Fall, Moult, Lily and Warblers

 Hillside Park, Waterloo, ON

     As we move closer to the end of September, mornings are decidedly cool, the days are crisp, and the colours of autumn are manifest.

     Each day brings another reminder of fall, and the nights draw in closer. It is time to think of soups and stews, to dig out scarves and sweaters.

     Young American Robins (Turdus migratorius) are rapidly developing the skills they will need to survive, migrate, and return to breed next spring.

    Miriam and I watched this Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) for several minutes at close range. It seemed totally unperturbed by our presence as it went about its business.

     It was perhaps the most inefficient heron we have ever seen for we did not observe a single strike! At times it approached the creek bank and seemed to be seeking prey there, but as far as we could tell it went on its way hungry.

Riverside Park, Cambridge, ON

     For any number of reasons I did not get around to blogging about our Friday walk with Heather and Lily last week, so today you will be treated to two such outings!

     Before going any further, take a look at our precious little girl.

     It is remarkable to see the changes each week and Lily is now clearly following objects, reacting to sounds and quite possibly is able to distinguish colours. 

     Riverside Park attracts a number of people who bring bird seed in their pockets to deposit along the rail of the boardwalk, and the birds have learned where to come for a predictable source of food. Among them are Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), vivid red, and it is postulated that red may be the first colour that babies can clearly recognize. I am convinced that Lily reacted to a cardinal with a little throaty chuckle.

     As you may note, many of the birds are now in various stages of moult, and this male looked a little scruffy.

     The female didn't look appreciably better either.

     But for Lily, there were flashes of colour, the noise of birds quarreling, the whirring of the wings of a Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) and it appeared to me that she was absorbing it all. 

     I wonder if she noticed a Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) or two?

     In the centre of the picture below you will see a Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) undergoing moult before migration.

     This Red-winged Blackbird is waiting for its tail feathers to grow back in.

     Lily is obviously happy to see Heather and Grandpa David!

     Her favourite activity, I think, is blowing bubbles!

     We were relieved to see this Eastern Yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons) go about its business and not bother us.

     It does not even bear thinking about the anguish a sting from an angry female wasp would cause a baby - and an angry female will sting repeatedly at the least provocation.

     Purple-stemmed Angelica (Angelica atropurpurea) is a common plant in southern Ontario and was abundant at Riverside Park, in the wet swampy areas  it prefers.

     American Red Squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) are aggressive creatures and always manage to secure their share of available food.

     This Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) was not at his or her most elegant, but it is still a striking bird.

     There were several Blue Jays in the area, screeching loudly as they sailed in to perch or feed. I wonder whether Lily picked up on that? Will she learn the speech of birds along with the speech of humans? I suspect she will.

     A basking Midland Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta marginata) paid no attention to all the commotion.

     Soon it will be trapped beneath the ice where it survives due to chemicals in the blood that effectively act as antifreeze.

     A Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is a handsome bird often overlooked due to its familiarity.

     No matter that you do it a thousand times, to have a Black-capped Chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) come to your hand to feed is a rare treat and always a thrill.

     And how can I not end this account without a couple more looks at Lily and her mom? 

     It's all pretty special if you ask me!

RIM Park, Waterloo, ON

     Two days shy of her three-month birthday, we met Lily at RIM Park, having been transported there by her personal chauffeur, Heather - aka Mom!

     It was a cool morning and she was suitably dressed to stay warm.

      She was so good the whole time on this walk; she never fussed even for a moment. Usually, when we meet Heather and Lily each Friday, the whole purpose is to get together and birding becomes a bit of a secondary activity, with Lily demanding attention from time to time. This was the first time when we could all bird together and we had great success. 

     Migrating warblers and other small passerines are not the easiest subjects to photograph, so I have reached into the archives for pictures of some of the captivating neotropical migrants we saw.

American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla)

Black-throated Green Warbler (Setophaga virens)

Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica)

Nashville Warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla)

Myrtle Warbler (Setophaga coronata)

Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas)

Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius)

     It was a textbook fall day, cool, but with bright sunshine and we were very happy to be out together.

     And what shall I leave you with? A couple more pictures of Lily, of course!

     À la prochaine mes amis!

    

Bird Banding at SpruceHaven and Plastics

08 September 2019

     Just Kevin and I met to do a little bird banding and as is my normal practice I am showing below pictures of birds we have not previously trapped this fall.

     Our very first bird in the nets was a Veery (Catharus fuscescens), perhaps the most beautiful of all the Catharus thrushes, although I confess that this assessment is entirely subjective. The photograph does not do the bird justice.

     It should be noted, with a good measure of consternation, despair and disgust that these birds, along with other species covered in this post, are winging their way southwards to spend the northern winter in Amazonia, which is burning, entirely due to political ignorance, indifference and human greed at its worst, and the willingness of the voters of many countries to elect right wing ideologues who dismiss climate change.

     What will happen to these migratory species when they arrive at their wintering grounds? Where will they go? What will they feed on?

     All of these questions remain to be answered, but it is clear that they are going to be in serious trouble and many will not return next year.

     Our warblers are now embarking on the hazardous business of migration, this Tennessee Warbler (Leiothlypis peregrina) being among them.

     The state of Tennessee seemed to feature prominently this morning with the capture of this Nashville Warbler ( Leithlypis ruficapilla) also.

     The third warbler captured was a female Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens).

     These tiny gems, these little jewels that brighten our lives every year, were already in substantial jeopardy due to habitat loss and numerous other factors. The widespread conflagration in Amazonia will only exacerbate already precarious conditions and at some point they will cease to survive.

All species banded 08 September: Grey Catbird (3), Veery (1), Song Sparrow (7), Tennessee Warbler (1), Nashville Warbler (1), Common Yellowthroat (1), Black-throated Blue Warbler (1). Total: 15 individuals of 7 species.

Plastics

     Please click on the link below.

https://graphics.reuters.com/ENVIRONMENT-PLASTIC/0100B275155/index.html

     If this does not shock you then I think you have pretty much lost the capacity to be shocked. The scope of this problem is enormous and our environment, both on land and in the oceans is being affected by plastic pollution.

     Yet you can do something about it. Easily. Tomorrow. You can't solve the problem entirely, and you can't remove plastic from your life entirely, but there is a great deal that you can do; indeed you must do.

     You can refuse to use, ever, under any circumstances a plastic water bottle. It is very easy to fill your own bottle. You can refuse to eat at restaurants that use disposable plastic cups and lids, plastic straws, styrofoam plates and the like. Please tell the owner of the restaurant why you are doing this and you will see that changes will start to take place. When you go to a takeout coffee chain insist that they fill your reusable cup and decline their plastic lined paper cups and lids.

     Take your own cloth bag to the grocery store and use it instead of plastic bags. There is no need to put a tomato in one plastic nag, an avocado in another, an onion in another, and so on. Take your own bread bags to the bakery and refuse their bags.

     You can start on all of this right away and you can set an example for your friends and family. The time for excuses and rationalization is past.

     If you are unwilling to do this you have effectively signed a pledge that you do not care one iota for the health of the planet, the state of the environment, the future of your children and grandchildren. You have made the declaration that you are a willing contributor to the tide of pollution entering our oceans and clogging our landfills (and some of these materials leach toxic substances and will be around for 500 years). The decision is up to you.

     But this issue threatens the very future of life on the planet and the quality of our food. I hope that you will be on the right side of history.

Quality not Quantity

01 September - 02 September 2018

     The pace of avian migration starts to really accelerate as we get into September and we detected this trend in some of the species we banded this past weekend. The number of birds we trapped was not huge, but we caught some consequential species that contribute to our knowledge of birds not seen at SpruceHaven during the breeding season, but moving through as they depart Ontario to spend the northern winter in Central and South America.

     Neotropical Warblers and Flycatchers (among others) are two distinct families that can provide identification challenges at times and our constant companion is "Pyle," the bird bander's indispensable guide. 

     As any bird bander will tell you, a bird in the hand can look quite different from the bird you observe flitting around in a tree, or in flight. And by having the bird in the hand and being able to take wing measurements, weight, and  examine other characteristics it is in most cases possible to identify the sex and age of the bird.

     Take for example, this Black-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus erythropthalmus). 

     Pyle tells us that the orbital ring in an after hatch year bird is red (as opposed to greenish or dusky in a hatch year bird) and that the the shape and pattern of the outer rectrices show a rounded tip with a white terminus. 

     The red orbital ring is shown in the picture above and the details of the rectrices are shown below.

     Putting all this information together we can confidently identify this bird as an adult (AHY) bird.

     You can see the mosquito bites on Ross' forearm above - the price bird banders pay for plying their craft at this time of the year. 
     We were able to identify this Wilson's Warbler (Cardellina pusilla) as a hatch year male based on the large, but mottled cap, and other plumage characters.

     It was very pleasing to be able to process a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (Empidonax flaviventri), a species we see infrequently. 

    Whether this species could have been identified in the field is open to question. Empidonax flycatchers are notoriously difficult when they are not singing and several species are very similar indeed. Compound this lack of vocalization once the breeding season has passed, with less than perfect light conditions, rapid movement high in treetops and the fact that the bird is smaller than most leaves, and identification sometimes verges on alchemy! One has to be content often with the designation Empidonax species.
     Take a look at these two pictures of Black-throated Blue Warbler (Setophaga caerulescens) taken from my files.

Male

Female (picture from Internet Bird Collection)

     The minute white flash, along with other characters, enables us to confidently identify this bird as a hatch year female Black-throated Blue Warbler.
     In a female hatch year Nashville Warbler (Leiothlypis ruficapilla) the characteristic rufous patch on the head of this species is absent, as shown in the photograph below. The buffy eye ring is also diagnostic. 

     Bird banding is fascinating, challenging and very rewarding. Over time it contributes in no small measure to our understanding of the life histories of birds.
     Banders the world over are linked by a common passion and a dedication to helping the birds we love. For an excellent treatment of bird banding (ringing) in the UK see the excellent blog of my good friend Phil Slade  https://anotherbirdblog.blogspot.com

All species banded 1, 2 September: Black-billed Cuckoo (1), Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (1), Traill's Flycatcher (1), House Wren (1), Nashville Warbler (1), Magnolia Warbler (3), Black-throated Blue Warbler (1), Wilson's Warbler (1), Song Sparrow (3).  Total: 13 birds of 9 species.  
Retraps: Grey Catbird (1), Common Yellowthroat (1), Magnolia Warbler (1), Song Sparrow (1).