The Zen Birdfeeder

Helping an Oriole Out of a Tangle

Here's a great story we got back in May from Wild Birds Unlimited customer Wanda P:

"This is a Baltimore Oriole that Justin rescued.

He found it hanging upside down caught in some strands of a tarp.  The oriole was very grateful; she cooperated very well as we untangled her little foot from the strands. 

As soon as Justin let go of here, she was off to the treetops."

What a nice story - thanks to Justin for saving the oriole and to Wanda for sharing.  The female oriole was probably gathering nest material and got tangled up.  I'm glad Justin was there!

Images provided by WBU customer Wanda P.

Birds in the Rain

In last week's drenching rains, it was interesting to watch how different birds handle the downpour.  Some birds look for shelter.  American Goldfinches on a feeder will tuck under a weather guard to stay as dry as they can.  I've seen Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Black-capped Chickadees cling to a pole under a hopper-type feeder for protection from the rain.  And many times throughout the day, this male Ruby-throated Hummingbird parked himself on a protected feeder for the duration of the shower.

 

Mourning Doves will go out in a shower, and the rain just seems to bead up on their back.

 

Then there's birds like woodpeckers, who seem to tolerate getting wet in these warm-weather showers.  But in my yard, the wettest birds are the Blue Jays.  They don't let no stinkin' rain stop them from gorging themselves at the feeders!!  I'm always surprised how drenched they get.  But within minutes after the shower ends, they're already starting to dry out.

 

Hummingbird at the Birdbath!

 

During the summer, we occasionally get asked, "do hummingbirds use birdbaths?"  While they don't use them as frequently as other birds like goldfinches, jays, robins, and others, hummingbirds definitely do use birdbaths!

All birds, including hummingbirds, need to preen to keep their feathers in top shape.  To get their feathers wet to clean and preen, hummingbirds may rub up against wet leaves, or they may choose to use your birdbath.

Having a mister or other moving water in your birdbath can help attract hummingbirds.  This male Ruby-throated Hummingbird was attracted to a shallow birdbath with a solar-powered fountain.  He landed briefly in the shallowest water and would fly quickly through the fountain and then head off to a nearby tree to preen.

What a very special moment this was to witness!  I only wish the camera settings had been better for this grab-and-shoot session!  But it's for moments like these that I have 4 birdbaths out, and 2-3 have moving water during the summer months.

Heavyweight Butterfly

I thought it was fun watching this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly land on some of the smallest and lightest flowers in my yard, delicately balancing himself on the flower head or bending the threadlike stems with his 0.3 gram bulk.

You'll enjoy the images more if you click on them to enlarge.

Dianthus


Dianthus


Hardy Geranium


Blue Flax

Wordless Wednesday

First-of-Year Hairy Woodpecker Fledgling
Female
June 14, 2011

Downy Woodpeckers from Egg to Nestling to Fledgling

Whenever fledgling birds start emerging from their nests, my curiosity goes into high gear and I start trying to find out more about these birds.  I might not know where their nest was, but I can get an idea of about when the eggs they were born in were laid, and about when they pecked their way out of those eggs.

Young female Downy Woodpecker

Take these Downy Woodpeckers.  I feel pretty confident that the female pictured below was one of the first out of the nest cavity on June 13.  The male, on the other hand, didn't emerge until a few days later, June 17 or 18.

Young female Downy Woodpecker


Young male Downy Woodpecker

Downy Woodpeckers lay their eggs over a period of days and start incubating them near the end of that period.  I estimate that these downies were laid around the second week in May, between May 8th to the 17th.

Incubation duties are shared by both parent birds and lasts 12 days.  So these baby downies were in their eggs from the day they were laid until they hatched around the fourth week in May, maybe May 20th to the 29th.

After hatching, they spend another 20-25 days in the nest cavity.  So from the end of May and through the first half of June, they were nestlings being fed by a very busy set of parents.  When the young emerged, or fledged, they were well developed (about the size of their parents) and ready to fly!

Young female Downy Woodpecker

They'll stay as a family until the young can feed themselves.  Then the young will leave and the parents will remain in the area.

Downies have only 1 brood per year, so be sure to keep an eye out for young Downy Woodpeckers now, or you'll have to wait for next year!

Grosbeaks Still Courting

As mom and dad Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers tend to their newly fledged young, some Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are still out there looking for that "special" bird.

In our area, courtship activities like this dropped wing and wing quiver display could continue through July.  Watch for males exhibiting like this near the female.

 

There are as many as seven different grosbeaks visiting my yard, and there are still male-female courtship chases as well as male-male and female-female territorial chases going on in earnest.  Rose-breasted Grosbeak territory is 2-3 acres so hopefully we have a number of breeding pairs in the neighborhood.

Information Source: Stokes Nature Guide to Bird Behavior, Volume II

Red-cockaded Woodpecker - North Carolina

Our trip last month to North Carolina wasn't necessarily a birding trip, but we did look for some nearby trails that would be easy and that might offer some good bird opportunities.  So when we reviewed this Carteret County Trail Guide and found an easy 1.75 mile trail that offered up the potential of seeing Red-cockaded Woodpeckers, my interest was piqued and I was ready to go.

The Red-cockaded Woodpecker is listed as ENDANGERED on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Endangered Species list.  I guess I first became aware of the plight of this bird in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo hit South Carolina.  I remember hearing how the population of red-cockadeds in the area was decimated and nesting cavities destroyed as a result of the hurricane.

In fact, the USDA Forest Service's Southern Research Station reported that "before the storm, 477 groups of birds had been counted and after the storm, an estimated 65% of the birds were dead or missing."  Furthermore, "of 1,765 cavities, 87% were destroyed."

Before we headed out, I reviewed my Peterson Guide so we would know what to look for:

• 8-1/2" (bigger than our downies; smaller than our hairies; about the size of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers)
• Zebra-backed (kind of like a red-bellied)
• Black cap
• Obvious white cheek
• Male's tiny red cockade will be hard to see
• Voice a rasping sripp or zhilp

So we headed off to nearby Patsy Pond Trail, which is part of the Croatan National Forest.  Shortly after starting out, we ran into a group on their way out.  They had seen a number of red-cockadeds, making it sound like it would be no big deal to see them.  There was not shortage of trees with red-cockaded cavities either; they were all marked with a painted white band.

I was surpised by the openness of the forest, nothing like our mixed forests of the northeast.  It was an open woodland of old, longleaf pines, just the habitat preferred by Red-cockaded Woodpeckers.  It was easy to hear and find birds; no thick canopy hiding warblers in the tree-tops.

Sure enough, we saw our Red-cockaded Woodpecker, seeing individuals probably 4 times during our walk.  As this individual foraged, it seemed to turn an ear to the tree, presumably to listen for the insects it feeds upon.

I found it interesting to read that red-cockadeds are colonial, maintaining a group of up to 6 birds.  The breeding pair is assisted by helper birds, usually male and usually from their previous broods.

The individual that I got some pictures of was banded with two yellow bands on the right leg and one metal band on the left.  And we were not able to catch any sign of the signature red cockade, though that was to be expected.

I was thrilled to see this special bird, but it was only HALF of our red-themed endangered species sightings from our North Carolina trip.  More on the other half in a future post.

Lookin' for a Lucky Jay

I spent the day today looking at Blue Jays' tails.  I was trying to find one that might be looking for these:

 

I found these feathers the other day near the deck, where a neighbor's cat (grrrrrr) is known to hang out (a touchy subject I won't cover today).  I am deducing that perhaps the cat grabbed ahold of the tail of an unsuspecting jay, and hopefully was left with a mouthful of feathers but no bird.  Ergo, my quest to find one lucky Blue Jay who is short a few tail feathers, but hopefully ALIVE.

It is interesting to focus just on a bird's tail.  When you watch it in flight, when landing, when taking flight, when perched, from on top, and from the bottom, you see all kinds of new and wonderful details that maybe we don't see (or pay attention to) on a daily basis.

Especially gorgeous is when the jay is coming in for a landing.  Their tail feathers are fully spread in a shield-like shape, beautifully edged with the white tips that are oftentimes hidden when the tail is fully closed.  I find it hard to capture images of this in-flight tail spread, so a couple of these pictures are from back in the winter.

Sometimes while perched, the tail is partially open and white tips are more visible on all but the middle two feathers.

You get an excellent view of the white on the tail feathers from underneath.  Try to check them out while a jay is perched on a bird feeder.

I didn't find my lucky jay but I did enjoy my day intent on looking at tails.  I also read up on and learned some new stuff about feathers.  More on that in a future post.  In the meantime, enjoy looking at tails!

NOTE: The gathered feathers will be returned to the wild, since it is illegal to possess bird feathers (or nests, eggs, etc.) according to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.  The Blue Jay is a protected bird under the terms of this act.

Wings on Wednesday

I always like when I can capture (albeit accidentally!) the beautiful underwing pattern of the male Rose-breasted Grosbeak.