While walking the dogs this morning, the Riverway was a riot of birdsong, especially the unfamiliar buzzing and twittering of migratory warblers. Bird watching while dogwalking is not very effective, so we brought the dogs home, and came back out with our binoculars and cameras.


( Read more... )

Warm day today, nearly 80 in the Boston area. On our evening dog walk it had cooled down a bit, and the Riverway was thick with birds. We saw a half dozen catbirds, three groups of Canada geese with goslings, and a few unidentifiable warblers. And then on the way back I heard my favorite bird song. It was right by the path, so we stopped for a while until we could see him. He sang for a few times more, and at the moment when Alexis pulled her camera out, he flew off.

Photos by cottonmanifesto. Location: Jamaica Plain.

Rusty blackbird Euphagus carolinus

It is not shocking that after many years of observing nature in the city, that this was the first and to date only, rusty blackbird I have seen. First of all, blackbirds are not always easy to distinguish from one another, especially the females. And they habitually gather in mixed flocks numbering in the hundreds or even thousands. This lone female would have gone unidentified if not for the dogged pursuit of the Urban Nature Walk photogs, and the bird's fortunate stillness for the camera. It was only after examining the pictures later, and comparing them to identification guides that we recognized her.

Secondly, this is one the more uncommon blackbird species that can be found in the Boston area, and the one with the most particular habitat needs. Rusty blackbirds only nest in forested wetlands, as far north as the treeline in Alaska and northern Canada. They also happen to be the North American songbird with the steepest observed population decline. Why this should be so is a mystery, but it is likely to have many causes. Habitat losses over the recent centuries, as agriculture spread across Alberta and other places, have had the greatest impact. Also, competition from other blackbirds--those that are better adapted for living alongside human changes to the landscape--appears to threaten them as well.

Rusty blackbirds migrate to wet woods in the United States in winter, with Massachusetts marking the northernmost part of their winter range. They feed mainly on aquatic invertebrates, such as insects and insect larvae, but will resort to eating acorn mast and other plant material when pressed. There are reports that rusty blackbirds have even attacked and eaten smaller songbirds.

( another big picture, and links to more information )
On this day in 365 Urban Species: White-winged scoter.

Of the dozen or so urban birds I've encountered in Honolulu, I'm most taken with this one, the zebra dove Geopelia striata. It's as tame as a rock pigeon, but smaller than a robin. They are very attractive, and show a lot of interesting social behavior. They were introduced to Hawaii from Asia in 1922, and are now common throughout the islands.( Read more... )

Lots of cool wildlife to see at Drumlin Farm this week. Here's a smattering of photos, most of which remind me how much I want a better camera.( Read more... )

Yesterday I had to go to work, to put in my mandatory special event time. Since for some reason there isn't much traffic on Sundays, I got there early. That was good, as it gave me a chance to go for a walk on the snow, and then I came across something pretty cool. In the trees overhead was a mixed flock of blackbirds. After I shot this video, I went to go see what they were. There were 30 or 40 male red-winged blackbirds, and a dozen or so starlings. I thought I heard grackles, but I wasn't certain that I could see them. There could have been other kinds of blackbirds--brewer's, bronzed, or rusty, or maybe some brown-headed cowbirds, but I could only make out the redwings and starlings.



This video is for listening. Close your eyes and enjoy. For the birdos, how many species can you pick out?
The woodpecker was on the other side of me, in the deer enclosure. I never saw it.

Photo by cottonmanifesto. Location: Among the mud and Phragmites chaff in the Riverway.

Urban species #357: Song sparrow Melospiza melodia

The song sparrow is a common, but welcome bird throughout North America. It prefers habitat that includes forest edges, mixed vegetation, and water margins, conditions found in many urban areas. Boston's Fens and other wet parks can claim the song sparrow as one of the most abundant species. Along both coasts and through the middle of the continent, the song sparrow is a year-round resident making its presence known in spring and summer through its song, and conspicuous in winter as well. Its song is a short, uncomplicated set of phrases, which almost always includes a trill, reminiscent of the red-winged blackbird (who often shares habitat with it). Though always well camouflaged, song sparrows show a range of patterning that varies according to geography; some ornithologists recognize up to 40 different subspecies! Song sparrows are largely granivorous, eating seeds of many different plants, probably contributing to the spread of both native and invasive species. During the breeding season their diet shifts to include insect and other invertebrate prey. A recent study, conducted near San Francisco, showed that song sparrows choose territory based in great part on the availability of invertebrate prey.

Photos by cottonmanifesto. Location: Olmsted Park.

Urban species #345: Carolina wren Thryothorus ludovicianus

It wasn't until the late 1800's that someone noticed Carolina wrens nesting in New England. Now they're found in southern New England year round, picking through the leaf litter in the shrubby understory of the forests, and in wooded city parks. The Boston area in winter can be a hard place for an animal like the Carolina wren to eat all the insects it needs to survive. Other invertebrate-eating birds like the American robin thrive in northern cities, because of the ornamental trees and shrubs provide copious fruit in winter. The Carolina wren eats vastly more animal than plant food, and so must find larvae, pupae, and sluggish adult insects under the leaves in the bushes, and on the bark of trees. Severe winters push this bird south, so its range fluctuates. Future warming may expand the range of North America's most common wren further north still.

Photos by cottonmanifesto. Location: out my living room window, Brookline.

Urban species #273: Scarlet tanager. Piranga olivacea

Fortune has provided this bird enthusiast with two things that have led to his seeing today, his second ever scarlet tanager. First, the city in which I live is in a migration corridor--thousands of birds pass through Boston, stopping to rest or to eat, before continuing south in fall. Second, there is a pair of flowering dogwood trees in the small dirt area between our building and the sidewalk. These dogwood trees are paying back the tremendous amount of rain they soaked up in May with an abundance of plump red fruits. Resident birds like starlings, sparrows, and robins are gobbling them up, but a few migrators have started visiting, including the tanager in these pictures.

Tanagers are insect- and fruit-eating songbirds that occur mainly in the American tropics. There are only a handful of species that reach into North America, and of these only the scarlet tanager is a likely visitor to Boston. During the breeding season the male is as red as a cardinal, but with black wings and no crest. The only other scarlet tanager I've ever seen was a male singing his hoarse robinlike song, from high in a tree in the Mount Auburn cemetery. It was summer, and his breeding plumage was shockingly red, and unmistakable.

At first I assumed the bird in these pictures was a female--they wear greenish plumage year-round. But now that I have time to study the pictures, the rich black feathers on the bird's "shoulders" (scapular feathers, to be accurate) identify it as a non-breeding male. He stayed near my home for several hours today, eating dogwood fruits and nervously watching the activity in my living room, as two humans, two dogs, and a cat watched back. Perhaps tomorrow he will return for another helping, or perhaps he will continue his flight to Central America.

Female great-tailed grackle. Location: outside Jo's, Congress Ave., Austin.

Urban species #254: Great-tailed grackle Quiscalus mexicanus

The great-tailed grackle is a relative newcomer to cities in the United States. Before the twentieth century, this bird was rarely found north of Mexico, but during the past hundred years it has become the dominant urban bird in many places. Each year it expands it's range to new places in North America. In Austin it rules the city bird niche in much the same way as the starling does in northeastern cities, or the way crows and gulls do in the northwest. Grackles are omnivorous birds, happy to eat fallen crumbs at restaurant patios or fruit from ornamental trees and shrubs. They will prey on small urban animals, such as lizards and insects, or pick at morsels in dumpsters. Like many related blackbirds, great-tailed grackles are quite comfortable near water, and will get their feet wet to hunt aquatic invertebrates.

The male great-tailed grackle's song is an amazing array of metallic and electronic noises. When I first encountered this bird, in a residential neighborhood of Las Vegas, I assumed I was hearing an escaped parrot. Then when I encountered one perched and chattering in the landscaping at the Luxor hotel pool, I thought perhaps it was an escaped myna. (I was delighted to learn that it was simply the common urban bird of the area.) Like mockingbirds, great-tailed grackles will sing at night, which may not endear them to some city residents. Hopefully more urban people will learn to appreciate these birds, as they may be coming to a city near you, soon.


Male great tailed grackle. Many of the individuals we saw, like this one, were molting, and had patchy plumage, especially at the neck. Location: Zilker Park, Austin.

( Read more... )

Photos by urbpan. Location: Douglas street, Vancouver.

For the entry on the American crow (including another picture of a northwestern crow), click the link in this sentence.

While the American crow (C. brachyrhyncos) ranges across almost the entire United States, the northwestern crow occupies only that strip of coast from very northern Washington up to Alaska. Like the fish crow (C. ossifragus) of the east coast, the northwestern crow feeds along the shoreline. Before the coast was urbanized, these birds fed mainly on beach carrion and marine mollusks. Today northwestern crows are found in the streets of cities from Seattle to Anchorage, patrolling city parks and back alleys. Coastal crows and gulls seem destined to compete for food resources.

In Seattle the northwestern crows and American crows appear to coexist in mixed flocks, and may interbreed. The population of crows in Seattle has been increasing, perhaps exponentially, for the past 30 years. Even the Seattle Audubon Society's bird counters, for simplicity's sake, don't distinguish between the two intermingling urban species.


Location: downtown Victoria.

Another relevant photo can be found here.

Photo by cottonmanifesto. Location: Olmsted Park, Boston

Baltimore oriole Icterus galbula

The Baltimore orioles return to Boston in April, when cherry and apple trees are in flower, and the caterpillars that feed on them begin to become abundant. Orioles feed mainly on insects, but are well-known for taking nectar and fruit from trees and specially-designed bird feeders as well. They prefer to stay high in treetops in partially-forested open areas, particularly along rivers or streets. There may be more orioles today than ever, due to the increase in habitat caused by suburban development of forested areas. The Audubon Society, studying oriole population trends with data collected from the public; habitat loss in their wintering grounds in Central and South America may threaten the future numbers of orioles.

Though it is tempting to note that this bird shares a name with an American city, both the city and the bird are actually named for the British lordship that governed colonial Maryland, and happened to have orange and black for emblematic colors. Though the oriole is Maryland's state bird, it is probably more common in New England.


Photo by urbpan. Location: Riverway, between Brookline and Boston (The Muddy River, over which the oriole dangles, is the border).

Photo by cottonmanifesto

Urban species #131: Black-and-white warbler Mniotilta varia

One of the great things about Boston is that it sits right in the path of a major bird migration route. Another great thing is our world-class city parks. Take these two things together, and the city of Boston can be a very good place for birding. Every May is warbler season, and hundreds of these tiny, insect-eating birds can be seen as they pass through. The most commonly seen warblers in Boston are the yellow, the yellow-rumped, and the black-and-white.

The black-and-white warbler is notable for its color pattern--as its name suggests--often warblers are some combination of olive and yellow hues. It's also unusual for its feeding method. While most warblers feed at the ends of branches, picking caterpillars from the developing buds of trees, the black-and-white clings to the larger parts of branches and trunks, creeping for insects in a foraging style similar to the nuthatch and the brown creeper. For some black-and-white warblers, the Boston area is their summer destination, but the majority continue on to breeding grounds to the north.

Photos by cottonmanifesto

Urban species #128: Gray catbird Dumetella carolinensis

The halfway point between Vernal Equinox and Summer Solstice passed a week ago, so soon we should cease our obsessive tally of Signs of Spring. But not yet. My partner, Alexis (cottonmanifesto), has been most anxious for one particular sign, and I am happy to report the first catbird of Spring 2006, Boston. I can also report the second through fiftieth, as once this bird arrives in the city, they become among the most common avian residents. Their habit of perching fairly low (around eye-level) and the fact that they tolerate close approaches by humans makes them one of the most observable migratory birds. That is, if you choose to notice it. Being fully dark and mostly gray, and preferring thick shrubs rather than trees to perch in, catbirds may be completely passed by, by busy city people.

My first encounter with a catbird was in a postage stamp sized backyard in the Boston borough of Brighton. On the other side of a rusty chain link fence was a scrubby vacant lot, overgrown with ailanthus, knotweed, and bittersweet. I heard a curious "meow," that was strangely uncatlike. To my surprise, a gray bird with shining black eyes was perched right at the edge of the tangled wire and vines, within an arm's length; We regarded one another for short peaceful moment, before it moved on to its business. From then on I looked forward to visits from this bold yet sneaky neighbor.

The catbird can be seen eating fruit from ornamental shrubs, or turning over leaf litter for insects. At other times it can be heard singing its heart out, in a riot of snippets from other bird's songs. The catbird is in the mockingbird family, but unlike the northern mockingbird, which sings its sampled melodies in repetitions of three, the catbird rapidly blurts unrepeated phrases. The effect is similar to a scat singer, or a jazz soloist. Walking along the muddy river, one can pass by half a dozen of these performances, feathered buskers who never ask for change.

Photo by cottonmanifesto

Urban species #127: Yellow-rumped Warbler Dendroica coronata

Millions of tons of tiny inchworms, feeding on the buds and flowers of trees, fuel one of Boston's most wonderful natural events. The city is in the middle of the migration route for dozens of bird species, including a large group of small insectivorous birds called warblers. For a few brief weeks in May, attentive nature lovers have an opportunity to see these tiny transients as they eat caterpillars on their way to Canadian breeding grounds. For many birders, it is the beginning and the main highlight of the birding year. Their often secretive habits, and sometimes subtle differences in song and markings make identifications challenging and rewarding.

Familiarity, as we urban nature lovers know all too well, breeds contempt. Thus it is that the most frequently encountered warbler is denigrated by experienced birders as "butterbutt." The yellow-rumped warbler also can feed on flying insects, and so is not as dependent on the temporary supply of early-instar caterpillars. And while many of their close relatives prefer high treetops and dense woods, yellow-rumps like more open areas. The yellow-rumped (or "myrtle"--isn't that better?) warbler may be the most common warbler in the bunch, but as the vanguard of a major migration, it's also one of the most welcome.

Photo by cottonmanifesto
Urban species #111: Gray kingbird

In Boston you are likely to see a pair of eastern phoebes or eastern kingbirds on any given river or pond. In Antigua we saw gray kingbirds almost everywhere we looked. Most likely this reflected the great density of insect prey available to them. Like other tyrant flycatchers (that's the common name of the bird family Tyrannidae) gray kingbirds perch on a high conspicuous lookout, and make quick flights out to catch insects in the air. Gray kingbirds catch insects from high perches over pastureland, hotel grounds, and the city.

Photo of female bullfinch, by cottonmanifesto

Urban species #106: Lesser Antillean bullfinch Loxigilla noctis

In the absence of house sparrows, some other little bird will cling near to houses and other buildings, and glean the crumbs forever dropped by their inhabitants. In the eastern Caribbean islands this role is taken by the Lesser Antillean bullfinch. Alexis and I nearly took this bird to be our personal mascot on our trip. The male, all black but for reddish patches on his throat and under his tail, and the female dull olive throughout, were equally likely to visit us as we sat on a porch or at an open-air restaurant.

While this bird is common on the islands on which it occurs, it is found nowhere else on Earth. There are two other species in the Genus Loxigilla, a species from the Greater Antilles, and one from Puerto Rico. They are in the family Emberizidae, the American sparrows, along with the junco and white-throated sparrow.

( more photos of our favorite Antiguan bird: )

(photo by cottonmanifesto)

Urban species #105: Bananaquit Coereba flaveola

Two birdsongs greeted us each morning in Antigua. The low moaning coo of the local doves (close relatives of mourning doves) was musical, almost soothing. The scattered scrabbly chatter of the bananaquit was anything but. The bananaquits seemed to be in a constant state of shrill squabbling with the bullfinches, the hummingbirds, and one another. All the fuss was over resources, specifically the flowering trees in the yard.

Bananaquits feed mainly on nectar, but will take insects as well. Because they are built more like nuthatches than hummingbirds, they cling rather than hover, and they often take nectar from the sides of flowers--therefore not providing the service of pollination. They are very tolerant of the presence of humans, and have been known to fly to breakfast tables to steal bits of sugar and ripe fruit. They will visit hummingbird feeders, if the feeder is built with perching space. The Bananaquit is found throughout the West Indies, South and Central America, and southern Mexico. It is the national bird of Puerto Rico.

( two photos by me )

photos by cottonmanifesto
Urban species #095: Eastern phoebe Sayornis phoebe

In 1804 a nineteen year old John James Audubon twisted a silver wire around the leg of a bird, proving that the same individual nested in the same place in consecutive years. It was this experiment that made the eastern phoebe the first bird species to be banded in North America. It is likely that the phoebe Audubon banded built its nest of mud, sticks, and moss under a man-made structure, such as a bridge or an eave. Like pigeons, phoebes nest on cliffs and ledges, and like pigeons they have adapted well to human facsimiles of cliffs.

Phoebes belong to a family of bold, agile, insect-eating birds called tyrant flycatchers. There are numerous members of Tyrannidae that are urban species throughout North, Central and South America. The eastern phoebe is fairly typical example of the group: they choose a high perch, often near water, and catch flying insects. Phoebes are not much perturbed by the presence of humans. The one that nests in the pedestrian tunnel at Drumlin Farm sometimes doesn't even leave the nest as people pass through.

( how about some more pictures? )

photos by cottonmanifesto
Urban Species #094: Brown creeper Certhia americana

A diligent birder, given a couple years' work, could easily see 200 different species of birds in the City of Boston. Even a birder of questionable diligence such as myself--logging those species seen on casual walks, going on a handful of organized outings each year--will get close to that number eventually. Of those species a just a few, seen every day, are those deliberately introduced into the city by man: the sparrow, starling, pigeon, and swan. The vast majority will be those species that naturally occur, and in fact benefit from the changes to the land that a city brings: mallard ducks, American robins, blue jays, and mourning doves, to name just a few. But the third category of urban birds is the most exciting to the bird watching hobbyist: those birds that come to the city in spite of the destructive alterations to their habitats. Those uncommon birds that are usually passing through on their way up the coast to Vermont or Canada, or down to the Appalachians, or Florida. Sometimes you'll go years without seeing a particular species, and then see it several times in one week. This is my own experience, this week, with the brown creeper.

The brown creeper appears in bird guides alongside the nuthatch, both of them similarly-shaped bark-picking birds. But while nuthatches are so common that I filter them out of my personal visual and auditory scans for birds, I have seen brown creepers exactly four times in my life, twice this week. Part of it is that the creeper is incredibly cryptic. Unless you see it's light belly, it looks exactly like the bark it creeps along, picking insects from the cracks. The brown creeper's diet makes it less likely to be seen by urban humans as well: it eats almost exclusively insects and spiders--rarely eating seeds or suet, meaning that it is not a common visitor to birdfeeders. Many brown creepers migrate short distances, and it is likely that the two that I saw this week were returning from their wintering grounds, and may continue until they reach their summer homes.

EDIT: new pictures 4/7/06
( several more pictures )