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CRIED UNTO THE LORD
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“Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.” (Psalms 107:6 KJV)
Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) by Ray Barlow
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Category Archives: Birdwatching
Calliope Hummingbirds – North America’s Smallest
Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) Full Gorget ©WikiC
“He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.” (Psalms 115:13 KJV)
Just finished reading an article in this month’s Bird Watcher’s Digest the “Calliope Hummingbird: Tiny Muse”, (July/August ’16). They are so tiny,
“a mere 2.75 to 3 inches in lenght and weighing less than a penny — and it is also the smallest long-distant avian migrant in the world. Some travel up to 5,600 miles anually.”
Can you image something that small flying that far?
Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) ©Wiki
Thought you might like to see another one of the Lord’s amazing avian wonders.
“This is the smallest breeding bird found in Canada and the United States. The only smaller species ever found in the U.S. is the bumblebee hummingbird, an accidental vagrant from Mexico. An adult calliope hummingbird can measure 7–10 cm (2.8–3.9 in) in length, span 11 cm (4.3 in) across the wings and weigh 2 to 3 g (0.071 to 0.106 oz). These birds have glossy green on the back and crown with white underparts. Their bill and tail are relatively short. The adult male has wine-red streaks on the throat, green flanks and a dark tail. Females and immatures have a pinkish wash on the flanks, dark streaks on the throat and a dark tail with white tips. The only similar birds are the rufous hummingbird and the Allen’s hummingbird, but these birds are larger with more distinct and contrasting rufous markings on tail and flanks, and longer central tail feathers.” (Wikipedia)
“And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.” (Revelation 19:5 KJV)
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) Male ©Flickr Jeremy Yoder
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) Male ©WikiC
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) Male ©WikiC
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) Bright Gorget ©WikiC
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) Male ©WikiC
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) Reflecting Throat ©WikiC
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) Male From Side ©WikiC
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) Full Gorget ©WikiC
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) ©Wiki
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) ©Wiki
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) Female feeding insects to chicks ©WikiC
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) by S Slayton
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) by Michael Woodruff
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) by Michael Woodruff
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) by Michael Woodruff
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) Full Gorget ©WikiC
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- Calliope Hummingbird (Stellula calliope) From_The_Crossley_ID_Guide_Eastern_Birds ©WikiC
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Trochilidae – Hummingbirds Family
Calliope Hummingbird – All About Birds
Calliope Hummingbird – What Bird
Calliope Hummingbird – Bird Web
Calliope Hummingbird – Audubon
Calliope Hummingbird – Wikipedia
Lee’s Three Word Wednesday – 6/15/15
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AND BROUGHT IT
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“And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.” (1st Samuel 5:1)
Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) by J Fenton
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Lee’s Two Word Tuesday – 6/14/15
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HIDE ME
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“Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.” (Psalms 143:9 KJV)
Common Potoo (Nyctibius griseus) ©WikiC
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Ian’s Bird of the Week – European Bee-eater
Ian’s Bird of the Week – European Bee-eater by Ian Montgomery
Newsletter – 6/11/16
I met my sister Gilian in Vienna where we spent a couple of days before going by boat along the Danube to Bratislava, just across the border with Slovakia. We arranged to spend three days with birding guides with my targets being to photograph raptors, owls and woodpecker. We went on the first day to this large European Bee-eater colony just outside Bratislava.
The colony was in a sandy cliff at a site near Devin Castle which sits in a strategic location at the confluence of the Danube and Morava Rivers, both of which form the border between Austria and Slovakia. I was able to sit at the edge of the cliff and photograph both birds perched in the shrubs below me and flying to and from their burrows in the cliff. European Bee-eaters are vocal and make a soft trilling call similar to their close Australian relatives, the Rainbow Bee-eater and it was very pleasant watching and listening to them.
“European” is a bit of a mis-nomer as they are migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and breed across the warmer parts of Eurasia from North Africa, through Europe to central Asia. Since the nineteenth century some have stayed behind to breed in South Africa, which they do in the southern summer and then move farther north in Africa in the southern autumn at the same time as their Eurasian counterparts are moving north to breed in the northern hemisphere. South African populations have declined in recent years so this situation may not last.
Bees do make up a large part of their diet, though they will eat many other insects as well. After catching a bee, a bee-eater will take it back to a perch where it bangs the head of the unfortunate insect on the branch and then rubs its tail on the branch to get rid of the sting. If you look carefully at the photo below you will see that a lucky bee has just used up one of its nine lives, that is if they have that many like cats.
The photo below shows both the bee-eater colony and in the distance Devin Castle on a 200m/600ft high rock. There are bee-eater burrows both in the bank on the left and in the bottom right of the photo.
Devin Castle has a very interesting history and you can read about it here Devín Castle. The same site is an important one for fossils as well and our birding guide showed us some rocks that had mollusc fossils in it that looked like scallops.
I’m on a Dublin bus at the moment going to visit my niece. Thanks to the miracles of modern communication and the Irish SIM card in my mobile I can send this to you from my laptop.
Greetings
Ian
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Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Tel 0411 602 737 ian@birdway.com.au
Check the latest website updates:
http://www.birdway.com.au/#updates
Lee’s Addition:
“Now for the house of my God I have prepared with all my might: gold for things to be made of gold, silver for things of silver, bronze for things of bronze, iron for things of iron, wood for things of wood, onyx stones, stones to be set, glistening stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and marble slabs in abundance.” (1 Chronicles 29:2 NKJV) (emphasis mine)
I love those beautiful Bee-eaters and this European is just a colorful as the rest of them. I am glad that when the Lord created these avian beauties, He chose to give them such beautiful colors. Oh, what heaven must look like!
Thanks again, Ian, for sharing some more beautiful birds with us. Safe travels and great birding.
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Lee’s One Word Monday – 6/13/16
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WINK
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“Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.” (Psalm 35:19)
Owl Winking ©Flickr Darren D
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Lee’s Seven Word Sunday – 6/12/16
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THY WONDERFUL WORKS WHICH
THOU HAST DONE
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“Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” (Psalms 40:5 KJV)
Toucan ©PixelFantasies by Lars Glausen
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Lee’s Six Word Saturday – 6/11/16
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AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST
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“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28 KJV)
Birds At Sunrise ©PixelFantasies-by Lars Clausen
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Lee’s Five Word Friday – 6/10/16
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HE SHALL BE CHASED AWAY
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“He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.” (Job 20:8)
Western Osprey Being Chased Away ©Flickr John Dunstan
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An Elegant Quilt of Relationships – Creation Moments
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) Passing Berries ©WikiC
“The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.” (Psalm 104:16-17)
There are many incredible designs around us that are unlikely to exist if everything is the result of mindless chance. Many birds eat insects through the summer. While such high protein diets like this are good in mating and reproductive season, they do not prepare the birds to survive the cold weather of winter.
An Elegant Quilt of Relationships – Alaska Wild Berries ©WikiC
What they need to do is build a layer of fat both for calorie storage as well as insulation. So, as winter nears, the berries that have been growing and ripening all summer on various shrubs become more numerous. The high sugar content of the berries’ juice helps the birds to quickly build up fat. The freeze on cold fall mornings even helps to increase the sugar concentration in the berries. Even more amazing is that the various types of berries eaten by the birds ripen in a staggered fashion so that berry season is long and the supplies are always available. For example, as the elderberry supply is just about consumed, highbush cranberries are in production. Often, the summer’s hatchlings’ plumage doesn’t reach full color until they eat the various pigments in the berries, and those pigments are incorporated into the new feathers. In exchange, the birds spread the seeds in the berries.
Cranberries ©Pixabay
All of these complex, interrelated systems depend on each other in an elegant, fine-tuned design.
Prayer:
Father, thank You for the beauty and song of the birds which bless and enrich our lives. Amen.
Notes:
Val Cunningham, “Why bushes are better for birds.”
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Lee’s Four Word Thursday – 6/9/16
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MY FOOT HATH HELD
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“But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.” (Job 23:10-11 KJV)
Red-footed Booby (Sula sula) by Bob-Nan
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During Tropical Storm “Colin”, a young Red-footed Booby got blown off course and into a city. Unfortunately it was injured, and when sent to a rehab center, it did not survive.
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Lee’s Three Word Wednesday – 6/8/16
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IN THE VALLEY
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“And they of Beth-Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.” (1st Samuel 6:13)
Flock of Birds In The Valley – Bird Garden in Ninh Binh ©Crossingtravel
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Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus 