the modest birder (11) November 2009

Tuesday, November 10; temp. 46-65, grey with light mist early and greyer in the afternoon in advance of drizzles and soft rain the next morning. Admittedly, as far as birds, this was not a typical day, but neither is it a composite of several days. Early November was rather dry with lots of blue days and on Saturday (the 7th) there was a low of 28 degrees. There were good movements of birds on Sunday (blue and calm) and on Monday (which began blue, but became grey about 10.30am). These movements, in small mixed flocks or single birds came up the creek and from the creek moved up the slope mostly through the trees that form the border with our southern neighbor (to my left) and disappear within about 30 minutes. I have not put up any feeders as I want to know whether any birds will hang around for several days or weeks without feeders and I can assume they are likely winter residents.

Today, the 10th, began at 7.30 with 6 Robins in the dogwood in front of the bedroom window (to the left of my chair), but when a Redtail drifted over at least 11Robins made for the brush by the creek; they, increased to 17 + 2 Starlings, came back fairly soon to flit from dogwood to Norway spruce or the upper reaches of any tree. They were not steady feeders and like other Robins in the past days, they kept picking the berries from the middle of each bunch, mostly at the very tip of the branches. This involved much fluttering [in the evening when the tree was bare, the ground was resplendent with bright red spots, the fallen berries].
About 8.30 the Redtail settled down in the lower part of a hickory half way down to the creek. Almost immediately 3 Blue Jays, 2 Red-bellied Woodpeckers and 3 Chickadees arrived in the upper stories, including that above the Redtail. The presence of the hawk did however cause the 5 squirrels that have been around to stay hidden. By 9.15 the smaller birds had left.
At 10.30, when I began reading the paper, more birds arrived beginning with several White-breasted Nuthatches and Titmice (the Titmice appeared to be travelling in pairs). 1 Downy and 2 more Red-bellieds (this time a male and a female that followed each other from tree to tree, but were never in the same tree), 1 Sapsucker (this may be the same that has been around for almost a week when I noticed it a few times eating dogwood berries while hanging upside down, chickadee style, from the thin, swinging, branches). Several Juncos also arrived, 3 in the spruce and 5 on the ground. A little later an immature Ruby-crowned Kinglet was foraging in the spruce and nearby trees (on Sunday there had been a Golden-crowned adult that foraged only in the spruce).
From 11 to 1pm I worked in the garden, emptying all the containers and wheeling the soil to fill the gullies the plentiful summer rains left near the road. As I rested in the garden armchair by the vegetable garden, a noticed several separate little flocks of 10-15 Robins and Starlings each, flying in straight lines, north to south, about 200 feet up.
By 2pm a pair of Bluebirds settled on the wires over the road near the wooden utility pole at the end of the drive way. There is a transformer on that pole and several cables are strung from there to the wires that go, across the closely mowed field to the next pole at Rte 113. In the Spring those wires are favored by the resident Bluebirds who hawk insects in the closely mowed grass below them or on the bank across the road that remains warmed by the sun all day. Today the Bluebirds were also hawking on the grass, but the male explored the clusters of drying oak leaves on the tree overhanging the drive. At other times it descended along the utility pole catching insects while perched at a slant against to pole and once in a while picking them from the space next to the cables going up by hovering; this was the first time that I had seen Bluebirds forage like that.

On the whole the month has been pretty much like previous Novembers, but there's always a surprise. It appeared on Wednesday the 11th which was drizzly throughout the morning with temperatures in the 40s. There was little activity and I concentrated on the NYT's coverage of the shootings at Fort Hood in Texas. At 12.45, as I folded the paper to take a break I noticed a windblown dark raptor "in the corner of my eye." A Turkey Vulture I said to myself. But then it circled back over our trees and I realized that it was smaller, about the size of a Redtail. As it banked for the second time I noticed that in spite of its generally dark appearance there was a notable black band at the end of its tail. This made me think of a dark morph Roughlegged Hawk. By this time I had my three identification books opened at the hawks. This bird did not have any of the silvery configuration of even a dark morph Roughleg and the pictures strongly suggested that this bird, still circling low above the canopies and the open field across the road was a Swainson's Hawk and a new "Yard bird."

There have been fewer hawks than "normal" although the month began with 2 Redtails on the first, an immature in the morning and an adult in the afternoon. Both perched for a while to survey the undergrowth. The adult stayed around and in the middle of the month was joined by another and both have become residents. The often chased each other off a perch, though they also come up from the farm field together, soaring as if in a courtship flight, slowly rising up into a clear sky. I am certain that these are returning winter residents and even wonder whether they are not the pair that ends up breeding in the nest along Rte 113 on the edge of the woods. There a small field is used as a grazing meadow that is separated from the rest of the farm by an ill kept hedgerow. It has several old trees, fallen trunks and a copse of tall hardwoods in which there is a nest, originally built by crows but taken over by the Redtails about 7 years ago.

Only one Sharpshin and a rare Merlin appeared, both streaking through the trees to be gone in a minute. Sharpshins have been around in previous winters as local residents, but not last winter. They may have left the field to the Cooper's that have been regular visitors to the feeders, usually the larger female but sometimes also a "full color" adult male. In fact, an immature male that I first thought was a female Sharpshin, was perched low, one hickory away from the feeders on the day after I had put them out on the 20th (before my grandchildren arrived for Thanksgiving). As it turned out the morning after Thanksgiving a Redtail was perched low eating something dark, probably a mouse as I didn't find any feathers after it flew off.

On the two days before I put the feeders out the high temperatures were 55 and 56. The first, a Wednesday and thus a NYT day (for its Food section) began blue but clouds moved in by late afternoon, the next began grey and rain came in the evening.
As I was reading I noticed a perched Redtail on the other side of the creek but by 9.30 there were 5 Bluejays, several Robins, 3 Yellow-rumped Warblers, a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers, 1 normal sized Downy and two smaller (presumably a Southern) one, 1 White Breasted Nuthatch, a Titmouse, a male Bluebird (that was foraging in a hickory like a titmouse)and a junco in the honeysuckle on the porch.

Having finished with the paper. I cut down the wild asters, the Peonies and Iris, etc., in the flower borders to make life easier for the landscaper who was to clean off the fallen debris and the leaves. All but a few branches on the red oaks are bare now. Not long after I had returned to my armchair, a Brown Creeper, A Hairy Woodpecker and a Flicker came up the creek across the road and foraged in our trees. The next day both my Southern neighbor and I had the gardeners making their racket in the morning, but as soon as they had gone by lunch time, Nuthatches, Titmice, Chickadees and a pair of Bluebirds appeared. I expected the Bluebirds to hawk in the grass of the cleaned slope, but they foraged in the trees before flying down to the creek where they began catching insects that were flying among the windfalls that never get cleaned down there.

When I put the feeders out on the 20th it was 49 degrees on a blue morning with a few high clouds and a chilly breeze after a rainy night with a 1/2" of rain. As I drank my morning coffee I noticed 8 Juncos and 3 Bluejays in the hedgerow to my left and at ten, when I went out with the feeders there were bird sounds all around. Within half an hour several Chickadees, Titmice, Nuthatches, 1 female Downy and 1 male Goldfinch began to feed. These birds came up the slope from upstream where the undergrowth is thickest. Of these I had not seen the Goldfinch, but several had been foraging in the field across the road or flew over the farm fields. At 11.30 a male Downy arrived as well as a male Redbellied. By 12,30 a male Cardinal was in the brush by the creek (but did not come up to the feeders until later); a Brown Creeper was on the suet by 1.30. Every day some "new" birds arrived, as follows: 11/21 2 Mourning Doves, 6 more Juncos and one more Bluejay; 11/22 4 Housefinches, a Flicker (that spent much of its time hacking away at a branch in a dead spruce and one Yellow Rump that foraged in the junipers; 11/23 one more Housefinch, a Song Sparrow, 2 more Goldfinches, a Hairy and a pair of Sapsuckers (and a male Bluebird on the birdbath); 11/23 a White-throated Sparrow, a Carolina Wren (mostly not on the feeders), a male Hairy and 3 more Mourning Doves, 1 male and 2 female Cardinals in the brush by the creek but I did not spot them on the feeders. Then the grandkids and their black lab ran up and down the creek and few birds came to the feeders, even in the frequent pauses when they came in to eat and drink or to fabricate a fishing pole from a stick and a vine (with a cherry tomato as a floater). On Saturday everyone worked up and down the slope to gather stones to build a "jetty" to slow down "our" branch of the creek. It actually worked and a pool was formed behind it. Apparently the "minnows" my youngest grandson has seen, gathered in that pool and the next day a Great Blue Heron that came up the creek from the Perkiomen, caught something that was rather larger than a minnow, no doubt a crayfish.

Last winter I wrote three blogs named "If you plant it . . ." in which I expressed my doubts about the ability to attract birds, for example those that are often featured on bags of seed or on feeders (especially those that may not commonly occur in a region) and suggested that the birds that do come are already in the neighborhood. To sort of test this assumption I waited, as I said, with putting our feeders out until it looked that the birds that might use them, were already present. And although the numbers of some species continue to increase it seems that these additional birds are also around, for I see them in the nearby fields, in my neighbors' yards or in the woods up the creek, while our feeders are being frequented at the same time. (I seem to have real success only in attracting squirrels, though all 7 of them find enough acorns on the ground at the moment). As to the theory that feeding makes birds rely on humans and unlearn their natural ability to forage in the wild, the birds I observe actually forage more in our trees than they spend time on the feeders. In fact, if we draw birds away from other parts, their presence here increases the benefit as I (not too seriously) wonder whether any insects will be left for next year. Moreover, I doubt that birds would loose their ability to forage in the wild in a year or a generation. When you read migration studies you often are reminded that adults and juveniles leave their breeding grounds separately and at intervals, the assumption being that migratory routes are part of a birds genetic make up. A corollary of this obviously is that the parent may not be around to "teach" the young how to forage (which could explain why I have seen immature raptors miss their prey). Thus I am inclined to think that foraging techniques may also be part of their genetic make up. There is, of course, literature on the subject (some of which indicates that feeding by parents continues after fledging, but that the young must learn to feed by imitation and in a hurry as parents tend to leave. But what about passerine families, eg. titmice, chickadees and others that forage, even while apparently migrating, together well into early Sept. Are they 2nd broods?

An example of birds foraging for themselves in our trees is illustrated by the slow consumption of my suet cakes. The current one, nearly finished, lasted for 8 days. It's composed of veg. fat, peanuts and blueberries, 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 1" and serves 2 Sapsuckers, 2 or more Redbellied Woodpeckers, 4+ Downies, 2 Hairies, 2+ Nuthatches, 2 Brown Creepers, 1 Flicker (rarely), i.e. at least 15 birds. The Downies and Nuthatches sometimes visit the seed feeders, but so far none of the others have. Last winter, espec. with snow, 1 cake would be gone in 3 days. To discourage the squirrels I now use hor pepper suet exclusively; they last an average of 5 days.

I have not made an effort to inspect the trees up and down the creek, but today I saw a male Cardinal fly across the road near the culvert, about 3/10th of a mile away. Both sides are very wooded with thick brush there; at other times Titmice were there and once a Redbellied. No knowing if these come to feed at our place as the neighbors across the creek have one feeder.