Today’s bird photos come from reader Karen Bartelt, with her caption:
Reflecting on that age-old bromide, “Birds of a feather flock together.”
Wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo), Washington, IL:
Galapagos finches, mixed flock, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos, Ecuador. Home of Gil de Roi, whose mother began to feed them years ago:
Black-headed parrots (Pionites melanocephalus), Rio Ucayali, Peruvian Amazon:
Cedar waxings (Bombycilla cedrorum), High Cliff State Park, Wisconsin:
Mostly northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), Washington, IL:
Tricolored munias (Lonchura malacca), Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge. Escaped cage bird first seen on Kauai in 1975:
Nene (Branta sandvicensis), Hanalei NWR. [JAC: these are flightless geese endemic to Hawaii, and the state bird. Remember that flightless birds are found largely on oceanic islands like Hawaii. Do you remember why? You’ll know if you read WEIT.]
‘Apapane (Himatione sanguinea sanguinea), Alakai Swamp. I was roughly 2 football fields away from these birds and did not have a big lens. The only really neat thing is that there are five of them. This is by far the most common honeycreeper, and I’ve seen them lots closer around Hawai’i Volcanoes NP, but I’ve never had a shot at five at once.
JAC: Here’s a closer picture of the bird from Wikipedia:
Beautiful Photography..!!
Oh, oh, I remember this one, “because if they could fly you would find them in the air”, right!?
Not having read WEIT yet, I tentatively assume it is because of lack of predators.
I don’t think Nene are actually flightless (see e.g. http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=383) although they may not be great fliers like other goose spp.
Minor correction on one point: Hawaiian geese may spend much of their time on the ground but they are perfectly capable of flying. A quick Google image search for “Hawaiian goose in flight” will confirm this.
Larger, genuinely flightless waterbirds did evolve on Hawaii (now usually termed “moa-nalos”), but they disappeared shortly after the first arrival of humans – no doubt after forming the centrepiece of Polynesian beach barbecues.
Lovely! Thanks.
I’ve been writing ‘nene’ in crossword puzzles for years; nice to finally see pix.
Living on the Galapagos… Yes, I too would have a bird feeder, along with a couple tortoise and iguana feeders.
For the ‘mostly cardinals’ picture, is there a non-cardinal in there? I think I see something but I do not know what it is.
There is a red-bellied woodpecker just to the left of center.
Nene’s are indeed endemic to Hawaii but are not flightless. They are poor fliers and some individuals are incapable of flight.
The Munias pictured are indeed non-native on Kauai but are not Tricolored. They are Chestnut Munias (Lonchura atricapilla).
Wild Turkey story (not the bourbon!)
I was hiking in the Witchita Mountains wildlife refuge and came out of some scrub oaks into a clearing. The grass was waist high and as I got about a 1/3 of the way into it about 50 wild turkeys took off. Ths sound of their wings is really weird and I about did it in my pants. Several of them flew within a few feet of me. I did not see any of them in the high grass until they flew off.
That’s happened to me a few times, too, once in my own “back 20.” They really do like to wait till the last moment to flush. I agree that the sudden sound of turkeys erupting at close range will certainly get your heart racing.
Sandhill Cranes will often do the same thing. Getting these big birds airborne takes a lot of energy (and draws a lot of attention)–my hypothesis for their reluctance to flush quickly, as opposed to the fleet smaller birds.
Ah, Karen, what a treat! I only wish I’d been able to accompany you on your travels! I’m almost afraid to ask what your life list is.
Here’s hoping she’ll treat us with some equally fine shots of UC Santa Cruz famous mascot, the nudibranchs! (hot pink, banana, whatevs it’s all good.)