Gull pictures

Here are some pictures I took of ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) on the artificial lake in front of the Capitol Building in October or September. I'm still learning to adjust a camera, so these aren't that great. I like them, anyway :).

Hope you enjoy them!:

Immature

Adult in winter plumage

Immature

Adult in winter plumage and immature

Adult in winter plumage and an immature on the right

Immature front, adult background

Immature

An immature gull. This is my favorite of all the pictures shown.

-Cristina

All Photos: Me and must not be used without my permission.

Bald Eagle!!!!

Today was a day I would've never--never--thought about for catching sight of an American Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus Leucochephalus). I always thought I'd see one of these elusive birds if I went on a bird walk to the most remote corners of a national park. But just today did I see one of these eagles flying calmly in circles above a busy highway, greeting the sun with its extended wings.

We were going back home on my friend's dad's car. She was visiting her father in New York, and they arranged to come to Maryland to visit me. This was her last day here, and her dad gave us a ride to IKEA, that giant home supplies store. 

We bought what we needed for our temporary home: A table, a pair of chairs, a nice bookshelf, some dishes...you know, stuff like that.  We hauled everything into the car and hit the road.

I was looking out at the endless row of trees on the right side of the highway, and spotted something flying way above the skies. Must be a vulture, I thought. But suddenly, the bird flew away from the sun, and I saw its snow-white head and tail....

This was a bird one would know anywhere, birder or not. The Bald Eagle kept flying, unaware of my amazement at its sight. The car followed along the highway, away and away from the eagle, until it completely disappeared from my sight. 

Just then did I cried out "Heeey, I just saw a Bald Eagle!!!". "Bald eagle?" asked my friend, whom was sitting next to me, "Like, they have no hair on their heads?". "Bald Eagle?!" said my sister. My brother ignored the conversation. Apparently, I would have to keep the joy for myself. Yet, it was a thrilling experience, even though it lasted for a few quick seconds.

This picture from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is quite similar to what I saw, only much closer and with much more detail:

-Cristina

Photos: Top Bald Eagle flying from Wiki Commons, bottom bald eagle in flight from Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Immature Red-Tail in D.C.

Today a friend of mine, me and my family went to downtown D.C. to visit the museums. It was snowing quite  a bit outside, and I was able to catch sight of a hawk flying towards a crooked-looking tree. I ran with my binoculars on hand, and was able to get a perfect view of the Immature Red-Tail, seeking protection from the snow. Here are some pictures I was able to get of the hawk. My favorites  must be the ones shown above:

Have I already mentioned that I love Red-Tails?

-Cristina (Happy Holidays!)

All Photos: Me and must not be used without my permission.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzza, etc. to all! I truly hope all of my somewhat inexistent readers at the time to have a great time this holiday . I will spend New Year's celebration with my family in Costa Rica. I will be going on the 29th of december and will stay there for 2 weeks.
I hope everyone has a truly great holliday this year and all to come!

Good Wishes and Happy New Year!
-Cristina

Photo: Top Christmas Tree from Wiki Commons, bottom Cristmasy blue jay from Google (search in bottom part of website.)

The Legend of Pale Male

I just found out about this amazing movie called "The Legend of Pale Male" Just by watching the trailer did I almost begin weeping.

Here's the synopsis of the documentary:

This is the true account of one of the most surprising and remarkable love stories in the history of New York.  It begins in 1993, when a young man from Belgium looking to change his life has an unexpected encounter in Central Park.  He meets a hawk.  Not just any hawk, but a wild Red tailed, a fierce predator that has not lived in the City for almost a hundred years.  Compelled to follow this extraordinary creature, he buys a video camera and sets out to track the hawk.  Little does he know that the journey will take him almost twenty years and lead him down many trails of life, death, birth, hope, and redemption. 

Affectionately known to New Yorkers as Pale Male, the hawk becomes a magnificent obsession and a metaphor for triumph against all odds.  His nest, perched on a posh 5th Avenue co-op, starts out as a novel curiosity to a handful of avid birdwatchers but becomes an international tourist destination - a place of pilgrimage.

Then, on a December afternoon without warning, in the space of half an hour, the building dismantles Pale Male's beloved nest.  In a wingbeat, media from around the world assemble on 5th Avenue to cover the unprecedented protest.  Gathering behind Pale Male is an army of birdwatchers, movie stars, poets, children, dogs, and late night comedy show hosts.  What unfolds next, as they say, could only happen in New York. 

Length; 85 minutes

Screening format: HD

 Here's the trailer:

Check out your local movie theater for showtimes.

-Cristina

Photo: Pale Male official poster from TheLegendofPaleMale.com

The Singing Mockingbird

A beautiful, varied song.

I heard today, this morning.

A hundred birds would I hear,

All singing very melodiously

Who could be making such (heavenly!) noise

I wondered as I opened the door

A light-gray bird was perched not far from me

It was no one but the sweet Mockingbird

-Cristina

Photo: Northern Mockingbird (Mimus Polyglottos) from Wiki Commons

Hairy Woodpecker!

Last week I was able to catch sight of my first Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides Villosus), pecking at our suet feeder. I get Downy woodpeckers (Picoides Pubescens) at the feeders all the time, but I had never seen a Hairy in my feeders, nor in my life.

I had practiced before how to separate Hairies from Downies, so I immediately recognized it. The great hairy dangled in the feeder, keeping balance by wrapping her (it was a female) stiff tail against the side of the feeder. She pecked at the little bit of suet that was left, then flew away. 

I believe the female that came today was the same as the last time I just mentioned. This time the feeder was filled with pure, raw suet, and heck she stayed for there for quite a time, pecking at the suet, then grabbing a piece and eating it right there. I must point out that woodpeckers love suet. They devour it with such a pleasure! They look like kids in a candy bar, only a bit less energetic. 

Downy and Hairy WP can be a challenge to identify apart, especially for beginner birders. Here's a piece of artwork from amazing artist Julie Zickefoose (by the way wife of Birdwatcher's Digest magazine editor, Bill Thompson, III. She also contributes to that magazine):

Downy left, Hairy right

Downies are sparrow-sized, with a tiny bill and striped outer-tail coverts. On the other hand, Hairies are quite large, about the size of a robin. The have long, pointy beaks and white outer-tail coverts.

I hope that helped in case you have trouble telling them apart :) .

- Cristina

Photos: Top image from Wiki Commons, bottom image by Julie Zickefoose

Red-Tail's Wood

Red-Tailed Hawks (Buteo Jamaicensis) are among my favorite of raptors. I remember the first time I ever saw a red-tail, on a trip to Irazú Volcano National Park (Costa Rica) in my early birding days. The hawk was gliding around a cliff while we turned and turned around the mountain to get to the park. Its tail flashed red with the morning sun, and even though I didn't say much when I first saw it, I was thrilled at catching sight of it.

In the woods behind my apartment building there is a medium sized patch of woods that extends horizontally to what I think is a large wooded park. The woods has a little, fortunately very clean-looking creek that adds a beautiful touch to the woods. 

Red-tail hawks are a common sight there, something completely thrilling to me. Just today, as my  younger brother and I went out there to fix our brushpile for the birds, a huge red-tail glided through the woods and landed on a tree branch. I brought out my binoculars from my hiking bag (I always bring my bins with me) and looked at the hawk. Geez, are red-tails beautiful! 

No, wait, that last time I mentioned was not the first time I ever saw a red-tail. The real first time I saw one was way back before I began birding, about 5 years ago in Boston, Mass. We were to stay there for a year, because my father had a scholarship and we all went to the U.S. with him. We were heading to the Boston Museum of Science (or at least that's what I remember it was called), and stopped to look at an old cemetery.I was reading the inscripture on a gravestone, and something caught my eye. I glanced up and saw a red-tail hawk nesting in the roof of an old-looking brick building. A guy with a camera took pictures of it, and other people came to look at the parent hawk. I was very young, yet very excited about the sighting.

Red-tails are powerful and large, with a screeching call many of us associate with that of the Bald Eagle, although this is actually a myth. Bald Eagles are mostly silent, and the sound they usually do make is a series of sharp, repetitive cries, which some describe as a "snickering laugh".

Red-tails are powerful, beautiful hawks common through all of North America. They are usually birds of open country, seen perched on telephone poles and high trees. 

-Cristina :)

Photos: Top and bottom images from Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Bully Blue Jays

Blue Jays (Cianocitta Crystata) must certainly be among the smartest and most beautiful of birds. Their bright-blue feathers, black collar and a contrasting white belly--plus a proud-looking crest--certainly makes them stand out in the crowd.

But blue jays are aggressive. In my feeders, there are several blue jays that love guarding the sunflower feeder, gaping their beaks at anybody that tries to eat. Sometimes I have to scare them away to let the smaller birds eat, for only the bold chickadees dare get close to the huge jay. The jays are incredibly agile, they hang to the feeder and grab seeds by the beakfull. To open them apart, they grasp them in their feet and start pecking at them to open the shell, the way they do with acorns. Chickadees and titmice do pretty much the same thing, so the jays look like some huge chickadee mutant, being so gentle when grasping the seeds but pecking them in such a violent manner.

Jays play an important role in the ecosystem. They feed primarily on the acorns of trees, and unlike most birds they don't eat them right in the spot were they were obtained. Instead, blue jays actually take the acorns with them and eat them several yards away from the mother oak. In fall, jays bury many many acorns, but since I doubt they would remember where they were buried, many acorns go untouched and begin growing into new oaks. Entire oak forests are known to rely in the blue jay to perpetrate their expandment.

Jays are amongst the smartest of birds. They are members of the Corvidae family, that includes the most intelligent of all birds, crows and ravens. They are known to use tools to get to food, thus putting their level of intelligence right next to that of primates (I think we should reconsider the term "birdbrain", don't you think?).

Bully jays, they are nice and important, yet quite clever!

-Cristina

Photo: Blue Jay from USFWS

Shooing House Sparrows.

House Sparrows (Passer Domesticus) have spent this day happily gobbling black-oil sunflowers from my tube feeders. They came in a huge flock of about 15 sparrows, and fought over the 5-port tube feeder. The chickadees and titmice looked for some free port, and after hovering like hummingbirds around the feeder they gave up and decided to eat suet from the suet feeder instead. The sparrows gorged in seed, fighting over the feeder. To be honest, it looked like a humongous brown mass of feathers that had acumulated around the feeder.

  Seeing that the feeder would run out of seed in any moment, I opened the glass door that leads to the balcony in an attempt to shoo them away, and give some space to the other birds. I waved my hands and pretended to try to reach the feeder, and the flock flashed away chirping loudly. As if grateful, the chickadees looked at me and then at the feeder, and thus resumed their meal. I looked at them for a few moments, then went back to mind my own business.

 Ahh, but those house sparrows aren't dumb! Noticing that I had dissapeared, the flock flew back to the feeder and gorged in seed once again. After scaring them away a couple of more times,  they finally got the point that they weren't wanted and flew away to look for food somewhere else (Don't worry, house sparrows are known for wandering around cities looking for food, so they probably simply went to look for food to the nearby garbage containers).

  House sparrows were introduced to North America in the 1800's and since then they have spread all over the continent, to the detriment of native birds. House sparrows, alongside European Starlings (Sturnus Vulgaris) have caused a steep decline in the populations of many native cavity-nesting birds, such as bluebirds and red-headed woodpeckers. Even bats have been impacted by the sparrows. They are very aggressive, and are known to attack and sometimes even kill native cavity-nesters. Since the sorrounding ecosystems were not ready for the aggressive new invader, many species were affected by the introduced bird. Fortunately, many concerned people put out nest boxes for bluebirds and other cavity-nesting birds, and thus have helped some populations recover.

 Ironically, in their native lands of Europe and Asia they have suffered a steep decline, to the point of being listed as endangered in certain areas there.

I hope those greedy passerines don't come back tomorrow!

-Cristina

Photos: Female and Male House Sparrows from Wiki Commons



                                                                                                                                                                              

My Blog's First Flight

First Post, people!

Today, I officially decided to make a blog. Why? Well, every time I look out the window to my bird-feeders, or pretty much every time I see something interesting, I begin writing in my mind, such as the time when I saw a red-tailed hawk flying near the not-so-dense woods around my apartment a few weeks ago: "I quickly flung my binoculars and adjusted them on the hawk . The sun shone for a split second on the hawks tail, revealing a bright orange color, thus confirming its identification. The red-tailed hawk swooped down and let out a harsh keee-yeeeeer!, while heading directly towards the nearby woods. This was an amazing experience I will certainly never forget..." But I had nowhere where to write it down and show it to everyone. I didn't want a diary, because what I wrote was not "private", nor did I want a writer's notebook. After looking through Julie Zickefoose's blog I thought 'well, why not a blog?' and here it is.

Now I'll talk a little bit about myself. I am young, actually very young for the usual age someone would begin a blog.  I am a self-taught birder and artist. I am a native Costa Rican temporarily living in the U.S. I live in an apartment building with a balcony that has a beautiful view to a nearby patch of woods, and I live alongside a young brother and an older sister (both of them sometimes nice, but usually annoying :D) plus my mother and father. Back in Costa Rica I had my beloved dog, an adopted mutt named Meneco, and my little singing canary, Miss. Canary. 

Here in this blog I'll talk about several things, not only about my own life and wildlife observations, but also about conservation issues and maybe even a little bit of politics. Therefore, expect quite a lot of interesting posts over here. I may post new entries every day, maybe even more than once a day, but if I don't post anything for a long time without telling anything, it's perhaps because of this Internet of ours, that sometimes isn't very cooperative.

I'll finish this post with a gorgeous black-and-white picture I took of my good old mutt, Meneco:

Doesn't he look angelical in that picture? Doesn't he?

-Cristina

Top Photo: Juvenile Red-tailed hawk, from Wiki Commons