Natural
History
Notes
on the Birds
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About the
categories
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Name
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Common name
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Food
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The main food category.
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Feeding Techniques
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How it acquires its food.
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Habitat
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What kind of area does the bird
live?
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Plumage
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Is there similarity between the male
and the female, between winter and spring, young and adult,
or are there variations in the plumage amongst the species.
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Distribution
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Approximately where it is found in the
United States.
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Breeding
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Unique aspects on how the species
breeds.
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About the Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Special notes on the status or natural
history of this bird.
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
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Selections from the Life Histories of
North American Birds, edited by
A. C. Bent.
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Name
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Food
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Fish,
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dives underwater and chases fish which
it catches with its long sharp beak.
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Habitat
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During the winter it is generally
found along the ocean coast and during the breeding season
it nests on fresh water lakes.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
plumage.
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Distribution
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Worldwide
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Breeding
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Builds nest in lakes. Young are
altricial
and sometimes ride on the back of the parents as they get
fed.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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sub aqueous - refers to under the
water
consternation - concern
finny tribes - refers to fish
"We are too apt to condemn a bird for
what little damage it does in this way, without giving it
credit for the right to live."
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
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Food: This loon feeds largely on
fish, which it pursues beneath the surface with wonderful
power and speed. The sub aqueous rush of this formidable
monster must cause great consternation among the finny
tribes. Even a party of fish-hunting mergansers
is promptly scattered before the onslaught of such a
powerful rival; they recognize his superior strength and
speed, as he plunges in among them, and must stand aside
until his wants are satisfied. Even the lively trout, noted
for its quickness of movement, can not escape the loon and
large numbers of these desirable fish are destroyed to
satisfy its hunger. Some sportsmen have advocated placing a
bounty on loons on this account, but as both loon and trout
have always flourished together until the advent of the
sportsmen, it is hardly fair to blame this bird, which is
such an attractive feature of the wilds, for the scarcity of
the trout. We are too apt to condemn a bird for what little
damage it does in this way, without giving it credit for the
right to live.
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Name
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Food
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Fish
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dives underwater and chases fish which
it catches with its long sharp beak.
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Habitat
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During the winter it is generally
found along the ocean coast and during the breeding season
nests on fresh water lakes.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Winters along the Pacific
coast.
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Breeding
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The Pacific Loon was formerly
considered a race
of the Arctic Loon.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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One of the values that I find in the
works of A. C. Bent are the well written accounts from
various ornithologists. This account describes watching some
Pacific Loons fishing in a harbor.
When Coues refers to "limpid element"
he is referring to the still water of the bay that the birds
are swimming through.
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
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The ornithologist, Elliot
Coues, provides this account
of the Pacific Loon:
They were very plentiful about the Bay
of San Pedro. The first thing that attracted my attention
was their remarkable familiarity; they were tamer than any
other waterfowl I have seen. They showed no concern at the
near approach of a boat, scarcely availed themselves of the
powers of diving, in which the whole family excelled, and I
had no trouble in shooting as many as I wanted. They even
came up to the wharves, and played about as unconcerned as
domestic ducks; they constantly swam around the vessels
lying at anchor in the harbor, and all their motions, both
on and under the clear water, could be studied to as much
advantage as if the birds had been placed in artificial
tanks for the purpose. Now two or three would ride lightly
over the surface, with the neck gracefully curved, propelled
with idle strokes of their broad paddles to this side and
that, one leg after the other stretched at ease almost
curious sidelong glance, then peering into the depths below,
sought for some attractive morsel. In an instant, with the
peculiar motion, impossible to describe, they would
disappear beneath the surface, leaving a little foam and
water; see them shoot with marvelous swiftness through the
limpid element, as, urged by powerful strokes of the webbed
feet and beats of the half-opened wings they flew rather
than swam; see them dart out the arrow-like bill, transfix
an unlucky fish, and lightly rise to the surface again.
While under water, the bubbles of air carried down with them
cling to the feathers, and they seem bespangled with
glittering jewels, borrowed for the time from their native
element, and lightly parted with as they leave it, when they
arrange their feathers with a slight shiver, shaking off the
last sparkling drop. The feathers look as dry as if the bird
had never been under water; the fish is swallowed head
first, with a curious jerking motion, and the bird again
swims at ease, with the same graceful curve of the neck.
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Name
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Food
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Fish
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dives underwater and chases fish which
it catches with its long sharp beak.
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Habitat
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During the winter it inhabits salt
water areas and during the breeding season nests on fresh
water lakes.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Winters along the Pacific and Atlantic
coast.
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Breeding
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Breeds in northern Canada
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Red-throated Diver - As with most
birds, the name of this species refers to the spring
plumage. During the winter plumage it does not show a red
throat. Audubon uses the name diver when referring to the
loon; diver is the British name for loons.
giddy flight
pinions - the wing feathers
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Notes from A.
C. Bent
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Courtship:
John
James Audubon describes the
courtship of a Red-throated Loon that he witnessed. Reynard
is a friend who was with him.
High over these waters, the produce of
the melted snows, the red-throated diver is seen gamboling
by the side of his mate. The males emit their love notes,
and, with necks gracefully curved downward, speed by the
females, saluting them with mellow tones as they pass. In
broad circles they wheel their giddy flight, and now, with
fantastic glidings and curves, they dive toward the spot of
their choice. Alighted on the water, how gracefully they
swim, how sportively they beat it with their strong pinions
how quickly they plunge and rise again, and how joyously do
they manifest to each other the depth and intensity of their
affection. Now with erected neck and body deeply immersed
they swim side by-side. Reynard they perceive cunningly
advancing at a distance; but they are too vigilant for him,
and down like a flash they go, nor rise again until far
beyond his reach. Methinks I see them curiously concealed
among the rank weeds under the bank of their own islet,
their bills alone raised above the water, and there will
they remain for an hour, rather than show themselves to the
insidious enemy, who, disappointed, leaves them to pursue
their avocations.
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Name
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Food
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Small fish and otehr invertebrates.
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dives underwater and chases fish which
it catches with its long sharp beak.
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Habitat
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Southern Texas
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Dabchick is an older name for the
Pied-billed Grebe.
The scientific name that A. C. Bent
uses for this species is Colymbus dominicus brachypterus
(Chapman). The current (2004) scientific name is
Tachybaptus dominicus. There are five different
species of grebes in the genus Tachybaptus.
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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As this little tropical species,
the smallest of the grebes, is the only one of the North
American grebes that I am not familiar with in life, I must
draw wholly from the observations of others for an account
of its life history. Unfortunately, published notes on its
habits are very scanty, so the story will be short and
incomplete. Prior to 1899 the San Domingo grebe (Colymbus
dominicus) stood on our Check List, as found in the West
Indies, southern Texas, Mexico and Lower California, as well
as in tropical South America. But Frank
M. Chapman discovered certain
geographical varieties of the species worthy of recognition
in nomenclature and separated it into three subspecies. His
description separates the Mexican form, which also ranges
into Texas and Lower California, from the West Indian bird
under the name of brachypterus, having a much shorter
wing and a smaller bill. This seems to be a well-marked
subspecies in which the characters are constant.
Mr. Vernon Bailey (1902) observes:
These tiny grebes are as common in the
ponds of southern Texas as the dabchick in the North. In
open water they bob on the little waves, and in quiet pools
where the willows overhang the banks swim and dive among the
sedges and pink water lilies. When not seeking food below
the surface of the water they usually keep close to some
cover, and in the middle of the day if not hidden in the
sedges are found sitting close under the shore grass or in
the shade of a bush or low-hanging tree.
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Name
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Food
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Small invertebrates
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dives underwater and chases prey which
it catches with its beak.
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Habitat
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During the winter it inhabits salt
water areas and during the breeding season nests on fresh
water lakes.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Throughout the United
States.
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Breeding
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Both parents tend nest. Young ride
around on the back of the parents who feed them during this
time.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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The young of birds are generally put
into two classifications: altricial
and precocial.
Altricial refers to baby birds that are born naked, blind,
and helpless. They need to be kept warm and fed by their
parents. Precocial young are birds that are practically born
with their eyes open, down on their bodies, and the ability
to feed. The young of Pied-billed Grebes, as with most
waterfowl, are precocial.
slough - wetlands
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
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The young are very precocious
and leave the nest soon after they are hatched; usually some
of the young are swimming about before the last of the eggs
have hatched. They are expert swimmers and divers, by
instinct, though they can not remain under water more than a
few seconds. I have taken recently hatched chicks out of a
nest, which were too young to have been taught by their
parents, and seen them dive and swim away or hide among the
reeds with only their little bills protruding above the
surface. Sometimes the parent bird carries them on her back
where they cling tenaciously while she dives and brings them
up again, none the worse for their ducking. They are truly
little "water witches" by inheritance. Rev. Manley B.
Townsend writes me that, on June 24, 1910, he saw an adult,
with young, chasing a muskrat on the surface of a slough in
Nebraska, and raises the question whether these animals,
which are generally considered to be strictly vegetarians in
their habits, kill young grebes. Undoubtedly many are killed
by pickerel or other large fishes and by snapping turtles or
large frogs.
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Name
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Food
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Small invertebrates, especially brine
shrimp
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dives underwater and chases prey which
it catches with its beak.
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Habitat
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Many diverse water habitats.
Found in both fresh and salt water. Breeds in fresh
water.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Primarily the western United
States.
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Breeding
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Nests in large groups on freshwater
lakes. Builds nest platforms as mentioned below.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Most birds nest by themselves, but
there are various species that find advantages in nesting as
a colony.
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
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Nesting - Mr. B. F. Goss (1883) gives
us a very good illustration of this, as follows:
The eared grebe breeds in communities.
The first colony that I found was in a small lake in
northern Dakota. The nests were built on floating debris
about 15 rods from shore, where the water was perhaps 3 feet
deep. Old flag leaves, rushes, reeds, etc., had been driven
by the wind into the point of a bay, forming a mass 2 or 3
inches deep and several square rods in extent. This mass was
firm enough to hold up the birds in most places, but was
full of holes where they could dive through. There were at
at least 25 nests on an area of 10 by 20 feet. They were
made of partly decayed moss and reeds brought up from the
bottom, and were small, not more than a handful of material
to a nest.
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Name
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Food
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Fish, large crustaceans
and other arthropods
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dives from the surface of the water
and swims underwater to chase prey items.
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Habitat
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Many diverse water habitats.
Found in both fresh and salt water. Breeds in fresh
water.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Winters along the Pacific coast.
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Breeding
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Breeds in Canada.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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It is suggested that the process of
the grebes eating their own feathers might help them digest
the fish that they eat. As they eat small fish they end up
swallowing some of them whole. They can digest some of the
smaller bones of the fish, but the larger ones need to be
eliminated by the grebe. The feathers may help in forming
pellets that the grebe regurgitates to get rid of the waste
material, in much the same way that owls and hawks
regurgitate pellets of waste. The Northern
Shrike picture shows a bird in
the process of regurgitating a pellet.
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
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The most remarkable point about the
food habits of grebes is that the stomachs almost invariably
contain a considerable mass of feathers. Feathers are fed to
the young, and there is no question that they play some
essential though unknown part in the digestive economy. As
they are finely ground in the gizzards it is probable that
finally they are digested and the available nutriment
assimilated. Feathers constituted practically 66 per cent of
the contents of the 57 Horned Grebe stomachs examined.
However, it is not likely that they furnish a very large
percentage of the nourishment needed by the birds. As the
nutritive value of the feathers is unknown, this part of the
stomach contents is ignored. The other items of food are
assigned 100 per cent, and the percentages are given on that
basis. Various beetles, chiefly aquatic, compose 23.3 per
cent of the food; other insects (including aquatic bugs,
caddis and chironomid larvae, dragonfly nymphs, etc.) ,
nearly 12 per cent; fishes, 27.8 per cent ; crawfish, 20.7
per cent ; and other crustacea, 13.8 per cent. A little
other animal matter is taken, including snails and spiders,
and a small quantity of vegetable food was found in two
stomachs.
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Name
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Food
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Fish, large crustaceans
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dives from the surface of the water
and swims underwater to chase fish.
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Habitat
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Many diverse water habitats.
Found in both fresh and salt water. Breeds in fresh
water.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Western United States
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Breeding
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Builds island-nest that it can get to
straight from the water.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
Very similar to the Clark's
Grebe. The courtship dance of
the Western Grebe is famous for its complexity and beauty.
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
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Nesting - The large grebe colonies of
the Klamath Lake region in southern Oregon and northern
California have been described by several well-known
writers. The lakes in this region contain probably the
largest western grebe colonies in this country where
thousands of them breed in harmony with Caspian
and Forster's
terns, white
pelicans, and other water
birds. This region has long been famous as a profitable
field for plume hunters, where they have reaped a rich
harvest, making $20 or $30 a day and during the height of
the breeding season killing several thousand birds a week.
The breasts of the western and other grebes were in great
demand for the millinery trade; for the paltry sum of 20
cents apiece they were stripped off, dried, and shipped to
New York. Such slaughter could not have contained much
longer without disastrous results. Through the activities of
the Audubon Societies, the attention of President Rosevelt
was called to the need of protection, and on August 8, 1908,
the Lake Malheur Reservation, thus saving from destruction
the largest and most interesting wild-fowl nurseries on the
Pacific coast.
Courtship -The western grebes reach
their breeding grounds in the inland lakes during May, early
in the month in North Dakota, about May 8 to 12 in southern
Canada, and before the end of the month farther north. I
have never witnessed their nuptial performances, but Mr.
William L. Finley has sent me the following on the
subject:
The first action, which I have often
noticed during the nesting season of the grebe, is when the
two birds swim side by side. They throw the head and neck
back which gives one the impression at a distance that the
birds are preening their plumage. When I saw the action near
at hand, I noticed that each bird arched its neck
continually, the bill turned straight down and the black
crest spread. At the same time, both birds curved and swayed
their necks back in a rythmical manner, touching them
against their bodies. It was like a backward bow.
A second performance, the water glide
of the grebe,was not as common as the antics just mentioned.
However, it seemed to be a climax to the performance above.
As the two birds swam side by side both suddenly stood
upright as if walking on the top of the water and rushed
along, splashing the surface for 20 or 30 feet, with wings
tight to the body. Then they dropped to their breasts in a
graceful glide that carried them along for about 15 feet
farther.
The third peformance might well be
termed purely a wedding dance. I saw it three times within
close range, and each time it was exactly the same. As two
birds were swimming together, both dove. They rose to the
top of the water a few moments later, each holding a piece
of moss or weed in the bill. Instantly they faced each other
and rose, treading water, with bodies half above the surface
and necks stretched straight up. They treaded around, breast
to breast, until they made three or four circles, and then
dropped down to a normal attitude, at the same time flirting
the moss our of the mouths and swimming off in an
unconcerned manner.
The first two peformances are typical
mating or courting antics, while the last is the most
significant wedding dance I have ever seen in bird life.
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Name
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Food
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Fish
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dives and swims underwater to catch
fish with its sharp beak.
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Habitat
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Many diverse water habitats.
Found in both fresh and salt water.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Western United States
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Breeding
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Breeds in fresh water.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
Split
from the Western Grebe. It can be differentiated by the
black cap which does not cover its eye as it does in the
Western
Grebe.
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
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No notes from A. C. Bent are available
for this species since the Clark's Grebe was not recognized
at that time. It is interesting that with the amount of time
that Bent spends discussing subspecies for other species the
different plumages of the Western Grebe was never mentioned.
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Name
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Food
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Fish
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dives and swims underwater to catch
fish with its sharp beak.
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Habitat
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Nests inland but spends much of the
rest of the year along coastal waters.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Primarily found in the north part of
the US and Canada.
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Breeding
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Creates nest on floating platforms on
the water (See below). Breeds primarily in
Canada.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
|
It is certainly one of the shyest of
the water birds. Its hearing must be very acute; for only
rarely would I surprise one in the marshes, when it would
disappear instantly. What few birds I saw were generally
swimming at a distance, singly or in pairs, often far out on
the lake, where they always dove long before I could get
close. Only once did I succeed in surprising one on its nest
and get a fleeting glimpse. Mr. Herbert K. Job had located a
nest in a little cove on a nearby pond; we approached it
cautiously; paddling silently around a little point and into
the cover; we were just in time to see the grebe stand up in
the nest, hastily cover the eggs, glide off into the water,
and disappear in the reeds so quickly we would hardly
realize what had happened. This was a larger, better built,
and probably a more typical nest than those described above;
it was floating in water about 3 feet deep and anchored near
the edge of growing flags (Typha latifolia) and reeds
(Scirpus
lacustris); it measured 24
inches in diameter, the inner cavity was 6 inches across and
slightly hollowed, and the rim was built up 2 or 3 inches
above the water; it was made principally of dead reeds and
flags, with a few green stems of the same, matted together
with a mass of algae and water mosses; it was lined with
well-rotted flags.
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Name
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Food
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Scavenger.
Fish and squid.
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Feeding
Techniques
|
Soars over the ocean looking for food
and then lands and picks food off the surface of the
water.
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Habitat
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Open sea; pelagic.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Pacific ocean
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Breeding
|
Nests in Hawaii. From Bent: Incubation
lasts about six weeks, both birds taking turns on the nest
so that the egg is constantly covered. The young are fed, in
the well-known manner, by regurgitation from the throat of
the parent, remaining about the islands until the following
June or July, so that the entire reproductive period
occupies about one-half of the year.
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About the
Notes from A.C. Bent
|
This section from Bent is an
interesting version of the food web. Given that, as we see
above, the albatross young are fed for about a six month
period, it is fairly easy to calculate how much squid needs
to be in the area around the islands to support the breeding
of albatross.
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Notes from A. C.
Bent
|
Food: Doctor Fisher (1900) says of
their food:
Near the forms or nests one not
infrequently finds solid pellets - disgorged by the young in
all probability, and by old birds too - consisting entirely
of squid beaks and opaque lenses of the eyes. These lenses
become very brittle and amber-like under the action of
stomach juices and show a concentric structure. Candle nuts,
the large seed of Aleurites molluccana, were found by
Mr. Snyder in the interior of the island and were almost
undoubtedly ejected by albatrosses. As is well known,
albatrosses pick up all sorts of floating material, and
candle nuts are frequently seen on the ocean, having been
swept seaward by mountain streams.
Elsewhere (1904) he says:
In their hours of toil they hie
themselves off to sea and scour the waves for the elusive
squid, which is a staple article of diet for the larger
members of the vast bird population, the gannets, perhaps,
excepted. About sunrise the main body of the white company
begins to return, and for several hours they straggle in,
tired but full, and seek their sleepy children, who are soon
very much awake. Although the Laysan albatrosses undoubtedly
do a small part of their fishing during the day, I can not
help but feel, from the nocturnal or crepuscular habits of
their food - certain cephalopods - and the prevalent feeding
hours, that the major portion is done In the very early
morning, perhaps from just preceding dawn till light. I
noted particularly during the one day I was on the steamer,
while she was dredging in the vicinity of Laysan, that very
few Laysan gonies were seen at sea after about 9 a.m. That
same day we sighted the island about 5 am., and when I
arrived on deck about 5.30 I distinctly remember seeing many
of the white species (immutabilis) circling about the
vessel. Later in the morning immutabilis almost entirely
disappeared, but some nigripes remained with us all day. On
the following morning we landed and I had no further
opportunity to observe.
As Prof. C. C. Nutting, one of the
naturalists of the expedition, has said, "the most
conservative estimate of the necessary food supply yields
almost incredible results. Cutting Mr. Schlemmer's estimate
(of the total number of albatrosses on the island) in two,
there would be 1,000,000 birds, and allowing only half a
pound a day for each, surely a minimum for these larger,
rapidly growing birds, they would consume no less than 250
tons daily."
From rather extended observations on
the feeding habits, I would place the quantity fed each
young bird every morning at nearer one or one and a half
pounds of squid (Ommastrephes
oualaniensis Less., 0. sloanei Gray, and
Onychoteuthis banksi Fer.). I believe Professor
Nutting's estimate of a million birds is not too great.
Thus, in one day the albatrosses alone would consume nearer
600 tons of squid.
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Name
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Food
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Scavenger
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Feeding
Techniques
|
Soars over the ocean looking for
food.
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Habitat
|
Open sea; pelagic.
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Plumage
|
The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
|
Pacific Ocean
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Breeding
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Nests in Hawaii.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Follows ships for days; seems to sleep
on the wing. All albatrosses are threatened by increasing
amount of plastic found on the ocean
D. nigripes refers to the
scientific name of the Black-footed Albatross
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Notes from
A.C. Bent
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As is well known, albatrosses are past
masters at soaring or sailing. If the wind is favorable they
are able to skim over the water for a long time without once
flapping their wings. D. nigripes is certainly no
exception to the general rule, and we had ample opportunity
to witness their powers. The long slender wings, with long
humeral bones, are eminently fitted for this sort of
existence, and their construction renders flapping
laborious, for in proportion to its size the albatross is
not a very muscular creature and could not fly a great
distance if obliged to do so by wing beats. When a stiff
breeze is blowing albatrosses can sail only against the wind
or with it, and are able to quarter a breeze, or go directly
across it only for a short distance and when under great
momentum. When we were steaming directly against the wind
the albatrosses had no trouble in following us, and they
would fly all around the ship without flapping their wings
except when the breeze was strong, and then they were
obliged to give a few vigorous beats when turning up into
the wind. When, however, our course lay at an angle to the
wind, they followed us by sailing in a series of ellipses.
They would, in this case, sail directly against the wind,
approaching us on the starboard quarter, go over the stern a
short distance to port, then wheel and scud before the
breeze perhaps 100 yards off the starboard quarter, when
they turned and approached us as before. Their speed was so
superior to ours that they were able to keep up without any
trouble, and their frequent trips astern and rapid
overhauling again made our cumbersome gait all the mere
apparent. Of course as they neared the turning point each
time they had to quarter the breeze a little and for a
moment sail directly across it.
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Name
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Food
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Fish
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Feeding
Techniques
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Sometimes follows other birds or
fisherman, to find fish. Very
social bird, the Sooty
Shearwater is generally found in flocks.
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Habitat
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Open sea; pelagic.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Pacific Ocean
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Breeding
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Breed on the islands around New
Zealand.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Can be found in very large flocks
along Pacific coast during August/September.
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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It breeds in great numbers on some of
the small islands off the coast of New Zealand, the nesting
places being much harried by the natives, who esteem these
shearwaters as an article of food. The burrows on the
Chatham Islands are usually formed in peaty soil, running
horizontally for three or four feet and then turning. The
nest, a rude structure composed of sticks and dead leaves,
is placed at the end of the hole. A single egg is laid, both
sexes assisting in the work of incubation, and when the
parents return to roost on shore in countless thousands, the
noise they make is deafening. If removed from their burrows
they flutter about on the ground for some time in a confused
way, but eventually make for the sea.
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Name
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Food
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Fish
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Feeding
Techniques
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Plunges into the water from a few feet
up in the air
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Habitat
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Open ocean; pelagic.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Pacific Ocean. Best seen off Monterey
during fall.
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Breeding
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Nest site is a burrow on an island in
New Zealand
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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An oologist is a person who collects
eggs. This was a very popular hobby during the 19th and
early 20th century. This is an example of an oologist
providing the only known information on the eggs of the
Bueller's Shearwater. This species like the Sooty Shearwater
breeds in the New Zealand islands.
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Eggs: I have been able to locate only
one egg of this rare shearwater. It is in the collection of
Col. John E. Thayer and was collected by William Bartlett on
Mokohinu Island, New Zealand, on October 20, 1900. It is
ovate in shape, dull, dirty white in color, and the shell is
smooth but not glossy. It measures 45.5 by 32
millimeters.
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Name
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Food
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Fish
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Feeding
Techniques
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Plunges into the water from a few feet
up in the air
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Habitat
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Open ocean; pelagic.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Pacific Ocean. Best seen off Monterey
during fall.
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Nesting: The nesting habits resemble
those of other species of the genus. Doctor Ramsay, in
acknowledging the receipt by the Australian Museum of a fine
series of birds and eggs from the Solitary Islands, gives
the following notes, derived from his correspondence: The
birds arrived early in September, and at once began
excavating their nesting holes, which consisted of short
burrows about 6 inches in diameter and from 12 to 20 inches
in length. The eggs were laid at night, but in no instance
was more than one obtained in a burrow. Although both sexes
assisted in the incubation, out of five specimens taken from
the burrows four proved to be females. The birds arrived in
countless thousands in the evening, and most of them - the
males probably, or those not engaged in hatching - returned
to sea at daybreak.
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Name
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Food
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Fish
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dives short distance from the air to
the water to catch fish. See below.
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Habitat
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Open ocean; pelagic.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Pacific Ocean. Best seen off Monterey
during fall.
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Breeding
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Breeds in colonies on islands off the
coast of Chile.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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shoal - shallow place in a body of
water
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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They are generally seen in flocks
several miles off the shore, flying like the albatross, by
rapid flappings, alternating with sailings. They congregate
quickly around shoals of fish, and dive to a short distance
beneath the water in pursuit of them. They often rest on the
water, swimming very lightly, but not rapidly, and appear to
be the most active when the wind roughens the surface of the
water, enabling them to scoop up small fish from the
agitated tops of the waves. Dr. Cooper further states that
he found this species most abundant and most approachable
about San Nicholas Island, where the water is shoal and
small fish are numerous. The birds were molting about the
first of July.
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Name
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Food
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Wide variety of marine life but
especially jellyfish.
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Feeding
Techniques
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Finds food from the wing and sets down
on the ocean to feed.
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Habitat
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Open ocean; pelagic.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Worldwide.
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Breeding
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Breeds in colonies. There are seven
color variations of Northern Fulmars that go from dark to
very light.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from
A.C. Bent
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The fulmar is a distinctly pelagic
species of arctic seas, where it is ever associated with
drifting icebergs and floating pack ice. Like the albatross
it spends much of its time on the wing and is particularly
active in rough and stormy weather. It is the constant
companion of the arctic whalers and is well known to the
hardy explorers who risk their lives in dangerous northern
seas, where it follows the ships to gorge itself on what
scraps it can pick up, rests to digest its unsavory food on
some rugged block of ice and retires to some lonely crag to
rear its young. There is little that is attractive in its
surroundings at any time, in the forbidding climate of the
rugged, frozen north, but there it seems to live and
flourish, rising successful and triumphant over adverse
conditions.
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Name
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Food
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Fish, crustaceans.
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Feeding
Techniques
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Feeds off the surface of the
water.
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Habitat
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Ocean
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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West coast
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Behavior: Mr. Anthony (1900a) writes,
of the night flight of these petrels about their breeding
grounds, as follows:
Hauling the boat out on the shingle, a
few steps places us in the city of birds, a fact we
discovered by breaking through into the burrows at almost
every step, but the birds themselves are very much in
evidence. Hundreds of inky black objects are dashing about
with bat-like flight, now here, now there, with no apparent
object in their wanderings. Like butterflies they come and
go, flitting so near at times that one attempts to catch
them as they pass.
Others are constantly coming from the
burrows to join in the revel. Each, as it reaches the outer
air, utters its characteristic call, flops along the ground
a few feet, somewhat like an old felt hat before the wind,
and is away, as gracefully and airy as the rest. Those in
the air are constantly calling and from the ground under our
feet come answering cries. The noise and confusion suggests
a busy street in a city.
He (1898) also says:
Both 0. melanie and 0. socorroessis
will at times dive a foot or more below the surface for a
piece of meat that is sinking if they are hungry, but diving
seems to be out of their usual line of business and is only
resorted to when food is scarce. They seem to be unable to
get below the surface of the water without first rising two
or three feet and plunging or dropping, exactly as I have
seen the black-footed
and short-tailed albatrosses
dive under similar circumstances.
In the same paper he speaks of the
notes of the black petrel as follows:
On the first night of my sojourn I had
scarcely fallen asleep, curled up on a rocky shelf just
above the water, when I was suddenly recalled to my senses
by a loud Tuc-o-ree, inc-tuc-a.-roo within two feet of my
head. The call was repeated from a half dozen directions and
as many bat-like forms were seen flitting back and forth in
the moonlight along the cliffs and hillside. One or two
attempts to shoot them proved utter failures, and the black
forms soon moved out to sea, returning at intervals of an
hour or so all night The next afternoon I located one of the
birds in a burrow under an immense rock, as I passed on my
way to camp. It several times uttered a clicking note which
I felt sure was that of a petrel.
He refers to the notes as harsher than
those of the Socorro petrel.
Mr. Howell writes to me:
They begin visiting their nests at
8.30 p. m. and are very active until shortly before dawn.
Pitching in from the sea they come like big black bats
rocking on the breeze and uttering their loud weird call.
This I am unable to describe, except In that it consists of
four notes. D. R. Dickey and A. van Rossem state that,
during the night the bird at or on the nest utters a series
of notes suggestive of the song of the wren-tit.
Mr. Howell also says that the black
petrels suffer "considerably from the depredations of the
duck
hawks, as their dry remains on
the islands bear mute witness.
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Name
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Fork Tailed
Petrel
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Lesson
Plan
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Food
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Fish, crustaceans.
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Feeding
Techniques
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Quite often will gather food while it
flies.
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Habitat
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Open ocean; pelagic.
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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Pacific ocean
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Breeding
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Nest in colonies on islands. During
breeding time the Fork-tailed Petrel is active only during
the night.
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Doctor
Grinnell
(1897) who was forced to spend
a night on St. Lazaria Island, had an unusually good
opportunity to study the midnight flight of the
forked-tailed petrel on its breeding grounds, which he
graphically describes as follows:
After the sun set and the long summer
twilight began to make the woods a little gloomy, the
petrels became more active. Their curious calls came from
every direction in the ground, though as yet not a bird was
to he seen. Presently a little stir in the grass called
attention to a petrel which clumsily scrambled from his
hole, and after the usual fumbling put himself in flight and
betook himself speedily out to sea. Soon others appeared and
others and others. The crows, their enemies, had by this
time gone to roost, and as the gloom grew deeper the petrels
became more numerous. Those which had been out to sea all
day began to arrive among the trees, and were even more
awkward than those leaving. They flew against branches and
bushes and into my face, but all ultimately seemed to know
where their respective homes were. The chorus of their cries
was curious and depressing to one's spirits, and the chilly
air was constantly being fanned into my face by their
noiseless wings. The light-colored ghostly forms of the
forktails were much more readily discernible than the dark
Leach's, The ground was alive with struggling petrels, and I
picked up as many as I chose. As the twilight of evening
slowly merged into dawn the height of their activity was
reached. I walked from end to end of the wooded part of the
island, and everywhere the petrels were equally
numerous.
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Name
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Food
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Fish
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Feeding
Techniques
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Kleptoparasite.
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Habitat
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Tropical coastal waters.
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Plumage
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Male develops giant red throat pouch
during breeding
season.
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Distribution
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Southeast coast from Florida to
Texas.
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
Not only does the Frigatebird steal
fish from other species, they also steal fish from each
other, as the account below shows. It almost seems like a
game that the Frigatebirds are playing.
Pinions
is another word for feathers.
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Audubon
(1840) gives the following graphic account of its fishing
prowess:
Yonder, over the waves, leaps the
brilliant dolphin, as he pursues the flying fishes, which he
expects to seize the moment they drop into the water. The
frigate-bird, who has marked them, closes his wings, dives
toward them, and now ascending, holds one of the tiny things
across his bill. Already fifty yards above the sea, he spies
a porpoise in full chase, launches toward the spot, and in
passing seizes the mullet that had escaped from its dreaded
foe; but now, having obtained a fish too large for his
gullet, he rises, munching it all the while, as if bound for
the skies. Three or four of his own tribe have watched him
and observed his success. They shoot toward him on broadly
extended pinions, rise in wide circles,
smoothly, yet as swiftly as himself. They are now all at the
same height, and each as it overtakes him, lashes him with
its wings, and tugs at his prey. See! one has fairly robbed
him, but before he can secure the contested fish it drops.
One of the other birds has caught it, but he is pursued by
all. From bill to bill, and through the air, rapidly falls
the fish, until it drops quite dead on the waters, and sinks
into the deep. Whatever disappointment the hungry birds
feel, they seem to deserve it all.
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Name
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Food
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Fish
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Feeding
Techniques
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Dives from the air into the
water.
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Habitat
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Sea of Cortez
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Plumage
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The
male and the female have the same plumage.
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Distribution
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In the US it is only seen on a regular
basis at the Salton Sea or in Baja California.
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Breeding
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About the Notes
from A.C. Bent
|
obliquely - slanting or sloping
direction
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Notes from A.C.
Bent
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Food: The food of this booby consists
principally and probably wholly of fish. Mr. Gifford (1913)
describes the methods employed as follows:
The fish were almost invariably caught
by diving, although an occasional flying fish was chased and
caught while in the air. It was a common thing to see
blue-footed boobies fishing in flocks, often all diving
simultaneously. They dive with wings half closed and neck
rigid and straight, striking the water with great force. As
all would not get fish when diving in a flock, there was
usually considerable squabbling over captures. One day a
booby was seen to enter the water obliquely at a very small
angle, appearing quickly on the surface again and continuing
its line of flight without a pause.
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