Birds Archives - Page 70 of 77

February 11, 2010October 5, 2022

Calls of Two Common Owls

Societies and peoples the world over have harbored superstitious fears of owls. In truth, only small mammals and other like-sized prey should tremble in the presence of these fierce, stealthy predators. Most owls hunt by night, aided by light-sensitive vision and keen directional hearing. Most owls also call at night, and although not melodic, you can learn to identify owls by their calls. Today I will feature two common owls of the nine species that you can expect in Utah.

The Great Horned Owl is Utah’s largest owl, the size of a Red-tailed hawk. It’s correspondingly loud and booming call is a series of “who’s”.

[Kevin Colver: Great Horned Owl (Private Library)]

Great Horned Owls breed early, so expect to hear their hooting duets on our long winter nights. They hunt at night from a tree perch, swooping down to catch their prey. They primarily feed on rodents, skunks and other mammals.

Western Screech Owl courtesy and copyright 2007 Lu Giddings — Western Screech Owl
Copyright © 2007 Lu Giddings

My second choice is the Western Screech Owl, one of our several small owls. Its look-alike eastern relative makes a whinnying cry, far different from the Western Screech Owl’s own call, which sounds like a bouncing ball.

[Kevin Colver: Western Screech Owl (Private Library)]

These smaller owls all feed on mice, voles and large insects. The male calls at dusk.

With persistence and luck, you can see these camouflaged owls roosting in the daytime too. Check out flocks of mobbing birds. Crows commonly raise a ruckus around Great Horned Owls, whereas chickadees will fuss stridently around small owls like the Western Screech Owl. But listening at night remains the best way to meet most of Utah’s owls.

Thank-you to Kevin Colver for the use of his bird recordings.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Bird Recordings: Courtesy & Copyright Kevin Colver, Western Screech Owl & Great Horned Owl (Private Collection), https://wildaboututah.org/about-us/#7loons
Pictures: Great Horned Owl, Karen Laubenstein, US FWS Digital Library
Western Screech Owl, Courtesy & Copyright 2007 Lu Giddings
Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society
Voice: Linda Kervin

Additional Reading:

Great Horned Owl, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, https://fieldguide.wildlife.utah.gov/?species=bubo%20virginianus

Western Screech Owl, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, https://fieldguide.wildlife.utah.gov/?species=megascops%20kennicottii

Backhouse, Frances, Owls of North America, Firefly Books, 2008, https://www.amazon.com/Owls-North-America-Frances-Backhouse/dp/1554073421

For Children:

Yolen, Jane, Owl Moon, https://www.amazon.com/Owl-Moon-Jane-Yolen/dp/0399214577

January 14, 2010June 30, 2020

Waxwings

Cedar Waxwing US FWS FWS Digital Library, David Menke, Photographer — Cedar Waxwing
Courtesy
US FWS Digital Library
David Menke, Photographer

For the chance to admire a flock of Utah’s most rakishly handsome songbirds, look to the sky or trees when you hear this call:

[Kevin Colver, Cedar Waxwing, Songbirds of Yellowstone and the High Rockies…]

That high, thin whistle indicates waxwings. All winter long, waxwings stick together in dense, cohesive flocks that fluidly fly and forage as one. Like locusts, a flock will swarm over a mountain ash, juniper or hawthorn, quickly stripping it of the small fruits that constitute their diet. They eat a wide variety of small fruits from berries to grapes to cherries. Cedar waxwings are commonly seen throughout Utah all winter long. They are nomadic; traveling to where ever fruit is abundant. Some winters, they are joined here by their northern cousins, the Bohemian waxwings. Both waxwings are debonair, with a sweptback crest and an angular black Zorro mask. The name waxwing refers to a line of scarlet waxy droplets at the tips of specialized wing feathers. More likely you’ll notice the bar of lemon-yellow feather tips across the tail. Both of those colors come from pigments in their fruity diets. The body of the smaller Cedar waxwing is more caramel-colored than the grayer Bohemian waxwing. Bohemian waxwings have a distinct rufus patch of feathers beneath the tail.

Cedar Waxwing feeding on berries David Menke, US FWS FWS Digital Library — Cedar Waxwing feeding on berries
David Menke, US FWS
FWS Digital Library

So remember to pay attention when you hear that high-pitched whistle and look around you for trees decorated with these snazzy-looking waxwings. They will surely put some zing in your drab winter day.

Thanks to Kevin Colver for the use of his bird recordings.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Bohemian Waxwing Copyright © 2006 Stephen Peterson

Bird Recordings: Courtesy & Copyright Kevin Colver, Cedar Waxwing, Songbirds of Yellowstone and the High Rockies… //wildaboututah.org/about-us/#7loons

Pictures: David Menke, US FWS Digital Library

Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society

Additional Reading:

Bohemian Waxwings Copyright © 2006 Stephen Peterson

Creating Landscapes for Wildlife …A Guide to Backyard Gardens in Utah, https://digitallibrary.utah.gov/awweb/awarchive?type=file&item=10215

December 10, 2009October 29, 2024

New Celebrants for Old Christmas Trees

Christmas Tree on the curb, Courtesy University of Illinois Extension — Christmas Tree on the curb
Courtesy University of Illinois Extension

As a word, “repurposing” grates a little on my ear, but the concept is laudable. At my home, we reuse items in new ways for birdfeeding. Our main bird feeder hangs from the trunk of a venerable old apple tree in our backyard. In winter, the apple offers fruits and perches aplenty, but no cover for hungry juncos, chickadees and finches.

What they want are the thick boughs of a conifer. After every Christmas, there is just such a tree, all decorated, standing in our living room. Rather than hurling that tree on the municipal heap straightaway — a rather abrupt fall from grace, if you ask me — we prop it up beneath our feeder, giving it new purpose as a shelter for feeding birds. They duck in and out of its needled boughs all day long. Some even roost there at night. Beneath it, ground feeding birds can safely clean up the seeds that rain down from the feeder above. A ring of upturned tomato cages beneath the feeder — that otherwise lie idle in our vegetable garden — are given a winter purpose of impeding any stray cats interested in the birds beneath our seed feeder. For no cost and scant effort, we provide our feeder birds with shelter from winter storms and protection from feline predators.

Don’t forget water for the birds in winter. Open water can be a scarce commodity. In areas with freezing temperatures, there are heating elements to put in an existing birdbath or baths with a heating element encased in the base. In our yard, the birdbath is as popular as the seed feeders.

Birds appreciate the simple gifts: shelter from a discarded Christmas tree, a feeder full of seed and water to drink.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:
Bird Sounds: Courtesy Kevin Colver
Text: Jim Cane and Linda Kervin, Bridgerland Audubon SocietyBridgerland Audubon Society, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/
Voice: Linda Kervin, Bridgerland Audubon SocietyBridgerland Audubon Society, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading:

Wild About Utah pieces by Linda Kervin and Jim Cane

Bird Habitat Necessities, Audubon.org, https://www.audubon.org/bird/at_home/HealthyYard_BirdHabitat.html

Don’t toss your tree: Help local wildlife, Wildlife Blog, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://wildlife.utah.gov/news/wildlife-blog/827-dont-toss-your-christmas-tree.html

November 19, 2009March 26, 2022

Wild Turkeys – Recently Moved to Utah

The pilgrims had turkeys for the first Thanksgiving*, but the likelihood that turkeys roamed Utah at that time is small. Archaeologists have found turkey bones in pueblos in the south-eastern corner of the state. But, it is not known if they were domesticated or wild birds. However, like the ring-necked pheasant, and chukar partridge, more than 20,000 wild turkeys now roam Utah thanks to hunters and wildlife professionals.

Turkeys are the largest upland game bird in Utah. Toms stand 4 feet high with tails fanned. Hens stand 3 feet tall. First year birds are called Jakes and Jennies.

Three of the five sub-species of wild turkey were introduced to Utah. Eastern turkeys lived on Antelope Island from 1925 through the 1950s. The Merriam’s, from the ponderosa pine habitat of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado were introduced in 1952. And Rio Grandes, native to cottonwood river bottoms of Texas, were introduced in 1984.

Merriam’s turkeys are blacker than the eastern turkey, with reflections of blue, bronze and purple. Tail coverts, the feathers of the lower back that cover the tail feathers, are white on a Merriam’s turkey; and buff or tan on a Rio Grande.
For protection, turkeys roost in trees, but descend to feed under or near trees during the day. Except when nesting, they prefer protection in numbers and rarely wander alone.

In winter they roost in flocks, but disperse as far as 10 miles to nest. Hens lay 10-11 eggs near brushy cover and incubate them for 28 days. They eat pine nuts, acorns, seeds, insects and green vegetation.

The main predators are hawks, golden eagles, foxes, coyotes, dogs, cats, skunks, raccoons, ravens, and magpies. Fortunately, the numbers hatched usually overcome predation losses.

Thanks this holiday goes to the National Wild Turkey Foundation and Utah DWR for our Wild Turkeys.

This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

Credits:

Photos:
Wild Turkey Courtesy US FWS, Robert H. Burton, Photographer
Wild Turkeys near Mack Park, Smithfield, UT Copyright © 2009 Lyle Bingham
Voice: Linda Kervin, Bridgerland Audubon
Text: Lyle Bingham, Bridgerland Audubon

Additional Reading:

Note: Turkeys were not featured at the first thanksgiving in 1621 as they are in present meals. References to the meal included venison and wild fowl, but the likelihood that turkey was featured is questioned. Although associated with the first thanksgiving by tradition, they are believed to have become commonly associated with the thanksgiving meal around 1800. The NWTF notes this in their History of the Wild Turkey in North America: https://www.nwtf.org/resource-library/detail/history-turkey-north-america

The Pilgrim Hall at Plymouth Plantation notes two sources of information about the thanksgiving celebration. The William Bradford writings mention “Turkies” https://www.pilgrimhall.org/great_american_turkey.htm

Why a Turkey Is Called a Turkey, Robert Krulwich, Nov, 27, 2008, NPR, https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97541602

National Wild Turkey Foundation, https://www.nwtf.org/

Utah Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Foundation, https://www.utnwtf.org/

Wild Turkey Preditors, Posted by Admin, September 20, 2008, https://waterandwoods.net/2008/09/wild-turkey-predators/

Wild Turkeys, Project Wild, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Utah Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, https://wildlife.utah.gov/projectwild/newsletters/00fall-nc.pdf

Wild Turkey, The National Geographic Society, https://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/wild-turkey.html

Wild Turkey,Meleagris gallopavo, All About Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, https://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Wild_Turkey.html

Eaton, Stephen W. 1992. Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: formerly: https://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/022/articles/introduction

Wild Turkey,Meleagris gallopavo, Birds of the World, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/wiltur/cur/introduction

Merriams:

https://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/rsgis2/search/Display.asp?FlNm=melegame

Rio Grande:

https://dwrcdc.nr.utah.gov/rsgis2/Search/Display.asp?FlNm=melegain

Turkey CSI: USU Lab’s DNA Analysis Nabs Poacher, Mary-Ann Muffoletto, Utah State Today, November, 2008, https://www.usu.edu/ust/index.cfm?article=21644