Earth and Space News

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Huygens A Is Only Lettered Crater Associated With Lunar Mons Huygens

Summary: Huygens A is the only lettered crater associated with lunar Mons Huygens, which borders Mare Imbrium in the lunar near side’s northwest quadrant.

Detail shows Huygens A (center right) to the east of Mons Huygens and to the northeast of Mons Ampère in the stretch of Montes Apenninus along the southeastern border of Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) in lunar near side’s northwestern quadrant; LAC (Lunar Aeonautical Chart) 41: NASA / GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) / ASU (Arizona State University), Public Domain, via U.S. Geological Survey / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Huygens A is the only lettered crater associated with lunar Mons Huygens, which borders southeastern Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) as the tallest mountain mass in the lunar near side’s rugged Montes Apenninus (Apennine Mountains).

Huygens A lies to the east of Mons Huygens (Mount Huygens) in the lunar near side’s northwest quadrant. The satellite feature is centered at 19.77 degrees north latitude, minus 1.92 west longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Huygens A marks its northernmost and southernmost latitudes at 19.87 degrees north and 19.67 degrees north, respectively. It obtains easternmost and westernmost longitudes at minus 1.82 degrees west and minus 2.02 degrees west, respectively. Huygens A has a diameter of 5.88 kilometers.

Mons Ampère (Mount Ampère) resides in the same mountain range, Montes Apenninus, as Mons Huygens. Mons Ampère lies to the southwest of Huygens A and to the west-southwest of Mons Huygens. Mons Ampère’s placement qualifies it as the second nearest named mountain in the lunar Apennine range, after Mons Huygens, to Huygens A.

Mons Ampère is centered at 19.32 degrees north latitude, minus 3.71 degrees west longitude. It registers northernmost and southernmost latitudes at 19.82 degrees north and 18.93 degrees north, respectively. The mountain records easternmost and westernmost longitudes at minus 3.3 degrees west and minus 4.06 degrees west, respectively. Mons Ampère measures a length of 29.96 kilometers.

Huygens A receives its name from Mons Huygens as its parent feature. Mons Huygens memorializes Golden Age Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens (April 14, 1629-July 8, 1695). The 17th-century polymath pioneered probability theory with his publication of the field’s first treatise, De Ratiociniis in Ludo Aleae (On Reasoning in Games of Chance), in 1657. In 1673, Huygens published his major study of horology (science or study of time measurement) and pendulums, Horologium Oscillatorium: Sive de Motu Pendulorum ad Horologia Aptato Demonstrationes (The Pendulum Clock: Or Geometrical Demonstrations Concerning the Motion of Pendula as Applied to Clocks.

Huygens’ astronomical contributions include his March 25, 1655, discovery of Saturni Luna (Saturn’s moon), now known as Titan, as the first known Saturnian moon. On Oct. 15, 1997, approximately 342 and one-half years (342 years six months 20 days) after Huygens’ Saturnian satellite discovery, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft launched on a space-research mission to study the Saturnian system. The spacecraft’s Huygens atmospheric entry probe was named for Christiaan Huygens. The Huygens probe detached from the Cassini orbiter on Dec. 25, 2004, and landed on Titan on Jan. 14, 2005, as the first touchdown on a moon other than Earth’s moon and as the only landing in the outer solar system.

Mons Ampère’s name honors André-Marie Ampère (Jan. 20, 1775-June 10, 1836). The French autodidact (Ancient Greek: αὐτοδίδακτος, autodídaktos, from αὐτός, autós, “self” + διδάσκω, didáskō, “I teach”) accessed his prosperous father’s extensive library for education in his polymathic interests.

At the first International Exposition of Electricity, held in Paris, France, from Aug. 15, to Nov. 15, 1881, recognized Ampère’s contributions to electromagnetism and his pioneer research in electrodynamics. There, the first International Congress of Electricians established the ampere (symbol: A) as the base unit of electrical measurement for electric current in the International System of Units (SI).

The International Astronomical Union approved Huygens A in 2006 as the name of the only lettered crater associated with Mons Huygens. The name was adopted in during the IAU’s XXVIth (26th) General Assembly, held Monday, Aug. 14, to Friday, Aug. 25, in Prague, Czech Republic.

Mons Ampère received official name approval in 1935. The mountain’s name was adopted during the organization’s Vth (5th) General Assembly, which was held in Paris, France, from Wednesday, July 10, to Wednesday, July 17.

The takeaways for Huygens A as the only lettered crater associated with lunar Mons Huygens are that the satellite feature lies east of Mons Huygens and northeast of Mons Ampere; that the Huygens system occupies the lunar near side’s northwest quadrant; that Mons Ampère, to the southwest, qualifies as the second nearest named mountain in the lunar Apennine range, after Mons Ampère, to Huygens A; and that Huygens A’s small diameter measures 5.88 kilometers.

Lunar Orbiter 4 photograph, taken in 1967, shows Huygens A (lower center; E 14.75-15), Mons Huygens (F 14) and Mons Ampère (F 15) on southeastern Mare Imbrium (lower left); large crater (upper left) is Archimedes; D. Bowker and K. Hughes, Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon (1971); 1967 Lunar Orbiter IV photograph IV-I09-H3 Plate 200: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Public Domain, via NASA NTRS (NASA Technical Reports Server)

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Bowker, David E.; J. Kenrick Hughes; Lunar and Planetary Institute. “Digital Lunar Orbiter Atlas of the Moon.” USRA LPI (Universities Space Research Association’s Lunar and Planetary Institute) > Resources.
Available via Universities Space Research Association’s (USRA) Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/book/lopam.pdf

Bowker, David E.; and J. Kenrick Hughes. “Photo No. IV-139-H1 Plate 84.” Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon. Prepared by Langley Research Center. NASA SP-206. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, Jan. 1, 1971.
Available via NASA NTRS (NASA Technical Reports Server) @ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19730005152.pdf
Available via Universities Space Research Association’s (USRA) Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/book/lopam.pdf

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Huygens A.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/10081

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Mare Imbrium.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3678

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Mons Ampère.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3971

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Mons Huygens.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3987

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Montes Apenninus.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/4004

International Astronomical Union (IAU) / U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. “Target: The Moon.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature > Nomenclature > The Moon.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Page/MOON/target

Jenner, Lynn, ed. “Highest Point on the Moon.” NASA > Missions > Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) > Multimedia > LRO Images. Oct. 27, 2010. Last updated Nov. 1, 2010.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc-20101027-highest.html

Levy, David H. Skywatching. Revised and updated. San Francisco CA: Fog City Press, 1994.

Marriner, Derdriu. “Lunar Mountain Mons Huygens Honors Dutch Astronomer Christiaan Huygens.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 30, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/03/lunar-mountain-mons-huygens-honors.html

The Moon Wiki. “Mons Ampère.” The Moon > Special Features Lists > Mountains.
Available @ https://the-moon.us/wiki/Mons_Amp%C3%A8re

The Moon Wiki. “Mons Huygens.” The Moon > Special Features Lists > Mountains.
Available @ https://the-moon.us/wiki/Mons_Huygens

Moore, Patrick, Sir. Philip’s Atlas of the Universe. Revised edition. London UK: Philip’s, 2005.

Page, Lewis. “Highest Point on the Moon Found: Higher Than Mount Everest.” The Register > Science. Oct. 29, 2010.
Available @ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/29/highest_point_on_moon/

Stratton, F.J.M. (Frederick John Marrian), ed. Vth General Assembly Transactions of the IAU Vol. V B Proceedings of the 5th General Assembly Paris France, July 10-17, 1935. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, Jan. 1, 1936.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

van der Hucht, Karel A., ed. IAU Transactions: XXVIB Proceedings of the XXVIth General Assembly Prague, Czech Republic, August 14-25, 2006. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, Dec. 30, 2008.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Sunday, April 3, 2011

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:

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

Saturday, April 2, 2011

North American Canada Goose Habitats: Brown Body, Scraped Nest, White Egg

Summary: North American Canada goose habitats in the United States grow brown bodies from white eggs in scraped-out nests for Canadian summers and Mexican winters.

Canada geese (Branta canadensis) parents with goslings: familiar sights at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where Canada geese return every spring to deliver their offspring; Alameda County, Tri-Valley, Northern California; Wednesday, June 1, 2005, 11:24: U.S. Department of Energy (Energy.gov), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Crop-raided, water-flocked North American Canada goose habitats assuage holiday fare-loving arborists, master gardeners, master naturalists and tree stewards in distribution ranges seasonally in Canada and Mexico and year-round in the United States.

The duck relative in the Anatidae family bears its common name and the same-meaninged scientific name Branta canadensis for the first European-described specimen's discovery in Canada. Hunting, pollution and population control by culling or shaking eggs challenge Canada geese, described in 1756 by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus (May 23, 1707-Jan. 10, 1787). The same challenges dog the related, similar-behaving, similar-looking and similar-sounding, but smaller-sized, cackling goose, whose four subspecies display shorter necks, shorter, stubbier bills and sloping foreheads.

Twenty-five-year lifespans expect bogs, coniferous or temperate forests, fields, grasslands, marshes, mudflats, parklands, plains, prairies, rocky cliffs, shores of lakes, ponds, rivers or sloughs and swamps.

April through August furnish opportunities for breeding one two- to 12-egg brood in beaver, hawk or muskrat nests or ground-cover or on ledges, mounds or stumps.

Mothers-to-be gather cattails, grasses, reeds, stems, sticks and twigs into outer, and feathers and gray-brown, pale-tipped, white-centered down into inner, lining for 4-inch- (10.16-centimeter-) deep nests. Nests with inner 7- to 9-inch (17.78- to 22.86-centimeter) and outer 16- to 25-inch (40.64- to 63.5-centimeter) diameters house cream- to beige-white, subelliptical to oval eggs. Fathers-to-be institute 24- to 30-day guard duty while mothers-to-be incubate the 2.83- to 3.42-inch- (72- to 87-millimeter-) long, 1.89- to 2.29-inch- (48- to 58.2-millimeter-) wide eggs.

Bears, coyotes, crows, foxes, gulls, raccoons, ravens, skunks and wolves jeopardize all life stages, including the rough to smooth eggs, in North American Canada goose habitats.

Downy, open-eyed hatchlings know green-brown upper-parts, green-yellow faces, foreheads, necks and under-parts, yellow backs and fronts to wing edges and yellow surrounds to wing-body attachment points.

Quick-functioning blue-gray bills, blue-gray to green feet and legs and strong wings let nestlings fly nine weeks after hatching and live independently by the following spring. Nestlings move, within two to three years of hatching, into physically and sexually mature stages as insect-eating predators of berries, crops, grasses, leaves, sedges and seeds. Adults need algae, aquatic invertebrates, beans, blueberries, corn kernels, crustaceans, grasses, insects, mollusks, mud, nuts, rice, roots, seaweeds, sedges, seeds, silt, skunk cabbage leaves and wheat.

North American Canada goose habitats respectively offer far-north and far-south winter-coldest temperatures at minus 60 and 15 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 51.11 and minus 9.44 degrees Celsius).

Co-parenting by monogamous pairs, playing dead, possessing dappled ground-, overcast sky- and shady water-like colors and pursuing V-patterned flight formations protect flock-based Canada goose life cycles.

Bermuda, eel and salt grasses and corn, rice and wheat fields qualify as camouflage, host-plant vegetation at altitudes through 6,561.68 feet (2,000 meters) above sea level. Habitats black as heads, necks and rumps, brown as sides, upper-parts and wings and white as chin straps, rump patches and under-tails reveal resident Canada geese. Direct, strong flight on 4.25- to 5.5-foot (1.3- to 1.7-meter) wingspans suggests 6.5- to 9.75-pound (3- to 4.4-kilogram), 2.25- to 3.5-foot (0.7- to 1.1-meter) adult geese.

The high-pitched hrink vocalization and the low-pitched bark and honk calls respectively tell of female and male Canada goose populations in North American Canada goose habitats.

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Canada geese parents with goslings at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Alameda County, Tri-Valley, Northern California; Wednesday, June 1, 2005, 11:24: U.S. Department of Energy (Energy.gov), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canada_geese_at_Lawrence_Livermore_National_Laboratory.jpg; U.S. Department of Energy, United States government work, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/departmentofenergy/9571677230/

Canada geese introductions outside the native North American range include Europe (United Kingdom), Oceania (New Zealand) and South America (Argentina, Chile, Falkland Islands); Thursday, May 11, 2006, 22:05, image of "Successful Nesting: A clutch of eggs begins to hatch for a Canada goose nesting at the National Elk Refuge Visitor Center," photo credit USFWS / Sara Miller, National Elk Refuge volunteer: USFWS Mountain-Prairie (USFWS Mountain Prairie), CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/nottsexminer/4612761274/; USFWS Mountain-Prairie, CC BY 2.0 Generic, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Successful_Nesting_(12437391124).jpg

For further information:

Aldrich, John Warren. June 1946. "Branta canadensis moffitti." Wilson Bulletin, vol. 58, no. 2: 96-99.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/52152864

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

Baird, Spencer Fullerton, 1858. "Bernicla leucopareia Cassin. [Branta canadensis occidentalis]." Report of Explorations and Surveys to Ascertain the Most Practical and Economical Route for a Railroad From the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, vol. 9: 766. Washington DC: A.O.P. Nicholson.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37452557

Cassin, John. October 1852. "Descriptions of New Species of Birds, Specimens of Which Are in the Collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia: 9. Anser parvipes, nobis [Branta canadensis parvipes]." Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. VI (1852, 1853): 187-188. Philadelphia PA: Merrihew & Thompson, 1854.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/1779723
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.31822006518377?urlappend=%3Bseq=209

Delacour, Jean Théodore. 12 November 1951. "Preliminary Note on the Taxonomy of Canada Geese, Branta Canadensis: Branta canadensis fulva, new subspecies." American Museum Novitates, no. 1537: 7-8.
Available via AMNH (American Museum of Natural History) Digital Library @ http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/3908//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/nov/N1537.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Delacour, Jean Théodore. 12 November 1951. "Preliminary Note on the Taxonomy of Canada Geese, Branta Canadensis: Branta canadensis maxima, new subspecies." American Museum Novitates, no. 1537: 5-6.
Available via AMNH (American Museum of Natural History) Digital Library @ http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/3908//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/nov/N1537.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

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 von. 1758. "9. Anser canadensis." Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, Secundum Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, cum Characteribus, Differentiis, Synonymis, Locis, Tomus I, Editio Decima, Reformata: 123. Holmiae [Stockholm, Sweden]: Laurentii Salvii [Laurentius Salvius]
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727028

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

Todd, Walter Edmond Clyde. 1938. "A New Eastern Race of the Canada Goose: Branta canadensis interior subsp. nov." The Auk, vol. 55, issue 4 (October-December): 662.
Available via SORA (Searchable Ornithological Research Archive) @ https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v055n04/p0661-p0662.pdf

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Lunar Mountain Mons Huygens Honors Dutch Astronomer Christiaan Huygens

Summary: Lunar mountain Mons Huygens honors Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, also memorialized by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.

J. Herschel Crater parents five outlying satellites on Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold) as a north polar crater system of 10 satellites in the lunar near side’s northwest quadrant.

Lunar mountain Mons Huygens honors Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens, also memorialized by the Cassini-Huygens space-research mission launched collaboratively Oct. 15, 1997, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

Mons Huygens is centered at 19.92 degrees north latitude, minus 2.86 degrees west longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The lunar mountain records northernmost and southernmost latitudes at 20.58 degrees north and 19.2 degrees north, respectively. It registers easternmost and westernmost longitudes of minus 2.44 degrees west and minus 3.32 degrees west, respectively. Mons Huygens spans 41.97 kilometers.

The lunar mountain lies along the southeastern Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) in the lunar near side’s northwest quadrant. A ghost crater appears in the dark basaltic lava plain, “offshore” to the west of Mons Huygens. Mark Tillotson and Jim Mosher’s online The Moon-Wiki describes the ghost crater as having a diameter of 26 kilometers. Rim remnants of volcanic deposit-buried craters that extrude mare surfaces in circular wrinkle ridge-like patterns are known as ghost craters.

Victorian British selenographer Thomas Gwyn Elger (Oct. 27, 1836-Jan. 9, 1897) described Mount Huygens as a “. . . mountain mass projecting from the escarpment of the Apennines . . .” (page 157) in his lunar survey, The Moon: A Full Description and Map of Its Principal Physical Features, published in 1895. He also noted “. . . one peak rising to 18,000 feet above the Mare Imbrium.”

The north-south mountain mass rises as the tallest peak in Montes Apenninus. Montes Apenninus winds east-northeasterly, defining the southeastern border of Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) and ending at the western edge of Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Serenity). The rugged lunar mountain range is centered at 19.87 degrees north latitude, 0.03 degrees east longitude. The range’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes extend to 28.47 degrees north and 14.63 degrees north, respectively. The range’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach 7.34 degrees east and minus 10.21 degrees west, respectively. Montes Apenninus stretches 599.67 kilometers in length.

In his 1999-published lunar compendium, Mapping and Naming the Moon, British-born astronomer Ewen Adair Whitaker (June 22, 1922-Oct. 11, 2016) credited German astronomer Johann Hieronymus Schröter (Aug. 30, 1745-Aug. 29, 1816) with introducing the crater’s name (page 218). In his Selenotopographische Fragmente zur Genauern Kenntniss der Mondfläche (Selenographic Fragments for a More Detailed Knowledge of the Lunar Surface), published in 1791, Schröter stated that he was giving the name of Huygens to mountains in Montes Apenninus designated as M, N and P (“. . . die Gebirge M, N, P durch den Nahmen Huygens . . .” [section 170, page 244]).

Schröter included 43 plates of lunar features in his study of lunar topography. Huygens appears in two plates. Schröter marked Huygens’ placement in “Mont. Apennin.” along “Maris Imbrium” in Figure 2 (Mont. Apennin. Pars, Maris Imbrium Pars) and Figure 3 (Mont. Apennin. Pars) of Plate XIV (page 751). Spelled as Huyghens, the mountain appears in Figure 5 (Montes Reliqui) of Selenotopographische Fragmente’s last plate, Plate XLIII, Altitudo Montium Lunae (page 809).

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially approved Mons Huygens as the name of Montes Apenninus’ tallest mountain in 1961, during the organization’s XIth (11th) General Assembly, held Tuesday, Aug. 15, to Thursday, Aug. 24, in Berkeley, California. Mons Huygens honors 17th-century Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens (April 14, 1629-July 8, 1695). The Dutch Golden Age polymath’s groundbreaking contributions to invention and science include discovery of Saturnian moon Titan on March 25, 1655; invention of the pendulum clock in 1656; and discovery of Martian volcanic plain Syrtis Major and producing the first-known sketch of the Orion Nebula in 1659.

The IAU's Vth (5th) General Assembly approved Montes Apenninus as the name for Mons Huygens’ resident mountain range. Montes Apenninus namesakes peninsular Italy’s Apennine Mountains.

The takeaways for lunar mountain Mons Huygens, which honors Dutch Golden Age astronomer Christiaan Huygens, are that Mons Huygens lies on the southeastern edge of Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) and that the north-south mountain mass rises as the tallest peak in rugged mountain range Montes Apenninus.

Detail shows Mons Huygens (center right) in Montes Apenninus along southeastern border of Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) in lunar near side’s northwestern quadrant; ghost crater (center; left of Mons Huygens, right of Huxley Crater) is "offshore" in Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers): LAC (Lunar Aeonautical Chart) 41: NASA / GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) / ASU (Arizona State University), Public Domain, via U.S. Geological Survey / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Detail shows Mons Huygens (center right) in Montes Apenninus, along southeastern border of Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) in lunar near side’s northwestern quadrant; ghost crater (center; left [west] of Mons Huygens, right [east] of Huxley Crater) is “offshore” in Mare Imbrium; LAC (Lunar Aeonautical Chart) 41: NASA / GSFC (Goddard Space Flight Center) / ASU (Arizona State University), Public Domain, via U.S. Geological Survey / Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/images/Lunar/lac_41_wac.pdf

Late 18th-century German astronomer Johann Hieronymus Schröter depicted the mountain mass that he named Huygens after Dutch Golden Age astronomer Christiaan Huygens in his study of lunar topography, Selenotopographische Fragmente (Selenographic Fragments), published in 1791: Public Domain, via e-rara.ch ETH Bibliothek Zürich @ https://www.e-rara.ch/zut/wihibe/content/titleinfo/544831; via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QqVOAAAAcAAJ/page/n786

For further information:

Consolmagno, Guy; and Dan M. Davis. Turn Left at Orion. Fourth edition. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

Elger, Thomas Gwyn. “Mount Huygens.” The Moon: A Full Description and Map of Its Principal Physical Features: 157. London UK: George Philip & Son, 1895.
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/moonfulldescript00elgerich/page/157

Levy, David H. Skywatching. Revised and updated. San Francisco CA: Fog City Press, 1994.

Marriner, Derdriu. “C. Herschel Crater Honors German-British Astronomer Caroline Herschel.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 16, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/03/c-herschel-crater-honors-german-british.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “J. Herschel Crater Honors British Astronomer John Herschel.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 2, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/03/j-herschel-crater-honors-british_2.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “J. Herschel Crater Parents Five Outlying Satellites on Mare Frigoris.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 23, 2011.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2011/03/j-herschel-crater-parents-five-outlying.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Near Side Crater J. Herschel Parents Five Satellites Within Its Borders.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, March 9, 2011.

The Moon Wiki. “IAU Directions.” The Moon.
Available @ https://the-moon.us/wiki/IAU_directions

The Moon Wiki. “Mons Huygens.” The Moon > Special Features Lists > Mountains.
Available @ https://the-moon.us/wiki/Mons_Huygens

Moore, Patrick, Sir. Philip’s Atlas of the Universe. Revised edition. London UK: Philip’s, 2005.

Page, Lewis. “Highest Point on the Moon Found: Higher Than Mount Everest.” The Register > Science. Oct. 29, 2010.
Available @ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/10/29/highest_point_on_moon/

Sadler, D. (Donald) H., ed. XIth General Assembly Transactions of the IAU Vol. XI B Proceedings of the 11th General Assembly Berkeley CA, August 15-24, 1961. Oxford UK: Blackwell Scientific Publications, Jan. 1, 1962.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Schroeter, Johann Hieronymus. “§ 170.” Page 243-244 of 816. Selenotopographische Fragmente zur Genauern Kenntniss der Mondfläche, Ihrer Erlittenen Veränderungen und Atmosphäare, Saamt den Dazu Gehörigen Specialcharten und Zeichnungen. Mit 43 Kupfertafeln. Göttingen [Germany]: Joh. Georg Rosenbusch, 1791.
Available via e-rara.ch ETH-Bibliothek Zürich @ https://www.e-rara.ch/zut/wihibe/content/titleinfo/544831
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QqVOAAAAcAAJ/page/n300
Available via Linda Hall Library Digital Collections @ http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/astro_atlas/id/12429

Schroeter, Johann Hieronymus. “Altitudo Montium Lunae T.XLIII.” Page 809 of 816. Selenotopographische Fragmente zur Genauern Kenntniss der Mondfläche, Ihrer Erlittenen Veränderungen und Atmosphäre, Saamt den Dazu Gehörigen Specialcharten und Zeichnungen. Mit 43 Kupfertafeln. Göttingen [Germany]: Joh. Georg Rosenbusch, 1791.
Available via e-rara.ch ETH-Bibliothek Zürich @ https://www.e-rara.ch/zut/wihibe/content/titleinfo/544831
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QqVOAAAAcAAJ/page/n846
Available via Linda Hall Library Digital Collections @ http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/astro_atlas/id/12429

Schroeter, Johann Hieronymus. Selenotopographische Fragmente zur Genauern Kenntniss der Mondfläche, Ihrer Erlittenen Veränderungen und Atmosphäre, Saamt den Dazu Gehörigen Specialcharten und Zeichnungen. Mit 43 Kupfertafeln. Göttingen [Germany]: Joh. Georg Rosenbusch, 1791.
Available via e-rara.ch ETH-Bibliothek Zürich @ https://www.e-rara.ch/zut/wihibe/content/titleinfo/544831
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QqVOAAAAcAAJ
Available via Linda Hall Library Digital Collections @ http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/astro_atlas/id/12429

Schroeter, Johann Hieronymus. “TXIV.” Page 751 of 816. Selenotopographische Fragmente zur Genauern Kenntniss der Mondfläche, Ihrer Erlittenen Veränderungen und Atmosphäre, Saamt den Dazu Gehörigen Specialcharten und Zeichnungen. Mit 43 Kupfertafeln. Göttingen [Germany]: Joh. Georg Rosenbusch, 1791.
Available via e-rara.ch ETH-Bibliothek Zürich @ https://www.e-rara.ch/zut/wihibe/content/titleinfo/544831
Available via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_QqVOAAAAcAAJ/page/n786
Available via Linda Hall Library Digital Collections @ http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/astro_atlas/id/12429

Whitaker, Ewen A. (Adair). “Schröter’s New Names.” Page 218. Mapping and Naming the Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and Nomenclature. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

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:

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

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

Saturday, March 26, 2011

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

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.

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