Archive for 2013

A Ruby-crowned Kinglet Singing and a Red-tailed Hawk in Flight

Friday, November 8th, 2013

Late this morning I heard the quick, complex little song of a Ruby-crowned Kinglet coming from the thickets around one corner at the end of our street. The briskly whistled and twittered song sounds exactly like what I might imagine for the tiny, spritely bird. Hearing the song surprised me a little – it may not be unusual for it to sing in the fall, but I don’t remember noticing it often until the spring.

A Pine Warbler also sang its looser, musical trill in the woods, maybe in response to the lovely, cool, sunny fall day. A Northern Flicker clung to the trunk of a pine, feeding on the berries of a vine. A small feeding flock of birds moved through the woods, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Downy Woodpecker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Carolina Wren, and Brown-headed Nuthatch, and I heard the nasal calls of a White-breasted Nuthatch in the distance. Yellow-rumped Warblers, lots of Chipping Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds and an Eastern Phoebe foraged in the grass and hunted from low branches of trees in large rolling yards.

Several times I stopped to look for the Golden-crowned Kinglets I could hear – their calls like high, glassy splinters of ti-ti-ti, ti-ti-ti – but they stayed high up and hidden in the multi-colored mix of sunlit leaves and needles.

But another Ruby-crowned Kinglet was much easier to see, calling jidit-jidit as it traveled through a stand of privet along the roadside, bright-eyed and perky, moving quickly and lightly and close enough to watch its small round greenish-gray shape, bright white wing-bars, and white eye-ring. No ruby crest was showing. For a few seconds it hovered in the air over a tall weed, its wings a blur, then it flitted back to the privet and wild grape vines and other weeds.

A Red-tailed Hawk circled and climbed in a clear blue sky with blurry white clouds here and there. With large dark brown head, orange-red tail that appeared to be tipped in white, and broad, spread wings, and the pale of its under-side catching the light, it soared, rising above the traffic on the highway and all the roads and houses and noise in more ways than one.

Twelve Black Vultures circled together high in a loose column, climbing up, then sailing off toward the south, one after another.

Barred Owls at Sunset – Caterwauling

Wednesday, November 6th, 2013

Shortly after sunset on yet another warm, pleasant day, two Barred Owls called a raucous duet from the woods along a creek. The light of day and the colors of a golden sunset had begun to fade quickly. The owls – somewhere down in the woods, too far away to see – called cook-cook-cook-cook-for-YOUUUU-awwl, YOUU-awwl, and their cook-cook-cook-cook calls overlapped, and rose in intensity and broke into caws and cackles and a wild circus of sounds that lasted for only a minute or two before they abruptly fell quiet. In the hush that followed, crickets chirped, and even a few katydids still sang. An Eastern Towhee called a rich, mellow chur-wheee from the shadows of a darkening hedge.

Cooper’s Hawk and Red-tailed Hawk Soaring

Tuesday, November 5th, 2013

Late this morning, on a cool, sunny, colorful, breezy day, two hawks soared high in a soft blue sky traced with white cirrus clouds – a Red-tailed Hawk and a Cooper’s Hawk, both circling up in the same wide column of air. They appeared to come very close together several times, crossing paths, though they may not have come as close as it looked, and there was no sign of any contact or interaction.

But it was fun to watch them fly. Exhilarating. The Red-tailed Hawk rose in slow, steady, large circles with broad wings outstretched. The Cooper’s Hawk flapped frequently, then glided, then flapped again. It turned swiftly, its banded tail sometimes flared and turned, and other times held more narrow and long. Its chest glowed red-orange in the sun.

Cedar Waxwings

Sunday, November 3rd, 2013

Soon after leaving the White-throated Sparrows, I heard the high, thin calls of Cedar Waxwings, and a small flock of about a dozen flew out of the treetops and away – the first Cedar Waxwings I’ve seen here this season.

All through the neighborhood this morning birds seemed to be more active than usual lately.  Ruby-crowned Kinglets called jidit-jidit in low branches and shrubs. Golden-crowned Kinglets called from high up in the pines, and Brown-headed Nuthatches chattered and squeaked. A Pine Warbler trilled a light, musical song. At least two dozen Chipping Sparrows flew up from the grass on the edge of one yard. Bluebirds flashed their colors.

Several Northern Flickers called their sharp kleer calls, and Eastern Phoebes sang and fussed in their chattery way. At least two Northern Mockingbirds were singing. A Hairy Woodpecker called an emphatic peenk! and then a long, rolling rattle. Two Black Vultures and one Turkey Vulture soared.

On the trunk of a pecan tree, a White-breasted Nuthatch crept up and around and down, probing the cracks in the bark, and pausing to crane its white neck up and look around. White-breasted Nuthatches have continued to become more common in our neighborhood over the past couple of years, though I still don’t see or hear them nearly as often as our more familiar Brown-headed Nuthatch.

White-throated Sparrows and a Fire Ant Nest

Sunday, November 3rd, 2013

On a sunny autumn morning, with colorful foliage still all around, I stopped to watch three White-throated Sparrows that came out of a hedge of shrubs to forage in some grass along the side of the road. One looked like a young, first-winter sparrow, with muted colors and somewhat blurry markings.* The other two were vividly-marked large, plump sparrows, with clean white throat outlined in black; black and white striped head and face; and cinnamon, brown and black-streaked back, gray breast, and touches of gold above the bill.

The young sparrow hopped into the middle of a fire ant mound. It stood there and pecked at the loose red dirt and seemed to be eating ants – or something. At the same time, it frequently jumped and pecked awkwardly at its tail, as if it might be getting stung. If it was getting stung, it must have seemed worth it, because it did not leave the mound. It kept pecking and eating – and jerking around to snap at its rump, in a dance that looked pretty comical, but might have been really uncomfortable, if not dangerous for the sparrow.

One of the mature sparrows hopped onto the fire ant mound and displaced the young one, as if thinking this looked like a good spot. It pecked a couple of times, maybe eating ants, then hopped quickly off the mound and back to the grass, where it stayed. Then the young one came back and continued to peck at the mound and hop around in its jerky dance for a few more minutes, before it finally left the mound and went to forage in the grass instead.

I stood for several minutes watching, in part because the behavior on the fire ant mound was interesting, and in part because this is the first good view I’ve had of White-throated Sparrows this season, and they all looked very handsome. I’ve been hearing their songs and calls for a few days now, but these are the first I’ve seen so well. It’s nice to have them back.

*What appeared to be a first-winter sparrow might have been a different form of White-throated Sparrow known as “tan-striped,” with a face pattern that’s buffy and brown instead of white and black. I’m not sure I can tell the difference, though I assumed this one was an immature.

Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, White-throated Sparrow

Thursday, October 31st, 2013

This morning the high thin ti-ti-ti calls of Golden-crowned Kinglets moved through the tops of pines and oaks on the edge of the back yard. With a layer of shining white clouds covering the sun in the background, the tiny birds high up in the trees were almost impossible to see, but I caught broken glimpses of one small gray bird, with its black-and-white striped face and golden crown and white specks of wingbars as it flitted quickly through the branches.

I heard their calls two days ago for the first time this season, and today brought two more new arrivals of winter birds – a Ruby-crowned Kinglet chattered jidit-jidit in the thickets around a corner at the end of our street. And in the old field just outside the neighborhood, the whistled Oh sweet Canada song of a White-throated Sparrow rose above a loud roar and rush of traffic.

It has seemed to me that winter birds have been very slow in returning this year, though maybe I’m just impatient, as always. These last few days of October have been quiet, though warm and sunny, colorful autumn days with showers of leaves drifting down gradually, and brown leaves beginning to pile up on the ground. Fall foliage has changed the light from green to orange and gold, with a kaleidoscope of colors all around in yellow, scarlet, coral, wine, rose, ochre, tan and chestnut, and more.

The writing spider that hung in its web outside my office window for 15 days is gone now. It disappeared after our first hard freeze and heavy frost about a week ago. The remains of its web with the thick white writing still hang outside the screen, and a few curled black shells of insects lie on the window ledge.

Since then, warm weather has returned, and today has seemed the perfect last day of October – if anything, a little too warm, in the upper 70s. Crickets and grasshoppers are singing again, and I’ve even seen a few small orange and yellow butterflies. A soft blue sky is veiled in clouds, with more clouds moving in and rain in the forecast for the night and for tomorrow. There’s a dreamy, dusky-orange light, and it’s breezy, with lots of leaves tumbling and showering down.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Friday, October 18th, 2013

After a cloudy, drizzly day yesterday, a very light rain continued into the night. By morning the sky had cleared, and the sun rose in a blue and salmon sky. A Northern Mockingbird, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Towhee, Tufted Titmouse and Carolina Wren all sang.

A little after nine, high white cirrus clouds swept across a clear blue sky, and the air felt cool and crisp – a gorgeous fall morning. A small bird flitted from one maple tree to another – still thick with green leaves – calling a sharp, dry chip! Our first-of-the-season Yellow-rumped Warbler.

A Halloween Writing Spider

Thursday, October 17th, 2013

A big, long-legged, black, orange and yellow writing spider has spun its web right outside my office window, and has been there now for about a week. It hangs there head down and impressive – the perfect Halloween spider, with long, slender orange and black legs spread out over the thick white zig-zagged “writing” in the center of its orb-web. The plump, egg-shaped black abdomen is vividly patterned in yellow spots. This window is on the third floor of our house – a long way from the ground.

The first morning, the writing spider (Argiope aurantia) had captured a katydid. With its long, green folded wings, the katydid looked just about as large as the spider itself, so it looked like too much to handle. But I later read that a writing spider can take prey up to twice its own size. The spider held the katydid by the head or upper parts, and appeared to be in the process of wrapping it in a thin layer of silk.

By late in the day, the katydid lay on the window ledge below the web, a discarded shell, still only partially wrapped in spidery silk. There appeared to be little remaining except for the wings. I think the body of the insect, or its contents, had mostly been consumed.

The next morning, the first katydid shell still lay on the ledge, and the writing spider was holding a freshly-caught big green katydid. Again, the insect appeared to be partially wrapped in silk, especially the upper parts but it also looked as if the spider was feeding on the katydid at that time. After that, I noticed that the window ledge below the spider’s web holds not only the discarded shell of a katydid, but also several other smaller dark and dry-looking remnants of insects. As far as I can see, there are no insects wrapped in silk and stored in the web, though there may be a part of it that’s out of my sight.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – First of the Season

Tuesday, October 15th, 2013

About the middle of the afternoon today, through an open window, I heard the mewing of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. The calls seemed to be coming from a large pecan tree not far from the house. I didn’t see the Sapsucker, but the mewing calls were distinct, and sounded both sweet and tart – reflecting the colors and scents and feel of the season.

Three Blue Grosbeaks

Sunday, October 6th, 2013

Early October’s stretch of warm sunny days has continued, with almost no sign of fall color in the trees yet, though dry leaves have begun to drift down. One of the nicest parts of a walk late this morning was stopping for a few minutes to watch three Blue Grosbeaks in the field and on the edge of an old oak grove across from the field.

With a hard, distinctive chink call, a brown bird flew up from the field onto a wire where it sat for several moments. It had a long, restless tail, a slightly crested head, and in direct sunlight looked golden brown. When it flew across the road into the more shaded light of oaks and other small trees, its colors turned warm, tawny brown all over, with rusty wing bars.

Two more Blue Grosbeaks flew up out of the weeds along the edge of the field, and followed the first into the oaks and the smaller trees below them. Both of these birds showed patches of blue mixed in with the brown of their plumage. They all exchanged chink calls almost constantly as they moved around in the trees, and before long, had moved further away and out of sight.