FEEDER BIRD?????

Wait a minute!!!  A bobwhite is NOT a feeder bird!  What is he doing in there!  

"Bobby" found the feeder a few days ago - that was even more surprising than him fluttering his wings like a chick when I come out to feed the birds!  He seems to like the black oil sunflower seed side of the feeder.  So now I know that he likes white millet, black oil sunflower, peanuts and dried meal worms.  This is one spoiled bird!

What?  Who, me???

Hey, we need some more seed in here! It's all just husks!

This morning he was sitting next to a robin in the feeder, where the red-winged blackbird had just been!  Crazy world... For more about Bobby, see the next post, March 10.

An Interesting Yard Bird!!

 It all started on December 29, 2023.  I was walking the dog that morning and glanced over at one of the wooded areas and saw a bird that I did not recognize. Hmm...  kind looks like a quail, but I'm not up on my quails.  So, I took out my phone to see if I could get some pictures.  The bird was busy scratching the leaves looking for something to eat and not shy, so I managed to get in pretty close.  They were not very good pictures, so I decided to go home and get my camera.  The Bobwhite was still there when I came back and very willing to pose for a picture!

The Northern Bobwhite poses for his picture taking

Oh, but don't miss how beautiful my tail is!

I didn't see him again that day or the next, but on the Christmas Bird Count day, there he was in our yard among the sparrows and juncos, chowing down on the white millet seed that I scatter for the ground birds!  Nice!

Since that day, I have seen him more days than not.  Occasionally there are 2-4 days where I don't see him; he could either be off somewhere or I just missed him.  Ultimately, we named him "Bobby".  ;-)

Except for the white facial stripes, he is really well camouflaged!

Well, it is now 10 weeks later and he is still here!  Now that it is lighter when I take the dog out in the morning (whoops... that was before the time change), he is waiting for me under the bush and runs out to meet me!  "Where is my breakfast??  Where is my breakfast???"  A couple of days ago he was running circles around my feet and this morning, he followed the dog and me as we walked down the driveway!!  Tame much?  

I think, and others who know about these things also think, that he has escaped from a farm that raises the Northern Bobwhites, so he is familiar with people feeding him.  There are no natural bobwhite coveys left in Massachusetts, except for a small one on the Cape, but there are people who raise them, either for training hunting dogs, to stock hunting areas, or for food. 

Keeping that in mind, I talk to him as I feed him, but I do not try to touch him or feed him from the hand or let the dog sniff him.  If he is going to be wild, I want him to be a bit afraid of people and dogs!

He doesn't fly, but either runs or sometimes flutters.  I emailed Julie Zickefoose as she has had tame birds, and she confirmed that the bobwhites are so heavy and have such short wings that they don't fly much.

It remains to be seen as to what he decides to do as mating season draws closer.  The other birds are sure advertising their territory!  But there are most likely no mates near here for Bobby, so he may leave in search of a mate.

Well, it has been loads of fun having Bobby with us this winter, so whatever he does, we are grateful to have been able to look out the kitchen window and watch him as he eats or takes a dirt bath or runs at the bluejays to keep them away from "his" food!

Here is a video of him this morning as I was feeding him (white millet, peanuts and a few dried meal worms).  Listen for his soft little sounds (ignoring the bluejay and the chirps from the woodpecker).

 

 Be safe, Bobby!!

NATURE'S CLEANUP CREW

WARNING -- this post contains nature in the raw with some gruesome, but interesting pictures.  Stop with the bald eagle below if you are sensitive to witnessing animals eating other animals.

Bald eagle lunches on the deer carcass, January 9, 2022

 

THE BEGINNING:

Saturday morning, January 8, 2022, we were sitting on our porch (as we do almost every morning), watching the birds at the feeder and looking out to see what might be on the pond.  Linda spotted something red on the ice right in front of us, but behind some trees.  We moved a bit and looked more closely and it was a deer carcass that was partially eaten.  Amazing what goes on in the night or when we are sequestered in our houses!

Later that morning, we walked down the hill to the pond to see what the carcass was - we thought it was a deer, but we were not sure.  It was a deer, a doe.  

 

You can see above that part of the carcass is under water.  There was ice on the pond, but it wasn't solid and it appeared that the doe had gone onto the ice and broken through (out of the picture on the right) and then dragged herself out of the water to end up here.  We don't know if she went onto the ice on her own or if the predator (coyotes?) chased her onto the weak ice intentionally.  We also don't know if she drowned and the predator found the carcass or if they attacked when she came up. 

We had seen an injured doe hobbling down the path a few days before - her right rear leg was broken off about 6 inches above the hoof and dangling by sinews.  Poor thing - it didn't look like a fresh injury and she was getting around pretty well, but she was slow.

When we saw the carcass on the ice, we were hoping it was the injured doe. Later, when more parts were dragged out of the water, we accounted for four intact legs, so it was not her.

Deer carcass - a doe

You can't see it in the picture above because the carcass is shadowed, but the middle of the doe is gone.  We wondered if she was pregnant and the coyotes (again, we are assuming coyotes) zeroed in on the fetus.  There is an organ of some sort on the left side of the picture.

 

 

SUNDAY, January 9 

The carcass has been providing more food for what we are assuming are the coyotes.  Several critters seem to have broken through the thin ice on their way to or from the carcass.  Interestingly, we did not see ANY squirrels in our yard at all yesterday!  And very few birds.  They must have sensed the danger and gone elsewhere.

It is this day, Sunday, that the bald eagle stopped by for lunch.  After the eagle left, the crows ventured in and chowed down most of the day.  

 

 

MONDAY, January 10  

The carcass was dragged in closer to our landing, possibly because the ice was weak?  The head and ribs were separated from the rest of the carcass and dragged up onto the shore.  Amazingly, already there isn't much meat left!! Below shows what we found on Monday, still on the ice.  

The original kill site can be seen upper left side, under the right-most red leaves hanging down - the stick is pointing at the area and the ice is a different color. It is a small area and there is a lump of something left behind. 

You can see where the deer first broke through the ice if you follow the path from the lower right corner (near the carcass) toward the open water - there is a round spot just to the right of the kill site and that is where we think she first went in.

(two hooves upper left, spine lower right)

What is left of the main body of the carcass was dragged quite a distance!

The ribs and head were still attached and dragged up to the shore path.  This is one of the hardest pictures to look at because the head is still intact...   Canine footprints are visible all around it.  Coyotes woke us up in the middle of the night.

(Picture below - scroll fast if you get queasy easily!)

 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 11 

The head and ribs are gone - taken home to the den?  Snowed a dusting overnight and there are bird prints all around the carcass part still on the pond, as many crows lunched on what is left of the carcass. I followed the canine footprints along the path for a ways, but didn't see any sign of a den or even of dragging the ribs/head.  Must have happened before the snow.

We hear coyotes again - 8:30 PM.  

 

 

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 12 

Clear and quite cold - snow is gone from the pond and the carcass is still on the ice in pretty much the same place as yesterday.  We are wondering if it will stay there until the ice melts (not today!  COLD.  1.2˚ F!

Last night we not only heard the coyotes, but saw canine shaped shadowed figures at the carcass site (~11 PM).  They were behind the canoes, so the sighting was not clear.

 

Below was seen on the ground at the landing - a bit of pelt and chunks of fur.

 

 

THURSDAY, JANUARY 13 

What is left of the carcass is still on the ice, but the parts are more separated.

Again we see canine shapes behind the canoes at around 7PM - moon is high and almost full this week and helps us see some.  Coyotes howling at both 8:00PM-ish and again at 12 AM

 

 

 

FRIDAY, JANUARY 14

This morning things were moved around again.  There was one leg and hoof near the landing and a bit further on, the spine (which was pretty picked over!). 

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15

Things are pretty much as they were yesterday.  Slight change in positions, but otherwise as is.  We are wondering if it will stay like this?

Below is the place on the ice where the carcass was before the parts were dragged up onto the shore.

No coyotes howling last night.

We are surprised that the leg is still here!  We expected it to be dragged home!  In spite of the bone looking pretty clean in places, there is still good meat on this leg under that fur!

 

SUNDAY, JANUARY 16

The spine is gone, but the leg is still there.  (Chilly today! -2.5˚F)

MONDAY, JANUARY 17 

Snow in the morning followed by HEAVY rain, sleet, freezing rain most of the day.  We did not venture down the slope and no coyotes were howling.

 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 18

EVERYTHING IS GONE!!!!  Leg, spine, rib cage & head, torso, entrails.  The only thing left to show that there was ever anything going on here is a bit of fur.  One of the pelts is gone, too!  We looked on the ice and under the ice on shore (it was very warm and heavy rain water pouring down the hill yesterday) but not a trace.

Nature's clean up crew has taken care of things again, and in the process, many birds and animals are fed.

Amazing week...

FLEDGE DAY! ROBINS ON THEIR WAY

Fledge Day has arrived!  May 20, 2018

Today is the nestlings' 15th day in the nest (robins usually fledge between 12-14 days), but yesterday, day 14, was really cold, 37˚ in the morning and never got above 59 - with rain. Smart to stay put. In general, these nestlings have not seemed as restless as last year's brood. 

Mama Robin with all four nestlings - fledge is tomorrow!

Although, there was some jostling in the overcrowded nest on pre-fledge day!

The blurry one (it was wiggling and I was using a handheld iPhone over my head!) with the wavy gape was the first to go.

Fledgling #1 left the nest at 6:34 AM: Like last year's birds, it was yelling all the way! (“Mom. Dad, I’m flying!!”) 

It was a very sudden departure, none of the wing flapping that we saw last year. Fledgling #1 was sitting outside of the nest, while the other three were hunkered down with their beaks on the edge of the nest (“No way I'm going!“).

Wavy-beak outside of the nest, sitting very quietly just before he flew

 Last year's first to fledge had quite a bit of bravado about it and then when it flew, it glided to the ground.  This one seemed more confident and collected, and when it took off, it was flying, not gliding!  It went straight out under the porch roof and then up to a branch on the hemlock, but it didn’t land (perhaps thinking, “Yikes! I don’t know how land!“).  Instead of landing, it glide it down into the rhododendrons, with an adult following close behind.

No adults are feeding the remaining three birds and they currently show no sign or interest in leaving.  It has been 45 minutes since #1 left and we haven't seen the parents at the nest at all.

#2 starts to get ready to go:

#2 getting ready!

                  ===========



6:23AM, #2 leaves the nest and fledges :

Mama came and fed the other two, not feeding the one on the right (below), who was about to leave the nest.  

Right after mama flew off the nest, #2 followed her.  

This one flew over Linda’s car and to a branch in a pine tree! Mama came and joined the fledgling on the branch, encouraging it to fly down to the ground. Both adult and fledgling hopped around the ground, with the adult leading the fledgling somewhere to safety. 

The other two nestlings, having been fed and their fecal sacks taken, hunkered back down into the nest.

 

As of 10AM, they remaining two were content to stay put although one was showing some interest in departure. 

 

 

 The other nestling is the lump of feathers in the nest (right)!  For a long time, I thought the one standing was the last bird in the nest!

It is now 11:45AM and there are still two birds in the nest.  More later...

OF NESTS, HERONS AND COWBIRDS

There is a lot of life around here this spring!  We are usually gone for these weeks and we and miss it, but this year we feel like we are right in the middle of everything!  

FOUR great-blue herons flew overhead this morning as I was walking the dog.
===

Yesterday afternoon on our walk, I had just crossed the brook on Moore Road and there was this VERY CLOSE, and VERY LOUD, shrieking "GRAAACK", right over my shoulder!  I am not particularly jumpy, but I jumped at this!  My first thought was, "Fisher in the tree?"  But it was a great-blue heron chasing a red-tailed hawk!!!  I wonder if there are nests back in those wetlands and the hawk was after the heron nestlings!  Gotta check it out. 
===

The house wrens are very busy moving more twigs into the nest box.  I was puzzled because it also seemed that there was a fledgling around, asking for food (smaller than the adults, some fuzzy down-like feathers, inside of mouth still a bit red).  I did some research and read that house wrens frequently have more than one clutch and sometimes while dad house wren is feeding the fledglings, mom runs off with another male!  Then dad finds another mate and they refurbish the nest.  I guess this could be the scenario... they haven't confided in me.

 ===

 AND, on Sunday we spotted a grey catbird nest in the Rhododendron bush right under our window - perfect viewing place!  Very hidden - can you find the nest in the bush below??

(It is right smack in the middle of the bush, 

just below and left of the yellow leaf.)

Monday morning we spotted one, gorgeous blue egg!  

Tuesday morning, I checked as soon as it was light enough so that I could see into the nest and there were two eggs, but one was blueish-white with brown spots!  A brown-headed cowbird egg.  We have seen a lot of cowbird activity around here this fall.

I checked again around 6:30 and there was another blue egg - you can see that it is still damp from just being laid!  The nest is very deep and it is hard to see any eggs that are close to the edge - I believe the other blue one is just out of sight, perhaps behind that leaf.

Grey Cat-bird egg (left) and Brown-headed Cowbird egg

The catbirds are among the birds who can tell when there is an egg that isn't their own and by later in the morning, the cowbird egg was no longer visible.   Most likely mama catbird rolled it out of the nest.  We couldn't find it on the ground, but on the other hand, the way the ticks are this year, we were NOT interested in crawling around under the bush! 

This morning (Wednesday), by 7:30 there were three blue eggs and no sign of the cowbird egg.  

For those of you who don't know, brown-headed cowbirds always drop their eggs in other bird's nests (possibly up to 30 from one female in a season).  The cowbird usually hatches before the host bird's eggs and is often bigger than the host bird nestlings, so it claims more food.  Often the host bird's nestlings don't thrive. 

But this mama catbird is quite happy on her nest!

===

Our robins are getting ready to fledge - should be this weekend!

 Otherwise, not much going on around here... 

MORE ROBINS IN THE NEST

Mama Robin incubating four eggs

We left the robins' nest (see last post) on the porch light over the winter - partially laziness and partially curiosity.  On April 18th (2018), we noticed that the robins were refurbishing the nest!  Cool!  They didn't rebuild, they just brought in some new grass for the nest cup (as you will see, this turned out to be a problem...)

I am not keeping as much detail as last year, but there are definitely some interesting happenings in year two with the same Mama bird.
Below is the journal I've been keeping on my phone.  (Closeup pictures are fuzzy because they are taken with iPhone in rather low light - don't want to use flash in their eyes).

ROBINS' NEST - APRIL 2018

April 18

Robins renovating the old nest on the porch.

April 21

We didn’t see an egg in the morning, but mama Robin was on the nest most of the day. The next morning we did see an egg, so we are assuming it was laid on the 21st. 

April 22

Two eggs today, but not early this morning. We are thinking she is laying more mid morning. It has been cold for the last several days and low 40s at night.

April 23

Only two eggs in the morning, but when I looked at two this afternoon, there were three beautiful eggs. I haven’t seen mamma on the nest much today though, but she is there now, 7:29PM

Ap 24

We now have four eggs in the nest, as of afternoon of the 24th (above). We are waiting with bated breath to see if a fifth will be laid this afternoon, or if there will be just four. The nest was awfully full with four last year, but she could lay up to seven.
Ap 25
The nest keeps sliding around and almost falling off the light.  I put a piece of rubber drawer liner under it, but the mud they put there last year to anchor the nest to the light has dried up and is acting like little ball bearings under the nest and rubber piece.  The nest was really hanging off precariously yesterday.  Today I took a wet paper towel, lifted the nest and wiped off most of the loose dirt.  Leaving it wet (hoping it would make a sticky mud again), I put the nest back.  We'll see.

Ap 27

No more eggs have been laid, so four is it. Mama sits on the nest and is mostly not bothered by us. If startled, she flies off, but mostly she’s content to stay there even when we are on the porch. It must be the same bird as last year or it would be more shy of us. The first egg could hatch as early as Thursday next week, May 3. According to the book, it takes 12 to 14 days.

May 3:

No hatching yet; this is the first day that the eggs could have started hatching. Mama is very attentive and doesn’t mind us being around.

May 4

No hatching as of 7:15 in the morning. 

Still four eggs, no hatching yet. 6:45 PM.  But good news - the nest isn't sliding!

May 5

This morning (day 14 after the first egg was laid), 7:20 AM, two eggs have hatched, one looks like it is just hatched! Papa Robin came and delivered worm to mama which she then fed to the hatchling. 

NOTICE in the picture - the top nestling has some downy feathers (hatched a few hours before).
The bottom one has just hatched! It is still between the egg shells and the parent bird usually
removes the egg shells immediately.  Also, the just hatched bird still has pieces of egg shell on its rear.

May 6

Three eggs have hatched this morning. It’s a dark drizzly morning, so difficult to get a clear picture.
May7

As of last night, all four eggs had hatched. One nestling was cheeping and gaping.

May 8

Mama is dutifully keeping the nestlings warm on this cold morning (41.5°). Papa brought some food, and mama flew off; I saw two beaks peeking up over the edge of the nest as papa was feeding them.

They are starting to look like little birds. Look at those little wings!  Eyes are still closed (the big black things above the beaks are their eyes.

 

May 9

Parents back and forth with food!

 

 

May 10

This morning there is a little beak sticking up over the edge of the nest, chin resting on the nest. Amazing that these little blobs with a tiny bit of down will be flying in a bit over a week.

May 12 

Yikes!  there are feathers on these birds!  Starting to look like robins, well... if you have a good imagination. Eyes are open now, too.

 ===

So, some time in about a week, we should have a fledging!  Hmmm... seems like last year fledge day was also on a Saturday when we were at yoga class!  Harumph!  Maybe they will hold off one day.
Also, good news - the nest no longer slides at all!  It has been stable even with both parents landing on it and pushing off from it!  Yay!  It is always a tough call as to whether or not to mess with nature.  Mostly I err on the side of not doing anything, but am glad I did this time!

FROM EGG TO BIRD: FOUR ROBINS HATCH AND FLEDGE

July 10, 2017, 7:09 AM.  The last robin leaves the nest.  Above is the final picture taken of this little guy, the "runt" of the nest.  Two of its siblings left in the middle of the afternoon the day before and number 3 left an hour before this picture was taken.  

The robins started nesting on top of the light on our porch around June 7th or so.  A pair nested on the other porch light several years back.  It is a safe place, safe from predators and weather.  (Other robins around our house haven't fared as well: last year the nest was in the dogwood tree and blew out in a storm.  A few years before that, there was one in the bush next to the porch and the nestling and unhatched egg got eaten.)  This nest was as safe as possible.

**The following pictures are not the best quality, because the porch is covered and shady and I didn't want to use flash in the nestlings eyes.  Also, many were taken standing wobbling on a stool, holding my iPhone above my head!**

June 13, three eggs in the nest:                        June 14, four eggs in the nest!

Mama incubating the eggs.

Incubation happens for about 12-14 days for the robins, so we anticipated the hatching could begin as early as June 23.  Meanwhile, the parents got used to us being on the porch, as we always spend time every morning watching the world go by from our perch on the porch!  Papa yelled at us sometimes, but usually mama would stay on the nest when we came out.

As predicted, the eggs started hatching on June 24, 13 days from the last egg laid.  Three of them hatched that first day!

June 25, in the morning
The egg shells had been removed and 

there was one egg left, still unhatched.

 

 

By afternoon on June 25, there were four hungry nestlings!  
Little blobs of protoplasm...  
(After this pictures, I stopped using flash picture for fear of injuring their eyes.)

June 26 the blobs of protoplasm seemed to be all eyes and beaks!

June 27
I tried shining a light above the nest, but decided that probably wasn't a good idea, either.  We'll just have to live with the dark pictures.  I don't want to upset the parents (who were being very good about me around the nest!). At this point, we weren't sure if we had three or four nestlings.  
We were concerned about the survival of number four. 

Noontime on June 28th, 
Big changes from the day before. Notice the beginnings of feather shafts on the "wings".  In a few days, feathers would grow out of the shafts.  These birds have to be ready to "fly" and leave the nest in 10 days!

June 29 
The changes seem to happen rapidly.  But, we still don't know if there are three or four birds in the nest.  Hard to separate them out.

Three?  Four?  Still mostly eyes and beaks.  Feathers obvious down each bird's back, and more down on their heads. (June 29)

June 30
FEED ME, FEED ME!!!!

Papa isn't sure about my presence...

THERE ARE FOUR!!!!!

July 1
Morning: eyes still closed.  Getting bigger!

Getting more downy.  Look closely and you can see a slit in the eyelid. 

This is an afternoon shot on July 1; they seem bigger than in the morning.

July 2 (AM)

Four hungry mouths

Eyes open and wing feathers on the lower left nestling!  

Sure are ugly!  

"The Mouth"

 Look at that wing!  (No clue which bird is attached to it!)

July 3

 Crowded nest...

July 5

Big change in two days.  Look at that wing!!

They are starting to look like birds.

 And getting big! But they have to be ready to fledge in four days!

July 5, around noon

Much more movement and restlessness.

Notice that there is still a lot of bare, red skin, 

even though we are seeing more feathers

At rest

 Amazing that they can still fit into this nest.

July 6
The middle bird is the first hatched (I think).  Notice how different it looks

compared to the left bird (who is probably the last hatched).

The bird on the right has its eyes closed.

July 7
When a parent arrives with food, s/he stands on the edge of the nest, feeds one bird, then waits for that bird to offer its rear end and expel a fecal sac. (Instead of making a mess all over the nest, the nestlings' excrement is contained in a small white "fecal sac".  A lot easier than diapers...)  The parent bird takes the fecal sac and either eats it, or drops it somewhere away from the nest (probably on our cars).  

In the sequence below we see the parent bird arriving and in the second shot waiting (the nestlings are calm as they know there is no more food right now).  In the third picture, the parent is taking the fecal sac and the fourth shows the nestling's anus returning to normal.

July 8
Food is coming!

Who gets the worm??  Look at those spotted breasts!

Sorry!  All gone.

The Big Guy is getting ready to leave the nest!

July 9
Morning: Parents visit nest.  They have been doing a lot of encouragement from the railing or the top of the ladder (which is why we put it there - there are no branches available at this nest site!)

This one has been restless and seems ready to go...

"Go away and leave me alone!!!!!"

We did... later that afternoon, Linda had been on the porch watching, came in and 10 minutes later I went out.  In that 10 minutes two of them flew and only these two were left in the nest!

A parent on the railing

Number 3 is getting ready to go, but it won't happen until tomorrow

July 10
We came out onto the porch early in the morning and the two remaining nestlings were restless.  We sat down, turned to look at the nest, when suddenly a blur of feathers flew past us, yelling all the way.  We thought it was a parent bird, perhaps annoyed that we were there, but no, it was number 3!!!
We have always read that the robins tend to jump out of the nest and glide to the ground, but not this little show-off!  It was like it was yelling, 
"Look at me!  Look at me!!  I'm flying!!!"

Now there is only one left.  It took another hour for this one to get up the courage to go, and when it did, it was a jump and glide descent to the bushes.

We had hoped that we would see the parents and fledglings looking for bugs and worms in the yard, but we never did.

The nesting process is messy, but fun to watch!!

It was funny, for the next few days, every time we went out onto the porch, we were looking to see if the babies were there.  Empty nest syndrome, I guess.

I have some great video clips of the last day, but haven't had time to edit them  into a decent video, but when I do, I will post that in a separate posting.

Happy birding!