Bird Brain

Whiporwills do that too. I guess birds that nest on or near the ground had to come with some way to protect the young.

ac

I watched a show once, I believe on Animal Planet, where folks were feeding bread to a group of ducks. A snowy egret scooped up a few crumbs in its beak, flew to the opposite side of the pond, and deposited the bread in a few inches of water. The bait soon attracted minnows, and the egret began feeding on those. The bird repeated this behavior several times. I've often wondered where that egret learned how to chum for its meal.

Another time, my wife and I were having drinks with another couple on their dock. It was just getting dark when a rat appeared nearby. I can tell you without blushing I was the first one up on the table. Before I had time to shriek too loudly, I heard the beating of wings and a sudden whoosh as a great blue heron dove in, impaled the rat in its beak and flew off. I'm not sure if this constitutes intelligent behavior, but that heron could've been awarded a medal of valor in my book.

Hi, Silver King! Glad you dropped by!

I saw that clip with the bird dropping bread in the water. Talk about impressive! That was excellent planning/implementation. Some folks should be so smart.

Re: the rat/heron. I'd have dropped dead, right then and there. lol

Great thread starter, Fern! Bird brains indeed.

We have a number of black-capped chickadees using the bird feeders in our yard. They are a treat to observe. It's as if they know it's polite to wait their turn at the feeder by sitting on a branch near it. Then they swoop in, spot what they want, pick it up, and fly off to a branch to enjoy what they selected.

Fern said:

I'm with awatkins on the rat thing. It would have been all over for me right then I'm afraid. Rats give me the creeps, not to mention a big ol' bird swooping down right before your eyes.

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Don't forget the impaling part.

Chickadees do seem polite, don't they? They even look polite, with their formal attire. We're having an abundance of lemon-yellow American goldfinches at our feeders. They look so pretty in contrast to the vibrant red of the cardinals and the bold blue of the indigo buntings. There's a new guy in the bunch lately, too, a blue grossbeak that shyly picks around on the ground. Gorgeous bird.

Vlad the heron

The impaling part was impressive. The beak went straight through and left a wet smear on the dock. I love blue herons and see them often, though I didn't realize they were partial to rats until that evening.

If you can stand another heron anecdote...

I was wade fishing once with a friend when we came upon a heron in distress. Her left wing was tangled in fishing line. My friend went to help her, approaching on his knees. As he reached for the beak to subdue her, she lunged and pecked him in the face, just under his eye. His head snapped back as if he'd been struck by a fist. He fell backwards, blood streaming down his cheek. He was left with a shiner and, to this day, a knot of scar tissue that's still visible near his eye.

(We did manage to free the heron. I used my shirt to cover the bird's head and held her while my friend cut away the fishing line.)

Blue herons have earned an interesting nickname, and rightly so: Big Cranky.

Good grief!! I'm glad she missed his eye. Those birds are awfully big and powerful; good for you two that you were able to go ahead and free her, though I bet your friend didn't feel much like doing anything but getting himself patched up!

I didn't know they liked rats--fish, yes; rats, um, no. *shudder*

(Vlad the heron indeed! )

That evokes way too many stories for me.

First off, I was at a small pond, walking around it. Right among some downed limbs and a lot of brush hanging over the water there was this Great Blue Heron some eight feet from me. With his six foot wing span he couldn't fly or quickly negotiate the brush to get away. I whipped out my camera and caught a beautiful shot of him before he found himself out of what he thought was harms way. (I'll find it and post it as soon as I wade through all the files.)

Another one: while I was fishing a seagull landed to see if he could steal a piece of bait. Problem was that he had a double treble hook lure stuck in his beak. One side stuck to his neck, the other in one of his nostrils. He couldn't eat no matter what. A friend got a pair of work gloves from his van and sat behind him. I spent about a half hour sweet talking him to get him closer and distracted--using killeys to draw him near. My friend grabbed him from behind and we used nose pliers to pull out the lure. Once freed, he decided to stay and feed on the killies. He was one hungry dude.

Last story, promise: My bro-in-law and I drove into Gateway National Park, believe it or not, situated on some of the shores in New York City. It was at Breezy Point, Queens, and a ranger had to check us out for fishing poles, four wheel drive vehicle, and an entrenching tool in case we got stuck on the beaches. He cautioned us to watch out for the plovers, a somewhat endangered bird species that were spawning. It was about 10 PM. We were getting close to the jetty when our headlights caught some several hundred plovers on the beach--every parent running away and feigning a broken wing.

That plover story is hilarious! I can just picture them all running away, dragging their 'broken' wings.

I'm looking forward to seeing that picture, Rich. Hope you can find it.

We discovered a nest in our shed a few weeks ago that was attached to the side of the wall on a cross piece. Last weekend, there were five eggs in it. Today, we have one or more hatchlings! When I realized from the upstretched head and open mouth of one that there were young in it, I backed out of the shed and closed the door. There's a chunk missing out of it and there's an opening beneath the roof, so the parents have been getting in and out already with the door shut.

Sorry, couldn't get him smaller. Don't know how. l

My wife owns the only bait/tackle store for twenty miles in any direction and we sell live bait year around. This means when some of the shiners, goldfish, tuffies, crawdads, and crickets die each day we pack them into ziplock bags for sale as dead bait. But we still have a lot which we discard.

Out in front of the bait shop are my weld sculptures and a mulberry tree. About five feet from them grows a very large wild rose bush, replete with numerous long menacing thorns. All of the various colored juncos, canaries, blue jays, etc. use that rose bush for hiding when threatened.

For quite some time lately we have enjoyed watching a red-tailed hawk showing obvious signs of intellect in catching the birds. As the other birds fly down to eat the dead fish and bird seed we often put out for them the hawk perches in a not-too-distant tree and watches. Once the hawk ascertains there are enough birds on the ground it dives down, scattering the birds into the rose bush where they apparently know the hawk cannot get them. It then sits on one of the weld sculptures while it observes where the birds went.

We repeatedly watch in amazement as the hawk then stalks on foot beneath the rose bush, reaching up to grab a branch in its beak and vigorously shake the branch. It will then move to another branch and repeat the action, sometimes pausing as if to gauge the effect. This obviously frightens the birds hiding in the rose bush because they come fluttering from the thorny recesses to fly over and alight on the mulberry tree.

The hawk always has its pick of which particular birds it chooses to eat on that occasion, since the frightened birds have lost their protection but aren't smart enough to fly away.

The bird in the shed is a wren. We spotted two of the babies today when we got the mower out of the shed.

Where I live we have Carolina wrens (neat little birds); they can pick the oddest nesting places. Every year at my mother's house they nest in one of her hanging flower basket on the porch. I've probably held more Carolina wrens than any other bird just trying to save them or get them out of trouble.

I needed a board from the shed today. Got a quick look at the birds. They've got feathers now, so it won't be long before they leave the nest.

Years ago, my mom hung up a pair of cute wooden shoes on her front porch. Wrens nest in one of them every year.

Rich, that picture...

Hey, Rich, why don't you post that picture on your blog? Then let us know when it's up and we'll go look at it there. I want to see.

I'll try.

Hey, it worked. When I try to put anything on my regular site I go through so much trial and error maneuvers that I give up trying. On the blog it's easy. I'm thinking of dropping my regular site, which costs about 300 bucks a year, and switch everything to my blog.

more bird stuff

It's nice to have a spot to chat about birds w/o people groaning, "here she goes again......"

We have two very distinct sparrows that we are trying to identify. If you pick up a bird book, there's about a thousand varieties. We think one is a chipping sparrow and the other might be a song sparrow. The (possible) song sparrow and mate have built a nest in our newly planted pine tree off the deck.

Any sparrow freaks here?

BTW, is there a market for writing about wild birds from an interested layperson's perspective? We aren't hardcore birders and know zilch about exotics. (Except we are babysitting a cockatiel later this month who's a bit of a princess.)

Nancy, I think Birds and Blooms publishes material like that. Check the sticky--they're listed there.

Speaking of bird brains...we recently moved our birdfeeders off the front porch and out to one of the gardens. There are four feeders there, and I also scatter seeds and cracked corn on the ground. But, just let one of the feeders run low on a favorite item (sunflower, thistle, whatever) and you better believe those little feathered beggars are on the porch, staring in the window, clinging to the screen and tapping at the glass, or even perching somewhere they can see in through the front door! I'm a bird slave, I tell ya.

Ah, I will be setting up a fund drive for a huge bird cage. Don't worry, awatkins; it'll be big enough to fit you and any of your family members who wish to visit.