Reader “ottenmr” sent four bird photos from his state:
Black vulture (Coragyps atratus) near Oxford, Ohio:
Northern mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) near Cincinnati, Ohio:
Maybe I’m cheating on this one. Greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) at the Cincinnati Zoo:
Juvenile greater flamingo in the feeding position; although I didn’t see any food pass from the adult. Cincinnati Zoo.
And reader Neil sent some photos of a sad encounter of bird versus car; I’ll try to find out if the bird survived:
My friend was driving on a highway in Texas and picked up this lovely fellow at 70 mph. You can see the rear end of the rodent the bird was catching just before impact. She called the local game warden to see if he could save it, and he was able to pull it out alive. She doesn’t know the outcome. He told her that he’d monitor the bird through the night, but figured it had internal injuries it wouldn’t be able to overcome. It looks like a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), but I can’t tell if it’s a male or female.
And to end on a cheerful note, I’ve embed a tw**t from the U.S. Department of the Interior. Although this wasn’t taken by a reader, it was spotted by reader John W.:
How many bald eagles can you fit in a tree? At least 50! Pic at Nooksack River by Chuck Hilliard #Washington pic.twitter.com/UG6a5L6Xm5
— US Department of the Interior (@Interior) November 13, 2015
The tweet makes “find the nightjar” a piece of cake!
The nightjar is inside the third eagle from the bottom-right.
I think part of it is in that eagle just above the third eagle from the bottom-right.
😀
It is great to see flamingos up close, and see how strange they really are.
I count 54 bald eagles.
Yes, I was unaware of the tiny toothiness along their upper mandibles.
If you want to see large numbers of bald eagles in Illinois, visit the Quad Cities area during very cold periods in winter, when the river freezes over. They congregate there, catching fish in the unfrozen water below the dams. This winter may be too mild for it to happen though (El Niño).
In early January I was down in Quincy, IL, photographing the Ivory Gull. Couldn’t believe the number of eagles swooping around!
All fascinating images. I am pulling for the hawk, but by the look of things, I have to think it will die. Sad.
Those Eagles are impressive. Here in the Hudson valley of NY, we have seen more that usual this year, but nowhere near this gang from Washington.
Fifty eagles in one tree. Must be a convention?
I’ve seen more than that on the lake here at one time but only during spring ice breakup. And that’s spread over 25 acres, hard to take a picture of that.
A “congress” or “convocation” of eagles, according to http://www.britishbirdlovers.co.uk/articles/collective-nouns-for-birds#ebird
I know little of eagle ethology, but I had the impression that they were more or less solitary except for nesting pairs. Sadly, there are people who look at a picture like that and get an itchy trigger finger. I refer you to Annette Peacock’s American Sport.
There must be some very easy and plentiful food close by. A salmon run or something like that?
Yes, exactly that. We used to kayak those western Washington rivers in winter just to view the eagles.
I hope the eagle in the radiator grille gets away with it, but I have to admit that it doesn’t look good.
But animals in general are tougher than you think. Given that the choice is between living or dieing, and they’re not confused by delusions about heaven, they survive more often than you’d think.
The hawk didn’t make it. I called the game warden for Fayette County (Calvin Harbaugh) this morning. At first (and unbelievably), he didn’t remember that incident until I told him that the bird had a rodent that was also stuck in the grill along with it. This happened about six months ago, and I’m sure he’s dealing with strange wildlife accidents so much that this was just par for the course.
Shame. But overtaken by events in Paris.
I love the mockingbird. When I lived in the country, about 70 miles from where I live now, I had a mockingbird that would serenade me in the evening. Such a beautiful repertoire of songs! I really miss the mockingbirds as I have not seen any in the city.
Our locals could imitate many sounds including our phone ringing.
Great birds, thanks. I never realized that the eye of the flamingo was so bizarre…like a zombie eye or something.
It’s astounding to ponder how much wildlife dies every day by automobiles. I know I’ve accidentally killed my share.
And you know what that leads to!
http://www.nature.com/news/swallows-may-be-evolving-to-dodge-traffic-1.12614
Thanks for the wonderful images of birds, ottenmr! One would think those recurved Flamingo bills would really hamper nestling/fledgling feeding, but I guess nature would have seen to that. 🙂