Species – Page 2 – Birds of Bishop

American Kestrel: Colorful Killer

Kestrels are tiny falcons, just 9” long with a wingspan of 22”, weight 4 oz. When perched, they can be mistaken for a Dove, a Shrike, or even a Blackbird. I did not start to identify Kestrels until I bought a telephoto lens and started collecting pictures in 2020. Thanks to the camera, I now realize that the Bishop area is infested with American Kestrels. They hang out on trees near fields and sagebrush flats. They like to stand on naked branches, from which they hunt insects, lizards, mice, and small birds.

Like other falcons, Kestrels have pointed wings, dark eyes, and a facial “mustache.” Their tails are flashy red. They appear to have “eyes” in the back of their heads, thanks to black feathers that form dark circles. The males have blue-gray wings, orange-brown backs with black horizontal dashes, and black spots on their white chests. A blue-orange, white-black combo. Females have a rufous back with horizontal black stripes. Their wings are colored like their backs and they have brown vertical streaks on their white chests. These little carnivores stand out for their gaudy feathers.

Falcons have short beaks that are sharply hooked. The beaks have a “tooth” that is used to sever the spine of their prey. They have big feet and long toes for striking their quarry. They may hold the victim with their talons, tearing it apart with their beaks.

Portraits of Male Kestrels

I will start with photos of male Kestrels. All these pictures were taken in the Bishop area near the Bishop Creek Canal, Airport Road, and the Buckley Ponds. The first image shows the black “mustache” that drops below the eye. Note the short, hooked beak. Black markings are on the back. The primary wing feathers cover most of the tail. The bird is looking over its shoulder, a come-hither look that is common for Kestrels.

The next five photos show a Kestrel near the Buckley Ponds. The lighting was particularly attractive that morning.

The next photo shows the “mustache” of black color below the eyes.

In the next image the bird shakes itself. This cleans the feathers of dust and dirt.

Hooked beak. Tail longer than wing feathers.

One foot on end of branch, the other lower down. Common pose.

One of my favorite images is below. The bird’s body is outlined by the dead branches.

Female on left, male on right. A mating couple? Siblings?

Same bird as the previous picture. Good view of the fake “eyes” on back of head.

Sometimes the young birds hang with their parents. Here are two females and a male. Family?

Portraits of Female Kestrels

Flight

Most falcons are built for speed. Not this bird. It can fly at 30 mph, but generally is lazy and takes its time. It is perfectly happy to eat grasshoppers, so there is no reason to rush about.

Female lands. The spots in air are from cottonwood trees or bugs.

Male below seems to be lost in thought. Female approaches. At first she looks threatening, but she is just trying to land.

Below a male lands. Then he staggers about trying not to overshoot the branch. Wings and tail wave about. This balancing act is common for these birds, as if it is hard for them to judge their final speed.

Female pivots to her right to launch from branch.

Hovering

Sometimes Kestrels will hover. They will face into a breeze and maneuver their wings and tail to keep their head steady, while they search the ground below.

Fun Facts

Pay attention. Some of this may be on the quiz.

First, Kestrels do not need to drink water. When kept in captivity, they can get all the water they need from their carnivorous diet. This makes it easier for them to live in the desert.

Second, DNA studies suggest that Falcons are not closely related to other hawks. They are related to cuckoos.

The third fact is related to defecation. If you are squeamish, you can skip this section. Kestrels do not build nests. They prefer to find cavities, such as holes left by woodpeckers. You have heard the phrase “Don’t soil your own nest.” Or, more crudely, “Don’t shit where you live.” Kestrels take this literally. Their waste, containing undigested food and a white paste of uric acid, is wrapped in a fecal sac, which is then evacuated. The bird can then throw this out of the cavity it resides in. Very tidy. Below, a photo sequence shows a bird evacuating and dropping this sac:

Other falcons

Three other falcon species can be found in the Bishop area. First is the Merlin, only a little bigger than a Kestrel: 10″ long, wingspan 24″, and 6.5 oz. They visit in fall and winter. Known for aggressive pursuit of other birds. Merlins come in 3 flavors: Pacific, Taiga, and Prairie. The photo below shows a bird with a faint mustache; probably a Taiga Merlin.

Much bigger is the Prairie Falcon: length 16″, wingspan 40″, 1.6 lb. Other birds should fear this hunter.

Prairie Falcon, Warm Springs Road. Note the talons.

Slightly bigger still is the Peregrine Falcon: length 16″, wingspan 41″, weight 1.6 lb. This bird dives from high above, can reach a speed over 200 mph, and can kill a duck or pigeon in mid-air by striking with its feet.

Wilson’s Phalarope

These shorebirds birds are 9 inches long, have a wingspan of 17 inches, and weigh 2 oz. They mate in the Dakotas and Saskatchewan in May. The females lay eggs and promptly leave, heading south to the saline lakes of the Great Basin: Great Salt Lake, Abert’s Lake in Oregon, and Mono Lake north of Bishop. The males look after the eggs, but once the chicks are hatched, the males also head south. The chicks are born with feathers and find their own food; soon they also go south. The birds show up at Mono Lake from mid-June to August. Surveys at Mono Lake done 35 years ago estimated up to 80,000 phalaropes in a year, but survey methods then and now are pretty crude. The females arrive first, then males, then juveniles. They hang out for a month doubling their weight on brine shrimp and alkali flies — an unlimited, but monotonous, buffet. They use the time and food energy to molt, discarding their old feathers and growing new ones. Then they fly south – a 3-day non-stop to South America, about 3000-4000 miles. They spend the Boreal winter at inland saline lakes near the Andes Mountains of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. In spring of the next year, they fly north and do this all over again.

Below are photos of Mono Lake, where thousands of Phalaropes gather every summer. The first photo was taken from the Mono Craters, a group of volcanos south of the lake. In the foreground is volcanic ash and rubble. In the middle distance on the right is an island called Paoha. Most California Gulls migrate from the coast to this island in the summer, nest, and raise their chicks. In the far distance are the snowy summits of the Sweetwater Mountains, which straddle the California-Nevada border.

Mono Lake from Mono Craters. Looking north.

The winter view below, looking south, shows the Lake from near Conway Summit. The large road is Highway 395. The town of Lee Vining is in the distance on the right. Rain and snow are coming down from the clouds.

Sunrise from the Lake’s south shore.

Lightning started a fire just a few years ago. It burned off sagebrush and rabbitbrush from a large area on the Lake’s south shore.

Mono Lake south shore. South Tufa area on left, Navy Beach on right. Burned from lighting fire.

Another view of the burned area.

Below are pictures of Wilson’s Phalaropes floating, preening, and feeding. These images were taken from the South Tufa area of Mono Lake, which has easy road access and a boardwalk that leads to the water. The female birds have a black facial stripe that morphs into a cinnamon color on the back of the neck; very elegant. Colors for the males and juveniles are muted; a blah look.

Wilson’s Phalaropes. Mono Lake. Two bird on the right are females in breeding plumage.

Wilson’s Phalaropes are wading birds, but also happy swimming about.

Lots of preening here. These birds are molting, getting entirely new outfits.

The image above shows some birds feeding. All they have to eat here are brine shrimp, which are less than a half-inch long, and small alkali flies. They grasp brine shrimp or flies with the tip of their bills, then open the bill so that a water droplet containing the food moves up to the mouth using surface-tension. Two California biologists studied this with high-speed cameras and their article shows photos of water droplets moving up a bird’s bill from tip to mouth in 0.01 seconds. (Rubega MA, Obst BS. Surface Tension Feeding in Phalaropes: Discovery of a Novel Feeding Mechanism. The Auk: A Quarterly Journal of Ornithology. 1993;110(2):169-173.)

Until 2021, I knew nothing about this bird. Roberta and I visited Mono Lake’s South Tufa beach early on July 2 and found thousands of them at the shore, floating on the water, and flying about in flocks of hundreds, even thousands. We came back on July 6 and 13 to get more photos. The birds made little noise; just faint gurgling sounds. At the shore they seemed restless, either eating or preening themselves. The scene was one of the most exciting wildlife events I’ve ever seen, comparable to seeing animal herds on the Serengeti.

Below are two images of Phalaropes landing.

This is a different bird, also landing. As they come down, they take a few steps on the water.

Every few minutes a flock of hundreds or thousands took off, zoomed about (at speeds up to 50 mph) near the water surface or high above the water, and then landed on the water. Large flocks made a “whooshing” sound as they went past. The landings looked like a controlled crash; the birds spread their wings, put out their feet, and take several steps on the water before flopping down. Their bellies are white, backs are a mix of browns. So depending on their angle in flight, they make look white, brown, grey, or black. As they change direction, the color of the flock changes — a fast moving plume of black smoke seems to turn white. Sometimes a dark-appearing flock crosses the path of another flock that looks white.

We see the bellies, so these birds look white.

In some photos, individual birds are upside down! Does air turbulence from the flock tip them over? Or are they just banking a turn very hard? How do they avoid crashing into each other? As they land, they seem to touch at times.

At the top of this group, right of center, one bird is upside down. Feet point into the air.

The more you magnify this photo, the more birds you can see. Could there be a thousand birds in this picture?

Why do they fly about so much? I assume they are getting their muscles in shape for the 3000-mile trip to South America. They are training, just as a human trains for a marathon. Are they also practicing how to fly as a group? When they head south, they usually lift off at night, head for the coast, and fly over the ocean. I wonder what it would look like to see a flock pass overhead against the stars or the moon?

Who was Wilson?

Alexander Wilson (1766 to 1813) was born in Scotland. He moved to America in 1794 (age 27) in the hope of escaping poverty. He lived in Pennsylvania. Before his death at age 47, he published 9 books of bird illustrations; American Ornithology (1808-1814). His name is attached to Wilson’s Storm-Petrel, Wilson’s Plover, Wilson’s Snipe, Wilson’s Phalarope, and Wilson’s Warbler.

In 2023, the American Ornithological Society announced a plan to revise North American bird names. Instead of naming birds for people (all white males of European heritage), names will be revised to describe the birds. They plan to revise 10 names in 2024, including Wilson’s Warbler and Snipe. Europeans did not discover these birds; they were known to indigenous people for thousands of years.

A couple of additional photos remind us that Phalaropes are not the only creatures at Mono Lake. Roberta spotted this Desert Cottontail on April 2, 2024.

Great Blue Herons

Bishop is in the high desert at 4000 feet. Despite being in a desert, we have Great Blue Herons; lots of them. They have been seen at 260 feet below sea level in Death Valley and as high as 11,000 feet near Sawmill Pass. They build nests in Cottonwoods throughout the Owens Valley; rookeries of several nests can be found. They fish in streams, canals, ponds, and reservoirs. They hunt small mammals in fields.

Compare a Heron with a Bald Eagle. Both prefer fish. The Heron catches fish with its long bill, the Eagle grasps them with its talons. They have colossal wingspans; 6 feet for the Heron, 6.5 feet for the Eagle. But the Heron is a lithe ballet dancer: 4.5 feet tall, 6.5 pounds. The Eagle is a muscle-bound thug: 2.5 feet, 9.5 pounds.

I have taken thousands of photos of Great Blue Herons. They are common and big, making them an easy target. I currently (March 2024) have 674 saved Heron photos, more than for any other bird. A heron was the first bird I managed to photograph while in flight. Their large size and straight path makes it easier to get pictures. Most photos in this post were taken near the Buckley Ponds or the Bishop Creek Canal.

Pony tails.

Herons have pony tails. Technically, these are occipital plumes. Apparently these feathers are used for mating displays. In reviewing my photos, the pony tails seem longest around January, when mating starts, shortest or absent in late summer. Or maybe this difference arises because juvenile Herons lack long plumes. Below are a few examples.

The pony tail floats above the back. Note all the holes in the wing feathers.

Shake it, baby!

Sometimes birds give themselves a vigorous shake, fluffing their feathers into a disorderly mess. Why? Are they trying to shed dust or parasites? Below is a sequence of photos showing this shaking.

Here is another example of shaking.

Note that the legs look like carbon-fiber hiking poles.

Feeding.

Herons usually hunt near or in water. They may stand motionless, or move slowly. Then they strike quickly and grab a fish. They may hold it for a while, until the flopping stops, then maneuver it so that it can be swallowed head first. If the fish is large you can see a bulge move down the bird’s neck. In addition to fish they eat crustaceans, amphibians, other birds, and small mammals.

Heron stalking fish or frogs at Buckley Ponds.

In the sequence below, a Heron catches a carp at the Buckley Ponds. The time from first to last photo is 52 seconds. Imagine if you had to eat this way.

Flight.

Herons use big, powerful, rhythmic wing-beats and tend to cruise in a straight line. I like to think of them as lumbering aircraft, an avian B-52. At the start of flight the neck is extended. Then it may coil back onto the shoulders, but not always. With the neck extended the bird often looks awkward, as if it has no business being in the air. The big primary feathers at the ends of the wings often have tears and holes, like a car riding on bald tires. Sometimes an entire feather is missing.

Flight through cottonwoods. Yellow plant is rabbitbrush.

Wings and reflection form a circle. Sometimes wing-tips touch the water.

Neck still mostly extended. The head and legs hang below the body. Ungainly look.

Birds descended from dinosaurs, but I find that hard to grasp when I see a Bald Eagle. But I can easily imagine the Heron below is a dinosaur.

Heron cruising over Pleasant Valley Reservoir, early morning.

Portraits.

I selected a portfolio of portraits to show Herons in a variety of places and poses. Their eyes look like sewn-on yellow buttons. The giant toes and hooked talons are remarkable. There is usually reddish coloration of thighs, wrists, and shoulders. They like to perch high up on poles, branches, and bridge structures. I picked many photos for unusual lighting or colors.

Herons often prefer to stand on one leg. They will do this even on windy days. They will lift up one leg and it will disappear into the feathers on their belly. All birds will stand on one leg, but this is more obvious in large birds such as Herons and Hawks. Sometimes a few toes will protrude from the feathers. The one-legged stance seems like a tricky and unnecessary balancing act. Humans have balance sensors, the vestibular system, in their ears; this helps us stand upright with our eyes closed. Birds have similar balancing sensors in their ears, but have another balance sensor in their pelvis, so they can move their heads independently of their bodies while perched on a bobbing branch. To stand on one leg they must have their foot right under their center of mass. They have a knob in their pelvis which allows them to lean on and lock-off the leg they are standing on.