Latin names

Spizella pusilla

Posted on Friday, 10 May 2013 by The Birding Bunch

1 Corinthians 6:
2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
3 Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
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This is a cute button of a bird, one of the smallest sparrows. It has such a fun sounding Latin name, Spizella pusilla. Say it a few times and you will not forget its name. It’s specie name, pusilla means tiny.

The Field Sparrow is overall more pale than other sparrows. This photo shows the faded appearance of the crown.

I am curious, what color is this bird’s bill? Every field guide I have looked at calls this color pink. I think it looks orange. What do you see?

And off topic…
Finally!

Categories: dangers to birds, di fekkel, di shpatza, Latin names, links | 3 Comments

Emberizidae Family

Posted on Thursday, 2 May 2013 by The Birding Bunch

Ephesians 3:
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
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In common language, this is the Sparrow family. But that is misleading. Not all are named Sparrow. You have Juncos, Longspurs, a Bunting, and Towhees. In Iowa, there have been seen 26 of these birds. Also, a couple of birds that are named Sparrow are not true sparrows. A list of Emberizids can be found here.

Our Lincoln’s Sparrow has returned!

This has been the time for sparrows. In the last week, we’ve seen in our yard this fellow, Swamp, White-crowned, White-throated, and our beloved Harris’s Sparrows. And this batch of Harris’s is feisty! They want no one eating their food. It was funny watching them charge after the HOSP!

Talking about House Sparrows, you may know their numbers are decreasing in their native land over in Europe. People here joke about wanting to ship them back. I have to wonder how would the Americanized HOSP handle life across the big pond? Would they be the same aggressive bird as here and then become a pest? Or would they struggle to survive as their relatives?

Not sure if I am happy or not. We got our first of the year House Wren in the yard today (29 April). They are cute little things with a perky song. But the males get bored and cause some ugly trouble for other birds. He is fairly early this year compared to last.

Categories: di shpatza, Harris's Sparrow, Latin names

Past Tense of Pie

Posted on Friday, 19 April 2013 by The Birding Bunch

Genesis 11:
6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
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As we entered into the world of birding, we discovered some strange and unusual bird names. This is one of them.

Pied-billed Grebe

At least it is easily pronounced. You do not want to know how we slaughtered Merganser, Scaup and other names. It’s probably a good thing we do not live within the Pyrrhuloxia’s range.

The Pied-billed Grebe is an interesting bird. It looks like a duck, but it isn’t. Here is a link to show you what their feet look like. They are very similar to Coots’. The Pied-billed’s feet are closer to their back end. Because of this, they cannot walk on land very well, nor can they take off unless they are in water. They belong to the order, Podicipediformes, which means “Rumpfoots”. These birds are excellent divers and this is their means of escape from predators.

You may wonder about why this is called a Pied-Billed Grebe. This has nothing to do with a flaky crusted dessert. “Pied” means two or more colors.

Bird facts from Iowa Birdlife by Gladys Black

Categories: bird facts, di fekkel, Latin names, links

Favorite Search of the Week

Posted on Saturday, 16 March 2013 by The Birding Bunch

Ioannes 3:
16 sic enim dilexit Deus mundum ut Filium suum unigenitum daret ut omnis qui credit in eum non pereat sed habeat vitam aeternam*

dendroica but using oreothlypis?
took them to this:
Oreothlypis and Dendroica

It will be awhile yet before we see any Warblers in our yard. It was kind of a fluke to see the Myrtle Warbler when we did. They must be pretty hearty to survive an Iowa winter.

*John 3:16 in Latin

Categories: Latin names

Flaming Explosive

Posted on Monday, 11 March 2013 by The Birding Bunch

Romans 12:
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
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This is not a full-fledged explosion, just a minor Redpoll explosion. Only a few in flight.

This morning, Monday, I was blessed to hear a chorus when I went out to take care of the feeders. Upon hearing all these new noises, I got the binocs and saw it was our little Redpolls. They have several calls, one could be described as a rattle, and another reminded me of a deeper Goldfinch alarm call. There were other vocalizations that I cannot even begin to describe.

The Latin name for our little birds is Carduelis flammea, a flaming red finch. The American Goldfinch belongs to the same genus.

Tuesday, 5 March update: We keep expecting to wake up one morning and find these sweet birds gone, but the numbers keep increasing. Our best estimate was 73 this morning. I was able to get 56 in one photo right after listening to 5-10 in a south tree. Plus there were Redpolls at other feeders. I hesitate to submit this to Ebird until our 50+ counts are accepted. Will they believe me? We can hardly believe this ourselves. Now we are doing our best to see if there are any Hoary Redpolls in the mix. They should be easy to pick out with an overall frosty appearance.

Categories: bird rarities, di fekkel, Latin names

Cold Butter

Posted on Tuesday, 12 February 2013 by The Birding Bunch

Psalm 55:
20 He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant.
21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.
22 Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
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Warning: Bad photo alert.

I had no idea these little birds wintered here. My field guides all say they are here for migration only.