On Thursday I caught a glimpse of 8-10 Wild Turkeys near the Indiana University cross country (XC) course.
I see turkeys on the IU XC course maybe once a month. They're more or less always around, judging from tracks in the snow this winter, but they are hard to catch a glimpse of. The largest group of turkeys I saw there in 2009 consisted of 20 birds. There were three hens and about 17 poults (young turkeys). They were crossing a gravel driveway about 100 yards to the north of of a big apartment complex. Since the birds were headed north, they would have been even closer to the apartment complex before I saw them.
This area is within the Bloomington city limits (as well as being on the IU campus). Makes me wonder how many other communities have turkeys within their city limits? How many other universities have turkeys on campus?
And of course, I can't talk about "urban" turkeys without mentioning a newspaper article I wrote about the Urbana, IL turkeys last Thanksgiving. :-) http://web-miner.com/turkeys.pdf
Sunday, February 28, 2010
First-of-year bird songs
Heard some first-of-year songs from two species:
* On Thursday afternoon a Mourning Dove was sitting on the back fence coo-ing away. I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've heard that song in 2010. I always have mixed emotions when I hear that song. I hated it when I was a little kid. One summer Evansville experimented with being in the Eastern time zone. It was like the land of the midnight sun. My siblings and I were sent to bed well before sunset. It was bad enough laying in bed while it was still light outside. But every evening a dove perched outside my window and taunted me with its coo-ing, almost as if he was saying "you're in bed and I'm not". :-)
* Friday morning there was a Dark-eyed Junco singing lustily from the spruce tree. First time for that song in 2010. To me, hearing that song is always a reminder that the juncos won't be around too much longer. Sure enough, Brock's departure date for juncos is only five weeks away for southern Indiana.
* On Thursday afternoon a Mourning Dove was sitting on the back fence coo-ing away. I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've heard that song in 2010. I always have mixed emotions when I hear that song. I hated it when I was a little kid. One summer Evansville experimented with being in the Eastern time zone. It was like the land of the midnight sun. My siblings and I were sent to bed well before sunset. It was bad enough laying in bed while it was still light outside. But every evening a dove perched outside my window and taunted me with its coo-ing, almost as if he was saying "you're in bed and I'm not". :-)
* Friday morning there was a Dark-eyed Junco singing lustily from the spruce tree. First time for that song in 2010. To me, hearing that song is always a reminder that the juncos won't be around too much longer. Sure enough, Brock's departure date for juncos is only five weeks away for southern Indiana.
Friday, February 26, 2010
2010 Ruby-throated Hummingbird maps are now online!
The maps showing the Spring 2010 migration of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are now up at:
http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html
No sightings yet, but just the thought that Ruby-throats will be migrating northward really warms the soul. Spring must be just around the corner! :-)
http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html
No sightings yet, but just the thought that Ruby-throats will be migrating northward really warms the soul. Spring must be just around the corner! :-)
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Looking for woodcocks
Haven't seen/heard any displaying American Woodcocks yet. They seem to be running late this year.
According to Brock’s Birds of Indiana, Monday was the arrival date for this species. By this time last year there were at least a half dozen reports of displaying woodcocks on both the local and state birding e-mail lists. This year there have been no reports on either list yet. Last year the Indiana statewide Great Backyard Bird Count report showed 15 checklists reporting 83 woodcocks. This year there was just one checklist reporting only one bird. Last year I found several peenting and displaying birds the first time I went looking for them on February 16 on the Indiana University cross country course. I found them several more times after that.
I took several late evening walks over to the IU XC course to listen for owls during the Great Backyard Bird Count. Each time I started my walk at about the same time as woodcocks would be peenting/displaying. I didn’t notice any woodcocks.
This week I’ve been checking out the XC course specifically for peenting/displaying woodcocks. On Monday there was a low cloud deck illuminated by nearby city lights, and I did see one woodcock silhouetted against this backdrop as it flew near the southern tree line. So I know there’s at least one bird there, but no peenting/displaying so far. I’m thinking maybe the snow cover is delaying these mating rituals?
Here are some other highlights from my evening XC walks this week:
* Heard a pair of Great Horned Owls calling back and forth in the distance, off to the north. Very nice serenade.
* Heard a Barred Owl very close to me in the woods. Close enough that it sort of gave me chills.
* I’m pretty sure I heard several Killdeers fly overhead on Monday evening. Migrants? Sign that spring is drawing near?
* Heard some coyotes carrying on not too far off to the north. They weren't yapping or howling...they were singing. Sounded like some kind of otherworldly jazz improvisation as one coyote's calls played off another's. Now that’s a sound that really gives me goosebumps!
* Each evening I’ve been on the XC course as the deer begin to move out of the woods and onto the XC course to graze...several small herds of maybe a half dozen individuals each. On Monday the lighting was kinda spooky, and the deer looked like ghosts as they slowly moved across the terrain, silhouetted against the patchy snow cover. At first you think you see something moving. Then you know you’re seeing motion, but you’re not sure what it is. And the deer appeared to be having the same experience as they caught sight of me. They’d stand and stare for minutes. One deer slowly walked straight towards me from about 200 feet away, staring intently the whole way. I got a little nervous when it was about 30 feet away, so I made a loud noise and it bounded away, white tail held high.
According to Brock’s Birds of Indiana, Monday was the arrival date for this species. By this time last year there were at least a half dozen reports of displaying woodcocks on both the local and state birding e-mail lists. This year there have been no reports on either list yet. Last year the Indiana statewide Great Backyard Bird Count report showed 15 checklists reporting 83 woodcocks. This year there was just one checklist reporting only one bird. Last year I found several peenting and displaying birds the first time I went looking for them on February 16 on the Indiana University cross country course. I found them several more times after that.
I took several late evening walks over to the IU XC course to listen for owls during the Great Backyard Bird Count. Each time I started my walk at about the same time as woodcocks would be peenting/displaying. I didn’t notice any woodcocks.
This week I’ve been checking out the XC course specifically for peenting/displaying woodcocks. On Monday there was a low cloud deck illuminated by nearby city lights, and I did see one woodcock silhouetted against this backdrop as it flew near the southern tree line. So I know there’s at least one bird there, but no peenting/displaying so far. I’m thinking maybe the snow cover is delaying these mating rituals?
Here are some other highlights from my evening XC walks this week:
* Heard a pair of Great Horned Owls calling back and forth in the distance, off to the north. Very nice serenade.
* Heard a Barred Owl very close to me in the woods. Close enough that it sort of gave me chills.
* I’m pretty sure I heard several Killdeers fly overhead on Monday evening. Migrants? Sign that spring is drawing near?
* Heard some coyotes carrying on not too far off to the north. They weren't yapping or howling...they were singing. Sounded like some kind of otherworldly jazz improvisation as one coyote's calls played off another's. Now that’s a sound that really gives me goosebumps!
* Each evening I’ve been on the XC course as the deer begin to move out of the woods and onto the XC course to graze...several small herds of maybe a half dozen individuals each. On Monday the lighting was kinda spooky, and the deer looked like ghosts as they slowly moved across the terrain, silhouetted against the patchy snow cover. At first you think you see something moving. Then you know you’re seeing motion, but you’re not sure what it is. And the deer appeared to be having the same experience as they caught sight of me. They’d stand and stare for minutes. One deer slowly walked straight towards me from about 200 feet away, staring intently the whole way. I got a little nervous when it was about 30 feet away, so I made a loud noise and it bounded away, white tail held high.
How much does a flock of birds weigh?
Last fall I spent a weekend at the Indiana Dunes State Park on the shores of Lake Michigan. Very cool place.
While out walking on a trail I encountered a sizeable flock of Common Grackles. As they noisily settled into the trees around me a steady shower of debris fell to the ground...twigs, small dead branches, acorns, etc. As they took off from the trees, even more stuff fell to the ground. I’m assuming the weight of the birds was causing this detritus to fall to the forest floor.
This experience got me thinking something I’d never thought of before: “How much does a flock of birds weigh?” When I got home I did some calculations and determined that 1,000 grackles weigh in at about 275 pounds. The flock of grackles I observed contained approximately 4,000 birds. This means that I was briefly in close proximity to a half ton of grackles! Wow!
While out walking on a trail I encountered a sizeable flock of Common Grackles. As they noisily settled into the trees around me a steady shower of debris fell to the ground...twigs, small dead branches, acorns, etc. As they took off from the trees, even more stuff fell to the ground. I’m assuming the weight of the birds was causing this detritus to fall to the forest floor.
This experience got me thinking something I’d never thought of before: “How much does a flock of birds weigh?” When I got home I did some calculations and determined that 1,000 grackles weigh in at about 275 pounds. The flock of grackles I observed contained approximately 4,000 birds. This means that I was briefly in close proximity to a half ton of grackles! Wow!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Most "interesting" birds in Indiana GBBC
One more item from my review of Indiana GBBC reports...
Here's a list of the most "interesting" birds so far (i.e., species with ten or fewer individual birds reported in Indiana):
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 10 individual birds
Common Redpoll - 9
Wood Duck - 9
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 7
American Pipit - 6
American Wigeon - 6
Killdeer - 6
Long-eared Owl - 6
Peregrine Falcon - 6
Savannah Sparrow - 6
Chipping Sparrow - 4
Eastern Phoebe - 4
Glaucous Gull - 4
Hermit Thrush - 4
Redhead - 4
Common Loon - 3
Gray Catbird - 3
Northern Shoveler - 2
Northern Shrike - 2
Ruddy Duck - 2
Wilson's Snipe - 2
American Woodcock - 1
Red-breasted Merganser - 1
Ross's Goose - 1
Ruffed Grouse - 1
Surf Scoter - 1
Thayer's Gull - 1
White-winged Scoter - 1
Here's a list of the most "interesting" birds so far (i.e., species with ten or fewer individual birds reported in Indiana):
Eurasian Collared-Dove - 10 individual birds
Common Redpoll - 9
Wood Duck - 9
Black-crowned Night-Heron - 7
American Pipit - 6
American Wigeon - 6
Killdeer - 6
Long-eared Owl - 6
Peregrine Falcon - 6
Savannah Sparrow - 6
Chipping Sparrow - 4
Eastern Phoebe - 4
Glaucous Gull - 4
Hermit Thrush - 4
Redhead - 4
Common Loon - 3
Gray Catbird - 3
Northern Shoveler - 2
Northern Shrike - 2
Ruddy Duck - 2
Wilson's Snipe - 2
American Woodcock - 1
Red-breasted Merganser - 1
Ross's Goose - 1
Ruffed Grouse - 1
Surf Scoter - 1
Thayer's Gull - 1
White-winged Scoter - 1
A few items from the Illinois state Great Backyard Bird Count
The 2010 Great Backyard Bird Count took place last weekend (February 12-15). While GBBC participants have until March 1 to finish entering their data, I thought it might be interesting to check out what people have reported so far.
Here are a few items of possible interest from the Illinois reports:
* The ten most numerous species in Illinois (greatest numbers of individual birds reported)
Canada Goose - 46,950
Snow Goose - 39,506
Common Grackle - 19,451
House Sparrow - 12,769
European Starling - 12,562
Dark-eyed Junco - 10,764
Northern Cardinal - 8,565
American Goldfinch - 6,978
Mourning Dove - 6,596
Mallard - 5,232
* The ten most "commonly observed" Illinois species (i.e., number of checklists reporting the species. When I collected the data, the total number of Illinois GBBC checklists = 2,203)
Northern Cardinal - 1,574 checklists (reported on 71.45% of total checklists)
Dark-eyed Junco - 1,464 (reported on 66.45% of total checklists)
Downy Woodpecker - 1,167 (reported on 52.97% of total checklists)
House Sparrow - 1,162 (reported on 52.75% of total checklists)
Mourning Dove - 1,106 (reported on 50.20% of total checklists)
Black-capped Chickadee - 1,051 (reported on 47.71% of total checklists)
American Goldfinch - 928 (reported on 42.12% of total checklists)
Blue Jay - 814 (reported on 36.95% of total checklists)
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 799 (reported on 36.27% of total checklists)
White-breasted Nuthatch - 781 (reported on 35.45% of total checklists)
* Most "interesting" birds (i.e., species with ten or fewer individual birds reported)
Ruddy Duck - 10 individual birds
Peregrine Falcon - 9
Hermit Thrush - 8
Double-crested Cormorant - 7
Eastern Screech-Owl - 7
Killdeer - 7
Loggerhead Shrike - 7
American Wigeon - 6
Ross's Goose - 6
Savannah Sparrow - 6
Long-eared Owl - 5
Northern Goshawk - 5
Northern Shrike - 5
Rough-legged Hawk - 5
Green-winged Teal - 4
Common Redpoll - 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 3
Brewer's Blackbird - 2
Eastern Phoebe - 2
Merlin - 2
Pied-billed Grebe - 2
Red Crossbill - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
Sandhill Crane - 2
African Collared-Dove - 1
American White Pelican - 1
Pine Warbler - 1
White-winged Scoter - 1
Here are a few items of possible interest from the Illinois reports:
* The ten most numerous species in Illinois (greatest numbers of individual birds reported)
Canada Goose - 46,950
Snow Goose - 39,506
Common Grackle - 19,451
House Sparrow - 12,769
European Starling - 12,562
Dark-eyed Junco - 10,764
Northern Cardinal - 8,565
American Goldfinch - 6,978
Mourning Dove - 6,596
Mallard - 5,232
* The ten most "commonly observed" Illinois species (i.e., number of checklists reporting the species. When I collected the data, the total number of Illinois GBBC checklists = 2,203)
Northern Cardinal - 1,574 checklists (reported on 71.45% of total checklists)
Dark-eyed Junco - 1,464 (reported on 66.45% of total checklists)
Downy Woodpecker - 1,167 (reported on 52.97% of total checklists)
House Sparrow - 1,162 (reported on 52.75% of total checklists)
Mourning Dove - 1,106 (reported on 50.20% of total checklists)
Black-capped Chickadee - 1,051 (reported on 47.71% of total checklists)
American Goldfinch - 928 (reported on 42.12% of total checklists)
Blue Jay - 814 (reported on 36.95% of total checklists)
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 799 (reported on 36.27% of total checklists)
White-breasted Nuthatch - 781 (reported on 35.45% of total checklists)
* Most "interesting" birds (i.e., species with ten or fewer individual birds reported)
Ruddy Duck - 10 individual birds
Peregrine Falcon - 9
Hermit Thrush - 8
Double-crested Cormorant - 7
Eastern Screech-Owl - 7
Killdeer - 7
Loggerhead Shrike - 7
American Wigeon - 6
Ross's Goose - 6
Savannah Sparrow - 6
Long-eared Owl - 5
Northern Goshawk - 5
Northern Shrike - 5
Rough-legged Hawk - 5
Green-winged Teal - 4
Common Redpoll - 3
Golden-crowned Kinglet - 3
Brewer's Blackbird - 2
Eastern Phoebe - 2
Merlin - 2
Pied-billed Grebe - 2
Red Crossbill - 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
Sandhill Crane - 2
African Collared-Dove - 1
American White Pelican - 1
Pine Warbler - 1
White-winged Scoter - 1
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