Winter - a photo collage

Winter

Top left: female Red-tailed Hawk lives in the Philadelphia area year-around.

Top right: White Pine cones

Bottom left: Last of the Oak leaves falling from the branches

Bottom right: Full moon on the Winter Solstice, December 22, 2010

Winter Birds and Winter Food

Birds at my feeders, through the years.

The ability to require food is what determines whether birds stay the winter or not. This collection of photos were all taken in my backyard. These are some of the hardy birds that stick around during cold winter weather in Philadelphia and elsewhere. There are only 20 -30 land birds (common and easily found), which stay in cold winter in North America.

These birds will feed on seeds of grasses, flower, trees and shrubs, on the still hanging fruit of fall-fruiting shrubs. And on the insect eggs and hibernating insects hidden in the nooks and crannies of trees and shrubs. 

In winter there are no airborne insects for aerial feeders like warblers, swifts and flycatchers, so these birds go where the insects are hovering in the air, Central and South America.

Slowly moving water like ponds and lakes, freeze over in cold weather. So the ducks, herons, rails and sandpipers move to open, unfrozen water. In the Philadelphia, these birds can be found along the Delaware and other Rivers, in Tinicum Marsh and Atlantic Ocean along the Jersey and Delaware shores.

Of the birds pictured in the collage above, the Dark-eyed Juncos migrates to the Philadelphia area and Delaware Valley. The Juncos breed in conifer forest far to the north and migrate south in the fall. They spend the winter from southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. 

Each fall I look for them underneath the shrubs in my backyard. When they arrive it is a clear sign the wheel of the seasons is turning and living beings are following their instructions on how to live.  

Top left: Mourning Dove, top right: Dark-eyed Junco

Lower left: male Cardinal, lower right: Chickadee (Carolina/Black-capped, I live in an area were they hybridize)

Colorful Evening Visitors - Project Feederwatch Report

Male Cardinal waits his turn at tray feeder.

The colorful native birds arrive at my backyard feeder in the very late afternoon. I went to replenish the feeders at 4 o'clock, and the Cardinal pair and a female Hairy Woodpecker were already eating.

The woodpecker pecked at the suet cake, just as she would peck at hibernating insects and eggs in the tree trunks.

female Hairy Woodpecker

She lacks the bright red patch on the back of her head that the male Hairy Woodpecker has. But I could see she was a Hairy woodpecker by the lack of spots on her outer tail feathers. The Downy Woodpeckers have black spots on their tails.

The Cardinals were foraging for seeds underneath the feeders, but few were left. The gregarious hoard of House Sparrows had cleaned the area out earlier in the day.

I like the House Sparrows, but their pushy ways and loudness, get on my nerves. I kind of resent them. These invaders from the other side of the world, keep the native birds away from the feeders.

Eat, eat my little friends! (House Sparrows)

They are fun to watch. They vocalize all day. They travel in packs. And they eat the full buffet I put out at my feeders, black oil sunflower seeds, suet, millet and Nyjer seed. I guess this is why they are so successful and numerous. I am trying to love House Sparrows.

Dark-eyed Junco

Eight dark-eyed Juncos hopped into view from under the shrubs. When the House Sparrows are around, there are at most, three Juncos in my garden. I had no idea there were so many of these little birds in my garden.

In the fading light the birds left my garden, one by one.

Location: My backyard, Philadelphia, PA; Time: 4:00 - 4:57 pm

Weather: cold 28 degrees F, clear, breezy H: 26 degrees F, L: 22 degrees F

Species seen: Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis), Northern Cardinal ( Cardinalis cardinals), and Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides pubsecens)

My Project Feederwatch Photo Gallery

Peace and Goodwill, to All.

Winter Solstice and Full Moon

 This evening at 6:30 pm, winter came in. With the cold breezes and bare tree branches, winter has been building up for several weeks. The last several days have been very cold.

 The moon will be a full one tonight. Big and full in a cold night sky. After tonight the moon will grow darker each night until total darkness makes it a new moon. The days will grow longer, by a minute, until spring, when the equinox makes day and light, twelve hours equal.

 There is something special and mysterious about the Winter Solstice and the full moon occurring on the same night. As last night was a total lunar eclipse, the mystery deepens even more.

 If I worked magic, last night and tonight seemed like great nights to say a pray, cast a spell.

Silence and meditation seem just right tonight, to sit by a window with the moonlight highlighting your hair. The Great Mystery seems, just close enough to touch.

Naturalist News - December 2010

Mourning Dove in my garden in previous years.

Bird feeding is the primary birding activity this month. So, this month's newsletter has a distinct bird vibe.

Winter is a rough season for birds. The birds that don't leave the area are the rugged and hearty souls that eat seeds and glean insect eggs and hibernating insects from trees and woody plants.

Providing food (seeds and suet) and water for our bird relatives is a good way to help them through the winter.

I buy a 40lb bag of black-oil sunflower seeds for about $25.00 from Schuylkill Environmental Center. Members get extra discounts.

This giant bag will last for several months. I also provide suet for woodpeckers, Titmice, Nuthatches and Chickadees. The House Sparrows will also eat it. I keep my Nyjer seed feeders filled for the finches. Suet, Black-oil sunflower and Nyjer seeds. That's about it. I keep it simple to keep the costs down.

Tufted Titmouse

Nature Calendar
December 5 - New moon
December 13 - First Quarter Moon
December 21 - Full Moon
December 22 - Winter Solstice, Winter begins
December 28 - Last Quarter Moon


Citizen Science to Participate in...
Project Feeder Watch
Count the birds that visit your feeders in this easy citizen science project that generates data on the abundance of North American birds.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/

The Great Christmas Bird Count
From to , count birds in a group or in your backyard.
http://birds.audubon.org/christmas-bird-count


What to Observe (and sketch and photograph) Right Now
Watch the birds that come to your feeders


Waterfowl at Tinicum and other large, open bodies of water, like rivers
http://www.fws.gov/heinz/sightings.htm

Observe Bald Eagles fishing on the Susquehanna
http://www.donnallong.com/2010/12/bald-eagles-at-conwingo-dam-close-to.html


Learn Right Now
Feeder Types
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/FeederTypes.htm

The 5 Best Bird Feeders for Winter
http://magblog.audubon.org/5-best-bird-feeders-winter

What to Feed Birds - Bird Seed Preferences - Project Feeder Watch
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/BirdFoods.htm

Learn to identify winter feeder birds

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/index.html

Tricky bird IDs
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/AboutBirdsandFeeding/TrickyBird_IDs.htm

Get a Free Winter Bird Mini-Poster from Project Feeder Watch

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/FreeDownloads.htm

Or buy the Stokes Guides to Birds. It has a 4-page color spread of backyard feeder birds. Western or Eastern versions are available.

Support local nature centers by purchasing bird seed and feeding equipment. Places like Lowe's, Home Depot and garden centers also have bird feed.

Black-capped/Carolina Chickadee near my garden.

Bald Eagles at Conwingo Dam, close to Philadelphia

Location: Conowingo Dam, Susquehanna River,  Cecil and Harford counties in Maryland. Weather: Clear, sunny, cold, windy on the river, high - 40 degrees F, Low 27 degrees F.  Habitat: River, Floodplain Forest, hydroelectric dam.

 I finally went to see the Bald Eagles fish at Conowingo Dam. I have wanted to go for several years to see Bald Eagles un-caged and free. I got up early Saturday morning (even though I didn't want to) and my mother and I drove an hour and one half, down US Route 1. Just 5 miles over the Pennsylvania border, is the Conowingo Dam. The Dam crosses the big, mighty Susquehanna River. Directions were straight and easy. I didn't take pictures of the dam, because homeland security is an issue there.

Mature Bald Eagle in a Sycamore tree.

Along the river banks is a paved observation area were birders and naturalists can hold their breath and watch the majestic birds that have come to symbolize America.

I tried out my new binoculars and marveled at the clear image and the buff-gold edge of this mature Bald Eagle's plumage.  And look at the bulk of those legs. I am sure most of the bulk are down feathers. It was very cold, specially with the wind and movement of the water in the river. I doubt if the Eagles felt the cold.



I never really thought about how the white head matches the white tail of the mature Bald Eagle.  This raptor perched, high above the spectators below. Us and the Eagles were situated downstream of the dam.

The Bald Eagles are primarily fish eaters. The water level was high in the Susquehanna, because of the heavy rain a couple days before. The dam engineers were releasing quite a bit of water downstream.  The release of so much water made fishing difficult for the Eagles.

 

Bald Eagle eating a fish.

The big birds perched and waited, And then Swoosh! Down they swept to the water and rose into the air clutching a fish. It didn't take long for this bird to eat the fish. After the bird was finished, gulls swooped down for scraps.

Giving the Eagle Eye.

It was a great morning. I saw this wonderful bird of prey, not on television in a nature program, but up close and free. And not too far from Philadelphia. It was just, too cool.

Other species seen: Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias), Gulls spp., and Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus).

All photos taken by Donna L. Long, December 4, 2010.

City plans proliferation of small parks | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/06/2010

City plans proliferation of small parks | Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/06/2010

Mayor Nutter pledged that each city resident would be 10-minute walk away from a green park in the city.

This is a great opportunity to increase the urban forest and the the health of the native ecosystem.