Moar birds today. We have two from regular Diana MacPherson:
This photo is a female red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) on the fat. You can tell she is a female because the top of her head is not red. People often see these birds and notice the red neck and cap and wonder why they are called red-bellied woodpeckers. Here you can see her red belly.
I finally managed to get a picture of the Sharp-shinned Hawk (Accipiter striatus). Here the hawk is sitting in a maple tree in my backyard watching for birds. At the time, there was a nuthatch on the fat and a few juncos in the weigela who were completely frozen. The hawk went after a junco but missed then flew off into a further maple tree. You can tell this is the sharp-shinned hawk because of the grey of its feathers and the yellow on its beak. The similarly sized cooper’s hawk isn’t grey.
And five shots from Stephen Barnard, who apparently still has time to take pictures despite tooling around in his new toy.
A house finch (Haemorhous mexicanus): a drab name for a colorful bird. They’re numerous at the feeder, along with Red-winged Blackbird, Goldfinches, Chickadees, Tree Sparrows, Song Sparrows, and the occasion Kestrel dive-bombing them.
Yet more mallards (Anas platyrhynchos):
Yet more red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis). . . soaring this afternoon [last Monday]:
And I guess we’re adding artwork to this feature. Reader Ken Elliott contributed a nice drawing of an eagle with this explanation:
[Yesterday’s] artwork display from Lou Jost in the “Reader’s Wildlife Photos” post reminded me of an ink drawing I had done a couple of years ago of an eagle. I’ve attached it in case you think it’s worth sharing.
I apologize for not knowing the species of eagle portrayed as I am not any sort of expert or knowledgeable person in regard to the specifics of species. My inspiration was simply the captured image of this eagle.
Nice drawing, Ken!
Thanks for your and Stephen’s wonderful photos too!
(All Canucks can catch The Banned Documentary this Sunday, International Women’s Day), on CBC’s The Passionate Eye, at 10pm EST. Check your local listing.)
Thank you, Diana. It’s a thrill for it to be posted on WEIT.
Nice.
WEIT’s Got Talent! Beautiful photos, and drawings.
+1
+ 🐦
+1
I’ve always wondered about the name of this woodpecker. I see the males all the time but not the females for whatever reason. The male does not seem to have any red color on the breast, just red on the back of the head.
Yeah, I guess they thought “red neck” would make people think the bird likes to go to monster truck rallies or something. 😉
The name of the bird in your other picture is also curious, Diana. Why ‘sharp-shinned’? I imagine that this is probably a character that requires the bird to be in the hand in order to see it but I wonder just how sharp the shins are and what they look like.
This site says, “This hawk gets its name from its flattened, thin “shins” or shanks.”
They are the smallest hawk in NA but it’s hard to see what its shins look like!
and the name “redheaded woodpecker” was already taken
There are a lot of birds whose names would be puzzling to any observer because their nominal features aren’t very visible: yellow-bellied sapsuckers, ring-necked ducks, ruby-crowned kinglets; I could go on for quite a while. I suspect the reason is that all these names were given by ornithologists who were examine dead specimens at close range. And that’s about the only way you’re going to see the ring on a ring-necked duck’s neck.
Yes, I was horrified as a student in ornithology when this dawned on me, probably with regard to orange-crowned warblers. But the ruby-crowned kinglets do show the ruby crown in courtship displays — I saw one that looked like his head was on fire.
Many thanks to all. To Jerry, for posting Readers’ wildlife photos (that’s what brought me to WEIT in the first place). To Diana, and all the regular contributors, it’s always a pleasure to be looking over your shoulders. Stephen, I’ve pinned so many of your shots, (true, too, for many of the professional contributors). Your work can be breathtaking. Ken, Lou, nice work and I’m glad to see non-photographic art added to the mix.
Stephen, I’m using your housefinch photo as desktop background. It sure is purdy!