Finch invasion

This past year I have been observing some recently introduced bird species in my area: the Pin-Tailed Whydah and the Scaly-Breasted Munia (aka Spice Finch, aka Nutmeg Mannikin).

Male whydah

Female whydah

Two Munias

Just this week some little brown jobs have showed up-- which, according to a more experienced local birder, are juvenile whydahs! This species is a brood parasite, and their young are being raised by the Munias.

There has also been a Zebra Finch in my backyard:

Nestful of swallows

The same babies at the top of my previous post, one week later (the fourth is still in the nest, but hidden behind its siblings):

Miscellaneous juvenile avifauna

Barn Swallow nestlings

California Towhee

Egyptian Goose gosling

Black Phoebe

Western Bluebird fledgeling

Mockingbird fledgeling, just out of nest

Bluebird nestling

I saw this little face peeking out from one of several bluebird nest boxes at a local park:

And here is the father bluebird feeding his young:

Jeholornis

First dinosaur-birds with four wings, now one with two tails:

One of the oldest known birds, Jeholornis, lived in what is today China, along with a trove of other feathered dinosaurs discovered in the region over the last decade. It was also thought to sport only a long fan-feathered tail at its back end. Now, however, paleontologists are claiming discovery of a second tail frond adorning the bird.

"The 'two-tail' plumage of Jeholornis is unique," according to the study, which was led by Jingmai O’Connor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. The report of the discovery of the tail frond was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Of 11 Jeholornis fossils that retain evidence of ancient plumage, 6 have signs of this frond of 11 feathers, which would have jutted above the bird's back at a jaunty, upright angle in a "visually striking" manner, according to the study.