A Day at the Meadow with Experts

The more time you spend with nature, the deeper and richer your experience becomes.  That's the quality of accumulating experience.  Put yourself out there and your mind and body will absorb it.  But add an expert to that experience and your world of discovery will enlarge in leaps.        

Above:  Common Blue Violet, one of many violet species enjoyed during the festival.

This is one of the fun parts of attending a nature festival and a good description of my experience at The Meadows at Opossum Creek Retreat during the New River Birding and Nature Festival. I couldn't possibly remember everything I saw and heard on that day, but familiarity is the first step and I did store away a few  enriching experiences to share with you.

My first delight of the day was learning a new bird song, the Ovenbird's "teacher, teacher, teacher".  As many as three of these birds were singing in the area as we walked.  Even though one of our hosts, Keith Richardson (right), had his scope handy, we did not see Ovenbirds on this day.  As the days of the festival went by, I had more opportunity to practice recognition of this song.  More about this bird later.  

A blue-green lichen picked up from the ground, now has a name and an interesting function.

Lichen is actually formed by a symbiotic relationship between an alga and a fungus.  This particular blue-green lichen is called Green Shield Lichen. The expert who called our attention to it was Jim McCormack (right), who rolled the scientific name off his tongue like it was an everyday expression, Flavoparmelia caperata.  This is also the name of the fungus that partners to create the lichen.

Even more fascinating, Jim informed us that hummingbirds favor this type lichen for nest building material because of its characteristic ruffled edges.  These variable edges make the lichen easier to pry loose and more pliable for molding into the rounded shape of a tiny hummingbird nest.    

                                

Bill Hilton, Jr.(left) talked about birds while demonstrating banding.  

Below, he examines a female Red-bellied Woodpecker's  feathers to age her for the record and explained that the emerging red feathers on her crown were an indicator of older age, possibly caused by hormonal changes.

Once the banding and recording were complete, he carefully pulled out the woodpecker's tongue to show us the tiny little barbs that enable this woodpecker to capture insects hiding in tiny cracks and crevices.  This of course gets your thoughts churning.  Every species in nature is especially equipped for its habitat, its food, its lifestyle and its relationship with the other species that share that habitat.  And that is part of the intrigue that keeps my curiosity so engaged and coming back for more.

(Click the image to enlarge)

Birds were only part of what we enjoyed on our nature walks.  Keith Richardson pointed out the leaves of the Dwarf Rattlesnake Plantain growing along an adjacent wooded trail.

Colorful violets (top image) and Golden Ragwort were plentiful all around us.

And a short postscript on birds.  The most surprising bird of the day was a calling Peregrine Falcon, the first ever recorded at The Meadows.

Next:  WV's Waterfalls and Warblers

Related Links and resources:
WV's New River Birding and Nature Festival

National Park Service, New River Gorge Website

Bill Hilton Jr--Hilton Pond
Jim McCormack--Ohio Bird and Biodiversity and Hummers, gnatcatchers and lichen
What are Lichens?
Susan Kailholz-Williams--Susan Gets Native
Debbie Barnes-DJB Photo Adventures
And on this blog, you may be interested in:
Impressed with a Red-bellied Woodpecker's Tongue and Who's Boss?

Who's Boss?

There's a favorite perch near my front door. It happens to be the stump of an old apple tree, long since down, positioned, very handily, in front of a holly bush. And right in front of the holly stands the bird bath, a favorite place for birds to visit in the winter when they're looking for an unfrozen source of water. Most every bird eyeing the feeders or stopping by for a drink, will at some point take their turn on the old apple stump. Mockingbirds, jays, towhees, sparrows, titmice, chickadees and Downies, and most recently, a male Red-bellied Woodpecker. It's the taking turns part that has caught my attention recently, on more than one occasion.

Watching the birds interact at the feeders can sometimes be surprising. Mostly, they seem to come in waves, each bird, taking their turn, peacefully waiting for whoever is feeding to grab their seed and go. But I see other types of behavior, as well, like two titmice, a goldfinch, and a Downy, all feeding at the same time. Or when the seemingly peaceful White-breasted Nuthatch starts wing-flexing and warning everyone else away. And then there's the Bluejay who sometimes flies in like a thug and dethrones the Mockingbird from the holly perch.

I've seen many birds shy away from the Mockingbird, but this is clearly not always the case. On this occasion, a Red-bellied male landed on the perch. I slowly nudged the door open with my foot, hoping to get an image or two without disturbing him. With my eye to the camera, and my focus on the woodpecker, I heard a commotion but didn't pause to look until I had captured the two images below.

In the first, the woodpecker has flared his wings and tail and faces the intruder, a Mockingbird, with his beak high. If you enlarge the image and check the very top, you'll see a bird foot on the perch.

The Mockingbird tried one more time to claim his spot, but not only did the woodpecker not budge, he moved toward him. The Mockingbird settled for a nearby limb and the Red-belly reigned...this time.

Doesn't he look regal with his sunlit red head and fanned tail?

So regal, that I thought he deserved a place in my sketchbook.

And there was space for the mocker, too.

What can I say? They're all boss!

Linked to Bird Photography Weekly #70 at Birdfreak.com to promote the conservation of our world's birds.

Impressed with a Red-bellied Woodpecker's Tongue!

On the day that the crowd of robins visited, a parade of other birds joined them in the dogwood tree. Among them, this Red-bellied Woodpecker male. (Click images to enlarge.)

It's always a treat when he visits the dogwood tree, and this time was no exception. He flew into the dogwood limbs, hung upside down to pluck a berry, then flew to a nearby trunk to reposition it before swallowing.

It was this that surprised me. He used the trunk's surface to reposition the berry, so that he then held it at the tip of his bill.

With his long tongue extended, he used it in a lever-like fashion to move the berry into swallowing position.

Once the berry was gone, he scooted around the tree to forage some more. But then, paused, looked back at another dogwood berry, hung upside down and stretched his tongue out to pick up something from its surface.

A fun and intimate encounter. I hated to see him fly away. The good news--he's my neighbor!

Linked to Bird Photography Weekly #63 at Birdfreak.com, to promote the conservation of our world's birds.

That Baby Bird Stuff Going on Out There!

There is a lot of baby bird activity going on this time of year. Not only are baby hummingbirds out of the nest and visiting feeders, more than doubling the number of nectar visitors, other young birds are foraging around the yard.  It just takes a minute of being still to find them.

I stepped outside because I heard tapping, a sign of a woodpecker near by.  I wondered if a Pileated Woodpecker was around, but found the next best thing--a female Red-bellied Woodpecker foraging in the pines.  I will show you images of her in my next post, but in this one, I wanted to show you some of the baby stuff going on under that same tree!

There were several American Robins running around on the ground and I quickly identified them as juveniles with rusty breasts still speckled with dark spots and white down, and their back and wing feathers also speckled with white.

They already have very robin-like posture and movements.  Alert stance, listening to everything above and below, lightening quick feet.  They learn quickly to watch for food and watch for danger at the same time.

 A good strategy--don't linger in one place for too long!

Right after the young robin scurried away, a Carolina Chickadee landed in front of me. I would not have thought much of it had I not snapped some images just because the camera was in my hand.

Parent and juvenile chickadees look the same. I glanced at these images and concluded, this must be a juvenile! He has picked up a yummy rock for all his foraging efforts!

 He seems to be wondering what to do with his prize.

Thankfully, Carolina Chickadee juveniles follow their parents around for several weeks while they learn to find food and feed themselves!

Next:  Red-bellied Woodpeckers foraging

Carolina Chickadee
American Robin

A Tail Bracing Party

I visited one of my favorite places yesterday, Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

I was certainly not alone. It was Columbus Day holiday for many, the last day of a four-day weekend AND fall break for the university and area schools. So...

it was a wee bit crowded! But that tells us all how much we love our wild places and how important it is to save as many of them as we can.
The party began when I pulled off the road and took a quiet walk in the woods. I happened upon an area with several dead upright trunks fairly peppered with every size hole imaginable. It felt as though I had just entered a woodpecker dining hall.Within minutes a yellow-bellied sapsucker joined me. He didn't stay long, but I got to see his tail brace in action. The sapsucker is a resident of the park but is described as "seldom seen" until the northern migrants start coming through after the end of September. Then they are more easily seen in the lower elevations. Wouldn't you just love to know what's happening on the other side of that trunk? The next visitor practically landed on my head--a male red-bellied woodpecker. I was standing inches from the tree he selected which made photography a challenge. But woodpeckers are flighty characters and I enjoyed the few minutes he did stay. You don't get this angle very often and I must say, its the closest I've ever been to a woodpecker. I love his white petticoat-style tail that drapes over the black bracing feathers. You just can't get the full effect of this from field guides.
The white-breasted nuthatch isn't a woodpecker at all, but he fit right into this parade. I heard his 'yank, yank' calls and saw him at a distance before he landed on the other side of this trunk about six feet away. I focused the camera on the trunk, knowing he would pop around to my side at any second. And he did! He gave me these two shots. Don't you just love them? What a treat.

I love this sort of experience. All we have to do is find a quiet place and keep still for a short while and nature will show us her amazing creatures.

The trees are about two weeks away from peak color in the mountains but the forests and meadows are overflowing with a bounty of nuts, cherries, berries and seeds. A rich harvest is spread for busy wildlife, and for us, a beautiful and peaceful place is waiting any time of the year.

Woodpeckers in Spring

I often take my seed feeders down during the spring and summer months, primarily because a break disperses finch species and helps prevent the spread of finch disease, but also because I have limited space for both storage and feeding.   My focus generally turns to hummingbirds as they arrive in mid-April.

Hummer and Downy                           Watercolor by Vickie Henderson

This year, I took down the seed feeders but left up suet and nut feeders for woodpeckers and other nut-loving birds, and I have been generously rewarded with many fun observations. I noticed yesterday that my neighborhood downies are still coming to the hummingbird nectar to drink!

Male Downy Woodpecker feeding juvenile             Photo credit:  Vickie Henderson

Downy Woodpeckers are now being followed to the feeder by fluffy young and I am hoping that the Red-bellied pair and the Hairy Woodpecker pair will soon be showing up with their young tagging along, too.  Wouldn't that be a treat--to see a Hairy juvenile!  

Male Downy, above, with juvenile below.          Photo credit: Vickie Henderson

I have had Hairy Woodpeckers come to the winter feeders in the past, but have never spotted them in the breeding season until now. Like our other backyard woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers don't migrate but stay near their territories throughout the year. Until now, it was unknown to me if the male Hairy I was seeing actually had a mate and was nesting in the area. Two days ago, I spotted a female at the feeder!

In the image below, you can see the enormous size of the Hairy's bill, approximately the same length as the width of his head.  He also has the distinctive comma mark that extends to his breast and no lateral stripes on his tail.  To recognize him, you also have to keep in mind his size--closer to the red-belly's size than the size of a downy.

Hairy Woodpecker                                   Photo credit:  Vickie Henderson

Even though the frequency of my blog posts has slowed recently, I will certainly post a picture of a Hairy juvenile if I am fortunate enough to see one!

My time and energy is currently concentrated on my book project which has a nearing deadline.  The book is focused on birds, of course!  My observations of birds, bits of life history for each highlighted species, and stories and history about each bird from the pioneer ornithologists that first discovered and recorded bird species in Tennessee are all included in the book. The Tennessee Ornithological Society, the care-taker and creator of Tennessee's bird history, is celebrating 100 years of bird study and enjoyment this year, making it the oldest conservation organization in Tennessee.

The book will be printed in full-color so I can generously illustrate it with my own watercolors along with many historic illustrations and photographs.

Hairy Woodpecker                                   Photo credit:  Vickie Henderson

If you haven't already subscribed to this blog, you will find the email subscription form at the top of the right-hand sidebar.  Once done, the next blog post will be delivered to you by email.  This is a great way to be alerted to a new blog post and to keep up-to-date on the book's progress!

Detail, Northern Ficker in Snow, watercolor in progress by Vickie Henderson

Links and Resources:

Sketch Book--Red-shouldered Hawk Territory
Discover Birds Activity Book
Discover Birds Blog
Watercolors of Birds
Detail of "Hummer and Downy"