Turkeys, Hawks, and Eggs, Oh My!

I guess I (Lynn) will do a little text for our birding this week.  The story of the week was definitely the Turkeys!  On my way into work one morning a lawn mower chased me down...  He really did, one of the grounds crew wanted to show me something interesting.  He brought me over to a low stone wall and there sitting on top was this egg.


A Turkey egg!! laid directly on a stone wall.



I brought this cell phone picture back to Sue who agreed that it was a turkey egg.  I have seen a female hanging out near this area for a couple of days all by herself.  My guess is that she was a young (1st year) female who hadn't gotten the knack for being a Mom yet. 

Another morning I passed Sue and her sister Karen on my way up to the building and they said that a Red-tailed Hawk was making passes at a couple of turkeys.  By the time I made my way up there the female turkey had walked away a little but these two males near by were still strutting around.



Two Tom Turkeys trying to impress a female (out of sight just now).

When I glance in a tree behind all of this turkey action I caught sight of the hawk... or rather hawks.  Assumably this is a pair of red-tailed Hawks and the male was probably showing off for the female by taking a few swipes at the turkeys earlier.  Here the hawks are taking a rest and bonding.  So, which one is the male and which one is the female.....  you can make a guess using the info below.

Red-tailed Hawk pair, usually seen overhead, but Monday morning found in close proximity to each other, and to us!



"The red-tailed hawk averages 19 to 24 inches in length. There is sexual dimorphism in size: females are 25% larger than the males. Plumage ranges from light auburn to deep brown. The underbelly is distinctly lighter than the rest of the body, with a dark belly band across it. The cere, the soft skin at the base of the beak, the legs, and the feet are all yellow. The eye color of the hawk changes from yellowish gray when immature to dark brown in adults. " -Lake Milton Raptor Center 

Did you guess?  Based on this photo I would say the higher bird is the male although these two are very close in size.  So yes the female is usually larger but everything has variation and this pair is probably made up of a larger than usual male and a smaller than usual female making them relatively close to the same size.  This neighbor below was not too happy to have all this activity so close to his nest!

Northern Mockingbird in a maple.

All photos taken by Lynn!!

West Campus birds for the week of April 16 - 20, 2012:

Wild Turkey

Canada Goose

Mallard

Great Egret

Turkey Vulture

Red-tailed Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Herring Gull

Ring-billed Gull

10. Killdeer

Mourning Dove

Rock Pigeon

Northern Flicker

Eastern Phoebe
American Crow
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
House Wren
American Robin
20. European Starling
Northern Mockingbird
Barn Swallow
Tree Swallow
Black-and-white Warbler
Yellow Warbler

Northern Cardinal
White-throated Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

30. Song Sparrow

House Finch

American Goldfinch

Red-winged Blackbird

Common Grackle

Brown-headed Cowbird

36. House Sparrow

Special this week - spring plants AND reptiles

Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) flying "fairly close" overhead. Since the bird-life of West Campus is usually too distant or too active for my little camera, I tend to focus primarily on the nature at my feet.


Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) growing in the gravelly river bed at West Campus. Along with the Trout Lily (photo in previous blog post) this yellow-flowering plant is one of the earliest spots of color in the still-brown New England woodlands in April. The sap can be an irritant to sensitive skin.


As I photographed plants along the river's edge, I disturbed a basking Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis). One of the most commonly encountered snakes in New England, this individual shows the typical coloration of buffy-yellow stripes against brown. This is a snake with wide regional color variations, with some subspecies exhibiting bright yellow or even orange stripes against a dark green or black body.

The warming days prompt snakes and turtles to emerge from winter hibernation. If you take time to sit quietly near a wetland or stream, pay attention to every rustle in the leaf litter. Wood turtles (Glyptemys insculpta), water snakes (Nerodia sipedon) and many other reptiles are on the move.


Wild salad - Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata) in front of Wild Onion (Allium sp.)
Allium is the genus of hundreds of species of garlics and onions. Alliaria means "like garlic", referring to the scent of garlic that emanates from the broad-leaved plant when crushed.

Straight from Wikipedia:
Garlic mustard was introduced in North America as a culinary herb in the 1860s and is an invasive species in much of North America. As of 2006, it is listed as a noxious or restricted plant in the US states of Alabama, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont, West Virginia and Washington. Like most invasive plants, once it has an introduction into a new location, it persists and spreads into undisturbed plant communities. In many areas of its introduction in Eastern North America, it has become the dominant under-story species in woodland and flood plain environments, where eradication is difficult.^[update]

At West Campus, this plant is particularly vigorous down in the woods along the Oyster River. Each year, Tom Parlapiano gathers volunteers to wage an eradication campaign.

Bird list for the week of April 9-13, 2012 - new migrants in boldface:

Wild Turkey
Osprey
Turkey Vulture
4. Red-tailed Hawk
Herring Gull
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
8. Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Blue Jay
American Crow
12. European Starling
American Robin
Hermit Thrush
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
16. Tree Swallow
Northern Cardinal
Dark-eyed Junco
Song Sparrow
20. Chipping Sparrow
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Brown-headed Cowbird
24. Common Grackle

Nest Box maintenance

Cavity nesters are around, or arriving soon, so we're getting our man-made cavities ready for them. A few weeks ago, Tom Parlapiano made the rounds of the small boxes - the ones we've put up to attract tree swallows, bluebirds, wrens and chickadees. His goal was to clean out old debris - from last years' nests or from overwintering rodents.


Tree Swallow nest box at West Campus, all spruced up for spring.

Earlier this week, Lynn and I carried the twelve-foot ladder out to tend to the Kestrel box, and sadly found it quite occupied.

First step is to rap on the box to evict possible rodents. Check, done, nobody came out.

Next step unlatch side panel to see what you have. Check, done, a big pile of leaves and grass. Looks like a rodent nest.

Okay, start to remove the debris, a handful at a time. After three fistfuls of stuff, Lynn stopped, having uncovered a motionless gray squirrel.

Well it was breathing. Why hadn't it run? We guessed perhaps it was a female with newborn pups, so we let her be without disturbing her further. We don't need more squirrels around, but neither did we want to be needlessly cruel -- we should have checked much earlier. Lesson learned.

Our kestrel box is occupied.

Happy to report that we've had a few new birds already this week (writing this on Wednesday, since we have Friday off).
In boldface are birds we haven't seen since last fall

Bird list for the week of April 2-5, 2012:

Canada Goose

Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk

Ring-billed Gull

5. Herring Gull
Double-crested Cormorant

Killdeer

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

10. Downy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Blue Jay

American Crow

Northern Mockingbird

15. American Robin

Hermit Thrush

European Starling

Black-capped Chickadee

Brown Creeper

20. Golden-crowned Kinglet

Northern Cardinal

Song Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Chipping Sparrow

25. Savannah Sparrow

American Goldfinch

House Finch

Brown-headed Cowbird

Common Grackle

30. Red-winged Blackbird

House Sparrow

Trout lily, Erythronium americanum, photographed at lunchtime today in the nature reserve along the Oyster River. And yes, I did notice the beetle on the flower, but not being familiar with insect groups, I'll leave it at that, a beetle - any suggestions?

Waiting for spring birds

Pollen-bearing catkins of the native North American shrub Salix discolor, otherwise known as Pussywillow.

Bird list for the week of March 26 to March 30, 2012:

Wild Turkey
Turkey Vulture
Black Vulture
Black-capped Chickadee
Brown-headed Cowbird
Blue Jay
Red-tailed Hawk
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Dark-eyed Junco
Downy Woodpecker
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove

Song Sparrow
House Sparrow
House Finch
American Goldfinch
European Starling
American Robin
American Crow
Fish Crow

Northern Cardinal
Northern Flicker
Northern Mockingbird

Killdeer
Osprey


Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos, the many-tongued mimic. Here sunning quietly on pavement in the early morning.

Did anybody notice what I was attempting with the bird names? Emphasize "attempting". Okay, it really only worked for the first few names of the first two groups...