The grackles are near

Grackles in Quakertown, NJ (photo by Marty Campanelli, borrowed from the Hunterdon County Democrat)
 
I have an unexplainable fondness for grackles. The massive flocks that came by my yard last fall didn't show this year. A smaller flock made a brief appearance in September, but no real "megaflocks" despite plenty of "waste" corn in the fields. And so far only a fraction of the snow geese of last year too - only fly-overs. It could be the weirdly warm winter keeping most of them farther north. Regardless it feels like something's lacking. No ridiculously huge flocks to make my backyard feel exciting. But wait...

Thanks to the avian desk at the Hunterdon County Democrat I know that there is a massive flock, 30,000-50,000 strong, just 20 miles south of me in Quakertown, NJ. I'll be keeping my eye out.

http://www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2012/01/massive_flock_of_birds_has_bee.html

First grackle megaflock

Mixed flock of blackbirds in late fall last year (2010), post-corn-harvest. This year's corn is still green.

I hereby record that the first megaflock* of common grackles this year arrived at my Warren County home in the pre-dusk hours of September 4th. They squeaked and creaked and occupied every ash, hickory, and sycamore branch along a half-kilometer stretch of the Musconetcong River. Then they departed, flying west-ish in the typical (and typically impressive) never-ending-river-of-birds. It would be fascinating to have a map of the wanderings of these bird-herds. Maybe ebird has this in their power?

They apparently wander this way all winter, and farther north than NJ, too. Here is a photo of another megaflock feeding on my lawn when I lived in Orange County, NY (taken December 2009).

Megaflock of grackles in Goshen, Orange County, NY, December 2009.

*I made up the word, but it fits...

Notes from a frozen river # 2

Slushy ice in the still-not-completely-frozen Musconetcong River, this despite single-digit nighttime temperatures. Tonight is supposed to be minus 8! I watched a deer wade across it (apparently comfortable) yesterday.

Fox tracks and pee at a rose-bush that doubles as a scent post.
 

A mouse highway between two rose-bush clumps.
 

 

Barberry berries are still around. Something must eat these because it spreads all over. But they can't be very tasty if they are still around at this date.

A crew-cut of spice bush sprouts, munched down by deer. This (plus all the thorny invasives dominating the shrub layer) is a sure sign of over-abundant deer. 

This hermit thrush was hopping around the cliff-side and eating multi-flora rose hips. It was a good bird morning. Also seen: winter wren, yellow-bellied sapsucker, field sparrow, pileated woodpecker, brown creeper.

Finding a warm place to sleep

The nuthatch hole.

4:22. It seemed a little early for nuthatch bedtime. A full half-hour before sunset, and an hour before real darkness set in. So I decided to sit down on the river ice below the small knothole it had disappeared into and watch. I eyed the hole as steadily as other distractions would allow to see if it was in there for good, or just for a visit.

4:30. A red-bellied woodpecker clucked restlessly from branch to branch, checking out his own potential accommodations...4:40. A muskrat swam by...


4:44. Having almost forgotten about the sleeping nuthatch, I heard a scuffle overhead. Looking up I see two nuthatches tumbling out of the sky toward me, apparently having fallen straight out of the knothole. An interloper! The two fought it out in a squeaking blur of feathers for a few seconds until one (I imagine it to be the original inhabitant) emerged as the victor and returned to the hole. So that's why he went to bed so early. Possession is nine-tenths of tree-cavity law, or at least pretty important. Essentially, this was prime nuthatch real estate.

The nuthatch hole from a distance.

This made me think about all the other birds that sleep in holes, and how finding a good hole with all that competition can't be easy. In fact, it seems like most of the birds in the woods right now are "cavity nesters," which means they also generally sleep in knotholes, woodpecker holes, hollowed out branch stubs, nooks, birdhouses or whatever enclosed space is available. The titmouse, chickadee, nuthatch, bluebird, brown creeper, Carolina wren, 6 woodpeckers, and a screech owl: that's a lot of competition!

A titmouse finds shelter in a hollow silver maple branch (not a recent photo).

I would bet that for all of these species, finding a hole at night in winter is a primary concern, almost as big as finding food. Especially when it is 5 degrees and windy out. This is supported by the fact that a good hole seems to be worth fighting for. Remember the nuthatches? And last month the Cape May Bird Observatory posted an account (click and scroll down) of a sapsucker that wouldn't let a poor brown creeper sleep in the same tree nook with him! You would think that it would only make it warmer. (Bluebirds are known to sleep 10 to a box in winter for this very reason.) Maybe the sapsucker just didn't trust that strange-looking, pointy-beaked creeper - a case of speciesism. Or maybe you need just need to be previously acquainted! In the case of the nuthatches, maybe the interloper wasn't a sibling or close relative, but was from another tribe.

Or maybe there just wasn't enough room.

A possum wanders by

Hello, I have a dirty nose.

"There's a weird creature in the field. I think it's a possum."

This was followed by the closest encounter with an opossum I've had in a long while. It was nosing around in the old sunflower field, in between snow patches. Nosing very...very...slowly, as opossums often do. I would think that this slowness alone was a symptom of some kind of possum-ailment had I not seen other, healthy opossums foraging at the same...glacial...pace...previously. Similar to the impossible pace of a sloth. But this individual was also shivering a little at the mouth, and it let me get a little too close without seeming even a little alarmed. I took some nice pictures of it. Then I started to feel guilty. Like I (a warm and well-fed human) was happily snapping pictures of a dying man. I left the possum to live out its last hours in dignity.


The possum in perspective. Why do all my shots have Point Mountain in the background?

Good bye. I left the possum to live out its last hours in peace.

The dandelions of winter

Why are there dandelions blooming in my yard?!

The temperature has been in the 20's F and below for weeks. I wonder if it is just partially formed flower buds from the fall that have been busted open by extreme cold.

There are two dandelions in this photo.

And now, after last night, these flowers are covered by 5 inches of snow! Pollinated by snow fleas?