Bird Day! I’ve always thought that starlings, jays, and cardinals are underappreciated because (like Coca Cola) they are ubiquitous. All of these are gorgeous birds, and if Coca Cola were rare and pricey, people would pay a lot of money for it. Today reader Amy sends some lovely photos of the Blue Jay, and some notes.
Here’s the much underappreciated and maligned Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata). Underappreciated perhaps due to its abundance. Maligned because it is a “bully” at the feeder. But when you’re a 747 coming in for a landing, everyone will get out of your way (see photo #2). They provide a great service to other birds by sounding an alarm when predators are nearby. Their preferred feeder noms are peanuts!! (3rd photo).
Reader Tim Anderson from Oz sends a bird we haven’t yet encountered:
These are locally called silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis). These little fellas were photographed in a garden in Tumut, New South Wales.
Here are some Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) from reader Stephen Barnard in Idaho. I love the Cornell Bird Guide’s introductory sentence in the identification notes: “Largest of the North American herons with long legs, a sinuous neck, and thick, daggerlike bill.”
Stephen’s comment:
There are quite a few herons that nest in the nearby aspens, along with the eagles and great horned owls. There used to be a large great blue heron rookery in the aspens until the eagles moved in and chased the herons away. I’ve attached some photos of herons getting it on before they were forced to relocate.
I live the silver eyes – a tiny honeyeater. WE get them in WA too, they fly around in cheeping flocks. Incredibly difficult to photograph, so well done Tim!
The blue jay is gorgeous
I love the silver eyes too – we have a similar bird in NZ called a wax eye, which I also love.
I think blue jays are beautiful – we don’t have them, so I didn’t know they weren’t popular.
As always, Stephen Barnard’s pics are fantastic.
Yes, I remember seeing them for the first time outside my window in Auckland. They are very sweet looking and have such lovely eyes.
Yup, waxeyes and silvereyes are the same bird – Z. lateralis. Self-introduced to NZ from Oz in the 1850’s, hence Maori name tauhou “little stranger”.
A long way for such a little non-migratory bird to fly.
We get the Cape White-eye in SA (Zosterops virens), which strongly resembles the silver eye. However, their plumage is more evenly green.
Same genus, but would the white eyes be retained or be convergence? Did their ancestors migrate to or from SA -and if so how recently?
And what is the thing with a white spot around the eyes? One would think sexual selection, but that is just speculation, of course.
that should’ve been *love*, not ‘live’
Looks like the herons have little’uns on the way!
Very nice all of you. I love bluejays and their calls.
I thought the great blue herons were the ones we have around here every summer but they do not have that peak of feathers on top of the head. I will have to do some more checking.
I like the silvereyes — cute little fellas and interesting coloration.
Wait, what? A Chicagoan saying nice things about Cardinals?
I don’t think Jerry is a baseball fan. And he lives on the south side.
There is a University of Chicago connection to the former St. Louis Cardinals football team – now the Arizona Cardinals. From the team’s official history:
http://www.azcardinals.com/history/franchise.html
“In 1901, the team gained longstanding identification when O’Brien, finding a bargain, bought used jerseys from the nearby University of Chicago. The jerseys were faded maroon in color, prompting O’Brien to declare, “That’s not maroon, it’s Cardinal red!” The club’s permanent nickname had been born!
The jersey color and the location of the field led to a new and obvious name, the Racine Cardinals.”
I was born in St. Louis and my team will always be the Cardinals (and at least they’ve won the World Series!). I have watched Stan Musial play.
Cool!
I saw Ozzie Smith play. 😉
I saw Ernie Banks play but what draws the most oohs and ahhs is when I mention that I saw Bob Gibson and Fergie Jenkins pitch against each other at least five times. I did not think that was such a big deal at the time. In the 60s, the gates to Wrigley Field were opened after the sixth inning. Kids stuck around after the game to pick up garbage and were given a ticket to the next game. That is how I got to see Cub games as a kid. Watch two or three innings, pick up garbage, and watch a full game the next day. I lived about six miles from the ball park and would ride my bike to Wrigley. Lock it to a light pole with a cheap chain – never got stolen. But I think the damage done to me by becoming a Cub fan is permanent. I have yet to recover from 1969.
Recently I heard a long piece on NPR discussing how animals (not plants) appear to be colored blue.
What the piece said, basically, is that it’s not done with pigment or dye; but rather with diffraction patterns on the surface of whatever the feature is (feathers in this case).
I found it: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/11/12/347736896/how-animals-hacked-the-rainbow-and-got-stumped-on-blue
Years ago the neighbor kid liked to shoot Jays with a rifle. I asked him why and he said they rob other birds nests. I figured he just wanted to shoot something.
I’ve never noticed the long crest feathers on herons. Maybe they are dressed up for mating.
Sounds like the sort of slightly crazed but mostly well-intentioned thing that William T. Hornaday would have recommended. Except that apparently Hornaday actually suffered terrible remorse after shooting a blue jay when he was 9 years old, which was one cause of his becoming a zookeeper and very important conservationist. Wonder what your neighbour’s up to these days?
Amy, that 1st Blue Jay picture is just gorgeous.
The herons are sure looking spiffy with their crests and shawls.
A mated pair of Sandhill Cranes that returns to a nesting site near us every year are also brooding a new egg. We have observed them for about 3 years now and have seen them raise a pair of youngsters in the past. My daughter thinks the new egg will be hatching any day now. She grabs her camera and goes to check the nesting site every day after school.
The herons only display the topknot while in a state of concupiscence.
Got it. Apparently all the nesting is done before they return here in the early summer. I have never seen any nesting here, unlike the local geese who risk it most every year.
Great Blue Herons typically nest in large communal rookeries and might travel quite far to feed. Spring and early summer is their nesting time here. It may be that you haven’t located the rookery, or you might live in a warmer climate where the nesting timing is different.
Note the big word in Stephen’s post. Learn it; there will be a quiz.
An infrequent sight in the realm of natural beauty may be seen starting this weekend in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Every once in a while, ice caves form. It looks like the National Park Service may start accepting visitors this weekend. Of course the winds may change and the whole thing falls apart. But they are cool and I am thinking about making the trek up to northwestern Wisconsin.
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_27583303/apostle-islands-ice-caves-may-be-open-this
And once again, an extra ” gets added to the URL in the href. Not sure why. Here is the link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apostle_Islands_National_Lakeshore
Wonderful photos. Thanks.
Love the herons!
The blue-jay in the snow sure is pretty. The blue-jays around here (western Washington) don’t have any white on them and aren’t patterned like this one. They are still pretty, but not as striking as the one in the photo.
How the gawky heron can land on that small nest is impressive. Very nice photos as usual Stephen.
The silvereyes are cute little buggers.
Silvereyes used to be quite common here in suburban Adelaide, and I enjoyed watching them in the grape vine over the arbour at our back door.
However, it now occurs to me that I haven’t seen one for years?
No suggestion from a quick glance that they are endangered.