Cold Weather Consequences

White-winged Scoter

It's been a long cold winter, much worse than last year, and we have weeks to go before we can expect any permanent change. For us, it means days off school for the children, and dangerous driving conditions for the rest of us. But as long as we have power, we can endure and life goes on pretty much like always. I try to keep the feeders filled in my backyard, although it's hard to keep up with the ravenous appetites of the Starlings who seem to be my most frequent visitors.

 

Last week when the sun was out, I went birding for Snow Buntings, and mentioned to a friend that I'd like to add the Long-tailed duck to my life list. This morning, when we got home from church, I found a message from him that the ducks were at Ashland Park near the Falls of the Ohio in Indiana right then. I quickly changed into warm birding clothes and sped across the river (using the bridge, of course). Well, I "saw" two Long-tail ducks waaay out in the middle of the river. Using another person's good Swarovski scope, I saw some white on their heads, but mostly, they were just duck-shaped blobs to me. Think I'll keep looking before adding this one to my life list.

 

Common Goldeneye

The Common Goldeneyes were a little closer to shore, and I had a good time watching them. The light wasn't very good though, and they look gray in this photo instead of the shining white of a live bird on the water. I think this guy is practicing some moves on his girlfriend.



White-winged Scoter

This winter we have been seeing White-winged Scoters on the river. Today I ran into Brainard Palmer-Ball, the top birder I know. I remember birders getting really excited to see one of these in previous years, and I asked Brainard, "Aren't these supposed to be rare birds?" He replied that until this year, he'd only seen 3 White-winged Scoters around here in his long birding career. Yet this month, he and another birder counted 116 of them in one day!

 

Surf Scoter (orange bill)

He said he was heading upstream a few miles to see if he could find a Surf Scoter again, so I went that way too. After finding a place to park, and carefully crossing River Road in traffic, I tramped through the snow following a group of scoters as they floated downstream. Brainard said the Surf Scoter has white on the back of his head and an orange bill. Sure enough, there was ONE Surf Scoter floating with all the others. LIFE BIRD!

 

 

When I got home, I started doing some research. Isn't the Internet wonderful? If I'd tried to do something like this 20 years ago at the library, I never would have found this much information! Scoters and the Long-tails all breed far, far to the north, and winter along the coasts, or around the Great Lakes. These are all diving birds, rather than dabblers like Mallards. Rarely diving in water that exceeds 30 feet deep, Surf Scoters forage in the zone of breaking waves, and habitually dive through foaming wave crests. Hundreds of thousands winter in the coastal waters off British Columbia alone, and 200,000 scoters could consume about 43 tons of mussel meat daily.  So what in the world are they doing on the Ohio River?

 

 

Google to the rescue again. Are the Great Lakes freezing in 2014? Yes indeed! Look at this satellite photo of the Great Lakes. In fact, the Great Lakes may set a record for ice cover this year. Lake Superior is 92 percent frozen on the surface, breaking a 20-year-old record of 91 percent set on Feb. 5, 1994. So that may partly explain why we are getting so many unusual water birds this winter around here. When the water froze, and their food sources disappeared, they just took off and headed south looking for open water, and the Ohio River was the first open water they found.

Snow Birding

Today, the sun shined for the first time in about a week, so I decided to leave the house for some adventure, since it's supposed to snow again tonight. Sigh. My dishwasher died, so first I headed out to order a new one. Then we had reports of Snow Buntings nearby, and possibly a Long-tailed duck about an hour away. It's time to bundle up and go birding! The ice damaged many trees, but they are so glisten-y when the sun shines on them, the drive was very enjoyable. This evening, I am surrounded by field guides, trying to identify these winter birds which I usually see only once a year.



Horned Larks and Lapland Longspurs in Flight

The field on Chamberlin Lane is still farm country, although I wouldn't give it long to survive in that state. It is winter home for mixed flocks of Snow Buntings, Lapland Larkspurs, and Horned Larks, along with a few Savannah Sparrows. Every time a car drove by, every bird in the field took off, flashing their white wing undersides as they circled around and landed again. You see, the birders brought offerings of corn and seed to encourage them to land where we could see them easily.



American Kestrel

Even when there were no cars, however, the birds were nervous and flighty, taking off for no apparent reason. No, they wouldn't have been spooked by the Turkey Vulture that glided over. Must be a raptor somewhere, reasoned one of our more experienced birding friends. Sure enough, perusing the nearby branches, we discovered a male American Kestrel on the hunt. He left for better opportunities, and the smaller birds settled down to feed.



Snow Bunting

One guide commented that the term "bunting" was borrowed from British usage and applied to completely unrelated birds in America. Thus, they say, we have a Lark Bunting, which may be related to the Snow Bunting, while the more colorful buntings have little in common with these emberizine buntings. In Britain, our Lapland Longspur is known as the Lapland Bunting. Is it any reason we get confused?



Lapland Longspurs

I'm still working on making sure I can tell the Lapland Larkspurs apart from the Savannah Sparrows. I may have it wrong in some of these photos, so if anyone finds a mistake, please let me know. I take lots of extra photos trying to get one that is posed like the birds in the guides.

Mixed Flock - Buntings and Longspurs

Then when they take off, I'm trying to distinguish them from wing and tail markings, from below!



Horned Lark

The little Horned Larks are among my favorites, with their yellow throats and brown mask, to say nothing of the tiny little horns.



Greater Scaup

I explained to Rob, our expert birder friend, that I have never seen a Long-tailed duck. Haven't people been finding them somewhere this winter? Yes, he replied, down along the river would be the best place to try. So we met him on the Indiana side of the Ohio River, to look for ducks. Again, I have to review these wintering ducks, since I don't see them on a regular basis. The bird app on my phone is wonderful, but a little hard to read in bright sunshine. I need to study up on families, since Scaup and Scoter don't come up when I search under "duck." The Hooded Mergansers, Buffleheads and Goldeneyes looked great through Rob's scope, but were too far away for a good photo.



White-winged Scoter

I always wonder how all these birds got their names. Some are descriptive (very helpful), some are named after early ornithologists (not too helpful), while others have names with no meaning to me whatsoever. Scaup and Scoter? What's that all about? Names aside, we saw some beautiful White-winged Scoters. Look at the white "commas" around this guy's eyes, and his crooked bill.



White-winged Scoter

And if you think the "white-winged" part of his name means that little white stripe, think again.



White-winged Scoter Diving

Three of them would swim at a pretty fast pace against the current, then just as I focused, two of them disappeared under water. Rob says it's a good sign that these diving birds are staying on the river- must be enough food for them. But they eat molluscs - what are they eating here in the river? I know there are some molluscs here, but I thought they were all little bitty, at least from the shells found at he Falls of the Ohio. Of course, the river doesn't freeze, and the current and water levels were high today.



Red-breasted Merganser

One lonely Red-breasted Merganser swam by, with his punk hairdo, white neck ring and pointy bill. The field guide says they winter along the shore, all around the country, but prefer shallow, sheltered salt water. Maybe he blew in with the last winter storm. That's what fun about birding on the Ohio River. We get lots of species which don't belong here, but look on the river as a port in the storm.  However, I did not find the Long-tail. Maybe the next time the sun comes out...

Snowy Bernheim Birds

Earth Measures Sculpture

I have filled feeders for my backyard birds for many years. More Starlings and House Sparrows eat my seed than any other birds. But I don't mind, since other cute backyard birds come to visit too. Today, fighting a severe case of cabin fever, I joined Dick on a snowy trip to Bernheim Forest and Arboretum. While he made copies for a presentation this weekend, I bundled up and went birding. I've never been to Bernheim in the snow before, and it was absolutely beautiful.

Northern Cardinal - female

The Education Building has a warm room looking out on the bird feeders. This time of year, many familiar birds, and some I rarely see, come for a snack. Cardinals are very common, of course.

Northern Cardinal - male

 

Carolina Chickadee

 As are Carolina Chickadees and Carolina Wrens.

 

Carolina Wren

Eastern Towhee

While I tried to distinguish one LBJ from another, a bright orange and black bird hopped into the brush. Every time I moved from one place to another in the bird room, all the birds took off for a convenient branch, but they soon resumed feeding.

Goldfinch

Goldfinches positively refuse to come to my yard, unless the zinnias are blooming. But these little guys in winter plumage ate anything they found around the feeders at Bernheim.

 

Red-bellied Woodpecker

The Red-bellied Woodpecker is a very polite bird at the feeder. He quietly approaches the seed on the ground, chooses one piece, and retreats to the branches to eat it. You can just see the red wash on his belly in this photo.

 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

After lunch, we thought we heard a hawk, and walked out looking for it. A small bird landed on the tree trunk and started walking up the bark. It called again, and we knew the sound belonged to a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker! I'd never heard one call before!

Song Sparrow

Now, I'm pretty comfortable with the more common birds, but Sparrows, the LBJ's in the world, can be my downfall. As I watched all the birds, I identified several little sparrows, including the ever present Song Sparrow, with his stripped belly and brown thumb-print.

 

White-throated Sparrow

The White-throated Sparrow is a winter visitor in Kentucky, with two different color morphs - the crisp black and white head stripes, or the tan and black head stripes. I sometimes think the black and white is a White Crowned Sparrow, but the yellow spots by the eyes and white throat patch are distinctive, of course. I love to hear this little guy calling "Oh Sam Peabody, Peabody."

 

Fox Sparrow

 OK, I'm good with the Song and White-throat. Yikes, what is this bright rusty tailed bird with gray on the head and nape? Curiously, it scratched not with one foot at a time, but by hopping and scratching the ground at the same time! Larger than the others, this must be the Fox Sparrow, and there were at least ten of them on the ground. Another winter visitor, unsuccessfully trying to evade the cold northern winter this year.



American Tree Sparrow

Another different sparrow - rufous crown, but not a Chippy. Gray breast with a dark spot, and finally, a two-toned bill - dark on top and yellow on the bottom. It's an American Tree Sparrow! Not a lifer for me, but one I don't often see. And one I was very pleased to identify on my own!

 

Fox Sparrow, American Tree Sparrow and White-throated Sparrow

On a day when the high temp was 12 degrees in the sun, how wonderful it is to sit in a warm room, watching feeders filled by someone else, and seeing new birds that never visit my house! As I write this blog post, my favorite movie, The Big Year, plays on TV. I'll never go for a big year, of course, but I'm always excited to see and identify an unusual bird all on my own!

First Robins of Spring?

We often hear people talking about the first Robin of Spring - as if they have disappeared for the winter and come back one at a time. Although robins are considered harbingers of spring, many American Robins spend the whole winter in their breeding range, basically the entire continental United States. But because they spend more time roosting in trees and less time in your yard, you're much less likely to see them. The number of robins present in the northern parts of the range varies each year with the local conditions. This morning, I found hundreds of Robins clustered around a single holly tree in a neighbor's yard.

Holly berries, rock hard even a month ago, must "ripen" before birds find them edible. OK, think something closer to "rot" rather than "ripen." Only after weeks of freezing nights followed by above-freezing days will berries soften enough for birds to show interest. Well, we certainly have had weeks of freezing nights lately! Did you ever see a Robin hovering before?

American Holly produces bitter chemicals calls sapon ins that make the leaves and berries unpalatable to most forms of wildlife. Production of unpleasant or poisonous chemicals is a common strategy in plants to discourage animals from eating them. In American Holly, the saponin level in berries declines as they ripen, and then apparently declines further during the course of the winter when the plant is mostly dormant. So by late winter, when food supplies for birds are at their lowest, American Holly berries are available and edible for a wide range of fruit - eating birds. The birds, in turn, disperse holly seeds in their droppings, helping the hollies reproduce and disperse. Of course, the Robins only find berries on the female trees, so a tree without berries might be a male, or simply be already stripped by Robins and other fruit eating birds.

I was amazed at the "politeness" of the Robins. Large numbers foraged for berries on the ground, while others moved from branch to branch in the tree. Large numbers waited their turn on the nearby rooftop and at least five different trees. When a car drove by, all the birds flew off, then more returned to resume the feast.

Let the Sun Shine

I don't think I actually have SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), but I do prefer sunny weather than cloudy cold days in the winter, as do most people in Kentucky, I suppose. Once again, Google brings answers to all my questions. According to a study I found online, Louisville, KY, has actual sunshine only 43% of the time in winter, and an average of 18 clear days, when cloud covers at most 30 percent of the sky during daylight hours. So I headed off into the woods at Creasey Mahan Nature Preserve this morning, just to take advantage of this sunny day. The thawing ground and rain from yesterday made for some pretty muddy spots - walking on grass or leaves did not keep me from sinking in. However, sunshine makes up for everything!

Of course, I looked for birds first, and many of our local residents were singing in the sunshine too. In my experience, birds start to sing lots more after Groundhog Day in February. As I walked up a creek bed, I found Black Vultures flapping above, and a collection sunning themselves along the edge of a dam on the border of the Preserve. When I approached in my best stealthy manner, they saw me, of course, and took to the air. Notice the stubby tails that Black Vultures have.

Last week, all the creeks and waterfalls were frozen, but today the water is flowing freely, making delightful sounds that remind me of Spring.

A pair of House Sparrows are checking out one of our Bluebird nest boxes already. It will soon be time to remove the old nests and prepare for the new season. Until then, the birds will often seek shelter in a nest box when the weather turns bad.

I love to look for the first blossoms of the year, and found one witch hazel bush (Springtime witch hazel - Hamamelis vernalis) in the Woodland Garden that wins the prize. This small, spidery yellow and orange blossom hardly looks like a flower, and you don't expect to see anything blooming in mid-January. There are several varieties of witch hazel, which bloom at different times of the year, but almost always when it is too early or too late in the season to expect flowering plants!

Yes! Spring will come, no matter how many gloomy days we have to go through!

Start the New Year Right

Whoa! I just realized I haven't posted anything here since we went to Florida in November. What's been going on? Well, try volunteering, taking care of raptors at RROKI, Grandma duty, bad weather, or preparing for the holidays. I know, excuses, excuses. I'll try to do better in 2014. On New Year's Eve, I drove out to a Shelby County, KY, farm looking for Short-eared Owls. Saw them at this location several times last year, but last night I only saw one Kestrel and some Mourning Doves. The sunset was beautiful though, and gas at the local Kroger's was only $3.05 before a $.45 discount, so the trip wasn't a complete loss! In Louisville, gas costs $3.45 right now.

New Year's morning sped by as we took down all the decorations and packed them away till next year. Dick and I headed out to the Anchorage Trail for a walk in the sunshine and a little birding. The single Mute Swan who lives at the lake came over looking for a handout...

...while a trio of Green-winged Teal stood in the shallow water, looking in all directions.

Dick's sharp eye found this Red-Shouldered Hawk perched in a tree.

It seemed to be looking for prey at first, then watched for dogs walking under the tree.

Finally it looked directly at me and my camera! I think they hear the motor on the lens as I zoom.

Yes, definitely too many dogs, so it flew closer to the lake.

Allowing me to get this wonderful closeup. I'm always amazed that a bird this big has such a small beak.

The first time we walked by the lake we thought it was odd not to hear the Belted Kingfisher as we walked by.  But the second time around, we heard two of them calling back and forth as they flew over the swampy area at the head of the lake. I don't often get nice photos of Kingfishers since they don't sit still very long!