While we were at Lowry Park Zoo last week, we also had the joy of hearing the Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) sounding off with its mate. Seems like the Myna birds and the singing dogs were not the only ones in a happy mood. The two Kookaburras got to “laughing” also. They sort of set the tone to put you a joyful mood.
For You, O Lord, have made me glad by Your works; at the deeds of Your hands I joyfully sing. (Psalms 92:4 AMP) Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth and sing for joy, yes, sing praises! (Psalms 98:4 AMP)
I have always enjoyed seeing the Kookaburras. When we were at the National Aviary I tried recording them, but by the time I got the camera on, they stopped. I recorded them this time but didn’t get the camera focused on them until about half way through. Oh, the challenges of birdwatching! Well, at least trying to get a recording to use on the blog anyway. When you put all the events together; the singing Bali Myna, the singing dogs, and these singing Kookaburras, it brings to mind a story in the Bible. When Paul and Silas where in prison, (behind bars) they were joyful just the same. All of these critters plus the men (Paul and Silas) are behind bars, yet they are joyful and carrying on with their lives. Could there be a lesson there for us to learn and observe?
And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. (Acts 16:25 KJV)
Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. (James 1:2 AMP)
We all have things come into our lives, but our attitude affects how well we handle those circumstances. Prayer is one of the best ways to find peace in the midst of trials. Knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Savior is the absolute best way. I trust you know Him.
This video has two of my photos to cover the blurred part, but the sound is the whole recording.
The Laughing Kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae) is a carnivorous bird in the kingfisher family Halcyonidae. Native to eastern Australia, it has also been introduced to parts of New Zealand, Tasmania and Western Australia. Male and female adults are similar in plumage, which is predominantly brown and white. A common and familiar bird, this species of kookaburra is well known for its laughing call.
Ian’s Bird of the Week – Hoary-headed Grebe ~ by Ian Montgomery
Newsletter – 6/17/13
The Birdsville Track isn’t famous for its waterbirds but when we drove along it in April there had been recent rains and we were in for a few surprises. Not, happily, of the getting bogged variety, but birding ones at several spots including this one where we camped more or less in the middle of nowhere beside a small dam. That speck on the left hand side near the lone tree is my car.
As well as some Pink-eared Ducks, there were several Hoary-headed Grebes. The ones in the first and second Grebe photos are in non-breeding or immature plumage and, although they are larger than Australasian (Little) Grebes (30cm/12in versus 25cm/10in in length) you need to use subtle field marks to distinguish them in these plumages.
Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus) by Ian 1
The main field marks are: the Hoary-Headed has greyish rather than rufous-tinged flanks and whiter breast (though the bird in the first Grebe photo shows that you need to be careful with stained plumage); the border between the dark cap and pale cheeks goes below rather than through the eye in the Hoary-headed Grebe and the eyes are different in colour and pattern. The Australasian Grebe has conventional-looking eyes with yellow iris while the Hoary-headed Grebe has button-like eyes with a dark iris with a white inner and a white outer ring. This is probably easier to see in the closer bird in the second Grebe photo.
Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus) by Ian 2
It’s only when you see a bird in breeding plumage with spiky pale head feathers that you understand where it gets its unusual English name (the scientific name Poliocephalus means a much more prosaic ‘grey-headed’). ‘Hoary’ literally just means ‘whitish’ but it’s an adjective that is usually applied to frost and snow so it is used as a metaphor for ‘frosty’ in the English names of 4 or 5 bird species globally. (Another example is the Hoary or Arctic Redpoll
http://www.birdway.com.au/fringillidae/hoary_redpoll/index.htm which fits better geographically.) We encountered the bird in breeding plumage about a week later at Bowra Station near Cunnamulla, SW Queensland, where we spent a few nights on the way back to Townsville.
Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus) by Ian 3
Grebes are almost exclusively aquatic and expert divers. Their legs are set far back on the body, so they are very awkward on land which they avoid as much as possible. They build floating nests out of water plants so they just need to haul themselves out of the water to tend the eggs and the young leave the nest soon after hatching. They usually dive rather than fly to avoid predators, though they can fly long distances if necessary to find water and the Hoary-headed Grebe, commonest in southern Australia is rather a nomad in the north. It’s closest relative is the New Zealand Grebe or ‘Dabchick’ and is the only member of the genus Poliocephalus.
Best wishes
Ian
**************************************************
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Tel 0411 602 737 ian@birdway.com.au
Bird Photos
http://www.birdway.com.au/
Looks like quite a deserted place, but those are cute little Grebes. I am glad Ian gets out and about so much there in Australia. He always finds something interesting for us to learn about. Thanks, Ian, for sharing.
I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. (Isaiah 41:18 AMP)
The Hoary-headed Grebe (Poliocephalus poliocephalus) is a member of the grebe family found in Australia and New Zealand. The bird takes its name from the silvery-white streaking on its black head. It is common in Australia, with a population of about 500,000. Its habitat is similar to that of the Australasian Grebe.
The Hoary-headed Grebe feeds on aquatic arthropods, mostly caught by deep diving. This species feeds during the day, and when the light is poor, forages mostly at the water surface.
Hoary-headed Grebes breed from August to January. The nests are a floating platform of water weeds, similar to that of the Australasian Grebe, and usually some distance out from shore among sparse reeds or other plants, anchored to and at least partly supported by them. A shallow depression on top is just slightly above water, so the eggs are lying in water or dampness. The eggs are concealed under pieces of wet vegetation when the incubating parent leaves so that the nest appears empty. Under full sun the covered eggs are warm and moist, often left unattended for some time. The egg’s appearance is oval, white, and soon stained brownish ochre, while the clutch is usually 2–5 eggs. Incubation is 20–24 days and egg size is 39 x 27 mm. (Wikipedia with editing)
Cerulean Warbler (Setophaga cerulea) – Birds Illustrated by Color Photography
THE CERULEAN WARBLER.
HIS beautiful little sky-blue feathered creature is well named Azure Warbler, or again White-throated Blue Warbler, and is the most abundant of the genus here.
It is a bird of the wood, everywhere associated with the beautiful tall forests of the more northern counties of western New York, sometimes found in the open woods of pasture-lands, and quite partial to hardwood trees. In its flitting motion in search of insect-prey, and in the jerking curves of its more prolonged flight, as also in its structure, it is a genuine Wood Warbler and keeps for the most part to what Thoreau calls the “upper story” of its sylvan domain.
All Warblers, it has been said, depend upon their markings rather than song for their identity, which renders the majority of the tribe of greater interest to the scientist than to the novice. Until you have named four or five of the commonest species as landmarks, you will be considerably confused.
Audubon described the song of the Cerulean Warbler as “extremely sweet and mellow,” whereas it is a modest little strain, says Chapman, or trill, divided into syllables like zee, zee, zee, ze-ee-ee-eep, or according to another observer, rheet, rheet, rheet, rheet, ridi, idi, e-e-e-e-ee; beginning with several soft warbling notes and ending in a rather prolonged but quite musical squeak. The latter and more rapid part of the strain, which is given in the upward slide, approaches an insect quality of tone which is more or less peculiar to all true Warblers, a song so common as to be a universal characteristic of our tall forests.
It is not strange that the nest of this species has been so seldom discovered, even where the bird is very abundant during the breeding season. It is built in the higher horizontal branches of forest trees, always out some distance from the trunk, and ranging from twenty to fifty feet above the ground. One described by Dr. Brewer, found in Ontario, near Niagara Falls, was built in a large oak tree at the height of fifty or more feet from the ground. It was placed horizontally on the upper surface of a slender limb between two small twigs; and the branch on which it was thus saddled was only an inch and a half in thickness, being nine feet from the trunk of the tree. The abandoned home was secured with great difficulty.
The nest is a rather slender fabric, somewhat similar to the nest of the Redstart, and quite small for the bird, consisting chiefly of a strong rim firmly woven of strips of fine bark, stems of grasses, and pine needles, bound round with flaxen fibres of plants and wool. Around the base a few bits of hornets’ nests, mosses, and lichens are loosely fastened. The nest within is furnished with fine stems and needles, the flooring very thin and slight.
The bird is shy when started from the nest, and has a sharp chipping alarm-note common to the family.
The Cerulean Warbler is found in the Eastern States, but is more numerous west of the Allegheny mountains, and throughout the heavily wooded districts of the Mississippi valley. In winter it migrates to Central America and Cuba. The Warblers are of unfailing interest to the lover of bird life. Apart from the beauty of the birds themselves, with their perpetually contrasting colors among the green leaves, their pretty ways furnish to the silent watcher an ever changing spectacle of the innocent life in the tree-tops.
Summary:
CERULEAN WARBLER—Dendræca caerulea. Other names: “Azure Warbler;” “White-throated Blue Warbler.”
Range—Mississippi valley as far north as Minnesota, and eastward as far as Lockport, N. Y. (Davison.) Winters in the tropics.
Nest—Of fine grasses bound with spider’s silk, lined with strips of bark and with a few lichens attached to its upper surface, in a tree, twenty-five to fifty feet from the ground. (Chapman.)
Eggs—Four, creamy-white, thickly covered with rather heavy blotches of reddish brown.
The birds of heaven dwell by them; they give forth their voice from among the branches. (Psalms 104:12 Darby)
The Lord has given us another neat little bird to observe. The color reminds us of the blue sky above. The Cerulean Warblers are part of the Parulidae – New World Warblers Family.
“Adult males have pale cerulean blue upperparts and white underparts with a black necklace across the breast; they also have black streaks on the back and flanks. Females and immature birds have greyer or greenish upperparts, a pale stripe over the eye, and no streaking on the back and no necklace. All of these birds, regardless of their age, have wing bars and a thin pointed bill. A small wood warbler of about 4 inches (11.5 cm) in length, with long pointed wings, short tail, and long under tail coverts. Males have blue upper parts and white below with black streaking on back and upper tail coverts. Females are bluish-green to olive-green above with white under parts and a white or yellowish eyebrow stripe. Both sexes have 2 white wing bars and white tail spots. Juveniles are similar to female with brownish/gray upper parts, white under parts and a pale crown stripe. The cerulean warbler is often found high in the canopy of mature forests.
Their breeding habitats are mature deciduous forests in eastern North America. They migrate to spend the boreal winter in forested mountain areas in South America. The cerulean warbler is an early migrant and arrives on breeding grounds up to 2 weeks before other wood warbler migrants. Males arrive one week before females and pairs form as soon as females arrive. Age of first breeding is one year. Both sexes participate in nest site selection but construction is carried out by the female who may take up to a week to construct the nest.
They forage actively high in trees, sometimes catching insects in flight. These birds mainly eat insects. Their nests are cup-shaped, and are placed on a horizontal branch high in a hardwood tree. The song is a buzzed zray zray zray zray zeeee. The call is a slurred chip.
The Cerulean Warbler is the fastest declining neotropical migrant songbird. Among the many threats they face, their wintering habitat in the northern Andes is dwindling rapidly. Cerulean Warblers depend on shade coffee plantations during the winter. In fragmented forest areas, this bird is vulnerable to nest parasitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird. This bird’s numbers are declining faster than any other warbler species in the USA; its population in 2006 was less than one-fifth of what it was 40 years before.
The Cerulean Warbler has been recorded as a vagrant to Iceland.” (Wikipedia and NY DEC with editing)
The above article is an article in the monthly serial for October 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9 )
Many species of birds live in communities that are quite complex and even resemble human communities.
In the Amazon rainforests of Peru, 20 or more mixed species of birds will flock together in the lower levels of the rainforest canopy. Each flock has a leader and organizer – the bluish-slate ant-shrike. Each morning the ant-shrike will assemble its flock with loud calls.
This strange arrangement has a very good purpose. The ant-shrike watches over the flock like a mother watches her children. When a bird-eating hawk appears overhead, the ant-shrike shrieks a warning so that members of the flock can take cover. But as often as half the time, the ant-shrike sounds the alarm when there is no hawk. The ant-shrike sounds the alarm to distract members of the flock when he sees that they have discovered some choice insects. In this way, the ant-shrike gets up to 85 percent of its food by sounding the false hawk alarm. Nevertheless, the rest of the flock put up with his lying and thieving because of his value as a hawk watcher.
Lying and stealing are, of course, wrong for human beings. And our Creator will hold us each personally responsible for our thoughts and actions. But His Son, Jesus Christ, took our sins upon Himself so that all who believe in Him as their Lord and Savior will stand before Him cleansed of all their sins. Our Creator has promised this!
Prayer:
I thank You, Lord, that You have taken my sin upon Yourself. Help my trust to always rest in what You have done for me and not in what I think I can do to better myself before the heavenly Father. Amen.
Spot-backed Antshrike (Hypoedaleus guttatus) by Dario Sanches
Lee’s Addition:
A very good lesson from our Antshrike and Creation Moments. Antshrikes belong to the Thamnophilidae – Antbirds Family. The antbird family contains over 200 species, variously called antwrens, antvireos, antbirds and antshrikes. The names refer to the relative sizes of the birds rather than any particular resemblance to the true wrens, vireos or shrikes.
The antbirds are a large family, Thamnophilidae, of passerine birds found across subtropical and tropical Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. There are more than 200 species, known variously as antshrikes, antwrens, antvireos, fire-eyes, bare-eyes and bushbirds. They are related to the antthrushes and antpittas (family Formicariidae), the tapaculos, the gnateaters and the ovenbirds. Despite some species’ common names, this family is not closely related to the wrens, vireos or shrikes.
Antbirds are generally small birds with rounded wings and strong legs. They have mostly sombre grey, white, brown and rufous plumage, which is sexually dimorphic in pattern and colouring. Some species communicate warnings to rivals by exposing white feather patches on their backs or shoulders. Most have heavy bills, which in many species are hooked at the tip.
Most species live in forests, although a few are found in other habitats. Insects and other arthropods form the most important part of their diet, although small vertebrates are occasionally taken. Most species feed in the understory and midstory of the forest, although a few feed in the canopy and a few on the ground. Many join mixed-species feeding flocks, and a few species are core members. To various degrees, around eighteen species specialise in following columns of army ants to eat the small invertebrates flushed by the ants, and many others may feed in this way opportunistically.
Silvery-cheeked Antshrike (Sakesphorus cristatus) by AGrosset
Antbirds are monogamous, mate for life, and defend territories. They usually lay two eggs in a nest that is either suspended from branches or supported on a branch, stump, or mound on the ground. Both parents share the tasks of incubation and of brooding and feeding the nestlings. After fledging, each parent cares exclusively for one chick.
The antbirds are a group of small to medium-sized passerines that range in size from the large Giant Antshrike to the tiny Pygmy Antwren. In general terms, “antshrikes” are relatively large-bodied birds, “antvireos” are medium-sized and chunky, while “antwrens” include most smaller species; “antbird” genera can vary greatly in size. Members of this family have short rounded wings that provide good manoeuvrability when flying in dense undergrowth. The legs are large and strong, particularly in species that are obligate ant-followers. These species are well adapted to gripping vertical stems and saplings, which are more common than horizontal branches in the undergrowth, and thus the ability to grip them is an advantage for birds following swarms of army ants. The claws of these antbirds are longer than those of species that do not follow ants, and the soles of some species have projections that are tough and gripping when the foot is clenched. Tarsus length in antbirds is related to foraging strategy. Longer tarsi typically occur in genera such as the Thamnophilus antshrikes that forage by perch-gleaning (sitting and leaning forward to snatch insects from the branch), whereas shorter tarsi typically occur in those that catch prey on the wing, such as the Thamnomanes antshrikes.
Most antbirds have proportionately large, heavy bills. Several genera of antshrike have a strongly hooked tip to the bill, and all antbirds have a notch or ‘tooth’ at the tip of the bill which helps in holding and crushing insect prey. The two genera of bushbirds have upturned chisel-like bills. (Wikipedia with editing)
Barred Antshrike – Duet Song by Jeremy Minns (xeno-canto)
Download:
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Barred Antshrike – Call by Jeremy Minns (xeno-canto)
We took about an hour and a half to check out Circle B Bar Reserve again today. It was partly cloudy and around 81 degrees when we arrived. We managed to see or hear 31 species. Not bad. We had all that rain from Tropical Storm Andrea and thought maybe it would help bring in some birds. It was still pretty dry out there, but the weeds and growth sure had enjoyed all that rain we had.
Since most of our winter birds have left, we were happy with what we saw. Some of the delights and surprises were catching a video of a Carolina Wren singing right in front of us as we got out of the car. Was surprised to see 25 White Pelicans this time of the year. They went by in 3 squadrons.
Carolina Wren at Circle B
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By them the birds of the heavens have their home; They sing among the branches. (Psalms 104:12 NKJV)
Also, finally got a photo of the Tufted Titmouse that I have heard out there but never was able to get a glimpse of. Heading back to the car, a Swallow-tailed Kite flew over. All in all it was great. Now? It has been raining for the last 5 or 6 hours. Good thing we were there early.
Swallow-tailed Kite (Elanoides forficatus) at Circle B
Species
Count
Wood Stork
4
Anhinga
1
American White Pelican
25
Great Blue Heron
2
Great Egret
3
Snowy Egret
1
Tricolored Heron
2
Cattle Egret
10
White Ibis
2
Glossy Ibis
4
Black Vulture
20
Turkey Vulture
5
Osprey
1
Swallow-tailed Kite
1
Bald Eagle
1
Red-shouldered Hawk
2
Common Gallinule
5
Limpkin
2
Sandhill Crane
2
Mourning Dove
2
Red-bellied Woodpecker
2
Downy Woodpecker
2
Hairy Woodpecker
1
Pileated Woodpecker
2
Blue Jay
3
Fish Crow
2
Tufted Titmouse
2
Carolina Wren
1
Northern Cardinal
4
Red-winged Blackbird
15
Boat-tailed Grackle
20
Update on the eye situation – I got the “All is well” for the 6-months checkup on my retina surgery and now I am scheduled June 19th to see the Eye Doctor who will do the cataract surgery. I am praying that it will be done by the end of the month. It was quite blurry out birding today.
I was using my camera as my eyes. I could tell there was something on a tree, but had no clear idea of what it was until viewed through the viewfinder and with my camera zoomed in. Hey! You do what you have to do to be able to enjoy birdwatching. And I did. The Lord let me see all of these neat birds today.
The Wild Turkey From Col. Fred. Kaempfer. Copyrighted by Nature Study Pub. Co., 1897, Chicago.
THE WILD TURKEY.
T has been observed that when the Turkey makes its appearance on table all conversation should for the moment be suspended. That it is eaten in silence on some occasions may be inferred from the following anecdote: A certain judge of Avignon, famous for his love of the glorious bird, which the American people have wisely selected for the celebration of Thanksgiving Day, said to a friend: “We have just been dining on a superb Turkey. It was excellent. Stuffed with truffles to the very throat—tender, delicate, filled with perfume! We left nothing but the bones!” “How many were there of you?” asked his friend. “Two,” replied the judge, “the Turkey—and myself!” The reason, no doubt, why this brilliant bird, which so much resembles the domestic Turkey, is now almost extinct. It was formerly a resident of New England, and is still found to some extent as far north-west as the Missouri River and south-west as Texas. In Ohio it was formerly an abundant resident. Dr. Kirtland (1850) mentions the time when Wild Turkeys were more common than tame ones are now.
The nests of this bird are very difficult to discover, as they are made on the ground, midst tall, thick weeds or tangled briars. The female will not leave the nest until almost trodden upon. It is stated that when the eggs are once touched, she will abandon her nest.
The Turkey became known to Europeans almost immediately upon the discovery of America by the Spaniards in 1518, and it is probable that it is distinctively an American bird. In its wild state, its plumage, as in the case of the Honduras Turkey, grows more lustrous and magnificent as the family extends southward.
The “Gobblers,” as the males are called, associate in parties of ten to one hundred, seeking their food apart from the females, which wander singly with their young or in troops with other hens and their families, sometimes to the number of seventy or eighty. They travel on foot, unless disturbed by the hunter or a river compels them to take wing. It is said that when about to cross a river, they select a high eminence from which to start, that their flight may be more sure, and in such a position they sometimes remain for a day or more, as if in consultation. On such occasions the males gobble vociferously, strutting about pompously as if to animate their companions. At the signal note of their leader, they wing their way to the opposite shore.
The Wild Turkey feeds on many kinds of berries, fruits, and grasses. Beetles, tadpoles, young frogs, and lizards are sometimes found in its crop. When the Turkeys reach their destination, they disperse in flocks, devouring the mast as they proceed.
Pairing time begins in March. The sexes roost apart, but at no great distance, so that when the female utters a call, every male within hearing responds, rolling note after note in rapid succession, in a voice resembling that of the tame Turkey when he hears any unusual noise. Where the Turkeys are numerous, the woods from one end to the other, sometimes for many miles, resound with these voices of wooing.
The specimen of the Wild Turkey presented in this number of Birds is of extraordinary size and beauty, and has been much admired. The day is not far distant when a living specimen of this noble bird will be sought for in vain in the United States.
WILD TURKEY—Meleagris gallopava.
Range—Eastern United States from Pennsylvania southward to Florida, west to Wisconsin, the Indian Territory and Texas.
Nest—On the ground, at the base of a bush or tree.
Eggs—Ten to fourteen, pale cream buff, finely and evenly speckled with grayish brown.
Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) by Lee at LPZoo
Lee’s Addition:
Of all clean birds you may eat. (Deuteronomy 14:11 AMP)
The Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the diverse Galliformes and are in the Phasianidae – Pheasants, Fowl & Allies Family. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which was originally derived from a southern Mexican subspecies of Wild Turkey (not the related Ocellated Turkey). Although native to North America, the Wild Turkey got its name due to the trade routes in place. During the 16th Century, the major trade route from the Americas and Asia required the goods to go to Constantinople in Turkey before being sent to Britain. The British at the time therefore, associated the Wild Turkey with the country Turkey and the name stuck.
Adult wild turkeys have long reddish-yellow to grayish-green legs. The body feathers are generally blackish and dark brown overall with a coppery sheen that becomes more complex in adult males. Adult males, called toms or gobblers, have a large, featherless, reddish head, red throat, and red wattles on the throat and neck. The head has fleshy growths called caruncles. Juvenile males are called jakes, the difference between an adult male and a juvenile is that the jake has a very short beard and his tail fan has longer feathers in the middle. The adult male’s tail fan will be all the same length. When males are excited, a fleshy flap on the bill expands, and this, the wattles and the bare skin of the head and neck all become engorged with blood, almost concealing the eyes and bill. The long fleshy object over a male’s beak is called a snood. When a male turkey is excited, its head turns blue; when ready to fight, it turns red. Each foot has three toes in front, with a shorter, rear-facing toe in back; males have a spur behind each of their lower legs.
Male turkeys have a long, dark, fan-shaped tail and glossy bronze wings. The male is substantially larger than the female, and his feathers have areas of red, purple, green, copper, bronze, and gold iridescence. Females, called hens, have feathers that are duller overall, in shades of brown and gray. The primary wing feathers have white bars. Turkeys have 5000 to 6000 feathers. Tail feathers are of the same length in adults, different lengths in juveniles.
Males typically have a “beard”, a tuft of coarse hair (modified feathers) growing from the center of the breast. Beards average 230 mm (9.1 in) in length. In some populations, females have a beard, usually shorter and thinner than that of the male. The adult male (or “tom”) normally weighs from 5 to 11 kg (11 to 24 lb) and measures 100–125 cm (39–49 in) in length. The adult female (or “hen”) is typically much smaller at 2.5–5.4 kg (5.5–12 lb) and is 76 to 95 cm (30 to 37 in) long. The wings are relatively small, as is typical of the galliform order, and the wingspan ranges from 1.25 to 1.44 m (4 ft 1 in to 4 ft 9 in). The bill is also relatively small. The tarsus of the Wild Turkey is quite long and sturdy. The tail is also relatively long The record-sized adult male Wild Turkey, … weighed 16.85 kg (37.1 lb). While it is usually rather lighter than the waterfowl, after the Trumpeter Swan, the turkey has the second heaviest maximum weight of any North American bird. Going on average mass, several other birds on the continent, including the American White Pelican and the very rare California Condor and Whooping Crane surpass the mean weight of turkeys.
Turkeys have many vocalizations: “gobbles,” “clucks,” “putts,” “purrs,” “yelps,” “cutts,” “whines,” “cackles,” and “kee-kees.” In early spring, male turkeys, also called gobblers or toms, gobble to announce their presence to females and competing males. The gobble can carry for up to a mile. Males also emit a low-pitched “drumming” sound; produced by the movement of air in the air sack in the chest, similar to the booming of a prairie chicken. In addition they produce a sound known as the “spit” which is a sharp expulsion of air from this air sack. Hens “yelp” to let gobblers know their location. Gobblers often yelp in the manner of females, and hens can gobble, though they rarely do so. Immature males, called jakes, often yelp.
Wild turkeys prefer hardwood and mixed conifer-hardwood forests with scattered openings such as pastures, fields, orchards and seasonal marshes. Open, mature forest with a variety of interspersion of tree species appear to be preferred. In the Northeast of North America, turkeys are most profuse in hardwood timber of oak-hickory and forests of red oak, beech, cherry and white ash. Best ranges for turkeys in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont sections have an interspersion of clearings, farms, and plantations with preferred habitat along principal rivers and in cypress and tupelo swamps. Appalachian and Cumberland plateaus, birds occupy mixed forest of oaks and pines on southern and western slopes, also hickory with diverse understories. Bald cypress and sweet gum swamps of s. Florida; also hardwood of Cliftonia in north-central Florida. Lykes Fisheating Creek area of s. Florida has hardwood hammocks, glades of short grasses with isolated live oak; nesting in neighboring prairies. Original habitat here was mainly longleaf pine with turkey oak and slash pine “flatwoods,” now mainly replaced by slash pine plantations.
Wild turkeys are omnivorous, foraging on the ground or climbing shrubs and small trees to feed. They prefer eating hard mast such as acorns, nuts, and various trees, including hazel, chestnut, hickory, and pinyon pine as well as various seeds, berries such as juniper and bearberry, roots and insects. Turkeys also occasionally consume amphibians and small reptiles such as lizards and snakes. Poults have been observed eating insects, berries, and seeds. Wild turkeys often feed in cow pastures, sometimes visit back yard bird feeders, and favor croplands after harvest to scavenge seed on the ground. Turkeys are also known to eat a wide variety of grasses.
Males are polygamous, mating with as many hens as they can. Male wild turkeys display for females by puffing out their feathers, spreading out their tails and dragging their wings. This behavior is most commonly referred to as strutting. Their heads and necks are colored brilliantly with red, blue and white. The color can change with the turkey’s mood, with a solid white head and neck being the most excited. They use gobbling, drumming/booming and spitting as signs of social dominance, and to attract females. Courtship begins during the months of March and April, which is when turkeys are still flocked together in winter areas. (Wikipedia with editing)
This was taken on the Roaring Fork Drive in Gatlinburg, TN last October.
Wild Turkeys – Roaring Fork Auto Drv Gatlinburg by Lee
The above article is an article in the monthly serial for October 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
“But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; (Job 12:7 NKJV)
I have thinking about that Green Heron in the video I posted a few days ago. (Green Heron Fishing With Bread) The verse above makes me think there has to be some lessons to learn from it. These are just some of my thoughts and I am sure you can come up with some of your own.
One that comes to thought right off is that bird’s patience. Are we?
These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. (Psalms 104:27-28 KJV)
The verse used on the article tells how the Lord protects and provides for His creation. Will He not provide for us also. He loves us and wants to meet our needs, just as was provided for this Heron.
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26 NKJV)
Another lesson is that the bird is doing something that we wouldn’t think it could do. You wonder where it learned that behavior. For us, the Lord wants us to do something, and if we are willing, we are amazed at what we can do. Things we would never think we had the capacity to do He helps us perform..
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. (Mark 9:23 KJV)
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:13 KJV)
He (the heron) has a goal in mind and isn’t going to give up even though it takes several attempts to accomplish his goal. The Lord tells us to become “fishers of men” and we need to keep trying and not give up. Even when our “bread” is down to hardly anything and you think you might as well give up, you try one more time.
So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. (1 Corinthians 3:7-8 KJV)
On a more light side, I am not so sure that the Heron wasn’t bordering on “gluttony.” Did you see that last part where it is swallowing the fish. Looks like it almost “bit of more than it could chew.”
But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. (Romans 13:14 KJV)
These are but a few and if you have some, leave a comment and share them with us.
