bydpb

Information may not be reliable

First, it helps to know I am speaking from Alabama. Northern Alabama, just about 20 miles south of the Tennessee River. The setting is a residential area with some old oaks and pine trees clustered around a few homes, including mine.
I have seen nuthatches here before. I have become fascinated by the smaller Brown-headed Nuthatch, Sitta pusilla.
Since most of my birding days have been in northern or western climates this is a relatively new bird for me.
This little nuthatch is more the size of a chickadee than the white-breasted nuthatch that I am more familiar with. It favors pine forests in the Southeast US. There are about 5 tall pine trees in my neighbor’s yard and one snag that once was a water oak. I believe it is nesting in one of the cavities in the snag.
According to the information at All About Birds, the Cornell University site,

The Brown-headed Nuthatch may sleep in a tree cavity or in the open on pine branches. The female or the breeding pair roosts in the nest cavity before the eggs are laid and throughout the nestling period.

They also may share their nest space with other brown-headed nuthatches, though no one knows yet if they are last year’s young or how they are connected.
I found it fascinating to learn that they sometimes will use a small piece of bark to life another section of barck in search of food. I have observed other nuthatches stuffing sunflower seeds into cracks of tree bark as a food cache so this makes sense to me too. I also like the fact that they are so close I do not even need to use binoculars for a terrific view.

The American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) is the SkyDancer.
The American Woodcock delights birders every spring with his night-time aerial acrobatics. When you look at this bird, it is hard to imagine agility or acrobatic in the same sentence. But Let me tell you these skydances are incredible. I look forward to the first ones every season. I try to introduce someone new to the adventure.
The short story about this annual skydance is about the American Woodcock each evening in the spring. About 22 minutes after sunset in a scrubby field, probably not far from you, there is a ritual dance performed by the male. It is a performance you are not likely to forget. I first read about it in Aldo Leopold’s book A Sand County Almanac. And it is a rare season when I have missed it since then.
The males pivot around in a circle making their “peenting” or buzzing sound in all directions. You see, they want all the females to know they are there! Or at least that is what WE are thinking anyhow. Who knows what a woodcock thinks besides the woodcocks? Then the short stubby bird that looks like dead leaves on the forest floor, who has a bill that is almost as long as his body (with a flexible tip for probing in the soil for earthworms), launches skyward! And UP he goes swiftly with some twittering from his wings, he will go as high as 300 feet or more, so bring your night vision binoculars! A few seconds at the top of his climb and the fluffy bird DIVES back to the same spot on the ground to begin the process all over again. It is astounding in so many ways. He will continue to do this through the evening and then pick up the routine again when the light is about the same level, just before dawn the next morning. On a full moon night these energetic little game birds have been known to do the “skydance” all through the night.
I admire these little birds. I never see them at other times. But this annual event is worth the wait for me. I know they are around and I know they are game birds and hunters will indeed seek them out. But they seem awfully small to me, hardly worth the effort. Perhaps that is because I am not a hunter.
I invite you to get to know more about the American Woodcock whose range extends from Canada to Mexico in North America in woodland areas and fallow fields that are just a little moist. Hint – you might want to bring something to sit on rather than the damp ground. Also if you only move when the birds are airborne, you will be surprised how close you can get to these birds without interrupting their display. If you are in northwestern Pennsylvania an extraordinary multiple skydance is waiting for you on a spring evening at Jennings State Park just south of Slippery Rock.

I doubt there are many birding enthusiasts who could escape a twinge of nostalgia recognizing or commemorating April 26th as the birthday of John James Audubon.
Audubon was an American naturalist, wilderness explorer and artist. His business skills never fully developed, much to the dismay of his father and his family. However he managed to eke out a living with sales of his drawings and paintings. During one part of his life he earned a substantial income doing oil portraits of influential people. His wife, Lucy Bakewell was trained as a teacher and she served as the primary reliable breadwinner for their small family as they moved from Pennsylvania to Kentucky and Louisiana and while he went exploring and traveling.
John James Audubon was born in what we know today as Haiti. He became an American citizen after his childhood and youth in France. His father was a French merchant and his mother was Jeanne Rabin, the mistress of his father while he was in Haiti. His life story is packed with surprises and real life adventures. I invite you to dive into a bit of American history and put this artist’s life into perspective with the times in which he lived. Born in 1785 and died in 1851, he lived during exciting and precarious times.
You might enjoy reading this short and engaging biography available at Amazon.
The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon (Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 (Awards))
Just click on the title or description above and you can make a contribution to this site!
Another way to support this site is to visit the new Amazon store I put together: