Wood Thrush!

I have been bemoaning the lack of wood thrush vocalizations wondering if they were even nearby.  I've only heard faint singing in the recesses of the woods not my own.  Normally, these guys are singing their hearts out in third week of April.  Here it is mid-May...  One of the joys of getting old is that you get tuned into the large rhythms of nature. I've always noted when I began hearing them and when they fade away. Seems like they are coming later and staying later than some time ago..but 15-20 days or so.

So, my heart skipped a beat when I heard the loud lyrical song of my beloved bird.  I have said in the past that it would be a long, sad lament if I could no longer hear the wood thrush.  What I also noticed, is there is slight variation in the song.  I've noticed that in the past too....as if there are different tribes of thrush that have adopted just the smallest variation.  Unmistakenly a thrush, but with its own little flourish.  Like Tim's (my neighbor) bluebirds adding chicken feathers (he has chickens) as a nest flourish, while mine garnished with pollen stems.


Happy Mother's Day

In the bird backyard, Mother's Day takes a special meaning.  I have a bluebird hen on her second nest, and I see her prior  fledglings at the mealworm feeder and getting suet.  Three of them were there with Dad.  They were begging, he said," PFFFFTTTTT!"  He took a mouthful of worms and flew off.  You can lead a fledgling bluebird to mealworms AND make them eat.  The funny thing was that when Dad left and the red-bellied woodpecker showed up, one of the fledglings was begging.  The RBW was having none of that. When he left, they all got in the dish and ate. 

Also spied is a female red-bellied woodpecker sitting in her lovely nest hole that she and her partner excavated.  It's a largish hole, in a dead outcrop of a healthy white oak.  It was fun to watch them work away at it early in the Spring.  I could just see her poking her head out the other day.  I had not seen much activity otherwise.

The barred owls a the Cornell Lab of Ornithiology fledged.  The first owlet gracefully pushed and flapped his way off the branch affixed to the nestbox.  the second (1 day younger owlet) was on the branch by itself, when it lost footing and was hanging upside down like a bat.  It valiently hung on until it didn't.  Hopefully it had a graceful landing.  There was a picture of an owlet on the ground (unhurt) the next day.   Watching them go from egg to fledging was a treat...but not for the squemish and there was a steady procession of "stuff" brough to the nest for current consumption or for the "pantry". 

I noticed my Eastern PeeWee is here.  It was on a brush pile outside the back window (dense woods just outside a small grassy plot.  He was there for almost 2 hours perching and then flitting skillfully in the air to catch an insect on the wing.  A little aerial twirl and back to the perch.  I was surprised how long he was there. 

And then there is the squirrel family.  They raid my suet.  I put food out for them, but the crack suet attractly everyone.  I bring it in at night to avoid attracting other creatures...though the squirrels try to ensure that there is none.


My fledglings (adult children) are bringing dinner over.  I made a chocolate cake for us to enjoy for dessert.

Happy Mother's Day.

Summer Tanager and Others Arrival

I began to hear the stochatic "pit-ti-tuck" (as described by the Cornell Lab) of the Summer Tanager a couple of days ago. I have been awaiting the arrival of the male and female; I noticed them for the first time last year. The male was very elusive, I had a hard time spotting him in the tall canopy of the trees. It took me a couple of days to identify the female as she is looks nothing like the male.  You can see pictures of them here. (I didn't include any copyrighted photos here). I marvel that this pair managed their migration from South-Central America to my little patch of heaven here.  But they are here, and I am happy.

Not so happy, though, that my beloved Wood Thrush have not returned.  The third week in April generally welcomes my beloved birds--who instantly let me know they are here with their song.  However, they are perhaps just silent--busily making their nests.  Last year their choral work was greatly muted, and I worried about them.  Last week, when I was expecting much, I heard little. It was a faint few notes, and then nothing.

My white-throated sparrows have departed northward.  I miss their lovely calls and their flitting about in the brush they called home.  The yellow-rumped warblers are gone, too, insofar as I can tell. I saw an indigo bunting briefly (as with last year).  I'm on the look out for the rose-breasted grossbeak that did a 2 week layover with a female.

My bluebirds have already made a second nest in the box.  No sooner had I cleaned the old nest out at 4 p.m.....left the top off for it to dry out...returned at 8 a.m. to find a fully-constructed nest.  It looked identical to the one that I took out to include a crown of pollen!  I'm enjoying seeing the fledglings, but I only see two of the four that I think fledged.

Hope you are keeping an eye out in your neck of the woods for visitors.