The Best Laid Plans

My intent this morning was to head out to Clay County to look for the tundra swans near Lake Arrowhead after I stopped in to care for my charges at Wild Bird Rescue. During the winter we don't have a lot of birds, but some good ones--currently, we have 2 screech owls, a barred owl, red-tailed hawk and of course, Missi, our educational Mississippi kite.

However, when I got up, the fog was thick--knowing the area the swans were reported is well back from the road, I knew there would be no chance of seeing the birds at that distance with this much fog, so a change in plans was needed.

When I got to Wild Bird Rescue, I decided to walk down to the little inlet and see just how bad the visibility was over the lake. I couldn't see more than about 15 yards with any clarity. In spite of that, the 5 minutes I spent there yielded some good birds, to include several hundred red-winged blackbirds coming up out of the reeds for the day, a Cooper's hawk, a couple of coots, a pied-billed grebe, a marsh wren, a belted kingfisher, and six great blue herons that were spaced every few yards along the bank.

I got very close to the Cooper's hawk. I think he was concentrating on the red-winged blackbirds and contemplating breakfast. He was fairly low in a tree along the bank, so I wasn't more than 5 yards from him and had a chance to get a good look before he decided to move to a taller tree across the inlet.

The marsh wren was a special treat. I hear them occasionally, but they tend to stay in the thick of the reeds and when they pop out, it is only for a second or two. This morning, the wren was scolding and hopping around on top of the reeds, then flew across the path, right in front of me, so I had the opportunity to get a good look.

All in all, a very fruitful 5-minute investment. Right now, I am keeping an eye out on my feeders for Project Feederwatch, waiting for the fog to burn off so I can head out on my swan quest. The little ruby-crowned kinglet as usual, cannot resist the suet cake.

Good birding!

Wham!

Whenever you have lots of prey in a small area, you are going to have predators. Anyone who has fed birds has had the occasional predation loss, whether to cats or birds of prey. I look at the predation losses to birds of prey as just part of the birdwatching experience.

I was sitting in the living room reading and heard a loud "wham!" on one of the windows in the kitchen area. I thought to myself, "Well, there goes one of my birds hitting the window." But the noise was exceptionally loud, and I go to lengths to make sure my windows are not shiny clean to reduce reflection and window strikes.

I went to investigate and found a good sized puddle of blood on my back covered porch with a few feathers and a Cooper's hawk struggling to fly away with a large burden in its talons. Although I didn't get a clear look at what the Cooper's hawk was carrying, my guess is one of the obese white-winged doves that hang out in my yard. The hawk should be able to eat off of one of those birds for a week, at least. I'm assuming that the dove hit the window at speed in an attempt to evade the Cooper's Hawk, was stunned, which gave the Cooper's hawk the opportunity to ensure the bird was dead and under control for carrying away to a convenient place to perch and eat.

Good birding!