A childish drawing of a Golden-crowned Kinglet on a white background.
Borb No. 44: Golden-crowned Kinglet
Borbfact: Despite their tiny stature, Golden-crowned Kinglets are very hardy birds, capable of surviving winter temperatures of -40°F/C!
#borb #bird #birding #kinglet
Borbfact (2/2):
1) They have an extensive and melodic song that has been described as "thrush-like"
2) when feeling threatened while nesting, the female will perform a distraction display!
Borb No. 43: Gray-headed Tanager (Eucometis penicillate)
Borbfact (1/2): The gray-headed tanager has two behaviors that on their own would make them fairly unique among tanagers:
#borb #bird #birding #Tanager
Borbfact (2/2): However, it has at least 11 known vocalizations and there is no generally accepted consensus as to which of those calls actually earned the saw-whet name!
A childish drawing of a Northern Saw-whet Owl on a white background.
Borb No. 42: Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus)
Borbfact (1/2): The Northern Saw-whet Owl is named for its call which sounds like a saw being sharpened on a whet stone.
#borb #bird #birding #owl
A childish drawing of a Black-necked Stilt on a white background.
Borb No. 41: Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
Borbfact: Like most shorebirds, the Black-necked Stilt gleans most of its food from the ground, water's surface, or shallow water. However, the stilt is also known to "flycatch" and will snatch insects as they fly by!
#borb #bird #birding
Borbfact (2/2): The 2019 clutch was a first record ever for the city of Chicago and the first time in 60 years for Cook County - The pair returned and successfully nested again in 2020 and 2021!
A childish drawing of a Piping Plover on a white background.
Borb No. 40: Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus)
Borbfact (1/2): The endangered Midwestern population of piping plovers in the US made a triumphant return to the state of Illinois in 2019 when a pair successfully nested on Montrose Beach!
A childish drawing of a Sandhill Crane on a white background.
Borb No. 39: Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis)
Borbfact: The sandhill crane has one of the oldest confirmed fossil records of any extant bird species with indisputable fossil records of 2.5 MILLION years old!
#borb #bird #birding #crane
A childish drawing of a Blue Jay on a white background.
Borb No. 38: Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata)
Borbfact: Blue jays' feathers don't actually contain any blue pigments, they contain melanin which is brown. The blue color actually comes from the way the feather structure affects light!
#borb #bird #birding #corvid #bluejay
A childish drawing of a Common Green-magpie on a white background.
Borb No. 37: Common Green-magpie (Cissa chinensis)
Borbfact: Typically bright green with hints of yellow, the Common green-magpie will start to show some turquoise plumage if it does not eat a carotenoid-rich diet!
#borb #bird #birding #corvid
A childish drawing of a Varied Thrush on a white background.
Borb No. 36: Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius)
Borbfact: The varied thrush is an "expert" wanderer in winter. Nearly every winter a few vagrant birds show up all over the eastern US and southeastern Canada. A few have even overshot North America and ended up in Iceland & the UK!
#borb #bird #birding
A childish drawing of a Black-and-white Warbler on a white background.
Borb No. 35: Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia)
Borbfact: Black-and-white Warblers display similar feeding behavior to nuthatches and creepers. To aid this behavior, they have a much longer hind claw and heftier legs than other wood-warblers!
#borb #bird #birding #warbler
A childish drawing of a Pileated Woodpecker on a white background.
Borb No. 34: Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus)
Borbfact: Pileated Woodpeckers excavate large nests and only use them for one breeding season. Songbirds, other woodpeckers, wood ducks, owls, and raccoons will take up residence in the abandoned cavities and also rely on them for foraging!
#bird
A childish drawing of a Long-tailed Duck on a white background.
Borb No. 33: Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis)
Borbfact: Among all diving ducks the long-tailed duck is the species that takes the longest and deepest dives. Often spending significantly more time under water than on the surface and making dives of 200+ feet!
#borb #bird #birding #duck
If you're a keen observer, you'll notice that I somehow skipped Borb #31 last time I posted, so that's why these are out of order 🙃
A childish drawing of a Great Blue Heron on a white background.
Borb No. 31: Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias)
Borbfact: The Great Blue Heron's diet mainly consists of fish, but they are not picky and will consume a wide variety of prey including crustaceans, insects, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and even other small birds!
#borb #bird #birding #heron
A childish drawing of a Brown-headed Nuthatch on a white background.
Borb No. 32: Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilla)
Borbfact: The brown-headed nuthatch is on the very small list of animals that use tools - they sometimes use tree bark, twigs, or pine needles to gain leverage in prying up other pieces of bark or for probing when foraging!
#borb #bird #birding
A childish drawing of a Great Gray Owl on a white background.
Borb No. 30: Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa)
Borbfact: Despite their large appearance, Great Gray Owls' size is due to the fluffy feathers needed to keep warm in their frigid habitat. Great gray owls are actually outweighed by nearly all "smaller" owls in the same size range!
#borb #bird #birding
Borbfact (2/2): It is believed that the reason for this is wet feathers allow the cormorant to be speedier and more agile when hunting underwater!
A childish drawing of a Double-crested Cormorant on a white background.
Borb No. 29: Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
Borbfact (1/2): Double-crested cormorants are water birds that have very little preen oil, which seems unusual for a largely aquatic bird, as it helps repel water and prevents the feathers from getting matted down.
#borb #bird #birding
A childish drawing of a gray Common Cuckoo on a white background.
A childish drawing of a brown Common Cuckoo on a white background.
Borb No. 28: Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)
Borbfact: Common Cuckoo are brood parasites and the females' plumage mimics a sparrow hawk. The plumage mimicry is thought to be advantageous as it can fool host birds into being scared off and so they don't realize a cuckoo is laying eggs in their nest!
A childish drawing of a Belted Kingfisher on a white background.
Borb No. 27: Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon)
Borbfact: As Belted Kingfishers mature their stomach chemistry changes - newly hatched birds can digest bones, scales, shells, etc. By the time they feldge, they are no longer able to do this and start regurgitating pellets!
#borb #bird #birding
A childish drawing of an Indian Pitta on a white background.
Borb No. 26: Indian Pitta (Pitta brachyura)
Borbfact: In Sinhalese culture, the story (and mnemonic device) of the Indian Pitta's call translates to "Came and went! Came and went! I'll still be complaining when the next Buddha comes! I'll still be complaining!"
#borb #bird #birding #pitta
A childish drawing of an American Goshawk on a white background.
Borb No. 25: American Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
Borbfact: The word "goshawk" comes from Old English, meaning "goose hawk" and was in reference to the hawk's hunting habits!
#borb #bird #birding #accipiter #hawk #raptor
Also, I'm not so good at the social portion of "Social Media" - I see and appreciate all you followers, but also I'm not one to interact much 😅
I genuinely intend to post at least 2-3 borbs on here at least once a day until I'm caught up with the posts on instagram, but also I'm lazy and it's easy to 'forget' to post on multiple platforms...
A childish drawing of a Common Loon on a white background.
Borb No. 24: Common Loon (Gavia immer)
Borbfact: Well know for being quick, agile swimmers, the common loon is also a surprisingly fast flyer, occasionally achieving speeds over 70mph/110kph!
#borb #bird #birding #loon
A childish drawing of a male Downy Woodpecker on a white background.
Borb No. 23: Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)
Borbfact: Downy woodpeckers are largely non-migratory - only birds at the extreme northern part of their range and those that live at high elevation migrate regularly!
#borb #bird #birding #woodpecker
A childish drawing of a Northern Shrike on a white background.
Borb No. 22: Northern Shrike (Lanius borealis)
Borbfact: Shrikes have earned the nickname "butcher bird" due to their food storage behavior of impaling prey on spikes for storage!
#borb #bird #birding #shrike
