YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES
Jim Williams has been watching birds and writing about their antics since before "Gilligan's Island" went into reruns. Join him for his unique insights, his everyday adventures and an open conversation about the birds in your back yard and beyond.
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Hawk eats dead owl
Posted by: Jim Williams under Bird biology, Bird interactions Updated: February 8, 2012 - 8:48 AM
Making one of my routine scans of backyard bird action yesterday, I found a Red-tailed Hawk at the back of our yard, at the edge of the woods, vigorously pulling feathers from something on the ground, and appearing to eat portions of it. Indeed, the hawk was lunching on a dead Barred Owl that it had found there. I watched it for about 45 minutes, taking photos from a second-floor window, my only vantage point. The hawk ripped the breast feathers from the owl, ate most of the breast, ate a good portion of the head, and ripped one wing from the carcass. When it had its fill, the Red-tail hopped onto a log, wiped its bill against the wood, left side, then right, and then full of owl and cleaned up, it flew off. The ragged remains of the owl is still there, enough for a small meal for someone. I'm waiting. In the photos, the gray feathers came from the breast of the owl. In the top photo a portion of the wing can be seen in beside the hawk.
Best book of 2010
Posted by: Jim Williams under Bird biology, Nesting Updated: February 6, 2012 - 10:24 AM"Avian Architecture: How Birds Design, Engineer, & Build" was the best bird-related book I read in 2010. It discusses construction of bird nests. It recently was honored by winning top award for professional and scholarly excellence for a reference/science book in competition sponsored by the Association of American Publishers.
Author Peter Goodfellow uses clear text supported by fine photos and particularly wonderful drawings, diagrams, and how-to illustrations to show us exactly how particular types of nests are constructed. Have you ever looked up at the remains of a Baltimore Oriole's sock-like woven nest and wondered how the bird did it? (This is a good time of year to look for nests.) I found an oriole nest this weekend, and wished I could take it in hand for close examination. I needed arms 20 feet long to reach it, though.
Goodfellow solves the nest retrieval problem for us. He selects bird species that best demonstrate construction technique and secrets for various nest types. I look at nests in a new way now, admiration first, curiosity second. Birds do many things I can't do (fly, eggs). Building a nest is high on the list.
The book was published by Princeton University Press. It's hard-cover, indexed, with dozens of excellent illustrations, and a list of resources to take you deeper into the wonder of nests. Price is $27.95.
The Richard Crossley identification book, by the way, won top award from the AAP for excellence in reference books. That also is a Princeton University Press publication.
Cardinals: vital statistics
Posted by: Jim Williams under Bird biology, Bird feeding, Bird identification Updated: February 1, 2012 - 9:35 AMScientific name: Cardinalis cardinalis, meaning important, as the red-robed church official for whom the bird is named.
Range: Eastern North America, swinging south to deep southern Mexico. A mostly southern species that moved north as conditions (including growth of bird feeding) allowed, arriving in Twin Cities area in or around 1930. Has since moved as far north as Cook County in Minnesota’s Arrowhead region.
Weight: About 1.5 ounces.
Name: Was simply Cardinal until 1982 modification to Northern Cardinal by American Ornithological Union. Folk names include Red-bird, Virginia Nightingale, Virginia Redbird, Crested Redbird, and Top-Knot Redbird.
Migration: Year round resident throughout range. Almost all cardinals stay very close to where they were hatched.
Food: About one-third animal matter, two-third vegetable. Young fed almost exclusively insects (higher nutritional content). Bird-feeder studies with variety of seed types found black-oil sunflower the most preferred.
Sounds: Ornithologists describe as many as 16 different calls. Males sing all year, most common in spring courtship.
Territory: During nesting season will defend about four acres.
Pair formation: Some cardinals will remain paired throughout the year.
Nest: Bowl made of twigs, leaf matter, grapevine bark, and grass, in specific layers. Female does most of the work, completed in three to nine days.
Eggs: One to five eggs, average two to three. Incubation complete in 11 to 13 days.
Young birds: Altricial when hatched (helpless, naked, eyes closed, skin transparent). Fledge in seven to 13 days.
Age: In wild, extreme about 13 years. Annual survival rate about 65 percent
Source of information: The Birds of North America, monograph 440, by Sylvia L. Halkin and Susan U. Linville. Copyright 1999 Birds of North America, Inc.
Chimney Swift nest
Posted by: Jim Williams under Bird biology, Nesting Updated: January 30, 2012 - 10:44 AMA friend recently let me photograph the nest of a Chimney Swift. He found it in a chimney this winter as he prepared to light the first fire of the season. Looking up into the chimney to make certain there was nothing in the way of smoke, he saw and removed the nest. It is built entirely of twigs that the swifts brake from tree branches as they fly by. Swifts don't land or perch to find food or nesting material. Except for nesting and roosting, they spend their lives in the air. They roost in the chimney or hollow tree (or, now, nesting towers built for them) by clinging to a necessary rough surface with the claws on their toes. The nest is very small, as you can see, but large enough to hold four or five young birds. In the first photo you can see a shiny material wrapped around twigs at upper left. This is swift saliva, used as glue to hold the nest together and to attach it to the chimney wall. The third photo shows a Chimney Swift nest with three eggs. The view is partially blocked by chimney hardware. Both nests with and without eggs came from the same chimney, two years apart.
Paging through the Hennepin County Library’s list of new books this morning I came across “Attracting Songbirds to Your Backyard” by Sally Roth. I’ve not seen the book so I have no idea of its quality. It sent me, however, to the library catalog to see what selection of bird-related books are available. As much as I use the library and like birds, this was my first bird-related search. There are hundreds of books to choose from. I used the library’s search engine. The key words “bird feeding” are good, but “bird watching” is much better. Dozens of titles came up. I make my book choices on-line, via the library’s excellent web site and electronic catalog system. You request a book, choose the library at which you will pick it up, then wait for an email message telling you the book is waiting. You probably know all of this already. Perhaps, though, you haven’t browsed the birding book lists.
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