Earth and Space News: 2022 Audubon Calendar

Showing posts with label 2022 Audubon Calendar. Show all posts

Saturday, December 3, 2022

Dark-Eyed Juncos Are December Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar

Summary: Dark-eyed juncos are December birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar, on which the National Audubon Society assembles vulnerable birds of North America.

Dark-eyed juncos are December birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar, on which the National Audubon Society assembles North America’s vulnerable birds that abide in, or access from Canada and Mexico, United States.

Autumnal and wintertime backyard feeders bring Passeriformes (from Latin passer, “sparrow” and -fōrmēs, “-shaped”) perching-bird and songbird order members from fields, gardens, parks and roadside thickets. Forests, mountains and woodlands contain that order’s Emberizidae (from Latin Emberiza, “bunting” and Greek -ειδής [“-like”] via Latin –idæ) seed-eating bird family members May through August. Breeding-season months domicile them among bank or slope brushwood, ferns, herbage, rocks, roots, stumps; in tree cavities; or on building ledges, building niches and conifer branches.

Female dark-eyed juncos establish cup-like, forest- or woodland-floor level to 8-foot- (2.44-meter-) high nests of bark strips, dry grasses, fine stems, mosses, rootlets and thin twigs.

Dark-eyed junco mothers-to-be fit one 3- to 5-egg brood, followed sometimes by a second clutch, sometimes by a third brood, into nests 12 to 13 days.

Mothers-to-be gestate purple- and red-brown-blotched, speckled and spotted, smooth, short sub-elliptical to semi-elliptical, semi-glossy, 19- by 14-millimeter (0.75- by 0.55-inch), blue-white to green-white or gray eggs. They handle nest-building and egg-incubating responsibilities on their own even as their mates help once brooded eggs hatch into altricial (helpless, from Latin altrix, “nourisher”) nestlings. All nestlings impart bright and dark impressions, with black-gray down, orange-red skin, pink mouths and, where lower and upper jaws intercept beak bases, white-yellow gape flanges.

Dark-eyed juncos journey through the monthly pages of the 2022 Audubon calendar as December birds, as which in real life they jubilate with wintertime backyard-feeder birds.

The nestling stage in 11-year lifespans kindles co-parental feeding of regurgitated food and then of direct food, open eyes as five-year-olds and feathery growth as seven-day-olds.

Nestling dark-eyed juncos leave their nests as 10- to 13-day-olds even as they look to limited care lent them by their parents for another three weeks. They manifest physical and sexual maturity as one-year-olds even as they mingle with family and flock members at meal times on berries, insects, seeds and spiders. Physical maturity nets 6- to 6.75-inch (15- to 17-centimeter) body lengths, 8- to 10-inch (20- to 26-centimeter) wingspans and 5/8- to 1-1/16-ounce (18- to 30-gram) weights.

The 2022 Audubon calendar offers as December birds dark-eyed juncos that in real-life North America organize into brown-backed, gray-headed, pink-sided, red-backed, slate-colored and white-winged subspecies groups.

Dark-eyed juncos perform direct, low, undercover flights and predominantly present dark eyes, pink bills, brown- to slate-gray upperparts, gray breasts, white abdomens and white outer-tail feathers.

Eight brown-backed, one gray-headed and one pink-sided subspecies respectively queue from southeastern Alaska, Colorado and southwestern Canada into northern Mexico (Estados Unidos Mexicanos, “United Mexican States”). One red-backed, one slate-colored and one white-winged subspecies respectively range from Arizona to New Mexico, Alaska to southeastern United States and South Dakota to New Mexico. Dark-eyed juncos, specified scientifically as Junco hyemalis (from Latin iuncus, “reed” and hyemālis, “wintry”), sound loud tick, soft dyew calls; and buzzy, rapid zzeet flight twitters.

Dark-eyed juncos, taxonomized by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), turn up as December birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar and where temperatures turn downward.

Acknowledgment

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

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

Swedish botanist, physician, taxonomist and zoologist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778) accepted the common name snow-bird, from English artist and naturalist Mark Catesby (March 24, 1683-Dec. 23, 1749), for dark-eyed junco. He added snowbirds, under the scientific name Fringilla hyemalis (from Latin fringilla, "small [chaffinch, robin] bird" and hyemālis, "winter, wintry"), to his 10th edition of Systema Naturæ; John James Audubon, The Birds of America From Original Drawings (1827-1830), No. 3 Plate XIII: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snow_Bird_(Audubon).jpg; No copyright, via Cincinnati Public Library @ https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll33/ (main page); No copyright, via Cincinnati Public Library @ https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll33/id/14/rec/15 (specific image URL)

Approximate Range Map of Dark-Eyed Juncos; yellow -- summer-only range, blue -- winter-only range, green -- year-round; Tuesday, March 6, 2007, 02:05:48: Ken Thomas, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dark-eyed_Junco-rangemap.png

For further information:

Baicich, Paul J.; and Colin J. O. Harrison. 2005. "Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis - Includes Slate-colored Junco, J. h. hyemalis, Gray-headed Junco, J. h. coniceps, and Oregon Junco, J. h. oreganus)." Page 308. Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Second edition. Princeton NJ; and Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England: Princeton University Press.

Bull, John; and John Farrand, Jr. 1997. "Dark-eyed Junco including "Slate-colored Junco," "White-winged Junco," and "Oregon Junco" Junco hyemalis." Pages 722-723. In: National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Eastern Region. Revised by John Farrand, Jr. Second edition. A Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; and Toronto [Ontario, Canada]: Random House of Canada Limited.

Burton, Robert. "Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis." Page 128. In: The Audubon Backyard Birdwatcher: Birdfeeders and Bird Gardens. San Diego CA: National Audubon Society.

Catesby, Mark. "Passer Nivalis." Page 36. In: The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands: Containing the Figures of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, Serpents, Insects, and Plants: Particularly, the Forest-Trees, Shrubs, and other Plants, not hitherto deſcribed, or very incorrectly figured by Authors, Together with their Descriptions in Engliſh and French. To which are added Observations on the Air, Soil, and Waters: With Remarks upon Agriculture, Grain, Pulse, Roots, &c. To the whole, Is Prefixed a new and correct Map of the Countries Treated of. Vol. I. London, MDCCXXXI.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40753224

"Dark-eyed junco Junco hyemalis." Pages 271-272. In: Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 11, Birds IV, edited by Michael Hutchins, Jerome A. Jackson, Walter J. Bock and Donna Olendorf. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group, 2002.

Harrison, Kit and George. 1986. "Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)." Page 343. In: Kenneth P. Able, Robert F. Cardillo, Peter G. Connors, Susan Roney Drennan, Kimball L. Garrett, George Harrison, Kit Harrison, Bette J. Schardien Jackson, Jerome A. Jackson, J. P. Myers, Roger Tory Peterson, [and] William E. Poole. Contributing Writers Jeff Kopachena, [and] Michael McKinley. The Birds Around Us. San Ramon CA: Ortho Books.

Howell, Catherine Herbert (Writer); and Mary B. Dickinson (Editor). 1999. "Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis." Pages 418-419. Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Third Edition. Washington DC: National Geographic Society.

Kobasa, Paul A. (Editor-in-Chief). 2007. "Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)." Page 21. Birds of the United States and Canada. Third printing, November 2009. Chicago IL: World Book, Inc.

Linnæi, Caroli. "Aves Passeres. Fringilla hyemalis. 30." Page 183. In: Systema Naturæ Per Regna Tria Naturæ, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, Cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis. Tomus I. Editio Decima, Reformata. Holmiæ: Impensis Direct. Laurentii Salvii, 1758.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727090

Mace, Alice E. (Editor). 1986. "Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis)." Page 343. The Birds Around Us. Writers Kenneth P. Able, Robert F. Cardillo, Peter G. Connors, Susan Roney Drennan, Kimball L. Garrett, George Harrison, Kit Harrison, Bette J. Schardien Jackson, Jerome A. Jackson, J. P. Mers, Roger Tory Peterson and William E. Poole. Contributing Writers Jeff Kopachena and Michael McKinley. San Ramon CA: Orth Books.

Marriner, Derdriu. 26 November 2022. "Eared Grebes Are November Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/11/eared-grebes-are-november-birds-on-2022.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 October 2022. "Barred Owls Are October Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/10/barred-owls-are-october-birds-on-2022.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 3 September 2022. "Brown Pelicans Are September Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/09/brown-pelicans-are-september-birds-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 August 2022. "Allen’s Hummingbirds Are August Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/08/allens-hummingbirds-are-august-birds-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 30 July 2022. "Reddish Egrets Are July Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/07/reddish-egrets-are-july-birds-on-2022.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 4 June 2022. "American Oystercatchers Are June Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/06/american-oystercatchers-are-june-birds.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 May 2022. "Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks Are May Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/05/rose-breasted-grosbeaks-are-may-birds.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 April 2022. "Crested Caracaras Appear as April Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/04/crested-caracaras-appear-as-april-birds.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 19 March 2022. "Cerulean Warblers Are March Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/03/cerulean-warblers-are-march-birds-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 February 2022. "Northern Bobwhites Are February Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/02/northern-bobwhites-are-february-birds.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 1 January 2022. "Florida Scrub-Jays Are January Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/01/florida-scrub-jays-are-january-birds-on.html

Peterson, Roger Tory. 2010. "Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis." Pages 306-307. In: Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America. With contributions from Michael Di Giorgio, Paul Lehman, Michael O'Brien and Jeffrey A. Gordon, Larry Rosche, [and] Bill Thompson. Sixth Edition. Boston MA; and New York NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Peterson, Roger Tory. 1947. "Slate-Colored Junco. Junco hyemalis." Page 174. In: A Field Guide to the Birds Giving Field Marks of all Species Found East of the Rockies. The Peterson Field Guide Series. Second Revised and Enlarged Edition. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Robbins, Charles S.; Bertel Bruun; and Herbert S. Zim. 2001. "Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis." Pages 334-335. In: Birds of North America. Revised by Jonathan P. Latimer and Karen Stray Nolting and James Coe. New York NY: St. Martin's Press.

Stokes, Donald and Lillian. 1996. "Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis." Page 430. In: Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region. Boston [MA]; New York [NY]; Toronto [Ontario, Canada]; and London [England UK]: Little, Brown and Company.

Udvardy, Miklos D. F. 1985. "Dark-eyed "Oregon: Junco Junco hyemalis." Pages 609-610. In: James A. MacMahon. Deserts. The Audubon Society Nature Guides. Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Udvardy, Miklos D. F. 1977. "Dark-eyed Junco including "Oregon Junco" and "Slate-colored Junco" and "White-winged Junco" (Junco hyemalis)." Pages 731-732. In: The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Western Region. A Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; and Toronto [Ontario, Canada]: Random House of Canada Limited.

Saturday, November 26, 2022

Eared Grebes Are November Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar

Summary: Eared grebes are November birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar onto which the National Audubon Society angles vulnerable birds in the United States.

Eared grebes are November birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar onto which the 2022 National Audubon Society angles vulnerable birds that abide in, or access from Canada and Mexico, the United States.

Backyard freshwater ponds, pools and streams with springtime and summertime insects and small crustaceans, fishes and mollusks and with wintertime worms bear the Podicipediformes order member. The Podicipediformes (from Latin pōdex, “butt” and pēs, “feet” and -fōrmēs, “-shaped”) grebe order’s Podicipedidae (from Greek –ειδής [“-like”] via Latin idæ) family members cluster year-round. They dwell in freshwater flood-levels, lakes, marshes, ponds, pools and river backwaters April through July and saline, slow-freeze bays, coastal waters and lakes during non-breeding months.

Aquatic and waterside reed- and vegetation-enforced, low, shallow-cupped mounds exhibit 5- to 6-inch (12.7- to 15.24-centimeter) inside and 12- to 14-inch (30.48- to 35.56-centimeter) outside diameters.

Both parents-to-be fit aquatic and waterside fibers into breeding-season nests figuring one 1- to 8-egg brood, after whose failure or success sometimes a second clutch follows.

They together guard elliptical to semi-elliptical, smooth, white, 44- by 30-millimeter (1.73- by 1.18-inch) eggs for 20 to 22 days and precocial (from Latin praecox) hatchlings. Open-eyed nestlings have pink-spotted crowns and lores; brown irises; gray feet with red-edged lobes; and white-tipped, gray or pink bills with two black narrow vertical bands. They impart blackish, gray- and narrow-striped backs of heads and necks; dark-streaked chins with black-, inverted-, narrow-patterned, V-like lateral designs; white-centered undersides; and white-flecked black sides.

Eared grebes journey in jubilant flocks as November birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar and over North American flyways to Atlantic and Pacific coastal winter homes.

Nesting colonies and 100-percent co-parenting kindle each season’s one- or two-brood nestlings knowing their flock members, their parents, their peers and their relatives within two months.

Eared grebe nestlings learn to locate their own fish and insects within two weeks, to live independently within three weeks and to fly within 45 days. They must do forward-arching, short-spring dives despite broad-lobed, splayed toes; swallow feathers to vomit fish bones; and trail legs and toes to fly despite short tails. They need to navigate by flying and by above- and below-surface swimming since their legs nestle in their bodies too far back for land-walking or standing.

Eared grebes occur as November birds in Mono Lake, saline soda lake home during non-breeding months in Mono County, California, and on the 2022 Audubon calendar.

Eared glebes possess 12- to 14-inch (30- to 35-centimeter) body lengths, 22.5- to 24-inch (57- to 62-centimeter) wingspans and 7- to 26-ounce (200- to 725-gram) weights.

Eared glebe juveniles queue brown plumage and dark flanks quintessential to the physically and sexually immature year- or two-year-long stage in 12-year lifespans of eared glebes. Mature, summer-form eared glebes reveal black crests and necks; red eyes; black, out-stretched necks; thin, upturned bills; rufous breasts and sides; dark backs; and white-patched wings. Winter forms show black crests; dusky cheeks; red eyes without gold, large, wispy eye-patches; upturned bills with dusky cheeks; gray, outstretched necks; and dusky white flanks.

The 2022 Audubon calendar treats as November birds eared grebes, whose vocalizations teem with alarm-call, sharp chirps; frog-like breeding-ground cheeps; and rising, squeaky courtship poo-eep trills.

Eared glebes, acknowledged commonly also as black-necked grebes, scientifically as Podiceps nigricollis (from Latin pōdex, "butt" and pēs, "feet"; and from Latin niger "black" and collum, "neck, stem") and taxonomically by Christian Ludwig Brehm (Jan. 24, 1787-June 23, 1864), are present in the three North American countries of Canada, Mexico and United States; Breeding [lime green], Resident [medium green], Passage [aqua] and Non-Resident [blue] Ranges of Podiceps nigricollis: SanoAK Alexander Kürthy, 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.

Dedication

The illustration appeared around the time of the famous taxonomic analysis of eared grebes by German ornithologist and pastor Christian Ludwig Brehm (Jan. 24, 1787-June 23, 1864) in 1831; Johann Andreas Naumann, Naturgeschichte der Vögel Deutschlands, Dreizehnter Theil (Part 13), Plate 246: Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/61021753@N02/6059454022/; Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33755509; CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Johann_Andreas_Naumann's_..._Naturgeschichte_der_Vögel_Deutschlands,_nach_einigen_Erfahrungen_entworfen_(Taf._246)_(6059454022).jpg

Baicich, Paul J.; and Colin J. O. Harrison. 2005. "Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)." Page 51. In: Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Second edition. Princeton NJ; and Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England: Princeton University Press.

Bull, John; and John Farrand, Jr. 1997. "Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)." Pages 343-344. In: National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Eastern Region. Revised by John Farrand, Jr. Second edition. A Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; and Toronto [Ontario, Canada]: Random House of Canada Limited.

Bull, John; John Farrand, Jr.; and Miklos D. F. Udvardy. 1985. "Eared Grebe Podiceps nigricollis." Page 560. In: William A. Niering. Wetlands. The Audubon Society Nature Guides. Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Howell, Catherine Herbert (Writer); and Mary B. Dickinson (Editor). 1999. "Eared Grebe Podiceps podiceps L." Pages 24-25. In: Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Third Edition. Washington DC: National Geographic Society.

Krabbe, Niels K. 2002. "Eared grebe Podiceps nigricollis." Pages 178-179. In: Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 8, Birds I, edited by Michael Hutchins, Jerome A. Jackson, Walter J. Bock and Donna Olendorf. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group.

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 April 2022. "Crested Caracaras Appear as April Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Sunday.<
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/04/crested-caracaras-appear-as-april-birds.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 February 2022. "Northern Bobwhites Are February Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday. Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/02/northern-bobwhites-are-february-birds.html

Peterson, Roger Tory. 2010. "Eared Grebe Podiceps nigricollis." Pages 60-61. In: Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America. With contributions from Michael Di Giorgio, Paul Lehman, Michael O'Brien and Jeffrey A. Gordon, Larry Rosche, [and] Bill Thompson. Sixth Edition. Boston MA; and New York NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Peterson, Roger Tory. 1947. "Eared Grebe Colymbus nigricollis californicus." Pages 3-4. In: A Field Guide to the Birds Giving Field Marks of all Species Found East of the Rockies. The Peterson Field Guide Series. Second Revised and Enlarged Edition. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Robbins, Charles S.; Bertel Bruun; and Herbert S. Zim. 2001. "Eared Grebe Podiceps nigricollis." Pages 20-21. In: Birds of North America. Revised by Jonathan P. Latimer and Karen Stray Nolting and James Coe. New York NY: St. Martin's Press.

Robbins, Chandler S., Bertel Bruun, with Herbert S. Zim. 1983. "Eared Grebe Pódiceps nigricóllis." Page 20. In: Birds of North America. A Guide to Field Identification. New York NY: Golden Press; and Racine WI: Western Publishing Company.

Stokes, Donald and Lillian. 1996. "Eared Grebe Podiceps nigricollis." Page 10. In: Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region. Boston [MA]; New York [NY]; Toronto [Ontario, Canada]; and London [England UK]: Little, Brown and Company.

Udvardy, Miklos D. F. 1985. "Eared Grebe Podiceps nigricollis." Page 514. In: Bayard H. McConnaughey and Evelyn McConnaughey. Pacific Coast. The Audubon Society Nature Guides. Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Udvardy, Miklos D. F. 1977. "Eared Grebe (Podiceps nigricollis)." Pages 479-480. In: The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Western Region. A Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; and Toronto [Ontario, Canada]: Random House of Canada Limited.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=crested+caracara&form=hpcapt&filters=HpDate:%2220220406_0700%22

Saturday, October 1, 2022

Barred Owls Are October Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar

Summary: Barred owls are October birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar whereby the National Audubon Society alerts Unitedstatesians to North American vulnerable birds.

Barred owls are October birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar whereby the National Audubon Society alerts, by associating each month with a different avian, Unitedstatesians to 12 vulnerable birds in North America.

Wintertime, springtime, summertime bird and squirrel backyard feeders bring Strigiformes (from Greek στρίξ [“screecher”] via Latin strix and Latin -fōrmēs [“-shaped”]) nocturnal, solitary raptor order members. That order contains Strigidae true, typical owl and Tytonidae (from Greek τυτώ via Latin tutubō [“to cry”] and Greek -ειδής [“-like”] via Latin -idæ) barn-owl families. Barred owls dwell as Strigidae family members in deep woodlands and mixed hardwoods midcontinent through eastern and southern coastlines, northwesternmost conifer rainforests and southern cypress swamps.

Physically and sexually mature females, minimally two years old, engender, each year in 18-year-lifespans, one one- to five-egg clutch during breeding-season months from January through September.

Barred owls fit a second brood into one-brood seasons if first-brood eggs fail to hatch or if first-clutch hatchlings fail as nestlings, fledglings or four-plus month-olds.

Mature females gestate in 15- to 30-foot- (4.57- to 9.14-meter-) high abandoned hawk, squirrel or stick nests or natural unlined cavities in conifer-forest stubs and trunks. They have no spousal help hatching elliptical to near-spherical to semi-elliptical, semi-glossy, smooth, white 49- by 42-millimeter (1.93- by 1.65-inch) eggs within 28 to 33 days. Altricial (helpless, from Latin altrix, “[female] nourisher”) hatchlings impart light-colored, thick softness with first coats of white down and with second coats of buffy, white down.

Barred owls journey through the 2022 Audubon calendar as October birds, during which month barred owl fathers, previously uninvolved, join their mates feeding and tending nestlings.

Barred owl hatchlings keep eyes closed their first seven days and know their first three weeks as nestlings kept in birth nests under 24/7 co-parental care.

Nestlings as four- to five-week-olds sometimes leave for branches located close to birth nests even as they lack gliding, wing-flapping flying skills until their sixth week. Barred owls maintain solitary lifestyles outside mating seasons even as their fledglings meet them for father- and mother-managed meals through four to five months after birth. Insects, spiders and small amphibians, birds, crabs, crayfishes, mammals and reptiles nourish female and male, juvenile and mature barred owls (Strix varia [“screech diverse” literally] scientifically).

The 2022 Audubon calendar offers as October birds nocturnal barred owls, nevertheless obvious day and night in observing choral and solo calls and organizing hunting operations.

Physically and sexually mature barred owls possess 17- to 19.5-inch (43- to 50-centimeter) body lengths, 3.5-foot (1.1-meter) wingspans and 17- to 37-ounce (475- to 1,050-ounce) weights.

Brown and white qualify as barred owl colors, with brown eyes and upperparts, brown- and white-barred breasts and tails and brown- and white-streaked bellies and heads. Barred owls release through their yellow beaks choral and solo barks, cackles, caws, guttural sounds, screams and signature hoo hoo hoo-hoo, hoo hoo, hoo hoo-aw hoots. The latter call, rhythmically submitted from daytime, night-time perches, sounds like “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all?” to master gardeners and master naturalists.

The 2022 Audubon calendar treats as October birds barred owls, treasured in three countries ever since Benjamin Smith Barton (Feb. 10, 1766-Dec. 19, 1815) taxonomized them.

Big eyes, mobile necks, powerful beaks, bodies, limbs and wings advantage barred owls. Barred owls are able to flap and glide silently after prey and away from predators; Monday, May 26, 2014, 23:39, image of barred owl skeleton, Museum of Osteology, 10301 S Sunnylane Road, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma County, central Oklahoma: Polyoutis, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

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

Dedication

John James Audubon (April 26, 1785-Jan. 27, 1851) artistically addresses predator-prey activities on plate 46 in his Birds of America, available between 1827 and 1838. He assembles one predatory barred owl with one gray squirrel prey. Amphibians, birds, crabs, crayfishes, insects, reptiles, small mammals and spiders are among what barred owls appreciate as prey; John James Audubon, The Birds of America From Original Drawings (1827-1830), No. 10 Plate XLVI: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:46_Barred_Owl.jpg; No copyright, via Cincinnati Public Library @ https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll33/ (main page); No copyright, via Cincinnati Public Library @ https://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll33/id/47/rec/48 (specific image URL)

Baicich, Paul J.; and Colin J. O. Harrison. 2005. "Barred Owl (Strix varia)." Page 189. In: Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Second edition. Princeton NJ; and Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England: Princeton University Press.

Barton, Benjamin Smith. 1799. "Strix varius of Bartram." Page 11. In: Benjamin Smith Barton, M. D., Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania. Part First. Philadelphia PA: Way & Groff.
Available via Center for Biological Diversity @ https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/global_owl_project/descriptions/Strix/Strix%20varia%20(Barton)%201799,%20Fragment%20of%20the%20Natural%20History%20of%20Pennsylvania,%20page%2011..PDF

Bull, John; and John Farrand, Jr. 1997. "Barred Owl Strix varia." Pages 551-552. In: National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Eastern Region. Revised by John Farrand, Jr. Second edition. A Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; and Toronto [Ontario, Canada]: Random House of Canada Limited.

Bull, John; John Farrand, Jr.; and Miklos D. F. Udvardy. 1985. "Barred Owl Strix varia." Page 392. In: William A. Niering. Wetlands. The Audubon Society Nature Guides. Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Howell, Catherine Herbert (Writer); and Mary B. Dickinson (Editor). 1999. "Barred Owl Strix varia L." Pages 250-251. In: Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Third Edition. Washington DC: National Geographic Society.

Kiser, Joy M. 2012. "Fig. 3. "Strix Nebulosa - Barred Owl Strix varia - Barred Owl Illustrated by Howard Jones." Pages 142-143. In: America's Other Audubon. New York NY: Princeton Architectural Press.

Kobasa, Paul A. (Editor-in-Chief). 2007. "Barred owl (Strix varia)." Page 27. Birds of the United States and Canada. Third printing, November 2009. Chicago IL: World Book, Inc.

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 February 2022. "Northern Bobwhites Are February Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday. Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/02/northern-bobwhites-are-february-birds.html

Peterson, Roger Tory. 2010. "Barred Owl Strix varia." Pages 196-197. In: Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America. With contributions from Michael Di Giorgio, Paul Lehman, Michael O'Brien and Jeffrey A. Gordon, Larry Rosche, [and] Bill Thompson. Sixth Edition. Boston MA; and New York NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Peterson, Roger Tory. 1947. "Barred Owl. Strix varia." Page 98. In: A Field Guide to the Birds Giving Field Marks of all Species Found East of the Rockies. The Peterson Field Guide Series. Second Revised and Enlarged Edition. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Robbins, Charles S.; Bertel Bruun; and Herbert S. Zim. 2001. "Barred Owl Strix varia." Pages 176-177. In: Birds of North America. Revised by Jonathan P. Latimer and Karen Stray Nolting and James Coe. New York NY: St. Martin's Press.

Robbins, Chandler S., Bertel Bruun, with Herbert S. Zim. 1983. "Barred Owl." Page 176. In: Birds of North America. A Guide to Field Identification. New York NY: Golden Press; and Racine WI: Western Publishing Company.

Stokes, Donald and Lillian. 1996. "Barred Owl Strix varia." Page 240. In: Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region. Boston [MA]; New York [NY]; Toronto [Ontario, Canada]; and London [England UK]: Little, Brown and Company.

Unwin, Mike; and David Tipling. "Barred Owl Strix Varia." Pages 69-71. In: The Enigma of the Owl: An Illustrated Natural History. New Haven [CT] and London [England UK]: Yale University Press.

Saturday, September 3, 2022

Brown Pelicans Are September Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar

Summary: Brown pelicans are September birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar by which the National Audubon Society apprises Unitedstatesians of 12 vulnerable birds.

Brown pelicans are September birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar by which the National Audubon Society monthly apprises Unitedstatesians of 12 vulnerable birds associated with North American breeding, wintering and year-round accommodations.

Wintertime, springtime, summertime fish ponds, freshwater bodies and seasonal pools bring Pelecaniformes (from Greek πελεκάν [“axe”] via Latin pelecānus [“pelican”] and Latin -fōrmēs [“-shaped”] order members. The pelican member of that order’s Pelecanidae (pelican-like, from Greek –ειδής [“-like”] via Latin –idæ) waterbird family clusters along Mexico-United States borders, coastal islands and coastlines. Breeding-season months from February through August annually draw material-gathering fathers-to-be and structure-building mothers-to-be to ground-level scrapes, to low-lying bush- and mangrove-domiciled nests and to soil mounds.

Ground-level nests entail feather-lined, litter-rimmed scrapes or, with 18- to 24-inch (45.72- to 60.96-centimeter) outside diameters, 4- to 10-inch- (10.16- to 25.4-centimeter-) high feather-lined, litter-scraped mounds.

Bush- and mangrove-foundation, feather-lined, grass-, reed-, stick-, straw-heaped, 4- to 10-inch- (10.16- to 25.4-centimeter-) high platforms favor branch-enlaced, 18- to 24-inch (45.72- to 60.96-centimeter) outside diameters.

Physically and sexually mature, two- to five-plus-year-old females gestate elliptical to semi-elliptical, 75- by 50-millimeter (2.95- by 1.97-inch) eggs with chalky, scratch-prone, stain-retentive, thick, uneven exteriors. Physically and sexually mature brown pelicans have more than one brood per breeding and parenting season only if something happens to their two- to three-egg brood. A two-brood breeding season infrequently involves anything other than one egg that is a hatchling within 28 to 30 days and a nestling for six-some weeks.

Brown pelicans join alternating glides and wingbeats low over surface waters when they journey as September birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar to September-January wintering colonies.

Pelecanus occidentalis (“pelican western”) subspecies californicus, carolinensis, murphyi, occidentalis and urinator respectively know Pacific coastal, Atlantic coastal, Caribbean, Colombian and Ecuadorian coastal and Galapagos breeding-season colonies.

The blind stage and the naked stage of semi-altricial (semi-helpless, from Latin altrix, “nourisher”) brown pelican hatchlings respectively last two days and 10 to 12 days. Brown pelican nestlings manifest downy coats as 10-plus-day-olds; gray-white bills and pouches; and gray-white, web-footed legs with one claw per toe and four toes per foot. They need father- and mother-regurgitated nourishment the six-some weeks that they nestle together in their nursery mound, platform or scrape and then the three next weeks.

Johann Gmelin (Aug. 8, 1748-Nov. 1, 1804) and Robert Ridgway (July 2, 1850-March 25, 1929) observed Unitedstatesian brown pelicans, whose descendants the 2022 Audubon calendar obliges.

Nine-week-old fledglings needing parental nourishment and nestling into nearby arboreal nests present themselves as September birds proficient in colony-wide grunts and hisses and courtship heart-hark repetitions.

Juvenile brown pelicans, physically and sexually immature until two-plus years old, queue brown, unmarked upperparts; gray-white bills and heads; gray-white feet and legs; and white underparts. Mature brown pelicans reveal black feet and legs; black, bulky underparts; white-marked wings; red-marked throats; dark-striped napes; and, unlike non-breeding, white-headed adults, cream-white crowns and foreheads. Ten-year lifespans sustain mature 4- to 4.25-inch (1.2- to 1.3-meter) lengths, 6.5- to 7-foot (2- to 2.1-meter) wingspans and 4- to 8.75-pound (1.8- to 4-kilogram) weights.

Brown pelicans travel as September birds across the 2022 Audubon calendar, along northern boundaries of the United Mexican States (Estados Unidos Mexicanos) and over Unitedstatesian coastlines.

The Galapagos Islands accommodate Pelecanus occidentalis urinator, subspecies analyzed taxonomically by Frank Alexander Wetmore (June 18, 1886-Dec. 7, 1978) in 1945. Avian taxonomists acknowledge the urinator subspecies as one of three brown pelican subspecies, with Pelecanus occidentalis murphyi (analyzed by Dr. Wetmore in 1945) and Pelecanus occidentalis occidentalis (analyzed by Carl Linnaeus in 1766), whose breeding, non-breeding, wintering, year-round ranges are not along the Atlantic and the Pacific coastal United States; "A pelican on the Galapagos Islands, with 'Kungsholm' (1966) in the background," Marine Photo Service, Waterline Collection, National Maritime Museum, London: 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.

Dedication

Pelecanus occidentalis occidentalis ("pelican westerly western" literally) abides along the Caribbean coastlines of Colombia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and West Indies as well as in the Bahamas and the Greater and Lesser Antilles. The subspecies, first approached taxonomically by Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1778), acquires artistic appreciation as an acclaimed image by John James Audubon (April 26, 1785-Jan. 27, 1851) for his Birds of America publication of 1827-1838: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:251_Brown_Pelican.jpg; Biodiversity Heritage Library (BioDivLibrary), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/biodivlibrary/8594198851/; Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40419036

Baicich, Paul J.; and Colin J. O. Harrison. 2005. "Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)." Page 56. In: Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Second edition. Princeton NJ; and Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England: Princeton University Press.

"Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis." Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission > How Can We Help You? > Discover Wildlife > Wildlife Viewing > Additional Wildlife Viewing Resources > Species Profiles > Showing All 406 Species.
Available @ https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/birds/shorebirdsseabirds/brown-pelican/

Bull, John; and John Farrand, Jr. 1997. "Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis." Page 359. In: National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Eastern Region. Revised by John Farrand, Jr. Second edition. A Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; and Toronto [Ontario, Canada]: Random House of Canada Limited.

Christie, Jay Robert, MBA. 2002. "Brown pelican Pelecanus occidentalis." Pages 231-232. In: Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd edition. Volume 8, Birds I, edited by Michael Hutchins, Jerome A. Jackson, Walter J. Bock and Donna Olendorf. Farmington Hills MI: Gale Group.

Cleary, Margot Keam. 1991. "Left: Brown Pelican." Page 80. In: John James Audubon. New York NY: Crescent Books.

"Eastern Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)." Austin TX: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Available @ https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/bpelican/

Harrison, Kit and George. 1986. "Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)." Page 270. In: Kenneth P. Able, Robert F. Cardillo, Peter G. Connors, Susan Roney Drennan, Kimball L. Garrett, George Harrison, Kit Harrison, Bette J. Schardien Jackson, Jerome A. Jackson, J. P. Myers, Roger Tory Peterson, [and] William E. Poole. Contributing Writers Jeff Kopachena, [and] Michael McKinley. The Birds Around Us. San Ramon CA: Ortho Books.

Howell, Catherine Herbert (Writer); and Mary B. Dickinson (Editor). 1999. "Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis." Pages 68-69. In: Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Third Edition. Washington DC: National Geographic Society.

Kobasa, Paul A. (Editor-in-Chief). 2007. "Brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)." Page 68. Birds of the United States and Canada. Third printing, November 2009. Chicago IL: World Book, Inc.

Mace, Alice E. (Editor). 1986. "Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)." Page 270. The Birds Around Us. Writers Kenneth P. Able, Robert F. Cardillo, Peter G. Connors, Susan Roney Drennan, Kimball L. Garrett, George Harrison, Kit Harrison, Bette J. Schardien Jackson, Jerome A. Jackson, J. P. Mers, Roger Tory Peterson and William E. Poole. Contributing Writers Jeff Kopachena and Michael McKinley. San Ramon CA: Orth Books.

Marriner, Derdriu. 7 August 2022. "Allen’s Hummingbirds Are August Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/08/allens-hummingbirds-are-august-birds-on.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 February 2022. "Northern Bobwhites Are February Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday. Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/02/northern-bobwhites-are-february-birds.html

Peterson, Roger Tory. 2010. "Pelecanus occidentalis." Pages 72-73. In: Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America. With contributions from Michael Di Giorgio, Paul Lehman, Michael O'Brien and Jeffrey A. Gordon, Larry Rosche, [and] Bill Thompson. Sixth Edition. Boston MA; and New York NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Peterson, Roger Tory. 1947. "(Eastern) Brown Pelican. Pelecanus occidentalis carolinensis." Page 9. In: A Field Guide to the Birds Giving Field Marks of all Species Found East of the Rockies. The Peterson Field Guide Series. Second Revised and Enlarged Edition. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Robbins, Charles S.; Bertel Bruun; and Herbert S. Zim. 2001. "Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis." Pages 32-33. In: Birds of North America. Revised by Jonathan P. Latimer and Karen Stray Nolting and James Coe. New York NY: St. Martin's Press.

Robbins, Chandler S., Bertel Bruun, with Herbert S. Zim. 1983. "Brown Pelican Pelecánus occidentális." Page 32. In: Birds of North America. A Guide to Field Identification. New York NY: Golden Press; and Racine WI: Western Publishing Company.

Scott, Victoria. 2012. "Pelecanus occidentalis Brown Pelican" (On-line). Animal Diversity Web. Ann Arbor MI: University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
Available @ https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Pelecanus_occidentalis/

Stokes, Donald and Lillian. 1996. "Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis." Page 25. In: Stokes Field Guide to Birds: Eastern Region. Boston [MA]; New York [NY]; Toronto [Ontario, Canada]; and London [England UK]: Little, Brown and Company.

Udvardy, Miklos D. F. 1985. "Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis." Page 522. In: Bayard H. McConnaughey and Evelyn McConnaughey. Pacific Coast. The Audubon Society Nature Guides. Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Udvardy, Miklos D. F. 1977. "Brown Pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis)." Pages 399-400. In: The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Western Region. A Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; and Toronto [Ontario, Canada]: Random House of Canada Limited.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=crested+caracara&form=hpcapt&filters=HpDate:%2220220406_0700%22

Sunday, August 7, 2022

Allen’s Hummingbirds Are August Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar

Summary: Allen’s hummingbirds are August birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar by which the National Audubon Society acquaints Unitedstatesians with vulnerable birds.

Allen’s hummingbirds are August birds, assailed by climate change and suburban development, on the 2022 Audubon calendar by which the National Audubon Society acquaints Unitedstatesians with 12 vulnerable birds in North America.

Wintertime, springtime, summertime backyard feeders bring Apodiformes (from Greek ἄπους via Latin apūs, “footless” and Latin -fōrmēs, “-shaped”) swift order members from fog-shrouded, moist Pacific coastlines. That order’s Trochilidae (from Greek τρέχω [“to run”] and -ίλος [“bird”] via Latin trochilus, “small bird”) hummingbird family claims dense-shrubbed coasts and islands January through August. Selasphorus sasin sasin and Selasphorus sasin sedentarius subspecies and Selasphorus floresii hybrids respectively dwell in south Oregon and California, California Channel Islands and all three sites.

Sasin subspecies, unlike sedentarius (from Greek Σελασφόρος, “light-bearing”; Nootka or Wakashan sasin, “hummingbird”; Latin sedentārius, “sitting”) and Floresi’s hybrid, experiences wintering-range months in central south Mexico.

Allen’s hummingbird mothers-to-be fit lichen flake-, shredded bark-, shredded pine needle-covered, spiderweb-bound nests in creepers or twig forks or on building supports, twigs or weedstalks.

One-inch- (2.54-centimeter-) deep, 1.25- to 1.75-inch (3.18- to 4.45-centimeter) diameter, 10-inch- to 90-foot- (25.4-centimeter- to 27.43-meter-) high nests, get 0.75-inch- (1.91-centimeter-) deep, 7/8-inch (2.22-centimeter) diameter cavities. Cuplike, plant down-honed nests with mossy bases hold elliptical to semi-elliptical, non-glossy, smooth, white, 13- by 9-millimeter (0.52- by 0.35-inch) eggs during 16- to 22-day incubations. Altricial (helpless, from altrix, “[female] nourisher”) hatchlings impart bright and dark impressions with short, yellow bills; dark skin; orange-yellow mouths; and sparse down along their mid-backs.

Allen’s hummingbirds, August birds on the 2022 Audubon calendar, journey to coastal redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), live oaks (Quercus tomentella) and Monterey pines (Pinus radiata) for nests.

Hatchling and nestling Allen’s hummingbirds know mother-made nests as their homes the first 22 to 25 days of their maximally five-year lifespans along light-wooded, shaded streams.

Physically and sexually mature Allen’s hummingbirds, solitary apart six-week mother-egg-hatchling nesting, log 3.5-inch (9-centimeter) lengths, 5-inch (13-centimeter) wingspans and 1/16- to 5/32-ounce (2- to 4-gram) weights. California fuchsia (Zauschneria californica), century plant (Agave americana), Indian paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea), monkeyflower (Erythranthe cardinalis) and Pacific madrone (Arbutus menziesii) matter as most popular nectar sources. Crawling, jumping spiders and crawling, flying, jumping insects; feeder mixtures of sugar water; and nectar-laden red tubular and yellow blooms necessitate swallowing solids whole and sipping.

Allen’s hummingbirds occupy the 2022 Audubon calendar as August birds because of their obvious occurrences when January or February through July or August occasion courtship operations.

Allen’s hummingbirds, presented taxonomically by René Lesson (March 20, 1794-April 28, 1849) and by Joseph Grinnell (Feb. 27, 1877-May 29, 1939), always possess black, straight bills.

Adult females queue rufous (from Latin rūfus, “red, red-haired, reddish, redheaded, ruddy”) uppertails with dark tail bands, white underparts with rufous flanks and white-tipped outer-tail feathers. Adult males reveal bronze-green or green crowns, rufous-patched sides to their heads and orange-red throat patches that range above white-patched breasts in turn above rufous underparts. They show bronze-green to green iridescent backs, rufous rumps, rufous tail bases and uppertails and dark-tipped, narrow, pointed tails as they stand on two four-clawed feet.

Flower-hovering, omnidirection-flying, superfast wing-beating Allen’s hummingbirds, as 2022 Audubon calendar August birds, tender buzzy, short tssrr warnings; doubled or serialized chuk calls; fast, raspy tzzerr-tichupy-tichupy twitters.

Allen's hummingbird mothers-to-be and mothers annually assume the architectural astuteness of assembling for two sets of two eggs camouflaged, comfortable living arrangements in plant down-lined, spider's silk-bound lichen-, moss- and non-woody plant part-assembled nests. They assure their hatchlings and nestlings of six weeks of appetizing meals of regurgitated fresh-caught crawling, flying invertebrates; Saturday, April 18, 2015, 09:05, image of "Mother hummingbird with babies," Canyon Crest neighborhood, Riverside, Riverside County, Inland Empire, Southern California: Mike's Birds from Riverside, CA, US, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

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

Dedication

Physically and sexually mature female Allen's hummingbirds, less flamboyant in body colors and in crowd behavior, arrange all nest-building and parenting for their two annual two-egg broods; W.K. Higley, ed., Birds and Nature in Natural Colors, vol. II (1905), page 195, illustration 113, specimens from collection of Chicago Natural History Museum curator Frank Morley Woodruff (July 16, 1867-July 21, 1926): No known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Birds_and_nature_(1905)_(14569192497).jpg; Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36067385; (no copyright information), via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/birdsnature21905chic/page/195/mode/1up

Baicich, Paul J.; and Colin J. O. Harrison. 2005. "Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin)." Page 202. In: Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Second edition. Princeton NJ; and Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England: Princeton University Press.

Dennis, John V.; and Mathew Tekulsky. How to Attract Hummingbirds & Butterflies. San Ramon CA: Ortho Books.

Howell, Catherine Herbert (Writer); and Mary B. Dickinson (Editor). 1999. "Allen's Hummingbird Selasphorus sasin L." Pages 270-271. In: Field Guide to the Birds of North America. Third Edition. Washington DC: National Geographic Society.

Marriner, Derdriu. 5 February 2022. "Northern Bobwhites Are February Birds on the 2022 Audubon Calendar." Earth and Space News. Saturday. Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2022/02/northern-bobwhites-are-february-birds.html

Peterson, Roger Tory. 2010. "Allen's Hummingbirds Selasphorus sasin." Pages 206-207. In: Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America. With contributions from Michael Di Giorgio, Paul Lehman, Michael O'Brien and Jeffrey A. Gordon, Larry Rosche, [and] Bill Thompson. Sixth Edition. Boston MA; and New York NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Robbins, Charles S.; Bertel Bruun; and Herbert S. Zim. 2001. "Allen's Hummingbird Selasphorus sasin." Pages 188-189. In: Birds of North America. Revised by Jonathan P. Latimer and Karen Stray Nolting and James Coe. New York NY: St. Martin's Press.

Robbins, Chandler S., Bertel Bruun, with Herbert S. Zim. 1983. "Allen's Hummingbird Selásphorus sásin." Page 188. In: Birds of North America. A Guide to Field Identification. New York NY: Golden Press; and Racine WI: Western Publishing Company.

Udvardy, Miklos D. F. 1977. "Allen's Hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin)." Pages 596-597. In: The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds: Western Region. A Chanticleer Press Edition. New York NY: Borzoi Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.; and Toronto [Ontario, Canada]: Random House of Canada Limited.

Williamson, Sheri L. 2001. A Field Guide to Hummingbirds of North America. Peterson Field Guides. Boston MA; and New York NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.

https://www.bing.com/search?q=crested+caracara&form=hpcapt&filters=HpDate:%2220220406_0700%22