(from SVBC charter member Gail Hewson Hull)

It was Alfred Lord Tennyson who said “Nature, red in tooth and claw”. 

My sister invited me over to her property in Santa Fe County, NM, just a couple of miles from our home, to see and photograph two Northern Harrier chicks that have been enjoying constant parental oversight since the nest was constructed in April. Sue thought they were about to fledge, so on Saturday morning I was there at 8:15 am. Alas, Sue met me with an anguished face. There had been an attack overnight, and it appeared at least one chick was ravaged with its body and one wing hanging over the side of the nest about 20 feet high in a pinyon pine. There was no sign of the other fledgling. 

Suddenly a hawk flew to a tree just 15- 20 feet away from us. We thought at first it was the female Northern Harrier. I took the photo you will see below. She looked at us, and then looked at the nest. Clearly, she had not adjusted to the abrupt change in her daily devotion to her chicks. Or so we thought. (The male was nowhere in sight). 

However, when I sent the photo to my birding friend, Bob, he said, “Hold on. That is an adult female Northern Goshawk, not a Harrier! The Goshawks had made a nest on Sue’s property last year!! Our current hypothesis is that the Goshawks did not like the Northern Harriers invading their territory, and attacked the fledglings just before they were ready to leave the nest and start learning to hunt. Or, as Bob suggested, it might have been an Great Horned Owl attack. Or Ravens. 

So it doesn’t feel like a tiny moment at all, but it is a lesson once again about how few nests, even that of a medium sized hawk, produce healthy fledglings that survive on their own. From Google:

The average overall nesting survival rate of baby birds is only about 56% but this can range between 46% and 73% for most birds. Birds of prey like Red-Tailed Hawks have high nesting survival rates of 88.9% but smaller songbirds like House Sparrows have only 11.6%.My sister was so sad; we hugged, and I went on my way. But it has been hard to shake the wish to know exactly what happened to those birds on the brink of exploring the world.

FYI: Please keep sending your Tiny Moments. Starting next week, a Tiny Moment will be published each Wednesday and Sunday.

*Author’s note: These ‘Tiny Moments’ are just that; tiny slices of life that may not be exciting…may not be hilarious…may not even be memorable. The ‘Tiny Moment’ below certainly fits that description. But I like really it.*

From SVBC member Greg Mellon.

For some reason a Northern Mockingbird had selected my front porch barbecue for its observation, singing and…alas…excretory perch. I liked the first two activities but I sure didn’t like the last.

I moved a potted Agave cactus plant in front of the barbecue and guess what? It worked out for both of us! The barbecue is mine again.

From SVBC charter member and Master Birdbander Judy Richardson

While weeding around a Boxwood bush something popped out the back door, if Boxwood bushes had back doors! She didn’t fly but headed straight to the ground to cover. Being the nature nerd that I am, I started to check out the Boxwood; only 3 feet high, but very dense with tiny branches and leaves. Right at the top and well disguised I saw some long bits of  brown grasses. An even closer look revealed a darling nest with 3 mottled eggs in it. A few days later I returned to find two more eggs! Again, the bird abandoned ship through the back door, straight to cover. Both parents sang out with gusto but never seemed overly frightened of me..

Three weeks passed. Once again I checked and found two tiny babies with 3 more unhatched eggs. Such an exciting find…such fun to watch!

The new parents? A pair for Song Sparrows, the second to choose my low Boxwoods. Both had 5 eggs. The first left the nest two weeks ago!

Amazing isn’t it? Last week’s ‘Tiny Moment’ included a reference to a Cary Grant/Alfred Hitchcock movie. This week’s ‘Tiny Moment’ does the same. What are the odds?

Actually, the odds are quite good. Last week my friend Marisol Glassport submitted a ‘Tiny Moment’ that cleverly referenced the crop dusting scene from the movie ‘North By Northwest’.

This week I am submitting a new ‘Tiny Moment’ that, after a bit of revery brought to mind the Cary Grant/Alfred Hitchcock collaboration, ‘To Catch a Thief’, wherein Grant’s character makes his living as a charming cat burglar, stealing jewels in most clever and clandestine way.

Yesterday, my wife Helen and I observed the fantastic and unique Purple-crowned Fairy hummingbird as it buzzed about some Hibiscus flowers (see below) just outside my front door. We noticed that the hummer approached each flower, not using the typical ‘front door’ method but instead seemed to focus on the back end of the flower; the ‘back door’ method if you will.

This is a technique well known to science as ‘Nectar Thievery’ and is not uncommon. Some birds, bees, moths or other insects obtain a nectar meal by poking a hole in base of the flower; bypassing the front of the flower and going straight to the source. Alas, for the flower, this method allows for no pollination of the reproductive organs…which is a really big deal if you’re a flower. (Remember hearing about the birds and bees?)

Anyway, I never knew the Purple-crowned Fairy did this. In nature sometimes it takes a thief.

Please remember to send us your ‘Tiny Moment’.

Send to:

alison.w.olivieri@gmail.com

(Alison Olivieri)

Or:

eltangaral@gmail.com

(Greg Homer)

From SVBC member Marisol Glassport from Winters, California.

This Tiny Moment was ‘tiny’ only in a temporal sense…the moment lasted less than a minute. But in scope the moment was VAST!

I was birding in rice fields near Davis, California. As I drove the Auto Tour Loop, suddenly over 200 White-Faced Ibises lifted off from the fields. ‘Odd,’ I thought. Then I saw what caused the lift-off…one of those very cool little single-seater airplanes buzzed by, maybe 50 feet overhead. The plane wasn’t crop-dusting; it was dropping rice for the next crop.

To quote a line from the great film ‘North By Northwest’…‘Some of them crop-duster fellers git rich, if’n they live long enough.’

FYI: The central valley of California grows about 85% of the world’s sushi rice!

*From SVBC Member Jo Davidson*

It was rainy this morning, so I sat inside watching the birds through the window. The seed feeder is in perfect view from my usual seat in the family room. Northern Cardinals, House Finches, House Sparrows, greedy European Starlings and even greedier Common Grackles were making short work of finishing off the seeds. A tiny Chipping Sparrow was also trying very hard to find a spot to grab a morsel or two. Just then I saw the squirrel guard (a slinky is highly efficient for the purpose) bouncing up and down, and the Chipping Sparrow stuck its head between the feeder and the circular perch that surrounds it, perhaps to relish the fact that the squirrel in question was having even less luck getting to a meal. I chuckled momentarily, and then gasped as I realized that the bird wasn’t moving any more. Its head was down and its tiny tail was upright and quivering. I quickly ran outside, and slowly approached the feeder to see for myself. Sure enough, the poor little thing was well and truly stuck! I carefully put two finders under that tiny little bird belly and gently pushed upward until the wings cleared their constraints. In a split second, all was well.

I never considered that bird feeders could be dangerous. To make sure that can’t happen again, I will shop for a seed feeder that either has far less room between the container and the perch or dowel perches. I hope you all will do the same.

From SVBC charter member, master bird-bander and generous supporter…Judy Richardson.

As I woke up, listening to the morning chorus, I heard a Yellow-headed Caracara calling. Wait a minute, I am in Fairfield, Connecticut; not San Vito, Costa Rica! What is this???

As I continued to wake, I realized what I was hearing really, was an unusual call from a Mourning Dove! Time to re-boot my internal computer!

This usually happens when I arrive in San Vito; this was a first for me in Connecticut!

From SVBC Charter Member and long-time patron of SVBC projects, Julie Girard-Woolley.

***

I thought you’d get a kick out of this…I was on the golf course with Dave this afternoon and a little bird was on the ground.  I got closer and realized it was a baby Baltimore Oriole.  Next thing I know it is hopping onto my golf bag and had perched itself on the handles of my cart.  Mommy was calling it, she had food in her mouth.  Poor little thing didn’t have enough energy or I don’t know what to get going.  It was my turn to play, so I had to advance my bag.  The little guy took a ride with me and never moved.  I then put my hand by him (or her) and it hopped on!  I gently brought it over to a tree and it got onto a branch.  It made my day!!!  I had a real birdie on the golf course.

Julie

When I lived in the San Luis Valley in Colorado (before moving to Costa Rica) an annual Festival celebrated the arrival of the Sandhill Cranes on their annual migration. The Cranes soared into the valley for about 10 days…by the thousands. Truly remarkable.

My friend and I were headed to the festival when we spotted a large group of the Cranes in a field next to the road. We pulled in to the parking lot of a shabby, abandoned small white building. We got out of the car and went to sit on a log defining the parking lot to quietly observe.

A guy in what looked like a park service uniform pulled into that parking lot and asked us to leave.

“What? We are just watching the birds!”

“This is government property, you’re not permitted to be here”

“But we just want to see the birds.”

“Ladies, if you don’t move on I’ll have to arrest you for trespassing”.

My friend and I shook our heads incredulously but we left. We still joke about almost being arrested for bird watching.

(from SVBC member Roni Chernin)