Keeping up with the Birds

Welcome to the homepage of my website!

2008-10-20T21:40:00.000-04:00

Here you can read some of my newspaper columns on birds that appear every other Sunday in Stars Magazine of the Post Standard in Syracuse, NY. Recent columns published during the last few years are also available here, courtesy of the Post Standard.

Each column becomes available by clicking on the List of Columns link in the Table of Contents to the right. In that list the latest column is at the top.

Click on the of the date of the column you wish to read. It includes all the original material published in the newspaper. Sometimes there is also extra information on the subject of the column for the interested reader who wishes to learn more about it.

To get in touch with Ben Burtt:

Via Mail: Write to Ben Burtt, Stars Magazine, P.O. Box 4915, Syracuse, NY 13221
Via E-mail: Send message to features@syracuse.com. Be sure to put “For Ben Burtt” in the subject line.

The most recent column to be posted is directly below.

Seed and feeders for birds that eat seeds

2008-10-20T21:38:00.001-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR OCT. 12, 2008

By Benjamin P. Burtt

For the birds that eat seed I put out fine cracked corn, millet and niger seed as well as sunflower seed. Each seed is in a separate feeder or in a separate compartment of a given feeder.

There are a number of commercial feeders of various types available in stores that specialize in feed and feeders for birds. The feeders for dispensing seed include some that are hanging transparent plastic tubes filled with a given seed. They have holes in the sides with a perch just below each one so a bird can reach into the hole for seed.

CAPTION: A large platform feeder like this will attract many more birds than a number of small feeders. Uncovered by a roof, the seed and birds feeding on the tray are visible to those flying by. A hopper in the center keeps the seed dry, but allows some to flow out each of the four sides as birds consume it and scatter it about the tray. Compartments in the hopper allow you to offer up to 4 different types of seed.. (photo by B. Burtt).

Others have a hopper to keep the seed dry and a small tray across the front into which the seed flows. The birds perch on the edge of the little tray to eat. Most of these allow only a few birds to feed simultaneously.

In addition to these manufactured feeders each yard should have one post mounted feeder without a roof that has a relatively large, open platform as shown in the photograph. Birds scatter the seed over the platform and birds flying by will see the seed and the birds feeding there. It brings in lots of birds for it is an advertisement that food is available there.

Generally you will need to construct this yourself or find someone who can make it for you.
The photograph shows a feeder that was first made to my specifications in 1965 by a retired cabinet maker. This large open tray was about three feet on a side There is enough “elbow room” so that many birds can feed together without conflict.

Note the hopper in the center. The roof lifts off and there are 4 compartments inside, each with a floor that slopes to a horizontal slot on the side of the hopper where the seed flows out. Above each slot is a very small overhanging eave which protects the slot from the rain.

The floor of the platform is made by installing a piece of aluminum or plastic fly screening on the frame for drainage.

BIRD COLUMN FOR Sept. 14, 2008

2008-09-14T16:28:00.008-04:00

The bird behavior called "anting" occurs when a bird is observed beside an ant hill picking up ants, crushing them in its bill and then rubbing them on its feathers. What is going on?

Now and then The under side of the long primary wing feathers usually gets the most attention. Sometimes birds try so hard to reach inaccessible parts of their bodies that they fall over and roll on the ground.

CAPTION: This blue jay has picked up an ant, crushed it and then is rubbing the ant on its feathers. This odd behavior has been observed all over the world with many different species and is called “anting”.( Drawing by B.P.Burtt)

At other times, the bird will lie down on an ant hill and let the ants crawl through its feathers. In this case it may be that the ants feed on the vermin they find amongst the feathers.
It is not really certain why birds do this. The most reasonable idea is that this treatment in some way removes parasites that are found in the feathers of all birds.

If an ant is crushed, a small amount of formic acid is released. It is this compound that is responsible for the sting in the bite of the ant. Perhaps the acid repels or kills parasites.
Poet Ogden Nash wrote: “The ant has made his name illustrious. through constant industry, industrious; so what, would you be calm and placid, If you were full of formic acid?”

Other substances have been rubbed on the feathers. Grackles and starlings have used the acidic juice from green walnuts. After pecking a hole in the shell and wetting the bill in the juice, the bill was thrust into the feathers.

Mothballs are sometimes used in a garden to repel rabbits. A grackle once picked up a mothball and rubbed it on the under side of one wing and on the body on that side. After dropping the mothball and preening its feathers, it gave the same treatment to its other side.

Beer, orange juice and vinegar were used by some rather tame song sparrows in one yard where the owner put out different substances to see what the birds would use. Some 40 different substances have been rubbed by birds into their feathers. These include cigarette and cigar butts and even a discarded cigarette that was still smouldering.

Bird Banding

2008-06-13T11:05:00.005-04:00

By Benjamin P. Burtt

BIRD COLUMN FOR JUNE 22, 2008

CAPTION: The herring gull is the large common gull in Central New York. Shown here is the full adult plumage or breeding plumage that is not attained until the third or fourth year. In its earlier years it is a dark colored bird, but it gets lighter in color each year. ( Photo courtesy of Jay and Kevin McGowan)

Scientists tell us that the herring gull lives longer than most birds. But how do they find out how old a bird is when it dies? You can’t tell by inspection. The one shown in the photograph is at least three years old, but it could be much older.

To find out how long a bird lives, a numbered aluminum leg band provided by the Fish and Wildlife Service is put on the leg of a nestling bird and that information is recorded. If that bird is found years later and the number on the band is reported to the address on the band, its age at that time can be calculated.

Finding a banded bird

If you ever find a banded bird, prepare a letter and send it to the address on the band. Include a record of the circumstances under which it was found. If the bird is alive, it should be released wearing its band after you record and send in the number on the band.

If the bird is dead, remove the aluminum band, tape it to the letter. Write the band number in the letter in case the band is lost in the mail. You will be notified where the bird was banded and when, and the person who banded it will learn what happened to the bird.

Here is the story of what is probably the oldest banded bird that spent its entire life in the wild.
On June 29 ,1930 Dr.O.S. Pettingill banded herring gull chicks on a small island off the coast of Maine. Some years later when he was Director of the Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University he received a letter from the Banding Office that one of those chicks was found dead by some girl scouts on the shore of a lake in Michigan.

This gull had moved inland from its birthplace and had lived 36 years. That 36 year old life span may well be a world record for a bird living in the wild.

Benjamin P. Burtt writes about birds every other week for Stars. Write to him features@syracuse.com in care of Stars Magazine, P.0. Box 4915, Syracuse, N.Y. 13221; or features@syracuse.com ( put "birds" in the subject field).

The Pileated Woodpecker

2008-06-08T08:14:00.005-04:00

By Benjamin P. Burtt

BIRD COLUMN FOR JUNE 8, 2008

The largest woodpecker in our area is the pileated woodpecker and it is about the size of a crow. It has a brilliant red crest and a black body. There are white areas under the wings that flash when it flies.

The scientific name is based on the Latin word pileatus, meaning crested. Some common names used by early settlers were "great black woodpecker","king of the woods" and "stump breaker".

CAPTION FOR Fig 1: This is the pileated woodpecker. Both male and female have the brilliant red crest. The female, shown on the left, differs by having a black forehead, and the line running back from her bill is black. These pictures were painted by Roger Tory Peterson for his field guide "Birds of Eastern and Central North America" ( Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co.)

This is not a common bird and is very shy. When you see one, usually it is flying away at high speed. However, it can be attracted to large chunks of suet fastened to a tree. Now and then it will visit a regular suet feeder.

It is generally seen in wooded areas and only now and then in a town or village. Some years ago one did spend a lot of time in Little Falls where it fed on the insects in the remains of a large stump located downtown between the sidewalk and the street.

During the spring and summer it feeds largely on insects and many are fed to its young.

During the fall, it begins to eat plant material. Grapes left over from summer are a favorite food. Seeds and berries then supply about half its food. It eats the seeds from beech, cherry, Virginia
creeper, dogwood and oak.

Carpenter ants burrow into living trees from below ground and establish a colony up through the center of the tree. There are chambers at intervals which act as nesting cavities for the ants.
From the outside the tree appears to be healthy.

CAPTION FOR Fig 2: When you see huge rectangular holes in big live trees like this it means that a pileated woodpecker has located a tree that is being destroyed by carpenter ants . The bird returns until every ant in the tree has been eaten and I hope in time to save the tree. (Photo Courtesy of John DePasquale of Auburn NY.)

In the winter, this woodpecker taps on the tree to disturb the ants and then stops to listen for the sounds of the ants scrambling about. The sounds are loudest at the site of the nest chambers.

There, the pileated woodpecker digs the rectangular holes shown in Figure 2 and removes each ant with his sticky, barbed tongue.

The tongue extends 3.5 inches beyond the tip of the bill. It can reach into a tiny hole and be bent around corners.

Benjamin P. Burtt writes about birds every other week for Stars. Write to him in care of Stars Magazine, P.0. Box 4915, Syracuse, N.Y. 13221; or email features@syracuse.com ( put "birds" in the subject field).

The great horned owl, the first bird to nest in the spring

2007-01-07T08:34:00.001-05:00

By Benjamin P. Burtt

BIRD COLUMN FOR Jan 7, 2007

The first bird to nest in the spring is the great horned owl. Its courtship begins any day now with lots of hooting and continues until the eggs are laid in mid-or late-February.

These owls do not make a nest of their own, but take over the old nest of a hawk, usually a red-tailed hawk or they may select a nest that was used by a crow or a squirrel. They seldom add any material. Once they have selected the site, they will spend some time around it as the moment for egg-laying approaches. The female will even sit in the nest before the eggs are laid.

These used nests are not always in good condition. They sometimes fall apart from wear and tear and the effects of storms. If there is no acceptable nest in the woods they have used in the past, they will have to move to another patch of woods to find another nest.

It takes about a month to hatch the eggs. Doing this in the winter the owls must contend with cold weather and snow. The female must stay with the eggs and the male brings food to her. When the eggs hatch, the male must find food for his whole family. The female stays with the young, keeps them warm and tears up prey brought in by the male. While she is incubating eggs or caring for small young she is sometimes completely covered by snow.

Most songbirds that nest in warm weather do not start incubation until all the eggs are laid. Thus all young hatch at the same time. For the horned owl, incubation must start with the first egg to keep it from chilling. So the eggs hatch at intervals of a day or two. At a given moment the nestlings will be of different sizes.

The great horned owl is a large bird. The distance from wing tip to wing tip is over 4 feet. The eyes face forward as do human eyes and the owl can judge the distance to its prey. Its eyes are large, about the size of human eyes and admit a lot of light that helps it to hunt when the illumination is poor. So important are its eyes that they occupy a space in its skull that is about twice that taken up by its brain!

Making Nest Boxes

2006-12-10T08:50:00.001-05:00

By Benjamin P. Burtt

BIRD COLUMN FOR December 10 and 24, 2006

TOPICS:

1. A Reader’s question: do you still have instructions for making nest boxes for birds? P.E. – Jamesville, NY. This question and the answer appeared in two parts in the Post Standard on the above dates.

Dear P.E.: A custom made box for each species is needed whether you buy or build it. The drawing shows the parts and their measurements for a nest box for each of 7 common small birds which use a box with a 4x4-inch floor.

That same drawing provides the measurements needed to build a box for 5 larger birds that use a floor that is 6x6 inches.

The important measurements are the size of the floor, the diameter of the entrance and the depth of the cavity below the hole.

These measurements are for wood that is 3/4-inches thick.

Fasten the parts with brass screws. Iron nails rust and loosen with time. To add strength and to better seal it against rain you might wish use to use a good exterior glue in the joints before tightening the screws.

To allow the front to pivot, fasten each side to the front with one nail or screw about 1 1/2-inches down from the top. Make certain the nails or screws are positioned exactly the same distance from the top on both sides so the front will pivot properly. Also, make certain the front board has about an 1/8-inch clearance at the top to keep it from binding against the roof when the box is opened. This clearance also provides needed ventilation.

Insert the floor and recess it slightly so the sides and front extend below the floor just a little to prevent water from seeping in.

The roof should be beveled and caulked at the rear so it will fit tightly against the back.

A wood screw at the bottom of the front can be removed to swing the front open for cleaning. The screw passes through a hole or slot in the front and into the floor. Run the grain of the floor side to side to make the screw hold.

Other things to consider

All boxes require ventilation, protection from rain, protection from rotting, placement in a good location and a sturdy mounting that will protect it from predators.

DRAINAGE HOLES.

Rain can blow in the entrance or seep through cracks. So bore some 1/4-inch holes in the bottom on a slant so that light does not show through the bottom.

The roof is wider than the box. The joint between the roof and the back should be caulked.

PROTECTION FROM HEAT.

If the nesting box gets too hot in the sun, the young birds will die. The thick wood (3/4-inch) provides insulation, 1/8-inch clearance at the top of the front lets hot air out. A few 1/4-inch holes drilled high on the side under the eaves also can be added.

A weathered, unpainted box is the nearest thing to a natural site. You may wish to protect the wood from rotting especially if it is not made of decay-resistant cedar, redwood or cypress.
If paint is used, select a light shade of brown, green or gray exterior paint and only cover the outside of the box.

One of the simplest and best ways to protect the wood is to paint it with raw linseed oil. Treat the box inside and out and repeat the treatment until the wood is well saturated.

Do not use wood preservative on the inside of the box where the birds might come in contact with it.

PLACING The BOX

A properly constructed box must be put in the right location to make sure the birds will use it. Most species prefer an open, sunny location. Never put the box on a live tree or in the shade.

If you are trying to attract bluebirds, open farmland away from barns or houses where house sparrows are numerous will lessen competition. Short grass appeals to bluebirds for they hunt for insects on the ground.

Fence posts or steel pipes make a good support. Predators, of course, can climb wooden posts or trees better than they can climb steel posts. A smooth metal pipe coated with grease is a very good way to discourage climbers.

How to keep birds from attacking their reflection in a window

2006-05-14T08:55:00.002-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR May 14, 2006

By Benjamin P. Burtt

Topic: A way to keep Birds from Attacking their Reflection in a Window
A Readers Question: Mr. Burtt, We have a female cardinal that keeps trying to fly into our windows, what is up with this behavior? How can we deter her? L.B., Fayetteville, NY.

Dear L.B.: These birds are planning to nest somewhere near your house. The male and often the female of a species will try to drive away any other individual of the same species that appears near their nest or in the territory where they plan to nest.

A bird interprets its own reflection as an intruder and will waste so many hours trying to drive it away that the nest often fails. This time might better be spent in finding food or later in feeding young. For the home owner the thumps on the glass are annoying and the glass get dirty. These “attacks” from a distance of a foot or less seldom cause any serious injury, but sometimes the bird’s bill gets bloody.

A number of methods have been tried to reduce the reflection seen by the bird, but these have not been very effective. A new idea using feathers was proposed by Stiles Thomas of New Jersey in an article he wrote for Bird Watchers Digest. I tried it this spring and it stopped the cardinal “attacks” at my big window that had been going on for two months.

CAPTION: Note how well this window reflects the trees in our back yard. A bird that intends to nest nearby will often see its own reflection in this window. It will peck at its image and waste hours trying to drive the “intruder” away. These brightly colored feathers suspended from monofilament fishing line and moving in the wind apparently frighten the birds enough to keep them away from the window. It is called “FeatherGuard. Two of the FeatherGuard strings are draped across my window as show in the photograph.

Each “FeatherGuard” consists of a four foot length of monofilament fishing line fastened to the window with a small suction cup on each end. The line is threaded and knotted through a hole bored in the end of each feather shaft. The seven feathers dangle and move in the wind.

Apparently, the birds are frightened by the moving feathers. It is thought that the sight of loose feathers is a sign that a bird has been killed by a predator and so other birds instinctively avoid the area.

This device is also effective in preventing high speed collisions where birds are killed by hitting the reflection of your yard in the window.

You can inquire about the FeatherGuard or order one from Bird Watchers Digest by calling toll free ,1-800-879-2473. It will cost about $9 for the product and postage.

If you wish to order for a store that sells supplies for attracting birds or you are a nature center, you can inquire about getting some wholesale by calling the toll free number and asking for Josh or Andy for details. The mailing address is Bird Watchers Digest, PO. Box 110, Marietta, OH, 45750.

Benjamin P. Burtt writes a column every other week on birds in the Post Standard. Write to him by regular mail c/o Stars, P.0. Box 4915, Syracuse, N.Y. 13221 or via email at features@syracuse.com ( put "Birds" in the subject field).

The rose-breasted grosbeak has arrived for the summer.

2005-06-26T08:58:00.004-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR JUNE 26, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

THIS IS A COPY OF THE COLUMN THAT APPEARED IN THE POST STANDARD IN SYRACUSE, NY ON JUNE 26, 2005

Mr. Burtt: We have a bird that we have never seen before. It is about the size of a robin, has a black head, dark back, white belly and a bright red V shaped bib. The beak is yellow. What is it? From D.E., ( in an E-mail message.)

Dear D. E.: The bird is a male rose-breasted grosbeak. Other readers have asked about the bird and ask, “is it rare in these parts.”

When this beautiful bird suddenly appears in early May it catches our attention. Every year I receive questions from people who have not seen one before and are thrilled to see such an attractive bird. During October through April it has been in the West Indies, Mexico and South America.

I see it first at my feeder where it comes regularly for sunflower seeds. Later on I do not see it very much for it is out of sight foraging in the tree tops.

( Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co.)

CAPTION: The male rose-breasted grosbeak on the right is “Black and white with a large triangle of rose red on the breast and a thick pale bill”. The female is “Streaked, like a large sparrow or female purple finch, recognized by large ‘grosbeak bill’, broad white wing bars, striped crown and broad, white eyebrow stripe.” Note the flashes of white when the male is flying. The painting and the description are from Peterson’s “Field Guide to The Birds of Eastern and Central North America”

It sings through the spring and summer. Peterson describes its song as “rising and falling passages; resembles American Robin’s song but given with more feeling (as if the robin has taken voice lessons)”.

Early writers were even more poetic in describing this bird song. In T. Gilbert Pearsons book, Birds of America, in 1917 he said, “Some birds have common voices, but the Rose Breast(one of its early names) has a rich and mellow voice that rings out with abundant vitality in the bush lot at the edge of the forest or across the bushy swamp.”

The beauty of the bird was its undoing in the late 1800s when F. Beal wrote “On account of its attractive plumage, the birds are highly prized for ladies hats, and consequently have been shot in season and out, till the wonder is not that there are so few, but that any remain at all.”

A common name given by early farmers was “the Potato Bug Bird”. It was welcomed for its habit of picking these pests from their crop.

Its nest is a loose flat structure mainly constructed of small twigs with a few leaves and plant stems. It loose construction allows you to see the sky through the nest from below. They nest twice each year. Often the female will be incubating the second clutch of eggs while the male cares for the first fledglings.

They are readily attracted to a bird bath so keep yours filled for the rest of the summer. The rose-breasted grosbeak will stay until the end of September.

Pileated Woodpecker attacking his reflection

2005-06-12T09:04:00.001-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR JUNE 12, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: A pileated woodpecker has been attacking his reflection in outside rear view mirrors of cars as well as his reflection in the windows of homes of a suburb near Syracuse, NY. Windows and mirrors have been smashed.

This is a copy of my column that appeared in the Syracuse Post Standard on June 12, , 2004

Kathleen Boswell sent in her April Feeder Survey Report that listed a pileated woodpecker. She commented, “I didn’t see it, but our neighbor saw one breaking our mirror on the car in the driveway. Does this count?” The bird broke another of their mirrors during the May survey week.

This bird has caused a lot of damage. It all started in the spring of 2004 on Brownell and DeVaul roads two miles north-east of Kirkville. The two roads are parallel, and separated by about a half mile of forest. Big trees grow near the homes.

A home owner on DeVaul Rd. found a badly damaged screen and suspecting a prowler or vandal, called the State Police. Neighbors were interviewed by the police and Richard Miller told them about his car mirror that had broken by a pileated woodpecker.

Several windows and car mirrors had been broken at other homes too. The police concluded that the damage on DeVaul Rd. was done by the woodpecker.

On Brownell Rd. where Kathleen Boswell lives, there was damage to windows and car mirrors at five homes. Three were hit in both years and two in 2005 only.

How can this be explained?Like all birds, the pileated will not tolerate others of its own kind near its nest.

When robins or cardinals nest near our homes, they very often catch sight of their reflection in a window. They spend fruitless hours flying up against the glass and pecking it to drive away the intruder. They never succeed in driving that “other bird” away.

However, a pileated woodpecker is the size of a crow, has a big bill and it can split out an 8 inch piece of wood from a tree with one blow if the wood is soft.

Courtesy of Hoiughten Mifflin Co.

This painting is from Peterson’s “Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America
When it attacks its reflection, the glass breaks and the image of the “intruder” disappears. It thus does “drive” that other bird away!

To illustrate what it sees when a pileated woodpecker looks in a rear view mirror of a car, Cornell Scientist Kevin McGowan prepared this illustration for me by holding a museum-mounted pileated woodpecker up to a car mirror..

Covering the mirrors with plastic grocery bags solved the problem. However, when the residents forgot to do it, the bird struck again. Eighteen mirrors have been replaced this season and Thru-Way Auto Glass estimates that they replaced 30 mirrors last year from residents of that area.

I contacted woodpecker expert Prof. Jerome Jackson of Florida Gulf Coast University and he knows of no prior report in the scientific literature of car mirrors being broken by pileated woodpeckers. This particular bird seems to be unique

Bluebird nestboxes and May Feeder Survey results

2005-05-29T09:11:00.001-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR May 29, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPICS:
1. A Reader’s question: how can I get more than one family of bluebirds to use nestboxes I have in a field back of my house? This question and the answer also appeared in the Post Standard today, May 29.
2. The results of the Feeder Survey for the first week of May

SECTION 1 : A READER’S QUESTION ABOUT BLUEBIRDS. This material appeared in the Post Standard today.

Mr. Burtt: I have five bluebird nest boxes in a field back of my house and each year we are lucky to have a pair of bluebirds use one of the boxes. Is there a way I can get bluebirds to use some of the other boxes too? W. P. Morrisville, NY

Dear W.P.: It is good to have several boxes available. Even when there is only one pair of bluebirds around, they are choosy and you never know which box they will like the best. It is good to give them a choice. Multiple boxes increase the chances that you will attract at least one pair of bluebirds.

CAPTION: The bluebird can be attracted to nest boxes placed in the correct location. This photograph of the male bluebird was taken by Robert Long of Syracuse.

Now we come to the crucial factor. Bluebirds are territorial and both the male and female will fight vigorously to keep other bluebirds out of the territory where they decide to nest. This territory is huge. A pair that has chosen a box will not allow other bluebirds to nest within 300 feet of their nest!

Tree swallows and house sparrows are attracted to bluebird boxes and are a serious competitor to the bluebird. If there is a quarrel over the box, the bluebird often loses and must go elsewhere.

All these other birds also have a territory that they defend against others of their own kind.

Now that we have learned about these territories and how each bird keeps others OF ITS OWN KIND away, we can use these habits to help the bluebird when we put out the nest boxes.

If you put up single boxes spaced 300 feet apart , tree swallows may take every one and the bluebird often gets left out.

It is better to put up two boxes about 10 to 15 feet apart. Now bluebird families will never occupy both boxes, but If a tree swallow gets one of the boxes first, it will keep other tree swallows away from the 2nd box, but it won’t object to a bluebird using it. This is the way you prevent tree swallows from taking all of the boxes.

Since bluebirds return from the south about March 10 and tree swallows wait until April 1, the bluebird will have a choice of of which of the pair of boxes it wants. Even if there is only one pair of bluebirds around, they are choosy and you never know which one they will like the best. Once they choose one they will keep other bluebirds from using the second box, but they will allow a tree swallow to use it.

If you would like to have more than one pair of bluebirds nesting on your land, put up another pair of boxes, but keep that pair at least 300 feet from the first pair. If you wish to add more boxes, remember a bluebird will not nest within 300 feet of another active bluebird nest. Thus we see that the reason you never before had bluebirds use more than one box was almost certainly that your boxes were too close together.

If you wish to read complete directions for making and placing bluebird nest boxes , Click on Columns in the Table of Contents at the top of this page on the left and then choose the date of June 27, 2004 .

The results of the May Feeder Survey.

There are always more species reported on the feeder survey taken during the first week of May than at any other time during the year. This time 82 species were seen by two or more people.

In addition, 35 observers each recorded an additional species not seen by anyone else. So the total of all reports was 117 species ( we had 110 last year).

What species were people seeing in their yard? The chickadee was listed on every report and the robin on 98% of the reports. Others seen at most feeders were mourning dove, goldfinch, cardinal, blue jay, crow and downy woodpeckers. Next came chipping sparrow, grackle, junco and starling.

The most numerous bird was the goldfinch with the average person reporting 7in sight at once. The goldfinch is not busy with nesting until late summer so it is about the only species where both male and female can still visit a feeder together in May.

White-throated sparrows are present in their largest numbers in May. There were no white-crowned sparrows from January through April, but May is the only month we get them and 38 people listed 88. Both white-throats and white-crowns are on their way to their nesting grounds in northern Canada beyond the trees.

Many more people are now reporting rose breasted grosbeaks than in the past. In the 1970's they were rare birds at a feeder.

Almost all the tree sparrows, juncos and redpolls that were at our feeders during the winter have returned to their breeding grounds in the north. We won’t be seeing them again until next winter.

The Long ListsWhat is the largest number of species that any one person might be expected to find in their yard in early May? Certainly no one would get all the 117 species on the combined lists this time. The longest single list this year had 62 and was turned in by Ken Smith of Freeville. Jeanne Ryan of Cazenovia had 57. Dorothy and Steve Hanzlik tallied 51 near Whitney Point. David Pardee had 49 at Bremerton and so did Linda Quackenbush of Waterloo.

The shortest list had 5 and this was the 4th grade glass at New Haven Elementary school. This was their best month yet and the species were goldfinch, mourning doves, chipping sparrows, crows and one turkey vulture was spotted overhead. Their classroom faces a courtyard and it is hard for birds to discover the foods. Good job!

The typical report had 22 just as it did last year.

Here is the complete list of species. The first figure is the number of birds spotted per 100 reports and the number in parentheses is the number of reports that listed the species. For example just below you will see turkey vulture 81 (38). That means that for a sample of 100 reports a total of 81 vultures were tallied. It also means that in the 100 reports only 38 listed this species.

Loon 2 (1); American bittern 2 (1);great blue heron 23 (18); green heron 7 (6); turkey vulture 81 (38); snow goose (1) (1); Canada goose 264 (52).

Ducks: wood 20 (10); mallard 97 (32);green-winged teal 3 (1); bufflehead 5 (1); hooded merganser 8 (1); common merganser 4 (2).

Hawks: osprey 8 (4); bald eagle 1 (1); harrier 8 (6); sharp-shinned 7 (7); Cooper’s 9 (8); broad-winged hawk 3 (3); red-tailed 23 (20); kestrel 10 (8); merlin 1 (1).

Pheasant 1 (1); ruffed grouse 7 (4); turkey 56 (22); killdeer 10 (7); woodcock 12 (7).

Gulls: ring-billed 158 (9); herring 47 (3); common tern 2 (1); rock dove 98 (19); mourning dove 366 (96); horned owl 3 (3).
Chimney swift 6 (1); hummingbird 8 (5).

Woodpeckers: red-headed 1 (1); red-bellied 55 (40); yellow-bellied sapsucker 7 (6); downy 187 (85); hairy 88 (53); flicker 48 (37); pileated 16 (13).

Least flycatcher 2 (2); Phoebe 38 (26); Blue jay 264 (90); crow 389 (88); raven 6 (3).

Purple martin 8 (2); tree swallow 155 (38); barn swallow 25 (10);

Chickadee 316 (100); titmouse 124 (60); red-breasted nuthatch 25 (18); white-breasted nuthatch 89 (64); gnatcatcher 1 (1); creeper 1 (1);

Carolina wren 1 (1); house wren 26 (17); winter wren 1 (1); golden-crowned kinglet 1 (1); ruby-crowned kinglet 22 (10).

Thrushes: bluebird 40 (20); veery 2 (2); hermit thrush 4 (2); wood thrush 5 (5); robin 286 (98); catbird 7 (6).

Mockingbird 4 (3); brown thrasher 10 (10); starling 440 (76); cedar waxwing 24 ( 4).

Warblers: blue-winged 1 (1); Nashville 4 (3); yellow 14 (13); magnolia 2 (1); yellow-rumped 12 (5); black-throated green 1 (1); palm 1 (1); black and white 1 (1); redstart 1 (1); common yellow-throat 2 (2); towhee 20 (17)

Sparrows: tree 34 (13); chipping 221 (80); field 14 (10); savannah 1 (1); fox 14 (6); song 120 (55); swamp 6 (3); white-throated 260 (62); white-crowned 88 (38); junco 269 (79).

Cardinal 209 (92); red-winged blackbird 404 (70); meadowlark 2 (1); rusty blackbird 3 (3); grackle 408 (80); cowbird 270 (67); orchard oriole 1 (1); Baltimore oriole 19 (13); purple finch 164 (54); house finch 153 (58); redpoll 1 (1); pine siskin 8 (3); goldfinch 706 (96); house sparrow 264 (55).

Feeder Survey Directions

2005-05-17T13:03:00.000-04:00

Feeder surveys are conducted for one week starting the first Sunday of each month from October through May.

This is a scientific project that I have been operating since 1959 that utilizes readers of this column who observe the birds in their yard and report the numbers and species to me. It is a lot of fun and if you haven't participated before, the following paragraphs describe what it is and how you can help out.

Your observations will help me find out what birds are visiting our yards and feeders throughout the winter. When the results are printed, you can compare the number and types of birds at your feeder with other feeders in the area. I will be able to compare this years results to earlier years.

Participation open to all who live in Central and Upstate New YorkParticipation in this fun project is open to all who live in Central and Upstate New York State. Here is how I define the limits of that area.

The northern boundary is the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario west to Rochester.

From there the boundary goes south to Elmira and Binghamton. From Binghamton the line goes north east along Interstate 88 to Albany and then north on Interstate 87 to the border with Canada.

Thus it includes all of the Adirondacks and the Finger Lakes regions.

For those of you familiar with the reporting regions of the former Federation of NY State Bird clubs, it includes all of Regions 2 through 7 and part of 8 ( The Federation has a new name, The New York State Ornithological Association ).

History of this projectThis feeder survey was started in the winter of 1958-59, and data have been gathered every year since then. The idea was suggested by the late Dr. Francis Scheider. So this is the start of the 45th year of this project.

In 1970, a feeder survey was initiated in England. In 1976, one was started in Ontario, Canada, by the Long Point Observatory. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology began a survey for the whole United States in 1987.

This is what you do.

Starting on the first Sunday of the designated month and continuing through Saturday, when you have a few minutes, look out the window at the feeders in the yard, and record the number and species of all birds that you can see from the house at that moment. These birds can be at the feeder or anywhere in sight.

Those flying by can be counted if you are sure of the identification. You can record birds that you see when you are outside as long as you are looking from a point right near the house. Birds seen on hikes nearby are not to be included in the list.

To avoid counting the same bird more than once, write down the maximum number of a given species that you see at one time. This way, you know that there are at least that many birds visiting your yard.

Later that day or on another day during the week, check the yard again and write down the number of each species that is visible at one time during that period. Watch as often as you like and keep these lists until the end of the week. You don't have to watch every day, but any day Sunday through Saturday can be included.

Then, summarize your observations by preparing a single list for me that shows the name of each species seen and the largest number of birds of that species sighted at any one time during the week. For example, if you see a total of 42 house sparrows this week, but never more than nine at a time, nine is what you put on the list that you send in.

There may be more than nine house sparrows around your yard, but we are certain that there are at least nine.

We conduct a survey for a week starting the first Sunday of the month from October through May. Through these surveys we see how the population of different species changes throughout the winter. We can also pick out long-term changes in the population of some species over the years.

Preparing the list.

There are several things you can do to make the tabulation easier for me. First, it is a big help if each list has the birds in the same order. If you can, please use what is called "check-list" order. It is the order the birds are listed in your field guide and the order I use when I publish the list of birds seen on a survey.

The second way you can help is to put each species on a separate line with the number of birds first and followed by the name of the species.

Please write the total number of species at the top of your list.

Unusual birds. If you list a bird that is unusual in this part of the country or should not be here at the time of the survey, or closely resembles a species common in our area, please write a note describing the field marks you observed and how you made your decision.

Sending in the ReportsAt the end of the week, put your final list on a postcard or in a letter and send it to the address below. You can use EMAIL if you wish. If you do use Email, please give your name and address so I will know where your observations were made.

PLEASE send your report by Monday right after the survey so that I can get the tabulation done in time to write up the results by the following Saturday.

Send your feeder survey report to either of the following addressesBy Regular Mail: Ben Burtt, PO Box 4915, Stars Magazine, Syracuse, NY 13221.

By E-Mail: Send to features@syracuse.com. Be sure to put "For Ben Burtt" in the Subject Line.

How you can read the Summary Report of the results.

About 3 weeks after a particular survey week ends, when the next survey starts, A column on the web site will include a detailed discussion of "The Feeder Survey Results" It will include the complete list of species, a discussion of all the trends and unusual birds reported, as well as the longest and shortest lists, etc.

A brief discussion and summary of the observations is published in the newspaper on that same date, but there is not enough space there for all of the details that are in the summary of the survey on this web site.

Reader Question on Cardinal eggs and Cornell Ornithology website

2005-05-15T09:14:00.001-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR May 15, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

SECTION 1. A Reader’s question: Can you tell me something about the nest and eggs of the cardinal? This question and the answer also appeared in the Post Standard today, May 15.

SECTION 2. The new “All About Birds” website from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology that provides for the public and school teachers everywhere, the Life History of 585 North American birds as well as material on attracting birds. There is no charge to look up information there.

SECTION 3. “The Birds of North America” This is a very detailed and complete life history of all 716 North American Birds. It is designed for scientists and for libraries at universities. To see any of the 18,000 pages of information you must be a subscriber.

SECTION 1. The material here was published in Stars Magazine of the Post Standard on May 15. It answers a reader’s question about the nest and eggs of the cardinal.

Mr. Burtt: I see cardinals around my home nearly every day. Can you tell me something about the nest and eggs of the cardinal? My book only covers the identification of birds. L.D. Cazenovia.

Caption: The male and female cardinal are shown here in this painting from Peterson’s “Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America”
(Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co.)

Dear L.D.: The cardinal’s nest is generally well hidden and you do have to search for it. The male was probably singing near the nest earlier. That may help you locate it. Usually it will be hidden in any of the following locations: dense shrubbery, a tangle of vines, a briar tangle or a small coniferous tree where the branches are close together. The nest is generally 4 to 5 feet above the ground.

CAPTION:This photograph of the nest of a cardinal by Hal Harrison is from his book, “A Field Guide to Bird’s Nests of the Eastern United States”. Although published in 1975, this excellent book is up to date and still in print. ( Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co. )

The nest itself is made of twigs and grasses and put together rather loosely. Fine grasses are placed in the center to produce a soft lining and to provide insulation. The photograph by Hal Harrison shows this loose construction. The inside of the shallow bowl is just under 3 inches in diameter. The eggs are a shiny white with brownish spots.

SECTION 2 “ALL ABOUT BIRDS”
Where can a person look up the answers to a question about the details of the life of a particular bird such as the cardinals nest and eggs discussed above? Written material that deals with such matters is referred to as the “Life History” of the bird. In the past a scientist or an interested lay person had to refer to a set of books.

One excellent such 21 volume set which I have used for years is called, “The Life Histories of North American Birds”. These were authored by Arthur Cleveland Bent and many collaborators. The 21 volumes were published over the years 1919 to 1968. That is where I have always searched for information about any of the 716 species we have in North America.

Now, I would like to tell you about a wonderful new web site prepared by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology where you can look up the answers to many such questions about birds. It is almost like having your own private library without having to buy a single book! It is called “All About Birds”.

If you have a question like the one above concerning the cardinals nest and eggs, or you have a question about attracting birds, you can go to this site where a lot of information is available. I am always willing to answer questions for you, but having a place for you to look up answers yourself may speed things up for you.

What is this “All About Birds”?

It is a web site which is a sort of Bird Encyclopedia prepared by the The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.

There you will find information about 585 North American birds. Given for each bird is its description, other birds that resemble it, the sounds it makes, where to find it, what it eats, its behavior, reproduction, conservation status and other names that is has been called.

The songs of each bird are available and you can hear them if you have the proper software. There are also video clips that can be viewed.

In addition to information about each bird, there are sections on attracting and feeding birds, building and placing nest boxes and landscaping for birds. This is a web site that is indeed, “All About Birds”.

It is available on line and it is free and Cornell has made this available to the public. If you had to purchase a set of books that contained all this information, it would be too expensive for most of us to buy. I don’t have exact figures, but I would estimate that if you had to print this, you would have about 3000 pages of material.

Continually updated.
One of the great advantages of having something like this online is that it will be updated as new things are learned about each bird. Imagine having a reference book on your shelf that automatically revises itself and is always up to date with the latest information!

School teachers and their students will find this to be a great source of information. The species accounts were assembled by Dr. Kevin McGowan and the other parts of the document were prepared by Maria Read and Anne James.

You can see “All About Birds” on the internet at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ once there, you click on All About Birds.

Readers note: The web address that I listed in the newspaper was not working on Sunday the 15th when the newspaper came out. The one shown here seems more reliable and takes you to the same place.

How to use “All About Birds”.

When you get to that site you will have a list of choices. If you wish to read about the life history of a particular bird, click first on the tab at the top called, “Bird Guide” and then you are presented a list of species and you select the one that you want.

On the other hand, if you wish to learn about such things as binoculars or attracting birds or making nest boxes, click on the desired topic in the Table on the left side of the page.

SECTION 3. Now I wish to tell you about another web site that has even more information about birds. It is called, “The Birds of North America” web site. If you are a scientist or a serious birder and wish to read almost everything known about a particular species, this is for you. This web site was also produced by The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. It is designed for the scientist doing research and for scientific libraries and universities about the country and the world. It is devoted entirely to the life history of the birds of North America. It does not deal with birdwatching or attracting birds.

Some 700 ornithologists contributed to it and it took over 10 years to put it together. It is the most comprehensive reference to the continent’s birdlife ever published.

During the rest of this discussion below I will often refer to Birds of North America as BNA.

How does it compare in its coverage of individual species to the “All About Birds” site discussed above in Section 2?

Whereas “All About Birds” contains about 3000 pages and covers 585 species, BNA has 18,000 pages and covers all 716 species.

For comparison, the discussion of the cardinal uses 5 pages in All About Birds, 15 pages in the old Bent series and 49 pages in BNA. However, for most people, “All About Birds” will give you all the information that you need.

“All About Birds” is free and available to the public while the BNA is accessible only if your have a paid subscription. Individual subscriptions are $40 per year. Institutions such as colleges, schools and libraries pay more depending on the number of people served by the institution. This was an expensive project and paying for a subscription is a reasonable thing to ask us to do.

I subscribe for I often need all the help I can get in answering questions and in preparing the bird column.

A Free Tour of Birds of North America
You can visit BNA and inspect the complete life history of six different species without charge. These are called “demos”( demonstrations). They are “free samples” that show you what information you can get if you become a subscriber. .

The one I think you would be most interested in inspecting right now is the discussion of the ivory-billed woodpecker. This includes the recent discovery that it is not extinct after all!

To visit BNA, go to
http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/

Once there you will see the following species listed as “DEMOS”
ivory-billed woodpecker
peregrine falcon
common goldeneye
semi-palmated sandpiper
yellow warbler
fox sparrow

Just single click on the name of the species on the web site that you wish to inspect and you will be taken to the life history just as if you had a paid subscription. These six are free, but if you wish to read the life history of any other of the 716 species you will need to subscribe.

However, there are a number of other links there that you can see without charge. These include recent bird news, species that have been recently revised and how to subscribe if you are an individual or a school or library.

Remember that there is no charge for using the “All About Birds” web site and you can look up any of the 585 species listed there as well as get information on birding, attracting birds, building nest boxes, planting for birds, etc. Everyone can use “All About Birds” and that will be a place to get the information that most people need.

As I explained in Section 2 above, you can go to that free web site by clicking on

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/
Once you are there, click on “AllAboutBirds”
This is a wonderful gift to us all from the Laboratory of Ornithology and I am sure that you will wish to use it again and again.

Deal with house sparrows and starlings and May Feeder Survey

2005-05-01T09:18:00.002-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR MAY 01, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: How to deal with house sparrows and starlings that try to take over nest boxes for bluebirds

ANNOUNCEMENT: The May Feeder survey starts today

INTRODUCTION
This column is divided into two sections

Section 1 contains a copy of the column on the above subject as it appeared in the Post Standard in Syracuse on May 1.

Section 2 has more details on the above subject as well as the results of the April Feeder Survey.

SECTION 1: THIS IS A COPY OF THE COLUMN THAT APPEARED IN THE POST STANDARD ON MAY 01, 2005

Mr. Burtt: Starlings use my bluebird nesting box every year and the bluebirds are driven away. What can I do about this? –M.C., Port Byron.

Mr. Burtt: House sparrows are trying to take over some bluebird nest boxes we put up in the yard. What can we do? J. N., Walworth, NY.

Dear J.N. and M.C.: Your questions deal with different pests, but keeping the nest boxes just for bluebirds is a common problem.

CAPTION: This is the male eastern bluebird perched on his nesting box. It is the only one of our thrushes that nests in a hole. It is unable to make its own cavity so there is competition with starlings, tree swallows, wrens and house sparrows for every available site.( Photo courtesy of John Rogers of Brewerton).

The Starling Problem
I will answer the starling question first for it is the easiest. Starlings are larger than bluebirds. If the hole is a perfect circle and exactly 1 ½ inches in diameter the starling can not get in, but the bluebird is able to enter easily,

This hole must be bored very carefully. If the hole is just a tiny bit longer one way than the other, that is, it is not a perfect circle, starlings will squeeze in. So, if starlings are using your bluebird box, that means the hole is too big or it is not circular. So you should fasten a piece of thin plywood with the correct size entrance over the hole in the box.

How about House Sparrows?

If you make the entrance small enough to exclude house sparrows you will exclude the bluebird. Since house sparrows live around buildings, bluebird boxes should not be placed close to houses and barns.

If you must place them near buildings, you can put bluebird boxes in pairs about 10 feet apart and the house sparrow will probably take one and leave the other for the bluebird. This does work in most cases. It also works when tree swallows try to take over bluebird boxes.

Some people have had success in repelling house sparrows by attaching one end of a strip of colored ribbon or a piece of monofilament fishing line to a stick projecting up above the box. It hangs down and flutters in the wind. This often will keep away sparrows, but it does not bother the bluebirds.

Announcement: The May Feeder Survey Starts today.

Incoming flights

It is time for the warblers to arrive. Also due this week are the least flycatcher, the great crested flycatcher and the kingbird.

The chimney swift and the catbird are due. The song of the wood thrush should be heard any day now. The white-crowned sparrow will start to pass through to the north. Also expected are the whip-poor-will, red-headed woodpecker and bobolink.

In about a week we expect the veery, Baltimore oriole, scarlet tanager, rose breasted grosbeak and hummingbird.

Another solution to the house sparrow problem.
In regard to the problem of House sparrows and bluebird nest boxes,
Since house sparrows are not protected by law, you can destroy them if you wish to do so as long as you do not harm any other birds in the process. There are traps available that catch them in your yard or there are types that can be put in the nest box that close the entrance when the sparrow gets inside.

If you wish to learn how to make and place bluebird nest boxes, click on
Bluebird boxes

Results Of the April Feeder Survey
During the first week of April, 83 readers counted the birds visible at their feeder and in their yard. For comparison with results from earlier surveys, the numbers given in the discussion below are averaged as if exactly 100 reports came in.

The most abundant species at feeders and in yards was the dark-eyed junco. This is the time of the year when juncos that went south are moving back through this area to nest in southern Canada. Thus April always gives us the highest junco count for the year.

Next in descending numbers were the red-winged blackbird, goldfinch, cowbird and starling.
Birds at the typical feeder

Most every feeder had chickadees, juncos and mourning doves. downy woodpeckers, crows and cardinals. About 75% included goldfinches, blue jays, grackles, robins and starlings..
Birds present during the winter

A measure of the winter population of a particular species is the sum of the six feeder surveys from November through April. Last year there were 5,395 goldfinches tallied. This time we had 4,898. These each were larger than in any winter since the feeder survey started 45 years ago. Normally, it is about 3000 each winter. So the winter population of gold finches has increased in recent years.

The red-breasted nuthatch.

They breed from Pennsylvania north to the limit of the trees. Those that breed in the very northern part of the range move southward in the winter and for that reason we see more in the winter than during the breeding season.

The winter numbers have been higher in alternate years since about 1989. 2005 was one of the low years. Before 1989, the numbers were irregular and followed no pattern from one year to the next.

Species reported by only one person
Niles Brown of Tully listed a black duck. Margaret Miller tallied a common merganser and purple martins near Sandy Pond. At Potsdam, George and Jackie Miller saw a brown thrasher. David Pardee had a screech owl at Brewerton.

The only house wren was seen by Linda Quackenbush of Waterloo. In Cazenovia, Jeanne Ryan tallied a snipe and a swamp sparrow. Steve Swanson spotted an osprey near Brewerton. At Liverpool, Judy Thurber saw two black-backed gulls.

Kathleen Vogt spotted two white-crowned sparrows near Nedrow. Next month we will see hundreds of them as they head back north. John and Elizabeth Wallace listed a red-shouldered hawk near Brewerton. In Fabius, Ted Williams had a rusty blackbird.

Ken Zoller of West Winfield was the only person to report bank swallow and rough-winged swallow, Bonapartes gull and green winged teal.

How many species were seen?
There were a total of 88 species listed, but the average list had 21 species. More species are seen in April than in the winter when 14 would be about average. The shortest list was turned in by Norma Griffins 4th grade class at New Haven. The feeders visible from their classroom are inside a courtyard completely surrounded by the school building. In spite of that location their feeders were able to attract mourning doves and goldfinches.

Other short lists.
Seven species were listed by Fran Vanderveer of Westmoreland. Cynthia Wallace had 10 at Elbridge. There were 11 species on the lists from Helen Clark of Camillus, Alan Fitch of Marcellus and Elaine Lyon at Cortland.

Tallying 12 species was David Bigsby from Syracuse. Also tallying 12 in Syracuse was Dawn Franits. Helen Sterling got 12 at Cleveland and so did Mrs. William Woernley in Homer and David and Kathleen Zakri in Liverpool.

The Long Lists
The longest list had 47 species and was turned in by Ken Zoller at West Winfield. Linda Quackenbush of Waterloo had 46. Lawrence Abrahamson of Marcellus tallied 43.

Other long lists were:
42 from David Pardee of Brewerton
41 from Jeanne Ryan of Cazenovia
35 from Steve Swensen of Baldwinsville
34 from Dorothy and Steve Hanzlik of Whitney Point.
33 from Bill Purcell of Hastings.
33 from Kathy and Scott Trefz of Perryville.

THE COMPLETE APRIL LIST
Below is the list of all species reported. The first number for a species on the list is the number of individual birds of that species on 100 reports. The second number is the actual number of reports that listed that bird.
This last number can be very useful to you. If the bird is unusual in early April that second number will be small, perhaps less than 10. So if you have such a bird it means that very few other people spotted one.

Loon 2 (2); great blue heron 22 (17); turkey vulture 106 (29)).

Geese and ducks: Snow goose 359 (4); Canada goose 1,512 (54);
wood duck 33 (7); black duck 1 (1); mallard 79 (26; bufflehead 29 (2); common merganser 14 (1); reing-necked duck 6 (3); green-winged teal 31 (1).

Hawks: Osprey 6 (2); bald eagle 3 (2); northern harrier5 (4); sharp-shinned 9 (9); Cooper's 8 ( 8); red-shouldered 1 (1); red-tailed 30 (24); kestrel 10 (6).

Pheasant 7 (6); ruffed grouse 4 (4); turkey 136 (24); killdeer 23 (14); snipe 1 (1); woodcock 9 (7).

Gulls: Bonaparte 2 (1); ring-billed 102 (18); herring 78 (6); black-backed 2 (1); rock dove 89 (13); mourning dove 391 (90).

Screech owl 1 (1); Horned owl 4 (2); kingfisher 3 (2);

Woodpeckers: red-bellied 54 (38); sapsucker 7 (6); downy 196 (89); hairy 91 (59); flicker 35 (29); pileated 10 (9);
rough-winged swallow 1 (1); phoebe 37 (29); purple martin 25 (1); tree swallow 112 (23); bank swallow 5 (1); bluejay 223 (78); crow 404 (88); raven 8 (3).

Chickadee 384 (96); titmouse 107 (55); red-breasted nuthatch 35 (24); white-breasted nuthatch 114 (68); brown creeper 7 (7); Carolina wren 3 (3); house wren 1 (1); golden-crowned kinglet 13 (3).

Bluebird 42 (17); hermit thrush 2 (2); robin 342 (92); mockingbird 4 (3); brown thrasher 2 (1); cedar waxwing 21 (3); starling 424 (77); towhee 4 (4).

Sparrows: tree 130 (36); chipping 47 (30); field 5 (4); fox 36 (23); song 168 (59); swamp 1 (1); white-throated 44 (22); white-crowned 2 (1); junco 926 (92).

Cardinal 230 (88); red-winged blackbird 581 (70); meadowlark 4 (3); rusty blackbird 1 (1); grackle 966 (78); cowbird 341 (58); purple finch 86 (40); house finch 172 (58); redpoll 46 (6); siskin 9 (3); goldfinch 457 (79); evening grosbeak 51 (3); house sparrow 332 (46).

May Survey starts today
The last Feeder Survey of the season starts today and continues through Saturday. Record the largest number of each species you see at any one time during the week. Lots of reports are needed. Short lists are just as valuable as long ones.

At the end of the week, mail or e-mail the report to the appropriate address below.

Benjamin P. Burtt
Professor of Chemistry Emeritus
Syracuse University
Home: 6161 Smokey Hollow Rd.
Jamesville, NY 13078
Telephone 315-469-6887
email birdcolumn@usadatanet.net

Derby Hill Bird Observatory

2005-04-17T09:31:00.003-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR APRIL 17, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPICS:

Section 1 The arrival dates for the Spring migrant songbirds that normally show up between April 17 and April 30. The Spring migration of the birds of prey as seen from the Derby Hill Hawk Lookout.

Section 2 Why Derby Hill is such a wonderful place to see the hawk migration. How to get there and when to go.

Incoming flights.

Eleven new migrants will arrive from the south during the next two weeks. The approximate arrival dates are as follows:

April 20: brown thrasher, chipping sparrow and white-throated sparrow.
April 25: yellow-rumped warbler, green heron, spotted sandpiper, common tern and house wren.
April 30: yellow warbler and chimney swift.

The Derby Hill Bird Observatory A question from a reader: Mr. Burtt: When will the various hawks be seen at Derby Hill this spring? G.M., Canastota,

Dear G.M.–Turkey vultures pass through during April and the first broad winged hawks usually appear about now and will be passing through until about May 5.

Thousands of hawks will be moving overhead during the next two weeks, but they are spread apart and are far above our homes so that we don’t even notice them there.

However, the Derby Hill Bird Observatory that you mentioned is one of the best places in the Eastern United States to see the spring migration of hawks. It is 30 miles north of Syracuse on the shore of Lake Ontario.

Hawks seldom fly over the Great Lakes, but instead turn to follow along the southern shore in a northeasterly direction and then swing north just after they pass over Derby Hill at the eastern end of Lake Ontario.

When the wind is from the south the birds are pushed close to the Lake and this heavy traffic is easily seen from atop Derby Hill as they pass by.

The migration is just beginning now for the osprey and the first ones appeared April 5. Still passing through are sharp-shinned hawks, red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures and a few golden eagles, peregrine falcons and merlins.

The bird that goes by in the largest numbers is the broad-winged hawk. Over 6000 went by on April 19 last spring. This season the first ones appeared yesterday. Visit Derby Hill the next fair day when the wind is from the south to see this natural spectacle.

Caption: The broad-winged hawk migrates in large flocks visible from Derby Hill. It has a chunky shape like a red-tail. Note the broad black and white bands across the tail of the adult. This painting is from Peterson’s Field Guide, “Birds of Eastern and Central North America”( Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co. )

Call 1-315-963-8291 early in the morning for a recorded summary of the sightings of the previous day as well as a prediction based on the weather and wind as to whether or not this day will be good for hawks.

This is where the newspaper column ended. However, in Section 2 just below is a further discussion of the Derby Hill Bird Observatory, how to get there and why it is such a great place to see hawks.

SECTION 2: The spring hawk migration at the Derby Hill Bird Observatory

The arrival of song birds near our homes is a signal of the arrival of spring that most everyone notices. Most of us are aware of the noisy arrival of geese. When a robin appears on our lawn or a red-winged blackbird is at our feeder, we rejoice.

However, for most people the migration of hawks goes unnoticed. These birds of prey usually do not appear in our yards and they fly by silently.

While thousands of these birds are moving overhead each day, from February through May, they are spread apart and far above us and we can not get a close look at them.

In February, a few Coopers hawks, goshawks and red-tails begin to move through New York. The numbers increase markedly in March.

One of the best places in the United States to observe the spring migration of hawks is about 30 miles north of Syracuse on the shore of Lake Ontario. It is the Derby Hill Bird Observatory. Thousands of hawks can be seen close at hand when the wind is from the south.

Why is Derby Hill such a good spot?As hawks migrate, they take advantage of rising currents of warm air to keep them aloft and this saves energy. These thermals, as they are called, form over spots where the land has been warmed by the sun.

Hawks migrating northward in Ohio, Pennsylvania or western New York eventually come to the Great Lakes

Since thermals do not normally form over the water, the birds turn right and follow the shoreline in a northeasterly direction. Most hawks migrate through our area following this traditional route along the southern shore of the Great Lakes.

Those encountering Lake Erie follow its shore to Buffalo. At that point a few go north and then skirt the western end of Lake Ontario. Most however, follow the southern edge of Lake Ontario to the east. As the birds from Ohio move northeastward they are joined by hawks coming up through Pennsylvania and western New York.

All these birds then pass around the eastern end of Lake Ontario and go directly north. At that turning point is a ridge across their path called Derby Hill. It extends southward perpendicular to the shore of Lake Ontario. This is the first hill that the hawks have encountered in many, many miles of flying.

When the winds are from the south, all the birds are pressed against the lake. An observer on the north end of Derby Hill near the shore will see them all.

As birds approach from the west, they are usually seen as they come up over a parallel lower ridge. West of that ridge, the lake plain is unbroken for many miles. Birds coming from the west do not need to fly over any hills until they encounter this first ridge.

Hawks frequently pause near this area and circle to gain altitude to go over the hill. For this reason, they are often in sight for many minutes before they pass over Derby Hill and then turn north along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario.

During March we usually see goshawks, bald eagles, red shouldered and red-tailed hawks. The first good flight this season was on March 7. That day 73 red tailed hawks went by. Sighted also were 3 Coopers, 8 rough-legs, 2 bald eagles and one turkey vulture. The busy period is from mid-March until the end of May.

In a typical spring, 15 species of hawks will be seen and some 44,000 will pass by during that time. About 22,000 will be broad winged hawks and their biggest flights come between April 20 and May 10. Perhaps 8,000 red-tailed hawks will be seen and about 6,000 sharp-shinned hawks and 2000 turkey vultures.

The 50 acre property is owned by the Onondaga Audubon Society. Biologist Gerard Phillips is there every day through the spring to tally the birds and help visitors enjoy this event.

Everyone is welcome to visit the observatory. When there are south winds you will see more hawks. You will also see many songbirds in migration too.

The Derby Hill Observatory is directly north of Mexico, NY. If you travel Interstate 81 from the north, use exit 36, if from the south use exit 34. The Hawk Lookout is located on Sage Creek Road off Route 104B just west of its intersection with Route 3. This is a few miles directly north of the town of Mexico. Sage Creek Road runs to the north from 104B. It is about one mile to the shore of Lake Ontario.

Use the parking area shortly before the road ends at the lake. Walk up the dirt road to the east to the north lookout.

You can telephone Derby Hill early in the morning to get a prediction as to whether it will be a good day for a hawk flight. The number is 315-963-8291.

The best weather conditions occur when there is a south wind which blows the birds up to the lake shore. Since they are reluctant to cross over the water, they are concentrated in a stream that passes over Derby Hill not far from the shore.

Reader questions, spring arrival dates and feeder survey

2005-04-03T13:59:00.001-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR APRIL 3, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPICS:
1. A Reader’s question: what is the bird I’ve had this winter that has a red breast like a robin, but really is not a robin? This question and the answer also appeared in the Post Standard today, April 3.

2.The arrival dates for the Spring migrants that normally show up between March 30 and April 17.

3.The results of the Feeder Survey for the first week of March.

4.The April Feeder Survey starts today.

SECTION 1 : A READER’S QUESTION ABOUT A BIRD
Mr. Burtt: I have had a robin like bird at my feeder this winter that has the red breast, but the back, wings and tail are black rather than gray. Its bill is not yellow, but dark and thicker and shorter than a robins bill. It eats seeds. What is it? W.C. Liverpool

Dear W.C. - It is almost certainly an eastern towhee which normally spends the winter in the south. Each year however, a few remain north for the winter and survive.

CAPTION: The eastern towhee is due in about a week. The male is black with reddish brown sides. The belly is white. Spots of white show in the wing and tail. The female is brown where the male is black. This painting is from Peterson’s field guide, “Birds of Eastern and Central North America” (Courtesy of the Houghton Mifflin Co. )

The Spring migration is underway and the towhee is one of the 17 new species that should be arriving from the south during the next two weeks. The migration started about a month ago and some eight species have arrived to date.

The sides of the towhee are reddish, and of the same color as the breast of a robin. On seeing it for the first time, people often get the impression that the entire breast is rusty. Actually, it is white down the center and the color is confined to the sides.

Until recently it was called the rufous-sided towhee. It is not as common as the robin and is a bit smaller and more slender.

It is found in brushy places and generally gets its food from the ground. To expose insects or seeds laying there, it often seizes a leaf and tosses it aside.

It also rakes the leaves by pushing back with both feet to expose the food items underneath. It makes so much noise in dry leaves that you would think a squirrel is making the commotion. You often hear the bird before you see it.

The song is loud and easily identified. It seems to say “drink-your-teeee”. The second syllable is lower in pitch than is the first. The last syllable is higher and is drawn out. Sometimes the third note is omitted.

In addition to its song, the towhee has a two-part call and it is loud and clear. Various writers have described it as “she-wink” or “tow-hee” and the latter description of the song became the birds name.

SECTION 2 INCOMING FLIGHTS

Listed here are the approximate dates that some common species show up between March 30 and April 17. The actual date we see them does vary, but I find it fun to be on the lookout for a species and when I see it , to know whether it is early or late. So here are the average dates:

March 30: wood duck and yellow-bellied sapsucker
April 1: blue-winged teal, junco, flicker, tree swallow
April 5: field sparrow
April 10: purple finch, eastern towhee, bittern, bank swallow, barn swallow and purple martin.
April 15: hermit thrush, clilff swallow, rough-winged swallow and broad winged hawk.

SECTION 3 THE RESULTS OF THE MARCH FEEDER SURVEY

During the first week of March, readers tallied the birds seen at their feeder or visible from their home and sent in a list. From the summary of those reports we can see what birds are here and which ones are scarce or abundant this spring in upstate New York.

The birds at the typical feeder.
The number of species per report ranged from two for the 4th grade class at the New Haven Elementary School to 33 for Linda Quackenbush at Waterloo. The average feeder had 15 species this time.

What birds were most often reported on the March Feeder Survey? Over 90% of the reports listed chickadees, cardinals, mourning doves and crows. Over 80% of the people listed juncos and downy woodpeckers.

About three-fourths of the observers had bluejays, goldfinches and white-breasted nuthatches. Two-thirds of the observers listed titmice and starlings.

A bit over half had house finches and downy woodpeckers.
Rare BirdsSome birds were reported by only one person. Lawrence Abrahamson reported a mockingbird at Marcellus. At Malone, Pete Biesemayer was the only person to see ruffed grouse, siskins and evening grosbeaks.

Dorothy Coye spotted goldeneye ducks on Skaneateles Lake. Estelle Hahn had a screech owl in Dewitt. Kathy and Scott Trefz saw killdeer at Perryville. Ken Zoller spotted black ducks and horned larks at West Winfield.

Unexpected birdsThere were three species listed that normally do not return from the south this early. It happens that each of these birds can easily be confused with other species that are expected to be here in early March.

A report of an eastern wood pewee came from Smyrna. This is a flycatcher that normally does not show up until May 5 when the insects are flying. Unfortunately there was no statement as to how the bird was identified. If it was identified by hearing its song, we must keep in mind that the chickadee has a “pee-wee”, whistled call that is part of the courtship and is heard all through the late winter and early spring.

A chipping sparrow was listed in Clay. They normally do not show up until April 15, so this report would have been some 6 weeks early. Again, no description was given.

If it was identified as a chipping sparrow because it had a red cap, it is much more likely that it was a tree sparrow. The tree sparrow is quite common during the winter. It has a reddish cap, a black breast spot and the lower part of its bill is yellow. If the breast spot is not conspicuous, the observer is led to believe that the bird is a chipping sparrow.

However, if you carefully inspect your field guide, you will find that in winter the chipping sparrow does not have a red cap. The top of the head is brown with a few fine black lines running from front to back.

Field sparrows were listed in Mexico and they do not normally show up until a month later in early April.

So when you identify a bird that is unusual in winter, please tell how you identified it. How can you tell whether a bird you see is unusual at that time of year? If you would like a list of the dates when birds show up in the spring, send me a stamped, self addressed envelope and I will forward one to you.

The March list.
Here is the list of all species reported. The first number for a species on the list is the number of individual birds of that species on 100 reports. The second figure is the actual number of reports that listed that bird.

Canada goose 828 (33)

Ducks: black 2 (1); mallard 8 (2); goldeneye 10 (1); common merganser 30 (5); turkey vulture 5 (3).

Hawks: bald eagle 3 (2); sharp-shinned 9 (9); Cooper’s 10 (10); red-tailed 30 (25); rough-legged hawk 3 (3); Kestrel 2 (2); pheasant 4 (4); ruffed grouse 2 (1); turkey 221 (21); killdeer 4 (1).

Gulls: ring-billed 44 (10); herring 32 (4); black-backed 2 (1); rock dove 160 (16); mourning dove 779 (92).

Owls: screech 1 (1); horned 2 (2).

Woodpeckers: red-bellied 62 (48); downy 198 (86); hairy 94 (53); flicker 7 (5); pileated 4 (4); horned lark 100 (1); blue jay 330 (77); crow 1,355 (91); raven 7 (2).

Chickadee 580 (99); titmouse 126 (65); red-breasted nuthatch 44 (33); white-breasted nuthatch 133 (73); brown creeper 5 (5);
Carolina wren 5 (5).

Bluebird 8 (4); robin 250 (39); mockingbird 1 (1); cedar waxwing 72 (6); starling 889 (64); cardinal 433 (96).

Sparrows: tree 361 (60); chipping 1 (1); field 3 (1); song 8 (6); white-throated 70 (29); junco 400 (85).

Snow bunting 22 (3); red-winged blackbird 62 (20); rusty blackbird 5 (2); grackle 23 (10); cowbird 24 (9); purple finch 99 (8); house finch 329 (55); redpoll 89 (9); pine siskin 6 (1); goldfinch 702 (74); evening grosbeak 6 (1); house sparrow 542 (49).

The April feeder survey starts today.
Please watch whenever you can and keep a record of the number of birds of each species that you see each time. At the end of the week, list the largest number of each species that you saw at any one time during that week.

Arrange all the species in the order shown in the list just above from last month. Put each species on a separate line with the number first, followed by the birds name. Please write the number of species at the top of the list.

At the end of the week, put your list on a postcard or in a letter and send it to B.P.Burtt, Smokey Hollow Rd., Jamesville, NY 13078-9548. Or you can send results by EMAIL to birdcolumn@usadatanet.net ( Please include the name of your town ).

The Spring migration

2005-03-20T10:02:00.003-05:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR MARCH 20, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: The Spring migration and the birds that are expected in the next two weeks. Special attention is given to the fox sparrow and to the American woodcock with its spectacular courtship ritual that includes singing on the ground, an aerial flight with wings that whistle and a zig-zag dive to the ground.

Incoming Flights

This week in our yards we can expect to see the first migrant song sparrows. Showing up in the yard the following week( 3/27-4/2), are the sapsucker, junco, flicker, and tree swallow. The winter wren will be back soon too.

Other Spring arrivals.

Many of the new birds that appear from the south in the next two weeks will not visit feeders, but you may see them near your home.

It is time for the kestrels to return. While quite a few of these small falcons winter here, most go further south. Thus the local population will increase as the migrants return.

The harrier or marsh hawk will be seen flying low over meadows and marshes any day now. The kingfisher returns and so does the snipe. Great blue herons are due.

The American woodcock or timber doodle as it has been called, moves in from the south this week. It has a very long bill and large, bulging eyes placed high on its head. This painting is from the Peterson Field Guide, “Birds of Eastern and Central North America” fifth edition
( Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co )

The woodcock will soon be engaged in courtship. It has a spectacular ritual involving singing on the ground, an aerial flight with wings that whistle and a head long dive to the ground again. These activities start in early April and last a week or two.

To see the show, drive to a marshy field with scattered brush just about sundown. Stop your car and listen for a single “peent” note that will be repeated at intervals. It may be better to just stand quietly and wait. The call is not musical, but it is buzzy and some have likened it to a “Bronx Cheer”. In fact it sounds something like the note made by the nighthawk in flight.

I remember one such visit in particular. The sky was clear and there was no wind. On the ground, the details of bush and meadow were blending into grays as the light faded rapidly. That is the time the ritual normally begins. Promptly, the first call came from an open spot a short distance in front of us.

A few seconds later, the call was repeated. We crept a bit closer. The woodcock generally stands in a little clearing. Sometimes he walks or struts about, but more often he just stands still in the same spot while holding his tail erect as he calls.

After a few such calls the, "peenting" stopped and the bird took to the air with rapidly beating wings. He flew in wide circles as he went higher and higher. When he was about 50 feet above the ground his outer wing feathers were somehow adjusted to make a “twittering” sound. It could be described as a rapid "winnow-winnow-winnow." When he reached a height of 300 feet this twittering stopped. Then he started his descent, chirping as he zig-zagged back and forth.

Then, as if a sputtering motor had run out of gas, the sounds abruptly ceased. Silently, the woodcock glided steeply towards the ground. He leveled off just above the earth, and dropped into the clearing from which he had come.

A moment later, the "peent" sound was heard and the ritual started again. After several such performances when the male returns to the ground he will find a female or two near his courting spot. If so, his performance has been successful!

Each time the bird goes into the air, the observer can creep a little closer to the courting ground. You can get within a dozen feet if you are careful. Eventually, the light fades and one can only follow the whole process by ear.

They often go through the ritual at dawn, but I have never tried to see it then. I understand that while the evening performance lasts about a half-hour, that at dawn can be twice as long.

Fond of Earthworms

The woodcock feeds mostly on earthworms and its long bill and the strange placement of its eyes are an aid in its search for this prey. It can seize worms that are several inches underground. It probes its very long bill deep into soft earth.

With most of its bill in the soil it can not open the entire bill to grab the worm. However, the upper part of the bill at the tip is rubber-like and flexible. Just this tip can be opened to seize the worm.

While probing for worms with its head down near the earth, it would not be able to spot danger if its eyes were on the side of its head like they are on most birds. However, since its eyes are placed near the top of its head, it can still be on the lookout for danger.

The fox sparrowNormally, the first fox sparrows show up about now. They are, in my view, the most attractive members of the sparrow family. They spend the winter from southern Pennsylvania to the Gulf of Mexico. They are now on their way north to breed.

The summer home of the fox sparrow is in the northern forests of Canada. There, it nests on the ground from the limit of the trees south to the Gulf of St. Lawrence and into the northern parts of the Provinces of Western Canada. In Newfoundland, it is one of the most common nesting birds.

South of the St. Lawrence River, there are very few nesting spots. In Nova Scotia, there is only one island off the coast where the bird is found. Its summer neighbors there include such species as the rough-legged hawk, the pine grosbeak, the gray-cheeked thrush, the white-crowned sparrow and the northern shrike.

Fox sparrows will be passing through Central New York from now until early May as they head to those northern areas to breed. We will see them again in the fall as they go south. Only during these two brief periods are they spotted here.

The fox sparrow is the largest of the sparrows that we see. The breast is heavily streaked. Like the song sparrow, the streaks come together to form a central spot on the breast. However the other markings on the fox sparrow are much broader and darker than those of the song sparrow.

Its most distinguishing identification mark is the rusty-brown red rump and tail. It is this fox-like color that gives it its name. Like the towhee, it feeds by scratching away the dead leaves in its busy search for fallen seeds or insect food. Both feet are used and it makes quite a commotion in the brush. In fact, one usually hears the scratching and rustling in the leaves before actually seeing the bird.

In secluded thickets

From late March until early May, the fox sparrow will be found in woods or secluded thickets or amongst the bushes at the edge of a field. It is hard to spot it there. Since it feeds right on the ground, it is seldom seen perched much above the ground.

When disturbed, the bird usually will fly into the lowest branches of some nearby tree and be quite conspicuous and easy to identify. In a moment or two it will return to the ground to scratch around some more.

Watch for it on the ground around your home, scratching in the leaves or picking up spilled seed below your feeders. It will be further north by May 5, so now is the time to see it as it passes through.

Early birds and February Feeder Survey results

2005-03-06T10:06:00.001-05:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR MARCH 6, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: The Spring migration has begun. Comments are made about the birds that have already arrived and those that are expected in the next two weeks before the next column comes out. Some details are presented on the phoebe, the first flycatcher to arrive.

ALSO :The results of the Feeder Survey for the first week of February.

INTRODUCTION

This column is divided into two sections

Section 1 includes material about the phoebe and other species that are expected to arrive shortly . This appeared in the Post Standard today.

Section 2 presents the results of the February Feeder Survey, what birds were seen, the birds that are abundant, those that are scarce and some of the unusual birds that were spotted.

SECTION 1
The Spring migration of the birds always begins in early March in Central New York .

Birds that normally appear during the first week of March are the male red-winged blackbird, Canada goose, grackle and cowbird. A few of you may have already seen these birds.

What new birds can we expect to see this coming week? Most all of us think of the robin as the REAL sign of spring. The robins begin to move in from the south about March 10 each year. But what about the ones we see before that? Are they early migrants? The answer is that it is very hard to tell. Here is the reason.

In the fall, most of the robins go south. However, for some reason every year, there are flocks of robins that do not migrate. There are not many of these flocks, but there are always robins about Central New York through the winter. They find an area where there are berries to eat and unfrozen streams or marshes with muddy spots in which they can probe for food. My guess is that having found such a spot, they stay there for the winter. The people who live nearby see them all winter long. The Feeder Survey shows that there are robins being seen every month from October through May, but only from a few scattered locations.

As the day become longer compared to the length of the night, there is a change in the hormones in most birds. This tends to produce a restlessness, an “urge to migrate” in those that go south as part of the approach of the breeding season. This restlessness also affects those small flocks that did not migrate and have spent the winter in Central New York.

During February, these wintering birds start to move around more. If they now wander into your yard, it naturally raises the question, are these robins that have returned early from the south?

On the average, the robins that have been south start to return about March 10. Suddenly, one day near the 10th we see them everywhere. The ones we saw in February though were probably here somewhere in Central New York all winter.

This week in addition to robins, we should spot a few migrant bluebirds. Killdeer and meadowlarks are due. Turkey vultures will probably be seen overhead.

During the week after that, March 13-19, the female red-winged blackbird is expected. Also due that week, is the phoebe. It is the first flycatcher to arrive. The other members of the flycatcher family do not show up until May.

The eastern phoebe, the first flycatcher to migrate will arrive about March 15. It is a gray-brown bird that bobs its tail down and up while perched. You can attract it to a nesting shelf about 6 inches square placed in a sheltered spot under the eaves, on a porch or inside a barn. (This painting is from Peterson’s “Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America” (Courtesy Houghton Mifflin Co.)

Why does the phoebe come back so early and how does it survive when there are no insects to eat? First of all, it doesn’t go very far south for the winter. It spends the winter in the Southern U.S. All the other flycatchers go to Central or South America for the winter and do not show up here until May when insects are available here.

I found a list of the foods that the phoebe eats in a 1967 book “Attracting Birds: from the prairies to the Atlantic” by Verne Davison. In the list of the plant food that it eats, there were 6 listed and only two have berries that could still be available when the bird returns in March, they are sumac and poison ivy . .

Those are the only fruits that persist until spring that were listed for the phoebe, but I suspect that it may find other berries that are left from the previous fall. Many other fruits that it eats in the summer were listed, but these are the only ones that have berries that are still available when it returns in the Spring.

If you see phoebes feeding on berries this spring, I would be very interested to have you tell me what they are eating.

The phoebe is a gray-brown, sparrow-like flycatcher with a light breast and a black bill. It has the habit of bobbing its tail downward and this helps identify it.

Its name comes from the song which is a hoarse, two syllable “fee-bee’, fee-bee “. The first “fee-bee” goes down in pitch, while the second goes up.

Sometimes the courtship call of the chickadee in late winter is thought to be the song of the phoebe. That of the chickadee is a clear, whistled call while that of the phoebe is hoarse and is not heard until late March.

SECTION 2 The results of the February Feeder Survey
During the first week of February, many readers watched their yard and counted the numbers of birds of each species. At the end of that week, they sent me a list showing the maximum number of birds of each species they saw at any one time during the week.

For example, if they saw 25 blue jays that week, but never more than 4 at a time, then 4 was the number they put on the list for that species. We know that at least that many were in the vicinity.

The first bird to arrive from the south is the male red-winged blackbird which comes about March 1. While a few red-wings have been here all winter, the migrants usually show up in Central New York during the first week of March and begin to sing. However, that first date can vary a week either way. This year I am still looking forward to hearing the song, “oh-ker-ee”, which for me says that spring has really arrived.

On the February feeder survey, out of 100 reports there normally would be perhaps 10 that listed one or more winter resident red-wings. This time there was only one report of 15 birds. They have been scarce all winter.

More bird news from the February Feeder Survey
For each of you who feeds birds, it is fun to be able to compare what you saw in your yard during the first week of February with the observations of others who feed birds. The February Feeder Survey has now been tabulated.

Here are the birds most often seen, and the number present at the average feeder during the period from February 6 to 12.

There were five species that were seen by over 90% of the observers. Here are those species with the average number of each that was listed on the reports. You can compare this to your count - - - Chickadees 5, mourning dove 9, cardinal 4, crow 20 and white-breasted nuthatch 2.

The two most numerous birds were the mourning dove and the goldfinch. More abundant than normal were tree sparrows, titmice, juncos and purple finches. While the tally for redpolls was low, the few people who had them had about 20 each.

The count for red-wings, grackles and cowbirds was low. Only a few bluebirds and pheasants were reported.

Some species do not travel in flocks and we usually see just the male and the female. This is true of the following species in which we see only 1 or 2. These include the downy woodpecker, the white-breasted nuthatch, the red-breasted nuthatch and the tufted titmouse.

The short listsEvery list is important for I am interested in knowing what birds people see. Some people have a better habitat than do others and have a greater variety of species. However, to learn what birds are around, we need to have reports whether they are long or short.

The fourth grade class at the New Haven Elementary School continues to send a list that is forwarded by their teacher Mrs. Norma Griffin. Their feeders are in a courtyard and it is a bit hard for birds to find the feeders. This time they had goldfinches and a mourning dove.

Listing 6 species were Eugenia Fish of Cortland and Susan Fondy of Watertown. Dan Frantis of Syracuse listed 7. Reporting 8 species were Charlels Bruner of Brooktondale, Judith Miller at Pulaski and Barb Robinson and Bob and Shirley Rock at Oswego.

The average feeder in early February had 14 species. So now lets look at the longest lists.

The longest listsAt Waterloo, Linda Quackenbush had 32. Ken Smith had 28 at Freeville. There were 25 on the list from John and Elizabeth Wallace of Baldwinsville. Listing 24 species were Ken Zoller at West Winfield and Lawrence Abrahamson of Marcellus. Tallying 23 were Steve and Dorothy Hanzlik of Whitney Point and Steve Swensen of Baldwinsville. In Perryville,

Kathy and Scott Trefz listed 22. Seeing 21 were Judy Thurber of Liverpool ,David Pardee of Brewerton and Paul Radway of Pompey. There were 20 on the lists from Matt Young of DeRuyter and Sharon Robarge of Richland.

Scarce birdsSome species were reported by only one person. In Dewitt, Estelle Hahn had a screech owl. Judy Thurber observed 2 great black-backed gulls at Liverpool. Dorothy Coye reported goldeneyes at Skaneateles. In Waterloo, Linda Quackenbush had the only red-wings and horned larks. Ken Smith tallied a mockingbird and a few golden crowned kinglets. Matt Young had 2 rusty blackbirds near Deruyter. Ilse Vogelpoel saw a chipping sparrow in Manlius.

THE FEBRUARY LIST

Below is a list of all species reported. For each bird, the first figure is the number of them listed on 100 reports and the number in parentheses is the percentage of the reports that listed that species.

Canada goose 364 (20);
Ducks: black 2 (1); mallard 30 (4); goldeneye 8 (1); common merganser 6 (3).

Daytime birds of prey: sharp-shinned 18 (18); Cooper’s 21 (18); red-tailed 32 (28; kestrel 2 (2); pheasant 3 (3); ruffed grouse 2 (2); turkey 118 (8).

Gulls: ring-billed 17 (8); herring 5 (2); great black-backed 2 (1); rock dove 139 (15; mourning dove 917 (97); screech owl 1 (1); horned owl 7 (4).

Woodpeckers: red-bellied 41 (32); downy woodpecker 189 (81); hairy 94 (50); flicker 3 (3); pileated 3 (2);

Horned lark 9 (1). Blue jay 311 (77); crow 4059(2000 in 1) (92); raven 11 (4); black-capped chickadee 490 (98); titmouse 147 (67); red-breasted nuthatch 50 (32); white-breasted nuthatch 141 (90); brown creeper 7 (6); Carolina wren 4 (4); golden crowned kinglet 4 (1); bluebird 9 (4); robin 497 (27); mockingbird 3(2); starling 678 (59); cedar waxwing 119 (5); cardinal 419 (97).

Sparrows: tree 518 (55); song 6 (3); white-throated 73 (24); junco 510 (85).

Red-winged blackbird 15 (1); rusty blackbird 2 (1); cowbird 30 (6); grackle 4 (3); purple finch 228 (24); house finch 298 (46); redpoll 162 (8); siskin 24 (8); goldfinch 855 (80); evening grosbeak 23 (2); house sparrow 613 (55).

The March feeder survey starts today and ends Saturday.
Please watch whenever you can and keep a record of the number of birds of each species that you see each time. At the end of the week, list the largest number of each species that you saw at any one time during that week.

Arrange all the species in the order shown in the list on this page from last month. Put each species on a separate line with the number first, followed by the birds name. Please write the number of species at the top of the list.

At the end of the week, put your list on a postcard or in a letter and send it to B.P.Burtt, Smokey Hollow Rd., Jamesville, NY 13078-9548. You can send results by EMAIL to birdcolumn@usadatanet.net( Please include the name of your town ).

If you would like to read the complete instructions, click on the word instructions. To return to this column click on ”Back” at the top of the screen.

The Great Horned Owl

2005-02-20T10:10:00.001-05:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR FEBRUARY 20, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: The Great Horned Owl, the first bird to nest in the Spring in Central New York does not make its own nest, but uses an old red-tailed hawk nest or a crow nest if one can be found. This owl will use also use a nesting platform if it is constructed to the correct specifications.

INTRODUCTION

This topic was covered in my newspaper column in the Post Standard in Syracuse on the above date.

This version here on my web site contains everything that was in the newspaper plus a lot of additional information for the reader who is interested in learning more about the great horned owl and how to build a nesting platform for it.

Signs of Spring

Here in the northeast we are ready for signs of spring. However, today It is cold and there is snow on the ground, and the only sign that spring is on the way is that daylight lasts longer than it did in December.

However, for the great horned owl, spring is well underway. Most birds nest later on, but these owls have already finished courtship, mating and are now laying eggs.

Starting in mid-January there was a lot of hooting. During courtship the male approaches his mate along a branch on which she is perched. He bows his head, leans over, fluffs up his feathers and then droops his wings with his tail pointing straight up. From this position he swells up his white bib and gives a long drawn out series of hoots.

The male then resumes his upright position and the female goes through a similar ritual. Later they face each other and rub beaks and then snap them with a clicking sound.

CAPTION: The great horned owl is the first Central New York bird to nest in the spring. Since we seldom see one close by, I am using this picture to show the bird’s huge size. This particular owl had been hit by a car three years ago and was under the care of wildlife rehabilitator Cynthia Page of Manlius. When its broken wings eventually healed, it was released. ( Courtesy of Cynthia Page).

They never make a nest of their own, but must find something they can use. In Central New York, they very often choose an old red-tailed hawk nest . It is a good choice for it is large and made of sturdy sticks. They must take what they can find and they sometimes use last year’s nest made by a crow or even a leaf nest made by a squirrel. They can use a hollow tree. One nest was in the crotch of a tree where three huge branches came together. There was no nesting material at all, but a single young owl was successfully raised there. That nest, of all places was in a tree in Oakwood Cemetery in Syracuse.

Once they have selected a site, they spend a great deal of time in the vicinity as the time for egg laying approaches. The female will even sit in the nest a lot before the eggs are laid.

These borrowed nests are not always in good condition. They sometimes fall apart from previous wear and tear and the effect of past storms. The eggs or young can be dumped to the ground prematurely

Two eggs are laid, but about a week apart starting about now. Incubation starts with the first egg and continues for about 35 days per egg.

One time I was inspecting a nest from the ground through my telescope and there was a mound of snow covering the nest. As I was about to take my eye from the scope, I saw the snow move and it appeared to shake itself. From under a coat of snow appeared the head of mother owl!

Two white downy young will hatch in mid-March. They will be the size of the chicks of domestic chickens.

They will be in the nest for over a month, during which time they need constant protection from the snow and low temperatures.

For many years in the 1950's and 60's I was studying great horned owls and red tailed hawks by banding their nestlings. If the banded bird was ever found, one could learn how long it lived and where it went. To do this I had to find active nests and climb to the nest at the appropriate time to put U.S. Fish and Wildlife bands on the young birds. .

Around the first of April, I would check known nests of red-tailed hawks to see if there was any activity around the nest they had used the previous year. If so, there would be hawk eggs in the nest and the female would be incubating.

Sometimes though, I would find that great horned owls had taken over the site a month before the hawks and half grown owls were in the nest about ready to be banded.

A day in the woods

In the Eaton area, Gerald Church would often find horned owl nests for me. When the young were the right age for banding, we would pick a day to do it when there was a blue sky and lots of sun. It was nice to be out in the woods in the early spring.

Here is one day I remember. Patches of snow were still present in shady spots on some of the hills. The nest was in an old beech and only about 40 feet up.

A sling shot was used to fire a lead weight over a branch. This weight carried a nylon fishing line. That line was used to pull up a clothes line which in turn was used to pull up a heavy manila rope over the branch and down to the ground. Gerry would tie himself to one end of the manila rope and the other was secured to my safety belt. With the aid of a pair of climbing spikes, I went up the tree while Gerry backed off through the woods keeping the rope tight.

There was a 3-week old horned owl in the nest and at this age it was still timid and easy to band. However, he puffed himself up in a somewhat threatening way to become a big ball of fluffy feathers. In the nest could be seen the remains of a rabbit and the bones of many rodents. I even found the leg of a racing pigeon with the band still on it from a club in Albany.

Another nest

A few days later, Church called to report that he had found another nest with young that were larger and almost adult size. I met the Churches early one morning and we went to that nest. This one was about 60 feet up in a maple tree and the two young were indeed fully feathered.

We tried to be quiet around the nest during the climb, for young owls frequently leave the nest on the slightest excuse at this age. Sure enough, when I was about 20 feet below the nest, one owl stepped to the edge, spread his wings and took his first jump into space.

The first flight is usually a long glide and the bird is unable to gain altitude. This young one was pretty strong and his wings were well developed. Consequently his glide was long and flat. Church went scrambling off through the woods behind the owl as I kept my eye on its path of flight. He found it perched uneasily in a small Hawthorne tree and brought it back to my pack basket at the base of the nesting tree.

To band the second one, I started up the tree again. My climb was continued as quietly as possible, but just as I tied myself in below the nest, the other one jumped out. Being younger, his wings were not as well able to support him and he took a rather steep glide to the leaf covered floor of the forest below.

He was easy to capture. Both owls were hauled up in the pack basket and I tied it to a branch. The youngsters were banded right in the basket. The first leg band was easy to put on, but the turmoil in the basket with two squirming full-grown owls that didn't want to be banded made the placing of the second band a bit more difficult. I wanted to be sure that the second leg that received a band was attached to the other owl!

Next I had to put the young in the nest and get to the ground without having them jump out again. Arranging one owl in each hand, I raised them above my head and placed them in the nest. They were held there with one hand over each one to keep them quiet. I was hidden below the nest (it's three feet across) so they couldn't see me as I slowly withdrew my hands.

They did not move so I climbed down quietly without shaking the tree. On the ground we quickly gathered all the equipment and moved off 100 yards where I removed the safety belt and spikes and packed all the equipment in the basket.

The young owls soon stood up to watch us, but showed no inclination to take to the air again--at least not that day. These were the last of ten owls that were banded that season. Some years later Church took up the banding of owls himself.

The first year for these owls is a dangerous time and most of those that I banded in the past were recovered in their first year. within 10 miles of the nest .

However, one of the three owls we banded that day (4/25/68) lived a very long time in the wild. When it was 19 years and 4 months old it was killed by a car one night as it flew low over a road near Morrisville. It was carrying a frog it had just captured! It was only a few miles from where it had been banded. At that time it was the oldest great horned owl in the banding records. Today, the record for a great horned owl banded as a nestling is a bit over 22 years.

More about the nests of the horned owlWhen it does find a place, it does very little to it. The adults will add a few feathers or grasses, but generally, they do nothing more to the nest than to make a slight hollow in the material there.

These old nests are often too small and in such poor shape that a young owl may fall out before it can fly. The edges may be made of soft vegetation and weak or rounded. If a young one gets too near the edge it will give way and the nestling crashes to the ground.

An owl nesting box

The great horned owl will nest in a man-made nesting box if it is constructed to the proper dimensions. Such a box is open at the top and would better be named a nesting platform.

For 12 years a great horned owl used a nesting platform in a tree back of my house. As shown, it is made from 2-by-4s and filled with straw, bark, sticks and hemlock boughs.

It is about two feet square with sides about 8 inches high made from two rectangles of 2-by-4s. The floor of the box is ½ inch plywood that is nailed on opposite sides to the under edge of the 2-by-4s. The sides of the floor reach to within 1/4 inch of the other two sides. This space prevents the nest box from collecting rain water.

Nesting materials

This tray-like box should be mounted from 20 to 40 feet up in a tree. It is filled with straw, sticks arranged in a circle and hemlock boughs to resemble a red-tailed hawk nest.

Insulation from the cold

These materials in the box provide some protection for the eggs and insulation from the cold. The materials used in a real hawk nest may be piled some 12 to 14 inches deep in the crotch of a large tree. These materials provide a great deal of insulation below the eggs.

Since my nesting platform was not that deep, special attention had to be paid to construct it so that the eggs laid in it would not lose heat through the bottom. The first model I designed was not well insulated and the owls that used it lost the eggs when the temperature was below zero for a few days.

After that experience I laid a 2 inch thick square of Styrofoam on the floor with a square of plywood on top of it. It somewhat resembled a sandwich with the Styrofoam between the wooden floor and the square of plywood laying on top of the foam. The nesting materials were then laid on the top piece of wood.

This nest is sturdy, for the four sides are made of 2x4s and a young owl can walk right to the edge with no danger of that side collapsing. Thus, the owls can remain in the nest until they are ready to fly. Such a nest in many cases is better than the old nests they sometimes have to use.

I had this platform in place for about 12 years and the owls used it 9 of those years. It was mounted in a tree on the edge of the woods about 500 feet behind the house. During the nesting season I watched the activity at the nest through a telescope that was placed just inside the big window that faced the nest.

Raccoons are attracted by owl eggs and I had to wrap the tree trunk with aluminum flashing after a loss of all the eggs one year.

The Unusual Fall Migration of the Tree Sparrow & January Feeder Survey Resuts

2005-02-06T10:15:00.004-05:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR FEBRUARY 6, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: The Unusual Fall Migration of the American Tree Sparrow as Shown by the Feeder Survey

INTRODUCTION

This column is divided into two sections

Section 1 discusses the migration of the tree sparrow which was discussed briefly in the bird column in the Post Standard in Syracuse on the above date.

Section 2 contains the Detailed Results for the January 2005 Feeder Survey

ANNOUNCEMENT: THE FEBRUARY FEEDER SURVEY STARTS TODAY AND ENDS SATURDAY

SECTION 1:
The Fall Migration of the American Tree Sparrow as Measured by the Feeder Survey

I have conducted a Feeder Survey in Central New York every winter for the past 47 years with the cooperation of readers of my Bird Column in the Post Standard. As the years have gone by we have learned some interesting things about the birds that spend the winter here.

During the first week of each month from October through May, readers watch their yard and count the number of birds of each species that are visible there. At the end of the week they send me a list of the species and the maximum number of each species they saw at one time during that week.

Using this information over the years we can get an idea of how the population of a given species changes over the years or even how it changes on the average through the winter from October through May.

Today, I want to tell you how I have learned something about the migration of the tree sparrow. Tree sparrows are present in Central NY from October through May, but they go far to the north in the summer to breed and then come back in the fall.

Of all the birds that are tallied on every feeder survey from October through May, it is the only one that does not breed here. It is listed on nearly half the reports in mid-winter.

It nests about 1000 miles north in the summer in the wet, brushy wastes of northern Canada. This area is north of the trees and extends as far north as there is any scrubby growth.

Figure 1: This is the tree sparrow. ( Courtesy of Kevin and Jay McGowan)

How do we identify it? It is the only rusty-capped sparrow that is abundant here in winter. It reminds us a bit of the chipping sparrow that also has a rusty cap and is a summer resident. However, we must remember that in the winter the chipping sparrow does NOT have a rusty cap. The top of its head at that time of year is brown with black streaks running from front to back.

In addition to its rusty cap, the tree sparrow has a dark spot in the middle of the breast and the chipping sparrow does not. On some tree sparrows that spot is not very conspicuous and this leads some observers to think it might be a chipping sparrow.

The bill of the tree sparrow is two toned, that is, the top is black and the bottom is yellow. While the chippies bill is entirely black in summer, it fades to a gray-brown in winter, but both parts of the bill are still the same color .

The tree sparrow’s nest

The nests in the far north are on the ground and hidden in dense tangles of shrubs. The tree sparrow might better be called the “brush sparrow” for it seldom spends time in trees.

Why is it called “tree” sparrow if it spends so little time in trees? The early settlers noticed that it bore a resemblance to the chestnut-capped tree sparrow of Europe and Asia which has a rusty cap, but otherwise resembles a house sparrow. A few of these European tree sparrows were released around St. Louis and you will find them in some of the field guides. In this country they are called Eurasian Tree Sparrows. Anyway, the early settlers gave it the name tree sparrow and the official name today is American Tree Sparrow.

The fall migration of the tree sparrow

This is where the feeder survey has provided some interesting information. The tree sparrow leaves that northern nesting area before September ends and starts a journey southward. A few appear here in Central New York in early October.

Figure 2 shows how the abundance of the tree sparrow changes during the winter here in Central New York. This chart is obtained from the Feeder Survey over the years.

Figure 2 In the chart, the number of tree sparrows per 100 reports is plotted on the vertical axis against the month on the horizontal axis. The number of birds for each month is the average of the counts for that month for the years from 1999 through 2003.

For example, The average of the January counts for each of those five years was 280 tree sparrows per 100 reports. For this January, 2005 it was 206. So this year the tally was a bit below the average for January.

Every year they leave their breeding grounds in the north in late September.
A few tree sparrows first appear here in early October. The numbers slowly increase here in Central New York and it takes 5 months for the numbers to reach a peak value. The numbers remain at a high level through February and March with the maximum count usually being in February.

In April, the numbers decrease as these birds start to leave for the north. By early May only a few remain, but all are gone by the end of that month.

The puzzling question is, why does it take so long for this fall migration?

Another bird that nests in the far north and migrates to the United States for the winter is the white-crowned sparrow. Its migration is more typical of the sparrow family.

The white-crowned sparrow, instead of making a leisurely migration, rushes along as do most birds and they all pass through here in October to go further south. We seldom see any during the rest of the winter. None were reported on the January survey just past.

In May the white-crowned sparrow migrates through our area on its way back to the north. This occurs in the first week of May during the last survey for the season..

I can only speculate as to why the tree sparrow migrates so slowly in the fall. It has a tiny bill and feeds on the very small seeds of grasses and weeds. Such weed seeds would not be available if the snow gets very deep. So perhaps it moves to the south only enough to find weeds that are not covered with snow.

The white-crowned sparrow is a larger bird and has a heavier bill that can crack larger seeds. I would think that it might go even more slowly than the tree sparrow since it would be able to eat tree seeds in addition to those on weeds.

Even if I can not suggest why the tree sparrow goes slowly, the Survey shows that it does. The slow migration is nothing new for in looking back over the 47 years of the feeder survey, I see the same trends.

I am a bit surprised that more people do not report tree sparrows, but I suspect that some people may be using only a hanging tubular feeder with short perches. Tree sparrows and juncos normally feed on the ground and they will not use such a feeder. In such a case they can only feed on spilled seed.

To attract those two species put out a fine seed such as cracked corn or white proso millet. Scatter it on the ground or on a large platform or tray-like feeder on a post.

SECTION 2
THE DETAILS OF THE JANUARY FEEDER SURVEY.

The observations for the January Feeder Survey were made by readers during the first week of January.

What birds were most abundant at feeders during the first week of January when we conducted the feeder survey? While geese and crows were more abundant than any other species reported, they were not at feeders. Starlings were in third place and only some of them visit feeders regularly.

The most abundant bird right at feeders was the goldfinch. There were 837 per 100 feeders. We always present the numbers per 100 feeders so that comparisons can be made with results in the past.

The goldfinch count this year is not quite as high as last years record tally, but is way above average. In mid-winter the goldfinch has been the most abundant species at feeders in recent years.

After the goldfinch came the mourning dove, house sparrow, chickadee and junco. There were large numbers of cardinals and house finches.

It is also fun to know what species are present at most feeders. As usual, just about everyone had chickadees. 95% of the feeders had at least one. Other birds that were present at over 80% of the feeders were white-breasted nuthatches, downy woodpeckers, mourning doves and juncos. Over half the feeders had blue jays, goldfinches, titmice and hairy woodpeckers. The tree sparrow was listed by almost half the people.

A total of sixty species was spotted. Of these, 48 were fairly common, that is they were seen by 2 or more observers. The other 12 species were each seen by only one person.

The typical feeder had 13 species. By that I mean that half of the observers had more than 13 and the other half had less than 13.

The shortest lists.

The shortest list came from the New Haven Elementary School fourth grade class taught by Norma Griffin, they had 15 goldfinches and 2 mourning doves. E. Randall of Clinton tallied 4 species. In Watertown, Susan Fonday listed 5. There were 6 on the lists of Dawn Franits of Syracuse, Marsha Smith of Dryden and Mrs. William Woernley of Homer.

Tallying 7 were David Bigsby of Syracuse, Eugenia Fish of Cortland and Bob and Shirley Rock of Oswego. Cynthia Wallace had 8 in Elbridge.

The longest lists

The longest list came from Ken Smith in Groton, he had 32 species. In Waterloo, Linda Quackenbush had 31. Tallying 27 were David Pardee of Bremerton and Steve Swensen of Baldwinsville. Ken Zoller had 26 in West Winfield. Listing 25 was John and Elizabeth Wallace.

There were 22 on the lists from Paul Radway of Pompey, Steve and Dorothy Hanzlik of Whitney Point and Matt Young of DeRuyter.

Finches from the northThere are many other northern species that come down here when food is scarce in Canada. This year there has been no appreciable movement of northern finches as far south as Central New York. The northernmost survey came from Peter and Linda Biesemeyer of Malone. They did list some northern species. They had 30 redpolls, 4 pine siskins and 10 evening grosbeaks.

The Rare BirdsBirds listed by only 1 person were bufflehead by Mrs. Dana Coye at Skaneateles, a kingfisher at New Woodstock, reported by William and Marilyn Fais. Estelle Hahn of Dewitt has had a screech owl roosting in a nest box. David Pardee reported a great blue heron and a hermit thrush near Brewerton. Judy Thurber at Liverpool was the only person to report Herring gulls and Great black-backed gulls. Matt Young had a rusty blackbird at DeRuyter. Ken Zoller reported black ducks and horned larks at West Winfield.

There was one yellow-throated vireo reported, but the person did not tell how the bird was identified. This bird is normally in South America in winter and I can find no records of one here in winter. When an unusual bird is listed, it is very helpful if you give me the field marks that you used to identify the bird.

Two people reported chipping sparrows, Remember, the chipping sparrow does not have a reddish cap in winter. Most winter reports turn out to be tree sparrows.

The total pictureHere is the list of all species reported. The first figure is the number of birds spotted per 100 reports and the one in parentheses is the number of reports out of 100 that listed the species.

If you divide the number of birds by the number of reports for a particular species you get the average number visiting a feeder. It is fun to compare this with your own tally for that species.

Great blue heron 1 (1); Canada goose 2,729 (34).

Ducks: black 2 (1); mallard 21 (5); bufflehead 8 (1);

Daytime birds of prey: northern harrier 2 (2); sharp-shinned hawk 14 (14); Cooper’s hawk 19 (19); redtail 23 (19); rough-legged hawk 2 (2); pheasant 7 (4); ruffed grouse 3 (3); turkey 43 (5).

Gulls: ring-billed 21 (5); herring 2 (1); black-backed 2 (1); rock dove 129 (10); mourning dove 736 (83); screech owl 1 (1); horned owl 3 (2); kingfisher 1 (1).

Woodpeckers: red-bellied 50 (40); downy 192 (84); hairy 78 (52); flicker 4 (4); pileated 4 (4); horned lark 1 (1); blue jay 247 (67); crow 2,018 (84); raven 11 (5); chickadee 516 (95); titmouse 148 (64); red-breasted nuthatch 44 (32); white-breasted nuthatch 143 (85); brown creeper 4 (4); Carolina wren 4 (4); bluebird 11 (2); hermit thrush 1 (1); robin 72 (7); cedar waxwing 133 (8); northern shrike 2 (2); starling 941 (35); cardinal 355 (82).

Sparrows: tree 206 (44); chipping 4 (2); song 4 (3); white-throated 48 (16); junco 434 (79); red-winged blackbird 4 (2); rusty blackbird 1 (1); grackle 4 (3); cowbird 64 (7); purple finch 109(17); house finch 310 (41); redpoll 134 (8); pine siskin 5 (2); goldfinch 857 (67); evening grosbeak 10(1); house sparrow 667 (44).

Announcement: The February Feeder Survey starts today, February 6

ntifying Coopers and Sharp-shinned hawks in your yard

2005-01-23T10:20:00.003-05:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR JANUARY 23, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: Identifying Coopers and Sharp-shinned hawks in your yard.
Announcement: The February Feeder Survey starts Sunday February 6

INTRODUCTION
This column contains all of the material that appeared in the Bird Column in the Post Standard in Syracuse on the above date.

However, this web version contains additional information and additional photographs for the reader who is interested in learning more about how to identify individual birds of these very similar species.

Dear Mr. Burtt:
I am sending you a picture I took of a hawk in my backyard on October 24. We think it is a Coopers or a sharp-shinned hawk. It seemed to be bigger than a crow. Can you help us identify it?
-Mike Reissig, Liverpool.

Figure 1 Courtesy of Mike Reissig

Dear Mike:
You are correct that the bird is either a Coopers or a sharp-shinned hawk. The markings on your bird will fit either species. We can also say that it is an adult bird as will be clear in the discussion below.

So how can we determine which species it is?

These hawks belong to the Accipiter Family that are referred to as the Bird Hawks because they feed mostly on birds. There is a third member of the family, the Northern Goshawk which is larger and the adult has a somewhat different appearance. In identifying the Coopers and sharp-shin we will use the way the birds are marked, the size, the shape of the bird and the shape of the end of the tail. Lets take those up in turn.

SIZE

The painting in Figure 2 below shows the adults of both species. Note that the sharp-shinned hawk is smaller on the average than is the Coopers. Unfortunately, when we see a bird alone, it is difficult to tell how big it is. We need to compare its size to the size of another bird that we know. If you would measure the piece of drift wood the bird is perched on in your photograph, we can compare the size of the bird in the picture to the piece of wood and make that comparison.

Figure 2 Courtesy of Julie Zickefoose:

A sharp-shinned hawk is shown on the left. The Coopers hawk is on the right. Note the squared off end of the sharpie’s tail and the rounded end of the Coopers. The horizontal lines on the breast show that these are adults. Immature birds have brownish lines running up and down. This painting by Julie Zickefoose is from the forthcoming book, “Identify Yourself: The Top Birding Identification Challenges” by Bill Thompson, Editor of Bird Watchers Digest

Here are some measurements that would help us use size to identify the hawks. If you measure the distance from the tip of the beak to the tip of the tail of sharp-shins, the specimens range from 10 to 14 inches. The same measurements on a Coopers hawk are 14 to 20 inches. So their sizes overlap.

Complicating the use of size is that among hawks and owls, the female is larger than the male. A female sharp-shinned hawk can be the same size as a male Coopers hawk.

If you could measure the bird and the length is clearly less than 14 inches it is a sharp-shin and if it is greater than 14 it is a Coopers. If it was just 14 inches you could not be sure based on size alone.

In your message you said that the bird was about the size of a crow or even larger. Since the crow can be 17 to 20 inches, that would tend to rule out a sharp-shin.

The shape of the bird

The Coopers has a slightly larger head in proportion to its body and a somewhat longer neck. These are hard to judge for the bird can stretch its head up or “hunch” down a bit. On the basis of the body shape I tend to think it is a Coopers.

The tail

The best “field mark” when the birds are perched, as in the painting, is the shape of the end of the tail. Note that it is rounded on the Coopers and straight across on the sharp-shinned.

You can see this if the bird is relaxed and the tail feathers are not fanned out. Unfortunately, in the photograph you sent, the tip of the tail is concealed by a branch.

The plumage of adults and juveniles

The birds shown in Figure 2 above, are adults. They have the rusty barring ( horizontal lines) across the chest. The back and wings are a bluish gray.

Now, lets now look at Figure 3 , here are the immature birds also painted by Julie Zickafoose. This is how they look during their first year. The wings and back are brown and these birds have a streaked breast, that is the lines run up and down.

Figure 3 Courtesy of Julie Zickefoose

It is common usage in field guides when describing lines on a birds breast to use the word “barring” when the lines run left and right and to use “streaks” when the lines run up and down. ( My dictionary does not mention this use of the words. Streaks and bars seam to mean much the same thing in it.)

From the general body shape, the breast markings and your estimate of size, I would vote for an adult Coopers hawk. If we could see that the end of the tail is rounded, we would be certain.

During their second year the Accipiters look much like the adults, but it may take an additional year before they get the full adult plumage.

Another Hawk Identification Question

Here is a photograph taken by Carolyn Pyle of Freeville. Jim and Carolyn asked if I could help them identify the bird.

Figure 4 Courtesy of Carolyn Pyle

This photograph taken from the rear shows a brown back. In this case we know exactly how big the bird is. In discussing the bird over the telephone, I asked whether the bird was actually perching on that wire fence. Assuring me that it was indeed perched there, the next question was, what are the dimensions of the openings in the mesh? It had a mesh 2 inches wide and 4 inches high. The bird from top to bottom therefore is about three mesh openings high, or about 12 inches.

That makes it too small to be a Coopers hawk, but is quite correct for the sharp-shinned hawk. The brown color suggests a first year bird. But what are those white spots on the wings?

I have not seen very many sharp-shinned hawks in the wild so telephoned Dr. Kevin McGowan of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. When I described it to him he said that such spotting on the wings is common on the immature birds. Later the Pyles sent him a copy of the photo and he confirmed its identity as an immature sharp-shinned hawk.

After all this, I searched my field guides for a picture of the back of a juvenile sharp-shin. I finally found a photograph in Kenn Kaufman’s “Birds of North America” on page 117. It is almost a duplicate of Carolyn Pyles photograph. There was no image in Peterson’s latest Field Guide nor in The Sibley Guide to Birds or the Stokes Guide.

So, when you see a hawk looking over the birds in your yard, it will probably be a sharp-shinned or Coopers hawk. It appears there because it is hungry too. You may have mixed feelings about it feeding on one of “your” chickadees, but it gives you an opportunity to see a relatively rare bird in your yard.

Protecting your feeder from hawks

You may wish to minimize the number of your birds that the hawk captures. First, it is wise to have shelter nearby. This can be a hiding place, such as a dense evergreen or a big brush pile within 6 to 10 feet of the feeders.

Since it is the activity of many birds near your feeder that gets the hawks attention, you can stop feeding birds for 3 or 4 days. After the hawk has gone elsewhere, put out the food again and the hawk will probably have found another place to hunt.

Results of the December Feeder Survey

2005-01-09T10:25:00.009-05:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR JANUARY 9, 2005

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: The Results of the December 2004 Feeder Survey

INTRODUCTION

This column is divided into two sections

Section 1 contains a summary of the results of the December Feeder Survey as it appeared in Stars Magazine of the Post Standard in Syracuse on the above date.

Section 2 contains all the results with more details such as the complete list of species and their numbers, a discussion of those species that were abundant, those scarce, the very rare species listed and those that show a population trend through this season so far.

SECTION 1: THIS IS A COPY OF THE COLUMN THAT APPEARED IN THE POST STANDARD ON JANUARY 9, 2005

What birds are showing up at feeders this winter? The table below shows a list of the birds reported on the December Feeder Survey around the average home in Central New York. The first column shows the percent of the feeders that had each species. For example, 98% of the reports listed chickadee. On the average the observers had 5 chickadees in November and in December. This table is based on the results of the Feeder Survey for the first week of December. You can compare what you are seeing with these December Feeder Survey Results.

Percent of feeders	species	Number per report
		November	December
98	chickadee	5	5
87	junco	4	5
87	Crow	16	50
84	White-breasted nuthatch	2	2
84	Mourning dove	9	6
84	Downy woodpecker	2	1
81	Blue jay	4	4
77	Goldfinch	14	10
74	Cardinal	2	4
66	Titmouse	2	2
62	House finch	3	7
53	Canada goose	120	123
48	House sparrow	15	13
25	Tree sparrow (Nov.)	3
47	Tree sparrow )Dec.)		3

You may wonder about the tree sparrow entries. The average per feeder was 3 in November and the same in December. This suggests that there was no change. However, although people had only 3, there were a lot more people listing it. 25% of the feeders had them in November and they were reported on 47% of the feeders in December. Thus a lot more people had the bird in December so the total number reported in December was higher. They are still migrating south to our area and See SECTION 2 below where they are discussed again.

How was this information obtained? Readers counted the birds in their yard several times each day during the first week of December. At the end of the week, they sent me a list showing for each species the largest number they saw at any one time during that week. We know that there were at least that many birds of that species near their home.

There were 65 species reported altogether, but most people had about 14. The number of birds listed on a typical report for the first week of December, 2004 is shown in the table above. The results for the previous month are shown for comparison. These are in order of the birds most often reported ( i.e. the percent of the feeders that have the bird, which is the first column of numbers). The chickadee is at the top of the list since 98% of the reports listed it. Lots of crows and geese were seen, but they were not at feeders
Numbers higherWe had twice as many cardinals in December as in November. It has been ten years since there were as many cardinals reported in December. Crow numbers were up since November. More hairy woodpeckers were tallied than in the past.

Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co.

CAPTION: Record numbers of cardinals are showing up at feeders in Central NY this winter. Females are brown with a tinge of red in the wings and tail. First year birds are like the adults now, but not quite so brilliant. This painting is from Peterson’s “Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America”, fifth edition . (Courtesy of the Houghton Mifflin Co. )

Numbers lower

Red-wings and grackles are low this year and the house finch population has been going down for the past three years. This winter there has been no southward migration of evening grosbeaks, redpolls or siskins.

SECTION 2

Here are further details of the December Feeder Survey that did not appear in the newspaper.

Skipping geese, starlings, gulls and crows, the most abundant bird right at the feeders was the goldfinch. In the past on the average, if people had goldfinches, they had about 5 at their feeder. This year they had 10. In Canton, John and Marilyn Ross had a flock of 76!

In the list of birds by number, after the goldfinch came the mourning dove, house sparrow, chickadee, junco and house finch.

Tree sparrows breed far north beyond the limit of the trees. Over the years, the feeder survey shows that a few leave their summer home in October and show up here. The numbers increase in November and this year the December tally was twice what it was in November. So they were following their customary schedule! Even more will be here next month. Thus they migrate over a period of several months.

In some winters northern finches migrate south into New York for the winter months. These include evening and pine grosbeaks, crossbills, redpolls and pine siskins. This time there were only seven reports of siskins and two for the redpoll. The only person to see evening grosbeaks was Pete Biesemeyer of Malone. He had 15. So those birds apparently have enough food in the north and we probably won’t see very many this winter.

THE SHORT LISTS

Short lists are just as important to a feeder survey as are the longer lists. The shortest one this time came from Norma Griffin’s fourth grade class at the New Haven Elementary School. They reported 7 mourning doves and 7 goldfinches.

Listing 5 species was Mrs. William Woernley of Homer. There were 7 on Eugenia Fish’s list from Cortland. Tallying 8 species were Niles Brown of Tully and Marsha Smith of Dryden.

There were 9 species tallied by Mary Berkman in Camillus. In the same town Helen Clark also listed nine.

THE LONG LISTS

There were 32 species on Linda Quackenbush’s list from Waterloo. Ken Smith of Freeville tallied 28. Listing 27 was Ken Zoller of West Winfield. Kathy and Scott Trefz listed 25 in Perryville. At Whitney Point, Steve and Dorothy Hanzlik listed 23. Listing 22 were John Hanyak in Marcellus., Bob Asanoma in Liverpool and Estelle Hahn in Dewitt.

Tallying 21 each were Lawrence Abrahamson in Marcellus, Dave Pardee in Brewerton, John and Elizabeth Wallace in Baldwinsville and Matt Young of DeRuyter. The average report included 14 species.

LIST OF RARITIES

There was only a single report of each of the following 16 species. The number seen is first. It is followed by the species name and then the the name of the observer and the town where the birds were seen.
1 kestrel, Lawrence Abrahamson, Marcellus.
3 Redpolls and 15 evening grosbeaks, Pete Biesemayer, Malone.
1 black Duck, Niles Brown, Tully
5 Goldeneyes, Morgan Cooper, Skaneateles Lake.
1 loon, Lawrence Daley, Cazenovia
50 lesser scaup, Sandy Pond, Don, no last name given
1 screech owl, Estelle Hahn, Dewitt
1 Horned owl, Ken Smith, Freeville.
1 Field sparrow, 1 northern shrike, Kathy and Scott Trefz, Perryville.
1 rough-legged hawk, 1 rusty blackbird, Matt Young, DeRuyter.
11 blue geese, 3 bufflehead, Ken Zoller, West Winfield

The Entire ListBelow is the list of all species reported. The first figure for a species, is the total number of them spotted on 100 reports and the second figure, the one enclosed in parentheses, is the number of reports that list the species.

If you divide the number of birds by the number of reports that listed the species, you get the average number visiting a feeder. This is how I calculated the numbers in the Table above in SECTION 1. For example, for the chickadee divide 524 by 98 and you obtain 5.3 which rounds off to 5 chickadees on the average feeder. You can make the same calculation for any other species that interests you.

Loon 1 (1); great blue heron 2 (2); snow goose 325 (2); blue goose 11 (1); Canada goose 6,537 (53).

Ducks: black 1 (1); mallard 105 (8); lesser scaup 50 (1); goldeneye 5 (1); bufflehead 3 (1); hooded merganser 9 (2); common merganser 11 (3).

Hawks: sharp-shinned 6 (6); Cooper’s 18 (17); red-tailed 27 (23); rough-legged 1 (1); kestrel 1 (1).

Pheasant 6 (6); ruffed grouse 7 (4); turkey 165 (12).

Gulls: ring-billed 149 (15); herring 37 (4); rock dove 273 (18); mourning dove 731 (84); screech owl 1 (1); horned owl 1 (1).

Woodpeckers: red-bellied 44 (38); downy 177 (84); hairy 84 (56); flicker 6 (4); pileated 5 (5).

Blue jay 297 (81); crow 2,004 (87); raven 5 (3); chickadee 524 (98); titmouse 143 (66); red-breasted nuthatch 45 (36); white-breasted nuthatch 132 (84); brown creeper 5 (5); Carolina wren 4 (4); golden crowned kinglet 1 (1).

Bluebird 9 (3); robin 66 (12); mockingbird 3 (3); cedar waxwing 156 (7); northern shrike 1 (1); starling 1,076 (33); cardinal 274 (74).

Sparrows: tree 164 (47); chipping 1 (1); field 1 (1); song 7 (4); white-throated 69 (29); white-crowned 7 (4); junco 453 (87).

Red-winged blackbird 9 (3); rusty blackbird 1 (1); grackle 5 (3); cowbird 41 (9).

Purple finch 30 (10); house finch 452 (62); redpoll 3 (2); siskin 15 (7); goldfinch 741 (77); evening grosbeak 15 (1); house sparrow 602 (47).

The next feeder survey starts Sunday, February 6

Providing Shelter Near the Feeder to bring in more birds

2004-12-26T10:38:00.003-05:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR DECEMBER 26, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: Increasing the number of birds at your Feeder by providing shelter

INTRODUCTION
This column contains all the material that was published in the Post Standard in Syracuse on the above date PLUS lots of additional information about the role of shelter in helping make your yard attractive to birds.

When you are finished with your Christmas tree, don't throw it away, but save it for the birds. Collect a few more from neighbors and use three or four to make a shelter near your feeder as described below.

Shelter is important for birds in winter. Feeders that have shelter nearby attract more birds than a feeder in the open.

A thicket of dense shrubbery about six feet from the feeder would provide a resting spot out of the cold wind. It would also provide a spot where they can hide from hawks. Birds are reluctant to visit a feeder that is out in the open.

If you do not have such natural protection near your feeder, plan to do something about it next spring. Planting evergreens in a cluster is one simple idea. Bushes and shrubs that form a thick or dense cluster of branches can help too, even though the leaves drop off in the fall.

In the meantime you can make an artificial shelter. Discarded Christmas trees work nicely. Tie several together at the top to make a tepee-like structure as in Sketch A. below. Add some other evergreen boughs if the cluster is not dense enough.

CAPTION: To provide extra shelter near your regular feeder, tie three or four Christmas trees together (A). Food can also be scattered on the ground underneath. Sketch B is a cat-proof enclosure where seed can be put if cats are a problem. Birds can go in and out, but cats can not. Sketch C is a wind-proof, cat-proof feeding area covered with evergreens. Sketch D is the frame for a hillside shelter that is covered with evergreen boughs so that birds can feed on the ground without the seed becoming covered with snow.

Put the tepee between 6 and 10 feet from the feeder. If it is farther away, birds will still be a bit timid about using the nearby feeder. If it is closer to the feeder, cats may hide beneath the branches and pounce on birds feeding on spilled seed below the feeder.

Such a shelter is especially important to wild birds because it provides protection when they are frightened. Sometimes it is a hawk or a noise or sudden movement that startles them. They stop feeding and dive into the nearby shelter until the coast is clear.

The Christmas trees could also be tied to a tree trunk, a clothes pole, a trellis or to lawn furniture or a backyard picnic table. If you have a feeder on your deck, the railing there is another place to put your shelter.

Protection from the wind

Next to food, adequate shelter is important in helping birds survive the cold weather. The heat produced by the food must be at least as great as the heat lost to the surroundings.

Normally, there is a layer of warm air near the birds body. When the wind blows this away, more heat must be provided by the bird. In weather terminology this is referred to as "wind chill".

When the bird can perch in an evergreen and out of the wind, the food it has eaten will go farther in providing warmth.

Shelter during the night

Birds must find shelter at night. In Central New York, they have a period of about 15 hours when it is too dark to find food. This means they only have 9 hours in which to find food to see them through. If there is proper shelter, they can make it.

Chickadees, wrens and woodpeckers often roost out of the wind in natural holes in trees or in nest boxes. Other species must seek cover where they can find it. Dense evergreens in a sheltered spot meet their needs.

Building a Tree

Instead of tying a few evergreens together, a wooden frame can be used to which many Christmas trees can be fastened with rope or wire.

When my house was new and before my shrubs and trees were grown, I constructed a shelter of this sort that was about 10 feet high and about eight feet in diameter. Through the winter, it looked like an evergreen tree and the birds didn't know the difference. It was placed in a spot sheltered by the house and about 10 feet from my big feeder. Many birds roost there and some nests are put there in the summer.

I have since planted a hemlock in its place. Each year while the hemlock was small, I carefully constructed this "tree" over the area until the hemlock grew up enough to do the job without my help. Some pruning may need to be done so that there will be more little side branches to fill in the gaps.

Feeding Birds on the Ground

If cats are not a problem, you can scatter food on the ground beneath the tepee. If there are cats, then the birds that feed beneath the shelter will need some protection. For this you can construct a box-like structure as in sketch B above. The 2 x 4 inch wire mesh keeps out cats, but birds up to the size of a jay can go in and out of the wire fabric enclosure to eat.

If you wish to put seed on the ground in the open, such a cage
can be put up against the lee side of an evergreen shrub and the top and two sides covered by evergreen branches. The structure can be put in the open and covered on all sides but one, (see sketch C above ). This keeps the wind off and cats cannot pounce on a bird feeding there.

Another way to feed birds on the ground without having the seed covered by snow is to make a lean-to and put the seed under that. Make it from long poles covered with brush and evergreens ( see sketch D above). This will be open on three sides, but if it faces away from the prevailing wind, many birds will be able use it. This lean-to protects the seed from the snow and gives some protection from the wind.

Making a Brush Pile

You may also wish to construct a brush pile for the winter. If you plan ahead during the warmer parts of the year, when you are trimming, save the large branches and cuttings for a winter brush pile.

This pile can be permanent if you have lots of space and don't mind the appearance of it, or it can be just for the winter. Whenever it is there it will help bring more birds to your yard.

A brush pile can be just a heap of brush, but it will be of value to other animals as well if you construct a substantial foundation. There should be a number of tunnels through this pile at the ground level. This allows places for creatures to hide and gain shelter from the weather extremes.

Lay four logs six feet long and four to eight inches in diameter on the ground to form the first layer. Then place four more logs of the same kind at right angles and on top of the ones resting on the ground. Then pile large limbs on top and eventually smaller and smaller branches further up.

The branches should be crisscrossed so that there are plenty of open spaces in between where birds can perch. Lay some evergreen cuttings on top to make a roof. This will provide a relatively dry and safe retreat where the birds can rest in the daytime or roost at night.

An alternative foundation can be constructed from large rocks that are placed on the ground with some space around each rock. You can lay limbs over this foundation. Again, tunnels and crevices and places for the animals to hide will become available. Place another layer of smaller limbs on top the the logs, but at right angles. The pile should be several feet high. Birds will roost in the upper parts of this and go there to rest during the day or when they spot a hawk.

If you do collect a number of Christmas trees, you can lay them on the foundation as well, or cut the branches to lay on the top.

Linda Quackenbush of Waterloo usually reports a very long list of species on the feeder survey. In October she tallied 44 and 34 in November. How does she do it? For one thing, she does have thick shrubbery, evergreens and brush piles. There are lots of trees along the edges of her property.

So, think about how you can provide more shelter for the birds in your yard. Try some of these ideas, and more birds will come there to add to your pleasure.

NOTICE: The January Feeder Survey starts next Sunday, January 2.

Results of the November Feeder Survey

2004-12-12T10:43:00.003-05:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR DECEMBER 12, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: The Results of the November Feeder Survey.

INTRODUCTION
A shorter version of this column appeared in the Post Standard in Syracuse on the above date.
However the version here contains additional details on the birds seen at feeders throughout Central New York. Learn what birds appear at most feeders, which species have above normal numbers, which species are scarce, find out if birds from the north are coming south in normal numbers. There is a complete list of the species seen as well as the numbers of each species per 100 reports.

The November Feeder Survey Results

Readers counted the birds in their yard several times each day during the first week of November. At the end of the week, they sent me a list showing for each species the largest number they saw at any one time during that week.

Most people listed about 14 species. There were 69 species reported on the combined lists. We tallied 88 in October, but many have migrated since then.

Here are the species on the typical report. Did you have these? The list below shows the species and the percentage of the reports that included that species.

chickadee 97%
blue jay 94%
goldfinch 91%
mourning dove 90%
junco 88%
crow 87%
downy woodpecker 86%
white-breasted nuthatch 86%
cardinal 74%
tufted titmouse 64%
house finch 62%

Species with above normal numbers

This November survey showed that the goldfinch with 1284 on 100 reports was more abundant at feeders than any other bird. It was the most abundant bird in October too. This was also the largest tally for goldfinches for any count in the 45 years that data has been collected.

The count of pine siskins was above normal for a November Feeder Survey. The pine siskin is a bird that normally breeds in the coniferous forests of southern Canada and northern U.S. Some nest in the Adirondacks and at other high elevations in New York State.

Some winters it moves southward. The tally for the November survey suggests that they may become quite abundant by mid-winter. They are attracted by niger seed and sunflower seed. So watch for them.

CAPTION: Pine siskins were being seen in above average numbers in the November survey. This small finch from the north is a about the size of a goldfinch and is heavily streaked. Its field marks are a deeply notched tail and a touch of yellow in the wings and at the base of the tail. This painting is from Peterson’s “Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America”, (Courtesy of the Houghton Mifflin Co. )

Mourning doves were seen in quite large numbers. In fact it has been 7 years since this many were listed.

This was the highest November count of red-bellied woodpeckers since they first began to show up on the feeder survey in Central New York in 1959. It has been 20 years since so many downy woodpeckers have been reported.

Below normal numbers

Several species were tallied in lower than normal numbers for this time of the year. Few bluebirds were listed and hardly anybody saw cedar waxwings. Others with lower than normal numbers were white-crowned sparrow, red-winged blackbird, house finch, redpoll and evening grosbeak.

What has happened to the cedar waxwing? It seldom comes to feeders, but flocks move about feeding on berries where they can find them. In the first week of November, only three people listed waxwings and the total was only 34. The waxwing has never been as low in the 45 years of the feeder survey. This is the second year in a row that their numbers have been way down.

The numbers of red-winged blackbirds was down. Only two people listed redpolls. Evening grosbeaks were seen by only 3 people. It doesn’t appear to be a year for northern finches to migrate down from Canada.

Seasonal trends

Tree sparrows have begun to appear from the north as they usually do in November. The numbers have not been this high in November since 1995. Are there more of them or are they early? The big influx usually comes in December.

Dark-eyed juncos were migrating down from the north on schedule with many more seen than in October.

Rare Birds

Some species were seen by only one person. Two mockingbirds were in Marcellus at Lawrence Abrahamsons. Janet Allen had a catbird in Syracuse. At Malone, Pete Biesemeyer had a gray jay. A merlin spent some time one day at Bill Burch’s in Skaneateles. The only turkey vulture was seen at Whitney Point by Steve and Dorothy Hanzlik.

A great horned owl was tallied by Linda Quackenbush at Waterloo. Paul Radway had a northern shrike in Pompey. The only one to see a red-headed woodpecker was Linda Sherman of Georgetown. Ken Zoller of West Winfield was they only person to list black duck, wood duck, greater yellowlegs, kingfisher and winter wren.

The shortest lists

Remember every list is important regardless of how few birds are seen around the yard. Mrs. Norma Griffin’s 4th Grade Class in the New Haven Elementary School has a feeder just outside and they participate each season. In November they had a 21 goldfinches in sight at once. They also had 7 mourning doves.

Joe Burgdorf at Hannibal listed 7 species. In Jamesville, Morgan Cooper tallied 8. Reporting 9 species was David Ferro of Auburn and Cynthia Wallace of Elbridge. Three people had 10 species. They were Eugenia Fish in Cortland, Dennis and Merry Gantley of Fulton and David and Kathleen Zakri of Liverpool.

Tallying 11 were Janet Allen and David Bigsby both of Syracuse, Mary Berkman of Camillus, Elizabeth Kelly of Hogansburg, Elaine Lyon of Cortland and Phyllis and David Smith of Dryden.

The longest lists

The longest list with 34 species was turned in by Linda Quackenbush of Waterloo. In Pompey, Paul Radway talled 32. Linda Sherman reported 30 in Georgetown. Ken Zoller had 28 in West Winfield. Listing 27 were Dorothy and Steve Hanzlik of Whitney Point and Kathy and Scott Trefz of Perryville.

THE TOTAL LIST

Here is a list of all species reported. The first figure is the number of birds spotted by 100 observers. The number in parentheses is the number of reports out of 100 that listed the species. If you divide the number of birds by the number of reports, you get the average number per observer. You may wish to compare this with your own tally for that species.

Great blue heron 6(5); turkey vulture 1 (1); blue goose 8 (1); snow goose 1200(2); Canada goose 5,268 (44).

Ducks: wood 5 (1); black 6 (1); mallard 47 (8); common merganser 1 (1).

Hawks: harrier 3 (3); sharp-shined 7 (7); Cooper’s 7 (7); goshawk 2 (2); red-tailed 29 (26); kestrel 3 (3); merlin 1 (1); pheasant 6 (5); ruffed grouse 4(3); turkey 86 (8); greater yellowlegs 1 (1).

Gulls: ring-billed 135 (17); herring gull 383 (5); rock dove 284 (19); mourning dove 628 (90).

Owls: screech 2 (2); horned 3 (2); kingfisher 1 (1).

Woodpeckers: red-headed 1 (1); red-bellied 42 (36); downy 160 (86); hairy 75 (52); flicker 7 (6); pileated 3 (3).

Gray jay 1 (1); blue jay 351 (94); crow 1,394 (87); raven 11 (4); chickadee 493 (97); titmouse 152 (64); red-breasted nuthatch 48 (36); white-breasted nuthatch 133 (86); creeper 3 (2); Carolina wren 4 (4); winter wren 1 (1).

Golden-crowned kinglet 3 (2); bluebird 5 (2); robin 155 (33); catbird 1 (1); mockingbird 2 (1); cedar waxwing 34 (3); northern shrike 1 (1); starling 2,780 (35);

Sparrows: tree 65 (25); chipping 4 (3); field 4 (2); fox 12 (7); song 11 (7); white-throated 51 (29); white-crowned 7 (4); junco 407 (88).

Cardinal 154 (74); red winged blackbird 18 (4); grackle 28 (16); cowbird 45 (6); purple finch 25 (14); house finch 160 (62); redpoll 2 (2); siskin 49 (17); goldfinch 1,286 (91); evening grosbeak 4 (3); house sparrow 713 (48).

Food Storage by the Chickadee, titmouse, nuthatch and blue jay

2004-11-28T12:59:00.004-05:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR NOVEMBER 28, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: Food storage by the chickadee and other birds that visit our feeders.

INTRODUCTION
This column is divided into two sections

Section 1 contains a copy of the column as it appeared in the Post Standard in Syracuse on the above date.

Section 2 contains additional information for the reader who is interested in learning more about the storing of food

SECTION 1: THIS IS A COPY OF THE COLUMN THAT APPEARED IN THE POST STANDARD ON NOVEMBER 28, 2004

Dear Mr. Burtt: My chickadees always fly away from the feeder after they pick up a sunflower seed. Only now and then do they shell one. Are they storing the seed? -R.C., Canastota.

Dear R.C.: Yes, chickadees do fly away with seed to be stored for later use. However, when they come to the feeder to get a seed to eat, they must also fly away to a nearby tree to hack open the seed. So, in either case, they will take a seed and fly away with it.

The sunflower seed has such a hard shell that chickadees cannot crush the husk in their tiny bill. They must hammer the point of the bill into the sunflower seed to split open the husk. The seed must be firmly held while the hammering is done. They can't do this very well right at the feeder.

To hold the seed, the chickadee takes it to a nearby tree and finds a twig of the right size so that its toes can wrap around it. Then while it is holding tight to the twig, it puts the seed under the toes of both feet so that the seed is held securely.
It stabs its bill into the sunflower seed and opens the husk to expose the nutmeat which it eats.

On the other hand, when it flies away with a seed to be stored, it will not hammer on it, but will push the seed under a piece of bark or into a crack or hollow in a tree. It may poke a seed into a cluster of pine needles or just push it into the ground. It stores each seed in a different place and sometimes quite far from the feeder.

The chickadee remembers all the locations. It frequently checks to see if the seed has been stolen. If so, it replaces the seed. In this way food will always be available.

When the chickadee flies away with a seed, watch to see what it does. If it flies out of sight or pokes the seed into the bark, it is storing it. If it stops and hammers the seed held in its toes, it is eating. The titmouse is closely related to the chickadee and has very similar feeding habits.

CAPTION: When a chickadee flies away from a feeder carrying a sunflower seed, it is usually taking it to a convenient perch where it removes the husk and eats the nutmeat inside. In the fall and winter it will often be taking the seed to hide it away for later use.

The December Feeder Survey starts next Sunday Dec 5.
If you need instructions, write to me or go to

http://web.syr.edu/~bpburtt/Birds/FSdirections.htm

SECTION 2 ADDITIONAL MATERIAL ON BIRDS THAT STORE FOOD

Another bird that stores food for later use is the blue jay. When it finds a good supply of seed it almost seems compelled to store some away. The blue jay will fill its throat with sunflower seeds until the bulge is quite pronounced. All these seeds are carried away to be buried or to be dropped into a hollow in a tree.

Mark Twain was amused by a jay that stored seeds in a hole in the roof of a cabin in the woods. The seeds dropped some 8 feet to the cabin floor where the bird could never retrieve them. Nevertheless, the jay kept on storing acorns and other seeds there!
Another familiar bird that stores food from our feeders is the white-breasted nuthatch. It eats both plant and animal food. Most of its insect food is found in the bark of trees. There it scurries about on a tree trunk, sometimes right side up and quite often walking down the tree trunk with its head down and its tail up as in the photograph. Its motions are so rapid and sure-footed that it almost seems as if gravity doesn't act on the nuthatch at all!

Woodpeckers and brown creepers always move around on the trunk with their head up and with the tail braced against the tree for support. The nuthatch does not use its tail for a brace, but relies upon its strong and rather long toes to hold it in position.

( Courtesy of Jack Bartholmai of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin )

Some of the popular names used for this bird in the past came from the way it moved about on the tree. It has been called "topsy turvy bird," "upside down bird," "devil-down-head" and "tree mouse."

As for storing food, it takes sunflower seeds away and puts them in crevices in the bark of trees. It often stores pieces of suet in such a spots too.

When it comes to eating the sunflower seed, like the chickadee, it is unable to crush a sunflower seed and must split the husk with its pointed bill. Instead of holding the seed in its toes as does the chickadee, it wedges the seed tightly into a crevice in the bark of a tree. Once the seed is firmly held in the bark, the nuthatch stabs the husk with its sharp bill to remove the husk so the nut meat inside becomes available.

This habit is responsible for the name "nuthatch." Members of the nuthatch family are found in Europe and Asia. Early English people were impressed with the way this bird wedged nuts and seeds into crevices in the bark of trees.

There the bird hacked the seed open with its strong bill. They called the bird the "nuthack." the French used the word "notehache." When pronounced, this French word does sounds a bit like "nuthatch", which has come to be the name used by Americans. The ancient Greek writer Aristotle even wrote about its habit of "hacking open nuts"

If you watch the nuthatch at your feeder, generally you will observe that it does not eat at the feeder, but takes the seed away. Watch it with your binoculars to see if it does indeed wedge the food item before splitting it open or whether it stores the food for later use.

The Syracuse Christmas Bird Count will be held on Saturday, December 18th,
It is not too late for people to participate. Anyone willing to help us out can contact Kevin McGann at (315) 635-7013 or via email at mcgann1@twcny.rr.com

We still have some teams that can use an extra person and some potentially productive birding areas that can stand to have additional coverage. As usual, birders of all skill levels are welcome to join in.

There is a $5 participation fee for each participant. All persons under age 18 may participate for free. The money goes to the National Audubon Society, and it is used to process and disseminate all of the data that is collected.

Unfortunately, there is no rain date and volunteers must be willing to brave any weather that comes.

Why crows are bolder

2004-11-14T13:05:00.002-05:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR NOVEMBER 14, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: THE CHANGE IN THE ATTITUDE OF CROWS TOWARDS HUMAN BEINGS
Many more crows are being seen in cities and near our homes than in the past. They roost in cities where they never roosted before. They visit our yards and even our feeders.
Are there just more crows or has something else made them more tolerant of human beings?

INTRODUCTION

This column is divided into two sections

Section 1 contains a copy of the column as it appeared in the Post Standard in Syracuse on the above date.

Section 2 contains additional information for the reader who is interested in learning more about the change in habits of crows.

SECTION 1: THIS IS A COPY OF THE COLUMN THAT APPEARED IN THE POST STANDARD ON NOVEMBER 14, 2004

Mr. Burtt: These days I have crows in my back yard under my feeder. Years ago I only saw them in the distance at a road kill. Are they less wary now? K.M., Nedrow, NY.

Dear K.M.: Indeed they are more tolerant of humans today. Several things have happened.

There are more crows in the State. Some of them live and nest in urban areas where they never lived before.

They have always gathered to roost together in a patch of woods on winter nights. However, the big change is that many of these roosts are now in towns. There was a huge roost a few miles south of Auburn in 1911 and it was still there in the 1930s. Now the crows roost in the center of town.

What are the reasons for these changes? Why are crows living closer to humans? I consulted Dr. Kevin McGowan at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. He has been studying the behavior of crows for years.

Here are some suggestions. Crows were scarce in New York before the forests were cleared for farms. After land was cleared and crops planted, more food became available and there were small wood lots where nests could be placed.

Crows thrived, but were considered pests. There was no law against shooting them and were they were killed at every opportunity. They began to keep away from people and their population grew and reached a peak around 1938. After that, the numbers decreased as agriculture declined.

At that time, crows did not visit feeders, did not nest in towns or roost there in winter.

Starting in 1972, hunting crows was restricted to only 124 days per year. In the years following 1972, the feeder survey shows an increase in the percentage of people who had crows around their homes. This suggests that crows were losing some of their fear of humans.

There are some roosts in towns these days. Roosting in towns has advantages for crows. Discharging firearms in cities became illegal in the 1950s so they avoided the shooting by sleeping in town. It is also warmer in town. Their most feared predator, the great horned owl, is seldom there. The town is well lit so an owl that wanders in will be more easily seen.

CAPTION: Crows are not as afraid of humans as they once were. This crow in the town of Dryden finds easy pickings on trash day! ( Courtesy of Kevin and Jay McGowan)

SECTION 2. More About Crows .( Much of the following is adapted from writings of Dr. Kevin McGowan mentioned above).

The material in Section 1 that was published in the newspaper serves as an introduction to my answer to the question, why do we see more crows near our homes nowadays?

Seeing more crows near our homes is true whether we live in the country or in a city. Two things come to mind, it could be because there are just more crows in our state, or perhaps crows have changed their habits and are more willing to live near people. Actually, I believe the latter is the major reason.

Some 40 years ago, if we lived in a city, we never saw a crow. Even if we lived in a small town the same thing was true. You had to drive to the country to see crows. Crows did not come to feeders or feed under them as they do now. When they roosted in huge flocks during winter nights, such roosts were far from buildings or barns or towns. Crows just kept away from people.

Their fondness for corn early on earned them the title of pest in the eyes of the early farmers. This gave rise to the shooting in the 1800s and early 1900s.

Crows are attracted to corn when the plants are just a couple inches high. They go down a row tearing out the little plants as they go. Presumably it is the soft and nutritious seed and perhaps the tender plant that attracts them.

Later when the plants are tall and the first ears of corn develop and are soft and tender, the crows return again. This time they attack the rows at the edge of the field or along a roadway that goes through the field. They do not wander into the center of a field where they are unable to watch for danger.

Crows were a serious threat to corn and other crops. Scarecrows were put out and many crows were shot. The crows became wary of humans. Crows have the same habits today and are still a serious threat to corn.

Population has grown.

How has the crow population changed in New York State? Breeding Bird Surveys have been conducted since 1966 and these give a rough approximation of the change in the population of crows. The breeding population now is about 1.7 times the population in 1966.

Where are the crows being seen?

When we examine the Feeder Survey, we find that the percent of people who report crows has gone up from about 30% to 80%. Remember, on a survey, observers list the species that are either at their feeder or can be seen out the window or from a point near the house. Birds on hikes nearby are not to be tallied. So the survey results are actually for birds seen near houses!

The graph shows the percent of feeder survey reports that list crows seen near homes in and around Syracuse in Central New York over the past 32 years. The observations were made by readers of my newspaper column in the Post Standard. Note that the first large increase came after 1977. This suggests that crows were responding to the decreased hunting pressure. It took about six years before we began to see a significant increase in the number of crows around our homes.

Crows are more abundant on farms too and a real problem for those who grow corn. Joe Mueller has had a farm on Seneca Turnpike in Jamesville for years. He sees more crows now and says that crows are more of a threat today than they were 10 years ago.

Frank Mueller, Joe’s father, worked that same farm and often said, “we always have to use extra seed. Only about a third is harvested. About one-third doesn’t grow and the remaining third is eaten by wildlife .”

After 1990, the percent of the reports listing crows has remained constant at about 85%. So it appears to me that the decrease in the amount of shooting is quite likely the reason crows are not as wary as they once were and it probably is the reason that the population has gone up too.

The Family Life of Crows

Dr. McGowan studies crows by attaching numbered leg bands and wing tags to the nestling crows so he can track them (at least until the wing tags fall off, which they do). The wing tags have a color and a large printed number and letter which makes it possible to identify the bird at a distance. After the tag hs dropped off, the aluminum leg band and its number identify a bird if it dies and the carcass is found.

Crows mate for life. Offspring from several earlier generations remain with the original parents to form a family group for several years. Several of these adult crows help with the nest building and incubation. They feed the nestlings and they bring food to the parent on the nest.

These helpers also spend some time chasing away predators such as horned owls and red-tailed hawks. Since there normally are huge losses of eggs and nestlings for most birds, these extra helpers for crow families probably have helped the survival of the crow and have accounted for the increase in numbers in spite of the shooting.

Each breeding pair of crows has an established home territory where they build nests and raise their young. In towns, territories are about 10 acres, but rural territories are much larger. Crows hold their territories year-round.

Non-breeding crows may leave the family territory for a while in the winter, but many return to their parents in the spring. Young crows don't leave to breed for two or more years, so family groups on the home territory can grow large. One crow family in Ithaca has up to 15 members. And it's not unusual to have three or more adults attending a single nest.

Crows in cities do eat a lot of earthworms. One year there was a very dry winter and spring in Ithaca and the crow nestlings that season were quite underweight. The dry earth meant fewer worms and smaller crows.

. For most birds there normally are huge losses of eggs and nestlings during the breeding season when only two parents are available. With the crows extended family, there is extra help from grown offspring of earlier nestings. This probably contributes to their success in raising so many offspring.

So crows are adapting to city life and living around our homes They are interesting and successful birds, try to enjoy them!

To read still more about crows, visit Dr. McGowan’s web site at http://birds.cornell.edu/crows/

If clicking on this does not work, you can copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser or just type it there.

October Feeder Survey results & Where have all the male Goldfinches gone?

2004-10-31T13:11:00.002-05:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR OCTOBER 31, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: The results of the feeder survey taken the first week in October, 2004
Question from a reader: Where are all the male goldfinches? I only have females at the feeder.

INTRODUCTION
This column is divided into two sections here

SECTION 1 is a copy of the column that appeared in the post standard on October 31 and includes an introductory discussion of the results of the October Feeder Survey.

SECTION 2 continues the discussion of that Feeder Survey with the detailed summary, a complete list of species seen, unusual species as well as species that were more abundant or less abundant than usual in early October.

SECTION 1

Notice: The November feeder survey starts next Sunday, November 7 and ends Saturday the 13th. Please watch whenever you can and keep a record of the number of birds of each species that you see each time. For each species, report the largest number you see at any one time during that week. For complete written instructions, visit this address on the web

http://web.syr.edu/~bpburtt/Birds/FSdirections.htm

or write to ask for a free printed copy.

At the end of the week, put your list on a postcard or in a letter or in an email and send it to B.P. Burtt via email at features@syracuse.com or by regular mail c/o Stars, P.0. Box 4915, Syracuse, N.Y. 13221.

A readers questionMr. Burtt: I have lots of goldfinches at my feeder, but all of them are females. Where are the males? –R.S., Cazenovia, NY.

Dear R.S.: the males look almost exactly like females in the winter. So some of your birds were probably males. See the illustration.

CAPTION: The goldfinch was the most abundant bird at feeders during the first week of October. They have several plumages. The female is shown on the right. The male in winter is on the left. It does have a remnant of a yellow shoulder patch and a whitish rump, but otherwise it resembles the female. The bird in the middle is the male goldfinch in summer. This painting is from Peterson's "Field Guide to the Birds of Eastern and Central North America", (Courtesy of the Houghton Mifflin Co. )

The October Feeder Survey Results

Readers counted the birds in their yard several times each day during the first week of October. At the end of the week, they sent me a list showing for each species the largest number they saw at any one time during that week. For example, if a person saw 20 chickadees during the week, but never more than 4 at one time, then 4 was put on the list.

This survey showed that during the first week of October, there were more goldfinches at feeders than any other bird. It was also the largest October count of goldfinches in the 46 years I have been conducting the feeder survey.

SECTION 2 Here are additional details of the October survey that were not in the published column.

During the first week of October 74 readers recorded the number of birds of each species that were seen at their feeder or that were visible from the yard.

Sixty nine fairly common species were seen. By "fairly common" I mean that each species was seen by two or more people. In addition to these 69 fairly common birds, 19 others were each reported by only one person. So the total was 88 species.

The most abundant species

As usual in October, the Canada goose was the most abundant bird with 5,645 per 100 reports. Next, right at feeders came the goldfinch with 993. There were 983 starlings, 517 grackles, 476 mourning doves and 426 house sparrows. Next came 375 chickadees, 368 crows, 322 blue jays, 216 house finches, 213 rock doves and 104 titmice. This was the largest October tally for titmice in 44 years.

CAPTION: this is a plot of the October feeder survey results for the tufted titmouse from 1960 to 2004 in Central New York.. Each bar shows the number of titmice for every 100 feeders in October for that year.

The tufted titmouse is a southern bird, that first nested in New York on Staten Island in 1914. Then it moved into the New York City area and the lower Hudson Valley. My records show that it first showed up in Central New York in Manlius in 1960. As shown in the graph the population gradually increased as these birds moved northward. This year we tallied 104. This topped last years record count of 90.

How widespread is it? At present , 48% of the feeders in Central New York have titmice.

These illustrations show how the feeder survey has provided valuable and interesting information over the years.

In addition to the numbers, we can ask how wide spread each species was. That is, what percentage of the feeders attracted each bird?

Ninety-nine out of 100 people had chickadees. Ninety-four percent had goldfinches. Other species were blue jay on 92% of the reports, Mourning dove 90%, crow 80%, cardinal 74%, white-breasted nuthatch 71%, downy woodpecker 67% and house finch 50%.

LOOKING AT LISTS

Some people have long lists and some have short lists. Every list is important regardless of its length. It tells us what birds are visiting your yard. Most of the reports had between 10 and 15 species.

You can compare your list of birds to the average feeder on the survey. Did you have 4 chickadees as did the average person? Are some common species missing from your list? Do you have a species that hardly anyone else reported?

Sometimes an observer does not send a list because there are not very many birds on it. All your lists are important. So let me hear from you. By counting them and keeping a copy of the list, you can also compare the way the numbers change at your feeder during the winter or from one year to the next.

The shortest list on the October survey came from the observations of Norma Griffin's fourth grade class at the New Haven Elementary School. In October, they saw 2 mourning doves, and 21 goldfinches.

Also listing 2 species were Beatrice Grainger at Morrisville and the Sampson family at Cazenovia. Listing 5 species were Lawrence Daley of Cazenovia and Joanne Sant of Baldwinsville. At Dryden, Marsha Smith listed 6. Tallying 7 species were Dorothy Coye at Skaneateles and Dawn Franits in Syracuse.

The longest list of 44 species was turned in by Linda Quackenbush of Waterloo. Tallying 39 were Paul Radway near Pompey and Ken Zoller of West Winfield. Bill Purcell of Hastings reported 33 species.

UNUSUAL SPECIES

As mentioned above there were 19 species each reported by only one person. Some of these are hard to identify and others do not come to feeders so they are not often seen near the house .

Four species of warblers were still around. The only people to report a fox sparrow were William and Mary Fais of New Woodstock. Nils Tegner saw a hummingbird on October 3 in Liverpool. Most leave in late September, but there are always a few sightings up to October 10. Now and then one stays later.

There was one report of two redpolls down from the north. The earliest record is October 16 so this could be a new early date.

There were just a few reports of tree sparrows from the north and this is normal for October. They usually do not show up in good numbers until December. The white-crowned sparrow is erratic and this year the numbers are a bit low.

THE TOTAL PICTURE

Below is a list of all the species reported. The first figure is the number of birds spotted and the one in parentheses is the number of reports out of 100 that listed that species.

If you divide the number of birds by the number of reports, you get the average number of birds visiting a feeder. Lets do it for the goldfinch. There were 993 seen by 94 people. 993 divided by 94 is about 10. So that means the average person had about 10 of them in sight at once. How many goldfinches did you have?

Here is the entire list:
Great blue heron 11 (10); turkey vulture 78 (28).

Ducks and geese: Canada goose 5,645 (49); wood duck 21 (1); mallard 22 (6); common merganser 4 (2).

Hawks: harrier 4 (4); sharp-shinned 5 (5); Coopers 5 (4); red-tailed 11 (10); kestrel 4 (4); merlin 2 (2).

Pheasant 3 (3); ruffed grouse 5 (3); turkey 86 (10); killdeer 7 (3); snipe 1 (1); woodcock 1 (1).

Gulls: ring-billed 402 (17); herring 217 (2); rock dove 213 (24); mourning dove 476 (90); screech owl 5 (4); horned owl 1 (1); barred owl 1 (1); hummingbird 1 (1); kingfisher 2 (2).

Woodpeckers: red-bellied 10 (9); sapsucker 9 (6); downy 118 (67); hairy 55 (39); flicker 8 (8); pileated 4 (4); pewee 2 (2); phoebe 24 (17); horned lark 5 (1); tree-swallow 10 (1).

Blue jay 322 (92); crow 368 (80); raven 5 (3); chickadee 375 (99); titmouse 104 (48); red-breasted nuthatch 36 (25); white-breasted nuthatch 118 (71); brown creeper 5 (4); Carolina wren 4 (4); house wren 4 (3); winter wren 1 (1).

Golden-crowned kinglet 13 (3); ruby-crowned kinglet 10 (4); bluebird 39 (6); hermit thrush 1 (1); robin 160 (34); catbird 7 (7); mockingbird 1 (1); brown thrasher 2 (2); starling 983 (28); cedar waxwing 32 (5); blue headed vireo 1 (1).

Warblers: Tennessee 1 (1); Nashville 2 (2); magnolia 1 (1); black-throated blue 1 (1); yellow-rumped 12 (4); black-throated green 3 (3); palm 3 (1); yellow throat 3 (2).

Towhee 6 (5); cardinal 165 (74).

Sparrows: tree sparrow 8 (4); chipping 64 (21); field 6 (5); savannah 9 (3); fox 1 (1); song 77 (31); swamp 3 (2); white-throated 106 (20); white-crowned 46 (15); junco 49 (25).

Red-winged blackbirds 211 (10); grackle 517 (18); cowbird 5 (2).

Purple finch 12 (6); house finch 216 (50); redpoll 2 (1); pine siskin 3 (2); goldfinch 993 (94); house sparrow 426 (38).

Suet Feeders for woodpeckers and other birds

2004-10-17T13:23:00.003-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR OCTOBER 17, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: Attracting Insect Eating birds to Suet.

Suet feeders: Many different designs, where to place them. How to keep other creatures from eating the suet.

Introduction

Over the years in this column I have discussed many ways to feed suet to birds. Readers have told me about their new ideas. The present column summarizes this subject and covers the types of feeders, where to put them and how to keep other creatures from stealing the suet.

Included here is everything that was published in the newspaper today plus additional information for the reader who wishes to learn more about the subject.

Woodpeckers do not usually visit feeders that contain seed alone.
They are primarily insect eating birds and suet is a good substitute for insects. It certainly brings them in. Chickadees, titmice and nuthatches also eat suet.

While birds will eat most any fat that you put out, beef kidney suet is best. It is a firm material, white and hard and easy to handle. Ordinary fat cut from meat will be eaten by some birds, but suet seems to have the greatest appeal.

Where do these birds normally find insects in winter?

A feeder for woodpeckers is most likely to be used if it is placed near where these birds are hunting for insects. In the colder weather, many insects are hidden away in and under the bark of trees. In the summer, many adult insects deposit their eggs in a protected spot in the bark of trees.

In some cases, the egg hatches before the cold weather to form a larva, a grub that eventually surrounds itself in a cocoon-like container called a pupa for the winter. While some adult insects hibernate, most die when the weather turns cold. However, their eggs or pupae are alive, but dormant until spring.

During the winter, birds locate and eat many of the eggs and pupae. The woodpecker goes to a lot of work to dig this food out.

Since woodpeckers search for their food on the surface of tree trunks or in cracks or under the bark, a tree trunk is a good place for the suet feeder.

If there is a dead tree close to the house, put the suet feeder on that. It will probably have more insects than a live tree.

Fig. 1

The simplest arrangement is to nail or wire a piece of one half inch mesh galvanized screening (called hardware cloth) to the trunk of a tree to form a basket as shown in figure 1.

The pieces of suet are stuffed into the basket from the top. The hardware cloth should also be bent in such a way as to taper the container inwards towards the bottom. The piece of suet gets smaller as it is eaten away. Consequently, it drops down to the bottom where the screening is very close to the trunk of the tree due to the tapering. The woodpecker can thus reach every last scrap.

A piece of screening can be wired to cover the top to prevent jays and starlings from taking away large chunks.

Fig. 2

Figure 2 is a drawing of the suet feeder that I have used for many years. It was designed by Robert Meadway of Seneca Falls.

It has a triangular piece of wood as the back which is wired to the tree. The wooden roof is fastened by a hinge at the back. The roof is lifted and the suet dropped into the tapered hardware cloth container.

Cut the triangular back from 1/2 inch stock that is about 9 inches long. Make it about 5 inches wide at the top and 1.5 inches wide at the bottom.

Bend a piece of hardware cloth around the wood as shown and nail a strip of wood on the outside of the screening and into the edge of wood backing. Use enough hardware cloth so that the ends can be bent to overlap in the back. Wire the ends together. This will make it strong enough so that raccoons cannot tear it apart.

Fig. 3
Wire the entire feeder securely to the trunk of a tree with very heavy wire or the raccoons will take it down and carry it off. I generally wire the cover down with a piece of soft wire that I can twist to hold the ends together.

Figure 3 is a photograph of that feeder after 20 years of use. The roof has rotted away and I must rebuild it. A block of wood serves as a temporary cover now to prevent jays and squirrels from quickly removing the suet.

What does one do if there is no handy tree for the suet feeder?

In my yard, there was no tree trunk, live or dead, close enough to the window to get a good view of birds there. So I decided to plant a "dead tree" in the right spot.

Back in the woods, I cut a white cedar which had a trunk that was three to four inches in diameter. I selected a piece about six feet long, left the bark on it and trimmed the branches to make what resembled a roughly hewn fence post.

At first I planned to select a spot and bury the end of the "dead tree" in the ground. However, I was not sure exactly where to locate it and decided to make a moveable "dead tree". With that, I could try it in different places and later, even set the tree aside when mowing the grass.

To this end, I put a half inch diameter steel rod in the bottom end that protruded about 14 inches. The tip of the rod had a tapered point as shown in Figure 4.just below.

Figure 4

Holding the post in position I could apply my weight to the post and push the rod into the earth until the lower end of the post was pressed against the ground.

If the earth is hard, make a hole by pounding another rod into the ground. To remove that rod, grab it with vice-grip pliers and rotate and withdraw it. Now you have a hole in which to put the tapered rod to hold the "dead tree".

Mounting the rod

To mount the rod in the tree, bore a one-half inch diameter hole up into the post about a foot deep. From your hardware get a one-half inch diameter reinforcing rod. You will need at least three feet, but it is not expensive and a piece 5 or 6 feet long will give you extra rod if you need it.

Hammer the rod into the hole in the post so that about 14 inches is left protruding from the bottom of the post.

Next, taper the last 4 inches of the rod, use a grinding wheel to remove the extra metal. Make it taper gradually from a half inch diameter down to a point. This gentle taper will allow you to push the rod into the ground.

Thus the "dead tree" is firmly held in place. To remove it, rotate the post a bit and lift it from the ground.

Our suet feeder is fastened close to the top. The "tree" is placed where we can see it easily. It has served us well for many years.
The feeder at the top end of the "tree" is shown in Figures 2 and 3 above.

If you wish, you can bore some 1 inch diameter holes in this "tree" and stuff them with suet. You can also pack the holes with peanut butter instead of suet. Many of the same birds like that as well.

Raccoons were a problem for a while until I took a piece of 7 inch diameter stove or heating pipe about 2 feet long and hung it on the dead tree about a foot below the feeder as shown. I stuffed it with an old plastic bag to keep smaller animals from climbing up inside the pipe. I have had no trouble with raccoons or squirrels since I mounted that pipe on the pole.

One interesting feature of this suet feeder has come to light somewhat by accident. Apparently when the woodpecker and other birds feed, they drop many tiny bits of suet as they go through the stabbing of the suet and the consumption of the little pieces that they pull off. They waste a great deal.

This suet falls into the stove pipe packed with the plastic bag. When the suet in the feeder is gone the woodpeckers drop down to the packed plastic in the top of the stove pipe and pick up the pieces of suet that have fallen there. I never realized how much they waste with their sloppy eating habits. Perhaps we should mount a tray below the suet to catch those scraps.

A SUET LOG

Fig. 4
A natural looking feeder can be made from a small log that is about 18 to 20 inches long and three inches in diameter. See Figure 4. Bore a number of 1-inch diameter hole half way through the log. Stuff these with suet. The suet can also be melted and poured into the holes and left to harden. Hang the log from a tree limb or from your feeder. Starlings and jays generally find it difficult to feed from such a log. However, if they do become a problem, the log can be hung horizontally as shown in the illustration and only the holes on the underside are filled.

A SUET CAKE

Some people like to prepare "a suet cake". They put other materials into the melted suet and allow it to harden. These include cornmeal, peanut butter, bread crumbs, nutmeats, raisins, sugar and seeds of various kinds. My personal opinion is that the preparation takes a lot of time and the mixture is no more attractive to the birds than the items offered individually.

The birds that are after suet will not eat the seeds mixed with the suet and so the seeds are wasted. Birds that eat the seed will dig them out and discard the suet. So I put plain suet out and then I present the other items in separate feeders. If you are willing to prepare a "cake", then use the other materials, but omit all the seeds.

Fig. 6
A nice suet feeder which is a bit better than the one shown in Figures 2 and 3 is a box like feeder shown here in Figure 6. This one is about 4 to 5 inches wide and perhaps 9 inches tall. The rood is hinged and it can be lifted to drop in the suet. The sloping hardware cloth front keeps the suet within reach of the birds even when it is almost empty.

If the feeder does not have a metal baffle on the post to stop raccoons, the lid will need to be wired down or otherwise fastened for a raccoon can easily lift the lid to reach the suet.

A Suet Bag

Another simple feeder is a net bag filled with suet and hung up somewhere from a wire across the yard or from a branch.

Fig. 7

Warning: The mesh must be at least three-eighths or ½ inch square. A smaller mesh can sometimes seize onto a birds bill and hold the bird there.

October Feeder Survey starts & Fox Sparrows Migration

2004-10-03T13:33:00.002-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR OCTOBER 3, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPICS The October Feeder Survey Starts Today
Fox Sparrows Migrate South Through Central New York This Month

SECTION 1: THIS IS A COPY OF THE COLUMN THAT APPEARED IN THE POST STANDARD ON OCTOBER 3, 2004

The October feeder survey

The October feeder survey starts today and ends Saturday. Will you help with the 45th year of this scientific project? Here is what you do. Spend a few minutes at the window making a list of all the species you see and the number of each. Try to do this once each day. The more often the better.

At the end of the week, send a list of the species and the largest number of each that you saw at any one time. For example, if you see 12 jays this week, but never more than three at a time, then three is what you report.

List the species in the order shown in your field guide. Put each species on a separate line with the number first, followed by the birds name. At the end of the week, put the list on a post card or in a letter or use e-mail.

Via Mail: Send to Ben Burtt, Stars Magazine, P.O. Box 4915, Syracuse, NY 13221

Via E-mail: Send to features@syracuse.com. Be sure to put "For Ben Burtt" in the subject line.

To read the detailed instructions for the Survey,click this line

Fox sparrow due

Watch for the fox sparrow this week. It breeds in Canada and migrates south all through October. A few will show up now, but many more will be in your yard by the middle of the month. It will not show up here again until April.

As shown in Bob McNamara's painting below, it resembles a large song sparrow. The breast is heavily streaked. The streaks come together to form a central spot on the breast. These markings on the fox sparrow are much broader and darker than those of the song sparrow.

The fox sparrow's most distinguishing feature is the rusty-brown rump and tail. It is this fox-like color that gives it its name.

You will need to put seed on the ground to attract it. Since it finds most of its food on the ground, it will never visit a tubular feeder with perches.

At my home I put cracked corn and millet on a huge flat rock whose top surface is just above the grass. While the seed can be gobbled up there by chipmunks and squirrels, I keep it on that rock from now through the first week of November to attract the fox sparrow, the junco and the many other ground feeding sparrows that migrate through.

CAPTION: The fox sparrow makes two brief visits to Central New York each year. Now it is on its way south. It returns next spring, en route to Canada. This was painted by Bob McNamara of Constantia. He is a wildlife artist and you can see more of his work by visiting his web site at http://www.artofwilderness.com/

SECTION 2 COVERS THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL THAT DID NOT APPEAR IN THE NEWSPAPER:

A. Some more life history of the Fox Sparrow..

B. The migration of the fox sparrow, where it nests and where it spends the winter.

The fox sparrow is one of the most attractive members of the sparrow family. It breeds in the far north and is now on its way to its winter home in the southern part of the United States. The winter range extends from southern Pennsylvania, southern Ohio to northern Florida. Some winter on Long Island. Since it is only here in Central New York for the month of October, you must keep your eyes open.

You won't get another opportunity until April when it passes through on its way north to nest. So we get two opportunities each year to see it as it passes through.

The fox sparrow is the largest of the sparrows that we see here. Like the towhee, it feeds by scratching away dead leaves in its busy search for fallen seeds or insect food. Both its feet are used together and it makes quite a commotion in the brush. In fact, one usually hears the scratching and rustling in the leaves before actually seeing the bird.

From now until early November, it can be found in the woods or secluded thickets or amongst the bushes at the edge of a field. Since it feeds on the ground, it seldom is seen perched high in trees. When disturbed, the bird usually will fly into the lowest branches of some nearby trees and be quite conspicuous and easy to identify. In a moment or two it will return to the ground to scratch around some more.

The summer home of the fox sparrow is in the extended forests of Canada that go on and on for miles. There, it breeds from the limit of the trees, south to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In Newfoundland, it is one of the most common nesting birds.

South of the St. Lawrence River there are a few nesting spots. In Nova Scotia it occurs on one big island and along the eastern coast. Its summer neighbors there are such northern species as the rough legged hawk, the pine grosbeak, the gray cheeked thrush, the white-crowned sparrow and northern shrike. The only place it nests in the eastern United States is in the northernmost tip of Maine.

It nests in the northern parts of the western provinces of Canada.

As for the western United States, under ordinary circumstances, California, Colorado and other western states in this country are too far south to be breeding grounds for the fox sparrow. However, the higher elevations of the mountains in those states have a climate and plant and animal life similar to that of Northern Canada. Fox sparrows can be found in summer even in Southern California if one searches the high mountains just below the timberline.

Since it migrates through Central New York into November, the fox sparrow is just about the last of the small land birds to migrate. Now and then one or two will stay on for the winter, but this is a rare occurrenc

The Birds that migrate in September and early October

2004-09-19T12:38:00.001-04:00

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPICS: The Birds that migrate in September and early October.

The Feeder Survey Begins in Two Weeks. Discussion of what it is, how you can help and Complete Instructions for you to follow.

Introduction
This column is divided into two sections here
Section 1 contains a copy of the column as it appeared in the newspaper on the date above.
Section 2 contains additional information on the Feeder Survey that starts October 3, what it is is and how you can help me with this scientific project. Detailed instructions are provided for your participation.

SECTION 1: HERE IS A COPY OF THE COLUMN THAT APPEARED IN THE POST STANDARD ON SEPTEMBER 19, 2004

BIRD COLUMN FOR September 19, 2004
By Benjamin P. BurttMIGRATION NEWS
Many birds that are just here during the summer have gone south already. They slip away and we do not notice. These include chimney swifts, nighthawks and hummingbirds.

During September, warblers are going through from their nesting grounds further north and we will not see them again until spring.

Migrating thrushes will be conspicuous in the coming weeks. The veery, which breeds here as well as to the north, left in mid-September. All the other thrushes, however, will now gradually pass through in numbers. Each individual will be here for a day or two and will be replaced by others as it moves southward a bit each day. Wood thrushes are next, but by mid-October all of them will have passed through our yards.

Also coming through from the north are the grey-cheeked thrush and the Swainson's thrush. They will be seen for about three more weeks.
The bluebird, hermit thrush and the robin continue their migration until mid-November.

As for flycatchers, all will be in gone in a few days except the phoebe. By the end of October it too will be gone.

Some birds feed on the ground during migration and stop off in our yards where we can easily see them. The dark-eyed juncos and the white-throated and white-crowned sparrows are for many of us the most exciting migrants in the fall season.

These species are just beginning to show up. Flocks in the back yard brighten the October days, but they will all be gone by the end of that month.

STAY HERE FOR THE WINTER

While most white throated sparrows and juncos go further south, a few remain in Central New York through the winter. Another sparrow that spends the winter here is the tree sparrow. It breeds farther north than does the white-throat or junco. It nests in the Arctic beyond the trees, but spends the winter in the Northern United States. It will be along in a few weeks.

CAPTION: Migrating Sparrows. The two most conspicuous sparrows that will be moving through are the white-throated sparrow, top, and the white-crowned sparrow, bottom, shown in this painting from Roger Tory Petersons "Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America." Both birds have stripes on the crown, an unstreaked breast as adults, but the white-crowned sparrow is a grayer bird. The white-crowned has a pink bill instead of a dark one and it lacks the white throat patch. The white-throated sparrow also has a yellow spot in front on the eye.(Courtesy of the Houghton Mifflin Co. )

SECTION 2: A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE OCTOBER FEEDER SURVEY

The October feeder survey starts two weeks from today on Sunday October 3 and continues through the following Saturday. I hope that you can help me with this.

This is a scientific project that I have been operating since 1959 that utilizes readers of this column who observe the birds in their yard and report the numbers and species to me. It is a lot of fun and if you haven't participated before, the following paragraphs describe what it is and how you can help out.

Your observations will help me find out what birds are visiting our yards and feeders throughout the winter. When the results are printed, you can compare the number and types of birds at your feeder with other feeders in the area. I will be able to compare this years results to earlier years.

Participation in this fun project is open to all readers of this column who live in Central and Upstate New York State. Here is how I define the limits of that area.

The northern boundary is the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario west to Rochester.

From there the boundary goes south to Elmira and Binghamton. From Binghamton the line goes north east along Interstate 88 to Albany and then north on Interstate 87 to the border with Canada.

Thus it includes all of the Adirondacks and the Finger Lakes regions.
For those of you familiar with the reporting regions of the former Federation of NY State Bird clubs, it includes all of Regions 2 through 7 and part of 8 ( The Federation has a new name, The New York State Ornithological Association ).

History of this projectThis feeder survey was started in the winter of 1958-59, and data have been gathered every year since then. The idea was suggested by the late Dr. Francis Scheider. So this is the start of the 45th year of this project.

In 1970, a feeder survey was initiated in England. In 1976, one was started in Ontario, Canada, by the Long Point Observatory. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology began a survey for the whole United States in 1987.

This is what you do.
Starting on the first Sunday of the designated month and continuing through Saturday, when you have a few minutes, look out the window at the feeders in the yard, and record the number and species of all birds that you can see from the house at that moment. These birds can be at the feeder or anywhere in sight.

Those flying by can be counted if you are sure of the identification. You can record birds that you see when you are outside as long as you are looking from a point right near the house. Birds seen on hikes nearby are not to be included in the list.

To avoid counting the same bird more than once, write down the maximum number of a given species that you see at one time. This way, you know that there are at least that many birds visiting your yard.

Later that day or on another day during the week, check the yard again and write down the number of each species that is visible at one time during that period. Watch as often as you like and keep these lists until the end of the week. You don't have to watch every day, but any day Sunday through Saturday can be included.

Then, summarize your observations by preparing a single list for me that shows the name of each species seen and the largest number of birds of that species sighted at any one time during the week. For example, if you see a total of 42 house sparrows this week, but never more than nine at a time, nine is what you put on the list that you send in.

There may be more than nine house sparrows around your yard, but we are certain that there are at least nine.

We conduct a survey for a week starting the first Sunday of the month from October through May. Through these surveys we see how the population of different species changes throughout the winter. We can also pick out long-term changes in the population of some species over the years.

Preparing the list.
There are several things you can do to make the tabulation easier for me. First, it is a big help if each list has the birds in the same order. If you can, please use what is called "check-list" order. It is the order the birds are listed in your field guide and the order I use when I publish the list of birds seen on a survey.

The second way you can help is to put each species on a separate line with the number of birds first and followed by the name of the species.

Please write the total number of species at the top of your list.

Unusual birds. If you list a bird that is unusual in this part of the country or should not be here at the time of the survey, or closely resembles a species common in our area, please write a note describing the field marks you observed and how you made your decision.

Sending in the ReportsAt the end of the week, put your final list on a postcard or in a letter and send it to the address below. You can use EMAIL if you wish. If you do use Email, please give your name and address so I will know where your observations were made.

PLEASE send your report by Monday right after the survey so that I can get the tabulation done in time to write up the results by the following Saturday.

Send your feeder survey report to either of the following addressesBy Regular Mail: Ben Burtt, PO Box 4915, Stars Magazine, Syracuse, NY 13221.

By E-Mail: Send to features@syracuse.com. Be sure to put "For Ben Burtt" in the Subject Line.
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How you can read the Summary Report of the results.

About 3 weeks after a particular survey week ends, when the next survey starts, I will make available on this web site a detailed discussion of "The Feeder Survey Results" It will include the complete list of species, a discussion of all the trends and unusual birds reported, as well as the longest and shortest lists, etc. Click on COLUMNS and then the date of that column.

A brief discussion and summary of the observations is published in the newspaper on that same date, but there is not enough space there for all of the details that are in the summary of the survey on this web site.

Wind turbines and Birds

2004-09-08T14:18:00.000-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR August 8, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

Topic: Wind Turbines and Birds

Are these devices for generating electricity from the wind a danger to birds?

Introduction
Provided below is a copy of all the material that appeared in the newspaper column on the date above, plus extra information for the interested reader who wishes to learn more about this subject.

Mr. Burtt: There are wind mills near Cazenovia, NY for making electricity. I've heard that they can somehow be harmful to birds? What can you tell me about this? J.G. Cazenovia

Dear J.G. The use of wind turbines to make electricity is attractive because it does not contaminate the air. Each tower has a three blade propeller that is turned by the wind. However, some people worry that many birds will be killed by flying into the moving blades.

This concern arose when it was reported that a number of hawks and eagles were killed at the Altamont Pass area east of San Francisco after wind turbines were first put there 20 years ago.

Bird Collisions with human-made structures.

This question brings up the whole subject of the structures we build and that birds are killed by flying into them each year.

Birds collide with our cars and trucks, with buildings and with the windows in them. Powerlines take their toll. Radio and television antenna towers and cell-phone towers on the tops of hills or ridges, cause fatalities in bad weather at night when birds are forced to fly nearer the ground during migration. They run into the towers or the guy-wires supporting them.

Dead birds have been counted and estimates have been made of the number of fatalities at these different structures per year. The estimates vary because scientists use different assumptions in making their calculations. In each case below, I have chosen the estimate that is half way between the lowest and the highest published estimate.

For example, birds die when they collide with a building, a house or its windows. About 4 die each year per building. I know that in a year, about 20 birds hit my big picture window as they mistake the reflection for part of the scenery. Most are able to fly away, but 4 or 5 die. Thus my house is about average.

Counting all the buildings and houses in the United States, about 400 million birds are killed each year by hitting buildings and windows. Buildings kill more birds than other structures.

Collisions with powerlines cause about 85 million deaths. This is about 175 per mile of wire.

Cars, trucks and buses kill about 70 million birds per year. That is a lot of birds, but taking into account the number of cars, on the average, it means that my car kills a bird every other year.

The TV and radio towers cause the death of about 20 million birds per year. Each tower kills about 300 per year. This happens most often when birds are migrating at night and bad weather and clouds force the birds to fly nearer the earth. A TV or radio tower mounted on a high point is thus a serious hazard and the guy wires take their toll. Steadily burning lights on the towers seem to attract the birds as well.

Wind turbines kill about 2 to 4 birds per tower per year depending on where the tower is placed and how it is constructed. About 45,000 birds are killed each year at turbines about the country. This knowledge comes from careful carcass counts at existing wind plants.

CAPTION: These modern turbines to produce electricity from the wind are in Wyoming. There are some 15,000 others around the U.S. including some in New York State. Note the size in comparison to the old fashioned windmill on the left.

The structure of the wind turbine and the tower

Those early turbines rotated so rapidly that the short, moving blades were almost invisible to birds.

The turbines then were supported by a lattice of supports and braces much like you see on the old fashioned windmill on the left in the photograph. Birds that perched there may have been killed as they tried to fly away through the whirling blades.
(Photo Courtesy of David P. Young Jr., West, Inc.)

At Altamount mentioned above, on the average one or two birds were killed per year at each tower, but with 6000 towers clustered there, the kill was impressive.

The improved models

The turbines near Cazenovia are modern ones like the white ones in the picture and are supported by a single tower with no place for birds to perch. The blades turn more slowly on these newer models and thus are visible as they turn. Nevertheless the tip of the blade is still moving fast enough to kill a bird.

The towers east of Cazenovia are 216 feet high and each of the blades is 108 feet long. The blades turn at about 20 revolutions per minute.

The location

Careful attention to the environment in the area of the wind turbines must be taken into account. The place chosen must have wind of course, but it should not be where there is a concentration of birds. The early wind turbine plants were located without attention to the use of the area by birds.

It turned out that there were lots of birds-of-prey in the area of the Altamount power plant in California that was mentioned above. Many rodents lived there and this brought the birds of prey in.

The modern turbines are probably less dangerous to birds, but much depends on where they are put. During migration, birds generally fly well above the towers if they are located on flat land. In the daylight, low flying birds are observed to swerve as they approach the tower.

However, if the towers are put on high ridges birds may hit them while migrating at night. An estimated 20 million birds are killed every year by collisions with TV and radio towers placed in such spots. Turbines located there would stick well up into the sky too.

At night, in bad weather, the clouds are sometimes very low. Since birds fly below this cloud ceiling, they may be forced to fly so low that they will run into any tall tower on the ridge.
Shown in the picture here is part of a line of turbines that runs along the top of a ridge of the Alllegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania. Often, as here, some of the forest along the top of the ridge is removed during construction. Cutting the forest for 10 miles along the ridge does destroy and fragment considerable nesting habitat for birds.

To prevent collisions with aircraft, the towers must have lights. If there are steady lights that are on all night or if the area around the base of the tower is illuminated, when birds are forced to fly low, they encounter the lights and are often confused. They circle the lights and hit the tower or its guy wires.

Photo Courtesy of D.D. Boone, Bowie, MD

Blinking red or white strobe lights do not cause a problem and all turbine towers now use them, but some older TV towers have steady white lights.

How dangerous are turbine towers?To answer this question for a particular location, a careful, scientific study must be made. This must be done nowadays in order to get a permit. The developer must engage the services of a company that has the knowledge and experience to do the scientific experiments required.

There are a number of companies in the environmental studies business. They are also hired by government agencies such as a state conservation department, the Fish and Wildlife Service, or a town to study the project and provide a report on the impact the project will have on the environment.

As for wind turbines and birds, the occurrence of birds at the site must be studied. Radar can be used during migration to determine the number of birds moving, their speed, the direction as well as the altitude at which they fly. Many birds migrate at night and radar is of particular use then.

It is useful to determine how many birds fly low enough to be at risk for colliding with a tower or the blades. In one study by radar of a prospective site in West Virginia. some 1,800,000 birds flew over the 10 mile stretch of the ridge of mountains during the fall migration of 2003.

The radar detected birds from the ridge top up to nearly a mile above it ( 4922 feet). The critical region was from the ridge up to a point just above the top of the prospective turbine blades. In that lower region of higher risk, 300,000 birds were observed during the fall migration.

Of those, about 500 would have been killed. This conclusion was based on carcass counts at another ridge line wind plant where 2.37 birds were killed per turbine during the fall season.

These carcass counts are carefully done. Since predators may pick up a carcass before it is counted, the investigator must plant some dead birds to see how fast they are cleaned up. A test must also be run to see how well the planted carcasses are found by those making the survey. The 2.37 birds per turbine came from such a study.

Studies of this type have been made all over the country and they lead to the figure of about 2 birds being killed per turbine per year in the west. Where turbines are located on the Appalachian ridges in the east, the number varies from 2 up to 4 per turbine per year. I have found no studies that show higher numbers killed anywhere in the United States.

These studies are complicated and are done in a scientific manner and I have read such reports and am impressed with how thorough they are. Well educated biologists and other scientists make up the personnel of the firms doing the study.

Some people express the opinion that the investigation may be biased in favor of the developer. If that happens just once, the environmental consultant company is out of business. The report is used by the developer and by the agency that has to approve the project. Money to pay for the project often comes from both sources.

Summary of bird loss due to collisionsThe figures here are the estimates of the number of birds killed per year by colliding with each of the various human structures discussed above.

400,000,000 by collisions with buildings and windows
85,000,000 by collisions with power lines.
70,000,000 by collisions with vehicles
20,000,000 by collisions with TV and radio towers
45,000 by collisions with the 15,000 wind turbines

If we eventually had a million turbines, they would account for only 1.5% of all the casualties that birds now undergo to live with we humans.

Just for comparison, the Audubon Society estimates that about
100,000,00 birds are killed by house cats each year.

Producing ElectricityWe make most of our electricity by burning coal or oil. This produces acid rain that damages our forests, kills fish in the lakes down wind and ultimately makes it impossible for some birds to feed in our lakes and streams.

The carbon dioxide and other gases from the furnaces and from our vehicles traps the heat of the sun and is slowly raising the temperature of the earth. ( This can change the climate and it is called the "greenhouse" effect.)

Electricity from wind turbines produces no toxic or harmful materials, but some birds and bats are killed by colliding with the towers.

So how do we weigh the benefits of having electricity with the harm its production causes to the environment? We do have to weigh the benefits and the risks. Becoming informed is the only way we can each reach an intelligent decision. I hope that this discussion has been of help to you.

The Danger to Birds Caused by the Reflections

2004-09-05T14:10:00.003-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR SEPTEMBER 5, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

TOPIC: The dangers to birds caused by the reflections from glass windows.
Some are killed by colliding at high speed with the glass while others spend fruitless hours attacking their own reflection visible in a window near their nest.
One Billion Birds are Killed each Year when they Collide with Windows in the United States.

Introduction

This column is divided into two sections here

Section 1 contains a copy of the column as it appeared in the newspaper on the date above.

Section 2 contains additional information for the reader who is interested in learning more about the subject of this column

SECTION 1: THIS IS A COPY OF THE COLUMN THAT APPEARED IN THE POST STANDARD ON SEPTEMBER 5, 2004

The fall migration has startedSparrows that nested further north will pass through during September and October. Even now the white-throated sparrow is migrating.

Question: Mr. Burtt: Recently, a bird hit my window and died. Is there some way to prevent this? M.S. Liverpool, NY.

Dear M.S.: This happens to a lot of birds as they fly away from a feeder towards the reflection of the sky or the reflection of the plants nearby.

In addition during the next two months, migrating birds will also collide with windows on homes that are situated on a migration route. They collide with the glass on buildings in our big cities. Birds do not recognize glass as a solid object.

Professor Daniel Klem of Muhlenberg College has studied bird collisions with windows in commercial buildings and homes. It is a very serious environmental problem and windows kill more birds than any other thing that humans do except our destruction of their habitat.

A conservative estimate indicates that almost a 1 billion birds are killed by glass each year in the U.S. This is about 10 birds per building. Before the World Trade Center towers were destroyed, about 32 birds were found dead there per year by volunteers from the NYC Audubon Society. This is only a fraction of the casualties for many carcasses probably were not found, or were cleaned up by maintenance. Some undoubtedly were eaten by gulls or rats.

CAPTION: Thousands of migrating birds are killed by colliding with windows in the buildings of New York City. The white-throated sparrow is the most frequent victim found in downtown Manhatten. The arrows in this painting from Peterson's "Birds of Eastern and Central North America" call attention to important field marks for identification, the white throat and the white stripes on the crown. ( Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co.)

A number of things have been tried in an effort to decrease the reflection or to frighten the birds away.

There is a new simple method that I think we should try at our homes. It was invented by Stiles Thomas of New Jersey.

One or more lengths of monofilament fishing line are fastened above the window and extend to the bottom. Attach a six to seven inch white or colored feather about every 7 inches. Keep the line loose so the feathers can blow back and forth across the window. I am not sure why it frightens birds, but would you give it a try and let me know whether it works? You can get feathers at a craft shop or perhaps from a chicken or turkey farm.

Many other methods are worth trying and are discussed in Section 2 that follows just below.

SECTION 2 COVERS THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL THAT DID NOT APPEAR IN THE NEWSPAPER:

A. Bird Collisions with windows and additional methods for preventing these accidents.

B. The problem of birds attacking their own reflection that they see in a window near where they are nesting.

HIGH SPEED COLLISIONS WITH THE WINDOW.
One of the hazards of any window is that it reflects the garden and sky and birds in flight mistake the reflection as part of the scenery and fly headlong into the window.

Professor Daniel Klem of Muhlenberg College was mentioned above. Here is more of what he discovered over a 20 year period as he studied the accidents that befall birds that collide with windows. From his studies he came to the conclusion that each year, between 100 million birds and 900 million birds are killed by colliding with windows in homes and buildings, particularly with tall ones in the cities. This is where I obtained the estimate of the annual window caused deaths of nearly a billion birds.

Often at our homes, a bird that has been at a feeder will leave it and crash into a window as it heads towards the reflection of the open sky. Klem has shown that the number of fatalities increases as the feeder is placed further from the window glass. There were no fatalities if the feeder was located 3 feet or less from the window. However, birds that hit the window after leaving a more distant feeder were much more likely to die.

If the feeder was 15 feet or more from the glass, over half of the collisions were instantly fatal. So you can save the lives of some birds by having your feeder close to the window. You can also better see the birds when they are close to you!

Home owners often report that a particular window kills many, many birds each year. Such a window usually faces north or south in an open area where migrating birds are already moving at high speeds.

Our large window faces the area where the birds feed. The house and window form the southern boundary of a clearing in the trees and shrubs.

Our window is not protected by an overhanging roof, so the room inside is bright and well illuminated. This reduces the intensity of the reflection. Windows that are underneath the shelter of a roof generally kill more birds since the reflection is more obvious when the room behind the window is dark.

If you are building a house with large windows facing the garden, you can have the glass tilted downward, that is have the glass lean outward from the top. Sometimes a building will have large windows designed this way. A bird flying towards the window does not see a reflection of the sky and garden, but only the image of the ground below the window and will veer away.

Attacking the window.

Here is another question about birds and windows.
Question: Dear Mr. Burtt: A cardinal was flying up against my window last spring for hours at a time. Is there some way to stop this if it happens again? J.B., Hastings, NY

Dear J.B.:This question is also related to the fact that birds do not understand the nature of reflections they see in a nearby window. The cardinal was attacking the image that it saw of itself that was reflected by the glass. It instinctively tries to drive away any other cardinal that comes near to where it plans to nest. To the annoyance of the homeowner, this thumping against the glass may begin as early as sunrise. The bird often carries on this activity until it is almost exhausted.

Each bird tries to keep the area around its nest clear of birds of the same kind. This area, called the territory, varies in size with different species. With robins for example, it may be from 70 by 70 feet up to an area 100 feet on a side.

If a male bird of the same species enters into that territory, the resident threatens the intruder. Sometimes there is physical contact, but more often a threatening rush will send the visitor flying.

Having a territory to itself is advantageous to the resident. It reduces interference by others, it may insure a better food supply, it spreads birds out and reduces losses due to predation and disease.

If a window happens to be within the territory and the bird sees its own reflection in that window, an attempt will be made to drive out the apparent intruder. Since the reflection does not go away, the local bird fights its image for one fruitless hour after another.

Birds have even fluttered at their image in the shiny hubcap of a car parked in the territory. Sometimes the outside rear view mirror gets the birds attention.

SOLVING THE PROBLEM

If a bird fights its image, it will exhaust itself in this hopeless task. The useless hours spent in fighting the reflection very often cause the nest to fail. The nest may not be properly constructed or the bird will fail to keep the eggs warm because it spent so much time fighting the intruder.

To stop this activity, something must be installed to frighten the bird away or somehow the reflection must be reduced.

Frightening the bird.

It has been recommended that a silhouette of a hawk be placed on the outside of the window. It is hoped that this will frighten the bird and cause it to veer away from the "hawk" before it gets close to the window.

Some people say that it has no effect what so ever while others think that it has decreased the number of hits on the window. I suspect that any piece of cardboard or paper fastened to the outside of the glass will break up the reflection enough to be helpful.

As indicated above in Section 1, there is a new method using feathers that you should try. It was first described in Bird Watchers Digest a few years ago. It involves the use of feathers dangling outside the window on one or more strands of monofilament fishing line. The details were given above.

Some people have tied the shafts of several feathers together loosely so that there is a cluster of feathers together that stick out in all directions.

Why does this frighten birds? The most likely suggestion is that loose feathers or some blowing about suggest that a bird has been killed by a predator and perhaps birds instinctively stay away from an area where there are loose feathers and possible danger.

Bill Thompson III, the editor of Bird Watchers Digest and his wife Julie have tested this method at their rural home in Ohio that has many reflecting windows. Now the Bird Watchers Digest store on the web is selling these "Feather Guards" ready made. Their unit has a plastic suction cup on each end of the fishing line to hold the string of feathers loosely in front of the glass.

Check their web site at http://www.featherguard.com/. If you wish to order one, click on "Order Now"( it works better than the"Buy Now" button.) If you want to sell some in your store, click on "Wholesale Information".

Some Stores that specialize in items for attracting birds already have them in stock. Ask around.

I hope that you will try this feathers idea and let me know how it works.

Reducing the Reflection

A white material placed against the glass on the inside usually will reduce the reflection enough to stop the attacks. Avoid pulling a dark colored drape across for this will enhance the reflection. Similarly, a darkened room with a clear glass window makes the reflection more pronounced.

One of simplest things to do is to temporarily tape up pieces of newspapers on the inside of the window. Another treatment is to spread a coating of white window cleaner on the inside of the glass. This could be in large blotches so that your own view out the window is not completely obstructed.

At the present time efforts are being made to manufacture a window glass that will appear to be frosted when viewed from the outside and yet appear transparent like normal glass from the inside.

If nothing else works for either the "attacks" against the window or to prevent high speed collisions, you may need to cover the outside of the window with a thin netting which decreases the reflection, without seriously interfering with the view out the window.

The Breeding and Nesting of the Gray Catbird

2004-08-22T14:15:00.003-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR August 22, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

Topic: The Breeding and Nesting of the Gray Catbird Why does the male perch near the nest and flap his wings a lot?

Provided below is a copy of all the material that appeared in the newspaper column on the date above, plus extra information for the interested reader who wishes to learn more about this subject.

Here is a recent questionMr. Burtt: A pair of catbirds nests in my yard. One perches and flaps its wings for several seconds, then flies off, perches again and repeats the flapping. What is going on? W.M.-Cazenovia

CAPTION: The catbird is a gray bird with a black cap and an almost black tail. There is a distinctive rusty patch of feathers under the tail. See the arrows in this painting by Roger Tory Peterson in his "Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America". While the catbird is an excellent singer, it sometimes makes a cat-like mewing sound. (Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co.)

Dear W.M.: These motions are part of the way that the bird communicates with its mate and with other birds. Before we discuss the "wing flapping" and what it means, it will be helpful if I first review how birds do communicate.

How Birds Communicate

Making calls or songs

Making sound is the most obvious way that birds interact with each other. One of the types of sound we refer to as "song". This is perhaps a poor choice of words. Humans often sing to express a joyous or perhaps a sad feeling. Does the bird really feel those emotions?

When we carefully watch what birds are doing as they make these sounds, it is possible to get an idea of why they do it. It seems clear that male birds make "songs" when they are trying to attract a mate and when they are making an effort to keep other males away.

Sometimes people say a bird is scolding, but such noise is often made to announce to all other birds in the vicinity that a predator has arrived and is threatening a bird or its young. Other birds are attracted to the scene. When there is a large flock of different species diving at a predator and making lots of noise, the predator is less likely to capture even one for a meal.

Very young birds just out of the nest usually make sounds when they are hungry. A parent returning with food can easily find the hungry youngster. So the peeping sound is a means of communicating the baby's whereabouts.

Watching what birds do and how they interact with one another helps us learn what they are doing. It also adds a lot to our enjoyment of birds. However we really are not justified in attaching human-like emotions to the things birds do.

Communicating with body movements

In addition to making sounds, birds can communicate by body motion such as head bobbing, wing flapping or tail motion or fluffing the feathers. These have meaning to their mate and in some cases to other species of birds. Careful study and observation helps us understand why a bird makes a particular motion.

Activities in the Spring

The gray catbirds return from the Gulf states and Central America in the spring. The male selects an area as the territory where it will have its nest. Usually this is in a dense thicket. It sings loudly from various perches in that territory to tell other males that this area is taken and that females are welcome.

When other males come close there are disputes. Both males will make the cat like sounds at this time. Such disputes involve some chasing by the resident male. The chasing and mewing seems to settle the matter.

The mewing sound is also given when a predator is spotted. Whether it is threatening to the predator I do not know, but the sound will certainly alert the birds mate that there is some danger.

Imitates Other Birds

The catbirds singing is a sort of mixed song with lots of notes and phrases. It also sings the songs of other birds. It has been observed to sing the song of the bluejay, the quail, several different hawks, the whip-poor-will and even a tree frog.

In the Southern states it was often called the "black mockingbird".

Now for the wing flapping

The female catbird does all of the incubation. She stays on the eggs for about 20 minutes at a time. Then she leaves the nest for 5 to 10 minutes to feed.

During this time, the male must stay within a few yards of the nest, "guarding" it so to speak. How do these two birds coordinate this "changing of the guard?"

It would be dangerous for the eggs or the nestlings if both parents were away from the nest at the same time. Some means of communication is needed if the female is to leave the nest and have the male watch over it. Usually, she leaves after the male has approached and made a soft call accompanied by flicking his wings in and out from the sides.

While on "guard duty" within a few yards of the nest, the male continues to flick his wings. This may serve to distract an approaching predator away from the nest. When the female returns to settle on the nest, he goes off to feed nearby.

There is another wing motion that is used as an alarm signal. It indicates that you are approaching the nest or a predator has come in sight. In this case the catbird holds its head, body and tail all in a horizontal line. The wings are stiffly raised to the sides and held there a moment and then it is done again. What you described as "flaps its wings" may have been this "raised wings" motion repeated several times.

It would also help our interpretation of the behavior if we knew whether or not the female was on the nest at the time you observed the “flapping”. If she was there, the male was probably just indicating that he was nearby. It would also help if we knew whether you were visible to the bird that was flapping its wings. If you were observed, the wing motions were more likely a warning that you were there.

Another display involves the fluffing up of body feathers until the bird appears to be quite large. This is done by the male when another catbird is challenging him. The “fluffing” is also used if a snake or other predator approaches, the larger puffed up appearance is more threatening and helps to drive away the invader.

Books about bird behavior

After many hours of careful watching, the meaning of these sounds and motions is diagnosed. Scientists write down their observations and they are published in a scientific journal for others to read and study. When there is general agreement on the meaning of the behavior, someone will write a book about it.

If we wish to learn about the behavior of a particular bird, we must find such a book and look up the gray catbird as I did.

Donald and Lillian Stokes have written three books on bird behavior with each volume covering a different set of species. They have sketches that show some of the types of displays and the most probable meaning of each display.

They were written over a period of years and each one has the words “Bird Behavior” in the title. If you have observed some unusual behavior, you may find an explanation in the book that lists that species. Try your local library.

In addition to their Guides to Bird Behavior, the Stokes have written a series of Nature Guides on each of the following subjects: Insect Lives, Wildflowers and Animal Tracking. All of these are useful and available in a good library

The killdeer and its Nesting Habits

2004-07-25T14:23:00.003-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR July 25, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

Topic: The Killdeer and its Nesting Habits , Precocial and Altricial Youngsters, A Young Killdeer that Disappeared while I was Staring at it. A Tame Quail

Introduction

Provided below is a copy of all the material that appeared in the newspaper column on the date above, plus extra information for the interested reader who wishes to learn more about this subject.

Here is a recent question: Dear Prof. Burtt: We have a brown bird that nested in the pebbles beside our driveway. When we approached the nest, the bird hobbled off like she was hurt and put her tail feathers up like a peacock. Her tail feathers are a lighter brown with some white. Please tell us something about this bird. —C. N., Marcellus, NY

Dear C.N: The bird is a killdeer. It is related to the sandpipers, but instead of feeding along the shore, it prefers plowed fields and pasture lands. There it eats worms, grubs and insects of various kinds.

There are two black bands across its breast. In flight, a golden-red rump is conspicuous and it has quite a long tail. It is a noisy bird and repeats its loud insistent call again and again: "kill-dee, kill-dee, kill-dee."

The Killdeer Is A Common Bird

The killdeer is the most common shorebird that breeds in Central New York. Shorebirds are those long legged, wading birds we see along beaches, lakeshores and muddy pools. The most familiar ones are the sandpipers that dash out into shallow water and mud flats to pick up little marine worms and other invertebrates.

The largest group are the sandpipers and the next most abundant are the plovers. The killdeer is a plover. Plovers are more compact and with a shorter neck than the sandpipers. The bill is shorter and stouter too.

Of all the shorebirds, the killdeer is one of the easiest to identify for there are two black bands across the breast as shown in the painting. In flight, a golden-red rump is conspicuous and it has quite a long tail.

CAPTION: This common shorebird, a killdeer, frequents pastures or fields rather than the seashore. Its well-camouflaged eggs are laid right on the ground with only a bit of gravel for a nest. The chicks leave the nest the day they hatch. This painting is from the Peterson field guide, "Birds of Eastern and Central North America", fifth edition ( Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co. )

It is a noisy bird and repeats its loud insistent call again and again: "kill-dee, kill-dee, kill-dee." Both its common name and its scientific name reflect this characteristic voice. The scientific name is Charadrius vociferus where the first word is the genus and the second part, the species name. The species , vociferous, is close to the English word, vociferous which means noisy or loud.

Practically No Nest

It lays its eggs in the open on the ground. Spots with gravel, cinders or pebbles are chosen where the eggs will be almost invisible. There is no real nest. It finds a small depression on the ground or perhaps scrapes a very shallow hollow. Now and then, it puts a few pieces of grass on the spot. The eggs are laid right on the ground. They have a lot of brownish blotches and spots on a buffy background.

The eggs are very large for the size of the parent bird. For example, although the killdeer and the robin are very nearly the same size, the killdeer's egg is twice the size of a robin's egg. It only takes the robin 13 days to hatch its egg, but the killdeer egg requires 26 days! There are some good reasons for these differences.

Killdeer youngsters are “precocial”

Young birds fall into two categories, depending upon how well developed they are when they hatch.

Altricial birds hatch in a helpless condition , most with their eyes closed, are unable to leave the nest and are wholly dependent upon their parents for food and care. Most are born naked . Examples are robins, jays and house sparrows.

The herons, hawks and owls are born with a covering of down, but they are still helpless.

Precocial birds hatch in the opposite condition in that they can move about soon after hatching and drying. They hatch with their eyes open, are covered with down and only partly or not at all dependent upon their parents for food and care. They leave the nest within a few hours of hatching.

Young killdeers are precocial. This does require something different. The young killdeers must be quite well developed by hatching time if they are to walk immediately. The large yolk mentioned above, provides the extra food they need while developing in the egg. A large egg and a longer period of incubation are required for precocial birds.

Generally, the chicks of helpless altircial birds hatch in sturdy nests in trees where they are protected from animals that walk about on the ground. Precocial chicks like the killdeer leave the nest immediately which gives them some protection from raccoons, weasels or other mammals that would devour helpless chicks in a nest on the ground.

Their legs are well developed, but their wings are very tiny and unfeathered. They cannot fly at this stage. The parents guard them, but do not feed them. The youngsters must pick up their own food.

Well camouflaged

I tried to catch a young one some years ago. He ran from me and then stopped suddenly. I moved in to drop my cap over him. However, I could not find him although he had stopped on an open patch of dirt right before my eyes. I stared at the spot and studied it for some time before I could make out his outline. When a young killdeer "freezes," its camouflage is almost perfect!

Broken Wing Act

When the incubating killdeer is disturbed on the nest, it puts up quite an act. If the intruder is a predatory animal such as a dog, a fox or a man that might want the egg, it flutters away from the nest with one wing hanging loosely as if it was injured.

Predators are strongly attracted to an injured bird (they are easier to catch I suppose). The killdeer moves a short distance away from the nest; beats one wing on the ground and the other will be twisted up over its back. This behavior together with its loud calling is enough to distract the predator away from the nest site.

Different tactics are used with a horse, a cow or deer. Such animals have no interest in the eggs, but they still might destroy them by walking over the nest.
In these cases, the killdeer seldom leaves the nest until the animal is just about ready to step on it. At that point, the killdeer flies at the face of the intruder and frequently strikes it on the muzzle. This usually causes the animal to retreat and the nest is saved.

The Little Quail

While on the subject of baby birds, I remembered a summer at Cape Cod many years ago. There, a little quail was the source of much delight to visitors to the Massachusetts Audubon Society's Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary.

This particular bird had been taken in by a local resident. Because of its small size and striped appearance, it was immediately named, "Bumblebee."

Bumblebee frequently fed at the family table where its cage was taken at mealtime. Later, when given a little more freedom, the bird formed the habit of sleeping on a blanket at the foot of its mistress's bed. The bird formed such an attachment for the woman, that it attempted to drive away friends who came to visit. It even attacked her husband.

In desperation, she checked with the Wellfleet sanctuary. They had some quail there in a semi-wild state in a fairly well protected area. Bumblebee was liberated there.

It adapted itself to life in the sanctuary and learned to feed for itself. Generally, it was seen by itself and was not quite accepted by the other quail there.

The little quail seemed to prefer human friends. On Sundays when visitors were there in large numbers, the quail got lots of attention. A visitor was often startled to see the little bobwhite pop out of the bushes into the path, tame and unafraid. It would walk up to people, "peep" and allow them to touch or pet it.

Young birds usually become attached to the first living creature they see. This is normally the parent. When a young bird is raised by humans, it becomes attached to them and does not know that this is a dangerous thing to do. It may later approach a human or some other moving animal and be killed. It probably will not recognize others of its own kind and so will never mate.

If you find a young bird, it is best to leave it alone. The parents are probably nearby and will take care of it. In addition, it is protected by law and it was illegal for the lady to have taken it into captivity.

Attracting Birds with Bird Baths and Dripping Water

2004-07-11T14:26:00.000-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR July 11, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

Topic: Attracting birds with bird baths and dripping water

One of the best ways to attract birds through the warmer weather is to provide a supply of water. Whether the birds will use a bath or not will depend on how the bath is constructed and where it is placed.

A bird bath should be a sort of shallow puddle and not a deep pool. It should be no more than a half inch deep at the edges, and slope gradually to the center to a maximum depth of about 2 inches.

If the depth of the water at the edge is greater than one-half inch, don't buy it. Birds must be able to wade in much as we might at a shallow, sandy beach.

To accommodate more than one bird at the same time, the diameter should be 20 to 24 inches.

Placement of the bath

Whether the bath is on a pedestal or on the ground, it should be roughly 10 to 12 feet from the shelter of nearby shrubbery. Birds are timid about venturing too far into the open. If the bath is too close to the bushes they can be more easily caught by a cat hidden there. So, 10 to 12 feet is about right.

Need to see water

The reflections from the surface of the water are more conspicuous to the birds if the bottom of the bath is a dark color. A disadvantage of many commercial concrete models is their nearly white color. Tests have shown that water in a dark container is used more often. If the bird does not see the water, it will not use it.

A dark, waterproof paint (deck and floor paint) can be applied to the concrete to make the water more conspicuous and thus increase its ability to bring in the birds.

Not all birdbaths that are available in stores are suitable. Recently, I visited a garden center for plants and inside their large greenhouse where plants were displayed, there were also many ornaments and bird baths and pools. However, of the dozen baths there, all had steep sides and sloped abruptly to the center.

While birds could perch on the edge and reach down to drink, the water was too deep for them to wade in to bathe.

The baths were more of an ornament than a place where birds could easily drink and bathe.

Do be sure that the bath is shallow at the edges. If you already have one that has steep sides, you can place some thin pieces of slate in the water around the edge. The birds can wade in until they get to the proper depth for their size.

A few commercial baths made of concrete on a heavy stand are quite good and now there are some made of plastic that do not require such a substantial support.

Making your own birdbath

A birdbath can be made with materials you have around your home. You can mount, a shallow, metal trash can lid on a piece of tile pipe. A rock or other weight suspended from the handle and hanging down inside the pipe will hold the lid in place. Once this has been painted to disguise the materials, It looks quite nice.

A bath does not need to be on a pedestal. Most birds are accustomed to finding water in a puddle on the ground. Thus an excellent homemade bath can be constructed from concrete by digging a shallow hole in the ground and using the hole for a mold. Follow the specifications for the size given above. Be sure the cement is at least 1-1/2 inches thick.

If you do not wish to use concrete, the hole can be lined with a piece of thin plastic and weighted down with stones or dirt along the edges. The water presses the plastic against the dirt beneath it. This, together with the wrinkles in the plastic gives a pretty good footing for the bathers. A thin plastic is preferred to heavy material that does not wrinkle. The latter can be quite slippery and birds may be more timid about venturing onto it.

Motion and noise help
Birds are strongly attracted by the motion and noise of dripping water. Let water fall into the bath at about one drop per second and you will attract flycatchers, warblers, thrushes and many birds that otherwise will not come to a bath or to a feeder.

Plastic bucket drip device

The simplest arrangement for dripping water into the bath is illustrated here in Figure 1.

(NOTE: there are six pictures and it may take up to 3 minutes to load them all if you are using a phone modem)

This is a plastic pail with a tiny hole in it. It is suspended about two feet above the bath or pool and water drips from a hole punched in the side of the pail near the bottom.

To make a hole of the proper size, poke a common pin into the side of the plastic pail about one half inch above the bottom. Note: the hole should not be put in the bottom of the pail since it will soon become plugged by bits of dirt.

If the water should drip too fast, leave the pin in the hole with the head on the inside. If it goes too slowly, then you may want to enlarge the hole with a very tiny nail.

If it is not convenient to put the pail directly above the bath or if you do not like the appearance of it there, put if off to the side as shown in Figure 2.

In this case you will need some soft, one-quarter inch tubing and hook up a siphon to bring water over to drop from the end of the tubing into the bath. In the end of the tubing, insert a tiny plastic valve so that you can adjust the flow to about one drop per second.

The little valve costs $3.00 and is available in any store or hardware that sells parts for small gas engines. It is called an "in-line fuel shut off valve". It would normally be used with gas line tubing, but soft vinyl or rubber tubing is better for the drip device. ( the valve I found was a Sten 120-212 or a Briggs and Stratton part No. 494768). One of the tapered ends of the valve is inserted into the tubing. The inserted tip is called a barb fitting because its ribbed surface keeps the tubing from slipping off.

Once you get the siphon started and the water flowing, then you can easily adjust the valve handle to get the correct drip rate. Keep the pail covered so that dirt does not get into the water for that will plug up the valve eventually.

Buying a ready-made “dripper”

If you do not wish to make a "dripper" yourself, a ready-made one that attaches to an outside faucet is available in most stores that sell supplies for attracting and feeding birds. These consist of a kit with all the necessary parts partially assembled.

Each of the following stores in Central New York carries one or more models: In Auburn, the Bird House on State Route 326, 315-252-1850,
In Syracuse, Lee's Feed Store in Syracuse , Milburn Dr. on the south side at 469-1481.
In Cicero, Barone Gardens on South Bay Rd. near Thompson Rd, at 699-2429.
In Fayetteville, Wild Birds Unlimited on E. Genesee St., at 637-0710.
At Moyers Corners about 4 miles east of Baldwinsville, Tweeter Feeders will have some in soon. Call 622-4737.

As shown here in Figure 3, the "dripper" consists of a metal "Y" that you attach to the garden hose faucet outside your house. This "Y" is normally used so that two garden hoses can be attached to the same faucet. There is a valve in each arm so that one or both can be turned on.

Instead of attaching a garden hose to the other side, you screw on a cap on that has a nipple to which a piece of 1/4 inch diameter plastic tubing is attached. The other end of the miniature hose is fastened just above the bird bath so that water will drip into the bath. The bird bath can be placed on the ground or on a pedestal.

The water can merely drip from the end of the tubing into the bath. The tubing can be supported by a tree branch, or from the top of a stake near the bath.

Instead of suspending the end of the tubing over the water, some units include a copper tube mounted on a small crockery pedestal that sits in the bird bath as shown at the bottom right of Figure 3 and just below in Figure 4 The piece of copper tubing goes up, over and down, dripping water into the bath.

Some other drip units clamp onto the edge of the bird bath and the water drips from the tip of a metal tube that hangs over the bath.

With this arrangement, the regular faucet on the outside of the house is turned on. The little valve is opened just a bit to allow water to drip from the end of the tubing into the bird bath. The other valve on the "Y" is turned off unless you wish to connect the garden hose.

Thus, the faucet is available for all its customary uses, but the little valve on one arm of the "Y", controls the flow of the dripping unit. In some kits you also have a little valve in the tubing to adjust the flow. One drop per second is about right.

Once it is dripping at the proper rate, you do not need to readjust it unless the water pressure changes drastically.

These kits with all the parts give you the best and most convenient arrangement I have seen for attracting birds to water in summer. The basic unit is $40 to $50. Some models allow you to choose whether to operate it as a tiny fountain or as a dripper.

It is nice to have a ready-made device, but if you like to make things and have access to a good hardware store, you can find these parts and put together your own "dripper".

There are also bird baths made of plastic that have a built in dripper that can be attached to a faucet in much the same way.

Solar powered fountain.

A very unique unit was invented by Chris Gates of Chittenango a few years ago. It consists of a floating lily pad about 8 inches in diameter on which sits a little green frog.

Photo cells in the lily pad operate a little pump under the frog. Water is drawn from under the lily pad and is squirted vertically out of two jets on opposite sides. The two little fountains goes over a foot in the air and drop back to splash in the pool.

Below is a photograph of one operating in my back yard. For fun it could be put in a fish pond or even allowed to float about in a swimming pool.

It is only available on the web or by mail. It costs $89 and is a lot of fun.

If you wish to buy one on line, go to the web site
www.solar-fountain.com

and follow the directions to fill out the order blank. If you do not have access to the web, you can order one by mail.

Write to
Pratique, Inc, 1325 Route 173, Chittenango, NY 13037. The total cost will be the sum of the following:
89.00 Solar Power Fountain
7.34 Sales tax for NY residents
6.00 shipping and handling

Total = $102.34

Please include your name, address, phone number and email address if you have one.

Attracting Bluebirds, Making a nest box dealing with...

2004-06-27T14:33:00.002-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR June 27, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

Topic: How to Attract Bluebirds

Making a bluebird nest box, where to place it, protecting the nest box from house sparrows, starlings, tree swallows and raccoons and regular maintenance.

The eastern blue bird has a special appeal to most of us. It has stirred poets and ordinary folk for nearly 400 years since the first one was spotted by the early settlers of the Plymouth Colony. They reported it as a friendly, cheerful songster. To them, it resembled the familiar European robin, their "Robin Redbreast". This new bird had a reddish breast and a blue back and they called it "The Blue Robin".

CAPTION: The eastern bluebird is shown here with the male in the center with its blue back and rusty breast. The female at the top is brown with a bit of blue in the tail and wings. The immature also is brown, but it has a speckled breast with some blue on the wing. This painting by Roger Tory Peterson is from his field guide "Birds of Eastern and Central North America", Fifth Edition and is used Courtesy of the Houghton Mifflin Co.

The bluebird has two habits that have strongly affected the ups and downs of its population.
1. It must find a cavity for its nest since it can not make one.
2. It needs to live in open area where the grass is short and there are scattered trees. There it forages for its insect food on the ground . Generally, it spots the insects while perched in a nearby tree or shrub and then drops down to the ground to seize its prey.

Bluebirds before Europeans arrived

Before the Europeans arrived on the east coast, the country was largely forested. Cavities for nesting were available as older trees rotted. and left hollows. Woodpeckers dig their nesting cavities only in dead trees so where there were dead trees, there were old woodpecker holes left from earlier nestings.. These could be used by bluebirds as the woodpecker almost always prepares a new nesting cavity each year.. Forest fires did produce dead trees so that helped the woodpeckers and then the bluebird.

Bluebirds only existed where there were grasslands or barren places that occurred naturally. Some suitable habitat was produced by the Native Americans when they used fire to promote hunting and berry gathering. There were not very many holes available and due to the forests, there was little open land. So the bluebird was probablly not very abundant.

Bluebirds after the Settlers began to Farm

As the Europeans cleared the trees for farming, much open land was created and the bluebird population grew. For about 200 years it was a familiar and welcome door-yard bird in the towns, villages and on the farms of the eastern United States. Part of the appeal was the birds beautiful colors of blue and rust, as well as its gentle habits and tendency to live near humans.

The heyday of the bluebird

Many new cavities for nesting became available. Apple orchards were common and the older trees produced many holes suitable for nests. Wooden fence posts rotted to produce hollows. Some people began to put up nesting boxes in the middle to late 1800s and it seemed as if we would always have an abundance of bluebirds. There certainly were more bluebirds than ever before..

The Decline of the BluebirdThen humans stepped in and inadvertently began to spoil things for bluebirds. In 1851, the house sparrow was brought to this country and in 1890 the starling was imported. Both species use hollows and woodpecker holes for nesting, and will take over any nesting box they can get into. Many bluebird-nesting sites were lost through these aggressive species, particularly in towns and villages. The bluebird population began to decline.

Changes in farming practices further decreased the number of cavities available for the bluebird. While old fruit trees in orchards contained hollows, modern orchards consist of young, well-pruned trees with few hollows. Hollows in old wooden fence posts were often used, but when metal posts replaced them another group of nesting sites disappeared.

By 1930, the population was way down. Bluebirds retreated to the countryside and no longer were found in villages and towns. Fewer cavities were available. Dead trees were removed near homes.

Helping the Bluebird

About this time some concerned people began to promote the idea of setting out bluebird nest boxes and Lawrence Zeleny started the North American Bluebird Society. .

While the population of this bird in the eastern United States has increased markedly since the 1930s, you and I will not see bluebirds, unless we put up nest boxes in suitable habitat.

In New York State along the 420 miles of Route 20 from the Massachusetts border on the east to Pennsylvania on the west, 1700 bluebird nest boxes have been installed by many different individuals. who also provide maintenance and care. That is, they clean out the nesting material when the young have fledged and make certain the boxes are in good repair.

Another such trail runs along Route 11 from Champlain in the north to south of Binghamton near the Pennsylvania border. The trail has some 34 people helping keep the 500 boxes available along 325 miles of Route 11.

Other individuals operate their own "bluebird trail" with perhaps 10 or 20 boxes along country roads close to home. One of the largest in Central New York is managed by John Rogers of Brewerton who has 205 pairs of boxes along country roads for a distance of about 250 miles. So far this season, 85 pairs have produced some 220 fledglings.

Then there are many people like myself who put out a few boxes on their own land just so they can enjoy bluebirds close by. It is for you that this document has been written.

Making a Nest Box for Bluebirds

You can purchase bluebird nest boxes already made at many stores that specialize in materials for attracting birds. However, many people like to make their own. The nesting box illustrated below has been carefully designed to meet the requirements of bluebirds. It will last for years when maintained properly.

The dimensions given in the drawing are for boards that are 3/4-inch thick (this is called "1-inch wood," which was its thickness before it was planed down to 3/4 inch). Cut the pieces as shown in the diagram.

Note that the entrance should be circular and exactly 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Bluebirds can use a larger entrance, but so can starlings.

The inside of the front board should be roughened to aid the young birds in getting out. A series of horizontal saw cuts or a number of small holes 1/8-inch deep will do. Other alternatives are to tack on tiny cleats or a piece of half-inch mesh hardware cloth.

Boxes made with iron nails will last several years. But these nails eventually rust and become loose. Brass or stainless steel screws are preferred. Even nails: made of aluminum or those that are galvanized will be better than regular iron nails. You may want to apply a good exterior glue in the joints before nailing. This will strengthen the box further and help seal the joints against the rain and ice.

Some types of wood have a tendency to split when nailed close to the edge or close to the end of a board. To avoid this, it's helpful to drill pilot holes in the board through which you are nailing. Pilot holes will help steer the nails straight into the adjacent board. These holes should be, slightly smaller than the diameter of the nails you are using. If you are using wood that is actually 3/4 inch thick, six penny nails are the proper size to use.

To allow the front to pivot open, fasten it to each side with one nail or one screw about 1-1/2 inches down from the top. Make certain the nails or screws are positioned on both sides exactly the same distance from the top so the front will pivot properly and not bind when opened. Also make certain the front board has about 1/8-inch clearance at the top to keep it from binding against the roof when the box is opened. This clearance space also provides needed ventilation.

The square floorboard should be installed next. Place it with the grain of the wood running from side to side. This will insure that the screw used to hold the front will be seated firmly and not wear out the screw hole as it is taken in and out. Insert the floorboard and recess it slightly so the sides and front extend below the bottom of the box. The dotted lines on the diagram of the front board: shows the position of the floor. Then nail the back and finally the roof in place.

If possible, the back edge of the roof should be beveled to fit snugly against the back board. Beveled or not, the joint where the roof joins the back should be caulked along with the joints between the sides and back board. A piece of scrap wood also may be fastened to the backboard just above the roof to provide protection from the rain.

If the box will be located on your own land and is unlikely to be disturbed by humans, you can keep the front closed with an easy opening arrangement such as an L screw or a bent nail through a slot in the front and into the floor (see drawing).

On public lands, the screw and washer method is a must. A pilot hole is drilled through the bottom edge of the front board and into the floor of the box for a single screw, which holds the front, shut. A washer should be placed under the head of the screw. Only this screw has to be removed to open the box. The pilot hole should be slightly larger than the shank of the screw. It is best drilled in two steps, using a smaller drill bit first. The smaller hole through the front board should continue into the floorboard. This will guide the screw into the bottom piece and prevent its splitting.

In either case, the fastener must be attached so it requires some dexterity and force to open the box. Otherwise you may find a raccoon will discover how to open and rob it.

Drainage and Ventilation

Since rain may enter through the entrance or through cracks, drainage must be provided. To help, cut about 3/8 inches from each of the corners of the floor before you nail it into place. The floor is recessed slightly for better protection from the rain. The roof is wider than the box and extends well over the entrance hole.

If the box becomes too hot, the eggs may be spoiled or young birds may die. The 1/8-inch clearance at the top of the front board lets hot air out. Additionally, a few ¼-inch holes can be bored high on the sides of the box. If this is done, they should be sloped upward towards the inside of the box to keep the rain out.

Painting the Wood

A weathered, unpainted nesting box is the nearest thing to a natural cavity. You may wish to protect the wood from rotting, especially if the box is not made of decay-resistant cedar, redwood or Cyprus. Exterior grade plywood is excellent, especially for the roof. If paint is used, you should select a light shade of brown, green or gray exterior latex paint and paint only the outside of the nesting box. Subdued colors are less likely to be conspicuous and invite vandalism. They also are less prone to absorbing the heat of the sun and may be noticed less by a roaming predator.

One of the simplest and best ways to protect the wood is to paint it with raw linseed oil (containing no - additives). Treat the box inside and out and repeat the treatment until the wood is well saturated. Pine boxes treated in this way have lasted 20 years. Raw linseed oil reacts slowly with the oxygen in the air to form a tough, hard material that does not vaporize or harm the birds in any way. However, it may take a month to set up, after which there will be no odor.

Do not use any wood preservative on the inside of a nesting box where occupants may come in contact with it. Most of the other preservatives are highly toxic and little is known about their possible long-term effects. If you wish to give a mottled natural appearance to the box, you can add some stain or a bit of green, oil base paint (containing no lead) to the raw linseed oil applied to the outside of the box. If it is applied without stirring, it will give a mottled natural appearance.

Location Important

Best results, will be obtained through careful selection of the habitat in which the nesting box is mounted.

Bluebirds prefer open, sunny locations where the box may be seen while they are foraging or perching. Nearby perches are an important element for successful nesting of bluebirds and should not be overlooked when planning nesting box locations. Best of all is an open area with scattered trees, but power lines and fences are adequate substitutes if there are no trees for perches. The box should face an open area with a tree, a large shrub or fence from 25 to 100 feet in front of it. The young birds usually will reach this on their first flight and have a better chance of surviving during the first crucial hours out of the nest.

Bluebirds will not nest in cities, large towns or suburban areas where houses are close together. Thus success can be expected only in the suburbs, in small towns and rural areas. Avoid places where the ground is covered with underbrush, weeds, long grass or tall crops. Pastures, fields, open wastelands, large lawns, cemeteries and golf courses are usually good locations as long as the vegetation is short. Areas of heavy pesticide use should be avoided

Keeping Other Birds From Using the Boxes

To avoid competition from house sparrows, keep bluebird nesting boxes a considerable distance from buildings and to avoid wrens, keep the boxes away from brushy places. Both of these species can gain access to the box through the 1-1/2 inch entrance..

As for the starling, any hole larger than a diameter of 1-9/16 inches will allow it to enter. Thus a round hole exactly 1-1/2 inches in diameter will exclude starlings. The hole must be exactly circular. If the hole is cut a bit lopsided, they can get in. Today, starlings cause problems only where the bluebird uses natural cavities that have large diameter entrances or if the hole there is not circular.

The tree swallow is a competitor too. In fact it is more abundant than the bluebird and thus easier to attract. However, you can lessen the effects of this competition by placing nesting boxes in pairs within 10 to 15 feet of each other. How does this work?

The two species have been found to nest in boxes even mounted back to back on the same pole. Since both the bluebirds and swallows defend their nesting area against others of their own species, there is little chance that both of the paired nesting boxes will be used by the same species. If one box is taken by a tree swallow, the other is left for bluebirds. The swallows and bluebirds seem to get along very well. Remember how John Rogers, mentioned above, has 205 pairs of boxes on his "trail".

Mounting the Box

Use the 1/8-inch holes in the top and bottom of the back piece to wire the box to a post 4 to 5 feet above the ground. If you have only a few boxes, you should mount them on a section of pipe that is 1/2-inch or more in diameter and pounded into the ground. When using a pipe as a support, it is difficult to fasten the box firmly with wire alone. Generally a pipe strap can be used to hold the top of the back to the pipe and wire can be used to fasten the bottom.

If you plan to operate a trail with many boxes, the cost of buying even scrap pipe can be excessive. In this case, you probably should use existing wood or metal fence posts. The wire fastening makes it easy to remove the box if the landowner needs to replace or reset the post. If nails are used to hold it, it is rather difficult to remove the box without splitting the wood.

Do not choose an isolated post in an active pasture since it probably will be used as a rubbing post and. knocked down.

Raccoons a Threat

Raccoons probably are the most serious predators for young bluebirds. If the box is mounted on a metal pipe, greasing the pipe seems to prevent raccoon predation. A person who operates a trail with many bluebirds boxes can save time and expense by mounting the majority of' them on existing posts using wire. If he finds a bluebird is using a box in any stage of the process, he can then transfer that box to a pipe placed near the wood post and the pipe can be greased. Moving the box a short distance will not interfere with the nesting activities. Since most of the boxes are used by other species, only those with bluebirds need to be treated this way if bluebirds, are your main concerns. Sheet metal, cones or collars also are effective.

Since the raccoon must reach into the box and then down to secure eggs or young, increasing the thickness of the front board makes this more difficult. An easy way to increase the thickness is to, take a block of wood and bore the 1-1/2 inch hole in it and then fasten this block of wood with the hole over the existing entrance hole. If a piece of 2 by 4 wood is used, the hole is thus more than 2 inches deep. This makes it much more difficult to reach down into the nest.

Maintenance

The nests should be removed from the boxes as soon as the young have left. This will increase the chances of a second or third brood being raised in the same box. All the boxes should be inspected, cleaned and repaired, if necessary in March of each year. Make sure the drain holes in the floors are open. To clean it, just open the front and scrape everything out with a putty knife.

An excellent reference with more information is an old book, "The Bluebird, How You Can Help Its Fight for Survival by Lawrence Zeleny.

A new one published in 2001 is "The Bluebird Monitors Guide" by Cynthia Berger, Keith Kridler and Jack Griggs. While this is designed for people who operate nest box trails, it has all the useful information that anyone needs who wishes to attract bluebirds with a few boxes.

You may also wish to join the North American Bluebird Society, Box 244, Wilmot, OH 44689 to support its work in preserving the bluebird. Membership entitles you to the group's quarterly publication. The society also sells books as well as nesting boxes and other pertinent publications. Its web site is http://www.nabluebirdsociety.org/

The New York State Bluebird Society may be something you wish to join. Contact Van V. Travis, Jr., PO Box 254, McLean, NY 13102 or check their web site at http://www.nysbs.com/

How to attract hummingbirds to your yard

2004-06-13T14:39:00.001-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR June 13, 2004
By Benjamin P. Burtt
Topic: How to Attract Hummingbirds to the yard

The ruby-throated hummingbird is the smallest bird found in the Eastern United States. In the spring, it leaves its tropical breeding grounds and moves northward, arriving in Central New York in early May, when the first flowers appear.

Brilliantly colored flowers in the garden will help attract this bird as it flies by. Tubular-shaped flowers will be best, particularly those that are red or orange.

While feeders for hummingbirds are discussed below, it is the flowers that catch the attention of hummingbirds. Without flowers you probably will not see very many hummingbirds at your feeder even though it is brilliantly colored.

There are more than 100 flowers that are visited by hummingbirds. Some of these are trumpet vine, azalea, morning glory, columbine, larkspur, weigela bushes and nasturtium. Others are listed at the end of this column

Hummingbirds spend much of their time amongst flowers. Insects form the major portion of the diet of the hummingbird. Most of the insects are tiny ones that are found in or on the flowers that the bird visits or on the leaves of the plant.

Hummingbirds also dart about, flycatcher fashion, to catch small insects in the air.

In addition to eating insects, the hummingbird feeds on a sweet liquid in the flowers called nectar. It contains several sugars.

They need this high calorie food for they expend a tremendous amount of energy per hour. It not only takes a lot of energy to hover in one spot, but in addition their tiny body loses heat rapidly and they must consume high calorie food just to to keep their body up to its proper temperature of 106 degrees.

Using the jargon of today's advertising, the hummingbird needs to have a "High Carb" diet!

How does the hummingbird get the nectar from the flower or the feeder? Some flowers resemble a tube and the bird must reach deep within the flower to get the nectar. The bill of the ruby-throated hummingbird is about 3/4 inch in length.

It has a long tongue with a fork on the end. This tongue can be extended over an inch beyond the tip of the bill. Thus it can reach almost 2-1/2 inches deep into a flower or feeder. The tongue very rapidly "licks" up the nectar solution.

During one of these "licks", the fork on the end of the tongue sweeps around on the inside of the flower. There is a long narrow groove or trough on each side of the tongue that helps to pick up the liquid nectar.

The tongue is pulled back into the bill where the drops of nectar are rubbed off and swallowed. The bird makes about 3 licks per second!

Why do these plants have nectar in their flowers? The nectar attracts hummingbirds . The pollen in the flower rubs off on the hummingbirds body. It is then transferred to the next flower it visits. If it is a flower of the same species, the pollen is used by the flower to produce seeds for the next generation.

The hummingbird thus gets food from the flower and the flower has its pollen transferred to a nearby flower of the same species so that the flowering plant can reproduce. The plant and the bird both benefit from the relationship!

Figure 1
CAPTION: When hummingbirds hover and probe flowers with their bill, they are generally searching for insects. They also like the nectar they find there. Consequently, they can be attracted to a sugar-water solution placed in a vial, or a small bottle that is wired to a stake or that hangs from a wire. The container should be hung at a 45 degree angle to make it easy for the hovering bird to put its beak and long tongue into the solution.

Small baby-food jars are excellent or you can use a small plastic pill bottle as shown in the above drawing.

The container should be painted red or wrapped in red or orange tape as in the image below. The brighter the color, the better. The color seems to help them find the feeder. Once they know where the feeder is, the color makes no difference. Do not add anything to the solution to give it color.

Figure 2 The feeder can be hung from a clothes line or a branch, or mounted on a stick in the garden. Hummingbirds will use a perch, but they do not need it and the perch may bring unwanted birds to feed on the solution.

Figure 3 A great variety of feeders are available at bird stores. Some have an inverted plastic bottle holding the solution. One of the best is shown just above. It is a saucer-like feeder with a perch around the edge and there are six ports or holes that the bird can use to reach the solution in the tray under the red cover.

Below is a female ruby-throated hummingbird at such a feeder in November, 2003

Figure 4.
Normally, these birds leave by the first week of October, but now and then an individual will not leave until much later.( Courtesy of Janet Allen).

The Sugar Solution

What is the proper mixture of sugar and water to use in a hummingbird feeder? Any solution which is within the range of the sugar concentration in natural nectar is satisfactory.

The following information comes from research done by Professors Reed Hainsworth and Larry Wolfe of Syracuse University, who studied the hummingbird in this country and in Central and South America. They analyzed the nectar from flowers that the hummingbirds used and determined just how much sugar there was in each one. The nectar of some flowers is as low as 8 percent sugar, while others range up to 55 percent.

Most flowers contain nectar that is about 33 percent sugar by volume.

To prepare a 33 percent solution by volume, dissolve one cup of sugar in two cups of water. Heat it to boiling to speed the dissolving and to help prevent spoilage.

Experience has shown that hummingbirds will be attracted to any sugar solution that is within the range of sugar content of the natural nectar of flowers. However, Professor Hainsworth has found that when the birds have a choice they will choose the flowers with the higher concentration. They use a lot of energy as they hover and they can get the food they need in a shorter time if it is concentrated.

When you start feeding them, use the 33 percent solution. Once they have found the feeder, then you can economize by shifting to the 20 percent solution of one cup sugar plus four cups of water. Both concentrations are well within the range of the sugar concentrations of natural nectars.

Solutions containing sugar can get moldy in time. Inspect the solution every two days. If it looks bad, discard it and wash out the feeder using a tiny brush and hot water. If you cannot get it clean with plain water, use a soap or detergent, but be especially careful to rinse out all traces of the detergent.

Once each week, regardless of the condition of the solution, discard it, wash out the feeders and put in a fresh solution.

There is a widespread myth that says that the 33 percent solution is too concentrated. The statement has been made, in some instructions for feeding birds, that this is so concentrated that it will cause liver damage in hummingbirds. No one ever gave a reference to the actual studies, if any, which led to this conclusion.

I have not been able to find any scientific study that supports this statement, and neither has Hainsworth or Dr. Charles Smith an ornithologist at Cornell University.

Since the 33 percent mixture is about the average for the natural nectars of flowers that hummingbirds visit, it seems clear that such a concentration will not harm the birds. Some of the nectars that the birds feed on are actually twice as concentrated in sugar.

Now and then insects will be attracted to the sugar. Here is a question I received recently:

Dear Mr. Burtt: How can I prevent ants from drinking the sugar solution that I put out to feed the hummingbirds? ---J. J., Liverpool.

Dear J. J:

There is a $5.00 cup-like gadget that easily keeps the ants from your feeder. Most hummingbird feeders hang from an overhead support. The cup shown here is hooked to the overhead wire and the feeder hangs from the bottom of this cup.

Figure 6 AppendixWhile a few plants that attract hummingbirds were mentioned above, here are some more. They are available at many nurseries. When there is a choice of color, choose those that produce bright red or orange blossoms.

Bee Balm, Blazing Star, Bleeding Heart, Cardinal Flower, Century Plant, Columbine, Coral-Bells, Dame's Rocket, Delphinium, Fire Pink, Foxglove, Fuschia, Gilias, Hollyhocks, Impatiens, Lily, Nasturtium, Paintbrush, Penstemon, Phlox, Red-Hot Poker, Salvia, Sweet William, Yucca.

How to Attract Hummingbirds to the yard

2004-06-13T13:33:00.005-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR June 13, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt
Topic: How to Attract Hummingbirds to the yard

The ruby-throated hummingbird is the smallest bird found in the Eastern United States. In the spring, it leaves its tropical breeding grounds and moves northward, arriving in Central New York in early May, when the first flowers appear.

Brilliantly colored flowers in the garden will help attract this bird as it flies by. Tubular-shaped flowers will be best, particularly those that are red or orange.

While feeders for hummingbirds are discussed below, it is the flowers that catch the attention of hummingbirds. Without flowers you probably will not see very many hummingbirds at your feeder even though it is brilliantly colored.

There are more than 100 flowers that are visited by hummingbirds. Some of these are trumpet vine, azalea, morning glory, columbine, larkspur, weigela bushes and nasturtium. Others are listed at the end of this column

Hummingbirds spend much of their time amongst flowers. Insects form the major portion of the diet of the hummingbird. Most of the insects are tiny ones that are found in or on the flowers that the bird visits or on the leaves of the plant.

Hummingbirds also dart about, flycatcher fashion, to catch small insects in the air.

In addition to eating insects, the hummingbird feeds on a sweet liquid in the flowers called nectar. It contains several sugars.

They need this high calorie food for they expend a tremendous amount of energy per hour. It not only takes a lot of energy to hover in one spot, but in addition their tiny body loses heat rapidly and they must consume high calorie food just to to keep their body up to its proper temperature of 106 degrees.

Using the jargon of today's advertising, the hummingbird needs to have a "High Carb" diet!

How does the hummingbird get the nectar from the flower or the feeder? Some flowers resemble a tube and the bird must reach deep within the flower to get the nectar. The bill of the ruby-throated hummingbird is about 3/4 inch in length.

It has a long tongue with a fork on the end. This tongue can be extended over an inch beyond the tip of the bill. Thus it can reach almost 2-1/2 inches deep into a flower or feeder. The tongue very rapidly "licks" up the nectar solution.

During one of these "licks", the fork on the end of the tongue sweeps around on the inside of the flower. There is a long narrow groove or trough on each side of the tongue that helps to pick up the liquid nectar.

The tongue is pulled back into the bill where the drops of nectar are rubbed off and swallowed. The bird makes about 3 licks per second!

Why do these plants have nectar in their flowers? The nectar attracts hummingbirds . The pollen in the flower rubs off on the hummingbirds body. It is then transferred to the next flower it visits. If it is a flower of the same species, the pollen is used by the flower to produce seeds for the next generation.

The hummingbird thus gets food from the flower and the flower has its pollen transferred to a nearby flower of the same species so that the flowering plant can reproduce. The plant and the bird both benefit from the relationship!

Figure 3 A great variety of feeders are available at bird stores. Some have an inverted plastic bottle holding the solution. One of the best is shown just above. It is a saucer-like feeder with a perch around the edge and there are six ports or holes that the bird can use to reach the solution in the tray under the red cover.

Below is a female ruby-throated hummingbird at such a feeder in November, 2003

Figure 4.
Normally, these birds leave by the first week of October, but now and then an individual will not leave until much later.( Courtesy of Janet Allen).

The Sugar SolutionWhat is the proper mixture of sugar and water to use in a hummingbird feeder? Any solution which is within the range of the sugar concentration in natural nectar is satisfactory.

The following information comes from research done by Professors Reed Hainsworth and Larry Wolfe of Syracuse University, who studied the hummingbird in this country and in Central and South America. They analyzed the nectar from flowers that the hummingbirds used and determined just how much sugar there was in each one. The nectar of some flowers is as low as 8 percent sugar, while others range up to 55 percent.

Most flowers contain nectar that is about 33 percent sugar by volume.

To prepare a 33 percent solution by volume, dissolve one cup of sugar in two cups of water. Heat it to boiling to speed the dissolving and to help prevent spoilage.

Experience has shown that hummingbirds will be attracted to any sugar solution that is within the range of sugar content of the natural nectar of flowers. However, Professor Hainsworth has found that when the birds have a choice they will choose the flowers with the higher concentration. They use a lot of energy as they hover and they can get the food they need in a shorter time if it is concentrated.

When you start feeding them, use the 33 percent solution. Once they have found the feeder, then you can economize by shifting to the 20 percent solution of one cup sugar plus four cups of water. Both concentrations are well within the range of the sugar concentrations of natural nectars.

Solutions containing sugar can get moldy in time. Inspect the solution every two days. If it looks bad, discard it and wash out the feeder using a tiny brush and hot water. If you cannot get it clean with plain water, use a soap or detergent, but be especially careful to rinse out all traces of the detergent.

Once each week, regardless of the condition of the solution, discard it, wash out the feeders and put in a fresh solution.

There is a widespread myth that says that the 33 percent solution is too concentrated. The statement has been made, in some instructions for feeding birds, that this is so concentrated that it will cause liver damage in hummingbirds. No one ever gave a reference to the actual studies, if any, which led to this conclusion.

I have not been able to find any scientific study that supports this statement, and neither has Hainsworth or Dr. Charles Smith an ornithologist at Cornell University.

Since the 33 percent mixture is about the average for the natural nectars of flowers that hummingbirds visit, it seems clear that such a concentration will not harm the birds. Some of the nectars that the birds feed on are actually twice as concentrated in sugar.

Now and then insects will be attracted to the sugar. Here is a question I received recently:

Dear Mr. Burtt: How can I prevent ants from drinking the sugar solution that I put out to feed the hummingbirds? ---J. J., Liverpool.

Dear J. J:

There is a $5.00 cup-like gadget that easily keeps the ants from your feeder. Most hummingbird feeders hang from an overhead support. The cup shown here is hooked to the overhead wire and the feeder hangs from the bottom of this cup.

Figure 5
Without the cup, ants can climb down the supporting wire from above to gorge themselves on the sugar solution. With the cup installed as shown and filled with water, it is impossible for the ants to get to the feeder.

Here is how it works. The cup holds 6 oz. of water. A hook extends down from the bottom. There you hang your hummingbird feeder. A little plastic rod or pedestal rises from the center of the bottom of the cup and up through the surface of the water. On the top end of the rod is a hook that connects to the wire that supports the feeder.

Ants walking down from above come to the top of the rod at the center of the cup of water. The water forms a moat which they can not cross to reach the sides of the cup and the feeder is thus protected.

An ant cup is sold by Wild Birds Unlimited in Fayetteville 637-0710, Lee's Feed Store on Milburn Drive in Syracuse 469-1481 and the Bird House in Auburn 315-252-1850.

Just below is a photograph of one of the bottle type feeders hanging from such an ant cup.
Figure 6 AppendixWhile a few plants that attract hummingbirds were mentioned above, here are some more. They are available at many nurseries. When there is a choice of color, choose those that produce bright red or orange blossoms.

Bee Balm, Blazing Star, Bleeding Heart, Cardinal Flower, Century Plant, Columbine, Coral-Bells, Dame's Rocket, Delphinium, Fire Pink, Foxglove, Fuschia, Gilias, Hollyhocks, Impatiens, Lily, Nasturtium, Paintbrush, Penstemon, Phlox, Red-Hot Poker, Salvia, Sweet William, Yucca.

May Feeder Survey Results

2004-05-30T14:47:00.002-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR May 30, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

Topic: What birds were visiting feeders during the first week of May?
The Results of the Feeder Survey conducted during that week.

Courtesy of the Houghton Mifflin Co.

CAPTION: The rose-breasted grosbeak has been unusually abundant at feeders in Central NY this spring. As shown in this painting from Peterson's "Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America", the male has a red triangle on the breast. In flight, it shows black and white flashes. The female is streaked like a large sparrow. Both have a thick, pale colored bill.

Results of the Feeder Survey for the first week of May

The final feeder survey of the season was held during the first week of May. Readers watched their yard and recorded the number of birds of each species that they saw. At the end of the week they listed the largest number of each species that they saw at any one time. For example, if a person saw 200 goldfinches during the week, but never more than 8 at a time, then 8 was put on the list.

All the lists were compiled and the results of that project are given here.

There are always more species on the May survey than on any other during the year. This time 94 species were seen by two or more people.

In addition, 16 observers each recorded an additional species not seen by anyone else. So the total of all reports was 110 species ( we had 117 last year). The typical report had 22 species. That is, half the reports had fewer species than 22 and half had more.

What species were on that typical report? The robin was seen at 98 percent of the feeders. Others seen at more than 90% were mourning dove, goldfinch, blue jay, crow and chickadee. About two-thirds of the reports had downy woodpeckers, cardinals, rose-breasted grosbeaks, grackles, red-wings, starlings and cedar waxwings.

What was the most abundant species?

If we ask how many of each species did we see, the goldfinch was the most abundant bird as it usually is in May. The figures below are averaged as the number seen per 100 reports. There were 1,284 goldfinches on 100 reports and 95% of the reports listed it.

Why is the goldfinch count so high in May? We must keep in mind that at this time of the year most birds are busy with nesting activities and only one parent of each pair can be at a feeder at the same time. Since the goldfinch does not nest until late July and August, both male and female can visit feeders now.

Lets look at a bird that is busy with nesting activities now and see how the nesting activity has reduced the number of them at the feeder. The chickadee is an example. There were about 3 chickadees per report on this May survey.

During the winter there were about 5 per feeder. So In May when one parent was near the nest, the number seen at feeders dropped to almost half .

After the goldfinch, other birds on the list in decreasing order of abundance were starlings, blue jays, grackles, red-wings, crows, mourning doves, robins, chickadees, cowbirds, chipping sparrows and cardinals.

May is always the biggest month for white-throated sparrows and it is the only month when we have many white-crowned sparrows. They move through now towards their nesting grounds far north in Canada beyond the trees.

Rose breasted grosbeaks were reported on 65% of the reports which is a record. In the 1970's hardly anyone listed them on a feeder survey. Then in the early 1990s their numbers began to increase. The present tally is the highest in 11 years.

Some species are always less abundant in May than they were the month before. Most tree sparrows had returned to their breeding grounds in the north. Juncos had moved further north. Redpolls were almost gone. Only 2 reports of evening grosbeaks came in. These were from Matt Young east of Georgetown and Pete Biesemeyer at Malone.

Unusual Birds

There were 16 people who listed a species not seen by anyone else. Some of them are easy to identify, but none of the rare or difficult to identify species included a description or a list of field marks observed.

Here is a list of those species: loon, raven, osprey, kingbird, hooded merganser, white-eyed vireo( a very rare and unusual report ), Swainson's thrush, blue headed vireo, black-billed cuckoo, warbling vireo, redstart, cormorant, red-eyed vireo, and pheasant.

The longest lists

What is the largest number of species that any one individual might be expected to find in a yard in May? Certainly no one would get all 110 species.

The longest list of 59 species was turned in by Linda Quackenbush of Waterloo. There were 57 species on Jeanne Ryans list at Cazenovia. The Goettels listed 52 at their camp at Otselic and so did David Pardee at Brewerton.

Tallying 51 were Steve and Dorothy Hanzlik of Whitney point and Matt Young of DeRuyter.

At Marcellus, Lawrence Abrahamson tallied 44. Paul Radway had 39 at Pompey. William and Marilyn Fais listed 38 at New Woodstock and Kathy and Scott Trefz got 37 at Perryville.

THE RESULTS

Here is the list of all species. The first figure is the number of birds spotted on 100 reports and the number in parentheses is the number of reports that listed that species. This is the percentage of the reports that had that species.

Keep this list for a time in case you have an unusual bird visit your yard. See if your bird is on the list. This will give you an idea how remarkable your sighting is.

Loon 1 (1); double-crested cormorant 1 (1); great blue heron 29 (24); green heron 5 (4); turkey vulture 81 (38); Canada goose 318 (44).

Ducks: wood 17 (5); mallard 96 (38); hooded merganser 2 (1); common merganser 5 (2).

Hawks: osprey 1 (1); harrier 5 (5); sharp-shinned 6 (6); Cooper's 10 (8); broad-winged hawk 1 (1); red-tailed 14 (11); kestrel 4 (3).
Pheasant 1 (1); ruffed grouse 5 (4); turkey 51 (20); killdeer 9 (7); woodcock 9 (3).

Gulls: ring-billed 44 (5); herring 6 (2); rock dove 107 (18); mourning dove 296 (96); black-billed cuckoo 1 (1).
Chimney swift 10 (2); hummingbird 63 (41); kingfisher 3 (3).

Woodpeckers: red-bellied 51 (38); yellow-bellied sapsucker 19 (10); downy 165 (87); hairy 99 (62); flicker 51 (36); pileated 10 (9).
Phoebe 39 (20); great crested flycatcher 2 (2); kingbird 1 (1).
Blue-headed vireo 1 (1); warbling vireo 1 (1); red-eyed vireo 1 (1);
Blue jay 369 (90); crow 323 (90); raven 6 (2).

Swallows: tree 156 (35); bank 9 (4); barn 26 (10).
Chickadee 279 (89); titmouse 77 (45); red-breasted nuthatch 27 (18); white-breasted nuthatch 77 (56); creeper 3 (3); Carolina wren 4 (4); house wren 39 (27); golden-crowned kinglet 3 (2); ruby-crowned kinglet 8 (4).

Thrushes: bluebird 18 (8); veery 1 (1); Swainson's 1 (1); wood 7 (7); robin 297 (98).
Catbird 38 (23); mockingbird 2 (2); brown thrasher 8 (6); starling 420 (74); cedar waxwing 68 ( 7).

Warblers: blue-winged 2 (2); Nashville 5 (4); yellow 24 (18); chestnut-sided 3 (3); magnolia 2 (2); black-throated blue 3 (3); yellow-rumped 19 (10); black-throated green 2 (2); blackburnian 2 (2); redstart 1 (1); ovenbird 4 (3); common yellow-throat 6 (5); scarlet tanager 5 (4); towhee 11 (9)

Sparrows: tree 28 (6); chipping 237 (66); field 8 (6); savannah 3 (3); fox 5 (2); song 104 (56); swamp 3 (3); white-throated 164 (44); white-crowned 209 (62); junco 125 (51).

Cardinal 200 (86); rose-breasted grosbeak 167 (65); indigo bunting 5 (4); bobolink 9 (6); red-winged blackbird 329 (77); meadowlark 5 (3); rusty blackbird 3 (2); grackle 395 (80); cowbird 269 (63); Baltimore oriole 44 (29); purple finch 87 (66); house finch 213 (60); redpoll 7 (2); pine siskin 34 (8); goldfinch 1,284 (95); evening grosbeak 4 (2); house sparrow 204 (

The last Spring Migrants & Hearing outside birds inside

2004-05-16T14:50:00.003-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR May 16, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

Topic: The last migrants of the Spring
and How to listen to birds outside when the windows are closed, a review of a device that really does this very well

(Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co.)

THE INDIGO BUNTING is a small finch that should arrive from the tropics this week. The male is blue all over with a heavy, finch type bill. The female is a rather plain brown bird. This painting is from the "Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America", fifth edition.

The Height of the Spring Migration

This week there will be more species of birds in Central New York than at any other time of the year. These include the last of the new arrivals, the indigo bunting, the nighthawk, the trail's flycatcher and the pewee. Many species that first appeared in April will continue to stream through towards their breeding grounds further north.

Hearing the birds outside

When the windows are closed, it is fun to hear the outdoor bird sounds over a loud speaker inside.

I first enjoyed this experience when I visited the original Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology building in Ithaca, NY many years ago. There was a large observation room with lots of windows that looked out upon the pond as well as a nearby group of feeders. Visitors would sit in comfortable chairs and watch the birds outside. Not only could you see birds, but you could hear them as well. It was a most enjoyable experience.

The scientists there had designed and installed their own sound system with microphones outside and loud speakers inside.

Today, they have a new building with a similar view and those treasured sounds can still be heard inside.

The early equipment for home use

Over the years since The Laboratory of Ornithology first installed their system, several companies brought to market a device for home use. Outside was a microphone with a small radio transmitter. The radio broadcast was picked up by the antenna on a special radio receiver in the house.

Unfortunately, the antenna also picked up commercial radio stations as well as clicks, humming sounds and buzzy noises produced by all sorts of electrical devices.

The noise was annoying and made it hard to hear the birds, so these devices never really caught on.

What is available today?

There are two models on the market. The first one is "Natures Window". It is excellent. Like the system at Cornell, a wire connects the microphone to the equipment indoors. There is no antenna or radio involved that can pick up stray sound.

I have used one for the past six months. A small box containing an amplifier and loud speaker is placed in the house where it is plugged into an electrical outlet. A wire connects it to a water-proof microphone that is outdoors near the feeder. The outdoor sounds can be heard clearly without any interference.

On May 3 at 7:00 AM, I heard my first wood thrush this spring when its song came through my loudspeaker. It was right on schedule! A moment later a robin sang and was interrupted by the calls of two Canada geese flying over. Sounds of crows could be heard in the distance. Although the windows were closed, the room was filled with song.

My microphone hangs just above the big platform feeder so small sounds by birds feeding there are easily heard. On another day, a female red-winged blackbird was picking up cracked corn there when she was disturbed by a blue jay arriving to feed and she had to step aside. She made a horrible squawk which was heard clearly.

A cardinal also uttered a harsh note of protest when it had to give way to the jay.

Even with the windows open, there are faint sounds that the unaided ear can not hear. Last summer a blue jay family was at the feeder. Over the speaker we heard these birds communicating with each other using some soft "murmering" sounds

One day a strange croaking sound on the speaker brought me to the window in time to see a great blue heron moving by at low altitude with slowly beating wings.

After dark, we have heard bull frogs, green frogs, spring peepers, crickets and owls. The microphone has certainly increased our enjoyment of the birds and other creatures near our home.

There is an on-off switch and a volume control on the box.

“Mother Nature’s Monitor” is the other model that is available today in stores. It is a wireless model. It is one of the older types. It has been available for perhaps 10 years. It has a weatherproof, plastic container that holds a microphone and a small FM radio transmitter that can be hung from a tree branch or a feeder. There is no wire connecting the microphone to the box. This device costs $40.00.

How do these two models compare?

The wireless model, "Mother Nature's Monitor", permits the microphone to be placed anywhere in the yard within a distance of 75 feet from the little box in the house. The sound is clear and distinct if there are no other electrical devices nearby.

This wireless model requires 4 C batteries in the microphone outside and 4 AA batteries in the box indoors. To save the batteries, it can be set to turn off automatically when it gets dark and to turn on when the light returns. It is imported from China and has a one year warranty.

This wireless model works best in country locations where there are no nearby TV towers, cell phone towers or power lines that can produce static or a roar.

A number of people near Auburn, NY have this model and find it satisfactory. This is a small town west of Syracuse. However, in locations close to Syracuse such as at my home it can not be used. There is a loud roar that almost drowns out the bird songs.

You should try it on each of the two channels and if at least one channel gives good reception, you can keep the unit. If you can't get good reception on either channel, the store mentioned below will take it back for a full refund.

The new wired model, "Nature's Window" is the first commercial unit to have a wire connecting the microphone to the amplifier and loud speaker in the house. It is more sensitive than the wireless type. Even for a distant bird it gives a clear and distinct sound with no static or hum.

It must be pointed out that such a sensitive microphone will pick up all the sounds outdoors. A chickadee once alighted on the microphone and began pecking it. What a noise that made!

When it is raining or the wind is blowing, you may wish to turn down the volume or shut it off. If there is a busy highway nearby, you will hear that too. An airplane going over or your neighbors lawnmower can be irritating.

One family near Auburn, NY had their unit on at night and overheard two prowlers who were near the microphone whispering outside about burglarizing the house. Police were called and the criminals were caught before they had done any harm.

Now, back to "Natures Window" where the microphone is connected by a wire. The wire with the microphone on the end is passed through an open window that is then closed gently over the wire.

The distance between the box indoors and the microphone is limited by the length of this wire which is about 6 feet. Thus the microphone picks up the sounds from a point just outside the house and brings them in clearly.

If you would like to have a longer wire for the microphone, for example, so that you can place the microphone close to a feeder, ask the store to order one with a "custom probe" that has a wire of the length you specify. It will be sent to the store in two days. The charge for the rewiring will be $1.50 for each extra foot.

I ordered mine with a 20 foot wire so the microphone could hang just above the feeder. I wanted the microphone to be able to pickup the faint sounds that birds make as they feed. It does a fine job of getting all the other natural sounds as well. There are no batteries needed since the box plugs into a nearby electrical outlet in the house.

It is manufactured by Lumatron, a small family business in Tennessee. It is hand made and has a lifetime warranty.

It was carefully designed by Theo Chamberlin. About 1970, when he first thought about making one, the electronic components needed to get the high quality he wanted were not available at affordable prices.

Eventually he was able to get the parts he needed and in 1999 his device finally appeared in stores where it costs $80.00.

It is an excellent product and does bring in the sounds clearly and it does just what it is supposed to do. It has a lifetime warranty. Chamberlin told me that so far over a thousand have been sold and not one has been returned.

Any store or individual can order the “Nature’s Window” and information about it as well as how to order is given on their web site: Click on the next line

http://www.natureswindow.0catch.com/

"Nature's Window", the wired model, is available at the Wild Birds Unlimited store, 402 East Genesee St., Fayetteville, NY 13066, phone 315-637 0710.

It is also carried by other Wild Birds Unlimited stores around the United States. If the one nearest you does not have it, they can order it for you.

The wireless model, “Mother Nature’s Monitor” is available in Central New York at the Bird House store, 2148 State Route 326, Auburn NY 13021, Phone 315-252-1850.

Spring arrival dates & April Feeder Survey results

2004-05-02T14:53:00.003-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR May 2, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

The Topics: The Time Schedule for the Spring Migration During the Next two Weeks

The Results of the April Feeder Survey

CAPTION: The wood thrush should arrive this week. This beautiful singer is brown with a rusty head and large spots on the breast. This painting is from the "Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America," fifth edition ( Courtesy of the Houghton Mifflin Co.,)

Incoming flights

It is time for the warblers to arrive. Also due this week are the least flycatcher, the great crested flycatcher and the kingbird.

The chimney swift and the catbird are due. The song of the wood thrush should be heard any day now. The white-crowned sparrow will start to pass through to the north. Also expected are the whip-poor-will, red-headed woodpecker and bobolink.

In about a week we expect the veery, Baltimore oriole, scarlet tanager, rose breasted grosbeak and hummingbird.

April Feeder Survey Results

During the first week of April 75 readers counted the birds visible at their feeder and in their yard. For comparison with results from earlier surveys, the numbers given in the discussion below are averaged as if exactly 100 reports came in.

The most abundant species at feeders and in yards were red-winged blackbirds and starlings. There were a bit over a 1000 of each. Next was the grackle, then the junco and cowbird. This is the time of the year when juncos that went south are moving back through this area to nest in southern Canada.

Birds at the typical feeder

Every feeder had mourning doves. Nearly all had chickadees, robins and juncos. About 85% of the reports included crow, cardinals, goldfinches, blue jays and starlings. Over two-thirds of the reports listed downy woodpeckers, red-wings, grackles and song sparrows.

Redpolls and tree sparrow were less abundant than in mid-winter for many have left for the north. The high counts of juncos and white-throated sparrows in April presumably were due to the northward movement of those that went further south.

The 5,395 goldfinches seen during the winter on the six surveys from November through April, was larger than in any winter since the feeder survey started 45 years ago. Normally, it is about 3000 each winter.

The winter tally of red-breasted nuthatches this winter was very high. It is large one year and small the next. They breed from Pennsylvania north to the limit of the trees. Those that breed in the very northern part of the range move southward in the winter and for that reason we see more in the winter than during the breeding season.

The winter numbers have been higher in alternate years since about 1989. Going back from this winter for example, the yearly totals were 343, 113, 349, 101, 353, 138 etc. Before 1989, the numbers were irregular and followed no pattern from one year to the next.

Strangely, the numbers of white-breasted nuthatches have gone up and down in the same way on the same years as have the red-breasted nuthatches.

Species reported by only one person

David Bigsby of Syracuse listed a broad-winged hawk. A loon and a goldeneye were tallied by Morgan Cooper in Spafford. The only great horned owl was heard by Dorothy Crumb of Jamesville. At Richland, James Lacelle spotted a hooded merganser.

A golden crowned kinglet and a Carolina Wren were spotted in Waterloo by Linda Quackenbush. Two snipe were seen in Cazenovia by Jeanne Ryan. She also reported that a neighbor, Polly Monz has had a Carolina wren all winter.
The only kingfisher was listed by Judy Thurber of Syracuse. Kathy and Scott Trefz of Perryville spotted a coot and a black-backed gull.

Nine double crested cormorants were sighted over a small pond near Matt Young's home south and east of DeRuyter. One early towhee was spotted at Cazenovia by Carol and Robert Standridge.

How many species were seen?

The average list had 20 species. The shortest list had two species and they were reported by Paul Keyson of Cato. Next were the eight species tallied by Helen Clark of Camillus and Linda Shuron of Solvay. Listing 10 species were David Bigsby of Syracuse, Charles Bruner of Brooktondale and G. R. Tegner of Marietta. Eleven were spotted by Matthew Broderick of Syracuse and Kathleen and David Zakri of Liverpool.

The longest list was once again turned in by Linda Quackenbush of Waterloo. She had 45! Matt Young and David Pardee tallied 40; Dorothy and Steve Hanzlik of Whitney Point listed 37 species.

Others long lists were36 from Kathy and Scott Trefz of Perryville.
34 from Lawrence Abrahamson of Marcellus.
33 from Jeanne Ryan of Cazenovia.
32 from Bill Purcell of Hastings
31 from James Lacelle of Richland and from Paul Radway of Pompey

THE APRIL LIST

Below is the list of all species reported. The first number for a species on the list is the number of individual birds of that species on 100 reports. The second number is the actual number of reports that listed that bird.

This list can be very useful to you. Suppose you identify a rusty blackbird in your yard. To find out if this is unusual at this time of year, find rusty blackbird in the list. There you see the numbers 9 (4) after the name. You conclude that Its pretty rare, since only 4 people spotted one!

Loon 1 (1); double-crested cormorant 9 (1); great blue heron 11 (9); turkey vulture 66 (30).

Geese and ducks: Snow goose 275 (2); Canada goose 672 (50);
wood duck 22 (6); black duck 2 (1); mallard 80 (27; goldeneye 1 (1); bufflehead 19 (3); hooded merganser 3 (1); common merganser 5 (2).

Hawks: northern harrier 6 (5); sharp-shinned 9 (8); Cooper's 9 (7); broad-winged 1 (1); red-tailed 38 (26); kestrel 10 (7).
Pheasant 3 (3); ruffed grouse 4 (3); turkey 123 (18); killdeer 11 (8); coot 5 (1); snipe 2 (1); woodcock 13 (5).

Gulls: ring-billed 678 (21); herring 120 (6); black-backed 5 (1); rock dove 118 (9); mourning dove 378 (100).
Horned owl 1 (1); kingfisher 1 (1).

Woodpeckers: red-headed 2 (1); red-bellied 56 (38); sapsucker 4 (4); downy 159 (74); hairy 81 (44); flicker 20 (18); pileated 13 (10).
Phoebe 29 (20); tree swallow 31 (9); blue jay 216 (78); crow 329 (84); raven 6 (2).

Chickadee 381 (95); titmouse 89 (50); red-breasted nuthatch 44 (26); white-breasted nuthatch 100 (62); brown creeper 9 (7); Carolina wren 1 (1); golden-crowned kinglet 4 (1).
Bluebird 38 (18); robin 447 (92); mockingbird 3 (3); cedar waxwing 145 (5); starling 1,025 (77).

Sparrows: tree 138 (47); chipping 10 (5); field 2 (2); fox 63 (27); song 198 (65); white-throated 95 (23); white-crowned 4 (4); junco 869 (89).
Cardinal 210 (84); red-winged blackbird 1,011 (74); meadowlark 36 (4); rusty blackbird 9 (4); grackle 920 (71); cowbird 600 (63); purple finch 38 (20); house finch 212 (63); redpoll 149 (23); siskin 50 (8); goldfinch 578 (83); evening grosbeak 23 (2); house sparrow 389 (54).

May Survey starts today

The last Feeder Survey of the season starts today and continues through Saturday. Record the largest number of each species you see at any one time during the week. Lots of reports are needed. Short lists are just as valuable as long ones.

At the end of the week, mail or e-mail the report to B.P. Burtt at the appropriate address on the home page.

Bird songs and spring arrival dates

2004-04-18T14:57:00.002-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR April 18, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

The Time Schedule for the Spring Migration During the Next two Weeks
Why do birds sing and Why is so much of this singing done at dawn?

Spring arrivals

This week a number of new birds appear from the south. These include the brown thrasher, the chipping sparrow, the ruby-crowned kinglet and the white-throated sparrow.

This is the chipping sparrow that is due back from the south now. In breeding plumage it has a reddish cap, a black line through the eye and a distinct white line above it. The breast is white or grayish and without a central breast spot. (This chipping sparrow photograph was provided through the courtesy of Kevin and Jay McGowan of Dryden, NY )

In the winter plumage of the chipping sparrow, the red is not there, but the crown is brown with darker lines running front to back . Keep this in mind, and if you spot a red-capped sparrow in winter, it is most likely a tree sparrow down from the north.

Very often observers report chipping sparrows to me in the winter, but here in Central New York almost every such bird turns out to be a tree sparrow whose central breast spot was not noticed.

On or about April 25 we will see the first warbler. Usually it is the yellow-rumped warbler. Others species due then are the green heron, the spotted sandpiper the house wren and the common tern.

Why do birds sing?

In the breeding season, male birds select a territory , an area where they will nest. Since only about one egg in four successfully hatches and produces a youngster that survives, they must take elaborate steps to lessen competition and to find food for their offspring.

They try to attract a mate to their territory and keep other males from nesting nearby. That is, they are more likely to produce young and to find food for them if other nests of their species and not packed in too closely.

These purposes are served by the song which is a proclamation that a female would be welcome and that other pairs are to stay away.

Once a mate has been selected, the male still keeps singing to identify himself to other males and to keep them away. The song also tells his mate that he is nearby.

For a given species, the song is almost the same for all individuals, but not exactly. For example, we can recognize a song as that of a cardinal, but the song of each male differs just a little in tone or pitch from all others of his kind. You and I are not aware of this difference unless we use some electronic equipment, but other male cardinals can identify the singer. It is almost as if, as the bird sings, he gives his name or home address over and over again.

For the song to be effective, it is very important that it be clearly heard and understood by the other males. They will then know that the territory has been established and just whose it is. If another noise interferes or if the song is somehow garbled, then the message will not be understood and will not serve the purpose for which it is intended.

Why is there more singing at dawn than at other times of the day?

This brings us to the question, why is there a dawn chorus? Why is there so much bird singing just after sunrise and so much less later in the day? Are songs more clearly heard at dawn? Can they be better understood at a distance at dawn?

At that time of day sound travels better and all the special notes and tones that identify a particular bird can be heard. There usually is not much wind at dawn. Gusts would cause a sound to fade in and out. The heating of the air by the sun at mid day affects the sound in a similar way.

Have you ever been at a lake and noticed how the sound of your neighbor's radio comes and goes as the wind changes? Whether a note is loud or soft may help to identify a particular bird and all such tones must be heard.

At dawn there is less wind and heat and the identitiy of the singer can be determined better at that time than at mid day when other noises spoil the song.

Prof. Paul Handford of the University of Western Ontario has recently done some experiments on this in which he played recorded songs of the swamp sparrow and the white-throated sparrow at different times of the day and measured the strength and quality of the sound at different distances. He tried it in a wooded area and in an open marshy habitat.

Clearly, from his experiments the sounds at a distance were more often garbled at mid day than early in the morning. In the woods, the tree trunks and limbs also reflect the sounds and little echoes are produced.

At a distance such songs heard by the ear include the original song plus all the echoes. Thus it does not sound the same as the original song made by the bird. It is similar to the difficulties we have in following a conversation when several people are talking at once.

Birds have developed the habit of doing much of their singing early in the morning when the songs can be heard more clearly and at greater distances. Those that sing at dawn do a better job of keeping competitors away and are more likely to successfully raise their young.

March Feeder Survey results & Spring arrival dates

2004-04-04T15:03:00.002-04:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR April 4, 2004

By Ben P. Burtt

The Spring Migrants Due During The Next Two Weeks

The Results of the March Feeder Survey

INCOMING FLIGHTS IN UPSTATE NEW YORK

This week, starting April 4, the wood duck and the sapsucker should arrive from the south. Those juncos that went further south for the winter will start to drift through to the north. Flickers will be poking about on our lawns for insects. The tree swallow is due now.

Next week, starting April 11, we should see the first towhees, bank swallows, barn swallows and perhaps even a purple martin or two. The field sparrow is due, but it generally stays in grassy fields where we hear it before we see it and it seldom comes to our feeders. The American bittern will be in the marshes ..

THE MARCH SURVEY RESULTS

During the first week of March, readers tallied the birds seen at their feeder or visible from their home and sent in a list. From the summary of those reports we can see what birds are here and which ones are scarce or abundant this spring in upstate New York.

The birds at the typical feeder.

The number of species per report ranged from three for the 3rd grade class at the New Haven Elementary School to 36 for Ken Zoller at West Winfield. The average feeder had 17 species this time.

What birds were most often reported on the March Feeder Survey? Over 90% of the reports listed chickadees and mourning doves. Over 80% of the people listed downy woodpeckers, crows, cardinals, goldfinches and juncos.

About three-fourths of the observers had white-breasted nuthatches. A bit over 70% of the reports listed starlings and blue jays. In past years almost every feeder had a blue jay, but their numbers are down this spring and I don't know why.

Two-thirds of the observers listed red-winged blackbirds and Canada geese.
A bit over half the feeders had house sparrows, hairy woodpeckers, house finches, tree sparrows, grackles and robins.

CAPTION: The number of blue jays has been lower than normal this winter. In past years, the jay was reported by over 90% of those who watched their feeders. Only 78% reported it this February and now in early March it is down to 72%.( Photo, courtesy of The Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History in Jamestown, NY. To learn more about the Institute, visit its web site at http://www.rtpt.org/ )

Rare Birds

Some birds were reported by only one person. Matt Young spotted an immature golden eagle near Georgetown and a goshawk as well. Matt also had a flock of 57 evening grosbeaks. At Marcy, Doreen Hayes tallied the only kestrel.

At Hastings, Bill Purcell reported a woodcock and a horned owl. Linda Quackenbush has had a saw whet owl all winter. Paul Radway was the only person to list a white-crowned sparrow this time. At West Winfield, Ken Zoller tallied the only fox sparrow, horned lark and hooded merganser. Judith Fazio saw the only kingfisher in Syracuse.

The only brown creeper was reported by Gail Swistak of Cleveland. Four people listed chipping sparrows in early March and that bird does not normally show up until April. Were they tree sparrows whose breast spot was not visible? A field sparrow was reported at Baldwinsville and this bird rarely shows up before April.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Whether you send in a list or not, this feeder survey can answer many of your questions. The types of questions that are asked most often are:

Is it unusual to see this bird now?

Has anyone else seen one recently?

Here is an easy way you can get an answer to such questions. Print this column and you will have a complete list of the birds seen during the Feeder Survey for the first week of March.

Here is how it can be useful to you.

Suppose you have just heard a bird song that sounds like a killdeer. Is this too early? Have any of them arrived from the south?

To get the answer, look for the killdeer on the list below. There you will find: "killdeer 3 (2)". That means that of 100 reports sent in for the first week of March,, a total of 3 killdeer were tallied by 2 people. So very few killdeer had appeared by the first week in March.

If the killdeer had not been on the list, you would know that none had arrived by survey time.

Redpolls were still here in substantial numbers and past surveys show that they will be here for the April survey, but return north soon after that.

The March list.

Below is the list of all species reported. Print it post it on your refrigerator for a few weeks in case you want to know whether a particular species has arrived or whether very many are being seen.

The first number for a species on the list is the number of individual birds of that species on 100 reports. The second number is the actual number of reports that listed that bird.

Horned grebe 2 (1); great blue heron 7 (4); snow goose 3,614 (14); Canada goose 6,803 (62).

Ducks: wood 7 (2); black 5 (2); mallard 102 (18); ring-necked duck 8 (1); goldeneye 25 (2); bufflehead 5 (2); hooded merganser 1 (1); common merganser 30 (3); red-breasted merganser 1 (1) and turkey vulture 22 (9).

Hawks: golden eagle 1 (1); harrier 3 (3); sharp-shinned 10 (10); Cooper's 19 (19); goshawk 1 (1); red-tailed 30 (22); kestrel 1 (1); pheasant 7 (5); ruffed grouse 4 (4); turkey 228 (13); killdeer 3 (2); woodcock 2 (1).

Gulls: ring-billed 468 (19); herring 69 (9); black-backed 1 (1); rock dove 205 (22); mourning dove 600 (92).

Owls: horned 1 (1); saw-whet 1 (1); kingfisher 1 (1).

Woodpeckers: red-bellied 53 (37); downy 192 (89); hairy 88 (55); flicker 9 (8); pileated 10 (8); horned lark 2 (1); blue jay 235 (72); crow 528 (86); raven 11 (4).

Chickadee 418 (95); titmouse 89 (49); red-breasted nuthatch 48 (30); white-breasted nuthatch 131 (76); brown creeper 4 (2); Carolina wren 4 (3).

Bluebird 29 (1`3); robin 258 (52); mockingbird 2 (2); cedar waxwing 132 (4); starling 1,510 (71); cardinal 282 (84).

Sparrows: tree 389 (54); chipping 14 (4); field 1 (1); fox 1 (1); song 18 (14); white-throated 61 (20); white-crowned 1 (1); junco 428 (80).

Red-winged blackbird 1,502 (65); rusty blackbird 11 (2); grackle 970 (54); cowbird 112 (19); purple finch 9 (6); house finch 313 (55); redpoll 956 (31); hoary redpoll 4 (2); pine siskin 23 (6); goldfinch 1,090 (80); evening grosbeak 73 (3); house sparrow 640 (56).

Feeder survey starts

The April feeder survey starts today, April 4, and continues through Saturday. Please watch your feeder this week and send in a report.

For each species, report the largest number you see at any one time during the next seven days.

At the end of the week, send your list to Ben Burtt by regular mail or email. Use the appropriate address that is printed near the top of the home page.

If you would like to participate and have not done so before, you can read the complete directions by clicking on LIBRARY at the top left corner of this page and once there, select "Feeder Survey Directions

Time schedule for the early spring migration & the habits of the fox sparrow

2004-03-21T15:13:00.003-05:00

BIRD COLUMN FOR March 21, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

The Time Schedule for the Early Spring Migration
The habits of the fox sparrow

This is the fox sparrow. It will show up this week and some will be migrating through from now until early May.

This beautiful bird in Roger Tory Peterson's painting is indeed a foxy color. The arrows in this painting from Peterson's "Birds of Eastern and Central North America" call your attention to two important field marks for identification: the rusty tail and the central breast spot. ( Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Co. )

In Central New York, the spring arrival of birds from the south begins in March. The first ones to arrive are those that can eat seeds or berries. Those that eat only flying insects have to wait until about April 10.

How do the birds know when to come? Their hormones tell them and it is the length of the daylight that tips off the hormones. From the hormones the birds get a sort of restless urge to head north. Over thousands of years, each species has developed this ability to have the length of the daylight send a signal within the brain to release the hormones on a date appropriate for that species.

About March 1, Male red-winged blackbirds show up and they do well on seeds.

Around the 10th, when the day is about 30 minutes longer, we begin to see robins, bluebirds, killdeer, meadowlarks and turkey vultures.

Berries are eaten by robins and bluebirds. The killdeer must dig up small insects and it puzzles me that they can find enough to get along. Meadowlarks eat lots of insects in the summer, but because they can feed on seeds, they are able to survive here in early March. The turkey vulture's keen sense of smell enables it to find dead animals even if they are covered with snow.

By the 15th of March the day is 15 minutes longer than on the 10th and that is when the female red-winged blackbird arrives along with the phoebe. The latter is a flycatcher, but it arrives a couple weeks before insects are in the air. It can survive because it is the only flycatcher that is able to feed on berries if insects are not flying.

Starting today March 21 and continuing through the week, many new birds will show up. The list includes the harrier, song sparrow, fox sparrow and winter wren. Woodcock should appear and we will see kestrels, kingfishers and snipe.

THE FOX SPARROW

A new bird on the ground around our feeders will be the fox sparrow. This species first shows up about now in late March and some will be passing through for about a month.

They are on their way to the northern forests of Canada and Newfoundland for the summer. There, they are one of the most common nesting birds. Their nest is on the ground in scrubby thickets and where the trees are stunted. They seldom nest south of the St. Lawrence River.

The fox sparrow is a very attractive member of the sparrow family. It spends the winter from the Gulf of Mexico north to southern Pennsylvania.

We will not see them again until the fall when they return to their winter quarters. Thus there are only two brief times during the year when we have the chance to see the fox sparrow.

The fox sparrow is the largest of the sparrows that we see. The breast is heavily streaked. Like the song sparrow, the streaks come together to form a central spot on the breast. However, the other markings on the fox sparrow are much broader and darker than those of the song sparrow.

Its most distinguishing identifying mark is the rusty-brown red rump and tail. It is this fox-like color that gives it its name.

Like the towhee, it feeds by scratching away the dead leaves in its busy search for seeds and insects. Both feet are used, and it makes quite a commotion in the brush. In fact, one often hears the scratching and rustling in the leaves before actually seeing the bird. It makes so much noise that one suspects the sound is being made by a chipmunk or squirrel.

During the next two or three weeks, you can find the fox sparrow in woods and secluded thickets or among bushes at the edge of a field. It is hard to spot it there on the ground. When disturbed however, the bird will usually fly into the lowest branches of nearby trees and become quite conspicuous and easy to identify. In a moment or two it will return to the ground to scratch around some more.

While it probably will not come to a feeder on a post or a tubular feeder, you can bring it into your feeding area by putting fine grains on the ground. Use cracked corn, millet or crushed sunflower seed.

Most birds are accustomed to feeding on the ground and when a bird first visits your yard that is one place where they are almost sure to come to seeds that you offer.

Years ago, I moved a huge flat rock to a spot outside our big window. It is five feet long and three feet wide and about a foot thick. This was the two and one half ton doorstep to the Morse farm house that occupied this land up until 1940.

I partially buried the rock so that the flat upper surface is about three inches above the lawn. There is room for many birds to feed there at the same time. It is easy to sweep it clean. Of course it is visited by squirrels and chipmunks that can not reach food on the post feeders.

However, it does make it easy for new bird visitors to feed in our yard and that is where I usually see the fox sparrows.

All of the birds due this week and those that have arrived already, are birds that spent the winter in the southern part of the United States. Those that went to Central America and South America are on their way, but none of them arrive here for another two weeks.

Until the next column on April 4 you can get an update on the birds expected by calling 315-472-2111 and when you hear the greeting, punch in 7336. Other bird news is available there too. This message will be updated every few days as things change.

You can also check the announcements section on the left side of the home page of this web site

Migrant red-winged Blackbirds and February Feeder Survey results

2004-03-07T15:16:00.003-05:00

BIRD COLUMN For March 7, 2004

By Benjamin P. Burtt

One of the signs of spring is the arrival of the first bird from the south. Normally, that is the male red-winged blackbird. While a few red-wings have been here all winter, the migrants usually show up in Central New York during the first week of March and begin to sing. However, that first date can vary a week either way. This year I heard my first one on March 2.

I always look forward to hearing the song, "oh-ker-ee", which for me says that spring has arrived.

(Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Company)

The adult male is shown on the lower left in this painting by Roger Tory Peterson. The courtship centers about the display of the male's scarlet epaulets that have a yellowish border.

When the male red-wing is absorbed in feeding and not courting or defending its territory, the scarlet is hidden and he becomes a plain black bird with a pale yellow stripe on his shoulder as shown by the bird in the middle.

The female, upper right is a brownish bird with sparrow like stripes below. Males in their first year resemble the female except that they have a reddish shoulder.

This painting is from Peterson's "Birds of Eastern and Central North America", fifth edition.

On the February feeder survey, out of 100 reports there normally would be perhaps 10 that listed one or more winter resident red-wings. This time there was only one report of a single bird. Perhaps the long, cold weather we have had this year has kept these birds further south.

Bird news from the February Feeder Survey

For each of you who feeds birds, it is fun to be able to compare what you saw in your yard during the first week of February with the observations of others who feed birds. The February Feeder Survey has now been tabulated.

Here are the birds most often seen, and the number present at the average feeder during the period from February 2 to 8.

There were five species that were seen by over 90% of the observers. Here are those species with the average number of each that was listed on the reports. You can compare this to your count - - - Chickadees 5, downy woodpecker 2, junco 7, mourning dove 9 and crows 8.

The most numerous bird was the goldfinch and the average person had 12. Redpolls were almost as abundant as they were in January. Those who listed redpoll had about 20 of them in sight at one time. There were lots of mourning doves. More abundant than normal were tree sparrows, titmice, juncos and red-breasted nuthatches.

There were almost no blackbirds or any kind. Not a single bluebird or pheasant was reported.

The typical feeder had 15 species during the first week of February.

Some species do not travel in flocks and we usually see just the male and the female. This is true of the following species in which we see only 1 or 2. These include the downy woodpecker, the white-breasted and red-breasted nuthatches and the tufted titmouse.

The short lists

Every list is important for I am interested in knowing what birds people see. Some people have a better habitat than do others and have a greater variety of species. However, to learn what birds are around, we need to have reports whether they are long or short.

The third grade class at the New Haven Elementary School continues to send a list that is forwarded by their teacher Mrs. Norma Griffin. This time they listed the same species they had in January. They had 3 mourning doves as they did last month, but they had 21 goldfinches and 21 common redpolls which was almost double the numbers of those birds they tallied the month before.

Listing 9 species were Niles Brown of Tully, Charles Bruner of Brooktondale, Eugenia Fish of Cortland and John and Marilyn Ross of Canton.

The longest lists

Tallying 26 species was Ken Zoller of West Winfield. He was the only person to see horned larks and he had 30 of them at Waterloo. Linda Quackenbush had 25 species and she was the only person to have a saw-whet owl. Judy Thurber reported 24 species in Syracuse including the only great blue heron and red-breasted merganser. There were 23 species on the list from Ed Street in Cazenovia and he was the only one to have a sapsucker.

There were 22 on two reports from Baldwinsville, that of Steve Swenson and from John and Elizabeth Wallace. The Wallaces were the only people to see a redwing. Also reporting 22 were Barbara and Richard of Richland.

Listing 21 species were Lawrence Abrahamson of Marcellus and Bill Purcell of Hastings. Bill was the only person to list a Bohemian waxwing while Lawrence tallied the only mockingbird,

Listing 20 species were Paul Radway of Pompey, William and Mary Fais of New Woodstock and Kathy and Scott Trefz in Perryville. The Fais's spotted the only towhee.

Other scarce birds

The Burch family in Skaneateles, were the only people to see snow geese. In Dewitt, Estelle Hahn had a screech owl. The only rusty blackbird was tallied by Douglas Nielsen of Syracuse. And Dana Wilson reported the only kestrel in Canastota.

THE COMPLETE FEBRUARY LIST

Below is a list of all species reported. For each bird, the first figure is the number of them listed on 100 reports and the number in parentheses is the percentage of the reports that listed that species.

Great Blue Heron 1 (1); snow goose 5 (1); Canada goose 436 (16).

Ducks: mallard 26 (5); common merganser 47 {2);red-breasted merganser 1 (1).

Daytime birds of prey: bald eagle 2 (2); sharp-shinned 17 (17); Cooper's 16 (16); red-tailed 27 (22); kestrel 1 (1); turkey 164 (14).

Gulls: ring-billed 6 (4); herring 23 (3); black-backed 6 (2); rock dove 208 (9; mourning dove 809 (90); screech owl 1 (1); horned owl 3 (2); saw-whet owl 1 (1).

Woodpeckers: red-bellied 60 (47); sapsucker 1 (1); downy woodpecker 213 (91); hairy 112 (64); flicker 4 (4); pileated 3 (3); horned lark 30 (1).

Blue jay 299 (78); crow 724 (90); raven 2 (2); black-capped chickadee 551 (99); titmouse 113 (59); red-breasted nuthatch 68 (46); white-breasted nuthatch 134 (75); brown creeper 8 (6); Carolina wren 8 (6); golden crowned kinglet 3 (2); robin 226 (4); mockingbird 1 (1); starling 563 (60); cedar waxwing 123 (5); bohemian waxwing 1 northern shrike 2 (2); cardinal 380 (85); towhee 1 (1).

Sparrows: tree 391 (61); field 2 (2); song 10 (7); white-throated 96 (27); white-crowned 4 (3); junco 676 (91); snow bunting 12 (2).
Red-winged blackbird 1 (1); rusty blackbird 1 (1); cowbird 11 (5); purple finch 9 (3); house finch 434 (53); redpoll 866 (44); hoary redpoll 3 (2);pine siskin 8 (5); goldfinch 1,017 (83); evening grosbeak 41 (3); house sparrow 500 (47).

The March feeder survey starts today, March 7 and ends Saturday.
( the survey always starts on the first Sunday of the month )

Please watch whenever you can and keep a record of the number of birds of each species that you see each time. At the end of the week, list the largest number of each species that you saw at any one time during that week.

If you would like to help with this project and have not done so before, you can also read the complete instructions here on this web site. Click on LIBRARY at the left and near the beginning of this column. Then on FEEDER SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS.

Arrange all the species in the order shown in the list on this page from last month. Put each species on a separate line with the number first, followed by the birds name. Please write the number of species at the top of the list.

At the end of the week, put your list on a postcard or in a letter and send it to B.P.Burtt, Smokey Hollow Rd., Jamesville, NY 13078-9548. You can send results by EMAIL to birdcolumn@usadatanet.net( Please include the name of your town