notes on Blue Jays

For the last few days, the main attraction of my back yard in Old Jefferson has been a family of Blue Jays.  As with many species, the young of the year are very evident by their solicitious behavior- whining and fluttering their wings to beg food from their parents, who they now essential equal in size.

The activity is centered in my back yard, where I have two foods available that they love:  black oil sunflower, and Purina Dog Chow.  The latter is of course not intended for the jays!

Some interesting tid bits about Blue Jays:

1- they can carry up to five acorns in the throat, mouth, and beak at once.
2- they cache these for later use- some tracked with radio transmitters cached 3-5000 in one autumn.
3- they are an example of a native bird that has benefited from human development (apparently)- they are much less common in woodlands surrounding New Orleans than in urban New Orleans itself.  Perhaps our habit of planting oaks has something to do with it (there are oaks in the woods, but probably fewer).

Good birding,

Peter

for a copy of Birding Made Easy-New Orleans, email me at birding.made.easy.new.orleans@gmail.com, or look for it at the Maple Street or Garden District Book Shops.

Lafreniere Park wader roost

This evening I visited the wader roost at Lafreniere Park at dusk.  As previously, the roost is located in two baldcypress trees right next to the boardwalk, affording excellent close views.  The birds look like oversized Christmas Tree ornaments on the full-bodied cypress trees.

I estimated 325 roosting waders:
295 White Ibis (only 9 juveniles)
10 Great Egret
10 Snowy Egret
1 Cattle Egret

The paucity of White Ibis juveniles (birds hatched this year, which are brown on the upperparts) suggests that many have yet to leave their nesting colonies, although it could also be that juveniles are simply less likely to use this site than some others (?).

A juvenile Yellow-crowned Night-Heron was also stalking the nearby shore.  As yet, just a few Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks- hordes are expected later in the fall.

More info on wader roosts is on p. 8 & 9 in Birding Made Easy.

Good birding,

Peter Yaukey

for a copy of Birding Made Easy-New Orleans, email me at birding.made.easy.new.orleans@gmail.com, or look for it at the Maple Street or Garden District Book Shops.

The first fall migrant songbirds are reported back!

Late July is the traditional time for our first fall migrant songbird to return:  Yellow Warbler.  This vanguard foreshadows their days of larger movements  throughout August, when they frequent patches of giant ragweed and other scrub.  Yellows are especially cool because once you learn their subtle flight call (tssp) you will realize that they are pretty common to hear flying overhead, usually westward, on August mornings.  They come from the northern states, and even Canada, and apparently head westward upon approaching the coast, to circumnavigate the Gulf.

Today an observer from farther northwest in the state reported five Yellow Warblers- the first of the fall, right on schedule.  Migration is here!

Actually, they were beat by another songbird, a Bank Swallow reported last week.  But Yellows are a more tractable sign of the coming migration, since they will become numerous as the season progresses!

Peter

for a copy of Birding Made Easy-New Orleans, email me at birding.made.easy.new.orleans@gmail.com, or look for it at the Maple Street or Garden District Book Shops.

Snooping on night heron nest

Yesterday I was peering into a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron nest across the street, in a large live oak.  The view angle on this nests makes it easier to watch than most- because the perspective is from the side not from below.  Fortuitously, there is no foliage blocking the view.  One nestling remains.

I saw a behavior I had not noticed before.  The young bird is now very close to leaving and about as large as an adult.  When the adult came, the nestling  bowed its head low, stuck its tail up, and spread its wings half way open.  It sayed that way for thirty seconds or so, then the the adult jumped to a different spot in the tree and the juvenile resumed its usual upright posture.

If it was begging, it was a strange way to do it- head down.  Weird, but fascinating.  It reminded me of pics I have seen of owls intimidating predators by adopting such a posture to make themselves look larger.

Good birding,

Peter

for copy of Birding Made Easy-New Orleans, email me at birding.made.easy.new.orleans@gmail.com, or look for it at the Maple Street or Garden District Book Shops.

What do birds do after they stop singing in mid summer?

From February through June, there is lots of bird song to be heard in our area.  Then, it rapidly dwindles through July and is even less evident in August.

What is going on? 

Generally, songbirds sing to advertise territory, both 1) to attract females, and 2) to draw a line in the sand against other males.

Indeed, males often decrease their song after they find a mate.  Also, because males help feed the nestlings and fledglings in most species, time is diverted to that as the nesting cycle advances.

But the main reason for the silence of late summer is that the birds have finished nesting altogether, and are now preoccupied with molting into a new set of feathers to prepare for either winter, or fall migration.  This is a quiet time of foraging to obtain the food and nutrients to grow their new plumage.  Late summer is the main season for complete molt among our species.

So they aIt may seem like there are fewer finches, mockingbirds, etc, around late summer than spring- but there are actually more, because of the addition of the new generation.   However, they have no reasons to sing, giving us our late summer silence.

Peter

for a copy of Birding Made Easy-New Orleans, email me at birding.made.easy.new.orleans@gmail.com, or look for it at the Maple Street or Garden District Book Shops.

click to enlarge

UNO Least Tern update: incubation is finished

Today I had another look at the Least Tern colony on Milneburg Hall at UNO.  The last remaining incubating birds (three that were sitting last Thursday) are now no longer doing so- so their eggs either hatched or failed. 

Adults were flying back and forth calling over the roof, and I could see four young birds, but I would expect there were a bunch more that were invisible- well camouflaged on the roof gravel.

So far this summer two young have made it to the flying stage, and graduated from the roof.  The next few weeks should reveal how many more will make it.

Good birding,

Peter

for a copy of Birding Made Easy-New Orleans, email me at birding.made.easy.new.orleans@gmail.com, or look for it at the Maple Street or Garden District Book Shops.

Sightings July 21: Monticello wader roost growing

This evening I stopped by the ibis and egret roost in the wastewater plant on Monticello, visited first last month.

It has grown to 370 birds, presumably reflecting more birds joining in as they finish nesting.  Over 90% were White Ibis, overwhelmingly adults.  The other species I could pick out in the dim light (got there kinda late) were Great and Snowy Egrets, and an Anhinga.

A few dozen Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks were flying around, and one of the treatment ponds had a Black-necked Stilt- not easy  to find this far into the city.  Lots of blackbirds are also roosting in an adjacent pond.

Peter

for a copy of  Birding Made Easy-New Orleans, email me at birding.made.easy.new.orleans@gmail.com, or look for it at the Maple Street or Garden District Book Shops.

gulls and golf- radio puzzle

Today while I was driving across town I tuned in to a golf tournament on ESPN radio.  I am normally not much for radio golf, but before I turned the dial I noticed a gull calling in the background.

I had no idea where the golf match was being played, but was perplexed because it was a major tournament (Tiger Woods, etc), and yet the gull sounded neither like the Laughing Gulls that dominate the southeastern USA this time of year, nor was it low enough pitch for the Western Gulls that I would expect in California.  I was intrigued, and the commentators twice went so far as to mention the gulls' presence on the course.

Where could this be, and what gull species?

I pulled up the ESPN website when I got home this evening, and watched their nine minute segment on the gold tournament.  Then came the first clue- it was the Open Championship, in Scotland!   My horizons had been too narrow.

Having been to Scotland three summers ago, and seen that Lesser Black-backed Gull was the gull most often seen around people there in mid summer, I immediately suspected that it was the culprit.  Fortunately, 49 seconds into the ESPN segment, a gull flies through the air space above the leader board.  Pausing it at the right second shows it to indeed be an adult Lesser Black-back.  Bingo!

Can  I count it on my "live broadcast" bird list, if I only identified it on the video afterwards?

Here is the segment
http://espn.go.com/golf/theopen/story/_/id/9495061/2013-open-championship-lee-westwood-leads-tiger-woods-hunter-mahan-two-shots-behind

Peter

for a copy of Birding Made Easy-New Orleans, email me at birding.made.easy.new.orleans@gmail.com, or look for it at the Maple Street or Garden District Book Shops.

Cliff Swallow nesting sites

A few days ago I checked up on the Cliff Swallows on Belle Chase Highway, at the bridge over the intracoastal waterway.  It was quite active, with nests easily visible from below on both the north and south sides of the bridge.  Some are pretty low- nice views.  This colony is described on pages 30-31 of Birding Made Easy-New Orleans.

There were about 30 birds buzzing around the south end of the bridge, and 10 at the north end- both quite close. 

I did not see anything but Cliffs- so if you go, you can be assured that is what you are seeing (at other colonies, Barn Swallows are also present and they mix).

This is a good viewing site because you  can look up at the nests from dry ground- many swallow colonies are over water.  But go soon- they will be done nesting pretty quickly.  Most nests have probably already finished.

Another good colony of Cliffs to view from dry ground, though smaller, is underneath the Ted Hickey Bridge on Leon C. Simon in Orleans Parish (near the UNO Lakefront Arena).

Good birding,

Peter

for a copy of Birding Made Easy-New Orleans, email me at birding.made.easy.new.orleans@gmail.com, or look for it at the Maple Street or Garden District Book Shops.

Purple Martin radar images

Can you believe that our Purple Martin roost is visible on radar?  You have to go to a website with unfiltered radar, such as rap.ucar.edu.  You can also pick out other roosts scattered around the Southeast.

Below are images from this morning, first the Slidell and then the Mobile radars.

The above image is the Slidell site.  The main light blue blob is meaningless scatter near the radar installation. The blobs at the north and south end of the Causeway are the departing martins a few minutes before 6 AM.  There appear to be more at the north end of the bridge than the south end, though there may be an effect of being a bit closer to the radar so the beam is lower and catches more birds.  You may have noticed that the north end of the bridge has martin fences to avoid car impacts, just like the south end- but farther from shore.

The Mobile radar actually shows five apparent roosts, four of them onshore encircling the hub of near-installation scatter, showing up as commas (the radar is probably just picking up a portion of an expanding ring of birds).  If you look closely, there is another comma partially hidden within the central scatter that appears to be leaving a roost near or on Dauphin Island; it looks darker blue than the scatter.  This is a mystery, since some of the birds appear to be headed out to sea- unlikely for martins, I would think.



Peter

for a copy of Birding Made Easy-New Orleans, email me at birding.made.easy.new.orleans@gmail.com, or look for it at the Maple Street or Garden District Book Shops.

Lapalco vulture roost active; vulture id tips

A few days ago I visited the vulture roost at Lapalco x Segnette on the West Bank (p10 & 11 of Birding Made Easy).

There were 11 Blacks and 1 Turkey Vulture on the close tower, and 98 vultures (almost all Blacks) on the far tower.  It was 730 am, so none were flying yet- they like to use thermals created by heating of the ground surface, so are relatively late to take flight each day.

Black and Turkey Vultures appear superficially similar, but it doesn't take much experience to tell them confidently.  Anything with a red head is a Turkey, but a black head is inconclusive because young Turkeys have black heads.  But their heads are otherwise very different- Blacks have a grotesquely large, bulging, naked neck.  Turkeys usually have the neck invisible under a collar of feathers, and even their exposed naked head looks tiny.

In flight, Blacks have much shorter tails, and seldom teeter from side to side the way Turkeys do- with experience, they can be told at great distances.  Blacks have white coloration under their outer wings that is diagnostic in good views- but be careful, as it can be hard to see, and Turkeys have a silvery underside in many light conditions.

Peter

for a copy of Birding Made Easy-New Orleans, email me at birding.made.easy.new.orleans@gmail.com, or look for it at the Maple Street or Garden District Book Shops.

first Mississippi Kite fledge of summer

Today I was in Metairie not far from Bonnabel High School, when a pair of Mississippi Kites came circling low overhead.  They were making their usual peel-poo call, but with a bit more frequency than usual.  Then I noticed that the tail on one was boldly banded black and white- indicating it was a juvenile.  The other bird had a solid black underside of the tail, indicating it was an adult.

This is my first young Mississippi Kite out of the nest this summer.  The species is always one of our earliest to leave on migration- they will essentially be gone by the end of next month- tightening the whole nesting cycle (especially given that they are one of our later spring migrants to arrive back, most in mid April or later).

Peter