Tuesday Rambles with David - The Linear Trail, Cambridge, ON

05 June 2018

     For the first time in a long time our entire group of eight was together and it was good to see Mary back with us.

     This is not the most productive time of the year for birding, but for the careful observer there is still a lot of high quality activity, and careful observation reveals many secrets. Eight pairs of eyes and ears makes possible what for a single observer might well go undetected.

     A breeding pair of Baltimore Orioles (Icterus galbula) is always an exciting find and, if I am not mistaken, it was Franc's sharp eyes that first noticed the male flying to a well concealed nest.

     The pendant nest of this species is a wonder to behold. I recently saw a nest in a spruce tree, the first time I have ever seen it in a coniferous tree, but this one was in a deciduous tree as is usually the case.

     The female was incubating inside the nest and the male was feeding her.

     He was an attentive partner and delivered food consistently while we watched.

     If we get back down to the Linear Trail in the next couple of weeks I am sure we will see both parents feeding their hungry chicks.
     Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus), formerly rare in Waterloo Region, is becoming more and more common as it is able to tolerate our recent milder winters. This individual is perhaps about to deliver food to its young.

     The Grand and Speed Rivers meet at the trail and considerable activity is featured along this riparian zone. Sand Martins, aka Bank Swallows (Riparia riparia) were actively hawking for insects above the river.

     And this American Herring Gull (Larus smithsonianus) scanned the water for anything that looked good enough to eat.

     I have several times seen Common Grackles (Quiscalus quiscula) perched at the water's edge ready to pounce on minnows or tadpoles and I presume that this individual was feeding in that fashion.

     Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) were also taking advantage of the insect swarms above the river to do a little flycatching of their own.

     A Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) singing from an elevated perch is a standard feature of spring in southern Ontario.

     Great Crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) is a splendid addition to our avifauna when neotropical migrants return and this year they are either more numerous than usual or we have just been lucky locating them.

     Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) is our most common picid, easily located, always entertaining, delightful in every way - kind of like seeing your favourite cousin - or Carol Gorenc; you have seen her many times before but familiarity never dims the pleasure.

     A Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) is a flash of colour, sometimes a crescendo of sound, a model of cheekiness and always a bird to make you thankful that it lives among us.

     Grey Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) inhabits dense thickets and jumbled hedgerows, chortling its musical song, with the characteristic catlike mew at the end. Now that it is nesting it is somewhat more secretive, but with a little persistence can still be located.

     This young Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) was perhaps waiting for its surrogate parent to come along and feed it.

     Doves have been used since time immemorial as a symbol of peace and this Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) seemed to fit the mould. 

     I am sure it was happy to see us all reunited. 
     To my fellow ramblers, Miriam, Franc, Carol, Jim, Francine, Judy and Mary - thanks for your company. It is always a pleasure.

Cat Carnage

     Cats, both domestic and feral, kill up to 3.7 billion birds per year in the United States alone, to say nothing of more than 20 billion mammals. (Nature Communications)

     Clearly, cats are the leading human-linked cause of death for birds and mammals. Factors such as collisions with buildings, wind turbines and pesticide poisoning pale by comparison.

     Feral cats are a huge threat to birds and they are present only because humans tire of their pets and release them into the wild, where they become extremely efficient killers. Generally cats thus treated live a short, miserable life, but they at least eat the birds that they kill.

     Well fed domestic cats still hunt birds and it is not hunger that motivates them. They kill out of some latent blood lust but rarely eat their prey. Often the bird dies an awful, prolonged death suffering greatly as the cat repeatedly releases it, and plays with it until it finally succumbs.

     The same sad end is true for the friendly chipmunks, and other creatures that enliven our backyards and natural areas.

     Some cat owners must rank among the most irresponsible people on earth. They seem to have no compunction about letting their cats roam at will, where they  not only wreak havoc with local wildlife, but defecate in other people's gardens, dig out their flowers, get into their garages, caterwaul on the roof at night and disrupt the neighbourhood in myriad other ways.
     It never ceases to amaze me that in order to have a dog one has to buy a licence, have the animal micro chipped, ensure that it has its annual shots; it has to be walked on a leash, and confined to the owner's property, yet with cats there are no such restrictions. You can own a dozen cats if you wish and let them out all day, every day, without any regard for the well being of the cat or your fellow citizens.
     It is high time for people to keep their cats indoors, have them spayed or neutered, and it is time for municipalities to start regulating them in the same way that dogs are controlled. Petition your local council to have them enact appropriate by-laws to help to bring this problem to an end.
     And if you think that declawing is the answer, think again. First of all, it is cruel to the cat, but it does not stop them from batting down birds, as the picture of the cat with the Hooded Warbler above clearly shows, and once the cat gets the bird into its mouth a whole soup of toxic bacteria is transmitted from cat to bird.
     I am sure that for many people a cat is a wonderful companion and an important part of a home, but it is long past the time when they should be permitted to decimate our wildlife at will. And don't forget a cat is not native to North America, and if need be should be treated like any other invasive pest.

(Note: All pictures taken from the Internet).

Note added 29 August, 2024 - For the most up-to-date statistics, please visit Worldanimalfoundation.org

Eastern Bluebird (Merlebleu de l'est)

01 June 2018

"The bluebird is like a speck of clear blue sky seen near the end of a storm, reminding us of an ethereal region and a heaven which we had forgotten. His soft warble melts in the ear, as the snow is melting in the valleys around. The bluebird comes and with his warble drills the ice and sets free the rivers and ponds and frozen ground." 

     This is what Henry David Thoreau wrote in 1859 concerning the spring arrival of Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) after a long Concord winter.

     The indigenous people used to say that the Great Spirit sent the Eastern Bluebird with the sky on its back and the earth on its belly and as long as it returned in the spring, as it always had, their crops would be good and the people would not suffer from famine.

     Recent years have not been kind to the Eastern Bluebird. We have poisoned its food with pesticides, destroyed its nesting habitat and subjected it to fierce and unrelenting pressure from introduced species such as House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) and Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). Not only do these species evict bluebirds from their cavity nests, they will kill them, even pecking at the skull of a sitting female until she is dead. 

     As is often the case, when we push a species to the edge, there suddenly awakens in us a desire to protect it, especially if it is cute - and the Eastern Bluebird certainly fulfills this latter requirement. Now legions of people maintain bluebird trails and provide nest boxes which are carefully monitored and alien invaders are ejected. 

     Over the past three years we have erected a number of such boxes at SpruceHaven  and we are happy to report that we have been successful in attracting bluebirds for the second year in a row. 

     It is a happy event when a nest box produces five healthy young, as has happened this year and today Kevin and I banded the young birds.

     They were plump and healthy and we hope that they will live a long and productive life (long as bluebirds go, that is). Our bands will help to track their journeys and give us information about the trajectory of their lives; their successes, their failures and provide clues as to how we may help to ensure that future generations of nature lovers may continue to enjoy the beauty of these marvelous inhabitants of our meadows and pasture lands.

A few Odds and Ends from the Woodlot

30 May 2018

     As regular readers of this blog will know I do a weekly bird survey at the University of Waterloo, but I always take note of other interesting discoveries too. 

     Most birds are now breeding, much of their song has become muted, they are secretive and we are entering the "slow" period for birders. It will be quiet until the hatch years birds birds fledge and join the adult population.

     The first bird I saw this morning was this leucistic American Robin (Turdus migratorius). 

     Leucism is a condition in which there is a partial loss of pigmentation, resulting in white, pale or patchy colouration of the feathers - but not the eyes as in albinism.

     Each year we see a few American Robins manifesting leucism to one degree or another, so perhaps this species, or Turdus thrushes in general, have some inherent susceptibility to this condition. I will have to do a little research!

     A pair of Northern Flickers (Colaptes auratus) was busy feeding young with a veritable shuttle service being maintained by the two parents.

     Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) is a very common bird, but for some reason I do not often encounter them in the woodlot. This individual was kind enough to stay put while I took a picture.

     For the most part Mallard (Anas platyrynchos) drakes take no part in raising their young, so it was quite unusual to see this devoted father taking on his full share of responsibility for his offspring.

     The sheer cuteness factor of recently hatched ducklings will never be diminished.

     Just before leaving the woodlot I came across this Hippodamia glacialis ladybug.

     It is quite large as ladybugs go, and is native to North America, making it a pleasing find when there are so many alien species that have found their way to this continent by one means or another.
     I have a couple more weeks to go until we suspend the monitoring until late August, but perhaps the woodlot has other secrets to reveal before we wind it up for the spring. 

Final weekend of spring bird banding at Sprucehaven

26/27 May 2018

SpruceHaven, St. Agatha, ON

26 May 2018

     We seem to have just started banding for the spring session and it is already over. Kevin was unable to come one weekend due to family commitments and we got rained out on another so the activity has been shortened a little.

     For the first time this spring Debbie Hernandez was able to make it out to the nets and we were delighted to see her again.

     

     Since we last saw her Debbie has graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with an Honours BSc. in biology and is now contemplating her future. Whatever it holds we hope that she will continue to come and help out at SpruceHaven.

     We banded a few new species for the season including this Mourning Warbler (Geothlypis philadelphia), a bird previously only recorded in the fall.

     It is interesting to look at the following photograph of the same bird taken from a slightly different angle. You will see that the grey throat has a much paler aspect, and in a couple of other photographs which were blurred unfortunately, it looked even whiter.

     I simply provide this comparison to illustrate the fact that a photograph can at times be misleading. Different light can portray a bird in tones quite unlike its true colours.

     This male Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater)was one of two caught in the same net.

     A Lincoln's Sparrow (Melospiza lincolnii) is a delicately marked little bird, one which is often misidentified in the field by inexperienced birders, but there was no mistaking this bird in the hand.

     Heather carefully processed the bird and she and Kevin conferred on some finer points of aging and sexing.

     Kevin's tee shirt says, "I'm not normal," and I leave it up to you to judge how true this statement is! Suffice it to say, that Kevin would have been right at home as a member of Monty Python's Flying Circus, or perhaps a star performer on The Goon Show!

     Here are a couple more pictures of Lincoln's Sparrow before release.

     It is not often that we capture a Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris). Perhaps this species is generally too wily to be caught in a mist net.

     Without a shadow of a doubt Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) is one of our most beautiful birds.

     Here you see the detail of the waxy tips on the wings from which the bird derives its name.

     It would be pretty hard to tire of waxwings.

     Curiously several of our Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) nests held a single nut (walnut?). How these nuts got there is a matter of conjecture but perhaps they represent some kind winter storage for squirrels.

     Pileated Woodpecker (Dyocopus pileatus) is a species we have seen infrequently at SpruceHaven and Kevin's friend, John Pringle, visiting from England, managed this flight shot.

All species banded 26 May: Cedar Waxwing (1), Common Starling (1), American Goldfinch (1), Common Yellowthroat (1), Mourning Warbler (1), Brown-headed Cowbird (2), Common Grackle (2), Song Sparrow (2), Lincoln's Sparrow (1). Total: 9 species, 12 birds.

27 May 2018

     It was a slow day at the nets, fittingly perhaps on our final day of banding for the spring.
     Significantly, however, we trapped two more Mourning Warblers for a total of three in two days. Since most warblers have already moved north, and this species has bred locally in past years, it leads me to believe that perhaps they are breeding at SpruceHaven.
     A Barn Swallow in our nets was the first bona fide capture, other birds having been netted in/at the barn to establish which birds had returned to their natal site. This bird had not been previously banded and was not one of the nestlings banded last year.

     A male Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) is not a momentous capture, given the sheer number of this species at SpruceHaven, but this male was especially handsome and robust. This is a polygynous species and it is likely that this male has a harem of females.

     Just before we wrapped it all up, Vashti Latchman and her young son, bird devotee, Roddie, arrived for their first visit of the season.

     It was good to see them both and it was too bad that we had but a single Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) to show them. We will look forward to a return visit in the fall when we hope to have many interesting birds to fuel Roddie's already burgeoning interest in all things ornithological.

All species banded 27 May: Traill's Flycatcher (1), Barn Swallow (1), Mourning Warbler (2),  Red-winged Blackbird (2), Song Sparrow (1), Northern Cardinal (1).  Total: 6 species, 8 birds.

Gotta love this one.