Kid Townsend, Newness in life.

Townsend's Warbler (Setophaga townsendi), hatch-year male

New beginnings.  For many of us.  And not really due to the new year of 2015 a week and a half away; however, it is a convenient "mile-marker."

New beginnings, for me.  Also, for this particular Townsend's Warbler (TOWA).

This individual is a "hatch(ing) year" (HY) male Townsends Warbler.  We here in the Monterey Bay region of the central California coast are fortunate to live side-by-side with them during the fall and winter months.

Very much a western warbler, it is always a welcomed flash of yellow when things get a little colder for us.  Well, cold in California terms..

TOWA spend the spring and summer breeding season in western Washington state, British Columbia and Yukon Territory Canada, and Alaska. 

Yes, we get them in migration and then many stay the winter.

Others continue on to western and central Mexico.

They are insectivores.  Active little birds, the are constantly gleaning for insects under leaves, in bark crevices, and even on the ground for very short periods of time to chase insects that drop.  For many insects, a main defense is to simply drop down..

 

 

A large part of warblers' diet are larvae from the moth Family: Geometridae.  All those "inch worms" we see; those are the caterpillars from that family of moths.

Not seeing any right now?  With all this rain we have been getting lately, just wait until Spring.  Find a foraging warbler such as this.  Then, check out the prey-item in its beak. 

Hatch-year (HY) birds simply means it hatched out this calender year.  This is its first winter.  While he is nearing his "full-adult" feather plumage status, he still has so young-bird's feathers to lose.  Superficially, his thick, broad, dark black thoat and breast band is still coming in.  He also ha some yellow remaining on what will be an all black crown.

New beginnings. 

Come 1 January 2015, this bird will have graduated from HY to After Hatch Year age status.  It will be a full-adult male Townsend's Warbler.  It will experience its first Spring and Summer way up north as an adult male bird.  And perhaps years worth of being a warbler on this world.  Newness.

New beginnings. As with this warbler,  1 January will be a symbolic marker of new beginnings in my life.  It will also be so for this 'blog, very much in its nascent stages.  Stay tuned.

New beginnings.  New explorations, both outside and within one's self. 

New growth and learning.  For me, you, and certainly for this young and rapidly-growing warbler encountered.  We are all in it together, after all.

**for further reading, and a window into part of my past, check out bigbendnature.com.  Hit up some of the archives seen on its right-hand sidebar.  It is pretty much a static blognow, there is not going to be much updating to it as I am happily living here now.  I just thought you might like to know.

We wish everyone Happy Holidays, however you spend them.

Parasitic or Opportunistic?

Parasitic Jaeger (Stercorarius parasiticus)

Parasitic or opportunistic?

Kleptoparasitism: a form of feeding in which one animal takes prey or other food from another that has caught, collected, or otherwise prepared the food, including stored food.

Jaegers, also called skuas, are among the "tundra-nesters."  That is they nest in Alaska, the Northwest Territories of Canada, and land around the Hudson Bay.  Indeed, some of the colder places in Winter, are among the more biologically rich in the Spring and Summer.

whatbird.com

In the winter for this hemisphere, we in the Monterey Bay-area of California are fortunate enough to have sporadic (rare, at times) views and experiences with jaegers.  This winter, we have at least a pair of Parasitic Jaegers around the Santa Cruz harbor in Santa Cruz County.  An individual of the pair is represented in these photographs.

Jaegers' generally feed by "harrassing" other seabirds into giving up or dropping their food item.  Very aerodynamic and maneauverable, these fast-flyers persistantly chase and chase until others relent their prey item.

I suppose there are some that view birds utilizing kleptoparasitism as acting "mean" toward the gulls and terns they decide to chase. However, they in fact  represent a balance struck over time in nature.  Their method of feeding is just that: their method.

Who are we as a species to judge them anyways?

Keep an eye out for these wonderful birds on and near our coasts and beaches this winter.  They are a pleasure to respectfully observe.