We’ve had a lot of wonderful avian visitors to our yard this spring. Dave set up a new feeding station since we suspect that our old one was knocked down by a bear and it’s been quite a hit. There are also now two bluebird boxes in the field so this year we have an Eastern Bluebird pair! Many of our yearly visitors have returned, including the Chipping Sparrows, Gray Catbird pair, American Robin pair, Rose-breasted Grosbeak pair, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Broad-winged Hawk, and the Red-eyed Vireo. Our Northern Cardinal and Pileated Woodpecker pairs have also been making frequent appearances.
Gray Catbird (Image by Michelle Horowitz)Gray Catbird (Image by Michelle Horowitz)Pileated Woodpecker male (Image by David Horowitz)Pileated Woodpecker male (Image by David Horowitz)Yellow-bellied Sapsucker breeding male (Image by David Horowitz)Chipping Sparrow (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
What kind of birds have been visiting your yard/area this spring? Let me know in the comments!
At the beginning of April, Dave and I traveled to New Hampshire and Massachusetts. We are moving to New Hampshire in June due to Dave’s new job, so our primary purpose of the trip was to find an apartment. But you know us! Can’t travel anywhere without birding :-).
Mine Falls Park, Nashua, NH
Mine Falls Park is a 325-acre urban park located along the Nashua River. Mine Falls Park offers over 9 miles of trails and is part of the New Hampshire Heritage Trail System. Habitats include forest, fields, and wetlands. We explored the only side of the park by walking down the Nashua Power Canal towards Oxbow Lake. We observed 24 birds species and a muskrat. I definitely plan on making Mine Falls Park one of my regular birding spots once we move.
Highlights:
Pileated Woopeckers: We observed 2 Pileated Woodpeckers within the first 10 minutes of being in New Hampshire. (Pileateds are one of my favorite birds, so I knew 2 right away were a good sign lol)
Other woodpeckers: Hairy, Downy, Red-bellied
Large flock of Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds
Pileated Woodpecker female (Image by BirdNation)
Hairy Woodpecker (Image by BirdNation)
Greeley Park, Nashua, NH
Greeley Park is more of a recreational park than it is a birding park. There are trails as well as large stands of pine trees. We observed 11 species during our walk.
Highlights
Quiet! It’s not often I stand in a park that’s next to a neighborhood in the middle of a city and hear…silence. Come to think of it, I don’t think I can go anywhere in New Jersey and just hear silence (as in just nature sounds without man-made ones). NH is definitely not NJ. I can get used to less noise!
White-breasted Nuthatches and Black-capped Chickadees
Hampton Beach State Park, Hampton, NH
Hampton Beach SP is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Hampton Harbor Inlet. We spent some time sea watching by the inlet.
Highlights:
Horned Larks. There was a flock of about 10. We’ve only seen one Horned Lark so far; a juvenile at Laurel Run Park in Delran, NJ. It was a great surprise to see adults.
Common Loons and Common Eiders
Eastern Mud Snails
Red Wing Farm Reservation, Chelmsford, MA
Red Wing Farm is a small park comprised of meadow and forest habitat. This park connects with the 25-mile Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.
Highlights:
Bald Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk
Spring Peepers along the rail trail
Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Sudbury Unit and Concord Unit, MA
Great Meadows is 3,800 acres and runs along the Concord and Sudbury Rivers. We briefly visited both the Sudbury and Concord units and observed a variety of spring migrants.
Highlights
Lots of spring sounds: Spring Peepers and other frogs, Eastern Phoebes, Red-winged Blackbirds, Black-capped Chickadees, and others
A muskrat and turtles
Painted Turtle (Image by BirdNation)
Singing Red-winged Blackbird male (Image by BirdNation)
Today is our last Woodpecker Wednesday for the autumn season. I can’t believe winter is officially only one week away! A weekly dedication to woodpeckers was really enjoyable for me to write, but I’m also looking forward to the return of Waterfowl Wednesday. Speaking of waterfowl, on Sunday Dave and I added 4 species of waterfowl to our life list at Long Beach Island. I can’t wait to tell you all about it (post will be coming soon about that).
On November 14, 2015 I achieved one of my birding dreams: to see a Pileated Woodpecker. (It was one of my best birding moments so far, and you can read about it here at Pileated Dreams). My fascination with Pileated Woodpeckers started long before I ever saw one, and has only increased over time as I eagerly await the moment I find another one. Here are some interesting facts about this awe-inspiring bird.
The Pileated Woodpecker is the 6th largest woodpecker in the world, and the largest in North America. It’s about the size of a crow, but despite being so big it’s more often heard than seen.
Pileated in Flight (Image by NatureMan via birdsandblooms)
Like the Northern Flicker, Pileateds primarily eat ants. Their diet also consists of a variety of insects, nuts, and fruit. They occasionally eat at suet feeders. (Quick side note: if you watch Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s online Feeder Cam, you can sometimes see a Pileated show up at their suet feeder. It’s quite a sight!)
They are known for making large, rectangular cavities in dead trees. Pileateds depend on a variety of habitats, but mostly mature deciduous or coniferous forests. Cavities can be deep and up to a foot long. They use the tunnels within the cavity of catch beetle larvae with their long tongues. To hammer, Pileateds pull their necks back far from the tree and pull on the trunk with their feet to make a heavy blow.
Pileated cavity at Rancocas Nature Center, NJ (Image by BirdNation)
Pileateds are pretty distinctive, so they are not usually confused with other species. Sometimes they are confused with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. Ivory-billed Woodpeckers are larger than Pileateds, and although also jet black, have large white wing patches on the outer wing. Pileateds have large white patches under their wings. The both have bright red crests, but the Pileated has malar stripes. It’s unknown if the Ivory-billed is extinct at the moment, so it’s more than likely that you’re seeing a Pileated.
How can you tell the difference between a male and female? The male’s red crest extends down to his upper mandible, while the female’s forehead is a dusky grayish-brown. The male’s malar stripes are red and the female’s stripes are black.
They hold large territories; spanning as far as one mile or more for a single pair. Pairs are usually monogamous and mate for life. They defend their territory throughout the year. Defense strategies include raising their crest, drumming, calling, and displaying the white patch under their wings.
I hope you enjoyed Woodpecker Wednesday! What’s your favorite North American woodpecker? Tell me about it in the comments! The Pileated is mine (obviously! :-P)
Do you have a dream bird? A bird that you’ve always wanted to see? For a while my dream bird was the Pileated Woodpecker.
Pileated Woodpecker (Image by Joshlaymon via Wikipedia)
Pileated Woodpeckers are the largest woodpecker in North America. It has a distinct red crest, is black, and has white stripes going down it’s neck. Heard of the character “Woody the woodpecker”? He’s a Pileated. They’re about the size of a crow. The first time I saw a picture of it I was in awe. A woodpecker the size of a crow? I’ve never heard of such a thing, but once I did I was hooked. I wanted to experience one in person. You can find these birds in New Jersey, but they don’t tend to frequent my neck of the woods much. Dave and I are planning on visiting the Cornell Lab of Ornithology (my dream place) in the spring, and I would always tell him, “I can’t wait to go to the Lab! I hope we are lucky and see a Pileated Woodpecker while we’re there.” I had a mission, but thought that it would be awhile before I fulfilled it.
Dave and I were at Boundary Creek in November watching a Red-Tailed Hawk soar over the creek. A fellow birder joined us to observe the hawk. She asked, “Have you ever been to Rancocas Nature Center?”. I have multiple times, and she continued ” I heard that people are reporting Red-Headed and Pileated Woodpeckers there.” At that moment I perked up. I knew I had to go to the Nature Center as soon as possible.
The following weekend I went with my mom and sister to the Rancocas Nature Center. Rancocas Nature Center is a 210-acre section of the larger Rancocas State Park (total size is 1,252 acres). There are numerous habitats represented at Rancocas, include forest, wetlands, and meadows. Our goal: to spot a Pileated. Our chances were actually pretty slim, because the woodpecker could have been anywhere in the State Forest. But we felt it was worth a try.
We decided to walk on the Blue Trail, which loops around the center through the forest. We saw American Robins, Carolina Chickadees, White-breasted Nutchatches, heard some smaller woodpeckers…but not much else. About 3/4 of the way through our walk it seemed like it wasn’t going to happen.
Here’s the thing I love about birding: you never know what you’ll see. Sometimes you can go seeking a specific bird and find it, but sometimes you won’t. I was aware that there was a good chance we wouldn’t see it but figured if we didn’t at least we got a nice walk out of it. We were carefully again checking as many holes in trees as we could. Then we saw sometimes interesting.
It was a big hole. I’ve never seen one so big and for some reason I thought it looked fresh. Woodpecker holes are pretty obvious, but they don’t usually look that big where I go. “Don’t you think that hole looks kind of big to be a smaller woodpecker?” I asked. “Do you think it could be?…”
And lo and behold, there it was in all it’s glory. A magnificent Pileated Woodpecker. It was just as beautiful as I imagined it would be. The Pileated was on the other side of the tree, busily pecking another hole.
Pileated Woodpecker (sorry for the quality, I only had my iPhone on me!)
It was fascinating how it moved. It was so focused on its task and drummed evenly. Four taps, three taps, six taps. The rhythm of its drumming was so steady. Every few drums it would move side to side, as if observing its work of art and deciding where to put the next stroke.
I was so overjoyed, I wanted to jump up and down and cheer. But of course, I didn’t want to scare it by being loud, so I kept my cool but I was celebrating inside. It noticed we were there (you know how loud it is in fall when you’re stepping on hundreds of leaves) but didn’t seem to mind us, even when we moved slightly closer (don’t worry, we still kept a pretty good distance away). I felt so lucky that it let us experience it for at least 15 minutes and show us a little bit of its world. Once it felt its hole looked go enough for the moment it climbed in.
I was on a high the rest of the day. One of my birding dreams finally came true! I felt honored to be in the presence of this fascinating bird. I thought I would have to travel somewhere else to see one, but was able to see it in my own area.
I still get excited every time I think of that Pileated. It’s one of my favorite birding moments so far (and you know I have a lot of favorites!). I still want to see other Pileateds, but have a lot more dream birds to see. Dreams really can come true :-). What’s your dream bird?
Shout out to Celebrate Silence, who asked their readers to share one of their favorite Moments in Time.
BirdNation 