Birdman of Lauderdale

Today, May 8, we’ve had a few warblers pass through despite the occasional showers. I’ve heard an American Redstart (looks like a miniature Oriole) and a Nashville Warbler. These little birds flit from branch to branch, looking for caterpillars, spiders, insects…anything that can add protein to their diet during their long migration from Central and South America up to northern Minnesota, although some do stop to nest here in the Metro area.

Our First-of-Year (FOY)Baltimore Oriole showed up pretty much on schedule on May 6, visiting the sugar water feeder that serves both Orioles and Hummingbirds (none of them here, yet). He was brilliant in his spring plumage and singing a few of his whistled notes between sips of sweet nectar.

Also on May 6, my buddy, Val, and I led a field trip for the Friends of Lilydale at Lilydale Regional Park. We got out right after the rain and found six or seven warbler species, lots of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers singing their whiny song in the tree tops, good looks at a perched Osprey, a Belted Kingfisher…lots of good birds.

On May 5, I saw something I’ve never seen before: A female Northern Cardinal caught and dissected a June bug right here on our sidewalk, first knocking the wings off, then pounding it to the cement a few times, before flying away, maybe to a nest of youngsters to offer them a juicy treat…yum!

Also had a Tennessee Warbler that day. Their song is similar to the Nashville warbler, but a little longer. Most of these warblers are named for their beautiful, warbling songs. I need to turn to the song tapes every spring to get reacquainted with each bird’s songs.

On May 4, our wedding anniversary (49th), we had a pair of House Wrens visiting the wren house in the backyard. How romantic!

May 3, I saw my FOY White-throated Sparrow in the yard. They’re the ones who sing “Poor Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody,” the bird that lumberjacks called the Loneliness Bird for its mournful song.

That night, my buddy, Julian, and I led a St. Paul Audubon Woodcock Walk at the Arden Hills Army Training Site. We had a very successful night, saw several woodcocks in the moonlight and heard them doing their “Peent” call. Great night!

Most bird watchers have a yard list, birds seen in, over or from their yard. Mine is way out of date and I’ll have to sit down and work on it one of these days.
But the last two days have given me some pretty spectacular additions.
On Friday, 04/20, we had a Spotted Towhee in the Juneberry just outside the kitchen window. I had a back view of a very dark bird, about robin-sized, with two very narrow wing bars on each wing. And when it flared its tail, there were prominent white outer tail feathers at the corners. It stayed just a moment or two, then flew across the street to my neighbor’s yard. I saw the rusty sides as it flew. I lost it in the grass over there and wasn’t able to refind it.
Then today, in that same neighbor’s bushes was an Eastern Towhee! This version has a prominent white dot on the wing with no wing bars. It had hopped across the porch and I got a good look at its black, rusty-red and white coloration. What a gorgeous bird!
So two towhees in two days! Remarkable! I’ve really got to get to work updating that yard list!

In an earlier post (Mar. 28), I noted that Dark-eyed Juncos were congregating in what looked like they return to the northland where they breed. But I continued to see one or more Juncos in our yard till April 12. Then I saw none, and figured at last they were gone. Sure do miss those sweet little “Snow Birds.” And then, one Junco appeared on April 18. And one on the 19th, and TWO on April 20th. But none since…maybe that was the last of the migrant Juncos for the spring. Stay tuned.

My son, Drew, and I participated in the annual Crane Count on Saturday, April 14. Our site is near Poplar Lake, south of CR J on Sherwood Road, at the northern edge of Ramsey County. We park right across from the Ramsey County Compost Recycling site. There’s an osprey nesting platform just west of us. And three times in the two hours we were there, we saw an osprey fly over us and return to the nest platform with its talons full of clumps of compost. Its mate would pack it into the nesting area with its feet.
Vanessa Greene of Twin Cities Metro Osprey Watch says they’ve observed the same behavior there also. She thinks the birds are using the material to pack between the sticks they use, to make a more solid floor for their nest. Other ospreys use wet material from the lake shore, clumps of mud and grass. She says that sometimes this rich material contains seeds that sprout and create quite a unique “garden” up on the platform! She concludes by saying, “How ‘green’ of those ospreys to use recycled nest material!” Green, indeed!
Oh, and we did hear one pair of sandhill cranes calling. And heard and saw a pair of trumpeter swans, heard several barred and great-horned owls, snipe and woodcocks. A good morning.

My son, Drew, and I did our annual owl survey last Monday night. We have a ten point route out near Howard Lake, 50 miles west of the metro. We pause for five minutes at each point, listen for owl calls, write info down on a form, then drive a mile to the next point. Repeat through all ten points.
We heard no owls until the second to last minute at the very last survey point. I thought I heard a barred owl doing the “Who cooks for you?” call, but it had such a deep, hoarse voice. Then, we heard a few Canada geese softly honking at one another, from the same direction. Was it a Canada goose which had learned the barred owl call?
I did record it as a barred owl, but I wrote an extensive note on the back of the form asking if anyone had ever before confused a Canada goose with a barred owl. Maybe I’ve got another first!
I checked the map later and found that there was a small lake in the direction from which I heard the “owl.”
That would be another embarrassment to add to my “Why I Love Birding” file!
JUNCO UPDATE: Still seeing one or more juncos in the yard. I feed millet and cracked corn on the ground, so that does draw them in (along with grackles, starlings, cowbirds, house sparrows, red-winged blackbirds, squirrels, bunnies…it’s a fiesta!).

The dark-eyed juncos are beginning to congregate in our yard. This usually happens before they head out to their nesting grounds in far northern Canada. I can hear them twittering at each other, chasing each other, maybe trying to decide if this is it…”Let’s get out of here, it’s getting too warm!” But I saw juncos into the month of May last year, so this would be very early. It will be interesting to track when I no longer see them this spring.

Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East, Dennis Paulson. Princeton University Press, 2011. Paper $29.95, Cloth $85.00, eBook $29.95
Bethany Evink, with intro by Clay Christensen

Introduction:

I have a guest reviewer for “Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East.” This reviewer is someone who has been watching, catching, classifying and studying dragonflies and damselflies for years. And I’ve known her all her life! She’s my daughter Bethany Evink. She is much more qualified to review this book than I am.

Bethany was a team leader for Hennepin County’s Wetland Health Evaluation Program, in Minnetonka, Minn., for seven years. The surveys involved collecting invertebrate larvae, identifying plants, and scoring them in a matrix created by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The score from the matrix indicates the health of the wetland. Having a diverse dragonfly and damselfly population is a very healthy sign.

She also has taken part in the annual dragonfly survey at Richardson Nature Center, Bloomington, Minn., helping to document the diversity of adult dragonflies.

The Review:

As an Odophile, an Odonata (dragonfly and damselfly) lover, I have high praise for Dennis Paulson. His book, “Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East,” and its companion volume covering western North America and Canada, make it possible to identify 462 species of dragonflies and damselflies. This Eastern book covers 336 species located in the United States and Canada east of the western borders of Ontario, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Paulson’s joy of observing these fascinating critters shines through in his writing. Did you know that dragonflies control each wing separately? Not only can they move them up and down, but also rotate them on their axes like an airplane propeller! While I was sitting by the water watching different sizes and colors of odonata dash around, I had the good fortune of having a male Ruby Meadowhawk dragonfly land on my shoe with a fly he had just caught. It took five seconds for him to eat it and leave me with the wings as a trophy.

Since the greatest challenge in identification is getting a good look, Paulson provides tips for viewing, catching, photographing, and preserving these often evasive beauties. The most impressive feature of this guide is the photographs of each species. This was a monumental task. Each image is accompanied by a thorough description with measurements, identification clues, specific species’ habits, common habitat with a regional map, and flight seasons by state and province.

For the novice, you will need to know the family of the damselfly or dragonfly that you are viewing before you can effectively use this guide; for example, darners and skimmers. There are detailed descriptions of each family in this book, but other resources do a better job of illustrating their differences. When you are in the field, it will help to have a grasp of these characteristics by sight. Don’t let this intimidate you. There are only three damselflies and seven dragonfly families. With some Internet browsing, you will be well on your way.

For naturalists and outdoor enthusiasts who thrive on identifying to the last knee hair, this book will provide hours of tantalizing examination. For the beginner, the guide might be over your head, but you will gain confidence as you familiarize yourself with Odonata features. The downside of all this wonderful detail is that the book is a veritable brick, weighing over two pounds, with very fine print. But the gorgeous photographs and the complete compilation of species knowledge make this book the only one you will need to carry.

Bethany Evink
bevink@mchsi.com
3/12/12

In the next St. Anthony Park Bugle, my Birdman of Lauderdale column will be all about urban red-tailed hawks. And just yesterday, I saw a red-tail nest right along Larpenteur Avenue, just east of Hermes Floral. It’s in a deciduous tree, close to the street, and not very high up. It’s also not a very big nest, so it might be this couple’s first attempt. I saw two hawks at it, so I think they’re pretty committed to the site. Keep watching.

We just had a flock of about 100 snow geese fly overhead here in Lauderdale! Fantastic sight.
And the robins are “alarmed” at everything, it seems. Squawking at each other.
Grackles are back, as are European starlings and red-winged blackbirds.
Bring on the Warblers! Nope, it’s too soon. Late April, early May.
Stay tuned.

This morning I heard a white-breasted nuthatch doing his nasal “eh-eh-eh” nearly continuously. I looked along the major branches of my neighbor’s oak tree, but I couldn’t find him. When I finally did spot him, he was very high up in the tree, on twig-like branches that couldn’t have yielded much in the way of larva or spiders or other types of food. He must have been doing a territorial proclamation, saying “This yard with all the feeders is MY territory!” So, at least for some of nature’s critters, Spring has sprung! Hooray!