YELLOW WARBLER Week 4

Yellow Warblers migrate almost as soon as they are finished breeding. They often leave in early July and are gone by August. The Yellow Warbler winters from Baja California to Central Peru. They return to the Gulf coast in mid April. We see them here in Canada in May.

Although the Yellow Warbler is one of our more familiar warblers, their numbers have declined in some areas. The loss of river habitat in the southwest as well as parasitism by cowbirds has caused some decline.

 

YELLOW WARBLER Week 3

The Yellow Warbler’s diet is almost entirely made up of insects and it has a sharp pointy beak that is perfect for catching them. The male feeds the female while she sits on the eggs and the eggs hatch in about 10 days. Both parents feed the young once they have hatched and in another 10 days the young are feathered and ready to leave the nest. For the first two or three days, the young perch near the nest and the adults continue to feed them insects. After that time, the young stay in the vicinity of the nest but must find food on their own.

 

YELLOW WARBLER - Week 2

The Yellow Warbler’s diet is almost entirely made up of insects and it has a sharp pointy beak that is perfect for catching them. The male feeds the female while she sits on the eggs and the eggs hatch in about 10 days. Both parents feed the young once they have hatched and in another 10 days the young are feathered and ready to leave the nest. For the first two or three days, the young perch near the nest and the adults continue to feed them insects. After that time, the young stay in the vicinity of the nest but must find food on their own.
Click here to download Yellow Warbler coloring page ywar-coloring-page

 

Yellow Warbler (Dendroica petechia): Week 1

The Yellow Warbler has the most widespread breeding range of the wood warblers. It ranges from Alaska and across northern Canada to the southern United States.

The male is bright yellow with rusty breast streaks. The female and immature birds are a duller yellow without the chestnut breast streaks. No other warbler is so completely yellow and it is the only yellow-breasted warbler with yellow tail spots.

The Yellow Warbler’s song is, “Sweet, sweet, sweet, I’m so sweet,” and it frequently pumps its tail up and down. Click the following link to listen to the song of the Yellow Warbler: http://www.pqspb.org/downloads/education/YWAR.mp3

 

Red-winged Blackbird - Week 4

Visit the breeding grounds in late July or early August and you will find the area strangely quiet. The redwings have gone to more secluded areas while they go through their moult (shedding and replacement of worn feathers). Redwings congregate (gather together in large numbers) in large flocks. In September after their moult is complete, they will reappear briefly on the breeding grounds before they begin their southward migration. They migrate in large groups, as that is a useful strategy for deflecting predators. Hawks have trouble singling out one bird to strike when faced with their fast-moving, tight migratory flocks.

The fields and marshes are quiet in winter. Then, spring and the kon-ka-reee sounds explode in our ears once again. In Montreal, the average return date of the Red-winged Blackbird is the first week of March.

Click this link to download a colouring stencil of the Red-winged Blackbird. rwbb-colouring-page

 

Red-winged Blackbird - Week 3

If you are wondering why the male is not doing more work for his family, that is because he is too busy guarding the nests in his territory. Yes, that is right – nests. The Red-winged Blackbird is polygynous (male mates with two or more females). A male redwing may have up to 15 different females making nests in his territory. Not for him the joys of “quality family time”. He has territory to defend! He is occupied with chasing away other male redwings and guarding his territory from predators. Because territories are often side-by-side, the breeding grounds will be resound with the songs and calls of male redwings, their red epaulets puffed and fierce looking. However, his defence may be flawed. 25 to 50% of the young in his territory are not his offspring- they have been fathered by red wing interlopers!

 

Red-winged Blackbird - Week 2

Red-winged Blackbirds breed in a variety of wetland and grassy areas, particularly marshes. They like to eat seeds and grain, so they may also nest near or in agricultural fields. Insects and fruits are also part of their diet. As explained in Week 1, the male establishes the territory before the female is even on the scene. When the female returns, she perches in trees near some noisy redwings. The males immediately notice her presence and perform flying and vocal courtship displays to get her attention. If a display finds favour with the female, the pair will mate.

The female builds the nest on her own. Her streaky-brown colouring helps to camouflage her activities around the nest. However, the secret is usually given away by loud Check and Tseert calls whenever anyone approaches the nest. She will lay three to five blue-green and streaky eggs and incubates them for approximately eleven days. The young stay in the nest for approximately seven to ten days, being fed mainly by the female. After the young fledge (leave the nest), they still stay near the nest for about a week. The male will help with feeding during this time.

 

Red-winged Blackbird Week 1 (Agelaius phoeniceus)

Kon-ka-reee is the explosive song of the Red-winged Blackbird (RWBB), one of our earliest birds to arrive in spring. Males return to their breeding grounds here several weeks before the females arrive. Each male wants to stake out a territory. When you hear the Kon-ka-reee song, look around – you will most likely see a male Red-winged Blackbird leaning forward and spreading his wings to show off his red epaulets. A male Red-wing will ferociously defend its territory, often attacking much larger animals.

The name - Red-winged Blackbird - tells it all. Male redwings are medium-sized black birds with red patches or epaulets on the lesser coverts (area where the wing bends). There may also be some yellow on the median coverts. Females, however, are brown and heavily streaked. She has a white eye-stripe and the throat is a buff colour. This is an example of sexual dimorphism (physical differences between male and female of the same species).

Watch a video clip of a Red-winged Blackbird:

 

Great Horned Owl - Week 4

 

Protected by provincial law, our raptors represent a level of predator on par with humans - in the food chain that is. Intellectually, the wise old owl picture is rather debatable. Their brains’ frontal lobes are almost entirely taken up with the senses of hearing and sight, so there is not much room for other functions. But this ensures they are very good predators, capable of hunting entirely by sound on moonless nights. Don’t be fooled by the tufts of feathers on top of owl’s head- they are NOT ears, just tufts of feathers that they can lower or raise. Their wingspan ranges from 101 to 153 cm, their length is 55 cm and they weigh approximately 1,400 grams.

Great Horned Owls are often harassed by American Crows. In fact, if you should hear or see a large mob of crows, keep looking to see if they are harassing an owl or other raptor.  

Happy owling, but do keep warm!

To watch a video of a great Horned Owl, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g43BpJ3cb8I

 

 

Great Horned owl (week 3)

Week 3

Once the owlet is well feathered, it becomes more mobile. They enter teenage hood about 8 weeks of age. And yes, they then can get into trouble quite easily. We have those exhilarating summer storms that sweep through our region bringing very strong winds. At this time, youngsters can easily get separated from home. Following one such storm I got a call about a strange bird in a backyard in St. Lazare. Armed with cage and gloves, we set off. The people had confined the young Great Horned Owl under a plastic clothesbasket. He just sat there calling a plaintive ‘jweep’. This was definitely not normal behaviour - he should have been very frightened of us, instead it almost welcomed the attention. Its behaviour when offered food confirmed that this was an imprint - but where did it come from? Oddly enough, the television station 4 Saison rang to ask about stories - obviously a slow news week - and we told them about this. They were excited and asked if we could re-enact the story. Phone calls later, all the players were ready and we ‘did our thing’ for the cameras. The owl did his too - his only interest really was in food and that he had in excess.  This story was screened and the rest of ‘Jweep’s’ story became known. A person had found two owlets some months before and reared them himself. Both were imprinted. ‘Jweep’ has gone on to be a wonderful ambassador for his species and raptors in general. His home is the Ecomuseum at Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue. He is now 12 years old. Let’s hope he lives for the 20+ years they are capable of.

If their diet is adequate, owls develop and grow well. These birds have one of the longest apprenticeships of all birds, being cared for and learning from their parents until being evicted in September from the parental territory.