08 March - 14 March 2022

Dear fellow flock of birders,

We’ve now moved into Daylight Saving Time. It does not help us in the morning. Sunrise tomorrow is at 7:09 am. It does not make sense to change our start time to 7:00 am yet. Let’s wait a few weeks so that the sun will be up when we arrive at 7:00.

Beginning next week my wife and I are heading to Florida for a long delayed vacation. I will try to put out the Monday evening bird reports. They may be somewhat abbreviated and have some Arboretum South (aka Florida) bird photos in them but please be patient with me.

So what have the birds been doing this past week? Have any new species migrated into the Arboretum or more broadly into Dane County?

I still look for the Common Redpolls in the birches and the European Alders. I have not seen many in the Arboretum this past week. There are still 10-20 of them at my thistle feeder practically every day. I really enjoy watching them feed at the thistle feeder and on the ground. Today I saw some of them drinking water from a small stream of melted snow. I have a sense that they will head north late because they really like my bird food.

The Red-tailed Hawk pair is still flying around the area of the nest but not on eggs yet. The nest may be deep so we may not see the female when she begins to incubate the eggs. Keep checking on them when you visit the Arb.

The Red-winged Blackbirds are all over Curtis Prairie and in many other places around the county. They are singing all the time as each establishes its territory.

I’m seeing more and more Turkey Vultures and not just singles. This morning I saw 6 soaring in the sky. They hardly ever flap their wings when there’s enough wind. They hold their wings in a dihedral position which means the wings are angled somewhat up at an angle to the body. Most raptors hold their wings straight out.

The Sandhill Crane pair that raises young on Curtis Prairie over the past few years arrived recently. Also there seems to be a single that is with the pair. It may be the colt that was raised by the adult pair last year. The adults have been bugling a lot especially when other Sandhill Cranes fly over. This may be a territorial response indicating that this area has already been taken or it may be saying hello to other Sandhill Cranes. It will be fun to watch the adults raise one or two colts this year. Included is a photo of the pair of adults on Curtis Prairie.

The number of American Robins has really jumped this past week. They are all over feeding on the ground in the Crabapple Collection. Just a few are in the trees eating crabapples. I think these are new arrivals and not the robins that stay all winter. I had my first American Robin in my yard just last Saturday. There were puddles of water here and there in the Arb as I walked there today. I caught two American Robins bathing in a puddle. A photo of that activity is included.

Last Tuesday on our group walks we saw male Wood Ducks down at Big Spring. Unfortunately they were way in the back so we could not get good views. At least some of the males are back and soon the females will come back too. It won’t be long and they will be searching for hollows in trees to nest. They will be flying around the woods and landing in trees.  hey are the only ducks I know that do that. Since I couldn’t get a good photo of the Wood Ducks last Tuesday I pulled a photo of a male Wood Duck that I had taken last year and included it. They are one of the most beautiful birds I know of.

Speaking of Big Spring I did see a female Belted Kingfisher come flying in. It must have just picked up some live food just before landing on a branch to eat its prey. The included photo shows the female belted Kingfisher with something in its beak. Can you determine what it is? Is it the usual fish? The Kingfisher was able to swallow in quickly.

A couple days ago as I was walking along Arboretum Drive by the houses and I could hear a bird calling that I had not heard for some time. It may or may not have been a new arrival but I don’t remember hearing one of these in this vicinity before. It’s a little bird with a big voice. To my surprise it was a Carolina Wren. I didn’t get a photo of it so I pulled out one that I took a long time ago. It is included.

Walking on Longenecker Gardens yesterday I came across five Wild Turkeys searching the ground for food. The sun was shining on them and at certain angles with the sun their feathers really displayed many iridescent colors. These colors are not formed by pigments in the feather but by certain minute chemicals in the feathers. They only show when the sun hits the feathers in a certain direction. Several different colors are displayed on this Wild Turkey whose photo is included.

Today I walked along the southern end of Gardner Marsh. The enlarged pond at the east end of the waterway was still mostly frozen over. The water level is way down this year. There were pairs of Canada Geese on the ice hissing at each other. There were some Mallards in the open water at the west end of that pond. As I stood watching these two species I looked up and saw one Great Blue Heron flying over heading west and then 2 Great Blue Herons flew in and landed near the ducks but on the mud and snow. These were definitely new arrivals. They stood for a few moments and then walked around. I wonder if they will take residence in the remaining 2 nests in the heron rookery. A photo of the two Great Blue Herons is included.

My last two birds are the same species but have two different colors referred to as different morphs. The first one I took a photo of yesterday at the end of Winnequah Trail, at a boat launch area onto Lake Monona. It was perched in the opening of a hole in a tree enjoying the warming sun. It was a FOY (first of year) bird for me and it was an Eastern Screech-Owl red morph. For comparison I also attached a photo of a gray morph Eastern Screech-Owl. This one was found in a hole just inside the Mills Street entrance to the Arb several years ago. Note how well camouflaged it is.

That’s the Arboretum bird report for the past week.

I wish all of you good health and good birding too,

Chuck