Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow
Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.
An Italian Proverb
Northern (hen) Harrier: Have you seen this bird?
Hen Harrier or Northern Harrier
(in North America)
The Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus) or Northern Harrier (in North America) is a bird of prey. It breeds throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost USA, and in northern Eurasia.
It migrates to more southerly areas in winter. Eurasian birds move to southern Europe and southern temperate Asia, and American breeders to the southernmost USA, Mexico and Central America.
Identification Tips:
• Length: 16.5 inches Wingspan: 42 inches
• Medium-sized, long-winged, long-tailed hawk
• Rounded wings, can appear pointed while gliding
• White rump
• Short, dark, hooked beak
• Often courses low over marshes and fields on wings held in a strong dihedral
• Flat face with owl-like facial disk
Adult male:
• Pale gray body plumage, paler on underparts
• Darker gray head
• Black tips to flight feathers, especially noticeable on the outer primaries
• Narrow dark bars on tail
Adult female:
• Buff underparts with darker streaks on breast, belly, and underwing coverts
• Dark barring on flight feathers most visible from below
• Dark patch on inner wing created by dark secondaries and dark secondary covert
• Dark brown above
• Narrow barring on tail
Similar species:
The harrier is easily recognized by the low, coursing flight, white rump, and wings held at an angle. Rough-legged Hawks occupy similar habitat but have broader wings and a black subterminal tail band. When migrating, harriers can fly at great heights where many of their features become less obvious. The white rump cannot be seen, the wings may not appear held at an angle and the tail may be fanned. The pale underwings with black primary tips of the male make it distinctive.
The Northern Harrier, breeds in North America and is sometimes considered a distinct species.
Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.
An Italian Proverb
Bird Quotation Popularity Poll
(4 answers max)
Loading ...
Add any comments below and/or indicate if you spotted this bird.
Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.
Bird Quote Notice
Please submit bird quotes, or your own bird quote. Enter the bird quote for others to enjoy by filling out the Submit form on the menu.
The egg shows the hen where to hatch
The egg shows the hen where to hatch.
An African proverb
Have you seen this bird?
Chicken
The chicken (Gallus gallus, sometimes G. gallus domesticus) is a domesticated fowl. The hen is a female chicken, a rooster is a male chicken. The chick is a baby chicken.
The chicken is one of the most common and widespread domestic animals. With a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other bird. Humans keep chickens primarily as a source of food, consuming both their meat and their eggs.
Some genetic research has suggested that the bird likely descended from both Red and the Grey Junglefowl. Chickens are omnivores. In the wild, they often scratch at the soil to search for seeds, insects and even larger animals such as lizards or young mice.
Chickens in nature may live for five to eleven years depending on the breed.
Domestic chickens are not capable of long distance flight, although lighter birds are generally capable of flying for short distances, such as over fences or into trees (where they would naturally roost).
The egg shows the hen where to hatch.
Bird Quote Popularity Poll
(4 answers max)
- Loading ...
Add any comments below and/or indicate if you spotted this bird.
The egg shows the hen where to hatch.
Bird Quote Notice
If you have or know of a bird quote, bird quotes, or a bird quotation not yet on the site please submit it to Birdquote.com for others to enjoy.
Read More
If one cannot catch the bird…
If one cannot catch the bird of paradise, better take a wet hen.
A Nikita Khrushchev quotation
Identify this bird
Lesser Prairie chicken
Comparatively little seems to be known and still less has been published on the habits and distribution of the small, light-colored, bird, which is found in the Upper Sonoran Zone of the Great Plains from Kansas and Colorado to central Texas and eastern New Mexico.
Identification Tips:
* Length: 13 inches
* Sexes similar
* Medium-sized, stocky, round-winged, chicken-like bird
* Short, rounded, dark tail
* Buff plumage barred extensively about breast, back, wings and belly with darker bars
Range: The Great Plains region, from southeastern Colorado and Kansas south to west-central Texas and probably southeastern New Mexico.
Like its larger relative, the Lesser Prairie chicken is known for its lekking behavior. A lek is a gathering of males, of certain animal species, for the purposes of competitive mating display.
Considered “vulnerable” by the IUCN due to its restricted and patchy range, the Lesser Prairie chicken is vulnerable to habitat destruction. There is evidence suggesting that global warming may have a particularly detrimental influence by greatly reducing the size of the sagebrush ecosystem.
If one cannot catch the bird of paradise, better take a wet hen.
By Nikita Khrushchev
Bird Quotation Popularity Poll
(4 answers max)
- Loading ...
Add any comments below and/or name the bird.
Read More
Scarce as hen’s teeth
Scarce as hen’s teeth
A popular quote
x
Identify this bird
I am a bird in the rail family. I have an almost worldwide distribution including deserts, tropical rain forests, and also the polar regions. I actually prefer wetlands. I have a number of related species.
I’m a distinctive species, with dark plumage apart from the white undertail, yellow legs and a red facial shield. The young are browner and lack the red shield. I have a wide range of gargling calls and will emit loud hisses when threatened.
I am a common breeding bird in marsh environments and well-vegetated lakes.
Scarce as hen’s teeth
Variations:
moor…, water…
Bird Quote Popularity Poll
(4 answers max)
- Loading ...
Comment below how you use this popular quote and/or name the bird.
Image credit: wikipedia + license
Read More
