Rosyfinch Ramblings: Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Showing posts with label Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Show all posts

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Fall migration

Autumn officially arrived and I visited the boardwalk at nearby Chapel Trail Nature Preserve. A Great Egret happened to pose almost directly under the day-old Harvest Moon:

I was surprised at how quickly the Moon drifted down:

Shooting between tree branches, I had to contort to place the Moon behind the egret:

The egret was not impressed and went about preening:

Actually, I had photographed the Moon a few minutes earlier, moved a short distance along the boardwalk and was lucky to look up and see the egret in a treetop:

View from the dock near the beginning of the boardwalk. The wet prairie is now flooded and the spike-rush is flourishing.

Although the morning radar showed heavy migration, birding was very slow. This is the Doppler velocity image at 5:00 AM on September 24. Green echoes are approaching Miami and red are heading away towards The Bahamas and Cuba. Our home is at the small red "+" which seems to be in the heart of the action.

Instead of finding warblers dripping off the trees I logged only a single species. a Prairie Warbler:

A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was my consolation prize. A distracting dozen or more frolicked in the trees:

A grumpy Anhinga was sunning at the far end of the boardwalk. She protested my intrusion so I backed off after snapping a few images. Her red eyes glistened like jewels:

Non-avian objects of interest included a pair of mating Halloween Pennant dragonflies:

...and a Green Anole:

I had better luck in the Wounded Wetlands near our home. A Female Golden-winged Warbler showed up on September 20, my first ever record of this species in the local patch:

More Blue-gray Gnatcatchers livened up the scene:

A Prairie Warbler hover-gleaned for insects:

Another Prairie Warbler was missing his tail feathers. They should be finished molting and generally only replace tail feathers in pairs. Therefore this may have resulted from a close call with a predator such as a pursuing hawk. As bird banders can attest, some birds will "blow" all their tail feathers when severely threatened or to avoid being captured.

Other warblers included a female Black-throated Blue Warbler, here peering out from Ligustrum blossoms and berries...

..and a drab female or possibly first year male Common Yellowthroat:

Acrobatic Black-and-White Warblers seemed to defy gravity while seeking insects hidden in the bark of a Live Oak:

A Northern Parula warbler was mostly out of sight:

An inquisitive Red-eyed Vireo paid a brief visit:

Oh those eyes! A Brown Thrasher peered out between the leaves:

A migrating male Baltimore Oriole added welcome color to the scene:

Out on the lake, only 5 minutes after sunrise, the Harvest Moon hovered over a swirling cloud (A nice example of the low-light performance of my iPhone 11 Pro Max):

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Linking to:

Garden Affair

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

Camera Critters

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Natasha Musing

Our World Tuesday

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World

Timeless Thursday

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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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Thursday, September 16, 2021

The eagles have landed, but...

There is drama at the local Bald Eagle nest. I have been observing the nest since it was "discovered" back in 2007. Over the years, the same male "Pride" has fathered 27 known eaglets, of which all but eight survived to fly freely. Pride's first mate was Joy, who disappeared just before the 2014-2015 breeding season after producing the first 13 eaglets, of which only two did not survive to fledge.

Pride then paired up with Jewel in December, 2014 but it was either too late in the season, or she may have been too young to breed. However Jewel went on to hatch out 14 more eaglets. As of now she has lost 6 of them. Two (and probably their newly hatched unseen nestmates) were assumed to have been killed in 2016 and 2020 when early spring storms disrupted the nest. In both seasons the pair went on to raise second broods of two eaglets. They lost one of these to unknown causes in 2016, but successfully raised both in 2020.

Those two youngsters hatched 2-3 months later than usual. In normal years they would have fledged in April or May, but these two were dependent upon their parents well into late summer. This probably delayed the start of the 2020-2021 breeding season, which usually begins around October 1. The pair worked to build a new nest in a very precarious location, high in a limber Australian Pine with only two major supporting limbs.

Eggs are normally deposited by early December and hatch in early to mid-January. Instead, their first egg was laid around February 1, 2021 and two eaglets hatched around March 7-12th. Normally the eaglets fledge at about 10 weeks of age. A severe thunderstorm on April 11 damaged the flimsy nest and a week later the younger eaglet fell to the ground. The older sibling fell on April 28 and was recovered after 5 days of searching.

Both eaglets suffered broken bones, but the injuries to the younger bird (P Piney 27) were more serious and eventually fatal, while the older sibling (P Piney 26, a male) was successfully rehabilitated and released to the wild on June 14. It was sad to see Jewel visit the site of the demolished nest several times during the summer. Suddenly Pride showed up and joined her on Freed from the burden of rearing any eaglets, they instituted courtship and began rebuilding the failed nest.

On September 11. Pride occupied a dead branch near the site of the original (old) nest, about 100 yards away:

Jewel was roosting above the remains of the failed nest. This was not a good omen. Some researchers report that the female more frequently chooses the nest site. Her position corresponded to the placement of the main nest platform (bole). The empty space under her had been occupied by nesting material which collapsed during the storm and began the process resulting in the grounding of both eaglets:

The next day, both adults were carrying sticks and exhibiting courtship behavior with copulation attempts. On the morning of September 14 the eagle watchers saw Jewel fly into a tree and attempt to break off a large dead branch. It would not budge...

...so she settled for a smaller one, indeed a twig...

...and added it to the sparse material already deposited in their restorative effort:

Some of the structure of the failed nest is still lodged below its original site. The nest was placed between the main trunk and a single side branch. We are not very optimistic about their chances this breeding season:

She then roosted nearby and Pride flew in to join her. They perched shoulder-to-shoulder. Jewel is to the left in these photos. Note her very long rear talon (hallux), a distinguishing characteristic of the female:

Both called together. Their fixed fierce facial expressions made the lovers' interaction look more like a hostile encounter:

Fall migration is getting off to a slow start. Prairie Warblers have migrated "sideways" from their coastal breeding habitat:

An Ovenbird foraged in the damp leaf litter:

Blue-gray Gnatcatchers flitted about actively, in search of insects:

Sleek Red-eyed Vireos scavenged for ripe berries:

A distant Coyote crossed the path:

The Coyote's track was imprinted in moist sand. The smaller rear paw print is to the left of its front print:

True to its name, a Halloween Pennant perched like a flag atop a tall stalk:

Just after sunrise, clouds reflected on the still surface of the lake:

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Linking to: