Kay’s Birding Blog

This week, our House Wrens fledged, moving first to the brush pile across the trail from their nest box.  There must have been a lot of insects in that tangle of branches and grasses; the little birds stayed there for several days.

One of our young catbirds is still calling for food from the serviceberry bush outside our living room window and a male rose-breasted grosbeak continues feeding his offspring berries from the same bush.  But the best fledgy sightings of the week occurred when one of this year’s orioles joined them to feast on the ripened fruit of this native plant.  The other best sighting of recently fledged birds was the family of kingbirds hawking insects over the our wetland.  Nothing could possibly be better than seeing a successful new generation of these wonderful Neotropical species fattening up in preparation for their upcoming trip back to Bolivia, Costa Rica, Venezuela and other places south of our border.

And then there was the bunting.  Monday morning I opted to walk the road up to my office, rather than taking the trail.  Heavy dew still covered the grass.  Although the trail was recently cut, my feet would have been soaked from the dew.  It was a fortuitous decision.  As I rounded the corner onto Putnam Road, a brilliant blue bird bolted across just in front of me.  This beautiful sapphire of a bird, a male indigo bunting, sat on a low branch of a white birch and scolded me.  His behavior suggested that there was a nest in the low, dense brush to my left. If so, we can add another successful migrant nesting on Charter Sanctuary for the year, and in a week or so, baby buntings will join the other youngsters on our property in search of food.

One might have expected that by this time of year (third week of July), most nestings would be over and young songbirds from Charter Sanctuary would be on their own.  Not so.  Blue Jays and robins are being followed around the yard by their fledglings.  It’s not that they nest late, but that they have renested and are now finishing off their respective second efforts.

Gray Catbirds are feeding youngsters, which (I suspect) is also the result of a second nesting.  One of the newly fledged babies has been screaming for food outside our living room windows.  The same goes for Brown Thrashers, which are very early nesters, with their current crop of young.

Plump baby Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have been begging peanut bits from their parents and fledgie goldfinches are following mom and dad around, hoping for an easy meal.

While our Tree Swallows, American Woodcock and Killdeer were finished with their parental roles weeks ago, there are still birds with hungry youngsters.  And a few, like the Common Yellowthroats, are just setting up shop for a final go at bringing another generation online.

From early April through late June, my days begin with the sweet melodies of Tree Swallows belting forth their bubbly song from a nest box just outside my window.  I love these lovely little aerial acrobats, and am saddened by their departure immediately after nesting.  But their absence does not mean my mornings begin in silence.  Many other birds are still busily building nests, feeding young and just hanging around on Charter Sanctuary – not least of which are the House Wrens.

There are, in fact, two wren pairs this year.  One is nesting north of our home, where they are easy to hear from the bedroom, and another is nesting in a bluebird box between the trail and Jimmy’s garden.  The wrens outside my window sing from dawn.

Because we never search for nests, we don’t know which nest box this pair is using.  But because the other pair has chosen a box we pass every day, we have watched them from the beginning.  It did not seem to bother them that we regularly passed their chosen site.

Once they began feeding young they were unhappy with our passing presence.  They hopped around on nearby branches, raising the alarm by scolding and chattering.  We don’t want to draw in nest predators like jays, so we have altered our route away from the box.

House Wrens are miniscule, engaging little songsters.  We are happy that they come here year after year to nest and we hope they continue to do that.  But for me, they will never be a substitute for my beloved Tree Swallows.

From the time my husband and I purchased this property sixteen years ago, Gray Catbirds and Brown Thrashers have nested here.  As the brushy, shrubby habitats expanded, so did the numbers of these “mimids.”  Catbirds and all thrashers (there are 8 species of thrashers, but only the Brown Thrasher nests in our area) are mimidae, which is the avian family that includes mockingbirds.  For the beginner, it can be difficult to distinguish between the songs of mockingbirds, catbirds and Brown Thrashers.  This can become easier by remembering that catbirds typically sing each phrase once, Brown Thrashers usually repeat a phrase twice and mockingbirds just go on and on with their favorite phrase of the moment.  All are fairly vocal, especially during courting and early in the nesting season.

Acceptable nesting habitat for both species occur on Charter Sanctuary in upland areas as well as along the wetland associated with Weaver Creek that dissects our property.  This year, we have hosted more nesting catbirds and thrashers than we would ever have imagined when we first bought the land.

That is especially true of the catbirds, a pair of which nested, among other places, right outside the window of the small library in our home.  The parents did not seem to mind that the cedar where they built their nest was near our front door, which even though used rarely, still sees some activity.  We were able to watch them from the library as well as through the window in our laundry room.

We did make some accommodations to our nesting catbirds by keeping the lights in the two rooms off as much as possible.  With screens on our windows, which reduce visibility for them, the birds were not aware of us in the darker inside rooms.

The youngsters of both species are now out of the nest, and thrashers have given up their singing for the year.  But our catbirds can still be heard from every corner of Charter Sanctuary, as well as on SBTH property.

On this beautiful Sunday morning at the end of June, our last Tree Swallow family is on the edge of fledging.  Parents are fluttering around the box, coaxing their four reluctant offspring to make that first flight.

It’s no wonder the tiny nestlings are timid.  When orioles or grosbeak youngsters leave the nest, they do little flying – instead they hop from branch to branch begging for food from mom and pop.  But swallows live on the wing.  That first flight is a long one for the feathered newbies as they leave their enclosed nursery and take right to the air.

Although fledgling swallows will land to rest on a powerline, a branch or the top of a nest box, once these birds are out of the nest, they become what they were born to be – aerial acrobats.  And they do it relatively quickly.

They arrive on Charter Sanctuary by early April and for the next three months, these delightful birds fill our fields with their joyous chatter.  But once they have finished their nesting cycle, they are off to join great flocks that gather over huge wetlands.  They won’t leave for South America until late summer or early fall, with a few individuals lingering in southern states until November.

Each year, we have between 20 and 25 pairs of nesting Tree Swallows.  Their arrival is always a time to celebrate.  But their leaving is bittersweet, signaling, as it does, the beginning of the departure of our Neotropical species.  The only comfort is the knowledge that they will be back again next year.

Every year, Saving Birds Thru Habitat donates a copy of my book (For the Love of Birds) to the Leelanau Conservancy for its fund-raising auction.  A private bird hike for up to ten people is included.  The woman with the winning bid from last year’s event brought several of her friends last Friday morning.

During our email exchange to set the date for this walk, I offered to present our PowerPoint program for the group and she accepted the offer.  But when the morning brought beautiful weather and a rush of migrants, I suggested we skip the program and hit the trail.  She and her friends agreed.  It was one of the best bird hikes we’ve ever had on Charter Sanctuary; it began before we left Saving Birds property with a calling Black-billed Cuckoo (see our Weblog for a photo of this elegant bird).

Although we did not see that particular cuckoo (at least we did not see it then), we were able to watch several of these sleek, rich brown birds with creamy undersides and bright red eye rings once we got down into the heart of Charter Sanctuary.  It was the best cuckoo show we’ve ever had on the property.

And there was more; we heard or saw the usual suspects… a host of birds that regularly nest on the Sanctuary.  There were catbirds and kingbirds, redstarts and house wrens, orioles and grosbeaks (Red-breasted) thrashers and vireos.  Tree Swallows foraged over fields and pond and meadowlarks sang     from a dead mullein stalk in the heart of the three-year-old little bluestem planting.  There were sparrows - Chipping, Song, Vesper and Savannah.   Great Crested Flycatchers Called from the treetops and Cedar Waxwings flocked in an aspen.

Best of all was the female Hooded Merganser that has been hanging around in our pond and, of course, the bright tinkling song of the first Bobolink of the year.

In the summer of 2003, just as we began to work on the Habitat Discovery Center, a bulldozer appeared on the hill, across Weaver Creek from our home.  The ‘dozer was excavating for a new home.  The ten acres on which the home was going up is immediately adjacent to Charter Sanctuary.  The two properties share a quarter mile line – to the east of our land and to the west of the new owners.

We had owned our property for ten years when this new home began to go up.  Because of our work on behalf of declining bird populations, we had hoped the land would remain vacant.  It was admittedly an unrealistic hope, but we humans have a way of hoping things will go the way we want rather than the way they likely will.  These ten acres acted as an extension for Charter Sanctuary, and keeping them in an undeveloped state would be good for the birds we were trying to help.  Thus my heart sank when the bulldozer took its first big bite out of the land.  Neighbors would put an end to the extended habitat – or so we imagined.  We could not have been more mistaken.

It was the end of summer before we met Steve and Jackie Cuson.  I drove up one weekend afternoon to introduce myself.  They welcomed me warmly and showed me around their unfinished home. For several years, we exchanged pleasantries when we saw each other, but that was about all.  Then, early one spring evening several years later, Steve knocked at our door.  He said he had a question for us.  We invited him in, and as we sat in our living room, he asked if we would mind if he cleared a path through a thicket below his home.

“Steve,” I said,  “That is your property; we have no right to tell you what to do with your own land.”

He knew that, he said.  His question was whether or not such a path would adversely impact any birds.   He added that he and Jackie wanted a trail like we have on Charter Sanctuary.  Because the great majority of their land is open, the shrubby corner he referred to is the only place they could do that.  But they didn’t want to do it if we thought they shouldn’t.

I told him that the corner they were thinking about cutting into is perfect Indigo Bunting habitat. His immediate response was, “then we won’t do it.”

His reaction was completely unexpected, and it was most welcome.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude.  Imagine our good fortune in having a neighbor willing to help our effort.

Since then, we have developed a solid relationship with them.  They joined SBTH and they have worked to improve their open acres by planting a variety of native trees and shrubs.  They have also kept an eye on our home and our land when we are away.
Last week the Cusons came down to give me a hand moving tree saplings from my car into the basement.  Jimmy was out of town and I’ve been struggling with a bum knee.  After the trees were safely out of the car, we talked about the new birds coming in for the breeding season

They have been seeing American Woodcock.  Steve said he’d never seen this fascinating shorebird’s sky dance.  One of these evenings, when I hear the male’s “peent,” I’ll call our neighbors down so we can watch them together.

Jimmy and I feel extremely fortunate to have neighbors who not only care about our work here on Charter Sanctuary, but who want to do their part to help out. It’s like we won the good neighbor lottery when the Cusons moved in.

For the week beginning Wednesday, April 29 and ending Wednesday, May 6, I was on the road between Illinois and Ohio for SBTH.  The Sunday before my return, my son Jeff took me birding at Crane Creek in northwestern Ohio.  Things were slow in the morning, but as the day went on we saw scads of warblers, including a Northern Parula, which I haven’t seen in years.

I returned home to find that Baltimore Orioles, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Yellow Warblers, Common Yellowthroats and Warbling Vireos had beaten me back.  We’re still waiting for Eastern Kingbirds, Great Crested Flycatchers, Red-eyed Vireos and others…especially my beloved Bobolinks.

But Bobolinks are in the area.  Over the weekend, SBTH was invited to participate in a native plant sale at Brian Zimmerman’s Four Season Nursery.  The nursery is just west of Traverse City and includes 20 acres of land on one side of Harry’s Road – where the business is laid out in a way that makes it feel like a park with chipped trails.  Across the street are twenty additional acres, which is an old farm field turned meadow.

On Friday when Brian was talking to a potential client about incorporating native plants in her garden, I heard my first Bobolink of the year.  “Bobolink!” I shouted.  Brian and his client looked at me as though I’d taken leave of my senses, which, in fact I had done.  Bobolinks have that effect on me.

The next day Brian took me across the street and drove through the meadow up a hill on the west side.  He’d built a bench there and wanted to show it to me.  As we sat there, an Upland Sandpiper jumped from the grassy hillside and flew away.

“You’ve got an Upland Sandpiper!” I said.

“Is that something good?” he asked.

“It is,” I assured him; “it’s a bird in steep decline.”  I added that for the 16 years we have owned Charter Sanctuary, Upland Sandpiper is a bird we have always hoped to attract.

“And you’ve got the bird,” I said.

Brian is coming to Charter Sanctuary for a special tour week after next.  When I left his nursery on Saturday I told him that there are wonderful birds here.  But we saw the best bird on Saturday, flying away from a potential nest site in the quiet meadow across from his nursery.

On Friday I returned from yet another trip downstate to help with bird education programs, and activity on Charter Sanctuary reminded me, as if I needed reminding, that this is not the time of year to be away from home.

The thermometer had climbed well into the seventies… the warmest day of the year, although a couple of snow piles remained here and there. I immediately opened every window in the house to let in fresh air, and the wonderful sound of birdsongs. A White-throated Sparrow could be heard over the din of hordes of singing spring peepers and Tree Swallows chattered cheerily over the fields. Robins scolded my comings and goings in and out of the house. Resident chickadees and woodpeckers were hammering out homes and goldfinches had morphed from their drab winter plumage to brilliant yellow.

That evening, as I sat with a book in the living room, came a real treat; an American Woodcock was peenting across the wetland. And while he carried on, trying to attract a mate, a pair of Green Herons squawked their way up and down along the creek. They flew so low, it sounded as though they were at eye level, as they made several passes back and forth across the wetland. Then they vanished into the dark. By ten o’clock the birds had grown quiet. Not so the frogs, who were still calling when I turned in an hour later.

The next morning a flock of Yellow-rumped Warblers foraged in the old pin cherries outside our living room window. Three tiny Ruby Crowned Kinglets picked through the trees with them. And when I drove up to my office, a Brown Thrasher was singing from atop a maple tree near the Friendly Garden Club Woodland walk.

On Wednesday, it’s back on the road for eight days. What feathered treasures will show up during my absence? It will be hard to leave, but this trip is all for their benefit. This trip is on behalf of Saving Birds to Fairmount Minerals sites in Illinois and Ohio to provide suggestions on improving habitat for migrating birds and other wildlife. What could be better than an opportunity to work for the future of these colorful little jewels?

When our Tree Swallows arrived in significant numbers over the weekend (meaning more than just a couple of scouts), it was clear that spring had well and truly arrived.  Finally.  It’s been a long wait, even for Jimmy and me, who have only been back in cold country for seven weeks.  With each new snowstorm - six during that time - we felt a deeper sympathy for those who were stuck here all year.  The white stuff began falling in mid-November and it did not give up until about ten days ago.  At least we hope it has given up for this season.

The swallows followed a host of other species:  First were robins… no surprise there… and soon after that, Eastern Meadowlarks and Song Sparrows arrived.  A week later, the first Fox Sparrow showed up to kick around in the leaves below our kitchen window.  Soon a Killdeer was busy foraging near our driveway.  Then came woodcock and a family of Greater Sandhill Cranes.  Three of these tall, graceful birds hung around for several hours in the wet area adjacent to our pond, picking through dead prairie grasses.

Once the ice melted, Mallards checked out the open water.  A few days later, a pair of Hooded Mergansers joined the Mallards.   And then a new species for Charter Sanctuary was added to the list when a male Bufflehead landed on the pond.  Because our property list is so long, every new bird is exciting.  This one was especially so; it was a male Bufflehead in San Diego Bay that first drew me into the wonderful world of birding.

The next morning, a pair of bluebirds checked out the nest box right outside my office window.  Minutes later, my beloved Eastern Phoebe flew under the wide overhang on the Discovery Center to check on his nest ledge.  For the past three years, I have been blessed to have nesting bluebirds outside of one window and Phoebes outside the other.

And yesterday, when I returned to the office after a trip to the Post Office, a male Northern Harrier was cruising over our meadows.  This bird is experiencing a decline in numbers across the country; watching him drift on the air current as he searched for a tasty tidbit in the still brown prairie plants made me wonder how much the move to use native vegetation in personal landscapes will help species with declining populations.

There is no question that the bird population on Charter Sanctuary is growing, and there is absolutely no doubt that growth is the result of management efforts here.  There is also no doubt that from now through the middle of June, there is no better time to be part of this magical place.  By the end of May, we should have at least fifty nesting species.  What could possibly be better than that?