Table of Contents. A Few Cape Cod Birds 1

Transcription

1 Table of Contents Introduction...2 Tufted Titmouse...4 Black Capped Chickadee...6 Goldfinch...8 Cardinal...10 Redwing Blackbird...12 Eastern Towhee...14 Ruby-Throated Hummingbird...16 American Woodcock...18 Northern Flicker...20 Barn Swallow...22 Gray Catbird...24 Yellow Warbler...26 Bobolink...28 American Kestrel...30 Osprey...32 Double-crested Cormorant...34 Canada Goose...36 Great Blue Heron...38 Snowy Egret...40 Belted Kingfisher...42 Common Tern...44 Herring Gull...46 A Few Cape Cod Birds 1

2 Introduction A tufted titmouse started this project. Strong encouragement from a friend kept it going. I ve always been fascinated by birds. My father encouraged that interest by spending hours with me looking at the pictures in bird books. By the age of 7 or 8 I could identify most birds we saw in the woods and fields by sight. Those whose names I didn t know, I at least knew which part of the bird book to look in for identification. By 10 I could identify many of the common New England shore birds with the help of a very special Aunt. One early autumn afternoon a few years ago as I was standing in the kitchen thinking about what to have for dinner, I saw a flash of wings disappear into the rhododendron outside the kitchen window. I had to stop and see who was there. It was a tufted titmouse and I found him sitting on a branch pecking at something between his feet. With my binoculars, always handy, I discovered he was pecking away at a wooly bear, a black and orange catterpillar. This was a scene so special I had to find a way to share it with my grandchildren. But my camera was in no way capable of capturing this vision. I would have to paint it. But paint on paper was not an option because my scanner refused to talk to my new computer. I would have to draw it directly in Photoshop, the one program I had immediately available that I knew how to use fairly well. I ve never considered myself competent at drawing birds, so I used Google to find a photograph of a titmouse in more or less the same position as the one I had seen. Using that photo, I traced the outline of the bird modifying it a bit to get just the pose I needed. The rest I filled in from the sharp memory of the event. It probably took me about an hour or two to get something I was satisfied carried the essense of my little experience, and I ed it to my grandchildren in California. This was successful enough that several days later, when I was again thinking about birds I tried another. And later another. The pictures in this book are all done in more-or-less the same way. I get the outline of the bird from somewhere (sometimes a Google search, sometimes one or another of my bird identification guides). However, the more I draw, the more I gain confidence. Therefore the less I rely on Google. But for me, that s only half the story. I want to know more about the birds. Most field guides today are written for identification only. But what I want to know is about the birds. What do they eat? Where do they go in winter? What makes this bird different from that bird? What is the history, the lore, about these friends of mine? How do others see them? 2 A Few Cape Cod Birds

3 The text in this rather eclectic collection of birds draws heavily from Cornell University s Birds of North America Online ( for factual material about habitat, migratory habits, food, and rearing their nestlings. I ve also used Forbush s three volume Birds of Massachusetts and Other New England States, published in 1925 by the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture and illustrated by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, and the much more recent book, The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior, illustrated by David Allen Sibley. The Forbush books are the ones I pored over as a child with (and often without) my father. When I couldn t find what I wanted to hear from any of these three primary sources, I hunted through a number of websites, some more credible than others, and a number of books uncovered by the wonderful folks at the Woods Hole Public Library. And there s also a very random collection of anthropological commentary. This is drawn mostly from the obvious (Wikipedia.com) and the less obvious RavenDreamer s website ( First People ( Animal Totems at Lin s Domain ( Spirit Lodge (spiritlodge.yuku.com/) to name a few. These led me to Ted Andrews book Animal Speak, which added a little esoterica. And there s also Diana Wells book, 100 Birds and How They Got Their Names, illustrated by Lauren Jarrett. The birds here are the most common ones to come to my birdfeeders in New England. If you have a bird feeder, you ll probably see the ones in this book, and you may see many others. It depends on the kinds of seeds you put in your feeders and the kinds of feeders you have. It depends on where you live. It depends on the time of year. Some birds fly south for the winter. Some fly north for the summer. Some birds don t like eating from high places. Some birds will only eat from high places. Some are very shy and some are friendly, Some are quiet, some noisy. All are interesting and fun to watch. My intent is to share my interest and joy in learning about the world around us, particularly in the form of beautiful flying creatures. A Few Cape Cod Birds 3

4 Tufted Titmouse Párus bícolor, length 6 inches, wingspan 9½ inches I had grown, married, and had children of my own before I ever saw a tufted titmouse. My parents had moved to Cape Cod, and I was visiting them. My two small daughters were napping, and I was sitting outside on the patio with my parents and telling them about the house in Rhode Island where I was living. Something small and grey flew over my head and landed in a nearby tree. I stopped in the middle of my sentence with my mouth still open, staring. It s a tufted titmouse, I exclaimed in astonishment. Bah, my mother muttered. You and your father are the only two people I know who will stop in the middle of an interesting conversation to oogle over a plain grey bird no more than 5 inches long! But he s not just plain grey, I said to myself, He has a crest and a white belly! And a rusty patch on his side. My children are grown and I now live in the house where my parents lived on Cape Cod. I count tufted titmice among my good friends and constant breakfast companions. They eat their sunflower seeds outside my dining room glass doors while I have my cereal and fruit. One early autumn afternoon as I was standing in the kitchen thinking about what to have for dinner, I saw a flash of wings disappear into the rhododendron outside the kitchen window. I had to stop and see who was there. It was a tufted titmouse and I found him sitting on a branch pecking at something between his feet. With my handy binoculars, I discovered he was pecking away at a wooly bear, a black and orange catterpillar. I had no idea they liked caterpillars! This was a scene so special I had to find a way to share it with my grandchildren. And that is how this book began. Where can I find them? From southern New Hampshire and Vermont to Florida and eastern Texas, you will find Tufted Titmice in deciduous forests and some mixed deciduous and coniferous forests Do they Migrate? Close cousins of the Chickadee, they also live for the entire year in one place. Anything else? Once called the Crested Titmouse, the tufted titmouse was rare in New England in the mid 1900s. Today they are certainly common on Cape Cod. In the Cherokee Tsalagi language, the Tufted Titmouse is called u-tsu-tsi. The old Norse word titlingr means little bird. Add the Middle English word mose (or Old English mase). Convert Titlingr Mose to modern spelling, and we get Titmouse. 4 A Few Cape Cod Birds

5 What do they eat? They eat insects, seeds, and berries. In winter they stay closer to the ground; they don t care for strong winds. In summer they stay higher up in the canopy of the trees. Like the chickadee, they are hoarders, first shelling their seeds and nuts, and then hiding them under loose bark or in small cracks in the bark of trees. What is their nest like? Like their chickadee cousins, they build nests in holes in trees that were previously used by other bird species such as woodpeckers. They will also nest in humanmade nest boxes. They build their nests of damp leaves, moss, dried grass, strips of bark, fur, wool, cotton; whatever they can find. Then they line it with the hair of animals such as dog, raccoon, fox, rabbit, mouse, even humans. I once watched a tufted titmouse sneak up behind my sleeping dog and pull hair from his back. They also like snake skin as part of the nesting materials. Who feeds the babies? Both parents feed the nestlings, sometimes as many as 9 of them, but usually 5 or 6. Sometimes they even have another titmouse to help out, a bird who didn t have his (or her) own babies to feed. Tufted titmouse eggs are almost three quarters of an inch long. A Few Cape Cod Birds 5

6 Black Capped Chickadee Póecile atricapíllus, length 5 inches, wingspan 8 inches I first became aware of chickadees at the age of 6 or 7. When I was sick as a child I was allowed to stay in my parents bed during the day. From the big bed I could watch the birds on the feeder outside their window. I could also stand near the window and, if I kept still, I could watch them only inches (and one pane of glass) away from my nose. Chickadees are small but they are brave and intelligent little birds. They can learn to land on your fingers and take seeds from the palm of your hand, but it takes time and a lot of patience to gain their trust. Standing behind that pane of glass, it was easy to see that the chickadees chose the sunflower seeds. Sometimes they d stay on the feeder and break the seeds open, leaving the shells where they found them. But more often they d flutter in, cock their heads to get a better view of what was available, choose the best seed, and zoom off with it in their beaks. There was constant chickadee traffic at our feeder. I thought they must be the hungriest birds in the world. In fact, when there is plenty of food, chickadees will hide seeds to eat later. They find tiny hiding places under a loose piece of bark or in crevices in tree bark or fence posts. They have a good memory, and remember where they hid their extra food. We had an old grape arbor in the yard, and this was a favorite place for the chickadees to hide seeds. For several years I thought chickadees were winter residents, since I was only sick in the winter when school was in session and chickadees were more dependent on the bird feeder. It wasn t until much later that I realized our Massachusetts chickadees don t migrate. Why do they seem so common on bird feeders in winter and so invisible during the summer? Across the street from our house there were shrubs and small trees leading into a forest. Here, hidden away beneath the leaves, the chickadees hunted for food and built their nests. At that time of year when I was near the brook, I was looking down, hunting for tadpoles, not looking up and hunting for birds. Here on Cape Cod I easily see them year-round. Where can I find them? From Alaska, through Canada, Washington and Oregon across the continent to New York and New England and Pennsylvania and down through the Smokies as far as the far western part of North Carolina. They live mostly near the edges of deciduous, or mixed deciduous and coniferous forests. Do they migrate? They may move a little south in years when the food in their area is scarce, but they don t really migrate. What do they eat? In summer, Chickadees feast on insects, spiders, moths, caterpillars, slugs and snails. They can even catch flying insects in the air. They also eat some seeds and fruits. In winter when the insects sleep, they eat seeds and any fruits and berries left on the branches of bushes and trees and bird feeders. 6 A Few Cape Cod Birds

7 What is their nest like? They find holes in trees or even the eaves of houses. They will also use man-made bird houses if they find one. The holes they find were once used by other birds, such as woodpeckers. Chickadees don t make their own holes. Mama chickadee uses moss as a base for the nest, then lines it with something soft like rabbit fur. After she lays her eggs (usually between 6 and 8 of them), she is the one who sits on them during incubation. Papa brings her food while she sits, but occasionally she leaves the nest and gathers her own food. When she leaves, she covers the eggs carefully with extra nesting material. Who feeds the babies? Both parents bring food. The babies are ready to leave the nest when they are about two and a half weeks old. The parents may accompany the babies on their first flight. If one is reluctant to leave the nest, one of the parents may bring food to the nest, but take it away again after the young one sees it. The parent is telling the child he will have to learn to fly in order to get food. Once the nest is empty, the children spend the next couple of weeks perched on branches near by while the parents continue to feed them. During this time they practice flying and learning how to catch their own food. Chickadee eggs are just over half an inch long. Anything else? In Cherokee lore, the chickadee is associated with truth. Chickadees are also associated with news and communication. It is certainly true that the chickadee is one of the first to announce to the neighborhood that I have just filled the bird feeder. A Few Cape Cod Birds 7

8 American Goldfinch Spinus trístis, length 5 inches, wingspan 9 inches As a child, what I enjoyed about goldfinches was the brilliant black and yellow color. The second thing was the fact that they love to eat thistle seeds and I love to go barefoot (but I don t like getting thistle thorns in my feet). The third thing is the way they feed as a flock. And the flock loves to play leap-frog. When the flock comes into a large patch of thistle, many settle on the first dozen or so plants. Then more fly over those eating and land on the next dozen plants. Then the first bunch jumps over the second bunch to get to the third dozen plants. And so they go, jumping over each other across the field as they fill their bellies with thistle seeds. Now that it is easy to get Niger seed (which is a kind of thistle) and there are wonderful tube shaped feeders with many perches to fill with the niger seed, I think what I enjoy most about goldfinches is to watch them in the spring as they slowly grow their summer clothes. In winter they are a sort of drab olive-green-yellow color with drab grey-black wings. In summer the males are golden yellow with a jaunty black cap and wings that are a crisp black with white bars. The females remain in their winter costumes, but they too get brighter in the summer. Some males just gradually get brighter and brighter. Others turn yellow in patches. For that brief time in the spring it is easy to distinguish one individual male from another. Just as they feed in flocks, they come to my feeder in flocks. There s a cedar tree near my thistle feeder, and they sit, chittering, to wait their turn. Once one has found a perch on the feeder, he ll stay and stuff himself (or herself) until someone else gets tired of waiting and flies in searching for a spot. Some are gracious and give the next a turn. Some are greedy and try to keep their spot. They work it out with a sort of friendly fighting and eventually everyone gets a turn. I think. Where can I find them? They live all across northern and middle United States. You will find them in fields and near the edges of woods where there are shrubs, grasses and weeds.. Do they migrate? Many live in the same place year round, but some migrate north to southern Canada to raise their young. Some do go south for the winter, into northeastern Mexico. Anything else? Canaries are cousins of the goldfinch. They say Goldfinches like to nest near the homes of elves and fairies. If you find a goldfinch nest, see if you can find the door to a fairy s home somewhere nearby. What is their nest like? Both parents search for the nest site, but Mama makes the final decision. She makes the nest in a shrub with a good leaf cover to protect it. She uses weeds, bark, vines, and grass bound together with spider webs and caterpillar silk. She builds an inner cup from roots and other plant fibers, and lines the cup with the fluffy stuff from seeds like dandelion, milkweed, and other plants. It takes her about a week before it s ready for her to lay the eggs. Who feeds the babies? Papa feeds Mama, who then feeds the kids for the first week. After that, she takes some time to stretch her wings and relax while Papa takes over most of the feeding duties. 8 A Few Cape Cod Birds

9 What do they eat? Goldfinches are seed eaters. They may snatch the occasional insect, but they prefer seeds. Thistle seeds seem to be their favorite, but they like sunflower seeds at a bird feeder if they are already shelled, and they like grass seeds and assorted weed seeds such as dandelion. They drink from bird baths, taking a sip and raising their heads so the water runs down their gullet. They like slow moving streams or still, shallow ponds and puddles. They also drink dew. In winter they will eat snow if no water is available. A Goldfinch egg is slightly over half an inch long. Goldfiinches flly in a wave-like pattern, singing as they flly. They sing Per-Chick-oree as they rise, and are silent as they descend. A Few Cape Cod Birds 9

10 Northern Cardinal Cardinális cardinális, length 8 inches, wingspan 12 inches When the white man came to this continent, cardinals were a southern bird, but because of the gradually rising temperatures, during the early 20th century, they slowly made their way north, finally arriving in New England in the 1950s. I think of the Cardinal as the Christmas bird. He is seen on Christmas cards more often than any other bird, I m sure because of his bright red coloring. The first time I saw one in New England was the year I graduated from high school. Every year at Christmas time, my family went out in the woods across the street from the house to find our Christmas tree. In 1960, at the edge of the woods we were greeted by a spectacular bright red bird who led the way through the bare trees to the small area where we had some white pine. The air was crisp and cold and the snow on the ground was clean and white and untouched. Our great big human feet made a super highway kind of path compared to small tracks of mice and squirrels and birds here and there. Our cardinal guide led us straight to a small feathery green pine tree, the perfect size for our living room. My parents insisted we examine several, but after looking around, we all agreed the one the cardinal had chosen for us was the best. And so we cut it down and my father carried it home. We followed our own tracks back the way we had come as the cardinal stayed in the woods. White pine is not considered a good Christmas tree; it has long needles and they are, at that small size, too sparsly limbed for American tradition. But for us it was a perfect way to display the delicate old silver German ornaments handed down to us from my mother s family. The cardinal s color may be loud to the eyes, and his voice is a bright bugle of a sound, but for all that noise, the cardinal is quiet in his habits, peacefully sharing the bird feeder with everyone. Where can I find them? All across the eastern half of the U.S. and down into Mexico, you will find them in areas with shrubs and small trees, in fields and around buildings. Do they migrate? Over the last 100 years they have expanded their range northward, but once they ve found a spot they like, they stay in one place. In the autumn, they do flock together for feeding, and act a little as if they are gathering to migrate, but they pretty much stay in the same area. What do they eat? Through the winter and early spring they eat seeds. As trees and shrubs begin to grow their new leaves and flowers, they add plant buds and insect larvae to their diet. As insects hatch or wake up, cardinals feast on beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, butterflies and moths, even ants and dragonflies. They also like spiders and centipedes, snails and slugs. When the berries begin to ripen, they particularly like grape and mulberry. 10 A Few Cape Cod Birds

11 A cardinal egg is about an inch long. What is the nest like? Both parents hunt for a good location in shrubs with dense foliage. But mama cardinal alone builds the nest in the forks of branches. Papa may bring her nesting material. She wedges leaves, bark, vines, and weed stems, even paper and plastic into the space, and builds this into a rough cup shape. She lines it with grasses and sometimes pine needles. Who feeds the babies? Both parents feed the babies, though Papa does a little more feeding than Mama. He may feed her as well as the babies. Anything else? Colonials called this bird Redbird. The name comes from the bright red capes worn by Roman Catholic Cardinals. Before synthetic dyes, only the very rich could afford red clothing because the red dye came from a rare insect called cochineal. Only the very wealthy, such as high Catholic priests, could afford it. It is said that if a cardinal flies up towards the sky in front of you, it means you will have good luck and special blessings for that day. If he flies across your path, you will receive good news. If he flies down towards the earth, be careful. When cardinals flly over open fiields they undulate, up and down in a wave-like pattern hunting for tasty seeds and favorite insects. A Few Cape Cod Birds 11

12 Red-winged Blackbird Agelaíus phoeníceus, length 8 inches, wingspan 13 inches Redwing blackbirds live in swamps. I go looking for them there the first warm sunny day in May. Robins are said to be the harbingers of spring, but the redwing is my signal that summer will really arrive each year. Redwings leave Massachusetts in October and don t return until May. Where can I find them? Red-winged blackbirds live year round in the southern United States, and you ll find them in or near swamps. Do they migrate? The more northern birds migrate in flocks, arriving here on Cape Cod in mid-may and leaving in September. Here on Cape Cod the males return before the females. Perhaps the insect food in their swamps is not yet plentiful enough, so a few of them come to my feeder for seeds to keep their bellies full for a week or two. Male redwings are pretty black birds, and when perching, they are often almost exclusively black. But when they spread their wings they have beautiful bright red shoulder patches fringed with yellow. Sometimes the yellow is so pale it appears to be white. Sometimes it is quite a bright yellow. In either case, I love the sudden splash of red and yellow that appears when these birds fly. Actually, there are times when they are perching on a reed in a swamp that the red patch is visible. Those times are when the male is showing off to attract females. It also may be shown to warn other males out of an established territory. Female redwings are completely different. Colored to be difficult to see when they sit still, they blend into the background and become almost invisible. Besides protective coloration, female redwings are protected by the males. Males spend most of the time they are not actively feeding searching the near skies and surroundings looking for danger. If they spot a hawk, for example, they ll call their friends and all will fly together to attack the danger. Males are always involved in these attacks, but often females will join the mob. What is their nest like? While Papa stands guard, Mama builds the nest. He will often suggest good sites for the nest. She has the final say, as she is the one who will do the building. She may build in a willow tree or a swamp-loving shrub, but the ones I ve seen have all been in cattail or bullrush swamps. Here she chooses a spot where four or five strong reed stems are close together. She weaves long reed leaves or other long flexible fiber around the reeds to form a base for the nest. Once she has woven the outer layer, she builds a cup shape out of mud inside the woven framework to line the nest. She lines that cup with fine grasses. She usually does not sit on the nest until all the eggs are laid. Then she ll start brooding. And then oops, one more egg arrives. And so, when the eggs hatch, they all hatch at once. Except one. And that one hatches the next day. 12 A Few Cape Cod Birds

13 A Red-wing blackbird egg is almost one inch long. Who feeds the babies? Once hatched, Mama does most of the feeding. Papa may occasionally help, but he is still on guard duty, so feeding is mostly up to her. The babies are fed insects, insects, and more insects. What do they eat? During the summer breeding season they eat insects, weed seeds and some grain. They are especially fond of cankerworms. In winter when insects are scarce, they eat weed seeds and grain almost exclusively. Where it grows, in the south, they love rice. Anything else? Red-winged blackbirds practice polygyny. That means one male may have several mates. He will protect of all of them, but he usually doesn t help with the feeding of any of the babies. A Few Cape Cod Birds 13

14 Eastern Towhee Pípilo erythrophthálmus, length 8 inches, wingspan 10 inches A cousin who grew up with my father bought a motor boat when I was 7 or 8 years old. He named it Chewink. My father and I went to see his new boat and as we walked along the path through the woods, I asked him what does Chewink mean? He said it is a bird, and as we walked we heard a chirp that sounded to me like Tch-whee. And there he is! my father said.we stopped to look. I heard scrabbling sounds in the tangle of honeysuckle and blackberry bushes beside the road, and then a handsome black and rusty red bird with a white belly fluttered out of the brush to grab a beetle on the path ahead of us. Then he disappeared again into the brush. Named after the sound they make, these birds have been called both Chewink and Towhee. Here in the northeast. he has brown or red eyes. The ones in the southeastern part of US have yellow eyes. Out west, there is a cousin who has red eyes and more white on the wings. When I was a child, the official name of both cousins was Rufous-sided Towhee. Since then, scientists have decided eastern and western are more like cousins than brothers and sisters, so today we have the Eastern Towhee and the Spotted Towhee. Both Eastern and Spotted male towhees have the black hood. The female wears brown so she can hide more easily when she s on the nest. I almost always see them on the ground where they look for bugs, but they also eat fruit and seeds. Towhees only come to my Woods Hole feeder in the spring. They arrive before the insects they prefer to eat have hatched or woken from a winter sleep. There are far fewer towhees today than there were twenty and thirty years ago. As humans build more houses for our exploding population, there is less of the kind of habitat towhees like. Finding safe nesting spots gets harder for them as humans clear dense brush and build more houses. The eastern towhee egg is almost one inch long. Where can I find them? Anywhere in the eastern half of the continental US, you may find Towhees in areas with dense thickets and shrubbery. They arrive in New England in mid May, sooner in more southern states. They will hunt food in open fields as long as there is dense cover nearby. Do they migrate? Towhees live year round from Virginia to Florida. Those living from southern Maine to New Jersey and west as far as eastern Nebraska migrate into the southern states and as far west as Eastern Texas. What is their nest like? The female chooses the nest site, which will be on the ground, preferably near the base of a shrub or small tree. Occasionally they will build nests above ground in dense shrubbery. Mama builds the nest of bark strips and dead leaves and grasses, sometimes adding small twigs and even string if she finds some. She lines her nest with fine dry grasses and hair from deer or horses. It takes her about 5 days, working only in the morning, to complete her nest. Then she lays 3 to 5 eggs, one each day. 14 A Few Cape Cod Birds

15 What do they eat? Like most sparrows, they eat insects, seeds, and fruits. They prefer to eat on the ground, but will go after fruits and berries in shrubs and small trees. In winter, when insect life is scarce, they will go to birdfeeders for seeds. They eat small insects whole, but for bigger ones like grasshoppers and crickets, they kill them first by bashing them against the ground. They are particularly fond of beetles. Similarly, with fruit, they eat blueberries whole, but will peel cherries. Who feeds the babies? While Mama sits on the nest, Papa bird may feed her. Once the eggs hatch, both parents feed the chicks. When they are about 11 days old, they leave the nest, but the parents continue to feed them for another month. Anything else? Towhees are sparrows. When they hunt for food, they will scratch away dead leaves and twigs, as most sparrows do, but they scratch by jumping in with both feet and pushing the debris out behind them. A Few Cape Cod Birds 15

16 Ruby-Throated Hummingbird Arcgílochus cólubris, length 3 inches, wingspan 4¼ inches What I noticed first was the brilliant iridescent red and the iridescent green flashing in the sunlight. This cannot be a bee, I said to myself as I sat near the flower bed when I was 6 years old. I felt I was looking at a flying jewel! It was moved so fast I couldn t tell what it was until it hovered about 6 feet from the end of my nose. It was a bird! The only hummingbird in the northeastern U.S. is the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird. Elsewhere, there are many different kinds. They are all found only in the western hemisphere. Most of them live in the tropical Central American countries, but there are several varieties in the western part of the United States. They are only 3 inches from head to tail. Until you get close to them, they look like overgrown bees. This is because they beat their wings so fast the wings are just a blur, and because they drink the nectar from flowers. They stick their long beaks right into any trumpet-shaped flowers. The tongues have a tiny groove, and the nectar travels up the tongue into the mouth by capillary action. (You can see how this works if you dip one corner of a paper towel in a glass of water. Watch how the paper towel gets wet as it absorbs the water.) Sometimes they dip far enough into the flower to get their heads coated with pollen, which they then carry off to the next flower. So, again like bees, they help to pollinate flowers. There are many commercial hummingbird feeders available. Most have candy-apple red flowers to attract the hummingbirds, and you can buy sugarwater to fill them. But you can also make your own. If you do, be careful not to make it too sweet. Use only 1 part sugar to 5 parts water. If it is too thick with sugar, the capillary action won t work and they won t be able to use it. Mix the sugar and water and boil it until the sugar disolves completely. When the sugar water is cool, you can fill the feeder. You don t need to color the water; they only want the sweetness. The Ruby-throated hummingbird egg is only a half inch long. Where can I find them? Ruby-throats are the only hummingbird east of the Great Plains in the U.S. They prefer coniferous woods and any place there are lots of flowers. Do they migrate? Most Ruby-throats winter in Mexico and Central America. Many fly non-stop across the gulf of Mexico to get to their winter vacation spots. They go to the same place each winter and return to the same area each summer. Since the children don t fly South with their parents, how do they know where to go? Does instinct tell them? What do they eat? Instead of water, hummingbirds drink the nectar from flowers (and occasionally the sap from trees). They eat mosquitos, spiders, gnats and small bees. Anything else? They will steal insects that have been caught in a spiderweb. But they must be careful not to get themselves caught in the sticky web. After eating the trapped insect, they just might have the spider for dessert! 16 A Few Cape Cod Birds

17 Two more things: The Aztecs believed that hummingbirds were the reincarnation of brave warriors killed in battle. (They are certainly very fierce defenders of their territory.) Hummingbirds are said to be linked to the Faerie Realm, and pass freely back and forth. Male ruby-throated hummingbirds dance back and forth in the air making a U shape while "humming" with their wings and chirping with glee to attract the attention of their chosen female. What is their nest like? Mama builds the nest from the soft down of thistles or other seeds like dandelions that have feathery or downy parasols to carry the seeds on the wind. She holds all these bits of soft downy material together with the silk from spiderwebs. Then she camoflages the nest with lichen and bits of bark and leaves. When she s done, it s almost invisible. Who feeds the babies? Mama feeds and cares for the babies. The babies are born with short beaks so she can drop the food in without getting stabbed by tiny long beaks. Papa may do some patrolling to protect the area where the nest is, but mostly Mama does that also. A Few Cape Cod Birds 17

18 American Woodcock Scólopax mínor, length 10 inches, wingspan 18 inches I was walking through an abandoned field one evening just as the sun was setting when the ground in front of me suddenly exploded! Of course I leapt backwards a step or two. There was a great whirring and beating sound and something shot straight up into the air right in front of me. The American woodcock will sit absolutely still and you can walk past them without ever having any idea they are there unless you almost step on them. They are actually shore birds, related to sandpipers and plovers, but you d never guess it to look at them. First they are dark, better camouflaged in the woods than the white sands and pale rocks of the Massachusetts shores. Second, they appear shorter and fatter than most sandpipers. So what happened? It seems that long ago they decided they didn t really like the shore; they preferred the nearby woods. Perhaps living in a darker environment, their feathers darkened. Perhaps they are a bit lazy, and earthworms are easier to dig up and eat than clams, with their hard shell, or the sea worms that live in the mud with the clams. Why they changed their habits I will never know, but I enjoy speculating. Another thing I enjoy is taking friends through that field on an evening in June. I don t deliberately try to get them to experience the shock of having the ground explode in front of them. June is when they perform their mating dance. At this time of year, the male struts in front of the female, spreading his tail feathers like a turkey, and then leaps into the air beating his wings like drums. When he s high enough to suit, he circles, drumming the air with his wings. He spirals downward in tighter and tighter circles to the ground in front of her. If she likes his dance, she accepts him, and in early July there will be more woodcocks in that field. I think of them as birds living in slightly brushy fields because that is where I see them most often, but according to the books, they prefer marshy grounds where it is easier to dig into the soil for their worms. Hiding in the deeper brush beside my woodcock field, there is a swampy area. Perhaps our birds don t want their nests in their own dining room. Where do they live? American Woodcocks are found only in the eastern part of the United States and the southern most parts of eastern Canada. They like mixed deciduous and coniferous forests, and especially shrubby swampy areas at the fringes of these forests. Do they migrate? They tend to winter in the far southern states of the US, and some even venture into Mexico in particularly cold years. They fly their migration route at night. What do they eat? Earthworms. They do eat a few seeds, and the occasional snail, spider, or beetle, but their primary food is earthworms. 18 A Few Cape Cod Birds

19 What is their nest like? Woodcocks nest on the ground. Mama simply finds a nice leafy spot and smooths it into a shallow bowl. Who feeds the babies? Mama takes full care of the babies. Papa just struts around looking important. But then, these babies are born with a full coat of downy feathers and leave the nest to forage for themselves within hours of hatching. So, Mama shows them how she probes the ground with her long beak, searching for worms. She feeds them what she finds for a few days. They begin trying for themselves within 3 or 4 days. By the time they re about a week old they ve learned how to do it. American Woodcock eggs are about 1.5 inches. Anything Else? They are somewhat nocturnal. While they can and do, eat during the day, they are most active in the evening and at dawn. A Few Cape Cod Birds 19

20 Northern Flicker Coláptes aurátus, length 12½ inches, wingspan 20 inches One summer when my children were 5 and 6 years old we were staying, as usual, on Cape Cod. A particular walk we all enjoyed was up over a large hill and down the other side, through a patch of huckleberry bushes to a fresh-water pond to watch the turtles, then back to the house through a slightly swampy area on a path lined with blueberry and blackberry bushes. There was a tree in the swamp that had fallen, and it seemed a perfect ramp to climb on. However, as my daughters walked up the ramp, the tree began to hiss like a very large snake might hiss. We looked for the snake, but there was none to be found, and tried climbing again. Again the tree hissed. Now, trees don t hiss. They just don t! We all backed up and sat quietly on a little rise about 20 feet away from the tree and watched. Nothing happened for the longest time maybe 10 minutes. Then there was a flash of yellow, and a Flicker landed on the tree about 10 feet beyond where the girls had been climbing. Another flicker appeared from a hole in the tree we hadn t even noticed just in front of the one who flew in. The second one flew away and the first vanished into the hole. We had found a flicker nest! Each day we walked past our Hissing Tree and whenever one of us tried climbing it, the tree would hiss. Of course it was a warning from the flicker inside the hole in the tree sitting on its nest. After several days, the hissing turned into eager little chirps from hungry hatchlings. Because their favorite food is ants, they spend a lot of time on the ground digging into ant hills. I have seen them digging in my lawn for ants. And I ve seen them sitting on fence posts quietly surveying their territory. But the best is watching them fly, showing off the beautiful yellow in their wings. The eastern birds were once called yellow-shafted flickers because of the wonderful yellow visible on the underside of the wings. The western birds were called red-shafted flickers because their wing feathers are tinged with red. Where can I find them? They live all across the continental United States. Some spend the summer raising their nestlings throughout most of Canada and Alaska. They like the edges of forests and like having open areas easily available. The eastern flickers like swampy areas while the western seem to prefer drier areas. Do they Migrate? A few of our eastern variety move to the western two thirds of Texas or to southern California for the winter, but many stay year round in one place. What do they eat? Their favorite food is ants, but they ll eat most insects. In winter when insects are hard to find they will also eat fruits and seeds. 20 A Few Cape Cod Birds

21 What is their nest like? Like most woodpeckers, they nest in holes they make in trees. Flickers don t really care what kind of tree; though they prefer anything that is dead or diseased. Both parents excavate cavities in the tree, but Papa works harder. They keep the entrance as small as possible, but make the cavity large enough for the adults to turn around. They chip the wood out with their strong woodpecker beaks, and carry some of the chips away, while simply tossing some down to the ground beneath the tree. They leave enough chips in the bottom of the hole to provide a bed for the nest. Of course Mama lays the eggs, but both parents incubate them. Papa generally takes night duty. Who feeds the babies? Both parents feed by regurgitating ants and ant larva from the crop. (The crop is a kind of storage stomach located before the real stomach in birds. Flicker eggs are just over 1 inch long Anything else? The Flicker is the state bird of Alabama, where he is sometimes called the yellowhammer because, as all woodpeckers do, he hammers on trees. And the underside of his wing and tail feathers are yellow. Eggs are pure white, but may appear pinkish the first few days after laying because the yolk is such a rich deep orange it seems to shine through the shell. A Few Cape Cod Birds 21

22 Barn Swallow Hirúndo rústica, length 6 inches, wingspan 15 inches There was a horse barn near our summer house with a big open space for horse-drawn carriages before the section with stalls for the horses. Two of those carriages were closed with a roof and doors so passengers could stay warm and dry in bad weather. As small children my cousins and I played various games, going to Cinderella s ball in the closed carriages or having adventures driving through the wild west in the open ones. As we played in and out of the carriages, the barn swallows swooped in and out of the barn over our heads feeding their nestlings. But when I was alone, I loved watching their graceful flight in and out the the barn door and over the fields searching for insects with swoops and quick darts. And finally back into the barn with a swoop up to the rafters to deposit some insect into one of the open mouths chirping impatiently in the nest. Just as humans identify with the swallows, swallows identify with humans. Barn swallows nest almost exclusively in man-made locations. They like a cover over their heads and will nest under bridges, under the eaves, or inside of barns, sheds, and other man made structures. Before the European invasion, barn swallows built mostly in caves and where ever they could find convenient locations in the homes of the more sedentary native Americans. As man (and his buildings) increased, so did barn swallows. Barn Swallow eggs are about three quarters of an inch long. Where can I find them? Barn Swallows can be found almost anywhere. They spend summers in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Australia. Remember that summer comes to the southern continent when the northern continent is having winter. Do they migrate? These birds migrate long distances. The same swallow I watch in July in Massachusetts may be nesting in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina in January. Some barn swallows will nest twice a year, once in each hemisphere. Not all travel so far, nor do they all raise families in their other home. There are many who spend the winter simply vacationing in parts of Mexico and Central America. What do they eat? Adult barn swallows feed their babies almost exclusively on insects. They will augment their own diet occasionally with berries, but they are really insectivores. All my life I have watched them swoop and dive imagining they were eating mosquitoes and saving me from bites I might have had. But I checked my facts for this book. Mosquitoes are apparently only an incidental addition to their diet. They prefer larger insects such as flies, beetles, bees, wasps, dragonflies, moths and butterflies, grasshoppers, and crickets. They catch their food while flying. They even drink while flying, skimming over a pond and scooping water with their open beaks. 22 A Few Cape Cod Birds

23 What is their nest like? Mama builds the nest, but Papa helps. They begin with mud, often mixed with grasses. They build on top of a rafter or ledge of some sort, but may even build out from a vertical wall. Once they have a cup shaped mud shell, they line it with grasses, and then with soft feathers. Sometimes they will re-use old nests; repairs may take only a few days! Repairs include adding fresh mud around the rim and anywhere else it is needed. They always discard the old feather lining and add fresh feathers. Parents take turns incubating the 4 or 5 eggs, but the Mama takes more turns. Anything else? It is considered bad luck to harm a barn swallow nest. It is said that such cruelty might result in cows producing sour milk or hens refusing to lay eggs. In China, swallows are caught and then released by the river to bring rain. A swallow entering the house means prosperity. Sailors sometimes ask for tattoos of barn swallows as a symbol of safe return. One tradition says that a sailor who has been 5,000 nautical miles can have one swallow tattoo. When he s sailed another 5,000 miles, he can get a second. Who feeds the babies? Both parents bring insects for the chicks. When the babies leave the nest, at about 3 weeks, the parents lead them to a perch and continue to feed them for several more days. As the babies become adept at flying, they will meet the parent in the air and catch their food from the parents. A Few Cape Cod Birds 23

24 Gray Catbird Dumetélla carolinénsis, length 8½ inches, wingspan 11 inches The catbird is the most curious bird I ve ever gotten to know. There are several near my house, but one, in particular, always comes to sit on a post on the porch and peer in the window to see what I am doing every morning during the summer. He (or she, both sexes look alike) looks around and flicks his tail and then hops to the wood pile to see what insects may be hiding there, then stops and peeks in the window again to see if I m watching. After that he ll flit into the cherry tree and hop around again looking for any stray insects (unless the cherries are ready), then down into the bayberry bush below. And after half an hour or so of hiding in the Japanese barberry doing his own thing, he ll be back at the window to see if anything interesting is going on inside. If I m sitting out on the deck, he ll still come, perhaps to see what I m reading. They ve been known to follow small boys for walks in the woods, just to see where they are going. Catbirds are wonderful mimics. While they got their name from the slightly harsh mew mew sound they make, they also sing snatches of the songs of other birds in the area. More than once I ve heard a towhee, then looked to find a catbird instead. I ve never seen one in the winter; I ve always assumed they all went off to warmer places, but many have reported that a few stay on Cape Cod. They are quiet in winter, hiding in dense brush and staying under cover. Where can I find them? In southern Canada they range from British Columbia to New Brunswick. In the U.S., from eastern Washington to Maine, avoiding California, Nevada, Arizona, and most of Texas. Look for them where ever there are dense thickets at forest edges, in farmland, and along roadsides. Do they migrate? Some live year round along the eastern seaboard south of Massachusetts to northern Florida. The rest migrate from their northern ranges to the southern-most parts of Louisiana east into Florida, through most of the Caribbean and eastern Mexico and Central America. What is the nest like? The nest is an open cup shape built on horizontal branches and near the trunk of shrubs or small trees, or possibly in vines. There is an outer layer of twigs, straw, and bark with a lining of pine needles, fine grasses and small roots including horse hair, if they can find it. Mama sits on the turquoise green eggs, and Papa guards the eggs while Mama eats. Who feeds the babies? Both parents feed the nestlings, but Papa does more of the feeding for the first few days. After all, Mama sat on them during the whole incubation period; she needs a little rest. If the parents plan a second batch of babies in a summer, Papa will feed the babies while Mama builds the second nest. At first, babies are fed only insects and small spiders. As they get older, Mama and Papa introduce some fruit into the diet. 24 A Few Cape Cod Birds

25 Gray Catbird eggs are just under 1 inch long. What do they eat? They eat insects and small fruits. They get about half their insects from the ground and most of the rest from leaves, branches, and bark. But they also catch a few in the air. They eat a lot of ants, caterpillars and moths, dragonflies and spiders. I often see them in chokecherry trees and in huckleberry and blueberry bushes. They will also eat some cultivated fruits and berries. Anything else? The catbird is the state bird of Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas The catbird can sing with two voices at the same time because he can use both sides of his voice box independently. A Few Cape Cod Birds 25

26 Yellow Warbler Dendroíca petéchia, length 5 inches, wingspan 8 inches If you go walking in the woods, particularly between woods and swampy areas, in June or July and you see a yellow leaf flutter among the branches, look again. It just might be a yellow warbler. That is how I found the first one I was able to positively identify. Once I had seen the first one, I recognized many other yellow leaves that were not leaves at all, but were little yellow warblers hiding among the leaves. They seem to like the insects that make their living from our cherry trees and high bush blueberry bushes. They prefer thick small trees and bushes. They enjoy a water view, but are happy enough on the edge of an open meadow. In the spring, when he is defiining his territory, the male may make a semi-circular fllight from the middle of his space to the edge where some other warbler is lurking. Perhaps he s warning the other to stay away. Where can I find them? They are likely to be found in or near swampy areas wherever there is fairly thick shrubbery to hide in. The willow seems to be their favorite tree in the New England area. Their range extends across the entire northern United States and southern Canada. Do they migrate? The books say they arrive in Massachusetts in mid May, but I have seldom seen one before June. Most leave Cape Cod for their winter homes fairly early in August, though you might see one or two in early September. They winter in Central America, and as far south as Colombia. Yellow warbler eggs are just over a half inch long. What do they eat? Like other warblers, they are insectivores. They search trees and shrubs for crawling caterpillars and smaller insects, and will also catch insects while on the wing, especially while hovering over a pond or wet area. Among the insects they are particularly fond of are tent caterpillars and gypsy moth caterpillars. 26 A Few Cape Cod Birds

27 What is their nest like? Mama builds the nest. She begins with an outer layer, often of nettles. She builds in the crook of two branches. The second layer is of grasses, and the inner layer is a soft layer of feathers, plant fibers, the downy seed fibers of such plants as dandelions, and hair from deer, rabbits, or whatever other animal Mama can find. Who feeds the babies? Mama is the only one who sits on the eggs, but both parents feed the young. Anything else? The word warbler comes from the word werble which originally simply meant a tune. Many years later the word came to mean sing sweetly, and, at least in English, it changed from werble to warble. When they migrate, they fly at night. Warblers bring joy with their bright yellow coats and cheerful chirping songs. But they also will sneak off to another s nest and steal nesting materials. Just as we can accept the good and the bad from the warblers, perhaps we can learn to accept both the good and the bad from ourselves and love ourselves anyway. A Few Cape Cod Birds 27

28 Bobolink Dolichónyx oryzívorus, length 7 inches, wingspan 11½ inches I first met Bobolinks in the summer on an island near Woods Hole. There is a dock with a boat house in a small clump of woods near the shore. This is called the Bobolink Boat Yard because so many bobolinks lived in the fields near the boat yard. Whenever I went to the boat house dark birds with a flash of white on the wings and a white rump would fly up ahead of me. They were male bobolinks. The females are colored completely differently, in feathers of greens and yellows, mimicking the color of the field grasses to make them hard to see. They stayed on the nest while the brightly colored males tried to divert my attention. It worked. I can t remember ever seeing a female. During our northern winter, when the birds fly as far south as Argentina, they eat mostly seeds from wheat and from plants that are considered weeds. Eventually the Argentine summer turns to autumn. Shorter days and cool weather make them begin their long journey north again, having grown fat on Argentine seeds. The males arrive first in the north. For a week or so they choose their territory, and as the females arrive, they are ready with songs that tell the females, I am here and I have much good food for you. I will protect you and our babies from predators and even from other bobolinks. All that I have is for you. Sometimes more than one female will answer the call. The females don t mind sharing. But the male knows he can only care for two, or maybe three females. Some males prefer not to share, and will have only one mate. Where can I find them? In the summer, Bobolinks live in the far northern part of the United States and southernmost part of Canada. Do they Migrate? By the middle of August, they are gone from Canada, and those who stayed in the U.S. begin to move south, following the warmth of the sun. Bobolinks use the magnetics in the earth to tell them where to go. These birds make a very long journey, all the way to the Pantanal region of Argentina. Their favorite place is in the vast pampas, where they are common in the Argentine summer, although some stay in Paraguay. What do they eat? During the summer, Bobolinks eat insects and spiders as well as seeds. During our northern winter Bobolinks eat mostly seeds from wheat and from plants that are considered weeds. However, they are very fond of rice, and are considered pests in the rice paddies. 28 A Few Cape Cod Birds

29 What is their nest like? Mama finds a spot on the ground in a field near, almost in, a wet or swampy area where insects are abundant. She gathers grasses and weed stems for the outside of the nest, then uses fine grasses to line the inside. Sometimes she will build a canopy over the top to provide shade or to hide the nest from predators. Once the nest is complete, she lays 5 to 7 eggs and does all the brooding. Who feeds the babies? Once the eggs hatch, Papa forgets about being territorial. He is too busy helping to feed insects, worms, grubs, and spiders to the chicks. Within two weeks, the chicks leave the nest, but Mama and Papa continue to feed and protect them. Anything else? When nesting season is over, Papa molts. His new feathers are almost the same as Mama s. Once the feathers are grown bobolinks begin their southern migration. In the 1800s, great flocks of bobolinks were known as reed birds, and they would descend upon rice fields and cheerfully polish off all the ripening rice. While everyone loved the bobolink, nobody liked the reed birds! In the Chippewa language, bobolink is shi-ka-go-bi-ne Do you suppose that is how Chicago got its name? Bobolink eggs are almost an inch long. A Few Cape Cod Birds 29

30 American Kestrel Fálco Sparvérius, length 9 inches, wingspan 22 inches One summer as we settled into a small cabin near the beach on Cape Cod my children and I heard a strange Kee ki ki ki ki sound coming from a corner of the main room near the roof line. There s a bird nesting up there! I said. Quietly we left the house and sat some distance from that corner pretending to pay no attention to anything happening near the house. Eventually a bird that was then called a Sparrow Hawk fluttered to that corner and disappeared under the eaves. Soon it left again. While the adult was away, I got a step ladder and, without touching any part of the house, we peeked into the hole under the eaves to see two baby hawk-like faces peering at us. The bird book told us that they are the smallest American Falcon. I was sure we had been careful enough that the parent birds wouldn t object, but apparently they saw us, and the babies were abandoned. From then until recently I never saw another one. Sparrow hawks are now called American kestrels, to prove their status as a true falcon. There are fewer American Kestrels in New England today. Although kestrels can tolerate urban living, their numbers are decreasing as fields and meadows (their feeding grounds) are turned into housing developments and shopping malls. Falcons were affected severely by insecticides used in the 40s and 50s. Kestrels were affected directly as they eat more insects than anything else, but the larger falcons ate the birds that ate the poisoned insects, and all were dying and unable to produce fertile eggs. In the late 50s those insecticides were banned and we worked to help the falcons recover. This was so successful that the Kestrel s large cousin, the Peregrine Falcon, was removed from the endangered species list in American Kestrel eggs are approximately 1.3 inches long. Where can I find them? They live throughout North America except for the extreme northern portions of Canada and Alaska. They like meadows, grasslands, fields, and deserts, and can even be found in some city areas. Do they migrate? Those in Canada and the most northern states may migrate. Those in the more southern states pretty much stay put. The most southern states, Mexico, and Central America are their winter grounds. What do they eat? Kestrels like to sit on high branches or perhaps telephone wires, watching and waiting for their food to wander by. Then they pounce. They eat large insects (spiders, grasshoppers, dragonflies, beetles, butterflies) and small vertebrates such as mice, bats, and small birds. Most food they catch on the ground, but a few Kestrels can catch insects and small birds in the air. Occasionally, they might even catch and eat a snake. 30 A Few Cape Cod Birds

31 What is their nest like? American Kestrels mate for life. They nest in holes in trees, usually made by woodpeckers, or in crevasses in rocks. They are fond of man-made nest boxes and any handy hole in a man-made structure. Usually the male arrives in the breeding area first and checks out the available nesting sites. When his mate arrives, he shows her the likely places, and she makes the final decision. Nobody gathers any nesting material, they use whatever is left from the original builder. After she lays 4 to 5 eggs, both parents share incubation duties. Mama helps each chick out of its egg. Anything else? Florida Kestrels like to eat crayfish. Who feeds the babies? Papa feeds the babies while Mama keeps them warm as they are born with only a very light covering of downy feathers. After a week, Mama only broods at night and both parents feed the chicks during the day. The chicks are ready to fly after about a month, but still spend their nights in the nest for another two weeks or so. A Few Cape Cod Birds 31

32 Osprey Pandíon haliáetus, length 23 inches, wingspan 63 inches All along the shore on Cape Cod, there are poles near ponds and swampy areas. On these poles are great platforms about 3 feet square. Most of them all have somewhat messy looking piles of twigs and branches on them. At the end of April or beginning of May, the osprey appear and take possession of their nests for another season. And to us this is a great success story. Why? In the 1950s osprey were among those birds that were severely affected by the use of the pesticide DDT. They almost disappeared from the eastern seacoast of the U.S. Because they nest so near ponds and the sea shore, places humans also prefer, they were one of the easiest birds for scientists to study. It was easy to learn that the shells of their eggs were becoming thinner and more fragile, and also easy to prove that fewer chicks were born alive. At the same time, humans were building houses in just the places the osprey liked best, so their traditional nesting grounds were being used up. Eventually DDT was banned, and we began putting up tall poles with wooden platforms near ponds in places where osprey like to nest. The osprey responded well to our efforts. Most of those man made platforms are now occupied and osprey are again a common sight in this area. One of the recent scientific studies has been done with the help of The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. They put up a webcam, and for several years I have been watching a pair of osprey who nest just north of Surf Drive. For two years now a pair of red-tailed hawks have frightened them away from their old space and the nest has been abandoned. A pair will returns the same nest year after year. Each year the repair and maintenance of the nest is more extensive, so nests that have been in use for many years may be large enough for a human to sit in. The nest I ve been watching from the webcam is at least 3 feet across. It is mostly sticks, but also contains shingles that blown off houses and small driftwood boards. It is lined with seaweeds, primarily dried eelgrass Where can I find them? Summer territory is all across Canada and down into the United States on both East and West coasts as far south as San Francisco on the West and Florida on the East. Some live year round in Baja California and the west coast of Mexico. On the East coast they range all the way to Florida, staying year-round from the Carolinas on south. Do they migrate? Those who live in the north do migrate as far as Louisiana and Texas, and along both coasts of Mexico. Some are partial to the Carribean islands. Some continue on into Central and South America. A few make it as far south as Argentina. from nearby beaches, and often bits of cloth and rope. In places where eelgrass is not so easily available, they will gather dried grasses to line their nest. Osprey eggs are approximately 2.5 inches long. 32 A Few Cape Cod Birds

33 The osprey soars high over the water watching intently and when he locates the best fish he hovers What do they eat? Osprey eat fish, fish, and more fish. If the fish are really scarce, they may eat frogs and toads and even small mammals. What is their nest like? Their nest looks like a big pile of sticks. Because they return to the same nest year after year, they add to and refine the nest each year, and continue building even after the eggs have been laid. Usually Papa brings the sticks and Mama finds the right place to put them. Osprey raise one brood a year of 2 to 4 babies. Who feeds the babies? Once hatched, the mother does most of the feeding. Papa helps, but he is still on guard duty, so feeding is mostly up to Mama. Anything else? Small birds, often a tasty dinner for hawks, know that osprey eat only fish. There are English sparrows nesting in the lower outside parts of the nest I watch on W.H.O.I. s webcam. The sparrows know they are safe because the osprey parents will not let any other hawk near their own nest. Farmers were probably the first to put up nest platforms for osprey. They really like having a raptor protect the area from other raptors who might otherwise eat their chickens or their cats. Some say osprey mate for life, although if something happens to one of them, the other will find a new mate. The lifetime of an osprey can be as much as 30 years. briefly and then plunges straight down falling faster and faster until SPLASH his claws grasp the fish A Few Cape Cod Birds 33

34 Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrócorax aurítus, length 33 inches, wingspan 52 inches Double-crested always seems to me to be a strange name for these birds. They do have a tiny crest of feathers well behind each eye, so technically they do have two little crests, one on each side of their heads. But you can only see the crests during the spring breeding season, and then only if you have a strong pair of binoculars and can catch their heads at just the right angle. I ve seen the crests only in photographs or paintings even though I see the birds every summer day on Cape Cod. There are almost always a dozen or so on the rocks at the entrance to the harbor, drying their wings in the sun. Actually, I see them drying their wings in the light rain as well, so I m not positive that s exactly why they sit with wings half spread on rocks or tree limbs or anywhere else they can get together in a group. Even ornithologists believe that drying their wings is the most logical explanation for why they sit as they do. Cormorants don t have the heavy oil concentration on their feathers to waterproof themselves, so water does penetrate through the feathers more fully than many other sea birds. This means they are not as bouyant as other birds, and allows them to dive deeper. When they swim on the surface, Where can I find them? From Alaska south to Texas, from New Brunswick, Canada south to Texas, Cormorants summer along the coast. They also raise young in the southern part of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, Montana, the Dakotas and the Lakes area. During the winter on the east coast they live along the southeastern coast as well as throughout the southermost eastern states and California, British Columbia. Do they Migrate? Most migrate. Some stay year round in Florida and Baja California. their bodies are so low in the water they often look like a tiny periscope from a distance. What do they eat? Cormorants eat almost entirely fish, but will occasionally eat shellfish and even insects. They generally fish relatively shallow waters and sometimes root around in kelp and eelgrass meadows for bottom fish. Cormorants love fish farms, and fish farmers consider them serious pests. 34 A Few Cape Cod Birds

35 Cormorant eggs are about 2.3 inches long Anything else? In parts of Asia cormorants are tamed and trained to catch fish for their human owners. The owners put a ring around the cormorant s neck so he can t swallow the fish. A Few Cape Cod Birds What is their nest like? Papa chooses the nest site and both parents build. Cormorants build in colonies on the ground, on cliffs, or even in trees. They repair, and add to, old nests, only building new ones if old ones aren t available. In long established colonies, nests can become towers of grasses, seaweeds, and sticks. Bits of plastic, old rope, and other human trash may be found in most nests. Papa brings the material and Mama does most of the building. She then lays the eggs, usually 4. When she s ready to incubate the eggs, she puts them on top of her large webbed feet and then lowers her body to cover the eggs. Who feeds the babies? Both parents feed the babies by opening their mouths and letting the babies stick their heads and beaks inside to find the food in the parent s gullet. 35

36 Canada Goose Bránta canadénsis, length 45 inches, wingspan 60 inches There seem to be Canada Geese in every body of water on Cape Cod during the summer. They delight vacationers cruising in their boats because they are quite willing to come begging at dinner time. They infuriate golfers, baseball players, and farmers because they love eating the grass. The problem is that they feed in flocks and leave nitrogen-filled droppings behind that kill the grass. My shetland sheepdog, Amigo, believed that geese should not be on land, so I would frequently take him for walks through the horse pasture, where he would gleefully attack the geese, who are just about his size, and probably stronger. But they all fled before him with great honking and whirring of wings. Once he had the flock airborne he would trot proudly back to me to be praised for saving the grass from the evil geese. The geese, meanwhile would land in the nearby harbor and beg for food from people anchored on their boats. Canada Geese actually can destroy pastures because their poop is so high in nitrogen it cooks the grass. (The flock that liked the horse pasture never had their small babies with them. I guess these were the old geese that were no longer laying Where can I find them? They can be found throughout Canada and the northern half of the continental the United States. They breed mostly in Canada and a few northern states, and spend winters primarily in the southern states, dipping into Mexico in a few places. They prefer meadow lands and edges of lakes, ponds and the ocean. They are particularly fond of islands for nesting, but any uninhabited stretch of land near water will do. Do they migrate? While geese are famous for their V shaped migration pattern, some Canada Geese are getting lazy and staying year round across a wide band of the U.S. from Oregon to Massachusetts. or perhaps the youngsters who were not yet ready to mate.) What do they eat? Canada Geese are vegetarians, eating mostly grasses and water plants. They also munch happily on lawns and golf courses, and they enjoy vegetable gardens and grain crops. They eat berries when available. 36 A Few Cape Cod Birds

37 What is their nest like? Mama chooses a site on the ground near water and scrapes out a shallow depression. She may check out several spots before she begins laying her eggs in one of them. Nest building begins seriously after the first egg is laid. She adds grasses first, and then some of her own downy feathers as a lining. She doesn t begin incubating until she has most of the eggs in the nest (from 2 to 8 eggs). She does all the incubating. Who feeds the babies? The chicks are able to leave the nest within 24 hours, able to walk, swim, dive, and feed themselves. Both parents are available for protection. They remain as a family unit for a whole year, even migrating together. Canada Geese vary significantly in size, as do their eggs. My recollection is they are almost 3 inches long for birds that are about 45 inches long. Anything else? It is said that when geese fly high it portends good weather. When they fly low it portends stormy weather. Is this only folklore or is there, perhaps, scientific reasoning behind it? Bird books once listed a number of kinds of geese, all looking exactly like Canada Geese, but in different sizes. Scientists are now saying these are all the same species, but that their size, and the size of their eggs, varies according to climate and diet. A Few Cape Cod Birds 37

38 Great Blue Heron Árdea heródias, length 46 inches, wingspan 72 inches He stands as still and quiet as a statue with his feet in the water waiting for his dinner to swim or crawl near. Then beak, head, and neck suddenly snap like somebody just pulled the trigger on a dart gun. Then the head lifts with a fish or a crab in his beak. If you see a great blue heron posing as a statue at the edge of the water, you might miss the action if you blink. When I was a small child, we stayed with my grandfather part of every summer. His dining room had great windows overlooking a cove. Just across the water on the other side of the cove there was a huge boulder perched on the end of a beach-grass covered spit of land. And every night as we sat down to dinner, there was a great blue heron standing near that rock waiting for his dinner to swim past. And so, my grandfather and I said we had dinner with the great blue heron every night. I thought of him as part of the family. Where can I find them? Great blue herons live year round throughout most of the US anywhere there is water. They are equally happy in fresh or salt water. They also live year round in coastal regions of Mexico. Their primary breeding ground is in the southern (and inland) part of Canada and eastern Montana and the Dakotas. But they are found only rarely in the winter in the northern parts of their range. Do they Migrate? Many migrate to the southern parts of the U.S. and Mexico, though some can be found during the winter along the west coast and into Nevada and western Arizona. What is their nest like? Herons build their nests in colonies. Mama builds in a tree in a swamp or in the woods. Papa brings the material to her. If they can t find a good tree, they may nest on the ground on an uninhabited island. The nest is made of sticks and lined with moss, pine needles, reeds and dry grasses. Who feeds the babies? Parents take turns incubating the eggs, and both parents feed the babies (between 2 and 5, usually 3). 1 brood per season; takes 2 months before they re ready to fly. Great Blue Heron eggs are a dull pale blue and 2 inhes long 38 A Few Cape Cod Birds

39 What do they eat? Herons are carnivorous. They eat fish, shellfish, and frogs from oceans, ponds, and river banks. But they will also eat insects, toads and other amphibians as well as rodents. In other words, they ll eat just about any kind of meat they can find! Anything else? Great Blue herons fish (or hunt) alone. They are, therefore, a symbol of self-reliance. They are also symbols of self-respect and balance. A Few Cape Cod Birds 39

40 Snowy Egret Egrétta thúla, length 24 inches, wingspan 41 inches In all the bird books, the Snowy Egret is one of the most elegant birds you re likely to see on Cape Cod. In real life, he is too. These birds have had a difficult time in the United States getting along with white humans. We almost wiped them out at the end of the 1800s because their elegant white feathers looked so lovely on women s hats. The price of an ounce of egret plumes was at one time twice the price of an ounce of gold. Because egrets will not leave their nests even if they are in danger, it was easy for feather hunters to kill egret parents by the thousands. Women boycotted hats with egret feathers in the early 1900s in the name of motherhood. By the time I was growing up in the 1940s and 50s, egrets were common here. These are the only members of the Heron family who actually chase their dinner, and the chase often appears to be an elaborate dance that is great fun to watch. I often see them walking sedately along the shore stirring up the muddy sand as they go hoping to stir up some creature hiding just beneath the surface of the sand. As the population of humans grows, the swamps and wetlands where Egrets find their food is disappearing. Egrets are again becoming scarce. Often today when I think I ve spotted a Snowy Egret, it turns out to be a Cattle Egret, also a lovely white, but without the great plumes of the Snowy, and with a pale reddish crest on his head. Cattle egrets can be found in fields with cows or other animals. They re insect eaters, and browsing animals scare up the insects so the cattle egrets can catch them. I ve even been fooled at a distance by the Great White Heron. He is much bigger than an snowy egret and his beak and legs are all yellow-orange. Where can I find them? Snowy Egrets live all along the coastal areas of the U.S. from Oregon to Maine. They are also common in Mexico, and Central and South America. Do they migrate? Some live all year along the gulf coast, southern California, Mexico, and Central America. Those who spend summers along the northern coasts of the U.S. migrate to the more southern climes for the winter. What do they eat? They eat almost anything they can find in tidal pools and in the shallows of salt (and fresh water) marshes including crabs, shrimp, small fish, worms, and insects. What is their nest like? Snowy egrets nest in colonies which may be shared with other members of the heron family. Papa may begin building a nest. Mama will finish it. Typically they nest in trees, building what looks from the outside like a jumble of sticks and twigs caught up in the forks of tree branches. 40 A Few Cape Cod Birds

41 Egret eggs are pale greenish blue and about 1.65 inches Who feeds the babies? Mama and Papa take turns incubating the eggs, and both parents feed the young by regurgitating food from the crop, a special stomach designed for feeding the young. Anything else? There is a white variety of the great blue heron that looks very much like a snowy egret from a distance. But the white heron has paler legs and bill and is at least 46 inches tall, while the egret is only 24 inches. (Of course, young egrets also have pale legs and bill.) There is also an egret called the cattle egret. It is smaller than the snowy egret, and has some pale orange on breast and sometimes head. A Few Cape Cod Birds 41

42 Belted Kingfisher Megacéryle álcyon, length 13 inches, wingspan 20 inches For years I admired the Belted Kingfishers in the books, but never saw a real one. And then, one day while rowing my little dinghy in the harbor near my house I watched something dive from the tree above the shore into the water and come back to a bare branch above the water with a fish in its mouth. It was a female belted kingfisher. I recognized her immediately from so many times of studying her picture in the bird books. And so I lost my oar in my excitement at finally seeing her sitting on a branch and eating her lunch! Fortunately it was a calm day and I could use the other oar as a paddle to help me capture the lost one. I have never found found a kingfisher nest. But now, many years after that summer when I first saw one, I can say we usually have at least one kingfisher pair hanging out somewhere in or near the scrubby trees that overhang the dinghy dock. I hear them often singing their rattling song in the late afternoon, but only occasionally see them. Once you ve heard their croak (maybe in one of the Audubon bird sound identification disks) you will recognize it when you hear it in the wild. Where can I find them? Anywhere near water throughout the U.S. and Canada. The most likely location is where ever a tree or shrub overhangs water. They will perch on a branch and search the water for fish to catch by diving. Do they migrate? They are more or less year round residents of the U.S. and summer nesting visitors to Canada. Many, if not most, visit Central and Latin America during northern winters. What do they eat? Kingfishers eat mostly fish, but they will also eat smaller crabs and mussels. They ll eat lizards and other small reptiles and amphibians. And occasionally they ll eat berries for dessert. 42 A Few Cape Cod Birds

43 Kingfisher eggs are pure white 1.3 inches long What is their nest like? Mama and Papa alternate digging a tunnel that may be as long as 6 feet into the side of a cliff or bank beside a river, pond, or the ocean. The nest is an oval chamber at the end of the tunnel. Papa does more digging than Mama. But Mama spends more time sitting on the eggs 5 to 8 of them. Who feeds the babies? Both parents feed the babies, but Papa brings more fish than Mama. For the first five or six days after hatching the parents will store the fish partly digested in their crop. After that, the babies will get small whole fishes. A Few Cape Cod Birds Anything else? The kingfisher is known as a symbol of peace and prosperity. Kingfishers can tolerate the pollution humans have intruduced into oceans and streams better than most fish-eating birds. 43

44 Common Tern Stérna hirúndo, length 12 inches, wingspan 30 inches Terns are smaller sleeker versions of gulls. Well, that is how it seemed to me growing up during the summers on Cape Cod. While gulls stand on pilings on the docks, ignoring people unless they get too close, terns always seem to be out in flocks over the water circling and chirping above any school of fish. Fishermen know to look for the circling terns to find the fish. The big fish are in the depths pushing the smaller fish towards the surface where the terns can see them. And the terns dive-bomb the fish schools from above. Poor little fishes. One day when I was about 8 years old I was swimming with my cousins from a sand spit. On one side the water was deeper for swimming and the other side was shallow and perfect for hunting hermit crabs and other tidal shore creatures. But at the far end of the spit there was a rockpile surrounded by pebbly shore. And that was where the terns nested. So off we treked to the rockpile to see if we could find the babies. As we neared the rock pile, clouds of terns circled above us crying warnings to keep away. Of course we ignored them and kept going. I had to wear a hat on the beach as my skin was particularly prone to sunburn, and I happened to be slightly ahead of the pack of human children headed for the nesting grounds when suddenly I was knocked hard on the head and my hat was gone, taken by a tern. With my hand on my head where it hurt, I watched my hat fly away in the beak of a tern. He (or she male and female terns look alike) soon dropped it in the water. And, lesson learned, we turned back the way we d come without ever seeing the babies. Next time maybe I ll wear a hard hat. Where can I find them? They go to Canada from New Brunswick to Alberta in the summer, all along the Great Lakes and along the Atlantic seaboard from North Carolina northward to Canada. Do they migrate? In the winter they prefer the west coast of Florida and Mexico, and travel as far south as Chile and Argentina. They can also be found in the Caribbean. Common Terns also breed in Europe, Asia and northwestern Africa. These birds winter in Africa, south Asia and Australia. What do they eat? They prefer small fish, but also eat crustaceans and insects. During the breeding season they only catch live food, but in winter they will eat fish discarded by fishermen. On Cape Cod they are usually seen in large flocks offshore diving from perches on docks or boats, or circling above schools of small fish. Common tern eggs are 1.6 inches long 44 A Few Cape Cod Birds

45 What is their nest like? Papa may begin the search for a nest before he chooses a mate, perhaps hoping she will he attracted by his industry. Once they ve chosen a site, and scratched out a small depression in the pebbles or earth they ve selected, Mama begins to lay her eggs. Nest building really begins after she s laid her first egg. Then both parents begin building a nest of vegetation -- seaweeds or ground weeds, whatever is handy near the nest. As one parent leaves the nest, he (or she) chooses nearby material and tosses it over his shoulder toward the nest. The other parent grabs the material and tucks it into the appropriate place. By the time the two or three eggs (rarely four) are ready to hatch, they will have a substantial nest. Who feeds the babies? Papa feeds Mama while she s laying the eggs, but they share incubation duties and both feed the hatchlings. Anything else? During the spring, the bill of a tern is red, tinged with black at the tip. By the time the babies have fledged, the adult bill is all red. After molting before leaving for the winter, the bill becomes all black. A Few Cape Cod Birds 45

46 Herring Gull Lárus argentátus, length 25 inches, wingspan 58 inches Gulls are ubiquitous (found everywhere, and all the time) here on Cape Cod. They always greeted us as soon as we stepped out of the car on arrival in Woods Hole, sitting or standing casually observing the world from dock pilings everywhere along the shore. There were always flocks of them around Sam Cahoon s Fish Market mewing and cackling and spiraling lazily overhead or circling more urgently and seeming to demand their share whenever a fishing boat came in. The fish market no longer exists, but the gulls are still here. Gulls nest in colonies on deserted rocky shores all along the coast. When my daughter Nicole was 10 she was allowed to row our little dingy out to a small rocky islet just off the beach where we swam every day. We called it Gull Island because the herring gulls nested there. One day she went out by herself to see the babies. The gulls made a teriffic racket as they circled frantically overhead. Although larger than Terns, Gulls don t seem to attack. There were nests everywhere, but the babies were hard to find nestled still and silent among the tufts of beach grass or hiding under the cow parsley that grew on the crest of the one tiny hillock on this patch of rocks. But she found one small fluffy grey bird in a nest near a dead bird. Convinced it was an orphan, she brought the baby back. She was caught crabs, periwinkles, clams, and mussels for him. She took him to a nearby freshwater pond where she caught perch for him. We augmented that natural diet with canned cat food occasionally. And Charlie, for that is what she named him, thrived and grew. Herring Gull eggs are about 2 and three quarter inches long Where can I find them? In North America, you can find them anywhere near water along the Atlantic ocean and the great lakes. They can also be found in Europe. Do they migrate? Only the first and second year birds seem to migrate. The parent birds move away from the nesting grounds, but stay in the same general area. But the young ones go south along the Atlantic coast or the Gulf coast, or to the Great Lakes or other midwestern large bodies of fresh water. What do they eat? Gulls eat almost anything from insects to fish and shellfish to what humans throw away as garbage. They will follow fishing boats to get the parts fishermen throw overboard when they clean the fish. At low tide they are on the shore hunting crabs and shellfish. They will take quahogs (hard shelled clams) and drop them on rocks to break the shells so they can get at the meat. At landfills they poke through the refuse looking for our garbage. 46 A Few Cape Cod Birds

47 What is their nest like? Mama and papa both build the nest using grasses and seaweeds (in our area on Cape Cod eelgrass is common) to create a shallow bowl on the shore well above the high tide line. They add feathers and anything else they find that looks useful. I often see nests with ropes and pieces of cloth scavenged from the beaches. They nest in colonies, so while some parents are off gathering food it seems there are always plenty of other adults around to protect the babies. Who feeds the babies? Both parents feed the babies softer foods like clams and squid at first. As they get older, whole crabs may be brought for them to tear apart on their own. Anything else? The red mark on the lower part of the bill is one of the identifying characteristics of herring gulls. No other gull has one. Scientists aren t sure why they have this mark, but I ve heard the opinion it might be to make it easy for the babies to know where to look for their dinners. On Cape Cod there are always Herring Gulls. Black-backed gulls are also common here. They are a bit larger, and the feathers on back and wing tops are all black. These larger cousins were not so common when I was a child, but now it seems we have almost as many of them as we do of the Herring Gull. A Few Cape Cod Birds 47