Red-bellied Woodpecker

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Melanerpes carolinus

This is a medium sized woodpecker but the largest winter woodpecker that is a feeder visitor at Protection Farm. In fact the only larger woodpecker in the area is the Pileated which does not visit the feeder to my knowledge. This may be due to the fact that the Pileated prefer insects such as carpenter ants to seeds and nuts, although they eat seeds and nuts. The Pileated's are here year round, and I expect that there are still plenty of big old trees that have caches of living Carpenter Ants.

I am not sure if we have more than one individual Red-bellied here, but I am thinking that there may be just the this one photographed one visiting the feeders. This one is a male. Males have a complete red cap, females red nape only.

this is a female that I photographed two years ago.

This bird has played hard to get with me. It may be the same bird, but all of last winter and up until the last few days, this bird has played very coy. It likes to hide behind the tree limb that I have hung the feeder on. If I am outside, it flies immediately away.  It knows when I am inside the window and watches me with jerking, head around the corner moves.

 I have not been able to be near it when I am outside and so my outdoor observations are few.  It doesn’t seem to mind the other birds and share the suet feeders with both the Hairy and Downy woodpeckers, and the Chickadees and Nuthatches in what seems to be a very amicable way. They don’t seem to get a long with the Blue-jays and the Red Squirrels, but who does?

Occasionally it will get comfortable and hop onto the suet feeder. The best part of this is that I have been able to get underbelly shots of the bird, showing its red belly patch. I have been told by other birders that it is rare to get a glimpse of this patch.

Just this past week it has begun really exposing itself to me.  Both the Red-bellied and the Hairy have been hopping around on the tree limb, I supposed because they are used to seeing me and feel safer now. Both come into the feeder, land on the very top of the limb perch, and crawl down to the feeder and find a way to get at it. They also prefer to leave the feeder station by climbing to the top of the perch and flying away from that position. This has allowed me to get some great shots of both birds. I had not been able in three years to get a good shot at the back pattern of the Red-belly. Now I have and from tip to toe, front and back, this is a spectacular looking bird.  Now maybe I can get to know more about its social patterns.

They breed in deciduous forests of the Eastern U.S. as far south as Florida and the Gulf Coast. They have extended their range to Southern Canada and the Northeastern U.S and can now be found in the Dakotas and Montana, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.

It is tempting to call these woodpeckers “Red-headed” but they are not. Note the belly patch.

Red-bellies are omnivores, eating insects, nuts, fruit, and seeds.

Their prime habitat is deciduous forests and they nest in decayed cavities.

According to the Cornell All About Birds Life History page:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-bellied_Woodpecker/id

-You may occasionally see a Red-bellied Woodpecker flying quickly and erratically through the forest, abruptly changing direction, alighting for an instant and immediately taking off again, keeping up a quick chatter of calls. Scientists categorize this odd behavior as a type of play that probably helps young birds practice the evasive action they may one day need.

-A Red-bellied Woodpecker can stick out its tongue nearly 2 inches past the end of its beak. The tip is barbed and the bird’s spit is sticky, making it easier to snatch prey from deep crevices. Males have longer, wider-tipped tongues than females, possibly allowing a breeding pair to forage in slightly different places on their territory and maximize their use of available food.

-The oldest known Red-bellied Woodpecker was 12 years 1 month old.

Calls and Sound: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-bellied_Woodpecker/sounds

February 6, 2011 
Update

Today a female appeared at the feeders. She was a little shy but I got a couple of photos of her.

Winter Woodpeckers at Protection Farm

We have three Woodpecker species at Protection Farm during the winter months that regularly visit the feeding stations. 

 Hairy Woodpecker  Piocedes villosus

This is the larger of the two "twin" Woodpeckers, the Hairy and the Downy

Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens

Noticebly smaller, you can easily compare these two feeding here on the same suet feeder

  Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus

The Pileated Woodpecker (Drycopus pileatus) is unusual to see during the winter and slightly more common in the summer and fall. They are certainly here but they do not visit the feeders where we observe most of our winter birds. I have seen the Pileated at least twice this month, flying over the meadow but the intense cold and constant snow has kept me inside more than I would like. In the summer they are still difficult to see, but you can hear them frequently. They keep their distance. I know of a nesting hole about a mile from the farm across the marsh. Several years ago when we lived in Java NY at Hobbit Hollow we had a family nest just outside of our house. We spent an entire season closley observing mom and dad and two young. They were an extremely tight knit family.  I had, but long ago lost, a really neat photo of the four of them on a Norway Spruce trunk at about eye level.   Pileated have a territory of about 1 mile in which they are fairly protective. I occasionally see individuals coming over Protection Farm from the east and the west, and I assume that this farm is in a disputed territorial area.

Northern Flickers are also common here in the warmer months.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodpecker

Woodpecker Order is Picaformes and the family is Picidae. Picidae are known as or “near passerines” which is the way ornithologists describe birds that basically hang out in and around trees. Woodpeckers are highly adapted to search for food and nest in trees.

There are about 200 species of Woodpecker worldwide. There are 54 species listed by the American Ornithological Union in its checklist area which covers North and Central America from the North Pole to the boundary of Panama and Colombia, including the adjacent islands under the jurisdiction of included nations; the Hawaiian Islands; Clipperton Island; Bermuda; the West Indies including the Bahama Islands; the Greater Antilles; Leeward and Windward Islands in the Lesser Antilles (ending with Grenada); and Swan, Providencia, and San Andres Islands in the Gulf of Mexico. Greenland is not currently included in the AOU (7th Edition)  

The National Geographic Society Field Guide to north American birds 2^nd Edition includes 22 species, and the Buffalo Ornithological Society Seasonal Checklist of birds list 7 species of Woodpeckers. You can download the BOS Checklist here:

http://www.buffaloornithologicalsociety.org/publications

I will post about our Protection Farm Woodpeckers in upcoming blogs.

A Jar of Nuthatches

White-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

The collective term for nuthatches is “jar”.  As in a jar of honey.  Don’t know the origin of the term, will investigate.

At Protection Farm we have two species of Nuthatch- The Red-breasted (Sitta candensis) and the White-breasted (Sitta carolinensis)

-From Wikipedia: The Nuthatches are a genus, Sitta, of small passerine birds belonging to the family Sittadae. Characterized by large heads, short tails, and powerful bills and feet, nuthatches advertise their territory using loud, simple songs.”

-The name Nuthatch refers to the birds propensity of wedging an insect or seed in a crack and then going at it with the beak. There are 24 species currently recognized world wide with about 15 occurring in southern Asia. North America has 4 species

-The Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusillia) (southeast USA)

-Pygmy Nuthatch (Sitta pygmaea) Western North America from British Columbia to Mexico

-Red-breasted (Western and temperate North America)

-White-breasted (from southern Canada to Mexico)

There are nine subspecies of the White-breasted including two found in Mexico: S c mexicana found in Western Mexico, and S c kinneari, found in Guerrero and Oaxaca

Both the White Breasted and the Red-breasted Nuthatch occur year round at Protection Farm. The White-breasted nest and breed here for certain, the Red-breasted are migratory and subject to seasonal irruption.

Male

White-breasted Nuthatch  

Sitta carolinensis

http://www.wbu.com/chipperwoods/photos/wbnut.htm

Cornell, All About Birds: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-breasted_Nuthatch/id

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-breasted_Nuthatch

The White-breasted Nuthatch is a common year round resident at Protection Farm.

This small bird is the largest of North America’s nuthatches. It is non-migratory and seems to be paired with a mate year round.  It can be very friendly and is extremely vocal. Its nasal yanking call is very familiar in every season around the woods and feeders. It is especially noticeable in winter as one of the few resident species of birds. Jajean calls these birds “Squeak-toys” because of both the call and the song.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-breasted_Nuthatch/sounds

White-breasted Nuthatches are active members of foraging flocks of chickadees, especially in wintertime. The flock behavior makes it easier for them to watch out for predators. They eat nuts and seeds in the winter, which makes them familiar winter feeder birds.  In the summer they eat insects and larvae as well as seeds. They favor mature deciduous woodland.

Feeding behavior includes creeping up and down on tree trunks, and hanging upside down. They probe natural furrows and crevices for food.  They do not use their tail feathers to lean on as woodpeckers do. These birds have evolved enlarged hind-toes to enable this behavior.

Male walking below Downy Woodpecker on Suet Feeder

Male, note the shiny black cap

Female-blue gray cap

Enlarged hind toe for easier creeping and clasping

The adult male has a shiny black crown and forehead. Its black eyes stand out against the white face. Its back is bluish-gray, its underbelly and undertail white and chestnut.  The female and young birds are generally paler with a lead gray crown and forehead. the beak is slender, powerful, and sometimes slightly upturned.

female resting in pin cherry as male feeds

Male

Note the Chestnut colored under tail feathers

Courting takes place in late January.  According to Stokes, paired birds hang around together all year long and establish some independence starting in late autumn. By late January they begin to reestablish closeness and by early spring they are in “complete synchrony.”  It is this late January time when you will notice that the male and female stay within 50 or so feet of each other. During this time the male will begin singing its song from the tops of the trees in early morning.

I noticed this singing this morning just at dawn.  We had an unusual dawn today. It was a brilliant sunlit dawn and the temperatures were astoundingly cold. In nearby Franklinville, a mere 10 miles from Protection Farm, the temperatures hit -24 degrees F at 7am.  Here it was -15. This was the coldest temperature in several years. And yet at dawn, I could hear a Nuthatch singing from the tree-tops. Theoretically the female will then come to the male and they will then go off and feed together.   Also according to Stokes, one of the most prominent features of courtship is called “mate-feeding.”  The male will get excited and find food and bring it to the female.

“Usually the female receives food with little or no display, but he males behavior may vary. He may run along a branch in a straight line to the female rather than the usual zig-zagging. Sometimes the food in the male’s beak is not accepted by the female and he will hide it in a crevice for later retrieval. Mate feeding increases in frequency as breeding, nest building, and hatching approach. Once the young hatch, this activity stops.”

Nest building and breeding take place in late March, April, and May.  By late July the young have fledged and the adults return to more solitary behavior. Nests are typically built in natural tree cavities or abandoned woodpecker holes. Although populations remain fairly steady, habitat loss such as the removal of natural cavity structures is a threat. A single brood of between 5-9 is raised during the breeding season. The eggs are incubated for about 2 weeks.

Today, as the temperatures slowly rose into the 20’s there were at least three pairs of Nuthatches feeding.  It was rare that more than one appeared on the suet, which is their favorite, at one time. Usually one would come in and feed and the other would wait just off in the nearby pin cherry trees.  Occassionally a male would linger longer at the suet, and just sit there not feeding. The female would sit patiently for a while, but occasionally would fly in and make a bit of a racket chasing the male away.  Occasionally two females would come to the feeding station at the same time. They would not feed adjacent to each other, but rather one would be at the suet, and one would be at one of the regular feeders.

Red Breasted Nuthatch 
Sitta canadensis

This bird, common during the winter at Protection Farm is a migrant.  It can breed in this area.  Irruptions from the north including boreal areas occur seasonally due to conditions including availability of food. Not all populations migrate.  According to Cornell some populations move south in great numbers in years when cone production is poor in their breeding grounds. This happens in approximately 2 year cycles. Some years these birds show up as far south as the Gulf Coast. It can winter through out most of the continental us (not Alaska).  It also breeds in the Rockies, south to the Mexican border and along the Pacific Coast. They were once resident on the Mexican Isla Guadalupe, on the Pacific Coast but have been extirpated since 1971. Occasional vagrants have been recorded in the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Neuvo Leon.

These birds begin migration relatively early, sometimes in early July.

Cornell: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-breasted_Nuthatch/id?gclid=CIGr25nF1aYCFQRvbAodfC4sIw

They nest in trees, sometimes high in trees, sometimes only about 15 feet above the ground. They use resin around the entrance of the nest hole and on the inside. They may use their beaks or a piece of bark as an applicator. The resin keeps predators away. The Nuthatch avoids the resin by diving directly through the entrance hole.

Their call and song is very similar to the White-breasted Nuthatch.  The call can be slightly more nasal, and the song can reach more of trill. Some say that the pitch is slightly higher than the White-breasted.

Sound: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-breasted_Nuthatch/sounds

Red-breasted Nuthatches are smaller than the White-breasted. They have a distinct cap stripe and a black eye stripe. It is the only North American nuthatch with an eyestripe. Both sexes have dark gray backs and wings, and reddish underparts. The female has slightly paler underparts.

The male cap is starkly black and the female’s is slightly gray and offers little contrast to the back gray. 

I have not noticed that these birds appear in pairs in the winter. Each bird seems to be solitary. They may begin to pair in March. Eggs are laid in April and May.

Food seems to be the same as the White-breasted. Nuts and insects. They are fond of conifer seeds.

http://www.birdsbybent.com/ch81-90/rbnuthatch.html

Both Nuthatches tend to flock with Chickadees and other winter flock birds including Titmice, Junco's, and White-throats. 

This was my very first photo of a Nuthatch, taken in 2009

Blue Jay

Cyanocitta cristata 

My earliest inclination to pay attention to Blue-Jays, probably had something to do with the fact that both the birds and myself were referred to as “Jay”.  My earliest instincts toward curiosity were immensely stimulated.  This probably started within a few days or weeks of my birth. My family had an place on Newfound Lake in NH and we spent an enormous amount of time there until I was much older. As I near my 60^th birthday, this lifelong relationship with this species, continues unabated. 

Jays, like over half of all bird species, are passerine.  Passerines are sometimes referred to as “perching birds” or “songbirds”. They form one of the most diverse vertebrate orders.  For example, they have twice as many species as the largest mammal order, Rodentia. Blue Jays are of the family Corvidae, also referred to as the “crow family”. Other members of this family include crows, ravens, magpies, and nutcrackers. 

The Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) is part of group known as “American Jays” or “New World Jay’s”. American Jays include a variety of scrub jays and magpies, including Stellar’s Jay (Cyanocitta stelleri):  the Florida Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens); the Pinyon Jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus); the White-throated Magpie-Jay, (Calocitta Formosa); and the Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia).

Corvids are very intelligent birds. This is true of the Blue Jay. They display complex emotions, relationships, and behavior that reveal a very sophisticated species.  The have very tight family units.  They have a remarkable language that uses succinct nuanced vocalizations, expansive posturing, and distinct social relationships. The Blue Jay, like other corvids is a very social species. The socialize with their own species, and with other species including humans. The vocalizations alone, well documented, help to characterize these relationships. These birds are characterized for instance by their raucous and sometimes festive gatherings. They are known for  their loud warning calls that alert all about to the presence of predators such as hawks or human hunters.  They are known for their persistent scolding if things are not going the way they think they should be going. They have often expressed pointed opinions toward me about my activities relative to feeder stations, and other activity that they wish to comment on.  Sometimes when I get too near to a more or less avian-specific gathering, or a nest, and often when I am just innocently walking a trail or across a meadow they endeavor to express an opinion. Often they are just letting others know that I am in the territory. Sometimes they alert me to the presence of others.

Hear Blue-Jay vocalizations here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blue_Jay/sounds

What is commonly referred to as the Jays warning call, the loud “Jay, Jay, Jay” is a distinctive and important vocalization.  Jays will use this call when they are engaged in mobbing of a crow, or bird of prey. Crows, in the same bird family will use these calls for the same purpose.  I have often noted that they will also use it when passing above a creature including deer, fox, and humans, walking in the woods or in the fields. This “marking” behavior plays a role in alerting other animals of the presence of a potential intruder. I know that and when I am out and about, especially in more wilderness areas, I pay attention. I have friends that swear that Blue Jays will find wandering feeral cats and follow them and make this call sound. My grandfather used to tell me that the Jays were marking my presence for other animals. He also taught me that if we listened to the Jays and crows we could find other animals, mobbed hawks or owls, and sometimes deer.

Other Jays songs and calls are very familiar. There is the sound resembling the liquid gurgle of the swinging gate. This is a beautiful and surreal, melodious, and soft.  I am not sure exactly how the bird uses this song but sometimes it there is a response with the same vocalization from other Jays. I think it indicates tenderness and relationships. Perhaps this helps them keep track of each other. They also have a number of other calls and songs, some quite sweet and gentle, some startling and harsh.  Breeding and fledging season bring out a whole new world of vocalizations. 

Jays also like to imitate and mimic other birds. This includes from my personal observation, catbirds, cardinals, and hawks. It’s a close call on the catbird mimic but sometimes it seems like they are actually imitating a real cat. Catbirds themselves are mimicers, so this language gets very complicated. I have spent considerable time talking with Blue-Jays. If I get lucky I can make vocalizations and a Blue-Jay or two will stare listen or at least appear to stare at me curiously. Once in a while they will tilt their heads as if a sound that I made is very interesting.  Occassionally a Jay will talk back to me. Usually this happens when they are about to depart. I have noticed that they will sometimes emit a little gurgle and fly off.  I am not an expert but I like to shout “see ya later”. They are probably saying, “Not if I see you first”.

Blue-Jays are classified as “omnivores” and will eat other animals including mice, frogs, other birds and eggs, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and beetles as well as fruits, seeds, and nuts. They are subject to the predation of hawks, and crows.  Blue Jay eggs and young are especially vulnerable. The Blue Jay has been observed using tools such as sticks to get food. It can live for a relatively long time. Blue Jays studied in the wild have been identified at 17 or more years old. One captive female is reported to have lived 27 years.  Research suggests that the average life span of a Blue Jay is 7 years. Both sexes are capable of mating at one year.

Blue jays are thought to be monogamous with pairs bonding for life. Some of their behavior includes bobbing motions when in courtship and when being aggressive.. It is thought that submission is signaled by fluffing up of feathers, and raising the crest. 

Their range covers much of central and eastern Canada and the United States from the north to Florida and Texas. They are more frequently seen on the northern west coast and have become common in the San Francisco area. Jays can migrate in large flocks  hundreds of miles, depending on conditions such as weather and food supply. They are very adaptable and their habitats are diverse and wide ranging.

It is thought that during the end of the last glacial epoch, about 12,000 years ago in the Niagara Region when the ice was receding, Blue-Jays were primarily responsible for spreading the seeds of the Oak and Beech forests, thus helping the hardwood forest expand as the climate warmed. They have long been a part of our native ecology.

At Protection Farm we see Blue Jays year round.

Depending precisely on seasons and weather conditions, we often see them gathered in noisy flocks of varying sizes.   They roost in woodlands and love pines and other evergreens for cover. They enjoy many habitats for access to food ranging from nuts and seeds to insects and other small animals.

They come to our feeders often commanding the scene with a precise and determined presence that seems to tell the other creatures present that disorder will not be tolerated.

More than once I have observed some sort of terrible squabble going on at the feeders. Have no doubt that when the critters get riled up they can put up an attention-getting ruckus that attracts all sorts of eyes and ears, including predators that are anxious to take advantage.  Sometimes it starts with Red Squirrels complaining and fighting. Chickadees, juncos, and cardinals join the fray.  Nuthatches and woodpeckers will come in and observe.  It all comes to order when the Blue jays, sometimes a pair, sometimes more, come screaming in, take up posts and aggressively challenge the gathered mob to either quiet down or disperse. This almost always works, except when there are crows present. In the pecking order, even solitary crows often seem to be slightly above the Jays.  (of course it is not abnormal to see a flock of jays mobbing a crow)

Their behavior jumps quite to the other extreme when it comes time to cross open territory such as fields and meadows.

This past month of January I have been outside nearly every day. Toward the late afternoon and evening I have observed over our Protection Farm fields, Jays moving in flocks. It seems that they are keenly aware of my presence. Scouts see me, mark me and move on to an appropriate post. The word of my presence travels fast. I am not sure how far it travels.

The sizes of the flocks varies.  Sometimes four or five, sometimes a dozen or more.  When they come to the edge of the fields what already seems like serious business seems to have an organized uptick.

The birds settle.  Scouts appear to check out the crossing. There are vocalizations of “Jaay”,  or “Jay, Jay” that seem to be pointed. There are calls, and often responses.  The voices seem distinct, inflections and nuances are clear, but it is generally this alerting “Jay” call that dominates the air.

It is easy to think that they are signaling their locations to the other Jays. There often seems to be a call and response going on.  And then, suddenly,  one by one they become solitary silent rockets flying low and straight over the open ground crossing from one side cover to another.

There are many individual flocks that are crossing and it is easy to speculate there is a lot of familiarity amongst individuals and the flocks and groups. These probably are family groups, and probably related groups that have been flocking together through the winter, the seasons, and possibly even the years.

There may even be a few trusted scouts and leaders that are recognized by the other birds that are on duty. Maybe they move on and others take there place.  

It appears clear that there is an avian culture that seems to have complex activities and behaviors, can act very disciplined, or outrageously unruly. They appear to act cooperatively with other Blue Jays and Blue Jay groups

Recently at Protection Farm, we had a midwinter warm up.  The great snows of earlier in the winter have all but disappeared with only a few patches of the white stuff lingering in the big plowed piles and in the occasional low spots.  The marsh is flooded like I have never seen it.  This is both due to the melt and to the, I am sure, work of the beavers that built there over the late summer.  It is magnificent.

One day last winter Jonna and i were in the house with the kitchen door open just a little bit (it was almost 50 degrees). We heard a very distinct hawk like call very close by.. And then again.   It sounded like a red tail but how could one be so close? The call shook the house. Would a Red-tail perch on the porch and make the call?  The sound was coming from just outside the kitchen door and we slowly peeked our heads around half-expecting to see one. There on the porch rail instead was a big Blue Jay.  It was puffing its neck feathers, fluffing and erecting its crest and opening wide its beak as it let go a magnificent series of slow   “phzzzzzeeer, phzzzeeeer pzzzzeeeer”  Even as I was watching this Jay make this display, I still wanted to look toward the sky and see if a hawk was circling and assuming the Jay was issuing a warning.

As we looked around the yard from our vantage, there were no other visible birds anywhere around the usually busy feeder.  We guessed the Jay had done a good job of warning its kin and the others usually vulnerable and open at this feeder station.

Then the Jay hopped up to the bird feeder and began hastily feasting on sunflower seeds.

After  a few seconds and still thinking that there must be a Coopers circling somewhere nearby I decided to get a closer look. I moved toward the open door and the Jay saw me. It flew off. In made a beeline for the tree line. It landed visibly in brush just near the pathway leading down to the old cabin.  I went out on the porch to get a closer look.  As I reached the porch, the jay issued forth a loud wet squeaky gate call.  Just one quick call. And then from beneath me, from beneath the cover of the and bushy and old flowers along the now snowless walkway and from under the porch, erupted a whole lot of birds.

Several dozen birds. At least -four cardinals, a bunch of chickadees and juncos and several tree sparrows. They, just seconds before hidden, all scrambled for the safety of the nearby woods.

I continued to search the sky and the tree line for what I still thought might be a hawk. Guess what? No hawk.  I am convinced that the Jay scattered the other birds away from the feeder with its imitating hawk call, and then took advantage of a more peaceful meal. Until that is I cam out to upset its meal plan.

About a half an hour later there are about 50 birds on the front and back feeders, which is a fairly common convocation of the avian population around here.

There are of course ongoing great cultural, scientific, and ornithological arguments as to what all of the activities, sounds, and the socializations mean. It is a beautiful time to be alive as dedicated scientists engage in the discovery of the meanings of these things.  Someday we may have a better understanding of how these precious animals think and why they do what they do.  No only which sounds are warnings, love songs, which sounds relate to finding food, and which are just social chit chats may lead us to a better understanding of how these animals think, and, what they think.  These are all extraordinary possibilities, discoveries as we humans get serious about learning language. Many cultures have long known and practiced listening to nature. It is important that we all realize that animals like the remarkable Blue-jay these talk, and it is high time that more people learn that they talk to us.