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Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge
The Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife conservation area along the coast of Texas (USA), east of the towns of Angleton and Lake Jackson, Texas. It borders Christmas Bay and the Intracoastal Waterway, separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Follet's Island. Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1969 and provides quality habitat for wintering migratory waterfowl and other bird life. The refuge contains a freshwater slough which winds through salt marshes. In winter, more than 100,000 snow geese, Canada geese, pintail, northern shoveler, teal, gadwall, American wigeon, mottled ducks, and sandhill cranes fill the numerous ponds and sloughs to capacity. In summer, birds which nest on the refuge include 10 species of herons and egrets, white ibis, roseate spoonbill, mottled duck, white-tailed kite, clapper rail, horned lark, seaside sparrow, black skimmer, and scissor-tailed flycatcher The scissor-tailed flycatcher (''Tyrannus forficatus''), also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brazoria County, Texas
Brazoria County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 372,031. The county seat is Angleton. Brazoria County is included in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area. It is located in the Gulf Coast region of Texas. Regionally, parts of the county are within the extreme southernmost fringe of the regions locally known as Southeast Texas. Brazoria County is among a number of counties that are part of the region known as the Texas Coastal Bend. Its county seat is Angleton, and its largest city is Pearland. Brazoria County, like Brazos County farther upriver, takes its name from the Brazos River. It served as the first settlement area for Anglo-Texas, when the Old Three Hundred emigrated from the United States in 1821. The county also includes what was once Columbia and Velasco, Texas, early capital cities of the Republic of Texas. The highest point in Brazoria County is Shelton's Shack ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gadwall
The gadwall (''Mareca strepera'') is a common and widespread dabbling duck in the family Anatidae. Taxonomy The gadwall was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae''. DNA studies have shown that it is a sister species with the falcated duck; the two are closely related to the three species of wigeons, and all of them have been assigned to the genus ''Mareca''. There are two subspecies: * ''M. s. strepera'', the common gadwall, described by Linnaeus, is the nominate subspecies. * ''M. s. couesi'', Coues's gadwall, extinct 1874, was formerly found only on Teraina, a coral atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The specific name ''strepera'' is Late Latin for "noisy". The etymology of the word ''gadwall'' is not known, but the name has been in use since 1666. Description The gadwall is long with a wingspan. The male is slightly larger than the female, weighing on average against her . The breeding male is patterned grey, with a black re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
The scissor-tailed flycatcher (''Tyrannus forficatus''), also known as the Texas bird-of-paradise and swallow-tailed flycatcher, is a long-tailed bird of the genus ''Tyrannus'', whose members are collectively referred to as kingbirds. The kingbirds are a group of large insectivorous (insect-eating) birds in the tyrant flycatcher (Tyrannidae) family. The scissor-tailed flycatcher is found in North and Central America. Latin name and etymology Its former Latin name was ''Muscivora forficata''. The former genus name ''Muscivora'' derives from the Latin words for 'fly' () and 'to devour' (), while the species name ''forficata'' derives from the Latin word for 'scissors' (). The scissortail is now considered to be a member of the ''Tyrannus'', or 'tyrant-like' genus. This genus earned its name because several of its species are extremely aggressive on their breeding territories, where they will attack larger birds such as crows, hawks and owls. Description Adult birds have pale gra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Skimmer
The black skimmer (''Rynchops niger'') is a tern-like seabird, one of three similar birds species in the skimmer genus ''Rynchops'' in the gull family Laridae. It breeds in North and South America. Northern populations winter in the warmer waters of the Caribbean and the tropical and subtropical Pacific coasts, but the South American races make only shorter movements in response to annual floods which extend their feeding areas in the river shallows. Taxonomy The black skimmer was described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1755 in the tenth edition of his '' Systema Naturae'' and given the binomial name ''Rynchops niger''. The genus name ''Rynchops'' is from the Ancient Greek ῥυγχος/''rhunkhos'' meaning "bill" and κοπτω/''koptō'' meaning "to cut off". The specific ''niger'' is the Latin word for "black". The black skimmer is one of three species in the genus ''Rynchops''. There are three subspecies: *''R. n. niger'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – migratory, bre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seaside Sparrow
The seaside sparrow (''Ammospiza maritima'') is an American sparrow. Description Adults have brownish upperparts with gray on the crown and nape, and a grayish-buff-colored breast with dark streaks; they have a dark face with gray cheeks, a white throat, and a short, pointed tail. Birds show a small yellow streak just above the eye. A typical seaside sparrow lifespan in 8 to 9 years of maximum. The oldest record of seaside sparrow was an individual male which at least 10 years old, at he recaptured, measure out the age and re-released during the banding operations of South Carolina. Distribution and habitat Their breeding habitat is salt marshes on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States from southern New Hampshire to southern Texas. The nest is an open cup usually built in the salt marsh on tidal reeds and spartina grasses. Females lay two to five eggs. Breeding Northern birds most often migrate farther south along the eastern coast of the United States. They forage on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horned Lark
The horned lark or shore lark (''Eremophila alpestris'') is a species of lark in the family Alaudidae found across the northern hemisphere. It is known as "horned lark" in North America and "shore lark" in Europe. Taxonomy, evolution and systematics The specific ''alpestris'' is Latin and means "of the high mountains", from ''Alpes'', the Alps. The horned lark was originally classified in the genus '' Alauda''. The horned lark is suggested to have diverged from Temminck's lark (''E. bilopha'') around the Early-Middle Pleistocene, according to genomic divergence estimates. The horned lark is known from around a dozen localities of Late Pleistocene age, including those in Italy, Russia, The United Kingdom and the United States. The earliest known fossil is from the Calabrian of Spain, around 1–0.8 million years old. In 2020, a 46,000 year old frozen specimen was described from the Russian Far East. Recent genetic analysis has suggested that the species consists of six clades ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clapper Rail
The clapper rail (''Rallus crepitans'') is a member of the rail family, Rallidae. The taxonomy for this species is confusing and still being determined. It is a large brown rail that is resident in wetlands along the Atlantic coasts of the eastern United States, eastern Mexico and some Caribbean islands. This species was formerly considered to be conspecific with the mangrove rail. Taxonomy The clapper rail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's '' Systema Naturae''. He placed it with all the other rails in the genus ''Rallus'' and coined the binomial name ''Rallus crepitans''. Gmelin based his description on those by Thomas Pennant and John Latham. The type locality is Long Island, New York. The genus ''Rallus'' had been erected in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. The specific epithet ''crepitans'' is Latin meaning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White-tailed Kite
The white-tailed kite (''Elanus leucurus'') is a small raptor found in western North America and parts of South America. It replaces the related Old World black-winged kite in its native range. Taxonomy The white-tailed kite was described in 1818 by the French ornithologist Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot under the binomial name ''Milvus leucurus'' with the type locality as Paraguay. It is now one of four species in the genus '' Elanus'' which was introduced in 1809 by the French zoologist Jules-César Savigny. The word ''Elanus'' is from Ancient Greek ''elanos'' for a "kite". The specific epithet ''leucurus'' is from the Ancient Greek ''leukouros'' for "white-tailed": ''leukos'' is "white" and ''oura'' is "tail". For some recent decades, it was lumped with the black-winged kite of Europe and Africa as ''Elanus caeruleus'' and was collectively called black-shouldered kite. More recently it was argued that the white-tailed kite differed from the Old World species in size, shape, plu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roseate Spoonbill
The roseate spoonbill (''Platalea ajaja'') is a gregarious wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family, Threskiornithidae. It is a resident breeder in both South and North America. Taxonomy The roseate spoonbill is sometimes placed in its own genus - ''Ajaia''. A 2010 study of mitochondrial DNA of the spoonbills by Chesser and colleagues found that the roseate and yellow-billed spoonbills were each other's closest relatives, and the two were descended from an early offshoot from the ancestors of the other four spoonbill species. They felt the genetic evidence meant it was equally valid to consider all six to be classified within the genus ''Platalea'' or alternatively the two placed in the monotypic genera ''Platibis'' and ''Ajaia'', respectively. However, as the six species were so similar morphologically, keeping them within the one genus made more sense. Description The roseate spoonbill is long, with a wingspan and a body mass of . The tarsus measures , the culmen mea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American White Ibis
The American white ibis (''Eudocimus albus'') is a species of bird in the ibis family, Threskiornithidae. It is found from Virginia via the Gulf Coast of the United States south through most of the coastal New World tropics. This particular ibis is a medium-sized bird with an overall white plumage, bright red-orange down-curved bill and long legs, and black wing tips that are usually only visible in flight. Males are larger and have longer bills than females. The breeding season, breeding range runs along the Gulf and East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast, and the coasts of Mexico and Central America. Outside the breeding period, the range extends further inland in North America and also includes the Caribbean. It is also found along the northwestern South American coastline in Colombia and Venezuela. Populations in central Venezuela overlap and interbreed with the scarlet ibis. The two have been classified by some authorities as a single species. Their diet consists pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egret
Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build. Biology Many egrets are members of the genera ''Egretta'' or '' Ardea'', which also contain other species named as herons rather than egrets. The distinction between a heron and an egret is rather vague, and depends more on appearance than biology. The word "egret" comes from the French word ''aigrette'' that means both "silver heron" and "brush", referring to the long, filamentous feathers that seem to cascade down an egret's back during the breeding season (also called "egrets"). Several of the egrets have been reclassified from one genus to another in recent years; the great egret, for example, has been classified as a member of either ''Casmerodius'', ''Egretta'', or ''Ardea''. In the 19th and early part of the 20th centuries, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heron
The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus'' are referred to as bitterns, and, together with the zigzag heron, or zigzag bittern, in the monotypic genus ''Zebrilus'', form a monophyletic group within the Ardeidae. Egrets do not form a biologically distinct group from herons, and tend to be named differently because they are mainly white or have decorative plumes in breeding plumage. Herons, by evolutionary adaptation, have long beaks. The classification of the individual heron/egret species is fraught with difficulty, and no clear consensus exists about the correct placement of many species into either of the two major genera, '' Ardea'' and ''Egretta''. Similarly, the relationships of the genera in the family are not completely resolved. However, one species formerly considered ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
_female_and_male_dabbling.jpg "Click for more on -> Gadwall")
