Solitary Sandpiper at Springbrook--Barred Owl Eats Sparrow

 At yesterday's birdbanding at Springbrook Nature Center a Solitary Sandpiper flew into one of the mist nets.  The first one of these we have captured in over 25 years.  It was banded and released quickly but not before we had a good chance to see it up close. 
A beak longer than its head is an identifyer for this bird, as well as the very white eye ring.

The white eye ring is very obvious here.

We caught about 95 birds yesterday, many were migrating warblers and other migrants, including the sandpiper.

We caught several migrating White Throated Sparrows, but one we didn't catch was caught by the Barred Owl, who made a quick breakfast of it, swallowing it whole as can be seen below.  Yum!

Bloodroot in May Snowstorm

 This morning in the blowing snow the large enveloping leaf of the bloodroot looked exactly like the protective cover that it is for the single flower of each plant. 

This unusual May snowstorm is the reason this early spring wildflower is protected in this way.

The more adventurous flower below was ready to open but stayed closed as the snow flakes built up on its petals.

I think the Bloodroot and the rest of us are all ready for more normal spring weather!

Pasque Flowers Emerge First

 With the first warm weather these past couple of days, the Pasque Flowers emerged from this very long winter very quickly.  I took these pictures this morning. 

The first flowers of spring are showy and beautiful.

Spring? at Springbrook 2013

 Spring migrants have arrived in full force at Springbrook, but they all look a little dazed. There were over 40 Fox Sparrows at a time at the feeders in the past few days scratching the snow back to find seeds near the soil. Usually we might see 6 or 8.

Our extended snowy season this year is making it difficult for many of the migrant birds.  Swallows and flycatchers that depend on insects are having a hard time finding enough to eat.

 This Hermit Thrush was turning leaves over along the edge of the windows finding worms.  There were at least 5 other Hermit Thrushes doing the same thing.

Many people have seen the flocks of Robins flying everywhere.  Some of the Robins are getting innovative as they cannot find open ground to search for worms.

This one spied the suet feeder and decided to try it out.  I think he watched the woodpeckers and thought it looked easy.

 But he discovered his toes are not made for hanging on to the sides of anything, and his body is heavy to hold up.

But after many tries he finally got the "hang" of it, as can be seen below, and has stayed close to the suet feeder for over a week.

He will often fly onto the feeder knocking it around, then fly down to the ground and eat the bits of suet that have fallen off.

 A Barred Owl has noticed the hundreds of birds flocking around the feeders, and watches them closely.







When there are many birds on the ground and close to the windows he will fly at them as can be seen below.  I think his plan or hope is that one will fly into the windows and be stuned for a moment.  Long enough for him to get a meal.  I have not seen it work yet.  But it must have worked once, as he keeps trying.

Many deer come to the feeders looking for food.  They have been living off of fat for many months now and need new green food desperately.  The late snow is slowing that process down.  Within a couple of weeks the does will be having fawns, and will need fresh food.

Forgive this anthropomorphism, but I asked this deer what she thought of this year's spring weather, and the picture below was her response.

Flying Squirrels and Hornet's Nests

 Summer's hornet's nests become visible at this time of year when the leaves have fallen.  They are fairly common.  This morning I discovered this one on Springbrook's hiking trail.  It is about 30 feet high in an aspen tree.

The bottom part of the nest had fallen off and was on the ground beneath it.  Not unusual, since woodpeckers, Chickadees, and other hungry animals rip holes in the nest to eat the wasp larvae and pupae that remain after the adult wasps die from cold and lack of flower nectar food.


 But this piece of nest was different.  In the middle of what had been the bottom of the nest was a pile of Flying Squirrel droppings, a few sprigs of moss, and Flying Squirrel hair. 

A Flying Squirrel latrine high in the tree tops.  Perhaps it or they were living in the top of the nest.  Something I have never heard of.  But nature is full of surprises.





Notice the droppings to lower left, hair to lower right, and moss at top.

Nursery Web Spider at Springbrook

 At Springbrook's Pumpkin Night Halloween Program last Saturday we had some pretty big pretend spiders.  On Monday, as we cleaned the props after bringing them inside, this very large REAL spider jumped off a fake spider and ran across the floor. 

This Nursery Web Spider, I think Dolomedes tenebrosus, has a leg span of about 3 inches, and moves faster than most of the nature center staff are comfortable with.

This is a female, and with little left to eat outside, and cold weather coming, will be lucky to find a warm place to stay with food to eat.

I photographed her on a wild sunflower seed head.

Look at the close up of the eyes in the pictures below.

Those are her fangs covered by hair hanging down below her 8 eyes. I would not want to be a small bug trying to escape from her.



 Nursery Web Spiders have very good eyesight, and chase their prey down.  Many can also run across water.








But they do have a serious problem with eyelashes, as can be seen in the picture below.  But maybe I just found her on a bad hair day.

3rd Oldest Hairy Woodpecker is at Springbrook

 At our regular bird banding activity at Springbrook Nature Center today we captured this female Hairy Woodpecker.  We first captured her in October of 1998 as a hatch year bird.  That makes her 14 years and some months old.  If the Bird Banding Lab decides that she is at least 4 months plus 14 years old, she will be the 3rd oldest Hairy Woodpecker ever recorded.

 She looked full of energy and bright eyed as we weighed and measured her today.  These pictures are courtesy of Amber Burnette, who was photographing while I was holding the bird and taking measurements. 

Her band was very worn and thin as can be seen in this picture and the picture below. A new band is next to her band below.

Woodpeckers often wear their bands quite thin as the band rubs against the bark of trees while the woodpecker moves up and down searching for food.  But this band was knife edge sharp on the top edge, and exceptionally thin, so we took the band off and replaced it with a new one. 

We have captured her 25 times in the last 14 years.  Let's hope we catch her for a few more years and set a record for the oldest Hairy Woodpecker ever recorded.