Foam Lake Birding No. 186

FOAM LAKE BIRDING

No. 186

            Our feeders are up and our winter birds are slowly showing up.  Permanent residents like the Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers and Red Breasted Nuthatches are at our feeders almost daily.  We still have two juncos that have not  yet migrated south.  They appear to like it here so perhaps they will stay over winter which they commonly do.  Even a magpie came in and checked things out but did not appear to like what he saw and left.  The only truly winter bird we have seen to date is the Northern Shrike. 

            When the shrike flew into our yard all the small birds scattered and vanished.  However, a lone Eurasian Collared Dove just kept feeding on the ground completely ignoring the shrike.  The shrike was persistent and kept "buzzing" the dove but the dove appeared unconcerned.  Eventually, the dove seemed to get tired of the harassment and flew off into the ash tree quickly followed by the shrike in hot pursuit.  The dove put up with a little more harassment then flew off out of my sight, again with the shrike in hot pursuit.  Since this incident a pair of Eurasian Collared Doves has been in our yard daily so it appears that not much damage was caused by the shrike. 

            Other than the Northern Shrike no other winter birds like the Pine Grosbeaks nor Redpolls have arrived.  So. there is still something to look forward to. 

            This week's picture is a bit of a repeat with a pair of Eurasian Collared Doves resting on our arbour.  (In fact, they have just flown past my window and landed on the power line in the back lane.)  They were actually sleeping on the arbour but by the time I got my camera set up the female woke up and started preening.    A short time later the male did the same.  I decided to show the doves again because they looked so cute and because the picture provided proof that the shrike did not have dove for dinner. 

Foam Lake Birding No. 166

FOAM LAKE BIRDING

No. 166

            Earlier today as we were having our late morning coffee and watching the House Sparrows and Common Redpolls (hereinafter referred to as simply Redpolls) feeding frantically at the oilseed and Canola feeders respectively the birds suddenly scattered in a panic.  At that moment a Northern Shrike landed in a Pincherry tree near the feeders and proceeded to survey the area.  I rushed for my camera but this shrike was impatient and flew off before I could get a shot of him.  The following morning when it was still quite dark he came again but flew off empty handed again.  Bird feeding stations are a very convenient place for predators like shrikes to find lunch.  It was a good half day before the birds returned. 

            On a more positive note the Pine Grosbeaks have returned after an absence of several days.  I do not know if they are the same birds that were here before as there are more females in this flock.  As a result I did manage to get some good pictures of the females. 

            The number of Redpolls at our feeders has gone from a half dozen or so to four or five times as many birds.  To accommodate that many birds we have put out another Canola feeder.  I am still surprised at their preference for Canola seed when all the other birds completely avoid it.  If nothing else they are cheap to feed. 

            Like Pine Grosbeaks, Redpolls are circumpolar in distribution nesting in the evergreen scrub in the Tundra and flying south of the Boreal Forest for the winter.  Like all finches the males and females are different although the differences in Redpolls are not as obvious as in other finches.  Both sexes are small brown striped birds with yellow bills and red forehead patches.  The males also have a rosy wash at the top and along the sides of the breast.  From a frontal view both birds have a full length broad white stripe that can be compared to a man wearing an unbuttoned suit exposing a white shirt. 

            There is another species of Redpoll, the Hoary Redpoll, that occasionally shows up here mixed in with a flock of Common Redpolls.  The Hoary is a very white version of the Common with very little striping on the breast and belly nor does the male have any rose on the breast only a slight tinge of pink.  The Hoary spends the entire year on the Tundra except for the odd stray that shows up here.  Fortunately, there has been one at our feeders this year.  Now if only I can get a picture of it.  The two species are closely related and taxonomists have lumped them together as one species in the past only to separate them later on.   Presently they are considered two species. 

            This week I have included three pictures of Redpolls.  One is of a lone bird, a mature male, in a tree showing the dark red forehead patch, yellow bill and pink on the breast: the second photo is of a flock of Redpolls (no mature males) at our Canola feeder: the third is of a lone female feeding on seeds of a plant in our garden.    

Foam Lake Birding No. 113

FOAM LAKE BIRDING

No. 113

Our feeders had been busy until a Northern Shrike showed up in our backyard on at least two different days (the times that we saw it). On its second visit the shrike managed to surprise a male House Sparrow at the sunflower feeder. We thought the sparrow was doomed but it was smart enough to realize that flight was too dangerous so it just stayed absolutely motionless until the shrike left. For about fifteen minutes or so we watched the shrike looking for something to eat and, only three or four metres away, the sparrow trying to look invisible. Fortunately for the sparrow it blended in with the feeder so well that the shrike did not notice it. The shrike then flew off to our neighbour's place, probably to visit her feeders, while the sparrow made a quick getaway.

Seeing the shrike reminded me of another similarly coloured, but unrelated, bird of the Rocky Mountains - the Clark's Nutcracker. Like the Northern Shrike the robin sized Clark's Nutcracker is a grey bird with black wings and tail marked with white. The markings are slightly different but the easiest way to tell them apart is by the facial markings. The shrike has a racoon-like black mask while the nutcracker has a plain grey face. Other than colouration the birds are completely different. For starters, the nutcracker belongs to the corvid (crow) family while the shrike is in a family of its own (see Article No. 26). Like all corvids the Clark's Nutcracker likes to scavenge and benefits from human presence.

There are many people from around here who, from time to time, visit the Rocky Mountains, especially Banff and Jasper Parks. In these places the Clark's Nutcracker is plentiful, tame and always on the lookout for some tasty morsel that may be offered or carelessly dropped.

Its primary food sources are the seeds of pine trees with Pinyon Pine (yes, the expensive stuff that we buy in stores) being especially favoured. If there is a shortage of pine seeds (pine nuts) the nutcracker, like its cousin the Blue Jay, chisels away with its bill at hazel nuts exposing the meat inside which it then eats. In the fall the nutcracker carries seeds in its cheek pouches and stores them in many different places to be used over winter when food is scarce. It stores far more than it needs thus allowing for losses to theft by other animals and to simple forgetfulness. The latter gives rise to new trees sprouting.

Its method of eating nuts gave it the name of nutcracker. Since there is only one nutcracker in North America this one word name should have sufficed, but a first name of "Clark's" was added in honour of William Clark of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition that took place in the US in the early 1850s. Sometimes locals refer to it as Clark's Crow.

This week's picture was taken at Banff National Park in the summer of 2009. Since Cark's Nutcrackers are not migratory they can be seen any time of the year although they do drop to lower elevations for the winter. For anybody who has been to Europe Clark's Nutcrackers are very similar in many respects to the all-black Jackdaws seen in city parks there.

We received a call that a Great Horned Owl had landed on the roof of the hotel down town, unfortunately, before we got there it had taken off. Who knows, maybe there will be a next time.

Foam Lake Birding No. 26

FOAM LAKE BIRDING
No. 26
There are many times when I have a lot of trouble deciding which bird to write about. As an underlying principle, I try to feature a bird that is here in season so that people, who are interested in birds, can literally go out and identify them after reading one of my articles. Because there are so many different birds around, the decision is not as easy as it might seem. On the other hand, sometimes a birding event occurs that makes my decision for me almost instantly. This week’s featured bird is one such example.
On October 20th my wife and I were having morning coffee and watching the birds at our feeders, when suddenly they all took off in one large flock leaving the backyard completely deserted. For a moment we did not know what had frightened them, but then we “saw” our answer. A shrike had landed in our ash tree and was observing the proceedings in our backyard. It sat quietly for a few moments and then flew off. Even though nothing exciting happened this time, I “had” my bird - the Northern Shrike.
Worldwide there are 74 shrikes, but only three in North America, one of which is a very rare vagrant from Asia. Locally, there are two shrikes – the Northern and Loggerhead. The former, as its name suggests, is a northern bird that is a winter resident only; the latter is a summer resident that migrates to the southern USA and Mexico for the winter. The two are almost identical in every way and only an experienced birder can tell them apart in the field. However, there is no need to become frustrated. Around here, they occur only in their respective seasons and are never together in any seasonal overlap.
Whereas the Loggerhead has been decreasing (dramatically in the East), the Northern appears to be more common. In all my years of observing birds, I had never seen a Northern Shrike until the last ten years or so. Now, I see them almost every winter, usually sitting in a tree surveying the area for prey.
The Northern Shrike is a Robin-sized bird that kills and eats prey far larger than one would expect for a bird its size. Its menu includes large insects, mice and its favourite – small birds. By sitting motionless, quietly and partially concealed, it launches a surprise attack on unsuspecting birds. The birds scatter, but the shrike picks out one and chases it. It quickly catches up to the fleeing bird forcing it down to the ground or to a branch where it pecks it to death with its powerful beak. The victim is then impaled on a thorn or barbed wire to be eaten later.
I happened to witness this event in our backyard on December 17, 2006. The photo shows the victim, a Common Redpoll, lying in a heap on the snow with its beak pointing upward to the right and the Northern Shrike perched above it. Originally, the Redpoll was impaled just to the right of the Shrike, but it fell off. I have photos of the impaled Redpoll also, but the Shrike’s head was covered by a branch. By the time I had moved to get a better shot, the Redpoll had fallen off. I decided to print the later shot as it clearly shows the white shrike with black wings and eye mask.
I feel privileged to have witnessed such an event; which, though common, is rarely seen by man. To some it might seem gruesome, but in nature there are no such values. The Northern Shrike was doing only what it was designed to do. To fully appreciate “Mother Nature” one has to accept her on her own terms – warts and all.