Eastern Wood-Pewee

On 8 June 2014, Erika and I photographed this Eastern Wood-Pewee. This flycatcher is common across its breeding range in eastern North America. Its plaintive “pee-a-wee” song is often heard in our woodlands.

Eastern Wood-Pewees are late spring migrants. Because they nest high in trees and build cryptic nests, relatively little is known about their reproductive biology. The Eastern Wood-Pewee is quite similar to the Western Wood-Pewee. Both were once considered to be races of a single species. But their ranges hardly overlap, their songs differ (see tomorrow’s post) and no hybridization is known to occur (McCarty 1996). The same author writes that Eastern Wood-Pewees have declined significantly in numbers during the past 25 years. He speculates that this decline may be due to heavy browsing of forests by White-tailed Deer.

Common Pauraque

On 22 February 2014, during our Texas trip, Erika and I drove to one of our favorite birding locations, the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. We arrived just in time to accompany a bird walk led by refuge volunteers. We do not often take group bird walks, but we sure were happy we did this time. We would never have seen two Common Pauraques sleeping by the side a trail. Even as our guides pointed them out, the birds were difficult to see. I could see the odd, bold wing pattern, but not the bird’s shape.  It was just so cryptically camouflaged—and the bird was only a few feet away from us. Note the bird's long tail!

The Common Pauraque is found from southern Texas south to South America. Pauraques are relatives to whip-poor-wills and are, indeed, common—they are just very hard to see. Consequently little is known about this species’ biology. Males are unusual among nightjars in that they share incubation duties. They feed low to the ground at night, jumping up to catch flying arthropods. The word “pauraque” may be derived from one of its calls, which sounds like “para que” in Spanish. In any event, pauraques are well represented in Latin American folk lore. Pauraques lead women astray and occasionally make virgins pregnant (Latta and Howell 1999).

Red Saddlebags

In February, of the few dragonflies we encountered in south Texas, we found Red Saddlebags most frequently. Often we saw males patrolling lake edges, like in the first photo taken at Llano Estero Grande State Park. These odes defend large territories, up to 3000 square feet (Paulson).

The second photo is of a male defending territory some distance from a local pond north of Edinburg. Paulsonwrites that Red Saddlebags are often found far from water. I was surprised to find both this and the last individual (a female) perched on or near the ground. Often saddlebags perch on treetops. The last photo is of a female, who, by the look of her abdomen tip, had just finished ovipositing. We found her on a dike some distance from an irrigation ditch at the Mission Nature and Bike Park.

Red Saddlebags are common in much of the eastern and southwestern United States. They range south to northern South America. Minnesota is about as far north as this species is found, and are usually rare here (see my previous post). Red Saddlebags may be migratory in the far North.

Bobolink

Gene Bauer, Gerry Hoekstra and I checked out a prairie being restored by the Nerstrand Big Woods State Park in Rice County. Bobolinks bred in the grassland. Bobolinks are relatively common nesting birds in our part of Minnesota, yet these first two photos are my first for the female of the species. Perhaps their relative drabness compared to the striking black and white males diverted my attention. Both sexes gave curious wing quivering behaviors (shown in all but the first photo), flapping their wings without flying.  I am not sure if this action is aggressive or territorial, or if it was directed at other bobolinks or at me. I have seen similar displays by other grassland birds like Henslow’s and Grasshopper sparrows.

Bobolinks are polygynous, with males breeding with multiple females. Males defend their territories until they begin feeding nestlings. At this time, males without territories establish territories of their own and often attract females that have been unsuccessful at breeding. Female Bobolinks almost never defend areas against other females within their male’s territory (Martin and Gavin 1995). Thus my photo of the female giving a wing display may well be intended to distract me from the nesting area.

Bobolinks are long-distance migrants, wintering in southern South America, a round-trip distance of about 12,500 miles. A banded female Bobolink was recaptured after nine years, thus “presumably made this trip annually, a total distance equal to traveling 4.5 times around the earth at the equator” (Martin and Gavin 1995). Studies indicate that Bobolinks orient using magnetic clues.

Ichneuman Wasps

Giant Ichneuman Wasps, Megarhyssa atrata, are our largest wasps. As they are not venomous, thus they are no danger to people. They insert their long ovipositors into rotten wood and deposit their eggs inside Pigeon Horntail larvae, which burrow into trees. The wasp’s larvae proceed to devour the hosts from the inside out. Adult wasps are short-lived and have only about a month to mate and find their host. How they find their host larvae is a mystery. Presumably the wasp uses smell or sound (University of Michigan). The wasps remain as larvae through the winter, leaving their burrows and pupating in the spring.

Scott King and I found several of these wasps in the forest at the River Bend Nature Center near Faribault, Minnesota.

Tree Swallow

Last week, Erika and I were walking through the forest edge of the Carleton Arboretum when I heard musical chirping above us.  I looked up to see a first-year Tree Swallow looking down at us. At first I thought it was a Bank Swallow.  The breast band, however, is pale and lacks a downward running point. Thanks to Matt for pointing out my error.

Three-spotted Fillip Moth

As Scott King and I walked through the forest in the River Bend Nature Area in Rice County, Minnesota, we happend upon the Three-spotted Fillip Moth. This moth’s caterpillars feed on maples. I do not know the derivtoion of the word “Fillip."

Great Horned Owl

Not far from the pygmy-owl (last February in Texas) sat a Great Horned Owl—what a contrast in size! Great Horned Owls mostly hunt at night, but sometimes also during the day. Ninety percent of its prey is mammalian, and only 10% are birds. A small number of other creatures are also taken (Houston et al. 1998).

Great Horned Owls are found across North America, from Alaska and northern Canada to southern Central America. They enjoy a wide ecological range—including deserts, grasslands, suburban, forest, and marshland habitats. I have previously posted a photo of this species’ nesting in the middle of the Florida Everglades.

Le Conte’s Haploa Moth

A week ago, In the River Bend Nature Area near Faribault, Minnesota, Scott King and I found two Le Conte’s Haploa Moths. Just by looking at these two photos, you can see that this moth is a variable creature (some can even be all white, others much more complexly patterned). Often the species looks similar to other closely related moths. I base my identification on a photo from the Fontenelle Forest Nature Association website, which I consider to be reliable. The website mentions that this moth’s caterpillars favor a variety of herbaceous and woody plants, including apples and willows. The caterpillars overwinter and pupate in the spring.

Haploa moths are sometimes called Crusader Moths, as their black back markings are often graced with black crosses like on crusader's cloaks. Haploa is the moth’s genus and comes from the Greek for simple or single. I assume Le Conte is the same individual for whom Le Conte’s Sparrows are named.

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls are common throughout most of South and Central America. At the northern end of this range, in southern Arizona and southern Texas, however, the species is rare or endangered. In Texas these owls suffered from the clearing of 90% of Honey Mesquite-Live Oak woodlands between 1920 and 1945. A look at eBird shows only a few dozen records ranging from Kingsville to the lower Rio Grand. This may be misleading, since, when I submitted this record, eBird advised me to keep the record hidden. The fear was that, when birders learn of Pygmy-Owl locations, the birds are often besieged by over-eager listers. One thing for sure, south Texas was crawling with more birders than I have ever seen in one place.

While visiting our friends north of Edinburg, they asked if we would like to see a pygmy-owl. “Sure,” we replied, with low hopes for our success. But our hosts bought their ranch because it contains small patches of mesquite forest. In one of these, our friend played a pygmy-owl call on his phone. Within couple of minutes, this owl replied. I called out that the phone could be turned off. “I did a while ago,” was the reply. What I took to be the recording was actually a living owl.

Although under seven inches long and weighing 2.5 ounces, the Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl is an opportunistic predator. Insects, reptiles, amphibians, birds and small mammals all are included in this owl’s diet. Pygmy-owls are most active at dawn and dusk, but are also active during the daylight (Proudfoot and Johnson 2000).