First Birds of the Year

 I have never been much of a bird lister. My pictures are basically my bird list, but this year I am thinking of trying something new. I am going to try and post any new bird species that I photograph each week and then at this time next year I will be able to look back and count the number of species that I have seen throughout the year.

So I started 2014 off with a bang. I did not get out on the first but I spent most of the day Friday running around Dakota County, where I live. With the cold front that hit this past weekend we have a good influx of snowy owls (top). Snowy owls are usually found around the arctic circle but in years where there is a lack of food or they have a productive breeding year owl migrate south into southern Canada and the US. The northeast US has been experiencing a snowy invasion for a while now but it started out kind of slow here and just kicked in the past week. I found 4 different owls yesterday and it is estimated that we could have 7 or more just in this area. My second bird is another arctic visitor. The long-tailed ducks breed in pretty much the same range as the snowies do. Most long-tailed ducks migrate to the east or west coast of the US during the winter. For the past few years though we have had one or two that winter at the confluence of the St Croix and Mississippi Rivers. The water there usually stays open unless it gets really cold and the long-tailed duck usually join with flocks of other diving ducks, such as common goldeneye and mergansers, and fish the icy water. I hope that my next set of birds is this good but it is going to be hard to beat this pair.  

Pine Grosbeak

The pine Grosbeak is one of the largest members of the finch family, Fringlilidae. They are found in the boreal forests of Alaska, Canada, Rocky Mountains, and Eurasia. Most pine grosbeaks stay on territory year round but they will migrate south, into southern Canada and northern United States in North America, when there is a shortage of food. They eat seeds, fruit, tree buds and some insects.  

Males and females are distinctive in color. The top photo here is a female while the red bird in the second photo is a male. They breed in coniferous forests, often building a cup shaped nest in the fork of a conifer tree. They are strongly territorial during the breeding season but during the winter they often feed in flocks, staying near trees with fruit until it has all been consumed. They are also not very wary of people and will come to feeders mostly to eat sunflower seeds.

Clay-colored Sparrow

The clay-colored sparrow is one of the most numerous songbirds found on the central plains of North America. They breed in central Canada and the north Central United States and winter primarily in Mexico. They breed in shrubland habitats. The breeding territory is smaller then most other species of sparrow because they forage away from their breeding territory. They forage on the ground and eat a variety of seeds, grasses, leaf buds, and insects.

Males typically come back to the same nesting territory each year but females usually choose a different territory and mate each year. Their nest is usually located on the lower branches of a bush near to the ground. Females build the nest, which is cup shaped, but males help by bringing nesting materials like twigs and grass. The eggs take a week and a half to two weeks to hatch. The chicks are born helpless and with out feathers. In 7-9 days after hatching they leave the nest. They are still not able to fly at this time but they will spend the next week on the ground in the bushes where they will be fed by their parents.   

Whisper

For the past several years I have had the pleasure of putting together the calendar for The Raptor Center. Each year it has been a struggle trying to figure out how to photograph the birds, after all most of my experience has been with birds that do not sit still let alone pose. This picture is my favorite so far. This was the October photo in the 2013 calendar. The photo was taken in a small pumpkin field at the University of Minnesota St Paul Campus, where The Raptor Center is located. The UofM St Paul Campus houses the School of Agricultural and the School of Veterinary Medicine, which is why it is one of the few places in Minnesota where you can find a barn owl and a pumpkin patch. Whisper is one of our education birds. She came to TRC from the World Bird Sanctuary. The World Bird Sanctuary raises barn owls as part of a release program in Missouri but Whisper was slated to become an education bird.  

Eared Grebe

 I am sure that most people have heard the story f the ugly duckling. How a chick that looks different then all the other duck chicks grows up to become a beautiful swan. Well there are some species of birds that go through a similar metamorphosis each year. Take the eared grebe for example. The subject of both of these photos are eared grebes. Other then the red eye they do not look the same and I bet that if you spotted the two of them right next to each other that most people would think that they were two different species.

Of course spotting these two next to each other would be highly unlikely. The top photo is the eared grebe in its winter plumage. This photo was taken in California in February. Eared grebes migrate to the Pacific Coast, southwestern United States, and Mexico. The second photo is an eared grebe in its breeding plumage. I guess that it is hard to find a mate when you are in black and white. This photo was taken in Montana in May. Eared grebes breed on inland lakes in the western half of the U. S. and Canada.

Nashville Warbler

 The Nashville warbler was named back in 1811 by Alexander Wilson when he first observed them near Nashville Tennessee. Unfortunately the name does not fit well since the only time that you can find Nashville warblers near Nashville Tennessee is during migration. Nashville warblers breed in Canada and the northern United States. During the winter they migrate to southern Texas, Mexico and Central America.

It is likely the birds that Wilson spotted were adults. In this species the juvenile birds tend to migrate along the coast while the adult birds choose a more inland route. There are two distinct and separate subspecies of Nashville warblers. The ruficapilla subspecies is found in the eastern half of North America. The ridgwayi subspecies breeds along the west coast of North America from northern California to southern British Columbia. This subspecies is a little brighter and used to be considered a separate species, the Calavaras warbler. Both species prefer deciduous forest or bog habitat. They eat insects which they glean from low branches and shrubs.

Red-shouldered Hawk

 The red-shouldered hawk is a medium sized hawk that is typically found in the eastern half of the United States and along the Pacific coast in California. They are forest hawks that typically ambush their prey, located on the forest floor, from a perch in the trees. Their main prey is small rodents, such as mice, voles, rats, moles, chipmunks, and ground squirrels. They will also take other prey such as tree squirrels, rabbits, reptiles, amphibians, birds and larger bugs, when available. They stay on territory all year long through out most of their range, with only the birds in the farthest north regions migrating to central Mexico for the winter.

There are five different subspecies of red-shouldered hawks. The subspecies with the largest range is the lineatus subspecies. Often called the northern red-shouldered they are found from Kansas to the Atlantic Coast, in the south, up to southern Canada. These red-shouldered hawks are larger in size then the other subspecies. The top photo is a northern red-shouldered hawk photographed in Minnesota. There are 2 subspecies in Florida, alleni and extimus. the extimus subspecies is found only in the southern parts of Florida. The Florida subspecies are smaller and usually lighter in color especially around the face. The bird in the photo above was photographed in Florida. The last eastern subspecies is texamus and they are found in eastern Texas and northeastern Mexico. There is one subspecies, elegans, found along the Pacific coast mostly in California. Their breast and belly are more orange and have less barring then the other subspecies. This subspecies used to be called the red-bellied hawk. 

Red-shouldered hawks breed once per year, typically between April and July. They often sue the same nest year after year with both male and female helping to refurbish it. The average clutch size is three to four eggs which are usually laid with in two to three days. The eggs are incubated for a little over a month before they hatch. It is around six weeks before the chicks are ready to fly. After they fledge the young will hang around for another three to four months before they will leave their parents territory to find a place of their own. This last photo shows the different coloration of an immature Florida red-shouldered hawk.

Great Horned Owl

 The great horned owl is the top raptor predator where I live. These efficient hunters are considered a border species because they nest and live in a wooded area that is usually adjacent to an open area that is used for hunting. They eat a variety of prey including rabbits, squirrels, rodents, frogs, skunks, and birds. They are crepuscular which means most of their hunting occurs around dusk or dawn. Their large eyes have many rods which are cells that assist in seeing things in black and white. The rods help them to see in very low light. The facial disks, flat spots, on their face help to direct sound to their ears, which are on the side of their face underneath the feathers. The ears are at different heights allowing the owl to use asynchronous hearing to locate their prey by sound. This is especially helpful when the owl is hunting prey that is burrowing under the snow, which happens often here in Minnesota during the winter.

The great horned owl is one of the first bird species to nest each year. They are often on the nest beginning at the end of January. Great horns do not make a nest, they borrow a nest from another bird that has not yet returned from their winter migration. Typically they will use a nest from another large bird such as a hawk, heron or crows. They may also use a tree hollow or a squirrel's nest, if they are desperate. Clutch sizes vary from 1 to 4 eggs. The female incubates the eggs which take 4 to 5 weeks to hatch. The female continues to sit on the nest after the eggs hatch to keep the bald and helpless chicks warm. As the chicks grow and are able to keep themselves warm the female will join the male in hunting for the family laving the chicks alone. At around 5 weeks of age the chicks begin to get adventurous and start branching, climbing along the tree branches of the nesting tree. It is not unusual that a chick may fall out of the tree at this age. The parents will continue to watch over and feed the chick on the ground until the chick can climb back up into the tree. Unfortunately this is when people often find the chick on the ground. Often they will take the chick home, usually out of concern, but they are not a good substitute for the chicks real parent and during this developmental stage of the chicks life they can really mess them up. It is called human imprinting and it usually leads to an owl that can no longer survive on their own in the wild. SO what should you do if you find a chick? If the chick does not appear injured or in danger the best thing to do is leave it for its parents to care for. If it looks like the chick is hurt or in danger, especially from domestic cats or dogs, then you should take it to a facility that cares for injured raptors or birds.  

Black and White Warbler

 As its name would suggest, the black and white warbler is one of the least colorful of all North American warblers. They nest across the eastern two thirds of Canada and eastern half of the United States. They migrate for the winter down into Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and northern South America.

Black and white warblers are gleaners. They glean, or pick, caterpillars, spiders, and other insects from trees. But unlike other warblers that typically glean their food from the trees leaves, the black and white warbler has long claws and a long hind toe that allow them to climb on the tree trunk and branches where they glean insects. They can be aggressive and attack other species of birds particularly other species that hunt similar parts of the tree such as nuthatches and chickadees.

Belted Kingfisher

The belted kingfisher is a medium sized bird that is found through out most of North America. Their breeding range includes Alaska and Canada, except for the extreme north, and the United States except for the southwest. Birds that breed in the northern portion of their territory will migrate south into the southern US, Mexico, Central America and the northern coasts of South America. Her in southern Minnesota they will stick around as long as they are near a water source that does not freeze up. I photographed this female, females are distinguished by the rufous band on the upper belly, in January. She was around Black Dog Lake which has a power plant which keeps the lake from freezing during the winter.

Belted kingfishers nest in burrows dug into soft dirt banks. Usually the nest is located near water where the kingfisher will hunt. The burrow often has a long upward slopping tunnel, up to 8', as an entrance. As their name would suggest their primary food source is fish. Kingfisher chicks are able to digest all parts of the fish including scales and bones but as they mature they begin to cough up , cast, pellets. The pellets are similar to those of owls and usually include scales and bones.   

Spotted Sandpiper

 The spotted sandpiper is a shorebird that is found through out most of North America. They breed in a variety of wetland habitats as far north as northern Canada and Alaska and as far south as central New Mexico. They also breed in mountains at elevations up to 14,000 feet above sea level as long as their is a source of fresh water. During the winter they migrate down to the southern coastal areas of the United States, Central America or South America.

I found this chick along the shore of the St Croix River at Wild River State Park. At first I did not know what species of shorebird it was until I saw its parent, pictured above. Because this is a spotted sandpiper the bird in the first photo could most likely be the male. Spotted sandpiper do things a bit backwards compared to other birds. For spotted sandpipers it is the female that is first to arrive in the breeding territory and she is the one that picks out and defends a territory. Both male and female build the nest, typically as part of the courting ritual. Once the eggs are laid it is usually the male spotted sandpiper that will incubate the eggs and care for the chicks once they hatch. The female will often go and find another male and start another family.  

Altamira Oriole

 The Altamira oriole is a large oriole that lives in Mexico and Central America. The northern edge of the range of the Altamira extends into southern Texas, which is the only place in the United States where these orioles can normally be found. They eat primarily insects, which they glean from the trees, with a little bit of fruit. Since these foods can be found all year long with in their range the Altamira do not typically migrate.

Like many other species of orioles the Altamira weaves a nest from roots, sticks, vines, grasses and other materials. The woven nest hangs down below the branch instead of sitting on the branch like other most species of birds. Their nest is longer then any other bird in North America.