Stealth Mobbing of a Cooper's Hawk

This morning I went out start my car. As I headed back into my apartment building the sky was swirling with a large flock of pigeons and starlings. As they wheeled around the group focused in on a large adult female Cooper's hawk, the flock of birds spun around her and I watched as she darted over the building towards my bird feeder. She did a sneak drop down and landed in a nearby tree. The pigeons and starlings continued to circle the tree. A lone crow flew in and landed about three feet away from the hawk when it dawned on me that no one was making any noise. I had never seen silent mobbing before it was kind of pretty in a ballet kind of way to watch.

The whole scene made me think of other things I had never noticed, like I have never seen a flock of coots in flight. Oh sure, I've seen them half fly/half run across water, but I've never seen a huge migrating flock in mid air. I know they have to do this because one day the lake is empty and the next it can be filled with rafts of coots, but I've never seen the flock arrive or leave. They must be night migrants, but I've never seen it. Something to watch for, not the loftiest birding goal out there, but something I would like to see.

Another Map

You can also visit Laura Erickson's site (lauraerickson.com) where Chris Fagyal has made his own map with areas already dotted where great gray and northern hawk owls can be found. There is also information about seeing the unusual hummingbird that is still visiting her yard right now!

http://lauraerickson.com/

KARE 11 Segment

This is not as fancy as some of my usual posts, but the folks at KARE 11 are kind enough to give me a few minutes on one of their computers to update my blog.

If you are looking for the feeders that I showed as gifts, stop into any All Seasons Wild Bird Store (find a location near you by visiting http://wildbirdstore.com).

I'm so excited to learn that KARE got a huge response of interest to see the northern species of owls that are "invading" Minnesota this year. If you have been hesitant about going, YOU MUST GO!!!!! It's incredible right now, one birder saw 56 owls in the St. Louis County area (where Szx Zim is) on Thanksgiving Day. I believe the previous record for this many great gray owls in one day was around 34. This is a once in a lifetime event and something that even the non-birders and kids can enjoy.

Here's a repost of the Sax Zim map and intersections.
Iron Trail.org's Sax Zim Bog page.

(Edit: link now fixed)

I've received several requests for the map that I used to look for great gray owls and northern hawk owls. I printed out a map of Sax Zim Bog from the Iron Trail Website and then marked off all the spots that had been reported on the bird nets by Ben Yokel and Mike Hendrickson. We also found owls in other areas, it just became a matter of knowing what type of habitat to find them. If you like, you can print out the map and then mark down on it the owls from Ben and Mike's posts.

These were intersections with owls reported by Ben Yokel:

Northern Hawk Owls: Three individuals along Hwy 53 between mile markers 43 and 45, just north of Cotton. Four individuals along Hwy 7, located 4.0, 5.0, 5.5, and 7.5 miles N. of 52 (Arkola Rd). One bird along 213 (McDavitt Rd), 5 miles N. of 28 (Sax Rd)3 birds along 788 (Admiral Rd), located 2.6, 3.8, and 3.9 miles S. of 27 (Zim Rd) One bird along 28 (Sax Rd), 1 mile W of Hwy 71 bird along 133, 2.6 miles W. of Hwy 71 bird in Melrude, just S. of the Town Hall (the "election monitor" from Nov 2).

Great Grays Owls: One bird along Berg Lake Rd in Melrude1 bird along Melrude Rd (59), 1 mile E of Hwy 531 bird along Randall Rd, 0.5 miles N. of 52 (Arkola Rd, ~1 mile W. of Cotton). Two birds along Admiral Rd (788), 3.6 and 4.0 miles south of Zim Rd (27). The bird 4 miles S of Zim Road was an off-white dilute-plumaged bird, possibly the same individual seen earlier this year along 28 and 207. These were intersections with owls reported by Mike Hendrickson.

Northern Hawk Owl: 2 miles south of Stone Lake Rd. (319). At the intersection of 319 and Co. Rd 71 .5 miles south of Co. Rd 232 (Lake Nichols Rd) on Co. Rd 71.25 miles south of Co. Rd. 232 on Co. Rd 7.

Two Great Grey Owls were seen on Co. Rd 133 4.4 miles east of Co. Rd 7. On our trip on Tuesday we found two great gray owls in a Wildlife Management Area about six miles north of the town of Cotton off of 53. We also found two great gray owls within a mile of each other on 133 about 3 miles east of 7. We also found a great gray on 52 just west (about half a mile) of 7. Keep in mind that the birds can be found in these general areas and they don't always stay put (they do have wings after all), and to watch closely.

Some general tips when looking for owls include:
1. If you stay in your vehicle you can get relatively close without scaring the owls. You really don't need to do any hiking in the bog, the birding can all be done from the comfort of your vehicle!
2. Watch for northern hawk owls on the tops of trees. They fly much faster than other birds and their wings have a sort of falcon shape as they large long and somewhat pointed like a falcon. They can look about crow size or a little smaller when perched on top of a tree or telephone pole.
3. Watch for great gray owls (which are just HUGE) about eye level in areas with lots of trees. We found several near the road sitting on old snags but it is possible to sometimes find them on top of spruce trees or fence posts in the open.
4. Roads can be either numbered or named. For example, 202 is also Owl Avenune (not so good for owls this year, but great for boreal chickadees)
5. Watch for other vehicles that are slowing or stopped on the side of the road, chances are it's another birder who has spotted an owl.Good Luck and I hope you get some owls!

Great Horned Owl

I've been kind of bummed with the time change since now when we close the bird store at six it's dark outside. Tonight I was cursing my idea of putting out 9 life sized penguins near the highway as advertisement as the dark settled in. As I picked up a large plastic penguin a shape appeared above the highway with shallow wing beats. The lights from the parking lot revealed a white bib and tan and brown coloring--a great horned owl. I ran through the store, grabbed Melissa and went behind the mall to see if we could spot where it landed. Sure enough there was a large lump on a tree in the distance. We tried to hoot at it, but the traffic from the highway drowned out any response it might have made.

On a side note here's a piece of advice: If you are someone who shows up to work no matter what (rain or shine, in sickness or in health) it generally is not a good idea to have one of your employees prank call your assistant manager the day after Thanksgiving (the busiest shopping day of the year) and say you never showed up. The assistant manager will not assume you were too hung over to come in but imagine you chopped to bits and dead from carbon monoxide poisoning and call the police right away. Also, when said prank is revealed, the assistant manager will start speaking in tongues so acidic, it would make a stevedore blush.

Bird Banding Fun

Ron Refsnider had this interesting report on November 9th about an interesting situation that happened while they were banding songbirds at Springbrook Nature Center in Fridley. For some people this is going to be kind of morbid, but it's one of those interesting things that happens at banding stations that really gets me excited:

We trapped and banded an adult northern shrike this morning during the monthly banding operation at Fridley's Springbrook Nature Center. Unfortunately, it apparently became trapped as it forced its way into a trap that already contained a banded chickadee, then it killed the chickadee. We had banded the chickadee as a hatch-year bird back in 1999, and this was its 30th capture, so the shrike ended a long string of data that we had collected on its prey.

Another interesting capture today was of a chickadee that we had banded in February of 1995; thus, it's at least 10 years old and was still looking healthy.

Birds with bill deformities

Bud Anderson sent me this photo of a red-tailed hawk with a deformed bill found in San Jose, CA.

Last month I posted a photo of a peregrine falcon with an overgrown bill that we got in at a hawk banding station in Duluth, MN. To all of us at the banding station, it looked like the bird had possibly flown into something and the bill became overgrown as a result. Not long after the photo was up I started getting emails from around the country about birds with bill deformities. I recalled a few years ago hearing about chickadees with deformed and overgrown bills showing up on Project Feeder Watch reports but didn't think anything more about it until the last month. This is an occurance that is being closely monitored. Many of the birds found with the elongated bills are in Alaska. The peregrine in our nets could have been from Alaska, it's tough to say, but the bird was a tundrius subspecies of peregrine. Here's a link to an article by Michael Hopkin of Bio Ed Online about the bill deformities. You can also read more about it at Boreal Partners in Flight and at Project Feeder Watch through Cornell University.

Weird MN Hummer

Thank you to everyone who has responded that they have found owls up north! I'm so excited that people are getting a chance to view this spectacle. I've been so focused on owls I haven't mentioned about a hummingbird that has shown up in Duluth as well.

Laura Erickson who is the bird lady of the Duluth area has had a hummingbird showing up since last Tuesday. The identification of which species still appears to be up in the air, but it is for sure not a ruby-throat. If you are in the Duluth area and want to try and see this unusual bird you can visit Laura's site to learn about where to park, directions and what not.

Hummingbirds are hardy little creatures. With a steady supply of food they can survive very cold temperatures. It will be interesting to learn if this bird sticks around all winter (trust me, if this bird stays in Laura's yard she will do everything up to and including building it its very own heated town home to help it's survival) will need to be brought to a rehab center or fly off in another direction to parts unknown.

Where the Owls Are

I've received several requests for the map that I used to look for great gray owls and northern hawk owls. I printed out a map of Sax Zim Bog from the Iron Trail Website and then marked off all the spots that had been reported on the bird nets by Ben Yokel and Mike Hendrickson. We also found owls in other areas, it just became a matter of knowing what type of habitat to find them. If you like, you can print out the map and then mark down on it the owls from Ben and Mike's posts.

These were intersections with owls reported by Ben Yokel:

Northern Hawk Owls:
3 individuals along Hwy 53 between mile markers 43 and 45, just north of Cotton
4 individuals along Hwy 7, located 4.0, 5.0, 5.5, and 7.5 miles N. of 52 (Arkola Rd)
1 bird along 213 (McDavitt Rd), 5 miles N. of 28 (Sax Rd)
3 birds along 788 (Admiral Rd), located 2.6, 3.8, and 3.9 miles S. of 27 (Zim Rd)
1 bird along 28 (Sax Rd), 1 mile W of Hwy 7
1 bird along 133, 2.6 miles W. of Hwy 7
1 bird in Melrude, just S. of the Town Hall (the "election moniter" from Nov 2)

Great Grays Owls:
1 bird along Berg Lake Rd in Melrude
1 bird along Melrude Rd (59), 1 mile E of Hwy 53
1 bird along Randall Rd, 0.5 miles N. of 52 (Arkola Rd, ~1 mile W. of Cotton)
2 birds along Admiral Rd (788), 3.6 and 4.0 miles south of Zim Rd (27).
The bird 4 miles S of Zim Road was an off-white dilute-plumaged bird, possibly the same individual seen earlier this year along 28 and 207.

These were intersections with owls reported by Mike Hendrickson:

Northern Hawk Owl
.2 miles south of Stone Lake Rd. (319)
At the intersection of 319 and Co. Rd 7
1.5 miles south of Co. Rd 232 (Lake Nichols Rd) on Co. Rd 7
1.25 miles south of Co. Rd. 232 on Co. Rd 7

Two Great Grey Owls were seen on Co. Rd 133 4.4 miles east of Co. Rd 7.

On our trip on Tuesday we found two great gray owls in a Wildlife Management Area about six miles north of the town of Cotton off of 53.

We also found two great gray owls within a mile of each other on 133 about 3 miles east of 7. We also found a great gray on 52 just west (about half a mile) of 7.

Keep in mind that the birds can be found in these general areas and they don't always stay put (they do have wings after all), and to watch closely. Some general tips when looking for owls include:

1. If you stay in your vehicle you can get relatively close without scaring the owls. You really don't need to do any hiking in the bog, the birding can all be done from the comfort of your vehicle!

2. Watch for northern hawk owls on the tops of trees. They fly much faster than other birds and their wings have a sort of falcon shape as they large long and somewhat pointed like a falcon. They can look about crow size or a little smaller when perched on top of a tree or telephone pole.

3. Watch for great gray owls (which are just HUGE) about eye level in areas with lots of trees. We found several near the road sitting on old snags but it is possible to sometimes find them on top of spruce trees or fence posts in the open.

4. Roads can be either numbered or named. For example, 202 is also Owl Avenune (not so good for owls this year, but great for boreal chickadees)

5. Watch for other vehicles that are slowing or stopped on the side of the road, chances are it's another birder who has spotted an owl.

Good Luck and I hope you get some owls!!!

Birding in the Bog

A van load of women came down with northern owl flu , called in sick and took a day trip to Sax Zim Bog Tuesday--owls were EVERYWHERE! I printed out a map and starred all the intersections where owls had been reported since Thursday to use as a guide but really, we found many owls in places not listed.

The fog yesterday at Sax Zim made for a beautiful morning. I was driving so spotting birds as well as photographing them was difficult. I love this photo because it shows the mystery and excitement of looking for great gray owls in the bog. The large lump on the left is a great gray owl sitting in a tree along the side of the road.





We took a drive down a Wildlife Management Area just north of the bog and immediately found our first great gray of the day. We pulled over with the windows down and the side door of the van open so all of us got a good view of the owl from the van. A truck with two men clad in orange pulled up and asked in all seriousness, "You ladies aren't hunting from your car are you, that's not legal." We held up our binoculars and pointed out the owl we were watching. They asked why they had been seeing so many owls lately and we told them about what was going on, and they directed us to other areas to check for owls in the WMA.

Another highlight included a rough-legged hawk that let the van pull up right next to it while it was studying something scurrying on the ground below. This is one of the best looks at a roughy I've ever had!

So I crashed a comic book convention...

I crashed a comic book convention over the weekend, boy those people really know how to party. Ladies if you are ever looking to meet nerdy guys who can dance and party go to a science fiction/fantasy/comic book convention, those people are a good time.

I do feel myself falling a bit under the weather (cough cough). I think I'm getting owl flu. The only thing that will cure it will be a trip to Sax Zim Bog to see nothern owl species (cough cough).

It looks good and guaranteed that we will see and owl. This weekend alone, there were 16 northern hawk owls found at the bog and five great grays (one is even a lighter phase bird). Hopefully I should have some photos to post tomorrow night.

Tundra Swan Update and Siskins Too!

Well, I just watched the next group of swan watchers head down to Wabasha. I went with the group on Thursday and we were stunned by the utter lack of swans. Normally, this is the time of year when a person can see hundreds or even thousands of tundra swans congregating along the Mississippi Bottoms loading up on food before they head to Chesapeake Bay. At times Alma Wisconsin has been chock full of swans but in the last few years the birds have been searching in other areas looking for food because the area they used to go to is filling up with bull rushes. Next year we are going to have to go further south or do a different trip entirely.

On the upside, it had been so long since I hosted a tour, I forgot how much I enjoy them. They really are a day long party and I love to be Julie the Cruise Director.

On another note, pine siskins are being reported at several bird feeders in the western metro area. Be on the look out, this could be not only an owl invasion year, but a finch invasion year. Fun or me on two level: 1. I love seeing these birds at feeders and 2. they eat oodles of bird seed and guarantee my job at the store for the year!

Disapproving Rabbit Alert

This is Cinnamon. I disapprove of Sharon's bird bath inventory.

Downy Rescue

The girls and a downy woodpecker we helped. I love how this picture looks as though the heavens are smiling down on us.

I have some friends who periodically have a problem of birds hitting their window. I have always suspected that it was from accipiters (a type of hawk that eats other birds that will drive feeders birds towards windows in an attempt to stun them making it easier to eat them).

Sure enough Sunday I was with some girls and we were doing some Japanese ink drawing when I heard a dull thud, "There's a hawk!" I exclaimed before turning and facing the window and sure enough, there was a first year sharp-shinned hawk circling the feeders. We all started screaming, "Go, go go, go!" (in hind sight, I'm pretty sure I was the only one who was actually rooting for the hawk to get something.) The hawk circled the feeders twice, dropped below the window, grabbed something and flew off. Everyone else was marveling at the excitement of what we just witnessed, I on the other hand snuck outside to see if there were any leftovers, sure enough, there was a female downy woodpecker spread eagled under the window. I picked her up and told the girls to get me a box. I explained that the woodpecker was probably fine, but just needed about 15 minutes in a dark box to regain her senses. (Most window collision injuries are short and the birds just need a quiet place to recover, the bird had no obvious injury or blood coming from the nostrils or mouth so I figured this was a safe bet).

We left the box alone for about 15 minutes on the table and heard some rustling. I showed the girls the downy, let them each touch it, and it flew away.

We saw the northern lights on Sunday and helped a small female woodpecker, all in all not a bad day.

Northern Lights

The northern lights can be seen outside tonight--go and look. If you are someplace in the city, get out and drive to where it's very dark, it's very worth it. We've been enjoying a greenish sky in Menomonie tonight. While watching them, as if on cue a barred owl hooted in the distance.

Quick Ruth Update

Ruth tried to pick up the invalid crows yesterday to no avail. They apparently "hoaxed" her. She left a message today saying that the crows wanted her to pick them up. She laid bags down for them and waited at a local gas station until she got the psychic signal that they were ready to be picked up. She got the signal, but just as she was getting the bags the crows said that they weren't in there. Something to do with her using plastic bags instead of paper bags made them want to hoax her. I think it's more to do with the mischievous nature of the crow. According to several complaints from blue haired ladies at the store, crows seem to have nothing better to do than torment old women.

Rats and Birds Living Together! Mass Hysteria!

The saga of Rottie the Rat. Is it for real, who knows? I did read an account once from years ago of a great-horned owl imprinted on chickens. It even got to the point where the farmer that owned the owl started giving it chicken eggs to incubate. When the chicks would hatch there were a few awkward moments of the owl trying to feed them meat, but the chicks just ignored it and pecked away at grit.

Which reminds me, Phil Harris' singing "There Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" is one of the best songs ever.

More on Ruth

I always thought that if I go off the deep end, Ruth's route is the way I would want to go. She talks to birds and squirrels and tries to help them, none of them ever tell her that Freemasons rule the country or to take out her neighborhood bird store staff with weapons of mass destruction. Ruth is always worried about her non-migratory eastern wood peewees and she's always very sweet about it.

We continue to hear from her every fall. The latest is that the birds who are too old to fly are burrowing into the ground for the winter. This is actually based on a myth that swallows burrow into the wet mud in the fall and hibernate all winter. Ruth's peewees don't really hibernate but seem to kind of spend the winter huddled together eating, sleeping, sharing stories and educating Ruth. I once got a call from her court appointed attorney who asked if I was an expert on birds. I don't like to say I'm an expert, but I said I knew a fair amount about birds. She asked if birds like wood peewees burrow into the ground in the winter. I told her no, that wasn't true. She then got very cross and said, "Dammit, I spent three hours last week digging holes in a park looking for the darn birds with her."

Ruth hopes that someone besides her will see the peewees and comes up with elaborate plans with the birds. She says that the birds tell her they are incredibly shy and that's the reason why no one else has seen them in their burrows. At one point, she made some drawings to try and sell so she could get enough money to buy a motion sensitive night vision camera to get photos of the peewees when they come out of the burrows. The recent plan is that some peewees are thinking about allowing their winter burrows to be probed so that we can in fact see that they are there.

Though Ruth is committed she still manages to sneak out of her group home and navigate the Twin Cities bus system to get to peewees or other bird species in need. She once showed up at the store with brown paper bags loaded with peewees. After she left, the bags were inspected and found to have crumpled paper towels, newpapers and dried out baked goods. Last December I saw her show up at the Minnesota Ornithologists' Union Paper Session at the Bell Museum (for those that don't know, that's the big holiday party for hard core Minnesota birders, for some people it is as boring as it sounds, for hard core birders it's really cool and fun)--Ruth works hard to keep up with her bird knowledge.

We just got a call today from Ruth telling us that there are some bed ridden crows who are unable to join the others who roost along the west bank campus in the winter. Her psychic bird network has informed her that the peewees behind my store would be happy to take in the crows if someone will drive them out. Wood peewees and crows: sounds like it's going to be an exciting winter behind the bird store.

Ruth: Back Story

I don't know how many of you remember the psychic birder who knew that the ivory billed woodpecker was still out there because they had been in contact with one psychically for quite some time. Some people thought that person was a little on the nutty side. I know a lady who is a tad delusional but in a way that I kinda hope I am if I have to go.

Ruth called the store a couple of years ago and asked for help. She got one of my staff on the phone who didn't know what to make of her and decided to take her name and number to have me call her back. Before he had a chance to fill me in all the
details, I was dialing the number, I had heard enough of the situation: someone had wood peewees they were helping and needed someone to take them.

My employee looked like he had more to say, but I was too busy preparing my speech for someone who was more than likely raising (and imprinting) baby birds and dialed the number.

Ruth answered the phone, in a quiet and cheery voice. Yes, indeed, she had peewees that needed help--nineteen peewees to be exact. She wasn't able to see them because she never looks at animals directly since it makes them uncomfortable. I thought this was odd, but then again, bird people are often odd.

Ruth told me that she knew for a fact that birds didn't like being looked at, because they told her so. Hm.

Apparently, Ruth had starting hearing bird calls years ago, but about seventeen years ago she began hearing the soft chirps most of us never hear or are aware of. These soft chirps were remarkably clear to her and she soon discovered that animals were able to communicate with her in a way that most people were not able to hear. Since that revelation, she has been teaching and discussing several subjects with insects, birds, mice, and squirrels--everything from astronomy to zoology. Interestingly enough the birds were in no way interested in history. Yes, they understood English
and were aware of certain people, but really didn't care about famous figures in history.

After Ruth began communicating with the birds and insects in her yard, others came to speak with her, many via satellite into her brain. As a matter of fact, the sister of a crow that lived in her yard would leave Wood Lake Nature Center daily and visit Ruth's home because she was in the mood for hot dogs and no one at Wood Lake would ever feed hot dogs. The crow would talk to her and tell her about what was going on from Wood Lake before she came over. Eventually, she began communicating with others like white-throated sparrows (not many people are aware of this, but syphilis is rampant in white-throated sparrows) in a kind of relay system. They would often use her to communicate with others of their kind in different parts of the city.

At one point, she started communicating with wood peewees. It started with a husband and wife who had been having problems finding a proper place to nest and had lost a few kids. As a matter of fact they had decided not to nest this year since they couldn't seem to find any of the proper trees and shrubs. After a time she got to know and get in contact with the extended family members. They were looking for a place to stay that winter and they had figured out what the requirements would be space wise (a room about 7 feet by 11 feet filled with lots of plants). Apparently she had called several stores and anyone she could think of related to birds to try and find a place for her peewees and no one was able to help her. She was almost in tears.

It never occurred to me to ask why the peewees weren't migrating, but a sucker for tears I offered my back room to the peewees. She said that she would have to repeat everything I said out loud since the psychic connection with the peewees was just in her brain and they wouldn't be able to hear me through her ears (it made total sense). The peewees had to be on board with the plan and be totally comfortable with the accommodations. Ruth mentioned that they are interested in talking to many in the birding community because proper nesting habitat is becoming a huge issue for them so they felt the store would be a good place to start.

After we worked out the details of food, plants, sleeping arrangements the next step was getting the wood peewees to the store. As you can imagine, Ruth is in a group home and can't really get out. I offered to give directions so the peewees could just fly over, but the peewees weren't too sure about that. I told her where the bird store was and that we had wood peewees out behind the store in the summer. Well, you'll never guess, but the peewees behind my store were related to Ruth's peewees! The relatives gave directions and checked out the store to make sure the accommodations were suitable. They were and plans were made to transport the peewees.

I thought that would be the end of it and I would never hear from this dear old soul again...oh how wrong I was. Ruth appears to be alone in the world and not aloud to leave the hospital, however she has a knack for sneaking out. One night she took the bus from downtown Minneapolis out to the Minnetonka area with about four paper grocery bags full of her peewees. Ruth worried that the birds were too elderly to fly and so she personally escorted them out to the store and then to the bus back into downtown. We later inspected the bags and they were full of newspaper, crumple paper towls, bread and muffins (but no peewees).

Throughout that winter we got several phone calls about requests the peewees had: chocolate, roast beef, vegetables, and "magic ferns" (something only Ruth had at the group home). By spring, the peewees were ready to go out to our wetland and raise families. Ruth assured us that they really enjoyed our accommodations.

We didn't hear from her all summer until the following September...

Bird Author List

If you haven't checked yet, the bird author checklist is up. If you're a bird author and you're not on the list and you're wondering what gives, be patient it's still a work in progress.

If you're a bird author and you're thinking "My tome is so obscure there's no possible way she'll put me on that list" keep checking, you'll be up there eventually. Part of what may be the hold up are photos. I have some photos that aren't so flattering and I'm trying to determine if our friendship will survive the photo posting.

Naughty Nuthatches Nubby Chickadees

Well, I finished the first draft of the calendar this weekend, although as I type this I realize that I forgot to include any major holidays in the first draft. Although, with all the fabulous bird info in there, do we really care what date Thanksgiving falls on??


Nuthatch with a chip the size of a peanut on his shoulders.

Of course I was a tiny bit distracted by birds at the cabin. There were four thug white-breasted nuthatches out and about. Nuthatches are small and cute to begin with, you through in that nerdy nasally "yank yank" call they give and you can't help but enjoy them. However, when they try to be bad boys they just can't quite pull it off. They were flitting at each other and fighting in mid-air, even momentarily pinning each other on the ground. When other species moved in, the would yank louder and faster and lunge at them. I'd never seen anything like it.

Later in the day a tail free chickadee tried to feed. He had a tough enough time keeping his balance let alone dodging the nefarious nuthatches. If it didn't seem like such a weird molting year I would guess the nuthatches had done away with his tail.


Chickadee without a tail...was this the result of nuthatch gang violence?

On a very "people are nice" note. The girl that lives in the cabin next door asked if I would mind if she put bird feed in the feeders when I'm not around since she was getting into watching the birds. How can you beat that. She said that she would buy some seed, but figuring she was new to this and would probably get a not so good mix, I left her with some medium sunflower chips for good measure.

Link to Audobon

Here's a link to the National Audobon Society.