By Ellen Muller on Tuesday, January 16, 2001 - 1:08 pm: |
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By Dara Walter on Tuesday, January 16, 2001 - 3:29 pm: |
Thanks for the great pictures, Ellen! I have a small paperback "Birds of Bonaire", but it only has pencil drawings - no photos. I have indeed seen the Troupial on the cacti at Washington Park, but confused it with a visisting Oriole (although at the time I thought it too big to be an Oriole). Makes me long for spring.....
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By Kerri Freeman on Tuesday, January 16, 2001 - 7:01 pm: |
Ellen,you've come through again! The colourful bird with the musical name is a small antidote for the endless winter. Though I did see our little dun and gray sparrows in the thaw the last couple of days.Trying to get the rose hips,I guess. Love seeing the world through your eyes. Waiting for the robins/snowbirds,whichever comes first......
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By Ellen Muller on Wednesday, January 17, 2001 - 10:29 am: |
I promised the publisher of Our Birds Curacao/Bonaire/Aruba that I would post a picture of the cover of their book in exchange for using their descriptions. So here it is...
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By Peggy Bowen on Wednesday, January 17, 2001 - 11:14 am: |
We have used this book for a few years - Wonderful for Bonaire birds! We still have to use another book for IDs of all those little shorebirds but... Because we had this book, we found the Groove-billed Ani and Rufous-collared Sparrow. Ellen - do you have Pearly eyed Thrashers in your yard? Do they bother the other bird nests like the book says? (Very bold birds!)
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By Ellen Muller on Wednesday, January 17, 2001 - 1:23 pm: |
Peggy, I haven't seen any Pearly Eyed Thrashers in our yard. The troupials will rob the nests of other birds although ours seem to have plenty of other food to eat and I haven't seen them do it lately once a couple of years ago a troupial was getting ready to make a tasty meal out of another bird's eggs in it's nest when my neighbor chased it away with a stick!
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By Carole Baker on Wednesday, January 17, 2001 - 1:54 pm: |
Wow! Another great book to buy and cherish. Thanks Ellen! Carole (they are spectacularly beautiful birds, by the way. )
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By Peggy Bowen on Thursday, January 18, 2001 - 1:10 am: |
Lots of introduced birds go after the 'young' of other species - and sometimes their neighbor. Since Troupials have become so common, we don't see as many yellow orioles or the flycatchers. Watching the bananaquits around the Pearly eyed thrasher, the b-quits seem to hunker down when the thrasher shows up. They don't do that when the troupial is around. Learned behavior from way back I guess. Facinating to watch the birds when we are in the hammock after lunch.
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By Hazel Scharosch on Tuesday, January 23, 2001 - 12:16 pm: |
Holy troupial, Batman! Can't wait to see them in person!
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By Wendy S. Bolognesi on Sunday, January 28, 2001 - 9:24 pm: |
Ellen, we saw the troupial on our way out of Washington Park, past Slagbaai, and also in a cactus. Lucky for us Rene had the book and we were able to identify it that evening. Thanks for the gorgeous shots.
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By Ellen Muller on Tuesday, March 6, 2001 - 11:17 pm: |
This is the Pearly Eyed Thrasher that Peggy mentioned above. I love the eyes on these birds. They are almost haunting.
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By Josie on Wednesday, March 7, 2001 - 12:03 am: |
Ellen, I just saw your post while waiting for my tax return to print out (we are waiting to buy a new color printer and in the meantime have to rely on a VERY old deskjet that prints about one line a minute). Those piercing eyes make me think of an IRS auditor!!! And it eats other creatures too...
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By Dara Walter on Thursday, March 8, 2001 - 2:02 pm: |
It looks to me like the Troupial and the Thrasher could be "kissin' cousins" from the eye coloration, beak structure and body conformation. Are they indeed closely related?
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By Ellen Muller on Friday, March 9, 2001 - 9:41 pm: |
Dara, the pearly-eyed thrasher is closely related to the tropical mockingbird, both are from the family Mimidae. The troupial comes from the family, Icteridae.
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