Range maps can obscure the seasonal movement of birds.
For instance, the range map for pileated woodpeckers, below, shows them in western Pennsylvania all year long but they’re not everywhere. There are none in Schenley Park in the spring and summer. (UPDATE in 2021: Pileated woodpeckers now nest in Schenley Park)
However, a male pileated woodpecker comes to Panther Hollow for the winter. He announces his presence when he sees me on the trail.
It’s a treat to see him as I walk through Schenley Park.
(photo by Dick Martin, range map from Wikimedia Commons; click on the map to see the original image)
In this Inuit legend the raven used to be light-colored. Then one day he played a game with a snowy owl. By the time the game was over, the raven was black.
Click on the screenshot to watch a 6 minute video that shows see how it happened.
(Inuit legend video from the National Film Board of Canada on YouTube)
On a visit to Bird Hall at Carnegie Museum I saw this bird with an unusual crown that opens sideways!
Bird crests typically open front to back so that they’re aerodynamic. Cardinals, blue jays and tufted titmice can fly with their crests up. This bird would have a problem.
The label on the pedestal says Royal Flycatcher (Onychorhynchus coronatus), native from southern Mexico to southeastern Brazil. Why does she have a sideways crest? And what is it used for?
Back home on the Internet, I found out that royal flycatchers rarely raise their crowns. They use them in perched displays with their mates and in agonistic encounters with other birds but normally keep them flattened. The birds usually look like this. Pretty boring except for the tail.
Cameron encountered this flycatcher while banding birds in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. As he held the bird, it opened its crest and beak and silently rotated its head back and forth 180 degrees in a mesmerizing display. See Cameron’s video below.
I would never have learned this if I hadn’t been curious about the royal flycatcher at Carnegie Museum.
The bird that wears a royal crown.
(photo credits:
Male royal flycatcher with red crest raised, still photo and video by Cameron Rutt linked from Nemesis Bird and Flickr.
Female taxidermy mount at Bird Hall, Carnegie Museum, photo by Kate St.John.
Boring royal flycatcher not showing its crest, from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original)
Reports on PABIRDS just before Christmas say there’s been a surf scoter on the Allegheny River upriver from the Highland Park Bridge.
The reports don’t indicate whether it’s a colorful male or a dull looking first-year male or female.
This photo from Wikimedia Commons shows a female and male to give you an idea of what to look for. Notice the heavy triangular bill typical of scoters, and the white patch on the back of the head typical of surf scoters.
The Light Garden begins to glow at 5:00p and is open until 11:00p. Click on Phipps’ photo above to see a 3D tour of the lights.
The flowers indoors are gorgeous as always, especially the Broderie Room. This photo from Wikimedia Commons is even better at full size. Click on the photo to get the full effect.
(photo credits: Light Garden linked from Phipps Conservatory website. Broderie Room by Dllu is a Featured Photo at Wikimedia Commons. Click on each image to see its original.)
We won’t have snow in Pittsburgh this Christmas and we certainly won’t have evening grosbeaks but you can watch both — live — at Ontario FeederWatch.
The feeders are located in Manitouwadge, Ontario, a remote town that’s far away in the woods — an 11.5 hour drive from Toronto and 8 hours from Duluth, Minnesota.
Manitouwadge is so far north that it has birds we never see here including evening and pine grosbeaks, gray jays and hoary redpolls. There are also a lot of birds you’ll recognize: black-capped chickadees, downy and hairy woodpeckers, crows and starlings.
Tune in to Ontario FeederWatch and watch cool birds in the snow. (Click here or on the image above.)
Six years ago I ran a series on bird anatomy. Here’s a refresher course on bird bones, the strong, hollow, lightweight structures that allow them to fly: Anatomy: Hollow Bones