The thread for birds and birding

[Proud2baLaker]

I need a mind cleanse in so many ways. This helps a little.

Today, a Red-breasted Nuthatch. Cool litte birds, nuthatches are commonly seen on tree branches and trunks searching the bark for food. They basically have internal stabilizers/gyroscopes and have no regard for which was is up or down and dont need to lean on their tail for support like woodpeckers do. They are native year round to mostly northern areas like the northeast US and all the way across Canada. But also hang out year round in the Rockies. The come down to lower elevations or the prairie areas of the US during the winter and you may see them at feeders at that time. They are cavity nesters of course and use resin from conifers around the entrance to the cavity to help keep out predators or other cavity nesters. The nuthatch will avoid the resin by just diving right through without perching on the entrance first.

This picture was another from my backyard. The nuthatch was foraging on a pine tree but also coming to my feeders for sunflower and safflower seed. The lighting isn't great here but I LOVE the composition otherwise with the way he is perched and holding that seed in beak.

 

[Proud2baLaker]

A while back, bookface kept showing me posts from the Carolina Raptor Center in Charlotte, NC. Looked like they did some cool stuff so I followed them. Recently, they posted a plea asking local fishermen for whole, frozen fish under 12" to feed to the eagles and other fish eating raptors they had in rehab or as ambassadors. Well, I just so happen to raise fish for a living out in Idaho (rainbow trout) and one of our products just so happens to be a whole, frozen trout under 10" that we box up primarily to sell to zoos. I checked with some higher ups and then got in touch with the raptor center to see if they would be interested in receiving a few boxes as a donation (about 40 lbs.). They were very excited at the opportunity. So I worked with one of our sales folks and got it all set up. The received the fish last week. Hopefully, I will be getting some cool pictures and/or video soon of eagles just munching down on our fish. Will be sharing them to my company social media for sure.

I have some ok eagle pictures, but not the best. So instead, I will share a different fish eating bird, Ospreys. This pair actually nests at one of our farms on a pole set up by the power company. They don't take fish from the farm, but instead out of a small lake next door. They successfully raised a chick last year and I am waiting for them to return and give it another go. My farm is next door to where this pole is and I did watch one day as one of the Osprey came down and landed within 50 feet of me and took a big pile of that dried moss you see in the photo back to the nest.

 

[aparch]

I think I found my new favorite thread! Thanks for posting these photos!!

 

[Proud2baLaker]

Going to post a bird that is likely familiar to A LOT of folks here, the Common Loon. A migratory bird, the are obviously common during the breeding season in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and New England but otherwise, the rest of the lower 48 typically only sees them during the migration. I had never actually observed one in Idaho (though I saw them plenty of times in the U.P.). This one was on a small lake that I had spent some time ice fishing on earlier in the winter of 23-24 and came back in the spring to check out what I could find for birds. The first time I came, it was on the far side of the lake and I could not get a good shot. The 2nd time, it was much closer and cooperated to give me a few decent shots. A year or two earlier, one became a little bit of a local celebrity in Boise when it landed on a pond in a downtown park and stayed through the year. The pond was small so the speculation was that it did not have the distance needed to take off. But I believe it did finally leave in the late fall or early winter.

Not to many interesting facts that people probably aren't already aware of. So I will go straight to the picture.

 

[Proud2baLaker]

Oh its been too long without some bird pictures.

These are Willets, a wading bird native mostly to the Western US but there are some breeding populations up around the Atlantic coast from New Jersey up to Nova Scotia. They were actually much more common on the East coast but our old pal Audubon noticed that their eggs were tasty and that the young, just as they are able to fly, were quite delicious. So by the early 1900s, they were virtually wiped out on the the coast. But the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 banned the market hunting for them and they were able to make a decent rebound. The Western version of the Willet (though still considered the same species) breeds in freshwater habitat and is slightly larger and a more pale gray. Both Willet parents will incubate eggs, but only the males will spend nights on the nest.

This breeding pair was photographed on my first trip to Silver Creek preserve in Idaho. A super famous creek made so by Ernest Hemingway who frequented the area for hunting and fishing. The preserve is basically the only public ground along the creek. At this time, it was closed to fishing so it was just a few other hikers. This would have been early spring so the pair here may have had a nest on this little grass/cattail island in the middle of the creek. It was fun watching one probe the substrate for food. I know that this pair was in breeding colors, but I am not sure which was the male and which the female.

 

[aparch]

Took my pups for a walk last week through a neighborhood forest preserve, spotted this little guy just chilling all alone in the water.

 

[Proud2baLaker]

Nice little silhouette. Could you tell what species it was?

 

[aparch]

Nice little silhouette. Could you tell what species it was?

Pretty sure it was a common mallard. Last year there was a male and female pair that swam the lake, so far this year I've only seen the male.

 

[Proud2baLaker]

Pretty sure it was a common mallard. Last year there was a male and female pair that swam the lake, so far this year I've only seen the male.

Ducks can have fun little "personalities". I often find myself in a rabbit hole of watching random videos on social medias of ducks doing funny things. One of my favorite genres is them landing on a frozen lake and sliding all over.

My all time favorite genre of video involving wild birds is when they are being handled for banding or similar scientific reasons. They always seem to have this look of extreme indignation and it makes me laugh.

 

[Proud2baLaker]

Today, we have a fun, bright, little bird, the Yellow Warbler. They can be seen throughout almost all of the United States and Canada during the breeding season all they way up to near the north shore of Alaska. They overwinter mostly in central American/the Yucatan and the northern third of South America. There are some that overwinter in Baja and near the California/Arizona border. You'll be unlikely to see them at feeders as they are insectivores. But you may get lucky to see them in your yard if it is large and has suitable nesting habitat or if you have a small stream running through. These little guys can have a rough life as their nests are common targets for the brood parasite Brown-headed Cowbird. If they do have their nest parasitized they will commonly just build a new one on top and try again, resulting in as many as 6 tiers of nest. They have also been occasionally found in caught in orb weaver spider webs.

These two pictures came from different places and different years. The first is one of my favorite photos and was among the first photos I got of yellow warblers when I got my fancy camera. The look on its face seems so content. The 2nd came a few years later when I did some birding along a river when fishing was slow. I got a few shots of this guy and he always struck me as seemingly so proud. I would be too.

 

[Proud2baLaker]

It appears photos are staying with posts for good! Also, the Ospreys I posted a while ago (photo from 2024) are back! Time for new birds.

Today, the Yellow-breasted Chat, a very aptly named bird. For the longest time, they were considered part of the warbler family. But they were noticeably larger, and had a much larger repertoire of songs and calls, in addition to other differences in behavior and anatomy. So by the late 2010s, they were placed into their own family in recognition of those differences. Chats breed throughout much of the US. In the east, they are found as far north as about the southern edge of Wisconsin, while in the far west part of the plain states and west of the Rockies, they go north just into Canada. They overwinter in southern Mexico and central American and the southern tip of Florida. A small number of males will have two mates, but most appear to be monogamous, apparently enforced by female aggression.

Chats are commonly heard and not seen. When out birding, I will hear them all the time but only catch a fleeting glimpse before they fly back into thickets to hide until I am well out of site. Most photos I get are after I have sat in one spot for a while and waited for them to get comfortable and come back out to sing. During the breeding season, the males will perform an extensive repertoire of calls and sounds and finish with an exaggerated display flight ending in a loud thump, likely made by the wings.

A few photos I have managed to get over the last few years

 

[Proud2baLaker]

Migration hasn't hit full swing where I am but it should be starting soon. One species that will show up in great numbers is the Swainson's Hawk.

These hawks breed from the plain states westward with the farthest east being around Iowa and parts of Minnesota and all the way up through interior Alaska. They over winter in just a small area of Argentina. A small number will overwinter around Costa Rica. They will migrate in huge "kettles" of up to tens of thousands often times mixing in with other migrating raptors. I see these birds all over where I am and have counted 20+ perched on utility poles and fence lines on my 20 minute drive home from work. They can be sometimes confused for Red-tailed Hawks but the chestnut bib and white throat are unique and give them away when spotting them. They are also a little smaller typically.

During the breeding season, they will feed their chicks the usual diets you expect from raptors: rodents, rabbits, and reptiles (and as you will see some birds). But apparently, when not breeding their primary diet is large insects like grasshoppers and dragonflies.

This particular hawk was seen in the alley behind my house in the downtown area of the town I live in (pop ~50,000). I had come home from a trip a couple years ago and heard some robins going crazy. I stepped into the alley to put some trash in by bin and tried to see if I could figure out what the robins were going on about when I spotted this hawk on the utility pole not 30 feet from me. I ran in and grabbed the camera. It wasn't until after I got some photos I realized the hawk had raided the robin's nest for its meal. I have seen and heard Swainson's in and around my yard/neighborhood for several years now and believe they may be using a large pine tree in my yard for nesting at times. (the little blue spot in the photo is blurring out my name). One of these photos is of course my profile picture

 

[Proud2baLaker]

I have some fun pictures of Song Sparrows, so today's post will focus on them.

Song sparrows are quite common through much of the US. They are year-round natives to much of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Northwest states. They will winter in the plains and southeast and go well into northern Canada for breeding. There are some year-round populations along the Pacific coast of Canada all the way through the Aleutians. But they apparently don't go into Interior Alaska.

The vary wildly in colors and size across the US, but there is little actual genetic divergence hence why they are all still the same species at this point. There is a lot of mixing across groups which keeps the populations genetically similar, so local conditions seem to drive the physical differences. Interestingly, there is an isolated year-round population in central Mexico that is some 900 miles from the next closest populations. Genetically, they are still song sparrows but have coloring that is not seen in other populations.

Apparently, one learned behavior seems to be similar across much of the population and that is nest placement. Once a pair identify a good place for a nest, say the base of a rose bush, they will use it over and over again. But even after that pair moves out of the territory for good, Other song sparrows will pick the same spot without hesitation.

Song Sparrows have certainly earned their name. The males sing loudly and proudly to define territory and attract mates. Females are attracted to not just the song, but how well the male can learn complex songs. Males that learn more complex songs that more closely match the song of the bird they learned to sing from, seem to be preferred by females vs males who's songs are less complex or don't seem to match as well.

I see Song Sparrows year round here. And hear them even more often especially as the days start to get longer. I couldn't say exactly when I took these pictures but they are 2 of my favorites. I love the way the first one seems to just be absolutely belting out a song unashamedly. The 2nd, I took just as the bird did the little puffing out of the feathers move that birds do and my first thought was "fat borb".

 

[Proud2baLaker]

While looking through my many photos, I found a species I wanted to share and learned some interesting things I was not aware of as I have only seen this bird once.

The Wilson's Phalarope. Primarily found in the northern US from the Dakotas, westward to Oregon and Washington and north into Canada, they also have some breeding populations from central Wisconsin eastward through Michigan and into Southern Ontario. In the late summer, migrating phalaropes will form huge flocks and land on salty lakes out west. They then begin to spin around and around stirring up invertebrates in the nutrient rich waters and gorging themselves. They will sometimes more than double their body weight getting so fat they can't fly for a while, allowing researchers to capture them by hand for banding and what not.

Wilson's Phalarope is also a polyandrous species. The females will lay eggs and stay with them until hatch. Then leave the males to take care of them while they go look for another mate. This also helps to explain why females are the more more boldly/brightly colored compared to males, a reversal from most other species where the males have the brighter colors, or they look the same.

My only interaction with them was on a trip to a marshy prairie area that floods in the late spring, resulting an a huge bloom of Camas Lilies. It is a popular area/sight to see. Even though there was a lot of people, the birds just kept on doing there thing. There were many other species of wading/shorebird/ducks, etc around too. I believe this first photo to be a female.






This final photo shows the scope of the marsh. A phalarope in the foreground among the lilies with mountains behind.

 

[dxmnkd316]

The orioles landed in MN today. Or rather, this was the first I saw and heard them.

When I woke up I thought I heard a few notes from an oriole's song. So I put out the grape jelly. Took less than an hour.

I love those birds so much.

 

[Proud2baLaker]

The orioles landed in MN today. Or rather, this was the first I saw and heard them.

When I woke up I thought I heard a few notes from an oriole's song. So I put out the grape jelly. Took less than an hour.

I love those birds so much.

Nice. Ive only ever tried to put out jelly once or twice years ago when I was still in the Midwest. No luck.

I am putting up hummingbird feeders today. Sightings where I am have been sporadic but they are starting to drift in. The Eastern US should have lots of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds around already from what I can tell. So if you have feeders, get them out there.

 

[Proud2baLaker]

Rough week at work. Need birds

Below is one of my favorite birds, the Canyon Wren. Wrens in general are just cool to me really. A year-round native to the western US, they are typically found in rocky areas and canyons as the name implies. Their big voice of cascading whistles echo off the walls of canyons and its just the best. They are super agile getting into tight places to hunt insects among the rocks and boulders. This is due to their vertebral column being attached higher on the skull (which is also flatter than most) then most birds, allowing them to flatten themselves. Canyon wrens also have adapted to apparently not need to drink water, gaining all they need from their prey.

One reason I like wrens, is that many, like the canyon wren, appear to be quite inquisitive and will approach humans to check things out. They have never come right up to me but they have gotten pretty close, usually giving me opportunity to get some good shots. These two are from the same area but were taken a few years apart. I use the first one as a background on my work computer quite often. I love the rusty color they have going on.

 

[Proud2baLaker]

I got out for some birding on Saturday at a pretty cool spot. Heard and saw TONS of great birds but didn't manage a lot of pics. I will post some others with different birds sometime this week probably, but for now I wanted to share these 3 of a Yellow Warbler that I managed. The first 2 pics, he was kind of in a shady area but I like they way they looks. Then got into some better light right after

 

[Proud2baLaker]

I had some Cedar Waxwings hanging out in the tree outside my office the past few days, so I thought I would feature some photos today.

Cedar Waxwings can be found throughout the lower 48 and into most Canadian provinces. In Canada, it will mostly be only during the breeding season. The northern half of the US can see them year-round. They will then overwinter in the southern half of the US and down into Costa Rica.

Waxwings specialize in eating fruit and can survive on fruit alone for months at a time. One benefit of this is that if they have a brood parasite come in, such as a brown-headed cowbird, that offspring will die because it is not adapted to eat a diet so high in fruit. Waxwings also are one of the few birds that do not regurgitate the seeds of fruit but instead let them pass naturally.

The name waxwing comes from the waxy, red secretions fund of the tips of the wings in some birds (see the 2nd picture below). The function of these tips is unknown, but it may help to attract mates. Interestingly, though they are typically red, some waxwings in the northeast US/southeast Canada will have more of an orange color to their tail instead of yellow. This is due to them eating a species of honeysuckle that was introduced to that area. If they eat enough of it when growing their tail feathers, they will be orange.

You may be able to get waxwings to feeders with fruit either loose or in seed/suet mixtures. Also, for those so inclined to use eye-liner, these birds have the best eyeliner look ever.

These photos came from different areas in the region I live over the past few years.

 

[dxmnkd316]

Nice. Ive only ever tried to put out jelly once or twice years ago when I was still in the Midwest. No luck.

I am putting up hummingbird feeders today. Sightings where I am have been sporadic but they are starting to drift in. The Eastern US should have lots of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds around already from what I can tell. So if you have feeders, get them out there.

Yeah, you really have to put them out early. Orioles are weird in that if you don’t catch them when they pass by, you’ll never see them again.