Birds

Birds Flora and Fauna Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Curious George Settles in for the Day

By Clyde Camp, 2011

Curious George arrives at about 20 seconds into the video link and settles in for the day. He’s verbally accosted by a couple of jays and a squirrel about midway through the video. George is the male of the last breeding season (spring, 2020) – a grey-phase Eastern Screech Owl. His mate then was a red-phase female named Hunter. Their breeding attempt was unsuccessful with two clutches of eggs, neither of which hatched.

They are both visiting the box off and on again and probably staking their claim on it in late fall 2020.

You can read about, with photos and videos, that attempt (as well as the 2018/19 attempt by a different pair) at http://crcamp.com/owls

Birds Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Ramblings on a Cold Morning

By Sally Evans, Founder Emeritus, 2006

By the time anyone reads this epistle the Backyard Bird Count will be over, the Great Winter Storm will be over, Valentine’s Day will be over, and we will be working on the pandemic to be over! It has been a difficult time for people on so many areas of their lives with survival being uppermost. Actually the GBBC came at a good time because many folks could not do anything else except peep out the draped windows at the birds coming in to find what food they could. Bird feeders came to many of their rescues.

I had the opportunity to listen to a ZOOM talk given by Dr. Drew Lanham who is an author and an ornithologist. He was suggesting that bird watchers get so intent on bird identification and location that they (we) forget to put their binoculars down and view the whole picture. So I did. The birds were coming in close to the window so I could see them well and I had time to sit and observe. I knew that many of the birds I counted at different times were the same birds I had seen before. They live here and come here often for the handouts I give. The male cardinals with their brilliant reds against the snow were spectacular – and they were almost always accompanied or led by a female cardinal who was also very lovely. The red-bellied woodpecker’s red head was exceptionally bright and I could see him clearly on the suet feeder as he went back and forth from the tree to the feeder. It was always the same male. Once or twice I saw a female. On the bird count it would seem I had seen several of these birds but I knew it was the same one each time. I was following directions – counting all that I saw each time.

And the little upstart that took over the feeders and tried to chase everyone else away even though most were bigger than it was. It was a butter butt – a yellow rumped warbler – and every day it would go from feeder to suet to bush to feeder to suet, etc. except when it would chase another bird away. Just one! But according to the bird count I probably saw four or five!

For the very first time I had pine siskins. There were about a half a dozen that came to the thistle feeder and they chased away the few goldfinches that came to the thistle feeder. But the finches were clever and would just wait around and when the siskins flew away they moved in. I saw this because I put my binoculars down and just watched the birds and the trees and the snow. The doves would sit for long periods of time in the trees, fat fluffed bumps on the limbs. Then one must have said ,”GO!” because they would all fly off somewhere or inundate the feeders and throw seed all over.

I know there were rabbits at night because I found tracks everywhere. They would have had a hard time finding food as the snow was about three inches deep. My toes would have been frozen! Why weren’t their feet too cold to hop around?!
I also had time to contemplate. How fortunate I was to have a home, food, electricity, family and friends who were checking on us, a warm blanket and a pair of binoculars to watch the panorama in my own back yard. So like the robin who has been sitting on the banister in the morning sun, I will look at my surroundings and wait for better times.

Birds Frisco Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

The Continuing Chronicles of the Commons Cooper’s

By: John Garbutt

Watching the five Cooper’s Hawks fledge in mid-June under their mother’s watchful eyes seems like years ago. After that moment, I figured I had possibly seen the last of them, at least as a group. I also had other places to go, The Rio Grande Valley, Fort Davis, and the Bolivar Peninsula. As the calendar turned over to September, I began venturing back out to Frisco Commons on the weekends and on the way to work. The “kids” were missed.

On Sunday, September 13, 7am, I began my usual circuit at Frisco Commons. Baltimore Oriole, Blue-Headed Vireo, White-Eyed Vireo, Eastern Wood Pewee, and a life addition, a Warbling Vireo! Then a family of Downy Woodpeckers moving between a couple of trees. Then everything scattered as an immature Cooper’s Hawk flew in after one of the Downy Woodpeckers! Hello again!

A few days later I witnessed the Cooper’s battling Blue Jays. The jays and hawk swirled around the wood line going in and out of visibility. I tried to capture a few shots as I cheered on my hawk. Nearby the Red-Shouldered Hawks were having issues of their own with the crows.

On Sunday the 20^th, the hawk’s frustration seemed at a boiling point and if it was begging me for help. Luckily one of its siblings came to the rescue! The Jays versus Copper’s continued for the next couple of weeks. Occasionally I saw two of the hawks together. Based on visual sightings and sound, at least three Cooper’s Hawks were around.

As October arrived, I was still seeing two of the young hawks together and occasionally hearing calls in the riparian area. Early on the 4^th I was observing two in the back and looking for one hawk that flew to my right behind a tree. I could not locate it. Then as I turned to my left, there one was, at eye level, within 15 feet. It sat there for a few minutes as we caught up. Earlier in the year, I watched a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron regurgitate a crawfish skeleton, and the hawk looked as if it was about to have a similar issue. It did produce a pellet. Perhaps a “feather ball” and a score against the jays?

As October turned to November then December, my trips to Commons and sightings lessoned. I look forward to next year and any possible nesting. In my short time of birding, this experience with the Cooper’s Hawk family has been the most enjoyable and memorable.

John W. Garbutt
Class of 2019

Allen Birds Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Bethany Lakes Park Birding

By: Jim Dulian

Here is a list of all the water birds we have seen since the beginning of November at Bethany Lakes Park. The loons don’t winter here, but most of these should be around until spring.

* Shown in slide show below

Canada goose
Mallard
American Widgeon
Gadwall *
Lesser Scaup *
Northern Shoveler *
Less Grebe *
American Egret
Great blue heron
Belted Kingfisher
Common Loon
Double crested cormorant
Coot
Ring billed gull

Birds Blackland Prairie Raptor Center Prairie Restoration Raptor Center Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees Trees

BPRC 2020 Prairie Restoration Projects

By: Lorelei Stierlin and Dick Zartler

In 2020 the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center (BPRC) achieved major milestones in its Blackland Prairie restoration efforts. Thanks to increased participation by members of the BPTMN and community volunteers we:

-Conducted our first prescribed burn of almost 17.5 acres, changing fallowing rangeland to vigorous emerging prairies, discovering species such as prairie larkspur and ruellia which had not had an obvious presence for many years;

– In partnership with Connemara’s northern bobwhite restoration efforts, over 100 northern bobwhites were reintroduced to the BPRC. To aid the survival of these quail, a dozen brush piles were made to provide cover for nests and protection from predators;

-With the help of REI, Scouts, and community volunteers, we cut a new trail introducing new sections of our BPRC prairies to our visitors;

-Led by Rick Travis of the BPTMN, established a base line survey of the number, variety, and location of trees within the BPRC. This survey will guide our efforts to remove non-native trees and shrubs, such as privet and chinaberry, as well as help form a restoration plan for our riparian forests;

-Removed invasive plants from our four native prairie demonstration plots which took hold during the first months of their existence;

-Harvested native grass and plant seeds both within the BPRC as well as in other areas of Collin County. We are also exchanging our collected seeds with The Nature Conservancy of Texas. These seeds will be replanted in the BPRC to improve the biodiversity of our prairie.

-Our prairie education efforts were greatly reduced by Covid-19 restrictions, but early in 2020 we did conduct our regular “First Saturday” guided trail walks and, this fall, socially-distanced training for new trail guides.

In early 2021 we are planning to conduct a prescribed burn in 5-6 acres of unburned areas of the park. We have already begun cutting to the ground 5 to 10 foot fire breaks along fence lines, tree lines, trails and structures and more will be required before the burn.

As our riparian forest plans develop, we will begin thinning trees, and removing invasive trees to provide for better growth of those remaining, and to improve visitor access to our wooded areas.

We also expect to have another bobwhite release this spring and will be constructing brushy shelters for nesting and predator protection.

As the COVID-19 restrictions are reduced, we will again provide guided trail walks through our plots and prairies and will conduct trail guide training in anticipation of increasing community interests in the BPRC’s restoration and conservation efforts.

One of over a dozen brush piles providing safe havens for newly released bobwhites

Main prairie fragment just after burn February 2020

One of four demonstration plots maintained and used for seeds

Article Submitted By Greg Tonian

Birds Connemara Native Grasses Prairie Restoration Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Connemara Meadow Nature Preserve Year in Review

By: Robert Mione, Meadow Master

Northern Bobwhite Quail – Photo by – Serena Duan

In January, we co-hosted, with LLELA, a Bobwhite (BW) quail restoration workshop. The workshop was attended by about 45 people, including various local municipalities, nature areas and private land owners. The Heard graciously allowed us to use their large classroom. Other than education, one of our objectives was to add other organizations and people to the BW restoration effort and we did, with the City of Plano and the Blackland Prairie Raptor Ctr beginning their efforts in the Spring of 2020. Later in the year, we were able to add a private land owner to the mix and worked with three private land owners in the Bonham area to begin BW restoration.

In February and March, we continued our efforts to rescue native grasses from Beck’s Prairie in Richardson and move this grass to the Connemara Meadow. During this time frame, we began to work with a high school student at Plano Senior High and were able to bring native grasses from Beck’s and from the Connemara Meadow to start a native grass pocket prairie behind the softball complex at Plano Senior High.

The pandemic rolled in heavily with our volunteers in March and we lost over half of our “normal” crew. We also lost our access to the green house at Allen High School as the school grounds were locked down. This action forced us to move the native grasses we had been growing in the green house out of doors some 30 days early. The loss of volunteers, the heavy Spring rains and the early exit from the green house made it tough to get the grass seedlings into their Summer homes and we lost about half of them. Very expensive.

We were able to add two new volunteers from the 2020 BPMN class and one from the NTMN class, all three excellent volunteers and they made up for some of our COVID losses.

In April and May, we were able to take advantage of grants we received from the Seed Project Foundation and the local Audubon chapter and expand the number of irrigated native grass and wild flower plots for the 2020 growing season. We made a large commitment for a dedicated Little Bluestem plot but this proved unsuccessful and we had to start over mid-Summer, something we had not done before. We reseeded with Sideoats and were able to get a good crop going prior to the first freeze. Based on how this turned out, we will try to “double crop” in other plots in 2021. We had to largest and longest lasting crop of wild flowers ever at the Meadow in 2020. In a bonus situation, due to restoration work we completed earlier, 2015 thru 2020, we had the first multiple nestings of Painted and Indigo buntings in the Meadow. See attached photos of a male Painted and Indigo bunting taken at the Meadow in the Summer of 2020.

In early June, we had the first of our BW releases. We had hopes to duplicate or expand our successes in 2019 of having two nesting pairs, but we could find no evidence that we hit this target. We had other releases in late Summer and Fall with the objective of having the BW’s survive the Winter and be in the best possible shape for breeding season 2021.

During July and August, we began our 2020 efforts to eliminate Johnson grass in the Upper Meadow by using a selective herbicide. The results are promising and we will follow up in 2021. Our efforts to eliminate patches of Bermuda in the Upper Meadow with a selective herbicide were not as effective and we will have to find another alternative to solve that challenge.

During this same time period, we had to spend a great deal of time and effort removing “witch grass” that came with the tall grass seed in one of our new tall grass plots. Over a two week period we pulled out over 5000 clumps (you read that correctly) of witch grass from the plot. It is normal to have some witch grass in our plots, more typically a couple of hundred clumps. However, this year, the number we had to remove and the damage the witch grass did to our plot was extraordinary. We will no longer purchase seed from this vendor as we have too much to do without having to deal with “weedy” seed.

In late Summer and early Fall, we spent time getting our 2021 plots ready to go, a 15-month process dedicated to the removal of as much invasive grass as possible. In early September, Al Baume crossed the five-year mark volunteering at the Connemara Meadow. He has been a shining star!

Click Here for more information.

Birds Flora and Fauna Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Clyde Camp – Hunter, the Red Morph Screech Owl, returns [again].

Hunter, the Red Morph Screech Owl, returns [again].

Since the beginnning of October, I’ve powered up the two nestcams just to see if there’s been any. action. The side/kitchen box remains empty, but the front box has what appears to be a red-phase female (based on the size) snoozing away. The leaves indicate a squirrel has been there in the past and the color is off because it’s a gray overcast day outside. The photo shows that she’s hunkered down over the remains of a pretty large rat.

She spends a day or two in the front box and then is gone for a week or so. This cycle has repeated 3 times now since early October. Last time she was here, she gorged on three, maybe 4, largish rats that she hauled in over 3 days.

Curious George (below) arrives at about 20 seconds and settles in for the day. He’s verbally accosted by a couple of jays and a squirrel about midway through the video. George is the male of the last breeding season (spring, 2020) – a grey-phase Eastern Screech Owl. His mate then was a red-phase female named Hunter. Their breeding attempt was unsuccessful with two clutches of eggs, neither of which hatched. They are both visiting the box off and on again and probably staking their claim on it in late fall 2020.

You can read about, with photos and videos, that attempt (as well as the 2018/19 attempt by a different pair) at http://crcamp.com/owls

Birds Raptor Center Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees Wildlife

Bob Mione & Lorelei Stierlen – New Meaning to When I am calling you

Currently, about 70 quail have been relocated to the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center and can be heard calling all over the property. This video is of the first release.

https://bpraptorcenter.org/

Birds Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

John Garbutt – Mississippi Kites

After the birding doldrums of August, I longed for a change in the wind and the early signs of fall songbird migration. I ventured out on September 6^th to Frisco Commons to see what I could find. I would find Baltimore Orioles, Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, White-Eyed Vireos, and Great Crested Flycatchers. The latter three possibly having bred in the park or county.

However, the highlight of the visit was what I saw first. As I made my way from the parking lot toward the pond at first light, I noticed four raptor silhouettes in a distant tree. As I got nearer, I was able to see they were Mississippi Kites. They are a common site to see around the area during the summer but I had never seen four at this location. As the path turned toward the pond, I saw another, an immature! Then another and another. By the time I counted them all, eleven Mississippi Kites were around the pond! Who needs songbirds when you have raptors?

All were engaged in their morning preening routine and awaiting the thermals. This afforded some intimate observations for over the next hour and subsequent visits. During this observation I wondered how many of them have been in the area all summer, and how many had been further north? A week previously, I counted over a dozen in Sherman on my failed Swallow-Tailed Kite expedition.

In the spring, a group of us saw our first kites of the year arrive over Bob Woodruff Park. Now I was seeing them group up to leave.

One of my favorite observations was watching an immature move about and awkwardly land on the smallest possible limb and struggle with its balance for a moment. This one also spent a fair amount of time observing me from above.

Another was when an adult made an opportunistic quick flight from its perch to grab a dragonfly flying above my head. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The bug activity around the pond was a perfect spot for migration fuel.

Watching bird behavior is my favorite thing to do. I spent over an hour standing in the same area observing the kites preen their features. They must be kept in great shape for the journey ahead. The aforementioned immature joined two adults to preen in the same tree. My favorite gesture to capture is of them using their talons on their head feathers. It makes for a memeable photo.

The family that preens together, stays together.

On my return visits it came down to two remaining kites (or possibly two different ones) who were in the same trees each morning for the last three-day period.

I last recorded them on September 14^th. See you next year.

Birds Connemara Prairie Restoration Shaking of the Trees Post Shaking the Trees

Lu Anne Ray & Bob Mione – Talking quail

Lu Anne: I heard this sweet guy singing this morning and found him in our backyard. A little sun beam on a very cloudy, wet day. Many thanks to all the folks working on the bobwhite restoration project at the Connemara.

Actually he did have a lady friend. She flew away as soon I opened my back door. He let me get within 10 feet of him and stayed around for quite awhile. I’m glad she seems to have some wild instincts…hoping next season’s chicks take after their mom!

Bob: We do too. Our plans are to purchase “wild strain” eggs next year, which means that at least one parent is “wild”. Lots of opinions about loss of DNA from domestic/pen raised BW’s, my vote is to go with seems logical, the more wild the better. We hope to work with a couple of breeders and after a few generations, have chicks we can release that approach 75% “wild”. If you get another chance, try to get a video to capture the “call’.

Well, as an added bonus listen in to this bird whisperer on You Tube by Texas Wildlife Association. You will enjoy: