Catching Up with Our Cardinals

Some of you may remember the story of the Northern Cardinals which nested by our house this summer.  Click here if you don't, because that story comes before this one.  

Two babies fledged from the nest on July 5th.  So, when I started seeing a female Cardinal feeding two immature ones near our bird feeders on October 3rd, I was quite interested.  Could these possibly be the same birds that were in the nest just outside our window in June? 

I really don't know.  I mean, I've heard of human 'helicopter parents' but Cardinals? (If anyone happens to read this who knows how long Cardinals take care of their babies, please comment!)

Anyway, I have no way of knowing if these are the same birds or a later brood, but I enjoyed watching them so I thought I'd share.

Here they are... in the rain, on October 3rd.  The 'baby' on the right was fluttering its wings for all it was worth, making sure its mother knew it was hungry!

 She was diligently feeding it.

The other young one was nearby, too.  Seriously, the 'babies' were both big enough to feed themselves.

Mama is in the back, notice she has a red bill.  The youngsters both have dark grey bills.  Their bills will get red as they get older. 

Here's the family on October 5th:

She was still feeding them.  (At least it wasn't raining!)

They posed for portraits again for me on October 8th:

 As you can see, they are a close-knit family.  (Well, except for Papa, who is probably around somewhere, too).

The mother was still feeding them on October 9th, when I shot this video:

But, finally, by the 17th, they seemed to be on-their-own.

At least, eating on-their-own... Mama was still close by!

 You did a very good job taking care of your babies Mama!

Girls Day Out at Hawk Mountain

Recently, my girls treated me to a 'Girls Day Out'.  They let me pick, so... off to Hawk Mountain we went!  Though there was some talk during the day (after we'd been sitting on cold rocks for several hours) about how nice a massage would feel, or maybe a pedicure (especially the idea of soaking our feet in hot water!), I thoroughly enjoyed what probably would be considered a little strange by many 'girls'.  I'm very pleased that 'my girls' enjoyed it, too!

Hawk Mountain a beautiful place where you can hike up a mountain to watch migrating hawks.  From August thru December, thousands of hawks stream by the mountain on their way to their winter homes.  Here's a link to the Hawk Mountain website, where you can find lots more information about it.

 We picked the date well in advance to fit in our schedules, and we were blessed with wonderful weather... plenty of sunshine and blue sky.  The weather has a big effect on when the birds fly.  The passage of a cold front, accompanied by northwesterly winds brings the best hawk-watching days.  Species of hawks also pass by mainly at certain times during the fall... such as huge numbers of Broad-winged Hawks in September, and the peak of Sharp-shinned Hawk migration in October.

Sharp-shinned Hawks were the most numerous birds we saw the day we visited.  Most of them passed by on our left, like this one.

 Several of them even swooped in to 'attack' the fake owl on the pole (put there just for that purpose).

The owl seems to have gotten a little more realistic-looking than I remember it being in past years.  It has feathers on it now.  My memory may not serve me correctly, but it seems like the owl used to be just a plastic one.

We choose our seats on the rocks behind the pole. We got 'comfy', well, as comfortable as possible!  Of course, we had snacks, too.

 Binoculars up... scanning the sky!

The landmarks are named, so that when a hawk or other bird is sighted, people call out where it is.  Hawk Mountain has interns from around the world, and local people, too, who man the lookout all during migration season.  

Besides many Sharp-shinned Hawks, we saw 3 Bald Eagles, a few Cooper's Hawks, Merlins, and Red-tailed Hawks.  I was just relaxing and enjoying the day more than trying to photograph the birds, but here is one immature Red-tail I managed to catch as it went by.

We saw a number of Black Vultures.

And so got to work on telling them apart from the more common Turkey Vultures.

I'm afraid Turkey Vultures don't get much 'respect' at Hawk Mountain (or anywhere else for that matter).  There are more of them in that one photograph than were listed in the Hawk Mountain count for the day.

They must have seen that Golden Eagle after we left... too bad!  But, we can't complain because we saw most of the others listed.

We enjoy the hike up and down the mountain when we go, which takes about 25 - 30 minutes each way.  On the way, you can stop to learn about the birds you might see.

 For us, a trip to Hawk Mountain always includes a look around in the visitor's center.

They have some really nice displays.

Of course, we had to push all the buttons to see where the hawks migrate "to" and "from".  Sharpies, the ones we saw the most of, don't go all that far... (see the green lighted path)

  ... at least, not compared to Peregrine Falcons.

I'm glad that back in 1934,  a group of early conservationists founded Hawk Mountain Sanctuary-- to change it from a place where hawks were shot in large numbers (as shown in this old photo on display in the visitors center)...

 ...to a place where they are loved and appreciated.

The entrance to the trail and below, a close-up, showing the hawk silhouettes.

It's a wonderful place to visit, and I want to say 'thank you' again to my girls for a great day!  

Although-- you can see hawks and eagles anywhere, if you keep your eyes open.  The very next day at home I saw two Bald Eagles, high in the sky!

Bald Eagles require 4 - 6 years to have the complete white head and tail.

Swamp Otters!

Okay, they are river otters, but they are in a swamp!

We've only seen otters a handful of times in the 30+ years we've lived here.  When we do, it's always a treat.  

What a blessing to be able to look out your windows and see a pair of otters!  Which is what happened on October 10th.  A great-blue heron and two river otters were fishing in the same spot in the swamp, directly in front of our house.  

There is an otter to the right and left of the heron, both in the edge of the grass.

While the otters looked happy, the heron did not.  (Maybe that's because the otters seemed to be better at catching fish?) The heron repeatedly tried to chase them away, but lucky for us, it did not succeed. 

Here's a video from that same morning.  You can't see the heron in it, but it was just off to the right.  One otter slinks into the cat tails in the beginning of the video, but the second otter takes a look over at the camera, then does a little scratching, then quickly catches a fish and starts to eat it.

When you see a photo of just an otter's head, it could pretty easily be mistaken for a beaver.  But when you watch them in action they are much different.

All the photos in this post are otters.

It's been hard to get good photos of them, not because they are wary or even because of the distance.  They were not terribly distrustful of me while I watched them.  The problems with photographing them are: they move very quickly, they are usually active in the early morning when there is little light, and of course... they can spend a lot of their time submerged.

Here's one from the misty morning of October 11th.  I think it was scratching its neck on this log. Look at those teeth!

Then it peeked over the log towards me.

The first few days we were seeing two.

Here they are that morning, with a bunch of Canada geese in the background... hopefully you can pick them out.  Both are in the lower part of the photo, surrounded by the ripples they were making in the water.

There was also sign that they had already been in the swamp for a few days.  Otters tend to use a prominent spot as a potty, and I found this on our old dock.

One pile of scat was obviously fresher than the other. 

That's the older one (an expert could probably say how old?)

Through the wonders of the internet, I searched 'otter scat' images, and ours were a match!

Also, I read that otters often choose a 'latrine area' on a prominent point.  The dock fits that description, though the condition of it would possibly make it a somewhat scary spot. Of course, an otter might not mind it collapsing into the water, but I was quite careful when I stood on it to take those photographs!

Now, back to perhaps more pleasing aspects of otter watching...

That's its head on the right and tail on the left.

After a few days, I didn't see two otters anymore.  The photo above is from October 17th. There was only one... was it a different otter by itself or did something happen to one of the pair?  I have no way of knowing.  I feel like this otter seems a bit larger than either of the other two though.

Here it is heading away from the camera, with a rather large fish.  It would swim around briefly and catch something, then go where I couldn't see it to eat.  While I couldn't see it, I could hear... "crunch, crunch, crunch" for a minute.  Then the otter would emerge from the grasses to fish again.  Sound does travel better over water, but apparently fish bones are quite crunchy and noisy to chew.

I tried to get good photos, but sometimes all I got was a tail.  

You can definitely tell that's an otter tail, at least! 

After awhile, the otter noticed me.  I was staying very still, but perhaps it scented me.

This was one of the few moments that the otter was somewhat motionless.  Then it swam around trying to figure out what I was.  It seemed to decide it didn't like me being there.  Here's what it did next:

Could you hear the hissing noise it made over the other noises of the swamp?  Each time it popped up, it made a quick 'hiss' sound.

Otters have been making a come-back in Pennsylvania and other states as well.  Which is really good news as far as I'm concerned.  Maybe we will see them more often.  I will be keeping an eye out for them.  If you'd like to read more about Pennsylvania otters and their success story, you can click on this very interesting article by Cindy Ross.  

And, thanks for sticking with me through the 'scat' photos! :-)  That's a first for this blog!

Ruby, the Trees, and More

Ruby, oh, Ruby... it is finally YOUR turn!  The blog has been all about butterflies recently, but there have been other things going on; so this post will be a little 'catching up' and a LOT Ruby, because I know you have missed her.  And because she deserves it.  Any dog who will put up with this...

Well, she is entitled to the spotlight!

Actually, she doesn't seem to mind being dressed up, though she does expect extra treats!

And, I gave them to her, because it was such a treat for me to see this -- umm, wonderful... unique... lovable sight!  Thank you, Ruby!

Ruby had more of a reward when we went for a walk a little while later (minus the balloons!).  The hayfields had been mowed, which meant she had a much better view and easier time walking.  She could go anywhere she wanted (at least as far as her leash will reach) and not have to just stay on the path.

Ruby posed for me by the section we had saved from the mower because of the milkweed there.

Probably the final Monarch butterflies (2 of them) of the year were in my garden a few days after this (on October 11th).

Male Monarch on a Zinnia

Even though the fields were mowed, there are still some Common Milkweed around the edges.

The mowed ones will come back up, as well.

The trees have been gorgeous this fall.  We wondered if after the drought they would be, but they certainly have!

Sometimes, with so much beauty in such a stupendous display, we can miss the little things...

...like the fall flowers on the Witch hazel or another fall flower, the Autumn Crocus.

They come up here and there in our lawn, where ever the chipmunks 'replant' them from my flowerbed.  

There can be all kinds of surprises in life... from fall flowers to dressed up doggies...

 ...to OTTERS!

But they deserve a post of their own!  Ruby is the star of this one.