Sudden Death

Photo of sharp-shinned hawk by Steve Beradi, Wikimedia Commons

If you attract birds to a feeder, you also attract predators for those birds. I usually refill my feeders when I get back to the house after walking with a friend at 7:00 AM. By 7:30 AM, the feeders are generally covered with birds.

Late last week, I noticed there wasn't a single bird on the feeders, and I could hear a blue jay screaming out a warning call. These are sure indications that there is a predator around. I had been seeing the odd sharp-shinned hawk and Cooper's hawk buzzing through the yard at various times, but hadn't seen them catch anything, until this day.

The blue jay's call was too little, too late. A sharp-shinned hawk alighted on the top of our garage next to the feeders, just long enough to adjust the house sparrow in his talons before taking off to enjoy his meal. I have plenty of house sparrows pigging out at the feeders, so I didn't begrudge the hawk his meal. In fact, he can come back for seconds any time.

Both species are here in the winter and prey upon smaller birds, although I have seen a Cooper's hawk wrestling a pigeon nearly as big as it was. It is easy to confuse the sharp-shinned and Cooper's hawks. They look very similar. The sharp-shinned is smaller; however, there can be overlap in the size of a male Cooper's hawk and a female sharp-shinned hawk (in raptors, the female is larger), so size is not a definitive way to tell the difference. However, a sharp-shinned hawk seems slighter and more delicate overall.

In comparison, the sharp-shinned has a smaller head in proportion to its body than does a Cooper's hawk. The sharp-shinned as a more squared tail and a Cooper's a more rounded tail.

Either way, it is always exciting to see one of these graceful, fierce predators hunting. If I could just teach them to stick to the house sparrows!

Good birding!

Book Review: Sparrow by Kim Todd

I am not a big fan of the house sparrow overall. In a previous post I mentioned a new book about the house sparrow I intended to buy and review. I discovered this book when reading a newsletter from the Celebrate Urban Birds program from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Well, I bought the book, Sparrow, by Kim Todd from Amazon and discovered a delightful read. As I said, I am not a big fan of the house sparrow, primarily due to its detrimental effect on some of our native birds, like the eastern bluebird. However, one has to admire a bird that has managed to spread over 6 continents and become so successful.

Ms. Todd brings out the impact of this tiny bird (and other sparrows) on literature and art as well as the story of its success.  I particularly enjoyed the discussion concerning the study of house sparrows in learning more about evolution and bird song. Ms. Todd ends her book with a discussion of the decline of house sparrow populations in many cities. Although the question about why this is happening is still unanswered, the possibilities point to the house sparrow as a possible "canary in the coal mine." In one study it seemed the house sparrows decline was due to underweight and undernourished babies due to a decline in insect populations in the city (a seriously bad thing) and in another, due in part perhaps to a large increase in raptor populations (which would be a good thing.) It will be interesting to discover the result of further research.

This was just a fascinating book--I can't recommend it too highly.

Good birding!                                                                                                              

Much Maligned House Sparrow

Admittedly not my favorite bird, although you couldn't tell it from the hordes at my feeders. Anyway, for those who would like to know more about these birds, you can register for a free webinar coming up on June 12 at noon, Central time. The author of Sparrow, Kim Todd, will be speaking. You can sign up for the webinar here.

I have ordered the book from Amazon and will give you a review when I get it.

Good birding!

Great Kick-off for Great Backyard Bird Count

Vacated Cliff swallow nests being used by house sparrows under Kemp overpass at the Lake Wichita spillway trail.

I decided to kick-off my Great Backyard Bird Count at the Lake Wichita Spillway as it is one of my favorite birding spots in Wichita Falls. I wasn't disappointed.

For the GBBC you count the highest number of a particular species seen at one time during the count period. You don't accumulate the counts as you do for the Christmas Count. I had a good morning. I did a 40 minute count and saw:

Canada goose 2

White pelican 39

Ring-billed gull 7

Gull species 180 (probably predominantly or entirely ring-billed, but they were spread out all over the lake, so to far away to see clearly)

Mallard 4

Blue-winged teal 25

Red head duck 1

American coot 31

Common merganser 1

Killdeer 3

Pied-billed grebe 2

Great blue heron 1

Greater yellowlegs 1

Kestrel 1

Red-tailed hawk 2

Meadowlark species (probably eastern) 16

Eropean starling 4

Red-winged blackbird 3

Robin 7

Cedar waxwing 31

Eastern phoebe 1

Song sparrow 1

House sparrow 8

I walked down to the overpass because I heard a lot of house sparrows (there were many more than the 8 indicated, but this is the number visible at one time). They were again building nests in the abandoned cliff swallow nests under the overpass. I saw them doing that last year, but don't recall seeing any active nests once the cliff swallows returned, so I will watch this year. I wonder if the cliff swallows evict them and whether the house sparrows are able to fledge young before the cliff swallows return.

My favorite sighting of the morning was the common merganser as I don't see them often, although the redhead duck was also a treat. However, I was rewarded for being out early with a nice long view of a beaver heading out.

Overall, a great start to the GBBC weekend. I hopre you'll get out and enjoy the birds during the 4-day count.

Good birding!

Project Feederwatch Season

Today marks the first day of the Project Feederwatch (PFW) season. I made sure my feeders were full yesterday. I feed all year around, but, once PFW season starts, I make sure whatever feeders are up are full. At the beginning of the season, I only have a few up; by mid-winter, I will be running around 10.

Anyway, I was laying in bed this morning enjoying a few minutes of quiet before the animals figured out I was awake (how do they know?) and started making their wishes known and hoping that the first birds of the season would not be house sparrows. We have a lot of house sparrows around our house, but I can count them any day.

The first trip this morning yielded no birds at all. Later, when I was getting ready to head out to Wild Bird Rescue, there were three birds at the feeders. One female cardinal at the black oil sunflower and two house sparrows at the millet. The cardinal made me feel better about the house sparrows. We're off to a good start!

Good birding!

Purple Martins vs. European Starlings

Wild Bird Rescue has a Purple Martin house that has been very popular in years past. The trick is to allow the purple martins in while keeping house sparrows and starlings out.

Lila Arnold, one of the other rehabbers at Wild Bird Rescue, said she had been seeing house sparrows taking over some of the units, and asked if I would clean the nests out while I was here Saturday.

Sure enough, when I got here I could see three pair of martins checking out the apartments and I could also see a pair of house sparrows going in and out. I had my husband drop the house (my hands aren't strong enough to wrestle the pins--darned arthritis!) and pulled out a large house sparrow nest. I checked the other units and could see a few had the beginnings of purple martin nests.

Today I drove up to Wild Bird Rescue and there are at least 6 pairs of martins busily going in and out with nesting materials. I could also see a pair of house sparrows busily working away. At this point with the martins looking well established, I probably won't drop the house again. However, I thought about it when I saw a starling sitting on top of the house, as they can be very aggressive and have been reported to oust martins.

I think this group will be OK though. As I watched the starling, trying to decide what I should do, I noticed a couple of martins diving at him. One grabbed him and they fell to the ground, where they wrestled for a few seconds before the starling flew away, pursued by several of the martins. It appears they can take care of the starling interloper fine on their own. Bob Lindsay observed a similar mobbing on a starling last year.

I've been out since and it appears there are about 6 pair of martins and 2 pair of house sparrows in the unit. We'll see how it goes. If the house sparrows look like they are getting obnoxious, they'll have to go.

Good birding!