|
Who needs to watch Animal Planet when they can venture out to Sapsucker Woods to see
"Wild Kingdom" Ithaca style?
This email contains:
1) account of Mallard vs. Tadpole, MALL vs MALL, AMCR vs MALL w/ photo link
2) 1/29/11 9am SSW Beginner Birdwalk Report w/ ebird report
3) 1/29/11 later SSW ebird report
1) Welcome to Wild Kingdom Ithaca-Style
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheetahspot/sets/72157625951416134/
For best viewing click "slide show" and to see the captions for each photo click "show info"
Visitors to the SSW Visitor Center were treated to a live show on the pond. Mallards were fishing out bullfrog tadpoles. Each time one would find the fat tadpoles the other mallards would start chasing the tadpole-bearing MALLARD around. They would make quite a ruckus. The duck would stop now and then and try to swallow it but usually was unable to swallow it until several attempts. In the meantime many tadpoles were stolen by other mallards. However around lunch time the AMERICAN CROWS joined in the melee.
The crows would hang out at the edges of the ice. As the tadpole bearing mallard would try to come ashore the crows would cut them off at the pass trying to steal the tadpole. The crows would even fly after the mallards and "tag them" from the air as the mallard was near shore or on land. The crows kept a watchful eye on who had the tadpole. One particular tadpole passed through several different duck bills before one alarmed female mallard finally dropped it after getting tagged by a crow as she tried to escape back in to the water from the edge of the ice. The crow made off with the tadpole so quickly I was only able to know for sure it obtained it after reviewing my photos. I only wish I had a "bird lens" for my camera so I could have gotten better photos.
2) 1/29/2011 9am Sapsucker Woods Beginner Birdwalk
7ppl
It was a nice day for a birdwalk at SSW.
We started out checking out the birds in the feeding garden including a Song Sparrow.
We headed on Wilson Trail towards Kip's Barn where we first encountered a flying then perching Cooper's Hawk. We then headed over to the RFID Bird Feeding Station. I explained the RFID station as banded chickadees zipped in and out of the feeding station. Blue Jays, Cardinals & Tufted Titmice also abounded near the station along with a White-throated Sparrow.
A little further down the trail we flushed a worm of American Robins & European Starlings from the trees. The nearby ear-full of Cedar Waxwings however stuck around as we watched them eating berries the trees. (sorry but I couldn't resist as my iBird tells me a group of waxwings is an "ear-full" and for robins is a "worm" :-))
Tufted Titmice and Black-Capped chickadees were doing territorial songs throughout the walk. Near the end of our walk we encountered the Cooper's Hawk again. It landed in a high in a tree. It was very cooperative as we watched and photographed until we'd had our fill and left it to go back to the Visitor Center and watched birds at feeding garden including COMMON REDPOLL. That is when we first saw a MALLARD with a tadpole and the other mallards chasing it. We also encountered several White-tailed Deer on the walk.
List of birds:
2 Canada Goose
2 American Black Duck
162 Mallard
1 Cooper's Hawk
25 Mourning Dove
4 Downy Woodpecker
8 Blue Jay
5 American Crow
15 Black-capped Chickadee
6 Tufted Titmouse
3 White-breasted Nuthatch
X American Robin
10 European Starling
10 Cedar Waxwing
15 American Tree Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
7 White-throated Sparrow
6 Dark-eyed Junco
9 Northern Cardinal
30 House Finch 2 with House Finch Disease
2 Common Redpoll
6 American Goldfinch
3) Later at Sapsucker Woods starting at 11:20am-2:30pm
During this time period the Crows joined in chasing the mallards with tadpoles.
Summary of birds:
2 Canada Goose
1 with broken wing
2 American Black Duck
165 Mallard
2 Red-tailed Hawk
One was chasing another and they were flying around above the main pond.
30 Mourning Dove
1 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Hairy Woodpecker
7 Blue Jay
4 American Crow
7 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Tufted Titmouse
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
6 European Starling
18 American Tree Sparrow
1 Song Sparrow
3 White-throated Sparrow
3 Dark-eyed Junco
5 Northern Cardinal
1 Purple Finch (Eastern)
30 House Finch 3 with House Finch Disease
3 Common Redpoll
2 American Goldfinch
---
Lee Ann van Leer
[email protected]
| 