North American Wood Duck Habitats: Cavity Nests, Drab Females, Gaudy Males, White Eggs

Summary: North American wood duck habitats link cavity nests, drab females, gaudy males and white eggs seasonally in Canada and Mexico, year-round in the United States.

A pair of female (front) and male (back) North American wood ducks (Aix sponsa) take a walk; Saturday, March 6, 2010, 09:25: Andrea Westmoreland from DeLand, United States, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

North American wood duck habitats advance cultivation through appetites for crustaceans, insects and spiders, hunting through appearances from Canada to Mexico and naturalism through year-long distribution ranges in the eastern United States.

Wood ducks bear the common names acorn, Carolina and summer ducks and the scientific name Aix sponsa (diving-bird [in] bridal [dress]) as nut-eating, southern-, warmth-, wood-lovers. Collection, development, drainage, hunting, pollution, predation, recreation and tourism challenge the wood duck, described in 1758 by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1787). Flocks draw together half-siblings and their mothers into cavity nests and nest boxes since mothers-to-be sometimes develop built and natural domiciles into communal, maternity ward-like domains.

Eighteen-year lifespans expect open water and vegetative cover from beaver ponds, bottomland forests, freshwater marshes and swamps and wooded shores of creeks, lakes, rivers and streams.

January through August furnish seasonally monogamous opportunities for brooding two six- to 16-egg clutches in farm buildings, natural holes, nest boxes, tree cavities and woodpecker nest-holes.

Females gather downy nest-lining from white breast-feathers after going cavity-hunting with their mates early in the morning up to 1.2 miles (1.93 kilometers) from water bodies. Two- to 15-foot- (0.61- to 4.58-meter-) deep nests with 4-plus-inch (10.16-plus-centimeter-) wide openings 2 to 60 feet (0.61 to 18.29 meters) high house glossy, smooth clutches. Mothers-to-be incubate cream-white to tan, 1.8- to 2.4-inch (4.57- to 6.09-centimeter) by 1.4- to 1.7-inch (3.56- to 4.32-centimeter), subelliptical to oval eggs 28 to 37 days.

Alligators, black rat snakes, bullfrogs, collectors, gray and red foxes, great horned owls, hunters, mink, raccoons, snapping turtles and woodpeckers jeopardize North American wood duck habitats.

Brown-eyed, downy, long-tailed, precocious hatchlings know black-brown crowns and upper-parts, dark eye-to-nape lines, gray-white to yellow faces and underparts, white rear-edged wings and white-spotted lower backs.

Fast-functioning blue-gray bills with red-brown nails, gray-yellow feet and legs and open eyes launch sharp-clawed nestlings from nest entrances to the ground one day after hatching. Chicks manage five alarm, contact and threatening calls within two to three days, flight 54 to 67 days later and sexual maturity one year after hatching. Adults need arachnid-, crustacean-, insect-, mollusk-rich diets of ants, bees, beetles, caddisflies, caterpillars, crabs, damselflies, dragonflies, flies, moths, pillbugs, shrimp, slugs, snails, sowbugs, spiders and wasps.

North American wood duck habitats also offer omnivorous adults acorns, blackberries, duckweed, hickory nuts, maple seeds, millet, panic-grass, smartweed, soybeans, water primrose, waterlily and wild cherries.

Daytime forages, defensive chasing, hitting, jabbing, jerking and pecking, speed in diving, flying, swimming and walking and 12 adult calls protect flock-based wood duck life cycles.

Alder, arrowhead, buttonbush, smartweed and willow qualify as camouflage, during winter-coldest temperatures of minus 40 degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit, through 900-foot (274.32-meter) altitudes above sea level. Burgundy flanks, maroon breasts, pale bellies and under-tails, red eyes and white breast, chin, face, head and neck stripes reveal black bill-tipped, helmet-headed, rectangular-tailed, stout-bodied males. Deep-winged, heads-up, rapid flights on 26- to 29-inch (66.04- to 73.66-centimeter) wingspans suggest 16- to 30-ounce (453.59- to 850.49-gram), 18.5- to 21.5-inch (46.99- to 54.61-centimeter) adults.

The rising oh-eek-oh-eek call and the up-slurred, wheezy, whistled zweeet vocalization respectively tell of brown-and-white females and of gaudy males in North American wood duck habitats.

An unhatched wood duck (Aix sponsa) egg, held in gloved hand of wildlife technician Kelly Tingle, was retrieved during annual nest box maintenance check conducted by Biological Sciences, Environmental Management Division, at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, Onslow County, southeastern North Carolina; Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, 09:45: U.S. Marine Corps, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

A pair of female (front) and male (back) North American wood ducks (Aix sponsa) take a walk; Saturday, March 6, 2010, 09:25: Andrea Westmoreland from DeLand, United States, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mr._and_Mrs._Wood_Duck_Taking_a_Stroll_-_Flickr_-_Andrea_Westmoreland.jpg

An unhatched wood duck (Aix sponsa) egg, held in gloved hand of wildlife technician Kelly Tingle, was retrieved during annual nest box maintenance check conducted by Biological Sciences, Environmental Management Division, at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, Jacksonville, Onslow County, southeastern North Carolina; Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, 09:45: U.S. Marine Corps, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USMC-120123-M-GL246-015.jpg

For further information:

Baicich, Paul J.; and Harrison, Colin J.O. Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Second edition. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, Princeton Field Guides, 2005.

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volumes 8-11, Birds I-IV, edited by Michael Hutchins, Jerome A. Jackson, Walter J. Bock and Donna Olendorf. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2002.

Linnaeus, Carl. 1758. "35. Aix sponsa." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 128. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727033

Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Aix sponsa (Linnaeus) 1758." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Anseriformes > Anatidae > Aix.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/anse.html

"The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map." The National Gardening Association > Gardening Tools > Learning Library USDA Hardiness Zone > USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Available @ https://garden.org/nga/zipzone/2012/

American Red-Shouldered Hawk Habitats: Platform Nest, Pale Egg, Brown Body

Summary: Pale eggs in platform nests get North American red-shouldered hawk habitats brown bodies seasonally in Canada and Mexico, year-round in the United States.

red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus); Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, Gainesville, Alachua County, north central Florida; Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 10:39: Sfullenwider, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

North American red-shouldered hawk habitats address cultivator anxieties through Accipitridae raptor family member appetites for rampaging reptiles but aggravate hunters and naturalists through distribution ranges along coasts and into the eastern interior.

Red-shouldered hawks bear their common name and the scientific name Buteo lineatus (striped buzzard) from red leading edges on wings and from black-and-white-striped tails and wings. Agro-industry, construction, pollution, predation, recreation, tourism and urbanization challenge the red-shouldered hawk, described in 1788 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin (Aug. 8, 1748-Nov. 1, 1804). A thousand-mile (1,609.34-kilometer) distance divides four subspecies of eastern Mexico and the United States from the only subspecies in western coastal Mexico and the United States.

Eighteen-year lifespans expect moist coniferous, deciduous or mixed forests and woodlands, especially of eucalyptus and oak in the west and of mangrove and palmetto in Florida.

January through July furnish opportunities for brooding one two- to five-egg clutch, followed by more if the first smooth, somewhat glossy, subelliptical to elliptical eggs fail.

Parents-to-be gather twigs into bark-, leaf-, lichen-, stem-lined, bulky, flat-topped, 2- to 3-inch- (5.08- to 7.62-centimeter-) deep, 8- to 12-inch- (20.32- to 30.48-centimeter-) high platform nests. Nests with 8-inch (20.32-centimeter) inner and 18- to 24-inch outer (45.2- to 60.96-centimeter) diameters house eggs 20 to 60 feet (6.09 to 18.29 meters) up trees. Parents-to-be initiate 23- to 40-day incubations with the first-laid buff or white, 2.06- to 2.22-inch (52.4- to 56.5-millimeter) by 1.65- to 1.73-inch (42- to 44-millimeter) egg.

Great-horned owls and raccoons jeopardize brown,-, lilac-, red-brown-blotched, specked or spotted eggs, hatchlings and nestlings and their co-incubating, co-tending parents in North American red-shouldered hawk habitats.

Downy, semi-helpless hatchlings know long- and soft-coated buff-white upperparts, purple-buff-tinted backs and wings and white underparts and subsequently thick- and woolly-coated gray-white upperparts and white underparts.

Black-billed, different-aged, different-sized, yellow-cered nestlings with dark eye surrounds live off parent-foraged food and, two to four or five weeks after hatching, look active and feathered. Six-week-olds move nearby, for meals with parents for another eight to 10 weeks, until independence at 17 to 19 weeks and sexual maturity at one year. Adults need beetles, caterpillars, chipmunks, crayfish, doves, earthworms, fish, frogs, gophers, grasshoppers, lizards, mice, moles, pigeons, rabbits, shrews, snakes, sparrows, spiders, squirrels, starlings, toads and voles.

North American red-shouldered hawk habitats up to 8,202.1 feet (2,500 meters) above sea level offer winter-coldest temperatures at minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 31.66 degrees Celsius).

Bio-geography and physiques put orange-breasted, rufous-headed red-shouldered hawks into California's elegans and Texas' texanus subspecies and pale-breasted, pale-headed red-shouldered hawks into Florida's alleni and extimus subspecies.

Brown upperparts, brown- and white-banded tails, adult-like in fanning for soaring, brown-mottled, spotted, streaked cream-white underparts and translucent patches near dark wing tips quicken juvenile identifications. Black- and white-barred tails, dark-streaked gray heads, red shoulder patches, red- and white-barred breasts, white undertail feathers and white-spotted dark brown plumage reveal yellow-footed, yellow-legged adults. Circular soaring, fast-flapped flight on 3- to 3.5-foot (0.91- to 1.07-meter) wingspans suggests 17- to 27-ounce (481.94- to 765.44-gram), 17- to 24-inch (43.18- to 60.96-centimeter) adults.

North American red-shouldered hawk habitats transmit Allen's, elegant, furthermost, striped and Texas subspecies' alarmed or territorial female and male kee-ahh whistles and nesting female kee calls.

illustration of red-shouldered hawk eggs; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, figure 3, opposite page 170: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus); Kanapaha Botanical Gardens, Gainesville, Alachua County, north central Florida; Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 10:39, 10:39: Sfullenwider, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kanapaha-2008_04_09-IMG_0128.JPG

illustration of red-shouldered hawk eggs; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate XLIV, figure 3, opposite page 170: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34908293

For further information:

Baicich, Paul J.; and Harrison, Colin J.O. Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Second edition. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, Princeton Field Guides, 2005.

Bangs, Outram. 16 January 1920. "A New Red-Shouldered Hawk From the Florida Keys: Buteo lineatus extimus subsp. nov." Proceedings of the New England Zoölogical Club, vol. VII (1919-1921): 35.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12606572

Bishop, Lois B. (Bennett). April 1912. "An Apparently Unrecognized Race of the Red-Shouldered Hawk: Buteo lineatus texanus subsp. nov. Texas Red-Shouldered Hawk." The Auk,  vol. XXIX (old series vol. XXXVII), no. II: 232-233. Cambridge MA: The American Ornithologists' Union.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16020142

Cassin, John. 27 February 1855. "Notes on North American Falconidae, With Descriptions of New Species: 15. Buteo elegans, nobis." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. VII (1854, 1855): 281-282. Philadelphia PA: Merrihew & Thompson.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1694395
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044093291839?urlappend=%3Bseq=307

Gmelin, Johann Friedrich. 1788. "82. Falco lineatus." Caroli a Linné Systema Naturae, tom. I, pars I: 268. Lipsaie [Leipzig]: Impensis Georg Emanuel Beer.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversity library.org/page/2896868

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volumes 8-11, Birds I-IV, edited by Michael Hutchins, Jerome A. Jackson, Walter J. Bock and Donna Olendorf. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2002.

Jones, Howard. 1886. Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio. Illustrations by Mrs. N.E. Jones. Vol. II. Circleville OH: s.n. (sine nomine).
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34908243

Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Buteo linneatus (Gmelin) 1788." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Accipitriformes > Buteo.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/acci.html

Ridgway, Robert. 26 January 1885. "Description of a New Race of the Red-Shouldered Hawk From Florida: Buteo lineatus alleni, subsp. nov." Proceedings of the United States National Museum, vol. VII (1884), no. 33: 514-515.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7306308

Hamlet Is Largest Known Crater on Second Largest Uranian Moon Oberon

Summary: Hamlet is the largest known crater on second largest Uranian moon Oberon, which was discovered by Uranus discoverer William Herschel on Jan. 11, 1787.

Hamlet (center left, between 270 and 300 degrees east), the largest known crater on second largest Uranian moon Oberon, lies in Oberon’s Uranus-facing southern hemisphere; U.S. Geological Survey, “Pictorial Map of Oberon Uo 10M -90/0 AN,” The Southern Hemispheres of Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon; prepared for the Voyager Imaging Science Team in Cooperation With the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1988; mosaic made with Voyager 2 image 1111U2-001: U.S. Geological Survey, via IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Hamlet is the largest known crater on second largest Uranian moon Oberon, which was discovered by German-British astronomer William Herschel (Nov. 15, 1738-Aug. 25, 1822) on Jan. 11, 1787, five years nine months 29 days after his March 13, 1781, discovery of Uranus, Oberon’s primary.

Hamlet is centered at minus 46.1 degrees south latitude, 44.4 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Hamlet’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes reach minus 45.8 degrees south and minus 46.3 degrees south, respectively. The Oberonian southern hemisphere crater’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes extend to 55.8 degrees east and 33 degrees east, respectively. The dark-floored impact crater’s diameter spans 206 kilometers.

Hamlet’s diameter approximated 13.5 percent of Oberon’s diameter. As the second largest Uranian satellite, Oberon has an approximate diameter of 1,522 kilometers. Oberon’s radius is calculated at 761.4 kilometers, according to “Uranian Satellite Fact Sheet” by Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) planetary scientist David Richard Williams on the NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (NSSDCA) website.

Othello, the seventh largest of Oberon’s nine named craters, lies southwest of Hamlet. Othello is centered at minus 66 degrees south latitude, 42.9 degrees east longitude. Othello obtains northernmost and southernmost latitudes of minus 65.6 degrees south and minus 66.4 degrees south, respectively. It registers easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 53.6 degrees east and 52.2 degrees east, respectively. Othello’s diameter measures 114 kilometers.

Macbeth, second to Hamlet in size, rests to the southeast of Hamlet. Macbeth is centered at minus 58.4 degrees south latitude, 112.5 degrees east longitude. Northernmost and southernmost latitudes occur at minus 58 degrees south and minus 58.9 degrees south, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes stretch to 127.4 degrees east and 97.6 degrees east, respectively. Macbeth’s diameter spans 203 kilometers.

Romeo, ranking third in size, hunkers to the northeast of Hamlet. Romeo is centered at minus 28.7 degrees south latitude, 89.4 degrees east longitude. It registers northernmost and southernmost latitudes of minus 28.6 degrees south and minus 28.8 degrees south, respectively. It records easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 94.2 degrees east and 84.7 degrees east, respectively. Romeo’s diameter measures 159 kilometers.

Caesar, ranking eighth in size, lies northeast of Hamlet. Caesar is centered at minus 26.6 degrees south latitude, 61.1 degrees east longitude. It marks northernmost and southernmost latitudes at minus 26.6 degrees south. The crater’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes occur at 64.1 degrees east and 58 degrees east, respectively. Caesar has a diameter of 76 kilometers.

Antony, the smallest of Oberon’s nine named craters, slams against Caesar’s southeastern rim. Antony is centered at minus 27.5 degrees south latitude, 65.4 degrees east longitude. It registers northernmost and southernmost latitudes at minus 27.4 degrees south and minus 27.6 degrees south, respectively. It obtains easternmost and westernmost longitudes of 67.3 degrees east and 63.5 degrees east. Antony has a diameter of 47 kilometers.

Falstaff, Oberon’s fifth largest named crater, lies northwest of Hamlet. Falstaff is centered at minus 22.1 degrees south latitude, 19 degrees east longitude. It records northernmost and southernmost latitudes at minus 21.6 degrees south and minus 22.5 degrees south, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes occur at 23.7 degrees east and 14.3 degrees east, respectively. Falstaff’s diameter measures 124 kilometers.

Lear, Oberon’s fourth largest named crater, resides northwest of Hamlet. Lear is centered at minus 5.4 degrees south latitude, 31.5 degrees east longitude. It marks northernmost and southernmost latitudes at minus 5.3 degrees south and minus 5.5 degrees south, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach 36.1 degrees east and 26.9 degrees east, respectively. Lear’s diameter spans 126 kilometers.

Coriolanus, ranking sixth in size, distances itself to the west-northwest of Hamlet. Coriolanus is centered at minus 11.4 degrees south latitude, 345.2 degrees east longitude. Its northernmost and southernmost latitudes coincide at minus 11.4 degrees south. It obtains easternmost and westernmost longitudes at 349.9 degrees east and 340.5 degrees east, respectively. Coriolanus has a diameter of 120 kilometers.

The nine named craters on Uranian moon Oberon are named after eponymous male characters in plays by Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare (bapt. April 26, 1564-April 23, 1616). The IAU approved the craters’ Shakespearean names during the organization’s XXth (20th) General Assembly, which was held Tuesday, Aug. 2, to Thursday, Aug. 11, 1988, in Baltimore, Maryland.

The takeaways for Hamlet as the largest known crater on second largest Uranian moon Oberon are that Hamlet’s diameter of 206 kilometers approximates 13.5 percent of Oberon’s diameter of 1,522 kilometers and that eponymous male characters in plays by Elizabethan playwright William Shakespeare inspired the names for Hamlet Crater and eight craters in the Uranus-facing, Oberonian southern hemisphere.

False-color image of second largest Uranian satellite Oberon shows dark-floored Hamlet Crater (center right); U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Research Program image constructed from data obtained by Voyager 2 flyby of Uranus, January 1986: U.S. Geological Survey, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Hamlet (center left, between 270 and 300 degrees east), the largest known crater on second largest Uranian moon Oberon, lies in Oberon’s Uranus-facing southern hemisphere; U.S. Geological Survey, “Pictorial Map of Oberon Uo 10M -90/0 AN,” The Southern Hemispheres of Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon; prepared for the Voyager Imaging Science Team in Cooperation With the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1988; mosaic made with Voyager 2 image 1111U2-001: U.S. Geological Survey, via IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/umbriel_titania_oberon_I-1920_300dpi.pdf

False-color image of second largest Uranian satellite Oberon shows dark-floored Hamlet Crater (center right); U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Research Program image constructed from data obtained by Voyager 2 flyby of Uranus, January 1986: U.S. Geological Survey, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oberon_USGS.gif

For further information:

Buratti, Bonnie J.; and Joel A. Mosher. “Comparative Global Albedo and Color Maps of the Uranian Satellites.” Icarus, vol. 90, no. 1 (March 1991): 1-13.
Available via ScienceDirect @ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/001910359190064Z?via%3Dihub

Davies, Merton E.; Tim R. Colvin; Frank Y. Katayama; and Peter C. Thomas. “The Control Networks of the Satellites of Uranus.” Icarus, vol. 71, issue 1 (July 1987): 137-147.
Available via ScienceDirect @ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0019103587901680

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Antony.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Uranus.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/300

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Caesar.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Uranus.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/957

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Coriolanus.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Uranus.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/1312

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Falstaff.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Uranus.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/1905

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Hamlet.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Uranus.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/2150

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Lear.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Uranus.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/2150

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Macbeth.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Uranus.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3552

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Othello.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Uranus.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/4521

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Romeo.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > Uranus.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/2150

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Available @ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/uranus-moons/oberon/by-the-numbers/

Smith, B.A.; L.A. Soderblom; R. Beebe; D. Bliss; J.M. Boyce; A. Brahic; G.A. Briggs; R.H. Brown; S.A. Collins; A.F. Cook; S.K. Croft; J.N. Cuzzi; G.E. Danielson; M.E. Davies; T.E. Dowling; D. Godfrey; C.J. Hansen; C. Harris; G.E. Hunt; A.P. Ingersoll; T.V. Johnson; R.J. Krauss; H. Masursky; D. Morrison; T. Owen; J.B. Plescia; J.B. Pollack; C.C. Porco; K. Rages; C. Sagan; E.M. Shoemaker; L.A. Sromovsky; C. Stoker; R.G. Strom; V.E. Suomi; S.P. Synnott; R.J. Terrile; P. Thomas; W.R. Thompson; and J. Veverka. “Voyager 2 in the Uranian System: Imaging Science Results.” Science, new series, vol. 233, no. 4759 (July 4, 1986): 43-64.
Available via JSTOR @ https://www.jstor.org/stable/1697495
Available via Zenodo @ https://zenodo.org/record/1230972#.XcxDzFdKiUk

U.S. Geological Survey. “Pictorial Map of Oberon Uo 10M -90/0 AN.” The Southern Hemispheres of Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. Prepared for the Voyager Imaging Science Team in Cooperation With the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Reston VA: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1988.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/umbriel_titania_oberon_I-1920_300dpi.pdf

U.S. Geological Survey. Plate 3. “Pictorial Map of Oberon Uo 10M -90/0 AN.” The Southern Hemispheres of Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. Prepared for the Voyager Imaging Science Team in Cooperation With the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Reston VA: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1988.
Available @ https://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/1920/plate-3.pdfU.S. Geological Survey. The Southern Hemispheres of Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon. Prepared for the Voyager Imaging Science Team in Cooperation With the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology and The National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Reston VA: U.S. Department of the Interior, 1988.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/umbriel_titania_oberon_I-1920_300dpi.pdf

Williams, David R. (Richard), Dr. “Uranus Fact Sheet.” NASA GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) NSSDC (NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive) > Solar System Exploration > Planetary Science > Uranus.
Available @ https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/uranusfact.html

Williams David R. (Richard), Dr. “Uranian Satellite Fact Sheet.” NASA GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) NSSDC (NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive) > Solar System Exploration > Planetary Science > Uranus.
Available @ https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/uraniansatfact.html

North American Black Vulture Habitats for Black Bodies From Pale Eggs

Summary: North American black vulture habitats pull black-bodied, white-tipped, yellow-billed raptors from pale eggs in caves, logs, stumps, thickets or on cliffs.

North American black vulture in southern Florida's Everglades National Park; Monday, Feb. 27, 2006: Everglades NPS (evergladesnps), Public Domain, via Flickr

North American black vulture habitats anger ranchers who accuse the condor family member of accessing eggs and newborns but appease environmentalists and naturalists who appreciate Mother Nature's year-round carcass-seeking, carrion-eating clean-up crew.

Black vultures bear the common name American black vulture and the scientific name Coragyps atratus (crow-raven clothed in black) as black-bodied native raptors of the Americas. Angry ranchers, forest fire-destroyed tree cavities and pesticide-thinned eggshells challenge black vultures, described in 1793 by German naturalist Johann Matthäus Bechstein (July 11, 1757-Feb. 23, 1822). Communal roosts draw together the extended families of the broad-winged, gray-footed, gray-headed, gray-legged relative of Andean and California condors and of king, turkey and yellow-headed vultures.

Twenty-six-year lifespans entertain 3.73-mile (6-kilometer) feeding ranges and 39,442.06-acre (5,962-hectare) summer and 36,771.75-acre (14,881-hectare) winter mean home ranges up to 9,186.35-foot (2,800-meter) altitudes above sea level.

January through August furnish opportunities for brooding a first one- to three-egg clutch, with a second three to four weeks after failure from predation or weather.

Monogamous parents-to-be gather eggs amid palmetto, sawgrass and yucca thickets or tree roots, onto cave shelves or cliff ledges, under boulders or within logs or stumps. Egg-depositing happens at two-day intervals at 8- to 10-foot (2.44- to 3.05-meter) heights for non-glossy, oval to elliptical, smooth, 2.98- by 2.01-inch (75.6- by 50.9-millimeter) eggs. It involves both parents in 28- to 39-day incubations of blue-white, dull white or gray-green eggs blotched or spotted with chocolate or lavender clusters or wreaths.

People and weather jeopardize North American black vulture habitats whose distribution into Mexico joins the Brazilian subspecies, whose mountain ranges join those of the Andean subspecies.

Bare-headed, downy, semi-helpless nestlings with creamy-buff bodies and red-tinted upper-parts keep to their birthing places under both parents' care for the first eight weeks of life. They live on regurgitated food from their parents even though they leak everything from both ends before letting their heads sink between their wings when alarmed. They manage activities within 10 days, full growth within eight weeks, feathering and flights 11 weeks after hatching and independent life cycles as 14- to 18-week-olds. They need bald cypress, hickory, juniper, oak, pine and sycamore stands, clean water sources and thermal air currents for communal roosts, internal hydration and soaring flights.

Black vulture habitats offer summer and winter temperatures respectively below 85 degrees Fahrenheit (29.44 degrees Celsius) and above minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23.33 degrees Celsius).

Lowland forests and open woodlands provide communal roosts while landfills and roadsides present bright-colored cloth, glass and plastic for nesting- and roosting-place decorations and food sources.

Sharp sight and soaring flight on choppy, quick, shallow wingbeats and flat-winged glides qualify as survival skills for nesting and roosting scent-challenged, square-tailed, weak-legged black vultures. They reveal the 4.5- to 5-foot (1.37- to 1.52-meter) wingspan and the strong-muscled eyes of the somewhat iridescent, 24- to 27-inch- (60.96- to 68.58-centimeter-) long scavenger. Lack of a syrinx stops the 3.5- to 5-pound (1.59- to 2.27-kilogram) vulture's yellow-tipped gray bills from sounding out anything other than barks, grunts and hisses.

Governmental tardiness in roadkill removal and motorist tendencies toward roadside litter turn urban and wilderness interfaces into "Scavengers Wanted" niches within North American black vulture habitats.

Coragyps atratus egg in Egg Collection at Museum Wiesbaden, Hesse state, central western Germany: Klaus Rassinger and Gerhard Cammerer, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

North American black vulture in southern Florida's Everglades National Park; Monday, Feb. 27, 2006: Everglades NPS (evergladesnps), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/evergladesnps/9103751408/

Coragyps atratus egg in Egg Collection at Museum Wiesbaden, Hesse state, central western Germany: Klaus Rassinger and Gerhard Cammerer/Wiebaden Museum, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coragyps_atratus_MWNH_0717.JPG

For further information:

Baicich, Paul J.; and Harrison, Colin J.O. 2005. Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Second Edition. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, Princeton Field Guides.

Bechstein, Johann Matthäus. 1793. Johann Lathams allgemeine Uebersicht der Vögel, vol. I, anhang: 655. Nuremberg: Adam Gottlieb Schneider and Johann Christoph Weigel.

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volumes 8-11, Birds I-IV, edited by Michael Hutchins, Jerome A. Jackson, Walter J. Bock and Donna Olendorf. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2002.

Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Coragyps atratus (Bechstein) 1793." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Cathartiformes > Cathartidae > Coragyps.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/cath.html

North American Barn Owl Habitats: Buff Body, Cavity Nest, White Egg

Summary: North American barn owl habitats year-round from southwest Canada through Caribbean and Central America sustain buff bodies, cavity nests and white eggs.

barn owl subspecies (Tyto alba pratincola); Friday, April 18, 2008: C.F. Zeillemaker/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain, via USFWS National Digital Library

North American barn owl habitats abound near cultivators through Tytonidae family member appetites for field animals and near naturalists through distribution ranges from Canada south into Mexico and Caribbean and Central America.

The barn owl bears its common name from associations with rural structures and the scientific name Tyto alba from Greek for owl and Latin for white. Climate change-induced snow cover, modern agricultural methods and pesticides challenge barn owls, described in 1769 by Italian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (June 3, 1723-May 8, 1788). Night and sunset draw barn owls out respectively for detecting prey noiselessly by keen senses of scent and vision and for dividing them among their young.

Eight-year lifespans expect countrysides, deserts, farmlands, fields, grasslands or pastures near nest-worthy buildings, burrows, caves, cliffs, mines, quarries, trees or wells away from forests and mountains.

January through September facilitate brooding one 3- to 11-egg clutch or more in owl pellet-lined or unlined artificial nests, natural cavities, rocky crevices or structural holes.

Breeding females each year get different-aged, different-sized broods since they generate the current clutch's eggs at two- to three-day intervals for immediate incubation and variable hatching. Breeding females handle honing cavity nests into predator-free havens for their eggs, hatchlings and nestlings while fathers-to-be have the daily responsibility of hunting prey for mothers-to-be. First-laid, non-glossy, 1.49- to 1.89-inch (38- to 48-millimeter) by 1.10- to 1.38-inch (28- to 35-millimeter), smooth, subelliptical to elliptical white eggs initiate 21- to 34-day incubations.

Predatory buzzards, eagle-owls, golden eagles, great horned owls, lanners, northern goshawks, peregrine falcons, red kites, snakes, stoats and tawny owls jeopardize North American barn owl habitats.

Helpless, ivory-billed hatchlings with pale blue irises the first few weeks know initially short, white down and, 12 days later, secondarily buff-cream, clinging, long, thick down.

Down leaves hatchlings naked along necks and behind tarsi (lower legs) and sparse-covered on bellies with first coats and subsequently semi-naked on lower legs and toes. Nestlings, maintained by monogamous parents, manage feathering in three to seven weeks, flying in eight weeks, physical independence in 10 weeks and sexual maturity as one-year-olds. Adults with dark-adapted eyes and motion-sensitive hearing need bats, cottontails, crickets, crows, dormice, gophers, grasshoppers, hares, katydids, meadowlarks, mice, moles, muskrats, rabbits, rats, shrews and voles.

North American barn owl habitats up to 13,123.36 feet (4,000 meters) above sea level offer winter-coldest temperatures at minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 26.11 degrees Celsius).

Fatalities from development-impacted habitat and prey, from non-existent fat reserves for climate change-increased snowfall and from pesticide-induced eggshell-thinning and poisoning prove perilous for barn owl populations. American sycamore, silver maple and white oak qualify as historically nest- and roost-worthy amid modernity's habitat-unfriendly corn and metal successors to prey-friendly hay, oats and wood.
Barred tails and wings, black- and gray-spotted buff upper-parts and white underparts reveal dark-, small-eyed, ear tuft-less, feather-legged, long-winged adults with heart-shaped, rounded, ruffed facial discs. Flapped, fluttered, gliding flight on 39.37- to 49.21-inch (10- to 125-centimeter) wingspans suggest 2.59- to 15.74-inch (32- to 40-centimeter), 14.11- to 24.69-ounce (400- to 700-gram) adults.

North American barn owl habitats trigger harsh shkreee by airborne males, loud hisses at intruders and predators and soft purrs by food-transporting males and nest-inspecting females.

Female barn owl (Tyto alba) guards eggs and hatchlings; Friday, May 15, 2009, 13:19:17: Richard Bonnett (rebonnett), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

barn owl subspecies (Tyto alba pratincola); Friday, April 18, 2008: C.F. Zeillemaker/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain, via USFWS National Digital Library @ https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/natdiglib/id/5053/rec/1

Female barn owl (Tyto alba) guards eggs and hatchlings; Friday, May 15, 2009, 13:19:17: Richard Bonnett (rebonnett), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/bonnyboy/3708392822/

For further information:

Baicich, Paul J.; and Harrison, Colin J.O. Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Second edition. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, Princeton Field Guides, 2005.

Baird, Spencer F. (Fullerton); Ridgway, Robert. 1874. "On Some New Forms of American Birds: Strix flammea, var. Guatemalae Ridgway." Bulletin of the Essex Institute, vol. V (1873), no. 12: 200. Salem MA: Salem Press.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8786342

Blyth, Edward. October 1862. "Strix affinis, nobis." The Ibis, A Magazine of General Ornithology, vol. IV, no. XVI: 388. London UK: N. Trübner and Co.; Paris, France: Fr. Klincksieck; Leipzig, Germany: F.A. Brockhaus; New York NY: B. Westermann and Co.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8330992

Bonaparte, Charles Lucien, Prince of Musignano. 1838. "41. Strix prationcola, Nob. (Strix flammea, Wils.)." A Geographical and Comparative List of the Birds of Europe and North America, page 7. London UK: John Van Voorst.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33208468

Brehm, Christian Ludwig. 1831. "2. Der Perlschleierkauz. Strix guttata, Br. (Strix flammea, Linn.)." Handbuch der Naturgeschichte Aller Vögel Deutschlands, 106-107. Ilmenau, Germany: Bernhard Friedrich Voigt.
Available via MDZ (Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum Digitale Bibliothek) Digitale Sammlungen @ http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb11121761_00136.html

Fraser, Louis. 1842. "Strix poensis." Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Part IX (Dec. 13, 1842): 189-190. London UK: R. and J.E. Taylor.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30679951

Gmelin, Jo. Frid. (Johann Friedrich). 1788. "37. Strix javanica." Caroli a Linné Systema Naturae, tom. I, pars I: 295. Editio Decima Tertia, Aucta, Reformata. Lipsaie [Leipzig]: Impensis Georg Emanuel Beer
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2896895

Gould, John. 1841. "Strix punctatissima G.R. Gray." The Zoology of the Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle, Under the Command of Captain Fitzroy, R.N., During the Years 1832 to 1836, Part III Birds, no. 9: 34-plate 4 (opp. page. 34). London UK: Smith, Elder and Co.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14062373
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Gray, John Edward. 1829. "Tuidara Owl, St. perlata, Licht. not Vieil. St. tuidara, n." In Edward Griffith and Edward Pidgeon. The Animal Kingdom Arranged in Conformity With Its Organization, by the Baron Cuvier, With Additional Descriptions of All the Species Hitherto Named, and of Many Not Before Noticed, vol. 6: 75. London UK: Whittaker, Treacher and Co.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33111788

Griscom, Ludlow; James C. (Cowan) Greenway Jr. 1937. "No. 2. -- Critical Notes on New Neotropical Birds: Tyto alba hellmayri subsp. nov." Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, 81: 421.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2833903

Grote, Hermann. 1928. "Neue Formen von Ostafrika, Aldabra und Madagaskar: Tyto alba hypermetra nov. subsp." Ornithologische Monatsberichte, jahrgang XXXVI, nr. 3 (Mai/Juni): 79.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89097447593?urlappend=%3Bseq=93

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volumes 8-11, Birds I-IV, edited by Michael Hutchins, Jerome A. Jackson, Walter J. Bock and Donna Olendorf. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2002.

Hartert, Ernest. 1892. Tyto alba bargei. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, vol. I (session 1892-3): 13. London UK: R.H. Porter.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/

Hartert, Ernst. December 1898. "On a Collection of Birds From North-Western Ecuador, Collected by Mr. F.W.H. Rosenberg: 199. Strix flammea contempta subsp. nov." Novitates Zoologicae, vol. V, no. 4: 500-501. London UK: Hazell, Watson, & Viney.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3219924

Hartert, Ernst. September 1929. "On Various Forms of the Genus Tyto: Tyto alba stertens subsp. nov." Novitates Zoologicae, vol. XXXV, no. 2: 98. London UK: Hazell, Watson, & Viney.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3250207

Hartert, Ernst. 1900. "Some Miscellaneous Notes on Palaearctic Birds: Strix flammea schmitzi subsp. nov." Novitates Zoologicae, vol. VII: 534. London UK: Hazell, Watson, & Viney.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3266749

Hartert, Ernst. "Tyto alba detorta, subsp. n." Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, vol. XXXI (session 1912-1913): 38. London UK: Witherby & Co.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34825924

Hartert, Ernst. 1905. "2. Strix flammea gracilirostris, subsp. nov." Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, vol. XVI (session 1905-1906): 31-32. London UK: Witherby & Co.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32432713

Hartlaub, G. (Gustav). 1852. "I. Traveaux Inédits. Descriptions de Quelques Nouvelles Espèces d'Oiseaux: 1. Strix thomensis, Nob." Revue et Magasin de Zoologie Pure et Appliquée, tome IV (2e série): 3. Paris, France: Au Bureau de la Revue et Magasin de Zoologie.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2318742

Kleinschmidt, Otto. November 1901. "Beschreibung Neuer Formen aus Tunisien und Sardinien: 3. Strix ernesti." Ornithologische Monatsberichte, jahrgang IX, no. 11: 168. Berlin.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32693096

Kelso, Leon. 21 April 1938. "Two New Owls From South America [Including Tyto alba subandeana and T. alba zottae, subsp. nov.]." Biological Leaflet, no. 9: 1.

Lawrence, George N. (Newbold). 1879. "Catalog of the Birds of Dominica From Collections Made for the Smithsonian Institution by Frederick A. Ober, Together With His Notes and Observations: 34. Strix flammea var. nigrescens, Lawr." Proceedings of the United States National Museum, vol. I (1878):19: 64-65. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/43651078

Parkes, Kenneth C. (Carroll); Allan R. (Robert) Phillips. 1 December 1978. "Two New Caribbean Subspecies of Barn Owl (Tyto alba), With Remarks on Variation in Other Populations: Tyto alba bondi, new subspecies." Annals of Carnegie Museum, vol. 47: 486-488.
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Parkes, Kenneth C. (Carroll); Allan R. (Robert) Phillips. 1 December 1978. "Two New Caribbean Subspecies of Barn Owl (Tyto alba), With Remarks on Variation in Other Populations: Tyto alba niveicauda, new subspecies." Annals of Carnegie Museum, vol. 47: 483-486.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/52568379

Pelzeln, August von. Januar 1872. "Ueber Eine Neue Schleiereule: Strix insular n. sp." Journal für Ornithologie, jahrgang XX (series 3), no. 115: 23. Leipzig, Germany: L.A. Kittler.
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Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Tyto alba (Scopoli) 1769." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Strigiformes > Tytonidae > Tytoninae > Tyto.
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