Field Notes Update

Hanging With a Pewee /  by Todd Henson

Hanging with a pewee, an Eastern Wood-Pewee

Sometimes you’ll find birds foraging on the ground or through brush. Other times you’ll find them higher up in the trees, as with this juvenile Eastern Wood-Pewee. Apparently wood-pewees do tend to forage from higher perches with one study finding an average perch height of 35 feet. They’ll often favor a perch, flying off to catch insects then returning to the same perch.

We can tell this one is a juvenile by the coloration of its wing bars. As an adult they’ll take on a whiter color, but as juveniles they’re a paler brown. Another difference can be their bills, specifically the lower mandible. Adults usually have a pale orange lower mandible and a black upper mandible. Juveniles, though, can have completely dark bills without any visible orange, as we see with this one.

A juvenile Eastern Wood-Pewee resting on a perch up in a tree

This particular juvenile was observed in early July in a refuge that has a mix of wetlands areas, open water, wooded areas, and open fields. So it had plenty of habitat to explore, which is good as it’s breeding territory is typically from 2 to 6 acres. They are summer residents to most of the eastern United States, extending a short ways into southern Canada, migrating in during the spring migration to breed and nest, and out again during the fall migration. In the west is a similar species, the Western Wood-Pewee.

Pewees are a type of flycatcher, and as their name suggests, they hunt flying insects. All flycatchers are fun to watch when hunting. They might perch and watch, then dart out into the air, catch an insect in flight, and return to their perch. They will also eat various berries or small tree fruits.

Resources

I used the following books to research the Eastern Wood-Pewee. Links are to Bookshop.org, where a percentage of your purchase goes to support local, independent bookstores, and to Amazon. I do not have a relationship with Bookshop.org, but have purchased from them. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America

 
 

National Geographic Complete Birds of North America

 
 

Wildlife of Virginia and Maryland and Washington, DC

 
 

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Osprey Almost Ready to Fledge /  by Todd Henson

A young osprey exercising its wings, almost ready to fledge the nest.

Anytime I find an active bird nest I think it’d be nice to be there at the moment one of the nestlings fledge. But there’s a certain amount of luck to that. You may be able to tell it’ll happen soon, but can you tell whether it will be today, tomorrow, or four days from now? And can you pick what time on whatever day it’ll happen? I’m not knowledgable enough to do that

An adult osprey returns to the nest with a fish for the two nestlings.

As much as I would like to, I don’t currently have the luxury of spending all day, each day, at a nesting site, so I rarely manage to be there for that beautiful moment (though I was fortunate to just barely catch part of the process with a group of hooded merganser ducklings). And though I didn’t see the actual moment of fledging this time, I still had the good fortune to observe some great osprey behavior, watching a nestling practice flapping its wings, watching a parent return to the nest with a fish, and watching a little adult/youth bonding as the other nestling ate the fish. At the end of the day I was a very happy camper. 😃

The adult osprey (on the left) and a youngster (on the right) share a bonding moment while the other nestling eats a fish in the background.

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Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher Nestlings /  by Todd Henson

Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers feeding their young nestlings. You can see the feet of the other parent hanging on a small branch to the right of the larger branch.

One of the many joys of avian photography is observing and photographing nesting behavior. You need to be careful, of course, to avoid causing any problems for the birds. You don’t want to stress them, scare them away, damage the nest or surroundings, or attract a predator to their nest. And that makes finding a nest you can safely observe for brief periods of time a very special thing, indeed.

One year in mid-June I found a small Blue-gray Gnatcatcher nest in a tree just off the trail. It wasn’t so low that I could look down into the nest, but it was low enough to see the little chicks heads as the adults fed them. I only spent a short period of time at the nest, perhaps 10 minutes, as I didn’t want to attract attention to it, either of predators or other people who might then attract even more attention. These things can sometimes get out of hand. I enjoy sharing, but in these cases I’ve learned to stay quiet to try to protect the well-being of the birds.

I was fortunate in this short time to observe both adults busily feeding the chicks. When they left the nest the chicks would quiet down and lower themselves. But when an adult returned the chicks started making noises to attract the attention of the adult, yelling, “Feed me, feed me!” In one photo you can see an adult holding a captured spider while the other adult feeds one of the chicks.

Feed me! One of the Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher nestlings lifts it head and opens its mouth waiting for food from the incoming parent.

Both adult Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers at the nest, one holding a spider for the young nestlings.

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher nests are interesting. They are covered with moss, lichen, and other small things held together and stuck to the tree with spider webbing or caterpillar silk. I’ve watched nests being built and it’s an amazing process. These little fearless birds are so industrious and so fast. It really is a beautiful thing.

I know some of you might not find this next part as interesting, but I was fascinated to observe the removal of a fecal sac from the nest. These are closed nests. And all animals that eat must purge themselves of waste. Well, how do these birds keep their nests clean with several young all eating and growing together? The young chicks expel their waste in a small fecal sac, which adults will remove from the nest. Nice and tidy. And for scientists and naturalists these fecal sacs are a wealth of information about the diet and health of the birds. I’m just a photographer and nature enthusiast, though, so I left the fecal sacs to the birds. 😀

You can just see the fecal sac at the lip of the nest, just below the adult.

The parent grabs the fecal sac. Unfortunately, I lost focus on the birds.

The parent lifts the fecal sac out of the nest, keeping it clean.

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