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Introduction

After reading this three-page newsletter, look for new features at Bird Joy. If you love reading about bird trips, click on the "Trip Reports" section on my new links bar. There are many photos by talented photographers that evoke the ambiance of places I've visited. There are five birding trips to choose from: Corpus Christi & the Rio Grande Valley, Texas; Davie, Corkscrew Swamp & Ding Darling in Sanibel Island, Florida; Hog Island, Maine (including Monhegan Island); Central Park, New York; and Chincoteague Island, Virginia.

Remember that photographers' galleries are accessible by clicking the titles/hyperlinks under pictures (when available), in the links bar, and on the last page. Take note too that Bird Joy has a new, dedicated web address. So discard the old and bring in the new. Bookmark/copy this page to your "favorites" list or note the following address: http://birdjoy.home.att.net -- the new Bird Joy address. Enjoy!

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Bird Alerts/Interesting Sightings
New York City, NY
January 2005

The New Year started with an avian bang. Revelers enjoyed fine views of a Townsend's Solitaire, a western bird that chose East Hampton, Long Island, for its early winter digs. The famous Boreal Owl continued in a Norway Spruce in Central Park, Manhattan. A Harris's Sparrow charmed onlookers in Baldwin, Long Island. A host of other rarities made appearances in the New York Metro Area including a Cackling Goose, Spotted Towhee, Snowy Owl, Eurasian Wigeon, Thick-billed Murre and Painted Bunting -- now that's adding color to a wintry day. Below is info on some of these notable species.

Thick-billed Murre by Glen Tepke

~ Thick-billed Murre (Uria lomvia): I was just about to send out this month's issue of Bird Joy when news arrived of Thick-billed Murres in Shinnecock Inlet, Long Island. Of course, I had to include a picture of this irregular winter visitor. It is a pelagic bird -- living in the open ocean -- that spends three-quarters of the year at sea until breeding on rocky cliffs around the Polar Basin, Newfoundland, southern Greenland and Iceland, as well as the Northern Pacific. During winter, in the east, sightings for Thick-billed Murres have occurred in New England, the Carolinas and as far south as Florida. Look in your field guides, or search the web. Then note this ocean-loving bird's plumage, which changes from a dull, winter coat into a strikingly dapper appearance.

~ Townsend's Solitaire (Myadestes townsendi): It’s funny how I kept wishing for a Townsend's Solitaire. Like magic, two sightings arose: one in New Jersey and the other in East Hampton, Long Island -- yes, the famous beach village of Long Island. How odd that I didn't venture out to see either one. Naturally though, as many a birder will do, I pined when I heard it was no longer in the area.

A quick glance might have you think this is a Northern Mockingbird. Look again. The differences will have you scrutinizing every darn mockingbird you pass.

Townsend's Solitaire by Dale & Marian Zimmerman

This bird is overall gray with some white outer tail feathers like a mockingbird. The similarities end there. Townsend's Solitaires have thin, white eye rings and an intricate wing pattern with buff-colored patches. Also, unlike our antenna-perching mockingbirds (grin), this is a western, mountain-forest thrush, which prefers open coniferous forests, edges, or burns with single standing trees. In winter, they will descend to lower elevations where they will forage on berries, particularly their favorite food, juniper "berries," which are actually fleshy female cones.

So, can you guess what tree it was initially seen in?

Yep, a juniper tree on the "wrong side" of the United States. Isn't that marvelous?

Another interesting fact about this western species is that Townsend's Solitaires do not nest in tree cavities like their bluebird cousins, nor do they build firm cup nests like other related genera: Turdus (colored thrushes) and Catharus and Hylocichla (spotted thrushes). Sure, some thrushes like Hermits will nest on the ground, but even their nests are firm, compact cups. Comparatively, Townsend's Solitaires line depressions with a loose cup of twigs, pine needles, grass stems, or strips of bark. Often they will build an apron of grasses and pine needles leading up to their nests placed in shallow cavities along embankments, under cliff overhangs, or in crevices on rocky slopes (Bradbury, Mack, and Wernert 1990). How different from the nests of our common thrushes, particularly American Robins, whose cup nests many of us have had the joy of discovering in our backyards and parks.

Another interesting fact comes from John Kricher who writes that Townsend's Solitaires are unusual in that they:

"…sing throughout the year, with two annual peaks (April to May and September to November) that correlate with the establishment of breeding and wintering territories" (Kricher 2001).

Like all thrushes, Townsend's Solitaires have beautiful songs although not ethereal and haunting like their Hermit or Wood Thrush cousins. Nonetheless, what a joy it would be if some of us could hear it in person. For those of us who may not be so lucky, here is the second best thing, a recording of a Townsend's Solitaire song by Doug Von Gausig from the essential bird song site, www.naturesongs.com.**

 
 Spotted Towhee by Bill Schmoker
 

 

 
~ Spotted Towhee (Pipilo maculatus): In Jacob Riis beach close to home, another western visitor made news: a Spotted Towhee. A hasty look might have you think it's an Eastern Towhee. Think again. This time of year even an Eastern Towhee would be rare. This photo wonderfully reveals a beady red eye; spotted scapulars (unlike our Eastern Towhee); russet flanks and undertail coverts plus spectacular white tail edges and corners.

 

 

 

 
~ Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus): What would be a Bird Joy report without an owl? You can see determination in this Snowy Owl's stare and feel power in its thick legs and dangerously curved talons. Thank your stars you are not a rodent.

You might be wondering why they are on our city beaches when they are regularly birds of Arctic tundra, open grasslands, and fields. During winter, Snowy Owls will invade southern Canadian and U.S. regions including lower New York State. It's widely published that two motivating forces for these influxes are food crashes -- lemming and vole scarcities -- or when severe weather makes it difficult for foraging. These crashes generally occur in 3 - 4 year cycles. However, as Scott Weidensaul writes: "…the linkage between snowy owls and lemmings is growing increasingly messy, and increasingly interesting." Why?

Snowy Owl by James Galletto 

"The idea that rodent cycles rise and fall in lockstep over vast areas of the tundra now appears to be wrong. Instead, lemming populations form a mosaic - some areas in a peak, others in a trough, with the owl moving nomadically across the Arctic […] What's more, banding studies in the northern Plains showed that many snowy owls migrate there predictably each winter, often returning to the same place year after year. In the East and West, however, the owls display the classic irruption pattern, which makes little sense if lemming populations aren't going through ecosytem-wide booms and busts" (Weidensaul 1999).

While the word is still out on definitive correlations, we do know for sure that Snowy Owls are highly opportunistic eaters. They survive on a wide range of foods including mice, rats, rabbits, squirrels, moles, ducks, geese, shorebirds, grebes, coots, gulls, songbirds, and even fish and carrion. With this menu in mind, it's easy to understand why beaches are such attractive areas for these nomadic creatures.

Many people believe, or have read, that owls represent wisdom and knowledge. Some think their stillness and gaze is contemplative. Others think their nightly vigilance equates them with studious scholars. You might laugh as I did when I read about John Gower, a fourteenth-century English poet, who was "unimpressed by the owl's solemn postures and its apparently motionless existence, and described it as a symbol of sloth, one of the Seven Deadly Sins" (Weinstein 1985). While I cannot imagine anyone being unimpressed by an owl, Gower's opinion stirs a humorous thought. Imagine what he'd say about a bunch of birders watching a motionless owl for hours.

Yes, it's a thrilling site to watch a Snowy Owl suddenly swivel its head at the sight or sound of prey. Keep in mind though that owls do not completely turn their heads. They turn as much as 270 degrees. A good primer about owl physiology is at Deane Lewis' fabulous site: www.owlpages.com. Another myth is that all owls are creatures of the night. Some are diurnal creatures, meaning they are active during the day. The Snowy Owl is a diurnal owl that hunts for food along our beaches during invasion years. While their presence is generally considered an indication of stress, they are a joy for us. Whether you call them Ghost Owls, Snowy Owls, or White Terrors of the North, enjoy them from a respectful distance. They are truly gifts of nature.

Snowy Owl by James A. Galletto

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Literature Cited

~ Kricher, J. 2001. Thrushes, pp. 458-465 in: C. Elphick, J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
~ Weidensaul, S. 1999. Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Birds. North Point Press, NY.
~ Bradbury, W., Mack, N., and Wernert, S. eds. 1990. Book of North American Birds. Reader's Digest, NY.
~ Weinstein, K. 1985. Owls, Owls. Arco Publishing, New York.

"I rejoice that there are owls."
Henry Thoreau

 

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**Sounds provided by and copyrighted to Naturesongs.com, 1997-2003.

Copyright © Arleen O'Brien, All Rights Reserved, 2005

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