Phillip's Fetching Birds -- Bird of the Month

Calendars for birdlovers

NEW!
Birds of Earth 2013
A collection of avian diversity from 12 world-class photographers

NEW!
Phillip's Fetching Birds 2013
A seasonal collection of my own bird New England photographs for the coming year.

Puzzlebird Contest

Test your birding ID skills and win a 2013 calendar!

Daily Photoblog

Bird of the Day
A bird and a blurb of what I've been fetching lately... You can also see these images in your Facebook newsfeed by liking the birdaday page.

The Fall Shorebirds of Seapoint

A primer with photographs for some of our migrating shorebirds.

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Local Bird of the Month for May, 2013 (from the Phillip's Fetching Birds calendar)

Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus)

Northern Gannets are amazing plunge divers that live and breed in colonies on both sides of the North Atlantic. This one resting up off the NW coast of Cape Breton Island in the Canadian Maritimes is likely a member of the colony offshore the Magdalen Islands, about 45 miles away. Gannets have evolved numerous curious adaptations for their power diving which includes air sacs in their face and chest to cushion the impact of slamming into the water at high speed, binocular forward-pointing vision to judge distances and find their prey underwater, and nostrils that are located inside the mouth rather than outside. Powerful flyers and gliders, they are members of the Sulidae family which also includes the tropical boobies. In Cape Breton, and possibly elsewhere, someone who eats too much is a gannet.

Global Bird of the Month for May 2013 (from the Birds of Earth calendar)

Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus)

Andean Condors are a majestic but threatened species, largely due to habitat loss and poisoning. Sadly, Phillipe Wolfer, whose blog Oiseaux d'Argentina chronicled the diversity of Argentine birds, died recently.