Pine Grosbeak

Grosbeaks are a member of the finch (Fringillidae) family. 

Pine Grosbeaks usually breed in the Boreal Forest of Northern Canada, where there is snow for two thirds of the year. They are winter visitors to my backyard. The come south to look for food. Periodically, during irruption years when seed crops fail, they nest in the warmer southern regions of the province. 

Years ago, when my daughters were kindergarten or early elementary age, a Pine Grosbeak was stunned after flying into one of our windows. The berries they eat ferment over time and the alcohol content is enough to impair flight. This was a likely factor. The bird could not fly but could walk and the grosbeak paced back and forth in a trench behind our house. My daughters named the bird "Pacer." A few hours later the bird flew away, with my advice never to drink and fly again. 

This grosbeak enjoyed some seeds that persisted through winter on a Japanese Tree Lilac in my garden. 

References

The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Alberta. Federation of Alberta Naturalists. 2007.

Baicich PJ, Harrison CJO. Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Princeton UP. 2005.

Fisher C, Acorn J. Birds of Alberta. Lone Pine Publishing. Edmonton. 1998.

Sibley David A. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior. Alfred A Knopf, Inc. New York. 2001.

Tudge Colin. The Bird. Crown Publishers. New York. 2008.

Northern Flicker

Northern Flickers

Flickers may have red (Western distribution) or yellow (Eastern distribution) feathers, but both groups are present in Alberta and these groups interbreed regularly such that I see intermediate orange-coloured feathers on a regular basis. 

These birds feed on the ground or in trees for insects. They like to peck away at ants. They do not excavate trees as much as other woodpeckers and their bills are slightly curved. This shape allows them to probe and explore crevices.  

I hardly ever see two flickers together, so when I spotted these two in my back yard, I knew something was up. This was confirmed when the birds allowed me to photograph them for about 5 minutes from my deck. Most flickers are very skittish and fly off as soon as I open a door to the backyard. Clearly these birds were preoccupied with something compelling enough to ignore me. 

A territorial display played out for over five minutes. The birds squared off with bills in the air and fenced back and forth around bushes. Each bird tried to stand its ground and until the end, neither bird turned away. When one bird was more assertive the other hopped back. This back and forth action happened over uneven terrain and between bushes. Finally one bird gave up, turned away, hopped several meters to a clearing, then seemed to nonchalantly browse for insects for a few minutes, but after satisfying what looked like some "loser's pride," the beaten bird skulked away.

The hole in the dead tree above is a Flicker nest that I spotted by the Elbow in early April. The hole was about 10 meters above ground. Breeding starts in March in Alberta.

A few days later, April 9th, 2013, I saw the flicker in the nest. 

References

The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Alberta. Federation of Alberta Naturalists. 2007.

Baicich PJ, Harrison CJO. Nests, Eggs, and Nestlings of North American Birds. Princeton UP. 2005

Fisher C, Acorn J. Birds of Alberta. Lone Pine Publishing. Edmonton. 1998

Sibley David A. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior. Alfred A Knopf, Inc. New York. 2001.

Tudge Colin. The Bird. Crown Publishers. New York. 2008

Hooded Merganser

Hooded Mergansers

Mergansers are divers. Their beaks are different than ducks. The narrow saw-edged beaks help them catch and hold fish. 

Mergansers often nest in cavities, including tree holes and they are reported to favor the nests of large woodpeckers. In my neighborhood the largest woodpecker is the Pileated and the usual nest is about thirty meters above the ground in a dead tree or a utility pole. Perhaps someday I will see a Merganser and a Pileated Woodpecker sparring for this location. 

References

Sibley, David A. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior. Alfred A Knopf, Inc. New York. 2001.

Tudge, Colin. The Bird. Crown Publishers. New York. 2008

Hairy Woodpecker

Hairy Woodpeckers

Hairy woodpeckers are "heavy" excavators and create a lot of sawdust. Their nostrils are feathered to minimize aspiration of the dust. The eyes close just before the bill hits the wood. 

The bird excavates wood to create a nest or to find insects, which are an important source of food. The insects are lapped up with a very long tongue with a barbed and sticky tip. The tongue is stored in an exceptionally long hyoid bone that wraps around the skull and eye. The tongue ejects and recoils much like the ruler does from a carpenters measuring tape. 

The parents take 17 to 24 days to excavate a nest in a mature live tree. In Southern Alberta nesting is likely in  May. At about 17 days of age, the young are strong enough to come to the nest entrance for food, and by 28 to 30 days of age, they are ready to leave the nest. However, once out of the next, they still continue to be fed by adults for about two weeks. In the June 28th photo above, a male Hairy feeds a youngster at my peanut  feeder.  

Common Merganser

Common Merganser

Last year a Common Merganser brood grew up along the Elbow River behind my home. I watched the babies every week for about a month. As they relocated to the water from shore sites and as they swam, there were clearly a few babies that straggled behind. With each passing week the numbers dwindled from eleven with my first sighting to seven and then to six. The Alberta Breeding Atlas reports that clutch sizes vary from nine to sixteen and that the birds fledge 65 to 85 days after birth. During those first two or three months, coyotes are likely a common predator in this region. 

Merganasers are very common on all the rivers and at my office on the Bow, I regularly see them swimming by. They swim low in the water and they are usually the largest birds on the water. They are strong and fast swimmers and with the current behind them they steam downstream like cruising Battleships.

To take off from the water, these big birds need to run along the surface until he have enough speed to lift off.  

April 22, 2013, along Elbow River. Mergansers are not keen on human company and are quick to flush.



References

The Atlas of Breeding Birds of Alberta. Federation of Alberta Naturalists. 2007.

Sibley, David A. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior. Alfred A Knopf, Inc. New York. 2001.

Tudge, Colin. The Bird. Crown Publishers. New York. 2008

Bohemian Waxwing

Bohemian Waxwings - Bombycilla garrulus

Waxwings fly in nifty cohesive flocks and they often turn abruptly in unison. The only other winter bird around my home that flies in cohesive flocks is the starling, which is smaller and stubbier, and nowhere near as pretty.


Waxwings eat fruit and the carotenoid pigments in their diet are responsible for the brilliant red and yellow colours at the tips of their feathers. The name "waxwing" is derived from the red waxy "droplets" that are on the ends of the secondary flight feathers of adults. Deposits of astaxanthin, a bright red carotenoid, are concentrated in the flat, expanded extensions of the rachis that project beyond the feather vanes. 

Yellow carotenoids, incorporated into the vanes at the tips of the tail feathers, are responsible for the trademark yellow tail band.

Waxwings drinking from Elbow River March 28, 2013

For about seven months from fall to spring, the waxwing diet is almost exclusively fruit. The birds arrive on the Mountain Ash, Dogwood, or Chokecherry in my backyard, and a large flock can consume all the fruit from an entire tree in one session. The birds pluck the whole fruit. The birds breed later in the season to coicide with the ripening of the local fruit. 

During the summer, the birds also eat insects, especially emerging aquatic insects. The perched birds in my photos above were doing just that. They demonstrated typical flycatcher eating behavior along the Elbow River. Since waxwings are related to flycatchers, this makes sense.    

The waxwings in the photos above and below were among dozens that congregated on ice along the Elbow River during a sunny warmer January day. The ice was melting and the birds were eating something red, likely berries, that had been frozen in the ice.


References

Sibley, David A. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior. Alfred A Knopf, Inc. New York. 2001.

Tudge, Colin. The Bird. Crown Publishers. New York. 2008