by Bob Thomas

Owls usually swallow mice, their principal prey, whole. The muscle and organs of the carcass are digested and the indigestible elements such as bones and hair are regurgitated. Called “owl pellets” or “castings”, they appear as elliptical packages of bones wrapped in hair. Pellets are formed in the gizzard and are ejected 6-12 hours after the meal. They are usually found on the ground beneath an owl’s roost or nest. It is not uncommon to find a couple of hundred pellets near an active nesting site.

Nature Profile
by Bob Thomas

Louisiana is blessed to be the virtual focal point of the Mississippi Flyway, one of the most important bird migration pathways in the world. April is the prime month in the spring when thousands upon thousands of birds will travel overhead on their way to breeding grounds to the north. Many stop due to pure exhaustion while others move on by to more inland haunts.

Natural History Notes
by Bob Thomas

There are four basic types of gulls in the Bayou Segnette area. Only one (Herring Gull) lives here year around.

The Herring Gull is a very large bird , and we normally see them as both adults and juveniles. The adults have a gray back and wings (wings are black tipped); white belly, neck, and head; yellow bill with a red spot on the lower portion; yellow eye; and flesh colored legs. The juveniles are brown birds with various patterns depending on the age.

Delta Journal
by Bob Thomas

On hot, Louisiana summer days, it is not uncommon to see dark birds with long, out-stretched necks and fanned tails, soaring over swamps. These strange birds are anhingas, also locally called water turkeys or snake birds. No doubt their water turkey name is derived from their turkey-like tails.

Nature Notes
by Bob Thomas

Among the most entertaining beach birds are sanderlings, Calidris alba. They are often referred to as a “wind-up toy” due to their rapid movements up, down, and across the beach, their legs moving so fast that they are a blur. They belong to a group of small sandpipers that birdwatchers affectionally (or frustratingly) call peeps.

Nature Notes
by Bob Thomas

Animals have all sorts of modes of movements, and a knack for finding extraordinary efficiencies in their chosen form of locomotion is physiologically rewarding.

For birds, equipped with their aerofoil wings that keep them afloat in the air, their ability to find and take advantage of moving air is a plus.

An excellent example may be seen when crossing Lake Pontchartrain on windy days.

Nature Notes
by Bob Thomas

One of my favorite sounds of early evening in summer is the flight call of the common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor), often called the bullbat in reference to its bat-like erratic wing flapping and twisting flight. I see and hear them each summer evening flying through the lights on Loyola's Marquette Hall. Their call is "speek-speek," repeated at short intervals.

Nature Notes
by Bob Thomas

Sitting in my office across from Audubon Park, I often watch one of our loveliest summer birds, the Mississippi kite, soaring just above the treetops.

They are known for their aerial displays, typified by leisurely, graceful sailing mixed with occasional acrobatic flight. Their lightweight bodies and relatively long wings combine for buoyant flight. The close observer will notice that their tails function to change or adjust their direction of flight.

Nature Notes

by Bob Thomas

As I do most mornings, I filled my bird feeders, including putting a couple of handfuls of whole peanuts in a platform feeder on my deck. As I settled in with a cup of coffee, birds began to arrive. The peanuts are there for the blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata), and this morning about six raucous individuals took advantage of the free meal.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. That might be what everybody called the kid down the street, but it is the real name of one of our most common winter woodpeckers. These woodpeckers are about eight inches tall, have black and white stripes across the back and narrow white stripes visible on their folded wings. The males have a red throat patch while the females’ throat is white. This species spends its summer in the northern United States and Canada during which time breeding occurs.