Grackles, Grackles everywhere!!!

Each Morning my yard is a sea of black iridescent birds with hundreds more in the treetops.  They are loud and intimidating at times.  This time of year the Common Grackle is out in full force taking over many a backyard. 

You’ll often find Common Grackles in large flocks, flying or foraging on lawns and in agricultural fields. They strut on their long legs, pecking for food rather than scratching. At feeders Common Grackles dominate smaller birds. When resting they sit atop trees or on telephone lines, keeping up a raucous chattering.

Common Grackles are resourceful foragers. They sometimes follow plows to catch invertebrates and mice, wade into water to catch small fish, pick leeches off the legs of turtles, steal worms from American Robins, raid nests, and kill and eat adult birds.

Grackles have a hard keel on the inside of the upper mandible that they use for sawing open acorns. Typically they score the outside of the narrow end, then bite the acorn open.  Since my yard has an abundance of Oak trees, we have quite the feast for these noisy birds.

I found this fact to be quite interesting.  You might see a Common Grackle hunched over on the ground, wings spread, letting ants crawl over its body and feathers. This is called anting, and grackles are frequent practitioners among the many bird species that do it. The ants secrete formic acid, the chemical in their stings, and this may rid the bird of parasites. In addition to ants, grackles have been seen using walnut juice, lemons and limes, marigold blossoms, chokecherries, and mothballs in a similar fashion.  What a wonder of creation!


In winter, Common Grackles forage and roost in large communal flocks with several different species of blackbird. Sometimes these flocks can number in the millions of individuals.  This explains why there are so many of them this time of year.

Common Grackles are large, noisy, and gregarious birds that often flock with other blackbirds, cowbirds, and starlings, especially in winter. At feeders they tower over other birds and push them aside to get at food. Grackles typically forage on the ground and roost high in trees or on power lines. Common Grackles sometimes nest in loose colonies of up to 200 pairs, showing little territoriality except when nesting in the spring.  No wonder large groups of Grackles are referred to as plagues!

It's about time!

Who ever heard of a birder without a decent camera!?  Well the San part of Arsan finally has gotten up to date.  Here are my first three bird pictures.  A Song Sparrow, a Blue Jay and a Finch.  Can't wait to share more.

Impromptu Birding Adventure

We have been trying to get together for a few hours of birding.  We found out that there were quite a few sightings of birds at Sunken Meadow park.  All we had to do now was find the time.  We vacillated endlessly about do we go or do we re-schedule.   



Red-Winged Darter Dragonfly

 We finally agreed to go on this past Sunday, but we choose a closer birding spot.  The weather couldn't have been more picture perfect.  The air was crisp, the breeze was warm and we were making time to go bird watching.  

Armed with a list of potential birds to spot, off we go back to Caleb Smith's Park.  The leaves were beginning to turn, the park was a buzz with activity.  We studied our trail map, and decided to go where Cedar Waxwings are normally spotted at the park.  

Sadly, no Waxwings to add to our list, but we did find an Eastern Phoebe.

Perhaps the most familiar flycatcher in eastern North America, the Eastern Phoebe nests near people on buildings and bridges. It can be recognized by its emphatic "phee-bee" call and its habit of constantly wagging it tail.  Even though we can't add them to our list, it was a great sighting. 


 







We continue on, and we see the typical water fowls such as Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks. Mallard Ducks are dabblers.  

Dabblers, filter-feed at the surface of water, tips-up in shallow water, and makes occasional dives in deeper water.  We were able to catch two of them doing just that!

 

As we slowly move on the Yellow trail we come to this field with birds flying in and out of the bushes.  This is where we see White-Throated Sparrow's which winter on Long Island. 

We also saw Junco's which also winter on Long Island.  Although they look nothing alike and aren’t particularly closely related, the White-Throated Sparrow and the Dark-eyed Junco occasionally mate and produce hybrids. The resulting offspring look like grayish, dully marked White-Throated Sparrows with white outer tail feathers.
 
As we get deeper into the woods, we spot a bird that fellow birders tried to tell us wasn't what we thought it was.  Needless to say we were right.  

We spotted a Yellow-Rumped Warbler, they too winter on Long Island.  Yellow-rumped Warblers have two main calls. The more common one, a sharp chek, differs between the myrtle and Audubon's races. Both forms are quite recognizable and are a key call to learn for a bird watcher hoping to start sorting out migrating warblers in fall. Both sexes make this call frequently, both while foraging and while flying. Yellow-rumped Warblers also make a soft psit and a high tsee in flight.  Based on the song we heard these Warblers were from the Myrtle race.  
 
Before we knew it, it was 4pm and the park was closing.  We have made tentative plans to return.  We had a wonderful few hours, and it was close to home. 


We are very glad that funding was found to keep Caleb's Smith park open to the public.  It is definitely worth the trip. 

A day at Robert Moses with the Seagulls

A beautiful summer like day in the fall, home on a staycation, what to do?  Let's go to the Beach!  The waves were spectacular.  The birds were as enthralled with the magnificence as we were.  The waves kept most of us out of the water, so that gave us the opportunity to watch the Seagulls.

As we meander back to the car, we see something amazing.  A Seagull at the water fountain.  Now you may wonder why would that be amazing, well how often do you see Seagulls drinking from a water fountain!  The Herring Gull regularly drinks fresh water when it is available. If none is around, the gull will drink seawater. Special glands located over its eyes allow it to excrete the salt. The salty excretion can be seen dripping out of the gull's nostrils and off the end of its bill.

The Herring Gull is part of a complex of large, white-headed gulls that breed across the northern hemisphere. Some people consider all of the forms as one species, while others would recognize 10 or more species. The Lesser Black-backed and Yellow-legged gulls currently are recognized as different species, but birds intermediate between them and the Herring Gull occur. Only one form, the American Herring Gull, is common in North America.  It was a great day for all.

Hatless at Hawk Mountain

Against all odds, we made it to Hawk Mountain.  It was touch and go for a while.  In fact, we referred to each other as "Asthma" and "Cracked Rib".  How glad we were to have made the effort.  Neither of us had been there for several years.  So, anxious to get started, we arrived about 9:00 am.  It was a beautiful day.  The forecast was mostly sunny, in the low 80's, winds WSW at 10 mph. 

The trek to the South Lookout is a short one.  The trail is unobstructed and wide.  From the get go, however, we realized that even a slight gust of wind, at this time of year, would produce a barrage of falling acorns.  And while acorns probably weigh only about 1/2 an ounce, by the time they hit the ground they sounded more like falling baseballs!  Oh how we were wishing for hard hats!  Not having planned for this, each time the wind blew, at least one hand would be covering our heads.  Here is a picture of a little stash of acorns someone's been collecting for the winter. 

From the South Lookout there is a picturesque view of the valley known as the Kettle.  During the Broadwing season thermals develop above the River of Rocks carrying "kettles" of Broadwings high over the Sanctuary.  The River of Rocks is a boulder field resulting from indirect glacial activity.  Here's Ar at the South Lookout.

The trek to the North Lookout is an entirely different story.  While not far, (about 3/4 of a mile) the climb becomes steeper and rockier.  The Sanctuary has kindly incorporated some rocky staircases.  They even included some much appreciated handrails and a bench at the top to take a breather!  There goes San.

Since 1934, well over one million persons have climbed to the North Lookout, including many well-known naturalists including Robert Bateman and Roger Tory Peterson.  The view from the top is quite spectacular.  You can see North, East and South.  The view to the East is the Kittatinny Ridge.  This "endless mountain" of the Lenape Indians snakes its way south from the Delaware Water Gap, some 50 miles to the northeast.   The Kittatinny Ridge is part of the larger Appalachian Mountain range which begins in Nova Scotia and ends in Georgia.  Over 2,000 miles of mixed deciduous and coniferous forest.  The Ridge facilitates the locating of migrating birds.  The slight peaks, or knuckles are numbered 1 to 5 from right to left.  The Sanctuary personnel with the spotting scope, is the one doing the official counting.  He alerts the rest of the birders where to look.  For example, "Bald Eagle over 2 moving toward 3."  On days with northerly winds, look between 4 and the slope of 5, on days of south and east winds, birds can be spotted off #1. 

The picture with the ridge to the right is the Pinnacle.  The Pinnacle is a southern extension of the Kittatinny Ridge.  There are several parallel ridges.  Others are Owl's Head and Hemlock Heights.  These ridges are also useful in locating a bird sighting.  A new means of bird locating in the past few years is the power plant on the ridge to the north.  It can be clearly seen as can the windmills dotting the horizen.  The new wind farm was controversial due to the large corridor of migrating birds.

We staked our claim on a comfortable rock, away from the crowds.  It didn't take long to realize why no one was sitting out here.  It was oh so hot and bright!  Necessity called for hats but there was no reply.  We had forgotten them!  We will not make that mistake again!  The smart birders all found lodging in the shade of some trees. 

Once settled, we donned out binoculars to scan the ridges.  It wasn't long before the Broadwinged Hawks began riding the thermals.  The birds in each kettle ranged anywhere from 12 to 50 in number.  In our four hour stay, we saw at least 6 or 8 kettles.  We also saw a number of Sharp-Shinned Hawks, 3 Ospreys, 3 Bald Eagles, and Ar saw either the one Merlin spotted for the day or one of the two American Kestrels.

There were two other winged creatures that we saw in great number.  One rather large, the other rather small.  Although some migrate, Turkey Vultures can be seen year round in Pennsylvania.  They also ride the thermals, looking for a tasty, dead morsel.  The other winged creature was six-legged rather than two-legged.  Everyone referred to this annoying little creature as a Stink Bug.  Why?  Because apparently they stink if you crush them, which we did not.  We shooed them away while, at the same time, making sure that we did not fling our cameras or binoculars off the cliff!

We have included the final count for the day, which is posted everyday at sundown.  Birding is not an exact science.  On days when conditions are ideal, few birds may be seen.  You may see many on days when conditions are not optimal.

Any who...you may be wondering why we are blogging about Hawk Mountain at all, since our stated mission is to focus on the birds living year-round on Long Island.  Well, Hawk Mountain is,  for lack of a better word, a magical place.  It's a place to clear your head, view our beautiful planet, and enjoy some of Jehovah's majestic creations!  Our focus is still Long Island birds, but we enjoyed going out on this tangent.  Hope you enjoyed reading it.  Hawk Mountain is a great place to visit.  Check it out at www.hawkmountain.org.  Hopefully pictures added soon!

                                                     



 






































Preparing for Winter

This is the time of year that my American Goldfinches start preparing for the coming winter.  Nowadays we have to fill up our three thistle feeders every day.

This is my favorite time of year to watch the Goldfinches right outside my kitchen window.                              

The birds get very competitive, and the females now seem to out number the males.  Sometimes, even if there is a vacant perch they will push one another off a perch so they can sit there.  Not sure why they do this, but it is fun to watch them go at it.

American Goldfinches are the only finch that molts its body feathers twice a year, once in late winter and again in late summer. The brightening yellow of male goldfinches each spring is one welcome mark of approaching warm months.  Of course the opposite holds true for the darkening of the feathers is a sign that Autumn is here.

Goldfinches do move south in winter following a pattern that seems to coincide with regions where the minimum January temperature is no colder than 0 degrees Fahrenheit on average.  Since we thankfully never get that cold on Long Island, we have our American Goldfinch all year round. The Goldfinches are very versatile, they will even feed upside if they have to.

Goldfinches eat seeds almost exclusively. Main types include seeds from composite plants such as sunflowers, thistle, asters, etc., grasses, and trees such as alder, birch, western red cedar, and elm. At feeders they prefer nyjer(thistle) and sunflower.  So we keep our thistle feeders far away from our other feeders, but the Goldfinch know where everything in our yard is situated.  We even added another feeder to our collection that is primarily for sunflower seeds (the yellow feeder). 



An interesting fact about Goldfinches, is that human activity has generally benefited the American Goldfinch. It is often found in residential areas, attracted to bird feeders put up by humans, which increases its survival rate in these areas.  And believe it or not but, deforestation by humans also creates open meadow areas which are the preferred habitat of the American Goldfinch.

These birds sing for me outside my window all day long.  What a privilege it is to be a part of their daily routine!

Osprey

Courtesy of Sandi

We have another contributing photo from our free-lance photographer Sandi.  While out on their boat she was able to capture these great shot's of an Osprey. 

Osprey are one of the largest birds of prey in North America, the Osprey eats almost exclusively fish. It is one of the most widespread birds in the world, found on all continents except Antarctica.  Osprey wingspan is between 4 1/2 - 7 feet, and they stand up to about 2 feet.  That is indeed a large bird.

The Osprey readily builds its nest on manmade structures, such as telephone poles, channel markers, duck blinds, and nest platforms designed especially for it. Such platforms have become an important tool in reestablishing Ospreys in areas where they had disappeared. In some areas nests are placed almost exclusively on artificial structures.

Typical Osprey Nest

Osprey eggs do not hatch all at once, but instead the first chick hatches out up to five days before the last one. The eggs are about the size of Chicken eggs.  When hatched the older chick dominates its younger siblings, and can monopolize the food brought by the parents. If food is abundant, little aggression is seen amongst the chicks, but if food is limited, the younger chicks often starve.

Courtesy of Sandi

The Osprey is a fish-eating specialist, with live fish accounting for about 99% of its diet. Barbed pads on the soles of its feet help it grip slippery fish. When an Osprey takes a large fish to its nest, it carries the fish headfirst to make it as aerodynamic as possible.

As always we appreciate our fellow birders sending us their pictures.  Since Ospreys are summer birds on Long Island, San and I can't add them to our list.  But they are beautiful birds.

Thanks Sandi for the great pictures.