Naturally
I watched a follow-me wave of chickadees lead nuthatches, downy woodpeckers and cardinals on a foraging expedition through shrubs and trees. I saw a downy woodpecker use a small tree crevice as a vice to hold sunflower seeds and crack them open to eat. Opossums fed below the feeders (a male is a Jack, the female a Jill).
A blizzard modifies the plot line. Tree trunks had absorbed the heat from the sun and melted the surrounding snow, leaving dark circles around the base of trees. A suet feeder rocked in the wind like an amusement park ride. The woodpecker held on tight. It should have been wearing one of those pole-climbing safety straps. Four fox squirrels ate near one another on the snowy ground during a lull in a blizzard. They tolerated the company of one another but chased a fifth one away. It tried repeatedly to join the crowd but was repelled each time. I guess the four had enough for a card game. I threw corn to the fifth squirrel at another location. It found it.
The rough-legged hawk is a buteo of open habitats. Named for its feathered legs, it breeds throughout the arctic and sub-arctic regions of North America. Compared to a red-tailed hawk, it appears delicate, with small feet and small bill, an adaptation that helps keeps bare parts less vulnerable to cold weather exposure. When perching in trees, it sits on the small twigs at the top of trees, appearing too heavy for frail branches. The plumage is variable. Light morphs pale with a dark belly and dark patches on "wrists." Dark morphs have brown or blackish bodies with banded tails and striking white flight feathers. They can hover when hunting.
Q&A
“How long does nyjer seed stay fresh?” When nyjer seed dries out, birds find it easy to ignore. I try to avoid waste by purchasing nyjer in a quantity I'll use in a month or two. Nyjer used to be called thistle seed, but it’s not a noxious weed and the USDA requires all imported nyjer seeds to be heat-treated to sterilize the seed. Nyjer seed has a shell but is vulnerable to spoilage while in a feeder. Check for clumping and mold. If present, a 10% bleach/water solution should be used to clean the feeder.
“How many eggs can a brown-headed cowbird lay?” The cowbird is a brood parasite that could lay 40 eggs per season.
“How do birds know when they have laid enough eggs?” Scientists removed eggs soon after they were laid. Some birds replaced them right away. A house sparrow laid 50 replacements, while a flicker laid 71 in 73 days. Birds that keep laying after eggs are removed are called indeterminate layers. The number of eggs is tied to the brood patch, bare skin on a bird’s underbody that transfers body warmth to the eggs. The tactile sensation in this process determines clutch size. Determinate egg layers will not lay extra eggs in response to egg removal or stop laying eggs if eggs are added to their nests.
“How many eggs does a pheasant nest have?” Hens lay an average of 12 eggs, which hatch in 23 to 25 days, with the chicks leaving the nest in a few hours. If a hen loses her clutch before it hatches, she lays another albeit smaller clutch. Re-nesting attempts could hatch as late as the end of August or early September. A hen hatches one brood per breeding season. Hens will not re-nest if they lose a brood.
“Do both parent bald eagles incubate eggs?” Both the male and female have brood patches and take turns sitting on eggs, but the female being larger, takes the longer incubation periods overnight and during cold weather and storms. Incubation begins after the first egg is laid, meaning that in a nest with more than one egg there will be the oldest eaglet and the youngest. The eggs are rolled regularly to make sure the lighter yolk doesn’t rise, touch and stick to the shell and kill a developing chick.
“When do bald eagles attain a white head and tail?” Approximately 25% of the birds acquire adult plumage at 4 ½ years, but most bald eagles gain adult plumage by 5 ½ years of age. This doesn’t consider any aberrant plumages.
Thanks for stopping by
“I believe that the first test of a truly great man is his humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of his own powers. But really great men have a curious feeling that the greatness is not in them, but through them. And they see something divine in every other man and are endlessly, foolishly, incredibly merciful.”—John Ruskin.
“Wildlife in the world can only be protected by the love of compassionate hearts in the world!”―Mehmet Murat ildan.
Do good.
©️Al Batt 2023
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology says a red-bellied woodpecker can stick out its tongue nearly 2 inches past the end of its beak. The tip is barbed and the bird’s spit is sticky, making it easier to snatch prey from deep crevices. Males have longer, wider-tipped tongues than females, possibly allowing a breeding pair to forage in slightly different places on their territory and maximize their use of available food.
Photo by Al Batt.