Some creatures are thieves, others hang with cops

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 27 August 2009 10:09

Bird feeders are subject to thievery. Most cases involve seed theft, but Madeleine Wilken of Wilton witnessed another kind.

“For the past few days, I have been seeing a Downy Woodpecker on my hummingbird feeder, apparently drinking from it. Thinking perhaps it was feeding on ants in the feeder, I checked, but my ant trap is working fine — no ants.

“Now I’m worried about my downy with the sweet tooth! Can this possibly be an OK part of its diet? The goldfinches are all over the agastache seed heads at this time of year, and the hummingbirds are about, but I’ve got to admit I’ve never seen a woodpecker sipping nectar before. Seems like a weird concept.”

Wren arrival and dinner: What does it mean?

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 20 August 2009 09:58

Birds come and go in summer, as Roland Waters of Ridgefield has discovered. However, a wren meal prompted a question.

“I just went out to feed the birds and I heard what sounded like a wren,” Roland writes. “I have a couple pair of Carolina Wrens and although I don’t keep real notes, it seems to me they show up in fall and leave in spring or late spring, as they did this year. I never see them during the summer. But sure enough, there was a Carolina Wren and 50 feet down the hill there seemed to be several others. Thinking they were maybe off track, not ‘mine,’ I also wondered if the timing of their return is a sign of early winter.

The ‘branchers’ and their strange sounds

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 13 August 2009 13:44

One of the more colorful birding terms is “branchers,” used to describe young owls or “owlets.” They are old enough to leave the nest, but not experienced enough to fly very far, if at all. Therefore, they spend a week or so, hopping from branch to branch in their nesting tree, as if anxious to get away from home. Then, as their wings develop, branchers flutter short distances for another week or two.

Madeleine Wilken of Wilton recently watched some branchers in her yard.

Cruising the Norwalk Islands for birds with Larry Flynn

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 06 August 2009 10:44

A century ago, many species of now-common birds along our Long Island Sound coastline were near extinction, victims of fashion’s quest for showy feathers, Larry Flynn told two dozen people Saturday morning.

A master wildlife conservationist with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, Larry leads tours of the Norwalk Islands aboard the Norwalk Seaport Association’s 42-foot ferry, G.W. Tyler.

A Bedford band captures birds for science

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 30 July 2009 09:49

On a recent morning, a group wandered through dense vegetation and muddy terrain at Bedford Audubon Society’s Hunt-Parker Sanctuary in North Salem, N.Y. Helle Raheem of Bedford Audubon has provided this interesting account of what they were doing.

* * *

A loud twittering penetrates the otherwise serene forest, and someone shouts, “Watch out for the net!” Up ahead an almost invisible mist net — the basic tool of the bird banding trade — spans the path.

Many kinds of birds have two or more broods a season

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 23 July 2009 10:30

“Do phoebes raise more than one brood a season?” asks Flo Vannoni of Redding.

“A pair of phoebes nested over our sliding door and succeeded in fledging three babies,” she writes. “The babies left the nest about one week ago and since then, we had not seen parents or babies. Today one of the parents returned to where the nest had been — I had removed it. Is it possible they would start another nest?”

How do bright red male cardinals survive?

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 16 July 2009 13:58

A male cardinal is the most common, North American “animal” of size that is virtually all red, a color used by few wildlife species hereabouts. We have a few small red beetles and salamanders plus several birds, like tanagers, that mix bright red with other others, but what else is almost all red?

Ornithologists say male cardinals have probably evolved their bright, distinctive color to attract female cardinals. However, how do they survive so well in the wild with such a rare, flashy outfit that, even among the fully leaved trees of summer, seems to stand out like a sore thumb?

A place for a hummer to bask, shower and stretch

Written by Jack Sanders
Friday, 10 July 2009 11:37

“When you think of hummingbirds, you think of perpetual motion, but not so for the little guys that visit us daily,” reports Joan Cullman of West Redding.

Plentiful Osprey, but where are the hummingbirds?

Written by Jack Sanders
Wednesday, 01 July 2009 11:54

David W. Park of Norwalk has done quite a study of the Osprey population in Norwalk and offers his thoughts on these magnificent birds.

“Currently there are ten Osprey nests in Norwalk,” David writes. “This is a large number compared to a few years ago and more than our neighboring coastal towns. 

“Osprey fly to South America each winter and return in late March to nest. Ten years ago, Norwalk had only one nest and Westport had one nest at Sherwood Mill Pond. Since then, new nests appear each year. Scientists have attributed the decline in Osprey population to the use of the pesticide DDT, banned in the early 1970s. The chemical found its way into the food chain resulting in thin osprey egg shells, which failed to hatch.

The goldfinch crash and woodpecker attack

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 25 June 2009 09:49

Barbara McMahon of South Salem noticed last week’s column on birds flying into windows, and knows first-hand what can happen.

The same week, “a goldfinch crashed into the slider and was knocked flat on its back,” Barbara said. “It didn’t move for a very long time, and we despaired that it was fatally injured.

“Finally it began very feeble moves and after over an hour, righted itself. My husband, Rich, placed an open umbrella over it to protect it from the sun and we took turns keeping predators away.