Red-breasted Nuthatch Nest Construction

I headed out yesterday with Lorraine to do some serious wildflower walking (what the heck has happened to me, I'm interested in wildflowers now) near our beeyard.  Before Lorraine arrived, I headed down in the woods to see if I could figure out what birds were setting up territory where--I like to get know the neighborhood on the trail to our beehives.  There's a pair of Cooper's hawks that have been "kekking" around the hives, but I cannot find the nest at all.  There's a creek on the property line, so it's possible that it's across the creek, but from the calling interactions, it sounds like the nest is on Mr. Neil's property.  Where ever the nest is, I'm glad they feel welcome (and may they eat lots of deer mice).

But, while enjoying birds and vainly pursuing Cooper's hawks, I heard some serious pecking going on--it was loud.  I wondered if it was a downy woodpecker excavating a cavity and was shocked to discover that it was a female red-breasted nuthatch.  That tiny little thing was making some seriously loud pecking sounds! She was actually across the creek and I was still able to hear her.  You'll note a little haziness in these images, with the leaves coming out this nest is going to be well hidden very soon.  I marked where I stood, but who knows if in a week if it will be visible.  I was excited to find my first ever red-breasted nuthatch nest though.

Pitooey!  Look at that spray of debris!  She was really going to town.  It was interesting to note that she was not wearing a band, Mark and Roger have not banded her yet and they have banded a few red-breasteds when they come out to Mr. Neil's.  I found it interesting that the female was excavating the cavity, that seems like something a male would do.  I checked the handy dandy Birds of North America Online and it reads that female red-breasted nuthatches select the nesting site.  It did mention that males who had not paired up early on may excavate four different sites to show a prospective female.  The above female worked and then disappeared.  I heard some chattering and soon, a male flew in and took over excavation duties:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-NJGGvH-Ks&feature=channel[/youtube]

He was much more vocal as he excavated where the female had been silent.  It reminded me of one of those arguments you can have in a marriage where the male may be doing one thing (like excavating four different holes for you to lay eggs in) and quietly, the female begins work on the place she really wants.  The male then comes over to excavate and mutters, "Dammit, I excavated 4 different holes and then she picks one way at the far edge of the territory and now I have to start over on a new one!  What does she think my bill is made of? A woodpecker bill?  Ratcha Fracka Friker Frack!"

They are excavating near where I hear all of the Cooper's hawk kekking.  I hope I'm able to keep watching this nest through the leaves and that the two unlikely neighbors get along.

25% Increase In Bald Eagle Nests In Twin Cities Metro Area

There's an article in the Star Tribune this morning about a recent bald eagle survey conducted in the National Park I work for--the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area.  The area surveyed is the same where we do the bald eagle banding in spring.

Cool Things Afoot At eBird

I have to say that I'm totally digging the BirdsEye app from eBird that let's see what birds are being reported during migration.  eBird is up to all sorts of cool things, but have you taken a look at what they are doing with all that data they are collecting? Here's a link to an animated map of the eastern phoebe migration reports.  Cool.

Random Trout Lily

I'm going to have to park myself at my beehives at some point next week.  So many native wildflowers are about to erupt.  Many are already blooming but there were several sprouting yesterday.  If it's sunny the first part of next week...the woods will be dominated by these delicate and brave first flowers of the spring like this trout-lily (so named because the spots on the leaves resemble the coloring of a trout.

Wildflowers To Pass The Time

This spring has been spectacular for wildflowers and the woods around the beehives are covered in them.  We've planted some natives and a two years ago, I bought some clearance large-flowered trillium to add in.  I was inspired to encourage more near Mr. Neil's house because you can find a few small patches of trillium (both nodding and large-flowered) in the surrounding woods and about ten miles away is a HUGE hill that is covered with them in the spring--I've never seen such a large patch in my life.  The person who owns the land also has a maple syrup farm so I think that patch is quite safe from development.  I was sad last summer that not one of the four clearance trillium I planted grew but yesterday I a nice surprise:

I found one shyly unfolding!  A second grew nearby--some of my trillium took after all! Now, I hope that they spread, it's a pretty cool and ingenious process (for a plant).

After the trillium matures they get this spongey bit called an elaiosome that holds the seeds.  The ants take it back to their nest and eat it, and the seeds are left and germinate.  So, if you see a large cluster of trilliums, you know there's a few ant nests there too.

Trillium aren't the only excitement for me in the woods--the Dutchmen's breeches are all over the place--I've never seen so many.  Gotta love a plant that looks like there are a bunch of tiny pantaloons hanging off the stem.

North Mississippi Rookery Still Visible

I had to take a local film crew to North Mississippi Regional Park again to see the heron rookerly.  Since leaf out is so early (this is the first time since I've lived in Minnesota that I have seen lilacs blooming in April) I was curious how much of the rookery was still visible.  Here's what it looked like a couple of weeks ago.

Some of the nests are still visible but most were quite hidden.  One of the trees had fallen over in the last week.  I'm not sure if it fell because it was dead and weak or if the local beaver had a hand (or should I say tooth) in it?  Fortunately it's early enough that there most likely only eggs in the nest and any heron that had a nest in that tree has time to start over.  Quite a few males were still flying in with sticks but almost every nest I looked at had serious incubation going on.

This heron stood up from her incubation and adjusted a few sticks and then she went through the motions of regurgitation.  I wondered if she had a recently hatched chick?  It's not out of the realm of possibility.  What's interesting is that I gave a program last week at the fabulous Coon Rapids Dam and my friend Michelle Cook who works there said that the herons there did not return to the rookery this year.  Since North Mississippi Regional Park's rookery is only about 7 river miles south of Coon Rapids Dam, I wondered if the herons were too tired to go further north?  Or maybe it's because some other birds have moved into the Coon Rapids Dam rookery in recent years?

There is some bridge work going on near this rookery and I know people have some concerns.  I doubt the bridge work is going to bother the herons.  This rookery is in close ear shot of Hwy 94--it's noisy already.  The birds seem to have a tolerance for noise.  There's also quite a bit of river traffic along the river there anyway.  So long as no one is climbing the trees, I think the birds will deal.  If not, they will probably end up back at Coon Rapids next year.

Speaking noise, one of the trees hosting some heron nests appears to be hosting a pair of yellow-shafted flickers too.  The male is on the left (with the black mustache) and the female is on the right.

The male flicker worked his way up his trunk and disappeared into a hole.  I wondered if he was excavating a nest cavity and soon got my answer:

He came out with a beakful of wood chips.  Hopefully it will be a successful nest and the pair will not be chased out by starlings.  Wow.  If the herons in that tree can put up with woodpecker hammering, I think they'll tolerate the Camden Bridge construction.

Purple Martins

When I was leaving Crex Meadows last Friday, I drove through Grantsburg, WI and a large, dark swallow flying overhead caught my attention--purple martins!  There were only a few flying, but I drove to the city park to see if I could get better views.

These are the purple martin houses in the park, mounted perfectly out in the open and next to a lake.  They have both a wooden house and hanging gourds on telescoping poles--a professional setup.  When I worked at the bird store in the Twin Cities, we used to tell people that you could see purple martins around April 15 (tax time) and I took these photos on April 16 so these martins were right on time.

There were only adult males flying around the house--strong, hardy birds risking an early arrival when food might be scarce to secure the best nest cavities to attract females.  I love that people provide housing for martins, but I do wonder that these birds rely too heavily on humans.  Before European settlement in North America, these birds nested communally in snags with several woodpecker holes.  Now, they nest on human made houses and gourds.  And check out that structure: a low oval shaped hole and a little deck--I'm sure this design has come about in the last 15 years as a way to keep out non native species like house sparrows and starlings but still--no tree in the wild is going to have a deck and I've yet to find a woodpecker that would make a cavity in that shape.

I checked out Birds of North America Online to see what information was available on martin populations and found this paragraph:

"Reproductive success can be increased by offering birdhouses with larger cavities (15 x 30 cm or larger), making nests harder for owls or other avian predators to reach (Wilkins 1994), or by using gourds; by installing owl guards on birdhouses (Bowditch 1990) and snake guards on poles; by reducing ectoparasite populations through application of insecticide (pieces of No-Pest Strip or 5% Sevin) to nests or through replacement of existing nesting material with fresh grass; by modifying entrance holes to exclude starlings (Keller 1995); and by installing porch dividers to prevent older nestlings from entering adjacent nests and stealing food from younger broods (Morton 1991)."

I find some of that paragraph disturbing.  I love that people are creating nesting sites for martins--that's awesome and great way to give back to what we've taken away from their habitat.  However, applying pesticides to nests?  Replace existing nesting material with fresh?  Installing porch dividers to prevent older nestlings from stealing food from younger nestlings? That is going too far.  When people interfere with a martin colony to the point of doing things beyond what the martins would be doing naturally on their own in the wild, then those birds cease to be wild birds, but become pets.  Or at the very least, "kept birds" like a set a triplets at the Playboy Mansion.  Maybe older nestlings stealing food from younger nestlings ensures the stronger martins survive (happens in the raptor world all the time).  Maybe some martins dying from insects will help sort out birds who are strong enough to survive that survive over birds too weak to tolerate blood sucking insects).  Maybe birds raised in nests that have the material replaced constantly will have a weaker immune system.   BNA pointed out that most people simply put up a house and not go to extreme measures.  But still, I'm baffled by people who do these things and think they are helping the population over all.

Although, if I'm going to argue that, should I argue about baffles placed on poles to keep out raccoons, squirrels and snakes?  Trees in the wild wouldn't have that?  And while I'm complaining about too much human interference, should I take down my bird feeders?  And now the can is open and worms are everywhere.

I posted a photo last week of one of these martins and someone said that she couldn't see the difference between purple martins and blackbirds and starlings.  So I thought I'd post a couple of photos in case others couldn't tell them apart.  Martins are very dark, so I can understand how they could resemble blackbirds to the untrained eye.  First, follow this link from Xeno-Canto to hear what purple martins sound like.

Here's a common grackle.  Note the yellow eye (martins have dark eyes).  Also, if you look at the photos above, you'll see a purple or almost indigo sheen.  The grackle has a blue sheen to its head and the body is bronze.  The bill and tail is much longer than a martin's bill and tail.  Also, if you look up at one of the martin photos above, you'll see a slight fork to the tail--grackles do not have that.  Also, grackles are not cavity nesters like martins.  They build cup nests in tree branches.  Here's what grackles sound like.

Here is a starling.  They do nest in cavities and sometimes they will even try to take over a purple martin colony.  Starlings during the breeding season have a yellow bill (in winter, it's black).  They tend to have a more greenish sheen to their feathers.  In winter, they have speckles on their feathers, but they are worn off in the breeding season.  Also, starlings can mimic...so they could sound like martin, but here are some common starling songs.

I don't think I need to post a photo of a red-winged blackbird--you don't see any patches of red on the wings of a purple martin.  If you've never visited a purple martin colony, do check out the one in Grantsburg...or find out if there are any nesting near your town.  They are a pleasant bird to watch and listen too.  I do enjoy that loud warble of a large colony.

Quick Crex Meadows Trip, Mostly Cranes

Last Friday I went up to do Duluth for a workshop.  I was only there for the day and thought that I would stop by Crex Meadows on my way home since it's somewhat on the way to the Twin Cities.  Usually April can be a great time for ducks...but the migration is a little weird this year and I think the ducks may have already moved through, I didn't see too much. It was incredibly busy while I was there, so if there were many ducks, I'm sure they were tucked in some vegetation.

But there is always something fun to be found at Crex Meadows--quite a few pairs of trumpeter swans nest there and it's a great place to watch them.  I found 2 swans with neck bands and turned the band numbers in to the BBL.  I like Crex because you have the option of walking trails or you can do the wildlife drive and if you want photos, you can use your car as a blind.  I have a window mount for my scope so it works fairly well. Birds usually don't mind cars, but they do seem to mind the things that come out of them.

There were a few ducks out and about--here's one of about a dozen blue-winged teal that were working the waters.  There were a few wood ducks and Canada geese as well.  Even though I was using my car for a blind, the wind was still harsh and it was a challenge to get clear photos.  As I eased my way down the gravel road, I thought I about calling it quits early.

I was loving the light for photos but the wind was too much and there weren't too many birds.  Then some movement in the reeds caught my eye.  The movement was in the reeds in the middle of the photo (in front of the large beaver dam).  It was a pair of sandhill cranes--do you see 'em?  I can't in this photo either, so here are some digiscoped images:

The cranes worked their shape and color to hide in the dried cattails as they tried to figure out if I was a threat to them.  The larger crane kept a good eye on me while the smaller crane continued to forage and I think work on a nest.

Even though the cranes were so close, it was still a challenge to get photos because of the tall vegetation blocking them (and the wind continually moving the old cattails).  Doh.

The cranes eventually continued their foraging and when their heads were down, I would slowly creep my car into a new position to try and get a clear shot but the above photo is one of about 500 partially blocked cranes.  Doh some more.

Even though I was getting crane blocked with my shots, I did like some of the photo and the weird colors and shapes I picked up.  I love how the eye is practically glowing orange next to that red skin patch.

Eventually, I did get a few shots of one of the cranes completely unblocked in the face--lovely sandhill crane.  It was fun to just watch a pair and not several thousand like I usually do in Nebraska.  Check out those brown feathers--those are not the color those feathers grew in, cranes rub dirt on their feathers and stain them.

Eventually the cranes came out of the vegetation and began foraging in the water and even called a few times--again strange to see two and not thousands making noise.

They were absolutely gorgeous in the late afternoon sun.

The wind was still going strong and a few times it even interfered with the cranes gracefulness.  Got to be hard to be so tall and lanky on a wind swept pool of shallow water.  I didn't get a huge variety of birds, but all in all, the stop at Crex to watch the cranes was well worth it.

I noticed a couple of osprey flying around Crex but was surprised to find that one of their nesting platforms will not be available this year.  A pair of bald eagles too it over--right out in the open.

I'll have to remember to go back during warbler season.  In the past, I have had some GREAT warbler days here.  Although, with how much the trees have leafed out already, I think actually seeing warblers will be a challenge this year.  They are going to be well hidden in the canopy when they pass through.

You Can't See Me

Sandhill cranes works his camo mojo.

Purple Martins in MN & WI

Anyone in Minnesota or Wisconsin have purple martin houses?  Are they ready?  Today I say my first of the year purple martins in Grantsburg, WI (near the Minnesota border).  You usually see the bird martins arrive around tax day (April 15) in my neck of the woods, so these large dark swallows are right on time.