Adult female peregrine attacks remote-controlled model glider, 2014 (photo by Steve Shinn)
25 May 2022
When it comes to protecting their young, peregrine falcons are practically fearless. They attack threats much larger than themselves no matter what they are.
In 2014 Steve Shinn shared photos of a mother peregrine near Los Angeles attacking radio-controlled gliders that came too close to her nest in Take That, You Pesky Airplane!
Just banded: female red-winged blackbird in hand, Frick Park, 14 May 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
21 May 2022
Seen this week in Schenley and Frick Parks:
At top, bird bander David Yeany holds a recently banded female red-winged blackbird at Frick Park on Migratory Bird Day, 14 May 2022.
On 17 May we looked for warblers along Nine Mile Run’s boardwalk and found many black walnut flowers fallen on the railing.
Old flower from black walnut, 17 May 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
I would have brushed this one away until I saw an insect hiding on it. Do you see the juicy caterpillar, below? This is warbler food!
Warbler food! on an old black walnut flower, 17 May 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
In Schenley Park a carpenter ant examined fading pawpaw flowers that smell like rotten meat, if they smell at all. No rotting meat here. She left.
An ant leaves after exploring fading flowers on a pawpaw tree, 13 May 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Mystery flower of the week was a non-native with thin basal leaves found blooming in the woods in Frick Park. How did star-of-Bethlehem (Ornithogalum sp.), a native of southern Europe and southern Africa, get into the woods? Is it invading?
Star of Bethlehem blooming in the woods at Frick Park, 14 May 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)
Imagine having wild parrots visit your bird feeder.
Australia is home to 56 parrot species including the Australian king-parrot (Alisterus scapularis) and the crimson rosella (Platycercus elegans) of eastern and southeastern Australia. Though they nest in the woods they often visit urban parks and backyards.
Sometimes they scuffle over rights to the feeder, as captured by this feedercam. (The constant loud hooting in the video is a wonga pigeon.)
Occasionally an individual learns how to be hand-fed like a black-capped chickadee.
How cool it would be to have wild parrots in the backyard!
(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)
Seed-eating birds use only their beaks to extract their food from shells and husks. Have you noticed how they do it?
At the feeder you may see them pick up a whole nut, crack the shell with their strong beaks and let the shell fall, then work on the seed inside their mouths with tongue and beak. They do the same with grassy seeds though we rarely see it.
Evening grosbeak and American goldfinch at the feeder, Nov 2012 (photo by Marcy Cunkelman)
This slow motion video of a field sparrow (Spizella pusilla) shows how he separates the “wheat” from the chaff. It’s a lot of mouth work for tiny seeds.
In spring a change occurs in mourning dove behavior as large flocks we see in winter disperse to nest. Some flocks move north while locals break up into couples and fan out to choose a territory.
It is hard to notice when the change occurs so I graphed my eBird count of mourning doves (Zenaida macroura) in Frick and Schenley Parks, January 2021 through 9 April 2022.
My eBird counts of mourning doves in Frick & Schenley, 1 Jan 2021 through 8 April 2022 (data from Kate St. John)
The change is pretty dramatic. Just 1-5 birds from March through September, then over 40 December through February. The largest flocks were at the Frick Environmental Education Center where they sunned in the trees above the feeders. 100 mourning doves in January!
This year the count dropped below 10 in early March as they paired up. Some pairs maintain their bonds throughout the winter. Others get to know each other in the spring.
On territory the male visits potential nest sites and calls to his mate to inspect them. She gets to choose. (His nest call is 3 notes like this).
According to Birds of the World: To build the nest he brings small twigs, etc. which he delivers to her while standing on her back(!) She arranges them around her while using her body to form a simple bowl. Nest building usually takes 7–10 hours spread over 2–4 days.
The loosely built nest looks messy. Sometimes you can see through it from below.
And in October mourning doves gather in flocks again. The process starts over from flocks to nests.
UPDATE 13 April 2022: Today at Frick Park I talked with someone who has a mourning dove nest in their yard while 16 mourning doves hung out near the feeders. Flocking and nesting were simultaneous today.
(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)
The word feak originated in falconry in the early 16th century, derived from the German word fegen which means cleanse or sweep. Despite what auto-correct assumes, there is NO R in feak.
In this video, the female bald eagle is feaking on the edge of a nest platform in the rain.
And here’s a peregrine feaking after her meal.
Biologists have a word for just about everything. This behavior, where a bird rubs its beak on a rock or branch to clean it off is called “feaking”. pic.twitter.com/qt23XXakPW
Spring is here and tree sap is rising in western Pennsylvania. This month yellow-bellied sapsuckers (Sphyrapicus varius) are migrating through our area, pausing to drill holes in the trees to sip the welling sap.
How does a sapsucker know a tree is a good candidate for a meal? Can he hear the sap rising? Maybe so.
Seven years ago I learned that with special microphones we can hear the secret sounds of trees. Here’s an example from a Scots pine, recorded by Marcus Maeder’s trees project.
Immature red-tailed hawk focused on prey (photo by Chuck Tague)
10 March 2022
Despite distractions we humans can focus on just one thing if we want to. Birds of prey can do it, too, as seen in this video of a red-tailed hawk in Tompkins Square Park, New York. The hawk doesn’t care about squirrels or people or the ambulance but when he sees a rat …!
This ability to focus is called selective attention and was proven eight years ago in chickens. See this vintage article, Selective Attention in Chickens, with an amazing video to test your own selective attention.
Bonus test: After you see the video in the chicken article, try another test. (This test + answer lasts 3 minutes. The remaining 2 minutes show family & friends reactions.)
(photo from Wikimedia Commons; click on the caption to see the original. Videos embedded from YouTube)
The color combination helps them forage. While their black legs are probably ignored by their prey, the “yellow feet catch the eye of fish and other creatures, drawing them closer or stalling them so the egret can strike,” per Bird Watcher’s Digest.
Here are three of the snowy egret’s five foot-fishing techniques.
Foot stirring:
Foot probing: in slow motion.
Foot dragging: Dangling their feet in the water to make the fish rise up from the depths.
