You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April 2009.
The following chart is my personal bird count summary for the 2008-2009 Project FeederWatch count season. It is a bit difficult to read because I had to condense the information and present it as a jpg image.
The little Oak Titmice have been very active now that spring has arrived. Their call is the loudest bird sound in our backyard. It amazes me that such a tiny bird can make so much noise. It is mating and nest building season. I saw one emerging from the titmouse nest box in our backyard this week. They dart to the tube bird feeder, grab a seed, and then fly to a nearby tree branch where they hold the sunflower seed with a foot as they eat. They are very quick and I was pleased to get a photo.
I put out peanuts in the shell for the squirrels, the Western Scrub Jays, and the Steller’s Jays. One day a little titmouse pecked at the shell of a peanut with its tiny bill. Then, with its bill stuck in the peanut it flew away. The peanut was almost as big as the bird! Unfortunately, I did not get a picture.
An Oak titmouse is a small gray bird with small a tuft on its head.
- Size: 5 3/4 inches long
- Weight: 10-21 g (0.35-0.74 ounces)
- Sexes look alike
- Cool Facts
- The Oak Titmouse sleeps in cavities, nest boxes, or in dense foliage. When roosting in foliage, the titmouse chooses a twig surrounded by dense foliage or an accumulation of dead pine needles, simulating a roost in a cavity.
- The Oak Titmouse mates for life, and pairs defend year-round territories. Most titmice find a mate in their first fall. Those that do not are excluded from territories and must live in marginal habitat until they find a vacancy.
- The Oak Titmouse, unlike other members of the family, does not form flocks in winter.
Can you find the two titmice in this picture?
Thursday, April 2 we had a large Cooper’s Hawk fly through our backyard and land in a tree. I was amazed at how large the bird was. It landed on a tree branch with its back to me and then turned around so that I could see the streaks on its breast side. These hawks fly through our yard preying on feeder birds.
Here is more detailed information about the Cooper’s Hawk.
A medium-sized hawk of the forest, the Cooper’s Hawk specializes in eating birds and small mammals. It is built for fast flight through the obstacle course of trees and limbs.
Description
- Size: 39-50 cm (15-20 in)
- Wingspan: 62-90 cm (24-35 in)
- Weight: 250-597 g (8.83-21.07 ounces)
- Medium-sized hawk.
- Tail long, rounded, and barred.
- Wings short and rounded.
- Back dark gray or gray-brown.
- Underparts barred reddish and white.
- Dark crown contrasts with nape.
- Legs yellow.
- Eyes orange or red.
- Tail ends in white tail band.
Sex Differences
Sexes similar in plumage; female larger.
The Cooper’s Hawk is found year round across the United States.
Reproduction
Nest Type
Open bowl of sticks lined with bark flakes and occasionally rimmed with green vegetation. Placed in main crotch or against the trunk of a live tree. Often placed on top of old crow, squirrel, or other hawk nest.
Egg Description
White to bluish white.
Clutch Size
Usually 3-5 eggs. Range: 1-7.
Condition at Hatching
Helpless and covered in white down.
Cool Facts
Dashing through vegetation to catch birds is a rather dangerous lifestyle. A recent study found that 23 percent of all Cooper’s Hawks examined had healed fractures in the bones of the chest, especially of the furcula or wishbone.
A Cooper’s Hawk captures a bird with its feet, and will squeeze it repeatedly to kill it. It does not bite the prey to kill it in the fashion of falcons, but holds it away from its body until it dies. It has been known to drown its prey, holding a bird under water until it stops moving.
Large numbers of Cooper’s Hawks can be seen on migration, especially at hawk watches such as Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania; Cape May, New Jersey, Goshute Mountain Range, Nevada, or Braddock Bay, New York. Autumn movements generally begin in late August and continue through early November. Young Cooper’s Hawks tend to migrate about a week earlier than adults, and females tend to go earlier than males by a few days.
We often hear coyotes howling at night where we live here in northern California. This afternoon I was looking out the window at the backyard and low and behold there was a coyote in the backyard! It was sniffing around the edge of the deck, probably sniffing out mice or rats. Unfortunately, we have some of these vermin because I feed our backyard birds birdseed and we are located near unpopulated open natural hillsides.
I ran to get my husband to come and see the coyote but it was gone when we got back to the window.
I didn’t take this picture but this is what the coyote looked like.
| Weather and Effort: April 1 and 2, 2009 | |
|---|---|
| When did you watch your feeders? | Day 1: morning afternoon Day 2: morning afternoon |
| Estimated cumulative time: | 1 to 4 hours |
| Daylight temperature: | 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) low Over 20° C (over 68° F) high |
| Daylight precipitation: | None |
| Total depth of ice/snow cover: | None |
Checklist for FeederWatch California Region Birds
| Cooper’s Hawk | 1 |
| Mourning Dove | 2 |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 3 |
| Western Scrub-Jay | 3 |
| Chestnut-backed Chickadee | 1 |
| Oak Titmouse | 1 |
| Spotted Towhee | 1 |
| California Towhee | 2 |
| Fox Sparrow | 1 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 7 |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 3 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 2 |
| House Finch | 8 (0 with eye disease) |
| American Goldfinch | 1 (0 with eye disease) |
Visit Project FeederWatch for more information and to find out how you can become a citizen scientist and count the birds you your own backyard!
| Weather and Effort: March 25 and 26, 2009 | |
|---|---|
| When did you watch your feeders? | Day 1: morning afternoon Day 2: morning afternoon |
| Estimated cumulative time: | 1 to 4 hours |
| Daylight temperature: | 1 to 10° C (33 to 50° F) low 11 to 20° C (51 to 68° F) high |
| Daylight precipitation: | None |
| Total depth of ice/snow cover: | None |
Checklist for FeederWatch California Region Birds
| Mourning Dove | 1 |
| Anna’s Hummingbird | 4 |
| Steller’s Jay | 1 |
| Western Scrub-Jay | 3 |
| American Crow | 1 |
| Chestnut-backed Chickadee | 1 |
| Oak Titmouse | 1 |
| California Towhee | 2 |
| Fox Sparrow | 1 |
| White-crowned Sparrow | 9 |
| Golden-crowned Sparrow | 3 |
| Dark-eyed Junco | 3 |
| House Finch | 4 (0 with eye disease) |
| American Goldfinch | 2 (0 with eye disease) |
Visit Project FeederWatch for more information and to find out how you can become a citizen scientist and count the birds you your own backyard!
