Every Warbler Tells A Story

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: Here in northwestern Ohio, “the Warbler Capital of the World,” the warblers are just beginning to show up. They will be flooding through here, in dizzying numbers and variety, in just a couple of weeks. Right now, we’re in the peak stage of eager anticipation for these tiny, active, colorful birds.

Our friend Liz McQuaid recently had a Yellow-throated Warbler in her yard in the Cleveland area, a little east of here. (Not this one; the bird in the photo above, poking about in Spanish Moss, is one that Kimberly and I photographed in Texas.) Yellow-throated Warbler is mainly a southern bird, uncommon this far north, but what was really fascinating about Liz’s bird was that it was coming to her suet feeder. Warblers in general are not feeder birds. Although Pine Warblers often come to suet feeders, especially in winter, this is not a well-known behavior for the Yellow-throated Warbler.

Hearing about the feeding behavior of this individual set me to thinking about warblers in general, and about how each species has its own distinct personality. When I was a kid, struggling to learn the warblers, I somehow got the idea that they were all pretty much the same aside from their markings – as if Nature had taken a basic warbler outline and filled it in repeatedly with different colors. Once you get to know them, though, you realize that’s not the case. Each warbler is unique, with its own surprising life story.

Take a good look at a Yellow-throated Warbler and ignore its yellow throat, and you’ll notice that it has a long, strong bill for a warbler. That bill shape is a key to its feeding behavior. On the nesting grounds, it spends a lot of time poking into crevices in bark, or into clusters of pine needles, in search of insects. And on the wintering grounds it searches in a wider variety of locations.

When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I spent a lot of time in Mexico every winter: travel there was cheap, the weather was warm, and the birding was superb. So a lot of my early experience with Yellow-throated Warbler was on the wintering grounds. This bird spends the winter in various habitats, including some areas of upland pine forest, but the situation where I found it most reliably was in palm trees. Whenever I checked out a grove of coconut palms or other palms, as likely as not there would be a Yellow-throated Warbler poking about among the bases of the fronds.

But the other typical location for it was more surprising. This was far and away the most likely warbler to be seen foraging around manmade objects. Once when friends and I were in Catemaco, Veracruz, for the Christmas Bird Count, we would see a Yellow-throated Warbler foraging around the street lights outside the hotel every morning, no doubt finding insects that had been attracted to the lights overnight. On other trips, I’ve seen these enterprising warblers searching around the light fixtures at gas stations in Yucatan and Tabasco, and around the edges of hotel windows in Chiapas and on Cozumel Island. Plenty of other warbler species were wintering in these same regions, but the Yellow-throated was the only one exploiting these manmade bug-attractors.
 
So the Yellow-throated Warbler at Liz’s feeder may have just been exercising the natural propensity of the species to check out human artifacts. Or maybe the other warblers just sent it on ahead to remind us that every warbler is different, every species deserves to be appreciated for its own unique character.

Saturday Night Feeder

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: I don't like to brag, but one thing I can say for Kimberly and me -- we have some really awesome friends and neighbors.

For example, in our neighborhood there's a young lady named Delaney, an elementary school student with a sharp mind and a lot of artistic talent. Recently she has developed a strong interest in birds and other nature subjects, and she has been studying them and learning fast. As evidence of her powers of observation, a single Pine Siskin showed up in the neighborhood last month, and Delaney spotted it before Kim or I did. And her enthusiasm must be contagious, because her parents, John and Tiffanie, are now paying more attention to birds also.

We had had a number of conversations about birds with their family, and we had given them a couple of copies of our field guides, but we were stunned and thrilled recently when they knocked at the door and presented us with a beautiful, hand-made, personalized bird feeder that they had made just for us.

Here's another view of the feeder, hanging up outside and filled with seed, ready to attract birds.

Does the feeder work? Does it ever! We had just filled the feeder and put it up outside (and photographed it, of course), and come back inside the house, when we glanced out the winter and saw that an American Goldfinch was already checking it out:

Within a few minutes, the goldfinches were all over it. (Sorry about the picture quality -- I just grabbed the camera and the telephoto and was banging away at the feeder, through two panes of dirty window glass. These are documentation photos, not works of art like the feeder itself.)

Delaney and her family told us that they have started making bird feeders for other friends as well, so don't be surprised if you start seeing these elegant feeders popping up all over the place. And this talented family is pursuing an interest in birds beyond the backyard, too. Earlier today (Saturday February 19) I was out at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, looking at a distant eagle nest, and our neighbors pulled up to say hello. The whole family was out looking for birds on the refuge, and they had even brought along a couple of friends to enjoy the day.

Thanks to Delaney and Tiffanie and John for the beautiful bird feeder, and for sharing the excitement of birds with us!

A Special Gift: Wildlife at the Bird Feeder

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: I don’t often blog about bird feeder happenings, but in honor of the holiday season, I wanted to let all of our friends know about a major triumph at our feeders. Kimberly and I are interested in all wildlife, of course, and sightings of wild mammals can be particularly exciting. What a treat, then, to actually attract one of these elusive wild creatures into our own backyard, where we can observe it and begin to learn about its habits.

Imagine how thrilled we were when we looked out the window on Christmas morning and saw this:

Yes, it’s a squirrel. If you have spent any time in wild habitats with tall trees, you may have seen these wary acrobats climbing about in the branches, far above the ground. Getting a good look at one, though, that’s another story.

Kimberly and I had glimpsed these wily creatures around Oak Harbor, but we had hardly dared to hope that we could actually attract them to our own yard. But here was one of these elegant wild animals right outside our window.

Of course I should have been satisfied just to watch from indoors, but I couldn’t resist trying for a closer view. When I eased out the door, the squirrel was instantly on the alert:

These wary creatures are endowed with keen senses, with sharp eyesight and with hearing and sense of smell far superior to man’s. I had taken the precaution of eating some salted peanuts before I walked out the door, to try to mask my human scent, but the squirrel detected me immediately anyway.

It was thrilling to be able to observe this shy treetop creature without even using a telescope, but I knew I could not push my luck too far. The squirrel undoubtedly would flee if I approached any closer than about 13 inches.

Friends of ours have put out feeders and have failed to attract squirrels, even after trying for five minutes or more. So in the spirit of the season, we should share the secret of our success in attracting this wild animal. After much experimentation, we have found that squirrels are only likely to feed on items that have some animal or vegetable components. They seldom eat pure plastic or concrete or metal, although they may chew on these materials. Even some items with an organic basis, like wood, may be only chewed up and not actually eaten by these picky and fastidious creatures. So the items placed in the feeder should have some resemblance to something edible. Price has an impact as well; somehow these amazing animals can detect the relative cost of different bird feeder items, and feast upon only those that are most expensive. Finally, squirrels seem to require a certain level of irony in their diet. A so-called squirrel "baffle," or one of those feeders jokingly labelled as "squirrel-proof," may bring them in from miles away to sample your most expensive sunflower seeds or suet mixtures.

Alas, I must have approached too closely, or perhaps the squirrel noticed that I was banging on the side of the feeder with a large stick. Fleeing on the wings of the wind, the shy creature sought refuge up in tree branches at a dizzying height, a full four feet above my head.

I had violated that boundary between man and wild beast. The squirrel was truly terrified. It would not come back down to finish scarfing down all the black oil sunflower seeds from the feeder until I had been back inside the house for a full fifteen seconds.

Whether or not you are blessed with a visit from a wild creature such as this, Kimberly and I both wish you all the joys of the holiday season and a healthy and prosperous new year.

GBBC!

This White-throated Sparrow is just waiting patiently to be counted ...

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: Here's a shout out to ace birder Rob Fergus, who writes the very popular blog over at The Birdchaser and who is also one of the principal organizers of the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC). The GBBC is going on right now, through Monday the 16th (Presidents' Day), and it's easy for anyone to get involved. You can count birds from the comfort of your kitchen window, or you can trek out into the wilderness, and your results will help to give a valuable snapshot of what's happening with birds all over the North American continent this weekend. It's the second-most-fun thing you can do on Valentine's Day (and it may be THE most fun thing you can do on Presidents' Day). It's a great activity for families -- if you're a parent with kids who are lukewarm on birds, get them involved in helping to count and then let them enter the data online and explore all the interactive stuff on the GBBC site. You can find all the info on the Great Backyard Bird Count right here and you can get Rob's own perspective on it by going to the Birdchaser Blog here.

Degrees of Separation

Drygalski Fjord, South Georgia Island, Antarctic Region

Oak Harbor, Ohio, United States of America

From the snow belt, Kenn writes: During our whole trip to Antarctica, the coldest air temperature we experienced was about 29 degrees Fahrenheit, or just below freezing. When our flight from Buenos Aires landed at Dallas-Fort Worth, it was 16 degrees out, and our connection was delayed by three hours because of complications in de-icing the plane. And when we finally made it back to the Detroit airport, our dear friends Vic and Lois were there to meet us, but they had braved icy winds and snow-covered roads to be there. Were we cold in the Antarctic? No! But coming home was something of a shock!

Our first morning back at home, we had to shovel a path to the bird feeders, but soon we were rewarded by returning guests: our first Northern Cardinals of the year, our first Blue Jays of the year. After weeks of novelty among the penguins and petrels and other southern seabirds, it was reassuring to reconnect with these familiar backyard denizens.

We are pulling together all our notes and our (thousands of) photographs, and we hope to start posting information about our Antarctic trip in a more organized way very soon!

Random Bird: Purple-bibbed Whitetip

Kenn wrote this back in December: (Today, January 5, we're supposed to be leading a group of birders to the Otamendi Nature Reserve north of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It's unlikely that we'll have a chance to post anything, so this "random bird" is set to post in our absence.)

That’s one of the great things about being a bird blogger. Who else gets to title a post "Purple-bibbed Whitetip?"

This small hummingbird (technically Urosticte benjamini) occurs only on the west slope of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador, mostly in the understory of dense forest in the subtropical zone. It had been considered "rare to uncommon and perhaps local" and "not often seen" as recently as 2001. That was when the outstanding two-volume "The Birds of Ecuador," by Bob Ridgely and Paul Greenfield, was published. But since then, a number of ecotourism lodges in Ecuador have put up hummingbird feeders, and suddenly this rare-and-not-often-seen hummer has become a lot easier to see. The establishment of feeders in many tropical areas has not changed the actual distribution of hummingbirds, but it has certainly altered our understanding of where they live.

I had seen this bird’s only close relative, the Rufous-vented Whitetip, in Peru several years ago, but I’d never encountered the Purple-bibbed until February 2006, when Kim and I got to watch (and photograph) this species at leisure at the Tandayapa Bird Lodge, near Mindo, Ecuador. The purple bibs of the males were visible only in certain lights, but the odd white tips to their central tail feathers were very conspicuous.

Extreme Bird Feeding

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kim writes: While the weather here in northwest Ohio the last few days has been downright balmy, we suffered through a stretch of incredibly brutal weather for several days. Temps at or near zero, 25+ mile per hour winds, and everything was coated with a thick layer of ice. It was really hard to force ourselves to even go outside. Several Christmas Bird Counts scheduled for last weekend were canceled. You KNOW it's rough outside when birders decide not to do CBCs.

As a result of the weather, I spent a great deal of time last weekend keeping the feeders filled at the Observatory. Turns out, that can be interpreted in a couple of ways, depending upon your perspective. What I meant by "filled feeders" was this....

A human's idea of "bird food"...

And, here's what "filled feeders" means from a different perspective...

Oh yeah! Look at all that bird food...

This immature Red-tailed Hawk must be really desperate. It was haunting the feeders all weekend, making pass after unsuccessful pass at the starlings and Mourning Doves at the feeders. The poor thing finally took a break on top of one of the feeders. What a contrast in style from the accipiters that often stalk the birds at our feeders. When a Cooper's or Sharp-shinned Hawk makes a pass it is with such swift precision as if to almost seem like it happened in your imagination. A feathered arrow, swift and true. But, this poor Red-tail was more like a lawn jart (remember those?!) and it came flopping in like a sumo wrestler arriving at a tea party.

Here's a closer look at this magnificent animal.

Note the brown tail that helps to identify it as a young bird.

Here in northwest Ohio we see Red-tailed Hawks on a daily basis, and we sometimes get a little jaded. "Oh, that's just another red-tail," you'll often hear people say. But, encounters like this one, up close and personal, remind us of just how blessed we are to have these creatures in our world.

I feel really bad for the bird. I know that it's hungry. And I know that the mortality rate in young raptors is high. If I can find some road kill, I'll scrape it up and toss it out near the Observatory and hope that the bird finds it. I've done this kind of thing before with great success.

Believe it or not, I once convinced a friend to help me lift and load the carcass of an eight-point buck that I found lying in a field (it had been struck by a car) into the back of his pickup truck. We hauled it to my house and dragged it out into the field about 300 yards from the house. This was late fall / early winter, and 300 yards seemed like plenty of cushion between the house and the large dead rotting thing.

The first birds to discover the prize were 13 American Crows, and I had an absolute blast watching these amazing birds feeding on the carcass. The hierarchy was immediately evident. The entire group would come in and roost in a large dead elm tree about 20 yards from the deer. After much calling and jostling, a small number of the birds (usually just 3) would come to the buffet to feed while the others kept watch. Once the first group was finished, they would return to the elm tree while another group came to dine, and so on, until all the birds had had a chance to feed. It was great fun observing the group dynamics of these incredibly intelligent birds.

Next to dine at the Road Kill Cafe was an immature Bald Eagle. He approached with extreme caution, using the crows' trusty dead elm as an observation deck to get the lo-down of the situation before finally deciding it was worth it and getting down to business. Eventually an adult eagle arrived and the youngster was driven out of the area.

Here's a terrible photo of the adult Bald Eagle that visited the carcass.

(Now, be kind about the quality of this photo! This was pre-digiscoping revolution!)

Early spring arrived, and with it, the Turkey Vultures. It was icky and gross, but at the same time, strangely captivating to watch them stick their heads way up inside the remains of the deer and get the goodies that were out of reach for the feather-headed feeders. That naked red head may be short on looks, but it sure comes in handy for extreme feeding conditions like a dead rotting deer carcass!

Okay, I know these photos are getting progressively worse, but if you squint your eyes, tip you head to the left, and now close your right eye part way, you can see that the fourth dark blurry lump from the left is a dead rotting deer carcass being visited by hungry Turkey Vultures!

Now, as I mentioned earlier, my friend and I drug the carcass about 300 yards away from my house. That was great during the winter, but then suddenly it was July. P--and might I add--U! If you decide to try out my extreme bird feeding method, please make sure that you select the location and distance of your feeding "station" with the thought that it might very well persist until those steamy 80+ degree days! You (and your neighbors) will be thankful for the consideration.

Old Friends New Again

From Home Sweet Home, Kim writes: I've spent the better part of the last two days preparing a presentation about the trip we took to the Galapagos last November. Kenn and I will be giving the talk together (which is so fun!) tomorrow night at the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge (ONWR). ONWR is the Observatory's neighbor, just a half mile west of the marsh that BSBO lives in. We have a very strong working relationship with the refuge staff, and we partner on many projects and programs. They're a great bunch of people and do amazing work maintaining habitat for thousands of migratory birds. I feel so blessed to have a refuge in our area, and most of 4500+ acres were purchased with Federal Duck Stamp monies! Every birder should be buying the stamp!

My office chair kind of sucks, so as I was putting the talk together, I'd get up and check the feeders every once in a while just to move and stretch a little.

Who thinks Kim should get a new office chair for Christmas?!

Kenn and I have only been in this house for about 5 months, so we're still working on our yard list. The most recent addition to the list was Pine Siskin--very cool! But yesterday, an old friend showed up and really made my day. There, in the midst of the usual gang of House Sparrows, was a female Red-bellied Woodpecker! I ran for the camera and got a few crappy shots of her before she took off.

She was a bit shy about her first few visits, but she came back today and seemed a little more relaxed about the whole thing. Kind of like me when I first arrived here.

All my life I've lived in the country, so I really had mixed feelings about living in town. Well, okay, Oak Harbor is a bit more like a village than a town. But still. Since it's become an "indicator species" perhaps it would help you picture Oak Harbor if I told you that there's not even ONE STARBUCKS in Oak Harbor. Nope. Not one. Nada. That's right, here in Oak Harbor we still drink good-old .99 for the big cup, gas station coffee. And, surprisingly enough...we’re okay.

Oak Harbor's proximity to the bird observatory and Magee Marsh (less than 10 minutes away), and the fact that the house was perfect for us, had been the deciding factors in our move, but I was a little uncertain about it. Having lived in the country all my life, I was apprehensive about living within the confines of even a small town. I mean, I knew I’d be happy--I’d be happy anywhere as long as I’m with Kenn--but within the first few days, I knew I was going to love it here. Our neighbors have kids that--get this--PLAY OUTSIDE! We like to play outside too. So, of course, Kenn and I have spent time with the kids looking at birds, bugs, trees, bats, the night sky. So yeah, having kids nearby that actually like to be outside was definitely a good start.

And then my old friends started to come around. First it was the trusty, dependable goldfinches. They arrived on our second day in the house as if to say, “No matter where you go, we'll be with you!" Next came the Northern Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Mourning Doves. It took a bit longer, but eventually the White-breasted Nuthatches dropped by, and not long after, we were thrilled to see Red-breasted Nuthatches too!

Yes, all these old friends quieted the tiny doubts in the back of my mind about my ability to adjust to life in the "big city." But, there’s just something about woodpeckers--you know?! When the first Downy showed up, I was at the bird observatory, and Kenn called to share the news with me. I’m not afraid to admit that I rushed home so I could see it too.

Kenn has taken me all over the world and showed me some of the planet’s most amazing birds. I can still recall the intense emotions that I felt when he showed me Blue-footed Boobies in the Galapagos; Honey Buzzards in Sweden; Maroon-fronted Parrots in Mexico; and Plate-billed Mountain-Toucans and Sword-billed Hummingbirds in Ecuador. Those experiences have shaped my life and made my world so much more three dimensional. But, I know Kenn will understand when I tell you that yesterday, when “our” Red-bellied Woodpecker arrived for her first visit, home was the only place in the world I wanted to be.

Invasion of the Thistle Snatchers

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: The title from this post came from an e-mail we got yesterday, passed along from a naturalist at a nature center farther east in Ohio. Thistle snatchers -- yeah, they're talking about Pine Siskins. These sturdy little nomads have been showing up all over the place, little flocks bouncing around the fields and woodland edges all over the Midwest. I wrote about these birds back on October 14th -- see that post for more info.

It doesn't look like it at first glance, but the Pine Siskin is closely related to the American Goldfinch. In my Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America, I described it as looking "like a goldfinch in camouflage." And like the goldfinch, it's a major seed-eater. It likes the seeds of wild thistles, but it will come to bird feeders (often in the company of goldfinches) to eat Nyjer seed, which is often marketed as "thistle seed." One thing you'll notice, if you get siskins at your feeder, is that they're fearless. Goldfinches may get nervous and fly away if you approach within 20 feet, but the Pine Siskins will just glance at you with a bored expression -- "hunhh, who are you ..." -- and then go back to eating. Often you can walk right up and admire them up close. The streaky look, thin spiky bill, and flashes of yellow in the wings and tail will tell you for sure that you've got Pine Siskins. And this is the year to see them; they're still moving south in massive numbers. I expect we'll probably see some when we go to Cape May, New Jersey, later this week.