Skirmishes from Seabed to Surface

While waiting for the spring bird migration to start in earnest I've spent some time on the shoreline trying for a closer look at sea life. Once in awhile it's possible to photograph creatures or events normally submerged, or too distant for clarity. Diving birds in their quest for food are the main actors in these dramas.

Red-breasted Merganser with captured Rock Gunnel

I've never seen nor heard of a Rock Gunnel, this eel-like denizen of rocky coastal waters. Mergansers have the eyesight to find and skill set to retrieve it from the benthic zone. Then it has to figure out how to swallow the writhing mass of muscle.

Common Loon with flounder

This loon has also succeeded in its deep-water hunt and is confronted with an improbable ingestion challenge.

Its first step is to subdue the prey.

Operating without forelimbs the loon has to be quick and lethal to head off the fish's escape.

Swallowing that paddle-shaped fish stretched the probabilities of anatomy for the incredulous observer.

For the loon it was a satisfying well-earned meal.

Female Common Eider with crab

One misty day there hardly seemed to be enough light for underwater foraging. A pair of eiders hunted for crabs in fairly shallow water.

Male Eider coming to the rescue

No sooner did Mrs. Eider bring up a crab than an opportunistic gull descended to snatch it from her mouth.

Her consort charged in just a tad too late to prevent the pilferage.

The Herring Gull now has the crab

In nature there is no appeal to a court of justice, and no mercy for the crab. The sated gull flew off and the eiders went back to work.

Anatomy 10 - Vocalists

This is the time of year we open windows in the morning to a chorus of bird sounds. We can be pretty sure there are good reasons for those utterances in terms of helping life along, for all the effort and risk they involve. They seem to burst from quests for territory, safety, food, and procreation. What's more, there may even be emotional outpourings of joy in the treetops on a fine spring day. That's a notion that either adds value to your life, or not.

Red-eyed Vireo

Some nonstop dawn-to-dusk performers like the Red-eyed Vireo may be singing just for the hell of it.

American Robin

Robins also get loquacious at this time of year. In fact their melodies sound a lot like the vireo's.

They can also disturb the air with shrill staccato warnings when danger lurks.

Swainson's Thrush

Robins belong to the Thrush family of notably sweet singers.

Hermit Thrush

One of them, the Hermit Thrush, is a year-round resident if not always gleefully.

Veery

Most thrushes are much shier than the Robin. The ethereal song of the Veery from moist woodlands is one of the most beautiful sounds in nature.

American Crow

At times even Crows utter sighs that come close to blushing chirps!

Barn Swallows

The cries of their hungry offspring make a compelling demand on Barn Swallow parents.

Brown Cowbird

A bird's larynx, like ours, is positioned at the top of its trachea. Its larynx has little or nothing to do with vocal production, which comes from the syrinx organ at the lower end where the trachea forks into the brachia leading to the two lungs. For some species the syrinx is capable of independent sound production from each side, and of vocalizations continuously generated through both inhale and exhale. The possibilities give rise to remarkable, sustained repertoires.

Black-throated Blue Warbler

'Syrinx' derives from the Greek word for pipe. It was also the name of a maid transformed into river bank reeds to escape the lustful Pan. In the myth we are ultimately given the musical instrument pan pipes. 

Syrinx pluralizes to syringa, although no single bird has more than one. Lilac enthusiasts will note that syringa is the botanical name for the genus, which came about because of its hollow, tubular stems. The word is also related to syringe, an injection tube.

Common Yellowthroat

It's not knowable whether our own inclination to hum, whistle or sing to the sky comes from the same source and circumstance as the birds'; whether we borrowed it from them; or whether the purity of their notes is available to all. Certainly their contribution to our sound environment is a very great pleasure.

Anatomy 9 - Crowns and Crests

I'm pausing over this title, tilting a cautious ear to misinterpretation as a glorification of monarchy, or to its ghoulish opposite, regicide. Yes, my title does point toward nobility and toward exceptionalism. But I contend that all birds are exceptional, despite the fact that this undermines the force of the word. So let's limit our survey to the feathered features atop a bird's head.

Northern Cardinal

The Cardinal exemplifies prominence in its ornate plumage as well as in its crest. Its name invokes the meaning of 'primary' ‒ and of high-ranking red-robed prelates. 

A Cardinals usually carries its crest in an elegant if restrained triangle. Excitement of one sort or another can result in dramatic license like the one above with crown feathers matching its treetop aria. In other situations it nearly flattens the display for practical, territorial, or conceivably emotional reasons. Might there be an analogy with the tail of a dog?

Snowy Egret

One of our local birds inspired a fashion headpiece with fatal consequences to itself: the aigrette, an ornamental tuft of upright plumes, especially those of an egret.

Black-crowned Night Heron

Many other members of the wading clan sport ostentatious plumes from their crowns.

Belted Kingfisher

Our Kingfisher might as justifiably be named for the silhouette above its head as for the simple white line below it.

Great Crested Flycatcher

On the other hand the name of this flycatcher exaggerates its rather modest crest.

Tufted Titmouse

The diminutive Titmouse more fully deserves its nomenclatural notice .

Blue Jay

The Blue Jay is never shy about calling attention to its conspicuous appearance.

Cedar Waxwing

A solitary Cedar Waxwing usually holds its crest strikingly upright.

However, as with many crest-endowed birds, it can alter the display according to mood and circumstance.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Ruby-crowned Kinglets keep their head jewel covered by overlapping gray plumage unless excited by combat or courtship.

Golden-crowned Kinglet, relaxed...

...and startled

Golden-crowned Kinglets, on the other hand, commonly show their yellow decor and uncommonly reveal an underlying red blaze.

Double-crested Cormorant

Plumes appear only during the breeding season on the sides rather than the top of the crown of the Double-crested Cormorant.

Red-breasted Merganser pair

In the courtship dramas now playing out in Folly Cove we observers bring our own story lines to the fabulous crowns and crests of the mergansers. To whatever extent our interpretations are real or imagined, we can only hope they are as glamorous to the birds as they are to ourselves.

Anatomy Study Break - Paparazzi at the Quarry

Especially in the migratory season there's a chance something unusual will show up briefly on a Halibut Point quarry pond to take a rest or find a meal. I'm quite sure that it was a pair of Wood Ducks and I startled who each other early one morning last year, though I didn't get a 'Kodak moment' through the trees. The female of the species gives a panicked alarm reminiscent (to me)  of a crow call at the same time that there's an explosive takeoff from the underbrush and a vivid collage of colors winging away. 

As the ice is breaking up on the Babson Farm Quarry you might luck into a passing celebrity such as these mergansers on their way north. It's the first place I head with my camera, admittedly a paparazzi of exotic sightings. 

Hooded Merganser pair

Shooting far across the water a few years ago I wished I could wish away the morning mist for better appreciation of the harlequin plumage of these Hooded Mergansers, the only ones I've ever seen.

Common Merganser, female

The light was more favorable when this solitary Common Merganser made its appearance last month.

Common Merganser departing

Although this bird is termed 'Common' it's the only time I've seen it at Halibut Point.

Winter visitors

On rare occasions winter ducks come up from the shoreline to the fresh-water quarry pond. These two made an appearance one day last month.

Female Bufflehead

While the tranquil setting may seem to be appealing to these ocean divers they are keyed to finding food on the briny bottom.

The Bufflehead beside Mallards

Seeing one next to our truly common resident dramatizes how small and intrepid the Buffleheads really are in their marine environment.

Greater Scaup

This Greater Scaup is the larger bird behind the Bufflehead in the photo above. It too dives to the bottom in search of food, unlike the dabbling Mallards.

Green-winged Teal beside female Mallard

A Green-winged Teal spending an April day here a few years ago gave us a glimpse of the resplendent plumage we can hope may return one of these spring days.