Bird of the Day - Red-winged Blackbird

 The Bird of the Day today is the red-winged blackbird.  They are in the family Icteridae.  Some of the birds in the family are the meadowlarks, blackbirds, bobolinks, grackles, cowbirds, European (but not American) robins, and orioles.

 Red-winged blackbirds range throughout most of North America.  They nest in wetlands and dry fields.  These birds forage in orchards, woodlands, and fields.

Bird of the Day - Great Blue Heron

The Bird of the Day today is the great blue heron.  This bird was a bit of a challenge to photograph.  I had sporadic sightings of it over several weeks, but it always flew away before I could snap a picture. The day I got this photograph, it flew away upon seeing me (below), but I followed it to another part of Lake Bennett, and was finally able to get a good picture of this amazing bird.

The great blue heron is the largest North American bird in the Ardeidae family, which includes the herons, bitterns, and egrets.  They are 46 inches long, with a wingspan of 72 inches (6 feet).

Bird of the Day - Eastern Phoebe

The Bird of the Day today is the eastern Phoebe.  It is related to the other phoebes and the flycatchers.  The eastern Phoebe has a distinctive habit of pumping its tail up and down while perching, distinguishing them from the pewees.

I took this picture in Roseville, Minnesota.

Bird of the Day - Northern Cardinal

Male Northern Cardinal

Female Northern Cardinal

The Bird of the Day today is the northern cardinal.  It has one of the easier scientific names to remember - Cardinalis cardinalis.

The range of the northern cardinal goes from the southern half of Minnesota to the Baja Peninsula, covering most of the eastern United States and Mexico.

It is in the family Cardinalidae.  That family includes such birds as the tanagers, dickcissel, various buntings, and many of the grosbeaks.

I saw the pictured northern cardinals in Roseville, Minnesota.  They can be challenging to photograph since they do not stay still for long periods of time.  Both of these pictures were taken through a window.

Both the male and female northern cardinals sing throughout most of the year.  One of the variations of their song is "cheer, cheer, cheer!"

Bird of the Day - Hooded Merganser

 The Bird of the Day today is the hooded merganser.  I saw the pictured bird in a pond swimming next to some wood ducks.  It was in the distance, but I spotted it with my long zoom lens.  

 I enjoy all of the types of mergansers, but was especially thrilled to see this one.  The most common bird in this family that I see is the common merganser, followed by the red-breasted merganser.  I very rarely get a sighting of the hooded merganser.

 The hooded merganser is much smaller than the common and red-breasted mergansers.  Female hooded mergansers have yellow on their lower mandible (bill), as opposed to an orange or red bill on the other mergansers.

Bird of the Day - American Crow

 The Bird of the Day today is the American crow.  It is a part of the Corvidae family, which includes: ravens, crows, jays, magpies, jackdaws, and nutcrackers.  In Minnesota, the relatives include the common raven, blue jay, Canada jay (formerly the gray jay), and rarely the black-billed magpie.

The crows inhabit all the continents except Antarctica.  They are one of the most intelligent birds on Earth.  If you want to see a great documentary about crow intelligence, watch the PBS documentary A Murder of Crows (not to be confused with the multiple murder mysteries of that name).  A "murder of crows" is the common name for a flock of crows.

The reason that they are so talkative is that they are communicating with each other.  Over 100 different crow calls have been identified by scientists.  There is strong evidence that not only do they communicate with other adults, but they pass on information to their young as well.

Crows have a strong problem solving ability.  The documentary above shows a crow solving a 3-part puzzle to get a treat, crows solving a touch screen puzzle as fast as human kids (and faster than dogs), finding how to break open nuts without shattering them, passing information on to their young, and much more.

If you take the time to learn about these often misunderstood birds, you will find that they are quite fascinating.

Bird of the Day - Osprey

Today's Bird of the Day is the osprey.  I saw this pair of birds at a baseball field at Central Park in Roseville, Minnesota.  One light pole held the male, one held the female, and the next light supported their nest.  Ospreys and bald eagles have similar nests.

 The osprey is one of my favorite birds to watch while it is fishing.  When it spots a fish from the air, it will fold its' wings, and dive in the water from about ten feet.  A few moments later, it surfaces, shakes its' feathers, and takes off (hopefully with a fish).

The osprey is smaller than both the bald eagle and the turkey vulture, but all three birds love to soar.  Ospreys soar with down-turned wings, eagles soar with wings in a straight line, and turkey vultures have V-shaped wings when soaring.

Osprey Nest