Hay Bale Owl. I Think.

As seen in Bayfield, WI in October 2008.

Not So Darling Starling

I don't see a lot of starlings in my yard. In fact I see more while I'm idling in the highway's on-ramp on the way to work than I do in my whole neighborhood.

This one walked all the way across the yard to the marigolds and savagely tore a few petals off (don't ask me what that was all about).

Then he scrounged in the dirt, presumably in search of a creepy crawler for lunch.

An Unfortunate Nesting Location

As my mom would say, "Robins must be really dumb."

To explain, over the past several years Mom has taken note of all the bizarre locations that the robins in Duluth have chosen to nest.

There was the summer of 2005 when one robin made her nest in the hanging basket right outside the front door to their house. We tried to accommodate her as best we could by avoiding use of the front door, and I think it was working pretty well. Then we threw my dad a retirement party and all the extra humans made for one nervous momma. Sadly, she did not hatch any babies.

Two years ago another robin also nested in a hanging flower basket. My mom would keep tabs on her, with one update to us saying, "Mother robin is stoically keeping to her nest, trying to hatch those babies."

More recently, there was a story in the Duluth News Tribune about a robin who made her nest in a $14.95 rose bush at the Cub Foods garden center and would chase unsuspecting patrons away. 

In the end though, I'm not so sure that robins are dumb, but that we make it really easy for them to nest in inconvenient places. 

Thunderstorm

We're under a thunderstorm warning. About 15 minutes ago the sky got so dark I had to turn on some inside lights which, unless it's winter, is unnecessary at 6:00 PM. Then I heard the eerie sounds of the siren as it blasted its song through the streets in 360 degrees.

Not to worry! The birds are still chirping away as if nothing is wrong. I watched as two robins got cantankerous with each other in their quest for worms. The rolling thunder that causes the dog's ears to flatten against her head, giving her a look of bewilderment, is the same noise that seems to go unnoticed by the birds. Life as usual here in bird land!

Another Installment of Weekend Birdservations!

• A baby chickadee with a particular bald spot on his forehead finally learned how to eat from the suet grate.

• Never before seen in our yard, a white-breasted nuthatch made an appearance. Since the visit I've heard their nasal "yaank yaank!" call from both ends of our front yard. I was able to get pretty close to one too as he waited in the tree for me to fill the bird feeder.

• A raptor (falcon? kestrel?) stalked the feeder until he snagged his evening meal of sparrow. He came back for a second meal Sunday morning, and later awed the guests of our Father's Day picnic as he flew across the backyard.

• The hungry baby chipping sparrow I mentioned the other day ended up being a baby cowbird that a family of chipping sparrows fostered. I guessed this because the markings on the baby was not consistent with sparrows of any kind, was twice the size of its parents, and much hungrier than most sparrow babies. A week after I captured those photos I noticed them again and learned that those sparrows are actually raising two cowbird babies. 

• Juvenile robins have been practicing their songs as the afternoons fade to evening. A little sputtery at times, but sounding more and more like their parents every day. 

Hungry Baby Bird

This happened June 12.

I watched this little baby bird for about 15 minutes. At first I thought he had been abandoned or got lost because he was all alone on the sidewalk (seen here with a few house sparrows who didn't acknowledge him), looking around as if he was waiting for his mommy to come back.

Then mom (or dad) chipping sparrow swooped in and fed him for about 10 minutes. He was very, very hungry.

Downy Woodpecker

A series of shots of a female downy woodpecker feeding her little one (photos taken June 5). The last one is of her baby taking flight from the feeder. Look at that wing pattern!

Bird of Prey

This guy landed under the feeder and I was intrigued. I even went outside to get a better look but lost sight of him as he slipped behind a bush. Then I heard a scuffle, and several small birds screaming in terror. My final view of him was as he flew away with a sparrow in his evil clutches. I just about cried.

I heard this could happen, that hawks or falcons stalk small birds at the feeders. Unfortunately I didn't recognize that behavior until it was too late. After checking my book I still couldn't figure out what kind of bird this was. He (or she) was grayish in color with a striped tail, and about the size of a crow. My best guess based on its small size is that it was probably a falcon. Now with a tasty sparrow in its tummy.

White-Breasted Nuthatch

Wow, this is exciting. I've never seen a nuthatch in my yard. There was a pair of them and they flew in synch with each other- hovering at the feeder but not landing, tracing an arc across the yard to the birch tree, then swooping up onto the roof where they stayed only long enough for me to snap a photo.

Our Little Black Squirrel

He's back at it. This time he put his butt in the water tray so he could reach the sunflower globe. He gave up on the suet grate after nearly falling off. I think he's cute.

Naughty!

This picture should get my dad all worked up.

The Notorious Brown-Headed Cowbirds

We found this egg carefully placed on the edge of the garden box. It's too far from any nest or tree for it to simply fall out and land just so. I suspect that a cowbird may be behind this one.

We've found abandoned broken eggs in our yard before. A few weeks ago Rob watched a brown-headed cowbird fly from the pine tree out back and drop a robin's egg just inches from our deck. Cowbirds are known as "brood parasites" that search out other bird's nests to lay their eggs in. They even go so far as to find nests with speckled eggs (to match their own so the host won't recognize them as foreign), and they essentially stake out these nests waiting for the hosts to leave before laying their own egg. Usually they will remove one or more of the host's eggs, perhaps so that bird won't notice that there's more eggs than she laid herself. I don't know if birds can count or have a sense for how many eggs they're incubating but it's some fascinating stuff!

The host bird raises these cowbird babies as their own. Last summer I saw evidence of this foster-parenting when a male cardinal was feeding a young cowbird. What really intrigues me is that these cowbirds are not raised by their kind, so how do they all know to do this when they mature? It must all be hard-wired into their little birds brains. It's simply amazing!

Tokyo Stalks a Cardinal

Tokyo rarely takes interest in small living things. She prefers rubber bands and bottle caps. But a cardinal was chirping outside the kitchen window and her interest was piqued.

Where Do Baby Birds Come From?

Have I got a treat for you today! Upon hearing a ruckus coming from the garden, I went out with my camera to see what was going on. There were two chipping sparrows perched on our wooden privacy fence, staring at each other.

Then she lifted her tail, he jumped on top, and... well, I'll leave the rest to the privacy of your imagination.

Poo

Ok, who pooped on my window?! My eyes are on you, mourning doves.

Baby Chickadees!

Last weekend the sparrows were busy bringing their newly fledged babies to feed in our yard. They stayed mostly on the ground picking up bits from the grass and mulched area under the feeder. It usually went like this: mom and dad sparrow hop around a find a few morsels and when the babies saw this they'd turn on the charm by peeping and fluttering their wings in a most helpless way. Today most of the sparrows I see are feeding themselves so perhaps the babies have learned what they were supposed to!

Yesterday and today I noticed several black-capped chickadees hanging out in our birch tree. Chickadees commonly grab one seed at a time and fly off to a branch where they can pick at the shell until they get the seed out, so I figured word got out that I put more sunflower in the tray so everyone came for a bite to eat. But then I noticed this very panicked, and persistent, and relentless high-pitched squeak, much like, "dee-dee-dee!! DEE-DEE-DEE!!!!!!!"

Trusty binoculars in hand, I watched them for a while. Some of those chickadees were plump and fluffy, and didn't know what to do at the feeder. They spent most of their time in the tree while the mature chickadees were back and forth, back and forth between feeder and tree. And the babies were doing their part of the dance by singing to mom and dad: "PUT FOOD IN MY MOUTH! RIGHT NOW!!!! DEE-DEE-DEE!"

House Finch House Salad

Like many of our neighbors, part of our yard's landscaping includes autumn joy sedums. They begin as sturdy, green stalks in the spring, growing green flower heads that bloom into a beautiful red as summer fades (shown in the photo- I had to add this because there's a cautious blue jay peeking out from behind the spiral bush).

These red flower heads, brimming with seeds, are a popular food choice in the fall for our resident house finches. The nearly flat head provides a convenient platform for them to land, and sometimes they just perch there to rest, even in the winter.

Knowing this, I made up my mind a long time ago that any changes to our landscaped shrubbery will not include removing these sedums. Besides feeding the birds they're just really easy to care for.

Imagine my delight when I noticed small birds land on the sedum stalks and drink rain water that had collected in the curles of the leaves.

And I also only recently noticed that when my finches want a little salad, they just nibble on bits of leaves!

Here's one chewing on a piece.

The scars from past meals.

Bathing Wren

You can hardly see this guy at the top of the sedum bush, but I believe it's a house wren. He (or she - it was moving pretty quickly) was "swimming" through the leaves and stalks of this sedum. I think it was bathing because the plant was still wet from when I had watered.

Sunday's Birdservations!

It's amazing what you can see when you're really looking. Today I observed several things worth mentioning. Unfortunately the camera didn't catch all of this and even if it did, the image quality isn't awesome. So here we are:

• The hummingbird feeder I hung in the tree was finally noticed by one teensy weensy ruby-throated hummingbird

• A brown-headed cowbird danced for a female

• A male house sparrow gave himself a dirt bath in the neighbors' garden plot

• It was girls night out as a group of female house finches fought over whose turn it was at the feeder

• In search of some protein, a sparrow chased a hapless moth and presumably ate it (I lost sight of them before the meal happened)

• A house finch happily splashed around in the water tray

Dancing Cowbird

A brown-headed cowbird, dancing for the female. She was unimpressed.

Edible Bird Nests

One week ago today many happy people came together to celebrate the love of one special couple and their commitment to each other. A touching ceremony, delicious food, sartorial splendor with peacock feather accessory, and delightful edible table decor.

It looks too cute to eat, but I did anyway!

6:57 AM

If you ask the neighbors what the heck I was doing crouched behind barberry shrub this morning at 7 AM they wouldn't know what to tell you. I wasn't planning to take a picture of this groggy cowbird, but she was so uncharacteristically quiet and sweet.

Coyote vs. Bunny

Normally this time of year the bunnies have the run of the neighborhood, nibbling on scraps that fall from the feeders, eating all my flowers, and making many, many babies. But so far this spring I've seen very few.

Maybe the recession has hit the bunny population, so instead of eating out under the feeder every night, they only treat themselves to a gourmet seed meal once a month. Okay, probably not.

We also think that the dog keeps them away. Silly theories have developed out of that idea like the one where Dallas didn't actually eat that bunny back in January, she just deposited its parts all over the yard as a warning to others to not step foot near our third acre lest they meet the same fate as their little friend.

Today I saw what I suspected is the real reason behind declining bunny numbers: the coyote. I've seen and heard them before in our area, but not for a couple years. Stay as long as you'd like, Mr. Coyote. I don't want my sunflowers to become bunny salad, and I prefer that only birds dine at the feeders.

The Dedicated Robin

Late last week, as Rob and I were settling in to watch some TV, we heard something hit the basement window. It was the kind of noise that makes your heart sink: a clunk muffled by flailing feathers. Upon investigation we noticed two robins perched on the fence, nervously cocking their heads. They were fine, no harm done. Laughing, we scolded them for being such dummies.

Throughout the weekend though, a particular robin had come back to that window every 10 minutes only to repeatedly fly into it for about 30 seconds before we would chase him away.

I've read that male robins make it their mission to defend their territory from those who dare to encroach during nesting season. When they see their reflection in a window they believe it is another robin, and the closer they get to that "intruder" the more it looks to them as if the intruder is challenging them back! It's an endless cycle of wrongly perceived threats that ends with the robin attacking his own reflection. In our case, that robin has been battling himself for almost a week.

On Memorial Day, this robin was unstoppable. At first his misguided valor was funny. By mid-afternoon, however, humor was replaced with sheer aggravation as that bird flopped into every last nerve we had.

I placed a deck chair against the window to see if it would block enough of the reflection but soon realized the chair had become a handy, bird-poo-covered perch for him to rest on while he stared his enemy down. I put paper over the window and it seems to have helped.

As soon as his brood hatches his attention will turn to caring for his family. The average robin egg incubation period takes about 12-14 days, so we may endure another week of this crazy behavior.

A Sparrow Without Her Tail

I was going to post about something else today but then I looked out and saw this female house sparrow without a tail! She's a compelling mix of cute and pathetic but her lack of plumage hasn't slowed her down one bit. Aside from dining alone at my feeder, she has also been hopping around in the neighbor's roof gutter.

Don't worry, little bird, like any bad haircut it will grow out eventually.