Indigo Buntings, Giant Ragweed, and hints of fall...

If you're in the mood for Indigo Buntings, head to Armleder Park and look...anywhere! My cousin, Curg, and I walked the Little Miami River and the trails at Armleder on Tuesday, and we saw more Indigo Buntings in one place than I ever have. They were everywhere...singing, flying, singing, hiding, singing, nabbing insects, and singing some more⎯and their plant of choice for perching on was Giant Ragweed...

A beautiful male Indigo Bunting sang cheerily from his perch on a stalk of Giant Ragweed in the big meadow near the Little Miami river at Otto Armleder Memorial Park. 

While most birds have quieted for the season, male Indigo Buntings continue to sing for all they are worth. Their constant singing makes them easy to spot. We found them all along the connector trail, the fields at the beginning of that trail, the trails that go through the meadow, and the forest openings around the Little Miami River. The only place we didn't see or hear them was in the small stretches of deeper woods, which makes sense because Indigo Buntings are birds of woodland edges, scrubby fields, and riparian corridors. They are one of the few neotropical migrants that have benefited from the clearing of forests for farmland, and they continue to expand their range.

Common to some, exotic to others...
The Indigo Bunting is a strange case when it comes to "being appreciated." Because Indigo Buntings are common birds in their favored habitats, I often hear birders dismiss them with, "Oh, it's just another Indigo Bunting," but I've heard new birders or people who live in cities or suburbs not near the bird's habitat, exclaim, "Oh, wow, what is that blue bird? It's so blue!" or "Cool, it's an Indigo Bunting!" Same bird, polar opposite reactions. I love Indigo Buntings whenever I see them. Their song is happy...and when the sun strikes them (the blue color is structural and only shows in the sunlight; it's not a blue pigment), they are exotic looking, and I definitely appreciate them. To me they always carry a slight zing of surprise, so it was fun seeing them again and again and again at Armleder.

Giant Ragweed towers over the fields and can be found all over Armleder Park. 
It is a native annual that can grow up to 15 feet tall. 

About Giant Ragweed (Ambrosia trifida)...
...it's a native plant, but it grows like a noxious weed in crop fields. Quail and other critters might like it, but farmers don't, except for one "Contrary Farmer" who wonders about practical uses for it⎯click here for his article, "The Irony of Giant Ragweed." In the article, Gene Logsdon outlines the horrors of Giant Ragweed in the fields, but he also talks about how much his sheep love it and how quail and pheasants thrive on a diet of it. Native Americans nurtured it 2000 years ago, and its seeds are 47% crude protein, which is much higher than any cultivated grain. To top it off, it's easily digestible. He ends by wondering if "...we are looking at the ultimate irony of over-civilized humankind. We are trying to kill a plant, an ambrosia, that is actually beneficial."

For other information about Giant Ragweed, click here for a fact sheet from the University of Tennessee, and here for the article "Giant Ragweed - Revenge of a Native," by Bob Hartzler from Iowa State University. Allergy sufferers, run. Just like Common Ragweed, Ambrosia trifida is a major contributor to seasonal allergies and late summer early autumn hay fever.

Other beauteous things found along the way...
We saw Red-winged Blackbirds starting to group in large flocks for their big trip south, and even though it was warm, hints of Autumn were apparent. Here and there the deep red of spent Poison Ivy leaves popped among the green, and the purple of Tall Ironweed (Veronia altissima) was splashed across the fields, hurrying along the shift of nature's color palette to the rich hues of fall...

Tall Ironweed (Veronia altissima) is starting to bloom in the meadow at Armleder. Like Giant Ragweed, this plant can get very tall, but it tops out at seven feet. 

A female Red-winged Blackbird eats a grasshopper she nabbed off a Tall Ironweed plant, which is just about to burst open in deep purple flowers.

Wild grapes ripe for the plucking. When the catbirds I heard singing by the river find these juicy treats, they won't last long!

...even though I'm trying to ignore the signs of fall, they keep coming. Ripening wild grapes signal the beginning of autumn and help fuel fall migration in late summer and fall for many migratory songbirds.

Click here for a link to a guide The Nature Conservancy put together titled "Managing Habitats for Migrating Land Birds in the Western Lake Erie Basin--a Guide to Landscaping and Land Management." Even though it was written for residents of the Western Lake Erie Basin, the information transfers to our area as well. Migrating birds need food sources at stopover sites during migration, and the plants we choose for our yards, such as wild grapes and other fall-ripening berries, can help them on their journey south.

...a few of the birds who like to eat wild grapes are Gray Catbirds, Eastern Bluebirds, Great Crested Flycatcher, Northern Mocking birds, American Robins, Brown Thrashers, Cedar Waxwings, Baltimore Orioles, Tufted Titmice, Wood Ducks, woodpeckers...and the list goes on and on. 

...cuteness on the ground. This tiny, tiny baby Fowler's Toad decided to cross the path as we walked by. With fall approaching, he's probably considered more toddler than baby, but he was baby cute...probably about the size of a quarter.

The shift from late summer to fall happens quickly, and soon all the work accomplished through the summer by trees, flowers, and other plants will be put to rest, while birds, forest animals, and humans harvest their bounty (it's probably a good time to hug and thank a tree!).

A little creeper in our backyard...

Our recent snows brought a new visitor to our backyard...a Brown Creeper (Certhia americana)! This cute mouse-like brown bird landed at the base of our half-dead weeping willow tree when I was standing about 20 feet away photographing Dark-eyed Juncos (click here for those shots). He efficiently and thoroughly worked his way up the tree, turning over loose bark and peering into crevices as he hunted out spiders and other overwintering insects and eggs. When he exhausted the willow tree, he flew over to the ash tree and worked his way up it...

A Brown Creeper clings to the bark on the weeping willow tree in our back yard.

I noticed the Brown Creeper was using his tail as a prop, much like a woodpecker does. 

That's a mighty fine pygostyle you've got there...
I recently read in the book Wild Bird Guides: Downy Woodpecker by Gary Ritchison, that the anatomical structure that allows woodpeckers to use their tails as props is called a "pygostyle." A cool name that stuck with me, because when I saw the Brown Creeper using its tail in the same posture, "pygostyle" popped in my head, and I wondered if a Brown Creeper's pygostyle was similar to a woodpecker's. After looking in a few books and doing a few Internet searches, I found it was.

How is it different?
The pygostyle in a bird is made from 4-10 fused posterior caudal vertebrae...basically, it's the bird's tail bone (like our coccyx). The pygostyle and the muscles around it give support to the tail feathers (rectrices), and while all birds have a pygostyle, not all pygostyles are the same. For example, the bones in a woodpecker's and creeper's pygostyle are much larger and the muscles surrounding it are much stronger than those in an average bird's tail. Most birds fly and perch on branches, but woodpeckers and creepers cling to and walk up the vertical surface of a tree trunk. Their tails help them stay in place because they work like a prop. Additionally, these types of birds have the adaptation of very stiff tail feathers, especially the middle feathers...all the better to lean on when clinging to or walking up a tree trunk. If you look closely, the middle feathers are also pointed and curve slightly inward to guarantee the tail makes solid contact with the bark (Ritchison, pg. 10).

Other birds have well-developed pygostyles too, for example, woodland hawks that use their tail feathers for precise steering through branches have well-developed pygostyles, and birds that use their tails for upward lift to help them hover, such as kestrels, do too.  If you'd like to see a labeled bird skeleton of the pygostyle, click here and look at #2. (However, if you've ever dressed a turkey or a chicken, you've already seen the pygostyle! It's the "Pope's nose" or the "parson's nose," the colloquialisms for the fleshy triangle at the tail.)

While spiraling up the tree, our little Brown Creeper popped into an exposed and abandoned woodpecker's hole for a few seconds before continuing on. It's unusual to see a Brown Creeper standing out so well. Usually their camouflaging colors and patterns make them invisible against the bark. They are no match for the inside of a tree!

It's easy to see how the Brown Creeper makes good use of its tail. The pointed tail feathers are stiff like a Downy Woodpecker's and when combined with the strength of a well-developed pygostyle and muscles it becomes a very good prop and helps the bird cling to the tree trunk's vertical surface. 

It's always fun to spot a Brown Creeper. They blend into the bark so well sometimes it's hard to see them. I usually hear their ultra-fine peeping and then watch until I see a little movement. Their habit of spiraling up a tree and then diving down to the base of the next tree helps a little when looking for one. 

...here you can see the inward curve on the Brown Creeper's middle tail feathers. 

...another adaptation, Brown Creepers have extra long back toe nails, or hind claws, to help them hook into the bark. 

p.s.
The snow blew in another backyard favorite, our American Tree Sparrows (Spizella arborea)! Every year I wait for them to show up, but they never seem to arrive until snow or a severe cold snap moves in. I saw two on Wednesday....exciting. I love the tinkling, sweet calls of a flock of American Tree Sparrows.  This afternoon Rick and I went to Armleder Park to look for longspurs, we didn't see those, but we did see and hear hundreds of American Tree Sparrows...what a magical sound!
Click here for an older post on American Tree Sparrows--a favorite winter visitor.

Painting and drawing Savannah Sparrows...and our first Dark-eyed Junco of winter!

I painted these Savannah Sparrows last week for a guest post I did on the Birding is Fun blog. As a reference, I used sketches of the bird I drew from an outing in early spring. Since our summer sparrows are leaving us for their winter grounds, I thought it a great way to say good bye to them. Sparrows are always fun to watch. They are sweet, and their subtle shades of browns, grays, and caramels are restful to the eye and make them interesting to paint...

...a sweet Savannah Sparrow in an early spring meadow (watercolor).

Sparrows go about their business without flash. They flit through the grasses and make us work to see and identify them. This little Savannah Sparrow, however, was making it easy. He was singing heartily, perched on a tall and dried-out reedy stem of grass left over from winter. I saw this bird on March 24, 2012 at Armleder Park in Cincinnati, OH. The bird was one of a pair that took turns diving down to the ground, then fluttering back up to a perch. In the same field, two Vesper Sparrows were doing the same thing, although they were much more secretive and tended to stay a little lower in the weeds (click here for that post). Both species were returning migrants, and it was wonderful to welcome them back for the season...

...same Savannah Sparrow trying his best to fade away in a field of dead stalks and grasses (watercolor).

Pencil sketch of the Savannah Sparrow at Armleder Park (March 24, 2012)

Pencil sketch of the same Savannah Sparrow at Armleder. 

...and already it's time to say goodbye to these sweet summer sparrows, as winter sparrows have already arrived in Cincinnati. I've read reports of White-crowned Sparrows and White-throated Sparrows, but so far, none have shown up in our yard. It seems Pine Siskins are making appearances in Cincy too! I hope a few drop by our feeders. We do have a new visitor, however—our first Dark-eyed Junco of winter flashed his white tail feathers this past Saturday on October 27, 2012. Last year our first junco blew in on November 8, 2012 (click here for that post and watercolors of the junco), so we're ahead of the game!

Sketchbook entry of our first Dark-eyed Junco of the season (10-27-2012)

Armleder Park is on the east side of Cincinnati in Hamilton County and is a great place to bird. It's about 30 minutes from my house, so I don't get there as often as I'd like. A small paved trail loops through a weedy meadow, and you have canoe access to the Little Miami River as well (305 acres).

Vesper Sparrows singing in the morning...

Vesper Sparrows are sweet birds. They are often described as plain, which I guess they are when you first look at the gray-brown feathers that help them disappear into the scrubby fields they like to haunt, but when they fly from perch to perch in the grass, a flash of white on the outer edges of their tail feathers is bright, and suddenly they are not plain at all. I love these little junco-like birds and enjoy watching them as they flit through the grasses, staying low and out of camera range usually. When I saw this male at Armleder Park, he was singing from one of the higher perches in the field, but he still was able to avoid the camera lens by perching behind grasses and sticks, so instead of photographing him, I did a few field sketches, concentrating on gesture rather than feather detail, etc...

Painting 224. Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus) in the Morning...
(This painting started as a pencil sketch. I added watercolor and a touch of colored pencil later.)

Vesper Sparrows love to take dust baths. I've read many accounts of that and was hoping to see one or two fluffing up in the dust and flapping around, but no luck. They are so well adapted to dry dusty fields that they don't use water for bathing or drinking! It's thought they get all the water they need from insects and seeds and possibly also morning dew on the grass.

Painting 225. Vesper Sparrow at Armleder Park
(This painting started as a pencil sketch. I added watercolor and a touch of colored pencil later.)

In bird literature, I've read over and over that Vesper Sparrows were named from the romantic view of naturalist John Burroughs that the bird sang more sweetly at sunset or dusk, which is the time for evening prayers or vespers, but I had never directly read anything about him naming the bird, so I wanted to check it out. I love naturalist writings from the 1800s and early 1900s that have romantic tendencies, so I was glad when I stumbled across the John Burroughs website and a page called "The Naming of the Vesper" (click here for the link). A list of references shows the transition of the bird's original name of "grass finch" or "bay-winged bunting" to the name "vesper sparrow," and although John Burroughs promoted the name, he did not coin it. In Burroughs' 1871 book "Wake-Robin," Burroughs gives credit to Wilson Flagg...

"They sing much after sundown, hence the aptness of the name vesper sparrow, which a recent writer, Wilson Flagg, has bestowed upon them." (Source: "Wake-Robin," by John Burroughs, page 212.  Click here for the free online ebook version of the book.)

...after reading what was on page 212, I started skipping through the book to read more, and I loved his colorful descriptions. Now I want to get a hard copy of "Wake-Robin" and a few of his other books. Here is a glimpse of Burroughs' introduction...

"Do such books as mine give a wrong impression of Nature, and lead readers to expect more from a walk or a camp in the woods than they usually get? I have a few times had occasion to think so. I am not always aware myself how much pleasure I have had in a walk till I try to share it with my reader. The heat of composition brings out the color and the flavor. We must not forget the illusions of all art. If my reader thinks he does not get from Nature what I get from her, let me remind him that he can hardly know what he has got till he defines it to himself as I do, and throws about it the witchery of words. Literature does not grow wild in the woods. Every artist does something more than copy Nature; more comes out in his account than goes into the original experience." (Source: "Wake-Robin," by John Burroughs, page xii.  Click here for the free online ebook version of the book.)

Painting 226. Vesper Sparrow Singing in the Morning
(...another painting started as a pencil sketch. I added watercolor and then gouache later.)

Savannah Sparrows singing in the meadow...and the warbler countdown begins!

Last Saturday I met Paul and Joe at Armleder Park in Cincinnati to photograph Midland Smooth Softshell turtles at the Little Miami River (about 30 miles south of where I usually walk the Little Miami), but in the huge meadow between the parking lot and the river, two species of returning migrants had already taken up residence...Savannah Sparrows and Vesper Sparrows! This pair of Savannah Sparrows looked very sparrow-ish in the tall grasses and took turns diving down to the ground and flitting here and there among the dead stalks left over from winter...

Two Savannah Sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) perch in the large meadow at Armleder Park in Cincinnati. Vesper Sparrows were nearby, and Tree Swallows dipped and dived through the grasses before returning to the nest boxes set out along the trail.

A bubble of music floats

The slope of the hillside over;

A little wandering sparrow's notes;

And the bloom of yarrow and clover.

--Lucy Larcom

(as referenced in "Music of the Birds," by Lang Elliott)

I laughed when photographing these two. They were like little kids. "Could you both look at the camera at the same time, please?"

...maybe!

It's so fun to watch the summer birds arriving little by little. Soon the warblers start! This May I'm heading up to Magee Marsh and the Black Swamp Bird Observatory for the Biggest Week in American Birding! Finally...I'm going to see the spring warbler migration on Lake Erie. I'll be blogging there too (more posts about that soon). The warbler countdown begins!!

:-)

If you're headed to Lake Erie for spring migration let me know!

Click here for Biggest Week details.