Rosyfinch Ramblings

Thursday, May 5, 2022

Crops & Clips: Flashback to May, 2019

Each month I enjoy looking back over my archived photos, taken three years previously, to remember how things were then and what I now am missing this month in our new Connecticut home. As usual, I search for images which reflect favorite memes: critters of all kinds (especially birds), skies and clouds, reflections, flowers and butterflies, as well as scenes which speak for themselves.

We spent the first week of May, 2019 in Florida, then 2 weeks visiting our daughter's home in NE Illinois, ending the month back home in Florida. The timing happened to be the ideal way to see the highest counts of spring migrants as they moved north. However, our local Wounded Wetlands yielded only a few banner days.

My first photo of the month was this capture of a White-eyed Vireo. This species breeds all over the eastern half of the US, but retreats in winter to the southernmost states, northern Mexico and the Caribbean islands. In Florida its population is augmented by returning migrants.

White-eyed Vireo on May 3:

The next day, a much less common vireo made its appearance. The breeding range of the Black-whiskered Vireo includes sparse coastal areas of southern Florida, the Bahamas, and most of Cuba. It winters far to the south into central South America.

The Black-whiskered Vireo below, its throat markings obscured, resembles the Red-eyed Vireo, a much more common migrant:

The Red-eyed Vireos arrive later in Florida and are much more numerous in autumn than during spring migration. I photographed this Red-eyed Vireo, in a strikingly similar pose, on September 11, 2021:

I photographed another vireo species a week later (on May 9) in Batavia, Illinois, the smaller Blue-headed Vireo:

In the Wounded Wetlands on May 5, a male Bobcat sauntered out into the path and then stopped to stare at me:

A White Peacock butterfly bathed in sunlight:

In Illinois, migration was well underway. Eastern Kingbirds had arrived:

Other migrant songbirds included Baltimore Oriole...

...a male Bobolink...

...Yellow Warbler...

...Nashville Warbler...

...Black-throated Green Warbler...

...and American Redstart:

Mallards in Flight:

A pair of Sandhill Cranes browsed with their two colts in a field festooned with yellow blooms:

The Twin Oaks at Nelson Lake preserve in Batavia, Illinois were beginning to leaf out:

Back home in Florida, the mangoes were ripening:

Along the path, a female Common Nighthawk warned me not to approach its hidden nest or chicks:

Before carefully stepping back, I found its two eggs, laid on bare gravel

Nearly a half mile across the lake, a deer reflected on the calm surface:

I practiced taking flight shots, of Tricolored Heron...

...Red-shouldered Hawk...

...and Mottled Duck:

Out on the Wounded Wetlands, I stirred up a White-tail buck:

A scrawny female Coyote stared at me before running off:

The south shore of the lake at sunrise on May 31:

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Linking to:

Garden Affair

Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

Weekend Reflections

Saturday's Critters

BirdD'Pot

All Seasons

Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday)

Wild Bird Wednesday

My Corner of the World
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Please visit the links to all these posts to see some excellent photos on display
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Thursday, April 28, 2022

Sparrow wars

The weather here moderated during the past week, providing us with more opportunities to walk outside between the rain showers, but near-freezing temperatures are expected to persist for the next several days. A few returning migrants have been reported locally. I heard an Indigo Bunting singing but never caught sight of it. Winter visitors such as the juncos and White-throated Sparrows have disappeared and the plumage of the male goldfinches is in full breeding splendor.

A Northern Cardinal posed nicely amid buds on a rain-soaked branch:

A wet but perky White-breasted Nuthatch appeared:

On a sunlit morning. a cardinal emerged from behind one of the many granite boulders which surround the house:

Our Eastern Bluebirds have had mixed success at our two nest boxes. We are quite sure that one pair has eggs in the box near the edge of the woodland. They successfully warded off competitors such as Black-capped Chickadees and Tufted Titmice.

Another pair of bluebirds claimed the one which is located in the back lawn way from the trees. They faced competition from Tree Swallows, known to prefer boxes in open areas.

On April 19, a flock of Tree Swallows swept in and displaced the bluebirds, which did not put up much of a fight:

The swallows occupied the nest box for about three days, even squabbling with each other over which might claim squatters' rights:

One pair of swallows seemed to have won the prize:

Tree Swallows are handsome birds and graceful fliers (and they consume large numbers of mosquitoes):

The vanquished male bluebird sat passively by after losing a few aerial battles:

Unexpectedly, a new competitor arrived on the scene. I had seen absolutely no House Sparrows until a male of this exotic and invasive species showed up at the feeder on April 23:

That same day I saw the male and a female trying to gain entrance to the nest box. At first the swallows chased them away, but the sparrows were very aggressive and persistent:

Very quickly, the House Sparrows stuffed the nest with dead grass and leaves:

The swallows appeared to have surrendered. Only one remained, sometimes skirmishing ineffectively with the sparrows and often perching near them. (Speaking anthropomorphically, the sparrows were not ready to negotiate a truce):

On each of the ensuing days, I have gone out morning and afternoon to remove the sparrows' nesting material, but they are able to replenish it within an hour or so. I love birds, but wish to extend hospitality only to native hole-nesting species such as bluebirds, swallows, chickadees, titmice and wrens. The Tree Swallows still linger periodically, although none have been seen in any more open combat between the species.

I will continue to dissuade the House Sparrows which, along with introduced European Starlings, competed for nesting holes in forests depleted of old growth trees. This contributed to near-extinction of Eastern Bluebirds in the early 1900s .

On a more peaceful note, I finally photographed the Pileated Woodpecker which I had seen flying over the property twice before. It became the 36th species photographed of the 45 I have seen on or over the property. Not a good image, but its red "mustache" renders it recognizable as a male:

Also on April 26, until turned back by misty precipitation, we walked along the shore of adjacent Diamond Lake. Here is a view of what we could see of the lake, through the trees in the front yard, on April 23rd: