BIRDS EVERYWHERE!

I am trying to get some work done; but the birds are not making it easy!!  I look to the right of my computer window and see from the Cornell nest cam, the cute little eyass chowing down on the piece of chipmunk mom red-tail brought, or if I look up from my screen, the feeder outside the real window is swarming with birds!  Right now I see 4 purple finch males and one female, 2 Carolina wrens, a downy woodpecker, a bright yellow goldfinch in the bird bath, two mourning doves on a tree branch, a junco and a chipping sparrow in the grass, whoops!  Blue jay just came in, scattering all the others.  A robin has arrived and there is a nuthatch taking dog fur from the nesting materials put out for them, two geese just flew over and there is a female wood duck sitting in the tree closer to the pond!   

Female Wood Duck

Earlier, I was out walking the dog at 7:15, and heard this strange sound that didn't sound like any of the songbirds we have around. It was close by so I stopped and really looked. It called again, and I thought. "WOOD DUCK!"  It took a bit of looking, but eventually I found it in the crook of the tree.  It stayed long enough so that I could go in and get my DSLR camera and take some pictures (above).  I don't believe it's nesting out here as I don't see a hole for it and and besides, it's awfully far from the pond, being right out here on the street.  What a cool morning gift thank you world!  

Quick update on our neighborhood screech owl.  After not seeing it for several days, I caught it in its hole 4 times yesterday, so it is still here!  I didn't have binoculars for most of those sightings and wonder if any were little owlettes.    :-)

Hmmm... everyone just left and it is empty!  Must be a hawk somewhere around.  Do I take this time to get back to paying the bills, or go look for the hawk??

CORNELL HAWK CAM

Red-tailed Hawk eyass, one day old

I have been watching the Cornell University Hawk Cam as the little hawks are hatched and grow (the nestling is called an "eyas").  These are a pair of hawks that Cornell has been watching in the nest for several years.  The female is called Big Red and the male is Ezra and yes, you can learn to tell them apart!!!  They had three eggs this year and two have hatched, the first on Monday night and the second early Tuesday morning (I started watching at just the right moment and got to see the second one hatch!!!). 
The black blob in the upper right corner is a starling that is about to be their lunch.  The above photo shows the two eyass at one day old, with the unhatched egg. 
These are iPhone screen shots of the Cornell hawk cam images. Click on the images for a larger pix.

The eyass are now two days old and much stronger and larger than yesterday!
The egg has pipped (the bird inside has started making a hole in it and will hatch soon)

RTH eyass, two days old with mom

 Here they are today, two days old, with mom (Big Red).  Mom has a snake she is feeding them.

To see the hawk cam, click this link:

http://cams.allaboutbirds.org/channel/16/Red-tailed_Hawks/?utm_source=Cornell+Lab+eNews&utm_campaign=562fb46458-Bird+Cams+eNews-FallVisitors-10.19.2012&utm_medium=email
Before you start chatting on the chat line, be sure to read the section called, "Hawk Nest FAQ" (just below the video window) and the Chat Guidelines.  In the FAQ section, you can find out how to tell the adults apart, and learn a lot about the hawk pair, their offspring, the project and the cam.

I found I could spend a lot of time watching and although semi-retired, I don't have that much time, so I click on the 2nd cam view button, which gives a small window, and I put that window in the upper corner of the desktop.  Out of the corner of my eye, I can see if anything exciting happens.

There are other cams, as well.  I've been glancing at the Osprey cam occasionally (they had one egg as of yesterday) and the Great Blue Herons, who have four eggs.  The action is at the Hawk cam at the moment, though!!  

For more info on the hawks (and all birds!), go to Cornell's free site, 
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-tailed_hawk/id
 
Cornell Lab of Ornithology is one of the major places for bird study and they also have a more scholarly site, with deeper info, but that costs to join - Birds of North America
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/

I want to leave you with one last picture of the eyass.  Apparently they play fight and it helps them get stronger.  This is yesterday.  The one on the right is "attacking" the other.

Day old RTH eyass play fighting

Check it out!

PILEATED, PALM WARBLER & TURTLES

Grey day, but warm and a pleasant wind.  Too much to paddle, though, given my shoulder.  Hard raking, too!  :-)
Several interesting sightings recently:

• A pileated woodpecker moving through the dead trees along the shore of the pond
• A pair of wood ducks
• Several phoebes, some snagging mosquitoes and other bugs from over the pond, some doing their territorial call around our house, some sitting in branches
• Two Palm Warblers - beautiful birds!  We have seen them only once before.  Very bright yellow breast and belly, with some rufous lines on the breast along the wings, a rufous cap and yellow stripes above and below the eyes.  The thing that called my attention to them, instead of, "Oh, its just a goldfinch", was the bird bobs its tail continuously!  They are not feeder birds, but may be seen on the ground or in the pine trees.  They are in migration, heading further north.
• Juncos are still here
• Haven't seen the bluebirds recently, but also haven't been at my desk where I see them in the morning
• MANY Painted Turtles today!  Linda thought the log looked funny; that was because there were 10 turtles on it.  I went to take some pictures and discovered that there were 40+ on the three logs up stream a bit on the pond.  I spooked the 10 on the initial log, but some came back.  

I count about 40 here!

7 of the original 10

HAIKU FOR A COLD SPRING DAY

Haiku have always fascinated me; I love the 5, 7, 5 rhythm of the syllables and the minimalist nature of the poems, and of course, the twist of the last line.  NPR was reading from a haiku contest for Cherry Blossom Weekend in DC this morning, and it got me thinking in haiku today...

A grey cloudy sky,
The sleet's hard and stings my face.
Hmmm... it's mid-April? 

Yes, there's sleet and cold,

But it's a beautiful day -

There are daffodils.

A goose on her nest,

The osprey dives for dinner,

Our pond is alive.

This next one had several last lines; ultimately I went with the chuckle of this one.  So often I feel like I hit a shell.

Bright sun on the pond.

My paddle dips the water.

Whoops. Thwacked a turtle.

OK, OK... how about this, then:

Bright sun on the pond.

My paddle dips and rises,

As my mood goes up.

Check the comment area for haiku from other authors.
Share YOUR nature haiku!!  Leave one in the comments area.

FIRST PADDLE OF SEASON

Finally got myself out on the pond today!  Went for a paddle with a friend who hadn't seen our wonderful pond.  She got a great introduction!  We hadn't even pulled away from shore when a muskrat came motoring down the pond; we got a great view.   Then we headed toward the dam and there was a heron fishing at a snag.  Another great view!  Two fishermen were on the shore.   There is a new muskrat lodge on the south side of the pond and the one I was watching last fall is looking rather disreputable and unused.  We paddled up pond to the mouth and there was a pair of Canada geese, one on the nest and one guarding.  

All of that was a pretty good series of sightings, then we spotted an osprey!  When it first flew across the pond, I only got a quick glimpse and I assumed red-tailed hawk, but it flew like a gull...  Then it landed and I got my binocs on it and it was an osprey - beautiful!  Somewhat small - perhaps a male.  We got to watch it for a long time and saw it dive into the water twice.  Missed both times.  Then we lost sight of him.  Came around a corner and he was on a branch looking out over the water.  He saw us and flew.  Later Carol called to say that there was a bird she couldn't see well enough to identify, with a black and white head, in the tree between our houses.  I went outside and it was the osprey and he had finally caught some dinner!  

On a not-so-good note, the pond scum is coming up from the bottom and floating on top already.  I saw, but couldn't reach, several water chestnut nuts today, too.

At the feeder: Juncos are still here, we have bluebirds in the feeder and the white-throated sparrows are calling.  Those are the oddities.  Otherwise, normal bird sounds.  Linda and I were out on the porch for "first bird" this morning.  We like to sit in the dark and wait while the sky lightens and we hear that first bird call!  It is usually a robin.  GORGEOUS Coopers hawk on the branch outside the kitchen window yesterday!  So much to watch around here.  :-)

So what are YOU seeing?????

SCREECH OWL UPDATE

(Info updated)
First of all, it is a truly gorgeous night!  I stood out with the neighborhood screech owl for about 20 minutes, until it started getting a bit too dark.  

I was walking Blake and heard a screech doing its trill call and I knew that the owl had been sitting in its hole, so I walked down that way to see if it was the owl in the hole calling, or a second one.  I couldn't tell!  I watched the owl in the hole for a long time - it must be a ventriloquist!  

I walked beyond the tree, where it couldn't see me, but I could watch where the hole is and could see if it flew.  I heard the calling from that direction, but it was very quiet, so it sounded far off.  I gradually moved to where I could see the owl again, but still couldn't tell if it was calling or if it was another bird.  Its mouth wasn't moving at all.  Finally, I saw it!  The throat collapsed when the sound stopped!  I also saw it move its head and open the eyes wide and look at something.  

I still have more questions than answers!  Is there a female with eggs is the biggest question?!!  Time to go do some more research. 

Had a red-winged black bird at the feeder today, the bluebirds are still here and the juncos haven't left yet. 

LATER...  Too funny.  I'm reading the info on Cornell, Birds of North America site (wonderful, detailed info!) http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/165/articles/sounds
and it said:

"Adults sing faintly inside nest cavities or close to family members and may seem ventriloquistic"

Another interesting tidbit from that page:

"Monotonic Trill is pair and family-contact song, variously called Bounce, Tremolo, Secondary Song, Warble (Gehlbach 1994c). It is mostly on a single pitch, 3–6 s long, but may rise or fall slightly at the end. Male trills when advertising nest site, courting, and arriving at nest with food; female trills to induce fledging."

And:

"Males and their incubating-brooding mates sing antiphonally day and night, whereas neighboring males sing synchronously at night (Monotonic Trills). Male trills are more frequent closer to sunset and become shorter as nesting progresses. Nesting males mostly give Monotonic Trills, postbrooding females give more Descending Trills and predator-recognition calls, but males increase Descending Trills and calls after fledging. Trills are more frequent during gibbous and full moons and before stormy weather. Male’s voice stimulates female vocalizing (Gehlbach 1994c)."

 Apparently they have many more vocalizations than the trill, whinny and screech.

"Hoots are the same pitch but sometimes descend slightly; they denote mild alarm at intruders and potential predators. Bark is a loud, single, high-pitched hoot given by more anxious individuals likely to attack. Screech is a single loud, piercing or grating call by agitated owls, often during physical defense of nests or fledglings, and can resemble a squawk or scream; it has many variants. Rasp is a rough grating call, usually falling in pitch; nestlings use it as a food-begging call, and adult females use apparently the same Rasp in food-begging during courtship. Chuckle-Rattle is a rapid 3–4 note call, accented on the last note which may be higher pitched. In mobbed adults, it may be longer and grade into a high-pitched cackle; Chuck-Rattle signifies intra- (nestling) or inter (adults) specific annoyance at benign intruders."

Also learned that the females, even when brooding, will sit in the hole for a short time and take a break.  Will also leave at dusk and sometimes dawn, to bath, eliminate waste, eat.