Eastern Bluebird, Havenwoods State Forest

Coming in for a landing, it's a great day for flying. 

There is not much this young Eastern Bluebird needed to do today, except maybe eat, as he practiced flying. 

Food is plentiful right now for the seed and fruit-eating birds. It seems every other tree or weed has something ripe to eat. The only thing that might make his life easier would be someone to feed him.  

These two juveniles are likely from a second brood for 2013. Their parents probably raised a first brood earlier this spring. They can fly, but felt no need as I approached.  It’s likely they will remain together as a family group for this winter.  There is plenty of food in October, but leaner days are ahead.

Looking skyward inquisitively, this pair was quite content to laze on the rooftop and wait to be fed.   

Probably born in this box, it's the only home they know. This box is one of many boxes placed at Havenwoods State Forest in Milwaukee and likewise throughout rural Wisconsin.  The Eastern Bluebird has benefited greatly from the nest box campaigns of the 1960-70's, designed to provide bluebirds with nest sites.

Before the boxes were introduced, bluebird populations decreased markedly as European Starlings and House Sparrows out-competed the bluebirds.   Oddly shaped boxes with bluebird-sized holes gradually sprang up along bluebird trails. The shape of the boxes and the hole size discouraged competitors and helped reestablish a thriving population of Eastern Bluebirds. The campaign worked well. Eastern Bluebirds are now listed as a species of Least Concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Content with the comforts of home, they playfully jostle for ownership of the entrance because that is where the food is delivered.

Appropriately named, the Eastern Bluebird wears his namesake from the color wheel well. 

Looking adult-like already, it's unclear just how long food deliveries will continue.

Perhaps it's time for this one to feed himself? 

Click on any picture to enlarge

Practice flying on an awesome autumn day is fun, if one gets bored with eating berries.

Picking the low-hanging fruit is not just a metaphor today.  

It’s anybody’s guess where this Eastern Bluebird family will spend the winter...just not here. More likely it will be in the southeastern United States or as far away as Nicaragua in Central America. 

Wherever they choose, these birds will need fuel for the trip. October is a good time and Wisconsin is a good place to stock up on berries, bugs and seeds. 

Watch for them again on the return trip early next spring.

Allan

Credit: 
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds. 
International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
The Sibley Guide to Birds.

Northern Flicker, Havenwoods State Forest

                                  Facing east with the wind at his back this Northern Flicker is watching the sunrise. 

He chose this spot to warm up. The temperature was in the mid-fifties...barely up from  the overnight low.   The mid-fifties are not a problem for the Northern Flicker.  He could remain in Wisconsin all winter long if he chose.  

He looked off balanced though and bothered by the stiff wind that ruffled his feathers.  He twisted, turned and repositioned himself to maximize the sunlight while avoiding the chilly wind on his neck. Eventually, he just gave up and sought out a cozier spot.

A female Northern Flicker was nearby, too.  She was a half-mile away, across a treeless expanse, resting on a wire.  I couldn’t say whether these two enjoyed a relationship or not, but a half-mile is only seconds away for a flicker. 

Northern Flickers are in the woodpecker family. Males and females  look alike with the exception of a ‘moustache’…black malar…a stripe below the eye, which only the males sport. This is an eastern variant of the Northern Flicker called, yellow-shafted.

There is also a western variety of the Northern Flicker…red-shafted.  The two birds look similar, but are easily recognized as different, if you see them up-close.  

The western Northern Flicker displays red under its wings and tail where the eastern Northern Flicker shows yellow.  This Northern Flicker flashed her colors at the Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, near Roswell, New Mexico last March. Launching from a snag, she headed towards the setting sun. 

Northern Flickers eat ants and beetles  by foraging on the ground,  unlike other woodpecker species that search through trees for their prey.  You're likely to find those woodpeckers on vertical limbs bracing themselves with their stiff tails.  To the contrary, Northern Flickers prefer horizontal limbs to perch upon. 

Elegantly feathered in buff colors accented with dots, crescent and even Valentine hearts the Northern Flicker would be a nice find on your walk in the woods.  Most encounters will be one-way enjoyable though.  The Northern Flicker is very skittish and will disappear in a flash, if he spots you first. The flash being the bright white rump he shows you as he darts away. 

Invite a Northern Flicker to your window this winter.  It only takes some nut-filled suet and a little patience.  It’ll be good for both of you.

Allan



Reminder: Click on any picture to enlarge.

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds

Credit: Sibley Guide to Birds

Cedar Waxwing

Sleek and tailored, Cedar Waxwings are drop-dead gorgeous birds, especially when striking a pose.

No feather out of place, Cedar Waxwings take the prize for always looking smartly dressed and well 

put-together. Some juveniles look a bit disheveled, but that’s normal.

This 1^st year juvenile seems to be progressing into adulthood gracefully and appears self-sufficient at food gathering.  Cedar Waxwings eat fruit when it’s available and insects at other times. This one was gleaning grapes vining through the trees of Havenwoods State Forest, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

This somewhat younger Cedar Waxwing is still dependent on adults for food.  Ripe fruit is everywhere at this time of year, possibly more fruit that this pudgy young bird cares to eat.  He was quite content just keeping an eye on the attending adult as they warmed themselves in the rising sun.

Both of these juvenile Cedar Waxwings appear to have been born this year, although several weeks apart.  The younger one could be from a second brood for this parent.  Predation takes a lot of young birds.  Often a second brood is started late in the season if the first brood didn’t survive.

Male Brown-headed Cowbird,
 light brown female below

Cedar Waxwings can be targets for the Brown-headed Cowbird, a rogue bird with a devious method of insuring its own species survival.  

The adult female Brown-headed Cowbird secretly lays one of her eggs into a songbird’s egg clutch and then abandons it.  The nest owner may not recognize the odd looking egg and incubates it along with her own.  When it hatches it quickly out-competes the host nestlings to becomes the sole recipient of all the incoming food.  The host parents don’t recognize this large and hungry baby as anything other than their own offspring.  They feed it and raise it unwittingly. Cowbird parasitism victimizes a lot of songbirds, but they seldom outwit the Cedar Waxwing. Why?

The Cedar Waxwing is a fruit eater.  It raises its young on insects, but large quantities of fruit, too.

By luck or chance the Cedar Waxwing unknowingly possesses the means of outwitting the parasitic Brown-headed cowbird.

A Cedar Waxwing duped into hatching an alien cowbird egg doesn't necessarily loose its precious nestlings to the uninvited guest.  That's because the alien chick won't thrive on the Cedar Waxwing's fruit-rich diet and seldom survives to adolescence.

It seems like a cruel outcome to a dirty trick.

All birds need a protein source and insects provide protein.  Hawking insect from the air, while skimming low over a pond, requires fancy aerobatics and the Cedar Waxwing is a skilled flyer. It’s only takes seconds to catch and consume an insect, but small insects require hundreds of flights, which can be tiring.

Perched on a cattail blade a Cedar Waxwing rests.

REMINDER: Click any photo to enlarge.

There is a lot to like about the Cedar Waxwing besides its stunning good looks.  They’re social birds, so when you find one you’ll find others, too.  They aren’t skittish or flighty, so they might allow you fairly close access while pre-occupied with bugs and berries. 

I watched these for an hour beneath a hawthorn tree as the young and old flew sorties together over the pond. The hunting was good today, so they took only momentary rests between flights. 

Thankfully, they remained undisturbed by my presence. I left them before they left me...that never happens.

Allan

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds

Credit: The Sibley Guide to Birds