A male Hooded Merganser.

A group of 8-9 Canada Geese dropped in for a few hours on Wednesday as well. Although these geese are of a non-migratory population, they’re usually absent during the summer months, returning in November.

Six of the eight or so geese that dropped into the Wetlands.

And, speaking of mutt ducks…

These two odd Mallards have been together for several years. They've been absent most of the summer and early fall (male on left).

There were many Yellow-rumped Warblers and Ruby-crowned Kinglets working over the Mimosas next to the mid-way landing on the boardwalk Wednesday (11/3).

A butter butt (Yellow-rumped Warbler) gives a look my way while foraging through the mimosa leaves.

Ruby-crowned Kinglets don't often sit still waiting to be photographed. Frenetic is a word that's often used to describe their behavior.

Seen this past week, and for the first time this season, were Hermit Thrush (10/30), Winter Wren (11/3), and Chipping Sparrow (11/3). I’m still waiting for a Purple Finch or Pine Siskin to show up, they’ve been reported in the state recently.

Another bird (sort of) arrived yesterday as well. Unlike some of the other species who skulk around in the underbrush, or flutter about high up in the tree tops, this bird is easy to spot, usually foraging out in the open. Here’s a photo to help with identification:

A Parasaurolophus, absent for most of the summer, came in on the back side of a cold front (11/3).

A parting shot…

Surprised by my quiet approach, a Hooded-Merganser steams for the far side of the Wetlands.

At least four Mallards remain in the Wetlands. These birds are most certainly a family group, although the adult male is absent.

As is usually the case, the local Great Blue Heron was a regular fixture in the Wetlands throughout August. It’s apparently doing well in its hunting ventures catching frogs, small fish and even managing to catch a small snapping turtle on August 8, although it couldn’t quite get the turtle down its gullet. The turtle, being about 6 or 7 inches from the front to back of its shell, and nearly as wide, simply would not make it past the bird’s bill. There’s little flexibility in a turtle’s shell and try as the heron did it simply was not to be. After several attempts to swallow the turtle, which by this time had expired, the heron dropped the unfortunate reptile in the water and turned its attention towards preening.

As many as four Green Herons have been seen in the Wetlands on a daily basis. Although sometimes difficult to differentiate from the many stumps that have surfaced due to the low water level, they are there; you may have to search a bit to locate them. They will depart in mid-September for their wintering grounds.

A Red-shouldered Hawk has been present on most days of this month hunting from a snag in the Wetlands. If you read this Journal regularly you already know that the hawk typically hunts from this perch, its prey often Bullfrogs. On August 7, the bird took a most unusual prey item from the Wetlands, a Golden Shiner. I didn’t witness the event, although I did see the bird as it left its perch only to disappear behind a group of willows. Ranger Katie, who was at the top of the boardwalk at the time, did witness the actuall capture of the fish. As reported by her, she saw the hawk snatch the fish out of the water and fly off with it. The fish was approximately 8 inches in length. I’ve read reports of Red-shouldereds taking fish but have never seen it myself. It seems that I’ll have to wait a bit longer to do so.

A small number of migrants have passed through our area during the past month. One, a Solitary Sandpiper, was a first for the Museum. To my knowledge, only two other shorebirds have been recorded on the Explore the Wild/Catch the Windloop (Killdeer and Spotted Sandpiper), both of which simply circled the area and continued on with their flights. However, a Solitary Sandpiper was seen briefly on August 4 and again on August 19 when another was observed throughout the day at various locations in the Wetlands.

At one point the sandpiper, having been rousted by the activities of the visiting Mallards, circled the Wetlands and landed on the exposed mud just below me as I stood on the boardwalk, no more than six feet’s distance. It was a pleasant distraction from the stifling heat of the day to see such a bird feeding at close range.

The Museum’s Wetlands is not conducive to certain shorebird feeding behavior. I don’t expect very many other shorebird species to pay us visits. If migrating shorebirds pass over us during their southward journeys and do not find an exposed mudflat to land on, most will simply move on. However, the water level in the Wetlands has fallen enough to allow shorebirds to feed in the shallow water and mud surrounding the pond.

Still, even with the exposed shoreline, I wouldn’t expect to see hoards of shorebirds sweeping down on the Wetlands, although a Least Sandpiper or two is a possibility. I’d be excited, but not totally surprised, to see one of these peep in the Wetlands.

A family group of Great-crested Flycatchers was heard and seen feeding on the backside of theExplore the Wild/Catch the Wind loop during the first two weeks of August. This is the same area they were seen last year at this time.

An unknown Empidonax flycatcher was observed on the north side of the Wetlands (8/6).

Blue-gray Gnatcatchers were very active during the first half of August. I noticed family groups on the Dinosaur Trail and in Explore the Wild.

On August 25, a Chestnut-sided Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, and American Redstarts were seen on the Dino Trail (Nathan Swick). These birds were obviously migrants.

A Hooded Warbler was seen on 8/13 in the company of a Pine Warbler, Carolina Chickadees and White-breasted and Brown-headed Nuthatches. The warbler a migrant, the others local.

During this period, I was able to get a few peeks at a Red-winged Blackbird female and juvenile. This may not seem like a great event in the annals of birding, but up until now I’ve not seen proof of nesting by this species in the Wetlands. This, the sighting of a juvenile, is proof. The male is often seen (or heard) among the willows in the Wetlands or atop a pine next to the Bird Feeder Exhibit, the female remains hidden most of the time, but until now I had only assumed that they were nesting among the willows. Now I know they were.

Keep your eyes opened for American Goldfinches as you stroll the paths of the outdoor exhibits. They are currently in the finest of plumages with jet-black wings and cap and bright yellow bodies. I often hear them singing from the trees behind the Fossil Dig or down along the path on the north side of the Wetlands. Stop by Flying Birds, the Bird Feeder Exhibit, and you may see one of the juvenile birds feeding along with the adults. Notice the juvenile’s buff-colored wingbars and dark bill in contrast to the adults.

Red-tailed Hawks continue to be seen daily and Cooper’s Hawks have been noticed flying and perching in the vicinity of the previous year’s nest site. And, as mentioned above, Red-shouldered Hawks are once again showing up in the Wetlands.

Eastern Phoebes are calling regularly in and around the Wetlands. Phoebes nest on ledges. I’ve witnessed the birds investigating potential nest sites both under the boardwalk and in the vending area near the Red Wolf Enclosure. There are numerous crossbeams under the boardwalk for the phoebes to build a nest upon. The structure that houses the vending machines also offers many suitable ledges.

An American Crow was seen carrying nesting material on 1 March. Fish Crows had been seen (and heard) throughout the period.

The Brown-headed Nuthatches, which last month had so diligently excavated nest holes in a Loblolly Pine along the path between the entrances to Catch the Wind and Explore the Wild (see Brown-headed Nuthatches, Explore the Wild Journal, February 16-28, 2009), have apparently presented the holes to, or have been evicted by, a pair of Carolina Chickadees. In the images at left you can see a chickadee in the process of renovating one of the holes by first entering the hole, then exiting with a beak full of wood chips from the cavity’s interior.

During the first few days of this period, two Brown-headed Nuthatches were spotted working on a hole in a dead pine behind the vending area next to the Red Wolf Enclosure. They were not seen at that location during the second week of March. Are these the same two nuthatches that bored the holes for the chickadees? Have they abandoned this new hole too?

There have been numerous reports over the past several weeks of large numbers of American Robins throughout North Carolina; the robins are on the move north. So, it’s no surprise that hundreds of American Robins joined the already present, and equally numerous, Cedar Waxwings in an assault on the Museum’s hollies which began at the end of February (see Cedar Waxwings, Explore the Wild Journal, February 16-28, 2009). The birds were mainly concentrating on the hollies along the side entrance to the Museum’s main building, although few hollies anywhere on the grounds were immune to the onslaught (two trees out in front of the Museum seem to have been ably defended by a Northern Mockingbird, with most of its berries intact). Some of you may have noticed that all of the berries are missing from the small hollies behind the Ornithopter. The hollies in front of the Ornithopter were spared due to the human traffic through the area, the birds being reluctant to feed where people frequently pass. By the end of the first week in March, the waxwings had departed and only a handful of robins presently remain on site.

The first Red-winged Blackbird of the season appeared on the 7th of March. This lone male was seen and heard singing from a willow in the Wetlands.

Two Pine Siskins were observed at the Bird Feeder Exhibit during the period. Eight of those slender finches were seen in an elm tree behind the Sailboat Pond on the 3rd of March. It won’t be long before they leaves us.

The female Belted Kingfisher, usually a daily fixture in the Wetlands, disappeared until the 29th when I heard its raspy call coming from the trees on the far side of the Wetlands.

It may be cold outside – hardly an insect in sight, reptiles laying low, groundhogs (usually) sleeping it off  - but there’s always birds to entertain the winter hiker. On Monday the 19th, at least three frogs were caught by the Red-shouldered Hawk who frequents the swamp across from the Wetlands Overlook. The hawk may have taken more frogs that day, but I was only witness to three. There was ice on the water, but enough free water remained to allow the hawk to continue hunting frogs. With the water frozen solid on the 21st, I didn’t see the hawk on its now familiar perch in the swamp. However, I saw it take two more frogs on the cold and raw 25th of January. I don’t know if it has any relevance, but it seems that the frogs that this hawk is now catching are smaller than the frogs I’d seen it take previously.

This hawk is becoming a much sought after feature of the Explore the Wild/Catch the Wind Loop. Museum guests are coming down to the Wetlands with the expectation of seeing the hawk and are disappointed when it’s not there. Some ask whether the hawk is part of an exhibit! I suppose that in a way it is: it’s part of the Wetlands’ fauna, free to come and go as they please.

As I was making my last round of the day on the Explore the Wild/Catch the Wind Loop on January 25, I heard an abbreviated call (the last two syllables, “you-all”) of a Barred Owl coming from the tall Loblolly Pines behind the Meadow across from the Bird Feeder Exhibit. I called back. The owl answered. Then silence. I looked but couldn’t visually locate the owl. I walked on. The owl, I assume, went on with whatever it was doing.

An Eastern Phoebe can still be seen on nearly every visit to the Explore the Wild/Catch the Wind Loop.

The cold weather quickened the pace at the Bird Feeder Exhibit. Six Pine Siskins (see Pine Siskins, January 1-15, 2009) were at the feeders during the first week of this period. That number doubled the following week. Pine Warblers have also been very busy at the feeders.

A Winter Wren was in the woods across from the Lemur House on the 18th of the month.

A Hermit Thrush was seen below the bird feeders. I saw two of these winter thrushes together near the Wetlands Overlook and another behind the Lemur House.

Noteworthy was a Gray Catbird seen next to the Ornithopter on January 24 as it dined on holly berries. Although most catbirds vacate the area during winter, migrating as far south as Central America, there are often a few that linger in our area each year. Still, not having seen one at the Museum since October, I was excited to see this bird. Northern Mockingbird and Brown Thrasher, the other resident mimic thrushes at the Museum, can be seen throughout the winter months, although the mockingbird is the standout, the thrasher a bit more reclusive.

I first noticed Northern Cardinals in song on 24 January and occasionally thereafter. Cardinals often start singing early in the year. By the end of February they should be in full swing. It’s not unusual to see them singing amongst newly sprouted Red Maple buds. Females sometimes sing as well, although not quite in the same manner as the males, who, intent on being seen and heard by everyone, in all their redness, seek out the most prominent of perches, stretch themselves out to appear as tall as possible and belt out their song, their bodies shaking with every note. No, the female’s song is more of a whistle-while-you-work kind of song, like a happy worker busy at her craft who can’t help but to start whistling a tune while she goes about her business among the branches of the trees and shrubs.

Besides the cardinals, the lengthening days are apparently having an effect on other avian hormonal flow. Song Sparrows began singing during the last week of January. Evidently, one male was successful in attracting a female, at least temporarily. I watched as a female (I assume it was a female) landed on the ground at the base of a cedar. The male, who had been singing from a perch in a small sycamore next to the cedar, dropped down beside her. The male began to run back and forth in front of her, doing semicircles around her while singing his song. He sang not the loud “here I am” song he caroled from the perch, but a shorter, softer, more subdued version of the same. The female, for the most part, remained stationary, occasionally sidestepping to the left or right, all the while her tail flicking up and down, her wings now and then flashing open, a blur. At times, the female would fly off a few feet, the male quickly following until they were eventually fifty feet from where they had started. The song and dance went on for nearly ten minutes. And then, it was all over, the female flew off and the male resumed his post on the sycamore. He was still singing when I left at the end of the day.

Three Field Sparrows were seen in the tall grass next to the Sailboat Pond. A group of White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos have been seen foraging in several locations along the path around the Explore the Wild/Catch the Wind Loop throughout the winter, lately concentrating on the area between the main entrance to Catch the Wind and the Bird Feeder Exhibit. There is a large, four-trunked Sweetgum on the south side of the path. Look in this area for the birds. Towhees, Song Sparrows, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and other birds are often mixed in with this group. Still no Fox Sparrows. I thought that the cold weather would bring in one or two of these large, handsome sparrows. There’s still time, but it’s running out quickly.

With the arrival of the mergansers, there are three bird species in direct competition for the Wetland’s fish. I expect we’ll see a Pied-billed Grebe arrive soon, but for now the contestants are Hooded Merganser, Belted Kingfisher, and Great Blue Heron.

Two observations on the resident Great Blue Heron: It has apparently learned to use ducks and geese to secure prey for itself, and it eats quite a few crayfish.

Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed the Museum’s Great Blue Heron stalking prey in close proximity to both the Mallards of the Wetlands and the visiting Canada Geese. As they (the ducks and geese) tip-up to feed on the vegetation and odd invertebrate, the heron flies, walks or swims (yes, swims), over to the feeding waterfowl, often getting quite close. The geese at first protested this intrusion into their “space” with a lot of head-bobbing and cackling, but the heron persisted. The ducks and geese now seem to accept the heron as part of their daily routine.

Great Blue Herons usually hunt alone, but this one has apparently noticed a correlation between the foraging waterfowl and the availability of its prey, or so it seems. One of two things could be happening. One, while feeding on the vegetation, the ducks and geese disturb the bottom and surrounding area causing whatever fish, tadpoles, or other heron prey items hiding or resting therein to flush, making themselves visible and available to the heron. Or two, the fish are actually attracted to the area because of the disturbance caused by the feeding waterfowl which may stir up small invertebrates that the fish eat. Whichever it is, the heron zeros in on the waterfowl whenever they’re feeding.

Recently, a similar behavior was documented at a pond at Duke Gardens here in Durham, a few miles southwest of the Museum. While people visiting the pond fed bread to the local ducks, the pond’s resident catfish took advantage of the free meal tossed in the water for the ducks and began gorging on the bread themselves. (I don’t recommend feeding bread to ducks; in fact, I discourage it – whole corn is better. Neither is OK at the Museum!) Upon seeing the fish, the resident heron swam over and snagged one of them. Has our Great Blue Heron been to Duke Gardens and witnessed this behavior? I don’t know.

The two situations above are slightly different, however; at Duke Gardens the fish were attracted by the bread meant for the ducks, but no one feeds the ducks (and indirectly the fish) at the Museum. I don’t know if the Duke Gardens heron now associates the feeding of the ducks with the availability of a meal because I didn’t witness the incident myself and have not followed up on it. However, our bird, the resident Great Blue Heron in the Wetlands, apparently does associate ducks and geese with dinner, at least while the waterfowl are actively foraging for their own food. As already mentioned, whenever the geese or ducks are out in the water feeding, the heron watches closely and usually flies over, intent on snagging a meal.

Now, to the crayfish. Several weeks ago I noticed a rather large pile of crayfish parts (claws, legs, and various other exoskeletal pieces) on the boardwalk just outside of the entrance to the main Black Bear Overlook. At first I thought a Raccoon was somehow responsible for the mess. However, the pile looked as though it had been deposited from a considerable height – it was somewhat splattered about on the boardwalk, with some of the pieces several feet from the main pile.

There is a Loblolly Pine next to the boardwalk at the exact location where the crayfish parts were found. Some forty feet above, the tree has branches extending out over the boardwalk. Great Blue Herons regurgitate, in the form of a pellet (much like owls and hawks), the parts of their prey that can’t be digested, like fur, bones, and exoskeletons. Since the initial observation, there has been much “whitewash” (poop) in the same spot and more, somewhat smaller, piles of crayfish parts. It appears as though our Great Blue Heron sometimes roosts in the Loblolly high above the boardwalk. The rest, you can guess.

For nearly a week after the passage of the cold front that moved through on the 18th/19th of October the skies were mostly clear with high cirrus clouds making it easy to pick out high flying birds. The 18th and 19th were busy bird days with lots of familiar avian visitors returning from the north. Warblers and other passerines rode in on the back of the front. The rest of the week was busy as well, mainly with high altitude hawks, but with a few other bird types as well. A flock of 13 Double-crested Cormorants in classic echelon formation flapped their way south on the 23rd of the month.

Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures sail over Explore the Wild and Catch the Wind daily, but on the 23rd they were truly soaring high. A group of 8 Turkey Vultures glided by at “little black speck” altitude with a few Black Vultures mixed in. Turkey Vultures (TVs) and Black Vultures (BVs) are fairly easy to separate (images at left). TVs have relatively long tails and soar with their wings held above the horizontal (dihedral). Additionally, TVs tend to teeter, or rock back and forth while soaring, giving them an unsteady appearance in flight. BVs have very short tails and although they sometimes hold their wings in a dihedral they are not consistent in doing so. They also tend to flap their wings rapidly, then glide, rapid flaps, glide. There are other differences, but at great distances these two characteristics are easy to see.

The 23rd was an interesting day for raptors. A Sharp-shinned Hawk and at least two Cooper’s Hawks (at left) were seen soaring high above. Cooper’s Hawks were seen each day following the front. Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks were both up and soaring high and were fairly easy to pick up visually with the lofty cirrus clouds as a backdrop.

For the past few weeks, at least six of our local Blue Jays have been busily flying back and forth over Catch the Wind. They’ve been observed daily flying to large Willow Oaks well behind the Ornithopter, each with an acorn in its bill on the return trip, and probably several more stuffed in its throat. They’re burying, or caching, the nuts. Willow Oak acorns are small and, although I don’t know for sure how many acorns these Blue Jays can stuff into their gullets (perhaps 5 maximum), they’re likely carrying more than one at a time. I once watched a Blue Jay cram 16 sunflower seeds into its throat and one in its bill before flying off to cache the seeds.

I haven’t determined where they’re going with all of those acorns, where they’re burying them, but the cache must be quite large considering the amount of trips observed. Blue Jays will fly several miles to cache nuts. Many of the nuts cached by birds (and squirrels) are never relocated, leaving them to germinate and grow into trees. In effect, the birds (and squirrels) are planting trees. In a paper I read many years ago, one researcher theorized that Blue Jays played a significant role in the reforestation of eastern North America following the most recent period of glaciation. Some have suggested that squirrels were the real heroes of the reforestation story, but squirrels don’t carry acorns far from the mother tree before burying them, perhaps fifty yards if at all. While it’s true that acorns don’t fall far from the tree, Blue Jays will take them there (far from the tree, that is).

Picture the landscape 15,000 years ago when much of North America was under a thick sheet of ice at least as far south as Long Island, NY (Long Island is a terminal moraine). At that time the great eastern deciduous forest was much further south, hundreds of miles south of where it is today. Moving north from this ancient deciduous forest you would probably encounter boreal forest with spruces and other conifers (remnants of which can be seen today on the highest mountain peaks of western North Carolina), scrublands, perhaps steppe or vast dry grasslands, tundra and finally the glaciers themselves, a much different landscape then we see today. As the climate warmed and the glaciers slowly retreated northward at the end of the glacial period, those habitats or biotic zones moved north with them. But how did they move north, and so fast (10-12 thousand years is not a long time)? The trees couldn’t simply uproot and walk north.

As noted, most seeds or nuts that fall from trees, fall directly under the tree. Even the maples, ashes, and poplars with seeds that are carried by the wind and “helicopter” to earth don’t travel very far from the source tree. Left to their own devices deciduous trees would have taken perhaps hundreds of thousands of years to move north to their present locations. Squirrels would help somewhat by carrying off seeds and burying them at least some distance from where they fell to earth. And, as alluded to, it’s well documented that squirrels (or birds) that cache nuts don’t relocate many of the nuts (more than half, if I remember correctly), those nuts later growing into trees. Even with the squirrel’s help, this reforestation would still be a very slow creep north.

A bird that could carry nuts and seeds perhaps half a mile, 2, 5, or even 10 miles from where they originated, and of course, later forget where they were buried or simply just not have enough time to recover them all, would quicken the process considerably. There are many studies showing that Blue Jays will and do carry vast amounts of acorns and other nuts miles from where they were gathered, to be buried and subsequently forgotten, or in which the nuts buried germinated on their own before being used as food. And, the birds don’t put all of those nuts into one hole, but spread them out over the area so there could be many trees sprouting over a relatively wide area. In one study observers witnessed a group of jays move 133,000 acorns. In another, 150,000 acorns in just under a month’s time. That’s a lot of nuts! How many of those were never dug up and eventually grew into trees?

I saw the first-of-the-season Winter Wren and Golden-crowned Kinglet on the 18th of October. I consistently see Ruby-crowned Kinglets foraging with groups of warblers.

A Hermit Thrush was seen on the 29th and was the first one of the season. This bird, and perhaps a few others, will stake out a claim at the Museum near a good source of berries and stay the winter.

If you like sorting through hundreds of warblers, the 18th and 19th of the month was the day to be at the Wetlands. Magnolia Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warblers, and Palm Warbler, were all seen on those two days. Butter-Butts, or Yellow-rumped Warblers, arrived en masse on the 18th, making it difficult to sift through them all to pick out the other warblers in the bunch.

Yellow-rumped Warblers should be around for the duration, or at least until they’ve devoured all of the Wax Myrtle berries at the Museum (see Wax Myrtle, Explore the Wild Journal, September 1-15, 2008). While they do quite a bit of flycatching, these warblers can stay farther north than most of their fellow warblers, which for the most part, are strictly insectivorous and need to follow the season south. Besides feeding on the Wax Myrtle, you may catch a glimpse of a Yellow-rump at the bird feeders slurping suet along with one of the the local Pine Warblers.

Yellow-rumped Warblers are named for the yellow patch of feathers on their rump, just anterior of the tail (image above). Although much less colorful in their drab winter plumage, they also show a patch of yellow on each side of the breast. The yellow on the breast varies in brightness according to the age, sex and current plumage of the individual bird but there is usually al least some yellow present.

A few sparrows also showed up during the past few weeks. Chipping Sparrows arrived with the warblers on the 18th of October and a Field Sparrow was seen the following day. Several Song Sparrows were also observed. White-throated Sparrows have returned (see image), and should be with us until early May.

A male Rose-breasted Grosbeak flew in on the 18th and flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds were seen winging by overhead.

There are many young American Goldfinches about. For the past month they’ve been seen at the bird feeders and foraging among the ripening seeds, especially the Tick-seed, alongside the path in Catch the Wind. While the adult Goldfinches have molted into their drab winter plumage making them difficult to separate from the immature birds, the young finches can be differentiated by their buff, or tan-colored, wingbars.

On August 23 I saw a Northern Waterthrush walking on plant debris in the water among the fading Lotus plants in the Wetlands. The small, olive-brown-backed warbler with dark streaks on its undersides bounced along, bobbing its rear end up and down, looking for insects to eat. Northern Waterthrushes don’t nest in our area, but much farther north. Some warblers and other passerines are migrating at this time. Some have been on the move since July. Keep an eye out for possible migrants, especially after the passage of a cold front. Of course, I’ll be reporting anything that I see.

Our resident Ruby-throated Hummingbirds will be leaving us soon if they’re not gone by the time this is posted. However, now is the time to keep an eye out for western species of hummingbirds. Several have already been reported elsewhere this season within the state. The one that you’re most likely to see is a Rufous Hummingbird.

It can be difficult to distinguish between immature Ruby-throated and Rufous Hummingbirds. It’s certainly possible of course, but no need to get into that here. If an adult Rufous shows up you’ll probably notice the difference right away due to the reddish brown (rufous) feathers on the back, sides, and tail. We may be seeing migrating Ruby-throats into October, but after that any hummingbird you see at the feeders in Catch the Wind is very likely to be something other than a Ruby-throated Hummingbird.