The ABC's of birds - Letter A

[Patti from Kentucky]

Wow, I have so many photos that begin with the letter A...I'm having trouble restraining myself from posting way too many...but I'll start with only two.  I went on a "Wings" birding tour of Southeast Arizona in May of 2008, and saw many new birds, including these American Avocets:

[Patti from Kentucky]

And from the same tour of Southeast Arizona...the Acorn Woodpecker.  These guys were everywhere, and they're strikingly beautiful!

[dale]

Aquatic Warbler - nice name, huh?

reportedly the most threatened european migratory songbird.

info from BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/worldonthemove/reports/the-aquatic-warbler/

song:

http://www.xeno-canto.org/browse.php?query=aquatic+warbler

[Aafke]

Thanks for starting Patti, great pictures and what nice the brown heads from the Americain Avocets.
And Patti, you can never send too many pictures!!!
And Dale what a cool bird, unfortunally I cannot open the link.
greetings Aafke

[Aafke]

A is for Avocet

1) the eggs of the Avocet

2) A young Avocet

3) Avocet, adult

greetings Aafke

[Donna]

A is for American Tree Sparrow  (Spizella arborea)

Adults have a rusty cap and grey underparts with a small dark spot on the breast.

These birds migrate to the United States or southern Canada to spend the winter

They mainly eat seeds and insects, some berries.

[gayle]

A is for Auk and Auklet!  I love the name!  They are not at all "aukward" but a small elegant birds that live primarily in Arctic regions.  The Auk family includes puffins, murres and guilllemots as well.  My photographs of auks are nothing more than minute specks!  Here is a crested auklet from Wikipedia.

Gayle

Auks in general:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auk

Crested auklet

[Annette]

American Kestrel
American Robin

[gayle]

Anhinga

The anhinga is also called darter or snakebird.  It sits low in the water with only its long sinuous neck visible, hence the snake reference.  It is a diving bird, but unlike other water birds, it cannot produce oil to protect its feathers so it must frequently dry its wings to prevent its becoming water logged.  It is related to the cormorant and is frequently confused with the double crested cormorant.  I made this photograph in the Tortorguero region of Costa Rica.

A video from Cornell's Macaulay Library:  http://macaulaylibrary.org/video/40389

Gayle

[dale]

fixed the BBC link, aafke, sorry!

gayle, that auklet looks like he needs to cut back on the espressos.

I'd think an auklet would prefer chocolate.

[MAK]

Albatross
They have incredibly long,narrow wings. They are the largest of seabirds and feed on squid,fish and refuse. They nest in large colonies on remote oceanic islands and they rarely come close enough to be seen from the shore.

[Aafke]

I was looking at the puzzles of the Week and found 4 puzzles of an Avocet.
For who likes

Puzzle of the Week 17
A young Avocet(17) Jigsaw Puzzle

Puzzle of the Week 142
A young Avocet (142) Jigsaw Puzzle

Puzzle of the Week 190
A young avocet (190) Jigsaw Puzzle

Puzzle of the Week 214
Changing of the guard (214) Jigsaw Puzzle

greetings Aafke

[carla]

Agapornis


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpl7pOCC58w


You can see the birth of a young one.

greetings Carla

[Annette]

Agapornis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpl7pOCC58w

You can see the birth of a young one.

An awesome video!

[gayle]

Agapornis

The birthing process is a long one.  I was exhausted just watching it!

Arctic warbler

Nice song and an engaging BBC account.


Avocet

Among my favorite shorebirds.  The are abundant on the shores of San Francisco Bay.

Gayle