Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Join the Editor for Weekly Birding Highlights

A front view was afforded by the Swainson’s Hawk fledgling featured in last week’s Editor Afield article.
A visit to a nearby lakeshore yielded sightings of four new duck broods last weekend – pretty late in the season – and provided an opportunity to photograph this Redhead with her newly hatched ducklings Saturday. Will there be sightings of new September broods?
On its own now, a young Red-tailed Hawk was intercepted in flight during a migration stopover.

My feeding station has become a “Hummingbird Hangout” with more and more hummers appearing daily last week. I was excited to see 3 at a time Thursday, 4 at a time Friday, then 5 sipping nectar at once an hour later! I had my camera within reach and documented the personal record. Saturday, when I returned home just before sunset, there was a hummer feeding frenzy outside my bay windows, with hummingbirds interacting around the nectar feeder by the 4s, 5s, 6s – and yes, 7 at a time – WoW! As many as 5 fed at one time, and as the light was waning, the last 3 seemed to leave as a group – there’s always tomorrow I thought.

Indeed, there was almost constant hummer action during daylight hours Sunday and Monday, when my high count was 8, a minimum number for sure. (It’s interesting to note there have been no adult males in the “flocks” this week). I also spent 2 rewarding 30 minute periods outside Monday morning, photographing Ruby-throats at and around my feeding station – what fun to be so close and to have such good luck photographing hummingbirds in flight and perched. Of course, every once in a while, one would hover a few feet before me, and once I’m sure I felt a wingtip brush my hand as a hummingbird zipped past me.

The Northern Great Plains aren’t known for hummingbird activity, and to have this kind of attention at my nectar feeder is exceptional for this rural location. Growing up in Bismarck, 100 miles northwest of here, I only saw one Ruby-throat during the decades I spent there. According to the range map provided on Birds of the World, I live on the very western edge of their migration range. During this spring and summer, I witnessed the least amount of hummingbird action I’ve had since returning in 2016. So it’s great fun to have hummingbirds crowding my feeder now, perching on adjacent tree branches, collecting in considerable numbers outside my windows – long may they stay!

More Migrants

Thursday I noted a first-fall Baltimore Oriole that I saw feeding on grape jelly 5 times, but undoubtedly it visited more often. The colorful young oriole continued regular visits each day since, which has been a great addition to my homestead. Other yard sightings have revealed post-nesting movements too, including 4 Yellow Warblers, a Warbling Vireo, and a Least Flycatcher one afternoon. And Monday, a Warbling Vireo worked the leaves on a couple of my ash trees as I stood outside photographing hummingbirds. At the same time, it was fun to see the young oriole foraging through the trees in a similar fashion to the vireo. So neotropical migrants continue to trickle through, every one providing moments of excitement.

Friday evening, after 2½ inches of rain overnight, area ephemeral ponds that dried up in recent weeks were filled again, and the mudflat a quarter-mile southwest of here was extensive after being dry. Already there was a big mixed flock of Franklin’s and Ring-billed Gulls, and 11 White-faced Ibis were assembled, along with a Wilson’s Snipe, Marbled Godwit, and a Pectoral Sandpiper, but I’ll bet more sandpipers will magically appear pronto. Sure enough, Saturday about 40 Pectoral Sandpipers and 6 or 8 Greater Yellowlegs were active in the shallow water, along with 3 Wilson’s Snipe and a dozen Killdeer, although the ibis and gulls weren’t around. Similar groups of shorebirds continue to forage the mudflats daily.

Late Broods

The biggest surprise Friday was finding 1, 2, then 3 very late newly hatched broods of ducks – all in calm shallow water on the edge of a lake a mile north of home – new broods of 6 downy Mallards, 2 little Gadwalls, and 8 Redheads. The next day, during the beautiful Saturday afternoon, I checked back on the location with the young broods and accounted for each except the Gadwalls. But again I was surprised; this time by a hen Redhead with a brood of 6 tiny ducklings that must had hatched only hours before! It was definitely their first day on planet earth.

When I returned a second time, I was able to get a few documentary photos of the birthday Redheads; plus I found a large, almost fully grown brood of Mallards. I was surprised by the number of duck broods on the shallow edge of this big lake that’s better known for geese and grebes.

Raptors and Robins

Farther down the road, I checked on the fledgling Swainson’s Hawk I photographed last week, and was able to get a nice portrait of its front side to use as an illustration this week. I also photographed 2 separate young Red-tails during that drive. They were each obviously on their own but had fledged less than 2 months before. The second one even flew toward my position when it decided to take flight – perhaps in response to the movement of a ground squirrel or gopher behind me.

I had a couple interesting sightings above my yard last week: An adult Red-tailed Hawk flying low southbound, being shadowed closely by a Cooper’s Hawk. Another evening I viewed 2 Black-crowned Night Herons, which were actually new “yard birds” to add to my list.

When preparing last week’s Editor Afield, I forgot to share with you that although there haven’t been many American Robins around lately, a few were especially active in my backyard, where they feasted on a bumper crop of ripe chokecherries. Now, both are gone – the robins and the berries – but that’s the idea, and later the wild grapes that thread their way through that area of my yard will provide another food source, along with the bugs and grubs and earthworms that keep birds coming back, year after year – to utilize foods and the cover, roosting sites, and nesting locations the many trees provide. I hope you are enjoying the birds in your yard, neighborhood, and afield as much as I am – enjoy your week and Labor Day holiday weekend!

Article and photos by Paul Konrad

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