Bird Is The Word

Chicken agility course. 🐓 The ending is the best! [via Facebook]

I’m dying. BOING

@quaility @nambroth how soon will your chickens be ready for the Nationals?

ACTUALLY many chickens are quite easy to clicker train, as as most are extremely food motivated. I’ve trained Chickadee to hop up onto my hand or arm on command, but haven’t really done much else with her yet, mostly due to a lack of time. Whenever I go out with the chickens I confess my energy is spent on snuggling and watching them be themselves. But they could absolutely be trained! SEE THIS VIDEOS http://drsophiayin.com/videos/entry/sophias_trained_chickens

October 26, 2015 - Tawny Frogmouth (Podargus strigoides)

Requested by: @thefireinthewire

These birds are found in wooded areas in most of Australia, except for dense rainforests. They eat invertebrates, especially moths, and small vertebrates such as mice, frogs, and birds. Nocturnal hunters, these birds spend most of the day perched on a branch with their eyes partially closed, their grayish patterned feathers providing excellent camouflage. Like owls, they have fringed feathers, which make their flight silent. Monogamous pairs build stick nests in tree forks, often reusing the same nest for several years. Both parents take turns incubating the eggs for about a month and both feed the chicks.

October 21, 2015 - Grey Crowned Crane, East African Crowned Crane, South African Crowned Crane, or Southern Crowned Crane (Balearica regulorum)

Requested by: @taylorrbranham

These large cranes are found in eastern and southern Africa. They are omnivorous, feeding on many small animals such as lizards, amphibians, and fish, as well as grasses and seeds. Their varied diet has allowed them to adapt to human habitation, as they often feed in cropland and other cultivated areas. One of two crane species capable of roosting in trees (the other being the Black Crowned Crane) they also occasionally nest in trees. More commonly, their nests are built along the edges of wetlands and are constructed from uprooted grass. They are classified as Endangered, mostly due to loss and degradation of their wetland habitats.

October 19, 2015 - Cream-colored Woodpecker (Celeus flavus)

These unusually colored woodpeckers are found in northern South America, including Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. They eat ants and termites, as well as some fruits and seeds, usually foraging in pairs or small groups, but sometimes alone. There are four subspecies, which vary in coloring and often interbreed. The sexes look relatively similar, but females lack the reddish patches on the face.

October 16, 2015 - Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis)

Requested by: @taylorrbranham

These kingfishers are found in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia. They hunt for fish from a perch, or while hovering above the water, and also eat insects, frogs, and mollusks. Breeding pairs dig nest chambers into sandbanks, a process which takes nearly a month. Females do most of the incubation and helpers often assist the pair. These birds are usually the year old chicks of the pair, or adults which have failed in their own attempts at breeding.

October 12, 2015 - Ivory Gull (Pagophila eburnea)

Requested by: @taylorrbranham

These small gulls spend most of their time in the Arctic, breeding in parts of Canada, Greenland, Norway, and Russia. They eat fish, marine invertebrates, small mammals, carrion, and seal waste. Like owls and many other birds, they regurgitate pellets made up of the indigestible parts of their diet, such as bones and fur. Breeding on cliffs and rocky islands, they use mosses, dried grass, wood fragments, feathers, seaweed, lichen, and mud to build their nests. They are classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN, as they have experienced a large decline since the 1980s. Disturbance by humans, loss of pack ice due to climate change, pollution, and hunting seem to be the main threats to their population.

October 7, 2015 - Crimson Sunbird or Yellow-backed Sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja)

These small sunbirds are found in most of Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia. They eat mostly nectar, along with some insects and spiders, especially in the breeding season. Seeking out nectar that is particularly high in sugar, they serve as important pollinators for some plants, especially species with tube-shaped flowers. Pairs build nests together, suspending the purse-shaped structures from a branch or fern frond. Females line the nests and do most of the incubation and males help feed the chicks.

October 5, 2015 - Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor)

Requested by: @tieltavern and @briana83

These birds spend their summers in most of North America and their winters in northern and eastern South America. Foraging mostly at dawn and dusk, they eat flying insects, scooping them up with their large mouths. They often feed near bright lights which have attracted large insect swarms. Males perform a flight display to attract females or scare intruders. Diving from above the trees, they stop near the ground, making a booming sound as air rushes across their wings. Females lay their eggs on bare ground. Both parents feed the chicks and may use diversion displays to distract predators from their nests.

October 11, 2015 - Silver-breasted Broadbill, Gould’s Broadbill, Collared Broadbill, Hodgson’s Broadbill, or Red-backed Broadbill (Serilophus lunatus)

Found in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of China, these broadbills live in several types of subtropical and tropical forests. They eat mostly insects, including grasshoppers and mantises, hunting from perches or plucking them from branches and leaves. The sexes look very similar, but females have a thin silvery band across their upper chests. Though they are classified as of Least Concern, their population is declining due to habitat loss.

October 3, 2015 - White-plumed Antbird (Pithys albifrons)

These small antbirds are found in northern South America, in Brazil, French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. They follow army ants, catching insects, arthropods, and small vertebrates that flee from the swarms. Males and females build nests together from rootlets and dead leaves. In some areas, females leave chicks with their mates to seek out new partners and begin the process of nesting again.

October 2, 2015 - Red-flanked Bluetail or Orange-flanked Bush-robin (Tarsiger cyanurus)

Requested by: @gepwin

Spending the breeding season in mixed coniferous forests of northern Asia and northeastern Europe, these birds winter in South and Southeast Asia. They are sometimes spotted as vagrants in Western Europe and western Alaska. Though they were previously considered thrushes, they are now classified as Old World flycatchers. Catching their insect prey in the air or on the ground, they also eat fruits and seeds outside of the breeding season. Females incubate the eggs in a cup-shaped nest on or near the ground.

October 1, 2015 - Mountain Caracara (Phalcoboenus megalopterus)

Found in the Andes mountains of South America, these caracaras are often seen foraging in groups. They eat rodents, birds, and arthropods, as well as refuse and carrion, usually hunting and searching for food on the ground. Nesting on cliffs or structures, they construct their nests from sticks or other materials and usually lay two eggs.

September 30, 2015 - Snowy Plover (Charadrius nivosus)

Requested by: @gepwin

These small plovers can be found on shorelines in parts of North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean. They eat both aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, mostly plucking their prey from the ground. Nesting in shallow depressions, which they line with pebbles, bits of shell or bone, and pieces of plants, they often raise more than one brood a year. The downy chicks can run, swim, and forage on their own soon after hatching. In some areas, females leave the nest around the time the chicks hatch to seek out a new mate and nest again. Males in these areas also find new mates after their first brood has fledged. They are classified as Near Threatened due mostly to habitat loss and degradation.

September 29, 2015 - Crested Owl (Lophostrix cristata)

Requested by: @taylorrbranham

Found in parts of Mexico, Central, and northern South America, these owls are completely nocturnal. They eat insects, including caterpillars and beetles, and probably small vertebrates. They nest in tree cavities, but little else is known about their breeding habits. Their call is a frog-like growling sound, repeated in five to ten second intervals, beginning at dusk and often continuing through much of the night.

September 28, 2015 - Golden Pheasant, Chinese Pheasant, or Red Golden Pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus)

Requested by: gemcandy

These pheasants are native to the mountains of western China. Feral populations can be found in many parts of North and South America, the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. They eat invertebrates, grains, and leaves, foraging and spending much of their time on the ground. Though able to fly, they usually only do so in short bursts, especially when startled. They are popular in captivity, where they have frequently been crossed with Lady Amherst’s Pheasants.

September 27, 2015 - White-winged Dove (Zenaida asiatica)

Requested by: @gepwin

These doves are found in deserts of the southwestern United States and in some urban areas across the southern U.S. They eat a wide variety of seeds and fruits, including those of the saguaro cactus, occasionally supplementing their diet with snails and fragments of bone for calcium. Like other doves, they do not rely on gravity to swallow. They can drink water without moving their heads, instead of filling their beaks and tipping back their heads like most birds. Males choose the general nest sites and bring twigs to females, which select the specific sites and do most of the construction. Both parents feed the chicks with crop milk. Though there was a serious drop in this species’ Texas population in the 20th century, they are now rebounding and expanding their range.

September 26, 2015 - Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus)

Requested by: @graphicgoat

These sandpipers breed in northeastern Russia, migrating down the Pacific coast, through Japan, North and South Korea, and China to winter in Southeast Asia. They eat a variety of invertebrates, as well as grass seeds and berries in the breeding season and marine invertebrates, such as polychaete worms and shrimp, during the rest of the year. A reddish color in breeding plumage, their feathers are grey, black, and white in the non-breeding season. Starting in late May and early June, males perform flight displays over their territories until they have attracted a mate. Females lay four eggs in a shallow scrape and both parents take turns incubating them. They are Critically Endangered due to destruction of their migratory stopover habitat and hunting on their wintering grounds. There are probably fewer than 100 breeding pairs left.

Also see this bird in non-breeding plumage: http://birdstudies.net/post/92353247144/july-5-2014-spoon-billed-sandpiper

You can learn about efforts to save these birds at: http://www.saving-spoon-billed-sandpiper.com/