Monthly Archives: March 2022

Turkeys strutting their stuff as spring begins to take hold

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Photo by Robert Pos/USFWS • A tom turkey displays to a hen in a ritual meant to attract the female turkey as a potential mate. Winter’s flocks will break up as the nesting season progresses. Raising young is a solitary affair for a hen turkey.

In my experience, rainy days always seem to bring out wild turkeys. 

I saw five of these large wild fowl in the fields adjacent to Bell Cemetery in Limestone Cove on my drive to work on the morning of March 16. I posted my sighting on Facebook and got some responses from friends who have had their own recent encounters with turkeys.

Erwin resident Michael Briggs posted that on another recent rainy day he counted 17 turkeys in his yard. 

Kaylynn Sanford Wilster, a resident of Piney Flats, posted photos of a large flock of wild turkeys roaming her yard. 

Few birds have featured so prominently in the history of the United States as the wild turkey. Thanks to the federal government eventually moving to protect the wild turkey population, this bird today is quite common across the nation. Fields bordering woodlands are a great place to observe wild turkeys strutting their stuff, especially during the autumn and winter seasons when turkeys form large flocks, which are also known as “rafters.” Watching a male turkey, or tom, fan his impressive tail feathers to get the attention of hens or intimidate other male rivals offers a peek into the thinking some of the nation’s founders held regarding the wild turkey.

While turkeys are often associated with early winter and the Thanksgiving holiday, they are actually rather active in the springtime. The large flocks are still holding together, albeit loosely, as male turkeys, known as toms, strut and fan their impressive tail feathers in an attempt to make an impression on as many hens as possible. 

Once this business of attraction is settled with successful matings, the tom turkey will go his own way and leave the hard work of incubating eggs and caring for young entirely to the hen. 

The Tennessee Watchable Wildlife website puts it like this: “The male wild turkey provides no parental care. The female alone incubates the eggs. The young follow her immediately after hatching and quickly learn to catch food for themselves. Several females and their broods may form flocks of 30 or more birds.”

The website also points out that the wild turkey is the largest nesting bird found within the Volunteer State. Males can tip the scales at a little over 16 pounds while the average female weighs slightly more than nine pounds. 

According to Watchable Wildlife, males begin competing to attracts females in late winter and early spring. The tom’s efforts feature both an audio and visual component. The male turkey produces his trademark “gobble” to attract any listening hens. When the female appears, he puffs up his body feathers and struts around her with his tail spread and wingtips dragging on the ground.

Tom turkey also compete with each other. The dominant males will mate with several females in one season, but the hen alone is left to usher a new generation of turkeys into the world.

The Watchable Wildlife site reveals that a turkey’s nest is a simple affair, usually fashioned inside a slight depression in the ground that is lined with dead leaves or grass, usually placed at the base of a tree or bush and concealed in thick vegetation.

The hen will lay from seven to 14 eggs, which she will then spend about 28 days incubating. 

According to Tennessee Watchable Wildlife, the young depart the nest shortly after hatching and follow the female. She will take them to favorable spots to forage for food. Young turkeys, known as poults, begin to fly at six to 10 days old. Male young remain with the female until the fall; female young remain with the female until the spring.

It’s always fun to follow the progress of a hen and her brood throughout the spring and summer. Fortunately, wild turkeys are fairly common these days, but that hasn’t always been the case. 

Although an important food source for early settlers and Native Americans, the wild turkey was subjected to extensive over-hunting. The population crashed, and by the beginning of the 1900s was on the verge of extermination in many areas of the country.

Reintroduction efforts by various government game agencies helped the wild turkey recover. Today, the wild turkey is found in every county in the state of Tennessee. The wild turkey population has also recovered nationwide. 

To share your own sighting, make a comment or ask a question, please email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com. 

Members of blackbird clan known for early spring arrivals

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Photo by Shauna Fletcher/Pixabay • A male red-winged blackbird produces his “kon-ke-ree”song and flashes his red wing patches to claim territory and attract mates.

I’ve long come to associate red-winged blackbirds with early spring. Most years, I get a friendly reminder in February that spring’s on its way when a vanguard of of red-winged blackbirds return in impressive numbers every March.

This year, my first returning male red-winged blackbird arrived on the evening of March 3. The early spring arrival perched atop one of the tall cypresses by the fish pond and sang is heart out. He’s been singing every day since his arrival, but I’ve not yet noticed any female red-winged blackbirds. It’s been my experience that the females lag a week or so behind the males in returning to their familiar territory.

The blackbirds arriving in spring behave much differently than the quiet, furtive ones that often make brief visits to feeders during late winter snowstorms.

The showy and loud red-winged blackbird male that’s once again taken up residence at my fish pond and adjacent stands of cattails has made himself right at home

“The kon-ke-ree song of the male red-winged blackbird is a sure indication that spring is on the way,” according to a profile located at the Tennessee Watchable Wildlife website.

At this time of year, the male red-winged blackbirds seek elevated perches to display and vocalize. Their loud antics are not designed solely to attract mates. Male red-winged blackbirds also sing to warn rival males from intruding into their territories.

The male red-winged blackbirds is a very aptly named bird. Glossy black males sport red wing patches that are often trimmed with a narrow band of yellow feathers. By contrast, female red-winged blackbirds are mostly brown birds that could easily be mistaken for large sparrows. Both sexes have sharply pointed bills.

Red-winged blackbirds are fond of wetlands. Any marsh or even a damp field or flooded pasture is likely to attract a few resident red-winged blackbirds. Females choose nesting locations in cattails or other marsh vegetation. She usually lays three or four eggs. Although she does receive some help from the male, most of the responsibility for raising the young is left to her.

There is a reason that male red-winged blackbirds are not always quite as engaged in feeding and tending their young. Male red-winged blackbirds are often polygynous, which means that males will often court multiple mates. His time is often occupied defending females and their respective nests from the advances of other male red-winged blackbirds.

Other relatives of the red-winged blackbird in the United States include the tricolored blackbird found along the Pacific Coast and the yellow-headed blackbird resident in wetlands west of the Great Lakes. Rusty blackbird, common grackle and brown-headed cowbird are other species of blackbirds found in Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina.

Photo by Pixabay • A common grackle perches on a shepherd’s hook while approaching a feeder.

The common grackles have also returned. I’ve been noticing grackles on lawns through downtown Erwin on some of my recent walks. Like American robins, grackles form loose flocks that spread out and forage on lawns and in gardens.

The grackle, as well as the red-winged blackbird, belong to the family known as Icteridae, also known as New World blackbirds. This rather large family of birds consists of such groups as blackbirds, New World orioles, bobolink, meadowlarks, grackles, cowbirds, oropendolas and caciques.

Old World blackbirds are actually thrushes while Old World orioles are not closely related to the orioles of the New World.

The human clearance of land for farming and residences has helped the common grackle spread far and wide. Grackles can become threats to crops and large flocks of these birds can certainly overwhelm the average backyard feeder. The grackle is an opportunistic bird and can learn to adjust its behavior to take advantage of a source of easy food. For example, grackles have learned to frequent outdoor areas where humans dine and inevitably drop food. Grackles will also eat almost anything they can swallow, including insects, small fish, amphibians, small rodents and the eggs of other birds, as well as berries, seeds and grains.

Grackles only make brief visits to my home during migration, but the red-winged blackbirds that arrive in early spring will stick around to nest, usually not departing until late summer. To reduce competition with other songbirds, consider scattering seed on the ground for grackles, which actually prefer foraging at ground level. Providing for them in this way may spare the users of platform and hanging feeders, which can include such smaller birds as chickadees, wrens and sparrows.

The larger the songbird, the longer lifespan they usually enjoy. Still, the longevity record for a wild grackle strikes me as quite exceptional. According to the website All About Birds, the oldest recorded common grackle was a male that lived to be at least 23 years old. He might have lived longer, but he was killed by a raptor in Minnesota.

Other birds will be returning this month, so keep an eye out for them. Some of the species I expect in March include brown thrasher and blue-gray gnatcatcher.

To share a sighting, ask a question or make a comment, email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

 

Eager American robins arrive each spring ready for nesting

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Photo by Peter Pearsall/ USFWS • An American robin at Cape Mears NWR perches on a sign. Robins have long been a beloved sign of spring’s return in North America.

I don’t think I’m alone in doing what I can to speed along the process of spring’s arrival. The arrival of flocks of American robins has long been a dependable signal coinciding with the shifting of the winter season into spring. This year, the robins appeared almost overnight. One day, I didn’t notice any robins; on the next, they were everywhere I looked.

The American robin is known by the scientific name Turdus migratorius, which can be translated as “migratory thrush.” Indeed, this well-known American bird is related to other thrushes, including the Eastern bluebird, wood thrush and veery. The relationship to other thrushes is quite visible in young birds, which display a spotted breast until they mature and acquire the familiar red breast associated with robins.

One of the first things robins do after returning each spring is switch their diet. Instead of focusing heavily on fruit, robins will hunt for invertebrate prey items, including insects and earthworms once warming temperatures make these creatures widely available for the hungry birds. Forming large flocks as they migrate, dozens of these restless birds can descend on a lawn. Hopping through the short grass, these sharp-eyed birds can spy the slightest movement from an insect, grub or worm concealed in the grass. They forage efficiently and diligently.

The website, Journey North, focuses on tracking the migration of various species of wildlife, relying on the contributions of “citizen scientists” to help with its mission of conservation and protections of migratory species.

The website also offers some interesting facts about American robins. According to Journey North, robins are bursting to sing once they return each spring.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • American robin sitting on its nest in the shelter of a side of a bridge spanning the Doe River in Elizabethton, Tennessee.

“Robins sing when they arrive on their breeding territories. Sometimes robins even sing in winter flocks, due to surging hormones as the breeding season approaches,” the website states. “However, in the majority of cases, robins really do wait to sing until they have reached their territory.”

Once robins start singing each spring, it’s also the time when the large flocks break up. When male robins sing, it is to proclaim and protect territories, so the attractiveness of a flock is different for a robin depending on whether the season is winter or spring.

The poet Emily Dickinson made note of this penchant for song that robins express with such enthusiasm upon their return each spring in her poem “The Robin,” writing these lines:

“The robin is the one

That interrupts the morn

With hurried, few, express reports

When March is scarcely on.”

Even in Dickinson’s time, the month of March was associated with the return of the American robins to towns, yards and gardens across New England and the rest of the United States.

There are 82 other species in the genus, which ranges not only in the Americas, but Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, as well. Some of the American robin’s fellow genus members include the olive thrush, the bare-eyed thrush, pale thrush, great thrush, black-billed thrush and cocoa thrush.

When the first European settlers arrived in North America, the robin was still a bird living in the forests. Robins proved incredibly capable of adapting to the presence of humans. Soon enough, these once shy forest birds began to frequent lawns and city parks. The robin soon became one of America’s most popular songbirds. Three states — Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin — have conferred official state bird status on the American robin.

Robins begin nesting almost as soon as they return each spring. Nesting success in a previous season instills fidelity to the location where the birds nested, resulting in many robins returning to the same nesting area year after year.

According to the Tennessee Watchable Wildlife website, American robins usually raise two broods of young during their nesting season in the Volunteer State. Many start nesting in late winter, but peak egg laying is in mid-April. The spring months are also when robin pairs will be kept busy finding enough earthworms and insects to feed a nest filled with three to five hungry young.

Although some robins invariably spent the entire winter season in the region, it is still a welcome sight to see migrating flocks of these birds return every February and early March. The sudden resurgence of the American robin each spring is a reminder that another winter will soon be history. I know I’m always pleased to welcome them back.

Bluebirds welcome spring by searching for nesting locations

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Photo by  NatureLady/Pixabay • A male Eastern bluebird perches atop a nest box. The region’s bluebirds are already actively seeking nesting locations as winter changes into spring.

I began hearing the pleasant warbling of Eastern bluebirds back in January on sunny but frosty mornings. Their presence has only grown in February and now as we turn the calendar to March.

The bluebirds know that spring is close, which I hope is a good sign. The presence of a pair of these beautiful and trusting birds is always sure to put people in a good mood. Is it any wonder that bluebirds are widely considered harbingers of happiness?

Perhaps the poet Emily Dickinson summarized it best with these lines from her aptly named poem, “The Bluebird.”

“Before you thought of spring,

Except as a surmise,

You see, God bless his suddenness,

A fellow in the skies

Of independent hues,

A little weather-worn,

Inspiriting habiliments

Of indigo and brown.”

Other great American poets, including Robert Frost, have also waxed poetic about bluebirds. Before poets wrote their poems, many Native American tribes, including the Navajo and Cochiti, paid special reverence to bluebirds. Russian folklore and Chinese mythology also offer interesting tales about “blue birds,” but those are not species closely related to any of North America’s three species of native bluebirds.

People have known for generations that bluebirds make good neighbors. A pair of bluebirds in your yard or garden provides hour upon hour of free entertainment as one watches these birds go about their daily routine. At this time of the year, much of that routine is focused on finding and claiming the best possible nesting location for the upcoming spring season.

The Eastern bluebird is one of North America’s best-known cavity-nesting birds. About 85 species of North American birds use cavities in trees for nesting purposes. Cavity-nesting birds include ducks, such as buffleheads and wood ducks, as well as birds of prey such as Eastern screech-owls and American kestrels.

Woodpeckers and nuthatches can excavate their own cavity in a dead or decaying tree. Others, such as the bluebirds, must find a cavity already in existence. Such cavities are scarce real estate and can be subject to some intense competition. The Eastern bluebird is at a disadvantage when forced to compete with non-native introduced birds such as aggressive European starlings and house sparrows. Even native competitors such as house wrens and tree swallows are serious rivals when it comes down to staking a claim to prime nesting real estate.

Over the years, I have found bluebirds nesting in cavities inside wooden fence posts, but there are fewer wooden fence posts every year. This reinforces the idea of how changing landscapes have affected these birds. Instead of wooden fence posts, many farmers now use metal ones, and dead or dying trees — a much sought-after resource for cavity-nesting birds — are often removed from woodlands.

Fortunately for bluebirds, this species will also accept lodging in a nest box, or birdhouse, provided for them by human landlords. One of the simplest ways to bring bluebirds close is to offer wooden boxes, constructed to their specific requirements, for their use as nesting locations.

Because of their trusting nature when it comes to their human neighbors, the Eastern bluebird is one of our most beloved birds. In fact, bluebirds are such popular birds that interest in them and their well-being has inspired the foundation of organizations such as the North American Bluebird Society. The Eastern bluebird has also been designated the official state bird for New York and Missouri, which provides more testimony to the immense popularity of this bird.

So, where exactly did the phrase “bluebird of happiness” originate? As it turns out, the phrase became popularized with the American public thanks to a musical and a pop song. Maurice Maeterlinck in 1908 published a symbolist stage play named “The Blue Bird.” Translated into English by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, it played on Broadway from 1910. The play was eventually adapted into a children’s novel, an opera and at least seven films between 1910 and 2002.

In 1934, the endurance of the phrase received reinforcement, thanks to the popular American song, “Bluebird of Happiness,” which was written by Sandor Harmati and Edward Heyman. The song was recorded several times by American tenor Jan Peerce, as well as by Art Mooney and His Orchestra.

Our Eastern bluebird has some counterparts in other parts of the nation. The Western bluebird and the mountain bluebird are both Western species. I got a chance to see mountain bluebirds during trips to Salt Lake City in Utah in 2004 and 2006. These uniformly “blue” bluebirds lack the red breast plumage of the other two species.

To share a sighting, ask a question or make a comment, email ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A female Eastern Bluebird gathers pine needles to use as nesting material.