Mid-August: Great Horned Owl

For several days, I've heard a couple Great Horned Owls hooting back and forth across my yard.  Mid-August is too late for this to be a breeding pair, so I know these are likely newly fledged youngsters checking out the neighborhood.  When Carlos came to work on repairing my wood floors, he heard the owls and immediately found one way up high;  I don't know how he did it.  'Course, now I call him Owl-eye.

Can you see what I see? (Hint: look almost dead-center)

This young bird is about three stories up in a huge willow (or cottonwood) tree; well hidden from other birds and trouble that sometimes comes to new fledged predator-birds. Talk about camouflaged.

He moved a bit and I zoomed a bit closer, but he's still cautious.

See how he lies along the branch? That is also a camouflaging technique. As are his 'horns' that many assume are his ears. Actually, they are just tufts of feathers for the purpose of breaking up his silhouette. They often sit close to the trunk for the same reason; one of the best ways to spot these big owls is to look for the lump that doesn't belong...along the trunk or along a branch, like this guy.

 I learned we can tell he is a youngster because he still
has a bit of the rufus (brownish-red) feathering
around his face and head.  

This is the best shot of a GHO I've ever taken.  As high as he was, I'm surprised it's not more blurry.  As big as a bird as he is, he's actually a small Great Horned Owl.  Males of most predator bird species are smaller, by about a third, than their females. By the time a bird leaves the nest, they're about full grown, and this guy is small...so I assume he's male. 

After giving the youngster a bit of a break, my 'adopted daughter', Rheanne came over and I handed her my camera.  Now, she is a photographer.  In the mean time, the bird had moved some, so I suggested she try a shot from the other side of the tree.  This is what she got:

By Rheanne Velie

Photographs by: myself, except as labeled.

Boat-tailed Grackle - Quiscalus major

 

The Boat-tailed Grackle was once considered the same species as the Great-tailed Grackle, though its body size is larger, it has a longer tail and lacks the Great-tailed Grackles’ distinctly flat head-shape; this bird’s head is round.  This is a medium sized grackle; at just a couple inches longer than the Common Grackle.

A large, long-tailed blackbird, the Boat-tailed Grackle
is found exclusively along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts
of the United States.

The noisy, iridescent, purple-black male has a bluish sheen visible on the head, in good light, and grading to greenish on the body. The extroverted bird is hard to miss when it displays on power lines and telephone poles.  Young males are black but lack the adult's iridescence.  The smaller, brown female has a shorter tail and reddish brown plumage overall, darkest on wings and tail. She is quite beautiful but is much less conspicuous and might even be mistaken for a different species.  Young females resemble pale adult females, with spots on the breast.

Boat-tailed Grackle, eating shrimp.

 General Description:

• Iridescent black body, usually more blue-green
• Larger, longer tail; held in deep ‘V’ during display flights
• Very large, long bill
• Yellow to brown eye color, depending on range/subspecies

Measurements: Both Sexes

Length

10.2–14.6 in
26–37 cm

Wingspan

15.4–19.7 in
39–50 cm

Weight

3.3–8.4 oz
93–239 g

A US native and endemic only here, this grackle is resident along Atlantic coast from Long Island and New Jersey south, throughout peninsular Florida, and west along Gulf coast to southeastern Texas.  Boat-tailed Grackles have established significant populations in several United States Gulf Coast cities and towns where they can be found foraging in trash bins, dumpsters and parking lots.

Courtship: The courtship antics of this race are similar to those described for the eastern form (see p. 366). A great variety of locations may be used by the displaying or singing bird; E. A. Mellienny, (1937), writing about the bird in Louisiana, gives a clear picture of such proceedings as follows:

Their favorite station for plumage exhibition is the top of a small bush or low tree. If these are not available, they will alight on the ground or on a muskrat house or pile of debris. Here they stay quietly for some minutes, with their feathers compressed and beak and neck pointing skyward, then suddenly one of them will give a series of squeaking, chuckling, raucous cries, during which all the feathers are fluffed, tail spread, wings half opened and vibrated rapidly, making a loud, rattling sound [see Voice]. The others of the group immediately follow the leader's example, and for a minute or two each individual is animated and noisy, only to drop back to the compressed statue like pose. This noisy exhibition takes place either while at rest or on the wing.

If, over such a group of males, flies a female seeking a mate, all of the males at once take flight on loudly flapping wings and with rattling quills, squeaking and calling in their most seductive manner, begin chasing her. Should none of this group of males attract her, she quickly out flies them and proceeds to look over other groups until she finds her choice. When a mate is selected she flies in front of and near him, leading him off to one side, until the other males in the group drop out of the chase. The pair then alights on the ground and mating is accomplished.

These Grackles generally nest near or over water, in willows, cattails, saw grass, bulrushes or up to 80’ high in trees.  The nest is a well-concealed cup in trees or shrubs; where three to five eggs are laid.

Boat-tailed Grackle eats various invertebrates, grain, some small vertebrates; forages on ground, mudflats, and in shallow water.  They are omnivorous, eating insects, minnows, frogs, eggs, berries, seeds and grain, even small birds. Larger injured birds are taken by the Boat-tailed Grackle when opportunity offers; sandpipers, heron,egret and more. They will steal food from other birds…or from pet-food bowls.

During the spring and summer the food consists largely of a wide range of aquatic life: fish, frogs, insects, crustacea, and spiders. The boat-tail's ability as a fisherman is considerable, and it is often to be seen wading in pools or marshy creeks, up to its belly, making accurate stabs of the beak at minnows of various sorts. In some of these maneuvers it immerses the entire head, in others it hovers like a petrel. The boat-tail seems very fond of the crayfish, and often searches this creature out on its own; but, as related under "Behavior," it sometimes seizes them from other birds, notably the eastern glossy ibis and probably some of the herons. The bird is quite good as a flycatcher, and secures various insects on the wing with apparent ease

This bird's song is a harsh jeeb, and it has a variety of typically grackle-like chatters and squeaks, and the characteristic rolling or rattling sound; often accompanied by a wing-flutter, as shown here.

Cool Facts

• Eye color in the Boat-tailed Grackle varies from region to region. Grackles along the Atlantic coast north of Florida have straw-colored eyes. Florida birds have dark eyes. Grackles west of Florida to eastern Louisiana have light eyes, but those further west have dark ones.
• Fledglings that fall into the water can swim well for short distances, using their wings as paddles.
• The Boat-tailed Grackle has an odd mating system: harem polygyny or female defense polygyny. Females cluster their nests, and the males compete to defend the entire colony and mate there. The most dominant male gets most of the copulations in a system similar to that used by many deer. But all is not as simple as it seems. Although the dominant male may get up to 87% of the copulations at a colony, DNA fingerprinting shows that he actually sires only about 25% of the young in the colony. Most of the young are fathered by non-colony males away from the colonies.

Sound:  Click Here to listen

Sources:

·         Wikipedia

·         Cornell’s All About Birds

·         Birds by Bent

·         The Crossley Guide – Eastern Birds

·         Kaufman Focus Guide – Birds of North America

·         Smithsonian Field Guide to Birds of North America

·         Stokes Field Guide to Birds of North America

Photos:

·         Wikipedia

·         YouTube

Great-tailed Grackle - Quiscalus mexicanus

These grackles have moved to the United States from Mexico. Their range is the southern states from California to Florida, however, they are slowly moving more to the north. They prefer areas with a source of water and trees to nest in such as agricultural areas, mangrove areas and urban or suburban areas. They may migrate for the winter from northern areas, but are permanent residents in southern areas.

The Great-tailed Grackle, or Mexican Grackle, was historically almost exclusively found in Central and South America, but human alteration of the environment has caused the birds to expand their range to include parts of the United States. Their current range in the United States is north to eastern Oregon, with individuals sighted as far north as Canada, south to northwest Peru, and northwest Venezuela in the south; the grackle's range has been expanding north and west in recent years. It is common in Texas and Arizona in the southern regions and as far east as Western Arkansas.

Great-tailed and Boat-tailed species are primarily resident in their ranges, but have been undergoing dramatic

range expansion northward during the twentieth century. Populations of Boat-tailed and Great-tailed grackles in northern, recently-colonized areas, move southward during winter months.  This animated chart shows this northern movement over the last 100 years: 
http://birds.audubon.org/sites/default/files/photos/grackleanimatedmaps.gif

Our biggest grackle; this big, brash blackbird, the male Great-tailed Grackle shimmers in iridescent black and purple, and trails a tail that will make you look twice. The rich brown females are about half the male’s size. Flocks of these long-legged, social birds strut and hop on suburban lawns, golf courses, fields, and marshes in Texas, the Southwest, and southern Great Plains. In the evening, raucous flocks pack neighborhood trees, filling the sky with their amazing (some might say ear-splitting) voices.

This huge blackbird is hard to ignore due to its boisterous nature.  Long, deeply keeled tail; large, thick bill, with nearly straight culmen; flat crown, shallow forehead and the adult male is entirely black with obvious violet-blue iridescence. Eyes yellow; bill and legs black. Adult female: smaller than male and doesn’t have the keeled tail. She is brown above with dull iridescence on wings and tail; buffy on head and below, becoming darker brown on belly and vent; eyes are yellow and the dark lateral throat stripes usually obvious. Immature male: smaller than the adult male, with shorter tail, dull iridescence, browner wings, and frequently dark eyes. Juvenile: like female, but paler and shows diffuse streaking below.

 Great-tailed Grackles - females

Eight great-tailed grackle subspecies are recognized, but only 3 are found in North America. These northern subspecies are prosopidicola, found in the east of the great-tailed's range west to central Texas; monsoni, found from central Arizona east to western Texas; and nelsoni, found in California and western Arizona. All 3 subspecies of the great-tailed are spreading northward in the United States. For the most part, there is little information regarding which subspecies have spread to which areas; therefore the range descriptions given above are tentative. And some intergradation may be occurring now that these subspecies are coming widely into contact.

• Bright yellow eyes
• Iridescent black body, usually more blue-purple
• Larger, longer tail; held in deep ‘V’ during display flights
• Very large, long bill; nearly as long as head

Size & Shape

The Great-Tailed Grackle has a disproportionately
 small, slightly rounded head on a neck that’s thin in relation to its large body.  Males are long-legged, slender blackbirds with a somewhat flat-headed profile and stout, straight bills. The male’s tapered tail is nearly as long as its body and folds into a distinctive V or keel shape. Females are about half the size of males with long, slender tails.  
Male

• Length: 18.1 in
• Wingspan: 22.8 in
• Weight: 6.7 oz

Female

• Length: 15 in
• Wingspan: 18.9 in
• Weight: 3.7 oz

Relative Size 

• Exceptionally long-tailed and large songbird. Much smaller by weight than an American Crow, but about the same length.

Color Pattern

• Male Great-tailed Grackles are iridescent black with piercing yellow eyes, and black bills and legs. 
• Females are dark brown above, paler below, with a buff-colored throat and stripe above the eye. 
• Juveniles have the female’s dark brown plumage, with streaked under parts and a dark eye.

Great-tailed Grackles eat mostly various invertebrates, sometimes small fishes, frogs, tadpoles, snails, crayfish, lizards, small snakes, bird eggs and nestlings, also grain; forages on ground, mud flats, and in shallow water. It eats berries and larger fruits, newly planted and ripening grain, waste grain, seeds, fruits, berries, and nuts and larvae extracted from ground, ticks removed from cattle, various invertebrates and small vertebrates, carrion, offal; in fact these birds will forage nearly anywhere, from the ground, in shrubs and trees, and even by wading in shallow water.  However, the majority of foraging is done on the ground.

Favored habitat includes partly open situations with scattered trees, cultivated lands, pastures, shores of watercourses, swamps, wet thickets, around human habitation, sometimes in marshes. Often roosts in village shade trees or urban parks. South America: common locally in mangroves and along shorelines and on lawns and in parks in towns and. Nests in trees, bushes, man-made structures, mostly near or over water; marsh vegetation where no trees or bushes are available near water. Sometimes nests in heron colony.

Short, but sweet little clip

Cool Facts

• In winter, enormous flocks of both male and female Great-tailed Grackles gather in “roost trees.” These winter roosts can contain thousands of individuals, with flocks of up to half a million occurring in sugarcane fields in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley.
• In 1900 the northern edge of the Great-tailed Grackle’s range barely reached southern Texas. Since the 1960s they’ve followed the spread of irrigated agriculture and urban development into the Great Plains and West, and today are one of North America’s fastest-expanding species.
• The Great-tailed and Boat-tailed grackles have at times been considered the same species. Current thinking is that they are closely related, but different species.  They do hybridize.
• Because they’re smaller and require less food, female Great-tailed Grackle chicks are more likely than their brothers to survive to fledgling. Likewise, adult females may outlive males, resulting in a “sex-biased” population with greater numbers of females than males.
• Although you’ll usually see them feeding on land, Great-tailed Grackles may also wade into the water to grab a frog or fish.
• Great-tailed Grackles—especially females—learn to recognize individual researchers working in their breeding colonies, and will react with a chut alarm call when they see the researcher, even away from the nesting site.

According to Birdzilla.com, an unusual trick for a blackbird, the Great-tailed Grackle can plunge-dive to catch small fish in the same way terns are commonly seen foraging.

A fine little slideshow of several many photos of
the life of a Boat-tailed Grackle

Call

• Low chut; males may give a louder clack.  This bird has a large variety of raucous, cacophonous calls.   
• Song is a strange mix of slurred whistles and electrical static-type sounds, usually ending in a staccato, mechanical rattle; call is a soft tchut.  The male Great-tailed Grackle's horribly loud "song" is a series of harsh rattles, squeaks like that of styrofoam rubbing together, whistles, sounds like the tuning of an old radio, and gravelly "Check!" calls.  You can hear three here: 
  •   One
  •   Two
  •   Three

Sources:

• Wikipedia
• Cornell’s All About Birds
• The Crossley Guide – Eastern Birds
• Kaufman Focus Guide – Birds of North America
• Smithsonian Field Guide to Birds of North America
• Stokes Field Guide to Birds of North America

Photos:

• Wikipedia
• YouTube

My Best Yard Bird?

Visitors today asked me, "What is the best or favorite bird you've had visit your yard?" Interesting question...that I couldn't answer. After pondering my yard's Total List I came up with a few contenders:

• American Kestrel - having lunch amongst the peonies.
• Black Phoebe, maybe. I love Black Phoebes.
• Chihuahan Raven, because I like big corvids.
• Western Meadowlark - A splash of yellow on the snow covered grass - sweet.
• Gray Catbird - because I heard it so many times before spotting it!
• Western Tanager - yellow and red...what's not to like
  
• Hermit Thrush come every year...love 'em.
• Indigo Bunting - so BLUE
• Belted Kingfisher - I built a fish-pond for 'em.
• Harris's Sparrow - everybody was seeing them that year.
  
• American Redstart - flicking wings & tail, pugnacious little fellow.
  
• Turkey Vultures - roosting in my trees!
• Lewis's Woodpecker - spent a winter visiting my feeders here, once.
  
• Calliope Hummingbirds - all hummingbirds actually, 100's at a time!
• Northern Shrike - dining al fresco...stunning.

So, you can see I can't just pick one. Perhaps if I absolutely HAD to pick the most exciting experience with birds in my yard, it would be the time the young scientist was here with mist nets; sampling, measuring and banding Evening Grosbeaks. He had one he had caught that he was keeping for a few weeks in a cage as a decoy. He watched his caged pal intently, never keeping him out in the sun for long. He regularly moved the caged bird over next to us, sitting in the shade while we waited to catch birds, or where he made his notes on birds he'd caught.

Suddenly, we were shocked to see a Cooper's Hawk swoop down, from over the roof of my house and attack the cage that was sitting on the ground, between us, right at our feet! The poor grosbeak nearly had a heart attach...in fact, we nearly did. We stood up, the hawk moved to the top of the cage and kept trying for the bird inside! He kicked at the hawk, who moved again; trying desperately to get the little bird. Finally, making enough noise and practically physically grabbing the big bird...he finally gave up. Talk about exciting! For a few minutes, we imagined the hawk was going to just pick up the (large) cage and just fly off with it. It's wings nearly wrapped around the entire front of the cage; the darn thing wanted in! Thankfully, the little Evening Grosbeak was just fine and was released later that season.

That was probably my most exciting experience birding my backyard. Leave your experience too, if you like. I like to hear from my readers!

Common Grackle - Quiscalus quiscula

Common Grackles, or Crow Blackbirds as they are sometimes called, are blackbirds that look like they've been slightly stretched. They very common almost everywhere east of the Rockies Longer than most blackbirds, slimmer than most crows, Common Grackle males are very iridescent and have long tails with a distinct crease down the center. Generally, their heads, necks and breasts are glossy purplish-blue or bluish-green. However, common grackles in different parts of North America have somewhat different colored plumage.

In New England and in the West, the subspecies has a brassy bronze body coloration. Often called the Bronzed Grackle: it has a black head with blue-green iridescence. Sharply defined bronze back. Long, black tail with purplish iridescence. Called the Purple Grackle, this one has a black head, back, and sides with purple iridescence. May have iridescent barring on the back. Long, black tail with possible blue-green iridescence. Tail displays a longitudinal ridge or keel when in flight. Pale yellow eyes, though not always. Found from central Louisiana and Alabama north to southern New York and Connecticut, west of the Appalachian Mountains and in New England. East of the Allegheny Mountains, the body is purple, and in the southeast the feathers have a greenish hue.

Females are not as iridescent or as colorful, and their tails are not as distinctive, nor do they keel their tails much.
The iridescence of the head is different from that of the body, and changes abruptly behind the neck and breast; this applies to all forms of common grackle. The central feathers of the long, rounded tail are often depressed, so that the tail is displayed in flight with a deeply keeled V-shape, especially with breeding males in flight. Common Grackles taller, with long, strong legs and longer tailed than a typical blackbird, with a longer, and more tapered bill; bill and legs are black.

Grackles walk around lawns and fields on their long legs or gather in noisy groups high in trees, typically evergreens. They eat many crops (notably corn) and nearly anything else as well, including garbage. In flight their long tails trail behind them, sometimes folded down the middle into a shallow V shape, especially during breeding time. The adult female, beyond being smaller, is usually less iridescent; her tail in particular is shorter, and unlike the males, does not keel in flight. The juvenile is brown with dark brown eyes and faintly streaked on breast. These are one of the earliest passerine migrants in spring.

Common Grackles are large, lanky blackbirds with long legs and long tails. The head is flat and the bill is longer than in most blackbirds, with the hint of a downward curve. In flight, the wings appear short in comparison to the tail. Males are slightly larger than females.

Sized for Both Sexes:

• Length: 11–13.4 inches
• Wingspan: 14.2–18.1 inches
• Weight: 2.6–5 ounces
• Relative Size: Larger than a Red-winged Blackbird; about the same size as a Mourning Dove, though its long tail makes it appear larger.

Color Pattern
Common Grackles appear black from a distance, but up close their glossy purple heads contrast with bronzy-iridescent bodies. A bright golden eye gives grackles an intent expression. Females are slightly less glossy than males. Young birds are dark brown with a dark eye. As you know, there are many Leucistic birds; this is a Leucistic Common Grackle, below. Click the tag 'Leucistic' (at the end of this article) for more information.

Their diet consists of a wide variety of animal and vegetable food, including insects and invertebrates but also insects, crustaceans, earthworms, frogs, and small rodents and occasional eggs and nestlings. In rare instances, Common Grackles will attack and eat small birds and lizards, and in coastal areas they forage at the tide line for small invertebrates, even wading into the water to capture live fish. During the winter and migration months, their diet shifts to plant food, such as seeds and waste grain. Because of their predilection for agricultural grain and seeds, especially corn, Common Grackles have earned a reputation as a significant pest in certain areas of North America. The omnivorous grackles feed in farm fields, pastures, and suburban lawns by walking, rather than hopping, and they act aggressively toward, even stealing food from, other ground-foraging birds such as robins.
 
Sharp-shinned Hawks, Great Horned Owls and Red-tailed Eagles are predators of Grackles, not to forget predators of all birds; cats and dogs, skunks, raccoons, snakes and people.
 

Call 

The Lone Pine Field Guide to Birds describes the Common Grackle as a "poor but spirited singer who, despite his lack of musical talent, remains smug and proud, posing with his bill held high". Their call is a loud chuck, while their song is short creaky koguba-leek. Call: a loud and deep chuck. Song: a mechanical, squeaky readle-eak. Variety of whistles, clucks, and hissing notes. Both sexes sing.

• USGS
• Xeno-canto  

Cool Facts

• Those raggedy figures out in cornfields may be called scare-crows, but grackles are the #1 threat to corn. They eat ripening corn as well as corn sprouts, and their habit of foraging in big flocks means they have a multimillion dollar impact. Some people have tried to reduce their effects by spraying a foul-tasting chemical on corn sprouts or by culling grackles at
  their roosts.
• Common Grackles are resourceful foragers. They sometimes follow plows to catch invertebrates and mice, wade into water to catch small fish, pick leeches off the legs of turtles, steal worms from American Robins, raid nests, and kill and eat
  adult birds.
• Grackles have a hard keel on the inside of the upper mandible that they use for sawing open acorns. Typically they score the outside of the narrow end, then bite the acorn open.
• You might see a Common Grackle hunched over on the ground, wings spread, letting ants crawl over its body and feathers. This is called ‘anting’, and grackles are frequent practitioners among the many bird species that do it. The ants secrete formic acid, the chemical in their stings, and this may rid the bird of parasites. In addition to ants, grackles have been seen using walnut juice, lemons and limes, marigold blossoms, chokecherries and mothballs in a similar fashion.
• In winter, Common Grackles forage and roost in large communal flocks with several different species of blackbird. Sometimes these flocks can number in the millions of individuals.
• Rarely, Common Grackles nest in places other than their usual treetops, including birdhouses, old woodpecker holes, barns, and in still-occupied nests of Osprey and Great Blue Heron.
• The oldest recorded Common Grackle was 22 years 11 months old.

The Common Grackle builds nests of twigs, grass, hay, sometimes cemented with mud lined with fine grass between six and sixty feet high on branches preferably in coniferous trees, although not picky and sometimes in tree hollows and abandoned cavities, often near or over water. Sometimes they nest in numbers in the same tree for safety and sometimes even nest in a small opening in the lower parts of an Osprey's nest of sticks.

• 
  One smart Grackle!
  
  Watch this one problem solve.
  
  
  Where are Common Grackles found and how are they moving?

(Darker red showsa greater concentration of these birds.)

• Sources:

  • Wikipedia
  • Cornell’s All About Birds
  • The Crossley Guide – Eastern Birds
  • Kaufman Focus Guide – Birds of North America
  • Smithsonian Field Guide to Birds of North America
  • Stokes Field Guide to Birds of North America

  Photos:

  • Wikipedia
  • YouTube

Grackles

Grackle is the common name of any of eleven (usually) black passerine birds native to North and South America. All are members of the Icterid family but belong to multiple genera. The members of the Genus Quiscalus found in the North America; three in Colorado and one, the Boat-tailed Grackle, is found usually only along the coasts of southeastern Texas to Florida, around and more than half-way up the Atlantic East coast. It is found in coastal saltwater marshes, and, in Florida, also on inland waters. In that all grackles seem to be moving northward, it is no longer extraordinarily rare to find the Boat-tailed Grackle also in Colorado. These three grackles are:

• Boat-tailed Grackle, Quiscalus major
• Common Grackle, Quiscalus quiscula
• Great-tailed Grackle, Quiscalus mexicanus

The Icterids are a group of small to medium-sized, often colorful passerine birds restricted to the New World. Most species have black as a predominant plumage color, often enlivened by yellow, orange or red. This group includes the New World blackbirds, New World orioles, the Bobolink, meadowlarks, grackles, and cowbirds. A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds

The best way to separate Common Grackles from blackbirds and cowbirds is by size and shape: Common Grackles are larger, lankier, longer tailed, and longer billed. Common Grackles have a widened tail, often held in a V-shape, even in flight. Great-tailed Grackles of the Southwest and south Texas, and Boat-tailed Grackles of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, are even larger, and the males have much larger and more deeply keeled tails. The Great-tailed Grackle is the largest of our grackles, by several inches; while lighter in body-weight, they are about the same length as an American Crow.

Boat-tailed Grackles overlap with Great-tailed Grackles only in coastal Texas and Louisiana. They live mainly in coastal salt marshes, rarely moving inland (except in Florida where they are widespread across the peninsula). Boat-tailed Grackles, only slightly larger than the Common Grackle, have a much more rounded head, whereas Great-tailed Grackles have a sloping, flat crown.

Grackles tend to congregate in large groups, such a group is called: a plague of grackles.


A Plague of Grackes; likely with other black birds
like starlings and Red-Winged Blackbirds.
I like these big guys; probably because I don't get anywhere near that many! I should be thankful I've never had many more than about 100 mixed 'black birds' in my yard at a single time! But because I am intrigued by these Grackles (and used to confuse Great-tailed with the much smaller Boat-tailed Grackles), I intend to follow this post with a 3-part piece on the Grackles I might actually see here in Colorado. I hope you enjoy...and leave a comment; I love 'em. Again, if you click a label you'll find other postings & photos of a similar nature.

Sources:

• Wikipedia
• Cornell’s All About Birds
• The Crossley Guide – Eastern Birds
• Kaufman Focus Guide – Birds of North America
• Smithsonian Field Guide to Birds of North America
• Stokes Field Guide to Birds of North America

Photos:

• Wikipedia
• YouTube

Yikes...It's the Butcher Bird!

It was getting late; owls, foxes and soon the racoons would be coming around...it was time to get the McNuggets in the house (that's what I call my two, sister, 10-lb puppies.) I sat at my huge kitchen window, watching them wrestle and chase around the yard. Suddenly, I saw a somewhat larger bird land on the ground, right about where the (soon to be) grass met the residual snow from the last storm. Thinking a Robin was foolish for thinking there might be a worm about in the icy mud, I grabbed my binoculars. It was a Shrike! A new yard bird!!!

I watched as the Shrike picked at something at its feet...another, smaller bird! It was a dead Pine Siskin. Wow! These Shrikes are called 'Butcher Birds' for their habit of hanging dead things on thorns, barbed-wire and in the crook of two twigs of a bush. The males build quite a larder of saved goodies, with which to impress a female. These birds fascinate me to the point that I did a sort of research paper on them for this blog, here.

I know there are two species of Shrike that visit Colorado: The Northern Shrike and the Loggerhead Shrike and as far as I knew the main difference was in the black band that passes through both eyes and over the front of the face just above the beak, where it narrows considerably on the Loggerhead. I'd heard the Northern Shrike's black band was all-around wider. This bird appeared to have a wide black band...and also seemed larger. Later, I discovered it is some 2" larger than the Loggerhead. So: a new yard bird: Northern Shrike! ~~ February 24, 2012

Many of my photos come from Wikipedia, as do the two here. Unfortunately, the first is from Poland...so the bird is clearly a separate subspecies. Who knew? Well, it turns out one of my very favorite people knew...and I caused quite a bit of consternation when I failed to label where the photo came from! Yes, that bird IS quite a bit darker. The one here, to the right, looks exactly like the bird I saw...but it didn't match my story. Ha! But it IS an American Northern Shrike. Someday I'll get a better camera...

Photos on this page from Wikipedia

VictoryGarden/WildlifeGarden/ WaterGarden

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It is my intention to start ‘Open House’ meetings, perhaps weekly at first (since this is an intense time to start; spring is just ahead and February is the time for planning), for folks interested in growing and harvesting vegetables and/or meat & eggs; planting and maintaining a Native Plant garden that will produce lots of food and cover for birds and other wildlife; as well as a forum for those who’d like to build, or already have, a pond or water garden whether it is in a barrel, a prefab container or dug into the ground. Or even for people who just have a lovely garden and would like to share it (perhaps we can have tours!) It is my dream that interested folks share experiences with like-minded others in their effort to create, or share their creations, in gardens that provide a family’s food on a back-yard lot or several acres. Of course this could include a flower garden with chickens and/or rabbits that provide compost; just a few vegetables in pots on a patio, or a purchased water-feature that brings beautiful ‘music’ to your world. In other words, regardless of the involvement, all interested folks could participate as they see fit, whenever they are able. Are you interested?

Victory Garden
Then:
As part of the war effort, the government rationed foods like sugar, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, coffee, meat and canned goods. Labor and transportation shortages made it hard to harvest and move fruits and vegetables to market. So, the government turned to its citizens and encouraged them to plant "Victory Gardens" They wanted individuals to provide their own fruits and vegetables. Nearly 20 million Americans answered the call. They planted gardens in backyards, empty lots and even city rooftops. Neighbors pooled their resources, planted different kinds of foods and formed cooperatives, all in the name of patriotism.
Farm families, of course, had been planting gardens and preserving produce for generations. Now, their urban cousins got into the act; all in the name of patriotism. Magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post and Life printed stories about victory gardens, and women's magazines gave instructions on how to grow and preserve garden produce. Families were encouraged to can their own vegetables to save commercial canned goods for the troops. In 1943, families bought 315,000 pressure cookers (used in the process of canning), compared to 66,000 in 1942. The government and businesses urged people to make gardening a family and community effort.

The result of victory gardening? The US Department of Agriculture estimates that more than 20 million victory gardens were planted. Fruit and vegetables harvested in these home and community plots was estimated to be 9-10 million tons, an amount equal to all commercial production of fresh vegetables. So, the program made a difference.
From: http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org

Now:
Harkening to the self-sufficiency of previous generations who planted victory gardens in their front and back yards as a means to support their nation’s war efforts - today many are undertaking the challenge of declaring independence from corporate food systems, reducing reliance on fossil fuels to bring food to the table, and cultivating a more healthy and fulfilling life. This grass roots revolution is occurring in today’s modern version of the victory garden. The “war” is a revolution – and the battleground is right here on the home front. It is all about taking back responsibility and control of our own food supply. Whether it is a modest container of tomatoes on a patio deck or a full fledged self-sufficient garden – each effort represents one step towards freeing ourselves from the forces that would keep us dependent on a system of petroleum fueled and factory farmed food. Growing more of our own food heightens the taste and nutrition of meals, and along the way we experience the empowerment and fulfillment that comes from learning the basic skills of providing for our families and ourselves.

Benefits of Garden Self Sufficiency

• Frugal - saves considerable money if done sensibly without "buying" your way out of all problems
• Healthful - a diet that is composed of higher proportions of fresh vegetables and fruits is proven to be life extending
• Better for the Planet - the average produce item travels 1,500 miles to get to my table consuming petroleum in it's travels, refrigeration, and in the pesticides and fertilizers used
• Good for the Soul - a garden is a good place to reconnect with what is important in life and to literally stay "grounded"
  
  From: http://www.modernvictorygarden.com

Wildlife Garden

Like most of you, I am more than a gardener; I am a reader, a bird-watcher, interested in ecology and what plants have grown here and what has come to depend on those plants. I am also unemployed, getting older, and worried about what is in, or on, the food I eat. I am also a bit lazy, which works out for folks who want to support birds and other wildlife, but who do not put and support out a bunch of feeders. I like a simple, native, healthy yard that will offer my backyard, and the rest of the world, a beautiful retreat/sanctuary that will still allow me plenty of reading time. Believe it or not…the more native one goes, the easier it gets, and the less water used, to boot! Such a garden is not only lovely to behold, it is a life-saving island of food and shelter to bees, butterflies, birds and more; perhaps yourself!

Pond Garden

I built a lovely pond in my Denver home; it was 10x12 feet and dug to five feet deep. I used the dirt I dug to create a ‘berm’ from which I built a waterfall that used a biological filter to clean and re-circulate the water. I kept what are called Butterfly Koi, a lovely, long-fined type of carp or goldfish that can live all year in such a pond. It was a delight!

Here, in La Veta, I am in the process of creating another such pond…but I’m having some troubles. It would be good to share information and ideas with others who have or would like to have ponds. In my current pond, I have added “Shubunkins,” another hardy and colorful goldfish; much less expensive than Koi. In that we have raccoons here, and in that I’ve seen as many as four, as big as Cocker Spaniels, in my yard at once, not to mention skunks and bears…there is no point in adding expensive fish. Besides, I wouldn’t mind at all if the Belted Kingfisher dined in my yard!

A Sharing Community for Experienced and New

Now is the time to start thinking gardens! I plan to add 3-4 more ‘raised beds’ to my arsenal, and to try chickens again (last time a loose dog got in and made a serious mess of things. And some wonder why I do NOT like loose dogs, but that is another story.) I have worked it out with friends who will help me with the physical part of preparing and building for such things, as well as another who will help with ‘what grows in La Veta’. It occurred to me, as so many folks come into my yard or ask over the fence about birds I see, that a regular ‘get-together’ might be fun. I have always had folks ask about my gardens, my pond (in Denver) and here in La Veta I am often asked by birders from all over the country for permission to come see the Rosy-Finches which are quite rare, but come here by the hundreds (I’ve had 600 at a time; wouldn’t it be fun for La Veta to be renowned as the Rosy-Finch paradise? We could do that, just like Sandia in New Mexico and Estes Park in Northern Colorado…but no where else in the world.

But, what vegetables should I start now? What grows with what? Which chickens do well here? When should I order them? I am a good researcher, but there is little better than a friend who has done it before! Would you like to get together and chat for an hour or two, once in awhile? I would… Imagine what we could learn; just from sharing.

We are in a horrible economic time; not to mention what is happening to our world with regard to wars, climate change, and the insidious changes to the food we buy. I plan to start a Victory Garden to ensure I eat healthy food and save on both ecological and financial costs; a Wildlife Garden that will both feed my birds and help the environment and that which lives in it; and to finish my pond…for the shear beauty of it. What do you want to plan? Would you like to get together with like minded people?

I am organizing such a group which will meet regularly but will not be a ‘club’; there will be no RSVPs; just come when you can and if you want to. I plan to pick ‘topics’ to start the evening…but we will undoubtedly go on to much more. I will have books to share, do you? We can meet in my home, or at Sammie’s, should the numbers be greater than six; unless you have other ideas. I will research stuff, bring print-outs, and ask for a donation to cover costs and my time; give only what you think I’m worth or for the cost of printing & hosting. If you are interested; call me, Beverly Jensen (I'm in the local phone book) and leave a message with phone number. Or, e-mail me: goldiloucks (notice the spelling) at the yahoo place, or ‘friend me’ on Facebook: Beverly Loucks Jensen.

The number of folks interested will decide when and where we meet… Add: ‘Gardening’ to your subject line, or topic so that I can tell you from SPAM! LOL

Leave religious and political notions at the door, bring questions and answers about gardening only. I would prefer we stay organic and leave talk of toxins & other poisons at the door, too.

Can There Be Too Many?

As I mentioned in the last post, my friend Polly Wren brought a new neighbor over when she came the other day. Turns out Colette is a budding birder and a very good photographer! I begged more photos...

I love this shot showing the beautiful silver undersides to their wings, as well as the mixed flock of Brown-capped and Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches. Brown-capped have little to no gray on their heads, with a black forhead. Gray-crowned ...and I remember it's Grey-crowned because real crowns are usually made of something like silver or gold and not something brown (like a cap). We get both species, as well as the Black Rosy-Finches here...but didn't see them this visit. What we also get are a sub-species to the Gray-crowns called Hepburn's...which look to have a helmet rather than a crown of grey. The things I do to remember names!

I cropped this shot so that I could show the gorgeous photo Colette got of this Brown-capped Rosy-Finch. Be sure to click to embiggen!

Another fun shot of the birds close to my pond where we tossed seed under a volunteer Currant Bush. I wonder if
the less-pink birds are younger. That would be in keeping with how most young birds look; like the females, but even more drab.

Colette also took a shot right through the window, where the birds will also come to eat. It's very exciting to be nose-to-nose with these beauties. The netting is something I keep over the window; it helps keep birds from hitting the glass...most of the time. Those Evening Grosbeaks are the worst, however, and I usually have one or two that need rescuing per season.

Speaking of nose to nose, this stump, which I've photographed before, is just a few feet outside my back door. It's a blast to sit inside, with the door wide open, and watch the birds feeding practically at your feet. Thanks, Colette for a wonderful bunch of photographs!

New Year's Rosy-Finches

Yesterday I had the first visitors of the new year. What fun, and one is a new neighbor right up my street! Colette came with another friend of mine; Polly Wren. These are some of Polly Wren's photos of the day...

The Rosy-Finches love to 'stage' up on my roof. Colette noticed lots of seed up there, and suggested perhaps they take it with them when they whirl away...and sometimes eat up there. Who knows...could be; they sure do whirl around a lot...but it's always lovely seeing those silvery underwings.
This is a lovely shot of the Hepburn's Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch. It is a sub-species of this finch that I call a 'helmet-head' to remember how much further down the head the Gray-crown comes. Usually it is just down as far as the eye, here you can see it's more like a helmet! The middle bird looks to be a Brown-capped Rosy Finch...

And you wonder why I call these Pink-butts! Ha...

Polly Wren calls this one 'Skippidy Do Dah'. This is a lovely shot of a Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch; for the oddest reason we aren't sure we saw but one single Black this visit. And none are here today...I'm happy Dale and Beverly made it over from Alamosa before the finches left.