Looking at all those Parrots and others in the family, they definitely have “Coats of Many Colors” also. Just wanted to share their beautifully created plumage also. Most of us are familiar with parrots and parakeets. Many have them as pets or have seen them in the wild. So you are sort of familiar with them, but I am sure as you view the slideshow, you will see many that you haven’t seen before.
I also want to share the only birds I had personally. My preference is that the birds roam free, or are being kept from extinction in zoos or other similar situation. There is nothing wrong with having a pet, but I am just stating my preference. We ended up with two Monk Parakeets when we lived in south Florida. They are wild down there (up here also), but one day the neighbor boys came to my door and told me about an injured Monk Parakeet. A teenager had shot it out of a tree and the smaller boys found it. They said, “You love birds and you will know what to do.” That began the adventure with my bird. I had never kept a bird in my life, but knew that my veterinarian was also a bird vet. Long story short, I ended up with a one-winged bird that could never go back to the wild. My “free bird” ended up costing over $200 for vet bills. (This was over 20 years ago). Dan wanted to call it “One-armed Bandit” because it cost me so much, but I took the “t” off of “Bandit” and it became “Bandi.” I think it was a “she” because she was so sweet.
Well a year later, my friend bought two Monks and told me there was one more, but it had a deformed leg. Another long story short, I bought “Hoppy” for $25 and ended up spending another $200 getting a broken leg repaired. It was an amazing surgery the vet performed. “Hoppy” had to be a male, because he could be mischievous at times, but he learned to talk and was quite enjoyable (most of the time). The picture shows “Hoppy” with the bandage in front and “Bandi” in the background.
Hoppy in front, Bandi in back – Monk Parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus)
The only two verses in Scripture, that I know of, that would apply to this would be:
For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: (James 3:7 KJV)
As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. (Jeremiah 5:27 KJV)
Back to the Coats of Many Colors, below is a slideshow showing some of our beautiful and personable members of the Psittacidae – Parrots Family.
Kingbird of Birds Illustrated by Color Photography, 1897
From col. F. M. Woodruff. Copyrighted by
Nature Study Pub. Co., 1897, Chicago.
THE KINGBIRD.
T is somewhat strange that there should be little unity of opinion concerning a bird as well known as is this charming fellow, who has at least one quality which we all admire—courage. We will quote a few of the opinions of well-known observers as to whether his other characteristics are admirable, and let the reader form his own conclusion.
John Burroughs says of him: “The exquisite of the family, and the braggart of the orchard, is the Kingbird, a bully that loves to strip the feathers off its more timid neighbors like the Bluebird, that feeds on the stingless bees of the hive, the drones, and earns the reputation of great boldness by teasing large hawks, while it gives a wide berth to the little ones.” Decidedly, this classifies him with the English Sparrow. But we will hear Dr. Brewer: “The name, Kingbird, is given it on the supposition that it is superior to all other birds in the reckless courage with which it will maintain an unequal warfare. My own observations lead me to the conclusion that writers have somewhat exaggerated the quarrelsome disposition of this bird. I have never, or very rarely, known it to molest or attack any other birds than those which its own instinct prompts it to drive away in self-defense, such as Hawks, Owls, Eagles, Crows, Jays, Cuckoos, and Grackles.” That Dr. Coues is a friend of the Kingbird, his language amply proves: “The Kingbird is not quarrelsome—simply very lively. He is the very picture of dash and daring in defending his home, and when he is teaching his youngsters how to fly. He is one of the best of neighbors, and a brave soldier. An officer of the guild of Sky Sweepers, also a Ground Gleaner and Tree Trapper killing robber-flies, ants, beetles, and rose-bugs. A good friend to horses and cattle, because he kills the terrible gadflies. Eats a little fruit, but chiefly wild varieties, and only now and then a bee.” If you now have any difficulty in making up your verdict, we will present the testimony of one other witness, who is, we think, an original observer, as well as a delightful writer, Bradford Torrey. He was in the country. “Almost, I could have believed myself in Eden,” he says. “But, alas, even the birds themselves were long since shut out of that garden of innocence, and as I started back toward the village a Crow went hurrying past me, with a Kingbird in hot pursuit. The latter was more fortunate than usual, or more plucky, actually alighting on the Crow’s back, and riding for some distance. I could not distinguish his motions—he was too far away for that—but I wished him joy of his victory, and grace to improve it to the full. For it is scandalous that a bird of the Crow’s cloth should be a thief; and so, although I reckon him among my friends—in truth, because I do so—I am always able to take it patiently when I see him chastised for his fault.”
The Kingbird is a common bird in Eastern United States, but is rare west of the Rocky Mountains. It is perhaps better known by the name of Beebird or Bee-martin. The nest is placed in an orchard or garden, or by the roadside, on a horizontal bough or in the fork at a moderate height; sometimes in the top of the tallest trees along streams. It is bulky, ragged, and loose, but well capped and brimmed, consisting of twigs, grasses, rootlets, bits of vegetable down, and wool firmly matted together, and lined with feathers, hair, etc.
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) by Margaret Sloan
THE KINGBIRD.
You think, my young friends, because I am called Kingbird I should be large and fine looking.
Well, when you come to read about Kings in your history-book you will find that size has nothing to do with Kingliness. I have heard, indeed, that some of them were very puny little fellows, in mind as well as in body.
If it is courage that makes a king then I have the right to be called Kingbird. They say I have a reckless sort of courage, because I attack birds a great deal larger than myself.
I would not call it courage to attack anything smaller than myself, would you? A big man finds it easy to shoot a little bird in the air; and a big boy does not need to be brave to kill or cripple some poor little animal that crosses his path. He only needs to be a coward to do that!
I only attack my enemies,—the Hawks, Owls, Eagles, Crows, Jays, and Cuckoos. They would destroy my young family if I did not drive them away. Mr. Crow especially is a great thief. When my mate is on her nest I keep a sharp lookout, and when one of my enemies approaches I give a shrill cry, rise in the air, and down I pounce on his back; I do this more than once, and how I make the feathers fly!
The little hawks and crows I never attack, and yet they call me a bully. Sometimes I do go for a Song-bird or a Robin, but only when they come too near my nest. People wonder why I never attack the cunning Catbird. I’ll never tell them, you may be sure!
To what family do I belong? To a large family called Flycatchers. Because some Kings are tyrants I suppose, they call me the Tyrant Flycatcher. Look for me next summer on top of a wire fence or dead twig of a tree, and watch me, every few minutes, dash into the air, seize a passing insect, and then fly back to the same perch again.
Any other names? Yes, some folks call me the Bee Bird or Bee Martin. Once in awhile I change my diet and do snap up a bee! but it is always a drone, not a honey-bee. Some ill-natured people say I choose the drones because they can’t sting, and not because they are tramp bees and will not work.
Sing? Yes, when my mate is on her nest I please her with a soft pretty song, at other times my call-note is a piercing Kyrie-K-y-rie! I live with you only in the summer. When September comes I fly away to a warmer climate.
Summary:
KINGBIRD.—Tyrannus tyrannus.
Range—North America north to New Brunswick and Manitoba; rare west of the Rocky Mountains; winters in Central and South America.
Nest—Compact and symmetrical, of weed-stocks, grasses, and moss, lined with plant down, fine grasses, and rootlets, generally at the end of a branch fifteen to twenty-five feet from the ground.
Eggs—Three to five, white, spotted with umber.
Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) Eating by Margaret Sloan
Lee’s Addition:
Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises! For God is the King of all the earth; Sing praises with understanding. (Psalms 47:6-7 NKJV)
The Eastern Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) is a large tyrant flycatcher native to North America that are part of the Tyrannidae – Tyrant Flycatchers Family. There are 421 species assigned to that family, at present. Eleven of those are Kingbirds.
Adults are grey-black on the upperparts with light underparts; they have a long black tail with a white end and long pointed wings. They have a red patch on their crown, seldom seen. They are of average size for a kingbird, at 7.5–9 in (19–23 cm), 13–15 in (33–38 cm) across the wings and weighing 1.2-1.9 oz (33-55 g).
The call is a high-pitched, buzzing and unmusical chirp, frequently compared to an electric fence.
Their breeding habitat is open areas across North America. They make a sturdy cup nest in a tree or shrub, sometimes on top of a stump or pole. These birds aggressively defend their territory, even against much larger birds.
These birds migrate in flocks to South America. There is one European record, from Ireland in October 2012.
They wait on an open perch and fly out to catch insects in flight, sometimes hovering to pick food off vegetation. They also eat berries and fruit, mainly in their wintering areas.
Some eastern kingbirds place their nests in the open while others hide nests very well. Eastern kingbirds in Southern British Columbia can nest in open fields; in shrubs over open water; high in tall trees and even in the tops of small stumps. Both male and female participate in nest defense, but females may stay on well-hidden nests longer than females with open nests who may leave nests earlier to chase away predators. Those pairs nesting in the open may be able to see predators coming earlier and rely on aggressive behavior to protect their young.
They can recognize and remove cowbird eggs from their nests. Still, blue jays, American crows, squirrels, and tree-climbing snakes are on occasion nest predators. American kestrels are probable predators of adults.
For the LORD is the great God, And the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. (Psalms 95:3-6 NKJV)
The above article is an article in the monthly serial for October 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Even the stork in the sky Knows her seasons; And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush Observe the time of their migration; But My people do not know The ordinance of the LORD. (Jeremiah 8:7 NASB)
Warbling Vireo of Birds Illustrated by Color Photography, 1897
THE WARBLING VIREO.
HE Vireos are a family of singers and are more often heard than seen, but the Warbler has a much more musical voice, and of greater compass than any other member of the family. The song ripples like a brook, floating down from the leafiest tree-tops. It is not much to look at, being quite plainly dressed in contrast with the red-eyed cousin, the largest of the Vireos. In nesting time it prefers seclusion, though in the spring and mid-summer, when the little ones have flown, and nesting cares have ceased, it frequents the garden, singing in the elms and birches, and other tall trees. It rambles as well through the foliage of trees in open woodland, in parks, and in those along the banks of streams, where it diligently searches the under side of leaves and branches for insect life, “in that near-sighted way peculiar to the tribe.” It is a very stoic among birds, and seems never surprised at anything, “even at the loud report of a gun, with the shot rattling about it in the branches, and, if uninjured, it will stand for a moment unconcerned, or move along, peering on every side amongst the foliage, warbling its tender, liquid strains.”
The nest of this species is like that of the Red-eyed Vireo—a strong, durable, basket-like fabric, made of bark strips, lined with fine grasses. It is suspended by the brim in slender, horizontal forks of branches, at a great height from the ground.
The Vireo is especially numerous among the elms of Boston Common, where at almost any hour of the day, from early in the month of May, until long after summer has gone, may be heard the prolonged notes of the Warbling species, which was an especial favorite of Dr. Thomas M. Brewer, author of “History of North American Birds.” Its voice is not powerful, but its melody, it is said, is flute-like and tender, and its song is perhaps characterized more by its air of happy contentment, than by any other special quality. No writer on birds has grown enthusiastic on the subject, and Bradford Torrey alone among them does it scant justice, when he says this Vireo “is admirably named; there is no one of our birds that can more properly be said to warble. He keeps further from the ground than the others, and shows a strong preference for the elms of village streets, out of which his delicious music drops upon the ears of all passers underneath. How many of them hear it and thank the singer, is unhappily another question.”
Summary:
WARBLING VIREO.—Vireo gilvus. Other name: “Yellow-throated Vireo.”
Range—North America; breeds as far north as the Hudson Bay region; winters in the tropics.
Nest—Pensile, of grasses and plant fibres, firmly and smoothly interwoven, lined with fine grasses, suspended from a forked branch eight to forty feet up.
Eggs—Three or four, white, with a few specks or spots of black umber, or rufous-brown, chiefly about the larger end.
Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) by Raymond Barlow
Lee’s Addition:
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones. (Proverbs 17:22 KJV)
A rejoicing heart doth good to the body, And a smitten spirit drieth the bone. (Proverbs 17:22 YLT)
The birds of heaven dwell by them; they give forth their voice from among the branches. (Psalms 104:12 Darby)
Another one of the Lord’s little beauties that loves to sing. The Vireos are in the Vireonidae – Vireos, Greenlets Family.
The Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus) is a small North American songbird. Adults are 4.7 in (12 cm) long and weigh 0.4 oz (12 g). They are mainly olive-grey on the head and upperparts with white underparts; they have brown eyes and the front of the face is light. There is a white supercilium. They have thick blue-grey legs and a stout bill. Western birds are generally smaller and have darker grey crowns.
Its breeding habitat is open deciduous and mixed woods from Alaska to Mexico and the Florida Panhandle. It often nests along streams. It migrates to Mexico and Central America. The female quivers wings, oft in response to courtship song of the male, who likes to strut around the female with wings and tail spread.
Warbling Vireo (Vireo gilvus swainsoni) by Ian
They forage for insects in trees, hopping along branches and sometimes hovering. They also eat berries, especially before migration and in winter quarters, where they are – like other vireos – apparently quite fond of Gumbo-limbo seeds, though they will not venture into human-modified habitat to get them.
They make a deep cup nest (photo) suspended from a tree branch or shrub, placed relatively high in the east and lower in the west. The male helps with incubation and may sing from the nest.
**[Music to be added. Was Hacked of my sight]**
Their song is a cheerful warble, similar to that of the Painted Bunting. There are subtle differences in song between eastern and western birds, at least where the ranges meet in Alberta. Some authorities split the eastern and western races of this species into separate species:
The Western Warbling Vireo, V. swainsoni, includes V. g. swainsoni, which breeds from southeastern Alaska and southwestern Northwest Territories to the Sierra San Pedro Mártir, Baja California, and V. g. brewsteri, which breeds from southern Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana to south-central Oaxaca. These two subspecies winter in Mexico. The swainsoni group also includes V. g. victoriae, an isolated population breeding in the Sierra de la Laguna, Baja California Sur, and migrating to unknown wintering grounds.
The Eastern Warbling Vireo, V. gilvus, breeds from central Alberta and northern Montana east and south through most of the United States and parts of southern Canada, outside the range of the previous group. It winters south of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec from south-central Chiapas to Nicaragua. It completes its autumn molt on the breeding grounds, while the swainsonii group completes it after leaving.
The Brown-capped Vireo (Vireo leucophrys), resident in Central America and northern South America, is sometimes considered conspecific with the Warbling Vireo.
The above article is an article in the monthly serial for October 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
What an amazing animal! God did some very special engineering from the git-go! None of this “grocery store” new and improved nonsense. He got it entirely right the first time.
The Amazing Camel and It’s Creator
(From Moody Press)
If you ever doubted that God exists, Meet the Very Technical, Highly Engineered Dromedary Camel.
When I’m hungry, I’ll eat almost anything-A leather bridle, a piece of rope, my master’s tent, Or a pair of shoes.
My mouth is so tough a thorny cactus doesn’t bother it. I love to chow down grass and other plants That grow here on the Arabian desert.
I’m a dromedary camel, the one-hump kind That lives on hot deserts in the Middle East.
My hump, all eighty pounds of it, Is filled with fat-my body fuel-not water as some people believe. My Mighty Maker gave it to me because He knew I wouldn’t always be able to find food As I travel across the hot sands. When I don’t find any chow, my body automatically Takes fat from the hump, feeds my system, And keeps me going strong. This is my emergency food supply.
If I can’t find any plants to munch, my body uses up my hump. When the hump gets smaller, it starts to tip to one side. But when I get to a nice oasis and begin to eat again, My hump soon builds back to normal.
I’ve been known to drink twenty-seven gallons of water in ten minutes. My Master Designer made me in such a fantastic way that In a matter of minutes all the water I’ve swallowed Travels to the billions of microscopic cells that make up my flesh.
Naturally, the water I swallow first goes into my stomach. There thirsty blood vessels absorb and carry it to every part of my body. Scientists have tested my stomach and found it empty Ten minutes after I’ve drunk twenty gallons.
In an eight hour day I can carry a four hundred pound load A hundred miles across a hot, dry desert And not stop once for a drink or something to eat. In fact, I’ve been known to go eight days without a drink, But then I look a wreck. I lose 227 pounds, my ribs show through my skin, And I look terribly skinny. But I feel great! I look thin because the billions of cells lose their water. They’re no longer fat. They’re flat.
Normally my blood contains 94 percent water, just like yours. But when I can’t find any water to drink, The heat of the sun gradually robs a little water out of my blood. Scientists have found that my blood can lose up to 40 percent of its water, and I’m still healthy.
Doctor’s say human blood has to stay very close to 94 percent water. If you lose 5 percent of it, you can’t see anymore; 10 percent, you can’t Hear and you go insane; 12 percent, your blood is as thick as molasses And your heart can’t pump the thick stuff. It stops, and you’re dead.
But that’s not true with me. Why? Scientists say my blood is different. My red cells are elongated. Yours are round. Maybe that’s what makes the difference.
This proves I’m designed for the desert, Or the desert is designed for me. Did you ever hear of a design without a Designer?
After I find a water hole, I’ll drink for about ten minutes And my skinny body starts to change almost immediately. In that short time my body fills out nicely, I don’t look skinny anymore, And I gain back the 227 pounds I lost.
Even though I lose a lot of water on the desert, My body conserves it too. Way in the beginning when my intelligent Engineer made me, He gave me a specially designed nose that saves water. When I exhale, I don’t lose much. My nose traps that warm, moist air from my lungs And absorbs it in my nasal membranes.
Tiny blood vessels in those membranes take that back into my blood. How’s that for a recycling system? Pretty cool, isn’t it. It works because my nose is cool. My cool nose changes that warm moisture in the air From my lungs into water.
But how does my nose get cool? I breath in hot dry desert air, And it goes through my wet nasal passages. This produces a cooling effect, and my nose stays as much as 18 degrees cooler than the rest of my body.
I love to travel the beautiful sand dunes. It’s really quite easy, because My Creator gave me specially engineered sand shoes for feet. My hooves are wide, and they get even wider when I step on them. Each foot has two long, bony toes with tough, leathery skin between my soles, are a little like webbed feet.
They won’t let me sink into the soft, drifting sand. This is good, because often my master wants me to carry him one hundred miles across the desert in just one day. (I troop about ten miles per hour.)
Sometimes a big windstorm comes out of nowhere, bringing flying sand with it. My Master Designer put special muscles in my nostrils that close the openings, keeping sand out of my nose but still allowing me enough air to breathe.
My eyelashes arch down over my eyes like screens, keeping the sand and sun out but still letting me see clearly. If a grain of sand slips through and gets in my eye, the Creator took care of that too. He gave me an inner eyelid that automatically wipes the sand off my eyeball just like a windshield wiper.
Some people think I’m conceited because I always walk around with my head held high and my nose in the air.
But that’s just because of the way I’m made. My eyebrows are so thick and bushy I have to hold my head high to peek out from underneath them. I’m glad I have them though. They shade my eyes from the bright sun.
Desert people depend on me for many things. Not only am I their best form of transportation, but I’m also their grocery store. Mrs. Camel gives very rich milk that people make into butter and cheese. I shed my thick fur coat once a year, and that can be woven into cloth. A few young camels are used for beef, but I don’t like to talk about that.
For a long time we camels have been called the “ships of the desert” because of the way we sway from side to side when we trot. Some of our riders get seasick.
I sway from side to side because of the way my legs work. Both legs on one side move forward at the same time, elevating that side. My “left, right left, right” motion makes my rider feel like he is in a rocking chair going sideways.
When I was six months old, special knee pads started to grow on my front legs. The intelligent Creator knew I had to have them. They help me lower my 1000 pounds to the ground.
If I didn’t have them, my knees would soon become sore and infected, and I could never lie down. I’d die of exhaustion.
By the way, I don’t get thick knee pads because I fall on my knees. I fall on my knees because I already have these tough pads. Someone very great thought of me and knew I needed them. He designed them into my genes.
It’s real difficult for me to understand how some people say I evolved into what I now am. I’m very technical, highly engineered dromedary camel. Things like me don’t just happen.
They’re planned on a drawing board by Someone very brilliant, Someone very logical.
John 1:1 says,
“In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.”
The Word means “logical, intelligent One.”
(Received in an e-Mail, but found it on the Lakeside Church of Christ website. Not sure who to give the credit to. Could not find it on the Moody site. We do know the ultimate credit goes to – The Creator.)
Yellow-billed Cuckoo for Birds Illustrated by Color Photography, 1897
THE CUCKOO.
UR first introduction to the Cuckoo was by means of the apparition which issued hourly from a little German clock, such as are frequently found in country inns. This particular clock had but one dial hand, and the exact time of day could not be determined by it until the appearance of the Cuckoo, who, in a squeaking voice, seemed to announce that it was just one hour later or earlier, as the case might be, than at his last appearance. We were puzzled, and remember fancying that a sun dial, in clear weather, would be far more satisfactory as a time piece. “Coo-coo,” the image repeated, and then retired until the hour hand should summon him once more.
To very few people, not students of birds, is the Cuckoo really known. Its evanescent voice is often recognized, but being a solitary wanderer even ornithologists have yet to learn much of its life history. In their habits the American and European Cuckoos are so similar that whatever of poetry and sentiment has been written of them is applicable alike to either. A delightful account of the species may be found in Dixon’s Bird Life, a book of refreshing and original observation.
“The Cuckoo is found in the verdant woods, in the coppice, and even on the lonely moors. He flits from one stunted tree to another and utters his notes in company with the wild song of the Ring Ousel and the harsh calls of the Grouse and Plover. Though his notes are monotonous, still no one gives them this appellation. No! this little wanderer is held too dear by us all as the harbinger of spring for aught but praise to be bestowed on his mellow notes, which, though full and soft, are powerful, and may on a calm morning, before the everyday hum of human toil begins, be heard a mile away, over wood, field, and lake. Toward the summer solstice his notes are on the wane, and when he gives them forth we often hear him utter them as if laboring under great difficulty, and resembling the syllables, “Coo-coo-coo-coo”.”
On one occasion Dixon says he heard a Cuckoo calling in treble notes, Cuck oo-oo, cuck-oo-oo, inexpressibly soft and beautiful, notably the latter one. He at first supposed an echo was the cause of these strange notes, the bird being then half a mile away, but he satisfied himself that this was not the case, as the bird came and alighted on a noble oak a few yards from him and repeated the notes. The Cuckoo utters his notes as he flies, but only, as a rule, when a few yards from the place on which he intends alighting.
The opinion is held by some observers that Nature has not intended the Cuckoo to build a nest, but influences it to lay its eggs in the nests of other birds, and intrust its young to the care of those species best adapted to bring them to maturity. But the American species does build a nest, and rears its young, though Audubon gives it a bad character, saying: “It robs smaller birds of their eggs.” It does not deserve the censure it has received, however, and it is useful in many ways. Its hatred of the worm is intense, destroying many more than it can eat. So thoroughly does it do its work, that orchards, which three years ago, were almost leafless, the trunks even being covered by slippery webbing, are again yielding a good crop.
In September and October the Cuckoo is silent and suddenly disappears. “He seldom sees the lovely tints of autumn, and never hears the wintry storm-winds’ voice, for, impelled by a resistless impulse, he wings his way afar over mountain, stream, and sea, to a land where northern blasts are not felt, and where a summer sun is shining in a cloudless sky.”
From col. O. E. Pagin.Copyrighted by Nature Study Pub. Co., 1897, Chicago.
Summary:
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO.—Coccyzus americanus. Other names: “Rain Crow,” “Rain Dove,” and “Chow-Chow.”
Range—Eastern North America to British Provinces, west to Great Plains, south in winter, West Indies and Costa Rica.
Nest—In low tree or bush, of dried sticks, bark strips and catkins.
Eggs—Two to four; of glaucous green which fades on exposure to the light.
And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckoo, and the hawk after his kind, (Lev 11:16)
The Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) is a cuckoo. Common folk-names for this bird in the southern United States are Rain Crow and Storm Crow. These likely refer to the bird’s habit of calling on hot days, often presaging thunderstorms.
Adults have a long tail, brown above and black-and-white below, and a black curved bill with yellow especially on the lower mandible. The head and upper parts are brown and the underparts are white. There is a yellow ring around the eye. It shows cinnamon on the wings in flight. Juveniles are similar, but the black on the undertail is replaced by gray.
This bird has a number of calls; the most common is a rapid ka ka ka ka ka kow kow kow.
The cuckoos are a family, Cuculidae, of near passerine birds. The order Cuculiformes, in addition to the cuckoos, also includes the turacos (family Musophagidae, sometimes treated as a separate order, Musophagiformes). Some zoologists and taxonomists have also included the unique Hoatzin in the Cuculiformes, but its taxonomy remains in dispute. The cuckoo family, in addition to those species named as such, also includes the roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separated as distinct families, the Centropodidae and Crotophagidae respectively.
The cuckoos are generally medium sized slender birds. The majority are arboreal, with a sizeable minority that are terrestrial. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, with the majority of species being tropical. Some species are migratory. The cuckoos feed on insects, insect larvae and a variety of other animals, as well as fruit. Many species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species, but the majority of species raise their own young.
Aren’t birds amazing? I always enjoy finding out more of the Lord’s fantastic creation.
Yellow-billed Cuckoos occasionally lay eggs in the nests of other birds (most often the closely related Black-billed Cuckoo), but they are not obligate brood parasites of other birds as is the Common Cuckoo of Eurasia.
The above article is an article in the monthly serial for September 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Summer Yellow-Bird for Birds Illustrated by Color Photography, 1897
THE YELLOW WARBLER.
N a recent article Angus Gaines describes so delightfully some of the characteristics of the Yellow Warbler, or Summer Yellow-bird, sometimes called the Wild Canary, that we are tempted to make use of part of it. “Back and forth across the garden the little yellow birds were flitting, dodging through currant and gooseberry bushes, hiding in the lilacs, swaying for an instant on swinging sprays of grape vines, and then flashing out across the garden beds like yellow sunbeams. They were lithe, slender, dainty little creatures, and were so quick in their movements that I could not recognize them at first, but when one of them hopped down before me, lifted a fallen leaf and dragged a cutworm from beneath it, and, turning his head, gave me a sidewise glance with his victim still struggling in his beak, I knew him. His gay coat was yellow without the black cap, wings, and tail which show in such marked contrast to the bright canary hue of that other yellow bird, the Gold-finch.
“Small and delicate as these birds are, they had been on a long journey to the southward to spend the winter, and now on the first of May, they had returned to their old home to find the land at its fairest—all blossoms, buds, balmy air, sunshine, and melody. As they flitted about in their restless way, they sang the soft, low, warbling trills, which gave them their name of Yellow Warbler.”
Mrs. Wright says these beautiful birds come like whirling leaves, half autumn yellow, half green of spring, the colors blending as in the outer petals of grass-grown daffodils. “Lovable, cheerful little spirits, darting about the trees, exclaiming at each morsel that they glean. Carrying sun glints on their backs wherever they go, they should make the gloomiest misanthrope feel the season’s charm. They are so sociable and confiding, feeling as much at home in the trees by the house as in seclusion.”
The Yellow-bird builds in bushes, and the nest is a wonderful example of bird architecture. Milkweed, lint and its strips of fine bark are glued to twigs, and form the exterior of the nest. Its inner lining is made of the silky down on dandelion-balls woven together with horse-hair. In this dainty nest are laid four or five creamy white eggs, speckled with lilac tints and red-browns. The unwelcome egg of the Cow-bird is often found in the Yellow-bird’s nest, but this Warbler builds a floor over the egg, repeating the expedient, if the Cow-bird continues her mischief, until sometimes a third story is erected.
A pair of Summer Yellow-birds, we are told, had built their nest in a wild rose bush, and were rearing their family in a wilderness of fragrant blossoms whose tinted petals dropped upon the dainty nest, or settled upon the back of the brooding mother. The birds, however, did not stay “to have their pictures taken,” but their nest may be seen among the roses.
The Yellow Warbler’s song is Sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet-sweeter-sweeter: seven times repeated.
Range—The whole of North America; breeding throughout its range. In winter, the whole of middle America and northern South America.
Nest—Built in an apple tree, cup-shaped, neat and compact, composed of plant fibres, bark, etc.
Eggs—Four or five; greenish-white, spotted.
American Yellow Warbler (Dendroica aestiva) by J Fenton
Lee’s Addition:
I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. (Psalms 69:30 KJV)
This Yellow Warbler is now the American Yellow Warbler (Setophaga aestiva) which is the Parulidae – New World Warblers Family.
The Yellow Warbler (Setophaga petechia, formerly Dendroica petechia) is a New World warbler species. Sensu lato, they make up the most widespread Setophaga species, breeding in almost the whole of North America and down to northern South America.
Other than in male breeding plumage, all subspecies are very similar. Winter, female and immature birds all have similarly greenish-yellow uppersides and are a duller yellow below. Young males soon acquire breast and, where appropriate, head coloration. Females are somewhat duller, most notably on the head. In all, the remiges and rectrices are blackish olive with yellow edges, sometimes appearing as an indistinct wing-band on the former. The eyes and the short thin beak are dark, while the feet are lighter or darker olive-buff.
The 35 subspecies of D. petechia sensu lato can be divided into three main groups according to the males’ head color in the breeding season. Each of these groups is sometimes considered a separate species, or the aestiva group (Yellow Warbler) is considered a species different from D. petechia (Mangrove Warbler, including Golden Warbler); the latter option is the one currently accepted by the International Ornithological Congress World Bird List.
American Yellow Warbler (Dendroica aestiva) by Daves BirdingPix
The above article is an article in the monthly serial for September 1897 “designed to promote Knowledge of Bird-Live.” These include Color Photography, as they call them, today they are drawings. There are at least three Volumes that have been digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Birds of the Bible For Kids 