It’s Christmas as well as Sunday, and so we have a special Christmas edition of John Avise‘s bird-themed posts. His captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Holiday Season
This week’s post has a holiday theme—lots of reds and greens, bright berries, and a touch of snow. With each photo also come warm wishes for you and your family, however you celebrate this special time of year.
Shown are the following bird species, which I’m sure you can readily identify in the various photos, in order: male and female Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis); Tufted Titmice (Baeolophus bicolor); Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus); and Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum). The berries that the Cedar Waxwings are eating are from the Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia).
Merry Christmas:
Happy Hanukkah:
Seasons Greetings:
Merry Xmas:
Happy Coynezaa:
Joyous Holidays:
May Your Days be Merry and Bright:
Happy Greetings:
Have Yourselves a Holly-Jolly Xmas:
May the Season Bring You Joy:
Yuletide greetings:
Feliz Navidad:
JAC: I believe “Feliz navidad” is Spanish for “My cat has a boat.”
So that’s why it’s called Hollywood. Good to know. I guess singing hooray for Heteromeles wood doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.
What a gorgeous and fun post! The photos are incredible and the titles superb.
Merry and jolly to all!
Thanks for the wonderful post.
>JAC: I believe “Feliz navidad” is Spanish for “My cat has a boat.”>The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
“O lovely Pussy! O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!”<<<<<<
I’m struck by how these North America birds resemble Europea birds, but are still different.
Great photos.
Except for the chickadee the other birds have a crest of one kind or another. While I havent seen many European birds when I visited there, the only one I saw that had a crest was the Hoopoe (UpupaEpops (my computer wouldnt let me insert a dash…).
Can you tell me specifically which European birds the American ones resemble? I cant even think of one that is all red. Generally European birds are much drabber than American ones, probably because many of ours originate from the tropics. Or possibly because the European ones were hunted more and colorful birds were easier targets. Maybe Jerry can give us some evolutionary insight into this. The European thrushes and warblers are generally drabber, mostly browns and tans. The brightest one I can think of is the Blue Tit, related to our chickadee. The European tits have a tiny crest.
Now this Avise extravaganza made me all warm and fuzzy. Thanks for such a heart-warming series of beautiful photos and feel-good captions.
Another wonderful set of bird photos! Thanks, John Avise! All the best of the Season.
My cat has a boat–hahaha! Wonderful photos of birds I actually recognize. We’re awaiting the arrival of the waxwings here.
Thank you, John! And Happy Holidays to all.