Bubulcus: Herdsman

Juvenile Cattle Egret grazing with namesake

The bird called the Cattle Egret was given the Latin name, Bubulcus ibis. The genus name, Bubulcus means herdsman, so both the English and Latin names tell us that these birds have long had a close association with cattle. Cattle Egrets were originally found only in Africa. However, beginning in the nineteenth century they colonized parts of southern Europe. Then in the early twentieth century they first appeared in South America, apparently having flown across the Atlantic Ocean. By the 1950s they were seen in Florida, and in the past half century they have slowly worked their way across North America. They live in close proximity to cattle in what is a type of symbiotic relationship known as mutualism. The birds eat flies, ticks and other insect pests that aggravate the cattle, therefore benefiting both creatures. Studies of Cattle Egrets have shown that when these birds feed in association with cattle they use less energy and consume more food than when they feed by themselves. The Bible has a wonderful little verse that could be used to illustrate how the Creator provides food in this way for both of these creatures: "He fills the sky with clouds and sends rain to the earth and makes grass grow on the hills. He gives food to cattle and to the little birds that call" (Psalm 147:8-9, New Century Version). I saw some late Cattle Egrets last week just before our snowstorm. The juvenile pictured above was making friends with one of his namesakes.

Cattle Egret, Bubulcus ibis

Second Cutest?

Hooded Merganser

I have started to see a few Hooded Mergansers on lakes here in South Dakota. The Hooded Merganser happens to be MY FAVORITE DUCK! I am always thrilled when they start showing up in my area during migration. While looking up some information on these birds, I came across a story in which the author called the Hooded Merganser the "second cutest duck". The author's choice for "cutest duck" was the Wood Duck. Now take a look at the Wood Ducks below. They're fancy, sure... but don't you think they are just a bit ostentatious and over-the-top to be called cute? Wouldn't you feel a little silly wearing an outfit like that?

Wood Ducks

Sparrow from the North

American Tree Sparrow, Spizella arborea

I photographed this American Tree Sparrow last April 1st, just before they all migrated back to their northern Canada breeding grounds. As you can see from the snow on the ground, it was after a major spring snowstorm. The American Tree Sparrows have returned to South Dakota in the past week, just in time for our first major snowstorm of the season. According to the weather report, we will get up to six inches of snow here in Pierre starting this afternoon. The tree sparrows will love it!

Farm Island

The Entrance to Farm Island

Farm Island State Recreation area a few miles east of Pierre is a great place to look for birds. They just installed and filled the bird feeders there, so I had to go take a look yesterday.

White-breasted Nuthatch on a Farm Island feeder

There was a White-breasted Nuthatch taking sunflower seeds from the feeders.

Harris's Sparrows forage underneath the feeders

Two Harris's Sparrows were gleaning the seeds that the nuthatch knocked out of the feeders. The sparrow on the left is in nonbreeding plumage, but the one on the right is still pretty much in its breeding attire.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta canadensis

Yesterday brought the first Red-breasted Nuthatch of the fall season to my feeders. These little birds are enjoyable to observe, but it makes me tired when I watch them. The one I saw yesterday spent the whole day making trip after trip to the black oil sunflower feeder. The bird would take one seed each time and land in our apple tree. There it would open the seed by wedging it into a branch, and hacking it open with its sharp bill. And that, of course, is how nuthatches got their name. The word nuthatch is derived from the Old French word, hache, meaning axe. Nuthatches are literally "birds that hack open nuts as with an axe."

Black and White

Black-and-white Warbler

Saturday afternoon I was mowing our grass, and my wife, Daria, was on the deck peeling apples. When I stopped for a break she told me she had just seen a dainty, little black and white bird on the deck. She said the bird just popped in, landed three feet away from her, and stood there looking at her for a while. It poked around at some seed on one of the feeders, but didn't appear too interested in eating. I asked her whether she thought it was a Black-capped Chickadee or a Dark-eyed Junco. She stated, half-indignantly, that she knows chickadees and juncos, and that this bird was NOT one of those. She told me the bird she saw was entirely black and white in a sort of herring bone fashion. So then I speculated that it could have been a female Downy Woodpecker. She advised that she is quite familiar with Downy Woodpeckers, and that the bird on the deck was definitely not a Downy Woodpecker. Well, I reached for a few field guides and pointed to a photo of a Black-and-white Warbler. She immediately said, "That's it! That looks exactly like the bird I saw on the deck!" Well, there you go...that's what I get for mowing the grass when I should have been looking for birds! And to make matters worse, I have not seen a Black-and-white Warbler all year. The last one I saw is the one pictured here that I photographed on May 15, 2008. Our little weekend warbler on October 24 was quite late. According to Birds of South Dakota, the latest fall migrant Black-and-White Warbler was seen October 25, 1992 near Aberdeen.

Bird Devotional 38

Green Heron, Butorides virescens

“I will make you fishers of men.” Mark 1:17

Several years ago I was startled to see a strange-looking bird perched in a tree above a small pond. I wasn’t sure what I was looking at, but I knew I had never seen a bird like that before. What struck me was the bird’s nervousness at my presence, yet its refusal to fly away from the branch where it was perched over the water. It kept twitching its tail and raising the feathers on its head as it moved up and down on its legs. Later, when I was back in my car and excitedly paging through my field guides, those jittery movements were what confirmed the identification: Green Heron.

The Green Heron is a lovely, small, green and brown heron that breeds across most of the United States and spends the winter along the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific coast. Like many other birds, this heron eats fish, insects and crustaceans. However, the Green Heron has one trait that sets it apart from similar species. Green Herons are known to sometimes use a small object like a twig or dead insect to lure a fish to the surface of the water. The heron will carefully place the lure on the water and wait until a fish comes up to investigate. Then the bird will plunge to catch the fish using its strong, pointed beak.

Just as Green Herons have been “called” by God to catch fish, Christians are called by God to “catch” people. In today's verse Jesus told some of his disciples, life-long fishermen, that from that point on they would be, “fishers of men.” What lure have we been given in our quest to catch people for God? In John 6:44, Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Fishing is sometimes hard and frustrating work, as illustrated by this example from John 21:3, "So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing." They fished all night and had nothing to show for it! Then Jesus appeared to them and things changed in a hurry: "He called out to them, 'Friends, haven't you any fish?' 'No,' they answered. He said, 'Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.' When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish" (John 21:5-6). Wait for the Father to draw people to His Son, and then be ready to pull them into the boat.

Heavenly Father, help me to be faithful in obeying your Word. Help me to be one of your “fishers of men” as by your great love and mercy you draw others into a relationship with your Son. Amen.

FOS

Northern Shrike

The letters FOS are starting to show up this month on birding blogs and list serves. FOS means First of Season, and refers to the first time you see a particular species of bird during a season of the year. What it means right now is that we are seeing a lot of birds returning to this area after their breeding season has ended up north. Some of them are just passing through. Others will find a good spot and decide to spend the winter. I saw my FOS Northern Shrike yesterday while driving through the southern part of South Dakota. There will be Northern Shrikes here in South Dakota all winter. They breed in Alaska and northern Canada, and spend the cold months down here in the northern U.S. Their diet consists of large insects, small birds, and small mammals. The bird pictured here was harassing birds at a bird feeder during the Pierre Christmas Bird Count last December.

Ferruginous Hawks

Ferruginous Hawks, Buteo regalis

Adult dark morph (lower left)

Juvenile light morph (upper right)

I saw four Ferruginous Hawks on a prairie dog town southeast of Pierre yesterday. One of them was the dark morph bird pictured above. Dark morphs represent less than 10% of the population of these hawks. The word ferruginous means "rusty-colored," and refers to the coloration of some of the feathers visible on the bird at the upper right. Ferruginous Hawks are the largest of the North American buteos, a large family of hawks. Prairie dogs are one of the favorite foods of Ferruginous Hawks, so you wonder what the prairie dog in the picture below was thinking as it peered out of its burrow.

Favorite food?!

A prairie dog at upper left is eyed by a Ferruginous Hawk.

What Do Robins Eat in the Winter?

American Robin in a tree full of juniper berries

When I tell people that there are robins present in South Dakota throughout most winters, the first thing I am asked is, "Then why don't I see them?" The answer is that robins spend the winter in open wooded areas like cedar draws along the Missouri River, and most people don't go stomping around out there in the winter. The second thing I am asked is, "What do they eat?" The answer is, "Berries." Though robins feed on worms and insects during the spring and summer, they switch over to berries and fruit after the weather turns cold. One of their main winter foods around here is juniper berries. Junipers do not actually produce "berries." The tiny blue things you see on juniper trees are really "cones," but cones with unusually fleshy and merged scales. The robin in this picture was one of a group of several dozen that was foraging in a group of juniper trees on Farm Island yesterday.

Carrion Comedy

Two Turkey Vultures

It is going to be a drab, rainy, fall day here in central South Dakota. So to cheer things up, I thought I would share my favorite vulture joke with you.

Two vultures had become too old to fly south for the winter. So they decided to go by airplane instead. As they walked up to the airline ticket counter, each of them was carrying a dead raccoon. The ticket agent said, "Would you like to check those?" One of the vultures replied, "No thanks. They're carry-on."

Zonotrichia Cousins

Harris's Sparrow, Zonotrichia querula (Top)

White-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys (Bottom)

Zonotrichia is the genus name for a group of four native American sparrows. I took this picture of two of them standing side-by-side the other day near Big Bend Dam. The two birds were just passing through on their way south. The Bible says that birds know the "time of their migration" (Jeremiah 8:7). Many birds have already left South Dakota for their winter homes. The sparrow migration continues, but it is winding down. Pretty soon it will be time for the waterfowl migration to get into full swing. They all do it a little differently, but they all seem to have the God-given ability to get to where they need to be for the survival of their species.

Tale (and Tail) of a Merlin

Merlin

Yesterday I spotted a Merlin on a power line. I managed to get a few uninteresting pictures and then crept a little closer until the bird became uncomfortable with my presence. Just as the bird flew, I got this shot showing the intricate patterns of the spread wings and tail. The Merlin is a small forest falcon of the northern hemisphere. Their diet consists mainly of small birds caught on the wing. Merlins were previously known in this country as Pigeon Hawks, because they look and fly much like a pigeon. The name Merlin is derived from the old French term for the bird, Faucon esmerillon.

Bird Devotional 37

Lapland Longspur, Calcartus lapponicus

“As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.” Mark 4:4

While many birds eat seeds, few are as strictly oriented to eating seeds on the ground as the Lapland Longspur. They breed on the tundra of far northern Canada and Alaska, and spend the winter in open, barren areas of the northern United States. In the winter they are nearly always seen in large flocks, occasionally with many thousands of birds. While most of my first-time sightings of a particular kind of bird were of a single individual, my first-ever Lapland Longspur was accompanied by at least a thousand of its closest friends. The flock was constantly on the move. A few hundred birds would rise from a harvested soybean field, whirling and twisting for a few seconds, only to rapidly descend nearby. Then another part of the flock would rise and turn, looping and swirling as though functioning with a single brain, but always returning to the ground. While feeding, longspurs walk along the barren ground, searching endlessly for one more seed or the occasional insect or spider. Strikingly marked in their breeding plumage with black, white and chestnut coloration, the winter birds are more drab and sparrow-like with streaks in shades of brown.

We have all seen birds eating seeds on the ground. Whether they are pigeons on a city street or longspurs on a harvested farm field, birds eat seeds. The sight is as familiar today as it was two thousand years ago. Jesus used this image in the Parable of the Sower to encourage us to receive the Word of God into our hearts. In explaining today's Bible verse, "...some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up," Jesus said, "Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them" (Mark 4:15). But then He describes others who gladly receive the Word of God: "Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop--thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown" (Mark 4:20). Let us be like those who receive God’s Word as described in James 1:21, “humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” Do not let the enemy steal that seed and rob you of the blessings it can produce in your life.

Father, I gladly receive your Word. Let it not be stolen from me, but planted and growing in my heart. Amen.

Eagle Dinner

Sub-adult Bald Eagle eating a fish

Bald Eagles do not acquire their full adult plumage, with white heads and tails, until their fourth or fifth year of life. I saw this bird yesterday at Fort Randall Dam. This eagle is probably either 3 or 4 years old. You can see that its head and tail feathers are starting to become white, but are not quite there, yet. Hundreds of eagles will be coming to the Missouri River dams over the next few months. They will spend the winter here dining on fish.

Pierre Deer

Deer in my backyard in August

Photo by Marlene Krause

There are a lot of deer inside the city limits of Pierre, South Dakota. A special city board has even been established to address the problem. Shortly after we moved here I discovered that bird feeders need to be "above deer height" or they will be emptied or destroyed overnight. Gardens and ornamental plantings are sometimes nibbled down to the ground. At first, we were thrilled at the sight of deer coming right into our own backyard. Now, however, it is getting a little old. To paraphrase the song from My Fair Lady, "The deer in Pierre are merely here all year." The one benefit we see from having deer in our yard is that they love to eat the apples that fall from our two apple trees. That saves me from having to dispose of them myself. In the picture above, the two does had brought their fawns to our yard and were showing them how to pick up apples and eat them off the ground. They're here... so there's nothing to do but enjoy them.

Roughleg

Rough-legged Hawk

This morning I saw my first Rough-legged Hawk of the winter season. I will see hundreds of these large raptors before winter is over, but it is always a treat to see the first one. Rough-legged Hawks breed in the far northern regions of Alaska and Canada. They migrate south in the autumn to spend the winter in northern parts of the United States. Roughlegs feed mainly on small rodents that they hunt from prominent perches or while hovering in the air.

Welcome Back

Dark-eyed Junco

This week I welcomed back to my yard this Dark-eyed Junco and a small group of its friends. These are the first Dark-eyed Juncos I have seen since they left here in April for their breeding grounds in Canada. When the juncos return there is no escaping the fact that winter is coming soon. Juncos are ground feeding birds. This one was foraging for seeds underneath one of my feeders.

Pink Feet

Herring Gull

Yesterday I spotted this Herring Gull on the shore of the Missouri River in Pierre. Herring Gulls are one of the largest gulls regularly seen here in South Dakota. They are present here during migration, and a few will stick around all winter. There are several keys to identifying a Herring Gull. First is its large size. They are much bigger than Ring-billed Gulls and other common gulls. Second is the red gonys spot on the bill, near the tip of the lower mandible. Third is pink legs and feet. Yes, that's right...PINK! Once you have the other field marks, look for the pink feet. They don't really match with the yellow, red-spotted bill, do they?

Winter Outfit

Horned Grebe, in basic (winter) plumage

We had our first snowfall of the season this weekend here in Pierre. There was only about an inch of wet snow, but it was enough to give a hint of what is to come. In the backwaters of the Missouri River this morning I found the Horned Grebe pictured above. The bird has changed into its winter clothes. Below you can see the fine outfit it will be wearing when the weather warms up next spring.

Horned Grebe in alternate (breeding) plumage

Photo by Paul O. Roisen

Bird Devotional 36

Pileated Woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus

“If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10

I always hear it first: woik-woik-woik-woik, the “jungle monkey call” that sounds like a bad sound effect from an old Tarzan movie. If I’m lucky I will see movement in the trees, and a black and white, crow-sized bird will fly out of the woods and into view, showing off its wild, red crest. It is a Pileated Woodpecker, second in size among North American woodpeckers only to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker of southern swamps.

When walking through forests in regions inhabited by Pileated Woodpeckers, you know you are in “pileated country” by the signs the birds leave behind. Pileateds excavate large oblong-shaped holes in mature trees while hunting for their favorite food: carpenter ants. These prodigious cavities, and the large pile of woodchips on the ground below, are evidence of the bird’s hard work and tenacity. They are also testimony to the Pileated Woodpecker’s amazing physical structure. It has a large, chisel-like bill that is perfectly built for carving holes in trees. The feet are designed for clinging to tree trunks, and the stiff tail serves as a prop to keep the bird supported upright as it goes about its work. This woodpecker is found year round in forested areas of northern and eastern North America, but is secretive and wary. It requires a feeding territory of between 150 and 200 acres. In addition to carpenter ants, it will eat beetles and other insects as well as seeds, fruit and suet from bird feeders.

God has promised to provide for our needs in the same way He provides for the needs of birds. Today’s Bible verse proclaims, “If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.” Genesis 3:17 reads, “through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.” Those verses indicate that God’s provision for our needs is accompanied by responsibilities that He gives us to fulfill. Just as the Pileated Woodpecker works hard to find ants hidden in the trees, we must fulfill our responsibilities in order to fully receive the blessings God has stored up for us.

Dear Father, I am grateful for your provision for my needs. As I pray for you to “give us this day our daily bread,” help me also to be diligent in doing my work and in fulfilling the responsibilities you have put before me. Amen.

Pierre: The Rock

Welcome to Pierre

One of the first things I noticed when we moved to Pierre last year is that there are large engraved rocks everywhere. They are in front of businesses, churches, homes, public buildings, parks, war memorials...everywhere! I pointed this out to my friend, Paul Roisen, last summer. He said it was quite appropriate for Pierre to be populated by so many rocks. After all, pierre is the French word for stone. Wow! If you want the right answer, just ask a school teacher! Now it all makes sense. And by the way, don't forget that the correct pronunciation of Pierre is not the French, pee-air. No, the correct way to say it is simply, peer.

Eagle Sculpture at the State Capitol memorial

honoring South Dakota's fallen veterans

What's a Yard Pet?

This baby Barn Swallow was named a "Yard Pet"

by a lumberyard magazine!

A photo I posted here last month was picked up by a national lumberyard magazine and published as part of an ongoing feature called "Yard Pets." Their Yard Pets are usually cats or dogs, but they decided to give a Barn Swallow that honor this month. Here is a link to the photo and story:

http://www.prosalesmagazine.com/newsletter/2009/psbu091609.asp#storyAnchor9

Posse of Turkeys

Wild Turkeys

After I stumbled across this flock of 28 Wild Turkeys, I was curious about collective nouns for groups of turkeys. I found three words that are commonly used for a group of turkeys: raffle of turkeys; rafter of turkeys; and posse of turkeys. I like posse of turkeys best. Somehow these big, dark birds look like members of a posse to me. So what are you going to say next time you see a large group of turkeys? If you're like me, in the excitement of the moment you'll probably forget all about these collective nouns and just blurt out, "Hey, look at that big bunch of turkeys!"

Mr. Harris's Sparrow

Harris's Sparrow

I saw my first Harris's Sparrow of the fall migration yesterday. These birds are rather large for sparrows, and are quite distinctive in appearance. I think they look like an old man with thinning black hair, a black mustache and a big nose. This sparrow was named for Edward Harris, a wealthy Philadelphian who accompanied Audubon on his 1843 trip up the Missouri River.

From Birds to Baseball

Minneapolis shakes hands with St. Paul

in this old Minnesota Twins logo

I have three consuming passions in my life as my friends and family will attest: The Bible, birds and baseball. You have witnessed the first two here on these pages day after day. The baseball passion I keep mostly hidden. (Though I did let it come out on April 8 this year. Check the archives.) I mention baseball today because my beloved Minnesota Twins have scratched and clawed their way back from the brink of elimination, and tonight take on the Detroit Tigers for the right to advance to the American League playoffs. I attended my first Twins game back in 1961, the year they moved to Minnesota from Washington. My dad took me and my grandpa to see the Twins play the Cleveland Indians. We were intending to make it an annual tradition, but sadly Grandpa died the next year. I have been to many Twins games over the years, both in old Metropolitan Stadium and in the indoor Metrodome. Next year I will be able to enjoy outdoor baseball again when the team moves to the new Target Field. Before that happens, though, there is tonight's big game. It could be the last game in the old dome. Or it could be the preview to some more Minnesota Twins magic. So... is there any connection between the Minnesota Twins and birds? Well of course! Their minor league AAA affiliate is the Rochester Redwings! So most of the current Twins previously wore the handsome Red Wing logo pictured below. I do have to admit it looks more like a mad cardinal than a Red-winged Blackbird, but at least it is a bird!

Bird Devotional 35

Field Sparrow, Spizella fusilla

“They make merry to the sound of the flute.” Job 21:12

It was driving me crazy. For several weeks I had heard a strange bird song every morning in the parking lot of my office. Each day when I arrived at work I searched in vain for the bird that was the source of the sound. The bird’s song was a strange series of descending notes, starting slowly and accelerating into a rapid trill. Listening to it, the picture I had in my head was of a flute player practicing scales. I finally gave up looking for the bird and started listening to a CD recording of bird calls. I made it deep into the sparrow section before I heard it, a perfect rendition of the sound in the parking lot at work: Field Sparrow.

The Field Sparrow is a common bird of the eastern United States and inhabits overgrown, brushy fields where it is more often heard than seen. The males return to the breeding grounds ahead of the females to establish territories. They will sing from prominent perches in order to both define their territory and to attract a mate. The singing of the males decreases considerably after the breeding season begins.

In today’s passage, Job questions why God allows the wicked to prosper: “Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? They sing to the music of tambourine and harp; they make merry to the sound of the flute” (Job 21: 7,12). At one time or another we all ask the same question as Job. We see other people prospering and living happy and carefree lives even though they do not honor God. It just doesn’t seem fair. The prophet Malachi records that the people of Israel said, “It is futile to serve God. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape” (Malachi 3: 14-15). However, Malachi later provides God’s word: “Surely the day is coming…every evildoer will be stubble…But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings” (Malachi 4:1-2). Receive that Sun of Righteousness right now.

Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son, that I might become the Righteousness of God in Christ. Amen.

Sparrow ID Lesson

Vesper Sparrow

So, you don't think you could identify a dull, little brown bird like this just based on a description? Well, try this one and see if this bird fits:

• White outer tail feathers
• White eye ring
• White underparts with dark streaks on chest and sides
• Two pale wing bars
• Rusty patch on shoulder
• Conical bill
  

If you said "yes" to all of those, then you've identified a Vesper Sparrow!

Ducks on a Pond

Female Wood Duck & Male Wood Duck on Capitol Lake

It has been unseasonably cold, rainy and windy all week. The only birds I have seen that seemed to enjoy the weather were a group of fifteen Wood Ducks floating on Capitol Lake. Because the lake is fed by a warm artesian spring, Wood Ducks breed there and hang around all year. Juveniles were apparent a month ago, but the ones I saw yesterday had all attained adult plumage

Windy Conditions

Juvenile Western Meadowlark

The wind has been very strong all week here in central South Dakota. Most birds just hunker down in dense cover when the wind blows like this. But every once in a while a bird will land out in the open and hang on. You can see this young meadowlark is facing into the wind and is holding tight to the front edge of the fence post. It is probably thinking (just like the rest of us), "When will this wind die down so life can get back to normal?"