Grosbeaks, bluebirds focus of questions from readers arising from spring sightings

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I’m hearing from readers on a range of subjects relating to birds. Although I am still hearing from readers about their hummingbirds returning after a lengthy absence, other readers have contacted me about other birds, ranging from rose-breasted grosbeaks to “blue” birds of differing varieties.

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Photo by Rebecca Boyd • A male rose-breasted grosbeak shells sunflower seeds with his large, heavy beak. Rose-breasted grosbeaks, especially the more colorful males, never fail to impress observers.

These shared observations reinforce my theory on birds. They have wings, and they know how to use them. There’s nothing to stop an unexpected bird from making a migration layover in your yard. Keep your eyes open, especially during the remaining weeks of May. A surprise could be winging its way toward you!
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Constance Tate, who lives in Bristol, Tennessee, sent me a Facebook message on April 24. “I just saw a rose-breasted grosbeak at my feeder,” she wrote. “I had to look it up as this is the first one I have ever seen. Are they uncommon in our area?”
Rebecca Boyd of Knoxville, Tennessee, emailed me, also on the subject of rose-breasted grosbeaks.
Rebecca said at least two pairs made frequent visits to her feeder last month, but the visits stopped abruptly on Sunday, April 30.
“Should I assume they have moved on already to cooler areas north of here?” Rebecca asked.
In my response, I congratulated Constance and Rebecca on seeing this stunning bird. The rose-breasted grosbeak is one of our many neotropical migrants, which are birds that winter in the American tropics but migrate to North America for the summer nesting season.
These grosbeaks are not exactly uncommon. However, they usually just migrate through the area for a few weeks in spring and fall, limiting the window of opportunity for seeing them. It’s possible to find rose-breasted grosbeaks nesting on some of our higher mountains during the summer season.
Rebecca took photos of her visiting grosbeaks. In addition, she shared with me that the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency’s Watchable Wildlife web page is featuring some of her bird photos this month.
View the gallery by visiting tnwatchablewildlife.org/gallery.cfm. Among the photos by Rebecca on the page are some beautiful photos of American goldfinches.
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Anne and Ben Cowan contacted me to share an observation of a close relative of the rose-breasted grosbeak.
“My husband and I live about three-fourths of a mile from Tennessee High School in Bristol,” Anne wrote. “On April 30 we had the most amazing bird sighting.”
Anne described herself and her husband as avid birdwatchers and bicyclists.
They had been hoping to see a hummer at their feeder (none had shown up as of the date she wrote to me) when they saw a “blue” bird fly into an oak tree near their driveway.

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Early naturalist and artist John James Audubon painted this family of blue grosbeaks.

“It seemed too large to be an indigo bunting and clearly wasn’t a bluebird, so out came the binoculars and there it was, a blue grosbeak,” she wrote. “What a gorgeous bird!”
They looked it up in their trusty bird book, where they found images of the blue grosbeak in all his splendor. The bird also had all the necessary field marks, including the large grosbeak beak, rusty coloration in the wing bars, and a patch of black feathers between the eye and beak.
“It was a definite,” she said of their identification. “His range is not far off here, but it was definitely a rare one for us. We have never seen one.”
The Cowans also informed me they finally saw their first spring hummingbird on a cold, rainy Saturday, May 5.
I wrote the Cowans back, congratulating them on their sightings.  In all the years I have been watching birds, only a single blue grosbeak has visited my feeders, so I know what an unexpected treat a visit from one of these birds can be.
Blue grosbeaks are somewhat uncommon, so it’s definitely a sighting the Cowans can cherish.
This grosbeak is a bird of fields featuring lots of shrubs and small trees. Although fairly widespread, this bird isn’t considered abundant anywhere in its range. The bird is another neotropical migrant and will stop at feeders or birth baths to refuel or rehydrate during their seasonal migration journeys.
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Rhonda Eller of Chilhowie, Virginia, contacted me on Facebook with a question about bluebirds.
“Have you ever heard of changing a bluebird’s nest after the eggs hatch?” Rhonda asked. “We have five baby bluebirds and someone told us maggots get in the nest after the eggs hatch and will eat the babies if you don’t alter the nest.”
In my response, I told Rhonda that I have always made a habit of cleaning out nest boxes after bluebirds are finished nesting. Their nests are so smashed down and dirty after a nesting, it just makes sense to clean out the old nest.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • As a rule of thumb, clean out a nest box after bluebirds or other cavity-nesting birds have fledged their young.

I heard back from Rhonda, who had good news. The first nesting attempt by her bluebirds proved a success and five young bluebirds left the nest box in early May.
“We will be cleaning out that nest and hoping for another brood,” she added.
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A few more readers have also shared their first-of-season hummingbird sightings.
Susan Gossett sent me details about her parents and their hummingbird sighting in a Facebook message. “My parents, Harold and Elizabeth Willis, just read your article today in The McDowell News and they saw their first hummingbird April 12 around 5 p.m. They live at 80 Willis Drive in Marion, N.C.”
Guy Davies shared information about his father’s first spring hummingbird sighting. “My father Is Richard “Bud” Davies, Retired 1st Sgt., U.S. Army,” Guy wrote in his message. “He saw his first hummingbird April 14 at 7:10 p.m. at his home in Bluff City, Tennessee. They’re back!”
David and Judy Brown live in Damascus, Virginia. They saw their first spring hummingbird back on April 18 at 11 a.m. at their home they informed me in a Facebook message.
Dee Sims also contacted me by Facebook. “I saw my first hummingbird April 20,” she wrote. “live in Belfast, Virginia, which is between Lebanon and Richlands.”
Jane Arnold sent me an email to let me know her mom, Betty Poole, saw her first spring hummer at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 23. Betty lives on Lincoln Road in Bristol, Virginia.
As for Jane, who lives on Hearst Road in Bristol, Virginia, she’s still waiting for the hummers to arrive, although she has had a feeder waiting for them since April 1.
Wilma Sexton messaged me on Facebook in regards to my article in the McDowell newspaper about sightings on hummingbirds. “I had just finished your article and I had already put out a fresh hummingbird feeder the weekend before,” she said. “My husband and I really enjoy watching and waiting for them to return. We saw our first one April 26.”
Wilma and her husband live in Union Mills, N.C.
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To learn more about birds and other topics from the natural world, friend Stevens on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ahoodedwarbler. He is always posting about local birds, wildlife, flowers, insects and much more.

 

Egg laying has proven reliable for world’s birds

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Which came first? The bird or the egg?

That long-running philosophical mystery hasn’t been solved, but it does clearly focus on one thing that makes birds unique: All birds lay eggs in order to reproduce; no birds give live birth to their young. On the other hand, all but a handful of mammals do give live birth to their young. These exceptions are the duck-billed platypus and the echidna (a species of spiny anteater) that are definitely odd-ball mammals in that they lay eggs.

Still, it’s birds that are such dedicated egg layers. From the largest to the smallest, all birds start out life by hatching from eggs.

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Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife • Eggs of a yellow warbler snug in the nest.

The world’s largest bird, the ostrich, produces the largest egg of all birds. Each egg weighs a little more than three pounds. An ostrich hen can lay about 20 eggs, but several hens may share a communal nest. Ostrich eggs require an incubation period of about 40 days. The ostrich is native to Africa, but domestication has spread this bird around the globe. The emu, the second-largest bird on the planet, needs about 56 days to incubate eggs. Native to Australia, the emu can produce an egg that weighs 1.4 pounds.

On the other end of the scale, the world’s smallest bird — the bee hummingbird of Cuba — lays only two eggs. The female will incubate her pair of eggs for about three weeks before they hatch. All hummingbirds lay two eggs. Female hummingbirds bear all the responsibility for raising young, including building the nest, incubating the eggs and feeding hungry young. Without assistance from the male, it simply isn’t possible for a female hummingbird to feed herself and any more than two young.

Here are some other examples of common birds in regards to their eggs.

The American robin lays three to five eggs. The female robin does most of the incubating of the eggs, which will take about 12 to 14 days. A female robin, along with many other songbirds, develops a brood patch that helps her keep eggs warm during the incubation process. The patch consists of a section of bare skin that transfers thermal heat from the female’s body to keep the eggs warm.

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Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife • Female hooded warbler sits on her nest.

A mallard hen needs almost a month to incubate her clutch of eight to 13 eggs. Mallards do not develop a brood patch, but a hen will pull feathers from her own breast so her skin makes contact with her eggs and keeps them warm. The feathers and down pulled from her breast are not wasted. She will use them to line the nest and to help insulate the eggs. Although she does not lay all her eggs on the same day, incubation is such that all the eggs hatch at the same time — usually about 28 days after the mallard hen lays the last egg.

Female Northern cardinals lay three or four eggs in a single clutch. She will incubate her eggs for only 12 to 13 days. Occasionally her mate will help with the incubation duties.

For a tiny bird, the house wren is known for producing large families. Female house wrens lay as many as 10 eggs and incubate the eggs from nine to 16 days. The house wren nests in some odds nooks and crannies, including discarded cans and buckets, cavities created by woodpeckers and nest boxes provided by humans.

Female tree swallows lay four to seven eggs, which are incubated for 14 days. Female Eastern bluebirds lay four to seven eggs, which usually hatch after an incubation period of 13 to 16 days. Cavity-nesting tree swallows and bluebirds are both common users of nest boxes.

A wild turkey hen lays about 10 to 14 eggs in a nest formed by a depression in the dirt that is hidden by thick vegetation. The eggs are incubated for about 28 days, all hatching at the same time so the precocial young can leave the nest 12 to 24 hours after hatching. A turkey egg can weigh 3.5 ounces. By comparison, a jumbo chicken egg usually weighs 2.5 ounces.

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Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife • Least tern sits on her nest.

Gender roles are somewhat fluid for some shorebirds. The female red-necked phalarope — a species of shorebird — lays her four eggs and her duties are done. With phalaropes, it’s the male that incubates the eggs and raises the young. The eggs usually hatch 18 to 23 days after the laying of the third egg in the clutch. The male will tend to his offspring for another 20 days after the brood departs the nest.

The female mute swan waits for the male to begin building their nest before she commits herself. Then, working together, they finish the nest, sometimes taking ten days or longer to finish the job. At that point, the female lays two to five eggs, which will require an incubation period of 35 to 41 days.

Male and female pileated woodpeckers share many nesting duties, including excavating a nesting cavity in a tree, feeding the young and incubating the three to five eggs laid by the female. The eggs usually hatch in about 15 to 16 days.

Great blue herons are communal nesting birds, which means several pairs will build nests in a common vicinity. The female lays two to six eggs and incubates them for 27 to 29 days. The young herons spend a considerable amount of time in the nest. Depending on the number of young, herons may not depart the nest for 49 to 80 days after hatching.

A female red-tailed hawks typically lays two to three eggs, although a single egg or as many as five are possible. After an incubation period of 28 to 35 days, the parents must still feed and protect the young in the nest for another six to seven weeks. After young hawks leave the nest, they still rely on their parents to show them the ropes for a few additional weeks.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • Four eggs contained in a killdeer’s nest.

A female great horned owl lays one to four eggs in a nest, which is often renovated from a nest previously built and occupied by red-tailed hawks. After incubating the eggs for 30 to 37 days, she and her mate will care for the young in the nest for another 42 days.

Bird eggs are fragile, so it’s an advantage to hatch eggs as quickly as possible. Various animals also love to make a meal of bird eggs. In general, the larger the bird the more time they can afford for their eggs to hatch. Most small songbirds have eggs that hatch quickly, often in less than two weeks.

Spring is definitely the season of the egg. Eastern bluebirds and tree swallows are nesting at my home. I suspect that American robins, Northern cardinals, song sparrows and Eastern towhees are also on nests hidden in shrubs and trees. I’m hopeful the nesting season’s successful for all of them.

The next time you see your favorite bird, just remember that it all began with a single, delicate egg that hatched into a feathered miracle.

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To learn more about birds and other topics from the natural world, friend Stevens on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ahoodedwarbler. He is always posting about local birds, wildlife, flowers, insects and much more. If you have a question, wish to make a comment or share a sighting, email ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

BLUE JAY

Early American naturalist and artist John James Audubon depicted blue jays raiding the nests of other birds to consume eggs in his painting of the species.

Readers share more hummingbird sightings, including some featuring dramatic twists

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Ruby-throated

Photo by Bill Buchanan/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service • Hummingbirds visit flowers for nectar, but they will also visit feeders filled with sugar water. The recommended ratio for the sugar water mixture is four parts water to one part sugar. Because of possible health hazards to these tiny birds, do not add red dyes or other artificial coloring to the mixture.

 

Readers are still sharing hummingbird arrival stories, and a few of those stories boasted some extra drama. For instance, one of these tiny birds arrived with such gusto that it soon ran afoul of a screen door. No need to worry, though. The story has a happy ending, as do all of these tales of fascination with the most tiny feathered visitor to our yards and gardens.
Read on and enjoy a tale about the love of nature and hummingbirds shared by a daughter and her 88-year-old mother. Another story highlights the hummer that provided a welcome home greeting for a couple returning home after a recent trip.
Perhaps Janet James said it best when telling how she felt after seeing her first hummingbird this spring. “Happy! Happy!” Janet wrote in an email.
I think that’s the secret of the appeal of these tiny birds. They spread happiness as they zip through our lives on their swiftly beating wings. As one reader discovered, just a quick glimpse of a hummingbird can chase away the gloom of a rainy day.Hummer-CloserUp

Don Holt and Dianne Draper saw their first hummingbird of spring at Dianne’s home on Cherokee Road in Jonesborough, Tennessee, on Tuesday, April 11.

 

Susan Gossett sent me details about her parents and their hummingbird sighting in a Facebook message. “My parents, Harold and Elizabeth Willis, just read your article today in The McDowell News and they saw their first hummingbird April 12 around 5 p.m. They live at 80 Willis Drive in Marion, N.C.”
Guy Davies shared information about his father’s first spring hummingbird sighting. “My father Is Richard “Bud” Davies, Retired 1st Sgt., U.S. Army,” Guy wrote in his message. “He saw his first hummingbird April 14 at 7:10 p.m. at his home in Bluff City, Tennessee. They’re back!”
“I saw my first hummer of the season at my feeder on Saturday, April 15,” Daniel Callahan wrote in an email. Daniel, who lives on Mendota Road in Washington County, Virginia, said the observation involved two male hummingbirds.
Steven Hopp saw his first hummingbird — a male — on Saturday, April 15.
“We have a feeder on our patio and even though the feeder was empty, it zipped in and went right to it,” Steven wrote in his email. “I think that suggests it was a returning male. I also heard a scarlet tanager and indigo bunting on Saturday, April 15.”
Graham Gardner sent me an email to let me know of his Easter Sunday hummingbird sighting. “While sitting on my back porch in Abingdon mid-morning on April 16, I saw, for the first time this season, a male ruby-throated hummingbird visit our feeder three times before buzzing off,” Graham wrote in the email.

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Toni Shaffer, who lives off Gate City Highway in Washington County, Virginia, sent me an email to let me know she saw her first hummer at 7:30 a.m. on the morning of Monday, April 17.  “He has remained near the feeder all day,” she added. “The hummingbirds are about four days later than usual here.”
Deborah Clark sent me an email about hummingbird arrivals.
“My mother, Louise Hiler Tilson, has asked that I email you to let you know that she and I both have seen hummingbirds at our homes,” Deborah wrote in the email. “Mom lives in the community of Riverside, between Marion and Chilhowie along the banks of the South Fork of the Holston in Smyth County.” She said her mom saw her first ruby-throated hummingbird on the morning of April 17.
Deborah said her mother has been an avid birder for most of her 88 years. “Mother will put up several feeders (to join the seed feeders that already enliven her backyard) soon, and expects to have her usual hoard of tiny warriors buzzing around her door,” she added.
Deborah lives in Grayson County, near the little village of Troutdale, Virginia. Her own first-of-the-season hummer — a male with the ruby throat — hovered just outside her kitchen window, apparently looking at her as she was washing dishes. “Although he might have been seeing his own reflection in the window glass,” Deborah added.

 

Mary Jane McClellan sent me an email to let me know she put her sugar water feeders out at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, April 17 — two days later than she normally does. Mary Jane, who lives near South Holston Dam on Rooty Branch Road in Bristol, Tennessee, saw her first hummingbird less than two hours later when a hummer showed up at 6:11 p.m.

Some hummingbirds have a flair for making a dramatic entrance.
Linda Kessinger Rhodes, a resident of Bristol, Tennessee, said in a Facebook post to my page that she had been anxious for the hummers to appear at her home about two miles north of Bristol Motor Speedway. “Today (April17) was the day,” she wrote in her post.
“However, at first, it wasn’t the joyous moment I had envisioned,” she added.
The tiny male hummingbird flew right into the screen door and his bill got stuck.
“My husband pushed it back and freed the poor little thing,” Linda said. She joked that the tiny bird may never come back to these parts again after that adventure!

Janet James, a resident of Bluff City, Tennessee, put out her feeder a week before she got any visitors. “I saw my first hummer on Monday, April 17,” she said in an email. “Happy! Happy!” Lego-Hummer

Don and Donna Morrell shared the news of their first hummingbird of spring in an email.
“We saw our first hummer at 6 p.m. on Sunday, April 16,” Don wrote. “We live behind South Holston Dam and had just gotten back from vacation.”
He added that Donna had put out the feeder a week earlier before they left on their trip.
“We were eating supper and it came and had supper with us,” he added.

Cecilia Murrell emailed me about her hummer sighting. She said that her first spring sighting of a hummingbird — a male — brightened a gloomy, rainy day at her home in Abingdon, Virginia, on Tuesday, April 18.

When he emailed me on Tuesday, April 18, Randy Smith, who lives in Abington, Virginia, said he still hadn’t seen any hummingbirds. However, he has seen several warblers. “I saw Black-and-white warblers, Northern parulas, hooded warblers, yellow-rumped warblers and a Louisiana waterthrush on Saturday, April 15, at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, Virginia.
Randy, who volunteers at the Abingdon Public Library, said Karen Northrup, one of the library’s employees, was at home with her husband when they saw their first hummingbirds of the season on Saturday, April 15.

Lois Cox and Wilma Boy on Riverside Road in Bluff City, Tennessee, saw their first hummingbird on Tuesday, April 18. They also reported in the same email that their first spring sighting of an indigo bunting — a male eating millet seed from a feeder — took place the same day.

 

David and Judy Brown live in Damascus, Virginia. They saw their first spring hummingbird back on April 18 at 11 a.m. at their home they informed me in a Facebook message.
“Just thought I’d let you know I sighted our first hummingbird on April 18 feeding on our deck feeder sometime before noon,” wrote Linda K. Sproles in an email. “I also have noted on our calendar that the first hummingbird was sighted on April 22 in 2016 and April 19 in 2015.
Linda resides on Hunter Hills Circle in Bristol, Tennessee.
Wayne Miller, a resident of Abingdon, Virginia, emailed me about his first hummer sighting. “Our first hummingbird of the season arrived to check out our feeder on the deck about 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 19,” he wrote.FemaleRuby-April28

 

 

Dee Sims also contacted me by Facebook. “I saw my first hummingbird April 20,” she wrote. “live in Belfast, Virginia, which is between Lebanon and Richlands.”

Mark Martin of Abingdon, Virginia, saw two hummingbirds, a male and a female, at 1:20 p.m. on Saturday, April 22.
Don Holt, a naturalist at Steele Creek Park in Bristol, Tennessee, reported that the first hummingbird seen in the park this spring arrived on Earth Day, Saturday, April 22.

“I had my first hummingbird this morning,” wrote Dianne Bisig in an email sent to me on Sunday, April 23. “It looked like it was trying to find a spot out of the wind. It stayed on the porch for a while.”
Dianne resides in Millbrooke Estates in Abingdon, Virginia.
Marty Huber and Jo Ann Detta of Abingdon, Va., emailed me to let me know they heard their first hummingbird on April 21, but they didn’t actually see one of these tiny birds until April 23.
“It’s 7:40 on Sunday night (April 24) and I’ve just seen our first hummer, sitting on a feeder in the rain,” wrote Bettie Hite, who lives on Overbrook Road in Bristol, Tennessee, wrote in an email.

 

Wilma Sexton messaged me on Facebook in regards to my article in the McDowell newspaper on about sightings on hummingbirds. “I had just finished your article and I had already put out a fresh hummingbird feeder the weekend before,” she said. “My husband and I really enjoy watching and waiting for them to return. We saw our first one April 26.”

Wilma and her husband live in Union Mills, N.C.

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If you have a question, wish to make a comment or share a sighting, email ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Lego-Hummer

Readers share arrival stories about spring’s hummingbirds

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Ruby-throated hummingbirds have returned. The annual first sighting of a hummingbird is one of my most cherished spring moments. Invariably, the first hummingbird to show up in my yard is a male with the gorget — or throat patch — of red, iridescent feathers that gives his species its common name.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • Ruby-throated Hummingbirds swarm to a feeder filled with a sugar water mixture.

As I indicated in a recent column, the ruby-throated hummingbird is one of more than 300 species of hummingbirds. All hummingbirds are found in the New World and are absent from the Old World. Male ruby-throated hummingbirds launch their spring migration about 10 days prior to female hummingbirds.

Based on the number of people who shared hummingbird sightings with me, these tiny birds have a lot of big fans. If you would like to host your own hummingbirds, here are some crucial tips.

• Make your yard a zone that’s free of insecticides and pesticides. Residues of these chemicals can remain on blossoms, which then run the risk of sickening a hummingbird. In addition, hummingbirds subsist on more than nectar. They consume many tiny insects and spiders. Eating bugs that have been contaminated with dangerous chemicals can also sicken or kill hummingbirds.

• Provide shrubs and trees to your landscape to make your yard more inviting. Hummingbirds claim favorite posts and perches, where they will rest when they are not visiting our gardens or feeders. Shrubs and trees can also provide locations for concealing nests built by female hummingbirds.

• Cultivate plants that offer nectar-producing blooms. While hummingbirds are known to favor the color red, these nectar-sipping birds will also visit blooms of other colors. Some favorite spring blooms include the flowers of red buckeye, wild columbine, crossvine and native varieties of azaleas. As spring advances into summer, the diversity of flowers available to lure hummingbirds into your garden will increase dramatically.

Ruby-throated

Photo by Bill Buchanan/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service • Hummingbirds visit flowers for nectar, so be sure your garden offers a variety of blooms.

 

Thursday, April 6

Eddie and Delores Phipps of Bluff City, Tennessee, reported seeing their first hummingbird.

“We were excited to see our first hummingbird at the feeder on the morning of April 6,” the couple wrote in an email.  “It was the earliest we have ever seen one. He has been back every day since!”

Eddie and Delores provided me with the report of the earliest arriving hummingbird. Soon after the couple reported their hummingbird, I began to receive more sightings from throughout northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia.

Sunday, April 9

Monica Black, a resident of Unicoi, Tennessee, saw her first hummingbird of the season about 5 p.m.

“Near the chairs in the back garden there is a spillway created from the koi pond down to the frog pond,” Monica said in the email she sent me. “The hummers like to drink and bathe in it.”

The visiting hummingbird also treated her to a viewing of the first bathing hummingbird of the season.

“The male is the only hummer spotted so far,” she added.

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Facebook friend Phyllis Moore informed me that her friend, Janie Compton, saw her first hummingbird at 6:34 p.m. on Sunday, April 9, in Chesterfield, Virginia.

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Nata Jackson, a resident of Greene County, Tennessee, shared details about her first sighting of spring. In her email, she said she had just put up her feeder when the bird arrived.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • Only the male Ruby-throated Hummingbird has the brilliant red throat patch, or gorget, that gives the species its common name.

Tuesday, April 11

Nancy and Walt Vernon, of Bristol, Tennessee, emailed details of their first sighting. “We saw it about 12:30 while having lunch,” Nancy wrote in her email. “We have three feeders which we keep filled all summer.”

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Jeanie Campbell, who lives on Mendota Road in Abingdon, Virginia, also sent me an email. Her first spring hummer — a tiny female — wasn’t very active at first. “Then she began drinking away,” Jeanie wrote.

A few days later on April 15, a male — or “Mr. Red Throat” as Jeanie described him — appeared. “He buzzed around all day,” she said.

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Glen Eller, a fellow member of the Lee and Lois Herndon Chapter of Tennessee Ornithological Society, posted on Bristol-Birds — a mailing list archive for area bird sightings — that his daughter, Lia, saw her first hummingbird at 6:55 a.m. Glen’s daughter lives in Fall Branch, Tennessee.

“It’s seemingly a little bit late in this warm spring,” Glen wrote in his post.

Wednesday, April 12

Philip Laws saw his first hummingbird of spring at 4:15 p.m. in the Limestone Cove community in Unicoi County. In his Facebook post to my page, Philip said the arrival served as a reminder that he had meant to put his feeders out a few days earlier, but had failed to do so. He quickly got out feeders to welcome the birds.

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Amy Wallin Tipton, in Erwin, posted on her Facebook page about the return of her hummingbirds.

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Kristy Dunn, who lives in Johnson City, sent me an email to share her first hummingbird sighting of spring.

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Bill and Judith Beckman sent me an email to report their first hummingbird of the season. The hummer arrived around 4 p.m. at their home on Spivey Mountain in Unicoi County.

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Preston Bowers emailed to let me know he saw his first hummingbird at about 5:30 p.m.

“I have lived in Blountville since 1970,” he wrote. “Oddly enough, I never noticed hummingbirds on this property until about three years ago.”

A creek in front of his house has an abundance of jewelweed, which the ruby-throat seems to like quite well.

“So I installed a hummingbird feeder at the corner of my porch where I sit in the porch swing and play ukulele,” he added. “What a joy to watch these amazing birds as they fly by at lightning speeds or hover ever so gracefully.” Preston noted that some of their antics seem like an aerial battle. “I hear sounds that are so similar to the sound of a World War II fighter plane in tactical operations,” he wrote.

Rubythroat

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird perches on the tip of a garden post.

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Sandra Loving sent an email notifying me that she got her first sighting of a spring hummer at her feeders at her home on South Holston Lake at 7:50 p.m.

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Sharon Foster, who lives on Friendship Drive at South Holston Lake, emailed me about the date of her first hummer’s arrival. “We’ve had hummingbirds at our feeders all week,” she added.

Friday, April 14

Lynne Reinhard saw her first hummingbird at 8:15 a.m. near the upper end of South Holston Lake in Bristol. She posted the news of her sighting on my Facebook page.

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Jill Henderson, who lives on Poor Valley Road in Saltville, Virginia, emailed about her first hummer sighting: “Just wanted to let you know that I saw my first hummingbird of the spring season at approximately 9:15 a.m. at my home.”

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Beverly Puerckhauer in the Graystone area of Bristol, Tennessee,

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • A Ruby-throated Hummingbird must share a feeder with hungry honeybees.

saw her first hummingbird and shared news of the arrival in a comment on my Facebook page.

Saturday, April 15

Linda Quinn Cauley posted on my Facebook page that she saw her first hummingbird at 9:30 a.m. Linda lives off Sciota Road near Unicoi, Tennessee.

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Karen Fouts, of Marion, Virginia, saw her first hummingbird of spring — a male — and posted a comment on my Facebook page. Karen said she refers to these early arrival hummingbirds as the “advance scouts.”

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Mary Beierle, a resident of the Stoney Creek community in Elizabethton, Tennessee, sent me an email telling me she saw her first hummingbird around 3 p.m. “Only one so far, but we’re excited,” she added.

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Don and Shirley Cook, who reside on the upper end of South Holston Lake in Washington County, Virginia, sent me an email to notify me that they saw their first hummer at 3 p.m.

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Glenna Kiser, who lives near Lebanon, Virginia, informed me in an email of her first hummingbird this spring at 1 p.m.

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Several readers enjoyed their first spring sightings of hummingbirds on Easter Sunday.

Sunday, April 16

Nancy Estes emailed me just after she saw her first hummingbird of the season.

“I didn’t get a close look since I was inside my house, but I am assuming it is a ruby-throated hummingbird,” Nancy wrote. “I live in Bristol’s Middlebrook subdivision.”

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Reva Russell, who lives in the Lynnwood Hills subdivision in Bristol, Virginia, notified me in an email that she saw her first hummingbird of the season at 2 p.m.

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Terry Fletcher, who lives at First Colony Condominiums near the Bristol Country Club, sent an email about the first hummingbird of spring. Terry also photographed the hummingbird through a screen door and shared the photo in an email.

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Debbie Oliver, who resides in Bristol, Tennessee, emailed me about her first sighting.

“It wasn’t a visit from the Easter Bunny but a delightful visit from a ruby-throated hummingbird at our deck feeders around 2:30 in the afternoon,” she wrote in her email.

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Cheryl Jones in Damascus, Virginia, saw her first hummingbird of spring at 5:02 p.m. In her email, she said she was beginning to wonder what was keeping them.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have officially returned to the region as of the first week of April.

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The first hummingbird of spring showed up at at the home of Ken Croghan on Walden Road east of Abingdon, Virginia, while he was sitting on the front deck having dinner. He shared news of the arrival in an email.

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Lynn Heller and her husband were having dinner at their home in Holston Hills in Bristol, Tennessee, when they looked out the window at their hummingbird feeder. “I was telling my husband about your article and that you asked readers to share sightings of their first hummingbird,” she wrote in her email.  “About five minutes later, there he was — a ruby throated hummingbird at 6:31 p.m. on Easter Sunday. What a treat!”

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Donald Elliott Rice of Elizabethton, Tennessee, filled up his feeders on Easter Sunday. “Within a half hour, they showed up,” he posted on Facebook.

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Julie Carter Grason saw her first hummingbird at her home in the Clear Creek community of Bristol, Virginia. She shared the news in a comment on my Facebook page.

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Shirley Jenkins of Bluff City, Tennessee, saw her first ruby-throated hummingbird this spring and shared details in an email. “My family and I were sitting on the back porch about 3:30 when out of nowhere, a ruby red throat came zooming by,” she wrote in her email.

Shirley added that the bird checked out a wind chime hanging on the porch before he went on his way.

“I was thrilled to see it, since I love those adorable little creatures,” she noted. “I will definitely be putting my feeder out pronto.”

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I saw my own first ruby-throated hummingbird — a male — on Saturday, April 15. Although he acted somewhat tentative at first, he became more at ease with me as I watched him at the feeders during repeated visits throughout the day. In 2016, the first hummingbird arrived on April 12, so the arrival date was slightly later this year.

Grade school encounter with killdeer provides memorable teaching moment

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With the arrival of April, the pace of migration will quicken. Throughout the month of March, the “early birds” made their return to my yard, including species like tree swallow, brown thrasher, chipping sparrow and blue-gray gnatcatcher.

Birders know they have a narrow window of opportunity to enjoy the arriving birds in the spring. Some will linger briefly and continue to points farther north, while others will take up residence but turn secretive quickly as they get down to the important business of building nests, incubating eggs and raising young.

Killdeer-CHICK

A young killdeer — looking like a fuzzy golfball on toothpics, is born precocial. They can leave the nest and feed themselves, all while wearing a coat of downy feathers. Photo by Krista Lundgren/U.S. Fish & Wildlife

 

The task of producing young is the most important one that birds undertake. Even with the most dedicated parents, many birds born this spring will never reach the age of one. Eggs in the nest are vulnerable to opportunist predators, including snakes, mice, squirrels, raccoons and even other birds. Many of the birds that nest in our yards, gardens and woodlands produce altricial young. The term “altricial” is a scientific one meaning the young birds are born helpless and blind, without feathers, with almost non-existent mobility. However, they grow quickly. Since just as many creatures would like to gobble up hatchling birds as like to consume eggs, it doesn’t pay to remain in a nest for any longer than absolutely necessary.

Birds hatched in cup-shaped nests placed in trees, shrubs or even on the ground usually leave their nests within a couple of weeks. On the other hand, cavity-nesting birds produce young that can afford to linger a little longer. Some of their hatchlings may remain inside a nesting cavity for as long as a month. Even after altricial young leave their nests, they will remain dependent on their parents for some time.

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Painting by John James Audubon of what he called the “Killdeer Plover.”

On the opposite side of the equation, many birds produce precocial young, which are born with their eyes open, bodies with feathers or down, and the mobility to follow their parents almost from the time they leave the egg. Precocial young can also find their own food, although parents may escort them to good foraging areas. Well-known precocial birds include ducks and chickens. Anyone who has ever observed ducklings or chicks following a mother hen is familiar with the attributes of precocial young.

Many wild birds produce precocial young, including shorebirds, grouse and quail, wild turkeys, loons and grebes. The ostrich, the world’s largest bird, also produces precocial young. Closer to home, one of my earliest bird memories involves a bird quite famous for the care and keeping of its precocial young. The killdeer is a North American shorebird that is at home in a variety of habitats, including rooftops, parking lots, golf courses, pastures and, in the case of my remembrance, an elementary school playground.

I don’t remember who discovered the nest, but I know that my teacher at Hampton Elementary School and her fellow faculty members protected the nest once they became aware of it. My teacher also had the wisdom to incorporate the nesting killdeer into her lessons. In other words, she made the discovery of these nesting birds a “teachable moment” for her young students.

Killdeer-Eggs

Photo by Bryan Stevens • Four eggs in a killdeer nest, which is assembled right on the ground.

I can’t think of a better bird for teaching some lessons about the strategies birds use to raise young. The killdeer doesn’t make much of a nest. The female often lays her amazingly well-camouflaged eggs — usually four, but occasionally three or five — in a shallow depression in dirt or gravel. On occasion, they may line the nest with plant materials or other items. I once observed a killdeer nest in a gravel parking lot of a mobile home dealership. The ingenious female killdeer, using an abundant material, had lined her nest with discarded cigarette butts — dozens of them. I’ve always joked that I hoped the young weren’t born with a nicotine addiction.

Killdeer parents are zealous parents in safeguarding their young. Adults are famous for feigning a “broken wing” to distract potential predators away from nests and offspring. They will also call loudly while faking their injury to keep the predator’s attention diverted. It’s the loud call — an exuberant “kill-deer” — that has given this member of the plover family its common name.

Like many memories from childhood, some details of that killdeer family’s fate are a little hazy. As far as I know, the parent killdeers succeeded at raising their young family. Perhaps that moment of learning, which let me glimpse into the private life of a fascinating family of birds, pointed me toward my eventual interest in birds.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • An adult killdeer is usually a conspicuous, loud bird. 

Later, as an adult and during my early years as a birder, I had an encounter with a baby killdeer. I found the tiny bird limp and lifeless on the ground. Saddened, I reached down to pick up the young bird — it looked like a fuzzy golf ball on matchstick legs — for a closer look. As my fingers started to close around the bird, the baby revived and sprinted off with an impressive display of speed. That’s when I learned that killdeer young have one last defense against would-be predators; they can play possum!

While shorebirds, killdeers are not tied to the shoreline. Although I have observed them along beaches in South Carolina, these birds are just as much at home in cattle pastures, muddy edges of rivers and lakes or even baseball fields. Such terrestrial habitats provide these birds with plenty of food, which includes insects, spiders, centipedes, earthworms and the occasional seed. While many people remain unaware of the world’s shorebirds, the killdeer is the one member of the family that is probably frequently encountered by many Americans. Their fondness for habitats created by humans, from parking lots to gravel-covered rooftops, bring these birds close to us.

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Remember to share your first hummingbird sightings with me. Simply jot down the time and date that you first notice these tiny birds have returned. You can email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com or though Facebook. I am increasingly impatient to see my first hummingbirds of the season.

Writer and artist Julie Zickefoose to share wisdom at Abingdon program, nature walk

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With the nesting season for some of our favorite birds kicking off, the timing is especially fortuitous for an upcoming program. Acclaimed nature writer and wildlife illustrator Julie Zickefoose will be the a featured speaker for Sunday with Friends at the Washington County Public Library in Abingdon, Virginia, later this month. Her talk will be followed by a book sale and signing.

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Julie Zickefoose and a feathered friend. — Photo Contributed

In addition, Zickefoose will take part in a bird walk along the Virginia Creeper Trail at 8 a.m. on Saturday, April 22. Those wishing to participate in this Earth Day event are invited to meet at the trailhead in downtown Abingdon. I’m planning on attending the walk, which I hope will produce many interesting migrant birds. The walk is free and open to the public.

Zickefoose, the author of the new book, “Baby Birds: An Artist Looks into the Nest,” will speak Sunday, April 23, at 3 p.m. at the Washington County Public Library. Her event is free and will be held in the Conference Room at the Main Library in Abingdon, Virginia.

The public is invited to meet Zickefoose on the day after Earth Day to celebrate her new book. Life-sized baby birds wriggle, crawl and flutter off the pages of this beautiful book, the product of 13 years of deep involvement and close observation of nesting birds. Lively writing describes the development of 17 bird species from egg to fledgling, with the wonder, humor and relentless curiosity that Zickefoose is known for. She provided commentary on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” for five years and for 12 years has written a thrice-weekly natural history blog.

She has written several other books, including “The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds,” “Natural Gardening for Birds: Create a Bird-friendly Habitat in Your Backya26312954._UY1628_SS1628_rd,” and “The Young Birder’s Guide to Birds of North America,” a co-writing venture with Bill Thompson.

 

According to Zickefoose’s website, she began her career as a field biologist for The Nature Conservancy. She became a magazine and book illustrator. Eventually, she began illustrating her own stories. She writes and paints from Indigo Hill, her 80-acre sanctuary in Appalachian Ohio. Zickefoose also writes a blog. To read entries, visit juliezickefoose.blogspot.com.

Ben Jennings helped secure Zickefoose’s lecture. He has worked for the past 15 years organizing “Sunday with Friends,” a series of book and author events hosted by the Washington County Public Library’s Friends of the Library organization.

“I get tips from lots of folks about writers, as well as doing research on my own,” Jennings said.

He also noted that Kate Foreman persuaded him to invite Zickefoose to take part in the series. “Kate is a longtime friend, and currently the director of advancement at Barter Theatre,” Jennings said. “I certainly trust her judgment. Kate had to remind me — but I did remember — Julie’s commentary on NPR several years ago. Julie was thrilled to come to be with Kate for the weekend.”

The Friends of the Washington County Public Library is a voluntary, non-profit organization whose purpose is to help strengthen the resources of the library and to make it a dynamic force in the community. Friends’ activities generally fall into four main categories— advocacy, fundraising, programming and volunteerism. First organized in the mid-1960s, the Friends groups has made an important contribution over the years by helping to raise funds to improve library facilities and providing financial support for special projects. The Washington County Public Library is located at 205 Oak Hill St., Abingdon, Virginia. For more information, visit http://www.wcpl.net.

Bluebird-Box

A female bluebird checks out a potential nesting box. — Photo by Bryan Stevens

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A pair of Eastern bluebirds, a species of birds often featured in Zickefoose’s writings, has been exploring the nest box options available at my home. The bluebirds actually started checking the boxes in late February. With the arrival of March, the pair has had to contend with as many as three tree swallow interlopers. I’m not sure of the status of the third tree swallow, but it definitely gives the swallows an edge in numbers.

While bluebirds are not totally loyal to previous nesting locations, studies indicate that as many as 30 percent of bluebirds return to previous nesting sites the following season. So, if you can attract a pair of bluebirds to your yard, that’s half the battle. The same pair, or perhaps some of their offspring, will quite possibly return to yard in future years.

Habitats with spacious areas of short grass are perfect for bluebirds. So, homes with large lawns or that are located adjacent to fields, will attract bluebirds looking for a place to nest. If you lack any trees with natural cavities, a bluebird nesting box is necessary to secure their extended stay. Nesting box plans are easily obtained online if you want to build your own boxes, or you can purchase boxes at many farm supply stores and garden centers.

To keep the bluebirds happy and safe, avoid using herbicides or pesticides on your lawn to prevent accidental poisoning of adult bluebirds and their young. A few small trees and shrubs spaced throughout the yard will provide convenient perches for bluebirds as they hunt for insects to feed themselves and their young.

Get ready to welcome spring’s returning hummingbirds

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All bird enthusiasts have their personal favorites among our feathered friends. Cardinals, bluebirds, robins and chickadees would certainly find a place in any Top 10 lists. What bird would top the list? I have no qualms predicting that the ruby-throated hummingbird would be a frontrunner for such a ranking.

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A male Ruby-throated Hummingbird seeks nectar at tiny blooms. — Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

 

The popularity of hummingbirds in general, and the ruby-throated hummingbird specifically, is simple to understand. These tiny birds are perfectly willing to insert themselves into our lives, offering hours of fascinating entertainment as they visit our gardens, duel at our sugar water feeders and occasionally even nest in trees and shrubs in our yards.

Individuals who feed birds know that it can be an expensive undertaking. The cost of providing sunflower seeds and suet cakes for hungry flocks during the winter months can nibble at the monthly budget, but hardly anyone would begrudge the sparrows, finches, wrens and woodpeckers. After all, they return the favor, putting on daily shows just outside our windows.

Attracting hummingbirds is generally much less expensive than feeding other birds. After all, you need only a mixture of sugar water — four parts water to one part sugar — to fill a feeder and catch the attention of a visiting hummer. A few pounds of sugar will last a lot longer than that bag of sunflower seeds and it’s much less expensive to purchase at the grocery store.

If you do want to take extra steps to attract these diminutive, feathered saccharine junkies, consider supplementing your landscape with a variety of flowering plants. To explore some of the best choices for flowers to tempt hummingbirds, visit the website of The Hummingbird Society at http://www.hummingbirdsociety.org.

Hummer-CloserUp

A male ruby-throated hummingbird surveys his territory from a convenient perch. — Photo by Bryan Stevens

Nevertheless, few bird enthusiasts are truly frugal when it comes to our feathered friends. Even if the cost of bringing hummingbirds and other birds was much higher, I don’t think we would abandon the undertaking. Quite simply, the birds mean too much to us. They fascinate us with their speed and agility, their pugnacious relations with each other, and of course their tiny size. The irony is that, although hummingbirds are so small, they don’t seem to recognize that fact as they zig and zag through yard and garden.

While the ruby-throated hummingbird is the only hummer that nests in the eastern United States, which is what brings these tiny birds into our lives every year from April to October, there are more than 300 species of hummingbirds. Much creativity has gone into giving each of these hummingbirds a descriptive common name.

Sometimes, words fail. Mere adjectives are somewhat inadequate in providing common names for many of the world’s more than 300 hummingbirds, but that doesn’t keep us from trying to give descriptive names to each hummingbird species. For instance, we have the beautiful hummingbird of Mexico; the charming hummingbird of Costa Rica and Panama; the festive coquette of northwestern South America; and the magnificent hummingbird of the southwestern United States.

Other names are even more elaborate and occasionally outlandish, such as the white-tufted sunbeam of Peru; the violet-throated metaltail of Ecuador; the violet-throated starfrontlet of Peru and Bolivia; the hyacinth visorbearer of Brazil; and the rainbow-bearded thornbill of Colombia and Ecuador.

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A male ruby-throated hummingbird ignores honeybees for a sip of sugar water. — Photo by Bryan Stevens

It would seem then that our own ruby-throated hummingbird is in good company. After spending the winter months in Central America, ruby-throated hummingbirds are already streaming north. Just to reach the United States, these tiny birds undertake an arduous journey. Most of these tiny birds, which are barely four inches long, make a non-stop flight of more than 500 miles across the Gulf of Mexico. The journey can take almost an entire day!

Sightings are already being reported, and ruby-throats typically arrive in the region in early April. In fact, a male ruby-throated hummingbird showed up at my feeders on Saturday, April 15.

If you don’t have your feeders outdoors and waiting for them, it’s time to do so. As always, I love to hear from readers about their first hummingbird sighting of the year. Jot down the time and date and contact me by email at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com. I can hardly wait for one of our favorite birds to get back. Let’s give them a hearty welcome.

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To learn more about birds and other topics from the natural world, friend Bryan Stevens on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ahoodedwarbler. He is always posting about local birds, wildlife, flowers, insects and much more.

 

Annual spring rally returns to Roan Mountain April 28-30

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Larry McDaniel and James Neves, the co-directors one of the region’s longest-running nature events, are excited about the activities they have to offer for the 59th annual Roan Mountain Spring Naturalists Rally. Continuing the tradition of the 58 preceding rallies, this year’s rally will offer a great assortment of programs, hikes and activities which celebrate the unique beauty and natural diversity of this environmental treasure that is Roan Mountain.

DaisyAndBee

Photo by Bryan Stevens • Flowers and pollinating insects just go together.

Scheduled for Friday-Sunday, April 28-30, this year’s event is open to nature enthusiasts of all skill levels from casual interest to advanced study. There is something for everyone. Bring friends and family and invite the neighbors to take part. The headquarters and hub of activities for the rally is the Conference Center at Roan Mountain State Park. Registration, meals, programs, and exhibits will be centered there. Most of the field trips will meet at the field adjacent to the cabin area entrance. Participants will see signs in the field for the various field trips. Onsite registration is available at the field. For most of the field trips participants will carpool from the field to nearby trailheads. Organizers strongly encourage carpooling, which will help participants make new friends and lower fossil fuel emissions.

This year’s evening programs will focus on native bees, as well as mountains sports and recreation.

“Bees for Birders: Discovering Native Bee Watching Through Binoculars” will be presented by Sam Droege at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 28. Droege, a native of Hyattsville, Maryland, received an undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland and a master’s degree at the State University of New York – Syracuse. Most of his career has been spent at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center. He has coordinated the North American Breeding Bird Survey Program, developed the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, the Bioblitz, Cricket Crawl, and Frogwatch USA programs and works on the design and evaluation of monitoring programs. Currently he is developing an inventory and monitoring program for native bees along with online identification guides for North American bees at http://www.discoverlife.org, and reviving the North American Bird Phenology Program (https://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bpp/).

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Sam Droege

Diversity is a hallmark of the natural world. For instance, Droege points out that east of the Mississippi there are about 800 species of native bees. This is more species than the total species of birds and butterflies combined. Bees are also more abundant and easier to find. Flowers are their habitat and different species favor different types and groups of plants. So, why aren’t we watching them? Lack of information on how to watch them is the answer. With a pair of butterfly binoculars and a new free identification guide, anyone can begin to be a bee watcher, “beeder”, bee head, or simply a broader naturalist.

David Ramsey will present the evening program at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aprilm 29. He will speak about “Wild Times: Conservation Through Mountain Sports and Recreation.” Ramsey is an outdoor photographer, writer and conservationist born and raised in Unicoi County. He has spent most of the past 30 years exploring and photographing these southern Appalachian Mountains and sharing his photography and passion for the mountains with thousands of people. During that time, his photography has been published extensively — locally, regionally and nationally. Throughout his life, Ramsey has been in

Dave-Ramsey

David Ramsey

spired by other photographer-conservationists, from Elliot Porter, Galen Rowell and Robert Glenn Ketchum to the region’s own Edward Schell. In 2011, he was selected as National Hero of Conservation by Field and Stream Magazine for his leadership in the effort to save the 10,000-acre Rocky Fork Watershed, part of which is now a Tennessee State Park. In 2012 he was chosen as a National Conservationist of the Year finalist by Budweiser and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Ramsey is also a former Stanley A. Murray Volunteer of the Year for Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy. Ramsey is at work on finishing a book about the fight to preserve Rocky Fork and working to have the northeast Tennessee region recognized as a major outdoor recreation destination.

The Friends of Roan Mountain organization was created by people who cherish the natural beauty and cultural history of Roan Mountain. Members of the group sponsor interpretive and educational activities including Spring, Fall, and Winter Naturalists Rallies and a summer Xtreme Roan  Adventures Kid’s Nature Rally. Members also support the environmental mission of Roan Mountain State Park including environmental studies, conservation, and restoration. Membership supports these worthy projects and entitles members to free participation in all activities of the Spring, Fall, and Winter Rallies for that year, as well as the group’s newsletters.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • Wildflowers, like trout lilies, are abundant during the spring rally.

In addition to the evening programs, a variety of hikes, workshops and other events are planned for all three days of the rally. There is an extra cost for meals, which require advance registration. For more information or a brochure of the specific events, including a reservation form for all activities, including the Friday and Saturday evening meals, visit http://www.friendsofroanmtn.org/Spring%20Rally%20Brochure%20web%202017%20.pdf

Information is also available by contacting the co-directors for the Rally. Call Larry McDaniel at 423-773-9234 or email him at larrycmcd@hotmail.com. Call James Neves at 706-224-3355 or email him at jamesneves@gmail.com.

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • Newly-arrived migrant birds, like indigo buntings, should be present during the rally.

Woodcocks, snipe among the more oddball members of a diverse shorebird clan

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Photo by Leah Hawthorn/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service • An American woodcock probes for food among fallen leaves on the woodland floor.

March is traditionally a month of erratic weather, characterized by blustery winds and occasional drenching rainstorms. While the month is also a signal to get ready for the return of migrant songbirds, they are hardly the only birds on the wing each spring. Birds from waterfowl to raptors migrate through the region in March, April and May, but the real migratory champs are the shorebirds.

Known for migrating incredible distances, the shorebirds are often referred to as “wind birds,” a romantic allusion to their habit of taking wing for the epic journeys that astound scientists and birders alike. Among the far-flung family are birds known as sandpipers and plovers, as well as whimbrels, willets, tattlers and turnstones.
Still, among the general public, as well as some birders, the shorebirds are a much misunderstood group of birds. For example, most people could hardly be blamed for believing that shorebirds are inhabitants of only the beach and shore. In fact, some species are at home in an array of habitats, ranging from woodlands and prairies to the Arctic tundra and mudflats. Some are notoriously elusive, their camouflage and low-key behavior allowing them to escape casual notice at most times.
In late winter and early spring, a true oddball among the shorebirds begins courting. The American woodcock, also known by such whimsical names as “bog sucker” and “timberdoodle,” is a shorebird that has completely abandoned the shore in favor of woodlands and fields. Beginning as early as February, American woodcocks in the region conduct nightly courtship displays, starting at dusk, that combines aerial acrobatics with an assortment of unusual acoustical flourishes. Any wet field adjacent to a wooded area could offer a stage for these evening displays, but unless you know where to look and make an effort to do so, the American woodcock might as well remain a phantom of the night.
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John James Audubon, an early American naturalist and artist, painted this scene of American woodcocks feeding in damp earth.

These mating rituals provide almost the only time that this bird makes itself visible to us. It’s only during this brief window that opens into their lives that we can be assured a glimpse. Even then, our peek at woodcocks often consists of a fuzzy twilight escapade as the bird flings itself heavenward only to make a spiraling descent a few seconds later. The displays begin with a distinct vocalization, a type of “pent,” that also has the quality of sounding like some sort of mechanical buzzer.
Once the displays conclude for the season, the birds assume nesting duties, usually unobserved by humans. The rest of the year, almost nothing but blind, sheer luck would allow a birder to stumble across an American woodcock. It’s almost as if they disappear after these spring flights of fancy.

For the most part, the “wind birds” leave lives in habitats that keep them separate from humans. On occasion, however, one of these shorebirds pays an unexpected visit to members of the public. Tom and Helen Stetler, residents of Elizabethton, Tennessee, shared an account of one such visit in a recent email.

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Photo by Tom Stetler • A Wilson’s snipe visits the yard at the home of Tom and Helen Stetler in Elizabethton, Tennessee.

“We had a visit from a very unusual bird today,” Tom wrote in the email. “It was a woodcock. It stayed quite a while this morning.”
He estimated that the bird stayed in their yard for about 15 to 20 minutes.  “I kept trying to get a good picture of its long bill and finally did,” he said, enclosing a photo of the visiting bird with his email.
He credited his wife, Helen, with having spotted the bird. After seeing the bird, Helen called to her husband to come have a look “at this bird with a very long beak!”
After I examined the photo, I noticed that the unusual visitor was actually not a woodcock but a closely related bird known as a Wilson’s snipe. The confusion of the two birds is quite understandable. The snipe and the woodcock bear a superficial resemblance to each other.

The American woodcock belongs to the genus of Scolopax, a Latin term for this group of eight oddball shorebirds. Other members of the genus include the Eurasian woodcock, the New Guinea woodcock and the Sulawesi woodcock.

Snipe-One

Photo by Bryan Stevens • The Wilson’s snipe is remarkably capable of blending with its surroundings.

Wilson’s snipe, which is closely related to the woodcock, inspired the term “snipe hunt.” Regarded as lessons in futility, these hunts are not seeking some mythical quarry, although some people mistakenly believe there’s no such bird as a snipe. In fact, there are several species of snipes, although only one — Wilson’s snipe — can be found in much of the United States. Some of the world’s other 25 species of snipe include Jack snipe, wood snipe, pintail snipe, noble snipe and imperial snipe.
Any wet field or pasture may conceal hidden snipes during the spring. A few sometimes spend the winter in the region. Flushing a snipe from a tangle of grass right at your feet as you walk through a wet field always works to get the heart pumping faster. Snipe also stage spring mating displays that are not quite as elaborate as those of the woodcock. I suspect that recent heavy rains made the yard at the Stetler home similar enough to a flooded field to attract the visiting snipe.

While both the Wilson’s snipe and American woodcock are elusive birds able to easily conceal themselves from view, other shorebirds definitely stand out in a crowd. For example, the gangly black-necked stilt and the spindly American avocet are surely two of the most striking, almost comical shorebirds in North America.

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The American woodcock is also known by such whimsical common names as bogsucker and timberdoodle.

In addition, members of the shorebird family vary greatly in size. North America’s smallest shorebird, appropriately enough, is the least sandpiper, a tiny shorebird less than six inches in length and weighing barely an ounce. The least sandpiper breeds widely across northern Canada and Alaska and winters across the southern United States and Mexico.
The largest shorebird — depending on how “largest” is defined — is either the Far Eastern curlew or the beach thick-knee. The Far Eastern Curlew is a large shorebird most similar in appearance to North America’s long-billed curlew, but slightly larger. This bird definitely has the longest bill of any shorebird and ranks as the world’s largest member of the sandpiper clan. The Far Eastern curlew is 25 inches in body length, although the Eurasian curlew is almost the same size. If it comes down to weight, the heaviest shorebird is the beach thick-knee, a bird native to Australia and the islands of Southeast Asia and India. This unusual shorebird can weigh as much as 2.2 pounds, but is only 22 inches long. The Far Eastern curlew, in comparison, weighs a mere 27 ounces.
In the coming weeks, check the edges of ponds, the banks of rivers and shorelines of lakes for migrating shorebirds. Don’t forget to keep an eye on your yard, too. Spring migration is always full of surprises.
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Bryan Stevens lives near Roan Mountain, Tennessee. To ask a question, share an observation or make a comment, email him at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Arrival of tree swallows one of season’s firsts among spring’s returning birds

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • Tree swallows are among the different species of birds returning to the region after spending the winter months farther south. These birds will be looking for nesting boxes or natural cavities in the coming weeks.

Waiting for spring? Join the club. Between alternating bouts of unseasonably warm temperatures and frigid blasts, the weather cannot seem to decide if winter’s hanging in there a little longer or if it’s time to proceed with spring’s arrival.

You might think that would translate into a messy arrival timetable for some of our returning birds, but so far my own personal observations indicate a different story. For instance, a pair of tree swallows arrived at my home on March 8. Curious, I explored my Facebook newsfeed and discovered that the first tree swallows returned in 2016 on the very same date! These punctual arrivals never cease to amaze me. It’s almost like clockwork for some of the birds that I have observed for many years at my home.

When John James Audubon painted these tree swallows, he knew them as “white-bellied swallows.”

When I posted about the arrival of the swallows on Facebook, some other people shared their own arrival stories. Paul Elmore in Bristol, Tennessee, mentioned the arrival of the first brown-headed cowbirds at his home. “Their sounds got my attention first,” he noted in his reply to my post, describing the sound as similar to “a marble being dropped into a pail of water.”

In addition to tree swallows and brown-headed cowbirds, other recent returns have included red-winged blackbirds and American robins, which have both been hailed as traditional harbingers of spring. Over the next few weeks, I look for the pace to pick up as returning birds like chipping sparrows, brown thrashers, blue-gray gnatcatchers and yellow-throated warblers mingle with lingering winter birds such as dark-eyed juncos, purple finches and yellow-rumped warblers.

The pair of swallows that returned on March 8 probably regretted the timing. Arriving during a warm spell that saw temperatures climb into the high 70s, the swallows were soon enduring a chilly blast that saw the mercury in outdoor thermometers dipping into the 20s. The swallows are insect-eating birds, so extended cold spells often force them to retreat to the area’s lakes and larger rivers, where they can swoop over the water and have an easier time plucking cold-numbed flying insects out of the air.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • Tree swallows usually return to the region in late February and early March. Look for other birds, such as brown thrashers and chipping sparrows, to return in the coming weeks.

Once milder spring temperatures prevail, the flocks of swallows forced into these necessary habitats will disperse as pairs begin seeking nesting sites. Tree swallows are cavity-nesting birds, which often puts them into competition with Eastern bluebirds. The two species usually manage to work out a truce and settle down to nest in close proximity to each other.

The iridescent blue-green male tree swallow, complete with white underparts and a forked tail, is a handsome bird and a welcome addition to the bird population in any yard or garden. Tree swallows enjoy water, so a nearby pond or creek is a boon for attracting these birds.

Tree swallows nesting in southwest Virginia are a relatively recent happening. According to Tony Decker’s The Birds of Smyth County, Virginia, tree swallows have only been common summer residents since about 1975. Some of the early records of these birds nesting in the region took place at locations like the ponds in Saltville, Virginia, and Laurel Bed Lake in Russell County, Virginia.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A female Eastern bluebird stakes claim to a box to ward off inquisitive tree swallows. The two cavity-nesting species are often competitors for prime nesting real estate.

A decade later, tree swallows began nesting in northeast Tennessee. The first nesting record took place at Austin Springs on Boone Lake in Washington County, Tennessee, according to The Birds of Northeast Tennessee by Rick Knight. Tree swallows soon became regular nesting birds every summer in all five counties that comprise Northeast Tennessee.

It’s usually not too difficult to find five of the six species of swallows that are known to make Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia their home from spring to fall. In addition to tree swallows, other swallows such as barn swallows, purple martins, cliff swallows and northern rough-winged swallows are fairly common summer birds in the region. The barn swallow and tree swallow are the two members of the family that are probably best known to people. They have adapted to life in both suburban and rural areas, which brings them into frequent contact with people.

The golden swallow, which today exists only on the island of Hispaniola.

While only a few swallows range into the United States and Canada, a total of 83 species of swallows can be found worldwide. Some of the common names for these different swallows (also called martins in other parts of the world) are quite descriptive. A sampling includes white-eyed river martin, grey-rumped swallow, white-backed swallow, banded martin, blue swallow, violet-green swallow, golden swallow, brown-throated martin, brown-bellied swallow, pale-footed swallow, white-bibbed swallow, pearl-breasted swallow, red-breasted swallow, mosque swallow, fairy martin and streak-throated swallow.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A male tree swallow perches on a utility wire extending over a fish pond.

While many swallows and martins have proven highly adaptive when faced with human disturbances to their habitat, a few species have experienced declines. One species — the white-eyed river martin — was last seen in Thailand in the 1980s and very well may be extinct. Closer to home, the golden swallow is now found only on the island of Hispaniola after disappearing from Jamaica in the 1980s. The Bahama swallow, which nests on only four islands in the Bahamas, is also vulnerable. Incidentally, both these swallows are closely related to the tree swallow, with all of them belonging to the genus Golden Swallow. Translated from Greek, the genus name means “fast mover,” a quite accurate description of these graceful and agile flyers.

With their enthusiastic twittering to each other, tree swallows make for friendly neighbors. It’s also a pleasant diversion to watch them swoop over fields and ponds. To increase your chances of hosting your own tree swallows, offer a bird box placed in an open area. Right now is the time to attract their attention with some prime real estate.

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To learn more about birds and other topics from the natural world, friend Stevens on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ahoodedwarbler. He is always posting about local birds, wildlife, flowers, insects and much more. If you have a question, wish to make a comment or share a sighting, email ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.