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On Halloween, birds with masks are here to celebrate.
Masked boobies (Sula dactylatra) breed on tropical islands around the world except in the eastern Atlantic (near Africa). In September Hurricane Jose blew an exhausted masked booby all the way to Cape Cod. It was rescued but died.
Masked ducks (Nomonyx dominicus) are found at ponds and small lakes from Mexico to South America and in the Caribbean. These elusive birds are sometimes in south Texas where I missed my chance to see one.
Laughing falcons (Herpetotheres cachinnans) wear a broken mask. I heard them laugh in Costa Rica.
Male common yellowthroats (Geothlypis trichas) are easy to identify by their masks but the females and juveniles don’t wear one. The unmasked birds are so confusing.
In late October cedar waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) are still here in Pittsburgh though in smaller numbers. Their faces are ready for the masquerade ball.
Can you think of other masked birds?
Happy Halloween!
(photo credits: Masked boobies and masked duck from Wikimedia Commons; click on the images to see the originals. Laughing falcon by Bert Dudley. Common yellowthroat by Steve Gosser. Cedar waxwing by Cris Hamilton.)
The southern masked weaver which lives in southern Africa. Only the male will have a mask. The males build lovely woven hanging nests.
scrolling…reading…scrolling…reading…when will she list *that* masked bird?
Ahhh! You asked if we could think of any others. Very clever. I’ll leave my answer out of this reply to let others read through and guess. 🙂
Happy Halloween! ??
That falcon is so cute.
Bali mynah, Bobwhite quail, Peregrine falcon 😉
Loggerhead Shrike and Northern Shrike come to mind. In Mexico and Central America, Masked Tityra fits.
One thing I hadn’t thought about until now. Shrikes, with their habit of impaling their prey on thorns or barbed wire, are both masked and, in a way, “ghoulish”, befitting from a human perspective for October 31st.
Shrikes are a good one!