Avian Beauty

What's the most popular bird in the United States? Well if you guessed Bald Eagle - you'd be right. But what about the second most popular bird? Believe it or not it is the Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus).

There's a reason that the Snowy Owl is so popular. Firstly, raptors in general and owls specifically are some of the most popular birds worldwide and have been the subject of attention by poets, authors and artists going back to the cave paintings in Europe.

These owls are often used in movies and other popular culture to depict wisdom or strength. (Remember Hedwig in Harry Potter?) Those are admirable qualities that most people can identify with.

And the snowy owl has other qualities that make it attractive. Their white color makes them striking and easy to identify.

Another reason that people like snowy owls is that they are diurnal - you can see them at all hours of the day. The reclusive nature of most owls makes them hard to adore. Snowy's are considered more approachable.

My favorite thing about snowy owls is that there are many stories, most of them true, about the feats of these magnificent birds.

No less than John James Audubon said he once saw a snowy owl lying at the edge of an ice hole where it waited for fish and caught them with its feet.

Another story about snowy owls tracks one young bird that flew from its nest in Victoria Island in the Canadian Arctic and flew all the way to Hudson Bay.

I hope you've enjoyed this episode of Avian Beauty. Thanks for listening.

Be sure to visit avianbeauty.com for more bird inspiration and information and please consider subscribing (for free) to our blog and podcast. I’m Scott Bourne. Happy birding.

If you'd like to show your appreciation for this site, please consider the purchase of prints or gifts featuring Scott's bird art, visit scottbourne.photos for more information.

Why should birds matter to you or me? Simple - birds can save us - but only if we can save them first.

Beyond culture, color and the enrichment that they offer all of us, birds offer practical help. My goal this week is to get you thinking about all of this and why birds matter.

Birds offer something for every constituency. They offer ecosystem services. Because they are an “umbrella” species, their protection ensures good habitat for many others.

Birds disperse seeds, helping to revegetate habitats and allow the survival of many species. They even protect drinking water by preventing erosion.

Do you like flowers? Thank the birds. Hummingbirds pollinate individual flowers, flowering shrubs and blooming trees. Just think if YOU had to do all that work.

They also help slow the spread of disease by eating carrion. Those vultures may be ugly, but they are saving lives.

Birds consume 98% of the most harmful pests, giving farmers a chance to grow the crops we all depend on.

They also directly stimulate the economy. According to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, birding created more than one million new jobs. There are at least 45 million birders in the USA, contributing $80 billion to the US annually.

Birds have important cultural relationships with humans. In addition to occasionally being someone's pet, birds have a role in folklore and in certain religions. Commanders used birds during time of war to communicate with troops. Birds are used to find food. Birds inspire art and design. Their feathers are used to produce more than 100 products.

Beyond all these practical matters, birds bring us song and beauty which both nourish our souls.

They face lots of challenges and more than 1,200 species face extinction over the next century which is alarming. Because as birds go - so do we.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Avian Beauty. Thanks for listening.

Be sure to visit avianbeauty.com for more bird inspiration and information and please consider subscribing (for free) to our blog and podcast. I’m Scott Bourne. Happy birding.

If you’d like to show your appreciation for this site, please consider the purchase of prints or gifts featuring Scott’s bird art, visit scottbourne.photos for more information.

The great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) is a successful hunter. Early naturalists called these owls "winged tigers" because of their ferocity. While rare, a great horned owl can occasionally catch and kill even a peregrine falcon! When clenched, a Great Horned Owl’s strong talons require a force of 28 pounds to open. The owls use this deadly grip to sever the spine of large prey.

To aid them in their hunt they have large eyes and large pupils that open wide for excellent night vision, paired with excellent hearing.

Distributed throughout vast portions of North and South America, the great horned owl is famous for its hoot. This is the owl most children are first exposed to in story tales.

They hunt at night, drifting silently looking for insects, reptiles and other birds.

There are roughly 225 living owl species, and of those about 50 have ear tufts - including the great horned owl. Though the tufts on their heads resemble ears, and are indeed often called "ear tufts," they are really just tufts of feathers. An owl’s ears are located lower down on its head, on the margin of the facial disk. Great horned owls use these tufts of feathers when they are agitated by a potential intruder or when they want to carry out threat displays. Some researchers think the tufts are helpful in species recognition.

Without birds like the great horned owls, the food chain would be unbalanced. Also some animals would become over populated. Owls are important to farmers because they kill/eat rodents that kill the farmers crops.

Next week, I'll talk more about owls and how they are referenced in both ancient and modern culture.

I hope you've enjoyed this episode of Avian Beauty. Thanks for listening.
Be sure to visit avianbeauty.com for more bird inspiration and information and please consider subscribing (for free) to our blog and podcast. I’m Scott Bourne. Happy birding.

Bird Songs - Hummingbirds

Birds are like mother nature's juke box. Their songs and sounds fill the morning air.

Birds have different kinds of calls. Just as you and I will change our tone, delivery and volume depending on what we're doing or trying to communicate, birds - especially hummingbirds, have many ways of doing this.

LET'S START WITH THE HUM

You can't take the hum out of the hummingbird, but then again - that has nothing to do with the bird's song. The hummingbird's wings are responsible for that sound. More on that in a minute.

Some of the sounds a bird makes are vocal sounds which are made by a special organ only birds possess called the syrinx. These sounds are usually made to defend or to impress. Hummingbirds are especially territorial, so a majority of the sounds they make are warnings to other birds. The syrinx is small and generally not capable of creating complex vocalizations.

Hummers have regular calls, aggressive calls, and they do sing songs. Mostly they just chirp.

Many hummingbird sounds are produced by the feathers of the wings or tail vibrating against the air. The male broad-tailed hummingbird of the Rocky Mountain region has an especially impressive sound. You can always tell when an adult male broad-tail flies past, because of the high, metallic trilling of his wings.

Some of the sounds you hear from hummingbirds come from the males fighting for territory. They duel with their beaks, clicking a distinct clicking sound.

While they sound very much alike to humans, there are distinct differences between the sounds made by different hummingbird species. Some hummers squeak, still others make a whirring sound or a shrill wing whistle.

What's your favorite hummingbird sound?

I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Avian Beauty. Thanks for listening.

Be sure to visit avianbeauty.com for more bird inspiration and information and please consider subscribing (for free) to our blog and podcast. I’m Scott Bourne. Happy birding.

If you’d like to show your appreciation for this site, please consider the purchase of prints or gifts featuring Scott’s bird art, visit scottbourne.photos for more information.

Thanks for listening to the 21st episode of the Avian Beauty podcast. Today I have some news. I have listened to the feedback I am getting from listeners and the majority of you want a longer show. Those who I polled overwhelmingly want me to bring on guests as well. This involves a lot more planning and logistical consideration as well as longer recording and edit times, so I am going to a once per month schedule. Beginning the second week of October, I'll start publishing one episode per month.

If you have any suggestions for guests, please email me at [email protected].

Additionally, I am going to introduce a news or current events component to the show. I'll discuss how climate and over population have impacted bird populations and bring on specialists who can discuss possible solutions to the problems birds face.

Right now, I'll give you an idea of what I mean by finishing off today's podcast with some items of interest to most bird lovers.

According to Birdwatching Magazine, new research at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) shows how the world’s most widely used insecticides could be partly responsible for a dramatic decline in songbird populations.

A new study published in the journal Science is the first experiment to track the effects of pesticides on birds in the wild.

The study found that White-crowned Sparrows that consumed small doses of an insecticide suffered weight loss and delays to their migration–effects that could severely harm the birds’ chances of surviving and reproducing.

According to Aquarian Weekly, a musician named Stephanie Seymour has found a way for bird lovers and music fans to unite. Stephanie is an avid birdwatcher and has brought two unlikely interests together to create the album, "There Are Birds."

It's a solo album all about birds (literally, metaphorically, from their perspective, etc.) There is a link to the album in the show notes at avianbeauty.com.

https://stephanieseymour.bandcamp.com/album/there-are-birds

And finally this piece of news. If you are love birds, you aren't alone.

Bird-watching is a multi-million dollar industry and one of the biggest attractions for ecotourism . The recreational sport associated with bird-watching, called "birding," has one of the largest followings of any leisure activity in the world. According to the U.S. census, 24 million Americans play basketball; 23 million play baseball, and nine million play football. By comparison, the census says that roughly 60 million people consider themselves birdwatchers. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service study, in the United States alone, bird watchers contributed about $36 billion to the U.S. economy.

I hope you've enjoyed this episode of Avian Beauty. Thanks for listening.

If you have news about birds or birding, or if you have show content ideas, please send me an email at: [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you.

Be sure to visit avianbeauty.com for more bird inspiration and information and please consider subscribing (for free) to our blog and podcast. I’m Scott Bourne. Happy birding.

If you'd like to show your appreciation for this site, please consider the purchase of prints or gifts featuring Scott's bird art, visit scottbourne.photos for more information.