Birds that begin with *K* (Sun & Mon)

[Donna]

K is for KAVER: Kaver is the first falcon I ever saw and I immediately knew I was in LOVE. He is the one who got me hooked on Kodak Falcons. From that day on, I don't think I missed a day. He treated his lovely mate Mariah with great care. He was "Super Dad" to all of his many many kids. He stood by Mariah's side when she was injured, he fed her, helped feed the kids when she couldn't. Kaver is so special and will always be my QTP2T. When he left and never came back, he took a piece of my heart with him. I will never forget the joy that boy gave to me and others. I miss him dearly.

 
   

 

[dale]

KIWI -
I heard them my first night on the Kepler track in NZ. They woke me up with their yelling at each other. Odd relationship they have, the Mr. and the Mrs.
  
Note: Kiwis are the only birds who store their nostrils way out at the tip of their bills.

Check out how big an egg is inside the bird.
No room for pizza at all.
(image from http://www.kamcom.co.nz/kiwi/kiwibreeding.htm)

These guys evolved basically without predators. So they stink at protecting themselves or their young from mammals like dogs, rats, stoats, etc.
 
Here's a lady psyched by getting to touch one: http://tvnz.co.nz/view/video_popup_flash_skin/1380546

Kiwis are good at not being seen. Except this one, he was a showoff.
 
dale

[dale]

KOOKABURRA

a drawing I did a few years ago of two of them.

the laugh: http://www.xeno-canto.org/sounds/uploaded/IGODCAJPUG/Laughing%20Kookaburra.mp3

dale

[Annette]

Kestrel, American

[MAK]

Killdeer
(Cornell Lab of Ornithology)

A shorebird you can see without going to the beach, Killdeer are graceful plovers common to lawns, golf courses, athletic fields, and parking lots. These tawny birds run across the ground in spurts, stopping with a jolt every so often to check their progress, or to see if they’ve startled up any insect prey. Their voice, a far-carrying, excited kill-deer, is a common sound even after dark, often given in flight as the bird circles overhead on slender wings.

I love how these birds act like they have a broken wing to draw predators away from there young.

[Aafke]

K is for Kingfisher

from Wikipedia:
All Kingfishers have large heads, long, sharp, pointed bills, short legs, and stubby tails. Most species have bright plumage with little differences between the sexes.
Like other members of their order they nest in cavities, usually tunnels dug into the natural or artificial banks in the ground.

I saw a Kingfisher a few times, sometimes you see a very fast neon blue  thing   and that's a Kingfisher. One day I was very lucky to see one sitting still for a few minutes and I could take his picture.
greetings Aafke

[Aafke]

K is for KAVER: Kaver is the first falcon I ever saw and I immediately knew I was in LOVE. He is the one who got me hooked on Kodak Falcons. From that day on, I don't think I missed a day. He treated his lovely mate Mariah with great care. He was "Super Dad" to all of his many many kids. He stood by Mariah's side when she was injured, he fed her, helped feed the kids when she couldn't. Kaver is so special and will always be my QTP2T. When he left and never came back, he took a piece of my heart with him. I will never forget the joy that boy gave to me and others. I miss him dearly.

 

Thanks Donna, that was a very good start of the K!!
I was expecting that you would write about Kaver. 
greetings Aafke

[Paul Hamilton]

K is for Kiwi.  Here is the kiwi we met on Meet a Kiwi at the National Zoo.  His keeper described her experience of caring for him as sort of like having a combination of dog and cat.  This particular kiwi is unusual in that he is well-socialized toward people - he likes it when his keeper skritches him.  (I noticed that he gets skritched like a bird, rather than petted like a dog or cat, so that's one birdlike thing about him.)  Although he is very social (as kiwis go), there is no concern about him imprinting on humans and being unable to breed, because there is no parental care provided by either mother or father kiwi.  

Here is a kiwi cam.  She is only active at night, but it's an infra-red camera:
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Birds/default.cfm?cam=Kiwi

Paul

[Dumpsterkitty]

K is for Red Knot


 Red Knot running.  Fort DeSoto Park, St. Petersburg, FL
Image copyright 2004 Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART

From Cornell All about birds

The Red Knot is the largest of the "peeps" in North America, and one of the most colorful. It makes one of the longest yearly migrations of any bird, traveling 15,000 km (9,300 mi) from its Arctic breeding grounds to Tierra del Fuego (Hi Mirta!) in southern South America.

Cool Facts

    * The Red Knot does not regurgitate undigested hard parts of prey, as do many species of birds. Instead it excretes the hard parts in the feces. Researchers have used fecal content to examine food consumption rates.
    * Red Knots concentrate in huge numbers at traditional staging grounds during migration. Delaware Bay is an important staging area during spring migration, where the knots feed on the eggs of spawning horseshoe crabs. It is estimated that nearly 90 percent of the entire population of the Red Knot subspecies C. c. rufa can be present on the bay in a single day. The reduction in food available to the knots because of the heavy harvesting of horseshoe crabs may be responsible for a decline in Red Knot populations.

[carla]

K is for KAVER: Kaver is the first falcon I ever saw and I immediately knew I was in LOVE. He is the one who got me hooked on Kodak Falcons. From that day on, I don't think I missed a day. He treated his lovely mate Mariah with great care. He was "Super Dad" to all of his many many kids. He stood by Mariah's side when she was injured, he fed her, helped feed the kids when she couldn't. Kaver is so special and will always be my QTP2T. When he left and never came back, he took a piece of my heart with him. I will never forget the joy that boy gave to me and others. I miss him dearly.

 

Thanks Donna, that was a very good start of the K!!
I was expecting that you would write about Kaver.  
greetings Aafke

KAVER it is,he's the best.Thanks Donna

[nwfloridafalconfan]

"K" is for the Swallow-tailed Kite (http://www.peregrinefund.org/explore_raptors/kites/swallowt.html) that visit us each Spring here along the Alabama-Florida state line.

He/She has been too unpredictable for me to get any photos, but they are certainly impressive to watch.

Some "file" photos: (http://www.pbase.com/dadas115/swallowtailed_kite)

nwfloridafalconfan



 

[Annette]

Kite, Snail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snail_Kite

[Patti from Kentucky]

The photo below is of a young Kentucky Warbler.  I attended a bird-banding session at Mammoth Cave National Park a few years back, and this bird was one of the victims.  Kentucky Warblers typically stay in the low levels of the forest or on the ground...which means they are nearly impossible to see, since they're always crawling around in thick understory.  So I was lucky they managed to catch one in the mist net!

[Donna]

K is for KOKAKO! Never heard of it, was just looking for a bird with a strange name.

New Zealand Tiri Tiri

The Kōkako (Callaeas cinerea) is a forest bird which is endemic to New Zealand. It is slate-grey with a black mask and wattles. It is one of three species of New Zealand Wattlebird, the other two being the endangered Tieke (saddleback) and the extinct Huia. Previously widespread, Kōkako populations throughout New Zealand have been decimated by the predations of mammalian invasive species such as possums, stoats, cats and rats and their range has contracted significantly. There were formerly two sub-species of Kōkako, North Island and South Island, although the South Island subspecies may now be extinct. (Wiki)

A very pretty bird.

[Patti from Kentucky]

The photo below is another warbler starting with a K, the Kirtland's Warbler, and is also another example of how lucky I am!  The Kirtland's Warbler is an endangered species, largely because of bizarrely limiting nesting habitat needs (needs young Jack Pine forests).  Habitat loss, fire suppression (leading to forests that are too mature for their purposes), and cowbird problems have been their main threats.  However, one passed through last May when I was on Lake Erie (warbler land), and stayed around all day, long enough for several hundred people to get out to the beach on the lakeshore to see it (and take its picture).