So, I’m trying to get back into the habit of both creating new content and ‘increasing’ the different sections of the blog (i.e. adding more photography pages, travel pages/ideas, and soon small and large articles). Though currently the two sections that are going to be ‘increased’ first are the photography and travel sections.
The reason(s): 1) I have numerous pictures on different birds (and/or other creatures/natural sites), and places I’ve visited that I’d like to share, and 2) the amount of ‘research’, writing, and editing needed for each ‘page’ is in the ballpark of only a few hours (per page).
I will be adding to the other ‘landing’ pages throughout the year, in addition to having constantly occurring blog series—but these will be the posts (especially the larger ‘portfolio’ pieces) that will take longer—because of 1) the amount of research I will be needing to do; 2) determining the best starting/stopping points for each blog series; and 3) finding/creating the graphics needed for each of them.
Therefore, if you head over to the birding/photography section, you will notice a new page under the ducks, swans, and geese section: the canvasback.
As I mentioned on the canvasback’s page–this is a winter visitor to Oklahoma, and can be spotted on various lakes throughout the state.
I’m lucky enough to live within walking distance to Boomer Lake, and have managed to spot these guys a couple of times this winter–though these are the best pictures for being able to correctly ‘identify’ them as canvasbacks and not redheads.
Male canvasbacks
Did you know that out of the ducks, swans, and geese family there are 28 members that can be spotted within Oklahoma at some point (migration, winter, breeding, year-round), with an additional 14 members that are ‘accidental’ residents?
Out of the 28 members, I’ve currently spotted seven throughout the years in Oklahoma (I’ve spotted others elsewhere in the US or abroad).
An additional goal (besides the two or three I listed on the canvasback page) is to try to get pictures of at least another seven to eight members of the family (which may mean going to other area lakes, such as Sanborn).
Female (or immature male) rose-ring (ring-neck) parakeet spotted in Kensington Park, London
So another series of bird pages are live under the bird tab. I decided to go a head and get the order page (Psittaciformes) for parrots and their relatives, the family page (Psittaculidae) for one of the three ‘true parrot’ families, and the species page for the rose-ring (or ring-neck) parakeet completed and published.
Did you know that there are over 350 different species of parrots (and their allies), and a third of them (basically a little over 115 of them) are endangered or threatened? This is due to lost of habitat, illegal bird trade, and introduction of non-native predators.
I managed to get a single picture of a female (or immature male) rose-ring parakeet on my trip to London several years ago. Seeing a parakeet in the middle of London in early October was an odd sighting—but it turns out they’ve adapted to the country quite well.
London is just one of the cities that these parakeets have managed to adapt to, they can also be found in other large cities in Europe, and even within the US (they’ve formed colonies in California, Florida, and Hawaii).
A goal is to get a picture of a mature male (they’re the ones that have the colored ‘rings’ around their necks), and a picture of them in either Africa or India (their ‘natural territory’), plus possibly getting a picture of one within the US (I’d prefer to go back to Hawaii to try to find one, but might have to settle for California after we get the pandemic under control yet again).
Have you seen a rose-ring (or ring-neck) parakeet before, and if you did–was it in the wild or at a zoo?
Unless this is your first time visiting my blog (and then, hello and how do you do), one may realize that bird watching and photography are some favorite pastimes of mine. While creating the birding section of my blog and the various bird pages, I’ve come curious on the topic of ‘state’ birds.
Every state has an official ‘state’ bird and after seeing the list of birds, I decided to create a list of ‘fifty-one’ odd facts about the state birds. In addition, I also found about a dozen odd stats about them as well.
Collage of all the ‘state’ birds
So to start off, here are the odd statistics on the ‘state’ birds:
There are over a thousand different species of birds within the United States, but only twenty-seven species, plus two types of chickens were chosen as state birds.
Ten states have both a state bird, plus another ‘official’ bird (game, waterfowl, raptor, or symbol of peace)
The state birds of nine states (plus the District of Columbia) are only present in the state (or area) from mid-spring to early/mid fall (breeding season)
Seven states have the northern cardinal as their state bird
Six states have the mockingbird as their state bird
Six states have the western meadowlark as their state bird–though it is a summer resident for three of those states
Two states have a chicken as their state bird
Three states have the goldfinch as their state bird
Three states have the American robin as their state bird
Two states have the eastern bluebird as their state bird
Two states have the mountain bluebird as their state bird (though it is a summer resident in one of those states.
Two states have the black-capped chickadee for their state bird
What I found ‘weird’ was that high frequency of the northern cardinal (14% of the states), mockingbird (12% of the states), and western meadowlark (12% of the states) being chosen for state birds. These three choices by nineteen states account for 38% of the ‘state birds’.
So, what are some weird/odd or amazing facts about the various state (or national) birds?
The national bird (the Bald Eagle) is no longer considered endangered or threatened (it is one of the biggest success stories of the Endangered Species Act). Though it is still protected at the state level in many states.
Bald Eagle and gulls flying over Boomer Lake. Picture by JessicaMattsPhotography
2. The District of Columbia has a ‘state bird’–the wood thrush.
Wood Thrush
3. The rough translation for the wood thrush’s scientific name (Hylochila mustelina) is ‘weasel-colored woodland thrush’
4. Male wood thrushes do more of the feeding of the chicks than the female; this allows her to start a second brood.
5. The first national wildlife refuge (Florida’s Pelican Island) was created in 1903 by Teddy Roosevelt to protect the brown pelican.
Brown Pelicans flying over the beach. Photograph: JessicaMattsPhotography
6. Besides being the state bird of Louisiana, the brown pelican is also the national bird of Saint Martin, Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
7. Northern flickers actually hunt for their food on the ground, with ants being a staple in their diet.
Northern flicker
8. In addition to nesting in trees (like all other woodpeckers), northern flickers have also been know to use abandoned burros of belted kingfishers or bank swallows.
9. The willow ptarmigan is the only grouse in the world where the male regularly helps raise the young.
Male Willow Ptarmigan in mating colors
10. The willow ptarmigan is also a master of camouflage; they can be snowy white in the winter and a mix of reds and browns in the summer.
11. The cactus wren gets its liquids from the juicy insects and fruits it eats; therefore rarely relying on water.
Cactus Wren
12. Young California quail gain their gut microbiome by pecking at the feces of the adults.
California Quail
13. California quail broods mix after hatching and all parents help care for the young
14. A male northern mockingbird can learn up to 200 songs during his lifetime.
Northern mockingbird
15. While it is called the northern mockingbird, it is actually absent from many of the northern states.
16. Lark buntings are able to survive periods of drought by taking moisture from grasshoppers and other insects
Lark Bunting
17. Lark buntings are endemic sparrows to the grasslands and shrub steppes of North America.
18. The entire American robin population ‘turns over’ on average every six years, though many may live longer than that.
American Robin
19. Did you know that robins can become intoxicated when they exclusively eat honeysuckle berries?
20. Brown thrashers have been known to imitate the songs of Chuck-will’s-widows, wood thrushes, and northern flickers
Brown thrasher seen up at Boomer Lake
21. Brown thrashers are the largest common host for the ‘parasitic’ brown-headed cowbirds. Though they can tell the difference between their eggs and the cowbird eggs, and usually reject the cowbird eggs that had been laid in the nest.
22. The Nene evolved from the Canada goose, which probably arrived on the Hawaiian Islands roughly 500,000 years ago.
The Nene or Hawaiian Goose
23. The Nene is the sixth-most endangered waterfowl species in the world.
24. There are Hawaiian geese (Nene) living in the Slimbridge Wetland Wildlife Reserve near Gloucestershire, England
25. Mountain bluebirds can hunt for insects either in flight or from perches
Mountain Bluebird
26. A male mountain bluebird with a high-quality nesting site is more likely to attract a mate than a more ‘attractive’ male with a low-quality nesting site.
27. Female northern cardinals are one of the few female songbirds that sing
Northern Cardinal
28. Cardinals don’t molt into duller colors–the mature males stay bright red year-round.
29. Goldfinches are strict vegetarians, and the offspring of other birds who parasitize their nests (such as the brown-headed cowbirds) rarely survive more than a few days on the all-seed diet.
Goldfinch
30. Meriweather Lewis, noted in 1805 the differences between the eastern and western meadowlarks
Western Meadowlark
31. Male western meadowlarks usually have two mates at the same time, as the females do all the incubating, brooding, and most of the feeding of the young
32. Black-capped chickadees hide their food to eat later, placing individual items in different spots
Black-capped chickadee
33. Black-capped chickadees adapt to changes in their flocks and the environment every fall, by allowing neurons with ‘old information’ to die and replacing them with new neurons
34. Baltimore orioles are known to breed/hybridize extensively with Bullock’s orioles where their ranges overlap within the Great Plains
Oriole spotted at Boomer Lake
35. When migrating the common loon has been clocked at speeds greater than 70mph
Common Loon
36. Common loons are only present in a few states during the summer. Most of the US is actually within their migratory routes to the coasts, where they will spend the winters (and the young will stay for two years before heading back north).
37. Eastern bluebirds will typically have more than one brood per year
Eastern Bluebird spotted at Boomer Lake
38. Purple finches have lost territory in the eastern US to the house finch
A finch spotted in the winter
39. Roadrunners are able to eat venomous lizards, scorpions, and rattlesnakes.
Greater Roadrunner
40. Roadrunners may also be seen walking around with a snake protruding from its bill, swallowing a little at a time as the snake is digested.
41. The scissor-tailed flycatcher tends to wander on their way to and from their winter grounds in Central America. They have been spotted as far north and west as British Columbia, and as far north and east as Nova Scotia.
Scissor-tailed flycatchers at Boomer Lake
42. The scissor-tailed flycatcher as the second longest tail for members of the kingbird family. The fork-tailed flycatcher has the longest tail.
43. The popularity of the ruffed grouse as a game bird led to some of the earliest game management efforts in North America back in 1708.
Ruffed Grouse
44. The overall population of the ruffed grouse goes through an eight-to-eleven year cycle that is in correlation to the snowshoe hare population.
45. It is only the male Carolina wren that sings
Carolina wrens in the backyard
46. Ring-necked pheasants will sometime parasitize the nests of other birds (such as the ruffed grouse or the greater-prairie chicken)
Ring-necked pheasant
47. Ring-necked pheasants practice ‘harem-defense polygyny’ where one male will keep other males away from a group of females during the breeding season.
48. The California gull became the state bird of Utah in 1848, after they started feasting on the katydids that had been devastating the crops of the settlers.
California Gull
49. Hermit thrushes are likely to nest in trees west of the Rocky Mountains, but on the ground east of the Rocky Mountains
Hermit Thrush
50. Male hermit thrushes will collect the food for the nest, giving it to the female who will then feed the nestlings.
51. Not really odd facts, but here are the two pictures of the chickens that are also state birds:
Delaware’s state bird
Rhode Island’s state bird
So there are the ‘fifty-one’ odd facts on state birds (yes, I know that the last fact are just pictures). So far I’ve managed to get a picture of thirteen or fourteen of the birds–I’m leaning more towards fourteen, since I’m pretty positive that is a purple finch I got a picture of this winter.
A photography goal–get a picture of the other state birds, though I’m not sure if I’m also going to include the chickens in that or not. You might have noticed that I didn’t mention every state in terms of their state bird–I thought it would be more fun to test everyone’s knowledge.
So question–do you know the state bird of your state?
Today is ‘celebrate your geekness’ day, a day that was created by Wellcats Holidasy as a day about being proud of what you do, who you are, and what you’re ‘obsessed’ with. I will freely admit that I’ve always been a ‘geek’, and I’ve been proud of being a geek. While I may seem ‘quiet’ and slightly ‘unsociable’, it is more of the fact that I’m wondering what I can add to the conversation. Depending on the topic, I may either be more of an active listener or an active participant. While I am a ‘geek’ on various subjects, I also admit that some areas I’m reconnecting to, so I may not be that big of a ‘geek’ in terms of random knowledge.
I like these five reasons from ‘a big think edge’ blog post back in 2018 on why one should embrace thier inner geek:
The term communicates that you are intelligent
You may be more socially competent and mature than the ‘cool kids’
As a geek, you are viewed in a increasingly positive way
You are technically savvy and an early adopter of new technologies
Geeks bring different perspectives and knowledge to the conversation
I agree with all of them, with the exception of number four–I really don’t care for updating/upgrading my electronics and such unless I either absolutely have to, or the update/upgrade has something really going for it.
So what are things that I consider myself a ‘geek’ about?
Hobbies such as:
Birds (and bird watching)
Photography
Reading (fiction, especially romance)
Knitting and other crafts
Being outdoors, gardening and nature
Learning, especially on topics related to:
Science
History
Geography
Archaeology
Anthropology
Paleontology
My pets
What am I currently learning or teaching myself?
Python coding, cross-stitching, jewelry making, and brushing up on subjects such as intellectual protperty and clinical trials.
What are my end goals?
Continuous learning, finding harmony between ‘work’ and ‘everything else’, and bridging the communication gap beteen the scientific community and the general public.
What is one scientific topic that you wished was communicated better?
Last week I managed to get in a walk at Boomer Lake and as I was crossing the bridge on my way home I noticed that the grebe was swimming about.
I also noticed that it is showcasing it’s mating mark–the bill.
During the summer/breeding season, the bills of pied-grebes turn white with a black stripe on them.
Pied-billed grebe
The rest of the year, the beak is a more drab brown color, and there is no black stripe.
Pied-bill grebe swimming in Boomer Lake (winter time)
Since we’re in their year-round range, I had been hoping to spot one this summer. While I saw several during the winter, I have no idea if they were a mix of males and females, or all of one or the other. I will be keeping my eyes out again on walks, to see if maybe I can spot one possibly carrying their young with them for a swim.
So I shared the above image on LinkedIn and Instagram earlier today, and it got me thinking that it could also become part of a running blog series.
Last fall I decided that I wanted to start creating ‘bird pages’ for all the birds that I managed to get a picture of over the years, and that I had digital pictures of on my computer. This started the evolving ‘birds, birds, and birds’ section of the blog/website. Currently there are about seventy-eight pages under that tab, with another ninety-one pages to be added.
As the bird section has grown, so has the potential number of side projects that I’m thinking of doing in terms of I’ve learned about various birds or minor issues I’ve discovered.
Since molecular testing has become ‘cheaper’ over the decades, bird families and orders have been reconfigured–to where the cormorants, frigatebirds, and boobies are no longer classified with the pelicans, ibises, and herons. They’ve been given their own order: Suliformes, which doesn’t seem to have much information on it (something that has slightly bother me).
I also found that the orders Gaviiformes (loons), and Coraciiformes (kingfishers and other brightly colored birds) also have very little information on them.
Researching all three could generate at least one to two small ‘blog/science’ posts/articles in addition to a simple summary post as well.
I also found out that the dodo was within the same order as the pigeons and doves–I never knew that. I don’t think the classification of the dodo was ever discussed in any science class.
I also learned that the order for swans, ducks, and geese (Order Anseriformes), in addition to the order for turkeys, quails, and pheasants (Order Galliformes) have been around since the dinosaurs. I knew that bird evolution started during the age of dinosaurs, but I didn’t realize that there have been two orders that have been around since that time.
Those are just two of the ‘weird’ facts that I’ve learned since starting this project. I’ll be sharing a couple every week or so both here and on LinkedIn and Instagram.
There are two more bird pages live under the bird tab. This time it was adding in two additional dove pages for the two doves that I had spotted and gotten pictures of years ago in South Padre Island, Texas.
Eurasian Collared dove sitting on a roof
The first one, for some reason I misidentified as a mourning dove–white it has the black crescent on the back of the neck, it is missing the black dots on the wings. Therefore, it turns out that I actually managed to get a couple of pictures of a Eurasian collared dove on a roof.
These doves aren’t native to the ‘New World’, and were originally brought to the Caribbean to be sold as pets in pet stores, but in the 1970s were released from a pet store in the Bahamas. It took them about ten years or so to make their way to Florida, and have been spreading throughout the states and Mexico ever since. For some reason though, they haven’t made much headway into the Northeastern part of the country or into Canada.
The second dove I spotted, I truthfully forgot about until I was going back through the pictures, because of how well it blended in with the grasses.
Inca Dove on the ground
It turns out that I also managed to get a couple pictures of an Inca dove as well.
This dove is mainly found in the southwestern parts of the country, even though there have been sighting of it up in Colorado. They have the coloring to blend in with the arid, desert landscapes of the American Southwest.
Photography goals will be trying to get additional pictures of the doves using my other camera (that has a slightly better zoom), and possibly getting a picture of more than one roosting on a wire or tree branch.
With the addition of these two pages, the pigeon/dove group is ‘complete’ as of today. There are still more pigeons and doves that can be spotted within the US, not to mention around the world.
So there are another two bird pages live under the bird tab. These two birds, I had photographed a couple of years ago when I had gone to London for a brief networking/mental health break. While I was looking through the London photos trying to find the pictures of the ‘street pigeons’, I realized I had forgotten to ‘confirm’ my identification of all the other birds I’d taken pictures of. One of the birds I had originally misidentified and I realized that I never fully identified the second one.
Great cormorants and gulls spotted in London, UK
The first one, is the one I originally misidentified is the great cormorant, which I had originally thought was the double-crested cormorant in its winter colors (since that is really the only cormorant I’d seen to this point). Well, I was wrong and it turned out to be the great cormorant (it is one of two members of the family found in the UK, with the other being the common shag).
I had managed to get pictures of a group of them sitting within the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens on my first day in London.
The second bird that I totally forgot to try to originally identify turns out to be an immature great-crested grebe, again spotted within the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens.
Immature great-crested grebe spotted swimming in London, UK
Unlike the great cormorant that can be seen along the coastlines of the eastern United States and Canada, the great-crested grebe is only found within the ‘Old World’.
Now I do have a ‘birding goal’ for whenever I manage to travel back to the UK (or even Europe in general)–try to spot an adult great-crested grebe.
While I will be starting to research the ducks, swans, and geese group next, there will also be several other additional pages added to other groups as I continue to go through my bird pictures and identify the various species of birds that I have managed to photograph.
Question–have you spotted a young grebe in the wild? If so–where and what species?
So today is National American Eagle Day or National Bald Eagle Day. This is the day that various organizations set aside to help raise awareness about our national symbol–the Bald Eagle.
Bald Eagle soaring through the sky
The history behind the bald eagle being chosen for the national symbol is slightly humorous. In case you haven’t heard some of the history, here is a very condensed version:
Since most countries adopt an animal for their national symbol, the Continental Congress wanted to do so as well, but the first national seal was actually Lady Liberty holding a shield. Since that wasn’t what they wanted, they made inquires with others for thoughts and the first ‘choice/suggestion/selection’ was actually the golden eagle.
Again, the Continental Congress wasn’t happy with the suggestion–mainly because the golden eagle could also be found in Europe and therefore it wouldn’t do. They then looked to ‘native birds’ and decided on the bald eagle (though the turkey was also suggested as it was also ‘native’).
Bald Eagle soaring through the sky
The bald eagle was ‘fierce-looking’ and the fledgling country thought it was a better representation of the country to the world–therefore it was selected. Even after the war was over, there was discussion on whether to keep the bald eagle as the emblem or think of a new one–Benjamin Franklin kept rooting for the turkey.
This story does raises a fairly good historical question–if we had managed to breakaway from England without war, what animal would have been chosen as the national symbol–would it still have been the eagle, or maybe the turkey, or maybe something else?
So that is the brief history behind how the bald eagle became our national bird and symbol.
Unfortunately, it hasn’t had really ‘clear skies’ over the past three hundred years.
By the 1950s both the bald eagle and the golden eagle were at risk of becoming extinct. This was due to a combination of over hunting (young bald eagles happen to look a lot like golden eagles, so they were often killed ‘by mistake’–hunters thought they were bagging young golden eagles), pesticide use (DTT poisoned fish led to eagles laying eggs with very thin shells, which ended up at times getting crushed from the parents sitting on them), and habitat loss.
Once DTT was banned, and the eagles placed on the endangered species list their populations started to make a recovery. In case of the bald eagle, they were downgraded from endangered to threatened in 1995, and then in 2007 they were removed entirely from both the endangered species and the threatened species lists as their populations had recovered enough. They’re usually under state protection these days.
Bald Eagle and gulls flying over Boomer Lake
Though in recent years, there had been a die off of bald eagles in the southeastern portion of the US, but that has finally been traced to a toxic algae bloom in the waters (something scientists are now keeping an eye on).
I enjoy catching site of the bald eagle as it soars over Boomer Lake throughout the year, and I also enjoyed watching the bald eagles up at Lake Vermilion in northern Minnesota sit on top of the Norway pines as they watched the waters waiting for their next meal to come closer to the surface.
Bald Eagle sitting at the top of a Norway pine at Lake Vermilion
Since it looks like summer is here to stay, I’m slowly catching up on things. It is amazing how much more you can get done when it is too hot and humid to be outside (I think we have a heat advisory through tomorrow night).
So, I decided that I would try to see how many #ThursdayThrowbackTravel posts I could generate this summer and fall–both as blog posts and as pages under the travel tab.
The first entry for the ‘series’ is looking back at a trip we took to Arkansas a little over four years ago, when we visited Devil’s Den State Park. The park is located probably halfway between Fayetteville and Fort Smith within the Ozark National Forest.
The park offers three main outdoor activities: hiking (or walking), mountain bike riding, and horseback riding (as long as you supply the bike or horse). We went for the hiking/walking aspect. They also offer either camping or cabins for rent.
Cabin rental within Devil’s Den State Park
During our three to four day stay; at least half the day was spent out on different trails (that were either easy or moderate in terms fo difficulty–so not that much climbing or stairs involved).
There are approximately 13 trails within the park, with one or two being set aside strictly for mountain biking. The others you can hike, and on most of them–you also need to watch out for people on mountain bikes or horses.
Deer spotting
Taking these kind of trips take me right to one of my ‘happy places’–being out in nature. I enjoy trying to catch glimpses of different wildlife, seeing how many different birds I can spot, and taking numerous wildflower photos.
While the world is slowly opening back up–I’ve been slowly thinking of trying to plan a trip for sometime between 2022-2024 (nice time frame, right), though I know it may not be an outdoor trip (I prefer taking nature based trips with other people, safety in numbers), but possibly a trip to a new city/state or even country–if I’m feeling up to air travel (will have to see how things play out pandemic wise).
What is your favorite state park to visit? Then where is your favorite hiking trail?
