Megan's Nature Nook
Nature Notes, Phenology, Photography, Fun Facts, Trips, Maybe Even a Bad Joke or Two... and More!
This past spring and summer I’ve been noticing a variety of visitors at the hummingbird feeder. Here in Minnesota we only have one species of hummingbird, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird so it is quite easy to notice when there is a non-hummer visitor! Birds, insects, and mammals alike all try to get a taste of the sweet stuff. A common visitor to hummingbird feeders, beside hummers, is Orioles! These beautiful brightly colored birds enjoy the sweet sugar water offered at feeders. Their natural diet includes insects, fruit, and nectar – varying with the seasons. In the summer they eat mainly insects which are protein rich and important while raising their young. In the spring and fall a majority of their diet is nectar and fruits. The sugars in these foods converts into fat which is a much needed energy supply during migration. You’ll most likely see one of these brightly colored feathered friends visiting your hummingbird feeder during the spring or fall. There are special sugar water feeders that have larger perches and openings that make it easier for Orioles to eat from. If you’d like to attract more Orioles to your yard, consider purchasing one of these feeders in addition to your hummingbird feeders. See the Oriole nectar recipe below. Other feathered friends that visit hummingbird feeders are Woodpeckers! This may seem like an interesting visitor since most Woodpeckers thrive on insects, nuts, and seeds but some enjoy the sweet taste of tree sap now and again – making sugar water a tasty treat. Recently I have seen Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers on the hummingbird feeder. Our last flying friends are insects! A variety of insects like butterflies, bees, and wasps frequent hummingbird feeders. Although the butterflies can be beautiful, most people try to deter bees and wasps from there feeders. When looking for a hummingbird feeder try buying one with smaller holes or ones with “bee guards” on them. The bee guards are plastic coverings that have smaller holes that the hummingbirds can easily drink through, but the bees and wasps cannot as easily. Avoid feeders with yellow as bees and wasps are more attracted to the color yellow. If your feeder has yellow accents, such as yellow flowers on the feeder ports, you can try painting them or removing and replacing with another color. Lastly, one of the worst hummingbird feeder visitors is raccoons! They not only end up having a little of your sugar water, but instead end up dumping it and ruining your feeders. Luckily there are some easy ways to stop these visitors from coming. If you can, taking in your feeder at night and putting it back out in the morning can be one of the easiest ways to protect it. If it’s not out, they can’t ravage it. If you aren’t able to take the feeder in every night, find a place that you can hang it from that a raccoon can’t climb to. Some of the best places are under the eaves of a building, on a line that hangs between two trees that won’t support a raccoon, or on a second story deck that they can’t climb to. You have to be a bit creative to keep these smart visitors away. Lastly, if you aren’t able to do either of those, take your feeder down for a few days until the raccoon realizes there is no longer a food source there and moves along; the hummingbirds will be able to find it again soon after you put it back up. Have you seen any of these other visitors at your hummingbird feeder? Next time you walk past your hummingbird feeder it may warrant another look to see if it really is a hummingbirds or one of these other visitors. You never know who you might spot!
Hummingbird Sugar Water Recipe 1 part granulated sugar 4 parts water (1 cup water, 1/4 cup sugar) If you will be using all your sugar water right away, add sugar to water and stir until dissolved. If you won’t be using all the sugar water right away, bring the water to a boil, add sugar, and stir until dissolved. Let cool before filling your feeder. When the mixture is boiled it will last about a week in the refrigerator. Always make sure your feeder is clean and there is no mold growing. Refill your feeder every 3-4 days, more often when there is hot weather as the mixture will spoil quicker. Oriole Sugar Water Recipe 1 part granulated sugar 6 parts water (2 cups water, 1/3 cup granulated sugar) If you will be using all your sugar water right away, add sugar to water and stir until dissolved. If you won’t be using all the sugar water right away, bring the water to a boil, add sugar, and stir until dissolved. Let cool before filling your feeder. When the mixture is boiled it will last about a week in the refrigerator. Always make sure your feeder is clean and there is no mold growing. Refill your feeder every 3-4 days, more often when there is hot weather as the mixture will spoil quicker.
0 Comments
This past week I had the opportunity to participate in the banding of American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) chicks! Since early this spring we have been monitoring two Kestrel nest boxes at Oxbow Park near Byron, Minnesota. We check the boxes about weekly and record data that we then submit to the American Kestrel Partnership to learn more about Kestrels, their population, and how we can help them. We were very excited when one day we went to check the boxes and there was a female Kestrel sitting on eggs in one of the boxes! We patiently waited and were once again excited when we learned they had hatched! About two weeks after hatching we had a Bird Bander come to age, weigh, sex, and band the chicks. It was a very cool experience that I was lucky enough to be a part of! Two American Kestrel nest boxes were first installed at Oxbow Park the spring of 2018. This is the third year the boxes have been up, and the second year one of the boxes has been used and successfully raised chicks! Click the button below to read an earlier blog post: American Kestrel Nest Boxes, to learn about the nest box monitoring at Oxbow Park and for more information about the American Kestrel Partnership. Before we get into the Kestrel chick banding, here is some general information about bird banding: What is Bird Banding? Bird banding is the process of attaching a small, lightweight, aluminum band to the leg of a bird to identify individual birds by their unique 8 or 9 digit number. It is basically putting an anklet with their own social security number on them to identify each bird. What Does a Bird Band Say? Each band in engraved with a unique 8 or 9 digit number. It also says, WWW.REPORTBAND.GOV What Do You Do if You Find a Band? If you either spot a live bird with a band or find a deceased bird, you can report the 8 or 9 digit number along with the date, time, and location the band was spotted or found to the Bird Banding Lab by going to their website www.reportband.gov. Who Can Band Birds? Bird banding is regulated by the United States Geological Society (USGS) Bird Banding Lab. Only federally licensed bird banders can acquire and band birds. Why is Bird Banding Important? The information gathered from bird banding is used in scientific research, management, and conservation projects. The information can be used to learn more about the following:
Now onto the Kestrel chick banding! Bird Bander, Kirk Payne, sets up the banding site near the nest box. He puts down a tarp, then a towel to lay the chicks on. He also has a scale to weigh each chick and a banding tool kit to keep his bands and banding tools. Clarissa Schrooten, Oxbow Park Naturalist, is recording data. The chicks are removed from the nest box and placed in a bucket lined with saw dust for cushion. Touching the chicks will not harm them or cause the parents to abandon them. Most birds do not have a very good sense of smell. Each chick is then aged and sexed by looking at its feather development and coloring. These chicks were all females between 16-17 days old. The start of brown feathers coming out of the feather shafts lets us know it is a female. You want to band Kestrel chicks between 12-24 days old. In that time frame they are large enough that the band will not slip off yet young enough that they won't try to bail out of the nest and fly because of the activity going on. The chicks are all weighed using a scale. And their keel bone is felt to determine the amount of meat on the breast. You can evaluate if a bird is thin, fat, or in the healthy range by doing this. These three chicks have been well taken care of. Time to band! To the left you can see the tool box with bands of varying sizes for different bird species along with pliers for closing the band around the bird's leg. The band is loose enough that it can move up and down the leg, but snug enough that it won't get caught on things. Closing the band with the pliers. All done! Each bird has their own unique band number. The band also has the website of where to report if you see the band. Check out those talons! Information such as location, banding date, approximate age, band number, sex, and weight were all collected for each kestrel chick. The data that was collected will be entered onto an online database with The Peregrine Fund who runs the American Kestrel Partnership program. This information will help to learn more about Kestrels. Once the banding was complete, the kestrel chicks were returned to their nest box. In not too long they will be old enough to fledge and leave the nest. Thank you to Kirk Payne for helping us monitor our nest boxes and others throughout the county, and for coming out to band our birds!
Let's hope this next box is successful once again next year and in the years to come! Each Spring and Fall millions of birds embark on the treacherous journey of migration. Over 250 songbird species migrate at night in an effort to make their journey a little easier. Traveling at night has some advantages such as calmer skies from less weather events at night, cooler temperatures, and the less likely chance of encountering raptors, like hawks and falcons, who migrate and hunt during the day. Although there are these advantages to night travel, it also comes with the dangers of light pollution that can cause disorientation, collisions, and undue exhaustion for the birds. Many birds use stars in the night sky to help them navigate their way. Tall lighted buildings can easily draw them off course and disorient the birds. Birds can end up colliding with buildings and windows causing injuries or death or circle the building reluctant to fly from the light resulting in exhaustion and even death. Cities with tall buildings are one of the main obstacles for birds, but even outdoor lighting from homes contributes to light pollution and can cause harm. This is where you can help! Something as easy as turning off the lights can make night migration safer for the birds. During peak migration from March 15 – May 31 and August 15 – October 31 turn off the lights from 11:00 p.m. – 6:00 a.m. Porch lights, outbuilding lighting along with lighted paths and decorative lighting should be turned off. If you are inside with the lights on, close the shades to prevent inside light from flooding outside. If you are unable to turn off all outdoor lighting, consider installing motion sensors or warm lighting and installing light shields so the light is only cast down, instead of all around which affects the birds more. Outdoor lighting is not only affecting migrating birds, but an array of other night dwelling animals. Firefly populations have been dwindling and a major cause is light pollution. Fireflies rely on finding their mates through seeing each other’s lighted blinking patterns. If an area is too bright from outdoor lighting or even indoor light coming through windows, they aren’t able to find their mates. They have a short window of time as adults so every dark minute counts. Consider extending your “Lights Out” time to the beginning of July to help the fireflies! Read more about fireflies from one of my previous blog posts by clicking the button below. There are a variety of “Lights Out” programs across the country through the Audubon Society and local nature centers in conjunction with government agencies. See if you can find one close to your home and pledge to turn the lights out. To learn more about the Audubon Society’s Lights Out program and to see a list of participating cities, visit their website by clicking the button below. For those of you in Minnesota interested in Lights Out Twin Cities (and Rochester) you can visit the Department of Natural Resources Nongame Wildlife Program Page to see a list of participating businesses, by clicking the button below. Turn off your lights and
Save Birds (And Fireflies). Save Energy. Save Money. It’s that easy and a win-win-win for everyone! The past two years Tony and I have had the opportunity to go on a Sandhill Crane Viewing tour with the Ian Nicholson Audubon Center at Rowe Sanctuary. Rowe Sanctuary is located in Gibbon, Nebraska on the banks of the Platte River where hundreds of thousands of Sandhill Cranes (Grus canadensis) stopover during their spring migration to rest and replenish energy on their way to nesting grounds. At times over a quarter of a million birds can be present at one time. It is considered a critical staging area during their spring migration making the Platte River one of the best places to view this amazing wildlife spectacle. Around 80% of all Sandhill cranes come through the Platte each spring. During the day, the cranes spend their time in fields foraging for food. They’re often seen picking through cow pies and corn stubble looking for waste corn. As evening approaches, they make their way to their nighttime roosting site, the Platte River. The Platte River makes for a safe roosting site because of its shallow depth. In most spots the river is only 1-2 feet deep. The cranes will stand in the water and on sandbars in large groups. The sound of splashing in the water from potential predators, like coyotes, will alert the birds before the predator is able to strike. The birds will spend the night in the water then leave the river for the fields in the morning. You can view the cranes either in the morning as they leave their roosting site or the evening as they arrive. Both tours we did were evening tours. We arrived at the Ian Nicholas Audubon Center before sunset to watch a video and listen to a short talk about the sanctuary and cranes. Then it was time to head to the viewing blind! With just a short walk we arrived at one of their newly built blinds (they were just finished in February, a huge improvement to the blind that we were in last year). Once in the blind things start off slow with a few cranes flying here and there along with other waterfowl like geese and ducks. As the evening progresses the cranes start arriving more and more frequently. We were out for a few hours and left the blind after dark, walking back to the center with the call of cranes still going strong. “Crane Season” is considered to be February 15 – April 15 each year. Last year (2019) we went on our tour the first week of April which was towards the end of prime viewing time. This year (2020) we went the first week of March which is just about the middle of viewing season. We saw more cranes this time, but last year we were able to have them land closer earlier in the evening, so it was fun to watch them dance. No matter when you go during those few weeks you will see plenty of cranes! Each day is different and presents you with a unique experience. For more information about the tours and pricing you can visit the Rowe Sanctuary’s website: www.rowe.audubon.org It is an AMAZING sight to see hundreds of thousands of these big birds streaming in over the treetops, circling the river, stretching out their wings and feet to prepare for landing, then dropping into the water for the night. Once they’re standing in the water you see their heads bobbing around, wings flapping, and some even “dancing” – jumping around, flapping wings, moving their heads to attract mates; there is constant movement. It starts with a few birds here and there coming in, then gradually becoming more and more flocks and larger flocks - all gathering in the same area. At times you just see dark masses moving around the sky instead of individual birds. Their silhouettes standing out against the beautiful backdrop of the sunset. The sights are just part of this amazing spectacle. As the evening fades into night and more and more cranes gather, their calls become louder and louder. It starts with calls here and there as they begin to stream into the river and the sound grows and grows as the masses congregate together, making it impossible to distinguish individual calls anymore. Their unique calls are loud and carry off into the otherwise quiet night. You can watch this video made by Tony (The Roughfisherman) to get a taste of the crane viewing experiences we have had. If you can, I encourage you to do a tour so you can see it in person!! The video is great but doesn’t do the experience justice. Make sure the sound is up so you can hear the cranes! Watch the Live Crane Cam! It is best to view it in the mornings and evenings to see the cranes coming and going. Make sure your sound is up so you can hear their unique call! Fun Facts:
With snow and colder weather upon us, many animals have either migrated to warmer areas, or snuggled into their winter dens for the next few months. Although many animals either migrate or hibernate for the winter we have quite a few hardy animals who stick it out and adapt to the changing weather. Each animal has their own strategy for surviving the cold months ahead. Storing up food for the upcoming winter is the top priority for most animals. However, how they gather and store their food varies with each species and some even have an extra trick up their sleeves to help them! Tree Squirrels Tree squirrels: Fox Squirrels, Gray Squirrels, Red Squirrels, and Flying Squirrels, all cache food for the winter. Red Squirrels and Flying Squirrels will usually store their food in a main area or have a few main caches. Fox and Gray Squirrels on the other hand participate in scatter hoarding, where they burry nuts in individual locations. This can add up to be hundreds or thousands of different hiding spots they have to remember. So how can they remember all of those hiding spots? Many trees only produce nuts in the fall. In order to ensure a large enough food supply to last them through the winter, squirrels have to gather and store as many nuts as they can before the snow falls and the weather gets too cold. To help them remember where they stored all their nuts, their brain does something extraordinary, it grows! Specifically, the hippocampus, which is the memory and spatial organization area of the brain, increases 15% in size in the fall. This increase helps them to remember where a majority of those hundreds or thousands of nuts they scatter hoarded are. The increased brain size especially helps them after the snow has fallen, making it harder to sniff out nuts and making the squirrels easier targets for predators to spot and catch. Squirrels do some other interesting things that help them in their food storage habits. Once they find a nut, they will hold it in their paws and shake it to weigh it and determine if it has any insects in it. If it is light weight, most likely an insect is inside and has been eating it. If that is the case, they will eat the nut and insects right away because they know if they cache it, the insects may eat it before they get a chance to. If the nut is heavy with no insects, they will proceed to find a hiding spot for it. Studies have shown that squirrels will categorize where certain types of nuts are stored. They’ll have walnuts in one area and acorns in another which may help them to better remember the hiding spots since they’re more organized. After the initial hiding they will continue to interact with their caches, visiting spots where they’ve been buried, sniffing around, and even digging up and reburying nuts in a new spot. This can help them to better remember where each nut is hidden and build their mental nut map. It is also thought that digging fake holes and digging up and reburying nuts might deceive any onlookers that may try to steal their caches. Chickadees Squirrels aren’t the only critters whose brains grow to help with food caching. In late summer and early fall the brains of Chickadees grow. The brain growth is happening in the hippocampus just like the squirrels and increases by approximately 30% by adding new nerve cells. In Chickadees, neurons are replaced periodically. Studies suggest that they are able to discard cells that have old memories and replace them with new cells where they can store new memories, such as where they hid a seed. Then in the spring when they no longer have such a need for hiding spot memory, their hippocampus shrinks back down to normal size. Shrews Unlike squirrels and Chickadees, shrews have a different brain winter survival tactic. Instead of growing part of their brain to help with the memory of food caches, they do the opposite. Their skulls and brains shrink! Their skulls will shrink an average of 15% and they loose between 20-30% of brain mass. The joints between the bones of the skull reabsorb tissue during the fall and winter, the tissue will then regenerate in the spring, “growing” the skull back to almost its former size. The skulls and brains aren’t the only things that shrink for the winter in shrews. Other organs lose mass and the spine shortens, reducing the overall body mass of the shrew by about 18%. This act of shrinking in the winter is call Dehnel’s Phenomenon. Luckily for the shrew, in the spring their body mass will rebound to 83% of what it was previously. So, they will be slightly smaller than the previous year, but larger than they were during the winter. It is thought that the reason for this phenomenon may be to conserve energy. Less mass means the need for less food. Shrews are one of the smallest mammals yet have a high metabolic rate causing the need to eat every few hours. Since they cannot migrate far distances to warmer weather and don’t hibernate, winter shrinkage helps them to survive the cold winters. Shrews live an average of 1-2 years so the compounding shrinkage year after year doesn’t really affect them. Who knew all these little critters could do such amazing things to help them survive winter?
Spring time means baby time in the animal world. People love animals so much that they try to do whatever they can to help wildlife, but unfortunately this time of year, we humans often do more harm than help. Here are a few tips for what to do if you find an animal you think is sick, injured, or orphaned.
Deer Fawn Fawns (baby deer) are born with no scent to help protect them from predators. The mother deer leaves the fawn for extended periods of time during the day, only coming in the early morning and evening to feed the fawn. Because of this the fawn can seem abandoned or orphaned, but in reality, they are perfectly fine. If you find a fawn do not touch or move it! The oils from your skin will leave your scent on the fawn, which could cause the mother to abandon it. If you are concerned that a fawn has been orphaned, watch it for a few hours (in the morning and evening) from a distance to see if the mother comes to feed it. It is best to watch from indoors because if you are too close and the mother sees you, she may not come back until you are gone. Bird Chicks Baby birds are often found when they’ve fallen out of their nests or if their nest has fallen after a windy day or storm. If you find a chick and are able to locate and reach the nest, you can place the chick back into the nest. Wear a pair of gloves like gardening gloves while doing this. If you cannot locate or reach the nest, you can place the chick in a small box or container (like a cool whip container) with a paper towel or piece of cloth in the bottom to prevent the bird from slipping. Place the container in a nearby tree or anywhere up off the ground and out of reach from any children or pets. When the chick calls for food the parents will be able to find it. You can do the same if you have found a nest that fell out of a tree. When chicks are just learning to fly and leave the nest they are fully feathered but still working on their flight skills. They can tire easily so are often seen fluttering close to the ground but not able to get much height which makes them appear injured. The parents are nearby watching and will still care and feed their young. If you see a bird that appears to not be able to fly, monitor it for a few hours to see if the parents come to it. Keeps pets indoors or on a leash to keep the young birds safe. Squirrels Squirrel babies can be cared for in a similar manner to bird chicks. If you find one that has fallen out of the nest, use gardening gloves to place it back in the nest. If you cannot reach or locate the nest, you can place it in a small box or container lined with paper towels or cloth and place it in a nearby tree or at least up and off the ground out of reach of pets and children, but in a place where the parents can get to it. The parents will be able to locate the babies by listening for their cries when they get hungry. If a whole nest is displaced, place the babies in a box or container and place in a nearby tree, again, the parents will be able to find them. Rabbits Rabbits don’t have much of a nest, but instead have a shallow depression in the ground that may have leaves or grass in it. Mother rabbits leave their nests unattended for long periods of time and only come to feed the babies in the early morning and evenings. If you think the babies are orphaned, monitor the nest for a few hours in the morning and evening to see if the mother is coming. If you are unable to watch the nest, you can lay twigs overtop in a tic-tac-toe pattern, or make a circle of flour around the nest. When the mother comes she will move the twigs or disturb the flour making it easy to tell if she had been there or not. Rabbits are able to survive on their own at a young age when they are still very small. If the baby is up and moving around, it is old enough to be on its own. Raccoons Raccoons are usually suspected of being orphaned when they are at the weanling stage. When they are about the size of a football, the mother starts to wean them off of milk. She will often times leaves them alone and they are seen wandering around (during the daytime, too) looking for her to beg for milk. They will usually be screaming or whining. If they are about a foot long, or the size of a football, they are old enough to be on their own. If you come across and animals who you think is in need, first take the time to assess the situation to see if human intervention is needed. We do not give animals the credit they deserve, they are much better at raising their young than we think. If you have a situation that you are unsure about, contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitation BEFORE doing ANYTHING. Touching, offering water, or feeding an animal can be detrimental to its health and life. In many cases people are just trying to help an animal they think is sick, injured, or orphaned that really does not need help. By them stepping in they could cause the animal to become sick or injured and even rejected by its mother. There are times when rehabilitation is needed, but a majority of the time humans are just causing the problems. Please think through a situation before rushing in to be the hero. Don’t be a baby-napper! When I was in college I spent a summer working at the Northwoods Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in Minocqua, Wisconsin. I worked on both the rehabilitation and education side of the facility. They do a great job caring for all of the animals they get in and are able to release a great deal of them back into the wild. Spring and summer were their busiest seasons because of all the babies. It was hard to see all the critters that were baby-napped and miss cared for because people just didn’t know any better. If you want to help wildlife, leave it alone. The animals know what to do. Working at Northwoods was a very good experience for me because I got to learn hands on about the wildlife that lives in our own backyards. It was a very time consuming and labor-intensive internship, but also very rewarding. I was able to experience firsthand how much work it takes to care for a baby wild animal. Did you know some very young birds have to be fed every half an hour from 6 am – 8 pm, and again at 3 am? Or that baby raccoons have to be bottle fed 4 times a day? It was very eye opening to see all the work and energy that went into caring for all the animals that were brought in and to see the variety of reasons for admittance into the rehabilitation center. So this year, do your part to help the wildlife in your neck of the woods and help educate others by passing this information on!
Northwoods Wildlife Center has a great resource page about what to do if you find an animal that may need help: https://northwoodswildlifecenter.org/i-found-an-animal/ MN Licensed Rehab Facilities Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota - Roseville, MN 651-486-9453 https://wrcmn.org/ Wildwoods – Duluth, MN 218-491-3604 https://wildwoodsrehab.org/ Wild & Free - Garrison, MN 320-692-4180 http://wildandfree.org/contact-us/ The Raptor Center – St. Paul, MN 612-624-4745 https://www.raptor.umn.edu/ Each year the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, and Bird Studies Canada host the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) in February! This year it is their 22nd annual count and held Friday, February 15 – Monday, February 18, 2019. This bird count is for anyone from beginners to expert bird watchers and folks can participate by counting the birds in their backyard, a local park, or even anywhere in the world. The birds counted, or checklists collected, help to create a real-time snapshot of the world showing where different species and the amount of birds of each species are this time of year. Each checklist helps to collect more information about birds, so we can learn about how they are doing and how we can help protect them and the environment. What: Great Backyard Bird Count Who: Anyone can participate! Beginners or expert bird watchers of all ages Where: Your own backyard! Or really, anywhere in the world When: Friday, February 15 – Monday, February 18, 2019 (annually in February) Why: To learn more about birds and how to protect them and the environment How: Count birds for a minimum of 15 minutes at a time (or more if you wish) on one or more days of the four-day event. You can watch as long as you want, as many times as you want, and in as many places as you want. Then report your sightings online at www.birdcount.org. It’s that easy! Click here for the Great Backyard Bird Count Instructions The GBBC is an easy and fun way to participate in a citizen science project that will help the birds you love to watch. Get your field guides and binoculars ready and watch some birds! Don’t worry if you don’t know every bird, use your field guide and the GBBC website as a resource. Consider introducing someone new to the outdoors, they're never too young to start! And don’t forget to print out your Participation Certificate when you’re finished! For more information about the count, how to participate, and bird ID help, check out the GBBC Tool Kit by clicking here.
Also try out the Merlin Bird App by Cornell Lab of Ornithology to help with bird ID (a great app to always have with you!) Happy Birding and thanks for participating to help the birds you love! Are you wanting to attract birds to your yard this winter and not sure where to start? Or do you already have a few feeders but would like to add some more variety? The Cornell Lab of Ornithology along with Bird Studies Canada have put together a fun, interactive web page where you can find out which foods and feeders different birds prefer. How it works Click here to bring you to their web page. You can either select the various options on the left (winter region, food type, and feeder type) and the birds that prefer those foods and feeders will appear on the right. Or, if you are interested in learning about a specific species, click on their picture and it will tell you the bird’s winter region along with its food and feeder preferences. It’s a pretty easy page to navigate that is full of birdy information. Use it to find out which birds you may attract with your current food and feeders, or find new ways to attract that illusive bird you’ve been wanting to visit your backyard. It’s amazing how quickly birds can show up once you start offering a new food or get a new type of feeder!
I thought this was an interesting and helpful page and hope you will, too! Happy Birding! These past few months I have been working at Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo in Byron, Minnesota. Over the summer I have been helping to monitor two American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) nest boxes that were put up at the park earlier this spring. The boxes were provided by the Zumbro Valley Audubon Society as a conservation project to celebrate the Year of the Bird. The National Audubon Society, National Geographic, BirdLife International, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have come together in a yearlong celebration of birds, called the Year of the Bird. Joel Dunnette, the President of the Zumbro Valley Audubon, spearheaded the effort to install Kestrel nesting boxes throughout Olmsted county. A collaboration of volunteers, naturalists, and a falconer came together to build, install, and monitor 11 new nest boxes throughout the county. Boxes were put up at Oxbow Park, Chester Woods Park, Root River Park, Quarry Hill Park and other public and private lands throughout the county. The boxes were put up early this spring in areas with suitable Kestrel habitat. They were monitored about once a week throughout the nesting season to see if any Kestrels had utilized the boxes. When the boxes were checked, data like the number of Kestrels, number of eggs, number of adults and chicks, and if any other species was nesting in the box was collected then entered into a database on The Peregrine Fund website. There they collect data from all over the country to help learn more about Kestrels. The American Kestrel Partnership was started in 2012 because of the decline in the Kestrel population. Since the 1960s, their population has had an average declined of 50% across the continent due to unknown causes. The Partnership is a network of professional and citizen scientists who are trying to learn more about Kestrel demographics and help in the conservation of their species. At Oxbow, we did not have any Kestrel use our boxes this year, which isn’t uncommon since this is the first year they were up. Although we did not have any Kestrels, we did have a few successful clutches of Eastern Bluebirds! Even though Oxbow did not have any Kestrel chicks this year, there were two boxes in the county that were successful! A total of eight Kestrel chicks were raised and able to be banded before they left the nest. Next year we are hoping for more even successful nest boxes! Whether we have more chicks or not, the data collected from each box is helping us to better understand Kestrels and help their species in the long run. It was a fun experience to help in the monitoring of the boxes this year and I hope we will have more chicks next year! Learn more about building, installing, and monitoring Kestrel Nest Boxes by visiting the American Kestrel Partnership page but clicking here.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Kestrel Nest Box project in Olmsted County and to Joel Dunnette for more information about the project! Last summer while working in Montana I volunteered for the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (MT FWP) doing Chimney Swift Surveys. Before this, I hadn’t seen (or at least known that I’d seen) a Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) before and had no clue about their nightly ritual. For the survey I was looking for Chimney Swifts around the town of Glendive, Montana to see if there were any in the area or not since the MT FWP didn’t have any documentation of them in the area. I surveyed three locations in town that had large chimneys and watched for a half an hour before until a half an hour after sunset. All I had to do was watch and count how many Swifts I saw flying overhead and record the most I saw at a given time, then record if there were any that entered the chimney. The good news is, I saw Swifts at each location and was able to confirm a population in Glendive! Shortly after doing the surveys, I saw an article in the Red Wing newspaper about the Audubon Society awarding my church, St. John’s Lutheran, an award for not capping the chimney and providing suitable habitat for Swifts! I had gone all the way to Montana to see a Swift when there was a colony right at home! Once I was back in Minnesota at the end of the summer, my parents and I went to the church in the evening to see if we could spot and Swifts. I was getting a little late in the year since they migrate to South America in the fall, but we counted 32 that went into the chimney! Fast forward to this year, we planned a little better and went in mid-August, so we would have a better chance of seeing more. This time we counted 167 going into the chimney! As you can see and hear, counting them can be a challenge at times! You can ignore our commentary :) If you haven’t watched Chimney Swifts before, you might be wondering, “What’s the big deal with these little birds?!” (I’m looking at you, Uncle Brad!) Chimney Swifts arrive in Minnesota in April and will stay around until August or September. They are small birds, that are often called “flying cigars” because of their body shape. They have rapid wingbeats and make a chittering sound, making them often confused with bats. Chimney Swifts are unable to perch on tree branches or the ground, but can hold onto vertical surfaces like brick walls (chimneys) or inside hollow trees. Since they can only hold onto vertical surfaces they make their nests inside chimneys, in tree cavities, or on walls of buildings. They spend most of their lives flying, only resting during nesting and at night. They gather twigs for nests by grabbing onto and breaking them off the tree in mid-flight, then bringing it to the chimney and “cementing” it to the wall with their glue-like saliva. Chimney Swifts spend their days flying and eating flying insects such as mosquitoes, flies, bees, wasps, mayflies, and the like. Nightly, around sunset, groups of Chimney Swifts will begin to gather as they head to their roosting site. They will begin flying around their site as a cloud of Swifts, at times circling the chimney then flying off and returning again to circle more. Often times, you will hear their chittering call before you see them. In August and September large groups of Swifts gather together as they prepare for migration and groups of hundreds or thousands can be seen swarming and entering chimneys! This circling/swarming display usually begins about half an hour before sunset and will end with the Swifts entering the chimney shortly after sunset. It is a fun spectacle to watch! They will fly around and swarm then one or two will do a little flutter and drop into the chimney. A few more circles, and a couple more will drop in, followed by more and more until eventually all the Swifts have gone in for the night. At times it will just be one or two here and there, while others, a stream of Swifts resulting in a Swift tornado will dive into the chimney, making it hard to count! This past week, I participated in a “Swift Sit” with the Zumbro Valley Audubon in Rochester, Minnesota at Kellogg Middle School. We counted around 700 Swifts swarming and tornadoing into the chimney for the night! The most I had seen at once! Watching Chimney Swifts during their nightly ritual is an easy and fun thing to do!
Visit the Chimney Swift Conservation Association website for more information about Chimney Swifts. Known Chimney Swift roosts in the area: Red Wing, Minnesota St. John’s Lutheran Church - 421 East Ave, Red Wing, MN 55066, Map Jefferson School - 601 Buchanan St, Red Wing, MN 55066, Map Frontenac, Minnesota Villa Maria - Florence Township, Map Hastings, Minnesota City Hall - 101 4th St E, Hastings, MN 55033, Map Rochester, Minnesota Kellogg Middle School - 503 17th St NE, Rochester, MN 55906, Map John Marshall High School - 0244, 1510 14th St NW, Rochester, MN 55901, Map I'm sure there are more, but these are just a few that I know of. |
Blog Updates:
If you would like to receive a notification when there is a new post, please fill out the contact form under the "Get in Touch" page. About MeHi, my name is Megan. I love spending time out in nature and learning everything I can about it! Enjoy my blog and want to support my writing? Buy me a tea! Click the button below - Thank you!
Categories
All
Archives
June 2023
|