Knowing Nature with Denny

Baby Calliope hummingbirds fledge

Tis the season for baby hummingbirds to leave the nest, learn to fly and forage for food. In north central Washington this occurs in early to mid July depending on the seasonal weather.

I can tell when that happens because the activity at my feeder explodes as the fledglings make their rounds. These youngsters are Calliopes, one of the smallest of hummingbirds.

 

Learning to fly and feed is not without its exciting moments. Along comes a male Black-chinned hummingbird. These duds are highly aggressive and chase the mild mannered Calliopes away.

The action is so fast that you have to watch the video frame by frame to see what is actually happening.

I only have a few weeks to enjoy this show, by mid-August these hummingbirds will have departed as they begin their winter migration to the south.

Be amazed, Denny

Watching your backyard birdfeeder TV

A backyard bird feeder is a window into the world of birds. Just sit in your chair and enjoy the show. Unless you are into insects, birds are the most numerous and diverse animals you can observe in the wild or in the middle of a suburb, town or city.

I made my feeder out of scraps of lumber. Total construction time about 30 minutes. Many store bought feeders are not very open. Birds are very wary when feeding. They want to enjoy their meal, not become someone else's meal. They need easy access into and out of the feeder or they will be too nervous to enjoy their food.

I placed my feeder on a pole that use to support a large satellite dish. Its best if your feeder is not out in the open, but near small trees or bushes. This will provide cover for the birds using your feeder plus give them good approach and escape avenues. Notice that the lip around the feeder is not very high. Birds eating from the feeder will scratch food onto the ground. This allows those birds who are ground feeders to have access to the food.

If you have outdoor cats, consider foregoing a feeder. Cats will stalk and eat a large number of song birds.

 
How many White-crowned Sparrows do you see in this photo? At my house the White-crowned Sparrow only visits during the spring and fall migration. You will notice there are four categories of birds using your feeder. Some live at your house year round. Others live at you house during the spring/summer breeding season or during the fall/winter season. The fourth category just visit on their spring and fall migration as they travel to and from their breeding and wintering grounds.

Many folks get to know their birds by keeping a list. It's easy and you can note the time of year each species arrives and departs. Due to global warning, you may notice that many birds are showing up earlier each year or hanging around later in the season.

A good field guide to birds is a must for the amateur birder. David Allen Sibley's "Field Guide to Birds" is the best I have used. He has a western North American and an eastern North American addition. Get a field guide. They are compact and you can easily take them outdoors or on trips.

 
These three Steller Jays were hogging the feeder. When the big aggressive birds show up, they chase the small fry away. One exception is the Wren. Wrens are like the small lap dog that terrorize big dogs with their loud barking and 'big dog' attitude.

Set up your own bird feeder and...

Be amazed, Denny

Rapport with raptors

Knowing Bud Anderson began a decade ago.

 
Cindy and I visit the Chelan Ridge raptor banding site on a brisk September day. The wind is howling. We are perched on the ridge top facing the North Cascade Mountains in all their snow capped glory.

Three people huddle quietly in a small but very sophisticated trapping blind. We call it the ‘box’. One person pulls a long line and pops a pigeon 20 feet into the air. The pigeon flutters erratically back to earth. Over and over the pigeon pops up and flutters down.

 
A spotter with binoculars shouts “incoming”. A flash of red, the pigeon is on the ground motionless in the talons of a Red Tail Hawk. The line is pulled slowly toward the center of a bow net, hawk atop pigeon, the bow net is triggered and now the hawk is the captive.

People rush from the box extracting hawk and pigeon. They take the hawk back to the box to take scientific measurements and attach a uniquely numbered band on its leg. You have to be extremely careful when handling these birds. Bending just one primary feather can ruin the chances for a successful migration. You cannot wear gloves for this reason. A downside to not wearing protective gloves is that hawk reflexes are many times faster than yours. If she senses you relax your attention she will ‘foot’ you. That’s a kind way of saying she will embed her talon all the way through your hand. Its takes a couple of other people to pry her claw open and free your punctured palm. Ouch! 

One reason for their fast reflexes is the speed at which a hawk processes visual information. We do it at about 30 frames per second. A hawk sees the world at 70 frames per second. In the eyes of the bird, we are moving in slow motion.

Are you worrying about the pigeon yet? The pigeon goes back to work, fishing the sky for another hawk, falcon or eagle. The pigeon is an old pro and doesn’t get its feathers ruffled when a hawk tries to turn it into dinner. Each pigeon works only 2 hours each week and is encased in a leather suit of armor that protects it from the hawk’s sharp talons. In return it is cared for and pampered.

For the first time Cindy and I see a hawk ‘in hand’. The piecing eye says it all. An eye that can see a mouse from thousands of feet up in the air and a mile away as the crow flies. We are shown how to hold the bird, tossing it into the air to continue the long journey south to a warmer winter.

And that is how we met Bud, raptor biologist and director of the Falcon Research Group. FRG is fueled by his passion and love for raptors. Bud is a get it done type of guy who is not interested in endless processing and talking. If you are lucky enough to have him as your mentor, he will not cut you any slack. Safety of the birds is the rule above all others.

 

He and the elite group of bird banders he has trained over the years can teach you amazing things about raptors. You have to know how a hawk thinks in order to trap it.

 
Another, easier, way to get to know Bud is to take one of his excellent classes on raptors that he offers in the Puget Sound area. I had an eye opener at one of his classes when I still did not know the difference between a buteo and an accipiter. I made some off-hand comment about hawks in general and he pounced on me. “Each bird is an individual. You must not lump them all into one group as if every hawk acted the same. They are each as different as every person in this room”.

Bud is also the guy that makes sure Red Tail Hawks do not become a problem at SeaTac airport and that they do not get sucked into your plane's engine during takeoff. He also manages the webcam for the famous Washington Mutual Tower peregrine falcons in Seattle.

One of Bud’s most fascinating projects has been the Southern Cross Peregrine project. Peregrine falcons are trapped in Peru and outfitted with a solar powered GPS transmitter. Their location data is married to Google Earth. You can go the net and track the migration of each bird from Peru to the Arctic. Folks, that’s a 9,000 mile trip. Bud is so gung ho about the project he followed one of the falcons in his pickup truck from Hudson Bay, Canada all the way to Peru using the bird's daily GPS locations as his roadmap.

Be amazed, Denny