Red-breasted Nuthatches

Red-breasted Nuthatch

photo courtesy of the

Wisconsin DNR

www.dnr.wi.gov

My last post was about Northern Cardinals, which are common all over Connecticut, especially at bird feeders. A decidedly uncommon bird found in our state is the Red-breasted Nuthatch. During the winter it is just as likely to find them visiting bird feeders stocked with sunflower seed and/or suet as it is to find them in their typical coniferous forest habitat. Their close cousin, the White-breasted Nuthatch, is found in all types of forest, is a regular visitor to bird feeders, and is far more common than the Red-breasted. For example, we counted 10 White-breasteds and only 1 Red-breasted at the White Memorial Museum Area feeders this past Saturday, 1/29. That is atypical of their population ratio here, as Red-breasteds are usually even less numerous than this. The day before, while working in the Pine Island/Duck Pond area, which is largely coniferous forest, we saw 2 White-breasteds and no Red-breasteds. Elsewhere in Connecticut Red-breasted Nuthatches haven't been reported much this winter. While we had 9 in the White Memorial territory on the Litchfield Hills Christmas Bird Count on 12/19, I think that only 1 was found on the entire Barkhamsted CBC on 12/26. That count was handicapped by an incoming blizzard, but we still managed to cover a good amount of territory before it hit and we didn't come up with any R.b.'s despite lots of suitable habitat. The one that we did find was at a bird feeder. Of the R.b.'s found on the LHCBC 3 were at the Museum feeders and 6 were along the Interpretive Trail and at Pine Island. When Red Pine trees covered parts of WMF property prior to their demise from a scale insect and diseases in the late 1970's, Red-breasted Nuthatches used to be fairly common in these plantations. They still are common in this type of habitat, as well as other types of coniferous forests in the northern tier of states and in Canada. When cone crops are poor in these locations we see an influx (which can be called an irruption) into the states to their south. That hasn't happened recently, which is why we have to work to find our remaining resident R.b.'s; or just visit our bird feeders at the Museum to see them.

Coyote Tracking in Duck Pond Vicinity

Friday, January 18, 2011, start time: 13:15 p.m., end time:16:30 p.m., temperature ~34 degrees F, wind: SW 0 - 10 mph, cloud cover 90% - 100%, snow cover 8 - 32 inches.

Nicki Hall and I observed coyote tracks in the Duck Pond Vicinity; which is located north of Bissell Rd., southeast of S.R. 202, and west of White Woods Road.  The tracks were actually quite tricky to identify because their gate appeared to demonstrate that they were running from the trail while maneuvering through some dense cover.  We were quite puzzled at first because these tracks could have been domestic dog that wandered a little far from it's owners, who remained on the trail.  After a little bit of exploring, we observed a small clue that helped us to determine that it was indeed a coyote.  The tracks became a little clearer as the animal continued to walk further away from the trail.  The following pictures illustrates what we observed:

Photo by James Fischer

The coyote was running and it grazed a multi-flora rose branch.  Notice the photograph above that we observed fur on the rose thorns.  A closer inspection of the branch is below.



Photo by James Fischer

 Although the tracking conditions were challenging, with a bit more careful observations we were able to confidently identify the species. 

Good Tracking!

Northern Cardinals

Male Northern Cardinal photographed by

Bob Stanowski at White Memorial

Northern Cardinals are pretty! That's what Samantha Foster, one of our great Wamogo High School student volunteers says every time she sees one. I'm sure that all of the rest of us share that opinion, too. They may be common, but their beauty always impresses us. What is especially amazing about these birds is their impressive northward range expansion over the past 50 years. They had always been thought of as a southern species, but over the years they have moved north into New England and Canada. I saw my first one in Torrington in 1967, when it was considered to be a rarity in northwest Connecticut. By contrast, we recorded 79 of these birds on White Memorial property, alone, this past December 19th on the Christmas Bird Count. The Summer Bird Count, held this past June, produced 122 of these birds on the Property. This total included many nestlings and fledglings. The CBC total is less than the SBC total most likely due to a combination of dispersal of young birds, some mortality, and less territory being covered in less time on the CBC as opposed to the SBC. The overall population trend for this species from the long-running USGS Breeding Bird Survey is upward for this species in southern New England and New York. At White Memorial, it is easy for one to see at least 10 of these birds around the Museum Area in less than an hour. And as Bob's picture portrays, they really like our bird feeders.

Wintering Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker photo

by Lloyd Spitalnik

from lloydspitalnikphotos.com

Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers used to winter from the southeast United States south to Panama, and many still do. However, since the early 1980's an increasing number are being found wintering in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England states. I saw my first winter sapsucker on the Storrs Christmas Bird Count in 1981. It was the first one ever for that count, and everyone thought that I was crazy. Fortunately, I was able to produce that bird the next day for the count compiler, so the record was accepted. Since then, an increasing number of sapsuckers have appeared on CBC's in Connecticut, and some have remained through the entire winter. We started seeing them on the CBC and later in the winter around White Memorial's main area in the mid-1990's. We counted a record-high 5 in this territory on the 2010 CBC. Though we don't see them around here daily during January, we usually get a half dozen reports over the course of the month. Despite extremely harsh weather this month, we still have managed to see a sapsucker around the Museum on 3 different days; the most recent being Tuesday, the 25th. It looks healthy, and has been quite vocal. We have seen it feeding at its own sap wells in Mountain Ash and Sugar Maple trees, at our Bird Observatory's suet feeder, and on Poison Ivy berries near Ongley Pond. We have also observed it probing the bark of the White Ash trees in front of the Museum. If you wish to try to find this bird, the best way is to listen for its "whee" or cat-like mewing calls.

Wildlife Monitor Page Design Updates

You have already noticed the new header image.  The formatting of the archives in the left sidebar was modified.  The number of blog entries displayed when you initially come to the weblog page was changed to a total of five entries.  You will also notice that the page dimensions are a little wider.  Also, I added two weather tools to the left sidebar that corresponds with the current climatic conditions of Litchfield, CT.  I hope this encourages you to plan your next trip appropriately.

ebird: Great for birders & birds

The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and Audubon have collaborated to bring to life a fantastic tool for keeping track of bird sightings and populations all over the world. It is called ebird, and it can be reached via www.ebird.org. It is free to access and use, although donations are much-appreciated. Anyone can view data on the website. It is especially useful to birders who are looking for certain species of birds in a given area, or for someone planning a trip to someplace and wishing to know what birds might be found there. It is proving to be increasingly useful to wildlife biologists, land use planners, and others as the database grows. And that growth comes from the public submitting lists of birds that they see or hear to ebird. To do that one must apply for and then receive a user name and a password. It is a relatively simple process that their website takes you through step-by-step. There is a screening process for accepting reports of rare species or unusually high numbers. Each state has one or more reviewers of reports to ensure that they are accurate. Data are accepted from anywhere as long as the location is map-spotted at the beginning of the submission process. Many locations, including a dozen parts of White Memorial, are already on the ebird maps, so it is only a matter of clicking on the map for a given area and selecting the appropriate spot. You can also put your home on the map and maintain a database for your own property. Data submitted to ebird are safe and secure. It only goes public if you authorize it. As a "hot spot" all of White Memorial's data is open to public viewing. If you selected all of our locations plus Bantam Lake and Litchfield Town Beach you would see that we found a total of 199 species of birds here last year. That's pretty good for an inland location! This year we've seen 47 species so far. Reports from the Property by members of the public can be forwarded to us via e-mail. We look forward to such reports, and hope to see more once this blog is published.

A Walk Around White Hall Rd.

This afternoon (Saturday, 1/22) between 3:15 and 4:15 p.m., Dave Rosgen, Samantha Foster, John Marshall, and George Stephens took a walk around the White Hall Rd. loop from the Museum, through Activity and Mill Fields and Pine Grove 2, and up to the front of the Museum. We did this to try to find a few things for our Notable Sightings list and to try to get a few birds or mammals for our 2011 year-lists. We found White-footed Mouse tracks between the fields and Red Fox tracks (photo above) all around Pine Grove 2. The mouse was lucky that they didn't cross paths. Also in Pine Grove 2 we came across a nice feeding band of birds that consisted of several Black-capped Chickadees and Tufted Titmice, 5 Golden-crowned Kinglets (photo below), and a Brown Creeper. The Kinglets were a "life" bird for Sam, who was the first in our group to spot them; and were a year-bird for John and George. On the way up to the Museum we found multiple Blue Jay feathers scattered about the road and adjacent snow banks. In all likelihood, the Cooper's Hawk that Lois Melaragno saw here yesterday had this Blue Jay for a meal.

The Redpolls have arrived!

Male Common Redpoll

Common Redpolls are small finches that usually reside in the Arctic regions. However, when their food sources that most often consist of seeds found in the catkins of birch trees and alders and in clusters on various herbaceous plants become scarce in the winter they will head south in search of these or alternative seeds. That is happening right now. It is not an invasion yet, but fair numbers are showing up in New England, New York, and New Jersey. We had our first one of the year at White Memorial on Thursday, the 20th. It didn't stay long around the Museum and Office Feeders. Today (the 22nd) we have at least 4 around the Main Area. They are spending most of their time flying around. This is a good way to spot them, as they are very vocal in flight. Their call sounds like "chet-chet-chet", and is frequently repeated. They have settled into the maple tree right behind the Museum deck, but only perched there for 2 minutes. Since they really like black oil sunflower seed we hope that they will eventually spend some time on the feeders. At my house in Winchester I've had up to 25 redpolls at one time this past week. Two of them have been regular visitors to the feeders for several hours each day. Besides feeders it is also worth looking for these birds in stands of birch trees.

Ceder Pond Duck Box Update

The previous blog post mentioned the one duck box that we hadn't been able to get to yet. It is at Ceder Pond, and is pictured above. The hazards are obvious in the photo. Despite these, Scott Dayton and I managed to get to it this afternoon. We wore snowshoes in from White's Woods Rd., but they proved to be more trouble than they were worth. I wore mine over my insulated chest waders, and am very glad that I did. They (the waders) proved to be indispensable to this operation. Equally useful was my potato hook, which I used to break the inch-thick ice in front of and around the pole. This allowed me to step carefully into the water and avoid the 4 foot deep hole that is right in front of the box. I opened the box and was pleased to find that it had successfully fledged 5 Hooded Mergansers last year. They apparently nested after the flood waters had receded. In April this nest box was almost completely under water. It also spent most of 2009 under water. That's why we are moving it about 15' laterally and 5' vertically up the shoreline. This should make it less susceptible to flooding. I was able to detach the box from the pole and hand it to Scott. He then used his long arms and muscles to rock the pole out of the mud. The old box had too many split parts to be salvageable, so a new box will be erected in the previously mentioned better location sometime soon.

Making Progress with the Duck Nest Boxes

Last week saw a significant amount of progress with the effort to monitor and maintain the duck nest boxes on White Memorial property. Scott Dayton, Dave Rosgen, and James Fischer all spent time out in the field trying to get to the rest of the boxes that hadn't been checked yet for usage in 2010. We have now managed to get to all but one box. This remaining box is standing in 5 feet of open water at Ceder Pond. Given the subfreezing temperatures that have characterized much of this past month it is amazing that any open water can be found in local ponds. However, springs, seeps, and water currents can create openings in some ponds. That's why they can be very dangerous in the winter. Ice can form over these spots, but will be much thinner than on the rest of the pond. These spots can also be meccas for wildlife when the water is open. When we checked the duck boxes at Heron Pond we saw tracks of Bobcat, Deer, Squirrels, Mice, and Juncos around seeps that line much of the west side of this pond. We also saw a flock of Robins in the area. They frequently forage for invertebrate animal food in seeps. Getting back to the subject of the duck boxes, we took down several more that needed major maintenance and later re-location to spots on higher ground (see an earlier post). The photo above shows several of the boxes that Scott and I rebuilt so far. We also built 3 new boxes. The top photo shows one of these in the construction process. The size of these nest boxes is so large that it is much easier for two people to build one. One person holds the component parts while the other uses a cordless drill to screw them together. We always use drywall or deck screws, never nails, because they do a much better job of holding the box together. Once the box is completed, the seams between the top and sides and the back and sides are caulked. This helps keep the boxes resistant to rain and cold drafts.

Winter-time Owls at White Memorial

Photo By Darlene Knox

Owls are never easy to find, and are much more often heard than seen. However, during the winter, when they are stressed by hunger and by snow cover hiding their small mammal prey, they are more likely to be seen hunting during the daytime. The Barred Owl in the photo above was seen along the Windmill Hill Trail in a semi-open woodland situation where it had a good view of the trail and surrounding area. Any small mammal venturing out into the open here would surely be caught and eaten by this owl. Barred Owls aren't too vocal at this time of year. They become more territorial later in February. They are especially prone to hooting in March and April. There are several pairs of these birds found on White Memorial property, but the ones at Windmill Hill seem to be the least shy around people. Great Horned Owls are very vocal now as they firm-up their territorial boundaries. They will probably choose an old crow or hawk nest or hollow of a dead tree as a nest site next month, and mate and lay eggs some time in March. Anyone wishing to hear them hooting, and maybe even see one, should park in front of the Museum around 5 p.m. when it is clear and calm. A pair of GHO's has called the White Pine woods north of the Museum their territory for many years. Another pair can regularly be found along the western side of Catlin Woods. We know of 3 territorial Eastern Screech-Owls and a couple of Northern Saw-whet Owls on the Property, but we don't disclose their exact whereabouts because they are much more easily disturbed by people. The Screech-Owls are year-round residents, but the Saw-whets are only here for the winter. They most likely came from Canada or northern New England. It has been at least 15 years since a Long-eared Owl has been detected on the Property. They have become very rare. If you do come out to White Memorial to listen and look for owls, please do not use tape playback to elicit responses from them. It can disturb them to the point where they will abandon their territory; or even attack the person holding the tape player. We probably will offer an "owl prowl" for the public sometime this spring, so keep watch for an announcement in our next newsletter.

Who's Out and About on the Day After the January 2011 Blizzard




Scott's First Time on Snowshoes!
He took to it like a duck to water.

  Scott Dayton and I (Jamie) were out on the property checking waterfowl nest-boxes in the 18+ inches of snow.  Snowshoeing was the only way to travel in these conditions.  Although snowshoeing is fun, it can be really hard work when you are the first to break the trail through deep powdery snow.  It reminded me how difficult it would be for some of our larger mammals to travel through the same conditions.  Some animals have adaptations that are adapted for these conditions such as the large feet of cottontail rabbits and snowshoe hares so that they can travel on top of the snow.  Moose is the only large mammal that inhabits northern CT that can walk through deep snow with their long legs.  Bobcats, coyotes, fisher, and white-tailed deer, on the other hand, are hindered by these conditions.  I expect to see more of their tracks and trails as soon as the snow compacts, but so far we found no evidence that they were moving around much today.  These mammals rely on other adaptations to survive when they can not move very far to find food.  They carry a layer of fat on their bodies that insulates and provides energy that maintains bodily functions.  These adaptations are good for short periods of time and each of them use many other behavioral and physiological adaptations to survive the winters especially during these dramatic environmental conditions.  Some move into the sunlight to warm their bodies, others reduce their metabolism so that they don't need to find as much food when it is difficult to find, and others sleep through the extreme winter climate.  The only mammal sign that we observed today were weasel tracks in various marshes.  The weasels bounded between shrub stands and dove under the snow to probably elude predation and to gain access to the subnivian (below snow) layer where all of the small mammals (mice, voles, shrews, moles, etc.) inhabit.



Weasel Tracks at Little Pond Boardwalk



Weasel Tracks at Little Pond Boardwalk Another Perspective

Snow Day

A few pictures from the museum on a snow day!

Things Observed While Monitoring Duck Nest Boxes

The monitoring of duck nest boxes continued at White Memorial on Monday, 1/10. Dave Rosgen and Scott Dayton managed to get to a total of 12 boxes at Pine Island, and Teal, Fawn, and Heron Ponds without getting wet. The ice at all of these locations was good and solid, even though there was open water along the western shoreline of Heron Pond. We found plenty of nest box usage by Wood Ducks and Hooded Mergansers; the details of which will appear in a future blog post. We also found a used Great Crested Flycatcher nest in a box at Teal Pond. While moving about these places we saw very few birds, but a group of 7 Golden-crowned Kinglets at Teal Pond and a flock of 22 American Robins at Heron Pond were somewhat notable. We saw tracks of Coyotes at Pine Island, a Bobcat at Heron Pond, and White-tailed Deer, Gray and Red Squirrels, and White-footed Mice everywhere. There was quite a bit of evidence of deer pawing for acorns along the Fawn Pond Trail. The photo above showing a double Beaver lodge was taken at Fawn Pond. The lodge on the left was built in 2008 and the one on the right was built in 2009; probably to replace the one on the left. For 2010 & 2011 it appears that they have refurbished the lodge on the left, and added a food cache to one side of it. They have chewed a fair number of small trees around the perimeter of the pond.

"Northern Birds Arriving in Connecticut"

As mid-January approaches and food gets harder to find, more and more birds are likely to head further south. That includes a number of species of a far northern origin. The 2 Rough-legged Hawks that we found on the Christmas Bird Count on December 19th fall into this category. It is quite possible that they will stay around here for awhile. A light-phase bird like the one that we saw at Apple Hill on 12/19 was seen at Little Pond about 10 days ago, and a dark-phase bird that we saw at No Man's Land Swamp that same day was seen there again last week. Today, 2 Rough-legs were reported in the Farmington Meadows. That means that if you are out and about, and see a hawk that looks like a Red-tail, but has a real black belly band and black patches on the front portions of its wings, it's a Rough-leg, like the one in the photo above by Paul Fusco. Please report it to us right away so that we can spread the word because there are lots of other birders who want to see this very uncommon visitor from Canada. That also goes for Northern Shrikes, Common Redpolls, Pine Siskins, Pine and Evening Grosbeaks, and White-winged and Red Crossbills; all of which have been reported in southern New England, New York, and New Jersey in the past week. The winter finches don't seem to be irrupting out of Canada as they do some years, but a decent number and variety have been reported to be on the move. This is also true for Red-breasted Nuthatches, which we have seen almost daily in fair numbers around White Memorial since early December. The Museum feeders are the best place to see them.

Winter Track Training

Winter Track Training

See all of the happy faces!  They are returning from an excursion that found bobcat and coyote tracks!

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Winter Track Transect Workshop -- Saturday, 8 Jan. 2011

Saturday, 8 January 2011

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Free Workshop for Volunteers helping with Winter Track Transects!

Bring a lunch, water, and dress for the weather.

James Fischer will introduce the basics of snow track identification and how the transects are to be conducted for the season.  Please make every effort to attend, even if you have participated in the past.  The program has several new modifications to the protocols which address new program objectives.  This workshop will be conducted rain, snow, or shine.  There will be classroom
and field introductions.  We will be developing our senses to encourage our awareness of our environment.  We will also increase the accuracy and precision of our observational skills.  This will be a workshop that you do not want to miss.

Topics include species natural history introductions, interpreting tracks and gait patterns, critical habitat introductions, track photography, and much more!

Please contact James Fischer if you are interested in participating in this year's Winter Track Transects.

Duck Nest Boxes at White Memorial

The White Memorial Foundation has been involved with the restoration and management of Wood Ducks ever since the 1930's when their population was at a perilously low level nation-wide. WMF land was used by the CT. Board of Fisheries and Game and the Ripley Waterfowl Trust to raise Wood Ducks in a semi-captive situation at Duck Pond and a couple of other locations on the Property. At that time it was called the Litchfield/Morris Game and Bird Sanctuary. Artificial nest boxes were an integral part of this restoration effort. As time marched on, the successful captive breeding effort was abandoned in favor of the provision of nest boxes in suitable habitat. For a long time it was believed that the boxes would be more successful if they were over water. Consequently, that's where most of the boxes in White Memorial's ponds and wetlands ended up. The ducks would use them in the spring, and we'd check them and gather data from them in the late summer, fall, or winter. That worked well until about 5 years ago, when it became evident that these bodies of water were holding water for much longer than they used to, and ice wasn't as thick as it used to be in the winter. We also noticed that flooding of the nest boxes was becoming increasingly common even though most of them are mounted on poles that are sunk 8 to 10 feet deep in the water. This has led to an increased number of nest failures. This increased risk to the ducks and the people who monitor them has prompted us to adjust the management strategy so that boxes and their poles are being re-located from the water to adjacent land. The boxes that have already been moved onto land have proven to be very successful in fledging young birds. All of the boxes are protected from climbing predators by a 3' length of 6" PVC pipe surrounding the pole immediately under the box. The boxes are made of 1" thick white pine lumber, with the seams between the back and sides and the top and sides being caulked. This makes them quite secure, and leads to a high level of success. We anticipate even more success once we eliminate the flooding issue by moving the rest of the boxes to higher ground. Meanwhile, visitors to the Property may notice some vacant poles while the boxes are down for refurbishment and relocation. Fortunately, we have a college intern, Scott Dayton, who is spear-heading this effort. We could always use more help, though, so if you would like to help, please contact us.

Winter Birding around the White Memorial "Main Area"

For the birders reading this blog, you might be interested to know that you can see a fair number of species (as in 21-23) around the Museum Area, Ongley and Activity Fields, and Ongley Pond Trail with very little effort on a January afternoon. On Monday and Tuesday of this week we were out in these areas. Monday's primary mission was filling the bird feeders, but in the course of doing that we saw 19 species of birds, including a Purple Finch. In the evening we heard a Great Horned Owl hooting from the Interpretive Trail woods, and then I saw a gray-phase Eastern Screech-Owl fly up from White Hall Rd. by the Pike Marsh with a small mammal in its talons. On Tuesday, while checking and moving a duck nest box at Ongley Pond, we saw a Pileated Woodpecker working on a dead tree, and a Red-breasted Nuthatch, a Brown Creeper, and 12 Golden-crowned Kinglets among a large group of birds foraging in the Hemlock grove behind the pond. As I write this, 2 Eastern Bluebirds are flying back-and-forth among the trees in front of the Museum.

2010 Christmas Bird Count at White Memorial

The Litchfield Hills Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday, December 19, 2010. It is the 55th year that this count has been held. The White Memorial Foundation crew consisted of 13 volunteers under the direction of WMCC Wildlife Biologist Dave Rosgen. We spent 12 hours in the field, thoroughly covering the Property. We found and counted 5,234 individual birds of 52 different species. The number of species was below average; largely due to Bantam Lake being 95% frozen and thus unavailable to as much variety of waterfowl as usual. The number of individuals was quite a bit higher than average; mostly due to Canada Geese (1,725 individuals), Mallards (286), American Crows (758), and American Robins (667). The rarest species found was Rough-legged Hawk. This is the first time that this species has been found on the Property on a CBC. Other uncommon species found this year included Eastern Screech-Owl, Northern Saw-whet Owl, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Fish Crow, Common Raven, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, and Purple Finch. For complete list of the birds that we found, including numbers, send an e-mail to james@whitememorialcc.org requesting that a copy of the Research and Conservation Forum is e-mailed to you.