Red Winged Blackbird Eggs: Blue Green With Brown Black or Purple Marks

Summary: Red Winged Blackbird is a New World songbird liking such wetland flora as cattails and willows. Dark spots mark the large end of their pale blue green eggs.

Female Red-Winged Blackbird in Bluffer's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Central Canada: Mdf, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Agelaius phoeniceus is a New World passerine (Latin: passerinus, "of a sparrow"), or perching, bird native to North and Central America. The soniferous (Latin: sonus, "sound" + ferre, "to bear") percher enjoys a large native range for breeding, residency and wintering.

Breeding favors homelands in the northern continental, or Lower 48, United States and expands the expressive songbird's range.

In Canada, all ten of Canada's provinces and two (Northwest Territories and Yukon) of Canada's three territories welcome breeding Red Winged Blackbirds.

Expanded ranges for breeding in the United States include: northern Cook Inlet and northern Kalgin Island in Lower Cook Inlet in south central Alaska; between the Tanana and Yukon rivers in Alaska's east central districts of Fairbanks North Star Borough, Southeast Fairbanks Census Area and Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.

Residency increases the range of Red Winged Blackbirds.

In Canada, Red Winged Blackbirds reside on the west coast along western coastal British Columbia, including southern Vancouver Island, and in the east in southeastern Ontario, southeastern Quebec and in Southern, or South Shore, Nova Scotia.

In the United States, Red Winged Blackbirds reside throughout the Lower 48.

In the northwestern Caribbean Sea, Red Winged Blackbirds reside on the southwestern Cuban island of Isla de la Juventud ("Isle of Youth") and in northwestern and southwestern Matanzas, southeastern Mayabeque and western Pinar del Río provinces in western mainland Cuba.

In the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, Red Winged Blackbirds reside on the islands of Abaco, Andros, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama and New Providence in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

In Mexico, except for two northwestern states of Sinaloa and Sonora, Red Winged Blackbirds reside in all remaining federal entities (29 states + federal district of Mexico City).

In Central America, Red Winged Blackbirds reside in northern Belize, southwestern to south central Guatemala, northwestern Honduras, western Nicaragua and northwestern Costa Rica.

Wintering may occur in Mexico's northwestern and north central provinces of Baja California, Chihuahua, Durango, Nayarit, Sinaloa and Sonora.

Red Winged Blackbird distribution map; blue = breeding; green = year round; orange = wintering: Cephas, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Agelaius phoeniceus (Ancient Greek: ἀγελαῖος, agelaîos, "gregarious; in a flock" + Latin: phoeniceus, "deep red") is known commonly in English as Red Winged Blackbird.

Female and male Red Winged Blackbirds exhibit sexual dimorphism (Ancient Greek: δίς, dís, “twice” + μορφή, morphḗ, “form, shape” + -ισμός, -ismós, suffix forming abstract nouns). Males display bold coloring contrasting glossy blackness from head to tail with distinctive red and yellow epaulets, or shoulder patches. Smaller in size, females present overall dark brown coloration, with brown-and-buff breast and belly, and a whitish eyebrow.

During their breeding season, which may extend from February to August, peaking from mid-May to July, Red Winged Blackbirds lay a clutch of two to four beautiful pale eggs for each of one to two broods.

Shells are blue green to gray, with brown, black or purple markings that especially decorate the large end of the oval-shaped egg.

Red Winged Blackbirds favor such wetland habitats as fresh or saltwater marshes, rice paddies, vernal (Latin: vernalis, "of the spring") pools and willow (Salix spp.) forest areas.

Females build nests low, near the water surface in marshes or near the ground in drier locations, such as alfalfa (Medicago sativa) fields and sedge (Cyperaceae family) meadows.

Just hatched! Red Winged Blackbird chicks, Ernst Waterfowl Production Area, North Dakota; Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014: USFWS-Mountain Prairie, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Preferred flora for establishing their tightly woven cup-shaped nests include: cattails (Typha spp.), goldenrods (Solidago spp.), reeds (Phragmites australis), sedges (Cyperaceae family) and willows (Salix spp.).

As I was weeding the banks of the ephemeral creek that winds through the willow grove demarcating the west lawn, I uncovered a Red Winged Blackbird's broken, pale eggshell. The pale blue greenness of the shell was decorated with brownish black squiggles at the large end of the egg.

Ever since that discovery, a male Red Winged Blackbird has flown from the nearby cattail-filled vernal pool to perch on a willow a few feet across the creek from me. He stays awhile to serenade the world with beautiful sounds, of which my favorite calls are reminiscent of clear clinking and tinkling of glasses.

Helpful friends; flamboyant male Red Winged Blackbird picks ticks off White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Big Stone National Wildlife Area's native prairie habitat, west central Minnesotaa; photo by Naomi Ballard: US Fish and Wildlife Service -- Midwest Region (USFWSmidwest), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Female Red-Winged Blackbird in Bluffer's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Central Canada: Mdf, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Agelaius_phoeniceus2.jpg

Red Winged Blackbird distribution map; blue = breeding; green = year round; orange = wintering: Cephas, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Agelaius_phoeniceus.svg

Just hatched! Red Winged Blackbird chicks, Ernst Waterfowl Production Area, North Dakota; Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014: USFWS-Mountain Prairie, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsmtnprairie/11857385834/

Helpful friends; Male Red Winged Blackbird and deer friend in Big Stone National Wildlife Refuge, west central Minnesota; photo by Naomi Ballard: US Fish and Wildlife Service -- Midwest Region (USFWSmidwest), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsmidwest/9606730083/

For further information:

Hauber, Mark. E. The Book of Eggs: A Life-Size Guide to the Eggs of Six Hundred of the World's Bird Species. Lewes, UK: Ivy Press, 2014.

Jaramillo, Alvaro, and Peter Burke. New World Blackbirds: The Icterids. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999.

"Red-winged Blackbird." Wild Bird Watching.
Available @ http://www.wild-bird-watching.com/Red-winged-Blackbird.html

"Red-winged Blackbird: Agelaius phoeniceus." Fairfax County Public Schools > Island Creek Elementary School > Study of Northern Virginia Ecology.
Available @ http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/red-winged_blackbird.htm

"Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)." National Park Service > Presidio of San Francisco > Learn about the Park > Explore Nature.
Available @ http://www.nps.gov/prsf/learn/nature/red-winged-blackbird.htm

"Red-winged Blackbird: Life History." The Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds > Guide.
Available @ http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-winged_Blackbird/lifehistory

American Great Horned Owl Habitats: Barred Body, Cavity Nest, White Egg

Summary: North American great horned owl habitats from Canada, throughout the United States and through Mexico sport barred bodies, cavity nests and white eggs.

great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) near Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park; Wednesday, March 26, 2014, 19:36:02; credit Neal Herbert: Yellowstone National Park (YellowstoneNPS), Public Domain, via Flickr

North American great horned owl habitats agree with arborists, master gardeners and master naturalists through Strigidae family member appetites for insects and snakes within distribution ranges from Canada through Mexico and beyond.

Great horned owls bear the common names hoot and tiger owls as ear-tufted hooters nicknamed tigers by naturalists and the scientific name Bubo virginianus (Virginia owl). Categorized in 1788 by German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin (Aug. 8, 1748-Nov. 1, 1804), they contain Baja California, coastal, desert, eastern, Mexican, mountain, northeastern, northern subspecies. Soundtrack-friendly hoots draw the attention of eery, nature and scary filmmakers while hunting, mating and raising families drive great horned owls from solitary to paired lifestyles.

Twenty-eight-year lifespans expect brushy hillsides, coniferous bogs, marshes and swamps, coniferous, deciduous, riverside or second-growth forests, deserts, orchards, parklands, prairies and semi-wooded slopes near agricultural fields.

November through March optimally facilitate brooding one one- to five-egg clutch, followed by a second if the first fails, in beech, juniper, pine or spruce trees.

Mothers-to-be usually go for abandoned bald eagle, crow, ferruginous hawk, golden eagle, great blue heron, osprey, pileated woodpecker, raven, red-tailed hawk, squirrel or Swainson's hawk nests. Cavity nests in artificial or natural holes or on rocky ledges at 70-foot (21.34-meter) heights house coarse-grained, dull white, elliptical to near-spherical, non- to semi-glossy eggs. Mothers-to-be initiate 26- to 37-day incubations with the first rough, smooth, 2.09- to 2.21-inch (53- to 56-millimeter) by 1.77- to 1.85-inch (45- to 47-millimeter) unmarked egg.

Agro-industrial development, antagonism of red-tailed hawks, parasitism by blackflies, predation of eggs by crows and raccoons and residential construction jeopardize North American great horned owl habitats.

Helpless newborns know fluffy, white down, gray bills and pink legs and skin as sealed-eyed hatchlings and gray-buff-, gray-white or yellow-white plumage eight days after hatching.

Nestlings live with their mothers on food from their fathers while they learn to look around with opened eyes as 10-day-olds and to self-feed as 27-day-olds. They maintain daily contact with their parents, even though they move, as 35-day-olds, into nearby nests, since they manage feathering as 49-day-olds and flight as 70-day-olds. Adults need ducks, fish, foxes, geese, gophers, grouse, hares, insects, jays, mice, muskrats, opossums, orioles, pheasant, porcupines, rabbits, rats, skunks, snakes, squirrels, turkeys, voles and woodpeckers.

North American great horned owl habitats through 13,123.36 feet (4,000 meters) above sea level offer winter-coldest temperatures at minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 51.11 degrees Celsius).

Ash, aspen, bald-cypress, beech, birch, cottonwood, cypress, elm, fir, gum, hemlock, hickory, juniper, larch, maple, palmetto, pine, redwood, spruce and willow protect great horned owl niches.

Barred, brown-gray, mottled upper-parts, barred underparts, large ear tufts, rusty facial disks, white chins and throats and yellow eyes quicken identifications of adult great horned owls. Flight patterns of great horned owl adults reveal barred underparts and broad, dark-arced, long wings for alternately heavy, slow wing beats, predatory swoops and short glides. They suggest 3- to 5-foot (0.9- to 1.6-meter) wingspans, 1.88- to 5.5-pound (0.9- to 2.5-kilogram) tuft-to-tail weights and 18- to 25-inch (46- to 63-centimeter) tuft-to-tail lengths.

North American great horned owl habitats transmit barks, hisses and screams by all adults and whoo-hoo-oo-o hoots by higher-pitched, mating females and, year-round, by lower-pitched males.

Great horned owl hatchling, collected by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) at Tuttle Creek Lake, north of Manhattan, northeastern Kansas and incubated at Milford Nature Center, emerges from egg; Tuesday, March 20, 2012; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Mike Watkins: Kansas City District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Kansas City District), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) near Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park; Wednesday, March 26, 2014, 19:36:02; credit Neal Herbert: Yellowstone National Park (YellowstoneNPS), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/80223459@N05/13449706453

Great horned owl hatchling, collected by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) at Tuttle Creek Lake, north of Manhattan, northeastern Kansas and incubated at Milford Nature Center, emerges from egg; Tuesday, March 20, 2012; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Mike Watkins: Kansas City District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Kansas City District), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/usace-kcd/7006713975/

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.

Berlepsch, Hans, Comte de; L. Taczanowski. 1884. "Deuxième Liste des Oiseaux Recueillis Dans l'Ecuadeur Occidental par MM. Stolzmann et Siemradski: 164. Bubo nigrescens, Berl." Proceedings of the Scientific Meetings of the Zoological Society of London for the Year 1884, part 3, no. 21: 309-310. London UK: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28690188

Brewster, William. 1902. "No. 1. -- Birds of the Cape Region of Lower California: Bubo virginianus elaschistus, subsp. nov." Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, vol. XLI, no. 1: 96-97.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2947938

Cassin, John. 1854. "Variety pacificus." Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian America, page 178
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27214299

Dickerman, R. (Robert) W.; A. (Andrew) B. Johnson. March 2008. "Notes on Great Horned Owls Nesting in the Rocky Mountains, With a Description of a New Subspecies: Bubo virginianus pinorum." The Journal of Raptor Research, vol. 42, issue 1: 23, 24, figure 1.
Available via BioOne Complete @ http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.3356/JRR-06-75.1

Gmelin, Jo. Frid. (Johann Friedrich). 1788. "13. Strix virginiana." Caroli a Linné Systema Naturae, tom. I, pars I: 287. Editio Decima Tertia, Aucta, Reformata. Lipsaie [Leipzig]: Impensis Georg Emanuel Beer
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2896887

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.

Hoy, Philo R. (Romayne), M.D. 1853. "Description of Two Species of Owls, Presumed to be New, Which Inhabit the State of Wisconsin: 2. Bubo subarcticus, nobis." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. VI (1852, 1853): 211. Philadelphia PA: Merrihew & Thompson.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1779747

Nelson, E.W. (Edward William). 1902. "Bubo virginianus mayensis, new subspecies." Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, vol. XIV (Sept. 25, 1901): 170.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/3793157

Oberholser, Harry Church. 1904. "A Revision of the American Great Horned Owls: Asio magellanicus algistus, new subspecies." Proceedings of the United States National Museum, vol. XXVII, no. 1352: 190. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7730143

Oberholser, Harry Church. 1904. "A Revision of the American Great Horned Owls: Asio magellanicus heterocnemus, new subspecies." Proceedings of the United States National Museum, vol. XXVII, no. 1352: 187-188. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7730140

Oberholser, Harry Church. 1904. "A Revision of the American Great Horned Owls: Asio magellanicus lagophonus, new subspecies." Proceedings of the United States National Museum, vol. XXVII, no. 1352: 185-187. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7730138

Oberholser, Harry Church. 1904. "A Revision of the American Great Horned Owls: Asio magellanicus mesembrinus, new subspecies." Proceedings of the United States National Museum, vol. XXVII, no. 1352: 179-180. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7730132

Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Bubo virginianus (Gmelin) 1788." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Strigiformes > Strigidae > Striginae > Bubo.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/stri.html

Ridgway, Robert. 1877. "B. virginianus saturatus Ridgway." Report of the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, vol. IV, part III Ornithology: 572. Professional Papers of the Engineer Department, U.S. Army, no. 18. Washington DC: Government Printing Office
Available via USGS Publications @ https://pubs.usgs.gov/unnumbered/70039230/report.pdf

Stone, Witmer. 1897. "Bubo virginianus pallescens." The American Naturalist, An Illustrated Magazine of Natural History, vol. XXXI: 363: 237. Philadelphia PA: The Edwards & Docker Co.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41432371

Vieillot, Louis-Pierre. 1817. "Cho: Le Hibou Nacurutu, Strix nacurutu, Vieill." Nouvelle Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle Appliquée aux Arts, à l'Agriculture, à l'Économie rurale et domestique, à la Médicine, etc. par une Société de Naturalistes et d'Agriculteurs, tome VII: 44-45. Paris, France: Chez Deterville.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/18035791

Brown, Gray or Red Eastern Screech-Owl Habitats: Cavity Nest, White Egg

Summary: North American screech-owl habitats across and inside eastern United States' borders get brown, gray or red bodies from white eggs in cavity nests.

"Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio, grey morph)"; Sunday, April 2, 2006, 10:21: Wolfgang Wander (Wwcsig), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

North American eastern screech-owl habitats adjust to cultivation through Strigidae family member appetites for insects and snakes and to naturalism through distribution ranges from Canada, through the eastern United States, into Mexico.

Eastern screech-owls bear their common name for whinnying east of the Rocky Mountains and the scientific name Megascops asio as Greek for great screech-owl horned owl. Landscaping-friendly biogeographies and soundtrack-friendly calls consolidate eastern screech-owls, described by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1787) in 1758, as icons of wildland-urban interfaces. Mating and raising families to physical independence and sexual maturity in suburban and urban gardens and parks draw eastern screech-owls from solitary to paired life cycles.

Thirteen-year lifespans expect farm woodlots, semi-shaded orchards, stream edges, swampy woodlands and wooded lowlands away from mountain forests for nocturnal existences and for occasional daytime roosting.

Parents-to-be gather no lining for cavity nests, sometimes with pre-existing chips, feathers, fur, leaves or rubble, 5 to 30 feet (1.52 to 9.14 meters) above ground. Cavity nests house elliptical to spherical, fine-grained, 1.34- to 1.42-inch- (34- to 36-millimeter-) long, 1.14- to 1.29-inch- (29- to 33-millimeter-) wide, pure white, semi-glossy, smooth eggs. Mothers-to-be, with the first, second or third egg, initiate 21- to 34-day incubations of eggs laid at two- to three-day intervals while fathers-to-be implement family food-foraging.

Barn, barred, hoot, long-eared, short-eared, snowy or sooty owls, black rat snakes, bobcats, hawks, mink, opossums, otters, raccoons, ringtails, skunks, snakes and weasels jeopardize North American eastern screech-owl habitats.

"Rufous morph of the Eastern Screech Owl"; Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011, 10:36, image: Greg Hume (Greg5030), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Helpless hatchlings know a first, thick down that keeps everything, to clawed toes, white and a second that keeps underparts white and upper-parts olive to umber. They live with their mothers on food from their fathers for two weeks after hatching even though they learn to look for their own as 10-day-olds. They move away from downy coats into downy feathers as two- to three-week-olds into nearby homes as four-week-olds and into physical independence as 12- to 14-weeks-olds. Adults need bats, crayfish, doves, earthworms, finches, fish, flycatchers, frogs, grouse, insects, jays, lizards, mice, moles, rabbits, rats, snakes, songbirds, squirrels, swallows, thrushes, waxwings and woodpeckers.

North American eastern screech-owl habitats up to 4,921.26 feet (1,500 meters) above sea level offer winter-coldest temperatures at minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42.77 degrees Celsius).

Nest-, roost- and shelterbelt-friendly apple, ash, baldcypress, birch, cottonwood, elm, fir, gum, hemlock, hickory, locust, maple, oak, pecan, pine, sugarberry, sycamore and willow protect eastern screech-owls.

High metabolic requirements below 23 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 5 degrees Celsius) and low severe winter survival rates qualify as red, not brown or gray, morph hallmarks. Brown-, gray- or red-bodied adults reveal dark gray-barred, rounded short wings, ear tufts, feathered legs, short tails, streaked underparts, white-spotted inner wing feathers and yellow eyes. Low, steady, straight flight on 19- to 24-inch (48.26- to 60.96-centimeter) wingspans suggest 5- to 7-ounce (141.75- to 198.45-gram), 6.5- to 10-inch (16.51- to 25.4-centimeter) adults.

North American eastern screech-owl habitats inside and just across the eastern United States' borders teem with higher-pitched female, lower-pitched male barks, descending whinnies, screeches and trills.

Eastern screech owl (Megascops asio) with four eggs; Richland County, central South Carolina; Monday, April 1, 2013: Hunter Desportes (Hunter-Desportes), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

"Eastern Screech Owl (Megascops asio, grey morph)"; Sunday, April 2, 2006, 10:21: Wolfgang Wander (Wwcsig), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eastern_Screech_Owl.jpg

"Rufous morph of the Eastern Screech Owl"; Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011, 10:36, image: Greg Hume (Greg5030), CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EasternScreechOwl-Rufous.jpg

Eastern screech owl (Megascops asio) with four eggs; Richland County, central South Carolina; Monday, April 1, 2013: Hunter Desportes (Hunter-Desportes), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/hdport/8739534208

For further information:

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

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

Cassin, John. 1854. "2. Scops mccallii." Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian America, pages 180-181. Philadelphia PA: J.B. Lippincott & Co.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/27214301

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. "3. Strix asio." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 92. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius].
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/764490

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

Ridgway, Robert. June 1877. "Scops asio, ε maxwelliae, Ridgway, MSS." Field and Forest, vol. II, no. 12: 213-214. Washington DC: The Columbia Press.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36349153

Ridgway, Robert. 1914. "Otus asio hasbroucki Ridgway." Bulletin of the United States National Museum, no. 50, part VI: 694. Washington DC: Government Printing Office.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7755048

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

American 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 Barred Owl Habitats: Brown Bodies, Cavity Nests, White Eggs

Summary: North American barred owl habitats in the eastern and western United States and in western Canada and Mexico mix brown bodies, cavity nests and white eggs.

barred owl (Strix varia); Whitby, Ontario, east central Canada; January 2005: Mdf, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

North American barred owl habitats adjoin cultivation through Strigidae family member appetites for insects and snakes and naturalism through distribution ranges in Canada, eastern and Pacific coastal United States and western Mexico.

Barred owls bear the common names eight-hooter and hoot-owl for barred bodies and eight-plus-syllable hoots and the scientific name Strix varia for screeching and variable plumage. Described in 1799 by Benjamin Smith Barton (Feb. 10, 1766-Dec. 19, 1815), they contain Florida georgica (rural), nominate northern varia and Texas helveola (pale yellow) subspecies. They displace, and do occasional interbreeding with, spotted owls (Strix occidentalis [screeching westerner]) as distribution ranges draw closer along westernmost Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Eighteen-year lifespans expect conifer forests, deep woodlands, lowland riparian forests, mature, streamside or upland forests, mixed hardwoods, northwestern conifer rainforests, southern cypress swamps and suburban parks.

December through September facilitate brooding one one- to five-egg clutch in branch, cavity or platform nests 15 to 40 feet (4.57 to 12.19 meters) above ground.

Mothers-to-be sometimes gather green sprigs of pine as lining for abandoned Copper's hawk, crow, red-shouldered hawk or squirrel branch, cavity or platform nests or for nest-boxes. Branch, cavity or platform nests house elliptical to spherical, 1.69- to 2.21-inch (43- to 56-millimeter) by 1.49- to 1.77-inch (38- to 45-millimeter), semi-glossy, smooth, white eggs. Mothers-to-be initiate 28- to 33-day incubations of rough-surfaced eggs while fathers-to-be implement daily family food hunts at the water's edge, from perches and into nocturnal roosts.

Agroindustrialists, drivers, hunters and trappers and crows, great horned owls, jays, northern goshawks, raccoons and weasels jeopardize North American barred owl habitats from Canada through Mexico.

Downy, helpless hatchlings know soft, thick, white coats and, two weeks later, brown-barred heads, necks and underparts, brown-barred, white-tipped wing feathers and buff-based, long, white-tipped coats. Nestlings live with mothers off food from fathers the first three weeks and, as four-week- to four-plus-month-olds, on nearby branches while, as six-week-olds, learning to fly .

Adults manage mixing beetles, crayfish, crickets, earthworms, frogs, grasshoppers, lizards, mice, moles, rats, ray-finned fishes, salamanders, scorpions, shrews, slugs, snails, snakes, spiders, toads, turtles and voles. Their diets also need bats, blackbirds, buntings, chipmunks, doves, ducks, egrets, foxes, grouse, hares, jays, mink, muskrats, opossums, pigeons, quail, rabbits, screech-owls, squirrels, weasels and woodpeckers.

Barred owl habitats at 4,265.09- to 10,170.6-foot (1,300- to 3,100-meter) altitudes above sea level offer winter-coldest temperatures at minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 42.77 degrees Celsius).

Aspen, beech, cedar, fir, hemlock, hickory, larch, maple, oak, pine, poplar and spruce dense-, old-growth forests and wooded swamps near water sources promote barred owl niches.
Far-sighted, forward-looking eyes dark brown for nightly hunts, not orange for daily and nightly hunts or yellow for daily hunts, qualify as adult barred owl hallmarks. Barred breasts and tails, black-tipped talons, brown upper-parts, feathered feet and legs, large, round heads, rounded, white-spotted wings, streaked bellies and yellow bills reveal adult presences. Flapped, gliding flight on 38.98- to 43.31-inch (99- to 110-centimeter) wingspans suggest 6.93- to 19.68-inch- (43- to 50-centimeter-) long, 17- to 37-ounce (481.94- to 1,048.93-gram) adults.

Higher-pitched female and lower-pitched male cackles, caterwauling, caws, gurgles, guttural sounds, honks, hoo-aw calls and rhythmic, serial Who-cooks-for-you who-cooks-for-you-all hoots traverse North American barred owl habitats.

illustration of eggs of barred owl (Strix varia) under scientific synonym of Strix nebulosa; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate LIX, figure 3, opp. page 210: 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:

barred owl (Strix varia); Whitby, Ontario, east central Canada; January 2005: Mdf, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strix-varia-005.jpg

illustration of eggs of barred owl (Strix varia) under scientific synonym of Strix nebulosa; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate LIV, figure 3, opp. page 210: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34908373

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. 31 March1899.”A New Barred Owl From Corpus Christi, Texas: Syrnium nebulosum helveolum subsp. nov.” Proceedings of the New England Zoological Club, vol. I (1899-1900): 31-32.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12603363

Barton, Benjamin Smith. 1799. Fragments of the Natural History of Pennsylvania, page 11.
Available via MDZ (Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum Digitale Bibliothek) Digitale Sammlungen @ http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/fs1/object/display/bsb10483009_00017.html

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

Latham, Joannis. 1801. “8. Strix Georgica.” Supplementum Indicis Ornithologici Sive Systematis Ornithologiae: Aves. Div. I. Terrestres. Ordo I. Accipitres, p. xv. Londini: G. Leigh, J. and S. Sotheby, MDCCCI.
Available via MDZ (Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum Digitale Bibliothek) Digitale Sammlungen @ http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/fs1/object/display/bsb10483009_00017.html

Peterson, Alan P., M.D. "Strix varia Barton 1799." Zoonomen: Zoological Nomenclature Resource > Birds of the World -- Current Valid Scientific Avian Names > Strigiformes > Strigidae > Striginae > Strix.
Available @ http://www.zoonomen.net/avtax/stri.html

American Cooper's Hawk Habitats: Blue-Gray Body, Blue Egg, Platform Nest

Summary: Blue eggs in platform nests give North American Cooper's hawk habitats blue-gray bodies seasonally in Canada and Mexico, year-round in the United States.

Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii) in Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, northern California; March 15, 2011: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain, via USFWS National Digital Library

North American Cooper's hawk habitats agree with arborists, master gardeners, master naturalists and tree stewards through Accipitridae raptor family appetites for starlings in distribution ranges in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

Cooper's hawks bear their common name and the same-meaninged scientific name Accipiter cooperii as the namesake raptors for New York-born naturalist William Cooper (1798?-April 20, 1864). Agro-industry, pollution, predation, recreation, tourism and urbanization challenge Cooper's hawk, described in 1828 by French naturalist Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (May 24, 1803-July 29, 1857). Fall migrations draw paired and solitary Cooper's hawks southward for Mexican winters whereas spring migrations drive the sharp-shinned hawk's big-headed, round-tail-tipped lookalike northward for Canadian winters.

Ten-plus-year lifespans expect fields, grasslands, savannas and water near coniferous and deciduous forests, open woodlands and wooded parklands of cottonwood, fir, hemlock, juniper, pine and sycamore.

February through May facilitate breeding one three- to six-egg clutch, followed by a second if the first blue-tinged, non-glossy, smooth, subelliptical to elliptical, white eggs fail.

Fathers-to-be gather sticks and twigs into 2- to 4-inch- (5.08- to 10.16-centimeter-) deep, 6- to 8-inch- (15.24- to 20.32-centimeter-) high platform nests, preferably amid dense conifers. Nests house 1.85- to 1.93-inch- (47- to 49-millimeter-) long, 1.46- to 1.49-inch- (37- to 38-millimeter-) wide eggs 10 to 60 feet (3.05 to 18.29 meters) up. Mothers-to-be initiate 24- to 36-day incubations, with the third egg, in bark-lined nests with inner 8-inch (20.32-centimeter) and outer 24- to 28-inch (60.96- to 71.12-centimeter) diameters.

Parasitic fly larvae, helminths, lice and tapeworms and predatory American crows, great horned owls, northern goshawks, raccoons and red-tailed hawks jeopardize North American Cooper's hawk habitats.

Semi-helpless nestlings know brown-tinged blue-gray eyes that yellow in juveniles and redden in adults, a first creamy-white, short down and a second short, silky, white down. They live off parentally foraged food, launch feathering at 17 to 38 days and feeding at 21 days and leave nests at 30 to 34 days. They maintain contact with parents while they manage hunting skills over the next three weeks, for independence at eight weeks and sexual maturity at two years. Adults need blackbirds, catbirds, chickadees, crows, finches, flickers, flycatchers, grackles, grosbeaks, nuthatches, orioles, owls, quail, robins, sparrows, thrashers, towhees, veeries, verdins, vireos, warblers, waxwings and wrens.

North American Cooper's hawk habitats at 1,968.5 to 9,842.52-foot (600- to 3,000-meter) altitudes offer winter's coldest temperatures at minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 26.11 degrees Celsius).

Ability to attack prey in mid-air or from branches, adaptability to noisy, polluted urban lifestyles and avoidance of nesting songbirds and territorial intruders protect Cooper's hawks.

Brown tails, adult-like in barring, length and rounded tips, brown-streaked light underparts, mottled dark brown upperparts and yellow eyes, legs and toes qualify as juvenile hallmarks. Dark crowns, dark- and wide-banded gray tails, gray-blue upperparts, red eyes, red-barred underparts and white-banded tail tips reveal broad-, round-winged, broad-shouldered, chipmunk- and squirrel-preying, round-tailed adults. Fast, gliding, soaring flight on 28- to 34-inch (71.12- to 86.36-centimeter) wingspans suggest 13- to 19-ounce (368.54- to 538.64-gram), 15.5- to 17.5-inch (39.37- to 44.45-centimeter) adults.

North American Cooper's hawk habitats transmit 40 calls, including ca-ca-ca-ca by courting pairs and nest-defending parents, kik by mates and whaa by females to food-foraging males.

illustration of Cooper's hawk eggs; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate XLIV, figure 2, opp. page 171: 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:

Cooper's hawk (Accipiter cooperii) in Klamath Basin National Wildlife Refuge Complex, northern California; March 15, 2011: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public Domain, via USFWS National Digital Library @ https://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/natdiglib/id/12793/rec/4

illustration of Cooper's hawk eggs; Illustrations of the Nests and Eggs of Birds of Ohio, Plate XLIV, figure 2, opp. page 171: Public Domain, via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34908293

For further information:

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

Bonaparte, Charles Lucien. 1828. "Cooper's Hawk Falco Cooperii." American Ornithology; Or, The Natural History of Birds Inhabiting the United States, Not Given by Wilson, vol. II: 1-11. Philadelphia PA: Carey, Lea & Carey.
Available via University of Wisconsin Digital Collections @ http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/DLDecArts/DLDecArts-idx?type=goto&id=DLDecArts.AmOrnBon02&isize=M&submit=Go+to+page&page=1

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

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

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