Let’s Talk Birds: Indigo Buntings

By Donna L. Cole

It’s another of those birds that makes me question if people are just messing with me.  They’ve seen them. They’ve shared photos of them.  They say the bird exists here – as in right here in the Four Rivers Heritage Area (during the warmer months).  In fact, I’ve even been told one of these birds frequents the campus of my daughter’s school, where I spend a lot of time  –  looking for birds.  And yet, here I am without any sightings of my own.  For the record, I’m not an indigo bunting denier.  I believe.

Let’s talk indigo buntings.  Like the other migratory birds I’ve written about, this one also spends its winters in warm climates.  And yes, once again, it’s the male that carries the colorific chromosome that gives them their stunning blue plumage.   Females, eh – not so much.  Here’s an interesting thought – according to the Raptor Resource Project, “We know that male birds conserve more sex-linked traits and pass them on to sons and daughters, but male plumage is more complicated than it appears.  Recent work published in the journal Evolution indicates that female birds were once as flashy as males. We think that sexual selection drove male color evolution (females prefer colorful males), and natural selection drove female loss of color (brighter females and young were more likely to be spotted by predators and competitors).”

Where can you see this magnificent migrant?  I sure would like to know.  According to the National Audubon Society, “Brushy pastures, bushy wood edges. For nesting favors roadsides, old fields growing up to bushes, edges of woodlands, and other edge habitats such as along rights-of-way for powerlines or railroads. Also in clearings within deciduous woods, edges of swamps. In the west, usually near streams.”

With all of those habitats, you should be able just about anywhere, right? Good luck and please do let me know when and where you have in the comments below.

Photo below: Male Indigo Bunting. Credit: National Park Service

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Let’s Talk Birds: Hummingbirds

By Donna L. Cole

It happened on Tuesday – the first notification I’ve seen that hummers are back.  This one was posted on the MD Notable Bird Sightings & Discussion Group and the bird was seen in St. Mary’s County.  EBird also has reports to our south – in Virginia. Get ready, Anne Arundel!

Let’s talk hummingbirds.  They really are magical, small birds, fluttering here, there and everywhere and doing it with astounding speed and purpose.  They’re captivating, cute and colorful.  In Maryland, according to www.humingbirds.net (which also has a very cool map for tracking migration), we get the Ruby-throated, Rufous and Calliope.  EBird seems to agree with that, but Rufous and Calliope are less common than Ruby-throated.

According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, “You can attract Ruby-throated Hummingbirds to your backyard by setting up hummingbird feeders or by planting tubular flowers. Make sugar water mixtures with about one-quarter cup of sugar per cup of water. Food coloring is unnecessary; table sugar is the best choice. Change the water before it grows cloudy or discolored and remember that during hot weather, sugar water ferments rapidly to produce toxic alcohol. Be careful about where you put your hummingbird feeders, as some cats have learned to lie in wait to catch visiting hummingbirds.”

In addition to nectar, they eat insects too. There’s some fascinating information about Ruby-throated hummingbirds here –  http://www.hummingbirds.net/rubythroated.html.

And this video is an absolute must – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fouo6GKGBIM

Below: Ruby-throated hummingbird.  Credit – Louise McLaughlin, National Park Service

 

Let’s Talk Birds: The Wood Thrush

By Donna L. Cole

This is a story of a bird – a migratory bird.  And for that matter, a teenage girl too.  Because, you know, teenage girls are so into – birds.  No, they’re not, or if they are, they’ll never admit it, or at least mine won’t, so follow along with me on how this story came to be.

It was a beautiful May afternoon last year.  I heard a loud thump – the kind of thump I despise hearing.  I knew immediately what it was – no doubt about it.  I started checking all of the windows to figure out which one it was.  And on the last window checked, I looked down at the ground.  Despair. Not one, but two birds struck at the same time.  They must have been chasing one another – different species.  One was dead, the other completely stunned.  Because my house is in a heavily wooded area and I do have barred owls, I did not want to take a chance on the owls or any other raptor, fox or whatever taking this stunned bird.  I gently moved it behind a bush and checked on it over the next hour – it wasn’t moving, but was alert.  I also called a friend – the one I always call for help identifying birds (thank you, Dan Haas – a friend to many birds and birders), because I’d never seen this type of bird before.  Dan not only told me what it was – a wood thrush, but for me to do everything I can to keep it alive, as it’s a species in decline, due to loss of habitat (woods).  Great – that’s exactly what I wanted to hear when getting dressed to go out to an event I couldn’t get out of. I knew the bird would be ok where it was and I told my teenage daughter I’d be home in a couple of hours.  Then I left.

About an hour into the party, my daughter calls and tells me she’s bringing the bird inside.  Um, what?????? I have two, big dogs that despite them not ever used for it, are actually hunting dogs, driven by — catching prey. Like, for instance, birds. No, the bird can’t come inside.  She then explained it’s getting really dark out and it looks like a storm. I came home, in the pouring rain, to find the bird, in a box, on her bed, with dogs locked out of her room. The bird and my daughter slept in the same room that night.  Next morning, we took the box outside, opened it up and off went the wood thrush, flying as if it had never hit a window.  My daughter’s actions likely saved this bird’s life.

The wood thrush is gorgeous –a beautiful bird with an equally beautiful call.   According to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, “Wood Thrushes cross the Gulf of Mexico in a single night’s flight. They spend the fall and winter in Central America. They return north in spring 2 to 6 times faster on a route that’s generally somewhat farther west. Males arrive on breeding grounds several days before females.”

Where can you see them? This is a bird that likes the woods and deep forests.  Listen for them.  Quiet Waters, London Town and Truxtun all have suitable habitat.

Suggested reading  – https://www.audubon.org/magazine/september-october-2015/wood-thrushes-connect-bird-lovers

What can you do to help the wood thrush?  Keep the trees – don’t cut them down, plant new ones, protect wooded areas – your own and others.  Also, for what it’s worth and education is worth a lot, a few years prior to this wood thrush incident, my daughter had learned to handle birds at school, where there’s an entire curriculum for fourth graders specifically geared at educating them about the birds of this area. That education, I’m fairly certain, helped create a conservationist, albeit a teenage one who would never admit to it.

Below: two images of wood thrush, by Donna L. Cole