Chickadee Nest

Any information you read about bluebird boxes will stress the need to check them frequently and remove the nests and eggs of sparrows and other small cavity nesters who have the gall to raise their family in your box.  Sorry, but I just don't have the heart for it.

We have 15 boxes on our bluebird trail and each year we will have one or two nestings of "undesirable" birds such as these chickadees this spring.  I don't understand how you could throw out the very birds that you entertain at your bird feeders.  We therefore run an equal opportunity nesting organization.

Part of the entertainment in bluebird box maintenance is guessing the bird species by the eggs.  This used to be difficult, but now a site at sialis.org makes it quick and easier.  (This is listed on the resources page along with our other favorite links.)  These speckled eggs could be chickadee or nuthatch.

These little chickadee chicks on day one looked even more naked and vulnerable that the usual nest of day old bluebirds.  They were so scrawny and still that I thought they were dead, but by the next day, their mouths were open, begging for food like I was their mama.

Last Tuesday I filmed this video of newly hatched bluebird chicks just a few hours out of the egg.  They look identical but they were much more active.  You will see one of them confusing its siblings neck for food with the fifth baby's beak just cracking out of the egg.

Chickadee Nest- Sialis.org

One thing I didn't appreciate until now was how distinctive the nests are with different species.  I am used to the dry grass nests of bluebirds but hadn't noticed that the green nesting material occasionally found the boxes was typical of chickadees.  The sialis.org web site shows the nest pictures and the chickadee nest is quite different from the nuthatch nest.


You will notice these chickadee chicks the day before they fledged are tightly nestled down in soft moss, not the dry scratchy stuff of bluebirds.  Once again they didn't even bother to look up at me.

When you remove the empty chickadee nest the soft spongy feel is quite distinctive.  To quote Cornell.edu, "The nest has a moss base and a cup made of grass, plant down, and feathers. The female lines the nest with finer materials such as fine grass, fur, and hair."  In fact it feels just like the deep moss beds I look for when I catch a nap while I am supposed to be cutting firewood in the winter.  Don't tell Barb.

Plant an Oak, Feed a Chickadee

Caterpillars feasting on oak leaves -  Courtesy Missouri Botanical Garden

Here is a little 2nd grade math exercise from Doug Tallamy.

• Doug's native white oak tree had 410 caterpillars (19 species) found at head height.  His neighbor's exotic Bradford pear (which is the same size) had one inchworm.
• Chickadee parents deliver 350 to 570 caterpillars every day to their chicks for 16-18 days in the nest.

Question:  Was the oak or the Bradford pear better for the environment and why?

Doug Tallamy is the author of the popular book Bringing Nature Home.  He is coming to Springfield to the Conservation Nature Center to give two presentations.

• Bringing Nature To Your Home March 28 • Saturday • 10–11 AM
• Creating Living Landscapes  March 28  Saturday  1-2 PM

To get a little preview of what he is talking about (and to get the answer to today's quiz above) your required reading for this assignment is his New York Times article The Chickadee’s Guide to Gardening.  I guarantee you will enjoy it and learn a little.  It is entirely painless - except maybe for the invasive Bradford pear.

Bonus question.  Did you know that 534 species moths and butterflies caterpillars feed on oak leaves...and still the oaks are quite healthy?  This and much more on the value of growing native species is in Bringing Nature Home.

Moss on the Rocks

Woodland Stonecrop on a moss covered rock

Warming weather and spring rains brings the rocks to life along Bull Creek.  Beneath the rock ledges, the mosses awaken from their winter slumber.  Wikipedia calls them  "small, non-vascular flowerless plants that typically form dense green clumps or mats," hardly a flattering description.  Up close after a shower they are much more, providing beauty and a home for insects and plants on boulders and rotting logs.  Here we see the delicate leaves of the woodland stonecrop (Sedum ternatum) growing on what would otherwise be just a rock.  In the words of Wikipedia:

"It has white flowers, blooming April to May. This shade-tolerant species is often found in the forest understory, although it can also grow in sunnier locations when sufficient moisture is present. Its common name of "stonecrop" evokes its ability to thrive atop boulders, where its succulent leaves help it to retain moisture in shallow soil. It adapts well to garden use."

Woodland Stonecrop flowers - Wikipedia

It is able to grow on these rocks because of the moss.  In the words of The Beatles   "I get by with a little help of my friends," I too need a lot of help, in this case from bryophytologist, Nels Holmberg.  He identified this green cover as Common Tree-skirt Moss, Anomodon attenuatus.   Illinois Wildflowers says:

"The dense mats of foliage provide cover for small insects and other invertebrates. The foliage of Common Tree-skirt Moss was often used as construction material for the nests of the Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea). Because of this kind of activity, songbirds may be responsible, in part, for spreading this moss from one tree or area to another, as it rarely produces spore-bearing capsules."
 

The minature garden of lichen above is growing in a field of moss.  Nancy Schanda described these for us in the past.  "These are Pixie Cup lichens, Cladonia sp, which are found growing on soil and mosses and look very much like goblets for wee folk. These lichens display two of the main growth forms that are used to help identify lichens - squamulose and fruticose."

Glossy moss

The moss with capsules, each on the tip of a seta is most likely glossy moss, Entodon seductrix. Some birds use this as nesting material. In our bluebird boxes, finding this is a sign of a chickadee nest.

Chickadee eggs - click to enlarge

As Spring is sprung, no glossy moss is safe from the birds.  The good news is that carrying the strands spreads the spores, a free ride to a new location and maybe a lonely rock.

For a good and quick overview of moss, lichen and liverworts, check out this link.

 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Ben Caruthers

Guest blogger Ben Caruthers, MN

We live on 10 acres and we have a lot of trees, predominately post oak . In our front yard, closest to our living room windows is the only maple tree on the property. When we first moved here in 2012 we noticed the lines of neatly drilled holes all over the tree. Every winter for the past three years we have watched a female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (YBSS)  feeding from holes in the tree. She can usually only be seen on days when it is warm enough for the sap to flow from the tree. 

On very warm days we have also observed her hunting for insects which are attracted to sap from the holes, a protein course to the otherwise carbohydrate diet. YBSS may also feed on sap from other tree species with high sugar concentration in their sap including hickory trees. We also have several hickory trees on the property, but I have never seen her feeding from them.

Carolina Chickadee at work - Ben Caruthers

Purple Finch -Ben Caruthers

One interesting thing I noticed in late December is that there were several other birds feeding on the sap flowing from the holes that the sapsucker created in the maple tree. We have seen Purple Finches, Tufted Tifmouse, Carolina Chickadee and Downy Woodpecker drinking the sweet treat. Everyone knows that hummingbirds like to drink nectar, and some bird guides note that they feed after sapsuckers.  

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers are the only eastern woodpecker in North America that are truly migratory. Southern Missouri is at the northern part of the YBBS range so it is unlikely we will ever see a Ruby-throated hummingbird feeding after a sapsucker in our front yard. They winter in places like Abaco, Bahamas where they feast on palms, the bird version of a margarita on the beach.

YBSS in action- BC

She is a beautiful bird with a funny sounding name* and unusual avian feeding habits and we are grateful that she chooses to spend part of her winter in our front yard. As long as the sap is flowing freely, so does her waste disposal system. I spent a weird amount of time trying to time photos to catch her mid-movement. (Editor's note: It takes 43 gallons of sap to make a gallon of maple syrup so you can imagine how much the YBSS puts out to get its sugar load.  Birds don't make urine but put out uric acid which makes their poop a pasty white.)

These are a few of my favorite sources: 

All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker | Audubon Field Guide

====================================

Gertrude Turner

*Editors note: In the 1950's cartoons, "Yellow-bellied Sapsucker" was what Yosemite Sam called Bugs Bunny. It was years later that we of that generation discovered it was an actual bird. In the previous century some groups advocated shooting them to prevent damage to trees! The migratory Bird Act now protects them.

The good news is they eat insects coming to the sap and  I frequently see their damage on the invading red cedars. The bad news is they can occasionally kill a tree by successive girdling holes.  Not a problem in a large mixed forest and I have seen this only once in several hundred acres on a 4" diameter maple.

Life Wants to Be

Our newest additions

Those of you who have followed the blog know that it is time for the baby black vultures to appear.  They lay their eggs on bare ground in cavities, hollow stumps or outbuildings like our 100 year old barn.  They had us worried this year when after a long wait I saw an egg broken open and no chick.  The brooding bird got up a little to show the other egg but not the just hatched chick.  I say brooding bird because both sexes brood and determining male and female would require turning them over, embarrassing for the birds and risking their defensive vomiting on me.

I was startled yesterday to have the parent stand up to show me both chicks, cuddled together for warmth.  After 5 years with presumably the same parents, the adults are bored by my arrival and have learned to get up for pictures in order to make me leave.

Our bluebird boxes now have chicks and one has its second nesting of the year, having fledged the first set.  The one above is waiting for food, or maybe just encouraging its last sibling to come out of its shell.

Our Joplin correspondent Karsen sent the picture of a chickadee nest in a bluebird box.  You can tell if it is a chickadee nest without seeing the bird.  The eggs are speckled (similar to a nuthatch's) and the nest has a distinctive moss basement with a grass cup above with plant down and feathers lining it.

Killdeer nest - Karsen

Black vultures are not the only casual parents.  Karsen also sent me the killdeer nest above, part of a family he is photographing for a future blog.  We hope to have a family portrait soon.

* Karsen Bell is a 15 year old nature photographer from the Joplin area and a regular contributor to this blog.

Parapatry for Beginners

Some years ago on Bull Creek, I made the mistake of identifying a Black-capped Chickadee to a group on an Audubon (GOAS) field trip and heard a resounding chorus of "They don't occur here- that is a Carolina Chickadee."  I was unaware of parapatry, a lesson that was burned into my brain that day.


A defining characteristic of a true member of the GOAS is apparently knowing that Carolina Chickadees are in our region while Black-capped Chickadees occur just a little further north.  There is only a very narrow overlap zone between the populations where both may be found.  As described by an MDC site:

"Black-capped: generally northern Missouri, occasionally moving southward in winter. Carolina: generally southern Missouri and seldom wander north of their range. Where the ranges overlap, the birds sometimes hybridize and sing intermediate songs." 

Map from Birdsource

The appearance of the two species is very similar to most observers.  They are hard to identify even with side-by-side pictures. So to add further confusion, hybridization occurs in the overlap zone, making it even more difficult to separate the two species.  As if this weren't complicated enough, the overlap zone is creeping northward in recent years as climate change moves the average warm temperatures to the north.

Back to parapatry in the title.  Parapatry describes when two similar species ranges meet with little or no overlap.  A study in Eurekalert.org. describes the range of two closely related millipede species in Tasmania, Australia.  The mixing zone where they meet is 140 miles long but only 100 meters wide.  You might expect some geographical or environmental features to define this territory, but there are none.

In a world in which we humans create, and fight over, artificial boundaries, these millipedes have apparently peacefully established their distinct boundaries just like our chickadees.

Bluebirds of Happiness

Kathleen's bluebird - Chris Meyer

We spend most of our time on Bull Creek where we have a trail of 15 bluebird houses scattered along the field edges.  We see bluebirds throughout the nesting season while maintaining the boxes.  Barb was talking with Kathleen Graves Birdsong recently about her experiences of living with bluebirds in an urban neighborhood and passionately caring for them..  We asked her to share her story in the blog.

"I have enjoyed watching birds since I took a bird watching course in college. When we moved onto 10 acres of open woodland in southwest Springfield I saw the usual birds - robins, cardinals, blue jays, chickadees, titmice. But I would see a flash of blue as early as February - a bluebird.

We had tons of birds and hawks, even though we were surrounded by subdivisions. I put bird seed on the north side of the house, which was rapidly devoured, but no bluebirds.  I put an eastern bluebird house on the south side of the house close to my front door, but again no bluebirds.  I knew the bird house needed to have an opening for bluebirds so other birds did not get in and damage their eggs or chicks - starlings are the worst in my opinion. I also found it was best to place a bird house near a softer spot so if they fall out, they are not injured.

Then I spoke with someone at Wild Birds Unlimited and began my education. Bluebirds do not eat seed. They LOVE mealworms which must be kept in the fridge in a dormant state. Also, my bird house needed to be farther from my house and the feeder I put mealworms in every morning had to be a short distance away.  They suggested that I train my bluebirds every day by feeding at the same time and I needed to let them know I was coming. I began to whistle "Shoo Fly" at feeding time. They also need water to drink so I put in a birdbath.  Being busy I feed at about 7 AM, starting in February or March, whistling on the way. The thing is, they are waiting for me along with robins and cardinals. They battle for the worms and on occasion a blue jay joins in the fight.  I was amazed at how aggressive the pretty little bluebirds could be, diving into other birds.

Last year I had two nestings of eggs which is common for bluebirds, spring and late summer.  When it is rainy, stormy, or in the winter, I did not see them as often. (When they are not nesting, these birds roam the countryside in small flocks. *)  Usually in February I will see them first.  Sadly, I just moved from the 10 acres to down size since my children are grown.  I live in a neighborhood but still have trees and lots of open space so soon I will start again. Wild Birds suggested I walk from my 10 acres to new home, which is not too far away, whistling "Shoo Fly," but my new neighbors would think I was crazy. I did try to educate the new owners of the 10 acres about my bluebirds and I hope they care enough to take care of them. It only took me 10 years to figure all this out!"

Bluebirds went through a bad spell in our country.  They were one of the cavity nesting species common across eastern North America before "us" invaded and became US.  Back in the day dead trees stayed up, filled with cavities created by tree decay or woodpeckers, providing secondary cavity nesters like bluebirds (means they cannot create their own cavities) with mass housing.  The European invasion first brought axes and saws clearing land for crops, felling dead trees and creating a housing shortage.

House Sparrow - Wikipedia

Then in the early 1850s "we" settlers imported  house sparrows (HOSP), aka English sparrows as a novelty.  At first they didn't naturalize or thrive but as they were propagated as a fad over 20 years they spread across the country.  In the 1870s the novelty began to wear off, leading to the "sparrow war" of words among ornithologists reaching a peak in 1878.  By then HOSP were spreading across the country like feathered feral hogs.  See Sialis.org HOSP site.

Invasive starlings and HOSP are aggressive birds known to destroy the nests, eggs, and nestlings of other birds, especially bluebirds.  See Mort Shurtz' story.  Ongoing deforestation and other habitat destruction also contributed to the decline of bluebird populations in the early 20th century.  Populations are now increasing due to education and the spread of bluebird boxes.  Invasive HOSP and starlings are fair game for nest destruction as they are not covered by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 that protects all native birds except designated game bird species.

Chickadee nest in box

Our bluebird experiences are somewhat different than in urban areas.  Bluebird houses need frequent inspection to clean out abandoned nests and remove wasp nests.  Frequently we find a welcome nest of a chickadee.  They are identified by the moss they use and by the white speckled eggs.  We enjoy their progress and it is illegal to interfere with their nests.




The first sign of bluebird nesting is the accumulation of grass that is then hollowed out quickly.  After several more days we start to see beautiful blue eggs appear a day or two apart until there are five or rarely six.




Then the brooding by the female begins.  When we inspect the box she will usually flush like a quail with a flapping that startles me every time.  On other occasions she will tenaciously sit on the eggs even when we open the box to inspect.  Those times she will never look at us or acknowledge our presence.



The fun really begins when the chicks first hatch.  Naked and bald except for some fluff on top of their heads that doesn't resemble feathers, they initially aren't disturbed by our presence.  Their eyes are closed tightly and there is no movement at all.  By the next day they are responding to any disturbance with gaping mouths, demanding food.  Watch their demands in this video.

Over the next week the only change will be the gradual covering with feathers.  As their eyes open they don't seem to see us as intruders, rather as another potential source of food.  By now both parents are busy collecting crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and beetles for their young.  I suspect Kathleen's mealworms would be like M&Ms to them but our country birds likely have coarser fare.



Over the years, in addition to regularly clearing out wasp nests out of our boxes we have had several other interesting cavity nesters.  A downy woodpecker once created its own side entrance as a winter haven.  This spring's cleaning of boxes exposed a fulvous harvest mouse that had climbed the steel T-post to install its own nest.






You can learn more about building and maintaining your own boxes on Sialis, and Sialis.org is the go to site for all everything Bluebird including what to do with apparently orphan birds found out of their nest.

Fishing with Bread

When I was a kid, we use to traipse down to the Arkansas River with fishing rods and a box of Wheaties to mix up dough balls for catfish.  We watched others use bread dough balls with less success.  It is possible that there were heron watching and learning from us.

Mort Shurtz shared this video with me, demonstrating another technique of fishing with bread. This green heron is a patient fisherbird, giving a whole new meaning to "cast your bread upon the waters."  It is especially interesting how it retrieves the lure so it won't lose its bait.  We have all seen people feeding fish, ducks and geese with bread crumbs.  Apparently herons have noticed this as well.

This behavior has been reported before.  Green heron are only one of several bird species reported to "use tools."   A chestnut-backed chickadee has been observed using a stick or thorn to pry seeds from suet in a feeder.  The brown-headed nuthatch is known to use pieces of bark to pry off tree bark to reach insects underneath.*  While not exactly a tool, burrowing owls are known to bait an area with animal dung to attract dung beetles, a favored food item. **

While the green heron hasn't yet been observed with an open-faced spinning reel, this method is quite effective and this bird caught one more fish that I did my last time out.

More details on birds use of tools is at Stanford.edu.
*    nationalzoo.si.edu
**  Nature.com

To Feed or not to Feed

Going where the food is - Blackbearinfo.com

After I posted this blog on feeding bears, I started thinking about what causes humans to want to feed wildlife. These acts blend the self-gratifying sense of feeding those in need, (even if they don't need it), with the desire to tame nature or at least bring it in close to us (but only on our own terms). We feed birds on our deck along Bull Creek. Squirrels are tolerated on corn cobs but discouraged on bird feeders. Raccoons express their gratitude by tearing down feeders and leaving seed-filled deposits on the deck.

A good day at the feeder  REK

Even among the bird visitors we impose our own social ranking. There is the normal neighbors, the chickadee, nuthatch, finch, and cardinal. We pause in conversation with friends to point out the arrival of a red-belly woodpecker. A downy woodpecker warrants a second look to be sure we haven't mistaken its cousin, the hairy woodpecker, higher ranked by its infrequent visits. In season there are even orange slices out for an oriole, the equivalent of a visit by royalty. We scare off crows which will devour a suet block in minutes and cowbirds that are a threat to songbirds.

Is feeding animals good or bad? The answer is "it depends." The good is obvious, the bad requires more thought. We know that bringing deer together in close proximity leads to increased risk of hemorrhagic disease and chronic wasting disease. Bird feeders can be a source of spread of avian pox, Aspergillosis and other disease and there are recommendations for preventing them. Feeding bears deliberately or accidentally with garbage or dog food lessens their fear and can produce a dangerous bear at risk of future euthanasia.

Americans spend over $3 billion each year on food for wild birds according to an essay Why do we Feed Wild Animals from the New York Times. It gives a thoughtful analysis of our varied motives as well as exploring the loneliness that leads some people to face fines for defying feeding bans.

Gnarley Beaks

Chickadee- USGS Photo

Avian Keratin Disorder

Mysterious new disorders in wildlife are always worrisome signs of possible pollution or other human impacts on wildlife.  Some like white nose syndrome signal a new infectious disease.  Others like the thinning of egg shells in birds of prey and waterfowl have led to the banning of DDT, an action which may have contributed to the comeback of the bald eagle.

A new troubling finding called Avian Keratin Disorder is cropping up in the Arctic.  There is a rising incidence of beak disorders in Alaska and the Pacific northwest.  Initially noted in a few crows, it is now estimated to occur in 17% of the coastal Alaska crow population.  Now it is found in 6.5 percent of adult black-capped chickadees in Alaska.

"The keratin layer of the beak becomes overgrown, resulting in elongated and often crossed beaks. The deformity showed up in adults birds, most often in the upper beak but sometimes in the lower beak or both.  The abnormality sometimes is accompanied by elongated claws, abnormal skin or variations in feather color." *

Nuthatches and woodpeckers have lately been seen with beak distortions as well.  They all have in common the tendency to live year round in the area, but they have totally different food sources and habitats.  These factors suggest that the disorder is spreading.

The cause is unknown with theories including infection, nutritional deficiencies and pollution as factors.  Similar problems have been associated with environmental pollutants such as organochlorines in the Great Lakes region and selenium from agricultural runoff in California.  There should be more information as awareness of the condition increases.

*This story as reported in the Los Angeles Times.    The study is available in abstract in Auk, a Quarterly Journal of Ornithology.
Lisa Berger provided a 2007 resource that has a much deeper look at the disorder.  Download this pdf   

Wren Housekeeping

Richard Locke posted this Youtube video of a wren feeding its chicks which finishes up with the scene above.  Check it out now as we will repeat the final scene below at length.  Then, if the last 5 seconds offend you, close this window.

As a reformed gastroenterologist this was too good an opportunity to pass up.  As you may have guessed by now, this isn't dinner for a chick but the remains of dinner past.  Many of the feeding trips the parents make end in hauling out the waste, the bird equivalent of changing disposable diapers.  Fortunately these are biodegradable disposables.  The very act of eating can stimulate the gut urge to empty.  This is called the gastrocolic reflex in humans and probably something worse in bird language.  If you are still with us, Audubon describes this more scientifically.

"Perhaps you’ve glimpsed the process before: A nestling turns its rear end to mom or dad and ejects a floppy white bag of poop encased in mucous: a fecal sac. The parent then flies away to dispose of it. Or scarfs it down as a snack.

Fecal sacs, which only nestlings produce, are common among passerines like robins, bluebirds, and other “altricial” birds (species that require around-the-clock parental care at birth).   According to Michael Murphy, a biologist at Portland State University and a fecal-sac expert, only a handful of studies have been done on the subject."

OK, maybe not pure science but you get the idea.  Fecal sacs are encased in mucus.  This requires protein which is a valuable resource.  Journey North  has a lot more detail on the sacs to describe the process.  Once the chicks fledge, they stop wasting protein on making the sac and poop freely anywhere they want.

Richard Louv describe the large numbers of caterpillars a chickadee feeds its young every day.  Imagine how deep a pile of feces would pile up in a nest over several days.  The parents hauling out the diapers serves multiple purposes.  The obvious one is hygiene, reducing the material that support bacteria.  Another unproven theory is that it prevents predators from finding the nest by its odor.

If you are still with us, watch this two minute video condensing fecal sac removal by Richard's wren, a phoebe caring for a parasitic cowbird chick,* and a pileated woodpecker. Sometimes the chick actually backs up to the edge of the nest and lets fly over the side.  Occasionally the parent consumes the sac.

So why do the parents sometimes eat the fecal material?  Baby birds' guts don't start with all the bacteria necessary for complete digestion of the food.  There can be a lot of available calories in poop if you hold your nose and birds can't hold their noses but they can reduce the number of hunting trips needed for their own nutrition.  Once the bacteria in the feces build up the parents stop eating it, apparently "a matter of taste."

* The phoebe and cowbird footage is by Linda Bower, skillfully photographing poop once again.

Winter Birds

"Don't shoot, I'm a bird!"- REK

At lunch today we were talking about which birds win at the battles over our bird feeders.  Aside from the long-tailed not-a-bird that we yell at, there is a pecking order with the red-bellied woodpecker on top and our poor Carolina chickadee usually coming in last.  In between it is harder to tell who wins in beak to beak combat.  Then I saw the latest issue of Cornell Lab eNews with a report from a team of researchers that kept score, describing the ranking of 136 common species' dominance at the feeder.  It turns out that while bigger is better, it doesn't always trump guts and strength.  You can see the scorecard here.

Winter party with a few friends - Bill White, MDC

A companion article describes How Birds Survive the Cold.  Actually the factors sound a lot like a doctor's advice on winter health in a newspaper column. 

1. Eat all the healthy food you can shove in your beak.  In this case especially eat fatty foods like sunflower seeds and suet, just not so much you gain weight. Energy equals heat, especially when you need to shiver.
2. Dress warm.  Fluff up your feathers and when possible tuck your feet in.
3. Hang out with friends.  They will keep an eye out for predators and may know the best local eating places.  And, like the joke about two fishermen and the grizzly bear, you don't have to be faster than the predator, just faster than your friends.
4. Protect yourself from windchill.  Get on the other side of the tree or on the ground in the grass and shrubs.
5. Snuggle in at home out of the cold, even if it is a hole built by a woodpecker.  This downy created a side entrance to a vacant bluebird house and filled it with dead grass.

Egg Season

Black Vulture on eggs

In the spring, a young bird's fancy turns to thoughts of... making babies!  Evidence of this trend abounds along Bull Creek this week.

The most dramatic has been the return of the Black Vulture family.  I first saw them close up in March when I drove within six feet of a pair sitting on the corral fence.  They didn't budge when I stopped, suggesting that they were the ones that became acclimatized to us during their nesting last year in the old barn.

Black Vulture Babies- Day 1

We waited patiently for three weeks, afraid we might scare them away, then looked in the barn on April 1.  Our patience was rewarded by the sight of two large blotchy eggs.  We didn't see them again for a month as one of the parents remained on them full time.  Last year they would flush on our entry, further evidence that they had lost fear of us.

On May 1 the chicks first appeared, cute fuzzy little balls that are sure to elicit a response of "awhhh."  Unlike the bluebird and chickadee babies in bluebird boxes who lay still with their eyes shut for the first few days, vultures are born with their eyes open and their feet moving.   They still aren't a ball of energy yet, their main tricks are limited to turning their head and a little wiggling. 

At the other end of the field, we came across a turkey nest with eight eggs in a elderberry thicket.  We returned two days later to see if there was any activity and Barb crept up on the area to investigate.  (See turkey flush above)  It was like flushing a quail on steroids.  If you think that the flushed turkey was startled, you ought to try being the "flusher."

Turkey Nest

This time there were just 6 eggs in the nest.  Sadly, when we returned today, we could see from a distance that the nest area was trampled down and empty aside from a few small dark feathers.  The good news is that incessant gobbles ring throughout the Bull Creek valley, advertising the opportunities to love and mother again.