Birds

As some of you may recall, my son is a birder. That means he likes to go out and search for birds, especially birds he hasn't seen or birds not commonly seen. He'll drive hours to go see a rare bird that's stumbled into Maine or be perfectly happy going down to the mills and watching the ducks and geese. Recently he bought himself a nice camera to take pictures of the birds he sees, something he'd been wanting for quite some time. Today, I'm going to share some of those pictures...

The first pic he sent me was of a Mockingbird, from the Mimidae family, who are best known for the habit of some species mimicking the songs of other birds and the sounds of insects and amphibians, often loudly and in rapid succession. They're here in Maine, but not commonly seen, like goldfinches or chickadees.

Second pic is a Red-tailed hawk, which belongs to the Accipitridae family (no idea how to pronounce that) and is a bird of prey which is colloquially known in the US as the "chickenhawk," though apparently it rarely preys on standard sized chickens. The majority of hawks captured for falconry in the United States are red-tails.

Seagulls belong to the Laridae family and are generalist feeders, equally adept at swimming, flying, and walking. In the air, they are able to hover and they are also able to take off quickly with little space. Some people think they're a nuisance but I like them, even if they can be NOISY!

And finally an extra pretty House finch (Finch family), which I occasionally see at the feeders at my work. Originally only a resident of Mexico and the Southwestern US, they were introduced illegally in NYC and sold as "Hollywood Finches". To avoid prosecution, vendors and owners released the birds which have since become naturalized. The girls aren't nearly as pretty, poor things.

 
And that my friends is your lesson on birds for the week :)

Do you like birds?