The first person to correctly ID this bird will win a 8x10 print of a genuine Adams County Red-Headed Woodpecker. Good Luck!
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The White Breasted Nuthatch is a very common bird and is found throughout the United States and Southern Canada in a variety of deciduous woodland habitats. It is often seen climbing down tree trunks head first foraging, Nuthatches are the only birds that commonly exhibit that behavior. White Breasted Nuthatches produce a loud, distinct ‘’yank, yank’’ call as well as a ‘’er, er call’’. Both calls are easily heard and can pierce through dense woodland vegetation with ease. They do not display sexual dimorphism, with both males and female exhibiting the same white and blue plumage. The black cap on the head, the white underside, and the little blue back are all good identifying marks for the White Breasted Nuthatch. White Breasted Nuthatches are very opportunistic and will feed on a large variety of insects and seeds. They frequently visit backyard bird feeders, and they are often seen feeding on suet feeders. White Breasted Nuthatches are careful when approaching feeders, and they often stop on branches around the feeder to make sure it is safe. The White Breasted Nuthatch is cavity nester often making its nest in dead trees, and will sometimes construct nests in bird boxes. The eggs are white with dark markings, and they are laid in clutches of 3 to 10. After a 12 day incubation period, the eggs hatch, and after two weeks in the nest, the young fledge. The fledglings do not reach breeding age until they are one or two years of age. Nuthatches display a wide variety of behaviors and adaptations, and are very intriguing to observe. Unfortunately, they are so common that they are often overlooked and few people take time to watch how they interact with the natural world. Everyone from the beginning birder to the expert ornithologist should take time to observe and learn about the wonderful White Breasted Nuthatch. The Red Maple is a medium-sized tree ranging from 40-60 feet tall at maturity. It is widely distributed along the East Coast from Florida to Newfoundland earning it the distinction of being the most widely distributed tree on the East Coast. The Red Maple is found from hardiness zone three to zone nine making it one of the most adaptable trees in our forests. The Red Maple is an early successional tree often colonizing areas that have been clear cut or burned over. Its populations have benefited from the openings created in forests from the Chestnut Blight, Gypsy Moth, and Hemlock Wooly Adelgid. The Red Maple prefers full sun and well drained yet moist soil. Red Maple is a good cover tree for many kinds’ birds and other wildlife due to its tendency to grow fast, and thick unlike many other trees. Fellow Birders,
As you well know, our birds face many threats. Some threats are natural, many are not. Birds break their necks on windows, get eaten by house cats, run over by cars, the list could go on forever of human caused deaths. Fortunately, many of these problems can mitigated by individual choices and actions, such as what glass you chose for your house and slowing the car down to allow birds to get out the way while driving. This are all small things that we do on a daily basis to help protect the birds we watch and enjoy. For larger issues such as pipelines, wind turbines, oil spills, birds need more protection. For almost a century, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) has been the larger protection birds needed. The MBTA protects most native species of birds as well as their eggs, feathers, and body parts. It protects birds as common as cardinals to rare birds such as Greater-Sage Grouse or Snail Kites. Up until now, there has been little opposition to the law and most people agree that this is necessary to help protect our bird population from needless decline. Unfortunately, earlier this year Representative Jeff Duncan (R-SC) introduced a bill to remove funding to enforce the treaty essentially making MBTA useless. HR. 2578 states in part: “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to prosecute or hold liable any person or corporation for a violation of section 2(a) of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703(a).” This bill quickly passed the House and has now moved on to the Senate. As birders and conservationists, we must take a stand against this bill. If the bill is not defeated, we could see dangers such as windmills on important migratory routes, unlimited development of our boreal forests, and pipelines through important breeding grounds with no consequences for the violator. I ask you to please contact you senators, urge them to vote against this bill before it is too late. An example letter is set forth below: Dear Senator: Please vote against the appropriations bill for Commerce Justice and Related Agencies unless the rider that blocks enforcement of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (Amdt 347) is removed from the bill. The MBTA is one of our most important wildlife protection laws and this rider would allow people to kill wild birds without any penalty whatsoever. Our wild bird populations are already under severe pressure and many are in severe decline. Please do not block the USFWS from enforcing this important law that protects our wild bird populations. (Letter drafted and made public by the American Birding Association) Thanks and Good Birding, Eli DePaulis Update 8/20/15: Bill was defeated in the Senate and is dead. Every year millions of birds migrate from the tropics to the Northern US and Canada to breed during the short summer season. The plentiful insects allow for their young to grow up quick and strong enough to fly back south with them in fall. The undeniable benefits to migration are clear but to every action there in an equal and opposite reaction. In this case, millions of birds leave the tropics, but many will die on the journey to and from the breeding grounds. Let’s take a brief look at some of the top causes of bird mortality:
* Numbers are based on chart from Sibleysguides.com. Data is from 2003 Back in March, I received a call from a friend’s mother, Mrs. Roberts, who lives in the heart of suburban Camp Hill. The call was about a mystery raptor that was constructing a nest in their neighbor’s backyard. She told me that her initial identification of bird was White-Tail Hawk, but after looking online she realized that the White-Tail Hawk only comes as far north as Texas. She quickly changed her mind. Unfortunately, her second best pick was the Northern Goshawk which is almost as rare. After going through a whole host of birds with her, we still couldn’t identify what she had seen. I decided to go investigate myself.
That afternoon, I arrived at her house armed with a Second Breeding Bird Atlas of Pennsylvania and a Peterson’s field guide determined to find the bird. After having some tea and chatting for a while with her, we set out to hunt this little rascal. Mrs. Roberts first showed me the pine trees that the uncooperative bird frequents and where the nest was located. After a short time, the query landed next to the nest and was unmistakably a Coopers Hawk. At this point, I thought case closed - it’s a Coopers Hawk. What happened next surprised me. Mrs. Roberts explained that there were a few other raptors flying the neighborhood. Almost as soon as she said that, a Sharp-Shin Hawk and Red-Tail Hawk came buzzing by at tree top level. Immediately, she said “I’ve been seeing those too, but I didn’t know if they were the same bird or different birds”. At this point, I was more excited than she and was having trouble containing my excitement. I couldn’t believe that there were three species of raptors in one subdivision, let alone at the same spot in the subdivision. After the airshow, we went back to her house for more tea (you never go without tea), and refreshments. I explained to her why I brought the library of books I did to find just one bird, and talked to her about raptor adaptations and population changes. I also talked to her about some of the migratory patterns of raptors, as well as threats to bird especially raptors. Birds are everywhere. Without our even knowing about it, they inhabit all manners of habitats. With increased development and urbanization, birds are often faced with a choice - adapt or die. It is truly amazing to observe how these birds adapt to humans. So don’t be afraid to bird in more urban settings. You never know what may be waiting just around the corner for you to find. Thanks and Good Birding, Eli DePaulis Two weeks ago, I was leading the bird chat at the Appalachian Audubon Society meeting. There were the usually juncos, cardinals, titmice and other usual suspects as birders call them being reported. Then out of the blue one Auduboner shouted out, ‘’Brown Thrasher!’’ Upon hearing this, the rest of the group let out a big ‘’aww’’ immediately followed by some quiet murmuring among the more experienced birders. As the witness to the sighting testifies in front of the birding ‘’jury”, the jurors either convince the witness he or she is wrong, or the sighting is confirmed and the witness is congratulated. In this case, the evidence stood and the sighting was confirmed.
Unfortunately, the trial did not reveal the reason for this bird’s utter ignorance of traditional migratory patterns. Instead of the Gulf Coast, this hardy bird chose to stick it out in Pennsylvania, where it was a balmy -2 degrees. These are the birds that completely ignored their traditional migratory patterns and instead do what they want. They are called vagrant birds, and Up until recently, we knew little about them and what made them go so far off course (or not). The recent increase in participation in citizen science has helped unveil some of the mystery about bird migration and even found some previously un-known migratory routes. Here are some reasons that birds may become vagrants and some recent vagrants that have been found in our neck of the flyway. Birds are hardy animals that can survive both extreme heat and cold. Temperature doesn’t greatly affect the birds themselves, but temperature does affect insects that many birds depend upon for food during the summer months. When cold weather hits, some birds such as flycatchers and thrushes (like the Brown Thrasher) head south, others like the Chickadee and Cardinal switch to eating seeds and berries during the cold winter months. Still other birds only go as far south as necessary like the Bald Eagle and Eastern Blue Bird. Often times, a few birds will find a stockpile of insects such as an ant mound or wasp’s nest and stay longer on their breeding grounds, hence making them vacate their normal migratory route. One of the newest theories on the why birds vacate their routes is that it is a natural way for the species to expand its range and increase genetic diversity in the flock. If the ‘’sacrificed’’ bird survives, the species expands its range. If not, one or two birds dying is no big loss to the flock. This theory has come about largely since citizen science projects, such as Cornell’s Great Back Yard Bird Count, allow for ornithologists to examine large quantities of data quickly without having to spend hours in the field collecting the data. This new found resource has led to creation of extremely detailed range maps. This large scale data collection has led to scientists discovering that Rufus Hummingbirds come east before heading south for Mexico. One bird that was banded in Alaska, was re-captured in December in Pennsylvania! Storms are another common source for bird vagrancy. Strong winds and poor weather often disorient birds making them turn up in places they shouldn’t be. Bad weather also has another effect on bird migration, fall-out. Fall-out is when there is a large storm off the coast during migration. Birds flying over the ocean at this time become extremely tired from the less than optimal flying conditions. As a result, they land on the first spit of land they can find. This effect is called fall-out because the tired birds seem to just fall-out of the sky. Fall out occurs commonly at places such as Cape May, New Jersey and South Padre Island in Brownville, Texas. You may have been wondering how birders react when they find one of these vagrant birds. Well, usually if a good bird is found, within the first 24 hours the location is up on the internet where birders are looking for reports of rarities. After the tech birders find out about the bird, mobs of them show up at the location within the first 48 hours of it being reported. After the first mob finds the bird, all of their less tech-savvy friends find out about the bird, and they arrive soon after the tech birders. If the bird has not left by the time the more casual bird watchers find out about it and get to its location, a flood of these “weekend” birders will venture out to see the spectacle. This sometimes results in large ‘’bird jams” in the vicinity of the bird’s location. Nature never fails to surprise us, and vagrant birds are no expectation. Go out and look for these amazing animals but remember to respect private land and other birders. Never get too close to the bird and never disturb a nest or nest cavity. If you follow these guidelines, you enjoy chasing birds for many years to come. Thanks and Good Birding, Eli DePaulis As we all know bird identification can be hard, even grueling at times. Here is a little contest to test your ability to identify a blurry photo of this mystery species. The first person with the correct answer will receive a Stokes Beginner’s Guide to Bird Feeding, Good luck!
Feral cats are cats that have no home. They are out on their own with no owners. Some are born wild and are able to survive in the wild. Unfortunately, many others are just dropped off by careless owners without the necessary skills to survive in the wild. Most die within a year from diseases, cars, and the elements. Feral cats cause problems for native wildlife that is unadapt to the cats due to their relatively short existence in North America. Feral cats also pose a threat to people by being carriers of rabies and other diseases. Feral cats are a problem that must be dealt with now before further damage is done. There are 70 million feral cats according to the National Geographic Society. The SPCA says there are tens of millions such cats. Their populations are hard to estimate because feral cats are so elusive, but the general consensus is that there are between 20-100 million of them in the United States alone. Their population is often effected by weather and food accessibility. If someone is feeds them, the population explodes. There are a multitude of problems caused by feral cat, but the worst problem of all is the staggering amount of birds and other wild game consumed by cats. According to the Audubon Society, cats (including domestic cats left outside) kill an estimated 2.4 billion birds every year. They also kill great numbers of rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, voles, mice, and other small mammals. Cats also spread diseases including the deadly rabies virus. On top of all that cats are non-native animals much like the stinkbug or wild boar all of which have cause unrepair able damage to both the economy and the environment. There are many ways to deal with feral cat infestations, one of the best being to stop feeding them. Other options included trapping them and adopting them out to people after a visit to the vets’ office, and trapping, neutering, and releasing or TNR for short. Unfortunately, both of those methods are short term, expensive and don’t put a permanent dent in the population of feral cats. Neither do they stop the slaughter of birds and other small animals. I suggest that we have a discussion on the feral cat population and develop a plan that will stop the killing of birdlife by cats and not upset animal rights groups such as Alley Cat Allies and the SPCA. Whatever the plan will be, we must put an end to this feral cat epidemic before more damage is done. Thanks and Good Birding, Eli DePaulis |
AuthorEli DePaulis is a birder from York Springs. He has won numerous awards for his wildlife photography. He has taken part in projects such as E-bird and The Christmas Bird Count. He is also an active member of the PA Wildlife Leadership Academy. Archives
January 2017
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