Bird List 🌅Sunrise Emoji               

    all yr: 2012-now          FOS in NY  
    2018 Tucson, AZ.  Pittsburgh, PA.  Bonaire & Curacao.  HK (trips to China).
    2017 Cayman Islands / Bonaire & Curacao / HK (1 day trip to China with Siu Ming)
    2016 celebrate birding 10 year anniversary - 決志:  矢志不渝 、堅定不移地 進行觀鳥, 成為一生一世的嗜好, 天長地久的興趣.
    2016 (Aug-):  HK
    2016 (Jan-Jul): Mexico (4/7)
    2015 (8/14-): Curacao / HK
    2015 (Jan-8/8) log: South Carolina / Seattle
    2014 log: Jamaica / Canadian Rockies / Curacao
    2013 log (New Orleans, Costa Maya, Belize City, Roatan, & Cozumel, HK, 1/2 day China with Siu Ming)        
    2012 (after Hurricane Sandy) log  
    2012 (Jul-before Hurricane Sandy) log  (Netherlands, UK, Scotland, Norway, Denmark) (birdList.b4_split2_b_and_c.htm)   
    2012 (Jan-Jun) log  (Costa Rica)  
    2011 log  (HK, Punta Cana) 
    2010 log  ( 1. Mar. Caribbean Cruise : Fort Lauderdale / Cozumel, Mexico / Cayman Islands ; 1b. HK ; 2. Nov. Caribbean Cruise : Puerto Rico / Half Moon Cay ) 
    2009 log  (Las Vegas; HK, Mainland China and Taiwan)  
    2008 log  (South Caribbean Cruise - Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Grenada, Bonaire & Aruba; Toronto; Palm Beach, Florida)   
    Photo and Video @ Punta Cana    pic01.htm  others   HK trips
    Note on Dragonfly and Damselfly   my insect spider list    Macro   butterflyMoth.htm   frog   kissena_rare_encounter.htm    Postings of NY Birding List
    Favorites in 2013   Favorites in 2012   Favorites in 2011  
    Bees   Wasps   Cricket   myInventory   myNationalPark.htm
    Costa Rica info   Costa Rica, 2012 - Photo    costa_rica_mybirdlist.htm
    Birding in Shetland Islands     Norway cruise     pc_stuff.htm    pc_stuff2.htm    Google Voice    t-mobile (6/2014)   多部未华子   Don't vote Senator Gillibrand in 11/2018!   cull_CanadaGeese_at_JBWR.htm
    samsung_s3600.note01.htm   smart_phone.htm   car_problem.htm   pedometer.htm
    http://www.nycgovparks.org/news/notices   Biblical_problems_caused_by_translation.htm   translation resource
    how_can_i_make_a_very_sharp_phot.htm   flash_wont_sync_in_slave_mode.htm   Camera/Camcorder for birding   cam4underwater   infrared_photography.htm
    snorkeling  
    comet_PANSTARRS.htm    Jamaica_bird.htm   2015plus_jamaica_trips.htm   Glacier   Hay fever   Glacier & Canadian Rockies  
    Curacao-1   Curacao-2   Bermuda   Cancun   Snorkeling Cozumel Reefs (El Cozumeleño Resort) 
    St. Maarten  St. Eustatius
    Cuba [mirror]  Ethiopia [Rockjumper's standard tours (as we classify this PNG tour) are aimed at the keen birder who wants to see as many birds and as much wildlife as possible without extreme effort or arduous hours in the field i.e. the average birder. src]  
    NewFoundLand
    South Carolina   Seattle   Bird in Arizona Desert
    Lead Adventures 3-Week Galapagos program - doc  
    Quito - Monastery of San Francisco - pic1  quito.htm
    List of whale and dolphin species        List of birds of HK   
    fb Post - 青衣島 譚炳文 1971   hksong_placeName.htm   根据哼唱的旋律找歌的网站 ( http://www.midomi.com/ )
    全膝關節置換術 (TKA)   飛蚊症
  
    How to Get Free Gogo Inflight WiFi : Click on “Watch for Free” in the Delta Studio to watch free movies. > Choose your movie and select "Watch Now." > asked if you have the Gogo app or need to download the app. > select the option to “Download on the App Store.” (or Google Play)  > Leave the App Store once Gogo takes you there.

Do Birds Hibernate?    hibernate.htm

Because of recent revelations from animal studies, scientists now distinguish between three different types of monogamy:

• Sexual monogamy is the practice of having sex only with one mate at a time.
• Social monogamy is when animals form pairs to mate and raise offspring but still have flings — or "extra-pair copulations" in science lingo — on the side.
• Genetic monogamy is used when DNA tests can confirm that a female's offspring were sired by only one father.

For humans, social and sexual monogamy usually go together, but this isn't always the case with other animals. For example, an estimated 90 percent of all birds are socially monogamous, living and raising young together, but many frequently have sex with other partners. One famous experiment found that female blackbirds paired with sterilized males were still laying eggs that hatched. The females couldn't chirp their way out of that one.

Also, animals once regarded as exemplars of faithfulness, such as gibbons and swans, are now known to cheat, abandon and even "divorce" one other, just like humans.

(1) Reproduction
Black skimmers begin a courtship process once they arrive at a breeding colony. They form dense flocks and form pairs within about one week. Though individuals may change location in the group more than once, males and females are usually paired within a few days and establish territories. They are monogamous and males aggressively protect their mates. Black skimmers exhibit courtship feeding usually during the evening hours. In this process, a male will present a fish to the female. Once the female accepts the fish and holds it in her beak, the male mounts her and copulation occurs. The female will hold the fish in her beak during copulation and swallow the fish afterward. This is a distinct difference between black skimmers and terns, where females usually eat the fish before copulation. If a male cannot find his mate a fish, he may still be successful in courting her by presenting a stick or a leaf. Copulation may occur several times a day. (Burger and Gochfeld, 1990; Gochfeld and Burger, 1994)

Black skimmers breed annually during the warmer months of summer, generally between the end of April until the beginning of September. Clutch size ranges between 4 and 5 eggs. Egg laying occurs over a span of about 8 days and it is uncommon for female black skimmers to lay multiple eggs on the same day. Incubation takes between 21 to 26 days while the time to fledging usually takes about 28 days. Because males are larger on average, they can take up to 31 days to fledge. ("The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species", 2006; Burger and Gochfeld, 1990)

On average, females reach sexual maturity around 3 years of age. The youngest breeding female discovered was 11 months old. Males tend to reach sexual maturity around 4 years of age. (Gochfeld and Burger, 1994)   src

I suddenly find myself answering all kinds of unexpected ornithological questions, like: Do swans really lay their eggs in Mallard nests? Well, it’s not likely–but many waterfowl do lay an egg or two in other birds’ nests if their own nest isn’t finished in time–this is called “dumping”–so I guess it’s possible. A swan egg is a lot bigger than a duck egg, so if there was a swan egg in the middle of a clutch of duck eggs, it would hold the mother up a lot higher, away from her own eggs. That means the ducklings would not be very warm, so they would hatch later than normal. It takes Mallard eggs 23-29 days to hatch, and swans 35-40, but with the termperature differential, they might hatch out together.

“Are mommy ducks really that mean–to chase off a little baby swan?” No–a real mallard that sat on a swan egg would probably take care of the baby swan–called a cygnet–just as lovingly as she’d take care of her own ducklings. And the baby swan would think the Mallard was its real mother. All waterfowl key in on the first moving thing they see after they hatch. Not only do they follow it as their mother, but it becomes a permanent imprint of what they will later choose for a mate. So the cygnet will probably never mate with another swan. It might star in a television sitcom, “I Married a Duck.”