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yakman1958.bsky.social
Aka Mike
@yakman1958.bsky.social
330 followers 360 following 46 posts
My places of peace include photography, reading, outdoors, gardening, family and Grace. Here, my focus is my photography, with occasional bits of peaceful wisdom. All of my bird photo info is sourced from the www.allaboutbirds.org website.
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yakman1958.bsky.social
Red Bellied Woodpecker, enjoying a winter oak acorn, found in my backyard. If you live near any wooded patches, you may be able to attract them using feeders filled with suet (in winter), peanuts, and sometimes sunflower seeds. Courtesy of www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-be...
A Red-bellied Woodpecker can stick out its tongue nearly 2 inches past the end of its beak. The tip is barbed and the bird’s spit is sticky, making it easier to snatch prey from deep crevices. Males have longer, wider-tipped tongues than females, possibly allowing a breeding pair to forage in slightly different places on their territory and maximize their use of available food. You may sometimes see Red-bellied Woodpeckers wedge large nuts into bark crevices, then whack them into manageable pieces using their beaks. They also use cracks in trees and fence posts to store food for later in the year, a habit it shares with other woodpeckers in its genus. For birds that nest in cavities, nest holes are precious turf. Red-bellied Woodpeckers have been known to take over the nests of other birds, including the much smaller (and endangered) Red-cockaded Woodpecker. But more often they’re victims to the aggressive European Starling. As many as half of all Red-bellied Woodpecker nests in some areas get invaded by starlings. You may occasionally see a Red-bellied Woodpecker flying quickly and erratically through the forest, abruptly changing direction, alighting for an instant and immediately taking off again, keeping up a quick chatter of calls. Scientists categorize this odd behavior as a type of play that probably helps young birds practice the evasive action they may one day need. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-bellied_Woodpecker
January 21, 2025 at 10:31 PM
yakman1958.bsky.social
This is from my archive, going back all the way to 2008. I captured this Canada Jay while on my first guided photography safari in Alaska. This is a juvenile, not yet displaying its white face and belly feathers.
In 2018, the American Ornithological Society voted to change the common name of the Gray Jay to Canada Jay. The Canada Jay stores large quantities of food for later use. It uses sticky saliva to glue small food items to tree branches above the height of the eventual snow line. It may be this food storage behavior that allows the jay to live so far north throughout the winter. The Canada Jay nests during late winter, incubating its eggs in temperatures that may drop below minus 20°F. Oddly, it does not attempt a second brood in the May–June breeding period used by other birds in boreal habitats, even though those warmer conditions would appear to be more favorable. Paleontologists have recovered the fragmented fossils of two Canada Jays from the late Pleistocene (about 18,000 years ago), along with other boreal birds and mammals, at a cave in central Tennessee, indicating a much colder climate at that time than now. The Canada Jay ranges across northern North America, and its close relative the Siberian Jay spans a similar swath of northern Eurasia. Together, they complete a ring around the Northern Hemisphere. The two species share the habit of using sticky saliva to attach food to crevices in trees. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Canada_Jay/
December 12, 2024 at 3:58 AM
yakman1958.bsky.social
The Brown-headed Cowbird has a fascinating approach to raising its young. Females forgo building nests, instead choosing to lay their eggs, up to 3 dozen a year, in the nests of other birds, abandoning their young to foster parents. Courtesy of www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-...
The Brown-headed Cowbird is North America’s most common “brood parasite.” A female cowbird makes no nest of her own, but instead lays her eggs in the nests of other bird species, who then raise the young cowbirds. Social relationships are difficult to figure out in birds that do not build nests, but male and female Brown-headed Cowbirds are not monogamous. Genetic analyses show that males and females have several different mates within a single season. Brown-headed Cowbird lay eggs in the nests of more than 220 species of birds. Recent genetic analyses have shown that most individual females specialize on one particular host species. Some birds, such as the Yellow Warbler, can recognize cowbird eggs but are too small to get the eggs out of their nests. Instead, they build a new nest over the top of the old one and hope cowbirds don’t come back. Some larger species puncture or grab cowbird eggs and throw them out of the nest. But the majority of hosts don’t recognize cowbird eggs at all. Cowbird eggs hatch faster than other species eggs, giving cowbird nestlings a head start in getting food from the parents. Young cowbirds also develop at a faster pace than their nest mates, and they sometimes toss out eggs and young nestlings or smother them in the bottom of the nest. In winter, Brown-headed Cowbirds may join huge roosts with several blackbird species. One such mixed roost in Kentucky contained more than five million birds. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown-headed_Cowbird
December 5, 2024 at 5:15 AM
yakman1958.bsky.social
Just a bee, buzzing to the tune Me and My Shadow - the Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. version, of course!
December 2, 2024 at 4:07 AM
yakman1958.bsky.social
Happy Thanksgiving!
November 28, 2024 at 5:05 PM
yakman1958.bsky.social
Coral Honeysuckle - native to almost every state from Texas eastward. Planting this vine checks almost all the Benefits boxes. Drought tolerant, hummingbirds love the blooms, and evergreen year round.
Four seasons of Coral Honeysuckle SPRING The vine wakes up as temperatures rise, putting out fresh green leaves and growing its tendrils. Expect spring to be a huge burst in the vine’s growth. This is also when the vine puts out its distinctive flowers. The amount of flowers depends on the amount of sun: sunny spots will get more flowers than shady ones. And then here come the hummingbirds! SUMMER As the flowers fade, they turn into bright red berries—another bird treat. Smaller songbirds will bury themselves in the vine, chowing down on the berries. FALL During the fall season, the leaves turn a brilliant range of yellow and orange hues. WINTER Coral Honeysuckle is a semi-evergreen vine; some of its leaves will persist even in cold, snowy winters.
November 28, 2024 at 4:27 AM
yakman1958.bsky.social
This is a correct post from earlier. The Loggerhead Shrike is a songbird with a raptor’s habits. Lacking a raptor’s talons, Loggerhead Shrikes skewer their kills on thorns or barbed wire or wedge them into tight places for easy eating. Courtesy of www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Logger...
Newly fledged Loggerhead Shrikes perform exaggerated, misdirected versions of adult hunting behavior. They peck at inanimate objects, fly about with leaves or sticks in their beaks, practice aerial chases without a target, or chase after their parents. They also perform rudimentary impaling gestures, grasping objects in the tip of their bill and repeatedly touching them to a branch or perch as if trying to get them to stick. Loggerhead Shrikes sometimes go hunting on cold mornings, when insect prey are immobilized by low temperatures. “Loggerhead,” a synonym for “blockhead,” refers to the unusually large size of this bird’s head in relation to its body. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Loggerhead_Shrike A Loggerhead Shrike can kill and carry an animal as massive as itself. It transports large prey in its feet and smaller victims in its beak. The upper cutting edge (tomium) of the Loggerhead Shrike’s hooked bill features a pair of built-in pointy projections, aptly named “tomial teeth.” Like a falcon, the shrike tackles vertebrate prey with a precise attack to the nape, probably using these tomial “teeth” to paralyze the animal with a jab to the spinal cord. Loggerhead Shrikes impale noxious prey such as monarch butterflies and eastern narrow-mouthed toads—then wait for up to three days to eat them, which allows time for the poisons to break down. These shrikes also eat the heads and abdomens of toxic lubber grasshoppers, while discarding the insect’s poisonous thorax. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Loggerhead_Shrike
November 28, 2024 at 3:55 AM
yakman1958.bsky.social
Fall at Guadeloupe State Park, Texas, 10 years ago.
November 28, 2024 at 2:38 AM
yakman1958.bsky.social
One of my old favorites. Morning fog on lake Greenleaf, in Oklahoma.
November 28, 2024 at 2:34 AM
yakman1958.bsky.social
The Double-crested Cormorant (this example is a youngster) is a prehistoric-looking, matte-black fishing bird with yellow-orange facial skin. Though they look like a combination of a goose and a loon, they are relatives of frigatebirds and boobies. Courtesy of www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Double...
The double crest of the Double-crested Cormorant is only visible on adults during breeding season. The crests are white in cormorants from Alaska and black in other regions. Cormorants often stand in the sun with their wings spread out to dry. They have less preen oil than other birds, so their feathers can get soaked rather than shedding water like a duck’s. Though this seems like a problem for a bird that spends its life in water, wet feathers probably make it easier for cormorants to hunt underwater with agility and speed. Double-crested Cormorant nests often are exposed to direct sun. Adults shade the chicks and also bring them water, pouring it from their mouths into those of the chicks. In breeding colonies where the nests are placed on the ground, young cormorants leave their nests and congregate into groups with other youngsters (creches). They return to their own nests to be fed. Accumulated fecal matter below nests can kill the nest trees. When this happens, the cormorants may move to a new area or they may simply shift to nesting on the ground. The Double-crested Cormorant makes a bulky nest of sticks and other materials. It frequently picks up junk, such as rope, deflated balloons, fishnet, and plastic debris to incorporate into the nest. Parts of dead birds are commonly used too. Large pebbles are occasionally found in cormorant nests, and the cormorants treat them as eggs. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Double-crested_Cormorant
November 24, 2024 at 8:55 PM
yakman1958.bsky.social
The House Finch is a recent introduction from western into eastern North America (and Hawaii), but it has received a warmer reception than other arrivals like the European Starling and House Sparrow. Courtesy of www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_...
The House Finch was originally a bird of the western United States and Mexico. In 1940 a small number of finches were turned loose on Long Island, New York, after failed attempts to sell them as cage birds (“Hollywood finches”). They quickly started breeding and spread across almost all of the eastern United States and southern Canada within the next 50 years. House Finches were introduced to Oahu from San Francisco sometime before 1870. They had become abundant on all the major Hawaiian Islands by 1901. The red of a male House Finch comes from pigments contained in its food during molt (birds can’t make bright red or yellow colors directly). So the more pigment in the food, the redder the male. This is why people sometimes see orange or yellowish male House Finches. Females prefer to mate with the reddest male they can find, perhaps raising the chances they get a capable mate who can do his part in feeding the nestlings. House Finches feed their nestlings exclusively plant foods, a fairly rare occurrence in the bird world. Many birds that are vegetarians as adults still find animal foods to keep their fast-growing young supplied with protein. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Finch
November 24, 2024 at 8:23 PM
yakman1958.bsky.social
The quintessential early bird, American Robins are common sights on lawns across North America, where you often see them tugging earthworms out of the ground. Courtesy of www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Americ...
Although robins are considered harbingers of spring, many American Robins spend the whole winter in their breeding range. But because they spend more time roosting in trees and less time in your yard, you're much less likely to see them. The number of robins present in the northern parts of the range varies each year with the local conditions. Robins eat a lot of fruit in fall and winter. When they eat honeysuckle berries exclusively, they sometimes become intoxicated. Robin roosts can be huge, sometimes including a quarter-million birds during winter. In summer, females sleep at their nests and males gather at roosts. As young robins become independent, they join the males. Female adults go to the roosts only after they have finished nesting. Robins eat different types of food depending on the time of day: more earthworms in the morning and more fruit later in the day. Because the robin forages largely on lawns, it is vulnerable to pesticide poisoning and can be an important indicator of chemical pollution. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin
November 24, 2024 at 8:16 PM
yakman1958.bsky.social
The “blue jay” of dry lowlands along the Pacific seaboard, the California Scrub-Jay combines deep azure blue, clean white underparts, and soft gray-brown. Courtesy of www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Califo...
Look closely, and you'll see an intriguing difference between the California Scrub-Jay and its close relative, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay. The bill of a California Scrub-Jay is stout and hooked, giving it extra power and grip as the birds hammer open acorns in their oak woodland habitats. By comparison, Woodhouse's have thinner, more pointed bills that nimbly reach deep into pinyon pine cones to pull out the pine nuts inside. The calls made by California and Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays are a hallmark sound of the open West. Some 20 call types are known, and one of the most memorable descriptions comes from naturalist W. L. Dawson in 1923: “No masquerader at Mardi Gras has sprung such a cacophonic device upon a quiveringly expectant public. Dzweep, dzweep: it curdles the blood, as it is meant to do.” You might see California Scrub-Jays standing on the back of a mule deer. They’re eating ticks and other parasites. The deer seem to appreciate the help, often standing still and holding up their ears to give the jays access. California Scrub-Jays—like many members of the crow and jay family—have a mischievous streak. They’ve been caught stealing acorns from Acorn Woodpecker caches, and some even steal acorns they’ve watched other jays hide. When these birds go to hide their own acorns, they check first that no other jays are watching. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/California_Scrub-Jay
November 24, 2024 at 8:06 PM
yakman1958.bsky.social
Here’s one for #flyday. Happy Friday everyone!
November 22, 2024 at 11:49 PM
yakman1958.bsky.social
Cedar Waxwing is a silky, shiny collection of brown, gray, and lemon-yellow, accented with a subdued crest, rakish black mask, and brilliant-red wax droplets on the wing feathers. Courtesy of www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_...
The name "waxwing" comes from the waxy red secretions found on the tips of the secondaries of some birds. The exact function of these tips is not known, but they may help attract mates. Cedar Waxwings with orange instead of yellow tail tips began appearing in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada in the 1960s. The orange color is the result of a red pigment picked up from the berries of an introduced species of honeysuckle. If a waxwing eats enough of the berries while it is growing a tail feather, the tip of the feather will be orange. The Cedar Waxwing is one of the few North American birds that specializes in eating fruit. It can survive on fruit alone for several months. Brown-headed Cowbirds that are raised in Cedar Waxwing nests typically don’t survive, in part because the cowbird chicks can’t develop on such a high-fruit diet. Many birds that eat a lot of fruit separate out the seeds and regurgitate them, but the Cedar Waxwing lets them pass right through. Scientists have used this trait to estimate how fast waxwings can digest fruits. Because they eat so much fruit, Cedar Waxwings occasionally become intoxicated or even die when they run across overripe berries that have started to ferment and produce alcohol. Building a nest takes a female Cedar Waxwing 5 to 6 days and may require more than 2,500 individual trips to the nest. They occasionally save time by taking nest materials from other birds’ nests, including nests of Eastern Kingbirds, Yellow-throated Vireos, orioles, robins, and Yellow Warblers. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing The name "waxwing" comes from the waxy red secretions found on the tips of the secondaries of some birds. The exact function of these tips is not known, but they may help attract mates. Cedar Waxwings with orange instead of yellow tail tips began appearing in the northeastern U.S. and southeastern Canada in the 1960s. The orange color is the result of a red pigment picked up from the berries of an introduced species of honeysuckle. If a waxwing eats enough of the berries while it is growing a tail feather, the tip of the feather will be orange. The Cedar Waxwing is one of the few North American birds that specializes in eating fruit. It can survive on fruit alone for several months. Brown-headed Cowbirds that are raised in Cedar Waxwing nests typically don’t survive, in part because the cowbird chicks can’t develop on such a high-fruit diet. Many birds that eat a lot of fruit separate out the seeds and regurgitate them, but the Cedar Waxwing lets them pass right through. Scientists have used this trait to estimate how fast waxwings can digest fruits. Because they eat so much fruit, Cedar Waxwings occasionally become intoxicated or even die when they run across overripe berries that have started to ferment and produce alcohol. Building a nest takes a female Cedar Waxwing 5 to 6 days and may require more than 2,500 individual trips to the nest. They occasionally save time by taking nest materials from other birds’ nests, including nests of Eastern Kingbirds, Yellow-throated Vireos, orioles, robins, and Yellow Warblers. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing
November 22, 2024 at 7:09 PM
yakman1958.bsky.social
House sparrows consummating their marriage. The male set up shop in this bird house, then began calling loudly, trying to attract a mate. He then fiercely guarded their home throughout the raising of their family.
The House Sparrow was introduced into Brooklyn, New York, in 1851. By 1900 it had spread to the Rocky Mountains. Two more introductions in the early 1870s, in San Francisco and Salt Lake City, aided the bird’s spread throughout the West. House Sparrows are now common across all of North America except Alaska and far northern Canada. The House Sparrow takes frequent dust baths. It throws soil and dust over its body feathers, just as if it were bathing with water. In doing so, a sparrow may make a small depression in the ground, and sometimes defends this spot against other sparrows. The House Sparrow prefers to nest in manmade structures such as eaves or walls of buildings, street lights, and nest boxes instead of in natural nest sites such as holes in trees. House Sparrows aggressively defend their nest holes. A scientist in 1889 reported cases of House Sparrows attacking 70 different bird species. House Sparrows sometimes evict other birds from nest holes, including Eastern Bluebirds, Purple Martins, and Tree Swallows. House Sparrows in flocks have a pecking order much the way chickens in a farmyard do. You can begin to decipher the standings by paying attention to the black throats of the males. Males with larger patches of black tend to be older and dominant over males with less black. By wearing this information on their feathers, sparrows can avoid some fights and thereby save energy. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Sparrow
November 22, 2024 at 6:53 PM
yakman1958.bsky.social
My view from atop the Montauk Point Lighthouse on Long Island, to take you into the weekend.
Montauk Point Lighthouse
November 22, 2024 at 6:39 PM
yakman1958.bsky.social
Bewick’s Wrens are still fairly common in much of western North America, but they have virtually disappeared from the East. Courtesy of www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bewick...
The severe declines of Bewick's Wren in the eastern United States coincided with range expansion in the House Wren. It is suspected that the House Wren, which frequently removes eggs from nests in cavities, was directly responsible for the decline. The increased availability of nest boxes may have helped the spread of the House Wren, and therefore the decline of the Bewick's Wren. This species is named after British engraver Thomas Bewick—a friend of pioneering bird artist John James Audubon, who collected the first recognized specimen. After collecting a bird in 1821 in Louisiana, Audubon saw another and wrote, "I refrained from killing it, in order to observe its habits.… It moved along the bars of the fences, with its tail generally erect, looking from the bar on which it stood towards the one next above, and caught spiders and other insects, as it ran along from one panel of the fence to another in quick succession." Courting Bewick’s Wrens normally form monogamous pairs. While they’re setting up house and even after the female has begun incubating eggs, the male and female often forage together. This may help the male prevent his partner from mating with another bird. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bewicks_Wren
November 22, 2024 at 3:54 AM
yakman1958.bsky.social
Blueberry blooms
Blueberry blooms
November 22, 2024 at 3:37 AM
yakman1958.bsky.social
Erosion control fence on the Fire Island public beach.
Erosion control fence on Fire Island, black and white
November 22, 2024 at 3:36 AM
yakman1958.bsky.social
Black and white shots from the interior of Montauk Point Lighthouse Long Island
Montauk Point Lighthouse interior Montauk Point Lighthouse interior
November 22, 2024 at 3:34 AM
yakman1958.bsky.social
One of my favorite Texas native plants. Meet the Antelope Horn Milkweed, in full bloom. This one is in full bloom, in all its otherworldly glory.
Antelope horn milkweed
November 21, 2024 at 4:02 AM
yakman1958.bsky.social
The buoyant, flutelike melody of the Western Meadowlark ringing out across a field can brighten anyone’s day. This colorful member of the blackbird family flashes a vibrant yellow breast crossed by a distinctive, black, V-shaped band. Courtesy of www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Wester...
The nest of the Western Meadowlark usually is partially covered by a grass roof. It may be completely open, however, or it may have a complete roof and an entrance tunnel several feet long. Although the Western Meadowlark looks nearly identical to the Eastern Meadowlark, the two species hybridize only very rarely. Mixed pairs usually occur only at the edge of the range where few mates are available. Captive breeding experiments found that hybrid meadowlarks were fertile, but produced few eggs that hatched. The explorer Meriwether Lewis was the first to point out the subtle differences between the birds that would eventually be known as the Eastern and Western Meadowlarks, noting in June 1805 that the tail and bill shapes as well as the song of the Western Meadowlark differed from what was then known as the “oldfield lark” in the Eastern United States. In 1914, California grain growers initiated one of the earliest studies of the Western Meadowlark’s diet to determine whether the bird could be designated a pest species. Although they do eat grain, Western Meadowlarks also help limit numbers of crop-damaging insects. Like other members of the blackbird, or icterid, family, meadowlarks use a feeding behavior called “gaping,” which relies on the unusually strong muscles that open their bill. They insert their bill into the soil, bark or other substrate, then force it open to create a hole. This gives meadowlarks access to insects and other food items that most birds can’t reach. The Western Meadowlark is the state bird of six states: Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming. Only the Northern Cardinal is a more popular civic symbol, edging out the meadowlark by one state. A male Western Meadowlark usually has two mates at the same time. The females do all the incubating and brooding, and most of the feeding of the young. Courtesy of https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Meadowlark
November 20, 2024 at 9:08 PM
yakman1958.bsky.social
Adult male Yellow Rumped Warbler, Buffalo Lake Wildlife Refuge, May 2024
The Yellow-rumped Warbler is the only warbler able to digest the waxes found in bayberries and wax myrtles. Its ability to use these fruits allows it to winter farther north than other warblers, sometimes as far north as Newfoundland. Male Yellow-rumped Warblers tend to forage higher in trees than females do. Yellow-rumped Warblers are perhaps the most versatile foragers of all warblers. They're the warbler you're most likely to see fluttering out from a tree to catch a flying insect, and they're also quick to switch over to eating berries in fall. Other places Yellow-rumped Warblers have been spotted foraging include picking at insects on washed-up seaweed at the beach, skimming insects from the surface of rivers and the ocean, picking them out of spiderwebs, and grabbing them off piles of manure.
November 20, 2024 at 3:16 PM
yakman1958.bsky.social
Montauk Point Lighthouse is my first lighthouse to photograph and the oldest on Long Island.
Montauk Point Lighthouse. The Montauk Point Lighthouse, commissioned by President George Washington in 1792, is one of the best-known and most-beloved icons of Long Island. It was the first lighthouse to be built in New York, and is the fourth-oldest working lighthouse in the nation. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 2012, one of only 12 lighthouses to be so honored.
November 20, 2024 at 1:57 PM