Foam Lake Birding No. 106

FOAM LAKE BIRDING
No. 106
Hello from southern Texas. Fortunately our trip down was uneventful and we even saw a few lifers along the way. We left on January 10th just escaping the storm back home, but at the same time not driving into the blizzard that was raging in South Dakota and Nebraska at the time. By the time we had to drive through that region the storm had passed. Talk about snow and snowplows. Thankfully, the roads were not icy so traveling was good, although, the quite heavy ground level drifting was mesmerizing at times.
We did see some birds along the way that we found interesting. From southern Saskatchewan to Kansas there were pheasants everywhere. We also saw three birds that breed in the high Arctic in the summer and spend winters south of the tree line well onto the prairies. The first were the ever present Snow Buntings that are common in the Foam Lake area. The second were lifers for my wife and me. At first we thought they were off-colour Snow buntings, but a quick check with our birdbook showed them to be Lapland Longspurs, cousins of the Horned Larks. Because Lapland Longspurs do not winter in the parkland region of the prairies only on the open short grass prairie, I had never seen them during my younger years. In the years that we have been there we have simply overlooked them. Finally, my wife noticed a hawk floating over the freeway in North Dakota directly in front of us. When we got close it flared clearly showing the distinctive markings on its underwings identifying it as the Rough Legged Hawk. I had seen them before but my wife had not so she got a second lifer and near home.
When we arrived in Texas the birding community was abuzz about the sighting of a White Throated Thrush (formerly White Throated Robin). We have not seen it yet, but hope to soon. As compensation, we did see our first Fulvous Whistling Ducks.
Since we have been coming here we have seen another quite rare tropical robin (now thrush) that is the national bird of Costa Rica, the Clay Coloured Thrush. They have actually started nesting here in the Rio Grand Valley, but are not common by any means.
In the last year or so ornithologists have done some renaming in the thrush family. Through years of common usage members of the thrush family that had spotted or striped abdomens were called thrushes; those that were blue were called bluebirds; the rest were called robins. As always, there were a few exceptions. Now, with the changes, bluebirds are still the same, but all robins without red breasts are now thrushes. Therefore, our robin is still the American Robin as is the much rarer Rufous Backed Robin – both have red breasts.
This week’s photo of the Clay Coloured Thrush was taken several years ago in McCallum when it was still known as a robin. In a colour photo it looks like a washed out American Robin with a light tan coloured breast and no white throat; in black and white it looks just like the American Robin.

Foam Lake Birding No. 105

FOAM LAKE BIRDING
No. 105
One of the birds that has arrived from the north earlier than usual is the crested Bohemian Waxwing. Small flocks have come in to our backyard frequently to feed on fruit still hanging on the trees from the summer. Unlike their smaller cousins, the very tame Cedar Waxwings, Bohemians are very skittish and even the smallest human movement in a window will cause them to flee. However, unless really frightened, they will return.
Even before one can get close enough to pick out their colours and other physical features, Bohemians can be recognized by their behaviour when flying or feeding. In flight, a flock of Bohemians look like stubby cigars with wings barrelling through the air; when perched, they look like a platoon of soldiers sitting in formation facing in the same direction and at the same vertical angle save for one or two "rebels". Once feeding starts they break formation.
At a glance the two waxwings are very similar (see Article No. 59) but upon closer examination can be quite easily separated. Around here Cedar Waxwings are summer residents while Bohemians are winter visitors so identification is not a problem, but in the very southern part of our province and in the northern states the two coexist in the wintertime. Here, confusion can result.
In mixed flocks the Cedars are noticeably smaller and have much more brown than the greyer Bohemians. Separately, they can be easily differentiated by: first, Bohemians have noticeable white feathering in the wings while Cedars do not; second, Bohemians have a jagged yellow stripe running from the red "wax" spot in the middle of the wing to the tip of the wing which the Cedars do not; third, Bohemians have rich brown under tail coverts while the Cedars have light yellow ones. In the field one seldom gets to see all the characteristics at once, rather usually only two or three will be seen at any one time. For the expert out there, there are several other more subtle field marks that can be used but are not really necessary as the more obvious ones are sufficient. In the accompanying colour photos the last three features are clearly shown.
Their vocalizations are different too, but require a bit of field experience to use them effectively for identification purposes. The Cedar has a rather high pitched insect-like zree sound while the Bohemian has a similar but lower and coarser version of zree.
If one has fruit trees that keep their fruit over the winter Bohemian Waxwings are almost sure to pay a visit. Some good examples of such trees are Chokecherry, Elderberry, crab apple and especially Mountain Ash (Rowan Tree). They are sloppy eaters and oftentimes leave more on the snow than they eat.
There is one rather humourous thing that happens to Bohemian Waxwings from time to time. If the weather is right with spells of warm days in the early spring, some of the fruit will ferment and produce alcohol. When Bohemian waxwings gorge themselves on this fruit they literally become drunk exhibiting all the characteristics of inebriation. Flight is erratic and landing is even more problematic. There have been reports of them actually falling out of trees.
One warm March day not that long ago I walked over to my neighbour's place for a visit. Along his driveway were three Bohemian Waxwings sitting in the snow at the base of a crab apple tree completely oblivious to my close presence. Two of them were fluttering in a deep footprint in the snow trying to but unable to fly out of it. I stopped to watch them for a minute or so only to have them stare back at me with a blank look in their eyes. When I left the house after the visit, the birds were gone. I obviously do not have any proof that they were drunk but there is no other conclusion because they would never have let me approach them so closely nor would they have had any difficulty flying out of a footprint in the snow, unless their mental capabilities were diminished in some way.
This week's pictures were taken in our backyard. The Bohemian Waxwings were feeding on apples still hanging on our apple tree, and no, they were not drunk. With patience and stealth I took these pictures through the window. The pictures actually came out quite sharp but more importantly, the birds were not scared away as would have happened had I stepped outside to get the shots.

Foam Lake Birding No. 104

FOAM LAKE BIRDING
No. 104
It is December and most winter birds are here already with the exception of Evening and Pine Grosbeaks. These two species are very irruptive and may be abundant for a year or two and then be completely absent the next several or even many years. Hopefully one or both grosbeaks will come and visit us this year.
In our backyard the feeders have been swarmed by Pine Siskins accompanied by House Finches, House sparrows, Red and White Breasted Nuthatches, Chickadees and one lone Junco. Throw in several pairs of woodpeckers and the odd raven and our yard has been really quite busy.
The Chickadees and Nuthatches are usually bullied by all the other birds and have to wait patiently for a chance to quickly grab a seed and fly away to eat it elsewhere. They have also developed the practice of feeding rather late in the evening when the other birds have gone to roost for the night and early in the morning before most birds are up. This way they can feed in peace without being harassed by the other birds.
This year the two species of "winter" woodpeckers, the Downy and Hairy, seem to have developed an interesting and unusual way of feeding that I have never seen before. Both woodpeckers fly up under the eaves of our house and feed on something there. It could be insects that were caught in spider webs and were not eaten by the spiders; it could be insects hibernating in cracks in the siding; or, it could be a little of both. Whatever the reason the woodpecker's drumming resonates throughout the house and, though loud, is actually quite pleasant in its own way. In Texas, woodpeckers commonly drum on buildings especially in the spring but around here it is not common at any time of year.
Since the recent bout of cold weather our flock of Pine Siskins has abandoned us as have the House Finches and the lone Junco. As a result our nyjer and canola feeders are still full and will stay that way unless the Redpolls come and take over where the Siskins left off. Redpolls are irruptive so there is no guarantee that they will come on this or any given year. We can only hope. The sunflower or black oil seeds have been consumed at an average rate, however, for some reason many of the remaining birds have really been attracted to the peanut feeder this year. So much so, that it looks like this could be the first year that it will have to replenished. The woodpeckers on the other hand can be found equally at any one of: the raw suet wired to a tree, the peanut feeder or the suet/cornmeal/peanut butter in the log. Being the dominant birds they are the backyard bullies at the feeders.
As alluded to earlier we seem to have more woodpeckers than usual this year. There is at least one pair each of Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers regularly at our feeders and often both at once with the Downys submitting to the Hairys. For this week's article I got pictures of the females of each species rather than the males which I usually do. Mustn't be sexist you know. Anyway, for a more in depth discussion of the a Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers see Articles Nos. 27 and 64 respectively.

john Senkiw