Discovering the world around me.
On a lovely May morning Dave and I are strolling along the road when a beautiful song seems to be aimed right at us from a tree a short distance away. Its tone is kind of like a robin’s, but it starts its song with a clear whit-whit sort of whistle, and then follows it […]
Continue reading Seed Cracker: Rose-Breasted Grosbeak
For several days in late April, I’ve heard kinglets in the trees. A golden-crowned kinglet (Regulus satrapa) one day, and a ruby-crowned kinglet (Regulus calendula) a few days later. The ruby-crowned song is loud, rapid and full of excitement. Their golden-crowned cousins sing more sedately and at a higher pitch. First of all, they are […]
Continue reading North American Royalty: Golden-Crowned and Ruby-Crowned Kinglets
On a morning walk, I hear a high-pitched whistle, and a rapid chatter seeming to come from the same tree. My Merlyn Bird ID tells me that what we have here is a brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater). He is shiny black on his body with a dull brown head. He’s courting the smaller, drab brown […]
Continue reading Easy Pickings: Brown-headed Cowbird
There’s a lot of drumming going on in the trees on Owl Acres. Woodpeckers are staking out their territory and calling to potential mates. One of the drummers is a northern flicker (Colaptes auratus). Unlike Woody Woodpecker and all his cousins, the northern flicker is brown, not black. He does have a profusion of black […]
Continue reading Another Drummer: Northern Flicker
There’s a racket going on inside the fireplace. This is the second time this spring. A bird has mistaken the chimney for a home, and, once it tumbled down that pipe, it can’t go back up. So it’s fluttering and bumping around in there trying to get out. After some attempts that sound like they’d […]
Continue reading Thank You, Shakespeare: Starlings
On a bright sunny day, a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) sits surveying his domain from the top of the cupola on the barn. We see them everywhere—on top of utility poles, high up in trees, sitting on fence posts, even sitting on the cable barriers that run down the median on the interstate. They hunt […]
Continue reading The Hawkeye State: Red-Tailed Hawk
All winter, northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) have been brightening the landscape with their red plumage and their upward-rising whit-whit-whit calls followed by that descending pfew, Pfew call. Three or four pairs of them have been frequenting the bird feeder, lording it over the finches and chickadees. On this cold March morning, one is sitting on […]
Continue reading Solo Duet: Northern Cardinal
Spring must be coming. The Canada geese are on the move. We’re out for the morning walk. Dave is distracted. He stands riveted—big floppy lab ears cocked, nose pointing to the south—he hears the season’s first gaggle of Canada geese (Branta canadensis) flying overhead. They may have been wintering south of here, and if so, […]
Continue reading On the Move: Canada Geese
We put up a bird feeder station this year, and the Eastern Goldfinches (Spinus tristis) have decided it’s an easier way to get that 100% of their body weight serving of seeds than foraging for them in the fence rows and woods. A mixed flock of a couple dozen birds flits about, snacking, perching, fluttering […]
Continue reading Iowa State Bird: Eastern Goldfinch
It was 1:30 in the morning. Bryan woke me with “Listen.” Through the fuzz of sleep, I heard it—a pair of great horned owls singing their love songs to each other. They were somewhere in the woods on the northwest corner of Owl Acres. His voice was lower in pitch than hers, and their hoots […]
Continue reading Ruler of the Night: Great Horned Owl