There are 2 subspecies of Bald Eagle. They are nearly identical in ID marks. The only major difference is geographic range. This is in MN so it has to be a Northern Bald Eagle. Most birds do not have distinct subspeciest that can be recognized in field, however others can have several. Most of these can be easily found in a comprehensive bird guide such as the Sibleys Guide to Birds of North America.
The subspecies are in fact completely identical in plumage, and are distinguished only by size, with the northern population on average somewhat larger than the southern one. However, size may vary in clinal fashion, and it is not clear from the data that members of either population stay solely within their roughly-defined regions. (I’d be surprised if they did!) In other words, Bald Eagle subspecies are not well defined and may not truly exist biologically speaking.
Hairy Woodpecker Busy Eating , while another bird in the background photobombs 🙂
ID tips from friends:
the clean white outer tail feathers distinguish Hairy from Downy, in most areas anyway.
Female Hairy Woodpecker. unbarred tail feathers, larger bill, and well developed comma eliminate a Downy
You can also see the size of the bird compared to each suet cake. It’s a hairy.
Taken with a Canon Rebel XSi 12.2 MP D-SLR Camera with a 75-300 canon lens
It is exciting to see a Red-Bellied Woodpecker, and these birds are smart and they simply look pleasant (happy), I think it’s their eyes and face that give me this impression.
You may wonder, why this bird is red-bellied while it clearly is red-headed?
The answer is simple, the belly is red, we just can’t see it.
I am 50-80 feet away from the bird here
I think this bird could have been named “zebra” (for the zebra-pattern black and white color on its back, wings and tail), red-crowned, or red-necked bird.
Red-bellied woodpeckers are relatively new to the North. Like northern cardinals, northern mockingbirds and tufted titmice, these birds are native to the Southeast. It’s only been in the late part of last century that they pioneered northward. Now these birds are found through the Upper Midwest and Northeast from the Great Plains east to New England.
As I was ending my walk and heading back, I could hear my little yellow friend chirping, looked up another tree and there it was, still too busy singing to care for me snapping more photos of it. It looked at me as I stood there a few times, allowing me to snap some good shots and kept on singing. Here are some of the photos:
Walking along the trail at the Big Willow Park, I heard this non stop twittering and chirping, looked up and I saw this pretty little American Goldfinch. It was too busy singing to care for me snapping my shots. It looked at me as I stood there a few times, and kept on singing.
(click each for a full-screen photo)
American Goldfinch in the spring
Shot April 03, 2010 :: Big Willow Park, Minnetonka, MN
While driving home at 5:00PM on an overcast day I noticed eagles in the sky. Luckily I knew where they were going. I got off the street and they landed in the wetland where I was waiting about 100ft away.
I see beauty everywhere I look, in nature. This site and the photos are here in an attempt to share with you some of what I see, for your enjoyment. You will find plants and animals, the flora and fauna, and fungi, along with sky photos of celestial objects, landscape shots, macro shots, experimental concepts, photos of food items, rocks and minerals including some chemistry. These things mentioned here which I photograph, some ancient philosophies have considered to be living, life itself, Biota, Vitae... and were broken into 3 kingdoms, plant, animal, and mineral.
Most of these photos exist in larger sizes. If you'd like a photo without my signature on it you could email me. These photos make great desktop background images, posters, greeting cards, art work, etc.
Some photos are purely for the enjoyment factor, others are meant to identify certain plants or animals offering some education.
Be well,
Ethan
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from about 20ft away
