Purple Martins

The Purple Martins are busy this time of year. The eggs have hatched and the young are hungry.

Condominium living suits them just fine.

In the western U.S., Purple Martins nest in old woodpecker holes, but in the east they choose manmade nest boxes almost exclusively now.

This nest box is at the Forest Beach Migratory Preserve, Port Washington, Wisconsin.

It stands just off the parking lot. It seems to be at or near capacity.

Probably roomy at birth, now the opening accommodates only one chick comfortably... two's a squeeze.

(Click any picture to enlarge.)

Food deliveries are highly anticipated and thankfully frequent.

Mother Purple Martin is making this delivery. That prompts father Purple Martin to fly off for his turn. Purple Martins are year round insectivores, catching their prey on the wing.

They rarely land on the ground with the exceptions of gathering nesting material or bits of gravel to aid in grinding up insect exoskeletons.

All manner of moths and damsel flies were being devoured today.

Purple Martins are hook-billed, broad-chested swallows that fly high and hunt too far out of range for this ground-hugging photographer.

I must wait for him to return to show what he has caught.

Richly colorful in shades of purple, the Purple Martin could be a welcome addition in your back yard.*

They are common to open lands from Maine to throughout the Great Plains and Florida to Canada.

Allan

Credits: The Sibley Guide to Birds
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds

*Purple Martin Nest Construction Plans:
https://nestwatch.org/learn/all-about-birdhouses/birds/purple-martin/?__hstc=75100365.37a12003ddd27c692bbc5709b943f60b.1530306104724.1531701532839.1531830849231.7&__hssc=75100365.2.1531830849231&__hsfp=1704657934#_ga=2.194143662.2087653129.1531830849-2047819492.1530306102

Barn Swallow Babies

Two 'pretty-new' Barn Swallows look skyward in hopes of a food delivery coming pretty soon.

New to this world and clueless as to what to make of EVERYTHING, they react in unison to each passing adult with an insect for another fledgling.

The parent Barn Swallows weren't ignoring their offspring. They were skimming the inner harbor waters of Port Washington, Wisconsin.

Darting back and forth, they'd snatch insects from the air and water.

The fledglings waited, not by choice, rather... What-choice-do-we-have? 

They struggled to remain balanced on the slippery, shiny chrome boat railing they had chosen as a perch.

Just when they felt secure, a ripple in the water sent them tumbling.

It didn't help, either, having a clumsy brother socking you sideways.

(Click any picture to enlarge.)

The fledglings' demand for insects seemed without end, yet occasional rests were in order for the parents.

It's a good opportunity to point out the finer points of this male Barn Swallow: blue-black upper side, orange underside and a dark rufous throat.

The female Barn Swallow is similarly spectacular with a paler orange underside.

They are smooth, agile and swift flyers. Just watching them collecting airborne insects is entertainment in itself. 

Delivering a high speed mouthful of insects on the wing is a challenge.

Coming in fast and low, with no intention of stopping, the female lines up an open mouth.

In his excitement, however, the fledgling slips off the shiny chrome.

No problem.  Mother course-corrects and aces the youngster's food delivery.

Then she veers off smoothly to let the fledgling collect himself. 

This show of arial dexterity certainly goes on where you live. Barn Swallows are common along streams, lakes and ponds.

They live most everywhere in North America... Alaska to Mexico, East Coast to West Coast and so fun to watch!

Allan

Credits: The Sibley's Guide to Birds.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

The bold spring feathers of the Yellow-rumped Warbler were faded and had to go.  

It was time to bring out the winter wardrobe. Denying winter is coming is not a option.  

This warbler’s new winter coat is again fashionable for the coming season.  The shades of tan to brown to near black look smart...especially when set-off by a yellow rump, a creamy breast and two white eye crescents.   

Yellow-rumped Warblers always look good.  They may be as common as cows in Wisconsin, but they are never boring. They sport a pretty coat of feathers all four seasons and will linger low in the shrubbery for you to enjoy.  

If you can’t appreciate the beauty of a Yellow-rumped Warbler your life may be too stressful.

(Click any picture to enlarge)

              A leafless tree should convince this one of an approaching season change.

By instinct or experience, she knows the insects she relies upon can be wiped-out overnight with a hard freeze.   She must be ready to leave on short notice.  Looking fit, she is ready for her long journey to Mexico or Central America.

She is leaving Wisconsin now, but hopefully she’ll be back to pass through the Forest Beach Migratory Preserve again.  She should have another new outfit by then, too.

Allan

Credit: Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds

Green Heron, Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve

Catching a fish is an acquired skill, even for a Green Heron.

When I turned around, this juvenile Green Heron was marching up the boardwalk towards me. 

I was at the Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve, north of Milwaukee, south of Port Washington and along Lake Michigan’s shoreline.

Unaware of me when he landed, he began patrolling the edge of the boardwalk intent on catching something good to eat in the water. Green Herons have a surprisingly long neck when it's not tucked into a football-sized compact body.

Being a juvenile, he may have not yet figured out how he was going to land a fish or a frog from the boardwalk. I'm not sure he'd thought this through, as this would present a new challenge for him.   

Never mind, strolling the boardwalk is easier.

He occasionally peered over the edge, excited by movement in the weeds and water.  Whatever he was looking at  was well out of his reach, so he may have just been reacting on instinct or testing out his stalking techniques for use later.

Stepping along the boardwalk he’d replay the same stop and stare stance over and over, contracting his neck each time in reconsideration.  I suspect this was an exercise somewhere between practice and play.

Meanwhile, an adult Green Heron was hiding behind a nearby tree.  I have no knowledge of these two Green Herons' relationship, but I’d like to think it could be an adult parent still keeping an eye on an offspring.  It’s an observation and a reasonable speculation, but totally unfounded.

Someday junior here will share the blue, green and wine colors of adulthood, but for now he’s still in his adolescent plumage.

More camouflaged than colorful, this may be a 1^st year individual.  His camouflage would serve him better if he weren’t strutting down the boardwalk though, but he'll learn someday.  He looks to be well-fed, independent and somewhat capable of fishing on his own. 

Allan

Eastern Towhee

This male Eastern Towhee preferred to go unnoticed.  I had to get down very low to see him.  Because they hide deep inside forest thickets, to scratch the leaf litter for food, you also need luck to find one…I got lucky today.

His female companion was more accommodating to pictures.  She was singing out her song and making her presence known in plain sight.  My friend, Fred Thorne, and I were searching for new birds in the Lion’s Den Gorge, south of Port Washington, Wisconsin when we came across this pair.  

Huge bird migrations are passing through Wisconsin right now. Although, some birds will make Wisconsin their home, many species are on their way to someplace else. It’s the occasional and rare birds, only present during these migrations, which Fred and I were looking for today.   

We waited for the male to come into view, but he was having no part in pictures.  Uncharacteristically, the female was a lot less skittish and even posed for a while.

Fred was faster than me and made this picture of the male when he briefly appearance to announce himself.   He quickly retreated.  

Two days later Fred and I were back in the Lion’s Den Gorge after reports of another rare bird sighting, the Western Tanager.  We had no luck finding the tanager, but I was able to get two more good angles on the Eastern Towhee.  He was singing out on a low branch.

After briefly claiming his territory with a song, he retreated into the thicket again.  He’s more comfortable in dense cover, so that is where you’ll need to look to find one. The Eastern Towhee will be in Wisconsin for the next six months, until the fall out-migration, so you have time to search.

Allan

Red Crossbill

I wouldn’t have any pictures of these Red Crossbills if it weren’t for Dave and Andi.

The Red Crossbill is an unusual bird.  Not surprisingly, it gets its name from its bill.  The upper and lower bill appears grossly misaligned, as compared to other finches.  It is not a defect in the Red Crossbill ancestry; it’s an evolutionary advantage.   He uses this unique bill to pry open the ‘pine cones’ of spruce, pine, Douglas fir and hemlock…his primary food.

Placing his bill on the cone he bites down, prying apart the cone’s scales, exposing the seed inside.  His is a highly specialized seed diet, so they evolved this method of extracting seeds from cones. The prying action of a crossed bill works quite well, even if it is upsetting to think of your teeth similarly mismatching.  You will find Red Crossbills in conifer forests, often in flocks, foraging near the tops where the pine cones are numerous.  

Fred, a fellow birder, and I went looking for this particular bird, at Forest Beach Migratory Preserve, Port Washington, Wisconsin without much luck.  I called Fred at 6AM after I saw a rare bird alert on the Internet stating a flock of Red Crossbills was spotted at the preserve the day before. He was awake, but just barely…coffee…no shower.  I was in his driveway in fifteen minutes and we were staged to start shooting at 0700 hours.  My enthusiasm waned by 08:30 hours.

After an hour and a half of seeing nothing but LBB’s (little brown birds) and a tree full of starlings, we were about to leave in disappointment.  Then a hawk appeared over a hill. Fred, whose camera is set-up for flying birds, squeezed off ten frames, but the hawk was flying away from us and was distant anyway.  The hawk disappeared over the parking lot.  Fred’s shots weren’t great, but the last frame included Dave and Andi. 

As they walked towards us on the path, I knew what they were going to say.  Dave was equipped with camera gear that meant he was only looking for birds. “Did you see the Red Crossbills?” he asked predictably. We sadly said, “No”.  Dave asked, “What are those?” pointing to the standing dead tree we had just passed.  I said, “Starlings”.  Dave looked through his binoculars and said, “No, they’re Red Crossbills!” I said again confidently, they were starlings, but he was right.  When the hawk flushed the starlings, the tree was quickly refilled with Red Crossbills.

BINGO…we went to work!

The crossbills cooperated with us nicely for a half an hour, posing on branches, probing the muddy water’s edge for delicacies and prying open pinecones. We took photographic advantage of every opportunity they granted us. We got our shots.

The trees were heavy with cones and the crossbills ate their fill.  It wasn’t for lack of food that they eventually left, but they disappeared one by one, backwards into the dark pinewoods of Forest Beach Migratory Preserve.   They retreated as secretly as they arrived, but we all left satisfied. 

Allan