MAY ARRIVES AT PELEE

Finally caught up enough to get out and do some video and still shooting at Pelee and Ojibway over the weekend. While several birders described the birding as 'slow', I found that there was a good diversity of birds at both sites. In short, the birding was good, especially considering it was May 2nd. How quickly folks forget what the typical pattern is at this time of year! Every day cannot be a twenty plus warbler species day, though even that was possible today if you worked hard all day.

One of the most rewarding finds was a bird that had been staked out for several days in front of the visitor center - a Grasshopper Sparrow. I got great video of it foraging at distances as close as ten feet. I also snagged a bunch of stills. Here is one of the best.



When I examined some of my video and stills on a larger screen I noticed that the sparrow had an interesting tag along - a small tick embedded just under its right (from its perspective) eye. While most humans find ticks disgusting, they are a fact of everyday life for many birds and mammals which are the normal hosts for many tick species. Obviously this also makes birds vectors for the spread of ticks, and tick born illnesses. I wonder where this tick actually originated? Did it pick up the tick at Pelee or perhaps somewhere in the southern US where the sparrow wintered? Regardless it is a reminder of the rigors and realities of the natural world - tough, but still beautiful.


It was great to spend some time videotaping at Ojibway reserve and nature center in south Windsor. The feeder set up that Paul (Pratt) and staff have put together there is great. Birds were abundant and diverse and a huge flowering redbud provided a nice backdrop for the attendees. The park was full of song and one of the nice surprises while taping the 'regulars' was hearing a singing male Blue-winged Warbler. With a little effort I managed to get a decent image of the stunning bird.



I'm looking forward to another great spring at Pelee. This will be the 38th year I have spent a week or more birding here in spring and its always a fabulous learning experience. Always unique each time, and always a wonderful journey. I look forward to seeing my old friends on the trails and meeting some new ones as well.

Good Birding! Tom

Siskin Madness

All the snow has made for great birding here the last few days in Wheatley. I now have a male Eastern Towhee as a regular, plus an adult Red-shouldered Hawk, and at least two Cooper's Hawks. The finches are the real highlight though with small flocks of White-winged Crossbills landing in the yard the last couple of days, plus a few redpolls, and today one male Purple Finch at the feeders. The most abundant bird by far though has to be Pine Siskin. There were ZERO siskins here on January 7th, but today I counted an incredible 110 individuals at once.


I didnt even need to use the blind to photograph them they were so tame. On two occasions siskins even bumped into me as they flushed from the ground. They were landing all around me and the handheld 100-400 lens was perfect. On many occasions they were more than full frame at 400 mm so I had to back off to around 300 mm to get better framing. Here is my best portrait from the shoot.


Many of the siskins would feed and then fly to an area to 'drink' snow. I'm presuming this aids in the movement and digestion of seeds in their crop. Here is an image of one of the siskins drinking snow.



I was impressed with how incredibly agressive these little finches are. Space on the two tube feeders was at a premium and they frequently would fan their tails and wings and show off the bold yellow bases to tail and wing feathers. The threat displays were impressive. Often this wasnt enough and birds were constantly being displaced and knocked off the tube by incoming competitors. Here is an image of the display.



Speaking of the yellow flashes, Pine Siskins show remarkable variation in the intensity and extent of yellow in their plumage (see Sibley for an illustration of the yellow variant). Below is a pic of one several individuals in this group that were intensely yellow.



Small flocks of Common Redpolls have also graced the feeder but not with the same numbers or predictability as the siskins. Still I managed to get a few images of this individual. I hope to get a few more tomorrow before heading to Ecuador for a month. Please watch this blog for updates throughout the trip!