Tag: backyard wildlife

The wildlife that visits my backyard in Austin, TX.

Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned Hawk?

Accipiter hawk relaxing on the neighbor's fence

This morning, I noticed this crafty devil sitting on the neighbor’s fence. He seemed pretty relaxed what with his feathers all fluffed out against the cold, and standing on just one foot. I watched for a few moments and then ran for my camera and binoculars. Even though I was in the house, I’d swear he heard the camera because he put his foot down and looked right at me when I started shooting.

Not wanting to risk being late for work, I didn’t study him for long through the binoculars, trying instead to get pictures, which turned out a bit fuzzy, as the light was low and my lens isn’t fast, but I thought they might be passable enough to figure out an ID.

Cooper's or Sharp-shinned Hawk on the neighbor's fence

I’m pretty certain he is one of the 2 accipiter species of hawks that can be found around here this time of year, but the question is: which one?

The Sharp-shinned Hawk and the Cooper’s Hawk look nearly identical, though the Cooper’s is slightly larger. The Sharp-shinned are roughly jay-sized while the Cooper’s are closer to crow-sized. The hitch there is that the females are larger than the males so a large female Sharp-shinned and a small male Cooper’s could be the same size.

Fortunately, I had the neighbor’s squirrel feeder to compare him to. I’ve never seen a crow near it, but I do see lots of Blue Jays hanging around there, and this hawk looked a bit larger compared to it than the jays.

Project FeederWatch has a good page about distinguishing between these two as does the Great Backyard Bird Count.

The Project FeederWatch site had this useful bit of info:

If you can see the back of the hawk, and it is an adult, then the color of the nape is a reliable field mark. Cooper’s Hawks have a pale nape with a clear contrast to a dark cap. Juveniles of both species can show a pale nape, however.

The bird in question had the decency to turn his head and in these 2 shots. It does appear that the nape is paler than the cap, which suggests Cooper’s Hawk.

And, so, the question of the day: Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned? I’m leaning towards Cooper’s. Any of my birding friends out there want to weigh in? I’d love to know for sure.

If I’m way off, you can tell me that too.

Project FeederWatch Week 15

February 23, 2009 • James Brush • 1 Comment

The birds were especially active this weekend. They must feel spring approaching, and they are getting into the sing of things accordingly.

The American Goldfinches are starting to shift to their gold breeding plumage. I noticed one whose breast is already almost entirely gold. The rest are a splotchy goldish green color.

A third Carolina Chickadee came by and joined the two regulars. All three sang hard, trying to outchickadee the others.

A second male cardinal is also hanging around, and the two males spent a good chunk of Saturday morning chasing each other through the yard.

An American Robin made an appearance in the counts this week, and I saw a pair of Red-bellied Woodpeckers working the trees, though neither of them found the suet feeders.

The White-winged Doves are also increasing as it gets warmer.

For the second week in a row, I have not seen any Ruby-crowned Kinglets.

The Project FeederWatch Official Tally for Week15:

House Sparrow (2)
Chipping Sparrow (11)
House Finch (2)
Lesser Goldfinch (1)
American Goldfinch (8)
Carolina Wren (1)
Bewick’s Wren (2)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
Blue Jay (2)
Carolina Chickadee (3)
White-winged dove (13)
Northern Cardinal (2)
Red-bellied Woodpecker (2)
American Robin (1)
Northern Mockingbird (1)
Black-crested Titmouse (1)

Project FeederWatch Week 14/Great Backyard Bird Count Days 2-3

February 16, 2009 • James Brush • 1 Comment

The birds and I pulled double duty this weekend as we were counting and being counted for both Project FeederWatch and The Great Backyard Bird Count. The two projects have slightly different rules, mainly in that PFW requires 1 count for 2 days while GBBC has separate counts for each day. Also, PFW counts should only include birds that come to the yard for things I provided (food, shelter, water, landscaping), whereas GBBC includes any birds seen in the count area, so I included the robins and crow I saw hanging out in the neighbors’ trees.

Mainly, I saw the usual suspects, although a raptor did fly low over the feeders on Saturday. It’s the second time I’ve seen one in the yard since December, but unless he’s eating House Sparrows, he’s not having much success as my counts haven’t changed much lately.

What kind of raptor? He moved faster than any bird I’ve ever seen so I didn’t get a great look at his markings. His wings were sharply pointed, his long tail wasn’t fanned out, and when he reached the neighbor’s house he did an abrupt rolling turn and was gone. Speed and pointed wings.

I immediately assumed him to be an accipiter, either a Cooper’s Hawk or a Sharp-shinned. These two are hard to distinguish, but I went to the guidebooks and searched online to see if I could do it. None of the pictures really looked like the bird I had seen. The wings were too pointed for one thing and the brief glimpse I got of his underside just didn’t look like the pictures. After flipping through to the falcon section, I saw a picture of a Merlin. That was my bird.

I read up on Merlins and found they do occasionally visit bird feeders, flying low and fast to grab prey on the wing. I also found this chart showing shapes of raptors in flight.

This brings up another issue. While I don’t begrudge birds of prey their meals, I don’t like the idea of my feeders becoming a buffet for all the local raptors. I’ll have to keep watch and see if the Merlin becomes a regular visitor. If so, I’ll bring the feeders in for a while.

Other than that, the only interesting thing about the weekend was the moment when I looked out an hour or so before the Merlin flyby and saw the feeders full of birds, each one holding perfectly still like little statues as if time had stopped in the backyard. I guess they saw the Merlin before I did.

I’m happy to report that American Goldfinches are continuing to bring friends and a few of them are starting to show traces of their gold breeding plumage.

Project FeederWatch Week 14:

American Goldfinch (7)
Black-crested Titmouse(2)
Carolina Chickadee (2)
House Finch (2)
Chipping Sparrow (20)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
House Sparrow (2)
White-winged Dove (9)
Carolina Wren (2)
Bewick’s Wren (2)
Mourning Dove (1)
Lesser Goldfinch (1)
Merlin (1)
Northern Cardinal (2)

Great Backyard Bird Count Day 2 (Saturday):

American Goldfinch (6)
Black-crested Titmouse(1)
Carolina Chickadee (2)
House Finch (2)
Chipping Sparrow (18)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
House Sparrow (2)
White-winged Dove (6)
Carolina Wren (2)
Bewick’s Wren (1)
Mourning Dove (1)
Lesser Goldfinch (1)
Merlin (1)
Northern Cardinal (2)

Great Backyard Bird Count Day 3 (Sunday):

American Goldfinch (7)
Black-crested Titmouse(2)
Carolina Chickadee (1)
House Finch (2)
Chipping Sparrow (20)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
House Sparrow (4)
White-winged Dove (9)
Carolina Wren (2)
Bewick’s Wren (2)
Mourning Dove (1)
Lesser Goldfinch (1)
Northern Cardinal (1)
Blue Jay (1)
American Crow (1)
American Robin (2)

Project FeederWatch Week 13

February 9, 2009 • James Brush • 1 Comment

For Week 13 of Project FeederWatch, the Lesser Goldfinches decided to come around, which was especially exciting because they were a life bird for me, and my 10th for 2009. Goldfinches (Lesser and American) are both new to me and so I spent most of my feeder watching time this weekend watching them.

One of the best things about the Lesser Goldfinch is that they are permanent residents around here and so hopefully, they’ll keep coming to the feeder even after the Americans leave in the spring.

The nyjer bag seems to be the big draw (thanks again to my sister and her family for giving it to me for Christmas) and so I hung the fancy nyjer feeder, which hasn’t drawn a single goldfinch in the 2 years I’ve had it, above the bag. The bag is still favored, but some of the American Goldfinches finally discovered it, and not a moment too soon as the nyjer bag was getting a bit crowded.

At one time I saw 4 American Goldfinches and 2 Lesser chowing down on the nyjer seed. A few House Finches even came by, but they were more interested in the nearby hummingbird feeder, which I put back out this weekend on the off chance of seeing an early hummer.

The goldfinches are especially fun to watch because of their acrobatic nature: they seem as happy eating upside down as rightside up. The feeders are close to the window too, which makes photography sort of easy, but upon seeing these shots, I’m thinking I ought to clean the windows.

Other than the goldfinches, all of the usual suspects made appearances, the doves finally showing up just before dark on Sunday evening. At 16 species, this was my best count period for variety, though I’ve had higher numbers of individuals.

Two observations: Blue Jays only seem to come on Sundays. It is the only day of the week I’ve seen them the past few weeks. Doves are much scarcer than I thought they’d be. I knew the white-wing numbers decrease in the winter, but I never realized by how much.

And, now, the count…

White-winged Dove (1)
Mourning Dove (2)
Blue Jay (2)
Carolina Chickadee (1)
Black-crested Titmouse (2)
Carolina Wren (2)
Bewick’s Wren (1)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)
Northern Mockingbird (1)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
Chipping Sparrow (11)
Northern Cardinal (2)
House Finch (2)
Lesser Goldfinch (2)
American Goldfinch (4)
House Sparrow (4)

Be sure to check out I and the Bird #93: The Compelling Nature of Birds at Vickie Henderson Art.

Project FeederWatch Week 12

February 2, 2009 • James Brush • Leave a comment

Between friends being in town and an interminable fever/chills cycle, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time doing my Project FeederWatch counts this weekend, but I did observe some interesting things.

The Blue Jays are suddenly showing interest in the suet feeders again. They were all over them last summer, but lost interest when it got cold out. Now that it’s a bit warmer (or at least was on Sunday) they’re interested again.

A Red-bellied Woodpecker made an appearance this weekend. This is the first one I’ve seen in the yard and thus the first time he’s shown up in my counts. I wonder if the Golden-fronted Woodpecker that used to come by regularly last summer will be back around soon.

The House Finches are coming around a bit more regularly. Probably looking for the hummingbird feeder, which I may put back up this week. After reading Dave Bonta’s haunting and beautiful “House Finch,” I checked for eye disease on them and the goldfinches, but fortunately found none. I keep my feeders clean and thus far have been fortunate not to have seen any infected finches, which you’re asked to report to PFW if you see it.

Cardinals seem to enjoy coming around every day except my count days. Perhaps they had all headed down to Florida for the Super Bowl.

After deleting the fever birds (you know, the penguin and the albatross I saw), I got this count:

Red-bellied Woodpecker (1)
Bewick’s Wren (1)
House Finch (2)
White-winged Dove (8)
American Goldfinch (2)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)
Chipping Sparrow (3)
Carolina Wren (2)
Carolina Chickadee (2)
Mourning Dove (1)
Black-crested Titmouse (1)
Blue Jay (2)
Northern Mockingbird (1)

Not many individuals, but a good variety of species.

Project FeederWatch Week 11

January 26, 2009 • James Brush • 2 Comments

I’d like to say I just did a half-assed count this week because I wanted to see how many birds I’d see if I didn’t really try, which might help me determine which of my backyard birds are more casual and which require more looking, but that wouldn’t be true. I just did a half-assed count. Still, I was surprised that I saw so many species. I didn’t see very many individuals, though.

The only unusual bird was the Ladder-backed Woodpecker who made his second appearance in my counts. They’re not really that unusual around here; I just don’t see them in the yard very often.

The week 11 count for Project FeederWatch:

Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
House Sparrow (2)
American Goldfinch (1)
Carolina Wren (1)
Black-crested Titmouse (1)
Chipping Sparrow (8)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)
Bewick’s Wren (1)
Carolina Chickadee (1)
Northern Mockingbird (1)
Blue Jay (2)
Ladder-backed Woodpecker (1)
White-winged Dove (5)
Squirrels (lots)

Be sure to check out I and the Bird #92 at The Marvelous in Nature.

Project FeederWatch Week 10

January 20, 2009 • James Brush • 3 Comments

American Goldfinch in winter non-gold plumage

I didn’t have any new birds show up in my Project FeederWatch count this week, but I did get the highest number of different species and the highest counts so far.

The American Goldfinch and Ruby-crowned Kinglet both brought friends, and I saw a House Finch for the first time in several weeks. The Chipping Sparrows edged out the House Sparrows for greatest number of individuals seen thus far. Other than that, it was the usual suspects doing the usual things.

The count for a crisp and pleasant weekend:

House Sparrow (7)
Black-crested Titmouse (3)
Carolina Wren (2)
Bewick’s Wren (1)
Chipping Sparrow (24)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (2)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
Northern Cardinal (1)
House Finch (1)
American Goldfinch (2)
Carolina Chickadee (2)
Northern Mockingbird (1)
Blue Jay (1)
White-winged Dove (3)
Mourning Dove (1)

I’m hoping the goldfinch will continue and that they turn gold before they migrate since I’ve never seen one in the gold plumage.

Project FeederWatch Week 9

January 12, 2009 • James Brush • 4 Comments

This was another good weekend of feeder watching. The titmice thought so too, especially since they finally noticed the pinecone feeder.

Black-crested Titmouse on the pinecone feeder

I’ve been trying for a couple of years to attract American Goldfinches to the yard. They’re only here in winter and I’ve seen them along the trail by the creek, but never in the yard. I’ve moved my nyjer feeder from place to place with no luck until this weekend when a lone American Goldfinch graced my yard, though he preferred the regular tube feeder over the nyjer feeder. He showed up on both count days so I’m hoping he’ll tell his friends and come back. Hopefully, I’ll get a picture.

The Chipping Sparrows showed up in record numbers for the year. I counted 19 at one point. I know that in late March and early April they’ll flock up and I’ll see 60 or 70 at a time in the weeks before they head north, but 19 is more than I expected at this point.

A Northern Mockingbird eyes the suet feeder

The suet feeder continues to be one of the most interesting feeders in terms of what it draws. Last summer it was dominated by Blue Jays and a Golden-fronted Woodpecker, but those don’t seem interested anymore, happily surrendering it to the mocker and the smaller birds.

A Ruby-crowned Kinglet considers the suet feeder

The Orange-crowned Warbler and Ruby-crowned Kinglet also returned, which was expected since I had seen them most days since my last count. The above shot of the kinglet was taken through a dirty window, but I was surprised to have gotten anything considering how jumpy they are.

And, now, the official count for Week 9, which is probably my highest count at least in terms of number of species:

Northern Cardinal (1)
Chipping Sparrow (19)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1)
Black-crested Titmouse (2)
Carolina Chickadee (2)
Bewick’s Wren (2)
Carolina Wren (1)
American Goldfinch (1)
White-winged Dove (7)
Northern Mockingbird (1)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)
House Sparrow (4)
Mourning Dove (3)
Blue Jay (2)

Also, if you’re in Austin (or just interested), check out Mikael’s list of the 20 most common year-round resident backyard birds in the north Austin area.

Old Possum’s Post of Practical Greyhounds

January 6, 2009 • James Brush • 5 Comments

On the evening of the 23^rd of December, I heard some hoarse panting in the backyard, but it was just my dogs (ouch!). I went to investigate and found that Joey and Phoebe had fenced this little guy.

A possum fenced by the dogs — An opossum fenced by the dogs

I went back for the camera while he waited to have his picture snapped. He kept waiting there for several hours. I know possums aren’t renowned for their quickness, but this guy was really not in any kind of hurry whatsoever.

Many people are repulsed by possums, but I find them quite interesting and even a little bit cute. It’s hard not to like North America’s only marsupial even if we usually use his nickname instead of the full Opossum that separates him from his Australian kin.

One summer while working at Camp Periwinkle, I was walking back to my cabin in the middle of the night. I had my flashlight off to better admire the stars when I bumped into one of the camp cats.

Or so I thought. (Maybe we humans shouldn’t always be so quick to judge the quickness of other species.)

I bent down to pet the cat, but I was surprised by how coarse its fur was. In an instant, I grew suspicious and flicked on my light to find myself face-to-snout with a possum. He regarded me with indifference as I jumped back and into the air. I’m forever grateful the little guy didn’t bite me as I’ve heard rabies shots are not something one willingly signs up for.

Joey and Phoebe, however, being much more practical, knew last month’s possum as an intruder and had they been able to climb the fence, they might have gotten a nice possum stew for their Christmas dinner. As things stood, though, they received their usual bowls of kibble.

Project FeederWatch Week 8

January 5, 2009 • James Brush • Leave a comment

The first Project FeederWatch count for 2009 was a pretty good one. Two new birds entered my count, and both of them are also life birds for me.

The Ruby-crowned Kinglet came by on New Year’s Eve. I had seen him the day before, but couldn’t get a good enough look at him for an ID. He came again on Wednesday. I was sitting on the porch when I noticed him at the suet feeder. They’re tiny birds, but I was close enough to see most of the field marks without binoculars.

I went inside and came back with my Sibley guide and some binocs and was able to study him long enough to ID him. Thus, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet became my last life bird for 2008.

He was good enough to come by the feeders again on both of my count days, but he didn’t bring any friends. He did venture over to the pinecone feeders for some peanut buttered seeds.

On Sunday another new bird showed up at the suet feeder and became my first life bird for 2009: the Orange-crowned Warbler.

At first sight I thought he was the kinglet again, but on closer inspection I saw that he had no wing bars and a yellowish breast. When he turned upside down to get at the suet, I got a good look at his rump, which was bright yellow.

He came back a few times and each time, I was able to use my guide books to narrow him down more and more until I was certain he was in fact an Orange-crowned Warbler, which is one of only a small number of warbler species that winters this far north.

Other than those two, the usual suspects all made an appearance, with the Chipping Sparrows hitting a high count and the House Sparrows still unusually low. Perhaps they’re still leery about the hawk we had last week.

Here’s the count:

Black-crested Titmouse (1)
Carolina Wren (1)
White-winged Dove (6)
Carolina Chickadee (2)
Chipping Sparrow (9)
Bewick’s Wren (1)
Northern Cardinal (2)
House Sparrow (1)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet (1)
Northern Mockingbird (1)
Orange-crowned Warbler (1)