Tag Archives: Bryan Stevens

September brings spike in bird migration

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Hans Toom/Pixabay • Few warblers make as great a journey as the blackpoll warbler. This small songbird makes a roundtrip flight of 12,400 miles for its seasonal migrations each year.

September’s arrival puts fall migration into sharp focus. The birds that returned this past spring — the warblers, vireos, tanagers, grosbeaks, flycatchers, hawks, hummingbirds and many more — have begun or are beginning to make their way back to the locations where they will spend the winter months far from the cold, bleak conditions over most of North America.

Every morning as I leave for work I hear the buzz of hummingbird wings. When I return in the evening, I am often greeted by the scolding calls of red-eyed vireos from the woodlands around my home.

Some of these birds migrate out of the tropics every spring to avoid competition. Others find North America a land of abundant, albeit temporary, resources. This land of plenty offers a wealth of insects, seeds, fruit and other nourishing, nutritious food to help parent birds keep their strength while they work to ensure their young thrive. Of course, once the bountiful period concludes, they return to the tropics of Central and South America to winter. Those that do so successfully will make the journey back to the United States and Canada in the spring. It’s an ongoing cycle, repeating year after year, season after season.

The phenomenon of migration isn’t exclusive to the neotropical migrants of the New World. Birds in other parts of the world migrate, too. Waterfowl, shorebirds and raptors are among some of the families of birds that stage impressive migrations.

Photo by Jonathan Cannon/Pixabay.com • The Arctic tern outdoes all other birds when it comes to migration. These seabirds journey from their Arctic nesting grounds to spend the winter around the Antarctic, a journey of some 50,000 miles a year.

The Arctic tern, for example, truly takes migration to extremes. This small seabird travels each year from its Arctic nesting grounds to the Antarctic region, where it spends the winter months. Put into terms of mileage, the Arctic tern can travel about 50,000 miles in a single year. For a bird with a body length of about 15 inches and a wingspan of about 28 inches, this incredible migration is an astonishing feat. These statistics permit the Arctic tern to easily lay claim to the title of champion migrant among our feathered friends.

According to the website for National Geographic, Arctic terns face a serious threat from climate change. In a profile on the tern at its website, National Geographic warns that Arctic terns are projected to lose 20 to 50 percent of their habitat due to the temperature changes linked to climate change. They also face loss of habitat due to encroachment by human activities such as oil drilling.

The ruby-throated hummingbird, a favorite of many bird enthusiasts living in the eastern United States, makes an impressive migration each year. Just to reach the United States, these tiny birds undertake a strenuous journey. They leave their wintering grounds in Central America to return to the United States and Canada for the nesting season. 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. With the end of summer, the entire population of ruby-throated hummingbirds, increased by a new generation of young birds, makes the Gulf crossing for a second time in a year to return to the American tropics for the winter months.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A ruby-throated hummingbird perches at a feeder for a sip of sugar water.

Among North America’s buteo hawks, which includes raptors such as red-shouldered hawk and red-tailed hawk, the broad-winged hawk stands out as a dedicated migrant. These hawks form flocks that at times number in the hundreds or thousands as they sail and glide on thermals rising over various mountain ranges. These hawks and other raptors are well-known in the region for migrating past the Mendota Fire Tower in Southwest Virginia every September and early October.

The broad-winged hawk’s counterpart in the western United States is Swainson’s hawk, which shares the broad-winged hawk’s inclination for migrating in large flocks. Swainson’s hawk is named for William Swainson, the famous 19th century English naturalist for which Swainson’s thrush is also named.

The hooded warbler, my favorite member of the migratory New World warblers, migrates back to Mexico and Central America for the winter months after nesting during the spring and summer in a range concentrated in the southeastern United States. The males, after going quiet in late summer, have started singing on occasion from the shaded woods around my house. I think this has more to do with restlessness as they prepare for to depart on a migration flight that will take them to the balmy Caribbean, Mexico and Central America while we shiver through the months between October and April. It’s not a migration of an incredible distance, but it’s still quite an accomplishment for a bird only five inches long and weighing less than half an ounce.

Another warbler is a true migratory champion. Few warblers make as great a journey as the blackpoll warbler. Instead of migrating over land, this five-inch-long warbler undertakes a two-stage migration. The first half of the migration is a non-stop flight of about 1,500 miles. Every fall, these tiny birds fly over the Atlantic Ocean during this part of their migration, departing from Canada or the northern United States and not stopping until they reach various locations in the Caribbean. There they will spend some time recovering from the exhausting first half of their journey before they continue their way to such South American countries as Colombia and Venezuela. Once again, during the time they spend flying over open ocean, these tiny warblers do not feed.

Fall’s a great time to witness the variety of avian life. Look for some of these migrants passing through your yards, gardens or favorite birding spots.

For those wanting suggestions for seeking out migrating birds, the linear trail in Erwin, Rocky Fork State Park in Flag Pond and Limestone Cove Recreation Area are some good bets.

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

Elizabethton Bird Club announces speakers for fall programs

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Brayden Paulk will speak to the Elizabethton Bird Club on Sept. 3 on the topic of microfishing.

The Lee and Lois Herndon Chapter of Tennessee Ornithological Society, also known as the Elizabethton Bird Club, will soon begin its schedule of monthly meetings for 2024-25.

The brief business meetings are always accompanied by an informative and entertaining program on birds, birding or other subjects from the natural world.

These programs are a great way to learn more about our feathered friends as well as other related subjects from the natural world. They are free, open to the public and hosted by a welcoming group of people.

Here’s the schedule for Fall 2024:

September

Brayden Paulk, a young naturalist with family ties in Unicoi County, will present the first program on Tuesday, Sept. 3, with a talk on “Microfishing,” which involves anglers focusing on a diverse array of tiny species of fish.

Paulk has also been working as a naturalist with Lamar Alexander Rocky Fork State Park this summer and fall. He gave a program a couple of years ago for the club on “Trash Fishing,” which explored other angling options other than the typical gamefish species. As both fishing and birding are among his interests, he will no doubt find a way to work something into his program about birds.

October

The guest speaker for the meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 1, will be Mark Stevens. A former publisher for The Erwin Record, he will present a program titled “Building a Birding Festival” that will focus on his development of the Hammock Coast Birding Festival in South Carolina. Stevens, who works as tourism director for the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce, will be giving the program remotely from his home in South Carolina, but the hybrid meeting also offers a chance to attend in-person with other birding enthusiasts. The festival is organized by the South Carolina Hammock Coast, the marketing arm for the Georgetown County Chamber. The third annual Hammock Coast Birding Festival is scheduled for Feb. 6-9, 2025.

November

Vern Maddux, the treasurer for the club, will be the speaker on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Maddux is a world traveler when it comes to seeing birds and will present a program on one of his recent international birding adventures to South Georgia and Falklands. South Georgia is a mountainous barren island in the South Atlantic Ocean, 800 miles east-southeast of the remote South Atlantic archipelago that makes up the Falkland Islands. With rugged terrain and cliff-lined coasts, the hundreds of islands and islets in the Falklands are home to sheep farms and abundant birdlife.

December

In the busy month of December, yours truly will give the program. I will present a powerpoint presentation titled “What’s in a Name?” on North American birds named after people. Among our native birds, we have quail, woodpeckers, sparrows, finches, warblers, hawks and other birds are known by names of historical figures ranging from John James Audubon to William Clark and Meriwether Lewis.

My program will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 3. I will discuss the American Ornithological Society’s decision in 2023 to end what are known as eponyms, in which species names honor people. The renaming of dozens of species will be a gradual process.

The club’s 2025 schedule has not been completed, but will include a program by local naturalist Lewis Tester in the spring on dragonflies.

The public is always welcome to attend these programs. Programs begin at 7 p.m.

The club meets at the Elizabethton campus of Northeast State Community College in Room 135 when the school’s schedule permits. When school is not in session, meetings are held on Zoom or at other announced locations. To receive updates on the club’s schedule, events and activities, email elizabethtonbirtdingclub@gmail.com and ask to be placed on a free mailing list.

The Elizabethton Bird Club holds seasonal birds count in spring, summer, fall and winter. The club also organizes and sponsors regular field trips to destinations through Northeast Tennessee. These activities are also open to interested members of the public.

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

Native wading birds wander widely in late summer

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Photo by Bryan Stevens • A great egret captures a frog from a pond’s edge in South Carolina.

The fish pond at my home has attracted a stalker. Amid the cattails and beneath the drooping branches of tall bald cypress trees, a lurking great blue heron has patiently been stalking fish, frogs and anything else that comes within striking reach of the bird’s sturdy dagger-shaped beak.

The heron’s visits have prompted me to dig into my archived columns this week. Please enjoy this column, which was previously published in July of 2019, about summer’s wading birds.

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North America’s stately wading birds — egrets, herons, bitterns, ibises and their kin — are well-known wanderers in late summer. As with all birds capable of flight, a pair of strong wings cannot be underestimated. Birds can show up in the most likely places.

Take for instance the first confirmed sighting of an American flamingo in Tennessee. This particular flamingo — an almost unthinkable bird for the Volunteer State — showed up along Highway 78 in Lake County on July 13, 2019.

Ruben Stoll and Alan Troyer found the flamingo, backing up their discovery with photographs of the large pink bird associating with great egrets and other wading birds. The flamingo created considerable buzz on rare bird alerts in several nearby states. Many birders rushed to add this exceptional visitor to their state and life lists.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • White ibises occasionally meander away from the coast in late summer. Immature birds will be brown instead of white.

In summers past, other exciting wading birds ranging from little blue herons to wood storks have excited the region’s birders. I recently celebrated my own sighting of one of these wanderers that made a stop at my fish pond on July 10.

I had stepped outside my house and let the door slam a little too loudly behind me, causing a stately great egret near my fish pond to take flight and fly over the roof of my house. I regretted instantly not having a camera with me.

Two days later, I got another chance. The great egret made another appearance. Unfortunately for the tall bird, he attracted the ire of the resident red-winged blackbirds. In a most inhospitable manner, the blackbirds attacked and dived at the egret, which made some awkward attempts to evade the angry blackbirds. Blackbirds are protective of their territory and have swooped at me several times when I’ve ventured too close to their favored cattails.

More prepared on this occasion, I had my camera with me and managed to get a few photographs of the egret.

The next day, only a few miles from my home, Lauri Sneyd Vance took a photograph of a great egret that stopped at her home in Limestone Cove in Unicoi County, Tennessee. Having seen my Facebook post, she notified me that she had also received a visit from an egret. Was it the same bird? Perhaps.

Oddly enough, the bird is actually the second great egret to visit my fish pond. The first one made an unseasonable stop several years ago on a snowy December afternoon — hardly a time of year I might have expected a visit from an egret in the mountains of Northeast Tennessee.

The great egret stands 3.3 feet tall. With an all-white plumage, a long yellow bill and dark legs, this egret is often described as graceful and elegant. Its likeness was incorporated into the logo for the National Audubon Society, an organization formed to protect egrets and other wading birds from a wanton slaughter in the late 1800s when millions of the birds were killed so their feathers could be used in women’s fashions.

During the breeding season, adult great egrets sprout long plumes on their back. These frilly feathers are known as aigrettes, which are used to attract the attention of prospective mates in elaborate mating displays.

According to the All About Birds website, great egrets feed mostly on fish, but they also eat amphibians, reptiles, rodents, songbirds and crustaceans. On visits to the South Carolina coast, I’ve observed great egrets dining on frogs and small fish. In prime habitat, flocks of great egrets will gather to forage together in wetlands or around ponds. More sociable than some herons, great egrets also nest and roost communally.

The other North American egrets include snowy egret, reddish egret and cattle egret. Other egrets found around the world include the intermediate egret, little egret, slaty egret, black egret,dimorphic egret and Chinese egret.

As summer advances, keep your eye on area rivers, lakes and ponds. It’s the best time of year to see egrets, herons and other long-legged wading birds. In the case of the American flamingo, I realize that lightning rarely strikes twice, but if you do happen to see a gangly pink bird, let me know.

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Share sightings, ask questions or make comments by emailing me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

Photo by Bryan Stevens
A Great Blue Heron moves stealthily through a wetland.

Goldfinches much more than another pretty bird

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Miles Moody from Pixabay • A male American goldfinch in summer nesting plumage is one of the region’s most vibrant songbirds. 

Johnson City resident Jo Wheeler posted a comment on Facebook on July 15 under a weekly posting promoting the “Feathered Friends” weekly column.

“We saw the American goldfinch in out backyard over the weekend,” Jo wrote. “It was amazing.”

I was so pleased to hear Jo’s excitement about the goldfinch. The American goldfinch is a commonplace bird, but once you take a close look at this bird it’s readily apparent that there’s really noting common about it at all. 

Goldfinches are extraordinary in appearance, particularly at this time of the year. The plumage of the male goldfinch during the nesting season is a bold pattern of black and white against a backdrop of golden-yellow feathers. These birds also form fussy but sociable flocks that congregate at bird feeders or bird baths in many a backyard. 

A sighting of a goldfinch can be memorable. I still retain vivid imagery of these birds from childhood, long before I could identify them by name. They would always appear in late summer, perching atop the three blue spruces in our yard. The trees are no longer standing, but the memories of those colorful yellow and black birds endure.

Summer is the season of plenty for American goldfinches. Roadside ditches are choked with chicory, evening primrose and other seed-producing plants often dismissed as “weeds.” Simply driving local roads can, and often does, produce sightings of flocks of American goldfinches as they forage for seeds.

These small, colorful finches are also regular visitors to my feeders, although they don’t really need my offering of black oil sunflower seeds to supplement the natural smorgasbord available to them.

Their fondness for seeds has inspired many of the common names for this bird, including lettuce bird, thistle-bird, yellow-bird and wild canary. My late grandmother, Bertha Sneyd, introduced me to the term “lettuce bird” as an alternative name for goldfinch. As she explained, the finches would come to gardens once lettuce had gone to seed. 

This fondness and dependence on seeds for its dietary needs has even shaped the nesting habits of this species. The American goldfinch is also one of the last songbirds to nest each season. 

According to a profile of the American goldfinch posted at the website for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, goldfinches don’t even start to think about nesting until late July and early August. Their nesting season is timed deliberately to coincide with this season of natural abundance. Goldfinches feed their young mostly on seeds, as opposed to most songbirds that work so hard to gather insects to feed their young a protein-rich diet.

It’s a satisfying irony that, although brown-headed cowbird females sometimes slip their eggs into a goldfinch nest, any cowbirds hatched in those nests rarely survive. While goldfinch hatchlings are adapted to thrive on a diet of seeds, the fostered young cowbirds fail to thrive on a diet so lacking in the protein derived from insects.

While the male American goldfinch during the breeding season is unmistakable in his bright yellow, black and white plumage, the female goldfinch is more subdued in coloration. Males also sing a bubbly, cheerful song when seeking to win the attention of a potential mate.  

According to the profile on the TWRA website, the goldfinch’s song is a variable series of musical trills and twitters, often interspersed with a bay beephrase. The distinctive flight call is described as sounding like “potato chip” or “per chicory.”

For these and other reasons, goldfinches are favorites of many bird lovers. There are actually three species of goldfinches in North America. The two related species are Lawrence’s goldfinch of California and the lesser goldfinch, which ranges through the southwestern United States as well as Central and South America.

Lawrence’s goldfinch was named by John Cassin in 1850 for his colleague George Lawrence, a New York businessman and amateur ornithologist. His enthusiasm for birds must have impressed his colleagues. One bird genus and 20 species were named in his honor. Lawrence’s goldfinch, known by the scientific name Spinus lawrencei, honors him doubly with both the scientific and common names for the bird.

The American goldfinch is also known by other common names, including wild canary, yellowbird and willow goldfinch. I’ve also heard the goldfinch referred to as “lettuce bird.” This nickname, which was one my maternal grandmother applied to the bird, relates to the bird’s fondness for seeds. Apparently the goldfinches would flock to lettuce plants in the garden once they had gone to seed.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A male American goldfinch perched.

Come winter, this vibrant American goldfinch undergoes a transformation into a dull, drab bird with grayish feather. In fact, this annual molt usually begins in September. During the fall and winter, the American goldfinch looks almost like an entirely different bird.

It’s understandable why people love to entertain flocks of these finches in their yards and gardens. Three states — Washington, Iowa and New Jersey — have gone so far as to make the American goldfinch their official state bird.

The best strategy for attracting goldfinches is to provide some of their favorite foods. Black oil sunflower seed and the seeds of nyjer thistle are highly favored. The tiny thistle seeds require special feeders. Mesh “socks” can also be used to dispense the thistle seed.

An alternative is to plant a garden that offers an abundance of fresh seeds. A stand of sunflowers will attract goldfinches, as well as other birds such as indigo bunting and house finch. Liatris, also known as gay feather, produces flower spikes that are sought out by goldfinches for their seeds. Other favorites include asters and coneflowers. The bonus is that even after the beautiful blooms are past, the birds can still benefit from the seeds left behind after flowering.

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

Surprise! Hummingbirds come in variety of sizes

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This week’s column is about hummingbirds, the big and the small ones. Frances Lamberts in Jonesborough sent me an email earlier this month that got the ball rolling for this week’s hummingbird column.

“Two hummingbirds were here for a good week long,

at the end of April,” Frances wrote. “Then they were gone, and I haven’t seen any since. Despite the heat/drought (and with some watering), the

property has many favorite flowers in bloom, including the blue salvia, red pole beans, monarda, many others come and gone, the cardinal flowers about to bloom.”

Her question was a simple one: “Where are the hummers?”

She noted that she has kept a “first sightings” record for about 20 year. One year the hummingbirds didn’t arrive until mid June, which worried her at the time.

“What is happening now?” Frances asked.

The simple and honest answer is that it’s not really possible to land on any single answer. Birds have wings, and hummingbirds are capable to long-distance flights.

Still, a setting such as the one Frances described with such a wide variety of blooms should be teeming with hummingbirds.

Personally, it’s been a perplexing season. My hummingbirds arrived back in April, stuck around for perhaps a week, and then almost disappeared. They returned in mid-June, remained visible for a couple of weeks, but have since pulled another vanishing act.

In any given year, the numbers of hummingbirds passing thorough is going to fluctuate. Some years, these tiny flying gems will be present in good numbers on an almost daily basis. Other years, hummingbirds can become quite scarce.

I usually enjoy my best hummingbird numbers in the fall as these little birds begin their leisurely journey back south. Late August and the month of September is usually a great time to watch hummingbirds. I’m optimistic that the same will hold true this fall.

In some other hummingbird news, the world added another species of hummingbird this year when the giant hummingbird of South America got split into two distinct species.

Abi Cole, writing for Audubon Magazine, reported in an article on June 7, 2024, that scientists have considered two distinct populations of giant hummingbird — a migratory southern population in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, and a non-migratory northern population in Chile, Ecuador and Peru — to be the same species.

Now, scientists have reconsidered that belief and learned that the two species have been able to fool scientists for so long by basically, as Cole’s article phrases it, by hiding in plain sight.

Cole’s article details the elaborate process by which giant hummingbirds were captured and fitted with geolocator devices. The article credits Jessie Williamson, lead author of the new study and a National Science Foundation postdoctoral research fellow, with unraveling the mystery.

Williamson did so by intensively studying the Chilean population. The resulting research also revealed some huge surprises.

For centuries, there has been speculation about where the Chilean giant hummingbirds go to spend the winter. Now we know – they make an astonishing, record-breaking 5,200-mile round trip to spend several months with their cousins in the Peruvian Andes.

Because the Chilean and Peruvian birds look so much alike, no one had ever realized that they were co-existing with each other during the winter season.

Of course, the name “giant hummingbird” is almost an oxymoron for a family of birds famous for their diminutive size. Now that we have two species of giant hummingbirds, they can’t both hold the title of world’s biggest hummingbird.

So, which is the bigger bird? As it turns out, the giant hummingbirds living year round in the Andes, now known as the northern giant hummingbird, is slightly bigger than the migratory southern giant hummingbird.

The article about these discoveries is fascinating. To read it for yourself, visit http://www.audubon.org/magazine/scientists-discover-worlds-largest-hummingbird-hiding-plain-sight.

The giant hummingbird does earn the right to that name. Both of the two species weigh between 18 and 24 grams and have a wingspan of about 8.5 inches. They have a body length of 9.1 inches. For a useful comparison, they are about equal to the size of a European starling or a Northern cardinal.

They are not the dazzling beauties most people associate with hummingbirds. Giant hummingbirds have a drab greenish plumage above with a whitish rump patch and dingy coloration below with variable rusty tones and dusky spotting. They do have the long bills and overall physical shape of other hummingbirds. The scientific name is Patagona gigas, roughly translated as the giant of Patagonia.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • Welcoming hummingbirds also involves making sure that they remain healthy and safe while spending time in our yards and gardens.

Count the giant hummingbird (either of the two species) as birds I’d like to see some day. The world’s diversity of hummingbirds is dazzling, but I feel fortunate to enjoy the ruby-throated hummingbird from April to October every year. As anyone knows who hosts these tiny birds, ruby-throated hummingbirds are dazzling and engaging guests during their all-too-brief.

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

 

Summer’s swallows are graceful, aerodynamic birds

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Tom Koerner/USFWS • A perched tree swallow surveys its surroundings..

They took their time this year, but the tree swallows are finally putting in appearances almost daily, especially on the string of sunny, hot days the region has experience lately. This pair of swallows has become frequent visitors since the middle of last month.

Based on their behavior, which primarily consists of aerial foraging over fields and a pond at my home, I’m convinced they are feeding young. They don’t, however, appear to be residing in any of my nest boxes. I’m simply glad they are nesting close enough to ensure frequent visits. It probably won’t be long before their young are soaring over the fields with them.

No matter where you live, you probably don’t have to go far to see one of the members of the bird family known as swallows. These graceful, aerodynamic birds are quite familiar to most people. If you spend much time at all outdoors during the summer months, chances are you’ve observed some members of this family.

Vincent Simard from Pixabay. • A tree swallow peeks from a nest box.

It’s usually not too difficult to find five of the six species that are known to make Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia their home from spring to fall. The more commonplace swallows are barn swallow and tree swallows, but during the summer months purple martins, cliff swallows and northern rough-winged swallows also call the region home.

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.

These days, the barn swallow is as apt to nest in a parking garage or on an apartment balcony as inside a barn in the countryside. Once young swallows leave the nest, parents will park them on a perch as they continue to feed the still dependent young. Adults fly over nearby fields, foraging for insects that they catch on the wing and deliver back to the waiting, always hungry, young birds.

A freshly mown field is a magnet for swallows. I don’t know how the word spreads so quickly among these birds, but I’ve observed dozens of these birds descending on fields soon after they have been mowed for hay. At times, the birds arrive while the mowing is still taking place, swooping after insects stirred up in the tractor’s wake.

I haven’t observed any bank swallows in the region this year, but these members of the swallow family are rather hit-or-miss in the region. Because of their specialized nesting needs, bank swallows are localized in their distribution and not as widespread as their kin.

Cliff swallows nest beneath many local bridges. These swallows, which at one time nested primarily on rocky cliffs, hence their name, now frequently nest under man-made structures. These swallows make their jug-shaped nests out of mud and clay. These nesting “jugs” are all located in clusters beneath bridges and other structures. It’s a wonder that the parents flying in with food are able to tell their nests apart from the nearby seemingly identical nests of their neighbors.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A Northern rough-winged swallow perches on a rusty pole.

Northern rough-winged swallows are opportunists when it comes to nesting. According to a profile written by Mark Johns with North Carolina Wesleyan College, this small swallow nests near rocky gorges, shale banks, stony road cuts, railroad embankments, gravel pits, eroded margins of streams and other exposed banks of clay, sand or gravel. They will also nest in old kingfisher burrows, protruding drainpipes, crevices in brick or stone structures such as dams, bridges or tunnels, gutters and culverts. Their nests are often built near open water.

The Northern rough-winged swallow ranks as one of the species with the longest common names in North America. It’s name consists of 26 letters and a hyphen, which ranks it one letter below both the Northern beardless-tyrannulet and a recently-created species — the saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrow — which each have 27 letters and a hyphen. Formerly known as sharp-tailed sparrow, the species was renamed with “salt marsh” added to distinguish it from a relative, Nelson’s sparrow.

Purple martins, which rank as the largest member of the swallow family in North America, are famous for nesting in large colonies. Nesting facilities range from groupings of natural or artificial gourds fashioned into a nesting chamber, as well as large, multi-level condominium dwellings tailored for the specific needs of this communal bird. A colony can consist of several dozen to several hundred pairs of these birds. Only the adult male purple martin shows the iridescent, dark blue-purple plumage that provides the species with its name.

The tree swallow is my favorite, probably because a pair of these birds has nested in my yard for many years. Unlike other swallows, these cavity-nesting birds will readily accept nesting boxes. They compete with Eastern bluebirds for boxes, but the two species usually can 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.

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 (and martins) are quite descriptive. A sampling includes white-eyed river martin, square-tailed saw-wing, white-headed saw-wing, grey-rumped swallow, white-backed swallow, banded martin, violet-green swallow, golden swallow, brown-chested martin, brown-bellied swallow, pale-footed swallow, white-bibbed swallow, pearl-breasted swallow, greater striped swallow, mosque swallow, fairy martin and chestnut-collared swallow.

Enjoy swallows while you can. They depart earlier than most of our other summer nesting birds. Once their young are out of the nest, they are soon forming large flocks in preparation for flying south.

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

 

Unicoi County summer bird count finds 109 species

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Photo Hans Toom/ Pixabay • The aptly named yellow warbler was one of 18 warbler species found on this year’s Unicoi County Summer Bird Count.

The 11th annual Unicoi County summer bird count was held Saturday, June 8, with 19 observers in seven parties. The count has been conducted yearly since its inception by members of the Elizabethton Bird Club.

I have taken part on this count from the first one held, missing only once when I was out of town. It’s an enjoyable count and, for me, it’s very close to home. This count also provides a reliable snapshot of the birds present in Unicoi County in early summer. 

Counters tallied 109 species which is slightly above the average of 108 species. The all-time high was 112 species in 2016. 

Abundant birds included European starling (314), American robin (246), song sparrow (175), American crow (174), red-eyed vireo (172), Northern cardinal (128) and cliff swallow, 126. Eighteen species of warblers were found, the most abundant being hooded warbler with 84 individuals tallied. 

As always a few low-density or very localized species were missed, including yellow-billed cuckoo, bald eagle, great horned owl, American kestrel, grasshopper sparrow, golden-winged warbler and prairie warbler.

The list:

Canada goose, 18; wood duck, 3; mallard, 20; wild turkey, 7; and ruffed grouse, 1.

Rock pigeon, 61; mourning dove, 56; chuck-will’s-widow,1; Eastern whip-poor-will, 18; chimney swift, 29; and ruby-throated hummingbird, 8.

Killdeer, 8; great blue heron, 3; and green heron, 2.

Photo by Bryan Stevens
A green heron elevates a shaggy crest of feathers, a behavior often initiated when the bird feels alarmed.

Black vulture, 1; turkey vulture 37; sharp-shinned hawk, 1;

Cooper’s hawk 3; red-shouldered hawk, 4; broad-winged hawk, 10; red-tailed hawk, 2; Eastern screech-owl, 5; barred owl, 4; and Northern saw-whet owl, 1.

Belted kingfisher, 5; red-bellied woodpecker, 15; yellow-bellied sapsucker, 9;

downy woodpecker, 8; hairy woodpecker, 5; Northern flicker, 10; and pileated woodpecker, 20.

Great crested flycatcher, 3; Eastern kingbird, 11; Eastern wood-pewee, 10; Acadian flycatcher, 32; least flycatcher, 5; and Eastern phoebe, 65.

White-eyed vireo, 3; yellow-throated vireo, 1; blue-headed vireo, 38; warbling vireo, 3; and red-eyed vireo, 172.

Blue jay, 61; American crow, 174; fish crow, 5; common raven, 8; Carolina chickadee, 71; and tufted titmouse, 60.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A tree swallow visits a nest box to check on young.

Tree swallow, 49; Northern rough-winged swallow, 20; purple martin, 25; barn swallow, 78; and cliff swallow, 126.

Golden-crowned kinglet, 2; cedar waxwing, 36; red-breasted nuthatch, 2; white-breasted nuthatch, 18; brown creeper, 4; and blue-gray gnatcatcher, 23.

Carolina wren, 84; house wren, 31; and winter wren, 3.

Gray catbird, 34; brown thrasher, 14; Northern mockingbird, 17; European starling, 314; Eastern bluebird, 59; veery, 12; hermit thrush, 2; wood thrush, 34; and American robin, 246.

House sparrow, 14; house finch, 33; American goldfinch, 56; chipping sparrow, 54; field sparrow, 6; dark-eyed junco, 20; song sparrow, 175; Eastern towhee, 6; and yellow-breasted chat, 1.

Eastern meadowlark, 14; orchard oriole, 4; Baltimore oriole, 1; red-winged blackbird, 60; brown-headed cowbird, 16; and common grackle, 63.

Ovenbird, 38; worm-eating warbler, 10; Louisiana waterthrush, 10; black-and-white warbler, 19; Swainson’s warbler, 16; Kentucky warbler, 1; common yellowthroat, 6; hooded warbler, 84; American redstart, 12; Northern parula, 41; magnolia warbler, 2; Blackburnian warbler, 10; yellow warbler, 3; chestnut-sided warbler, 17; black-throated blue warbler, 45; yellow-throated warbler, 17; black-throated green warbler, 45; and Canada warbler, 13.

Scarlet tanager, 20; Northern cardinal, 128; rose-breasted grosbeak, 4; blue grosbeak, 1; and indigo bunting, 77.

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Bryan Stevens has birded since the early 1990s and has written about birds and birding since 1995. To ask a question, make a comment or share a sighting, email him at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com.

 

Indigo buntings speak to the summer season

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Photo courtesy of George Stone • Indigo buntings range from southern Canada to northern Florida during the summer months, occasionally even expanding beyond this wide range.

George Stone emailed me after finding my weekly bird column online.

“I live approximately 90 miles west of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada,” he wrote in his email. “This morning (June 6) I had my first ever sighting of an indigo bunting at my feeder!”

He also asked a question, wanting to know if indigo buntings are rare in his location in Canada.

I did some digging online and found that indigo buntings range from southern Canada to northern Florida in the summer. I relayed this information to George in a reply to his email, congratulating him on his sighting.

I informed him that I reside in Northeast Tennessee, close to the borders with Virginia and North Carolina. I also told him that in summer, indigo bunting is not rare at all here in Northeast Tennessee. I saw and heard several while doing a summer bird count on June 8 in the Limestone Cove community of Unicoi County.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • The male indigo bunting is a resplendent bird.

The male indigo bunting is the only solid blue bird in the eastern United States, but it’s all an illusion — literally a trick of the light. The indigo bunting’s feathers are not really blue; the male’s brilliant azure plumage is caused by the process of diffraction of light around the structure of the bird’s feathers. This process scatters all but the blue light, and the resulting color shifts from black to blue to turquoise as the angle of reflected light changes. In bright light, it can even look unnaturally vivid blue. In poor light, however, an indigo bunting male can appear black. Fortunately, indigo buntings have both a characteristic body shape and song, so even if the birds are not seen in their best light, they can still be recognized.

For such a bright blue bird, indigo buntings are not easy to detect. Males like to find an elevated perch and sing to proclaim their territory and pitch their availability to potential mates. Learn the song, which consists of a burst of jumbled, high-pitched notes, and use that knowledge to help pinpoint singing males. Once you zero in on the singing bird’s location, it’s easy to focus binoculars and enjoy peeking at such a pretty bird.

The indigo bunting belongs to a genus of birds known as Passerina, which is included the family Cardinalidae, which includes birds like Northern cardinal and rose-breasted grosbeak. They are often lumped into a group known as North American buntings, although they are not closely related to such birds as snow bunting and lark bunting. The latter is even recognized as the official state bird for Colorado, a unique honor for this group of birds. The other members of the Passerina genus include lazuli bunting, varied bunting, painted bunting, rose-bellied bunting, orange-breasted bunting and blue grosbeak.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • Newly-returned neotropical migrants, such as this Indigo Bunting, increased the total number of species for the annual spring count.

Worldwide, other birds known as buntings include such descriptively named species as slaty bunting, corn bunting, white-capped bunting, gray-necked bunting, cinereous bunting, lark-like bunting, cinnamon-breasted bunting, chestnut-eared bunting, little bunting, yellow-throated bunting, golden-breasted bunting, black-headed bunting, red-headed bunting and yellow bunting.

For me, the indigo bunting has always been a bird of the summer season. Not even the heat of mid-day tires out a persistently singing male indigo bunting. They linger into the early October, but later in the season the bird begin to molt feathers and take on a more shabby look. Enjoy them while they’re here.

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

 

 

 

Hooded warbler easily wins fans among birders

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Photo by Jean Potter • A male hooded warbler flits through the foliage of a rhododendron thicket.

The woods surrounding my home have been alive with birdsong. We’re almost ready to turn the calendar to June, but there’s been no diminishment in the fervor of the daily chorus.

The main members of the feathered choir are warblers. I’ve heard yellow-throated warbler, black-throated green warbler, black-and-white warbler, Northern parula, ovenbird, common yellowthroat and, my favorite, hooded warbler, morning and evening.

During the winter months when the hooded warbler absents itself from Northeast Tennessee, the species resides in the forests of Mexico, as well as in Belize, Costa Rica and other Central American nations.

Like many of the ruby-throated hummingbirds that make their home in the United States for the summer, the hooded warbler’s seasonal migrations take it across the vast open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. After that amazing crossing, these small songbirds disperse throughout the southeastern United States.

That birds as small as hummingbirds and warblers make this incredible migration twice yearly is one of nature’s most phenomenal feats of endurance. In a presentation by Kenn and Kimberly Kaufman that I attended six years ago, I learned that these tiny birds put on incredible fat reserves to help fuel their valiant Gulf crossings.

The warblers, also known as wood-warblers, are an exclusively New World family, numbering approximately 116 species. About 50 of these species make their home in the eastern United States and Canada for the spring and summer, departing in the fall and returning to tropical wintering grounds. Some are extremely bright and colorful birds. The hooded warbler is somewhere in the middle in a sliding scale that goes from dull to wow.

Other colorful warblers that share similar tastes in range and habitat with the hooded warbler include the American redstart, black-throated blue warbler and black-throated green warbler.

Readers who make it to the end of this weekly column will know that even my email address is a testament to my enthusiasm for the hooded warbler.

Hooded warblers nest in the woodlands around my home. So, from the time my favorite warbler returns in April until the last individual departs in October, I enjoy regular glimpses of this colorful and interesting bird. Like all warblers, the hooded warbler is quite energetic, dashing after tiny insects in the branches of shrubs and trees. Hooded warblers often forage close to the ground, which makes observing them easier.

Of course, birds are free to break the rules. One of my most memorable sightings of a hooded warbler involved a male singing from the upper branches of a dead pine tree. I’d estimate that the bird was at least 40 feet off the ground, singing his little heart out to attract a mate. I was standing on an elevated rise of land while the tree providing the warbler its perch was lower in a gully that actually placed bird and observer on a roughly level playing field.

The bird sang for many moments, which is not always the case with warblers. These birds tend to dash for cover at the slightest disturbance, but this enthusiastic male didn’t seem to pay and heed to the fact that most of its kin prefer to skulk in shrubs and dense rhododendron thickets no more than a few feet off the ground.

Back in the late 1990s, when I had just started out in birding, I observed two adult hooded warblers feeding a couple of young birds only recently out of the nest.

I was enjoying observing the sweet scene as the parent birds carried foods to the young birds, which begged incessantly and loudly when, unexpectedly, a song sparrow wandered into the scene.

The sparrow was brutally beset by the parent warblers, which attacked the intruder from all sides. The poor sparrow, having no clue to the reason for their ire, beat a hasty retreat. Sparrows are no threat, but that didn’t matter to these zealous parents.

When I first began birding, I was only dimly aware there was a family of birds known as warblers, which are now hands-down my overall favorite birds. The hooded warbler was one of the first birds I managed to identify on my own.

It’s one bird unlikely to be mistaken for any other. Every time I behold a hooded warbler, I marvel at the bird’s exquisite appearance. The gold and green feathers seem to glow brightly in the dim light of the shadowy thickets of rhododendron they prefer to inhabit. The black hood and bib surrounding the male’s yellow face stands out by virtue of its stark contrast from the brighter feathers. Large coal-black eyes complete the effect. The appearance of the male bird provides this species with its common name. The female has an identical yellow-green coloration as the male, although she is slightly more drab. She lacks the black hood and bib, although older females may acquire some dark plumage on the head and around the face. Both sexes also show white tail feathers that they constantly fan and flick as they move about in thick vegetation and shrubbery.

The warblers are, in short, an incredible family of birds. I’ve seen all but a handful of the species that reside for part of the year in the eastern United States. I still want to see a Connecticut warbler and cerulean warbler, as well as the endangered Kirtland’s warbler of Michigan and the golden-cheeked warbler of Texas.

I’ve come to think of the hooded warblers at my home as “my warblers.” There may be a kernel of truth to my belief. The website All About Birds in a profile on the species notes that a seven-year study conducted in Pennsylvania gave evidence that male hooded warblers are faithful to nesting territories from previous years. Approximately 50% of banded males were shown to return to the same area to breed again year after year.

So, some of those hooded warblers singing from the rhododendron thickets at my home are probably birds returning for consecutive spring seasons. Some of the warblers that returned back in April could be great-great-great grandchildren of those warblers that attacked the unfortunate song sparrow. At the least, it gives me pleasure to think so.

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To share a sighting, ask a question or make a comment, email me at ahoodedwarbler@aol.com, an address that shows my profound fascination for this particular bird.

Photo by Bryan Stevens • A male hooded warbler peers from a tangle of branches.

Annual spring bird count finds 151 species

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Photo by Hans Toom/Pixabay • A male common yellowthroat, a species of warbler, is resident in the region spring through fall. The black mask of the males makes this bird quite distinctive.

The 81st consecutive Elizabethton Spring Bird Count was held on Saturday, May 4, with 40 observers in 16 parties.

Participants covered Carter County plus parts of adjacent Johnson, Sullivan, Unicoi and Washington counties. Temperatures were mild with little wind;

however, light rain just before sunrise and light to moderate rain during much of the afternoon hampered birding to some degree. Despite these conditions, good numbers were counted.

This year’s count tallied 151 species, including 28 species of warblers. The average number of

species over the last 20 years was 153 species. The all-time high was 166 species in 2016.

These yearly spring counts provide an amazing snapshot of the birds that can be found living in or migrating through the region. Some exceptional finds for this year’s count included Virginia rail, green-winged teal, grasshopper sparrow, golden-winged warbler and dickcissel.

The most abundant birds included cliff swallow (790), American robisparrown (742), European starling (500), Canada goose (391), red-eyed vireo (343), song sparrow (338), Northern Cardinal (321), Common Grackle (315), Red-winged Blackbird (282), American Crow (280), American Goldfinch (279), Hooded warbler (231) and Mourning Dove (223).

The list:

Canada goose, 391; wood duck, 35; blue-winged teal, 4; mallard, 96; green-winged teal,1; and common merganser, 2. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp-CrM–HSU

Wild turkey, 23; ruffed grouse, 1; pied-billed grebe, 1; rock pigeon, 117; Eurasian collared-dove, 1; mourning dove, 223; yellow-billed cuckoo, 4; chuck-will’s-widow, 8; Eastern whip-poor-will, 28; chimney swift, 168; and ruby-throated hummingbird, 9.

Virginia rail, 1; killdeer, 29; least sandpiper, 27; pectoral sandpiper, 2; semipalmated sandpiper, 3; spotted sandpiper, 49; solitary sandpiper, 27; lesser yellowlegs 5; and greater yellowlegs, 1.

Double-crested cormorant, 80; great blue heron, 76; great egret, 2; green heron, 21; and yellow-crowned night-heron, 4.

Black vulture, 111; turkey vulture, 96; osprey, 13;

Cooper’s hawk, 3; bald eagle, 7; red-shouldered hawk, 6; broad-winged hawk, 8; red-tailed hawk, 14; Eastern screech-owl, 11; great horned owl,1; and barred owl, 8.

Belted kingfisher, 25; red-headed woodpecker, 16; red-bellied woodpecker, 87; yellow-bellied sapsucker, 9; downy woodpecker, 31; hairy woodpecker, 8; Northern flicker, 52; and pileated woodpecker, 46.

American kestrel, 9; great crested flycatcher, 30; Eastern kingbird, 66; Eastern wood-pewee, 31; Acadian flycatcher, 16; least flycatcher, 15; and Eastern phoebe, 96.

White-eyed vireo, 18; yellow-throated vireo, 12; blue-headed vireo, 49; warbling vireo, 15; and red-eyed vireo, 343.

Blue jay, 151; American crow, 280; fish crow, 12;  common raven, 13. Carolina chickadee, 143; tufted titmouse, 158; tree swallow, 154; Northern rough-winged swallow, 49; purple martin, 68; barn swallow, 213; and cliff swallow, 780.

Ruby-crowned kinglet, 3; golden-crowned kinglet, 2; cedar waxwing, 64; red-breasted nuthatch, 8; white-breasted nuthatch, 27; brown creeper, 2; blue-gray gnatcatcher, 77; Carolina wren, 203; house wren, 50; winter wren, 5; and marsh wren, 1.

Gray catbird, 54; brown thrasher, 64; Northern nockingbird, 94; European starling, 500; Eastern bluebird, 134; veery, 14; gray-cheeked thrush, 2; Swainson’s thrush, 9; Hermit thrush, 1; Wood thrush, 118; and American robin, 742.

House sparrow 30; house finch, 79; pine siskin, 1; American goldfinch, 279; grasshopper sparrow, 1; chipping sparrow, 123; field sparrow, 43;

dark-eyed junco, 48; white-crowned sparrow, 1;

White-throated sparrow, 5; Savannah sparrow, 6; song sparrow, 338; swamp sparrow, 1; and Eastern towhee, 179.

Yellow-breasted chat, 11; Eastern meadowlark, 81; orchard oriole, 24; Baltimore oriole, 18; red-winged blackbird, 282; brown-headed cowbird, 61; and common grackle, 315.

Ovenbird, 162; worm-eating warbler, 28; Louisiana waterthrush, 34; Northern waterthrush, 4; golden-winged warbler, 1; black-and-white warbler, 103; Swainson’s warbler,15; Tennessee warbler, 15; Kentucky warbler, 7; common yellowthroat, 48; hooded warbler, 231; American redstart, 33; Cape May warbler, 9; Northern parula, 89; magnolia warbler, 4; bay-breasted warbler, 7; Blackburnian warbler, 24; yellow warbler, 15; chestnut-sided warbler, 30; blackpoll warbler, 8; black-throated blue warbler, 89; palm warbler, 3; pine warbler, 8; yellow-rumped warbler, 21; yellow-throated warbler, 54; prairie warbler, 1; black-throated green warbler, 81; and Canada warbler, 37.

Summer tanager, 1; scarlet tanager, 97; Northern cardinal, 321; rose-breasted grosbeak, 30; blue grosbeak, 10; indigo bunting, 184; and dickcissel, 1.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI3pZ3t2i4E

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