October birds

We are getting ready for FeederWatch, the citizen-science project online for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  The “guild” of winter birds is forming in the woods, and the most noticeable visitor this week is the male Pileated Woodpecker Dryocopus pileatus.  His red cap is continuous from his beak to its pointed tip, and he has a bit of red in his malar stripes on each side of his face.

molting birds

The Blue Jay, molting into his new feathers, will look drastically better when his neck is feathered fully and the crest on his head grows out.

juvenile birds

Day by day, the juvenile birds that hatched in and around the wild woods this summer are getting their adult feathers.  The young White Breasted Nuthatch will develop a more defined black cap and frosty white around his eyes.  The juvenile Gray Catbird will get more dark feathers on his head.  The Downy Woodpecker (licking suet in the photo) will grow more black and white feathers to replace some of his brownish ones. 

  

young fledgling birds

Several bird pairs have fledged their babies out of the nests in the wild woods.  This young Eastern Bluebird happily comes to the plate of mealworms. 

A brood of six Black-capped Chickadees come to the suet to eat and play tag around the feeder.

This Red-bellied Woodpecker is learning to enjoy suet too.  This juvenile does not have a red belly yet, nor the bright red cap that will develop later this autumn.

Gray Catbirds

The adult Gray Catbirds gather food, mainly insects, for their young.  They also love berries; by mid-June, they had eaten every last berry of the mulberry tree's abundant crop.

wildflowers

Enchanter’s Nightshade Circaea lutetiana blooms during the summer in this wild woods.  Its tiny flowers are displayed in loosely arranged spikes; each blossom is about 1/8 inch in diameter with long stamens.
Each flower is short-lived and replaced by a small bur-like fruit that allows animals to help distribute the seeds.

Gray Catbird nest

The Gray Catbirds Dumetella carolinensis were in the wild woods last summer, sounding like cats mewing in the understory.  This year, we found their nest, hidden among dense shrubs.  For several weeks we've seen the adults as they ventured out cautiously to feed on suet and fruit.  Today, their eggs are hatching!

Eastern Bluebirds

There is enough open space among the lawns around the woods for Eastern Bluebirds Sialia sialis to hunt insects for their growing families.  The pair that nested in the bluebird box this spring had 5 eggs but only 2 hatchlings survived so far.

Black-capped Chickadees

 

The Black-capped Chickadees Poecile atricapillus nested in the tube, incubated six eggs, and now have all those chirping babies to feed.

birds nesting in the wild woods

The nestboxes and snag tubes are full of nests.  A walk through the wild woods helped locate a few more nests.  And, today we noticed a fledgling House Finch Haemorhous mexicanus in a tree, begging for the morsel his Dad was dangling as a flying lesson incentive.   
Top to bottom:  Gray Catbird eggs in nest, probable House Finch nest, Tree Swallows claiming a nestbox for their own, House Wren hiding among her twigs in a snag tube.

wildflowers in the wild woods

building a nest

a secluded nestbox

This "snag tube" is based on a design tested and recommended by researchers at Cornell.  http://www.birds.cornell.edu/
We have 3 of these tubes placed in the quiet seclusion of the wild woods. 

We positioned this tube about 12 feet up, in a young Ash tree that grows among Elm, Bitternut Hickory, and Boxelder trees.  Wild Grape vines and pesky Buckthorn provide additional coverage in the understory.

Hawks

This big gray hawk is probably an adult Coopers Accipiter cooperii.  He was very inquisitive, searching around in the adjacent back yards as well as in the exposed areas of the woods.  As a predator of smaller birds, he was not shy about being here, in the open and even perched for a while on a neighboring deck railing.

                 

                                    

The smaller hawk on the log pile is probably a Sharp-shinned Hawk Accipiter striatus.  He was also looking for smaller birds, but not as bold as the Coopers.



Red-bellied Woodpecker

The Red-bellied Woodpeckers have been at our feeders all winter.  Still nearby in the woods, we hear them calling to one another.  Today the male was making noise as he hopped around hunting insects in the gutters.

larch cones

The larch branches still bear cones from last year while this year's new cones open among them. The larch Larix laricina is also known as Tamarack .  It's cones are approximately one inch tall, upright, initially rosey red and then turning brown. The cones fall in the second year and have a pair of brown long-winged seeds. 

woodland flowers

The first Jack-in-the-Pulpit Arisaema triphyllum this season seems to be too green and bright; usually they are more secretive in shades of dark green and maroon. Maybe this one is a bit early, encouraged by the very warm winter?

maple flowers

The maple trees are blooming.  When the first blossoms on this variety Acer rubrum appear, they are golden; they become red in just a few days.  Once the seeds form they remain red in extreme contrast to the leaves that open gold and become green.

forsythia

early springtime

The warm winter continues!

Trees are budding, tulips tiptoeing up through the mulch, and shrubs are sprouting blossoms. Robins have arrived to demonstrate their usual exuberance at the bathing bowl.

scant snow

This winter, we have much less snow than normal. On one morning when there was snow cover, it was a bit easier to spot birds in and around the edge of the woods.

hunting hawk

The edge of the woods is home for mice and voles, so this hawk may find good hunting among the grasses and the brush pile.

warm sun, cold day

The Northern Cardinals Cardinalis cardinalis in the guild this winter gather in the sunny brambles to warm up. These two females were taking turns nibbling at the suet block nearby.

autumn beauties

The autumn colors on the maple tree make a beautiful backdrop for the peanut log, no matter the color of the birds feasting there.

sunflower

The volunteer sunflowers are blooming -- right under the seed station, ready for the birds, with a little extra protein.