Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

On 9 April 2017, I banded a female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. This individual gave me pause, because I thought females’ crowns were red. (Males also have red throats.)

A quick review of the literature indicates the female crowns vary. Often they are red, like the one in this previously posted image. You can find females with black crowns. In the second edition of his guide, Sibley illustrates a black-crowned sapsucker. Crowns can also be “mixed red and black, black with red spots on [the] forehead, or [be] black with buffy markings” (Walters et al. 2002).

Scarlet Cup

Scarlet Cups are called “harbingers of spring” (Smith). These mushrooms fruit from early April through May. I discovered these in the leaf litter below my banding net on 9 April. Amazingly, I found this species at the same location and on the same date in 2011. Scarlet cups are found in North American hardwoods.

Smith does not recommend eating Scarlet Cups, although this fungus is consumed by rodents in the winter and slugs in the summer The Iroquois used this mushroom as an antibiotic to treat the belly buttons of newborn babies. These cups are also occasionally used for table decorations (Wikipedia). 

Mourning Cloak

Our first butterfly of 2017, despite freezing temperatures the previous night. A Mourning Cloak circled us on 7 April and then landed on the trail in front of us, as Erika and I strolled along the Bass Ponds in the Minnesota River Valley National Wildlife Refuge near Minneapolis. 

In Minnesota, Mourning Cloaks are the first butterflies in the spring. They often emerge in the fall and then hibernate during the winter. Coincidentally, 7 April also marked our first Mourning Cloak in 2011. This butterfly is probably in for hard times, since snow is predicted tomorrow night.

Mallard on the Roof

Zelda and Scott are our resident Mallards during the ten years we have run our water feature. When approached this year, they flew to the roof of our house. Previously they just flew away. We have no clue if we get the same individuals every year, nor do we know where they nest. 

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatches are smaller than White-breasted Nuthatches. The Red-breasted has a different call and has different habitat preferences, preferring conifers over deciduous woodlands. They range across Canada and the northernmost United States, with more southern populations in the Appalachian and Rocky mountains. The planting of conifer forests recently caused the species’ breeding range to expand to the south. Unlike sedentary the White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-breasteds irrupt southward, even to the Gulf Coast and northern Mexico, during years with poor conifer seeds. 

A few Red-breasted Nuthatches have visited our feeders this winter. I banded this male on 1 April 2017. I did not remember that this species’ bill is bicolored. In the second image, on the base of the lower mandible, notice the lovely pale horn hue.

Eastern Bluebird

On 31 March, Erika and I watched a flock of six male Eastern Bluebirds make their way through a forest edge at the Whitetail Woods Regional Park in Dakota County. We were impressed by the brilliance of their blue.  Bluebirds appear even more brilliant to each other. They see ultra-violet light. Male bluebirds reflect this color especially well (Gowaty and Plissner 2015).

This bluebird shows a couple of interesting features. I expected only young bluebirds to show the yellow base to the bill. If you look closely, notice the white-tipped secondary coverts on the wing. In other thrushes, these tips are held-over juvenile feathers. I suspect this bird, therefore, is a bird hatched last year.

Eastern Meadowlark

 

This Eastern Meadowlark sang from the top of a cedar sapling in the Great Western Industrial Park near  Randolph, Dakota County, Minnesota (29 March 2017). I previously posted on the perils of meadowlark identification. The non-gurgly, clear whistle and the yellow throat color not penetrating the sides of its head indicate Eastern Meadowlark.

The Eastern Meadowlark’s range is strange. They breed across most of central and eastern Minnesota and much of the eastern United States. They are almost absent in North Dakota and much of South Dakota. They breed in southwestern South Dakota and, curiously, much of the Southwestern United States, south into Central America.

In any event, this bird’s long hind toes indicate that it forages on the ground. Meadowlarks are generally in decline across North America. Loss of grassland habitat and industrialization of agriculture both contribute to this trend. Severe winters also take a toll on meadowlark populations.

Red-winged Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbirds have made their spring return to Minnesota. This male sang at the Dennison Water Treatment Ponds. The species may be the most abundant bird in North America (Yasukawa and Searcy 1995). Winter populations may exceed 190 million birds. Historically Red-wings were marshland breeders, but changed to nesting in pasture and grain fields. The species has flourished with the spread of American agriculture. Furthermore, Interstate Highway roadsides, with their barrow and drainage ditches, also support this species’ expansion.

American Tree Sparrow

Another bird present at the Dennison Water Treatment Ponds was this American Tree Sparrow. This sparrow is headed north—the species breeds across remote areas of northern Canada. It winters across the northern and central United States, where it inhabits weedy fields and marshlands. Tree Sparrows often visit suburban bird feeders.

American Tree Sparrows are abundant birds. Somewhat surprisingly, considering their wide habitat tolerances and remote breeding areas, tree sparrows have declined by 53% between 1970 and 2014 (Naugler et al. 2017). Ornithologists do not have an explanation for this downward trend. Industrialized agriculture and loss of weedy fields in their winter range is one hypothesis for the decline.

Song Sparrow

Song Sparrows are common and widespread across most of the United States, southern Canada, and parts of Mexico. In our part of the world, Song Sparrows are migratory. Many coastal populations are year-round residents. The species occupies a wide range of habitats—often near water—including forest edges, chaparral, marshes, and hedgerows. This bird sang from brush along the Dennison Water Treatment Ponds and, on 28 March, was my first Song Sparrow for this year.