Killdeer

On a recent drive through Goose Pond, we started pulling into a parking area and noticed this killdeer refusing to move even when faced with the giant blue truck.  I got out to see what was going on and she flew off a short distance and began this display - pretending to be injured to draw us away from... the gravel? 

Seriously - there was no nest on the ground and I couldn't figure out  why she would even consider a nest on the gravel and why she was luring me away from .... rocks? 

So I looked a little closer and found this single egg almost at my feet.  That's a blade of dried grass on the right of it.   It was maybe an inch long.  Just the one. 

They generally lay clutches of 4-6 eggs.  We left her in peace and I wish her luck.  That's not an easy place to raise a family.

Bald Eagle

Not a great pic, but you can see that white head.  This guy was flying the thermals over our area last week and I happened to have the camera when we noticed him.  It looked like he was headed toward the wetlands southwest of us.

They've come back here since the restoration of Goose Pond NWR began and I once saw one flying over the Wabash River up north.   I never thought I'd see one flying over this place though. 

Lucky day.

Owl

There is a small section of woods at our property boundary where we hear owls quite frequently and where last fall we even watched one for a while.


Last week we saw what we thought was a large owl or maybe a hawk fly down this draw and alight on a branch in the dead center of this photo.   I snapped the pics [no telephoto...] and couldn't wait to get them home to blow them up to see what this bird was.

Indeed it was a large owl.   This is a barred owl, staring straight at us.  

Owls are a very different type of bird to watch.   Other birds may be still, but they are very active in their presence.    If you know what I mean.   Owls are .....very still. 

And when they get going, they are very noisy.   Barred owls' typical call is 'Who cooks for youuuu?  Who cooks for youu-alll?'   But they can also sound like monkeys hooting and calling.  Seriously.   It's weird and creepy in the dark. 

Lily and I heard a couple of these guys calling each other in this thicket last fall at dusk and it'd make your hair stand on end.

Like coyotes, only ghostlier. 

Cornell Lab of Ornithology [allaboutbirds.org] has some recordings:  Here. Go to the Sound tab in the bottom section.

We also get other owls, like these adorable little eastern screech-owls [which don't really screech, they tremolo and whinny].    And the occasional great horned owl.  We also might get barn owls, but they hiss, so the call is difficult to hear over the other night sounds like cicadas and crickets.   It's noisy here at night.

Red Tailed Hawk Teenager

Teenagers do the most unpredictable and risky things.

Take this red tailed hawk for instance. 

It created quite a ruckus when Tibby discovered it and they were found hopping and leaping around, facing off over by the chicken coop.

Here's a pic so you can get a sense of its size.   The chicken coop is just to the right of the pic.

It was down on the ground, wings out, trying to look as big as possible waving her wings high, on its tiptoes. It and Tibby were doing an elaborate dance.  

We called Tibby off and it relaxed.   A bit.

We got the camera and the bird book and I got as close as I dared with out totally freaking it out and getting attacked.   I figured hawk claws were not something I wanted in contact with my actual flesh. 

The tail was not quite red yet, but the rest of it sure looks like a juvenile red tailed.   

When I was done, we backed off and went into the house and watched through a window.   A little while later, it took off - slowly and inexpertly, floundering in the air a bit - and then it hung out in a tree not far away for a couple of hours.  




It acted like it might have been a bit hurt and we were really surprised when we called Tibby off and it didn't immediately fly off.  We're assuming it tried to get one of the chickens or ducks and missed, or got tangled in the thorny locust tree next to the coop, or something.   Hopefully that knocked some sense into it and it'll stick with rabbits and mice from now on.

Dogwood Pest

I noticed this damage on a dogwood from my studio window.   From the distance, I thought it was deer damage - just a bit too high for rabbit damage.  

When I got closer, I found these:

And this.

And this.

It looks like bird damage.   All at 3 feet high and under.

Weird.   

OK all you bird folks - what do you think did this?   Sapsucker?