All posts by igolfnbird@gmail.com

A Favorite Roadside Wildflower

One of my frequent walking routes happens to be up and down the road on which we live here in Upstate New York. We live on a well-traveled, but country road in Albany County.

So, I usually take 4-5 walks on the road every day to stretch my legs. This gives me a chance to watch the changing seasons and the comings and goings of numerous species of plants and animals.

After spending the long months of winter when most things are covered in snow, it is great to see the changing of colors during the spring, summer and fall periods.

One of my favorite plants that I see alongside the road is Black-Eyed Susan.

While the Black-Eyed Susan is considered a hallmark of prairies and meadows the wide-spread plant is a biennial that blooms and completes its life cycle in its second year with a showy floral display and is a native plant to a large region of the Eastern United States.

Exceptionally showy and easy to grow, Black-Eyed Susan has a prolonged floral display that attracts butterflies and other beneficial insects. The late-season seedheads attract finches and other birds. A hardy plant that is very drought tolerant, the Black-Eyed Susan will tolerate heat, drought and a wide range of soil types, but does not like poorly drained wet soils.

What is your favorite wildflower?

Name This Tree

The tree in these pictures is located in my front yard here in Albany County, New York.

It is a deciduous tree and they typically grow 40–60 ft tall and 20–40 ft wide. A 10-year-old sapling stands about 20 ft tall. They can be recognized by their large, heart-shaped to three-lobed leaves, showy white or yellow flowers in broad panicles. In the autumn they bear 8–20-inch-long fruits that resemble a slender bean pod full of small flat seeds, each with two thin wings to aid in wind dispersal. Because of the leaves, they are sometimes confused with the Tung tree in the southern U.S., or the invasive Paulownia tomentosa from China.

Due to their large leaf size, this tree is a popular habitat for many birds, providing them good shelter from rain and wind. These trees have few limb droppage but drop large dark-brown bean pods during late summer. The wood of this tree is quite soft.

They begin flowering after roughly 3 years and produce seed pods after approximately 5 years.

There are two North American species and have been widely planted outside their natural ranges as ornamental trees for their showy flowers and attractive shape, or growing habit. Northern and southern varieties are very similar in appearance, but the northern species has slightly larger leaves, flowers, and bean pods. Flowering starts after 275 growing degree days.

The tree is the sole source of food for an interesting and important moth, as the leaves are eaten by the caterpillars. When caterpillars are numerous, infested trees may be completely defoliated. Defoliated trees produce new leaves readily, but with multiple generations occurring, new foliage may be consumed by subsequent broods. Severe defoliation over several consecutive years can cause the death of trees. Because the caterpillars are an excellent live bait for fishing, some dedicated anglers’ plant mini-orchards of this tree for their own private source of fish bait, particularly in the southern states.

Can you name this tree species? Do you have one or more near where you live?

 

Our Public Lands

Debates over how America’s public lands should be managed are as old as the system itself, dating back to the early 1900s when President Teddy Roosevelt pioneered our current system. Disagreements have often centered on the balance between energy or resource development and protecting wild places for recreation and wildlife. I and thousands of other American citizens have fought for decades to defend our most treasured wild places—those areas with exceptional characteristics that provide the greatest value when simply left untouched. In countless battles over the years, grassroots groups and local people, all united by the fundamental idea that our federal public lands belong to all Americans and represent a core part of our country’s heritage have worked to defend these magnificent places.

The fact is, a resounding majority of Americans support the protection of our public lands. In a 2016 Harvard Kennedy School study, more than 93% of respondents across the country said it’s important that historical sites, public lands, and national parks be protected for current and future generations.

But recently, ideas are resurfacing that seek to undermine our public lands. These efforts use misleading appeals for “states’ rights” and flawed economic information to remove protections from some of our most special places in order to extract short-term profit. Backed by powerful fossil fuel and extractive industry interests, this systematic, well-organized and multifaceted movement began at the state level and now enjoys support at the highest level of government.

Removing protection for our public lands and turning this land over to private interests for private profit would amount to theft from the American people. These public lands are our legacy. Please don’t stand by and watch this legacy be taken away from us, our children and our children’s children.

Pinellas County Florida 

It takes me a full couple of days to drive from our New York home to our winter place in Dunedin, Florida (Pinellas County, Florida) but it is always worth the effort.

Aside from getting to visit and play with our two Florida grandkids and our son and daughter-in-law, getting to walk through the park that adjoins our property every morning is a real treat. The birds and other types of wildlife that seem to be everywhere also lift the spirit that has grown tired of the snowy north and the drab browns of the dormant woodlands of Upstate NY.

One of my favorite things to do is catch the sunset on the Dunedin Causeway. Unless it is one of those rare cloudy evenings, there is always something special about a Florida sunset. The wildlife also seems to enjoy the evening and usually puts on a show that makes it difficult not to take some interesting pictures.

We are blessed to have such a great place to occasionally hang our hats, enjoy being with family who has “flown the coop” of the cold Northwoods and spend a little time warming up and enjoying the sights and sounds of Florida nature.

 

A Glimpse of a Bobcat and the Sound of a Raven

I recently saw in a social media post by a friend that Spring is in the air. I responded that it doesn’t feel that way up here in the North Woods! We are still getting a few snow squalls daily and the cold and wind make it seem like the middle of winter to me.

None the less, I decided to take a few short walks on the country road where we live today because the sun was shining at least. Although it was crisp, I was rewarded twice today with unique wildlife sightings.

On my first walk, I happened to see a Bobcat cross the road in front of me about 25 yards and move into a shrubby field toward the south. I picked up my pace a bit and was able to catch a clear view of the cat and his “bobbed” tail before he/she vanished into the brush. Although we regularly hear and see all sorts of critters in the fields and woods around our home, the sighting of a Bobcat here was a first for me. Interestingly just a few years ago but well into warmer Spring weather I was walking in pretty much the same location when a black bear stepped out of the woods and crossed the road heading north. I not only didn’t speed up my walking pace at that time but came to a dead stop!

The Bobcat is a North American cat with two recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to central Mexico, including most of the contiguous United States. The bobcat is an adaptable predator that inhabits wooded areas, as well as semi-desert, urban edge, forest edge, and swampland environments. It remains in some of its original range, but populations are vulnerable to local extinction by coyotes and domestic animals. (We have loads of coyotes around here.) With a gray to brown coat, whiskered face, and black-tufted ears, the bobcat resembles the other species of the midsized genus Lynx. It is smaller on average than the Canada lynx, with which it shares parts of its range, but is about twice as large as the domestic cat. It has distinctive black bars on its forelegs and a black-tipped, stubby (or “bobbed”) tail, from which it derives its name.

Though the bobcat prefers rabbits and hares, it hunts insects, chickens, geese and other birds, small rodents, and deer. Prey selection depends on location and habitat, season, and abundance. Like most cats, the bobcat is territorial and largely solitary, although with some overlap in home ranges. It uses several methods to mark its territorial boundaries, including claw marks and deposits of urine or feces. The bobcat breeds from winter into spring and has a gestation period of about two months.

As I was finishing another short walk and about the enter our front door, I heard the low gurgling call of a Common Raven. Although the Raven isn’t all that uncommon in our area, we don’t see or hear them nearly as much as we see and hear crows.

The Common Raven, also known as the Northern Raven, is a large all-black passerine bird. Found across the Northern Hemisphere, it is the most widely distributed of all corvids. There are at least eight subspecies with little variation in appearance, although recent research has demonstrated significant genetic differences among populations from various regions. It is one of the two largest corvids, alongside the thick-billed raven, and is possibly the heaviest passerine bird; at maturity, the common raven averages 25 inches in length and 2 1/2 pounds) in mass. Common ravens can live up to 21 years in the wild, a lifespan surpassed among passerines by only a few species. Young birds may travel in flocks but later mate for life, with each mated pair defending a territory.

So, windy and cold or not…I enjoyed the brief encounter with a couple of unique north woods species.

Bird Feeding Tips for Home or Work

Should I feed birds year-round?

It’s not necessary. Bird feeding is most helpful at times of when birds need the most energy, such as during temperature extremes, migration, and in late winter or early spring, when natural seed sources are depleted. As a matter of fact, in some locations where bears are plentiful, it is even required by some communities that bird feeders be taken down for the summer months.

Most birds don’t need your help in the summer anyway. When they are nesting and rearing their young, many birds focus on eating insects, so feeding is less necessary at those times. It is also important for young birds to learn how to find naturally occurring foods, so take a break from filling feeders in summer.

Two exceptions to this rule are hummingbirds and goldfinches. Offer your summer hummers nectar in feeders to help fuel their high metabolism and provide Nyjer seed to your goldfinches—who nest later than other birds—until thistle goes to seed.

1) Locate bird feeders at different levels

Sparrows, juncos, and towhees usually feed on the ground, while finches and cardinals feed in shrubs, and chickadees, titmice, and woodpeckers feed in trees. To avoid crowding and to attract the greatest variety of species, provide table-like feeders for ground-feeding birds, hopper or tube feeders for shrub and treetop feeders, and suet feeders well off the ground for woodpeckers, nuthatches, and chickadees.

2) Offer a variety of seeds in separate feeders

A diverse mix of seeds will attract the greatest variety of birds. To avoid waste, offer different seeds in different feeders. Black oil sunflower seed appeals to the greatest number of birds. Offer sunflower seeds, Nyjer (thistle) seeds, and peanuts in separate feeders. When using blends, choose mixtures containing sunflower seeds, millet, and cracked corn—the three most popular types of birdseed. Birds that are sunflower specialists will readily eat the sunflower seed and toss the millet and corn to the ground, to be eaten by ground-feeding birds such as sparrows and juncos. Mixtures of peanuts, nuts, and dried fruit attract woodpeckers, nuthatches, and titmice. A relatively few species prefer milo, wheat, and oats, which are featured in less expensive blends.

3) Provide suet during cool weather only

Suet (beef fat) attracts insect-eating birds such as woodpeckers, wrens, chickadees, nuthatches, and titmice. Place the suet in special feeders or net onion bags at least five feet from the ground to keep it out of the reach of dogs. Do not put out suet during hot weather as it can turn rancid; also, dripping fat can damage natural waterproofing on bird feathers.

4) Mix peanut butter and cornmeal

Peanut butter is a good substitute for suet in the summer. Mix one-part peanut butter with five parts corn meal and stuff the mixture into holes drilled in a hanging log or into the crevices of a large pinecone. This all-season mixture attracts woodpeckers, chickadees, titmice, and occasionally warblers.

5) Provide fruit for berry-eating birds

Fruit specialists such as robins, waxwings, bluebirds, and mockingbirds rarely eat birdseed. To attract these birds, soak raisins and currants in water overnight, then place them on a table feeder, or purchase blends with a dried fruit mixture. To attract orioles and tanagers, skewer halved oranges onto a spike near other feeders, or supply nectar feeders.

6) Provide nectar for hummingbirds

Make a sugar solution of one part white sugar to four parts water. Boil briefly to sterilize and dissolve sugar crystals; no need to add red food coloring. Hummingbird Feeders must be washed every few days with very hot water and kept scrupulously clean to prevent the growth of mold.

7) Store seed in secure metal containers

Store seed in metal garbage cans with secure lids to protect it from squirrels and mice. Keep the cans in a cool, dry location; avoid storing in the heat. Damp seeds may grow mold that can be fatal to birds. Overheating can destroy the nutrition and taste of sunflower seeds. For these reasons, it’s best not to keep seed from one winter to the next.

8) Discourage squirrels from consuming feeder foods

Squirrels are best excluded by placing feeders on a pole in an open area. Pole-mounted feeders should be about five feet off the ground and protected by a cone-shaped baffle (at least 17 inches diameter) or similar obstacle below the feeder. Locate pole-mounted feeders at least 10 feet from the nearest shrub, tree, or other tall structure. Squirrel feeders stocked with blends that are especially attractive to squirrels and chipmunks can reduce competition for high-priced foods offered at bird feeders. Place squirrel feeders far from bird feeders to further reduce competition.

9) Locate feeders to reduce window collisions

In the United States, approximately one billion birds die each year from flying into windows. Protect birds from collisions by placing feeders within three feet of windows, if possible. Mobiles and opaque decorations hanging outside windows also help to prevent bird strikes. Or attach fruit tree netting outside windows to deflect birds from the glass.

10) Keep cats indoors

Cats kill hundreds of millions of birds annually in the United States, often pouncing on ground-feeding birds and those dazed by window collisions. Responsible and caring cat owners keep their cats indoors, where they are also safer from traffic, disease, and fights with other animals. Outdoor cats are especially dangerous to birds in the spring when fledglings are on the ground. Bells on cat collars are usually ineffective for deterring predation.

11) Clean feeders and rake up spilled grain and hulls

Uneaten seed can become soggy and grow deadly mold. Empty and clean feeders twice a year (spring and fall), or more often if feeders are used during humid summers. Using a long-handled bottlebrush, scrub with dish detergent and rinse with a powerful hose; then soak in a bucket of 10 percent non-chlorine bleach solution, rinse well, and dry in the sun. In early spring, rake up spilled grain and sunflower hulls.

What bird foods should I offer?

Winter suggestions

Black-oil sunflower seed: high in fat so it provides good energy; seeds are small and thin-shelled enough for small birds to crack open.

White Proso Millet: high in protein content.

Peanuts: offer in tube-shaped metal mesh feeders designed for peanuts; use a feeder with smaller openings for peanut hearts.

Suet cakes: commercially made suet cakes fit the standard-size suet feeder (you can even find vegetarian options).

Nyjer seed: use a tube feeder with tiny holes to keep the seeds from spilling out.

Cracked corn: choose medium-sized cracked corn, as fine will quickly turn to mush and corse is too large for small-beaked birds.

Suggestions for other seasons

Spring feeding: offer fruit, baked and crushed eggshells, and nesting materials, such as human hair, pet fur, bits of string or yarn, and small strips of cloth to help nesting birds

Summer feeding: limit to nectar for hummingbirds and Nyjer seed for goldfinches

Autumn feeding: offer millet, peanuts, peanut butter, and suet cakes

How do I choose a birdfeeder?

When searching for that perfect feeder keep the following tips in mind.

Plastic, steel, or glass feeders are easier to clean than are feeders with porous surfaces, such as wood or clay.

Small feeders empty quickly, leaving less time for seeds to get wet or spoiled.

Choose feeders with no sharp edges or points; the design should allow birds to perch away from the food to keep it from becoming soiled.

Set up more than one feeder and allow ample space between them to avoid crowding.

Choose a feeder with drainage holes and add a plastic dome to keep seed dry.

Birding – A Life-long Hobby That Can Be Handed Down

We are regularly being told that our way of life destroys nature. Over the years society, in general, is becoming less and less connected with nature and natural resources. I think this is a dangerous trend for our future. What we don’t understand, appreciate, or value we will not take care of.

I also think that most people are resistant to this type of information, and often say: “Nothing in nature depends on me!” I believe it is very important for this type of thinking be turned around, because we, the people depend on everything in nature for our very existence.

One way to regain a connection with nature is through the hobby of birdwatching or what most people simply call “birding” these days. I found the video below both interesting and entertaining. It presents a story of how a young boy became a birder and later helped famous birdwatcher and artist Roger Tory Peterson sight what Peterson called the “Bird of the century” and then went on to pursue birding as a life-long hobby which he passed on to his own family. Are you doing the same?

https://vimeo.com/110006283

 

The Tufted Titmouse

The tufted titmouse is a small songbird from North America that is somewhat common, but still one of my favorite birds to watch all year long.

These birds have grey upperparts and white underparts with a white face, a grey crest, a dark forehead, and a short, stout bill; they have rufous-colored flanks, under the wings. The song is described as a whistled “peter-peter-peter.” (I am ready for Spring when they are among the first birds to start singing.) They make a variety of different sounds, most having a similar tone quality.

Their habitat is deciduous and mixed woods as well as gardens, parks, and shrub-land in the eastern United States; they barely range into southeastern Canada in the Great Lakes region. They are all-year residents in the area effectively circumscribed by the Great Plains, the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. The range is expanding northwards, possibly due to increased availability of winter food at bird feeders. The birds are resident all year even in rural areas where there are few bird feeders, while it was noted in an early bird report around 1905 that many of these birds migrated south in winter.

They forage actively on branches, sometimes on the ground, mainly eating insects, especially caterpillars, but also seeds, nuts and berries. They will store food for later use. They tend to be curious about their human neighbors and can sometimes be spotted on window ledges peering into the windows seemingly to watch what’s going on inside. They tend to be a bit shyer when seen at bird feeders; their normal pattern there is to scout the feeder from the cover of trees or bushes, fly to the feeder, take a seed, and fly back to cover to eat it.

Tufted titmice nest in a hole in a tree, either a natural cavity, a human-made nest box, or sometimes an old woodpecker nest. They line the nest with soft materials, sometimes plucking hair from a live animal such as a dog. If they find they find shed snakeskin, they will try to incorporate pieces of it in their nest. Their eggs are under an inch long and are white or cream-colored with brownish or purplish spots. Sometimes, a bird born the year before remains to help its parents raise the next year’s young. The pair may remain together and defend their territory year-round. These birds are permanent residents and often join small mixed flocks in winter.

 

Nature Connections

A friend of mine mentioned a video production that is focused on Monarch Butterflies and their migration. He is fascinated with the Monarch and the fact that the species is in a population decline.

The film he wants me to see is produced by Louie Schwartzberg, and I have yet to see it. However, in doing some web surfing for information about Schwartzberg, I found that he had given a Ted talk, that I think is just great.

The message is aimed at reminding everyone that we should all slow down, look around and really absorb the various gifts that we are given every day. We all get so wrapped up in the latest political news, the state of the economy, and all our “personal problems” that we simply don’t take the time to look beyond all of this “things” and really appreciate the wonder of nature and the world all around us.

Take just a moment and watch and listen to this presentation:

 

American Hop-hornbeam

Have you heard of the American Hop-hornbeam?

American hop-hornbeam, (Ostrya virginiana) is a deciduous, native tree which usually occurs in dry soils on rocky slopes, upland woods, and bluffs throughout its range. A small to medium-sized, understory tree with a generally rounded crown. Typically grows 25-40′ tall with a slightly smaller spread. Features birch-like, oval to lance-shaped, sharply-serrated, dark yellowish-green leaves (to 5″ long). Leaves turn an undistinguished yellow in autumn and often drop early. Flowers are reddish-brown male flowers and greenish female flowers appear in separate catkins on the same tree. Flowers are not particularly showy, although the male catkins are more prominent and are present throughout winter. Female catkins are followed by drooping clusters of sac-like, seed-bearing pods which, as the common name suggests, somewhat resemble the fruit of hops. Also, commonly called ironwood because of its extremely hard and dense wood.

The hop-like papery sack encases a nutlet that is the fruit of this tree and is a winter food for ring-necked pheasants, rabbits, grouse, turkeys, deer, squirrels, and several songbirds. These fruits occur in clusters that resemble true hops that are used in the production of beer.

Native Range: Eastern North America, Mexico 

Zone: 3 to 9

Height: 25.00 to 40.00 feet

Spread: 20.00 to 30.00 feet

Bloom Time: April

Bloom Description: Red-brown (male); light green (female)

Sun: Full sun to part shade

Water: Medium

Maintenance: Low

Suggested Use: Shade Tree, Street Tree

Flower: Insignificant

Tolerate: Deer, Drought, Clay Soil