Kris Gates

@krismgates.bsky.social

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Scientist, atheist, educator. Proud PNW liberal; Oregon.
Striving to be a part of our more perfect union. Lover of birds, cats, bees, baking and preserving. Facts Matter.
#birding Bird photos are my own unless noted otherwise.
Hoping Post News survives!

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#Birds of the Day: Social Flycatcher Common in suburban & urban settings throughout Central America, they perch conspicuously & call loudly to one another. Social Flycatchers often build their nests near ant, bee, or wasp nests for protection, which is ironic since they also consume these insects.

#Birds of the Day: Inca Dove This small dove is common in Mexico, Central America, & SW US border states. Despite their name, these doves do not overlap with territories that were any part of the Incan civilization. Instead, they live in lands of the Mayan people & other Mesoamerican cultures.

#Birds of the Day: Cedar Waxwing I consider these birds to be one of the loveliest in Oregon, with their smooth-feathered outfits, dashing crests, & sultry facial masks. I'm always thrilled on the few days each fall when dozens fill my laurel bushes, feasting on the dark blue berries.

#Birds of the Day: American Crow Last week I observed a family group of American Crows: 2 adults & 2 juveniles. Although they were almost fully grown, the juveniles were still begging to be fed, and the adults were satisfying them with the bright red berries of bitter nightshade, a perennial vine.

For today's #Birds of the Day, I give to you, without further comment, a Bald Eagle under attack.

#Birds of the Day: Cinnamon Hummingbird The cinnamon hummingbird can be found in Mexico and Central America, feeding on nectar of flowering trees. Not much is known about their breeding behavior, but there is evidence that they build their cup-shape nests using the seed fiber of the kapok tree.

#Birds of the Day: Brown Pelican Usually social birds, this lone brown pelican was fishing in the rocky shallow waters of a Zihuatanejo beach coming up repeatedly with small fish in its pouch. Brown Pelicans are the birds that most make me think of birds as flying dinosaurs, their distant ancestors.

#Birds of the Day: Black-vented Oriole This eye-catching oriole can be confused w/ the Black-cowled Oriole. They differ by the vent area under the tail: black (as the name implies) in this bird & yellow in the other. Feathers there hide the cloaca, an opening at the end of the digestive system.

#Birds of the Day: Pop quiz, can you identify these birds? There are three types here, sharing the lovely Cuban sky.

#Birds of the Day: Hooded Warbler This bird has bright white feathers on each side of its tail, visible when the tail is fanned. These play a role in insect-hunting, possibly by startling insects into flight. The male has a dramatic black hood while the female can vary from hooded to totally yellow.

news isn't talking about chevron much and the generous explanation is that they think it's dense and arcane and hard to understand but if so it's only because you're trying to sound smart about it. "the supreme court just gave itself the power to veto any regulation it wants, whenever it wants"

#Birds of the Day: Grey Hawk Raincloud grey, this small raptor is common in C. Amer./Mex, rarer in AZ/TX. DNA confirms it as a Buteo; its species name Buteo plagiatus hints that it copies many behaviors of the accipiter genus (smaller, more agile, longer tail): plagiatus= same root as plagiarism.

#Birds of the Day: Song Sparrow, Oregon In native Pacific Red Elderberry. "Elder" is from Anglo-saxon aeld, meaning fire, as the hollow stems were used to blow air into a fire's center. Some parts of the plants are toxic but ripe berries are safe to eat. Flowers & fruits are food for insects & birds

#Birds of the Day: White Hawk, Belize These raptors are opportunistic hunters. White hawks will follow capuchin monkeys & racoon-like coatis through the forest, snatching up disturbed lizards, snakes, & other small animals. They also are drawn to wildfires, hunting animals fleeing the flames.

#Birds of the Day: Wedge-billed Woodcreeper, Belize This bird spirals up tree trunks, supporting its body with its stiff tail feathers & looking for insects among the tree bark/mosses/lichens. They will also use their bills to hammer on wood while feeding but are not closely related to woodpeckers.

#Birds of the Day: Sanderling, Cuba Sanderlings are highly social shore birds, and can live over a decade. The mood of this photo makes me think this pair is old friends, taking their morning walk and discussing the news of the day.

#Birds of the Day: Magnolia Warbler, Belize Named by an ornithologist who first saw them in Mississippi magnolias, they'll search any tree for caterpillars. MS is in their winter range, or a stopover on the way to/from even further south. They breed in dense conifer forests in Canada and & NE US.

Daylily time!

#Birds of the Day: Gray Catbird Named for the cat-like mewing of its call, but also a songbird who can sing complex melodies. In birds, sounds are made in an organ called a syrinx. The shapes & positions of syrinx & trachea in the respiratory tract determine the sounds that a bird species can make.

#Birds of the Day: Reddish Egret This windswept bird was sharing the Cuban salt flats with flamingos. When fishing, these egrets use their wings to create an umbrella of shade to reduce glare. Most are the “dark morph” w/ a slate grey body & cinnamon head/neck, but some exist as the “white morph”.

#Birds of the Day: Snail Kite, Belize You can just see the highly curved beak of this bird of prey. Their diet is almost exclusively freshwater snails: that specialized beak is perfect for picking the mollusks from their shells. When snails are scarce, they will eat crayfish, rodents & amphibians.

#Birds of the Day: Snowy Egrets As this vintage Cuban tractor tilled the rice lagoons, snowy egrets followed behind looking for food. Egrets are members of the heron family. The word in Provençal French for heron is “aigron”, & the word egret comes from the diminutive of that word: “aigrette”.

#Birds of the Day: Mourning Dove, Oregon (4 photos) To build a nest, the male gathers thin twigs to deliver to his mate. The mourning dove's wings make a distinctive whistling sound upon take off and landing and their mournful call, cooOOoo-wooo-woo-woooo, is sometimes mistaken for an owl.

#Birds of the Day: Lesser Goldfinch Finches are granivores, feeding almost exclusively on seeds, w/ thick, short bills to mash up hard seed hulls. Small groups are common at feeders if you offer their favorite nyjer thistle seeds. Looking at a bird's beak shape can help with its identification.

#Birds of the Day: Double-crested Cormorant, Oregon After diving, they are known for posing w/ wings spread to dry the feathers. Sometimes they look like a periscope w/ the body submerged, head aloft. The bird in this photo had just caught a huge fish. I missed the fish but caught it in mid-swallow.

#Birds of the Day: Song Sparrow Their melodious songs are highly variable, not only by region, but by individual. Research shows that males learn song components from male tutors & may combine those components in new songs. Female song sparrows prefer mates who demonstrate an ability to learn.

#Birds of the Day: Bird of the Day: The American Ornithological Society calls this a Golden-fronted Woodpecker, but the International O.S. names it Velasquez’ Woodpecker. Both sexes sport red accent colors. The word in Spanish for woodpecker is carpintero, which also means carpenter.

#Birds of the Day: Zapata Sparrow We found this large sparrow, endemic only to isolated parts of Cuba, deep in the Zapata Swamp, a vast expanse of reeds, marshy water, & muddy trails. Our bus-ride there had been interrupted frequently for one of our guides to clear vegetation w/ his machete.

#Birds of the Day: Eastern Meadowlark Ranges of Eastern & Western Meadowlarks overlap in the central US & they look almost identical. However they "sing different languages" & don’t willingly share territory / interbreed. Those in Cuba year-round also have a different song & may become a new species

#Birds of the Day: Black-and-White Hawk-Eagle, Belize These birds are stunning with feathers of pure white & pitch black. It grabs prey in the tree canopy: small mammals & reptiles, other birds, & even opossums. Found in the American tropics, each bird occupies a hunting territory of ~5.5 sq miles