These sunning birds are not out for a tan

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 26 August 2010 12:26

Birds are full of surprises. One behavior that invariably fascinates people who witness it is called “sunning.”

Jacquie Littlejohn of Weston recently observed — and photographed — a sunning wren.

“On a very hot day, this little House Wren had just used the birdbath and was drying off in the sun when I spotted the adorable scene,” she said of the accompanying photo.

The bird looks as if it had crashed into a rock formation, and was lying there, stunned. In fact, it had deliberately positioned itself on the rock to obtain the best angle of strong sunlight.

Hummingbird antics and some rare visitors

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 19 August 2010 12:20

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds continue to fascinate readers — no species generates as many comments. Recent columns mentioning hummingbirds have prompted several observations.

Hungry hummingbirds and their mini-feeders

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 05 August 2010 10:53

Last week, we detoured into the world of insects, discussing hummingbird moths. But at our house at least, the bigger story this season has been the hummingbirds themselves.

We have never had so many. At least, that’s what we think, based on consumption of nectar. We can’t really count them — they all look alike — but we do know that we have to fill feeders at least daily in order to keep up with their hunger.

We use small, tube feeders made by Perky-Pet, a company with an odd name that seems to specialize in hummingbird feeders. Perky-Pet probably makes at least a dozen models, but perhaps because this one costs only about $5, it is not widely advertised by retailers. It’s called the “Perky-Pet Planter Box Hummingbird Feeder with Hanging Rod,” model 215P, and comes with a coat hanger-like wire that you can stick into a flower box or pot, from which the feeder can hang.

The ‘bug’ that looks like a bird

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 29 July 2010 15:42

From time to time, I get reports of unusual hummingbirds. Some, I suspect, are not birds at all, but “bugs” — more accurately, moths.

The Hummingbird Clearwing Moth or Common Clearwing (Hemaris thysbe) is among a couple of local species that can trick people into thinking they are hummingbirds. A look at the accompanying photo shows why: It has clear, fast-moving wings and a fat, colorful body like a hummingbird, and it hovers around flowers, just like a hummer. This species even has eyes that look more like those of a bird than an insect.

A robin's work is never done!

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 15 July 2010 10:35

How many families can a female bird raise in a season? That’s the question Diana Gray asks about a robin at her Wilton home that is now on its third nesting this year.

The bird that gives away her children

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 08 July 2010 11:00

The brown bird sits on a branch, watching for another bird carrying grass or twigs, the telltale signs of construction. She’s a Brown-headed Cowbird and she’s looking for a nursery.

Cowbirds are “brood parasites,” laying their eggs in active nests of other bird species in the expectation that the nest-builders will raise the cowbird young. In the process, the eggs or chicks of the nesting species are usually destroyed or starved as the bigger cowbird baby dominates the brood.

The mystery of the hummingbird and the music of the wren

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 01 July 2010 11:18

A golden hummingbird?  Allen Welby of Ridgefield may have the answer to a mystery.

Last week, Kerstin McCauley from Lake Katonah reported an odd hummingbird at her feeder. “The whole bird was a metallic gold (not yellow) with dark flecks.”

Kerstin is experienced with local hummingbirds, so a Snowberry Clearwing Hummingbird Moth, which has a lot of yellow and behaves somewhat like a hummingbird, probably wouldn’t have fooled her.

“There really isn’t a metallic gold hummingbird in North America or Mexico,” Allen writes. “My guess is that it was a common Ruby-throated Hummingbird that had recently fed deeply within a large flower, in the process covering itself with golden flecks of pollen.  Being that they are pollinators, it is common to see hummingbirds with shiny flecks of pollen on their faces and foreheads.  It is probable that this bird just really got a full pollen bath.”

The case of the clinging corpse

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 24 June 2010 12:55

Birds die all the time, but unless they are roadkill, we rarely see the corpses. That’s probably because they die — of disease, old age, weather, whatever — in places that we don’t frequent, like thickets, woods and swamps and are quickly consumed by carrion-eaters of all kinds.

However, in their Weston yard, Ken and Cindy Friedrichsen found a dead bird in a place that was not only unusual, but creepy: The dead bird was clinging to the side of a Shagbark Hickory.

How to beat the attack of the House Wren

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 17 June 2010 11:01

“I was hoping to email you some good news about my bluebirds’ second nesting, but that isn’t going to happen,” writes June Launiere of Weston.

You may recall that June reported recently that a pair of bluebirds successfully raised five offspring after having started a nest in late March in one of her three bluebird boxes.

As the bluebirds were preparing a second brood, a House Wren showed up and began harassing them.

The ‘return’ of the Bobolinks of North Salem

Written by Jack Sanders
Thursday, 10 June 2010 13:23

The Bedford Audubon Society began collaboration last year with landowners in North Salem to delay mowing of their hay fields, where Bobolinks, a threatened grasslands bird species, nest. These fields are said to be the only Bobolink nesting areas remaining in Westchester County

Helle Raheem of Bedford Audubon has offered the following thoughts about “the Return of the Bobolinks.”