Another Year; Another Count - The Big Sit 2014

Bird Watcher's Digest offers the chance to be a participant in their annual BIG SIT in October.  I decided to participate once again as I had the time and the weather looked marvelous.  If you recall; last year's Big Sit was rainy and cold.  One does not get to match the weather with the chosen date.  From the BWD page, "Some people have called it a "tailgate party for birders." Find a good spot for bird watching—preferably one with good views of a variety of habitats and lots of birds. Next, create a real or imaginary circle 17 feet in diameter and sit inside the circle for 24 hours, counting all the bird species you see or hear. That's it. Find a spot, sit in it, have fun. Then submit your findings."

I arrived at Havenwoods around 8:00 AM.  The sun shone brightly in the low western sky with nary a cloud as the day unfolded.  A shroud of geothermal mist drifted over the pond as I first approached the wooden bench that faces south.  Mallards tipped their backsides into the air as they dug for plants and other delicious nuggets of nourishment on the shallow pond bottom.  American robins flitted back and forth from tree to tree.  Eastern bluebirds joined the robins but had nothing but angst for them as they squawked their disapproval of each other's proximity to the other.

One observation I made that day was of a "human nature" variety.  A group of people approached my circle

with three spunky young boys in the lead.  They rambunctiously ran ahead giggling and screaming as they passed me by and onto the bridge.  Another three people (a teenage girl and boy and one adult male) walked in their wake and also passed me by on their way to the other side of the bridge.  The adult shouted ahead to the youngest children to, "head left" and to one named Dominick; "you're the fastest...try to beat the others to the trail!"  All I could do was to lament the lost opportunity of that small group of humans to experience the smallest bit of "nature."  No one stopped to ask me what I was doing, looking at, etc.  The activity that they were engaged in (running through the forest) was one that could have taken place on any playground, parking lot, or shopping mall.  What have we become in this country?  Perhaps it is me?

Downy Woodpecker

Overall I didn't have long to sit; but the time I was able to devote was sheer quality birdwatching indeed; and who needs more that that?

Team Information: BirdMilwaukee

Captain: Joseph Devereaux

Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin (United States)

Team Checklist

1. Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
2. Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias
3. Canada Goose Branta canadensis
4. Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
5. Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
6. Ring-billed Gull Larus delawarensis
7. Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura
8. Belted Kingfisher Megaceryle alcyon
9. Red-bellied Woodpecker Melanerpes carolinus
10. Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens
11. Hairy Woodpecker Picoides villosus
12. Northern Flicker Colaptes auratus
13. Eastern Phoebe Sayornis phoebe
14. Blue Jay Cyanocitta cristata
15. American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
16. Black-capped Chickadee Poecile atricapillus
17. Red-breasted Nuthatch Sitta canadensis
18. Eastern Bluebird Sialia sialis
19. Veery Catharus fuscescens
20. Hermit Thrush Catharus guttatus
21. American Robin Turdus migratorius
22. Gray Catbird Dumetella carolinensis
23. European Starling Sturnus vulgaris
24. Cedar Waxwing Bombycilla cedrorum
25. Yellow-rumped Warbler Dendroica coronata
26. Yellow Warbler Dendroica petechia
27. Palm Warbler Dendroica palmarum
28. Fox Sparrow Passerella iliaca
29. Song Sparrow Melospiza melodia
30. Lincoln's Sparrow Melospiza lincolnii
31. Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana
32. White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys
33. White-throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis
34. Dark-eyed Junco Junco hyemalis
35. Common Grackle Quiscalus quiscula
36. American Goldfinch Spinus tristis
37. House Sparrow Passer domesticus

Fox Sparrows

Turning Over a New (old) Leaf

Change is fine; but how about those amazing things we can always count on?

The enthusiastic sound of children's voices during afternoon soccer practice floated over from across the slowly moving Underwood Creek on this particularly warm, after work, October Thursday afternoon.  The deliciously stuffed peppers Barbara was preparing would be ready around 6:00 PM, so I had time for some quick bird-watching on my way home.

Fall watching success is always harder to anticipate.  Birds are reversing course at this time of year merely passing through this particular zip code with the basic intent of staying warm over the winter.  Tree leaves are mostly still stuck on their branches and soughing on intermittently blowing breezes; making movement-based sightings tricky.  Temperatures fluctuate and unpredictable precipitation causes annual migratory patterns to speed up and/or retard according to the weather "upstream" of avian flyways.  In years when you could nearly set your watch by the clockwork comings and goings of certain species; there are just as many times when all bets are off.

One of the more steadfast of annual avian, natural occurrences seems to be well underway; American Robin Mania has indeed descended Milwaukee County.  This is the time of year when the robins all congregate prior to the majority of their masses leaving for warmer points south.  That's not to say that ALL robins leave a particular area; just most.  Some robins retreat all the way to southern Texas and Florida, but others winter as far north as they can find berries. So robins have an enormous winter range.

In late summer and early fall robins prepare for migration by eating a lot of fruit and insects as well as worms. Dozens of them will stand in open areas of forest floor that has been littered with now brown and yellow elm and birch leaves.  Using their large and pointy beaks, they will "flip" each leaf over looking for bugs to fill their hungry stomachs. The way that these birds cock their heads to the ground has (over time) hatched ill-founded belief that they are "listening" to worms, when indeed their keen eyesight is more efficiently in play with this signature head-tilt.  Flip, flip, flip...PECK!

While feeding, the more robins there are, the more likely that at least one of them will notice a predator and warn the rest. This particular day while standing still on the edge of the river watching a group of robins bathing; I heard the distinctive cry of a nearby Cooper's hawk. The birds quickly and warily retreated to the cover of the overhanging trees along the bank.  During migratory flights, hawks have trouble singling out one robin to strike when faced with their fast-moving, tight migratory flocks. With a large flock, some individuals may be more familiar with an area than others, and the experienced birds will show the others the best places for feeding and roosting. Since the robins are all moving together, no individual will know all the best places, and most of the flock members will both help and benefit from flock membership.

I don't know about you, but watching these magnificent birds painstakingly gathering their meal from under the remnants of discarded vegetation reminds me of the well-known phrase, "turning over a new leaf."  It is doubtful that it originated due to the eating behavior of our red-breasted, feathered friends; however in this crazy world of uncertainty, it's somehow comforting to imagine finding something good, under something discarded - if one merely looks beneath.