What the Heck is Pied?

 While they are not here all the time, Pied-bill Grebe show up somewhere around St. John's every year and typically stay for a while. So where do they get their name? Grebe means "feet at the buttocks." (Allaboutbirds) Pied means "of two or more colors" and refers to its bill because in the summer its bill turns silver with a black ring around it. Hence....Pied-billed Grebe.

 They can sit high or low in the water. The buoyancy is achieved by the grebe trapping water in their feathers.

 This is an interesting little bird and can be closely observed at Quidi Vidi Lake these days. Unfortunately, the light is often against you when viewing it in the morning.

I watched as this bird battled with a small fish, and the fish seen above won. It was a really feisty fish and despite being munched on and tossed in the air, it managed to get away. This grebe is not a very good fisher. For some reason, this bird seems unusually tame allowing viewers to get within 10 to 15 feet of it. Given there haven't been many good birds around for about a week, this one is a great distraction. However, now that a Common Moorhen has been reported, the grebe may get lonely.

Berry Birds

 Dogberry Trees are laden this year, and the birds are loving it. Among the first takers are the Hermit Thrush. However, there aren't enough of these birds to eat them all.There is a seasonal pattern to  the takers of the berries. Over the last two blustery days, I have had large flocks of starlings and goldfinch partake of the berries in my back yard. Lingering robins also drop by for a berry or two and move on.

Unfortunately, the berries will all probably be consumed  before the waxwings come along.  I keep hoping to one day look out and find my yard filled with something a little more exotic than a European Starling.

Fall Magnolia Warbler

 I spent a little time this morning updating the Rare Bird Page and the Banded Birds Page.It is really easy to fall behind on the routine pages requiring updates. Also pending is a major update on the Butterfly and Dragonfly Pages.

 I am also in the "delete" mode where I dump hundreds and hundreds of shots. In the process, I came across several interesting birds.

 Today, I share two Magnolia Warblers photographed within one week of each other during late Fall. The darker images were of a bird taken along the trail at Stick Pond.

A much brighter bird with much less streaking was found by Ethel Dempsey at Cape Spear. Because of its brightness, we spent a lot of time pursuing this bird for a sure ID. These two different birds just go to illustrate how different fall birds can be.

Injured Birds Show Pluck

 Considering the thousands of birds we see annually around St. John's, we see very few injured birds. The four shown here, I think, constitute the highest number of wounded birds we have seen in the area at one time.
This little Semipalmated Plover has been hunkering down for more than three weeks at Third Pond in Goulds. It hops around on one leg and makes no effort to fly.

The newest arrival is this White-rumped Sandpiper that showed up in Blackhead on the weekend. It seemed to be a fresh-arrival  blown in on the recent high winds.

 This bird looked tired and calm, staying in one area and making no attempt to fly.

A closer look at this sandpiper shows some damage to its right wing.

 Looking so cute and helpless, it is hard not to gently lift this little bird and take it home to nurse it back to health. However, it goes against all the rules to do so.

A Greater Yellowlegs routinely frequenting Virginia Lake has been around for at least three weeks. Its left leg is in bad shape.

This Herring Gull tagged 2A was seen last year at Quidi Vidi Lake. It recently returned after a summer away. Despite the serious injury to its right leg, this gull is thriving.

It is hard to watch these birds suffer, but they either learn to adapt to the affliction or they perish. Those that maintain the ability to fly seem to have the best chance for survival.