Marsh Diaries Part Six

What a difference a week makes.

Where last week we had eight eggs, this week we had three baby Brewer’s. I just took one quick peek, so I’ve no idea if there are any remaining eggs in there or not. I did notice both mum and dad doing the feeding routine on a regular basis.

Last week if we got within five feet of the tree, Mama Brewer’s would gently ‘chip chip‘ at us. This week the boundary line is more like 15 feet, and I didn’t hear any gentle reminders either. If you crossed that line, you were liable to get two furious parents flying right at you and squawking like mad.

Any bird that happened to fly too close got the same treatment. I watched one mid-air fight between the proud papa and a Brown-headed cowbird that happened to fly into the forbidden airspace. Feet and beaks were engaged and feathers were flying, but papa prevailed.

One innocent little Richardson’s Ground Squirrel, happily munching his way through a field of dandelion seeds, also strayed too close. Both birds took after the hapless little guy, flying at him, pecking him on the back and head, and screaming at top volume. He left rather quickly.

About 20 feet from the Brewer’s tree is an American Goldfinch nest. Just down the way a bit, there is a nest of Eastern Kingbirds. Right around the corner is a Swainson’s hawk nest. We spent the weekend making very wide berths around every tree in the campground, just in case. And saying “sorry, sorry” to the birds if we forgot and crossed the magic line.

In contrast to the cool, wet weather so far this year, this weekend was pure prairie summer. Temperatures hovered between 24-30C (80-90F) and there was a slight breeze. Both the birds and the humans were much less active this weekend, unless they had little ones to feed.

Yellow warblers appeared to be everywhere, American Goldfinch were flitting around, and possibly some yet-to-be-identified little yellow warbler-ish bird. The Baltimore Orioles were still around, so with the flashes of bright orange and  fluorescent yellow, it was like Christmas lights going on and off as they flew by.

This was a rather lazy weekend for us, coming off a week of company at home, and our bird walks turned into bird drives this trip. We met some neighbors…

We saw some countryside…

And returned to the campground to watch the sun set on Dandelion-ville. I have a new appreciation for these annoying plants, having watched the number of birds and animals around here dining on their abundant seeds.

Our lullaby this weekend was the continual sound of Wilson’s (Common) Snipe winnowing their way back and forth along the lake. It was very soothing, at least until the coyote chorus started, sounding like they were right next door. I fell asleep anyway.

Birds Added This Trip:

• Caspian Tern
• Great Blue Heron
• Long-billed Dowitcher
• American Kestrel
• American Goldfinch
• One as yet unidentified species – I’m working on it…

Total Bird Count To Date: 57 species