Blog by Wild Birds Unlimited of Grosse Pointe Woods

Category Archives: Wild Bird Facts

Common Nighthawks: Aerial Marvels

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Common Nighthawk (Photo by Mark Hainen)

For me, the sounds of summer include the sounds of Common Nighthawks.

A pair of nighthawks has nested on top of Ferry Elementary School for as long as I can remember. First thing in the morning, and I mean before sunrise, I see him flying in his erratic pattern. I’m not sure of how to describe the call that accompanies the flight. I’ve seen it written as buzz BEEErzh and peent (click here to listen on Cornell’s All About Birds website).

Common Nighthawk perched (Photo by Don Chalfant)

It is sharp and loud, a call to look up to the sky and wait for the wonderful sound to follow. The male nighthawk climbs higher and higher, then dives toward the ground, flexing his wings downward as he peels out of his dive. This causes a sound reminiscent of a race car rounding the edge of the track. To me, it sure sounds like vroom! This wonderful display gets repeated in the evening, a second treat for the summer day. This display serves two purposes; first, to attract a female and bond with her. It also lets other males know the territory is taken.

Common Nighthawk (Photo by Don Chalfant)

Field Marks

To identify Common Nighthawks, look for a slim, long-winged bird with white patches on the wing. Their pointy wings and streamlined shape make them appear larger than their measurements would indicate. Each bird is typically 9.5” long with a wing span of 24” and a weight of only 2.2 ounces. The type of flight is key – erratic and bounding – look for the white patch which is quite distinct in flight.

Common Nighthawk in flight (Photo by Karen Wade)

Nesting

Common Nighthawks nest on open ground, gravel beaches, openings in the forest floor and in our area, on gravel roof tops. Nighthawks, including the eggs and the young, have excellent camouflage in their nesting habitats. These birds need to be hidden from view, so the trend from older style roofs with pebbles to rubber roofs without pebbles is not a good one. This shift leads to a decrease in prime nighthawk nesting habitat. If you can influence a roofing company to keep a corner of the roof covered in pebbles, we can maintain sufficient nesting habitat.

Common Nighthawk female, camouflaged on parking lot nest (Photo by Karen Wade)

The female lays just one or two eggs at a time, and the pair may have two broods in a season. Females are the primary incubators. At times she will stand over the young with open wings, creating a shade umbrella when needed.

Common Nighthawk with nestling (Photo by Karen Wade)

Common Nighthawk female with young (Photo by Karen Wade)

Diet & Distribution

Common Nighthawks eat flying insects exclusively. Once prey is sighted, the bird will fly toward it, open its beak, and maneuver to catch and swallow the insect. The young are fed these insects in regurgitated form – yummy!

As one would expect of a bird that is an insect-eater, Common Nighthawks migrate south with the change of the seasons. Often in late summertime, Bill Rapai, President of Grosse Pointe Audubon and my co-leader on bird walks, calls to inform me the migration is evident, with streams of nighthawks moving south over Lake St. Clair. Their journey may take them anywhere from 1,600 to 4,200 miles as they have been reported in Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and as far south as Argentina.

I hope that you get a chance to listen for these unique birds, and then look to the sky and experience these seasonal marvels.

 

Enjoy your birds!

-Rosann Kovalcik

Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

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Bird Spotlight: Green Heron

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Photo Courtesy: Valerie Gebert

“They look like a kindergartner that dressed for school, choosing bright pants that didn’t match the multiple colors they put on,” said my niece after observing a Green Heron at the shoreline of an inland lake. Technically, they aren’t truly green; they have more of a greenish-blue cast to their backs like velvet draperies in an English Manor; a deep chestnut body, a darker, capped head and bright yellow legs. They also have white underneath the tail, most evident when the tail is flicked in agitation.

Diet & Feeding Behavior

Green Herons wait patiently for prey to cross their paths as they sit perched in every imaginable yoga pose along the water’s edge. Small fish, crustaceans, frogs – all are on the menu. Watching these birds hunt is a lesson in patience and perseverance. They stand for many minutes with necks retracted, their stares fixated at the water in front of them. When prey comes within striking distance, they strike quickly, extending their necks to almost the full length of their bodies. Whatever the catch, the heron flips it down into the back of the beak, then down the hatch in one gulp!

Photo Courtesy: Beth Miller, as seen on Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s “All About Birds” site

If you are lucky enough to come across them in your outdoor adventures, sit and watch; you may see another behavior that is sure to blow your mind – a Green Heron using a tool to fish. Yes, Green Herons uses tools to lure fish, dropping insects, twigs and feathers onto the water’s surface. This is an amazing sight to see, and one that I have been fortunate enough to witness from the quiet of a kayak.

Photo Courtesy: Valerie Gebert

Habitat

Where can you find Green Herons? They prefer bodies of water with vegetation near the shoreline. Think of our inland lakes and all of the exploring you can do in early morning. Our Huron-Clinton Metroparks are great places for this type of birding. The Edsel & Eleanor Ford House is another likely spot. Use your binoculars to scan the water’s edges, as well as checking lily pads. Listen carefully for a loud “SKEOW!” – a likely sign of a Green Heron relocating. I have noticed they often verbalize while flying from one space to the next.

Photo Courtesy: Valerie Gebert

Nesting

Green Herons make nests from twigs which they situate in trees. Both parents tend to the young. To start, the female lays between 3-5 eggs, and both she and her mate incubate them for 19-21 days. The youngsters are then fed by both parents, who regurgitate food into their mouths. In another 21-23 days, they’re ready to fly. Finally, the young fledge at about 30-35 days of age, meaning they are no longer dependent upon their parents. Green Herons mate monogamously each breeding season, often changing mates from one season to the next.

Wintering & Other Fun Facts

After breeding in Michigan (as well as in other states), Green Herons spend their winters in Mexico and Central America. However, during the post-breeding season, they have been known to show up as far as England and France, which is as exciting for the people there as it is for us when we see a Snowy Owl – what a special treat!

Photo Courtesy: Valerie Gebert

The oldest Green Heron on record was 7 years and 11 months old. It was found in Mexico in 1979 and first banded in Oklahoma in 1971.

Did you know – a group of herons can be called a rookery, a battery, a pose, a scattering or a hedge?

Whatever you call them, I hope you see many Green Herons in your forays into the field this year!

 

Enjoy your birds,

-Rosann Kovalcik

Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

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References

Cornell Lab of Ornithology. (2017). Green Heron Overview.

Retrieved from https://www.allaboutbirds.org/

guideGreen_Heron/overview

Virginia Rail – A Successful Rescue!

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Last weekend’s Bird Walk at the Edsel & Eleanor Ford House was rescheduled due to rain, but a few people showed up anyway, so we decided to slog around for a while to check for birds. During that short time, we saw Cormorants, Scaup and Horned Grebes in the lagoon. Soon, the winds and rain picked up to the point where we had to call it a day and head indoors.

An Urgent Call for Help

No sooner had my wet clothes been shed and breakfast finished, did the phone ring. On the other line, the person said, “We received a call from the Grosse Pointe Dog Wash. They have a bird with blue and red plumage and a long beak in front of their store. It’s just sitting and they wondered if we could help?”

So of course I said, “Sure, I’ll go check it out!” And I am so glad I did! There, huddled in the towel that had been placed around it, sat a Virginia Rail, a secretive, marshland bird who must have recently migrated.

Virginia Rail

Looking Back…

My first experience with a Virginia Rail was at Point Pelee, a place where I went birding often, beginning in my teen years. The East Beach Marsh was where I first saw this bird. There were other sightings throughout the years, including a notable one in my own yard in Grosse Pointe Woods. A Virginia Rail once spent the day in the yard, tucked next to the house, before it left that night. Sadly, the marshes where these birds stop and rejuvenate with food are now few and far between, especially for a travel-weary bird.

Back to Present-Day…

I gently scooped it up the bird and placed it into a box. My next move was to message Andrea Aiuto, Director of the Bird Center of Washtenaw County. Although I knew the center was not open to accepting birds at this time, Andrea was a very reliable source for me to help determine what to do with the grounded bird. There did not appear to be any obvious signs of damage to the bird (such as a drooping wing). We assumed the storm may have grounded the bird in a place that provided no suitable habitat. After all, a sidewalk in Grosse Pointe is the least likely place for this bird to be!

Andrea recommended feeding mealworms and millet in a shallow dish. Lucky for me, I knew we had both at Wild Birds Unlimited, so a quick stop to my store was in order! As instructed, I kept the bird in a quiet, dark place to minimize agitation. Each time I took a peek, its head was under its wing.  I felt good that it was safe from the pelting, cold rains.

At some point, the Virginia Rail began to strike against the tote. I knew the bird of course wanted to be released, and while I felt relief that the bird was active, the weather was not ideal. With assurances from Andrea that the bird would settle down, I tried to ignore the movement and the noise, which eventually abated. I resolved to get the bird to the Howell Nature Center (HNC) for professional care the next day.

Time to Eat!

The next morning we were greeted by a covering of ice everywhere. Driving was not going to be a safe option. I called HNC to find out what else I could do for the Virginia Rail as it appeared not to be eating the live mealworms. The advice I was given made sense – this bird has a beak meant to probe the marsh for invertebrates. Get a shallow pan and fill it with dirt, mixing the mealworms in the dirt and placing some on top. The other bit of advice that I received was not to release the bird in the rain. Given the forecast, we were bound to be buddies for at least another 24 hours.

A custom-made food blend

The good news is that I could see the bird was eating. There were many mealworms gone and droppings on the towel. I eagerly supplied more of the wriggling morsels. The bad news was late in the afternoon, the Rail began to fling itself against the tote again. I begged it to calm down because of the rain. Unfortunately, there is no good way to explain this to a bird. That’s when the bird got the better of me – against advice I headed out to Lake St. Clair Metropark to release it. I felt that if it was strong enough to exert the energy needed to try to migrate, it was ready to get on its way. I also didn’t want it to injure itself in its attempts at freedom.

Release – Attempt One

When I got to the metropark, I found a spot very close to the marsh edge and carefully tipped the bird out of the tote. To my surprise, it just sat there.  For fifteen minutes – fifteen long minutes while I waited in the cold rain and tried to talk some sense into the Rail.

Feeling indecisive

“Why aren’t you looking for food?  Why aren’t you seeking shelter?”

The birds’ response was to sit tight.

“Okay… I am going to drive away and be back in fifteen minutes. If I come back and you are still here, it’s a sign that you want to come back and be warm.”

Of course, I remembered I was not supposed to release the bird while it was raining. What was I thinking? The bird continued to cajole me by thumping against its plastic prison.

Fifteen minutes later, the bird was in my gloved hands and taking a warm ride back to Grosse Pointe. When I arrived home, I provided more of the wriggling morsels and actually witnessed the Rail eating them. It looked healthy and active, with some flicks of the tail revealing the white undertail coverts, an action I had seen in the field. And so it was, back to that quiet and dark place as Andrea instructed.

Take Two – A Happy Ending

At 11:00 p.m. my bedtime reading of Audubon magazine was interrupted by the Rail again being insistent on escaping the plastic confines. I went to the back door. No rain. Grabbing the tote, I took it outside and took the top off. Ironically, this was very near the spot that the grounded rail spent in my yard. Alert, the rail began to look about with its neck outstretched. Then, in an instant, it flew straight up and then turned down the driveway, between the houses and out of sight – a strong and steady flight.

A successful release!

I breathed an audible sigh of relief. It’s amazing how much of your heart and soul goes into saving a bird! I have a renewed respect for bird rehabilitators, and I was so grateful for the advice from Andrea of Washtenaw Bird Center as well as the staff from the Howell Nature Center.

And I was really grateful that the Virginia Rail has a chance to make it to breeding territory and carry on the genes of such a determined little three ounce sprite.

Enjoy your birds!

-Rosann Kovalcik

Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

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House Finches – A Beautiful Introduction

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House Finch male (Photo by John Graffius)

 

One of the most surprising facts about House Finches is that they are not native to the Eastern United States.  They were originally found only in the western U.S. and Mexico. In the 1940’s, humans intervened, capturing a small group of these birds to sell on Long Island as pets. After the sellers got caught, the finches were released, leading to their eventual expansion.

House Finches “Branch Out”

Taking advantage of the friendly habitat, House Finches bred and have since become one of our most populous birds, with an estimated 267 million to 1.4 billion individuals. Their presence is always a welcome addition. Their songs are cheery and melodious and their colors warm and beautiful.

House Finch male (Photo by Tim Lintz)

Fun Facts

The red coloration of the breast and eye-stripe in the males comes from pigments contained in their diet, which consists of nuts and seeds. House Finches dine enthusiastically on dandelion seeds, their bright red plumage contrasting against the yellow blooms – a cheery sight indeed! Females prefer to mate with the brightest, reddest males. Females are much less conspicuous, an overall gray-brown color with indistinct streaks. According to bird banding data, the oldest known living House Finch was a female, reaching 11 years and 7 months.

House Finch female (Photo by Tim Lintz)

Nesting

According to the book, Birds of Michigan, the first House Finch nest was found in Southfield, MI in July of 1981. House Finches are very adaptable when it comes to nesting, building in trees and shrubs near human habitation and, to the delight of many homeowners, even on door wreaths! Their nests are constructed of grass, twigs, leaves, hair and feathers.  Leave plant material in the yard this spring instead of cleaning up, and place hair and feathers in suet baskets to help House Finches create their nests.

Nesting begins in late March and can continue through August. The females lay 4-5 eggs which they incubate for 12-14 days. House Finches breed 2-3 times per breeding season. The young fledge from the nest approximately 9-11 days after hatching. This is one of the few bird species that feeds their young only plant matter, as opposed to adding insects, a common food source for most fledglings.

Attracting House Finches

House Finches are frequent feeder birds; attract them by offering Sunflower Seed (either in or out of the shell).  These birds are adaptable enough to also eat Safflower or Nyjer Seed (thistle). For some reason, this species is more prone to conjunctivitis than other species of birds – a good reminder to keep those feeders clean! Sterilize feeders using either vinegar (my personal preference) or a diluted bleach solution. Rake areas under feeders (if offering seeds with shells) to prevent the spread of disease, especially since House Finches are known to feed from the ground. Better yet, use Sunflower Chips (sunflower out of the shell) and add a tray under your feeders so the area stays relatively mess-free.

House Finch on a Seed Cylinder (Photo by John Graffius)

 

As the days get longer and the sunlight prompts territorial song, listen for the cheery, long song of House Finches, a welcome addition to any yard (click here to listen)!

Enjoy your birds!

-Rosann Kovalcik

Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

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Northern Cardinal – A Crimson Jewel in the Garden

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male Northern Cardinal by Kathi Hince

One of the moments I like most about late winter is hearing the Northern Cardinal beginning to sing. Prompted by the length of day, the Northern Cardinal sings to mark its territory.

If we’re lucky, we can hear two male Cardinals calling in tandem in a hormonal duel. Unlike many other songbirds, the females also sing. Often in response to the song the male initiates, the female will sing from the nest. Many times, her song is longer and more complex than the male’s! During nesting season, this is her way of asking her mate for food, as she is the sole incubator and does not leave the nest. Cardinals have an amazing physiology within their syrinx which allows for their complex song. Click here for a link to recordings and explanations.

Northern Cardinals appeared in Michigan in the late 1800’s, expanding their range due to deforestation. Cardinals prefer the opening of forest edges as well as low shrubs, so our yards make great habitat for these birds!

female Northern Cardinal by Kathi Hince

Nesting

The female Cardinal is responsible for nest building. She bends twigs around her body and uses her feet to push them into a cup shape. There are four layers to the nest including: coarse twigs, a mat of leaves, thin bark, and a soft top layer of grasses, rootlets and pine needles.

In Michigan, Northern Cardinals start to nest in mid-April, laying 2 to 4 eggs. Incubation takes up to two weeks. After hatching, the young stay in the nest another few weeks fledging. The young are fed protein in the form of caterpillars and other soft-bodied insects. Adults are omnivorous, adding seeds and fruits to their diet of insects.

male Northern Cardinal by Kathi Hince

More Fun Facts

These birds are named for their bright red plumage thought to be reminiscent of the cleric by that name. The have the distinctive honor of being the State Bird of no fewer than seven states, which is more than any other bird.

Another endearing aspect of Cardinals is how the male feeds the female as part of courtship display. This is a change from their behavior in the winter, when it is every bird for itself.

Juvenile Cardinals look like the females, a warm brown with golden overtones, and a lighter belly color, sporting red in their tail feathers,  wings and crest. The difference between female Cardinals and the young is the females have a bright red beak, whereas young birds have a gray/black beak.

The males have a prominent black facial mask larger and more striking than the females’. The beak is a distinctive characteristic in Northern Cardinals. It is very short and robust – a true seed cracking tool. The cardinal holds a seed in the beak, with a crunch down to crack the shell, then a roll of the tongue to rotate the seed until the shell falls away. This leaves the nut “meat” for the bird to consume. This method of eating allows the Cardinals to stay at feeders and eat. Other birds like Chickadees must instead fly off to a perch where they can hold the seed in their feet in order to extricate the edible portion of the seed.

Window Strikes

Northern Cardinals are one of the species of birds that are known to attack their reflection in a window or car mirror, repeatedly striking the surface, much to our frustration and dismay. This behavior takes place because the bird believes it is attacking another bird, an intruder in the nesting territory. In order to stop this behavior, block the birds’ reflection on the outside of the window. A product aptly named Stop Bird Attack is sprayed on the outside of the window, easily removed when no longer needed (this product sold at Wild Birds Unlimited in Grosse Pointe Woods).

male Northern Cardinal by Kathi Hince

Attracting Northern Cardinals

To attract Northern Cardinals, offer black oil sunflower either in or out of the shell, safflower and shelled peanuts. All of these seeds can be place in a hopper feeder with a larger ledge or a tube feeder with an added tray, essential for their body size if they are to reach the feeding ports.

Take a listen for this beautiful songster, filling the days with sound that will lift your spirit.

Enjoy your birds!

-Rosann Kovalcik

Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

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Bird Spotlight: Tufted Titmouse

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Photo Courtesy: Kathi Hince

One of my favorite moments of winter is when I am outside, greeted by the song of a Tufted Titmouse.

“Peter, peter, peter” is the description that is typically used to describe their clear song, which is quite loud for the size of the bird. Their alarm and communication call sounds like a buzzy version of their cousin, the Black-capped Chickadee. Travelling in pairs, they can commonly be found in the eastern United States, favoring deciduous and mixed woods, gardens and parks. In winter, they are part of mixed foraging flocks consisting of Chickadees, Downy Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and perhaps Kinglets and Carolina Wrens.

Tufted Titmice are overall gray on their upperparts and white on their breast and belly, with a black forehead and black eyes that give them an endearing facial expression. Their flanks are a prominent rusty-orange, more bright in the males than the females.

Photo Courtesy: Kathi Hince

When watching Titmice forage for food, note how acrobatic they are at the end of branches. They will easily turn upside down to investigate a curled leaf for over-wintering insects. Oak trees are a favorite, possibly because they hold their leaves through the winter and therefore, offer a food source not found on other trees.

We are fortunate that these perky little birds often visit our bird feeders, adding an element of joy to our watching. Waiting at the edge of trees or shrubbery, they investigate their potential choices. Watch for their quick, bouncy flight on the way to their chosen food, usually a sunflower or peanut. They grab the seed in their beak and carry it back to the branch. Holding the seed between their feet, they excavate the shell to get to the seed meat inside. Offering hulled seed saves this work and allows them to get to the work of chiseling the food into bite sized morsels. Unlike many other perching birds, Titmice will forage in leaf litter, searching for protein-rich insects. I have some fond memories of seeing them at The Ford House foraging in this way, their perky crests giving away their identity above the leaf litter. Hint – leave your leaves as they harbor an important food source for these birds as well as others.

Titmice are capable of using muscles to raise and lower the crest, most likely as a result of their attitude at the moment. When the bird is singing the crest is flat, and when excited, the crest can be raised in a very pronounced manner. Watch for crest attitude as you observe them in your yard or out in the field.

Photo Courtesy: Bill Creteau

Tufted Titmice are known to cache food, explaining their frequent visits to feeders in the fall. During times of extreme weather conditions, the food that they hoarded is recovered from cracks in bark and tree cavities, an excellent reason to leave standing dead trees or at the very least, leaving notable cavities. Hoarding takes place within 130 feet of the feeding station the Titmouse is visiting and most seeds are shelled before they are stored.

Cavities also play an important role in the breeding cycle of Tufted Titmice. Using natural cavities or those created by woodpeckers as well as nest boxes that we provide, Titmice will then create a cup-shaped nest on the bottom of the cavity. These nests are constructed of leaves, grasses and moss as well as bark strips. Knowing this, perhaps spring clean up in your yard can be less intense, with purposeful materials left for these birds to use.

Another very interesting addition to their nest is mammal hair, the last layer that is closest to the eggs. Nests have been documented to include the hair of squirrels, rabbits, raccoons, opossum’s, mice, woodchuck, horses and cows and even human hair. Offering hair in a suet cage used specifically for this purpose would be an interesting addition to the joy of watching these birds in your yard. The construction of the nest takes from 6 to eleven days.

Only one brood of young is created in a year, with three to nine eggs being laid. Incubation of the eggs takes two weeks and the young are fed by the parents for another two weeks before they fledge.

Photo Courtesy: Kathi Hince

Tufted Titmice can be found in the eastern half of the United States, with all of the lower peninsula of Michigan being fortunate enough to host this charming year-round resident.

Enjoy your birds!

-Rosann Kovalcik

Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

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It’s Going to be a Snowy (Owl) Winter

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Who could not be amazed at a large, white owl with penetrating yellow eyes, prevalent during daylight hours for all to see?

Prepare to be amazed.

Snowy Owl by Mark Hainen

 

We have an exciting winter already in Michigan, with the appearance of so many Snowy Owls in our state. According to eBird reports (click here to learn more), the Great Lakes region has a higher influx of Snowy Owls than anywhere in the United States so far this winter.

Locally, there has been a consistent sighting of this yellow-eyed marvel at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club. The bird is usually seen at the farthest point of the property closest to the lake, surveying for potential prey.

Snowy at Grosse Pointe Yacht Club

A Snowy Owl has also been seen at The Ford House a few times, and on a boat house near Jefferson and Ten Mile. The DNR boat launch site in Harrison Township has also been a fairly reliable spot to see these Arctic nomads sitting on the break wall.

Many parts of our State resemble the Arctic tundra with wide open spaces that Snowy Owls are accustomed to occupying. They may be found along the shorelines, in airport fields, farm fields, and our protected natural areas. A true testament that these birds think nothing of our winter weather! The hunting must be pretty good out there with the abundance of waterfowl to feed on.

This abundant influx of Snowy Owls is referred to as an irruption. As explained by the Department of Natural Resources in Wisconsin,

“Most experts agree these periodic mass movements are associated in some way with their primary northern prey source, a small rodent known as a lemming. Traditional thought suggested that a temporary ‘crash’, or shortage, of lemmings pushes owls southward in search of food. However, more recent evidence suggests nearly the opposite, that a temporary abundance of lemmings allows the owls to successfully raise large families, and then these young owls disperse southward by the hundreds to avoid competition with older birds for winter territories. It’s even possible, perhaps likely, that not all irruptions are created equal and both mechanisms play out in some years. Unfortunately, the population dynamics of lemmings are complex and poorly understood. The same can be said for snowy owls, in large part because of the remote northern haunts they occupy most of the year. This no doubt elevates their intrigue but serves as a barrier to understanding and ultimately conserving the species.”

Photo by John Graffius

Therefore, what we are seeing now most likely indicates that Snowy Owls had an extremely successful breeding season this past summer, coinciding with an abundance of lemmings, their predominant prey. Interesting fact – one Snowy Owl can eat 1,600 lemmings in a year.

When there is more food available for feeding young, the females will lay more eggs. When food is scarce, female Snowy Owls may lay as little as three eggs; in years of abundant prey, they have been known to lay up to eleven eggs. Nests are simple scrapes on the ground. The Snowy Owl female is the one who builds the nest, scraping out a shallow hollow on the bare ground. She shapes it by pressing her body into the depression, taking a few days to complete the scrape. The owls may reuse the nest site for many years. Eggs are laid every other day with a 32 day incubation period. Males may have bred with two females, keeping them a kilometer apart and assisting with the rearing of both broods of young.

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology describes the male displaying for the female in this way –

On their breeding grounds, male Snowy Owls execute a fascinating mating display. First the male rises into the air with exaggerated wing beats in an undulating flight, holding a lemming in his bill or talons. Then he descends to the ground with wings flapping or held in a “V.” He drops the prey on the ground, stands erect, then lowers his head and fans his tail as the female approaches. To defend his territory from another Snowy Owl, a male lowers his head and sticks it forward, extending his wings and raising the feathers on his neck and back to seem bigger.

Photo by Mark Hainen

Since lemmings aren’t breeding in the winter, there is less food available for the Snowy Owls right now. As well, Snowy Owls are territorial in their wintering areas, defending their winter territories fiercely, even engaging in combat with other Snowy Owls. All of these factors cause them to roam into southern areas in search of better food sources. Our Great Lakes provide an abundance of ducks, just as our farm fields provide an abundance of voles and mice. Small prey is eaten whole, with the bones, teeth and fur of their prey being regurgitated as pellets. Snowy Owls have a tendency to frequent the same spot to perch – I wonder how many pellets are sitting in a pile at the Yacht Club?

Snowy Owls are the heaviest owls in the United States, weighing between 3.5 and 6.5 pounds with a wingspan of 49 to 59 inches. Their average life span is ten years. The oldest-known Snowy Owl was a female, at least 23 years, 10 months old when she was recaptured in 2015 during banding operations in Montana, having been originally banded in Massachusetts in 1992.

Photo by John Graffius

Keep your binoculars ready and scan along the shoreline. Unlike other owls in our area, Snowy Owls are diurnal, hunting during the daytime. Your potential for seeing one is not as unusual as you might think!

Enjoy your Birds !

-Rosann Kovalcik

Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

Have you joined our email list? Click here to sign up, it’s free and gives you access to sales, coupons, nature news, events, and more!

Wild About Turkeys

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Wild Turkey (Photo Credit: Kathi Cavanaugh Hince)

Strutting- this is the action turkeys are associated with most often. Picture those 18 tail feathers fanned out, the slightly iridescent chest and back  feathers puffed up, wings spread away from the body and touching the ground. To make the display even more dramatic, the male turkey will place its head and neck down into an “S” shape and elongate the fleshy snood at the base of the beak. During the strut, the male becomes so excited, the skin on the head and neck, called wattles, become engorged with blood, turning bright red and sometimes obscuring the eyes and beak. All of this is an effort to impress a female so she will choose him and breed with him, carrying his genes forward. Males also use strutting as a dominance display in front of other males. I’ve been a witness to that display, feathers shaking on the dominant male with a telltale rattle, as an attempt to “rattle” his adversary. Males also have a beard of feathers protruding from the chest, sometimes trailing as long as nine inches!

Photo Credit: Kathi Cavanaugh Hince

Photo Credit: Kathi Cavanaugh Hince

Like most birds, females are far less conspicuous in appearance, as they have the duty of laying eggs and brooding them and must stay concealed to protect the next generation. Turkeys nest on the ground, laying a clutch of nine to 13 eggs. Breeding takes place first and the female lays an egg a day on a scrape on the ground. The hen does not sit on eggs until all have been laid. She is fattening up to endure the task of sitting on eggs for about 28 days. A mid-day break is taken to stretch and consume insects for protein.

Photo Credit: Kathi Cavanaugh Hince

The most important sense for a turkey is vision, followed by hearing. Used for finding food and watching for danger, turkeys have great peripheral vision and with a turn of their head, can achieve 360 degree vision. Hearing is supplemental and comes in handy in poor light conditions and throughout the night.

Michigan has a healthy population of turkeys which is on the rise. They had been extirpated from the state and reintroduced with great success. We now have one of the largest wild turkey populations within the United States! If you’d like to see turkeys, check farm fields and woody edges. Stony Creek Metropark is a great local spot to see them on a reliable basis. Go take a visit and enjoy the beauty of these impressive birds.

Enjoy your birds and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Rosann Kovalcik, Owner

Wild Birds Unlimited

Grosse Pointe Woods

Amazing Sandhill Cranes

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Photo Courtesy: Bill Creteau

 

Sandhill Cranes are a common summer resident in Michigan, also using the state as a migratory stopover habitat. Jackson County has one of the highest densities of nesting populations for Sandhill Cranes in North America. These cranes use a variety of habitats for nesting purposes including shallow marshes, openings in shrub swamps, bogs and wetlands. In the early 1900’s, the population of Sandhill Cranes in Michigan had dropped to just a few dozen pairs as a result of wetlands being drained and hunting pressures. Now, we have Crane Fest, a Michigan Audubon Signature Event, as well as a number of other festivals, to celebrate this bird’s abundance.

Sandhill Cranes stand between 41 and 46 inches tall with a wingspan of 73 to 77 inches – six feet plus! They only weigh between seven and 11 pounds, as avian bones and feathers are quite lightweight. Sandhill Cranes are generally gray in color, with some rust occasionally showing in their plumage. This is a result of preening their feathers with iron rich mud. Their forehead and crown of their head are covered with red skin instead of feathers, and their eyes are a bold orange. Contrasting a little with the overall gray, the face, cheek, and throat are white or pale gray.

 

Photo Courtesy: Bill Creteau

 

The oldest living Sandhill Crane on record was at least 36 years and seven months old, having been banded in Wyoming in 1973 and later recovered in New Mexico in 2010.

Sandhill Cranes mate for life. Partners are chosen based upon their dancing displays, where they stretch their wings, pump their heads, bow and leap into the air with their feet extended forward. This display is done year-round as part of pair bonding. One of the most primal sounds of nature is a pair of Sandhill Cranes giving their duet call. Facing each other with their beaks raised to the sky, their calls can be heard up to 2.5 miles away. The female gives two calls for each call of the male! Click here for a short video of these amazing birds calling and dancing.

 

Photo Courtesy: Bill Creteau

Photo Courtesy: Andrew Simon

 

Their nests are made on the ground, formed of sticks, moss, reeds and grasses, built by both the male and female. Usually two eggs are laid although one colt typically survives. Both parents share the responsibility of brooding the eggs. Although the young are capable of leaving the nest at eight hours of age, the parents brood them at night for three weeks to help maintain their body heat. The young are unable to fly until they are 65 – 75 days of age.

They family unit remains intact throughout the winter, returning together back to Michigan in spring.  It is about this time that the parents encourage their young to join other juveniles, allowing the adults to begin another nesting cycle.  The juvenile Sandhill Cranes spend between two and seven years together before they choose a mate and begin breeding.

Photo Courtesy: Bill Creteau

 

Most Michigan Sandills spend winter in Florida and the Gulf States.  In many areas of the United States, Sandhill Cranes form groups of thousands, foraging and roosting together for safety.  One of the most famous wintering roost  sites is Bosque del Apache in New Mexico, the wintering grounds for tens of thousands of these birds.

Sandhill Cranes feed on seeds and cultivated grains as well as tubers , berries, insects, snails, reptiles, amphibians and small mammals.

During migration, Sandhill Cranes are known to use wind thermals. Using them for lift, the cranes will rise in a circular fashion and once at the top of the thermal, glide until they need to catch the next thermal for lift.

Look for Sandhill Cranes flying overhead in groups during fall and spring migration. They fly with legs and necks outstretched and have a snappy upward wing beat. Perhaps you will hear them call – a sound you will never forget.

 

Photo Courtesy: Bill Creteau

 

Enjoy your birds!

-Rosann Kovalcik

Owner, Wild Birds Unlimited,

Grosse Pointe Woods, MI

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Bird Spotlight: Northern Flickers

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Northern Flicker in a snag, By Jan Palland

I love it in the spring when I hear the sound, “wicka, wicka, wicka”. I look to the treetops, especially exposed snags, hoping to find the pair of Northern Flickers engaging in courtship behavior, as tipped off by their calls. With beaks pointed to the sky, they move their heads side to side in unison while calling, tails fanned out. The Flicker Flamenco Dance is one of my favorite local treats to watch.

Northern Flickers are a woodpecker, and one of the few that can be found feeding on the ground. Their specialty is ants! There was a study done of the stomach contents of 700 Northern Flickers which showed that 98% of them had eaten only ants, with one count at 3,000 and another at 5,000 ants.

Northern Flicker with extended tongue, By Jan Palland

Perhaps one of the most interesting features of Northern Flickers, as with all woodpeckers, is their ability to extend their tongue far past the end of their bill. In fact, Flicker tongues extend two inches beyond their bill. The tongues of birds are comprised of long flexible bones with a soft tip, collectively called the hyoid apparatus. At its base, the Flicker’s tongue splits into two branches called horns which curl under the jaw and wrap around the base of the skull, extending over the top of the skull and meeting near the nostrils at the base of the bill. The tip of the tongue is highly sensitive, allowing Flickers to feel the ants they are catching. As well, they have very sticky saliva which allows them to catch many ants at once with the saliva being extra alkaline to negate the ants’ acidic defense to being attacked!

Two Northern Flickers on a snag, By Jan Palland

Northern Flicker males and females differ very little in their appearance. The male has black malars, marks that start where the beak meets the face and travel down at an attractive angle on the cheek. The black color in the plumage of Northern Flickers comes from pigment (melanin) that adds strength and durability to their feathers. This is quite necessary when you think of how much time a bird like this is entering and exiting from a cavity to tend to its young. Most of their tail is black, an adaptation for strength where it is needed a great deal.

Another unique adaptation of the Flicker is the fact that two of their toes point forward and two point backward, this zygodactyl arrangement provides extra grip on the bark of a tree, especially since the fourth toe can be spread more to the side when needed. Their tail feathers are also of special design, with a reinforced shaft and pointed tips, creating a sturdy third part of the tripod as they move on the sides of trees. Northern Flickers have a couple of ribs that are abnormally large which allows for extra chest muscle attachment, making the physical demands of being a woodpecker easier.

Northern Flicker at nest cavity, By Jan Palland

Flickers create a cavity that they chisel into a tree for nesting purposes. Northern Flickers are built to withstand the hammering blows needed to create the cavities because of a bone that projects from the top of the upper bill and acts as a stop, as well as having extra cartilage between the skull and the bill for shock absorption. Cavity nesting birds are usually more successful than birds that use open nests, with a higher survival rate for their young because they are protected from poor weather conditions and predators. Woodpecker eggs are white, not needing to be camouflaged inside of the cavity.

Woodpeckers are indeterminate egg layers, which means that they do not lay a specific number of eggs. This allows them to replace eggs that may have been lost to poor weather conditions or predators. One egg is laid per day, with the parents taking one of two roles – standing guard nearby or engaging in mock incubation which lasts usually under 30 minutes. The guarding and mock incubation continue until all eggs are laid, at which time real incubation starts. Another interesting fact about woodpeckers is that the male incubates the eggs overnight, the opposite of most bird species. Both the male and female develop a brood patch on the upper belly and lower breast, where feathers fall out and bare skin is exposed to effectuate the transfer of the heat from the adult to the eggs and young. The amount of oxygen in the nest cavity is a reason for shorter incubation in the Northern Flicker. The end result is that the eggs hatch sooner with the baby birds being more immature than most other birds. Yet within 24 hours, baby Flickers are able to begin crawling up the cavity walls toward the entrance in order to beg their parents for food. The Northern Flicker adults have a crop, a specialized expandable pouch, where they can cache larger quantities of food to feed their young, allowing for less trips back and forth to the nesting cavity.

Northern Flicker foraging for ants, By Jan Palland

How cool is it that Flicker cavities that are no longer being used by the woodpeckers are used by some duck species for nesting including Wood Ducks, Mergansers and Bufflehead.

All woodpeckers have a flight pattern that makes them easy to recognize. Instead of flapping continuously like most small birds, woodpeckers flap-bound which means that they flap which causes their body to rise and then they tuck their wings and glide, losing altitude as they do. In flight, the Northern Flicker is a little steadier than other woodpeckers. However, the white rump is a helpful diagnostic field mark when the Flicker is in flight.

Flickers are a treat with their unusual plumage. I hope you see many during this Fall migration

– Enjoy your Birds!

Rosann Kovalcik, Owner

Wild Birds Unlimited, Grosse Pointe Woods

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