Backyard Bird Drama

After unsuccessfully searching for the rare Snowy Owl seen at the Louisville Airport the night before, I came home Saturday for some lunch. Walking into the kitchen, I gasped to see a Cooper's Hawk sitting on top of a bird feeder in the back yard!

Coopers nested in our neighbor's tree for three years, so I am not surprised to find young hawks in my yard, but usually they are perched in a tree looking for lunch, or trying to avoid mobbing groups of smaller birds. I wonder if she is one of our fledglings all grown up.

This beautiful adult brazenly sat in the middle of all the feeders looking around. Of course, the yard was silent. The backyard birds wisely crouched in the dry leaves, hiding from this known predator and keeping absolutely quiet. The hawk scanned the yard, concentrating particularly on the drying flowers of our butterfly garden. Would this be my lifetime chance to photograph a hawk actually catching prey? She appeared to be searching for ground rodents, not the birds we normally would expect her to hunt for.

After a few minutes, some of the braver birds came out of hiding. Could they tell the hawk wasn't interested in their kind today? I noticed that the little nutchatches and chickadees would grab one sunflower seed while the hawk was turned the other way, then dash back into the leaves again. Smart birds!

The hawk thought she saw something under the flowers and hopped to the ground, peering between the dry stems for a mouse or chipmunk, and completely ignoring the birds.

Aha! This is our chance! and my pair of Carolina Wrens started eating sunflower seeds, their pert little tails sticking straight up as usual.

At least four First of Season Red Breasted Nuthatches came to dine as well.  I usually don't see them in my backyard most years. Ron Pittaway is forecasting that a fair number of species--especially Red and White-winged Crossbills, redpolls, Pine Grosbeaks, and Evening Grosbeaks--are likely to be on the move this year due to widespread crop failure of fruiting and cone-bearing trees in Canada. Three irruptive non-finch passerines are also discussed in his report.

Lots of Kentucky birders (not me yet) are finding large numbers of Pine Siskins in their yards already. Snowy Owls are showing up in mid-November, and as far south as Louisville, KY - which is quite unusual. Something is going on with the regular winter food supply of these birds, causing them to leave their home territories. After last year's unusually mild winter, I wonder what's going to happen this year. I try not to think about doom and gloom rumors, i.e. the Mayan prediction, but the nature of a disaster is to come without warning. We are planning to go to Florida in February, which normally portends a big snow for the north while we are gone. Sorry guys, it just happens that way.

The Cooper's Hawk landed for a minute on a decorative log in the garden, then headed into the brush. I'm sure she's still around somewhere, just prudently keeping out of sight. She's not worried about the rest of the winter, just what she will eat today.

I Can FLY Part II

I have seen two of the fledglings together on several occasions. This morning, while eating breakfast, I heard them calling in the back yard and went to take a look. They were at the creek again... ...only this time I saw THREE of them together, jumping into the water to take a bath!

Then another one called from above, waiting his turn in the pool! I quietly slipped out the door, hoping not to spook them, and like any proud Grandma started to take home movies of her darlings!

Tomorrow I'll ask Dick to run the sprinkler hose in the morning. One year another fledgling liked to play in the water from the hose.

I Can FLY!

During the last week of June, we noticed four birds flying from the Cooper's Hawk nest tree. The chicks have fledged!

The gray eyes and vertical stripes on the breast identify these as first year birds. The yearlings will have golden yellow eyes, while the adults have red eyes.

How regal they look, even when they are only a few months old.

Calling is one of their favorite activies. Are they looking for Mom with food or for one of the other siblings?

Flying also lets you drop in for a drink and quick bath in the creek.

I'm always amazed with the miracle of flight. How does these youngsters learn so quickly? Of course, they land and leave without notice so it will be hard to photograph them actually flying. Ah, and the little Ruby Throated Hummingbird came to sip from the Royal Catchfly we planted just for her!

Proud Pseudo-Mama

I feel like a proud Mama, showing off the pictures of the wonderful things her baby does, which no other baby in the world has ever done before. Sorry about being obsessed with the Cooper's Hawk fledglings. At least one of my babies is successfully hunting! At first I wasn't sure if this was an adult or one of the babies. She looks so competent. Just catch the bird and perch in the pine tree for a leisurely lunch. No fuss! The eye color indicates this is one of the fledglings to me. Do the adults lose that red coloring after the breeding season is over? One of the other fledglings landed on a nearby branch, whistling and begging for a handout. This one just ignored the noise, and didn't even try to mantle her catch and protect it from sibling thievery. How's that for confidence!

Backyard Summer Daze

As we slide into August, it's hard to believe we've been in summer at all. This is the first July that we have not exceeded 90 degrees even once all month! When I was a kid, we had the entire month of August as vacation from school. Someone said our children in Jefferson County, KY, start back to school in only two weeks. How time flies! What's happening in the Dennis backyard? Take a look.....

The Cooper's Hawks nesting in the pine tree next door are doing well. Their two babies are just about ready to fledge. They have most of their primary feathers, and jump from branch to branch, flapping their wings actively. When Mom flies in with a bite to eat, they whistle, so I know to take a look. Their nest is situated for privacy, and can only be seen from my driveway, with the scope pointing straight up in the air for a good view! Sometimes they look down at me, wondering what in the world that strange being is doing down there. Can you see two young birds in the first picture? I hope I get to see them fly before they leave the neighborhood.

The butterfly garden is at its peak. A Red Admiral came by this week, for a butterfly lifer.

Monarch butterflies are supposed to like milkweed in particular. We have three different varieties, but I seem them most often on the butterfly bushes. I'll keep an eye on the milkweed for eggs or caterpillars though.

Butterfly gardens attract insects other than butterflies in great numbers. This large bee-like insect is actually a Nessus moth. I saw Clearwing moths last summer, a similar looking insect. These moths flap their wings to hover, like bees, and they resemble huge bees more than anything.

I never realized that bees come in so many sizes and varieties. I think this is a Carpenter bee - one of the bumble bee species. It's at least an inch long with a shiny black abdomen. Large bees, small bees, wasps that look like bees...maybe next year I will invest some time becoming more familiar with them since so many come to visit our garden.

The grass that grows in the yard gets chopped off before it can reproduce, but this dwarf Fountain Grass is going to seed now. How delicate the seed heads are! I'll have to look for any birds that might eat the seeds.

I never know if we have one hummer, or more than one little female coming to sip from the Cardinal flower. I have not seen a single male all summer though.

You'll just have to imagine the Gold Finches on these Black-eyed Susans. By the time I get the camera, they fly away. I guess this is called "virtual birding."

I love sitting on our screened porch. It protects me from mosquitos, while I keep an eye on anything that flies in the yard. And, yes, the creek we installed is still babbling away!

Back on the Home Front

Who's to say the birding excitement ends when you come home from a festival? Not me! The echoing thunder outside says it's time to sit down and blog.

The most exciting birds are the Cooper's Hawks who are establishing a nest in the pine tree next door. Last month, I could have sworn I saw a pair of Crows going in and out of that nest. In our absence, I guess the Crows abandoned the nest, or got chased off by the hawks. Hmm, I thought that scenario usually went the other way, with the Crows being the aggressor. Aren't these two beautiful?

I don't think they actually have eggs yet. The female seems to spend a lot of time in the oak. When another Cooper's flew high overhead, she hurried back to her nest to defend it though, eggs or not. This morning she was standing on the edge, surveying the neighborhood. It's fun to hear them talk back and forth to each other. I don't think the human neighbors have any idea of the honor being bestowed on them.

All right, here we go. Hold your breath, 1,2,3....

Our new creek is full to the brim from all the rain in the last 2 weeks. This Robin has decided the creek is just right for bathing.

Brrrrrrrr!

Magnolia Warbler

I discovered a new park nearby with wonderful birding opportunities in the marsh and wetlands surrounding Beargrass Creek, as it winds through the St. Matthews neighborhood in Louisville. In the midst of apartment complexes, office buildings, shopping malls and car dealerships, the city finally decided to preserve some of the wetlands for a change. It's really the sensible thing to do since Beargrass Creek floods whenever it rains more than 2 inches. In just a little over an hour this morning, I saw 31 species there, including 5 warblers that I located and identified myself-- a major accomplishment for a former warbler-phobe! Now if we could just convince them to perch for a few minutes it would be great! I found two mystery birds. The first was someone's escaped parakeet, playing with the big boys. The second is this one. Any suggestions out there? This is why I never wanted to look for warblers. Or is this some non-warbler?

Every play hide and seek with a squirrel? This is like the child who thinks you can't see him because his head is hidden! If the sun ever comes out again, I'm going back to this park to see what else I can find.

PS...

After about 13 weeks the city finally picked up the brush from the ice storm, as promised. YEAH!