A Game of Stones


I’m not sure if this young Baltimore Oriole was looking for something to eat when it started picking up this stone.
It picked it up and dropped it three times that I saw.




 Then it very deliberately flipped it with its bill into the shallow water of the pond.






Icterus galbula

Smaller and more slender than an American Robin, Baltimore Orioles are medium-sized, sturdy-bodied songbirds with thick necks and long legs. Look for their long, thick-based, pointed bills, a hallmark of the blackbird family they belong to.

Baltimore Orioles got their name from their bold orange-and-black plumage: they sport the same colours as the heraldic crest of England’s Baltimore family (who also gave their name to Maryland’s largest city).


Baltimore Orioles sometimes use their slender beaks to feed in an unusual way, called “gaping”: they stab the closed bill into soft fruits, then open their mouths to cut a juicy swath from which they drink with their brushy-tipped tongues.

source - Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Golden-crowned kinglet.

Image
Rondeau Provincial Park, Ontario, Canada, Oct 22, 2021. Flitting though the hedge, dashing to the water and gone again. Elapsed time 3 seconds or less. Regulus satrapa Though barely larger than a hummingbird, this frenetically active bird can survive –40 degree nights, sometimes huddling together for warmth. source- Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Read more

Connecticut warbler

Image
Connecticut warbler, Rondeau Provincial Park, May 29, 2023. Followed up on a Discord post and found the bird. It was signing loudly near the roadside. Took a while to find the bird perched up about 2 meters. A rare find and any photo is a good photo of this sulky bird. Thanks Steve . Oporornis agilis. The Connecticut Warbler is an infamously hard-to-find bird that forages on the ground in remote muskeg, spruce bogs, and poplar forests. Simply plumaged, with a gray hood, yellow belly, and olive back, the Connecticut Warbler has a large bill and a large pale eyering—often the first field mark that stands out. Although males sing from trees, this species forages by walking slowly through underbrush, where it is difficult to see. Probably owing to its retiring habits and remote habitats, Connecticut is among the least studied of American songbirds. source- allaboutbirds.org
Read more

My Cat is Stranger Than Your Cat

Image
Okay this is weird; I’ll give you that right up front. We got Maggie from an animal shelter so we don’t know her background. We have found out that, if you don’t latch the bathroom door securely, Maggie will come crashing in to visit. She promptly climbs into your pants and makes herself comfortable. Now I don’t normally take a camera into the bathroom, however, this is regular thing with Maggie so, now you know the story. Sam, the black cat wants to know what Maggie is doing. Sam seemed quite upset over the blow to feline superiority.
Read more