Swainson’s Thrushes, aka Olive-backed Thrushes, hopefully Olive-backed replaces Swainson’s in the coming removal of eponymous English names by the American Ornithological Society (AOS). It is easy to miss Olive-backed Thrushes in their deep-forest, forest floor haunts until they sing. Like their forest thrush taxonomic cousins they have a flutelike upward-spiraling ethereal song.But even then you […]
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An immature – yellow eyes & brown streaking – Cooper’s Hawk in our urban, deep inside-the-perimeter of Atlanta yard. This is increasingly common urban occurrence. Cooper’s Hawks are overall short to medium distance migrants. But there is growing evidence that during dispersal if a young adult emigrates to an urban setting they tend to stay […]
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There is nothing a Summer Tanager, in this case a fall migrating female, enjoys more than a fat wasp (or bee). But what about the stinger? They catch their victim in the air, take it back to a branch, & roughly rub it on the bark to remove the stinger. Then down the hatch. This […]
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Female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds seem to never stop feeding, even for simple body functions. But of course, what goes in has to go out. This is especially true for hummers. Hummingbirds are unique ‘peeers’ in the bird world. Every day, hummingbirds ingest their body weight + in nectar. That nectar is 75 – 80% water. To […]
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This Veery is a forest thrush & Yard-Lifer for our urban yard deep in metro-Atlanta. Veeries are long-distance migrants. They spend the summer in the forests of Canada & northern U.S. (& a few at the highest elevations of the southern Appalachian Mts) & winter in central and southern Brazil. To make this trip, they […]
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