⭕️Antillean crested hummingbird

Antillean crested hummingbird (鳳頭蜂鳥)
British Virgin Islands (2014)
7th July, 2014. Road Town

The Antillean Crested Hummingbird is a tiny hummingbird species with a small geographic range in the Caribbean, from eastern Puerto Rico through much of the Lesser Antilles. In its range, it is easily identified both by the small size and the obvious crest. In the United States it is generally unknown, although there are a handful of disputed sightings in both Texas and Florida.

Found in a variety of habitats, typically open, lowland areas such as forest edges and clearings, parks, and residential areas. Feeds on both nectar and small insects.

Forages by taking nectar from flowers, vigorously defending favored patches from rivals. They also will take insects, both by gleaning from vegetation while hovering, or by capturing insects in flight. The nest of an Antillean Crested Hummingbird is a small cup built of plant fibers and decorated with bits of moss, lichen, and other material, built within 3 to 10 feet of the ground in a shrub, vine, or other protected area. The female usually lays 2 eggs, and she alone incubates them. She alone feeds the young once they hatch. The young fledge after about 3 weeks.

⭕️Burrowing Owl

Burrowing Owl (穴鴞)
Aruba (2016)
25th July, 2016. Oranjestad

Burrowing Owl is a small, long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. It can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or any other open dry area with low vegetation. They nest and roost in burrows, such as those excavated by prairie dogs. Unlike most owls, burrowing owls are often active during the day, although they tend to avoid the midday heat. But like many other kinds of owls, burrowing owls do most of their hunting from dusk until dawn, when they can use their night vision and hearing to their advantage. Living in open grasslands as opposed to the forest, the burrowing owl has developed longer legs, which enables it to sprint as well as fly when hunting.

Adults have brown heads and wings with white spotting. The chest and abdomen are white with variable brown spotting or barring, also depending on the subspecies. Juvenile owls are similar in appearance, but they lack most of the white spotting above and brown barring below. The juveniles have a buff bar across the upper wing and their breast may be buff-colored rather than white. Burrowing owls of all ages have grayish legs longer than those of other owls.

⭕️Birds of prey in Falkland Islands

Barn Owl (倉鴞)
Falkland Islands (2016)
13th January, 2016. Stanley

Birds of prey are also termed “raptors”, derived from the Latin rapere, meaning to take or seize by force. They are characterised by sharply curved bills, powerful feet with large talons, exceptional eyesight in diurnal species and specially adapted hearing in nocturnal species.

The Falkland Islands has seven species of raptor: six of these are represented in this issue; the seventh is the Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura falklandica), a New World vulture.

Striated Caracara (條紋卡拉鷹)
Falkland Islands (2016)

13th January, 2016. Stanley

Peregrine Falcon (擬游隼)
Falkland Islands (2016)
13th January, 2016. Stanley

⭕️Purple Finch

Purple Finch (紫紅朱雀)

St Pierre et Miquelon (2016)

7th April, 2016. Miquelon

Purple Finch and the other "American rosefinches" are placed in the genus Haemorhous by the American Ornithologists' Union but have usually been included in Carpodacus. It is included in the finch family, Fringillidae, which is made up of passerine birds found in the northern hemisphere and Africa. The purple finch was originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789.

There are two subspecies of the purple finch, it differs from the nominate subspecies in that it has a longer tail and shorter wing. The plumage of both males and females are darker, and the coloration of the females is more greenish. The bill of C. p. californicus is also longer than that of the nominate subspecies.

Adults have a short forked brown tail and brown wings and are about 15 cm in length and weigh 34 g (1.2 oz). Adult males are raspberry red on the head, breast, back and rump; their back is streaked. Adult females have light brown upperparts and white underparts with dark brown streaks throughout; they have a white line on the face above the eye.

From top to bottom :

Purple Finch (紫紅朱雀) ; Bohemian Waxwing (太平鳥)
Blue Jay (藍松鴉) ; American Redstart (橙尾鴝鶯)

St Pierre et Miquelon (2013-2016)

7th April, 2016. Miquelon

Birds of Peru

From left to right :
Groove-billed Ani (溝嘴犀鵑) ; Slender-billed Finch (細嘴雀鵐)
Peru (2014)

18th February, 2016. Lima
29th February, 2016. Hong Kong

The Groove-billed Ani  is an odd-looking tropical bird in the cuckoo family with a long tail and a large, curved beak. It is a resident species throughout most of its range, from southern Texas, central Mexico and The Bahamas, through Central America, to northern Colombia and Venezuela, and coastal Ecuador and Peru. It only retreats from the northern limits of its range in Texas and northern Mexico during winter.

The groove-billed ani is about 34 cm long, and weighs 70–90g. It is completely black, with a very long tail almost as long as its body. It has a huge bill with horizontal grooves along the length of the upper mandible. It is very similar to the smooth-billed ani, some of which have bills as small as the groove-billed and with grooves on the basal half. The two species are best distinguished by voice and range. In flight, the ani alternates between quick, choppy flaps and short glides.

The Slender-billed Finch is a species of finch-like bird traditionally placed in the Emberizidae family, but it may be more closely related to the Thraupidae. It is restricted to southwest Peru and northern Chile, and inhabits mainly riverine vegetation along coastal valleys. It has been considered endangered due to loss of habitat. Riparian thickets that were common are under pressure from logging by farm owners. Some information has indicated that it has adapted to threats using olive trees areas and other artificial habitats successfully.

Red-billed Streamertail

Red-billed Streamertail (紅嘴長尾蜂鳥)
Jamaica (1995)
26th January, 2016. Negril Resorts

The red-billed streamertail also known as the doctor bird, scissor-tail or scissors tail hummingbird, is indigenous to Jamaica, where it is the most abundant and widespread member of the hummingbird family. While most authorities now consider it a separate species, some continue to consider it conspecific with the black-billed streamertail. The red-billed streamertail is the national bird of Jamaica.

When the black-billed streamertail of eastern Jamaica is considered a separate species, the red-billed streamertail occurs west of a line from Morant Bay following the Morant River, and via Ginger House and the middle Rio Grande to Port Antonio.

The next-to-outermost rectrices of the male are 15–18 centimetres long, far longer than its bearer's body. Trailing behind the flying hummingbird like thin black streamers, these feathers make a humming sound. Females lack the elongated rectrices, and are largely white below.

These birds feed on nectar from flowers using a long extendable tongue or catch small insects on the wing.

The bird is featured in Ian Fleming's James Bond short story For Your Eyes Only. The first line of the book reads, "The most beautiful bird in Jamaica, and some say the most beautiful bird in the world, is the streamer-tail or doctor humming-bird."

⭕️Wetlands of Uruguay

Scarlet-headed Blackbird (猩紅頭黑雀)
Uruguay (2015)
5th June, 2015. Punta del Este

Snowy Egret (美洲雪鷺)
Uruguay (2015)

5th June, 2015. Punta del Este

The spotlight will shine on Uruguay's spectacular Bañados del Este y Franja Costera wetland when it hosts the 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP12) in Punta del Este between 1-9 June.

The Bañados del Este y Franja Costera wetland is located on the eastern side of Uruguay, sharing a border with Brazil and taking in some of the country’s South Atlantic coast. An internationally recognised biosphere reserve, it comprises a vast complex of coastal wetlands, including various lagoons and parts of rivers. Altogether, these form a rich habitat for an assortment of wildlife, including myriad species that are categorised as near-threatened or endangered – one notable example is the juvenile green turtle (Chelonia mydas). Bañados del Este y Franja Costera was added to the Montreux Record, the register for wetlands where ecological changes have occurred or are occurring because of human interference, in July 1990. The area had already been designated as a wetland of international significance in 1984, thereby coming under the auspices of the Convention on Wetlands (or Ramsar Convention) which is committed to the conservation of vulnerable wetlands while achieving sustainable development by delivering a framework action at local and global levels.

The Bañados del Este y Franja Costera wetland is situated in the departments of Rocha and Treinta y Tres in eastern Uruguay (its coordinates are: 33°48'S 053°50'W). The site covers an approximate area of some 407,408 hectares. Many of the country’s rivers flow east toward the Atlantic and empty into lagoons in the coastal plain – the largest of these is Laguna Merin, Uruguay’s easternmost destination and part of the reserve.

⭕️Isla de Flores

Snowy Egret (美洲雪鷺), Kelp Gull (黑背鷗) and
American Oystercatcher (美洲蠣鷸)
Uruguay (2011)
3rd December, 2015. Montevideo

Isla de Flores is a small island in the Rio de la Plata, 21 miles south-east of Punta Carretas, Montevideo, Uruguay.

Flores was named by Sebastián Gaboto, who discovered it on Easter Sunday 1527 (the Spanish expression Pascua Florida or Pascua de Flores, i.e. "Flowery Easter" was the reason for the name "Flores").

It has a historic lighthouse, which was the subject of an 1819 treaty, by which Uruguay lost the Misiones Orientales. This lighthouse, of Portuguese origin, entered service in 1828. It was dubbed "the world's most expensive lighthouse".[by whom?] The lighthouse is now under the jurisdiction of the Uruguayan Navy. It is 37 metres high and flashes twice every 10 seconds.

⭕️Spring series 2015 - Owls (2)

   

L : Short-eared Owl (短耳鴞) ; R : Great Horned Owl (大雕鴞)
Uruguay (2015)
30th September, 2015. Montevideo

Uruguay is home to birds. Uruguay was named after the Uruguay River, which meant in Guarani, the native people’s language,  “A river where colored birds inhabit”.

Uruguay is the best country for bird-watching.

There are 9 bird-watching sites found along the coastline and 11 such sites inland. Near these sites are hotels, restaurants, and Estancias (farms and ranches) ready to welcome tourists and visitors.

As the birds you may encounter vary place to place, it is advisable to check the information in advance: the families of herons are seen in the eastern wetland; the families of sea gulls are at the mouth of rivers and brooks; the families of ibises and crows are in the northern ravines; thrushes and tanagers are in the forests; and lesser rheas, the biggest birds seen in South America, and harriers are in the grasslands.
Although most migratory birds come flying from September through March, bird-watching is a year-round leisure since vermillion flycatchers and frigate birds come flying in spring, and Magellan penguins, albatrosses and petrels come flying in winter.

The lake Rocha is famous for allowing you to watch black-necked swans and flamingos. You can even find nests of ovenbirds on the electric poles and roofs in the urban district. Let’s look for them when you do not go to the sanctuaries for bird-watching.

Uruguay is the best country for bird-watching, where more than 440 kinds of wild birds live.

⭕️Spring series 2015 - Owls (1)

From left to right:
First row: Buff-fronted Owl (黃額鬼鴞) ; Burrowing Owl (穴鴞)
Tropical Screech-Owl (熱帶角鴞)
Second row: Barn Owl (倉鴞) ; Ferruginous Pygmy-owl (赤褐鵂鶹)
Striped Owl (紋鴞)
Uruguay (2015)
3rd December, 2015. Montevideo

Uruguay is home to birds. Uruguay was named after the Uruguay River, which meant in Guarani, the native people’s language,  “A river where colored birds inhabit”.

Uruguay is the best country for bird-watching.

There are 9 bird-watching sites found along the coastline and 11 such sites inland. Near these sites are hotels, restaurants, and Estancias (farms and ranches) ready to welcome tourists and visitors.

As the birds you may encounter vary place to place, it is advisable to check the information in advance: the families of herons are seen in the eastern wetland; the families of sea gulls are at the mouth of rivers and brooks; the families of ibises and crows are in the northern ravines; thrushes and tanagers are in the forests; and lesser rheas, the biggest birds seen in South America, and harriers are in the grasslands.

Although most migratory birds come flying from September through March, bird-watching is a year-round leisure since vermillion flycatchers and frigate birds come flying in spring, and Magellan penguins, albatrosses and petrels come flying in winter.

The lake Rocha is famous for allowing you to watch black-necked swans and flamingos. You can even find nests of ovenbirds on the electric poles and roofs in the urban district. Let’s look for them when you do not go to the sanctuaries for bird-watching.

Uruguay is the best country for bird-watching, where more than 440 kinds of wild birds live.

⭕️Baby wildlife

Burrowing Owl (穴鴞) ; Atlantic Puffin (北極海鸚)

Canada (2014)
27th August, 2015. Witless Bay, Newfoundland

Happy New Year !

Witless Bay is a fishing community, first established because of its closeness to the rich fishing grounds on the Grand Banks. Tourism is an important part of the community as well, since the community is home to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve, which contains North America´s largest Atlantic Puffin colony and the world's second-largest colony of Leach's Storm-petrels. The presence of these bird colonies has given birth to the Witless Bay Puffin and Petrel Patrol, a volunteer organization aiming to save stranded chick and return them safely to the ocean. Bed-and-breakfast establishments, coffee shops, a whale and puffin tour operator, several craftspeople, and the Witless Bay and Area Puffin and Petrel Patrol attract visitors from all over the world.

Atlantic Puffin (北極海鸚)

Canada (2014)
27th August, 2015. Witless Bay, Newfoundland

⭕️Christmas

25c : Western Meadowlark (西草地鷚) ; $5,00 : Yellow-rumped Cacique (黃腰酋長鳥)
50c : American Yellow Warbler (北美黃林鶯) ; $1,00 : American Goldfinch (美洲金翅雀)
$1,60 : Northern Mockingbird (小嘲鶇)

Nevis (1996)
28th August, 2015. Charlestown, Nevis

Nevis, like most small Caribbean islands, has a wealth of events and festivals scattered throughout the year. The two main holidays on Nevis are Christmas and Easter. On Nevis people celebrate Christmas the day before, in Charlestown, until midnight, when everyone goes home to spend Christmas day with their families, and then everyone parties again on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day). Easter celebrations stretch from Good Friday, with kite contests, until Easter Monday, with beach parties).

⭕️Tranqueras

Greater Rhea (美洲鴕鳥)
Uruguay (2014)
22nd July, 2014. Tranqueras

Tranqueras is a city in the Rivera Department of northeastern Uruguay.

During the first decades of the 19th century the area was known as Paso de Tranqueras because of the homonymous bridge over the Tacuarembó Grande river. In 1890 the French Marcos Bourré donated to the state some land for the construction of a railway station. The arrival of the railway became the birth point of a village which grew rapidly with hotels, stores and small industry.

Red Knot (紅腹濱鷸)
Uruguay (2013)
22nd July, 2013. Montevideo

⭕️American Redstart

American Redstart (橙尾鴝鶯)
St Pierre et Miquelon (2015)
10th March, 2015. St Pierre

The American redstart is a smallish warbler. It measures 11 to 14 cm in total length and has a wingspan of 16 to 23 cm. Its length is boosted by a relatively long tail and it is one of the lightest birds in its family. Weight is considerably less in winter than in summer. Males weigh an average of 8.6 g in summer but drop to 7.2 g in winter, while females drop even more from an average of 8.7 g to an average of 6.9 g. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 5.5 to 6.9 cm, the tail is 4.9 to 5.8 cm, the bill is 0.7 to 0.9 cm and the tarsus is 1.5 to 1.9 cm. The breeding males are unmistakable, jet black above apart from large orange-red patches on their wings and tails. Their breast sides are also orange, with the rest of their underparts colored white. In their other plumages, American redstarts display green in their upperparts, along with black central tails and grey heads. The orange patches of the breeding males are replaced by yellow in the plumages of the females and young birds. Orange and yellow coloration is due to the presence of carotenoids; males possess the red carotenoid canthaxanthin and the yellow carotenoids canary xanthophyll A and B, all of which mix together to produce an orange colour, while the females possess only the yellow carotenoids. Recent research indicates that an age and sex effect on observed color attributes of hue, brightness, and saturation exists in American redstarts, with the exception for saturation, which only showed an age effect. Their song is a series of musical see notes. Their call is a soft chip.

American Redstart (橙尾鴝鶯)
St Pierre et Miquelon (2015)
17th January, 2015. St Pierre

⭕️Northern Cardinal

Northern Cardinal (北美紅雀)
USA (2014)
23rd October, 2014. New York

Northern Cardinal is one of three birds in the genus Cardinalis and is included in the family Cardinalidae, which is made up of passerine birds found in North and South America.

The northern cardinal was one of the many species originally described by Linnaeus in his 18th-century work, Systema Naturae. It was initially included in the genus Loxia, which now contains only crossbills. In 1838, it was placed in the genus Cardinalis and given the scientific name Cardinalis virginianus, which means "Virginia cardinal". In 1918, the scientific name was changed to Richmondena cardinalis to honor Charles Wallace Richmond, an American ornithologist. In 1983, the scientific name was changed again to Cardinalis cardinalis and the common name was changed to "northern cardinal", to avoid confusion with the seven other species also termed cardinals.

The common name, as well as the scientific name, of the northern cardinal refers to the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, who wear distinctive red robes and caps. The term "northern" in the common name refers to its range, as it is the northernmost cardinal species.

⭕️Tourist destinations - Maldonado and Rocha

Upper : Red Knot (紅腹濱鷸), Green Sea Turtle (綠蠵龜)
Lower : Greater Rhea (美洲鴕鳥)
Uruguay (2013, 2014)
20th October, 2014. Montevideo

Maldonado is the capital of Maldonado Department of Uruguay. As of the census of 2011, it is the seventh most populated city of the country.

Maldonado is also the name of the municipality to which the city belongs. It includes the following zones: Maldonado, Punta Ballena, Portezuelo, Barrio Hipódromo, Canteras de Marelli, Los Ceibos, Abra de Perdomo, Laguna del Diario.

Rocha is the capital city of the Rocha Department in Uruguay.

The city is located on the intersection of Route 9 with Route 15, about 70 kilometres northeast of San Carlos of Maldonado Department. The stream Arroyo Rocha flows along the west limits of the city. It was founded in 1793 and had acquired the status of "Villa" (town) before the Independence of Uruguay. On 7 July 1880 it was made capital of the Department of Rocha by the Act of Ley Nº 1.474, while its status was elevated to "Ciudad" on 10 January 1894 by the Act of Ley Nº 2.252.

⭕️Bank Swallow

Bank Swallow (灰沙燕)
USA (2013)
Mountain Bluebird (山藍鳥) ; Evening Grosbeak (黃昏錫嘴雀)
USA (2014)
5th April, 2014. Audubon

Bank Swallow is the smallest swallow in North America and can be found on every continent except Antarctica. About five inches long, the slender bird digs nesting burrows in riverbanks, gravel pits and even highway cuts. Both males and females help dig the tunnel, first pecking out a shallow hole with their beaks, then using their feet to kick out the dirt.

Like all swallows, Bank Swallows are agile songbirds that specialize in catching insects in midair. A typical Bank Swallow colony can have anywhere from ten to nearly 2,000 nests. A sandbank riddled with holes, especially one near a river or lake, is likely to be the home of a colony of Bank Swallows.

⭕️Bermuda bluebird

Eastern Bluebird (東方藍鴝)
Bermuda (2014)
13th August, 2014. Hamilton

The first and most drastic decline of the bluebird population occurred in the late 19th century when the House sparrow was introduced. The aggressive and adaptable sparrow multiplied rapidly and soon became the most abundant bird in Bermuda. The sparrow, as a hole-nester, rapidly displaced the bluebirds from the eaves of houses and soon began taking over the cliff holes and hollow of the cedar trees as well.

By the 1930's the natural bluebird nestlings were confined almost exclusively to holes in the trunks of cedar trees. The cedar scale endemic in the late 1940's and early 1950's killed over 90% of Bermuda's cedar forest. In an attempt to remove the eyesore and reforest the island the Government and private landowners felled most of the dead cedars destroying many ideal-nesting hollows.

 

Eastern Bluebird (東方藍鴝)
Bermuda (2014)
13th August, 2014. Hamilton

⭕️2010 International Year of Biodiversity

From left to right :
75c : Green Iguana (美洲鬣蜥) ; 95c : Hercules Beetle (長戟大兜蟲)
$2,50 : White-breasted Thrasher (白胸嘲鶇) ; 30c : Saint Lucia Lobelia (聖露西亞半邊蓮)
St Lucia (2010)
12th June, 2014. Castries

Saint Lucia has been in the forefront of the movement to save the biodiversity of the world as it is a small island developing state with many endemic species. Notable successes include the conservation of the Saint Lucia parrot which is found in Saint Lucia and nowhere else in the world and has been brought back from the brink of extinction in the late 1970s to now having over 1500 birds flying free in the wild at the last count done in 2009 by a newly designed scientific survey. The public awareness campaign using Jacquot, the affectionate name of the bird, as a flagship species for biodiversity conservation from 1979-1989, the Jacquot Consolidation Campaign of 1990-1991, the designation of the bird as the National Bird in 1979, the same year that Saint Lucia attained independence, the designation of the Saint Lucia rain forest as a parrot sanctuary all contributed to the successful efforts to conserve this parrot. Saint Lucia is very grateful for the help that it has obtained for these successes from its various partners including the Durrell Wildlife Preservation Trust and the RARE Centre for Tropical Conservation. The efforts of the Forestry Department must be commended in this regard.

The country can also boast of the rehabilitation of the latanye and mauby plant species important for the livelihoods of many rural people. Through the diligent efforts of the Forestry Department, the plants are now being cultivated by farmers. As a result, the broom and beverage producers can continue their livelihoods. The Aupicon Charcoal Producers is another case in point of individuals benefitting from using biological resources for their livelihoods. For many years, working with the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute and the Fisheries and Forestry Departments, charcoal producers of Vieux Fort would cut the stems of mangrove plants in the Mankote Mangrove without denuding the mangrove forests and the trees would always regenerate.

The Saint Lucia Whiptail lizard which was found only on The Maria Islands has now been successfully translocated to Praslin Island, Dennery Island and Rat Island by the Forestry Department, providing a safety net for this lizard where the male has the colours of the Saint Lucia flag. There are over one thousand individuals of these species living in the wild.

⭕️Songbirds of USA

From left to right :

1sr roll : Mountain Bluebird (山藍鳥) ; Western Tanager (黃腹麗唐納雀)
Painted Bunting (麗色彩鵐)
Baltimore Oriole (橙腹擬黃鸝) ; Western Meadowlark (西草地鷚)
2nd roll : Scarlet Tanager (猩紅麗唐納雀) ; Rose-breasted Grosbeak (玫胸白斑翅雀)
American Goldfinch (美洲金翅雀)
White-throated Sparrow (白喉帶鵐) ; Evening Grosbeak (黃昏錫嘴雀)
USA (2014)
15th April, 2014. Redmond

Between 4,000 and 4,500 different types of songbirds can be found around the planet, accounting for nearly half of all bird species. Songbirds are identified by their highly developed vocal organs. Some songbirds, like the crow, have harsh voices, others sing rarely or not at all. All songbirds are classified as perching birds. With three toes pointing forward and one pointing backwards, they can grip branches and grasses with ease.

Why do songbirds make such a glorious sound every morning? In a word, love. Males sing to attract females and to warn rivals to keep out of their territory.

   

   

 

From left to right :
1sr roll : Baltimore Oriole (橙腹擬黃鸝) ; Painted Bunting (麗色彩鵐) 
Rose-breasted Grosbeak (玫胸白斑翅雀)
2nd roll : Western Tanager (黃腹麗唐納雀) ; Scarlet Tanager (猩紅麗唐納雀)
 Western Meadowlark (西草地鷚)
3rd roll : White-throated Sparrow (白喉帶鵐)
American Goldfinch (美洲金翅雀)
USA (2014)
5th April, 2014. Dallas, Taxes