Yellow-billed Cardinal
Just got back from a week working in Hawaii. The last "new" bird I found on this trip I noticed while I was stopped at a car wash on my way to the airport to fly home Saturday. This Yellow-billed Cardinal, a non-native in Hawaii, was building a nest (visible in the photo) in a tree overhanging the entrance ramp.
3 Comments:
But Hawaii is north of the equator. Do birds nest in the fall there?
Thanks for the good observation. I thought of that, also, when I saw this bird pick up a fiber of some kind and carry it to the nest. Maybe, since the native home of this species is in South America, it is just carrying on with its normal schedule, even though this individual presumably has never lived in S. America. However, I do know that some other species from north of the equator, such as Anna's Hummingbird, are gradually extending their range into more northerly latitudes and do not seem to be locked into a springtime nesting schedule. They have even been found nesting in the middle of winter in Oregon!
Thanks for your reply! I hadn't stopped to think about nesting and birds that move from one part of the world to another before.
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