Uploads from splinx1, tagged cardinalidae

Spring Singer

nobody@flickr.com (splinx1) — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:51:29 -0700

splinx1 posted a photo:

As I maneuvered to get the singing bird against a better background, I found this interesting composition, with the popping bud adding just the right touch. Although its beak is shut here, the ruffled throat feathers reflect this particular passage in the Rose-breasted's song, which sometimes sounds to me like "Pretty kitty fur..."

Tanager's World

nobody@flickr.com (splinx1) — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:06:52 -0700

splinx1 posted a photo:

This male Western Tanager is in full breeding plumage.

The AOU has moved the genus Piranga from Tanagers (Thraupidae) to the Cardinals (Cardinalidae), along with two other genera.

Lerp Search

nobody@flickr.com (splinx1) — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:13:55 -0700

splinx1 posted a photo:

Not yet in his full breeding plumage, this male Western Tanager nibbles on lerps.

"...a lerp is a structure of crystallized honeydew produced by larvae of psyllid insects as a protective cover." -Wiki

The lerps are tiny, but several species of birds seem to find them delicious. Psyllids are known as Jumping Plant Lice. Wherever Tasmanian Blue Gum Eucalyptus grow in California, the Red Gum Psylid seems to find them, but the birds aren't complaining.

In the early light, the Blue Gum leaves show their many shades of green and teal.

Primarily Tanager

nobody@flickr.com (splinx1) — Sat, 19 May 2012 16:48:03 -0700

splinx1 posted a photo:

Although brightly colored, the Tanagers can be hard to observe, and the much duller, seemingly shyer females are even more difficult to spot. They are active and agile among the branches and leaves, usually shaking things up a little, and sometimes flying up and hovering to snatch an overhead morsel, then dropping down to their perch like a precision acrobat, and also doing standard flycatching, as well.

Western Tanager

nobody@flickr.com (splinx1) — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:08:43 -0700

splinx1 posted a photo:

The Western Tanager joins several other species of birds gleaning insects from the leaves, branches, and trunk of the Eucalyptus tree. I saw this male Tanager doing some short range fly-catching, as well.

Fuzzy fibers just visible on the tip of the Tanager's beak provide us with an important clue to the Tanager's activity in the Eucalyptus trees.

The Eucalyptus trees are not native to California, and some people don't like them, but these trees provide shelter and nutrition for a wide variety of birds. A peculiar type of insect larvae constructs little domes made of fuzzy material on the Eucalyptus leaves, and some birds feast on these.

Birds seen feeding on insects and/or lerps on the Eucalyptus tree include Anna's Hummingbird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Lesser Goldfinch, House Finch, House Sparrow, Bullock's Oriole, Black Headed Grosbeak, Western Tanager, Bushtit, Hermit Thrush and Western Kingbird. Other birds such as White-winged Dove, Northern Mockingbird, American Kestrel, and the American Robin have been seen perched in the row of trees.