germander

Germander Teucrium canadense self-seeded a few years ago where the slopes drain rainwater down to the swale and into the woods.  Tiny 3/8" flowers cluster on spikes that stand six inches above green leaves.  Bees collect pollen and suck nectar from Germander.  The leaves are bitter, so the rabbits and deer do not browse these plants.

Eastern Bluebird babies

Eastern Bluebirds hatched five babies in a nestbox near the wild wild woods.  Both parents feed them worms, flies, damselflies, and other insects of all sizes.  Here, one little bird tries to swallow the big bug he got for breakfast.

wrens nesting

The House Wrens Troglodytes aedon built a nest in one of the boxes near the woods.  The male carried twigs to fill the box, and the female found fluff to line her nest cup.

stream bed through the woods

Record rainfall in June so far!  During one downpour, the swale and the dry stream bed down through the wild wild woods was running full.  Good moisture for the wildflowers growing in the woods.

The neighborhood uphill from the woods feeds runoff water into a swale where cattails, blue vervain, bulrush, blue lobelia, and winged loosestrife grow.

Winged Loosestrife (Lythrum alatum)

Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)

last winter's snack

These galls are the "packages" left after winter birds pecked through to get at the treats inside.
Last summer, an insect laid eggs at the tip of the plant stem.  Each hatched egg became a larva that burrowed into the stem.  The larva chewing and its saliva caused the plant to build a gall.  This became shelter for the larva as it expected to survive winter and emerge in Spring.  However, winter birds often peck the gall to extract the larva.  This is one way birds find food in winter.

wildflowers

In the woods today, Solomon's Seal, Rue, Violets, and Trout Lily.  After the very cold wet months of April and May, native wildflowers seem happy to be emerging from the leaf litter. 

 

 

 

more migrants

Another wave of migrants stopped here for refueling:
Tennessee Warbler, Yellow Warbler
and Indigo Bunting.
 
  
They gorged on suet at the bird feeders, hunted insects
in the grass, and picked bugs hiding among tree
buds and blossoms.

first hatched

The post on 4/23/2014 was about a nest containing two eggs.  If you guessed it was a Northern Cardinal nest, you were correct.  Today the first egg hatched, after at least 14 days of incubation.  (Usually the eggs hatch after being kept warm and turned frequently by the female for 12 or 13 days, but we've had cool wet weather this Spring.)

In the photo at left, we see the hatchling's back side with sparse tufts of grayish down where more feathers will grow.  Other than these tufts, the baby bird is naked.

In the photo below, we see the front belly-side of this same baby bird. It already has the distinctive thick bill typical of Northern Cardinals. Note the amazing detail of its feet and claws!  Belly is transparent enough to show internal organs.  Eyes are not yet open, and it will be very clumsy for a few days but will flail around trying to reach food as a parent approaches.

migrants

Migrating birds stopped at the edge of the wild wild woods this week.  On Friday, one Yellow-rumped Warbler Setophaga coronata hopped around among the finches below the seed feeder.  On Saturday and Sunday, several more appeared.  A flock of 30 or so have been sharing the suet with our resident finches and sparrows. 
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/yellow-rumped_warbler/lifehistory these warblers are able to winter farther north than other warblers, sometimes as far north as Newfoundland, because they can digest the waxes found in bayberries.  There are some bayberry bushes around here, but this is the first time we've hosted traveling Yellow-rumped Warblers. 

blooming trees and shrubs

 Larch, magnolia, maple, and pussywillow display their springtime beauty.

Larch Larix laricina branch with green needle tufts and female flowers

Magnolia flower buds ready to open

Maple tree blossoms

French Pussywillow Salix capria

nest watching begins

Nestwatch season has begun in Minnesota and the wild wild woods.
http://nestwatch.org/

Discovered today in an evergreen tree at the edge of the woods, a nest hidden among the needles protects two lovely eggs.  We'll watch for a few days to verify what species this is.  Can you guess?

beaks

Baltimore Oriole

Close up: the beaks of Baltimore Oriole, Red-winged Blackbird, and Common Grackle.  All three of these birds are in the blackbird family (ICTERIDAE).

Orioles have a long, thick-based, pointed bill.  They love ripe fruit and will stab the closed bill into a soft fruit, then open their mouth to cut in and drink with their brush-covered tongue.

Blackbirds have a very sharp slender bill to glean seeds from weedy plants like cocklebur. Sometimes they probe at the base of aquatic plants, prying them open to get at insects hidden inside.

Grackles devour crops like corn, eat garbage, and can saw open acorns.  Their bill is long and pointed, but slightly curved down, with a hard keel on the inside of the upper mandible.

Grackle (juvenile on left)

Red-winged Blackbird

young pileated woodpeckers

 

We watched two young female Pileated Woodpeckers Dryocopus pileatus this morning.  They were hunting for bugs in grass at the edge of the woods when a neighborhood cat came along; the woodpeckers dived and swooped above it to chase the feline away.  She crept away through the shrubs while they vocalized their loud, high-pitched ‘kuk-kuk, kuk-kuk' alarm calls.  Then they resumed searching for insects in the grass and at the base of a nearby tree.  Note the strong claws that allow them to grip tree bark solidly while they probe for insects.

nest cams ready

Nest cameras are ready in the wild wild woods! This is one camera's view into a wooden nest box from the inside of the roof, looking down.

The birds are singing, defining their territories, and looking for mates.  I cleaned out three wooden nest boxes at the woods' edge, and three pvc nesting tubes in the woods.

They all look as barren inside as this one but will soon be stuffed with an assortment of twigs, grasses, fur, fluff, string, and feathers for nesting.

First Bluebird

April 1, 2014.  No, not a joke.  I saw my "first" Eastern Bluebird of this spring season at the edge of the wild wild woods this morning.  What a welcome sight after the longest winter ever!

more feathers close up

Aren't they amazing close up?

The feathers on the birds in the wild wild woods are showing some wear since last summer.  Flying, preening, and roosting crowded into a hole or huddled together in a box causes feathers to wear out.

These three examples -- Dark-eyed Junco (right), Northern Flicker (below right), and Redbellied Woodpecker (below left) -- all have beautiful feathers!

eye shields

I've occasionally noticed something about the eyes on some of the birds I observe: milky or filtered texture.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology http://www.allaboutbirds.org, birds have what is known as a nictitating membrane or “3rd eyelid”.

This membrane is a translucent or clear eyelid, closest to the eyeball. A bird will close these membranes over their eyes but can still see through them to protect their eyes when needed, such as in flight, while hunting, or to dive under water.

This Northern Flicker may have been trying to shield his eyes from flying bits of bark as he probed for insects.

critters at the woods' edge

This Eastern Cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) has a thick fur coat in cold weather, but does not turn white like the native hares do.  This may be the rabbit that saunters around the fenced veggie garden all spring, looking for new lettuce to enjoy. They live in the brush pile at the edge of the woods, and like to munch on corn and other seeds that blow out of the tray feeders on windy days.  There seemed to be some accumulated in the sheltered depths of the toad haven, half buried by snow.

still sub-zero

Watching the feeders and counting birds today for Cornell FeederWatch http://feederwatch.org/.

All the birds are fluffed up as they hunt frantically for food today; it was near 20F below zero overnight.  The wind makes it feel colder.

A pair of House Finches tried to outdo the colorful beauty of the male Northern Cardinal as they flitted to and fro between the seed tray and the Ninebark bush.

Sub-zero

Sub-zero!  Really sub-zero.  Thanks to Winter Storm Hercules, a polar vortex is invading most of the nation with record-setting low temperatures.  Tonight's forecast low: minus 24F.  Tomorrow's high temperature: minus 13F.  All with high winds.

Today, with the sun shining and only 3 degrees below zero, all the critters were stocking up on food.  I put extra suet and nuts out in the bird trays, and corn on the ground. This Bluejay was trying to fluff up his down underlayer for maximum effect.

nit-picker hawk

This Sharp-shinned Hawk appeared again near the edge of the wild woods.  He perched for a while on the top of the feeder poles, grooming feathers and stretching a bit.  At one point he dropped a leg and let it hang, relaxed, as he picked nits around his neckline.

winter berries

At the edge of the woods, I found some raspberries that did not ripen before frost.  These berries are evidently too dessicated for the birds to enjoy, but the fruits on nearby black chokeberry and dogwood are nearly gone.

180 degree swivel

Cold, sub-zero windy day.  In the sun against dark tree bark was a safe place for this female Red-bellied Woodpecker to rest for a while.  Fluffed into a ball of feathery down, claws dug in and red belly against the bark, she was able to bask in the sun as long as she kept watch for predators  . . .  hence the head swiveled around over her back!

too many non-native HOSP

FeederWatch, the citizen science project with Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is one way to learn birding.  Along with learning the habits and characteristics of native species, I'm learning how and why these non-native House Sparrows Passer domesticus became very successful residents across this country.  They are messy, bully other birds at feeders, and harass other birds out of their nests.  Unfortunately, the flock in my neighborhood seems to number 25 to 30.

snow and rose

Now that snow cover is complete, the House Finch Haemorhous mexicanus are more visible . . . rosey red against the white of winter.  They are hardy little finches that nest early in the Spring here.  Their bright color is a joy on the sunny winter landscape.