Long-billed Starthroat (Heliomaster longirostris) by Sean Graesser
This is a Long-billed Starthroat (Heliomaster longirostris), another out of range species that Sean has been finding on the Nicoya peninsula. What he wanted to highlight here were the gorget feathers. These are the feathers located on the throat of this hummingbird and where males typically have their most colorful plumage. In most hummingbird species males develop these feathers as they age to be used for breeding displays with females. The gorget feathers actually reflect light due to their shape and the colors are not due to keratin based pigmentation. At different angles the light...
Read MoreBuffalo’s Brown Booby
By now you’ve likely heard of the Brown Booby (Sula leucogaster) that has been hanging out near Buffalo in Lake Erie and the Niagara River since being discovered on Monday, October 7. It may be gone at the moment with no sightings being reported since Tuesday, October 22. This extreme rarity, an adult female believed to be a first for the Great Lakes and Ontario, has been enjoyed by probably thousands of birders on both sides of the border by this point. She primarily stays on distant locations in the water associating with Double-crested Cormorants. As a species the Brown Booby has...
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