Bird Call

Vermilion Flycatcher

Did you ID the beautiful Vermilion Flycatcher? 

When that happens birders say, Good Call.

Here are some other things they say. You might want to sprinkle a few around in your conversations. To be cool:

A new species is a life-bird or lifer.

When you see a bird others missed--and rub it in? Grip.

If you make it up? It’s stringy.

See as many species as possible in a year? Big year.  

A big year only shorter? Big day

Your local birding spot? Patch

And my favorite:

An ID on a quick glimpse later proven right by my camera? A Lucky guess :)

Boring fact: A lot of birding sites like to report that the beautiful vermilion color fades in captivity. They don’t say why. So I’ll make a guess.[That’s the boring fact. What follows is boring hypothesis.]  It seems possible--now this really is just a guess—that some of that color comes from their diet. There’s a natural die called carotenoid. It’s in flowers and plants. And things that eat them. Like insects. Cut off the supply, they lose color. Now that is 100% me. So don’t stand up and embarrass yourself at the Audubon meeting. After all--and this is equally possible—it might just be plain old jail pale. :)

Here is the way cool ebird interactive range map

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Lisa Brawn's Vibrant Woodcuts

Road Trip

Took a road trip with my brother last weekend. To the Colorado River. And Lake Havasu. And the London Bridge. : )

We birded the lake. Bill Williams River. And Bill Williams Wildlife Reserve. All fun. All beautiful. In a desert sort of way.

 
 
But birds? Not much luck.

We had heard The Colorado River Indian Tribes had a preserve near Parker. Sort of an eco-tourism thing. So. Next day it was down river to the Ahakhav Tribal Preserve.

And Casino. : )

We saw lots of birds. Tons of birds. Some beautiful. Like this one.  

What is it? Hover to find out.

Distinguishing Marks: Even I can tell this flycatcher from the others.

This bird is special. I prize these photos. I was lucky to get them. Very lucky.

So lucky I can’t help thinking. Maybe. Just maybe. We should have gone to the casino instead. : )

Bird-nerd-words of the day: Air Cell

Ever wonder how those guys stand an egg on one end? Well….

I’m sure you’ve noticed how hardboiled eggs are flat on one end? That’s not by accident. It’s from a little balloon called the air cell.

It forms because most birds’ thermostats are set around 105. So new eggs are 105. But not for long.

Except for maybe Phoenix or Bangladesh the air is cooler than that. So the egg cools. Contents contract. That tugs on a membrane. That sucks air through the shell. That makes the air cell.

They don’t use it for anything while they incubate. They absorb oxygen directly. But when they crack the shell, they’ll need lungs. So just before they hatch they puncture it to rev up. Then use both systems to fight their way out.

So now. What does all this have to do with standing an egg? Absolutely nothing.

The best way to do that is with a little pile of salt. Blow away the evidence.

Like I did. :)