Borb A Day

@borbaday.bsky.social

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A new species of borb each day. Based on current taxonomic data, this account could last until 2048!
Maybe more than one borb a day until I get caught up on this platform...
https://linktr.ee/BorbADay

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Borb No. 44: Golden-crowned Kinglet Borbfact: Despite their tiny stature, Golden-crowned Kinglets are very hardy birds, capable of surviving winter temperatures of -40°F/C! #borb #bird #birding #kinglet

Borb No. 43: Gray-headed Tanager (Eucometis penicillate) Borbfact (1/2): The gray-headed tanager has two behaviors that on their own would make them fairly unique among tanagers: #borb #bird #birding #Tanager

Borb No. 42: Northern Saw-whet Owl (Aegolius acadicus) Borbfact (1/2): The Northern Saw-whet Owl is named for its call which sounds like a saw being sharpened on a whet stone. #borb #bird #birding #owl

Borb No. 41: Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus) Borbfact: Like most shorebirds, the Black-necked Stilt gleans most of its food from the ground, water's surface, or shallow water. However, the stilt is also known to "flycatch" and will snatch insects as they fly by! #borb #bird #birding

Borb No. 40: Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) Borbfact (1/2): The endangered Midwestern population of piping plovers in the US made a triumphant return to the state of Illinois in 2019 when a pair successfully nested on Montrose Beach!

Borb No. 39: Sandhill Crane (Antigone canadensis) Borbfact: The sandhill crane has one of the oldest confirmed fossil records of any extant bird species with indisputable fossil records of 2.5 MILLION years old! #borb #bird #birding #crane

Borb No. 38: Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) Borbfact: Blue jays' feathers don't actually contain any blue pigments, they contain melanin which is brown. The blue color actually comes from the way the feather structure affects light! #borb #bird #birding #corvid #bluejay

Borb No. 37: Common Green-magpie (Cissa chinensis) Borbfact: Typically bright green with hints of yellow, the Common green-magpie will start to show some turquoise plumage if it does not eat a carotenoid-rich diet! #borb #bird #birding #corvid

Borb No. 36: Varied Thrush (Ixoreus naevius) Borbfact: The varied thrush is an "expert" wanderer in winter. Nearly every winter a few vagrant birds show up all over the eastern US and southeastern Canada. A few have even overshot North America and ended up in Iceland & the UK! #borb #bird #birding

Borb No. 35: Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia) Borbfact: Black-and-white Warblers display similar feeding behavior to nuthatches and creepers. To aid this behavior, they have a much longer hind claw and heftier legs than other wood-warblers! #borb #bird #birding #warbler

Borb No. 34: Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) Borbfact: Pileated Woodpeckers excavate large nests and only use them for one breeding season. Songbirds, other woodpeckers, wood ducks, owls, and raccoons will take up residence in the abandoned cavities and also rely on them for foraging! #bird

Borb No. 33: Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis) Borbfact: Among all diving ducks the long-tailed duck is the species that takes the longest and deepest dives. Often spending significantly more time under water than on the surface and making dives of 200+ feet! #borb #bird #birding #duck

Borb No. 31: Great Blue Heron (Ardea Herodias) Borbfact: The Great Blue Heron's diet mainly consists of fish, but they are not picky and will consume a wide variety of prey including crustaceans, insects, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and even other small birds! #borb #bird #birding #heron

Borb No. 32: Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilla) Borbfact: The brown-headed nuthatch is on the very small list of animals that use tools - they sometimes use tree bark, twigs, or pine needles to gain leverage in prying up other pieces of bark or for probing when foraging! #borb #bird #birding

Borb No. 30: Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa) Borbfact: Despite their large appearance, Great Gray Owls' size is due to the fluffy feathers needed to keep warm in their frigid habitat. Great gray owls are actually outweighed by nearly all "smaller" owls in the same size range! #borb #bird #birding

Borb No. 29: Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) Borbfact (1/2): Double-crested cormorants are water birds that have very little preen oil, which seems unusual for a largely aquatic bird, as it helps repel water and prevents the feathers from getting matted down. #borb #bird #birding

Borb No. 28: Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) Borbfact: Common Cuckoo are brood parasites and the females' plumage mimics a sparrow hawk. The plumage mimicry is thought to be advantageous as it can fool host birds into being scared off and so they don't realize a cuckoo is laying eggs in their nest!

Borb No. 27: Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) Borbfact: As Belted Kingfishers mature their stomach chemistry changes - newly hatched birds can digest bones, scales, shells, etc. By the time they feldge, they are no longer able to do this and start regurgitating pellets! #borb #bird #birding

Borb No. 26: Indian Pitta (Pitta brachyura) Borbfact: In Sinhalese culture, the story (and mnemonic device) of the Indian Pitta's call translates to "Came and went! Came and went! I'll still be complaining when the next Buddha comes! I'll still be complaining!" #borb #bird #birding #pitta

Borb No. 25: American Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) Borbfact: The word "goshawk" comes from Old English, meaning "goose hawk" and was in reference to the hawk's hunting habits! #borb #bird #birding #accipiter #hawk #raptor

Also, I'm not so good at the social portion of "Social Media" - I see and appreciate all you followers, but also I'm not one to interact much 😅

I genuinely intend to post at least 2-3 borbs on here at least once a day until I'm caught up with the posts on instagram, but also I'm lazy and it's easy to 'forget' to post on multiple platforms...

Borb No. 24: Common Loon (Gavia immer) Borbfact: Well know for being quick, agile swimmers, the common loon is also a surprisingly fast flyer, occasionally achieving speeds over 70mph/110kph! #borb #bird #birding #loon

Borb No. 23: Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) Borbfact: Downy woodpeckers are largely non-migratory - only birds at the extreme northern part of their range and those that live at high elevation migrate regularly! #borb #bird #birding #woodpecker

Borb No. 22: Northern Shrike (Lanius borealis) Borbfact: Shrikes have earned the nickname "butcher bird" due to their food storage behavior of impaling prey on spikes for storage! #borb #bird #birding #shrike

Borb No. 21: Horned Guan (Oreophasis derbianus) Borbfact: Horned guans are poor fliers and arboreal (spend most of their time in trees), but often descend to the ground for dust baths in order to keep their plumage in tip top shape! #borb #bird #birding #hornedguan

Borb No. 20: Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) Borbfact: The Tufted Titmouse was once considered a "southern" species in the US/Canada, with a former extreme northern range of Iowa and New Jersey. (1/2) #borb #bird #birding #titmouse

Borb No. 19: Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor) Borbfact: True to its name, the Little Penguin is the smallest species of penguin - it is considered an inshore feeder and typically dives down ~2m to catch prey, but they have been known to dive down more than 60m! #borb #bird #birding #penguin

Borb No. 18: Canada Warbler (Cardellina canadensis) Borbfact: Among new-world warblers that breed in North America, the Canada warbler is typically one of the briefest visitors - it is one of the last to arrive and first to leave! #borb #bird #birding

Borb No. 17: Eastern Whip-poor-will (Antrostomus vociferus) Borbfact: The Eastern Whip-poor-will times its egg laying with lunar cycles so eggs hatch a little ahead of a full moon which gives the adults optimal foraging conditions for feeding hatchlings! #borb #bird #birding #nightjar