Field Sparrow vs Virginia Stickseed

At this time of year I’m always carrying a load of seeds into the house.  Using various methods of attachment, they catch onto my clothing as I roam the fields and stay with me to the end of my journey.  I am strong enough to easily pull the seeds from the plant, but not all animals are fortunate enough to possess my strength. Sometimes, instead of the seed detaching from the stem, the seed holds firm and the animal is caught by the plant. I’ve seen this happen to both birds and bats, with this Field Sparrow being the latest victim.

The snare in this case was the Virginia Stickseed, Hackelia parviflorus.  This native plant is not particularly showy at any time of year, it often goes unnoticed until you discover dozens of sticky little seedpods covering your clothing.

The Field Sparrow was held firmly by multiple stems of seed pods running the full length of the left wing and half the length of the right-wing. My camera was already on when I came upon the trapped bird, but I only stopped long enough to take two quick shots of the incapacitated animal before rendering aid. It remained amazingly calm as I wrapped my hand around its body and snipped the seed stalks away from the plant. You can see in the photo that it had already lost two feathers in its initial attempt to escape entanglement. I was responsible for the loss of two more as I carefully cleaned away all traces of the offending seedpods. The entire cleaning process took about a minute, after which the bird flew from my hand, showing no signs of trauma or injury.

These seedpods are vicious little things and are probably my least appreciated of all the various vegetative hitchhikers. Caught up in cotton gloves or socks, they can sometimes be nearly impossible to remove. I know the Field Sparrow would never have escaped on its own. It was nice to find this guy while he was still healthy and sound, instead of long dead and dried as was the condition of previous sticky bur victims I have encountered in the past.

The Change to Summer Birds

I keep the bird feeders filled with sunflower seeds and cracked corn year round.  Although the diet never changes, the species of birds visiting the feeder vary from season to season.  The last few weeks has seen the arrival of what I think of as the summer visitors.  Many of these, like this Blue Grosbeak, would be difficult to view if they didn’t regularly visit the feeder.

Even though they are permanent residents in this area, I rarely see Brown-headed Cowbirds in the winter.  During the summer, I routinely see them at the feeder.  They are also to be found stationed atop the tallest trees around the property, watching to spot nest locations in which to lay their eggs.

A gathering place for birds that don’t typically visit the feeder is the vegetable garden.  Brown Thrashers patrol back and forth along the vegetable rows, plucking larvae from the plants and pulling grubs or cutworms from the soil.

Chipping Sparrows search the garden for both seeds and insects.  This guy kept chasing and eating some type of insect moving quickly across the planting beds.  He captured several in just a couple of minutes, but I never got a look at what he was hunting.

Field Sparrows have found the mulch of cut grass in the garden to be ideal nest material.  They are frequently seen leaving with mouths full of the fine grass stems and leaves.  The top of the fence is  a favorite perch.

Bluebird pairs seem to find an abundance of suitable insects inside the garden boundaries.  The female sits on one post …

… and the male usually sits on the next post over.  When an insect is spotted, they will fly down to pick it up and then return to the post.

With all of those garden insects to feed on, it’s no surprise that the Bluebird couple claimed the bird box nearest the garden.

The female has just begun incubating this clutch of five eggs, so I probably won’t be seeing much of her for the next couple of weeks.  After that, she’ll be busy ridding the garden of insect pests in order to feed her growing family.

With their aerial displays and propensity to chatter, Tree Swallows are usually the most noticeable of the summer birds at Blue Jay Barrens.  These birds were uncommon here 25 years ago.  When I first installed bird boxes, they were all occupied by Bluebirds of Chickadees.  Now, 80 percent of the box inhabitants are Tree Swallows.  The shallow pool of water at the site of my new toad pool construction has been getting a lot of attention from the swallows.

The area that has been stripped of vegetation seems to be a preferred site for the collection of nest material.

The final phase of Tree Swallow nest building is the addition of feathers around the rim of the nest.  The birds almost always use feathers from domesticated chickens or ducks.  The battling Wild Turkey males leave an almost daily offering of feathers in my yard, but the Tree Swallows don’t find them of interest.  Maybe they just have a preference for white feathers.

No Tree Swallow eggs have yet been laid, but I imagine that will change soon.  By the time the last of hatchlings leave the nest in late summer, the resident population of Tree Swallows will be about four times what it is now.

First Official Frost

I went outside yesterday morning to find a good coating of frost covering the landscape. A little touch of ice adds a bit of beauty to just about everything, except roads and electric lines.

This is actually the second frost we’ve had at Blue Jay Barrens this fall. The first occurred on October 2 and put a nice coating of ice across the lawn. It just didn’t meet my criteria for a legitimate first frost, because it failed to kill even one leaf on my unprotected tomato plants. This is what yesterday’s frost did and that gains it the distinction of being the first official frost of Fall 2011.

Most of the goldenrods were already on their way to turning brown. This frost put an end to any that were trying to hold on to a bit of yellow.

The frost disappeared quickly when touched by the rising sun. The stand of Indian Grass gave little shivers as the ice turned to water and dripped from the seed heads. I also gave an occasional little shiver. I rushed outside to get some frost shots before everything melted away and didn’t bother to change into more substantial footwear. My old tennis shoes are so worn that they are more like house slippers and they definitely don’t protect your feet from the chill of frosty grass.

The melting frost turned quickly to fog. It only took a couple of minutes to reduce unlimited visibility down to about 100 feet. I’m glad I wasn’t trying to land a plane here.

No ants moving this morning. I’m sure activity on the mound will resume as soon as the sun gets a little higher in the sky.

Frost didn’t stop the sparrows from feeding on Indian Grass Seeds. These Field Sparrows took to the Dogwoods as I walked by, but they quickly returned to the grass upon my departure.

Field Sparrow Nest

I usually don’t find many bird nests while I’m walking through the fields, even though I flush a lot of birds that I’m sure have been scared from their nests. Many birds will move away from the nest before coming out of the grass, so you can never be quite sure where the nest might be located. It’s likely that in a search for the nest, I would trample more than I found, so when a bird shoots out of the grass ahead of me, I normally change course and move away. It was just luck that allowed me to find this Field Sparrow Nest.

I found the nest while investigating some corridors I had cut through a thick stand of small cedars. I did a lot of corridors such as this during the early days of my management efforts. This is a fairly quick way to see how the plant population is going to respond to added sunlight and allows you to plan your activities in the areas that will get the best results. This corridor was cut over ten years ago and the grass doesn’t really look much different than it did when the cedars were still there. It became a low priority for additional management.

I had reached this point when a Field Sparrow shot out of a bushy little stunted tree. Since I was actually looking at the tree when the bird took flight, it was obvious where the bird had been.

Another couple of steps and I could see the eggs. Had the bird stayed in place, I would have passed it by without noticing.

Early season Field Sparrow nests are typically found in the grass near the ground. Late season nests are often found in these short, shrubby trees. In the winter when leaves have fallen and the dead grass stalks have dried, the old nests become readily visible.

Insect populations are really going crazy this year, so there ought to be plenty of food for the hatchlings. It seems to me that there’s not much in the way of fine grasses or hair lining this nest pocket. The ground is visible through just about every part of the nest. This must be some kind of airy summer construction.

Christmas in April

I must admit to having had strongly conflicting emotions when I found this piece of trash in the woods. When I first saw it from a distance, I had my typical negative emotions towards litter. However, when I caught sight of the picture, I experienced the sudden flush of joy that a child gets when confronted by Christmas. The litter suddenly had value and was no longer trash. With the folded scrap secure in my pack, I carried along a little bit of Christmas on the rest of my walk.

A decorated Christmas tree. Maybe not traditional for Christmas, but a Serviceberry in bloom certainly appears to be adorned with ornaments. The showy white flowers of these small understory trees become quite noticeable in the springtime woodland.

A present under the tree. The Eastern Box Turtles dig in for protection on cool spring nights. It’s not unusual to see them decorated with dried mud picked up from their temporary quarters.

A Christmas plant. Downy Rattlesnake Plantain is one of the most beautiful plants in the woods. The dark green leaves with their white veins are so attractive that it seems a distraction to put a bloom atop the plant.

A Christmas song. Neither a partridge nor a pear tree, but a beautiful song. Field sparrows have taken to the low trees around the field to advertise their claiming of a territory and availability as a mate. The melodious song is one of those good things that comes from a small package.