Yesterday afternoon around 5, I was yard-birding, essentially trying to chase down the loudly calling PILEATED WOODPECKER, one of several that we have had resident for years. He was circling his territory, which is roughly our 2 acres plus woods beyond to the east and west. He did a great job of staying 200' ahead of me and out of sight. After the second circle, I said the heck with it, I'll sit here on my back patio and wait for him. Scanning the sky, thinking 'I wonder where the TURKEY VULTUREs are today' and on cue the first flew into sight low over the trees.
Short time later, the other 2 of that family group (I'm guessing because there are 3 together a lot) flew in and all circled. That led to the thought 'I wonder if the other 2 groups are still around' as we have counted as many as 10 at a time together over our woods. On cue: within about 10 min, 10 TVs circling overhead. Then, as happened a month or so back, all of a sudden I realized one of these birds circling was not like the others: it was a return of the OSPREY. While I was watching the Osprey, in the same binoc view, a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK was circling a few hundred feet higher! This was getting interesting. I switched view slightly to watch TVs and Osprey circling and registered what appeared to be a flock of small birds flying downward really fast as if they had flown through the group of vultures, but as I followed them down I realized that one of the vultures or maybe the Osprey had taken a gigantic dump from 500' and it was spreading out. So glad it was going to land on the neighbors house a few hundred feet to the north. Another reason to keep your mouth shut while birding. Bringing attention back to near ground, I saw that 2 of the TVs had perched on the big basswood in our next door neighbors, a new roosting spot this year for them (they have used some very tall pines visible to the north for years). So for the next 10-15 min, I had a chance to study how TVs come to roost. It's pretty impressive. They circled lower and tighter in a leisurely manner. On the next to last pass, they swoop by the tree and ID the branch they will hit, the make a very tight turn to lose speed for final approach. As they come straight in on the glide path, they roll wings vertical (like an airplane lowering flaps) and flap 2-3 times. This brings them down from about 15 mph to about 2 mph in the last 20', then they hit the branch (appropriately springy) and that kills the final speed to 0 (though sometimes shaking the nearby roosters). This works pretty well for getting out of the air, but it's not always the best choice for foot comfort, so they will them sometimes hop to another more comfy branch with just a few wing flaps. This morning, to the sound of the recently arrived HOUSE WREN, I went out and the roost was all still in place. One bird had come to a closer bare tree and presented a great photo op except an AMERICAN CROW was hassling him. I ran for the camera but the bird had been chased off the perfect spot. But at the same time, the sun had broken over the horizon, and suddenly 5 of the 10 TVs flared out their wings to catch some rays and dry last night's rain. This presented a fantastic photo and I took a bunch (hope they come out OK). Couldn't resist all the singing at the Lab this AM, and on a quick walk from 730-800, got First of Year (for me) GREY CATBIRD foraging and meowing along the pond edge, FOY BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER singing cheerily and sitting high up in the sun (took some pics, hope they come out too!), and FOY YELLOW WARBLER by Fuller Wetlands. ______________________ Chris Pelkie Research Analyst Bioacoustics Research Program Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, NY 14850 -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html 3) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
