Facts of Bald Eagle

Bald Eagles have long rounded wings, large hooked bills, sharp talons, and are the largest birds of prey in the United States. They swoop down on their prey at high speeds, and their diet varies by species and considerably by habitat. In most species, the male is smaller than the female, but otherwise, the sexes are similar in appearance. This family also includes kites and hawks.

The bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), is U.S. national symbol. It is a federally designated endangered species. Relatively common in Alaska, populations in the lower 48 States have been seriously diminished, although they are recovering in some areas. Bald eagles are most commonly sighted in coastal areas or near rivers or lakes.

Bald eagles are primarily carrion feeders. Perhaps Bald Eagle sound is not good in listening. Normally they emit a sort of high-pitched giggle or a weak scream showing the classics symbol of adventure. Habitually, Bald Eagle is a very romantic bird of prey, tend to pair for lifetime. They like to share parenting responsibilities with the female. You can listen Bald Eagle sound here 

Body Size

Females are significantly larger than males, but otherwise, the sexes look alike. Body size increases with latitude and is the sole basis by which the northern and southern subspecies are divided. Length from bill tip to tail tip averages 81 cm in the more northerly populations. There may be the reason those female needs extra food reserves to produce her eggs. This is scariest eagle is pretty much always the lady.

Bald Eagle Habitat

Bald eagles generally are restricted to coastal areas, lakes, and rivers. However, in winter areas it is not associated with water. Preferred breeding sites include proximity to large bodies of open water and large nest trees with sturdy branches (often conifers) and areas of old-growth timber with an open and discontinuous canopy.

In a study shows, more than 200 nests, found 55 % within 46 m of shoreline and 92 percent within 183 m of shore. During migration and in winter, conifers often are used for communal roosting both during the day and at night, perhaps to minimize heat loss. Mature trees with large open crowns and stout, horizontal perching limbs are preferred for roosting in general. Bald eagles reach maximum densities in areas of minimal human activity and are almost never found in areas of heavy human use.

Food Habits

Bald Eagle primarily carrion feeders eat dead or dying fish when available but also will catch live fish swimming near the surface or fish in shallow waters. In general, bald eagles can be described as opportunistic feeders, taking advantage of whatever food source is most plentiful. Also, it is easy to scavenge or to capture, including birds and mammals. In many areas, particularly in winter, waterfowl, killed or injured by hunters, and shore birds are an important food source.

Usually, eagles forage in an upland area in the winter season. when surface waters are frozen over, consuming carrion including rabbits, squirrels, and dead domestic livestock such as pigs and chickens. The Bald eagles is also famous in to steal food from other members of their own species as well as from hawks, osprey, gulls, and mergansers. This Bald Eagle may occur when there is a shortage of a primary food source, such as fish, and an abundance of other prey such as waterfowl being used by other predatory birds.

Some prey is important to a few populations; for example, in the Chesapeake Bay region, turtles are consumed during the breeding season, and at Amchitka Island in Alaska, sea otter pups are found regularly in bald eagle nests. In the Pacific Northwest during the breeding season, that bald eagles hunted live prey 57 percent of the time, scavenged for 24 percent of their prey, and pirated 19 percent (mostly from gulls or other eagles).

Because bald eagles scavenge dead or dying prey, they are particularly vulnerable to environmental contaminants and pesticides (e.g., from feeding on birds that died from pesticides, consuming lead shot from waterfowl killed or disabled by hunters. Bald eagles also are vulnerable to biomagnification of contaminants in food chains.

At the close of Lake Superior (WI), herring gulls, which were consumed by over 20 percent of nesting bald eagle pairs, were found to be a significant source of DDE and PCB intake by the eagles. The gulls contained higher contaminant levels than the local fish because of their higher trophic level.

Molt

Adult eagles molt yearly. In northern populations, molting occurs from late spring to early fall; in southern populations, molting may be initiated earlier. It is likely that the molt is not complete, and that some feathers are retained for 2 years. Young bald eagles generally molt into their adult plumage by their fifth year.

Migration

Bald eagles migrate out of areas where lakes are completely frozen over in winter but will remain as far north as the availability of open water and a reliable food supply allow. Areas with ice-free waterways, such as the Columbia River estuary in Washington and Oregon, may support both resident and migratory populations in the winter. The far northern breeding populations migrate south for the winter and often congregate in areas with abundant food, particularly the Mississippi Valley and the northwestern States.

Some populations of eagles that breed in southern latitudes (e.g., Arizona, Florida) show a reverse migration and migrate north in midsummer (following breeding), returning south in early autumn or winter. Bald eagles have been observed to nest successfully at 4 years of age, but most do not breed until at least their fifth year. Breeding pairs remain together if both are alive.

Nests of Bald Eagle

Moreover, Bald Eagle is famous for building a massive nest high in the treetops. Both male and female play their role to construct their home to cement their lifelong bond. The nests normally consist of grass and feathers and they used it year after year spruce it up with a whopping foot or two of new material. The nests on average is 2 to 4 feet deep and 5 to 6 feet wide.

Large stick nests (approximately 1.5 m across and 0.6 m deep) are built near water and most often in a large tree, but sometimes on rocky outcrops or even on the ground on some islands. In the absence of disturbance, the same nest site may be used for many years. In Florida, eggs are laid in late autumn or winter, while over the rest of the eagle's range, mating and egg-laying occur in spring.

Clutch sizes are larger in the north, and both sexes take responsibility for feeding the young. Young fledge at about 10 to 12 weeks of age; after leaving the nest, they are still dependent on their parents for several weeks and often return to the nest for food. After nesting, large groups will often gather at sites with plentiful food and resources, such as along rivers following a salmon spawn.

Bald Eagle Range

During the breeding season, eagles require large areas near open water, with an adequate supply of nesting trees. Distance from human disturbance is an important factor in nest-site selection, and nests have been reported to fail because of disturbance. During incubation and brooding, eagles show territorial defense of an area around the nest site. Following fledging, there is little need for nest defense, and eagles are opportunistic in their search for abundant sources of prey.

During winter, eagles roost communally in large aggregations and share a foraging home range. The population of 150 eagles that fed on meadow voles in a 250-ha flooded field for a 4-week period. This group also established a communal night roost in the vicinity.

Bald Eagle Population

Because population density depends strongly on the configuration of the surface water bodies used for foraging, few investigators have published explicit density estimates on an area basis; most report breeding densities along a shoreline on a linear basis. During the breeding season, 0.03 to 0.4 pairs have been recorded per km shore.

Eagles migrating south from their summer territories in Canada have aggregated in communal roosts of up to 400 eagles in a 40-ha area. In the winter, communal roost sites may also contain large numbers of eagles. A group of 150 eagles that roosted and foraged together in the Klamath Basin, and communal night roosts of up to 300 eagles in Oregon in late winter.

Not all adults in an area are part of the breeding population. Some pairs may establish territories and not breed, while others may not even pair. The percentage of adults breeding and the breeding success of those that do vary with local food abundance, weather, and habitat conditions.

The bioaccumulation of organochlorine pollutants reduced the reproductive success of bald eagles. Now, in many areas, these raptors are reproducing at rates like those prior to the widespread use of these pesticides. Eagles lay one clutch per year, although replacement clutches may be laid upon loss of the initial one. Very little is known about mortality rates of bald eagles.

The population models that adult survival is more important than the reproductive rate to the continued success of bald eagle populations. In captivity, bald eagles have lived for up to 50 years, and one wild eagle, banded and recaptured in Alaska, was estimated to be almost 22 years old. Upon loss of an initial clutch, bald eagles may lay replacement clutches if enough time remains. Moreover, the average life of bald is around 20 years, however, the oldest confirmed life span is 38 years of age.

Similar Species  

The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) is similar in size (81 cm) to the bald eagle. Its range encompasses all but the southeastern United States. Small mammals, snakes, birds, and carrion are primary prey items, and golden eagles prefer mountainous or hilly terrain.

Read More – The Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina)

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Eastern Box Turtle Care (box turtles)

Order Testudines, Family Emydidae

Box turtles are the most terrestrial of the Emydid turtles, having close-fitting shells that have allowed them to adapt well to terrestrial life. They are found throughout the eastern and central United States and into the southwest. They are omnivorous. Eastern Box turtles are also known as box tortoises, currently, four recognized species of box turtles.

Eastern Box Turtle Facts

The eastern box turtle (Terrapene Carolina carolina) ranges from northeastern Massachusetts to Georgia, west to Michigan, Illinois, and Tennessee. Also, they prefer the water, but are not improved for swimming in water. Box Turtles can roam up to one mile in a year. The main roads are a major deadly hazard for these slow-moving creatures.

Also, aggressive exotics smother their food plants. Raccoons and crows, though native, are major predators of young turtles. Also, lawnmowers get injure and kill box turtles. There are four subspecies of T. Carolina. All found within the eastern United States.

·              T. c. carolina, T. c. major (Gulf Coast box turtle; the largest subspecies, restricted to the Gulf Coast).

·              T. c. triunguis (three-toed box turtle; Missouri to south-central Alabama and Texas).

·              T. c. bauri (Florida box turtle; restricted to the Florida peninsula and keys.

Body Size

The eastern box turtle is small, with adults ranging from 11.5 to 15.2 cm in length and approximately 300 to over 400 g. Hatchlings weigh approximately 8 to 10 g. Turtles continue to grow throughout their lives.

However, their growth rate slows after reaching sexual maturity. The growth rings are no longer discernible after 18 to 20 years. Therefore, the body fat reserves in a Georgia population-averaged 0.058 to 0.060 g of fat per gram of lean dry weight from spring through fall.

Where do Eastern Box Turtles Live?

Typical box turtle habitats include open woodlands, thickets, and well-drained but moist forested areas. But occasionally pastures and marshy meadows are utilized. In areas with mixed woodlands and grasslands, box turtles use grassland areas in times of moderate temperatures and peak moisture conditions.

Otherwise, they tend to use moister forested habitats. Many turtles are killed attempting to crossroads, and fragmentation of habitat by roads can severely reduce populations. Eastern Box turtles tend to thrive best when they have let them leave alone. Various people illegally collect Eastern box turtles to breed in captivity to adopt as pets.

Eastern Box Turtle Diet

Most people want to know, what do eastern box turtles eat. Thus, adult T. carolinaare omnivorous when young, they are primarily carnivorous, but they become more herbivorous as they age and as growth slows. They consume a wide variety of animal material, including earthworms, slugs, snails, insects and their larvae (particularly grasshoppers, moths, and beetles), crayfish, frogs, toads, snakes, and carrion.

They also consume vegetable matter, including leaves, grass, berries, fruits, and fungi. A high proportion of snails and slugs may comprise the animal matter in the diet, and seeds can become an important component of the plant materials in the late summer and fall.

Temperature Regulation and Daily Activities

The species is diurnal and spends the night resting in a scooped depression or form that the turtle digs in the soil with its front feet T.carolinaare most active in temperate, humid weather. In the summer, they avoid high temperatures during midday by resting under logs or leaf litter, in mammal burrows, or by congregating in mud holes.

In the hottest weather, they may enter shaded shallow pools for hours or days. In the cooler temperatures, they may restrict their foraging activities to midday. In the laboratory, locomotion is maximal between 24 and 32C. In the field, their mean active body temperature is approximately 26C.

Hibernation

In the northern parts of its range (northeastern Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois), the eastern box turtle enters hibernation in late October or November and emerges in April. In Louisiana, it is found that T. c. major hibernated when temperatures fell below 65F. To hibernate, the box turtle burrows into loose soil and debris or mud of ponds or stream bottoms.

The South Carolina population of box turtles to occupy relatively shallow burrows (less than 4 cm) compared with those occupied by box turtles in colder regions (up to 46 cm). The hibernacula of box turtles in Tennessee are under 15.5 cm of leaf litter and 5.8 cm of soil on average. In southern states, during rainy and warm periods, box turtles may become active again. In Florida, the box turtle may be active all year.

Eastern Box Turtle Care?

Keep the Box Turtle it in an outdoor enclosure if the climate is often remaining above 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Or keep in indoor glass tank which has at least 20 gallons of water. Moreover, soak from time to time to rehydrate and cool down the body of water that is large but shallow. Also, mist their living place several times daily with a spray bottle, to keep the humidity level high.

The Box turtles normally live for 25 to 35 years but in some cases, it is known to survive to over 100 years old. Moreover, if there are no woods on the roadside, then the best you can do is to find a small patch of woods as close to where the turtle was heading and reposition them there.

If anyone has Box Turtle as pets, then you must provide an adequate sun or artificial light to stay healthy along with a suitable diet. As Box Turtles are omnivores, so they need invertebrates, such as insects and worms, vegetable matter, leaves, fruits, and berries. Hence, it is very imperative to provide a varied diet in captivity to ensure good nutrition.

Breeding Activities and Social Organization

Box turtles are solitary except briefly during the mating season. Individuals restrict their activities to a foraging home range, but home ranges of different individuals can overlap substantially.

 Mating usually occurs in the spring but may continue into fall, and eggs are laid in late spring and summer. The female digs a 3-to 4-inch cavity in sandy or loamy soil in which she deposits her eggs and then covers the nest with soil. Also, Box turtle eggs can be a very easy target for predators like raccoons. 

Nests tend to be constructed several hundred meters from the female's foraging home range in the warmer and drier uplands. The duration of incubation depends on soil temperatures, and sometimes hatchlings overwinter in the nest. The young are semi aquatic but seldom seen.

Home Range and Resources

Measures of the foraging home range for box turtles range from .5 ha to just over 5 ha. A female may need to search for suitable nest site (e.g., slightly elevated sandy soils) outside of her foraging home range. Winter hibernacula tend to be within the foraging home range.

Population Density

Population density varies with habitat quality, but studies linking density to habitat characteristics are lacking. In some areas, population densities have declined steadily over the past several decades.

Some investigators attribute the decline to increasing habitat fragmentation and obstacles that prevent females from reaching or returning from appropriate nesting areas.

Population Dynamics

Sexual maturity is attained at about 4 or 5 years to 5 to 10 years of age. One to four clutches may be laid per year, depending on latitude.  Eastern Box Turtle clutch size ranges from three to eight eggs, averaging three to four in some areas.

Juveniles generally comprise a small proportion of box turtle populations, for example, 18 to 25 percent in one population in Missouri. Some individual box turtles may live over 100 years.

Similar Species

The ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata ornata) and the desert box turtle (Terrapene ornata luteola) are similar in size and habits to the eastern box turtle. They occur in the western, midwestern, and southern Midwestern states.

Preferred habitats include open prairies, pastureland, open woodlands, and waterways in arid, sandy-soil terrains. The ornate box turtle and desert box turtle forage primarily on insects but also on berries and carrion.

Are Eastern Box Turtles Endangered?

Eastern Box Turtles are not listed as endangered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. However, in some cases, it is considered threatened by many conservationists due to Loss of habitat, collisions with traffic, and illegal trade has made the eastern box turtle scarce in some of its native ranges.

Hence in recent years their population has been in decline. The exclusive bright coloration shell makes it very special for animals’ lovers. The Eastern Box Turtles length is 4 to 8.5” with its carapace is high and dome-shaped. The shell is made of bone covered by living vascularized tissue and covered with a layer of keratin.

The strong shell is connected to the body through its fused rib cage which makes the shell enduringly attached and not detachable. However, when it gets injured or damaged, the shell has the capacity to regenerate and reform.

Read More – The Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina)

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Marsh Wren (wrens)

Order Passeriformes, Family Troglodytidae

Wrens are small insectivorous birds that live in a variety of habitats throughout the United States. They have long, slender bills adapted for gleaning insects from the ground and vegetation. Most species are migratory, although some populations are year-round residents.

Marsh Wren Facts

The marsh wren (Cistothorus palustris) is a common bird inhabiting freshwater cattail marshes and salt marshes. Marsh wrens breed throughout most of the northern half of the United States and in coastal areas as far south as Florida. In winter they are in the southern United States and into Mexico, particularly in coastal areas.

Marsh wrens eat mostly insects, and occasionally snails, which they glean from the surface of vegetation. This species was formerly known as the long-billed marsh wren (Telmatodytes palustris).

Body Size

Although wrens are small (13 cm bill tip to tail tip; about 10 g body weight), males tend to be about 10 percent heavier than females. However, the body weight varies seasonally; in Georgia, where marsh wrens are resident throughout the year, they tend to be heavier in the spring and summer than in the fall and winter.

Habitat

Marsh wrens inhabit freshwater and saltwater marshes, usually nesting in association with bulrushes, cattails, and sedges or on occasion in mangroves. Standing water from several centimeters to nearly a meter is typical of the areas selected.

However, the permanent water is necessary to provide a food supply of insects necessary to maintain the birds and as a defense against predation. Deeper water and denser vegetation are associated with reduced predation rates.

Food Habits

Marsh wrens consume aquatic invertebrates, other insects, and spiders, which they glean from the water surface, on stems and leaves of emergent vegetation, and the marsh floor. They sometimes also feed by flycatching.

The insect orders most commonly taken include Coleoptera (both adults and larvae), Diptera (adults and larvae), Hemiptera (juveniles and adults), Lepidoptera (larvae most commonly fed to nestlings); and Odonata (newly emerged).

When feeding the young, at first the parents bring mosquito adults and larvae, midges, larval tipulids, and other small insects. As the young mature, the parents bring larger insects such as ground beetles, diving beetles, long-horned beetles, caterpillars, dragonflies, and sawflies to the nestlings.

In a population in Georgia, spiders (usually 1 to 3 mm in size, sometimes 12 to 15 mm), small crabs (5 to 7 mm), small snails (1 to 3 mm), and insect eggs also were consumed and fed to nestlings. Thus, organisms that are aquatic for all or part of their lives are an important component of the diet of marsh wren adults and nestlings.

Migration

Marsh wrens are year-round residents in some southern and coastal maritime regions where marshes do not freeze. Most migratory wrens breed throughout the northern half of the United States through southern Canada and winter in Mexico and the southern half of the United States.

Breeding activities and social organization.

Many populations of marsh wren are polygynous, with some males mating with two, occasionally three, females in a season. While the remaining males have one mate or remain bachelors. In a study found 5 to 11 percent bachelor males, 41 to 48 percent monogamous males, 37 to 43 percent bigamous males, and 5 to 12 percent trigamous males in two marshes in Manitoba, Canada.

Similarly, 16 percent bachelors, 57 percent monogamous, and 25 percent bigamous males in eastern Washington state. In contrast, the most males to be monogamous through 4 years of study in Georgia.

Marsh Wren Nest

Male birds arrive at the breeding marshes before the females to establish territories that include both nest sites and foraging areas. Males build several nests in their territories throughout the breeding season. The female usually only add lining material to a nest of her choice, although some may help construct the breeding nest.

Breeding nests are oblong in shape, with a side opening, and are woven of cattails, reeds, and grasses and lashed to standing vegetation, generally 30 cm to 1 m above standing water or high tide. Incubation lasts approximately 2 weeks, as does the nestling period.

After fledging, one or both parents continue to feed the young for about 12 days. Many populations typically rear two broods per year, although some may rear three. In the more monogamous populations, both parents regularly feed young, but in the more polygynous ones, the females may provide most of the food, with males assisting only toward the end of the nestling period.

Marsh Wren Range

Marshes smaller than 0.40 ha usually are not used by breeding marsh wrens. Average male territory size for a given year and location can range from 0.006 to 0.17 ha, depending on the habitat and conditions of the year. Also, there is a trend in polygynous populations for polygynous males to defend larger territories than monogamous males or males that end up as bachelors.

Population density. Because the species is polygynous, there may be more females than males inhabiting breeding marshes. Population density varies with the suitability and patchiness of the habitat. Densities as high as 120 adult birds per hectare have been recorded.

Clutch size and number of clutches per year vary with latitude and climate. In some populations, marsh wrens commonly destroy eggs and kill the nestlings of other pairs of their own species and other marsh-nesting passerines. Fledging success depends strongly on nest location; nests over deeper water are less vulnerable to predation.

Of nests lost to all causes, it has found 44 percent due to mammalian predators, 27 percent due to other wrens, 11 percent due to weather, 8 percent due to nest abandonment, and 13 percent unknown. The annual mortality of adults is lower than that of first-year birds. Both sexes of this species usually commence breeding in the first year following hatching.

Similar species

1.    The sedge wren (Cistothorus platensis, formerly known as the short-billed marsh wren) nests locally in wet meadows or shallow sedge marshes and hayfields in the northeastern United States, wintering primarily in the southeastern United States. It is slightly smaller 11 cm than the marsh wren. None of the other wren species inhabit marshes, although all forage by gleaning insects from vegetation and other surfaces. Wrens that inhabit moist woodlands and open areas are listed below.

2.    The house wren (Troglodytes aedon12 cm) breeds throughout most of the United States, into southern Canada. It inhabits open habitats with brush and shrubs and is found in orchards, farmyards, and urban gardens and parks.

3.    The winter wren (Troglodytes troglodytes10 cm) breeds in southern Canada, where it nests in dense brush, especially along moist coniferous woodlands. It winters primarily in the southeastern United States, where it inhabits many types of woodlands.

4.    The Carolina wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus14 cm) is non-migratory and can be found in both summer and winter in the eastern United States as far north as northern Delaware and as far west as Oklahoma. It inhabits moist woodlands and swamps and wooded suburban areas.

5.    Bewick's wren (Thryomanes bewickii13 cm) is more common in western States than the house wren and is declining east of the Mississippi. It is found in brushland, stream edges, and open woods.

Read More – Rubby Kingfisher / The Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) / The Himalayan Cutia / The fire-tailed myzornis / Pando – The One Tree Forest / Great Blue Heron /

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Belted Kingfisher (kingfishers)

Order Coraciiformes, Family Alcedinidae

The belted kingfisher (Cerylealcyon, formerly Megaceryle alcyon) is a medium-sized bird (33 cm bill tip to tail tip) that eats primarily fish. It is one of the few species of fish-eating birds found throughout inland areas as well as coastal areas. The belted kingfisher's range includes most of the North American continent.

It breeds from northern Alaska and central Labrador southward to the southern border of the United States. Two subspecies sometimes are recognized: the eastern belted kingfisher (Ceryle alcyonalcyon), which occupies the range east of the Rocky Mountains and north to Quebec, and the western belted kingfisher (Cercyle alcyoncaurina), which occupies the remaining range to the west.

Kingfishers are stocky, short-legged birds with large heads and bills. They exist on a diet mostly of fish, which they catch by diving, from a perch or the air, headfirst into the water. They nest in burrows in earthen banks that they dig using their bills and feet.

Body Size

The belted kingfisher measures between 28 to 35 cm in length with a wingspan of between 48 to 58 cm and weigh from 113 to 178 g. The sexes are similar in size and appearance, although the female tends to be slightly larger. The western populations are somewhat larger than eastern ones. Nestlings reach adult body weight by about 16 days after hatching but then may lose some weight before fledging.

Habitat and Behavior

Belted kingfishers are typically found along rivers and streams and along lake and pond edges. They are also common on seacoasts and estuaries. They prefer waters that are free of thick vegetation that obscures the view of the water and water that is not completely overshadowed by trees.

Kingfishers also require relatively clear water to see their prey and are noticeably absent in areas when waters become turbid. That water less than 60 cm deep is preferred. They prefer stream riffles for foraging sites even when pools are more plentiful because of the concentration of fish at riffle edges. Belted kingfishers’ nest in burrows within steep earthen banks devoid of vegetation beside rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes.

They also have been found to nest in slopes created by human excavations such as roadcuts and landfills. Sandy soil banks, which are easy to excavate and provide good drainage, are preferred. In general, kingfishers’ nest near suitable fishing areas when possible but will nest away from water and feed in bodies of water other than the one closest to home.

Food Habits

Belted kingfishers generally feed on fish that swim near the surface or in shallow water. The kingfishers generally catch fish only in the upper 12 to 15 cm of the water column. Belted kingfishers capture fish by diving either from a perch overhanging the water or after hovering above the water.

Belted Kingfisher are swallowed whole, head first, after being beaten on a perch. The average length of fish is less than 7.6 cm but ranged from 2.5 to 17.8 cm. The fish caught in Ohio streams to range from 4 to 14 cm in length. Several studies indicate that belted kingfishers usually catch the prey that are most available.

Belted Kingfisher Diet

Diet, therefore, varies considerably among different water bodies and with the season. Although kingfishers feed predominantly on fish, they also sometimes consume large numbers of crayfish. However, in shortages of their preferred foods, have been known to consume crabs, mussels, lizards, frogs, toads, small snakes, turtles, insects, salamanders, newts, young birds, mice, and berries.

Belted Kingfisher Nest

Parents bring surprisingly large fish to their young.  The nestlings only 7 to 10 days old were provided fish up to 10 cm long, and nestlings only 2 weeks old were provided with fish up to 13 cm in length. After fledging, young belted kingfishers fed on flying insects for their first 4 days after leaving the nest, crayfish for the next week, and by the 18th-day post-fledging, could catch fish.

Belted Kingfisher Juvenile

The juvenile plumage is maintained through the winter, and young birds undergo their first prenuptial molt in the spring between Feb and Apr. It is involving most of the body plumage. Adults have a complete postnuptial molt in the fall Aug to Oct.

Migration

This kingfisher breeds over most of the area of North America and winters in most regions of the continental United States. Although most northern kingfishers migrate to southern regions during the coldest months, some may stay in areas that remain ice-free where fishing is possible.

Breeding Activities and Social Organization

During the breeding season, pairs establish territories for nesting and fishing. Otherwise, belted kingfishers are solitary. They are not colonial nesters and will defend an unused bank if it lies within their territory. In migrating populations, the males arrive before the females to find suitable nesting territories.

Kingfishers excavate their burrows in earthen banks, forming a tunnel that averages 1 to 2 m in length, although some burrows may be as long as 3 to 4 m. The burrow entrance is usually 30 to 90 cm from the top of the bank and at least 1.5 m from the base. Burrows closer to the top may collapse, and burrows too low may flood. Burrows may be used for more than one season.

Five to seven eggs are laid on the bare substrate or on fish bones within the burrow. Only one adult, usually the female, spends the night in the nest cavity; males usually roost in nearby forested areas or heavy cover. Both parents incubate eggs and feed the young. After fledging, the young remain with their parents for 10 to 15 days.

Belted Kingfisher Range

During the breeding season, belted kingfishers require suitable nesting sites with adequate nearby fishing. During spring and early summer, both male and female belted kingfishers defend a territory that includes both their nest site and their foraging area. By autumn, each bird including the young of the year.

Belted Kingfisher defends an individual feeding territory only. The breeding territories (length of waterline protected) can be more than twice as long as the fall and winter feeding territories, and stream territories tend to be longer than those on lakes. Foraging territory size is inversely related to prey abundance.

Moreover, the population density and breeding densities of between two and six pairs per 10 km of river shoreline have been recorded, with density increasing with food availability. Kingfishers are sensitive to disturbance and usually do not nest in areas near human activity. Kingfishers typically breed in the first season after they are born.

Fledging success depends on food availability, storms, floods, predation, and the integrity of the nest burrow but can be as high as 97 percent. Dispersal of young occurs within a month of fledging.

Belted Kingfisher Call

Belted Kingfisher gives mechanical rattles, strident screams, sometimes harsh call, when threatened and flies over rivers or lakes. This is seen perched on a high snag, or hovering on quickly beating wings, then plunging headfirst into the water to grab a fish.

Similar Species

1.    The green kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana) is smaller 22 cm than the belted kingfisher and is only common in the lower Rio Grande Valley. It also is found in southeastern Arizona and along the Texas coast, usually during fall and winter.

2.    The ringed kingfisher (Ceryletorquata) is larger 41 cm and resides in the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas and Mexico.

Read More – The Lesser Goldfinch (Spinus psaltria) / The Himalayan Cutia / The fire-tailed myzornis / Pando – The One Tree Forest / Great Blue Heron / Crested Kingfisher

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