Category Archives: Year 8

Battling Birds – Part 1: Tree Swallows

Year 8

I hiked in to the Canosia Wildlife Preserve Great Blue Heron Rookery this morning. There is a fantastic swamp / pond that has been formed by the HUGE beaver dam. Birds and other mammals love the handiwork of the beavers (many generations).

In the story of bird migration, it is almost always the males of each species which return to summer nesting grounds first … followed by females later in the spring. Two Tree Swallows found a drowned birch tree … perfect for a nest. A Battle Royale was joined … very fierce and very short (less than one second). This battle was repeated many times as each male tree swallow desired the optimale nesting hole. Enjoy!

The “challenger” lands just above the defending champion, who notes his presence.

The Battle! (last image is of the challenger falling away and giving up for the moment)

The “champion” post fight with his nest hole!

 

GHO Triplets!

Year 8

Yes … last night at sunset I learned there are actually three owlets, Great Horned Owl triplets! It was lousy light, and to see all three you’ll have to watch the movie (link for email subscribers) to see all the youngsters.

This afternoon for the first time in nine days the sun made an appearance … no rain, no snow, no high winds. Thus, I visited the nest. The youngests owlet is now branching (moving about on branches near the nest), while the younger two are still nestbound. Enjoy. (I did!)

Four Waterlogged Owls

Year 8

Yesterday, I posted about a waterlogged Snowy Owl. However, given our horrible weather I decided that was not setting the bar high enough. Thus, today I bring you pictures of four wet owls (and two Killdeer). Rumor has it the sun will shine on Thursday after a stretch of nine horrible days. All photographs were taken today. Notice the ground muck in the Killdeer image.