Mexican Jay

Mexican Jay aka. Gray-breasted Jay (archaic)
Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
July 2017
Member of the Crows and Jays Family
§A Scold of Jays§

~True Bird Fact~ Mexican Jays practice cooperative breeding, meaning that young birds are taken care of not just by their parents, but by others in the flock as well. These family groups can include older offspring, but also random other birds. It takes a village, and all that.

~Another Mexican Jay Fact~ Northern Flickers usually follow them around, because although the Flickers don't have the vigilance or attentiveness to notice predators, the Jays do, and will alert their fellow birds. This bird's a real cooperative type!

Gets annoyed sometimes by family obligations, which he has many of
Prides himself on professionalism in the workplace
Blows off steam with off-roading hobby

Curve-billed Thrasher

Curve-billed Thrasher aka. Cuitiacoache (lit. Songbird) aka. The Default Desert Bird... wait, what?
Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
July 2017
Member of the Mockingbird and Thrasher Family
Apparently there is §No Name for a group of Thrashers§ May I suggest §A Shred of Thrashers§?

Favorite Cactus: Chola

~true bird fact~ Just hates the Cactus Wren. The Wikipedia article states that our Thrasher here "will usually destroy any nest of cactus wrens." It's been a while since we've gotten a good Avian Rivalry on the ol' blog. Although now that I'm thinking about it, I certainly should've named that feature Avian Adversaries. Oh well, literally no way to fix it now! So why do they hate cactus Wrens? One could assume it's because they're competing ground-foraging species who live in the same area, but maybe it's more personal than that.

Honestly this Wikipedia article has a number of pretty bananas quotes about Curve-billed Thrasher, perhaps indicating that the world's only person who is truly passionate about Curve-billed Thrashers authored it. Literally every other resource I visited had like zero to say about Curve-billed Thrasher, but the wiki was filled with tidbits like the aforementioned dubious nickname and animosity towards Cactus Wrens. It also mentions editorially that the Curve-billed Thrasher's "...voice is regarded as more pleasant" than the Northern Mockingbird's. Also, there's this: "The demeanor of the curve-billed has been described as "shy and rather wild", but it allows humans to view it closely". Ok bud, cool normal observation there.

Shy, and rather wild
A hot sauce connoisseur
Sure, she can sing, but what she'd really prefer to do is rap battle

Mystery Birds from Texas

Birds. They're so mysterious. Sometimes it's literally impossible to tell what they are, even with access to amazing new technologies and a wealth of personal knowledge. I encountered an unusual number of difficult birds on my Big Texas Birding Adventure. Chihuahuan/Common Ravens, all sorts of Flycatcher trouble, and the birds bellow. Maybe these are juvenile, or rare variations, or unusual migrants, or maybe I've discovered some new bird species. It's not like I usually have any trouble identifying birds, so it must be one of those possibilities. Let's check these birds out now, shall we?

All birds are from Big Bend National Park and surrounding areas, taken in July 2017

 Best Guess: Red-winged Blackbird
 Likes spicy candies. Weird

Best Guess: Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Always insists on treating at meals


Best Guess: Brown-headed Cowbird
Really sneaks up on you

Best Guess: Summer Tanager
Gets nervous when handling delicate things

Best Guess: Bullock's Oriole
Sentimentally wears accessories from family members

Best Guess: Black-billed Magpie
Laser-like focus

Phew, that was a lot of birds I couldn't identify. Do you know any of them? Maybe don't tell me because I'm feeling very self-conscious about my bird identifying skills. Or maybe do, and let me know in the comments.

Summer Tanager

Summer Tanager
Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
July 2017
Member of the Cardinal Family
§A Season of Tanagers§
★North America's Only Completely Red Bird★ ...I guess that's something?

~true bird fact~ So you might've noticed above that this bird is called a Tanager, but is grouped taxonomically with Cardinals. So what's the deal with that? Basically there was a switch in families back in 2009, when scientists realized that he and his immediate family members had more in common with Cardinals than their previous categorization. Oddly, this means that Hawaii has a few birds that are called Cardinals, but are actually Tanagers, and the mainland has a few birds that are called Tanagers, but are actually Cardinals. This indicates to me that no one has any idea what they're doing wrt Cardinals and Tanagers, and maybe just generally.

~a second true bird fact~ Really good at eating bees and wasps and other dangerous insects. Summer Tanager can catch these guys mid air and then strike them against a tree to kill them. Then, before they can eat them, they dexterously remove the stinger by rubbing it against a branch. They're so good at hunting wasps that they can kill all the adults in a hive, then tear it open to eat the larvae as well. Brutal.

Has a good grasp on esoteric bureaucratic procedures
A manager
Spring is his favorite season

Golden-fronted Woodpecker

Golden-fronted Woodpecker
Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
July 2017
Member of the Woodpecker Family
§Descent of Woodpeckers§

~true bird fact~ A species that is, in many ways, mid-evolution. Golden-fronted Woodpeckers in the northern part of their range have begun interbreeding with Red-bellied Woodpeckers and are starting to look, genetically speaking, more closely related to them. Meanwhile, southern Golden-fronteds (which are, ironically, less golden and more red), are starting to look more like they ought to be a separate species. Bizarrely, this bird was once considered 4 different species before its current taxonomic form. No word on what this confusion does to the bird's sense of identity and relationships with his fellow woodpeckers. We may have a Professor Sylvester McMonkey McBean Sneeches situation here.

Exasperated
Always has a feeling like he's forgotten something
Prefers cake to pie

Johann Georg Wagler

1800-1832

Originally named this bird (usual caveat- for Western audiences). He was a lecturer and the assistant of an apparently much more famous and significant German biologist, who I've also never heard of. That would be Johann Baptist von Spix, who was well known for his work collecting and identifying Brazilian plants and animals, but also did some anthropological work on the native peoples there. Our man Johann Georg here never did visit the Americans, but he did extensive work of combing through and organizing the collection, and writing books with the other Johann about his discoveries. He was honestly more of a reptile guy. He died at age 32 when he accidentally shot himself while out in the field.

Verdin

Verdin
Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
July 2017
Member of the Verdin Family (known outside the Western Hemisphere as the... Penduline Tit Family)
§No Name for A Group of Verdins§

Zippy
His cavalier attitude worries his older, more responsible brother
Never really had a career goal
Young enough to still feel invincible

In addition to being the only member of his bird family in the new world, Verdin is quite an accomplished nest builder. That means it's time for another episode of Bird-er Homes and Gardens, featuring a Verdin's nest.

So these buddies build nests, like, non-stop. One pair was observed to construct 11 in a single year. They have nests for breeding and nests for roosting. As you can see from our intrepid builder here, the rooting nests have a soft, downy interior, which insulates the nest in winter. In the summer, they build the nests with the entrances facing a breeze to make them cooler. Smart little guys, and another bird in our current series on surviving harsh desert conditions.

Usually the male builds the hard stick exterior and the female does the lining, which makes our male here out front a little unusual. Or maybe he has just gathered the lining for the lady, who may be inside. Who knows. I'm not about to judge this Verdin for embracing a non-traditional role in homemaking.

Pyrrhuloxia

Pyrrhuloxia aka. Desert Cardinal
Big Bend Ranch State Park, Presidio, Texas, USA
July 2017
Member of the Cardinal Family
§A Radiance of Cardinals§

{Etymology Corner} So, that name, huh? As you might guess, it's origin is Greek. Pyrrhuloxia used to be part of it's scientific name, but fell out of favor I guess, when we moved to the standardized binomial system, replaced by the much drier Cardinalis sinuatus. Pyrrhuloxia is the combination of Pyrrhos (Reddish-Orangish) and Loxos (Oblique), referring to the color of the bird and the shape of its bill, respectively. Information that I could not find anywhere, however, was why on earth we are still calling this bird such a bizarre name, when Desert Cardinal is right there. It seems to fly in the face of convention, convenience, and standardization. What's your take on the name, reader? Charming? Baffling? Oh, and it's pronounced pir-uh-lok-see-uh.

~true bird fact~ Pyrrhuloxia have been observed using an inventive technique for surviving spiking desert temperatures. They hang out around houses with open doors or windows with their air-conditioning on. This behavior has been seen in several desert birds, including cactus wrens and loggerhead shrikes. Take that, people who say we've made the environment worse for birds!

Gives you the impression that he could do something absolutely insane without warning
Always knows how to deal with 'desert problems'
Sort of a fatalist

Surprises you with an artistic side on occasion

You know, maybe one factor that might explain his weird name is that he was first described (to Western audiences) by...

Charles Lucien Bonaparte

1803 - 1857

A real international type, Charles was born in Paris and raised in Italy. He was, in fact, the nephew of the most famous Bonaparte, Napoleon. He moved to the United States at age 19, having already discovered a new warbler in Italy, and was so big on bird-discovering that he found a new species of storm petrel on the trip over. During his time in the states, he worked on finding new birds, publishing accounts of them, and boosting for his buddy John James Audubon in equal measure. The edition of American Ornithology that he edited contained over a hundred** new species discovered* by him. All this in only 4 years, after which he returned to Europe.

He continued to work on the scientific classification of animals, but was also active politically, helping establish the Roman Republic and defend it from the armies of his cousin, Napoleon III. And the weird names? That was definitely a theme. He named a whole genus of doves after his wife, and a bird of paradise after the concept of the republic. All things considered, Pyrrhuloxia got off easy. He had 12 kids, and died at 54. Busy guy.

*- Author's note- I always find it a little bit conflictual to describe an animal as having been 'discovered' by some European guy, when in reality it existed among whatever indigenous populations lived in its area for centuries beforehand. We'll give Charles partial credit, given that he brought knowledge of these birds to a large audience and published accounts of them, which is still something. Assume the same caveat for future descriptions of 'discovered' birds.

**- AN2- Whenever something is described as 'over a hundred', I wonder exactly how many we're talking about. I assume it's something like 103, since if it were significantly higher, you'd just say the number, right?

Black-throated Sparrow

Black-throated Sparrow aka. Desert Sparrow
Big Bend Ranch State Park, Presidio, Texas, USA
July 2017
Member of the American Sparrow Family
§A Meinie of Sparrows§

~true bird fact~ Like many desert birds, these fellas are uniquely adapted to their hostile habitat. In the case of the Black-throated Sparrow, they can go for unusually long periods of time without water, instead extracting maximum moisture from their diet of seeds and bugs. It sounds like a thirsty life. On an unrelated note, this is one of those birds that occasionally comes up where there's like, zero interesting facts about him. He sure is sharp looking though.

Lover of dried fruit - cranberry, cherry, apricot, mango, you name it
Acts decisively
Might sometimes accidentally hurt your feelings with a pointed comment
Feels driven to create a 'legacy'

Gambel's Quail

Gambel's Quail

Big Bend Ranch State Park, Presidio, Texas, USA
July 2017
Member of the New World Quail Family
§A Battery of Quails§

~true bird fact~ A bird suited to life in their home in the Sonoran Desert, these Quails have a life cycle that mimics the desert landscape that surrounds them. In exceptionally dry years, few chicks are born and they just kinda hang in there, but in years with a good wet season, they thrive and their numbers increase dramatically.

Constantly creates a dramatic soundtrack to his own life
Prefers to drink his meals when possible (smoothies, shakes, etc)
Easily becomes jealous of the success of others
Hates/fears bugs

William Gambel

1823 - 1849

Hometown- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He got his start in naturalism going on collecting trips with his mentor, the well-known Thomas Nuttall at the age of 15 (!). By18 he set off on his own, traveling all the way west to California, taking a more southerly route than previous expeditions had. His birding contributions include this Quail, Nuttall's Woodpecker, and the Mountain Chickadee. He was the first trained naturalist (well... let's say trained in the European tradition) to spend significant time in California. He continued to explore the American West until he died at age 26 from typhoid while crossing the Sierra Nevada. Couldn't find an image of young William, but below is his final resting place, Rose Bar on the Yuba River.

Vermilion Flycatcher

Vermilion Flycatcher aka. Common Vermilion Flycatcher aka. Darwin's Flycatcher aka. Galapagos Flycatcher

Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
July 2017
Member of the Tyrant/Flycatcher Family
§An Outfield of Flycatchers§ (I show you this stupid name, dear readers, only to illustrate the injustice that somehow this is a thing, but not my wonderful suggestion for a group of chats. The mind boggles)


~true bird fact~ As debonair in personality as he is in appearance, the male Vermilion Flycatcher woos females with a colorful bouquet (usually a butterfly or other interesting looking insect).





Born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a trust fund to beat the bank
Lives a globetrotting life of excitement
Since he's done it all already, it's hard for him to get excited for much anymore
He's not really a bad guy intrinsically, but he has trouble connecting with people in a sincere way

*record scratch*

*fancy classical music starts playing*

First Described by...

Pieter Boddaert

1730 - 1795

This guy over here. He was a Dutch doctor and naturalist, and his main claim to fame seems to have been that he knew a lot of other better known naturalists and thinkers. I want to rag on the guy, but honestly, being a very good friend to a lot of famous people is a good historical niche to find yourself in. He corresponded extensively with our pal Linnaeus, for example. When he published a series of illustration plates from the blockbuster french encyclopedia Histoire Naturelle he added his own scientific names to the animals, thus christening them. What a sneaky way to get into the history books, good on you Boddaert. He stayed in the animal encyclopedia game, publishing Elenchus Animalium (A Directory of Animals) where he named even more stuff.

Painted Bunting

Painted Bunting aka. Nonpareil (fr)

Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
July 2017
Member of the Cardinal Family
§A Palette of Buntings§

{Etymology Corner} The scientific name of this bird is Passerina ciris. Evidently, it's named after the Greek Mythological character, Princess Scylla. She is turned into a bird after betraying her father in favor of an invading King Minos, who she has fallen in love with at first sight. She subsequently drowns while attempting to swim after her fleeing love, who wants no part of this whole thing. It's a wild story. It's also a pretty bad name for this bird, since she was supposedly transformed into a seabird, which this is not. I can agree, however, that this looks like a bird brought into the world through magical means.

~true bird fact~  As anyone can see from looking at it, this bird is incredibly colorful. This has made him a frequent target of poachers. In the 1800's, the were trapped in the thousands and shipped back to Europe for heavily marked-up sale as caged birds. This kind of trade is now illegal, happily, but has not been entirely eliminated. I know it's probably none of you dear readers, but please stop buying wild animals.

How endangered are they? They are listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN. Now I don't want you to panic, because they are till a fairly common bird, with an estimated 13 million adults out there. The rating is probably the result of a dramatic 60% dip in their population that took place between 1966 and 1995. Numbers have seemed stable since then, but you can never be took careful with a bird like this. The pressures on their population seem to be habitat loss from development and the aforementioned poaching.



Musically inclined
Despite his outwardly confident appearance, he's been the subject of a lot of pressure throughout his life
You can tell how he's feeling very easily- 'wears his hear on his sleeve'
Always laughs at your jokes

Yellow-breasted Chat

Yellow-breasted Chat

Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
July 2017
Only Member of the Chat Family
The brand new family this bird belongs to has §No Collective Noun§, but if I was gonna just straight make one up (as I suspect often happens), I'd call them a... §Smalltalk of Chats§

~breaking bird news~ The Yellow-breasted chat, was, until this very year, considered to be our largest Wood Warbler. I guess this was based mostly on him being a yellow songbird, even though he is, like, twice as big as all the other wood warblers, and displays other biological differences as well. He even imitates songs, like a member of the mockingbird family. I guess hindsight is 20/20 and I'm no bird scientist, but I think we probably could've called this one a little sooner. Anyway, this is all so new that he is currently considered to be the only member of his taxonomic family, and almost all websites still incorrectly list him as a wood warbler. In fact, things as so uncertain for the chat, that he might get categorized as something else entirely at some point. I think we should just let him do his thing.

Ahead of his time- in 20 years we'll all look back on what Yellow-breasted Chat was doing and realize he was just miles ahead of us

Pursues his personal philosophy very consistently

Shows vulnerability in a very strong way

Finds the more simple acts of day to day living challenging sometimes

Cartoon Roadrunner vs. Real Roadrunner

Let's talk about the Road Runner. He was my favorite cartoon when I was a kid for sure, beating out even the antics of beloved proto-troll, Bugs Bunny. But as you age, you put away childish things, and now I probably prefer real road runners. This is a bird that's been on by bird-bucket list (birdcket list(TM)) for a while now, and on my recent Texas trip I finally got to see him, and in abundance. So I was thinking, just how does the Road Runner cartoon compare to the genuine article.

Appearance

Correct

Long, prominent tail

Dark crest

Darker wing than belly

Incorrect

Not really predominantly purple/blue

Wrong number of toes

Beak shape wrong

Neck too long

Behavior

Correct

Runs quickly, favoring roads (up to 15 miles per hour)

Doesn't really fly (flight is possible, but brief)

Lives in the Southwestern American Desert (per Chuck Jones)

Incorrect

Can outrun a coyote (they can get up to a whopping 43 miles per hour)

Would be hunted by coyote (coyote are voracious hunters and scavengers, but one of the few things that live in their range that they don't eat are Road Runners. Not worth the effort?)

Call is just extremely wrong

So how do we put this all together? Ultimately, I'm going to give him a passing grade because I think this cartoon succeeds in depicting a caricature of a roadrunner for the most part. The important part is that he is recognizable as his real-world inspiration, but just barely. The color is the real tricky part- it's just not a color these birds have (except in a small spot behind the eye). Most damningly, no other Looney Tune has a color scheme this unrealistic. Rabbits can be grey, ducks black, pigs pink, coyotes brown, etc. I guess what I'm saying is he's no Beaky Buzzard

Realism Score: C-

Also, have a profile, cause why not 

Greater Roadrunner aka. Chaparral Bird, aka. Chaparral Cock, aka. Ground Cuckoo aka. Snake Killer
Big Bend Ranch State Park, Presidio, Texas, USA
July 2017
Member of the Cuckoo Family
§A Race of Roadrunners§
★Excellent State Bird of New Mexico★

~real bird legend~ Road Runners have a special place in the belief systems of many Native North and Central American peoples. They are considered to be courageous, strong, and fast, perhaps because of their habit of taking on fearsome venomous prey like rattlesnakes, scorpions, and horned lizards. The X shaped mark their feet make (2 toes in front, 2 in back), is thought to ward off evil and has been used as a sacred symbol by the Pueblo tribes. The footprint disguises the direction you're going in, keeping evil spirits from following.

Adventurous, tends to rush in

Equally at ease by himself and around big groups. Either way he ends up talking a lot

Maybe should be a little more careful, seems to walk around like he's invincible

Sleeps well at night

Killdeer

Killdeer aka. Chattering Plover aka. Noisy Plover (archaic)
Odessa Meteor Crater, Odessa, Texas, USA (Trip Advisor Quote: "Don't expect much, and you won't be disappointed")
July 2017
Member of the Plover/Lapwing Family
§A Season of Killdeers§

{Etymology Corner} Named onomatopoetically after the sound it makes. It's archaic names refer to this habit of noisy, frequent, distinctive calling as well. As for whether the cry sounds like 'killdeer' or not, your amateurnithologist is extremely skeptical.

~true bird fact~ Killdeer build their nests right out in the open, not attempting to disguise or protect them environmentally. What they do instead is a very active defense of their nest. The Killdeer may be most famous for her 'broken wing display' (below), in which she flutters around and pretends to be injured, to get predators away from the nest. When they've been lured far enough away, she simply pops up, good as new, and flies away. To deal with larger, non-predatory animals, the killdeer will charge them and perform a different display, attempting to get them to change their path to avoid a nest-trampling.

Seems nice, but really loves to gossip
Always a few months behind the curve in discovering new trends and technologies
Thinks she knows everything about your kids, just because she has kids
Great cook