Signs

The exotic and funny warning signs from around the United States and the world:

Swarms

Very few things in the natural world beat the awe of seeing thousands of snow geese all take to flight at the same time. (Not for nothing it was the opening image of BBC's "Planet Earth".) In our area, we can catch this sight in late December or late February when the birds stage for their winter or spring migration, and the border between NJ and PA happens to be the eartern-most boundary of their wintering range. I took these shots on a field in Alpha, NJ, right next to Delaware River:







Other birds swarm as well. This is a flock of red-winged blackbirds from Texas:


Pintail ducks from Brigantine, NJ:


Dunlins:




The pictures above were taken in April 2012 on Jones Beach. The dunlins (plus some sanderlings) crowded the beach not just in the air, but also on the ground:


Canada Geese (yes, they do migrate too):

Texas parrots

Even though it's the south, the sight of several hundred parrots in Brownsville, Texas is still unexpected. They tend to congregate together at the dusk in a local park. These are real, so-called "Amazon" parrots, and not parakeets. Since it's dark, it's hard to take good pictures, but I did manage a few.

This is a Lilac-Crowned Parrot:


And these two are Red-Crowned Parrots:




But there is a sight that beats seeing 100 parrots in a flock. And that's seeing 200 to 300 parrots! These are actually Green Parakeets, which roost in big numbers on the streets of McAllen, Tx:


While there, they colonized not just the wires, but also the sign for a certain franchise restaurant:




Here are better close-ups:






As this was the beginning of spring in Texas, the birds were in amorous moods:




They were also in a biting mood. I don't know why, but once in a while they would bite on whatever perch they were sitting on. Some experts watching them next to us thought that was a nest-building behavior. I am not so sure, but maybe they are right.






Finally, we found another interesting sight - a yellow Green Parakeet. According to the locals, she is a young bird that - by mutation - lacks blue pigment in her feathers. Here she is seen surrounded by both her parents:

Pauraque - "like dry leaves"

Look at the picture below carefully. Do you see a bird hiding in plain sight there?




I'll give you a hint. Here's what you are looking for:




If you still haven't found it, here is where it was:



This bird is a Common Pauraque. It is a type of a nighthawk that breeds and winters in tropical areas from southern Texas to Argentina. The only thing that my bird guide says about it is "Cryptic, like dry leaves." Seems a fitting description! Here's a better close-up:





I honestly didn't know it existed until someone pointed it out to us during our walk in a Rio Grande Valley park. Even then, at first I thought they were referring to some parakeet. Like all nighthawks, it hunts insects at night, and sleeps on bare ground during the day. (Which is also where it incubates its young - it does not believe in nests apparently.) You can get pretty close to it before it flushes - it believes in its camouflage so much that it really does not feel threatened. Which is how I was able to take these shots.

Snowy Owl recap (with bonus owls!)

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, this was an exceptional winter not just due to the quantity of snow, but also to the quantity of snowy owls, especially in the US Northeast. I've probably seen them on a dozen separate trips. I am posting the best shots here, plus a few other owls I've met this winter season.

Snowy owls first:

Long-Eared Owl. It took two trips to Central Park to find it, and no wonder:

Eastern Screen Owl, from southern Texas:

Burrowing Owl, from south Florida: