Red-bellied Woodpecker

At the home feeders, we have a a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers. As indicated by his red forehead, this individual is a male (click here to see a female). These birds are a bit different from other woodpeckers in that they seldom drill wood for food. This woodpecker prefers fruit, seeds, or arthropods.

Recently Red-bellied Woodpeckers have expanded north and west. Most are not migratory, although some northern populations retreat southward during cold winters (Shackelford et al. 2000). None of my banded Red-bellieds have been captured elsewhere.  I have, however, retrapped a couple of my birds ten years after my banding them.

Red-tailed Hawk

On Wednesday, I was working in our sunroom. I looked up from my computer and noticed a Red-tailed Hawk perched high in a tree near our house.  These hawks are fairly omnivorous carnivores, consuming small to medium-sized mammals (rodents like voles, deer mice, and ground squirrels), rabbits, a wide menu of birds, and a few snakes. Tree squirrels, Red Squirrels, chipmunks, amphibians and insects are infrequently taken by these hawks.

Our Red-tailed Hawk tore apart and ate a Red Squirrel. (We did not see the capture, so we do not know if the squirrel was scavenged.) Prey is often taken to feeding perches, but small mammals are usually swallowed whole. Birds are torn apart and plucked before being eaten. Larger prey is dismembered on the ground and the pieces taken to a perch for dining (Preston and Beane 2009).

While our hawk ate, a second Red-tail swooped down through the forest and landed nearby. I do not know if these birds were a pair, or if they were cooperative hunters. The first hawk paid no attention as the second watched it eat.  Red-tailed Hawks are known to steal food caught by other hawks. (They are also known to eat each other.) After about five minutes, the first hawk flew away, carrying the remains of the squirrel. The second hawk followed deeper into the woods.

White-breasted Nuthatch

White-breasted Nuthatches are found in southern Canada, most of the United States, and the mountains of Mexico. Most are non-migratory. They survive our harsh winters by caching food throughout their territories. Although I have no banding evidence for my Minnesota nuthatches’ migrating, in some falls, however, some northern and western birds do move south. Grubb and Pravosudov (2008) caution that it is no known if these wandering birds return to their natal regions or if they breed elsewhere.

Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Gulls enjoy a world-wide arctic range. In the New World, they winter into the northern United States. Erika and I saw several among the gulls at Canal Park in Duluth during our New Year’s search for the Ivory Gull. Like many of its brethren,  Glaucous Gulls ominivores, consuming fish, birds, human refuse, and even berries (Weiser and Gilchrist 2012). The smaller bird to the Glaucous’s left is a Herring Gull.

Pine Grosbeak

Pine Grosbeaks are another visitor from the far North. They breed around the world, usually further south than the redpolls in the last post. On the other hand, they usually do not irrupt as far south when they are found in the northern United States. Last December I photographed this species in Rice County, which is well south of their normal range. Sedentary Pine Grosbeaks also breed through much of the Rocky Mountains.

This female Pine Grosbeak fed at the feeders at the new Sax-Zim Welcome Center on 3 January 2016. The bog lies about 35 miles northeast of Duluth, Minnesota.

Common Redpoll

Common Redpolls breed across the far northern latitudes of both hemispheres, where they are often the most common songbirds. They irrupt into the northern United States after spruce and birch seed-crops fail, often in alternating years (Knox and Lowther 2000). In my South Dakota banding studies, I found irruption years hard to predict.

This redpoll fed along with a small flock at the new Sax-Zim Welcome Center on 3 January 2016. Males take two years to become bright rosy. First year males are usually not distinguishable from the females.

Swamp Sparrow

On 16 January 2016, Gene Bauer called me to say that, for the past few days, a strange sparrow was visiting his bird feeders. Erika and I visited that same afternoon, and the sparrow hopped into view. Gene and I both found it difficult to identify this sparrow. For one thing, we both quickly appreciated how much habitat plays in bird identification. After deliberating, both Gene and I concluded we had a Swamp Sparrow. Pete Dunne‘squote came to both our minds, “The difference between a beginning birder and an experienced one is that beginning birders have misidentified very few birds. Experienced birders have misidentified thousands."

The next noon, with wind chills approaching -30 degrees F, I took these photos. The picture quality is a bit poor since the photos are through a closed window. Opening the window did not help, probably due to the extreme difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures. In any event, that was one cold bird.

Swamp Sparrows breed in marshes, bogs and swamps. In winter they inhabit the southeastern states, Mexico, and the Pacific Coast of North America. Usually in the midwest only north to southern Iowa. This winter Minnesota has about a half-dozen records. This sparrow is secretive and seldom visit bird feeders. Bruce Fall, who confirmed our identification, wrote, "I've never had one in my yard even in migration… Swamp Sparrows are generally rare in the south half of the state in winter, but in most winters from one or a few are reported. I know of a couple that I have found here in the Twin Cities, but they are not often cooperative for relocating them.”

Gray Jay

Gray Jays also fed on the peanut butter plastered about the Admiral Road bird feeders in the Sax-Zim Bog. These jays thrive in the bitter cold of Northern Minnesota. They are known as Camp Robbers, because of their fearless raids on anything edible. They hoard food under tree bark, gluing it in place with their sticky saliva. Gray Jays breed in late winter. Eggs are incubated at temperatures as low as -30 degrees. Second broods are not attempted in warmer weather. Gray Jays may be declining at the southern edge of their range as a result of global warming (Strickland and Ouellet 2011).

Red-breasted Nuthatch

We raced up to Duluth on 2 January on our successsful quest for the Ivory Gull and Great Grey Owl. We saw few other birds. In my post on the gull, I mentioned that birders fed the bird salmon filets. I wondered if this was different from attracting passerines at a bird-feeder.  Duluth birders have established a few feeders throughout the Sax-Zim bog. The feeders attracted most of the birds we listed.

We were a bit taken aback by the dozen cars of birders parked at a feeder on Admiral Road. The esthetics of the situation were further marred by the birders’ standing around the feeder and outside of their cars. A few birds ignored the birders—Black-capped Chickadees, Gray Jays, and this Red-breasted Nuthatch. A woman spread peanut butter on every available surface—on tree trunks, branches, and even on weeds.  The nuthatch did not seem to mind. The bird took the peanut butter directly from her out-stretched hand.

American Coot

Along with the Lyman Lake New Year’s Day Hooded Merganser, I found this American Coot. Coots are North America’s most abundant and widely distributed rail. This species enjoys a wide range of habitat—“including freshwater lakes, ponds, marshes, roadside ditches, and industrial-waste impoundments, as well as in coastal marine” areas (Brisbin et al. 2002). In the winter, they are often found in large flocks. Coots are herbivores. This coot was pulling up and eating aquatic vegetation. They usually forage under water, but also eat grains, grasses and crops on land.

I am surprised at this coot’s color. I usually think of these birds as being black or flat-gray. This individual is practically iridescent.