If it has seemed quiet on this blog since last June, well, that’s my mistake — I migrated to a full website at BirdsDowntown.com last year and, in the midst of a whole lot of projects and web work, forgot to set up a redirect.
The birding opportunities continue to amaze me here in the Paper City, so I hope you’ll check in regularly at the new(ish) site.
(c) Greg Saulmon
UPDATE, Friday morning: Some time between dusk last night and dawn this morning, the wayward hawk found its way back up to the nest.
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Original post:
A check on the Red-tailed Hawk nest this afternoon found some drama: one of the young hawks found its way to the lower level of the nest platform and couldn’t figure out how to get back “upstairs”.
I watched for about two-and-a-half hours, and when I left as it started to get dark the little one was still separated from its siblings. The adult hawks know it’s down there — the mother checked on it several times — but it also missed two feedings during the time I watched.
The stray little hawk seems reachable in terms of the adults delivering food, but the spot it’s in doesn’t allow for the jump-flapping exercise necessary to keep building the strength for fledging.
Of course, if the hawk is already strong enough, fledging may just be the next logical step — and the only step out of this predicament.
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
The three chicks at the downtown Red-tailed Hawk nest have been very active the past few days, engaging in vigorous “jump flapping” and even taking little hop-flights around the nesting platform.
It’s hard to believe, but they’ll be ready to fly any day now.
This year, Holyoke’s downtown Red-tailed Hawks built their nest directly under a building’s security light. (c) Greg Saulmon
The latest issue of Audubon Magazine includes a short piece about research on the impact of city lights on urban birds.
The research, which involved blackbirds, was performed by scientists working with Jesko Partecke, a researcher with Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Ornithology. The institute has posted its own summary of the research here.
In a nutshell: For ten months, the researchers exposed blackbirds to a constant light intensity at night. Birds exposed to light had gonads that grew a month earlier than birds who slept in the dark. The birds with night lights also had testosterone levels that rose earlier, and they began singing around one hour earlier each day. At the end of the breeding season, they molted earlier.
“All of this indicates that, from a seasonal perspective, the animals are ready to breed earlier,” Partecke writes in the Max Planck Institute summary. “These findings are clear evidence that the artificial light we find in towns and cities can dramatically change the seasonal organisation of wild animals.”
Lead researcher Davide Dominoni told Audubon that one implication is troubling: urban birds that breed and lay eggs too early might not be able to find adequate food supplies for their offspring.
The research makes me wonder about the implications for this year’s brood of Red-tailed Hawks. As shown in the photo above, the adults built their nest this year directly under a building security light that stays on all night.
Will that somehow impact the development of this year’s brood? Or, is the nesting season too short to have an impact? And: Is it possible that the adults deliberately chose a well-lit location as an additional measure of security against potential predators?
I had a brief moment of panic when I went to check on the Red-tailed Hawks today and found no birds on the nest.
Had I totally mis-judged when the chicks might fledge?
No, it turns out. The brood, and one of their parents, had just moved over to a shady spot on the platform where they’ve made their home this year:
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
The chicks’ flight feathers are coming in, but their heads are still pretty downy, making me think they’re a little bit younger than last year’s brood at this time. The little hawks fledged on June 4 in 2012.
Here’s another recent shot of the brood:
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
Here’s a confession: until last Sunday, I’d never seen a female Red-winged Blackbird.
But then, driving along the canal in the city’s South Holyoke neighborhood, I saw a male perched on a chain link fence. I pulled over, hoping to snap a photo. The bird flew away. And then it started to rain.
I waited.
Several more males landed on utility wires overhead. When they flew away, they flew down toward the canal, out of sight over the steep bank. When the rain died down, I scurried under a fence to see where they were going.
At the water’s edge was a band of reeds and cattails, and two female Red-winged Blackbirds were busy snatching insects and tending to their well-camoflaged nests.
Some of the photos below may make this spot look like a bucolic marsh, but looks are deceiving. Across the canal is a row of factories. Back up the bank and across the street is a tire store.
It’s a world inside a world, and it’s one I’m glad to have discovered.
Here’s a slideshow of photos from the outing:
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
I found the Northern Flicker above hanging around near the same factory where the American Kestrels have their nest, and near the spot on one of the canals where the Canada Geese nest.
I’d actually gone out looking for the Kestrels when I ran across this bird — a good reminder to keep your eyes and ears open and to be ready for anything, even when you think you know what you’re looking for.
But speaking of trying to find specific birds: during Bird-a-thon I noticed that a strip of an old canal bed near the Flats neighborhood had attracted a number of Yellow Warblers. I went back the other day to see if I could get a few more shots of them, and they were still out in numbers. I saw about a half dozen along a short stretch of Canal Street over a period of 25 minutes or so. Here’s one of them:
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
Last weekend marked MassAudubon’s 30th-annual ‘Bird-a-thon‘ fundraiser. The idea: log as many species as possible within a 24-hour period. The event runs from 6 p.m. Friday through 6 p.m. Saturday.
I set a goal of logging 50 species within walking distance of Holyoke’s downtown neighborhoods. Friday evening and Saturday morning were promising — but despite the good weather, new sightings slowed down Saturday afternoon. My little team, which also included Holyoke resident and fellow blogger Sonia Barrera, ended up logging a total of 45 species. Not bad, considering most of the habitat we surveyed included urban parks and industrial tracts.
A few highlights included my first-ever Yellow Warblers in Holyoke; a Killdeer (also a Holyoke first for me) that landed near my feet by an electrical substation on Water Street; a Ruby-throated Hummingbird that paid a visit as dozens of shad fishermen tended to their hobby nearby; and an Eastern Kingbird, seen at a distance, that briefly confounded us until Sonia nailed the ID.
In addition to a multitude of Yellow Warblers, we spotted a Black-and-white Warbler, a few Yellow-rumped Warblers and an American Redstart. There were a number of Warbling Vireos out, too, as well as a male and female Baltimore Oriole out behind the paper mills near the river.
Missing from the list were the woodpeckers (mostly Downy and Red-bellied) that I often see, as well as the Belted Kingfisher that’s almost always a sure bet out near the river.
While we didn’t hit my 50-species goal, sticking so close to home reinforced the idea that you don’t have to go anywhere fancy to see really interesting birds. At one point, a Yellow Warbler perched on a utility line right by Water Street. Any kid living in the Flats could see that bird, and that’s awesome.
Below, a slideshow of photos I shot during our time in the field. I’ll post the full list in the days ahead.
After finding a pair of young Mourning Doves holed up in a tree cavity in Pulaski Park two days in a row, I returned today to find them gone.
Luckily, though, an American Redstart was flitting around in another nearby tree, and it ended up leading me to the two young doves and an adult:
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
On a short walk through Pulaski Park this morning I spotted my first-ever American Redstart. It was hanging out way up in a tree, so I only managed a few photos that were just good enough for a positive ID. When I made a return trip this afternoon, though, two more were flitting about near the train tracks behind the VFW post.
They don’t sit still for very long, so they’re difficult little birds to photograph. The dappled sunlight at the edge of the woods made getting a good exposure tricky, too, but the shot above and the two below are a few of the frames I managed to capture.
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
A few yards from the Redstarts, I almost walked right past this little guy, which I think is a juvenile Mourning Dove:
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
After observing for a few minutes to see if an adult returned, a sibling popped up:
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
Also in the park today was this Northern Parula. When I shot the photo below, the sky was extremely overcast and it was very hard to make out colors or field marks. The bird was very high in a tree, and all I could see were splashes of yellow and gray. I thought I was looking at one of the many Yellow-rumped Warblers I’ve seen in the park recently, until I got home and took a closer look.
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
Adding to the first-I’ve-seen-in-Holyoke streak was this Common Yellowthroat:
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
And this female Scarlet Tanager:
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
To round out what felt like a productive day of birding in the city, I think I found a White-breasted Nuthatch nest in the park:
(c) Greg Saulmon 2013
Two nuthatches were making frequent trips to this hole, bringing smalls insects and other morsels with each visit.
Today’s sightings bode well for Mass Audubon’s Bird-a-thon 2013, which I’ll be participating in next weekend. A tradition marking its 30th year, Bird-a-thon is a fundraiser that sees teams across the state attempting to log as many species as possible over the course of a weekend.
Last year’s winning team, from the Drumlin Farm sanctuary, logged an impressive 236 species in 24 hours.
The Birds Downtown 