This beautiful scene of a hummingbird hovering in front of a purple-red flower is a common sight in the tropics. Seemingly weightless, the hummingbird, a Cinnamon Hummingbird (Amazilia rutila), sips nectar. This photo even made it into a Science article published on May 6, 2004. Ironically, in comparatively cool Germany, in a clay pit in… Continue reading Cinnamon Hummingbird for Science
Category: Bird Identification Aid
Olrog’s Gull at Punta Rasa/ Argentina
The bright sunrise lets the sky shine in a bright orange and bathes the beach in a golden light. The sunrise bathes the water in an almost magical light. A seagull sits on the sand, looking out to the wide, grey sea, apparently watching the spectacle of the disappearing clouds at the horizon. It’s a… Continue reading Olrog’s Gull at Punta Rasa/ Argentina
Greyish Saltator in Brazil: News from Taxonomy
A Greyish Saltator (Saltator coerulescens) sits on the edge of a bush and spits fruit. The pulp is spilling out of the edges of its beak. I was just about to go to the sparsly vegetated gallery forest. There is a beautiful morning light. Right at the beginning, in the light forest with its cactus… Continue reading Greyish Saltator in Brazil: News from Taxonomy
Immature Pallid Harrier on migration in southern Brandenburg/ Germany
In April I was in the so-called Niederer Fläming (Lower Flaeming), a gently sloping landscape in southern Brandenburg. I had an incredible experience that I will not soon forget. I had the opportunity to observe a young Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus). A beautiful clear morning kept the Skylarks (Alauda arvensis) soaring and cheering over the… Continue reading Immature Pallid Harrier on migration in southern Brandenburg/ Germany
Sickle-winged Nightjar in Arroyo el Palmar
The first evening in the Parque Nacional El Palmar just should bring a pair of sunset palm photos. Suddenly I see a nightjar on the road. A little further on, more can be seen in the pale light. The eyes shone in the headlights. One oft he nightjars is ready to accept a photo and… Continue reading Sickle-winged Nightjar in Arroyo el Palmar
Turkish sick jay with begging young bird on Black Sea coast
The view of the blue sea through the pines and chestnut trees is really impressive. Well-known calls reveal that Eurasian Jays (Garrulus glandarius) initially roam around the hotel invisibly. Then I see them too. They are 2 birds of the same species. One looks amazingly disheveled, the other is obviously a hatchling that wants to… Continue reading Turkish sick jay with begging young bird on Black Sea coast
Juvenile Goshawk in Anatolian sky
An Accipiter hawk does fly low over the nicely constructed road south of Erzurum. I jump out of the car and keep on shooting with my Canon EF 400mm 1:4 DO IS II USM on a Canon EOS R 5. At home, I sort out the images. When viewing in Lightroom, my first thought is:… Continue reading Juvenile Goshawk in Anatolian sky
Young Levant Sparrowhawk in eastern Anatolia
On a ledge just above the road south of Erzurum sits a dark-looking raptor with heavily striped underside. The iris is dark. Very beautiful. Is that the bird, I had seen circling and identified as a Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) earlier? The sitting posture is more a reminiscent of a powerful falcon. No, that’s a… Continue reading Young Levant Sparrowhawk in eastern Anatolia
Chiffchaff: successful in spite of being very young
Still a little uncertain, a chubby something wobbles out of the dense willow (Salix sp.). Surprisingly unerringly, this Phylloscopus-warbler, which has probably just fled, caught a damp moth from the early morning, hits it a few times so that the scales squirt and devours it with relish. A little later it can be seen on… Continue reading Chiffchaff: successful in spite of being very young
Levant Sparrowhawk at Rumija Mountains
A sunny day above Stari Grad with blue sky and mediterranean midday heat. It’s already pretty hot. Suddenly we see a circling, bright-looking raptor, which can be seen against the blue sky and obviously feels comfortable in the thermals of the mountain cone behind it. My guess, Levant Sparrowhawk, is confirmed when looking through the… Continue reading Levant Sparrowhawk at Rumija Mountains
Eurasian Jays in fight for feeding in winter
The Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) is not an ugly, if predominantly brownish, bird while sitting. The combination of size and brownish color in combination with the light blue-black-and-white wing field make the jay largely unmistakable. Normally a Eurasian Jay likes to move forward by jumping on the ground. When the jay does fly, the otherwise… Continue reading Eurasian Jays in fight for feeding in winter
American Painted-snipe at the Rio de la Plata in the Estancia Palenque
An American Painted-snipe (Rostratula semicollaris) poking in the moist soil in the most beautiful morning light in early March 2000. What a picture. It looks much smaller than the Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago). The Painted-Snipe is foraging in shallow water at the edge of a sedge stand, picking up prey with the semicircular movement of… Continue reading American Painted-snipe at the Rio de la Plata in the Estancia Palenque