| Townsend's solitaire | |
|---|---|
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| Townsend's solitaire by Louis Agassiz Fuertes | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Passeriformes |
| Family: | Turdidae |
| Genus: | Myadestes |
| Species: | M. townsendi |
| Binomial name | |
| Myadestes townsendi (Audubon, 1838) | |
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Townsend's solitaire (Myadestes townsendi) is a medium-sized thrush, the only solitaire native to America north of Mexico.
This solitaire ranges from southern Alaska, British Columbia and Alberta to northern Zacatecas in Mexico, preferring montane woodlands. During winter, it may move in search of food to lower elevations, including the Great Plains, northern interior Mexico, and even desert oases. [2] [3] [4]
Townsend's solitaire reaches a length of approximately 8–9.5 inches (20–24 centimetres) and wingspan of 14.5 inches (37 cm); it weighs approximately 1.2 oz (34 g). It has a short, thick, blackish bill; a white eye ring; and gray plumage with a buffy wing stripe and edges of the flight feathers. The tail is long, tapered when shut, and edged with white. Juveniles are mottled gray and white. [2] [3]
It perches in a rather upright position, often high on a branch [4] and often staying still for a long time. [3]
Though it has some similarities to the northern mockingbird, [4] particularly as to the tail, [2] its dark underparts, shape, size, and behavior are not similar.
It feeds primarily on berries and insects. [4] The solitaire is amongst the most specialized of all North American birds since its diet in winter consists almost entirely of the fleshy cones of the juniper bush, and the solitary birds form territories around productive juniper patches which they strongly defend [5]
Its song consists of loud, melodious flute-like rising and falling phrases [4] with "low, husky notes interspersed but no distinct pattern" [2] and "a slightly mechanical quality." [3] The call is a squeaky eeek [4] or "clear, soft whistle heeh". [2]
They nest on the ground in hollows under banks or crevices about roots of trees or fallen stumps, making a large, loosely constructed pile of weeds and trash, hollowed and lined with rootlets. [6] The nest resembles that of other solitaires: a cup of fine plant material on or close to the ground. [3] Townsend's solitaire usually lays three or four eggs that are grayish-white with brown dots or splotches concentrated at the larger end. [4]
The name of this bird commemorates the ornithologist John Kirk Townsend.
The American bushtit or simply bushtit is a social songbird belonging to the genus Psaltriparus. It is one of the smallest passerines in North America and it is the only species in the family Aegithalidae that is found in United States; the other seven species are found in Eurasia.
The dark-eyed junco is a species of junco, a group of small, grayish New World sparrows. The species is common across much of temperate North America and in summer it ranges far into the Arctic. It is a variable species, much like the related fox sparrow, and its systematics are still not completely resolved.
The western bluebird is a small North American thrush.
The field sparrow is a small New World sparrow in the family Passerellidae. It is about 140 mm (6 in) long and weighs about 12.5 g (0.4 oz). The head is grey with a rust-coloured crown, white eye-ring and pink bill. The upper parts are brown streaked with black and buff, the breast is buff, the belly is white and the tail is forked. There are two different colour morphs, one being greyer and the other more rufous.
Heermann's gull is a gull resident in the United States, Mexico and extreme southwestern British Columbia, nearly all nesting on Isla Rasa in the Gulf of California. They are usually found near shores or well out to sea, very rarely inland. The species is named after Adolphus Lewis Heermann, nineteenth-century explorer and naturalist.
The black-throated gray warbler or black-throated grey warbler is a passerine bird of the New World warbler family Parulidae. It is 13 cm (5.1 in) long and has gray and white plumage with black markings. The male has the bold black throat of its name, and black stripes on its head, as well as black streaks on its flanks; the female is a paler version of the male, with a white throat and less distinct black markings on the flanks and wings. It breeds in western North America from British Columbia to New Mexico, and winters in Mexico and the southwestern United States. The habitats it prefers are coniferous and mixed forests and scrubland, especially those with pinyon pines, junipers, sagebrush, and oaks. Its nest is an open cup of plant fibers lined with feathers, built a few metres from the ground in the branches of a tree or shrub. Three to five eggs are laid, and young are fed by both parents. Common in its breeding range, it does not seem to be seriously threatened by human activities, unlike many migratory warblers.
Townsend's warbler is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.
The lazuli bunting is a North American songbird named for the gemstone lapis lazuli.
The mountain plover is a medium-sized ground bird in the plover family (Charadriidae). It is misnamed, as it lives on level land. Unlike most plovers, it is usually not found near bodies of water or even on wet soil; it prefers dry habitat with short grass and bare ground. Its height is in the range of 5-9 inches, and length in the range of 8-10 inches ; and it weighs around 102 grams.
Juniperus osteosperma is a shrub or small tree native to the southwestern United States.
The gray vireo is a small North American passerine bird. It breeds from the southwestern United States and northern Baja California to western Texas. It is a migrant, wintering in northwestern Mexico, in western Sonora state, and the southern Baja Peninsula in Baja California Sur; it remains all year only in Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas. It is usually found at altitudes between 400 and 2,500 metres in its Mexican breeding grounds. This vireo frequents dry brush, especially juniper, on the slopes of the southwestern mountains.
The yellow grosbeak, also known as the Mexican yellow grosbeak, is a medium-sized seed-eating bird in the same family as the northern cardinal, "tropical" or "New World" buntings, and "cardinal-grosbeaks" or New World grosbeaks.
The black-chinned sparrow is a small bird in the genus Spizella, in the New World sparrow family Passerellidae. It is found in the southwestern United States and throughout much of Mexico north of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; most populations in the US migrate south after breeding while those in Mexico are resident. It is a slim, long-tailed bird, primarily gray with a reddish-brown back streaked with black, brown wings and tail, a pink beak, and brownish legs and feet. In the breeding season, the male shows black on his throat, chin, and the front of his face. Females, youngsters and nonbreeding males show little or no black in these areas. An unobtrusive bird, it spends much of its time foraging slowly along the ground, either alone or in small groups, sometimes mixing with other Spizella species. It is an omnivore, feeding primarily on seeds during the winter and insects during the summer. It builds a cup-shaped nest of grasses, rootlets, or plant fibers, into which the female lays 2–5 pale blue eggs. The female does most or all of the egg incubation, but both parents feed the hatched nestlings.
The green-tailed towhee is the smallest towhee, but is still one of the larger members of the American sparrow family Passerellidae.
The black-faced solitaire is a bird in the thrush family endemic to highlands in Costa Rica and western Panama.
The Montezuma quail is a stubby, secretive New World quail of Mexico and some nearby parts of the United States. It is also known as Mearns's quail, the harlequin quail, and the fool quail.
The American gray flycatcher, American grey flycatcher, or just gray flycatcher as it is known in North America, is a small, insectivorous passerine in the tyrant flycatcher family. It is common in the arid regions of western North America, especially the Great Basin. From sagebrush steppes to pinyon-juniper woodlands and ponderosa pine forests, this flycatcher forages for insects from shrubs or low tree branches.
The bridled titmouse is a small songbird, a passerine bird in the tit family Paridae.
The brown-backed solitaire is considered a thrush and is placed in the family Turdidae. It is a medium-sized bird about 21 centimeters long. It is a mostly grayish bird with brown flight feathers, a white eye ring and white rectrices (tail) feathers.
The gray hawk or Mexican goshawk is a smallish raptor found in open country and forest edges. It is sometimes placed in the genus Asturina as Asturina plagiata. The species was split by the American Ornithological Society (AOU) from the gray-lined hawk. The gray hawk is found from Costa Rica north into the southwestern United States.
