American Belted Kingfisher Habitats: Blue-Slate Body, Burrow, White Egg

Summary: North American belted kingfisher habitats seasonally north and south of, year-round in, the United States have blue-slate bodies, burrows and white eggs.

belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) in York River State Park, Virginia Peninsula, southeastern Virginia; Wednesday, June 27, 2012: Virginia State Parks (vastateparksstaff), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

North American belted kingfisher habitats activate cultivators through Alcedinidae family insect- and snake-controlling appetites and naturalists through distribution ranges seasonally in Canada, Caribbean America and Mexico and year-round in the United States.

The belted kingfisher bears its common name because of a dark breast-band and one white neck-collar and the scientific name Megaceryle alcyon (big mythical bird-like kingfisher). Agro-industry, construction, drought, floods, pollution, predation, recreation, tourism and urbanization challenge belted kingfishers, described in 1758 by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1787). Monogamous mating and shared responsibilities for burrowing nests, incubating eggs, locating prey and tending nestlings draw belted kingfishers from solitary into coupled and familial life cycles.

Mysterious lifespans expect brackish, fresh or marine, calm, clean, clear, smooth waters no deeper than 23.62 inches (60 centimeters), encircled by exposed earth and open woodlands.

March through July facilitate brooding one 5- to 14-egg clutch, followed by another if the first fails, 1 to 3 feet (30.48 to 91.44 centimeters) underground.

Parents-to-be gut 3- to 15-foot- (0.91- to 4.57-meter-) long, 3.5- to 4-inch- (8.89- to 10.16-centimeter-) wide, 3- to 3.5-inch- (7.62- to 8.89-centimeter-) high burrows into banks. Curved or uncurved, upward-sloping burrows honed within 21 days have 6- to 7-inch- (15.24- to 17.78-centimeter-) high, 10- to 12-inch- (25.4- to 30.48-centimeter-) diameter egg chambers. Parents-to-be initiate 22- to 24-day incubations of glossy, 1.18- to 1.46-inch (30- to 37-millimeter) by 0.98- to 1.14-inch (25- to 29-millimeter), smooth, somewhat elliptical, white eggs.

Falcons, hawks, mink, people, raccoons, skunks and snakes jeopardize North American belted kingfisher habitats seasonally north and south of, and year-round within, the United States' borders.

Helpless, naked hatchlings without beak-opening gape flanges know black bills, feather-filled sheaths, pink mouths and red skin while they keep eyes closed the first two weeks.

Fathers on day duty from nearby roosting burrows and mothers on night duty in egg chambers and nest hollows look after nestlings 30 to 35 days. Nestlings manage feather quills within the first week and feathers from broken sheaths as 17- to 18-day-olds and move away from nests as 30- to 35-day-olds. Adults need amphibians, berries, insects, mice and reptiles and bluegill, carp, crayfish, croakers, flounder, goldfish, minnows, mussels, needlefish, perch, pike, salmon, sculpins, sticklebacks, suckers and trout.

North American belted kingfisher 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).

Headfirst dives into fish-filled riffle edges and maximum 0.62-mile (one-kilometer) fishing offshore, 4.97-mile (eight-kilometer) forages from nests and 0.06-mile (990.54-meter) hovers promote belted kingfisher life cycles.

One dark breast-band, one blue breast-band with one chestnut belly-band and one blue breast-band respectively quicken double-crested juvenile, prominent-crested mature female and shaggy-crested mature male identifications. Blue- and white-barred tails, blue-gray large heads, blue-slate upper-parts, dark eyes, dark, long, powerful, thick bills and white collars reveal adult, chestnut-flanked females and white-bellied males. Two- to three-beat glides on 18.89- to 22.84-inch (48- to 58-centimeter) wingspans suggest 5.29- to 6.17-ounce (150- to 175-grams), 11.02- to 13.78-inch (28- to 35-centimeter) adults.

North American belted kingfisher habitats tender harsh, mechanical rattles during flights or disturbances or from perches, screams during breeding or threats and trill-like warbles during breeding.

illustration of eggs of belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) under scientific synonym of Ceryle alcyon; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate XLVII, figure 2, opp. page 158: Not in copyright, 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:

belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) in York River State Park, Virginia Peninsula, southeastern Virginia; Wednesday, June 27, 2012: Virginia State Parks (vastateparksstaff), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/vastateparksstaff/7514841530/

illustration of eggs of belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) under scientific synonym of Ceryle alcyon; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate XLVII, figure 2, opp. page 158: Not in copyright, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34908273

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.

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

Linnaeus, Carl. 1758. "4. Vultur aura." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 86-87. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726991

Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Accipiter cooperii (Bonaparte) 1828." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Coraciiformes > Alcedinidae > Megaceryle.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/cora.html

American Northern Flicker Habitats: Brown Body, Cavity Nest, White Egg

Summary: North American northern flicker habitats from Canada through Mexico and Caribbean and Central America get brown bodies from white eggs in cavity nests.

northern flicker (Colaptes auratus) in Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, Sweetwater County, southwestern Wyoming; June 7, 2006: Tom Koerner/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain, via USFWS National Digital Library

North American northern flicker habitats adjust to cultivation through Picidae family predatory wildlife associations with ants and to naturalism through distribution ranges from Canada southward through Mexico and Caribbean and Central America.

Northern flickers bear their common name from their call and their flashing white-spotted plumage and the scientific name Colaptes auratus from their wood-pecking and golden underwings. Ornithologists consider boreal, Cayman, collared, Cuban, Guadalupe, Guatemalan, Mexican and red-shafted subspecies subsequent to Carl Linnaeus's (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1787) nominate Colaptes auratus auratus classification. Linnaeus's eastern-dwelling, yellow-shafted flickers from 1758 and Johann Gmelin's (Aug. 8, 1748-Nov. 1, 1804) western-dwelling red-shafted (Colaptes auratus cafer, pecking, golden infield) northerners from 1788 dominate.

Nine-year lifespans expect forest edges, open coniferous, deciduous, mature, mixed or second-growth forests, orchards, parklands, riparian woodlands, suburban backyards, tree-edged farmlands and tree-scattered fields and grasslands.

March through July facilitate brooding one three- to 14-egg clutch, followed by another if the first fails, up to 100 feet (30.48 meters) above the ground.

Parents-to-be gut 2- to 4-inch- (5.08- to 10.16-centimeter-) long, 3-inch- (7.62-centimeter-) wide entrances, with tunnels, in dead stubs, fence-posts, heart rot-weakened live trees and utility poles. They have woodchip-lined cavity nests within 10- to 36-inch (25.4- to 91.44-centimeter) by 7- to 8-inch (17.78- to 20.32-centimeter) tunnels habitable within 15 to 28 days. Day-shift mothers-to-be and night-shift fathers-to-be implement 11- to 13-day incubations of 0.75- to 1.42-inch (19- to 36-millimeter) by 0.63- to 1.29-inch (16- to 33-millimeter) white eggs.

Agricultural, golf-course and suburban pesticides, land clearances and predatory Cooper's hawks, feral goats, raccoons, sharp-shinned hawks, snakes, squirrels and starlings jeopardize North American northern flicker habitats.

Fathers-to-be keep elliptical, oval or subelliptical, glossy, smooth eggs warm and hatchlings with closed eyes, egg tooth-tipped bills and successively brown-orange, red and black skin fed.

Nestlings lack feather quills for six days, learn to see with unsealed eyes as 10-day-olds and, at tunnel ends, live off regurgitated insects in paternal bills. They move from cavity nest interiors to summits within 17 to 18 days, to entrance holes as 21-day-olds and to nearby roosts as 25- to 28-day-olds. Adults need ants, beetles, butterflies, fruits, moths and snails and bayberry, dogwood, elderberry, grape, hackberry, poison ivy, poison oak, sumac, sunflower, thistle and wild cherry seeds.

North American northern flicker habitats up to 6,889.76 feet (2,100 meters) above sea level offer winter-coldest temperatures at minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42.77 degrees Celsius).

Aspen, bayberry, black-gum, dogwood, elderberry, grape, hackberry, oak, pine, poison ivy, poison oak, sumac, sunflower, thistle, Virginia creeper and wild cherry promote northern flicker life cycles.

Black mustaches and no mustaches versus red mustaches and no mustaches qualify as respective hallmarks of yellow-vaned males and females and of red-vaned males and females. Black V-marked breasts, black-patterned brown plumage, black-spotted backs, bellies, flanks and wings, down-curved bills, flared, long, pointed-tipped tails, rounded, slim heads and white-patched rumps reveal adults. Fast-beat, gliding undulations on 1.65- to 2.09-inch (4.2- to 5.3-centimeter) wingspans suggest 1.10- to 1.29-inch- (2.8- to 3.3-centimeter-) long, 3.88- to 5.64-ounce (110- to 160-gram) adults.

North American northern flicker habitats tender courtship- and territory-related falling-, rising-toned, loud, rolling rattles, even-spaced, loud, rapid drumming, loud kyerr calls and rhythmic, soft wick-a-wick-a calls.

illustration of eggs of northern flicker (Colaptes auratus) under synonymous common name of yellow-shafted flicker; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate LIV, figure 5, opposite page 188: 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:

northern flicker (Colaptes auratus) in Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge, Sweetwater County, southwestern Wyoming; June 7, 2006: Tom Koerner/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain, via USFWS National Digital Library @ https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/natdiglib/id/18581/rec/4

illustration of eggs of northern flicker (Colaptes auratus) under synonymous common name of yellow-shafted flicker; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate LIV, figure 5, opposite page 188: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34908331

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. April 1898. "Some New Races of Birds From Eastern North America: Colaptes auratus luteus, subsp. nov. Northern Flicker." The Auk, vol. XV (old series vol. XXIII), no. II: 177-178. New York NY: L.S. Foster.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27447364

Cory, Charles B. (Barney). October 1886. "Descriptions of Thirteen New Species of Birds From the Island of Grand Cayman, West Indies: Colaptes gundlachi, sp. nov." The Auk, III (old series vol. XI), no. IV: 502. New York NY: L.S. Foster.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15933387

Gmelin, Jo. Frid. (Johann Friedrich). 1788. "36. Picus cafer." Caroli a Linné Systema Naturae, tom. I, pars I: 431. Editio Decima Tertia, Aucta, Reformata. Lipsaie [Leipzig]: Impensis Georg Emanuel Beer.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2897031

Griscom, Ludlow. 1933. "The Ornithology of Guerrero, Mexico: Colaptes cafer nanus subsp. nov." Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, LXXV, no. 10: 381-382.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2806840

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.

Gundlach, John. 1858. "Notes on Some Cuban Birds, With Descriptions of Three New Species: 1. Colaptes chrysocaulosus." Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, vol. VI: 273. New York NY: Wiley & Halsted; London UK: Trubner & Co.; Paris, France: Hector Bossange.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16023877

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

Lafresnaye, Fr. (Frédéric) de. February 1844. "Oiseaux Nouveaux du Mexique: 6. Familia Picidae Genus Colaptes Swainson. Col. mexicanoïdes Nob." Revue Zoologique, septième année (février):42-43.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2284713

Linnaeus, Carl. 1758. "8. Cuculus auratus." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 112. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727017

Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Colaptes auratus (Linnaeus) 1758." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Piciformes > Picidae > Colaptes.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/pici.html

Ridgway, Robert. 21 March 1876. "Ornithology of Guadeloupe Island, Based on Notes and Collections Made by Dr. Edward Palmer: 7. Colaptes mexicanus rufipileus, nobis." Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, vol. II, no. 1: 191-192. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/32141273

Swainson, William. June 1827. "A Synopsis of the Birds Discovered in Mexico by W. Bullock, F.L.S. and H.S., and Mr. William Bullock, jun.: 84. Colaptes Mexicanus." The Philosophical Magazine, Or Annals of Chemistry, Mathematics, Astronomy, Natural History, and General Science, vol. I (January-June 1827), no. VI (June): 440. London UK: Richard Taylor.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15530450

Vigors, N.A. (Nicholas Aylward). 1829. "Sketches in Ornithology: Colaptes collaris." The Zoological Journal, vol. IV (April 1828-May 1829): 354. London UK: G.B. Sowerby.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2310720

American Hairy Woodpecker Habitats: Black Body, Cavity Nest, White Egg

Summary: North American hairy woodpecker habitats year-round from Canada south through Mexico and Central America get black bodies from white eggs in cavity nests.

male hairy woodpecker (Picoides villosus); Whitby, Durham Region, Southern Ontario, east central Canada; January 2006: Mdf, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

North American hairy woodpecker habitats adapt to cultivators through Picidae family predatory wildlife associations with farm and garden pests and to naturalists through distribution ranges from Canada southward through Mexico and beyond.

Hairy woodpeckers bear their common name and the scientific name Picoides villosus (woodpecker-like full of hair) because of the hair-like, long, white feathers on their backs. Ornithologists consider, as valid or not, subspecies categorizations subsequent to Carl Linnaeus's (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1787) classification in 1766 of the nominate Picoides villosus villosus. They debate Cabanis, Chihuahua, extimus, fumeus, Harris, intermedius, jardinii, Maynard, Mexican, Modoc/sierra, Newfoundland, northern, parvulus, piger, Queen Charlotte, Rocky, scrippsae, Sitka, southern and white-breasted subspecies validity.

Sixteen-year lifespans expect beaver ponds, coniferous, deciduous, mature, mixed or second-growth forests, forest edges, open woodlands, orchards, river groves, suburban backyards and wooded parks and swamps.

March through July facilitate brooding one three- to six-egg clutch, followed by a second if the first fails, at three- to 55-foot (0.91- to 16.76-meter) heights.

Parents-to-be gut in 17 to 24 days tunnels with elongated, 2- to 2.5-inch- (5.08- to 6.35-centimeter-) high, 1.25- to 1.5-inch- (3.18- to 3.81-centimeter-) wide entrance holes. Ten- to 15-inch- (25.4- to 38.1-centimeter-) deep, 4.5-inch (11.43-centimeter) diameter cavity nests within dead stubs, heart rot-weakened trees, nest-boxes or telegraph poles house glossy, smooth eggs. Day-shift mothers-to-be and night-shift fathers-to-be implement 10- to 15-day incubations of 0.79- to 1.14-inch (20- to 29-millimeter) by 0.63- to 0.75-inch (16- to 19-millimeter) white eggs.

Homelessness from agro-industry, construction, recreation, tourism and urbanization and predation by badgers, foxes, opossums, raccoons, sparrows, squirrels, starlings and weasels jeopardize North American hairy woodpecker habitats.

Blind, helpless, large-headed, naked hatchlings keep purring in their cavity nests and their sharp, single tooth from their time in the eggs and know pink skin. They live off insects in the bills of both parents in the furthest interiors the first eight days and on cavity summits as nine- to 11-day-olds. They move to entrances as 12- to 19- or 21-day-olds and, while maintaining daily parental contact another three weeks, to nearby roosts as 20- to 22-day-olds. Adults need acorns, ants, aphids, bark beetle larvae, bees, berries, caterpillars, cockroaches, crickets, fruits, grasshoppers, millipedes, moths, sap, seeds, spiders, suet, sugarcane juices, wasps and wood-borers.

North American hairy woodpecker habitats at 2,952.76- to 11,318.9-foot (900- to 3,450-meter) altitudes offer winter's coldest temperatures at minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 51.11 degrees Celsius).

Apple, aspen, birch, cherry, chokecherry, corn, Douglas-fir, elm, hemlock, June-berry, juniper, maple, mulberry, oak, peanuts, pine, plum, serviceberry, sunflower and walnut promote hairy woodpecker life cycles.

Orange-red crown patches, red-patched crowns and white-patched backsides of heads qualify as respective hallmarks of gray-brown-eyed juvenile, red-brown-eyed male adult and red-brown-eyed mature female hairy woodpeckers. Black napes, tails and upper-parts, black-and-white-striped cheeks, blue-gray feet and legs, white backs, outer wing-feathers and underparts, white-barred black wing-feathers and white-tipped black bills reveal adults. Gliding and wing-beat undulations on 12.99- to 16.16-inch (33- to 41-centimeter) wingspans suggest 7.09- to 10.24-inch (18- to 26-centimeter), 1.41- to 3.35-ounce (40- to 95-gram) adults.

North American hairy woodpecker habitats team bold, grating, loud, low-pitched, sharp, short peek calls, courtship-, intrusion-, mating-, territory-related, even-tapped, loud drumming and rattle and whinny sounds.

illustration of eggs of hairy woodpecker (Picoides villosus) under scientific synonym of Picus villosus; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate LXIV, figure 1, opposite page 264: 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:

male hairy woodpecker (Picoides villosus); Whitby, Durham Region, Southern Ontario, east central Canada; January 2006: Mdf, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Picoides-villosus-001.jpg

illustration of eggs of hairy woodpecker (Picoides villosus) under scientific synonym of Picus villosus; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate LXIV, figure 1, opposite page 264: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34908447

For further information:

Allen, Glover M. (Morill). April 1905. "Summer Birds in the Bahamas: 37. Dryobates villosus piger, subsp. nov." The Auk, vol. XXII (old series vol. XXX), no. 2: 124-126. Cambridge MA: The American Ornithologists' Union.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15936467

Audubon, John James. 1838. "Harris's Woodpecker. Picus Harrisi, Aud.." The Birds of America, From Original Drawings, vol. IIII (1835 to 38): plate CCCCXVII (417), figures 8, 9. New York NY: J.J. Audubon; Philadelphia PA: J.B. Chevalier.
Available via Cincinnati Digital Library - The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County @ http://digital.cincinnatilibrary.org/digital/collection/p16998coll33/id/428/rec/120

Audubon, John James. 1842. "Harris' Woodpecker. Picus Harrisii, Aud." The Birds of America, From Drawings Made in the United States and Their Territories, vol. IV: 242-244. New York NY: J.J. Audubon; Philadelphia PA: J.B. Chevalier.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40447227

Audubon, John James. 1839. "Harris's Woodpecker. Picus Harrisii." Ornithological Biography or, An Account of the Habits of the Birds of the United States of America; Accompanied by Descriptions of the Objects Represented in the Work Entitled The Birds of America, and Interspersed with Delineations of American Scenery and Manners, vol. V: 192-193. Edinburgh Scotland: Adam and Charles Black, MDCCCXXXIX.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33240189

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.

Batchelder, Charles Foster. 24 June 1908. "The Newfoundland Hairy Woodpecker: Dryobates villosus terraenovae, subsp. nov." Proceedings of the New England Zoölogical Club, vol. IV (1903-1914): 37-38.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12606264

Cabanis, Jean Louis; Ferdinand Heine Sr. 1863. "D. hyloscopus (Picus hyloscopus Cab. & Heine)." Museum Heineanum, Pars IV Scansores, Sectio II Picidae: 69. Halberstadt, Germany: Frantz.
Available via Google Books @ https://books.google.com/books?id=moM-AAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uiug.30112010227590?urlappend=%3Bseq=311

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

Linnaeus, Carl. 1766. "16. Picus villosus." Systema Naturae, tomus I: 175-176. Editio Duodecima, Reformata. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/42946371

Malherbe, Alfred. Octobre 1845. "Description de trois espèces nouvelles du genre Picus, Linné: 2. P. (Leuconotopicus)  Jardinii." Revue Zoologique, huitième année: 374-375.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2327598

Nelson, E.W. (Edward William). January 1897. "Preliminary Description of New Birds From Mexico and Guatemala in the Collection of the United States Department of Agriculture: Dryobates sanctorum, new species. Chiapas Woodpecker." The Auk, vol. XIV (old series vol. XXII), no. 1: 50. New York NY: L.S. Foster.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16074061

Nuttall, Thomas. 1840. "Great Spotted Woodpecker. Picus septentrionalis, nobis." A Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and Canada: The Land Birds: 684. Second edition. Boston MA: Hilliard, Gray, and Company.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/33389004

Oberholser, Harry C. (Church). 3 June 1911. "A Revision of the Forms of the Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus [Linnaeus]): Dryobates villosus icastus, new subspecies." Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 40, no. 1840: 612-613. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15845914

Oberholser, Harry C. (Church). 3 June 1911. "A Revision of the Forms of the Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus [Linnaeus]): Dryobates villosus orius, new subspecies." Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 40, no. 1840: 609-611. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15845911

Osgood, Wilfred H. (Hudson). 1901. "Natural History of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia: Dryobates picoideus sp. nov. Queen Charlotte Woodpecker." North American Fauna, no. 21: 44-45. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/25800297

Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Picoides pubescens (Linnaeus) 1766." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Piciformes > Picidae > Picoides.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/pici.html

Ridgway, Robert. 1887. "D. villosus maynardii Ridgw. Bahaman Hairy Woodpecker." A Manual of North American Birds, page 282. Philadelphia PA: J.P. Lippincott Co.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7567536

Swainson, William. 1831 (MDCCCXXXI). "Picus audubonii." Fauna Boreali-Americana; Or the Zoology of the Northern Parts of British America, second volume: The Birds: 306. London UK: John Murray.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27217492

Swarth, H.S. (Harry Schelwald). 9 October 1911. "Description of a New Hairy Woodpecker From Southeastern Alaska: Dryobates villosus sitkensis, subsp. nov." University of California Publications in Zoology, vol. 7 (1910-1912), no. 9: 315-318. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/29511081

North American Blue Jay Habitats: Blue Body, Cup Nest, Marked Pale Egg

Summary: North American blue jay habitats year-round in southern Canada and the United States east of the Rockies hold blue bodies, cup nests and marked pale eggs.

blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) in Johnston County, central North Carolina; Feb. 16, 2006: Ken Thomas, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

North American blue jay habitats allay cultivator anxieties through Corvidae family predatory wildlife associations with pests and naturalist apprehensions through distribution ranges seasonally in Canada and year-round there and the United States.

Blue jays bear their common name from colors bestowed with the French loan word jai (gay, merry) and the scientific name Cyanocitta cristata (crested, dark-blue chatterer). Ornithologists consider bromia (boisterous), cyanotephra (dark-blue ashes) and semplei subspecies since Carl Linnaeus's (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1787) nominate Cyanocitta cristata cristata subspecies classification in 1758. Large-sized northern bromia, mid-sized coastal cristata, mid-sized inland cyanotephra and small-sized Florida semplei subspecies respectively designate North America's dull, vivid, strikingly color-contrasted and pale blue jays.

Seven-year lifespans expect coniferous, deciduous or mixed forests, parklands or woodlands, forest edges, tree-edged fields, meadows or pastures, suburban or urban woods or tree-lined city streets.

March through July facilitate brooding one two- to seven-egg clutch, followed by another if the first fails in the north, or two to three further south.

Parents-to-be gather bark, feathers, grass, leaves, mosses, stems, sticks and twigs into mud-bound, rootlet-lined, 4- to 4.5-inch- (10.16- to 11.43-centimeter-) high, 2.5-inch- (6.35-centimeter-) deep cup nests. Seven- to 8-inch (17.78- to 20.32-centimeter) outer, 3.5- to 4-inch (8.89- to 10.16-centimeter) inner diameter nests house eggs at 5- to 50-foot (1.52- to 15.24-meter) heights. Mothers-to-be implement 16- to 18-day incubations of American crow-like, 0.91- to 1.26-inch (23- to 32-millimeter) by 0.71- to 0.87-inch (18- to 22-millimeter), oval, semi-glossy, smooth eggs.

American crows, bobwhites, cardinals, falcons, grackles, hawks, mockingbirds, mourning doves, opossums, owls, raccoons, scrub-jays, snakes, squirrels, white-winged doves and woodpeckers jeopardize North American blue jay habitats.

Eggshell- and excrement-eating parents keep brown-, gray-, olive-, purple-blotched, dotted, flecked, speckled, spotted blue-green, buff, cream-buff, gray-white, green-white, olive, pink-buff eggs, helpless hatchlings and nests predator-free.

Nestlings live off parent-foraged, parent-portioned food while they look around with unsealed eyes as five-day-olds and, as seven-plus-day-olds, less cream- or pale yellow-skinned, red-mouthed and thin. They manage feathering as eight- or nine-day-olds and move to nearby roosts as 17- to 21-day-olds and, after another parent contact-filled three weeks, to physical independence. Adults need acorns, beechnuts, beetles, berries, carrion, caterpillars, cicadas, corn, fruits, grains, grasshoppers, hazelnuts, hickory nuts, lizards, mice, peanuts, snails, spiders, sunflower seeds and tree frogs.

North American blue jay habitats through 3,280.84 feet (1,000 meters) above sea level offer winter's coldest temperatures at minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42.77 degrees Celsius).

Alder, beech, cherry, dogwood, elderberry, fir, hazelnut, hemlock, hickory, pitch pine, red spruce, sour-gum, sunflower, viburnum, white oak and white pine promote blue jay life cycles.

Downy, fluffy, pale scruffiness and visible beak-based gapes versus slightly paler colors and smaller sizes respectively qualify as juvenile female and male and mature female hallmarks. Black-beaked, black-collared, black-footed, black-legged, blue-crested, blue-mantled, dark-eyed, gray-under-bodied, long-billed, white-throated adults reveal black bill-to-eye patches, black-barred, long, white-cornered blue tails and white trailing-edged, white-streaked blue wings. Flapping, flat-winged, gliding flight on 13.38- to 16.93-inch (34- to 43-centimeter) wingspans suggest 9.5- to 12-inch (24- to 30-centimeter), 2.25- to 3.5-ounce (65- to 100-gram) adults.

Adults and juveniles turn out typically ethereal queedle-ee-dee chortles, feeding-related soft clucks and harsh jay-jay screams in nests and roosts in North American blue jay habitats.

illustration of eggs and nest of blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) under scientific synonym of Cyanurus cristatus; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate XXXVI, between pages 122-123: 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:

blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) in Johnston County, central North Carolina; Feb. 16, 2006: Ken Thomas, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_Jay-27527.jpg

illustration of eggs and nest of blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) under scientific synonym of Cyanurus cristatus; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate XXXVI, between pages 122-123: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34907803

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.

Jones, Howard. 1886. Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio. Illustrations by Mrs. N.E. Jones. Vol. I. Circleville OH: s.n. (sine nomine).
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34907587

Linnaeus, Carl. 1758. "8. Corvus cristatus." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 106. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727011

Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus) 1758." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Passeriformes > Corvidae > Cyanocitta.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/pass.html

Oberholser, Harry C. (Church). January 1921. "The Geographic Races of Cyanocitta Cristata: Cyanocitta cristata bromia nom. nov." The Auk, vol. XXXVIII (old series vol. XLVI), no. 1 (January-March): 86-89. Lancaster PA: The American Ornithologists' Union.
Available via SORA (Searchable Ornithological Research Archive) @ https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v038n01/p0083-p0089.pdf

Sutton, George Miksch. April 1935. "A New Blue Jay From the Western Border of the Great Basin: Cyanocitta cristata cyanotephra subspecies nova." The Auk, vol. LII (old series vol. LX), no. 2 (April-June): 176-177. Lancaster PA: The American Ornithologists' Union.
Available via SORA (Searchable Ornithological Research Archive) @ https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v052n02/p0176-p0177.pdf

Todd, W.E. (Walter Edmond) Clyde. July 1928. "A New Blue Jay From Southern Florida: Cyanocitta cristata semplei, subsp. nov." The Auk, vol. XLV (old series vol. LIII), no. 3 (July-September): 364-365. Lancaster PA: The American Ornithologists' Union.
Available via SORA (Searchable Ornithological Research Archive) @ https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v045n03/p0364-p0365.pdf

Northern Saw-Whet Owl Habitats: Brown Bodies, Cavity Nests, White Eggs

Summary: North American northern saw-whet owl habitats along coastal Canada, Mexico and the United States get brown bodies, cavity nests and white eggs year-round.

Northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus) at George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, Delta, southwestern British Columbia, western Canada; Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008, 01:06: Brendan Lally from Delta, Canada, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Common

North American northern saw-whet owl habitats adjust to cultivation through Strigidae family member appetites for farm and garden animals and to naturalism through distribution ranges from coastal Canada southward through coastal Mexico.

Northern saw-whet owls bear their common name for sounds like whetstone-sharpened saws and the scientific name Aegolius acadicus (screech-owl [in] Acadia) for specimens from Nova Scotia. Described in 1788 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin (Aug. 8, 1748-Nov. 1, 1804), they contain the British Columbian subspecies brooksi and the nominate subspecies acadicus. Allan Cyril Brooks' (Feb. 15, 1869-Jan. 3, 1946) namesakes, described in 1916 by James Henry Fleming (July 5, 1872-June 27, 1940), designate Queen Charlotte Island-dwelling owls.

Ten-year lifespans expect alder thickets, arid brush- and scrub-lands, cedar groves, coniferous, deciduous, mixed or riverside forests, coniferous swamps, pine plantations, tamarack bogs and wooded wetlands.

March through July one four- to seven-egg clutch fills cavities, former flicker or pileated woodpecker nests or nest-boxes at 14- to 60-foot (4.27- to 18.29-meter) heights.

Mothers-to-be gather, as sole lining, breast feathers for natural cavities in dead stubs or tall trees or for nest-box openings 2.76-plus inches (7-plus centimeters) in diameter. Cavity nests house non- to semi-glossy, 1.1- to 1.29-inch- (28- to 33-millimeter-) long, 0.94- to 1.02-inch- (24- to 26-millimeter-) wide, oval to near-spherical, smooth, white eggs. Mothers-to-be initiate 20- to 28-day incubations with the first or second of eggs laid at one- to three-day intervals while fathers-to-be implement native wood mouse hunts.

Cleared woodlands, drained wetlands, external parasites and great horned owls, as well as possibly also barred and long-eared owls, jeopardize North American northern saw-whet owl habitats.

Downy, helpless hatchlings keep their brown eyes closed the first eight to nine days after hatching and know sparse, white coats for the first two weeks.

Nestlings live off food from fathers for three weeks and, after mothers locate from fecal matter- and prey residue-filled nests to nearby roosts, from both parents. They manage downy feathering successors to downy coats two to four weeks after hatching and move away to independent roosts 27 to 34 days after birth. Adults need cardinals, chickadees, chipmunks, deer, heather, meadow, montane, red-backed or red-tree voles, frogs, gophers, harvest or jumping mice, insects, juncos, kinglets, pigeons, sparrows and squirrels.

Northern saw-whet habitats 6,233.59 to 10,170.6 feet (1,900 to 3,100 meters) above sea level offer winter-coldest temperatures at minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42.77 degrees Celsius).

Aspens, balsam firs, black, blue, Norway and white spruces, black locusts, Douglas-firs, Gambel oaks, jack, ponderosa, red and white pines, oleaster, red-cedars and willows protect saw-whets.

Dark bills, feathered feet and legs, white eyebrows and patches between eyes, white-spotted chestnut-brown upper-parts, white-streaked crowns and foreheads and yellow eyes quicken northern saw-whet identifications. Saw-whets, with brown-streaked buff underparts on Queen Charlotte Island and brown-streaked white underparts elsewhere, reveal rounded wings, short tails and unmarked, white undertail feathers in flight. Direct, low-ground, quick-beat swoops on 16.54- to 18.89-inch (42- to 48-centimeter) wingspans suggest 7.09- to 8.27-inch (18- to 21-centimeter), 2.29- to 5.33-ounce (65- to 151-gram) adults.

North American northern saw-whet owls transmit constant-pitched, rapid whistles, squeaks and whines along east and west coastal Canada and the United States and in central-north Mexico.

female northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus) with eggs in U.S. Forest Service’s Seward Ranger District Adopt-an-Owl-Box Program, Chugach National Forest, south central Alaska; 2008: Amy Birtwistle/USDA Seward Ranger District-Chugach National Forest, Public Domain, via USDA Forest Service Kenai Critter Newsletter

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus) at George C. Reifel Migratory Bird Sanctuary, Delta, southwestern British Columbia, western Canada; Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008, 01:06: Brendan Lally from Delta, Canada, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northern_Saw-whet_Owl,_Reifel_BC_3.jpg; Brendan Lally (brendan.lally....away), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/pictiurfear/2256527792/

female northern saw-whet owl (Aegolius acadicus) with eggs in U.S. Forest Service’s Seward Ranger District Adopt-an-Owl-Box Program, Chugach National Forest, south central Alaska; 2008: Amy Birtwistle/USDA Seward Ranger District-Chugach National Forest, Public Domain, via USDA Forest Service Kenai Critter Newsletter @ https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5052546.pdf

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.

Fleming, J.H. October 1916. “A Saw-Whet Owl of the Queen Charlotte Islands: Cryptoglaux acadicus brooksi.” The Auk, vol. XXXIII (old series vol. XLI), no. 4: 422-423. Cambridge MA: The American Ornithologists’ Union.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15982898

fs.fed.us. “Northern Saw-whet Owl With Eggs [Pinterest post].
Available via Pinterest @ www.pinterest.com/pin/470978073502396728/
Available via Pinterest @ https://www.pinterest.com/source/fs.fed.us/

Gmelin. Jo. Frid. (Johann Friedrich). 1788. Caroli a Linné Systema Naturae, tom. I, pars I: 296. Editio Decima Tertia, Aucta, Reformata. Lipsaie [Leipzig]: Impensis Georg Emanuel Beer.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2896896

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. "Aegolius acadicus (Gmelin) 1788." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Strigiformes > Strigidae > Surniinae > Aegolius.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/stri.html

U.S.D.A. Seward Ranger District-Chugach National Forest. 2008.  “Adopt-an-Owl.” USDA Forest Service Kenai Critter Newsletter, vol. 2, issue 1 (October 2008): 1, 3.
Available @ https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5052546.pdf

North American Killdeer Habitats: Brown Bodies, Cavity Nests, Buff Eggs

Summary: North American killdeer habitats year-round in-between Canada and Central America pull brown bodies from buff eggs in cavity nests.

A female killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) feigns broken-wing injury as a distraction display to draw attention away from nest; Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 17:24: Audrey from Central Pennsylvania USA, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons

North American killdeer habitats advance cultivation through Charadriidae plover family member appetites for excess grasshoppers and snails and expired fish and naturalism through distribution ranges from Canada through Mexico and the Caribbean.

The killdear bears its common name as the sound of female and male flight calls and the scientific name Charadrius vociferus as a crying, ravine-dwelling shorebird. Collisions with vehicles, predation and secondary poisoning from pesticide-riddled prey challenge the killdeer, described in 1758 by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1787). Camouflage for eggs in nests defensible daily by mothers-to-be and nightly by fathers-to-be draw adult killdeer flocks to cinder-, glass-, gravel-, pebble-, rubble-, woodchip-lined ground cover.

Ten-year lifespans expect dry, gravelly, open surfaces and 1-inch (2.54-centimeter) vegetation accessible to running water or standing pools in fields, grasslands, lawns, mudflats, pastures and sandbars.

March through July facilitate killdeer flock members brooding one three- to six-egg clutch northward, two to three southward, at 100- to 200-foot (30.48- to 60.96-meter) intervals.

Parents-to-be generate 1- to 1.5-inch- (2.54- to 3.81-centimeter-) deep scrapes, with inner 5- to 7-inch (12.7- to 17.78-centimeter) diameters, into built or natural grounds and roofs. Cavity nests house black-, brown- or gray-blotched, capped, scrawled, speckled, spotted or wreathed, non- to semi-glossy, oval to pyriform, pale or creamy-buff to beige, smooth eggs. Parents-to-be initiate 22- to 28-day incubations of 1.42- to 1.49-inch (36- to 38-millimeter) by 1.02- to 1.06-inch (26- to 27-millimeter) eggs anywhere open, often near people.

Airport, golf course, parking lot, railroad and road traffic and predatory coyotes, crows, foxes, gulls, opossums, raccoons, ravens, skunks and snakes jeopardize North American killdeer habitats.

Downy, precocious nestlings know base-barred, black-edged buff- and gray-brown-mottled backs, black-tufted tails and one each of black eye-to-bill-base, eye-to-eye, lower nape, mid-back and upper chest bands. They always look buff and gray-brown on the mottled crown and white around the lower face and on the forehead, the hind-neck collar and the underside. They maintain daily contact with parents even though they move out of nests not long after hatching and manage feeding themselves, and, within 40 days, flying. Adults, sexually active since the year after hatching, need beetles, berries, brackish, freshwater, marine or terrestrial insect larvae, crayfish, earthworms, frogs, grasshoppers, minnows, seeds and snails.

North American killdeer habitats up to 7,874.02 feet (2,400 meters) above sea level offer winter's coldest temperatures at minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23.3 degrees Celsius).

Adaptability to water-rich, water-scarce niches, broken-wing displays to pull hungry predators away from nests, penetrating, perturbing, piercing flight calls and run-pause-pick forages protect killdeer life cycles.

Browner faces and smaller sizes than male adults respectively qualify as adult female and breeding female hallmarks while buffed fringes and downy tails quicken juvenile identifications. Black breast-bands and neck-collars, brown upperparts, long, rufous-washed, white-barred wings, red eye-rings, red-orange rumps, rufous-washed backs, white underparts and yellow-pink legs reveal black-billed, brown-crowned, red-orange-tailed adults. Fast-, fluid-beat, twisting flight on 23- to 25-inch (58.42- to 63.5-centimeter) wingspans suggests 9- to 10-inch (22.86- to 25.4-centimeter), 2.25- to 3.12-ounce (63.79- to 88.59-gram) adults.

Agitated series of dee notes and rising trills, alarm-sounding dee-ee repetitions and drawn-out, rising deeee flight calls tell of flocked presences in North American killdeer habitats.

killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) eggs; Saturday, April 28, 2007, 15:49: Basil, 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.

Image credits:

A female killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) feigns broken-wing injury to draw attention away from nest; Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 17:24: Audrey from Central Pennsylvania USA, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mother_Killdeer.jpg; Audrey (audreyjm529), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/98799884@N00/3567167561/

killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) eggs; Saturday, April 28, 2007, 15:49: Basil, CC BY SA 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Killdeer_eggs.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.

Bangs, Outram; Frederic H. (Hedge) Kinnard. 1920. "Oxyechus vociferus rubidus Riley Killdeer: Charadrius vociferus ternominatus nom. nov. West Indian Killdeer." A List of the Birds of Jamaica, Excerpted from "The Handbook of Jamaica 1920," page 8. Kingston, Jamaica: Government Printing Office.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37468893

Chapman, Frank M. (Michler). 1920. "Description of a Proposed New Race of the Killdeer From the Coast of Peru: Oxyechus vociferus peruvianus new subspecies." The Auk, new series vol. XXXVII (old series vol. XLV): 106-108. Lancaster PA: Steinman and Foltz.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/15938585

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. "4. Charadrius vociferus." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 150. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/726991

Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus 1758." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Charadriiformes > Charardriidae > Charadrius.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/char.html