Backyard Birds

Elusive Creature

2009-08-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

There's an elusive creature in your nearby woods! There's no reason to be alarmed though! He is a magnificent red-head, all decked out in his black tux and white dress shirt, ready for the ball!

His name? Why, the Pileated Woodpecker, of course! Who else? And if you've never seen him you are really missing out! But don't feel alone! Many folks have heard of him, but few have seen this king of the woodpeckers, the size of a wild duck! Try and picture a bird the size of a duck hangin on the side of a big fat oak tree. Amazing, right?

Now everyone's heard that Pileateds like dead trees, but did you know it's because of the carpenter ants living in them? Carpenter ants are the birds' almost exclusive diet, at least in the warm season.

Pileateds are rather skittish birds, and they tend to move along quickly, preventing us from getting a nice, long appreciative view of them, but we've actually gotten our Pileated to visit us quite frequently. Ours is a regular visitor to the wooded area behind our house, and, I recently found out why ... those woods are full of ants, cause there's lots of dead trees.

A couple of weeks ago Carolyn was in the back yard working on the bird bath and feeding station we have there by the tree line. I happened to look out at her from the house for a second and I noticed something dark and large moving right behind her, maybe twenty feet into the woods. After a little squinting and straining and staring I was amazed to see a large red, white and black bird so close, yet so unconcerned about the human nearby. Then I realized what the bird was doing. It was gorging itself on a nest of ants that had set up shop in an old log I had left there, kind of as a resting place for visitors. The log was end up so it must have been easy for the bugs to get right into the heartwood which had been softened by the moisture trapped beneath it.

After my initial staring spell subsided I wondered what would happen if I placed the rest of the sections of that old tree I'd cut down the year before all around our woods. Well the good news is, my experiment is working! As the ants make their homes in those logs the Pileateds make frequent visits to each one, enjoying the easy pickings! They don't even have to drill much for their meal!

Carolyn turned around and watched the bird with me, but up much closer. What a thrill it was, and is, every time we are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of them on their rounds through our ant woods!

So set out your short, fat log sections in the woods - end up, remember - and stand back & watch the festivities!

There was a woodpecker just a tiny bit larger than the Pileated Woodpecker, but he hasn't been seen in quite some time so, sadly, ornithologists believe he may be extinct. Some folks hold out hope, but as we bird lovers are painfully aware, human activity, and ignorance, may have pretty much sealed his fate. Let us do our best to ensure that other bird species do not follow suit. Please ask us for more details on him when you come in to the store. And please, join a bird conservation group, if you can. Thanks, for the birds!

You don't have any woods? Ask your neighbor or local authority if you may provide wild bird feeding stations in the local woods. You will be measuring their compassion level ;-)

Phee'-ooo! Phee'-ooo! Phee'-ooo!

2008-08-06T19:15:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it's August already? Where IS the Summer going?

My nesting boxes are empty now. As a matter of fact I just cleaned one out today. The nest was a cup of grass, with some bird droppings in it, surrounded by gray, rather large feathers. It may have been a catbird family!

I had only two bluebird broods this season. But my kingbird family made up for it!
They are STILL around, snagging bugs in mid-air! My red wings left early June, but my cardinals are still here. They love that black oil sunflower seed ... so do the finches!

Two Goldfinches were on my caged feeder Wednesday, sharing it with a chipping sparrow and a lady house finch. As I watched through the garage window a bold chipmunk scurried up the shepherd hook onto the feeder. What a dummy! He couldn't figure out how to get down the cage to the seed! HA! He went back down to the birds' leavings below.

The birds returned nonchalantly, but they were ignoring a more serious danger. They were all quite brave, considering ... I have a new family of hawks in the woods behind my house! The squirrels, crows and jays weren't the big bullies of the block any more! In fact they left town!

We first noticed the hawks a few weeks ago when their calls started. Phee'-ooo! Phee'-ooo! Phee'-ooo! It actually looked like they were all calling to each other as they flew from tree to tree. What a sight it is watching them slip past those giant grasping branches so effortlessly.

After a time we realized what they were up to. The parents we flying away from the kids then beckoning them to follow! Phee'-ooo! Phee'-ooo! Phee'-ooo! Parents encouraging, kids whining. It's not so constant now but two weeks ago it was incessant! The youngsters must have just fledged.

I got a wonderful view of a youngster in that heavy rainstorm the last week. He was about fifty feet up, above the garage on a tree limb, holding his wings out and looking repeatedly down toward his feet, then left, then right. I guess he never saw rain like that before. Instinctively h held his wings were out so the rain would run off em. He knew that he wouldn't be catching any snacks with wet wings.

I had my trusty 10x Bushnells trained on him. He was generally medium-brown, with large dark eyes and a solid mocha head. He had a light creamy colored breast. Cascading down along it ran vertical dark brown arrowhead-like markings . His legs and feet were yellow. His spread wings were dark-brown, darker at their front edges, lighter towards the rear. His light brown tail was square tipped, with three black stripes about 1 inch thick running across it horizontally. Though not fully extended his wingspan looked about 14-16 inches. He was young no doubt - I saw a larger parent a few days later. It was much bigger, and did not wait around one second for me to measure him!

So can you name this beauty? Before you think that you can I must tell you that I cannot. This is why I relate this story to you. He is NOT in even my hawk book!

The Kingbirds

2008-07-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

I just now saw my resident family of Kingbirds. Telephone poles are great for taking a break from catching flies. They are flycatchers you know. They hunt by shooting up from their perch in the tall weeds to catch a daydreaming insect. Sometimes they hover right in place ... here comes another, and another! How effortlessly they defy the laws of gravity!

Their young are only a week old now. I was fortunate enough to witness their whole upbringing. The parents allowed me to stand less than ten feet away from their nest, as long as I didn't make any noise. They are fearless you know. They will attack, as hawks and crows well know. But unlike aggressive birds they are not bullies. They mind their own buiness.

It's wishful thinkin, but I like to feel that I helped them out recently. Before the nestlings fledged, their nest was accosted by several mockingbirds, eager to assert themselves. The attack came from a neighboring yard where the mockingbirds have ruled for several years.

It was the noise that attracted me. It came from the Kingbird birch next to my driveway. They surrounded the Kingbird nest as they squawked their harsh cacophony designed to be just enough to drive any lesser bird away.

But the Kingbirds are named appropriately. The female stood her ground, or better stated, sat her nest. She didn't move a feather! What nerve!

But girls are not boys, and the male was not a female. No turning your back for him. Action was the only answer. He coyly positioned himself above the nest, and quick as wink, charged down at a mockingbird with all of his will. I barely saw it, it happened so fast. The bad guy was just as shocked as me! He backed down immediately. The Kingbird scooted back to his position, ready to strike again. He did so! Again, and again! Any bird coming too close received a lightning bolt of gray and white! I was compelled to assist!

The Kingbird attacked them from above. I took a lower position. We fought side by side! My watering can was launched! The mockingbirds fell back. They regrouped in the nearby pine. I attacked again. My can fell downward from it's arched trajectory. They saw it coming. The Kingbird cheered! The mockingbirds retreated to their yard, informing me all the way that they would be back. On the run, I gave them one last pop fly with my can. Good thing it's plastic!

I returned to the birch. The female was still as still as a rock. The male sang his short, sweet call above her.

There were only two Kingbirds then. There are now four.
It never fails to thrill.

"My" Birds

2008-06-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

I just came home from a birdwatching trip. Now, don't get too excited for me though. It was only in my back yard. Actually, it was in my front yard.
For some reason my birds never seem to get around back,
except for my pileated woodpecker, but I didn't see him today.
He did stick around for a while yesterday though,
giving us a really big shew while we ate supper.

I had seen him only a couple of times in the past few weeks but this was amazing.
He flew from tree to tree, like a party goer looking for just the right dress. Then he'd be down in the dead leaves clicking and chirping, then back up a tree in a blink, then to another, each short flight enabling us to see his beautiful white underwings. I thought he saw us watching him so I got up to get a closer look,
but he flew off in a huff! What a magnificent animal!

Anyway, as for my trip today, it was great ... I didn't use one drop of gas. That's just one of the nice things about making one's home a welcome place for birds.
I also didn't go out of my way. I actually got some chores done on my trip - another benefit of backyard birding.

While I weeded my flower patch I watched my goldfinches jockey for position on their two feeders, as if the seed at one position were better than another. Every so often a house finch would butt in and the goldfinches all moved to the other feeder.

I raised my pocket binocs to get a better view, but something caught my eye in the background. It was flying dead leaves, courtesy of my brown thrasher.
I should say, one of my brown thrashers - I have a least four. I saw all four at once last week. The thrasher was living up to his name ... he was a-scratchin', an a-kickin', an, once in a while, a little eatin. Yum! Grubs!

You know, whenever I speak or write about birds I call 'em my birds, not the birds, or some birds. Do you know why? They are my birds! They live on or near my property, so that make 'em mine, right? Well temporarily anyway. Don't you agree? Possession is 99% of the law! :-)

If I walk slowly when I'm outside they get used to me being there. Sometimes I whistle, but it's always the same song so they get used to it. As I left the house today I dumped my saucer of raisins into a little plastic cup. I had covered them with water this morning so they were nice and soft by lunchtime. My bluebirds used to squawk when I approached their box, but now they know it's only the raisin delivery man. As soon as I'm 20 feet away they are on their dish checking out my offerings. I usually bring them mealworms, but they've been hard to get recently. The birds won't go hungry though. I watched today as the male brought a giant grub to their box. I could almost hear the nestlings joy as they sighted dad's hunting trophy.

I've noticed during my visits that only a few raisins were missing. Their good parents don't want to let them gorge on sweets before supper. At the bend in my driveway two robins splashed and shook in the small puddles there.
I think about filling them in sometimes so the car doesn't sway when we go out, but where would the birds bathe? The robins were followed by two goldfinches. Their brilliant yellow standing out even in the bright sunlight.
It was almost like they said, "Let's do the same as those fat guys!"

As I turned to see what else was about two male flickers were jousting for territory rights, just across my property line. They approach each other with heads up, displaying their neck colors, then each jumped over the other like he was playing checkers. I guess they were trying to decide who got to keep my property, and who go to occupy my neighbor's.

Well it was time to head back toward the house. I passed by my woodpecker logs.
No one was dining ... until it was safe from the human. Then the starlings arrived, first one, then two more.
I wanted to clap my hands and scare them. Then I thought, "What do they do when I'm not here? It's useless."

In mid-thought my heroes showed up! Two red-bellies!
Those mean starlings high-tailed it outa there. This is red-belly territory, I mused! It was my nesting pair, and they were the bosses today.

Oops, not so fast! What's that? A female hairy! No red. She was trying to take over a log. The red bellies let her. She's soon joined by a downy. He's opposite to her.
She leaves. He shifts left and right on the log, spying around it to watch for ... what? Only he knew.

I'm weeding again. The rain has made it easy to pull them. I hear the catbirds down the lane. Like their bluebird cousins, they like to perch on the fence, and swoop down for creepy-crawlies. The birds sing melodically as Evening sets in. Their song is interspersed with cat calls.

Cardinals, house finches, chipping sparrows, song sparrows, tree sparrows!
You're probably wondering where the heck I live to have all these birds around, and all at the same time!

Well, I live in a place that birds like. Really! In fact, that's exactly why I bought it.
It's a little woodsy here, a little meadowy there, a little brushy out front, a little wetlands on the west, some lawn around the house. There's an attraction for everyone. Even some flowers for the deer! :-(

I've been a bird watcher all my life. Well, not so much as a young adult ... for some reason I got away from it then. But I've been in full form for some time now, and no matter how long I've been doing it the thrill of seeing a new bird never wanes.

In my neighborhood I'm an anomaly. I never see the guy on the left unless he's tuning his dirt bike outside his garage. The guy on the right has an obsession with his lawn. He mows when it's reached 2 inches. That's the way it is most places, I guess. One out of three of us is nature-oriented.

It's amazing that only the intelligent among us are concerned about the world around us, and that others live in ignorance of the beauty, and the fragility, of our world. That doesn't bode well for the future, does it?

The Thrasher

2008-05-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

Brown Thrasher seen at Exit 11! These insect & fruit eaters have the widest repertoire of any N.American bird!

Pre-game Show in Amsterdam

2008-02-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

After our wild bird store closed this Super Bowl Sunday I went out to a customer to help him set up his new pole system. He lives in the Amsterdam section of Holland, New Jersey that is!

Well we were so busy working that I never stopped to look and see what kind of birds, if any, were in his yard. It was a good thing I didn't! As I was putting my tools in the truck, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a pale blue and orange dot about fifty feet back along his paddock fence. I quickly reached in to my truck and grabbed my trusty small binoculars, which are always at the ready for just such an occasion, and, whoa! I not only saw one, not only two, but after quickly scanning the perimeter I counted four bustling blue bird beauties, flitting back and forth from the gutter on his horse barn down to the grassy roadway.

Now if I had known this before I started on our little project, I'd still be standing there gawking at this bluebird mini super bowl!

Wow! What a treat it was to see them, so at home there, especially at this time of year! My customer didn't react to my surprise. He simply watched them with me, slightly amused at my excitement. He mentioned that the prior owner had mounted nest boxes all along the fencing. They looked a little weatherbeaten, but if the blues liked 'em, who was I to complain. I asked him if he had any roosting boxes up. He didn't. I sure would like to have been able to stick around and see if any of his nest boxes had birds in them after dusk.

But the good comes with the bad I guess. He has a Downy wreaking havoc on the trim of his cedar clad garage. Oww!