On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
We are halfway through February and Valentine’s Day has come and gone. Time is so strange these days!
Albatrossity
More piscivores, some of which are dedicated, and some that are merely opportunistic.
We’ll start off with a couple more cormorants/shags, after introducing some of those last week. This is a Foveaux shag (Leucocarbo stewarti or Mapo in the Maori language). They have a rather restricted range near Stewart Island and the Foveaux Strait (the channel between the South Island and Stewart Island), and number only a thousand or so pairs in the entire population. Click here for larger image.
Another bird from that same area, the Spotted Shag (Phalacrocorax punctatus, or Kawau tikitiki), is found mostly around the South Island of New Zealand. The spots are not an obvious field mark, and are found only on adult birds in breeding plumage. The skinny bill, white stripe on the head are better field marks, even though the latter is also found only on the adults. Click here for larger image.
Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) are definitely dedicated to eating fish, although they may pick up a few marine invertebrates in the process. They are Western Hemisphere coastal birds who plunge-dive into the water when they spot a fish, and are remarkably successful when they do that. Various studies measured their success rate to be 80-85%. Part of that success is due to the enormous and flexible pouch, which expands upon impact to a capacity of about 10 liters (over 2.5 US gallons). As the saying goes, their beak can hold more than their belly can! Click here for larger image.
In contrast to the solitary feeding habits of the Brown Pelican, the American White Pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) would probably be called a socialist by most right-wingers today. They usually forage cooperatively, swimming rather than diving, and the success rate is greater in flocks than for single birds. They are also inland birds rather than coastal, breeding in large colonies in the prairie pothole regions of Canada and the USA. Large flocks pass through my patch of Flyover Country in spring and fall, and the sight of a flock lifting into a spring thermal is mesmerizing.
“With queer antediluvian grunts they set wing, ascending in majestic spirals…” ― Aldo Leopold.
Western Grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis) are excellent at finding and eating fish, and this one was showing off its catch to some other grebes on that pond. These are large conspicuous flocking birds that can be found in the western USA on any larger lake in summer and along the Pacific coast in winter. Occasionally wandering into Flyover Country to excite the locals. Interestingly there is a mysterious disjunct population in the interior of Mexico year-round. Click here for larger image.
A smaller and less flashy grebe, the Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) is also adept at catching fish, although it eats a lot of crayfish as well. This is the most widespread grebe species in the Americas, found from Northern Canada to Tierra del Fuego. It has a curious ability to simply sink out of sight when it senses danger (or the presence of a photographer). Click here for larger image.
The Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) is not primarily piscivorous, especially on its circumpolar breeding grounds, where insects comprise a large fraction of its diet. Less is know about its winter diet, on the coasts of Europe, Asia and North America, and in the Baltic and North Seas. It is a small but surprisingly vocal bird; to Arctic residents, its incessant call is a sign of spring. It is an uncommon vagrant to the interior regions of Europe, Asia, and North America, and has even been recorded on Midway Island. This first-year male was in my patch of Flyover Country this winter; some day I hope to see a mature adult male here. Click here for larger image.
Two maritime piscivores are pictured here, the Galápagos endemic Swallow-tailed Gull (Creagrus furcatus) at left and the circumtropical Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus) at right. The gull is one of a few species that forages at night, and also has the unusual trait (among gulls at least) of leaving its natal colony when it reaches maturity to find another colony and a mate. The noddy, although tern-like, is not a close relative to most terns, and, unlike most of the “typical terns”, does not dive into the water to catch its prey. It uses that long delicate bill to pluck fish or other prey from the surface. Click here for larger image.
We’ll end this segment with a couple of shorebirds which occasionally take fish. This Solitary Sandpiper (Tringa solitaria), although primarily insectivorous, found a tiny fish in a slough, and promptly gobbled it down. Click here for larger image.
Finally, here is a bubblegum-pink legged Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), which is also primarily insectivorous, but obviously it can use that needle-like bill to catch a fish occasionally. It can also snag flying insects with that thing, so its delicate-looking bill is apparently more versatile than it seems at first glance. Click here for larger image.
sab
I have always admired brown pelicans. Up close they are weird, but in flight they are amazing and graceful.
My favorite shorebird is clapper rail. Those guys are loud! I believe mudhens are the same bird. Yay Toledo!
p.a.
@sab: Can’t remember where I was the first time I saw a brown pelican; Louisiana or Caribbean, but def a “wow” moment. I just checked and they are occasional storm-visitors here in New England, but I’ve not seen them here.
Betty Cracker
I occasionally see flocks of White Pelicans on lakes or shallow coastal flats here in Florida. They are truly massive birds!
Betty
When I first moved to Dominica thirty years ago, I read that there were no brown pelicans nesting here. About ten years later, one was sighted. Now they are a common sight along the west coast. It’s just delightful to watch them dive for fish.
Winter Wren
@Betty Cracker: Same here. Often cormorants or anhingas will be on the edge of the foragers, catching the escapees I guess. And watching them soar is indeed mesmerizing. Great series of photos.
Just look at that parking lot
Are cormorants & shags the same bird, just with interchangeable names ? Of all these birds, I’m only familiar with the brown pelican. Watching them feed was a high lite of going to the beach. Always reminded me of those WWII dive bombers planes you’d see in movies and documentaries. Thanks for the post.
HinTN
I wondered why it was called a Long Tailed Duck until I clicked over to the adult male. Wowsa!
@Betty Cracker: We were visiting a friend near Apalachicola and he got very excited to see White Pelicans on the wing. He said they were unusual in that area.
Albatrossity
@Betty Cracker: Yeah, there were always a few around in the shallow parts of San Francisco Bay when I was learning how to be a birder 50+ years ago. I was mesmerized then and mesmerized now whenever I see a large soaring flock!
@Just look at that parking lot: Cormorants and Shags are indeed different names for the same kinds of birds. Shag is more of an Old World nomenclature, in my experience, but I really never looked into that correlation directly.
J.
@Albatrossity: I was going to ask if the Spotted Shag (love the name) was related to the cormorant. Saw lots of cormorants, brown pelicans, and other shore birds when we lived in SWFL.
Miss Bianca
Yesterday, I was astounded to learn (through photographic evidence!) that white pelicans had visited our very own local reservoir (called “Lake” DeWeese, lol – I don’t think most Coloradans really know what a lake is!). I would have loved to see that in real time!
mvr
Often see cormorants here in Nebraska, when I’m fly fishing. And have seen white pelicans at Lake Ogallala among other places.
I’ve also seen what I believe are white pelicans in Yellowstone and some wildlife refuge near the Missouri River in Iowa or Missouri. It looks to me as though at certain times of year their beaks get a funny bulge that I don’t see the rest of the time. At least that is what my memory tells me.
Thanks as always for the wonderful photos!
Another Scott
Speaking of fishy birds… Phys.org:
Includes a couple of pictures.
Thanks.
Best wishes,
Scott.
MCat
Thanks so much. Just love your posts.
Elizabird
@sab I think mudhens are coots, very different from rails. Once I camped beside a wetland I understood the meaning of the pejorative, “old coot”–such cackling.