H.J. Ruiz - Avian101 | "My Backyard Visitors" – All about birds – The world is my backyard!

Bird’s ID -Blue-gray Tanager

Blue-gray Tanager

The Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus) is a medium-sized South American songbird of the tanager family, Thraupidae. Its range is from Mexico south to northeast Bolivia and northern Brazil, all of the Amazon Basin, except the very south. It has been introduced to Lima (Peru).

The blue-gray tanager is 16–18 cm (6.3–7.1 in) long and weighs 30–40 g (1.1–1.4 oz). Adults have a light bluish head and underparts, with darker blue upperparts and a shoulder patch colored a different hue of blue. The bill is short and quite thick. Sexes are similar, but the immature is much duller in plumage.

The breeding habitat is open woodland, cultivated areas and gardens. The blue-gray tanager lives mainly on fruit, but will also take some nectar and insects. This is a common, restless, noisy and confiding species, usually found in pairs, but sometimes small groups. It thrives around human habitation, and will take some cultivated fruit like papayas (Carica papaya).

One to three, usually two, dark-marked whitish to gray-green eggs are laid in a deep cup nest in a high tree fork or building crevice. Incubation by the female is 14 days with another 17 to fledging. The nest is sometimes parasitized by Molothrus cowbirds.

Photo Gallery

© HJ Ruiz – Avian101

Tags: Bird's ID, birding, birds, Blue-gray tanager, Interesting information, photography, photos of birds

Photo Capture # 101 – Common Grackle

Common Grackle (Juv.)

“I dare y’all to call me juvenile to my face!”

Common Grackle (Juv.)

© HJ Ruiz – Avian101

Tags: birding, birds, Common Grackle, Photo Capture, photography, photos of birds

What’s Up? – I’ll sit this one out

I’ll sit this one out

The rain had stopped by the end of last week after almost a week of downpours. Sunny, bright and warmer days are now giving an impression of next summer.

I had planned to take advantage of dry and warm weather inspiration, so I decided to prune the trees we have in front and side of the house.

I took my ladder and a pruning saw to finish the job early before gets too hot. Lucy and Tyler were helping me by pulling the cut tree branches and dragging them to the backyard. The backyard’s terrain has a part where there is a slant not steeped, easy to walk down to the creek behind the trees, where I pile the branches and get dried and later reintegrate to the ground.

I finished my trimming and went to the back and help with the last bunch of trimmings.

Lucy and Tyler left me there to end the work. I was gripping the last two pieces dragging on the slanted path when I stepped on a patch of mud and slipped falling on my butt left side, my right leg got stuck and also twisted in a weird way. I was holding a branch in the left hand and when I fell I violently sat over my hand squeezing my thumb hard against the branch. I got up and felt like somebody had run me over with a truck. My whole body was aching.

My left thumb started to hurt and got swollen quickly, I wasn’t broken, I could bend it and wiggle it, But it was hurting, my right knee was hurting, but I was able to bend it and flex it. It was the side of the knee outside ligament stretched hard but not torn.

That night I was waking up every half hour because some part of my body was hurting!

By the third night, I was feeling much better, the thumb wasn’t swollen but hurt to the touch and showed a bruise. My knee works well and shows not a single mark, that’s good.