White Ibis, with their long decurved bills, walking in groups on neighborhood lawns probing for grubs and insects, make them our familiar and amusing friends. Yet, White Ibis are unique in that they vary in their nesting/breeding times, and readily shift roosts and nesting sites. This allows them to follow their food (mostly small fishes…

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Although the Grasshopper Sparrow eats grasshoppers, its favorite insect, the Grasshopper Sparrow is, according to ornithologists named after the insect sounds it makes. What a lovely pattern on its feathers. Notice how it holds onto that tiny branch, its nails curving, toes crossing.  Weighing less than an ounce, it does not bend the twig. Found on…

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Yes, this is your ordinary, common Double-crested Cormorant with its brilliant emerald eye surrounding the dark pupil in a breeding adult. For a brief time, with its new darker feathers and more intense orange facial skin, the adult may grow two short tufts of feathers to attract its mate, for which it is named –…

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Notice that very sharp, thin bill of this 5-inch Blackpoll Warbler, especially shaped to capture insects from leaves in the canopy of trees. Weighing 0.5 oz., about as much as a mailed letter, this Blackpoll Warbler flies from the boreal forests of Alaska and Canada where it breeds, stopping to refuel while migrating through Florida…

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