Warblers and Woodpeckers Out West

Life-lister!  Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson, Arizona added more than a few new species to my life list.  This was my very first Ladderbacked Woodpecker, for instance. 

This shot of the Ladderbacked is admittedly a bit fuzzy, but is is a good depiction of the bird's unique markings.   You can see why I didn't need any help with identifying this species!

I'm notoriously weak at identifying warblers, but my son tells me this is an Orange-crowned Warbler.  The orange crown is rarely ever seen in real life, of course.  This is one of many avian species named after generally invisible features, which adds to one's frustration when trying to establish a species ID.

This is a Yellow-rumped Warbler, or so I'm told.  If it looks a bit different than the Yellow-rumped Warblers you are used to seeing in the Northeast, it is because there are two distinct subspecies of this bird (another cosmic joke intended to confuse novice birders!)  This is an Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler as opposed to a Myrtle's Yellow-rumped Warbler.  The chin and throat of the Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler is much yellower than the chin of the Myrtle's Yellow-rumped Warbler. 

This is probably an Audubon's Yellow-rumped Warbler, too.  It looks different than the one above because it is displaying it's "mostly concealed and sometimes lacking" crown patch (description from Peterson's A Field Guide to Warblers of North America).  Does anyone else find all this a bit confusing?  The worst part is that these are supposedly easy-to-identify warblers.  There were probably a bunch of other warblers at Sweetwater Wetlands, but all I know is that we saw a lot of little birds bopping around the place!

Here's a more familiar bird to someone from the Northeast - except maybe not so familiar?  It looks almost like the Northern Flickers I've seen, but where is the red patch on the nape of his neck?  And shouldn't this guy have a black mustache instead of a red one?  The reason this bird looks a bit different than the Flickers I'm used to seeing in Massachusetts is because this is a Red-shafted Northern Flicker instead of a Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker.  When he is flying, you can see that the underside of this bird's wings and tail are red rather than yellow. 

This Flicker doesn't look exactly right to me, and I think there is just the slimmest of chances that this could be a different species altogether.  The Gilded Flicker has more of a cinnamon crown, and maybe that's why this bird looks slightly different.  I'm not sure I know what kind of Flicker we have here! Any ideas?

I'm also not sure what kind of hawk this is!  I think my brain is overloaded with the huge variety of new species I saw on this trip west - and by the unexpected fact that some familiar species look a lot different out there than they do here.  Some Red-tailed Hawks in Arizona and California have much darker faces than I'm used to, for instance.  So feel free to let me know what species of hawk we have here - because I give up!

Glorious Great Blue!

I shot this in a very residential neighborhood about one half mile from route 128. (Thank you, Kellie.) In addition to the GBH flying right over my head, I saw a Turkey Vulture and two Red-tailed hawks within 20 minutes.


I was looking for a leucistic robin, which I missed by seconds on two occasions. I did see some other cute robins, though.


Who could resist this guy?


Not a great shot, but the bird was magnificent!

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Our trip to Mount Auburn Cemetery went about as expected. No warblers or owls for us. Just normal, everyday-type birds. This hawk clutching a chipmunk was pretty damn cool , though!


A closer view unveils the banded hawk and the chipmunk's manifestations of terror!


Still a magnificent bird, despite the poor creature's fate!


We also saw a few other species. A Baltimore Oriole, for one.


We caught a glimpse of an Eastern Kingbird, too.

Red-tailed Hawks

Red-tailed Hawks are EVERYWHERE! This one landed right on top of my head on Soldiers Field Road across from the Charles.


He was not a bit afraid of me or the cars or anything. The same day, I saw 14 Red-tails from inside my car. Some were above the highway, while some were in the brush a few feet away from the Sudbury River.

Consider yourself blessed if you get this close to a red-tailed Hawk. These are gorgeous, intelligent, adaptable, and ingenious hunters who can survive anywhere!


This is why its called a Red Tailed hawk!


Red-tailed Hawk carrying his meal. I think it's a mouse!

Raptors Roost on House Chimneys in Framingham!

We were packing up the car for a weekend wedding in Vermont when my husband glanced up and saw a big raptor on the chimney.


What a stunningly beautiful bird, huh? A big guy, too. He was surveying the yard as if checking out the various meals to be had at each of the very crowded feeders.


Since Red Tails aren't known for eating feeder birds, I'm not sure why he seems so interested.


I was impressed to he could turn his head nearly as far as an owl!


For an idea of the odd scenario we are seeing here, and the size of this bird, here is a look from afar.

Red Tailed Hawk chased by Crows, etc.

Juvenile Red Tailed Hawk chased into tree by crows and other birds - grackles, maybe. They all came screaming out of the sky like a bird bomb, and then a massive red thing fell out of the sky and into the tree. I didn't have a clue what it was, but I would have sworn the big bird was 2 1/2 feet, at least.



All the pictures were taken without looking - just snapping blindly. I had to turn the camera back on (it has an auto shutoff after three minutes!), and I was looking in the viewfinder at nothing because it defaults to the LCD screen. I'm surprised I even got one shot I could use.



The whole thing was over and she was gone in 30 seconds. I heard the crows screaming again about ten minutes later, and I bet they were chasing her still. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Believe it or not, I felt badly for the hawk!



This is an abrupt transition, but the sparrow pic is another accidental image. I was trying to use the remote shutter through the window. It went off before I had framed or focused. It was 9:30 AM on a sunny day, and I still don't know why the background is black.

Can I kill a Mockingbird?

What I love most about my new house is all the wildlife right in my own backyard. I especially love all the birds. I've been a birder all my life (although not a very good birder, I admit!), but here in Framingham it was like having my own sanctuary! Flocks of cardinals, titmouse, chickadees, juncos, sparrows and even robins were always around, as were all sorts of woodpeckers (including a red bellied woodpecker and a flicker), plus a family of crows and a pair of blue jays (I love corvids!), and many more. I've seen an amazing collection of birds of prey, too, and even FIVE giant sized wild turkeys right around Thanksgiving time.

Red Bellied Woodpecker:

This is not a great picture of a red tailed hawk because it's taken from behind - but look at that cute face:
These days, however, my feeders are empty more often than not. Instead of having hundreds of birds, I have ONE bird. I'd like to introduce you to my nemesis; the mockingbird:

He is invincible! He chases away every bird from every feeder in the yard! He even zoomed in on the cat, and scared it half to death. I've tried giving him his own feeder, giving him 1/2 the yard to himself . . . but he still prevails.

I didn't even know what kind of bird it was when I first saw him. He was all puffed up from the cold, and looked like this:

I thought it was a shrike, but it wasn't. Just a mockingbird. I never hated a bird before, but I do now. He won't let anyone eat, whether he wants the food or not. And everyone is afraid of him, even larger birds scatter when he swoops in on them.
Next weekend, all the feeders are coming down for a while. It breaks my heart, but I've been told it may be the only way of regaining my beloved backyard sanctuary!