Nine species of woodpeckers in the Picoides genus are found in North America, including the Hairy Woodpecker. The alpha code is DOWO. There are eight subspecies of Downies P. In a nestbox, they often "excavate" the interior, leaving woodchips behind and sometimes gray downy feathers from preening.
They may also try to enlarge the entrance hole. Former Downy roosting and nesting cavities may be used by secondary cavity nesters, or enlarged by larger woodpecker species. Interesting Facts :. Identification : 5. The two central tail feathers are completely black, with outermost tail feathers largely white with some black barring.
Throat and underparts are buffy to grayish white. White stripes above and below eyes. Males have red patch on the back of the head or nape. Females and males are similar in size, but females have slightly longer tails. The bill is black. Fledglings look similar to adults although black areas are more dull or browner, and underparts are more grayish or buffy, and the sides of the breast and flanks are finely streaked.
Juveniles have a pale or olive-brown iris adults have a brown or brown-red iris. Hairy Woodpeckers are larger, and their bill is at least twice as long as the Downy's, and more chisel-like. During courtship, a flight display that is referred to as the "Butterfly Flight" is sometimes seen.
This happens on a sunny calm day before nesting. While chasing after each other through the trees, they hold their wings up high and flap slowly like a butterfly. Downy Woodpeckers excavate their nest cavity in dead wood about feet above ground. Man-made bird houses are rarely used as they prefer to nest in trees.
Female Downy Woodpecker The female lays white eggs which are incubated by both male and female for about 12 days. Incubation begins either when last egg or second to last egg laid.
The male incubates and broods during the night and both share duties in the day. The young will leave the nest about days after hatching.
Mostly insects. Feeds on a variety of insects, especially beetles and ants, also gall wasps, caterpillars, others. Also eats seeds and berries.
Will eat suet at bird feeders. Male and female have separate feeding areas in fall and early winter, with pairs forming by late winter. Male and female take turns drumming loudly on dead limbs on their separate territories; male gradually approaches. Nest site is cavity excavated by both sexes in dead limb or dead tree, usually ' above ground, sometimes '. Cavity entrance is often surrounded by fungus or lichen, helping to camouflage site.
Learn more about these drawings. Permanent resident in many areas, but northernmost populations may move some distance south in winter. Some birds from the Rockies and other western mountains may move down to valleys in winter, and may move short distance south as well. Choose a temperature scenario below to see which threats will affect this species as warming increases.
The same climate change-driven threats that put birds at risk will affect other wildlife and people, too. Huddling together and fluffing up are some of the ways that birds protect themselves from the chills of winter. As colder weather sets in, some small birds form mixed flocks to increase their chances of survival. Latin: Picoides dorsalis. Latin: Dryobates arizonae. When the moult is over in September, the Downy Woodpecker emerges with the white part of its fresh winter plumage showing a faintly yellow tinge that eventually is lost by wear.
The young Downy Woodpeckers also shed their juvenile plumages. Their moult starts in the summer and usually ends in full adult plumage by late fall. Their crowns are jet black, and at the back of the head the young males wear the bright red spot of the adult. All of these birds can capture Downys while the woodpeckers are flying. Many a Downy Woodpecker has saved itself from the grasping talons of a hawk by dodging swiftly sideways behind the trunk of a tree. Black rat snakes often prey on Downy eggs and nestlings, as do flying, red, and eastern grey squirrels.
Nestlings raised in holes are, of course, much safer than those in open nests. Even a squirrel, scratching and gnawing at the soft wood to get at the fledglings within, has a difficult time slipping past the watchful defender sitting in the passageway, its awl-like beak at the ready. Some forest thinning is beneficial for the Downy Woodpecker, which does well in early second-growth forests, where there are more open stands of trees than in older forests.
And while extensive forest clearing eliminates habitat for the Downy Woodpecker, the bird has survived in areas that have been cleared for agriculture. In these areas, the replacement of wooden fence posts — where the Downy Woodpecker bores roosts, or resting places — with metal posts seems to be the main concern. Overall, Downy Woodpecker populations are stable in North America, and in Canada, the numbers of the birds has even increased in the last 20 to 30 years.
All About Birds, Downy Woodpecker. Audubon Field Guides, Downy Woodpecker. Print resources Godfrey, W. The birds of Canada. Revised edition. National Museums of Canada, Ottawa. Grier, K. Downy Woodpecker. Grolier, Toronto. Jackson, J. Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens. In The Birds of North America, no. Poole and F. Gill, editors.
The Birds of North America, Inc. Kilham, L. Life history studies of woodpeckers of eastern North America. Cambridge University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Lawrence, L.
A comparative life-history study of four species of woodpeckers. Ornithological Monograph No. Short, L. Woodpeckers of the world. Monograph Series No.
Delaware Museum of Natural History. Weidner Associates Inc. All rights reserved. Dickson, ; C. The Northern Leopard Frog Lithobates pipiens is named for its leopard-like spots across its back and sides.
Historically, these frogs were harvested for food frog legs and are still used today for dissection practice in biology class. Northern Leopard Frogs are about the size of a plum, ranging from 7 to 12 centimetres. They have a variety of unique colour morphs, or genetic colour variations.
They can be different shades of green and brown with rounded black spots across its back and legs and can even appear with no spots at all known as a burnsi morph. They have white bellies and two light coloured dorsal back ridges. Another pale line travels underneath the nostril, eye and tympanum, ending at the shoulder.
The tympanum is an external hearing structure just behind and below the eye that looks like a small disk. Black pupils and golden irises make up their eyes. They are often confused with Pickerel Frogs Lithobates palustris ; whose spots are more squared then rounded and have a yellowish underbelly. Male frogs are typically smaller than the females. Their average life span is two to four years in the wild, but up to nine years in captivity.
Tadpoles are dark brown with tan tails. Lampreys are an amazing group of ancient fish species which first appeared around million years ago. This means they evolved millions of years before the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
There are about 39 species of lamprey currently described plus some additional landlocked populations and varieties. In general, lamprey are one of three different life history types and are a combination of non-parasitic and parasitic species.
Non-parasitic lamprey feed on organic material and detritus in the water column. Parasitic lamprey attach to other fish species to feed on their blood and tissues. Most, 22 of the 39 species, are non-parasitic and spend their entire lives in freshwater.
The remainder are either parasitic spending their whole life in freshwater or, parasitic and anadromous. Anadromous parasitic lampreys grow in freshwater before migrating to the sea where they feed parasitically and then migrate back to freshwater to spawn. The Cowichan Lake lamprey Entosphenus macrostomus is a freshwater parasitic lamprey species.
It has a worm or eel-like shape with two distinct dorsal fins and a small tail. It is a slender fish reaching a maximum length of about mm. When they are getting ready to spawn they shrink in length and their dorsal fins overlap. Unlike many other fish species, when lampreys are getting ready to spawn you can tell the difference between males and females. Females develop fleshy folds on either side of their cloaca and an upturned tail. The males have a downturned tail and no fleshy folds.
These seven gill pores are located one after another behind the eye. There are several characteristics which are normally used to identify lamprey. Many of these are based on morphometrics or measurements, of or between various body parts like width of the eye or, distance between the eye and the snout. Other identifying characteristics include body colour and the number and type of teeth.
Some distinguishing characteristics of this species are the large mouth, called and oral disc and a large eye. This species also has unique dentition. For example, these teeth are called inner laterals. Each lateral tooth has cusps and together they always occur in a cusp pattern. At the same time, the Sea Otter is the largest member of its family, the mustelids, which includes River Otters, weasels, badgers, wolverines and martens. It may come to land to flee from predators if needed, but the rest of its time is spent in the ocean.
It varies in colour from rust to black. Unlike seals and sea lions, the Sea Otter has little body fat to help it survive in the cold ocean water. Instead, it has both guard hairs and a warm undercoat that trap bubbles of air to help insulate it. The otter is often seen at the surface grooming; in fact, it is pushing air to the roots of its fur. Mollusks are invertebrates, meaning they have no bones.
They are cold-blooded, like all invertebrates, and have blue, copper-based blood. The octopus is soft-bodied, but it has a very small shell made of two plates in its head and a powerful, parrot-like beak.
The Giant Pacific Octopus is the largest species of octopus in the world. Specimens have weighed as much as kg and measured 9. Studies determined, though, that they are indeed different. While the Western Chorus Frog might have slightly shorter legs than the Boreal Chorus Frog, and that their respective calls have different structures, genetics have proven this.
Chorus Frogs are about the size of large grape, about 2. They are pear-shaped, with a large body compared to their pointed snout. Their smooth although a bit granular skin varies in colour from green-grey to brownish. They are two of our smallest frogs, but best ways to tell them apart from other frogs is by the three dark stripes down their backs, which can be broken into blotches, by their white upper lip, and by the dark line that runs through each eye.
Their belly is generally yellow-white to light green. Males are slightly smaller than females, but the surest way to tell sexes apart is by the fact that only males call and can inflate their yellow vocal sacs. Adults tend to live only for one year, but some have lived as many as three years.
Their tadpoles the life stage between the egg and the adult are grey or brown. Their body is round with a clear tail. The Common Raven Corvus corax is one of the heaviest passerine birds and the largest of all the songbirds.
0コメント