Picture of the Day for May 30, 2014

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology web site, the Mourning Dove’s nest is “a flimsy assembly of pine needles, twigs, and grass stems, unlined and with little insulation for the young.” Well that describes this Mourning Dove nest found on a snapped off tree, although I wouldn’t have noticed it if I didn’t scare her off the nest while on a hike.

Mourning Dove Nest

Picture of the Day for May 22, 2014

May 22, 2014

My yard has been filled with colorful birds with the return of summer birds intermixed with the year round birds; Indigo Buntings, Bluebirds, Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, Orchard Orioles, Scarlet Tanager, Cardinal, Yellow Warblers and the Goldfinches provide a rainbow effect outside.

The birds have been emptying the feeders at an alarming rate and there are fights at the feeders. The Goldfinches are rather strict vegetarians, selecting an entirely vegetable diet and only inadvertently swallowing an occasional insect, so there is a waiting line for the sunflower seed feeder. Sometimes it is hard at times to pick out the Goldfinches among the dandelions when they are searching for the fallen seed.

Yellow on a Stick

Picture of the Day for April 23, 2014

April 23, 2014

The Killdeers have been back for several weeks but hopefully they haven’t laid their eggs yet since a rainy/snowy stretch is coming up. A shorebird, who rarely spends time on a shore, but instead is found in pastures, fields, sandbar, driveways, gravel rooftops and golf courses. Course gravel rooftops are dangerous for the young when the adults lure the babies off the roof and at the cheese factory, we would try putting cushion material down when they started to jump off the roof.

I generally see them in the pastures and watch their broken-wing act to lead me away from their nest, which is often in a dry cow pie, but the broken-wing act doesn’t keep the cows from from stepping on the eggs so they will use a different tactic. The Killdeer will fluff itself up, display its tail over its head and then run at the cow to attempt to make the cattle change its path.

Killdeer get their name from the shrill, wailing kill-deer call they give so often and were also called the Chattering Plover and the Noisy Plover.

Noisy Killdeer

Picture of the Day for April 19, 2014

April 19, 2014

With the sun out yesterday and no new snow, the birds could land on the ground again like these Northern Flickers. Although it can climb up the trunks of trees and hammer on wood like other woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker prefers to find food on the ground. Ants are its main food, and the flicker digs in the dirt to find them. It uses its long barbed tongue to lap up the ants.

Spring is also the time when birds are finding mates and Northern Flicker rivals face off in a display sometimes called a “fencing duel,” while a prospective mate looks on. Two birds face each other, bills pointed upward, and bob their heads in time. It was interesting to watch but I wonder what the female thinks of the males “fencing duel”.

Fencing Duel

Picture of the Day for April 8, 2014

April 8, 2014

Hint of spring is in the air, at least the singing of returning birds can be heard, like the red-winged blackbirds, killdeers, robins and the sweet sound of the Eastern Bluebird.

Soon, when the female bluebirds arrive, the male will put on a display at the nesting boxes. He will bring nesting materials, usually dry grass, into the nest and then perches on top waving his wings. And that is about his only contribution to the nest building as the female does the nest building and incubating the eggs. But I have seen the female reject the male’s nest choice and he has to go house hunting some more.

Return of the Bluebirds

Picture of the Day for February 25, 2014

February 25, 2014

I saw this pheasant fly up to the trees and he is smart to get up off the frozen snow, but he probably is wishing he would have migrated south this winter as it has been a long, snowy, cold one. Ring-necked Pheasants sometimes cope with extreme cold by simply remaining dormant for days at a time.

The powerful breast muscles deliver bursts of power that allow the birds to escape trouble in a hurry, flushing nearly vertically into the air and reaching speeds of nearly 40 miles per hour.

Ring-necked Pheasant

Picture of the Day for January 20, 2014

January 20, 2014

This winter is for the birds but I don’t think the birds like it any better than I do, not when it is below zero again. Birds, like the White-breasted Nuthatch, have been flocking to the bird feeder to get some high-energy food to help survive the cold temperatures. On cold, wintry days, most birds fluff up their feathers, creating air pockets, which help keep the birds warm. The more air spaces, the better the insulation. Some birds perch on one leg, drawing the other leg to the breast for warmth.

For the Birds

Picture of the Day for January 12, 2014

January 12, 2014

Due to the vibrant colors, which most male birds have compared to the females, the female often doesn’t get displayed in pictures even though she often does the majority of the work. In the case of the cardinal, the female does the nest building although the male sometimes brings nest material to the female.

The female cardinal has a rare trait of singing as few North American songbirds females do. Her song often a longer and more complex than the male and join their mates in a practice known as antiphonal singing.

Female Cardinal

Picture of the Day for January 9, 2014

January 9, 2014