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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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Posts about Bird biology
Can you find the eggs?
Posted by: Jim Williams Updated: May 16, 2013 - 10:25 PM
Killdeer often build their nests -- little more than a scrape -- in gravel or on open soil. This one chose to use wood shavings surrounding a tree trunk. Can you find the eggs? The camo is pretty good.
Wounded Sparrow?
Posted by: Jim Williams Updated: May 14, 2013 - 9:06 PMFeeding in our yard today was a White-throated Sparrow with a tuft of seriously misplaced feathers. They protrude from the bird's rigth flank, like a feather duster attached to the bird's hip. Behavior of the sparrow appeared ordinary. It moved on the ground and flew without apparent problem. Did the bird have a narrow escape from a predator, a claw tearing the feathers as the bird flew? Looks like a lot of feather for that part of the body doesn't it? And the dark color seems wrong. Doesn't make much sense. The sparrow's bill appears odd because the bird was manipulating a piece of cracked corn.
Owls fledging
Posted by: Jim Williams Updated: May 9, 2013 - 1:30 PMYoung Great Horned Owls I’ve been watching apparently are old enough to leave the nest, although they haven’t looked that way to me. The birds pictured are an adult and one of her owlets in their nest at Westwood Hills Nature Center. There were/are two chicks. One left the nest Tuesday. The photo was taken Wednesday morning. In one shot here the young bird is stretching a wing, making primary flight feathers visible (adult peering over wing). The feathers appear half developed or less. The pair of young owls I was watching in a nest near Long Lake left their nest seven days ago. They looked very similar to the one pictured. They know best, obviously.
Young owls
Posted by: Jim Williams Updated: April 28, 2013 - 11:12 AMThe Great Horned Owl chicks I've been watching are beginning to look like owls. This photo was taken Sunday morning.
There were crows and jays in the area, birds that would mob adult owls. The young birds are ignored. Perhaps they are recognized as non-threatening in this plumage.
Whooping Cranes back in Wisconsin
Posted by: Jim Williams Updated: April 16, 2013 - 8:09 AMWhooping Cranes are back on their Wisconsin nesting grounds. As of April 3, 84 cranes were confirmed arrivals in central Wisconsin. The cranes are part of the reintroduction project centered at Necedah National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) about two hours east of our Wisconsin border.
Noteworthy is the return of two chicks wild-hatched in Wisconsin last year. They migrated with their parents to wintering grounds in southern Indiana last fall, and now have returned. This marks the first complete migration cycle for wild Wisconsin chicks.
Wild-hatched means they were raised by their crane parents with no human assistance. The flock has been built with birds hand-raised and tended by humans through their initial fall migration.
The crane project is managed by the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership (WCEP), an international coalition of public and private groups that is reintroducing the birds to eastern North America. Decades ago this species was extirpated from this part of the continent.
Cranes from this flock sometimes are seen in Minnesota, but I know of no such reports this spring. WCEP asks anyone who encounters a Whooping Crane in the wild to give them the respect and distance they need. Observers should not approach birds on foot within 200 yards. Observers should remain in their vehicle, and no closer in the vehicle than 100 yards. Observers should remain concealed and not speak loudly enough that the birds can hear you. Observers should not trespass on private property in an attempt to view or photograph the cranes.
Whooping Cranes sometimes can be seen at Necedah NWR. Beginning in 2011, cranes also were released at Wisconsin’s White River Marsh State Wildlife Area. These photos of adult Whoopoing Cranes was taken at Necedah in October 2010. Attached to the birds’ legs are radio transmitters that allow the birds to be tracked. In the lower photo a Sandhill Crane is in the foreground.
Complete information on this project can be found at http://www.bringbackthecranes.org/technicaldatabase/index.html
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recent posts
- Continuing the Attu story
- Can you find the eggs?
- Wounded Sparrow?
- Warblers foraging on ponds
- Oriole jelly feeder -- homemade
- Warbler fallout -- 187+ individuals
- Owls fledging
- Spring ... and then there's that Attu tale
- New field guide to raptors
- Great Horned Owl chicks
- Young owls
- Fighting for nesting rights
- Owls: One cuddling mouse, another on its nest
- Winter Wrens and turkeys
- Snow birds
- A weekend on Attu: Chapter seven
- Whooping Cranes back in Wisconsin
- Robins everywhere on Monday
- Bright spot on snowy day
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