IT'S BEEN A WHILE! SO MUCH IS HAPPENING!!

It has been a while since I've had a chance to write and so much is going on around here!  We have juvenile birds everywhere: downy woodpecker, tufted titmouse, about five blue jay, hairy woodpecker, chickadee, grackle, four nuthatch, two rose-breasted grosbeak and Suzanne just texted and said that their bluebirds just fledged!!!

Now that is an interesting story!  Suzanne & Michael have a plexiglass sided bird house and they had been seeing both bluebirds and chickadees going into the bird house.  The two sets of birds were clearly arguing about who was going to get this prime real estate.  They fought over it for quite a while, including throwing out eggs and rebuilding the nest!  Finally the bluebirds won and they pulled out some of the moss the chickadees had used and built their nest on top.  The bluebirds started hatching a couple weeks ago and today, they fledged!  

Our neighborhood is just NOT bluebird territory!  They like more open fields, but I guess they like that Suzanne/Michael, Carol/Joe and we have been feeding them mealworms and they definitely like our bird bath.  Below is a picture Suzanne took on July 15.

Bluebird Hatchlings  --Photo by S. Groet

Meanwhile, the pond is in bad shape - I tried to paddle a couple weeks ago and could hardly move.  The DPW has put up the dam extension in preparation for harvesting (which will happen sometime early August) so there is more water in the pond now; it might be better paddling, but I haven't tried.  Many great volunteers helped do some hand harvesting again this spring and the harvester machine is currently on Carding Mill Pond and is due here soon.

Linda & I were out paddling on Willis Lake last week and found a patch of water chestnuts.  We contacted Debbie Dineen (Sudbury Conservation Coordinator), who contacted Mark Sevier.  Mark and his wife went out and hand harvested most of them on Sunday.  Linda & I did more today and will go back with the rakes tomorrow to try to get the rest that we can reach in the bushes.  Our goal is to keep Willis Lake from looking like the ponds in the Hop Brook system!!

What's happening in your area of Sudbury?  Let us hear from you.

THREE LIFERS!!!

Within just over 24 hours, I saw three life-birds, without even leaving the house, right here in our yard!  Very cool!  

Sunday afternoon I was doing the dishes and Linda was reading Harry Potter aloud when I looked out at the dogwood tree, which is just outside the window, to find a bird I had never seen!  Linda grabbed her binocs, and we started "reading" off characteristics: plain greenish-brown back, yellow on sides of tail, yellow spot on wings, yellow spot just under the shoulder, white breast, dark eye, small bird-warblerish size, warbler-like beak... (we forgot leg color).  The bird was very accommodating and hung around a long time so we could get a good look at her (and why didn't I grab my camera or phone??).  Once she left, we each got our favorite books and started looking.  Female Americab Restart!  Wow!  A lifer for both of us.

Monday morning I was talking to my mother on the phone and looked out to see a scarlet tanager sitting in the old crab-apple tree (dead, but it is a great perch for birds near the feeder).  "Wait, mom!  I'll be right back!"  The camera was close by on the table: click, click, click!  This gorgeous bird was on our "want to see" list and I'm sad that Linda didn't get to see it!  Hopefully it will come back when she is here.

Scarlet Tanager singing

Later in the day, I was outside shaking rugs and looked up to see a red-tailed hawk being mobbed by some bluejays.  I got this picture just before it flew!

There was a lot of noise in the trees on the other side of the deck, so I picked up my binoculars to go take a look.  Strange call that I don't think I've heard before.  Wait - movement.  Wow!  New bird!  Lemon yellow belly with no markings running into a gray throat, large black bill, large bird (bluejay size), dark eye, rusty tail (!!!) with the lemon belly, that is going to be distinctive! There were two of them and one turned a bit so I could sort of see that the back was brown or olive or gray and the wings had some wing bars, but I couldn't distinguish details.  They flew.  My Sibley's opened up to the flycatcher section (which was good 'cuz I really wasn't sure where to start) and there it was!

We've had an amazing spring for birds!  Two of the bluebirds that were here this winter stayed on and they must have a nest nearby, as I see them every day (momma is on the feeder right now).  The orioles are enjoying the oranges and suet and the female was here looking for long strings of grass, so they must be building their nest.

I still count five nestlings in the Carolina Wren nest.  I could easily sit and look outside all day long!

BIRDFUL WEEK!

Lots of bird activity this week.  Our Carolina Wren nestlings are growing and there are now five mouths.

Carolina Wren nestlings - probably about a week old

 I thought the picture below was interesting!  I can't figure out what the scaly thing on the bottom right is, though.  The left lump is a beak and head with an eye that isn't yet open.

I looked out at the feeder yesterday and it was quite colorful!  Male Oriole on the suet, Cardinal in the peanuts, Bluebird on top of the feeder pole and two male Goldfinch on the nyger!  I looked back about a minute later and it was all grey, black and white: Tufted Titmouse, Downy Woodpecker, Mourning Dove, White-breasted Nuthatch and a female Red-winged blackbird on the ground!  Equally beautiful!!

The Baltimore Oriole pair are keeping me company these last two days.  They are so striking!  This is my first closeup encounter with this bird and I have to say, I like it!

This is peanut butter suet with calcium added for the mama birds.  He seems to like it a lot!

Baltimore Oriole.  Look at his beak as he gets ready to eat!

Now I have GOT to get to work!  Enough play for this morning!!

THE COYOTE AND THE DEER

"Look! The deer are back, but only five of them this morning", I said to Linda.  Yesterday we had a herd pass by the pond, about 8:30 in the morning.  Eight of them passed by (does & yearlings), two stopping at our landing to get a drink, and then a few minutes later four more came along the pond!  In this group there were two young fawn who were definitely too small for last year's batch but seemed too big to be this year's; I think they had spots, so some doe must have been early to drop this year!  (MassAudubon says that deer drop in May or June, another source, DeerFriendly.com, says end of March and April for Massachusetts. Either way, this is VERY early!)

Deer passing along pond - 12 all together

Back to THIS morning.  About 6:40 AM (20 minutes after sunrise), there was a group of 5 deer down by the pond.  My movements in the house caused them to all look up the hill at us.  We turned off the light and watched.  Shortly, the tails went up and they RAN west along the pond.  We were wondering what spooked them, when I saw a coyote come loping along from the east!  Ah-HA!  The deer were too fast for the coyote and shortly, it doubled back the check out the landing to see if perhaps a doe had stashed her fawn there to hide.  No breakfast yet... so he loped off up the hill past the house next door.

The deep snow is hard on the deer, both for foraging and also because they sink so deeply into it, while the coyotes can mostly run on top.  I went down to the pond to look at tracks and found that mostly the deer tracks were fairly shallow, but every once in a while there would be one that had sunk in five or six inches.  You know how difficult it is for us humans to be walking along on the crust and suddenly it gives way -- imagine if your life was on the line!  Not surprisingly, I didn't find any distinguishable canine footprints.

Deer prints: medium size, there were some larger and some smaller

OTHER SIGHTINGS IN OUR YARD...

We have been seeing the Pileated Woodpecker frequently.  We have many dead trees or branches in our little stand of woods, so the Pileated is happy to remove some of the carpenter ants from the neighborhood for us!  I have only seen a male.

Our Bluebirds are still here chomping down the mealworms we put out for them.

I saw a Red-tailed Hawk overhead yesterday.

We have had several FAT coons under the feeder.

Our local Eastern Screech Owl is frequently spotted sunning in its hole in the tree.
 
No sighting of the Fisher this week.

MASS AUDUBON FOCUS ON FEEDERS BIRD COUNT

The Mass. Audubon Focus on Feeders Bird Count was this weekend and Linda & I kept track of what we saw during the weekend.  For those of you who haven't done a feeder count, you check the feeders/yard periodically and write down what you see, then you report the largest number of birds seen during the day.  For example, many of our Goldfinch were elsewhere today, but at various times we saw: 3, 5, 2, 11, 7, 10.  So we reported "11"

Our tallies were:
4 Mourning Doves 
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
3 Downy Woodpeckers: 1 Female, 2 Males
2 Hairy Woodpeckers: 1F, 2M
7 Bluejays (in the top of the tree, bouncing and talking quietly to each other!)
1 American Crow
1 Black-capped Chickadee (where were they??)
2 Tufted Titmouse
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 Carolina Wren
5 Eastern Bluebirds: 2F, 3M
1 Song Sparrow
1 White-throated Sparrow
7 Dark-eyed Juncos: 3F, 4M (that is a low number!)
1 Northern Cardinal: 1M (don't know where the female was today)
2 House Finch (sad that there were no Purple Finch today)
11 American Goldfinch (they are turning yellow!  I was counting 25 and more a couple days ago!)
1 Red-tailed Hawk flying and also yesterday, I saw one dead beside the road on Moore.

Pileated: this morning I heard what I assume was our Pileated tapping inside one of his dining holes. I have frequently heard him there and then seen him fly out. Today he did not fly out, so my observation is not 100%.  

Screech owl: I went back out just before sunset when I often hear/see the Pileated and discovered our local screech owl in its hole in the tree where it was last spring!

It is fun to spend the day focusing on the birds!

http://www.massaudubon.org

Consider joining if you aren't yet a member and you love nature!

BLUEBIRDS ARE BACK!

[update done on Feb 2]
Again this winter, we have a small flock of bluebirds!  They arrived yesterday (Jan 30).  We had 5 last winter, first seen January 5th.  Not sure how many in our flock this year, but I saw quite a few this morning, perhaps 5-8ish?  

Two bluebirds - females

Bluebird - Male

The first one was on the tree with the suet, unsuccessfully trying to get to it.  I still had mealworms from last year, so I took some out and put them in the feeders.  They found them!  Today, I thumbtacked small plastic dishes on top of a couple of nest boxes and put the mealworms in there.  I added worms 3 times today!  These guys were hungry!!!  Nice timing with the Feeder Watch this weekend.

Bluebird - male. Incredibly bright blues this year!

We also have a large flock of goldfinch, eating up every black-oil sunflower seed in the feeder! Some nyger, too, but they really like the sunflower.  It will be a challenge to count them all tomorrow!  And we have the usual tufted-titmouse population, cardinals, many juncos, chickadees, white-breasted nuthatch (no red-breasted so far), downy, hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers (haven't seen the pileated lately, but have seen his work on the trees!), house and purple finch, mourning doves, white-throated sparrows, tree sparrows, and I think some chipping sparrows, but I couldn't see them well enough to be sure, and the coopers hawk who also feeds at our feeders!  Oh, and did I mention squirrels?  Lots to watch!

Feb2 - Forgot to mention that the same day the bluebirds arrived, I saw a Bald Eagle on the ice on Farrah Pond (on 117, just east of the Concord Road -or is it Sudbury Road there?/117 intersection.  There was a carcass of some sort, black - couldn't tell if it had feathers or fur - and the eagle was approaching it.  Not sure if it had been feeding or was checking out the possibility.  I pulled off (was driving) and walked in to get a better look.  Clearly an adult bald eagle, but I didn't get to watch for long as my presence spooked it. Good birding day!
 

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.

AFTER THE STORM

I haven't posted since the big 20+" snow storm of February 9, so I'd better catch up!  How can anyone not like snow!  Look at how gorgeous this is!!

Stearns Mill Pond after storm

 
Saturday, we obviously spent shoveling -- now, Blake is only 14" at the shoulder and the snow was 20" or more, so when we went out first thing in the morning, before shoveling, he wasn't thrilled! I bounded through the snow until I realized I had a taut leash.  I looked back and he was sitting down.

No.  I'll wait.

Sunday I strapped on the snowshoes and went down to the pond to see if I could find any tracks.  Interestingly, most of the snow was blown off of the pond with those heavy winds.  

I saw one set of tracks on the pond; I am assuming the fox, but I didn't venture onto the ice to check.  Double clicking on the pond picture, will come up with a larger size and you can see the tracks, especially on the left side.  I went a ways around from our landing in both directions and didn't see any tracks on the shore.  The tracks on the pond came in toward the shore several times, but never came up onto the shore from where I could see.  But, on the other hand, the snow disappeared close to the shore and became ice (or very close to the shore, some open water), so the tracks disappeared.  I didn't go very far upstream and couldn't see the end of the tracks in that direction.  The interesting thing is that the tracks only went in one direction - they never came back.  I looked with the binoculars, but couldn't see tracks on the other side of the pond.

I wondered the next day, if my snowshoe tracks made it possible for the fox to get from the pond up to the hollow across the street as the next morning, I saw tracks in the snow through the trees and over to the hollow. 

Today, we saw the fox out on the south side of the pond, opposite our house.  It was just walking down the pond, near the shore.  Periodically, it would stop and look, but then kept going until it was out of our sight.  It looks healthy and strong.

Haven't seen the bluebirds in over two weeks; they are probably gone.  We enjoyed them for the weeks they were here!  

NORTHERN GOSHAWK? (probably not) (well, maybe)

Lots of activity at our feeder, including what we think may have been a juvenile Northern Goshawk!  I saw this bird earlier, but assumed it to be a very large Coopers Hawk.  Sunday, we watched it as it sat on the ground for about 20 minutes (judging by the pile of feathers, it was digesting lunch).  This bird is just too big to be a Coopers, even a female.  Given the size, the prominent light colored eyebrow, the uneven banding on its tail and the speckled back (you can't see the back in this picture), we (Linda, Carol & I) started thinking it might be a Goshawk.  After sitting for a long time, it flew to a branch near the window.  (SEE BELOW FOR UPDATES)

Juvenile Northern Goshawk ?

I queried the Mass Audubon "Ask the Wildlife Expert", and got back an answer from Marj Rines.  She doubts that it is a Goshawk because the Goshawk has heavier barring on the breast and not so much white down below.  She also says that the tail bars are more uneven on the Goshawk.  She knows her stuff, so she is probably right. (Feb 6)

OK, now we are back to thinking that maybe it IS a goshawk!  Today (Feb 8), Linda & I had a really good, long, closeup view of the resident Cooper's Hawk (pretty much in the same place as the juvenile) and it was much smaller and much more slender.  Hope we will see the juvenile again sometime soon!

Whatever it is, it was fun to watch!!

We have also seen house finch and purple finch, white-throated sparrows and American tree sparrows and a red-breasted nuthatch, as well as our regulars.  The bluebirds are on the feeder as I type -- 2 males and 2 females at the moment.  A great blue heron flew down the pond early this morning; it was probably going fishing down by the fall where the water is open.  Wonder where it is roosting?

IT'S COLD OUT THERE!

Ah, it has warmed up to 0 degrees from the -1 on the porch earlier this AM.  The birds are hungry.  I just went out to put some meal worms in the feeder (the bluebirds tend to be a little bit later than the others, so I've started putting the meal worms out later rather than early to be snarfed up by the other birds) and the flocks were chirping in the trees all around me - the nuthatches were most obvious to my ears.  "Hurry up!  Hurry up!"

After I finished putting out the mealworms and some stale cashew butter, I stood back near the corner of the house, but only about 20 feet from the feeder, and the birds zoomed in, totally ignoring me!  The bluebirds came in right over my shoulder!  It is cold and they are hungry!

We have a whole flock of goldfinch - maybe even 50!  I can't count them because there are usually a bunch in the trees while the others are on the ground or the feeders. 19 mourning doves yesterday; they were easy to count.  Lots of juncos, but not as many as there are goldfinch!  And, I regularly see 3 male and 2 female bluebirds.  Nobody on the feeders or the ground right now!  I wonder where the hawk is...

MANY BIRDS

It has been a bonanza time for birds in our yard, pond and at the feeders!  In the last few days we've had a golden-crowned kinglet flitting in the white-pines, a red-breasted nuthatch, a couple female common mergansers, some black ducks and mallards and a great-blue heron on the pond, and our bluebirds are still here, enjoying the mealworms we put out for them.  Loads of other birds, but those are the unusual ones for right now!  Everytime we look out the window, there is something to see!  :-)

BLUEBIRDS AND MUSKRATS

The bluebirds returned this morning and were enjoying the mealworms.  YAY!  I hope they stay the rest of the winter!  Today there were two males and two females.  

Yesterday afternoon, there were five muskrats on a log in a small water opening near shore.  They were eating something, but I couldn't see them well enough to see if it was plant or shellfish type food.  Fun to watch them, though!  There was one (look near the branch in the rear of the first picture) who was in the far pool and kept making a thunking splash, a lot like a beaver's tail thwack, and scared all the others into diving.  

AH!  I can see them sitting on the log again today.  It is hard that my workspace looks out onto the pond and birds...  Difficult to maintain focus on the work sometimes!  :-)  Tough life.

Look carefully, there are 4 in this picture; one is at the top in the far pool.

You can see the rattish tail in the closest one.

What a face!  Cute.

 

BLUEBIRDS!!!

We have bluebirds in our yard!!  

male bluebird

 They arrived yesterday, January 4, 2013.  We have never had them here, let alone in the winter.  Our neighborhood is not conducive to bluebirds - no meadow and lots of woods.  But there they were, big as life, sitting on the feeder.  They sampled some of the peanuts. This morning, there were two females and a male.  We went out and got them some mealworms but we haven't seen them back yet. 
Very cool!  It is a new yard bird for us.  

female bluebird

Pictures were taken through the window with my Canon RebelXT, 70-300 lens - I should was the windows if I'm going to continue taking pictures through them!