[Puffins]

Puffins

In actuality, puffins are not all that photogenic for the average birder. The glorious close-ups are usually taken from blinds.  The first photograph was made at the Marine Center in Seward, Alaska of an injured puffin and the two water shots, in the Aleution Islands.  The fourth is of a cliff on the Pribilof Islands where common murres, kittiwakes and puffins were nesting together.

Gayle

[Puffins]

Puffins

Puffins are members of the Auk family (alcids)  They are spectacular, dramatic looking pelagic birds.  They have colorful large bills, are stocky in build and have wings designed for swimming under water.  They breed on remote cliffs in borrows.  There are three species in the US.  Those of you in the east may have seen the Atlantic Puffin.  The Horned Puffin and the Tufted Puffin are resident in the North Pacific.  The southernmost breeding colony of tufted puffins is on the Farallone islands, 25 miles off San Francisco.  There have been about 160 puffins there for the last 20 years.

Gayle

[Osprey]

Osprey

No, I do not have a good photograph of osprey.  I got so accustomed to seeing osprey nests on man-made platforms that I was genuinely surprised  to find this nest in a tree!  Somewhere in Northern California.

Gayle

Thanks for posting the ovenbird, Anne.  I did not know about it.  And yes, a stew of oven birds somehow seems inappropriate!

Gayle

[Oxpecker]

Oxpecker

Oxpeckers are endemic to sub-Saharan Africa.  There are two species, yellow-billed ad red-billed.  The latter are prevalent in the area of South Africa where Safari,tv broadcasts its game drives.  All photographs are screen captures from those drives.  Oxpeckers spend virtually all of their lives, except for nesting, on the bodies of large African mammals.  The birds and the host animals exhibit mutualism.  The oxpeckers eat ticks and other parasites and clean wounds on the bodies of the mammals.  The mammals, in turn, provide a relatively safe haven for the birds.  And they are outrageous to look at!

Gayle

[Oystercatcher]

Oystercatcher

The American Oystercatcher, as its name implies, has a bill adapted for opening bivalves.  It is a spectacular shore bird and may be found on rocky shores along the Atlantic coast of the US and southward from Baja on the Pacific.   Although I have seen them in California, I have no photographic evidence!  This photograph was made in the Galapagos.

The Black Oyster is found along the Pacific Coast from the Aleutians to Baja.  While it is not listed as threatened, world-wide population is only about 9,000 – 11,000.

Gayle

[Northern Fulmar]

Northern Fulmar

The Northern Fulmar is a pelagic, sub-Arctic species.  It is related to petrels and shearwaters.  It is largish, 18 inches tall with a wingspan of 3 ½ feet.  Like all pelagic birds, it has a salt gland above the nasal passages through which it expels salt.  In early morning fog, we found a breeding colony on Chagulak in the Aleutian Islands.  When food is plentiful, fulmars gather in rafts.  Wikipedia has a good description:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Fulmar

Gayle

[Nene]

Nene

The nene is the state bird of Hawaii.  It is endemic to the islands and is thought to have evolved from the Canada goose some 500,000 years ago.  Once numerous, it is now endangered and is limited to a few islands.  Successful breeding programs are in place, on the islands and in Britain.  It now hangs around parking lots at tourist areas begging for food.  The sign is at Volcano National Park.

Gayle

[Northern or Kentucky Cardinal]

Northern or Kentucky Cardinal

On the flight from the mainland to Hawaii, I read about the flora and fauna I might expect to find.  I got excited about the possibility of seeing the ‘I’iwi, a bright red forest bird.  At one of the first stops on Hawaii, sure enough, there were flashes of brilliant red!  When the car stopped and the binoculars came out, the Northern Cardinal came into focus!  What a surprise!  Like many other species in Hawaii, the cardinal had been introduced and is now common on all islands.  Here an adult feeds a fledgling.

Gayle

[Masked Boobie]

Masked Boobie

We have already discussed boobies, but I just located this photograph of a masked boobie breeding coloy on Kauai, Hawaii.  What appears to be flowers are actually birds!

Gayle

Three beautiful birds!  Thanks, Patti!

Gayle

[Thick-billed Murres]

Thick-billed Murres

I also found murres on the island of Chagulak, about half way out in  the Aleutions.

Gayle

[Thick-billled Murre]

Thick-billled Murre

Thick-billed Murres are members of the auk family.  Their habitat is sub-polar and I first saw them on cliffs on an island in Hudson Bay.    They nest in dense colonies, see first image.  The dark coloration on the cliff is actually thousands of individual murres.  They do not make nests, but lay the single egg directly on the rock.  The egg is much larger on one end so that when it rolls, it rolls in a circle and does not fall off the cliff.  Both parents tend the chick.  After several weeks, the male flies to the surface of the sea below and calls to the chick.  In a true leap of faith, the chick plunges several hundred feet to join his dad below.  See second photograph.  The male then tends to the chick alone.  The female’s work is then finished and she joins other females to feed and regain her strength.  (Third and fourth images.)

As a side note, these photographs were made from a Zodiak.  We were accompanied by a gun-bearing guide as the island was also inhabited by polar bears who fed on dead birds at the base of the cliff.

Gayle

[Marbled Murrlet]

Marbled Murrlet

The Marbled Murrlet, an alcid related to the puffin, is one of my favorite birds.  It nests only in old growth forests.  In California, that means the ancient redwoods.  As it a threatened species, the marbled murrlet has become the "poster bird" for environmentalists.  It is a small bird, about eight inches tall.  It carries one small fish at a time form the sea to its single chick in the redwoods some 50 or 60 miles inland.  I have seen them only once in the ocean off Mendocino, but they are more plentiful in the waters of Southeast Alaska.  There, they nest in Sitka Spruce forests which are being clear cut at an alarming rate.  On one eight-day trip aboard the humpback research vessel, I counted over a thousand marbled murrlets.

Gayle

[Mallard hybrids]

Mallard hybrids


The Khaki Campbell duck is a cross between mallards, runner ducks and rouen ducks.  It is now a recognized domestic breed.   I found this in the San Francisco Baylands and had to consult my nephew, who is knowledgeable in matters fowl, for an identification.

The second photograph is a cross between a mallard and a black duck (by Paul Hurtado.)

I imagine there are countless mallard hybrids.  It has been my observation that mallards are indeed randy!

Gayle