a much different climate than where we live. 

The California Condor can reach wingspans of 2.8 m (over 9 ft) and can weigh up to 8.5 kg (18.7 lbs), making them the largest North American bird. By comparison, the Bald Eagle reaches wingspans of 2.2 m (just over 7 ft) and weights of up to 6.3 kg (14 lbs). California Condors have uniformly black plumage, except for white wing linings. Like other carrion feeders, the head of this species lacks feathers, except for a small patch of black plumage in front of the eyes. The fleshy head, neck and crop of adult birds can be brightly colored in yellow, red and purple. Specialized sacs can be inflated around the head and neck during display behavior and skin coloration altered through the control of blood flow in these regions. At great distances, the California Condor can be distinguished from other species by its relatively steady flight. Turkey Vultures have noticeably upturned wings, and often “wobble” while soaring. Condors take longer to complete a circle while soaring than do other species like Golden Eagles, immature Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures and other raptors. For more information go this link.

The Mountain Chickadee (shown in this post) is a small song bird. Average total length for the male is 128.4 mm and 122.8mm for females. Top of head (to just below eye) is black, forming a black “cap” on head; forehead and superciliary stripe white (distinguishing it from other North American chickadees); chin and throat black, forming a black “bib”; cheeks whitish; back, wings, and tail grayish, washed with olive to tan; breast and belly grayish white, black bill. ( McCallum, D. A., Grundel, R. and Dahlsten, D. The Birds of North America, No. 453, 1999). For more information go to this link. 

It was really nice to see the Robin Red Breast again. We used to see them in multitudes in Pennsylvania, but had only seen one Robin in Arizona before we went to the Grand Canyon. One time, in Pennsylvania, we woke up to find at least a hundred American Robins (or Robin Redbreasts) in our yard. We were in Pennsylvania for three years that never happened again. To this day I wonder why so many Robins were in our yard. The American Robin is the largest thrush in North America. Overall length 25 cm, average body mass 77 g. Male has deep grayish to dark-brown upperparts with blackish head, white crescents above and below eye, rich reddish underparts with white throat streaked with black and white undertail-coverts. Bill is yellow. Female is similar but paler overall. (Sallabanks, Rex and James, Frances C., The Birds of North America, No. 462, 1999). For more information go to this link.

 

Brown Headed Cowbird

Golden Eagle

White Throated Swift

Common Raven

Western Scrub-Jay

Yellow Tanager

Stellar’s Jay