Birds – Page 2 – Forest Wolf Programs

White Memorial Conservation Centers 2013 BioBlitz

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Andy Dobos

Deneen and I had the opportunity to put our tracking to good use for the Mammal Team at White Memorials BioBlitz over the weekend. For 24 hours a large team of scientists, experts and volunteers counted every living species on White Memorials 4000+ acres of very diverse habitat. The final count was 931 species. The Mammal Team counted 31 species, many of which were identified by tracks or sign. There were also direct observations, live traps, and audio monitoring for bats.

Here was the Mammal team’s list and how they were identified.

Human direct observation

Domestic Dog tracks and direct observation

Domestic Cat tracks and direct observation

Coyote scat

Domestic Horse scat, tracks, direct observation

Domestic Cow direct observation

Red Fox tracks

Raccoon tracks, scat

Opossum tracks

River Otter scat

Long-tailed Weasel tracks

Striped Skunk scent

Woodchuck direct observation

Porcupine feeding sign on trees

Muskrat scat, tracks, direct observation

Beaver tracks, feeding sign, dam and lodges, direct observation

Bobcat tracks

Jumping Mouse spp tracks

Grey Squirrel tracks, direct observation

Red Squirrel track

Chipmunk tracks, direct observation

White-footed Mouse (the Mammal Team leader found evidence, I forgot to ask him what kind)

Meadow Vole caught in live trap

Mole spp tunnels

Little Brown Bat audio monitoring

Big Brown Bat direct observation, audio monitoring

Silver Haired Bat audio monitoring

Red Bat audio monitoring

Hoary Bat audio monitoring

Eastern Cottontail direct observation ( I could not completely rule out New England Cottontail which are know to be on the property in a different location)

White-tailed Deer tracks, scat, direct observation

I also share some images from our time on the land. At the top of the page are Red Fox tracks.

Above Long-tailed Weasel tracks, below a painted turtle laying here eggs.

Above the Litchfield Country Club Golf Course at dawn (the clubs land is part of the White Memorial Foundation).

Below a spider in its web (sp unknown)

Above turtle tracks, below a beaver trail.

Above Raccoon tracks along with bird tracks (possibly Killdeer or similar).

Below Muskrat tracks.

Above Osprey pestered by a Red-winged Black Bird, Below nest and eggs of a Northern Water Thrush located under bank of a small stream (one of the Bird Team identified it for us).

Above Jumping Mouse sp tracks, below old Porcupine feeding sign (missing patches of bark)

Otter scat.

We spent all of the second half of the 24 hours searching for just a few more species, we already counted all but 2 or 3 of the final number by early morning (the time went from 3:13p on Friday till 3:13 p on Saturday). Several species we knew were there eluding us including Mink, Fisher, Bear, Shrews, more mice and voles.

Bird Language

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Andy Dobos

Deneen and I went to the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge on the coast of southern Maine. At the estuary we saw this harbor seal swimming around looking for a place to bask. The rivers edge proved to steep for it in the end and we got to observe it for quite some time.

Gulls and Canada Geese had been around all day occasionally calling or flying about. As we relaxed against a bank of sand some gulls and a couple geese all squawked at once which caused me to turn around toward the noise. This was not something I think I would have taken note of in the past. Last fall we took an bird language intensive course with White Pine Programs. Since then I have become a little more aware of what all that bird sound might mean. I am most often left wondering.

This day I had little time to wonder. When I looked back I saw half a dozen gulls and two geese calling and flying toward us all in a group. Above and behind them a bald eagle came out of the trees and flew over us. I did not get pictures of the fleeing birds (the movement they made is called a bird plow) but did get this picture of the eagle.

Bird language is an extension of tracking. One can “track” the presence and movement of animals by the reaction of other, more visible or audible, animals.

First Day of Spring, Fresh Snow and a Coopers Hawk

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Andy Dobos

The first day of spring brought me great tracking snow. I have been out often over the last few days and have a back log of great tracking to share with you. For now I will share something that happened to me today.

As I was walking up an old road in the woods I startled this Coopers Hawk out of the bush along the road and onto this tree branch. It had in its talons a chipmunk.

Right on the side of the road, just feet from me where the tracks of the capture. If you look carefully you can see Chippy’s tracks going from the middle left toward the rock on upper right as well as the wing and tail impressions of the hawk and some very fresh blood.

Above is some plucked fur on the snow and below the perch that I drove the hawk from as it fed. There is fur and some meat present.

Tracking Hawks

I identified it as a Coopers by the size (too big to be a Sharpy), the slate grey color and rusty banded breast, rounded tail tip and darker cap that can be seen in the picture below.

Every time a go out with no agenda other than curiosity I am rewarded with something amazing. It wasn’t always like that and what I find is not always so dramatic as a hawk with its prey. The time I have spent looking seems to have broadened my idea of what is amazing and taught me where to look. In this case I was in the right place at the right time. Most days, anywhere but the couch turns out to be the right place at the right time.

Goldfinch Nest

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Andy Dobos

Birds nest identification turns out to be tricky. This nest was about 10 or 12 feet up in a Quaking Aspen sapling.

As you can see it was beautifully crafted by what we came to conclude where Goldfinches, out of strips of bark and thistle or milkweed down (both where abundant). It was in a managed successional field with nearby wetland and forest, prime habitat for Goldfinches. The other possibility we considered was Yellow Warbler but it seemed to far from the water.

We took this nest down to get a better look. The tree we cut the branches from was doomed to the brush cutter as the area is kept clear to create a specific habitat. Collecting birds nests is illegal without a permit.

Daylight Owl

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Andy Dobos

Some days ago while looking at the tracks that made it into some of my previous posts, my wife Deneen and I flushed this Great Horned Owl out of a tree above us. As if flew to its new perch pictured here, the startled chickadees alarmed with their “chick o dee dee dee” call. The alarm raised was only brief. Deneen and I were hoping to see the big bird get mobbed by the little guys but it didn’t happen. At the bird language class we took at White Pine Programs we had learned that the littler raptors are more likely to get a mobbing response as they are the ones that routinely eat little birds.

Yesterday I did see a little bird predator in the shape of a Coopers hawk. It was perched in a tree that was a favorite roost for a flock of starlings. The starlings came by to occupy the tree but made a swift change in direction. My friend said it looked like people crossing to the other side of the street when an unsavory character appears in front of you.

Hunting Crow

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Andy Dobos

I did not think of Crows as hunters until I did some research after finding these tracks. Apparently Crows are known to hunt. These pictures show the trail of what is probably a Meadow Vole but could be a mouse, disappear into the talons of an American Crow. Look closely at the bottom of the frame in the picture below.

We could tell it was a crow by the, size, robustness and arrangement of toes. The two inside upper toes are closer together than the outer.

Wrens and Animal Tracks

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Andy Dobos

On a short walk New Years Day I came across the tracks of an Opossum also taking a short walk. Opossum don’t like deep snow and this one did not spend much time in it, coming out only to circle around the pile of construction debris it seems to be wintering under.

The picture above shows a good front foot track.

While looking at the tracks I heard what at first sounded a lot like a tree frog, a loud twittering call coming closer. I am not an experienced birder so was eager to see who the sound was attached to. This little Carolina Wren (or so I identified it as, please correct me if I am wrong) came right up to me singing away. It changed its song from the twitter to several other call like sounds which may have been alarms or scolding calls at me.

I had been scolded before by a pair of wrens at my old sit spot so was expecting this one’s partner to come along to check me out as before. When the bird pictured below showed up seconds after the first one left I assumed in my ignorance it was the mate of the first. It had a different call but I assumed that it was the female and had a less flashy vocalization.

Turns out it was a different species altogether, Winter Wren. They were the only birds I saw that day.

In the woods were some Bobcat tracks.

And these turkey tracks.

They are quite “K” shaped. That shape is usually ascribed to Zygodactyl footed birds like Owl’s and (at least some) Woodpeckers. This created some doubt for me but shortly I found long strides over a great distance, something only a ground bird would leave behind.

Vulture Behavior

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Andy Dobos

I recorded this posture by Turkey Vultures over carcasses. These are only a few examples, it happened a couple other times as well.

I cannot determine if this is mantling like hawks and owls do or a signal to other vultures or something else entirely.

Day at the Boardwalk

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Andy Dobos

Deneen and I went to the boardwalk at White Memorial last weekend. Among a lot of other cool stuff we saw this huge snapping turtle making its way to some open water right next to the boardwalk.

Just after the sun set we located a woodcock doing its mating display. As it flew up, in order to flutter back to earth making a twittering whistle with its wings, we snuck up closer and closer to its landing place. It buzzed away as I got these pictures while lying on the ground about 10 feet away.