This little gem was just singin' away with all its might as we were walking the boardwalk at the city's refuge area on the bay. It took a while to spot it as it was on the ground, hidden well, in the tall grasses along the feeder canal. Bud spotted it first with his trusty binoculars and pointed it out for me. It flew off onto the other side of the boardwalk, and feigned injury as you can see viewing the 2nd and 3rd photos! At least that is my assumption. So, either there is a nest somewhere in the grass, or perhaps some fledglings. I'm not sure, as I saw no visible signs nor did I hear any 'cheeps' from chicks while we were there. But the nervous actions of the one I got to photograph makes me think it was being protective...
KILLDEER
photo taken: Hans Suter Wildlife Refuge - Corpus Christi, Texas
Habitat Range:
TRIVIA
- Eighteenth-century naturalists noticed how noisy Killdeer are, giving them names such as the Chattering Plover and the Noisy Plover.
- The Killdeer’s broken-wing act leads predators away from a nest, but doesn’t keep cows or horses from stepping on eggs. To guard against large hoofed animals, the Killdeer uses a quite different display, fluffing itself up, displaying its tail over its head, and running at the beast to attempt to make it change its path.
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...and this one, the captures I collected through my lens, for the life of me, I am still not sure if I'm giving it the correct ID!! I've searched and searched and tried to compare photos I've found online, plus reading descriptions through the Cornell Ornithology site. I do believe the bird has a 'bunting' beak. And it was in the congregation of several other different buntings, feeding on the ground at the time back in mid May of this year. Anyway, I've concluded it could possibly be a non-breeding [male] Lazuli Bunting?!! All you expert birders out there, I could use your help. Can anyone truly identify this bird? These are the best and closest photos I managed to get at the time; taken from a long distance away. The habitat map shows they normally wouldn't be in our area during migration, BUT!!-the birding treks we went on on other days, the trail guides told us of Lazuli Buntings being sighted in our area quite often. We made a return trip the following day to hopefully get better images, but to no avail; they weren't anywhere to be seen again...
Addendum: I just now got an answer [three] from "What Bird is This" Forum...all agreed it was a young Indigo Bunting. And I then went out online and searched for something very similar. This is closest...what do you think? Agree? click here
INDIGO BUNTING
Photos taken: Paradise Pond - Port Aransas, Texas
Habitat Range:
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Anni, your Killdeer shots are adorable. They have the cutest faces. I wish I could help with your unknown bird. It is a pretty one. It would be cool if it was the Lazuli Bunting, have they been seen in Texas? Great photos, thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteI love the killdeer. it's a very beautiful bird. Have a lovely weekend and thank you for hosting!
ReplyDeleteA mysterious bird indeed, and that one picture, he is really giving you a chilling look! Your snaps are far better than my recent killdeer ones. The playing injured pictures are really spectacular! You can hardly tell what is what!
ReplyDeleteYour Killdeer is so like our Ringed Plover... beautiful birds to see.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of the Killdeer in action!
ReplyDeletelove the killdeer and their huge eyes. :) no help on the unknown as i've never seen one like that!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi, Anni-- Nice study of the Killdeer. That bird certainly does have the body and bill shape of a bunting. The Lazuli Bunting has prominent wing bars. The white breast and contrasting blue upperparts are like nothing I have ever seen (except for Mountain Bluebirds, which have a different body and bill shape). If the photos are all of the same bird, it is possible that the variance is due to color temperature when you processed the images. I found that the brownish color comes out at lower (warmer) color temperatures, and even the breast takes on a brownish cast. This makes the bird look very much like a female Indigo Bunting. I could be wrong, but play with color temperature and see wat you think. Thanks so much for hosting-- I will try to post a weekly blog that will feature photo(s) of a single species-- I will call this "Crops and Clips." Hope I can carry out my intent. (re-posted with corrections)
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a performance by the beautiful, earthy toned killdeer! What an actor! Love the defined markings round the face! And the second bird - I can't help with identification - is so cute!
ReplyDeleteThe first time I saw a killdeer pretend to be injured, I totally believed it was. They are are convincing actors! :))
ReplyDeleteI love the series of killdeer photos, just wonderful. They are so convincing about distracting you from their nests.
ReplyDeletewell, an indigo is just about as special as a lazuli! :)
ReplyDeleteHI Anni On my computer when I put my link on the above, there is a red X beside my name. Is this OK?
ReplyDeleteI have never seen a Kileer as we don't have them here however a number of other birds that use the same tactic of 'broken wing' as a decoy. Hope you are having a good weekend. Margaret
Beautiful birds.
ReplyDeleteI think all the plover family (and most waders) have distraction displays like you witnessed Anni. It's all clever stuff designed to fool us human predators - as it often does wne I'mlooking to ring waders chicks. I'm not too much help with the bunting - I think Ken is right.
ReplyDeleteAhoj Anni,
ReplyDeleteďakujem, že môžem u teba zdieľať moje fotografie. Vtáky v tvojom príspevku vôbec nepoznám. U nás v strednej Európe také asi nežijú.
Hi Anni,
thank you that I can share with you my photo. Birds in your post do not even know. For us in Central Europe also probably do not live.
Cornell has a Flicker site where you can post photos for others to ID. - Maybe that's what forum you used? http://www.flickr.com/groups/birdshare/ Anyway, the site has been helpful to me when I come across a question. :) Great info as usual! Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThe Killdeer is a very beautiful bird. We have some of it´s relatives. I like to watch hem.
ReplyDeletesuch great shots especially of the killdeer; very informative post
ReplyDeleteBeautiful shots of the killdeer!
ReplyDeleteVery nice series of the Killdeer and its behavior! Nice job.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the consensus is young Indigo Bunting. Those young 'uns can be a challenge to identify!