Crow moult

Update on crow moulting from the very interesting Cornell site, contra Pyles


Fish and American Crow

"American Crows molt earlier than Fish Crows. During the summer the two species can be distinguished by their stages of molt. In much of their range American Crows breed a month or more earlier than Fish Crows (Johnston 1961, The biosystematics of American crows, Univ. of Washington Press; Clapp and Banks 1993, Raven 64: 90-98; McGowan 2001, Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus) in Birds of North America, No. 589). In upstate New York American Crows start incubation the first week of April, while Fish Crows don't start until May. Most birds do not molt until they are finished breeding, and the molting schedules of the two crows reflect the month difference in their breeding schedule. The earliest Ithaca American Crows (non-breeders and those whose nests have failed) will start molting in June and will be finished by the end of September. Ithaca Fish Crows, on the otherhand, start molting in late July and don't finish until October."
"

A quiet Riverbend

Not much happening with birds or people today. The 'new' entrance to the visitors centre gives a good reflection in early afternoon leading to a femLe Cardinal attacking her reflection for about an hour in short spells.

Crowwatch - or not, 10/29/10

It’s COLD out here! 52 per the Weather Channel but brrr

17:59 few crows low over houses mainly Am, one/two Fi calling, circling
18:00 all quiet, few birds calling in mid-distance
:04 C.Chickadee wanting to come down but too scared...
:07 nothing substantial yet, a Fi calling out in the distance somewhere
:14 suddenly a cacophony from about 20 Am. (and 1 Fi!) in the trees to the left of the deck - raptor? - i dont see anything

:19 well it looks like no crow streams tonight, i wonder why? its been windy but not too bad, its been cooler but not too cold and there’s obviously some crows around, a puzzler

:24 all quiet apart from the occasional distant Am.

:25 Signing out,,,,

Lively afternnon on the deck

Busy afternoon on the feeders. Mostly sparrows but 3 or more Chickadee,a Cardinal, Downy on the fat, House Finches and the first Junco sighting for the season, a Song Sparrow also joined

More Crows

This morning there were 500+ crows circling over Sanger. Ave junction with Van Dorm just at dawn.

Tonight there is an amazing stream of American and Fish Crow over the community here at Hillwood. They are low, barely roof height and must have been coming over at 50-100 / minute for 15 minutes. Vast majority of the latter birds seem to have been Fish Crow

I've just taken a video of a minute or so of passage and the following is a frame from that.

537 crows in 1min 28! Even if we conservatively half that, that's about 3000 birds in 15 mins

Just because I'm smaller than you...

Pretty quiet couple of days at the feeders, heavy rain yesterday morning and I was mostly absent.

A couple of Goldfinch has started to appear at the Nyger feeder. Unlike the other species they tend to just sit quietly and eat while others bounce all around them.
Fewer House Finches seen today.

Late in the day, a White-breasted Nuthatch   fed at the large feeder (combination of small seed and Nyger). It was distributing seeds all over the place as it picked through the different seeds until it found a suitable one (whatever criteria that was). At one point a Mourning Dove was on the rail above it and it started some strange posturing, swaying from side-to-side,  with partially open wings

A balmy October day....

Average high temp for today 64, pre-Dawn actual 61, can't imagine going for a pre-breakfast walk on Scilly just in a teeshirt despite my record of being there with high pressure in October.
Further field testing of differentiating the crows was pretty successful this morning with again the Fish crow mainly being later than the American Crow. No wing moult noticed today.
From Cardinal Bridge I watched two pairs of Mallard diving apparently for food. Like Scoter they open there wings and flapped to give Initial subversive power and then paddled like crazy to stay under while they reach the stream-bed.
Each dive was usually 3-5 seconds and each bird when they surfaced had drooped wings and, unless they dived again quickly, frantically rearranged they plumage with flapping and preening.
Two Great Egret flew in over Pooh Bridge later, previously these had only been early birds.

Blue Jay visit

At the feeders today the female House Sparrow with the White tertial remains with the usual flock. A brief visit from a Blue Jay was unusual, but it was nervy and flew off after a quick drink.

The very bright red male house finch remains with 6 or so others mostly female or dull males.

Crows, mobbing and caterpillars

Crows at dawn

Arriving before dawn broke I witnessed the return of some of the Crows seen going to roost the other evening. There must of been over 500 this morning, rather more dispersed than the flocks going to roost. I'm determined to master the ID of crows by sight and with the help; of Sibley I think I am getting there. Pretty sure that one flock of 105 were all Fish Crow, some were calling but all seemed to have relatively more pointed wings, small heads and marginally longer tails. It's not easy to read these feautres on all birds though.
Only birds in this group of fish group showed primary moult (some extensive) is there a timing difference between the spp?

*update - Pyles says both species moult July-September *


One suspect American was later seen with minor secondary moult however.












On the lake I initially only found the Merganser but later found the Grebe, on the opposite side.

Lots of House and Goldfinchs around today, a group of the latter feeding on the riverside weeds were watched from the riverbed.
When returning up the hill from the river, a mobbing group of birds were found. I never did find their target, maybe a screech-owl, The party consisted of several Cardinals, Chickadees, Downy Woodpecker and a Catbird (a species not seen for several days), and a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Blue Jays were on the periphery. It was an impressive and pretty aggressive display.

On the grass area near the picnic shelter a big furry caterpillar was found. First thoughts were a 'Woolly Bear' but there were only thin rings of color. I believe this is actually a Giant Leopard Moth or Eyed Tiger Moth (Hypercompe scribonia)

Save Now

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Between the dog park and the Magic Spot a bunch of activity including 4-5 Juncos and 10 or so Yellow-rumped Warblers.

The bees were asleep as expected!

End of feederwatch for a while...

16:03 I'd been watching the feeders on the deck for a while this afternoon and was just starting an article on differentiating American and Fish crows when this HUGE thing landed on the small table. I slowly looked up so as not to spook it and found a juvenile Cooper's Hawk about 12 feet away. It looked around , hopped up on the railing and then, after a brief visit next door was off.

I'm guessing we won't see any Dives for a while but a squirrel and Chickadee were back within 6 minutes

Into new territory

A rather wonderful upper 60s walk in Ben Brenman park and then under Duke Street and up Holmes Run.
The Grebe and merganser were out in the open water near the overflow when we arrived and when we returned from our walk.
There was a lot more bee activity today in the warm morning sun with numerous insects flying and more feeding actively. There were still a couple in a sedentary state however.
Over Cardinal Bridge, we turned left and headed upstream. Just after the small playground there is a shaded stream crossed by another bridge (instantly named Troll Bridge :) ) that looks as if it could be marvellous for migrant warblers in spring.
We walked up the the very significant bridge across to N.Pickett Street. From the bridge a Coopers hawk flew down stream. The path was quite busy by mid-morning so there were few birds. I pished a yellow-rump down close and a small pool beside the river flow had a mix a bathing Robins, Cardinal and a Chipping Sparrow. These pools could also be interesting in the spring.

The birds.... The birds

The happy couple were on the pond, near the causeway to the pagoda this time.


There was some activity on the bee flowers but still several sleeping despite the rather nice temperature well before dusk, perhaps this will be these (apparently carpenter) bees last resting place?


At dusk - or just before - the crows started coming over roughly the magic spot and heading NE. I counted the first 400 and then occasionally 50 or 100 more until it seemed to run out just after the sun went down after at-least 1700 birds and probably more.Hitchcock would have been proud! There was a strange lack of calling with just a few American )earlier) and Fish ( later) calling. Either they were pretty well segregated or it is not as easy as I would like to believe to tell them apart (relatively speaking of course!)

Deck birds, the season begins

I've been watching the deck for the last couple of days after putting the first food of the autumn out.

Nothing too unusual but good number of House Finch (6-8 at a time). I am trying to study Carolina Chicadee but even in this relatively captured environment they are darn fast! A White-breasted Nuthatch and Carolina Wren ass some variety, and the marauding horde of House Sparrows include a female with a white middle tertial on her left wing.
The fat block had attracted a downy (or 2), chickadees, sparrows and occasionally an ambitious (or forgetful) squirrel will take a bite of the chili flavoured suet

More Bees...

More bees with some better pictures.

When i gently stroked one of the bees it moved very slowly and lethargically as if being awoken from a long sleep



Pretty quiet apart from that, even the grebe and merganser were not on the lake

Back in the 'hood

It's getting light late these days! My 7 am arrivals are going to need to coffee shop stop first I can see...


On the lake the Hoodie and PB Grebe are still looking to be the contented couple. Around the pool I found flowering plants with many 'frozen' bees - are they dead or in some form of stasis waiting for the sun to warm them?




The morning Gull commute is picking up with about 25 birds today, a few of which came down. It was a four woodpecker day with another good chance to compare a BIG Hairy with the much smaller Downy, I picked out the former on silhouette for taking a closer confirmatory look. Nice comparison to the Great-spotted Woody from yesterday.

I'm trying to prepare myself for picking out Black-capped Chickadee by taking close looks at Carolinas - it ain't easy as they move around so darn fast! Talking of which, there was something of a Carolina Wren festival on Pooh Bridge with about 6 birds calling from nearby and/or jumping out on the bridge.
Also fast moving were the Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a noticeable increase with about 20 birds seen. Ten or so Yellow-rump Warbler were commuting over the railway line near the 'Magic Spot'.

No luck with Lincoln's but Chipping and White-throated Sparrows and the first Juncos of the season joined the Song Sparrows around the park . House Finches were obvious with 25 or so seen during the walk.

A Red Fox went down the path to the river, presumably having just crossed the railway track; maybe the same one whose tracks were found in the sand last week.


Here a comment from Alonso on the bees from my master naturalist group, I thinks these were probably male bumble bees hanging out
"
There are a couple of reasons I'm aware of of why bees would stay overnight on flowers. Male bumble bees are out looking for female new queens for the next year and are not welcome in the old hive. They are out foraging and then find this safe place to stay with a waiting breakfast for them the next morning. Males just don't have a nest to return to and may get lucky with a foraging new queen the next morning by hanging out in a flower anyways. They'll actually hang on, sometimes even using their mandibles. I think carpenter bees may do this too.
It is also possible that 'new' queens (the ones who will start the new nest next spring after overwintering since bumble bee nests only last one season) are out and about and also have no nest to return to. They prefer to find an old rodent burrow or other safe place though. Also, a foraging worker may find himself out late and when the temperature drops, have no alternative but to wait it out till it warms backup again next day (all being ectothermic - 'cold blooded'. This is not the likeliest alternative however.
Male squash bees (the ones in your picture are probably bumble bees although the picture is a bit blurry but I'd thought I'd mention this) will actually purposely sleep in the flower that will close upon them. That way they're waiting for the females who show up to nectar at the squash flowers the next day.
Those are just a few thoughts at what your finding and something I've wondered about in the past when I found sleeping bumble bees. Hope that helps.

Alonso

________________________________

From: fmn-members@googlegroups.com on behalf of Randc319
Sent: Tue 10/19/2010 10:00 PM
To: fmn-members@googlegroups.com
Subject: [FMN Members] 'Frozen' Bees




Not quite literally of course, but on my morning walk this morning I came across some late flowers with several bees motionless as if time suddenly stood still! Several were obviously feeding - or has been - including hanging upside down from a flower.
Does anyone have a clearer explanation as to what is happening here? Do bees feed until a the temperature falls to a certain level and then go into some sort of stasis?


Rob Young
Alexandria,VA



"

Back on old stomping grounds

I took a chance to spend some time in Cassiobury Park before making my way back to the airport. It was interesting to puck up the common UK species with such close relatives in. the US. Nuthatch (whatever it's prefix is) looks big and colorful, Grey Heron looks small and monochromatic and Goldcrest look very showy, flashing their crest as they surround the slightest pish. Also looking relatively gaudy compared to their American cousins, 15 or so Siskins (whatever THEIR prefix is) showing fading adult plumage with some less well marked juvs.

***apparent both missing prefixes above are Eurasian!****

A couple Of Winter Wren looked decidedly more rufous and less well marked than even their eastern US cousins - I don't recall was US winter Wren split from European WW when pacific wren was?

**** more rufous colour on back, pale underparts which are less well marked ****

**** update
Winter wren - European Troglodytes troglodytes
Winter wren - US Troglodytes hiemalis
Pacific Wren Troglodytes Pacifica
******



Eurasian Jays are less raucous (slightly) but even more colorful than their Blue cousins of course and typically less migratory. They do seem to fill a similar niche, and a number were seen today some transporting acorns around the park as their American cousins do. I'm wondering if this is a migration year though as there were a number around this morning, or maybe I am out of touch ! Manage to get a good view of a Great-spotted Woodpecker (that red undertail!) and heard a nearby Green, also a Great Cormorant flew over - another newly qualified name since I was last here!





The Horse Chestnut trees are changing colour nicely. There were plenty of fruit coverings around the trees so I am assuming that conkers is still somewhat popular, although you don't hear much about it these days and it seem pretty old-fashioned.

While busy doing other things

Not too much birding so far on this trip to the UK. The beech at Brighton was pretty quiet and Fratton Park gave few opportunities. Today visited South Oxhey and Loughborough cemeteries. I find the wildlife soothing for such a place. What looked like a Juv Green Woodpecker probed in the grass at the former, a small group of Moorhen wandered around and a Jay flew past. A raucous group of corvids has presumably found a Tawny Owl.
At Loughborough, a couple of long tailed tits and a coal tit were nearby

Chasing yesterday's bird

I had the choice to go aroun the softball field or back down to the lake where yesterday's sparrow was found. I chose the latter for no particulArly sound reason but making my way back towards the overflow found another group of song sparrows which I spent sone time with. I soon found a juv. White-crowned but that quickly disappeared. While trying to refind, a Lincoln's came out into the open Along the edge of the lakeside vegetation. It looked dusky around the head and I did a double take before checking out the pertinent features, Buffy moustacial, thin break streaking and 'crew cut' look to the head
On the lake the grebe and the merganser remained.
Walking from the dog park to the rusty bridge it was quiet until I chanced across a flock of yellow-rumped warbler (c.10) accompanied by a single golden-crowned kinglet.

Oh I forgot to mention the juv green heron at in inflow pipe entrance

Always (ok, very often) something new

Looks like warblers will be harder to get, maybe early walks are just too cool for much insect life at the patch. However a ruby-crowned kinglet was new for the season and was feeding, hovering to pick of it's food.
A sapsucker showed well And gave a nice mewing call.
Down by the river 8 Cardinals were feeding on and around some washed up plant life.



Back at the picnic shelter, I was listening to a pair of Carolina wrens - male calling, female rattling when Bob (just moved into the area, moved back to us from Italy) told me of a pied-billed grebe on the lake.
On my way round I found and photographed a white-crowned sparrow on the lakeside path. Stunning bird! Reasonable results from phone scoping too.


On the lake the adult grebe was feeding closeby the bank and the hooded merge that has been around for a while

Keep right on 'til the end of the road....

I'll have to complete this more later but here's some highlights

* Record count of species
* Keep going until the very end - the two best birds were the last (Nighthawk and Cerulean)
* Don't try and over interpret the weather / forecast - the birds know better apparently
* Great raptor passage today - lots of Coopers
* Warblers spotty but cracking views of a couple of great birds
* Time flies when you are having so much fun!
* Good extras - Kinglets and Flycatchers - they all help
* The more the merrier (...mostly)
* Cerulean juvs show hints of Blackburnian and Worm-eating - go figure...
* Merlins go like a flying mammal from Beelzebub - boy do they move
* the Sun can still burn in October
Oh and there's more....



Here's the report to VA-Bird which i will enhance later

---------------

The Big Sit event on Sunday benefited from both excellent weather and some great birding as we outstripped our previous five year's efforts by several species, ending with 66 seen.

Dawn on the river found 6 Great Egrets, a good number for the park, but the ducks were lower than last year although there were good numbers of wood duck flying upstream for the day. A Screech Owl and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo called nearby.

Throughout the day there was a good raptor passage with upwards of 25 Coopers and 10 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 3 Osprey, a Northern Harrier, an American Kestrel and a Merlin heading in a southerly direction. Many of the birds were very high so more could have been easily missed.

We pondered if the odds Chimney Swifts we were seeing would be the last of the season throughout the day but dusk saw big numbers flying downstream.

We easily had a 6 woodpecker species day with several sightings of all species with Hairy the scarcest.
Passerine migration was spotty throughout the day but very busy at times especially at the start and end of the day. Numbers of Yellow-rumped Warblers moved through and also included 3 species of flycatcher, both Kinglets, a very showy Nashville and single Pine, Blackpoll and Black&White Warblers. At least a couple of birds frustratingly eluded specific identification
Some interesting observations were made when a couple of large roving flocks of grackles, each many hundred strong, came through. As the nearby trees filled with the birds, a number of smaller birds including the Warblers were flushed. A late House Wren showed in the nearby undergrowth.

The last two species provided the biggest surprises when first a lone Common Nighthawk quartered the river for insects and then a couple of warblers in a nearby tree attracted our attention. The first proved to be 'yet another' Yellow-rump, the second initially gave tantalizing partially obstructed views. We proceeded to watch the bird for several minutes from all angles and were surprised as we found it to be a very-late first-winter plumage Cerulean Warbler


Rob Young
Alexandria, VA



Location: Riverbend Park - CGF11
Observation date: 10/10/10
Number of species: 65

Canada Goose 300
Wood Duck 75
American Wigeon 2
American Black Duck 4
Mallard 50
Common Merganser 1
Pied-billed Grebe 5
Double-crested Cormorant 15
Great Blue Heron 2
Great Egret 6
Black Vulture 20
Turkey Vulture 15
Osprey 3
Bald Eagle 3
Northern Harrier 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 10
Cooper's Hawk 25
Red-shouldered Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 5
American Kestrel 1
Merlin 1
Ring-billed Gull 4
Herring Gull 2
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1
Eastern Screech-Owl 1
Common Nighthawk 1
Chimney Swift 150
Belted Kingfisher 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
Downy Woodpecker 4
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 4
Pileated Woodpecker 5
Eastern Wood-Pewee 2
Alder/Willow Flycatcher (Traill's) 2
Eastern Phoebe 2
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 30
American Crow 20
Fish Crow 5
Northern Rough-winged Swallow 10
Tree Swallow 5
Carolina Chickadee 10
Tufted Titmouse 10
White-breasted Nuthatch 5
Carolina Wren 3
House Wren 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 2
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 4
Eastern Bluebird 1
American Robin 1
Nashville Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 25
Palm Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Cerulean Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 3
Chipping Sparrow 2
Song Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 3
Common Grackle 1000
Brown-headed Cowbird 1
American Goldfinch 8
----end----

Pishing Anna

Y/day morning I took Another quick pre-breakie walk around the hotel. At one likely bush I tried a little pishing and was surprised when the only response was from an Anna's Hummingbird. He buzzed around me and fed at the same time, calling often, long after I had stopped.

Somethign from nothing

A very nice 60* walk at dawn around a fairly unpromising hotel grounds. Over head a small passage of American Crow headed low in a South or South-easterly direction, some calling. The call contrasted nicely with a Raven I eventually found perched atop a streetlight across the freeway.
There were a number of Hummingbird whizzing around in the early light and calling. I am guessing Ana's but I really didn't get a decent look at one. A few House Finch flew over calling an several 'chips' and 'seeps' remained hidden in the bushes.

Heading out west for a few

Heading for California for a few days of work before heading back on Friday for the big sit event at Riverbend. The weekend weather looks to be good for sitting out all day, if nit a big migrant fall but it is always a great day.
California will be the ultimate in 'bare naked birding' no optics and no real time to bird, I'll see what I get the chance to find.

Later post - so far so good, western and California gull on posts by car rental and a yet-to-be- researched tern over the harbor. This evening at the parking lot outside Whole Foods. Brewers Blackbirds were gathering to roost, in the small trees and were pretty tame. Several gathered on the rood of a pickup near where I was parked.
At Dusk around the hotel, a couple of black Phoebe were watched and heard calling.