Sunday, December 27, 2009

A Red-belly and Friends


On Thursday afternoon while reading, I happened to look outside my bedroom window and saw something bright red against the trunk of a white birch tree. Grabbing my bedside binoculars, I saw that the spot of color against the bark was the head of a Red-bellied Woodpecker. (Photo courtesy Ken Thomas. Though in this photo, the bird is not clinging to a white birch, this image depicts very well how I saw the woodpecker. See my earlier post on the Red-Bellied, October 4, 2009.)

The woodpecker stayed clinging to the trunk for many minutes while I admired how the late afternoon sun lit his head feathers into a flaming orange-red. As he turned his head this way and that I had an opportunity to appreciate the pale tawny blush to his cheeks.

Finally after what seemed a long time of inactivity, I watched as this Red-bellied Woodpecker began to descend the trunk, feet first. When finally reaching the ground, he grabbed up a black-oil sunflower seed (showered there by me for the birds) and climbed back up to the very same spot on the trunk. Not more than a half minute later, he flew to the ground, grabbed another seed, and flew up again.

After watching the Red-belly repeat this a few times, I got the inspired idea to catch him on video. I propped my small, hand-held recorder against the base of the tree, hoping to catch him in the act. But this woodpecker could not be fooled, though many other birds were (see the video below). On his next descent, on sensing the out-of-place object, he flew up again and thereafter choose a different landing spot altogether.



The Red-bellied Woodpecker has been back every day since, so there still is hope that I might yet catch him on video. We'll see.

Till then . . . Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne

Sunday, December 20, 2009

A Raven on Wednesday


On Wednesday afternoon I was out in the yard and saw a very large, hawk-sized bird high in the blue sky. It appeared black, but when viewed from the ground, many a raptor looks black in silhouette against the sky. Yet my eyes told me that this bird was actually black, and so I thought . . . Is it a raven? His wings were long and held level, not in the dihedral (slight shallow V-shape angle) of a turkey vulture. And this bird flew alone in a steady course across the sky, sometimes flapping, sometimes soaring.

When I was about to concede that I couldn’t identify the bird, he did me a favor and repeatedly called out in a voice that carried clearly through the distance . . .

Cr-r-ruck …Cr-r-ruck…Cr-r-ruck…Cr-r-ruck!


(Listen and read about the many different calls of the Common Raven on Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s web site All About Birds.)

And so it was a raven, member of the family Corvidae, which includes the raven’s smaller “cousin,” the crow. Though not a raptor, the raven demands comparable respect. As large as many raptors, the raven has a wingspan of nearly four feet. And while the bird’s beak is not hooked like the raptor’s, it is stout, curved, and likened by some to a “bowie” knife. (Public Domain photo by Dave Menke.)

While these attributes of the Common Raven are imposing, I’m mostly impressed by the raven’s intelligence. (Edgar Allen Poe certainly held the bird in awe.) In fact the entirely family of Corvidae (crows, ravens, magpies, jays . . . to name just a few) is an intellectual bunch. Of course, I needn’t be told this since I’m witness to it everyday. For instance, a large flock of Blue Jays have taken siege of my property. In the morning, I no sooner stroll out of doors than the watching scouts cry out their report, “Chow’s on!” and dozens of jays come sailing from adjacent properties toward my own. Not only that, they take note of each new location where I attempt to hide black-oil sunflower seeds for my other winter residents. You can’t pull anything over on them.

Oh, yes, these days I've many of the Corvidae family visiting, mostly American Crows and now the Blue Jays. But I seldom get to see or hear the Common Raven. So I was quite tickled by his visit, even if only a flyover.

Till next time . . . Keep birds in your heart.

Georgia Anne

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Starlings Eating Berries



Yesterday afternoon, outside my living room window, I watched a few European Starlings gobble down the orange-red berries of a Burning Bush (Euonymus alata). The day was bitter cold, so I was repeatedly outside filling the seed feeders in my yard. But seeing these starlings eating berries reminded me that, while feeders are nice, birds depend on the foods of their habitat--fruits, berries, seeds, grains, and insects--to survive.

Most of the shrubs and trees on my property are those planted by former owners, a couple who lived here for 50 years. And I have them to thank for this beautiful Burning Bush (though I read that it's considered an "invasive"). Still, I'm sure that the starlings (also an invasive species) don't mind. (For more info on starlings see my post from earlier this year, 1/10/09).

Some years ago I added a few Holly Bushes, and this spring plan on including some Mulberry Trees, a real favorite of birds I'm told. While my property provides some fruit-bearing bushes (elderberry, blueberry, raspberry), these are summer treats for the birds--and me. But what I need to plant are shrubs and trees that provide food for birds during the winter months.

I'm glad it's never too late to learn.

Till next time . . . Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne

Sunday, December 6, 2009

A Day of Birds


Rather than profiling a particular bird for this week's post, I'll offer instead a glimpse of some of the birds I saw today, beginning with three Wild Turkeys. (Photo by Steve Maslowski for Public Domain.)

My early morning stroll with the dogs startled a doe, hiding within a cluster of young bushy pines. Seconds later three Wild Turkeys, glistening black against the snow-dusted ground, sprightly crossed the spring-fed creek. I might add they did so with decorum and in single file.

Writing throughout the morning, I kept tabs on an ongoing competition for a scattering of black-oil sunflower seeds between a rowdy gang of Blue Jays and a timid assembly of Juncos. Though the Blue Jays held sway, the Juncos did periodically sneak through their lines to score a few seeds.

I should also mention the silent vigil of House Finches not far away that watched the contest from the top of a walnut tree.

In the afternoon, when dropping off recyclables at a community collection site, I watched as a large flock of roosting starlings flew upward and through the slow-moving blades of a wind power generator! Luckily none were hit. (Coincidentally, I recently heard a lecture on this topic--the mortality rates of bats and birds colliding with wind power generators.)

Driving to and from the large metal recycle bins, I had to slow the car for a small band of crows insistent on claiming the asphalt. I assume they were pecking at gravel.

I guess I'll close this selective listing with the pair (or pairs) of Northern Cardinals that on any given day are typically last to leave the bird feeder. As the day fades fast away and all the other birds have gone, I'll see them taking advantage of a hassle-free, late-evening meal.

Till next time . . . Keep birds in your heart!

Georgia Anne