Wild Side Ornithology Club

[beautress]

Other Thorn Birds found today: This may be a streaked Xenox, courtesy of Wikipedia:

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[beautress]

According to Cornell University, this is from their page on the Streaked Xenops:

Streaked Xenops Xenops rutilans

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Some 11 subspecies of the Streaked Xenops are generally recognized over the species’ very wide range, although geographical variation is frequently described as being slight. This species and the Plain Xenops (Xenops minutus) are the two most amply distributed of the genus. The Streaked Xenops ranges from Costa Rica and Panama south throughout the tropical Andes as far as northwest Argentina, in addition to montane northern South America, as well as much of southern Amazonia and over the rest of the Brazil south to Paraguay and northeast Argentina. It is also the only Xenops to occur on the island of Trinidad. Throughout this range, the Streaked Xenops is usually reasonably common, and is usually encountered in pairs within mixed-species flocks, from the understory to the subcanopy. It is generally the most extensively streaked xenops below.

 

[beautress]

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a really wonderful page on the Plain Xenops, Xenops minutus

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Plain Xenops is a peculiar furnariid that recalls a mixture between a tit (Paridae) and nuthatch (Sittidae) in its behavior and structure. It is the only member of the genus Xenops without significant streaking on the head, back, and underparts. Mostly brown, this species has a unique moustachial stripe wrapping around the lower auriculars, a white postocular stripe, and extensive rufous in the wings and tail. Its wedge-shaped, upturned bill is used to chisel at twigs and bark to obtain arthropod prey. It feeds by hitching along branches, often hanging or using its tail for support at odd angles. Individuals or pairs frequently associate with mixed flocks in the mid-story and canopy. This species excavates a cavity in rotten wood for its nest. Plain Xenops is distributed widely from Mexico south to eastern Brazil and northeastern Argentina.

Plain Xenops - Introduction | Neotropical Birds Online​

 

[beautress]

Well, I didn't find the Australian version, maybe I read a myth back in the 80s when I was designing my ABC Animal Quilt.

Here is a lovely alternative, however, a film on Northern Territory of Australia's birds. If I see one, I will come back:

Birding the Northern Territory, Part 1​

 

[beautress]

Australian Northern Territory birds, Part 2

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[beautress]

Well, here's a "thornbill" of Australia, and it's a mimic that picks up on other birds to frighten predators

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[beautress]

5 good things that Blue Jays do:
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[beautress]

David Attenborough and the Lyre Bird

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[Pogo]

David Attenborough and the Lyre Bird

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That is INSANE Becki.

A chainsaw?

I am officially impressed.


Mimickry is an art I respect. In some quarters I've been nicknamed "Mockingbird" for my ability to imitate other voices I hear (which is a big help in language learning). A chainsaw or a camera shutter however is way out of my range.

 

[beautress]

Methinks Sir David Attenborough was a sort of bird and nature Laurette of the world, Pogo. His clever findings have always made his books, films, and works magnets to people who never got hooked on birds and the entire animal kingdom before. And there are few like him, but we have Americans who do great things in the lovely science of God's beautiful nature as well. They just don't get to be knights of the realm.

 

[beautress]

Some very weird bird sounds....

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[beautress]

Thank you for dropping by, Mr. Pogo. You are sorely missed here.

 

[Pogo]

Thank you for dropping by, Mr. Pogo. You are sorely missed here.

Thanks for the kind word Becki. I pretty much quit posting on USMB due to too much mod interference but I do check back to police Lucy's music thread that she put me in charge of, and to see what wonders you've graced us with here.

That reminds me I owe you some pics of my soda bottle bird feeder. I have two versions having modified the first one to be more practical, and it was more popular with the birdies as well. That recently was torn down, either the squirrels or perhaps the bear came back. Anyway I'll catch up on that, preparing for company right now so it's a busy week. Cheers and hugs.

LOOOOOVED the last weird sounds video btw.

 

[beautress]

Oh, goodness, Pogo. Would love to see your soda bottle Bird feeder. I've been busy with Karaoke music practice and finishing 11 quilt tops for my friend, EJ's grandchildren. There were 5 boys and 5 girls, and 1 on the way, but I got them all done! Whew! I've been working on him since he died on June 24. He was a retired Volunteer Fire Department fireman for 44 years, and we became good friends because he helped my husband a couple of years before he died from complications of dementia in 2016, and after a couple of years, he was recommended to help me get my lawn mowers back to working. One was on the back of a Kubota big tractor, and one was a never-ending repair wreck under the name of Craftsman. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong from the beginning, and the one time I was putting it on the back of the truck, the dern thing almost fell on me, because I was riding it up the ramp to the back end of my truck, and took a fall. I had to push away from it mid-air to keep it from taking my leg off or worse. I still have it, still hate it, but EJ got it working several times for me to have it fail 15 minutes I tried to mow with it, give or take 5 minutes. Now he's gone, too. Fortunately, I purchased a Husqvarna zero-turn, and it doesn't go south on me when I use it for 6 months on end. Geeze, I came here to post a kind of sad story on American birds I found online when I turned on the computer about an hour ago.

 

[beautress]

Three billion birds have been lost in North America since 1970

The story is here: Three billion birds have been lost in North America since 1970
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The birds that survive must be very prolific, because the article says that house cats devour between one and four billion birds per annum. That's greater than the population of birds that come here, according to my math, but that's what it says.

Overall, the researchers discovered that birds found in grasslands—including well-known families such as sparrows, warblers, blackbirds, and finches—have been hit hardest, with their populations cut 53 percent over the last 48 years. (Read why birds matter in National Geographic magazine.)
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I had a dozen scissor-tailed flycatchers lighting on the electric wires here for 10 years, then this year, not a single one have I seen. I just can't figure it out, except we had the rainiest year on record in the past 12 months. It rained starting in the summer last year, and we had a month reprieve in August. Now, we have had several days of rain and clouds, but not as much precipitation as they said we'd have. Still, no scissor-tailed flycatchers. They are so absolutely beautiful, It was disappointing not to see them this year. I hope they recuperate and show up next year. I wonder if there was a virus or something that took them away. They stay well away from cats, from what I've observed, and I only have one cat. Recently I've let her stay in the house, even if she is a royal pain in the butt by her zeroing in on my crochet thread. Grrrr! What a pill Miss Piccolo is. Meow.

I think Ms. Piccolo may have had a run-in with a hawk when she was out and about around 6 months ago. For some reason, she was putting up such a meowl-fest, I started leaving her in the house, in a large bathroom space so she will leave my yarns, threads, and fabrics alone. She leaves her toys alone when she has yarn to pounce on and turn a ball into a tattered mass of fly-away money. Well, really, if I banned the cat, the mice would play. And this house has been scorpion-free since I brought home this cute li'l innocent kitten a couple of years ago. If you've ever stepped on an adolescent-stage scorpion, you will know what undying pain is for a few days. Texas cats seem to understand how to play "I win" with scorpions.

Three billion birds, doggone it. I'll have to start leaving more food around. My husband used to help me with stuff like that when he was living. He loved the birds, too, and helped with the birdbath occasionally.

 

[beautress]

Saturday Silly Birds

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[beautress]

I went looking for an endangered birds of america video, but all I could find was this one, plus a second one, which included 3 or 4 birds but lots of other creatures:

Birds on the Endangered Species List


Animals that did Not go Extinct


Animals About to Go Extinct

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[beautress]

Sleepytime. Sorry. Hard to sleep last night. Thanks again to Pogo for dropping by. Hopefully, someday, we'll get a glimpse of his soda bottle bird feeder.

Bless the birds, beasts, and the children.
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[Pogo]

Sleepytime. Sorry. Hard to sleep last night. Thanks again to Pogo for dropping by. Hopefully, someday, we'll get a glimpse of his soda bottle bird feeder.

Bless the birds, beasts, and the children.
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I ain't fergot, Becki

I got busy on other thingies and the last feeder got ripped down and destroyed but that's just an opportunity to make a new better one, maybe tomorrow. I put out one last hummingbird feed for any that still haven't started their migration so the seed feeder will be next on the agenda.

 

[Pogo]

I went looking for an endangered birds of america video, but all I could find was this one, plus a second one, which included 3 or 4 birds but lots of other creatures:

Birds on the Endangered Species List


Animals that did Not go Extinct


Animals About to Go Extinct

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May have mentioned this some other time but a few years ago speaking of endangered, I spotted a red cockaded woodpecker pecking 'round my forest.