Fish Crow!???/ ¡¿¿Cuervo Pescador!??

Corvus ossifragus?

I know, I haven't posted anything for a week or more so here's a story I have been longing to finish up:
On Thursday (Feb 5th) me and my younger brother (Daniel) were coming back from school. I took a different path home while Daniel headed to the playground with his friends. As I walked, a strange bird called from some unknown site. It sounded corvid-like but certainly not coming from a crow. I tried to look for the bird, and finally found it perched on top of an apartment building. It kept calling and calling, and after standing idle, looking at the puzzling black crow-like figure, I ran home and pounded on the door. When my sister (Mariela) opened I whispered hurriedly "GIVE ME THE CAMERA, QUICK!". She quickly whispered back "I DON'T KNOW WHERE IT IS!" My mother appeared, asking what was going on. Impatient and worried about the "crow" flying away, I flung inside the house and rushed to our parent's bedroom were the camera stood next  to our laptop. I quickly snatched it and ran back outside.
The crow had stopped calling, and for a moment I believed it had flied away. But to my delight the crow was still perched on the apartment building, having ceased its calling. I had the camera ready for action, and seeing no activity from the corvid I temporarily switched my attention to some house sparrows on a nearby rose bush.
Suddenly the crow let out a call and took flight. I quickly changed my attention back at the crow and put the camera on the "Video" setting. This is what I got:

To my relief the crow flew to a nearby oak tree, and I saw who it was calling to. Another crow was perched in the same tree, not far from the first crow I'd seen.

For a few moments they kept silent, while I prayed under my breath "Please, caw some more, crow, will you?". As if I had been answered, one of the crows began cawing a couple of times, but for the moment I had my camera recording they had stopped.

But they began cawing a lot afterwards, and this I WAS able to record!:

Excited about being able to record their calls, I played what I'd recorded and discovered that nothing could be heard. I was extremely frustrated, but wouldn't give up. I got closer to the tree, trying not to scare the corvids. One of them (the one you can see on the left from the video above) got nervous and flew off to another oak far from the tree were it had been--exactly what I didn't want to happen--and settled there to caw at its companion. To my relief, the other crow stayed in the tree  "Man! We were havin' a mighty good conversation here! Come and get hold of your guts, for heaven's sake! That human down there can hardly walk in this snow!"

I tried to move silently, slowly and very carefully towards the oak were the crow was. I stopped for a moment, afraid to scare the crow away. Suddenly, it began calling its companion, who then called back. It was my moment! I began recording:

                                                               

I replayed the video I had recorded, and again I could barely hear a thing! I simply stopped recording and  looked at the remaining crow, who had stopped calling after its companion flew away from the tree it had gone to after I had got too close to it and made it fly away. Afterwards the remaining crow let out a series of calls, and I tried to record them, but began recording right when the crow was flying away:

"Wait for me, man! This human's givin' me the creeps!"

Darn.

While heading home I decided to play the video once more, just to make sure I had really failed to record the crow's sounds. But then an idea came to me. What about putting the camera right next to my ear while the video play, and try and see if I could hear anything? I held the camera right next to my ear and played the video. To my surprise, I was able to perfectly hear the crows! The camera's volume was on a very low setting, making me think believe that I hadn't recorded any sound, only video. What a HUGE relief!

 I ran home and, after meddling about with my field guide and crow recordings on the Internet, I finally came to confirm that what I had seen were fish crows, for 2 reasons.

1. Its sound

2. Its wings

The fish crow's call is a dull, rather nasal Uh, uh, or Cuh, Cuh! or a very short, hoarse Car! instead of the American crow's strong CAW! or CRAW! You can hear their sound here and here (On the "Songs and Calls part, the first recording is that of a Fish Crow, the second one of an American Crow for comparison).

Now, you may be stumped on the wings. Why the heck would the wings of a fish crow would help me, if the are jet-black like that of other crows, with no special markings? Well, the wings of a fish crow are pointier than those of the American crow, that's why, only that it can be hard for one to see in the field (I guided myself by stopping the video and looking at pictures of the wings of an American crow).

Since that first sighting I've heard and seen many more fish crows, sometimes in flocks, sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs. I think that's pretty weird, how after an isolated sighting you start seeing more and more...little avian mysteries...

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Traducción vendrá pronto

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-Cristina

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All images and videos are (C) me /Todas las imágenes y videos me pertenecen.

Creeper!/¡Trepador!

Certhia americana

Yesterday was  my dad's birthday, and we decided to go out together and play with the snow to celebrate and have a good time. When we got outside I found myself busy examining unknown mammal tracks and droppings, plus of course going off to look for birds in my patch. Therefore I left them playing snowball fights and ran off to the woods, with its huge oak trees standing like majestic giants.
I heard a familiar series of calls in the forest. At first I was doubtful of what it was, but then rose to a half-conclusion--cedar waxwings! I crossed the small stream that runs through those woods (the Paint Branch Valley stream) and looked around for a sign of movement.  I was determined to get at those waxwings.
I'd seen waxwings here before. One day while looking out the window, I noticed these strange flock of birds squabbling in an oak tree. My heart pounded. I raised my bins to my eyes and clearly saw a flock Cedar waxwings, with their unmistakable crests, upright posture and black mask. This would hopefully be my second sighting of a waxwing.
I searched through the leafless trees for a flock of birds, but was only able to spot a Downy woodpecker and couple of cardinals and chickadees (I love them, but they weren't exactly what I was looking for then).
Suddenly, I noticed this tiny bird climbing up a tree, and immediately recognized it. I had seen it mentioned in several birdfeeding books, and was quite familiarized with its appearance, yet wondered why it had never shown up around here. Now, it did show up. It was a Brown Creeper, a tiny, brown bird with a white underside and markings all over its body, keeping it well camouflaged in the trees..
I was terribly happy/proud! A Brown Creeper! My first one ever! I lost sight of the bird for a moment, but afterwards spotted it again, climbing up a tree trunk when it was half-way up the tree it flew over to another tree and began climbing again. I must confess they are incredibly adorable birds.
I believe that perhaps I saw a creeper earlier before, for I had noticed a little brownish bird creeping up a tree in the morning. Afterwards I convinced myself it was just a nuthatch, but now I believe it was a creeper, not only because of its behaviour but also because of its brown-looking color (didn't have my binoculars with me).

Afterwards my dad called me back so that we could all played together a game where somebody  stands flat against a wall and everybody else throws snowballs at him/her. Then, one person is chosen to stuff a snowball into the victim's neck. We played many variants of the game and then when back home to celebrate some more with a delicious dinner.

When I felt nice and warm, and my toes weren't numb anymore, I checked in my field guide for the brown creeper and quickly understood why I hadn't seen creepers here before. They appeared in this area only in the winter, thus explaining why I had never seen these apparently common birds around this woodland before winter came.

What a great experience did I have with the creeper (and the waxwings)! And Happy Birthday dad, we hope you can celebrate with us many more of your birthdays!
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ES

Traducción vendrá pronto


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-Cristina
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Photo/Imagen: Brown Creeper/ Trepador Americano de Wiki Commons.

Snow, Juncos and Tree Sparrows, Oh My!/ Nieve, juncos y gorriones, ay Dios!

Spizella arborea

As of Friday, Jan 29th 2011

I will sum everything up, all right? Great!

Wednesday 27th:

See my last post "Today At The Feeder" for hawk and cardinal stories

Begins heavily snowing at about 4 PM, keeps on snowing all night long. Chickadee leaning on tree branch looked surprised at the snow falling, other chickadees seemed to look surprised and scared too, very adorable behavior!
BIG traffic problems in MD and VA. My dad left work early at about 3 PM and got home at 1:30 AM.
Stops snowing at about 11 PM. LOTS of snow!


Thursday 28th:

School closed.
I wake up at the sound of my alarm, and the angered chirps of a titmouse that seemed to be annoyed at the light morning snow that was falling.
Dark-eyed juncos learn to eat from suet feeder!

Friday 29th:

School closed, snows in the morning or afternoon, I don't remember.

New feeder visitor and life bird comes! An American Tree sparrow visits feeder! This sparrow made an epic journey from its breeding grounds in the Arctic to this Maryland balcony. How were the polar bears, Mr. Spizella arborea?

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ES

Traducción vendrá pronto. 

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-Cristina
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Photo/Imagen: American Tree Sparrow from / Chimbito o Gorrión arboreo de Wiki Commons.

  

Today at the feeder/Hoy en el comedero

Accipiter striatus

As of  Wednesday, January 26 2011
A blanket of snow covered this area of Maryland today, and most of the county's schools where closed (including mine, yay!). Our father woke us up at about 8:40 am, talking about a hawk eating something outside. Now that is the best way to wake me up. I looked out the window and the first thing I noticed wasn't the white blanket, but a Sharp-shinned hawk tearing something apart in the snow-covered ground. It was certainly enjoying its meal, for it was very cold and this unfortunate little prey (I afterwards noticed it was a bird, a junco perhaps) must've been a truly tasty breakfast. Afterwards the hawk flew off with its meal to seek another more comfortable plucking spot. It's the first time I see an adult sharpie, by the way. I have only seen juveniles, usually in failed attempts to catch a junco or sparrow at the feeder.
Afterwards, the only thing left was a few plucked feathers and--grisly as it sounds--blood from the kill. I love hawks, anyway, hunters or not.

Now, second interesting story of the day. A male cardinal, perhaps tortured at the sight of all the birds eating from our only feeder (we had another one, but when hanging it in the tree it fell and broke), he decided to try and see if he could eat from suet from the suet cage.
He had some difficulty, being mostly ground feeders cardinals are not adapted to hanging on tree branches or in this case a hanging suet feeder. They are not chickadees.
But this male was determined to do it. He fluttered around it, trying to bite off suet on mid-air, but it didn't work. He fluttered a whole lot more, but after noticing this just didn't work he decided to cling on to the top and bite off some suet, balancing himself with ocassional flutters.
What a cardinal!

Photos of sharpie tearing apart bird coming soon (rated PG--no blood visible)
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ES

Miércoles 26 de enero del 2011:

Una cobija de nieve había cubierto esta área de Maryland hoy, y la mayoría de las escuelas del condado estaban cerradas (¡incluida la mía!). Nuestro papá nos despertó a como a las 8:40 am hablando sobre un halcón que se estaba comiendo algo afuera ¡Esa es la mejor forma de despertarme! Miré por la ventana y lo primero que noté no fue la cobija blanca, sino un Gavilán Pajarero descuartizando algo en el suelo cubierto de nieve. Claramente estaba disfrutando su desayuno, ya que estaba muy frío afuera y esta desafortunada presa (después noté que era un pájaro, quizás un junco) debió de ser un delicioso manjar.
Después el gavilán voló con su desayuno a algún otro sitio donde pudiera desplumarla con más facilidad. Por cierto que este es el primer gavilán pajarero adulto que veo, pues normalmente veo solo jóvenes tratando de cazar a los juncos y gorriones que llegan al comedero.
Lo único que quedó de su presa fueron algunas plumas y--por más horrible que suene--manchas sangrientas en la nieve. Amo a los gavilanes de todos modos, cazadores o no.

Ahora, segunda historia interesante del día. Un Cardenal macho, probablemente torturado al ver a todos los demás pájaros comiendo de nuestro único comedero (teníamos otro, pero cuándo estaba siendo colgado en el árbol cayó y se rompió). Por lo tanto el decidió intentar y ver si podía comer sebo de la jaula de sebo.
Le costó bastante, ya que al ser un pájaro que busca comida en el suelo el cardenal no estaba adaptado para agarrarse de un comedero que colgaba de una rama. Ellos no son carboneros.
Pero este cardenal estaba determinado a lograrlo. Revoloteó alrededor del comedero, viendo a ver si podía agarrar un pedazo del sebo en el aire. Revoloteó mucho más, pero finalmente se rindió y encontró una nueva forma. Se agarró de la rama en la que colgaba el comedero y bajó hacia la parte superior del comedero, y de ahí si pudo comer del sebo, con ocasionales revoloteos ¡Yum!
Qué cardenal!

Fotos del gavilán desgarrando a su presa vendrán pronto. (calificadas como PG--no hay sangre visible).

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-Cristina
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Photo/Imagen: Sharp Shinned hawk from/Gavilán Pajarero (c) BigKyle28 de/from Flickr.

Saw-Whet owl heard!/¡Mochuelo Cabezón oído!

Aegolius acadicus

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Yesterday, in the middle of the night I heard something coming from outside. It was a series of whistles or cries, I'm not sure how to explain it well, but I certainly knew it had to be an owl of some kind. I kept hearing, and quickly ran to my parents bedroom to tell them. I ran to the kitchen (it  has a big window) and opened it, but for the moment I had it open I the sound had stopped. How foolish of me, to think an owl wouldn't see or hear me! 

I looked it up on my field guide (National Geographic, 5th version) and the only owl that truly fit in was the Saw Whet owl. The habitat and most importantly the sound both fit in. 

Today, after coming from school I looked up the sound on the Cornell Lab's of of Ornithology website. What I heard in the recording was practically identical to the mysterious sound I had heard the night before. You too can here it here. 

But perhaps the most important thing this "sighting" made me think about was of how many wilderness areas and its wildlife remain ignored by most of the public. This apartment building joint where I live is right next to Paint Branch Stream Valley park. That creek I've been talking about is Paint Branch Stream. I have recorded 33 species of birds in late fall and winter right from my balcony. I have seen white-tailed deer, chipmunks, gray squirrels and a red fox around here, and yet everybody seems to ignore and despise this areas. Why despise? Litter. What (truly forgive me for the words) IDIOT would have the AMAZING idea of throwing trash near a stream and a park?

 All these people are nothing but ignorant SCUMS that are are so LAZY they can't even walk to the garbage container, and decide to throw it away into the woods without a second thought, and then leaving without the slightest regret of doing so. I pity them, for their ignorant ways shall remain silent and forever unimportant until somebody gives them a good lesson on nature education. 

Therefore, I decided to write a letter to the apartment manager, telling him that we shouldn't forget what is surrounding us and that it would be a good idea if he took a walk around the forgotten back area of the neighborhood--the woods--and have a good look at the trash that is there. Perhaps we could organize a clean up or something of the type, and buy or make several signs and put them in the woods. Fines would be great, but who should be managing that is the Parks manager, so I'm contacting him too. 

Lastly, thank you Saw-Whet owl for singing that night and opening my eyes to an even wider perspective.

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ES

Traducción vendrá pronto

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-Cristina

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Photo/Imagen: Northern Saw-whet owl from/Mochuelo cabezón de Wiki Commons.

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (CR EXP)! / ¡Mochuelo Caburé! (EXP en CR)

Here you can see the shady mango forest, the brushpile and the low area
next to it. Click on the image to enlargen. / Aquí se puede ver el bosque de
mangos sombreado, la gran pila de ramas y a la par de esta el "bajo". Haga click
a la imagen para engrandar.                                                                                              

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Now, I was owing you the story of when I saw a Ferruginous Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium brasilianum)  in my trip back to visit my family in Costa Rica, so here it goes:

I was taking pictures of my cousins and little brother enjoying their time in our pool (one of those that you assemble yourself), at my grandmother's property. I myself was too cold and came out to sunbathe a little, and decided to practice some of my newly learned photography skills. I glanced at the mango tree "forest" that turns out being a nice shady place, filled with warblers and vireos at this time of the year.There is also like this low area next to the mango tree forest, and when it rains it sometimes completely fills up with water.
I was looking down at a brushpile there, where I believe there are a couple of Rufous-Naped wrens nesting, and suddenly something caught my eye. A tiny brown bird had launched on something, spreading its wings over. I first thought it must be some kind of songbird, but changed my mind when it noticed me and quickly flew to a nearby tree branch. There, was an owl of some kind. It was small, could easily fit in an adult's hand. I was incredibly excited, but actually felt more amazed and nervous in a good way. I raised my camera and took a picture of it, but was disappointed at seeing it had ended up very dark, for I had it on MANUAL and it was adjusted for sunny conditions, not a shady place.
I looked closely at it for as much as I could, but when I stepped closer it flew to the mango forest. I tried to go and search for it, but my uncle called out "Cristina! Come back! There are snakes there!" Yes, certainly there are snakes there. They had found a python there once (fortunately instead of killing it they called the firefighters so that they would take it somewhere else). Thus, I found no other option but to obey, and went back to the house, yet still very excited.
I had then been wondering if what I had seen was a Central American Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium griseiceps) or a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. I then searched for photos in the internet, and for a moment thought it was a Central American pygmy-owl. But then I changed my mind, for range and habitat pointed at the Ferruginous.
I couple of days later, while looking and retouching some pictures in Photoshop just for fun, an idea came to me. What if I could lighten up the picture of the owl and see if I can see something in it? I didn't hesitate to do it, and was amazed by the results:

Click for a larger version

(here I lightened up the image, and in the lower right corner there is an outlined version of it in case you have trouble seeing it) This confirmed what I had seen! The FPO's stripes are slenderer than those of the CAPO's stripes, and that was that.

Pygmy-owls are actually diurnal (active at day), although mostly crepuscular. (active at dawn and dusk). The CAPO lives on the Carribbean slope in the tropical rain forests there, while the FPO is a common sight in the Central valley (Costa Rica).

I believe what I saw was a juvenile, because it had a grayish head. Also, I believe I saw it hunting!

This is the first owl I ever see in detail, ever! 

Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl (c) 2010 Dan Lockshaw, Owling.com 

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Les estaba debiendo la historia de cuando ví un Mochuelo Caburé ( también conocido como Mochuelo Común Glaucidium brasilianum) en nuestro viaje devuelta a Costa Rica para visitar a nuestra familia y amigos, asi que aquí va:

Estaba tomándole fotografías a mis primos (as) disfrutando la piscina de ensamblar que tenemos en la finca de mi abuela. A mí ya me había dado frío y salí para asolearme un rato, así que decidí practicar mis recién aprendidas habilidades para fotografiar un poco.
Le dí un vistazo al "bosque" de árboles de mango, que es después de todo un buen lugar sombreado, que en esta época del año se llena con reinitas y vireos por doquier. Hay un "bajo" (como nosotros lo llamamos) a la par del bosque, y a la par de este una gran pila de ramas y palos, en la cual creo deben de haber soterreyes nuquirrufos anidando, y de repente algo me  llamó la atención. Un pequeño pájaro café se abalanzó en algo, y desplegó sus insignificantes alas en el. Primero pensé que era algún tipo de ave canora pequeña, pero cambié de opinión cuando este me notó y voló hacia la rama de un árbol cercano. Ahí, había un búho de algún tipo. Era diminuto, podía fácilmente caber en la mano de una persona adulta. Estaba muy emocionada, pero al mismo tiempo algo nerviosa en una buena manera. Le tomé una fotografía con mi cámara, pero me sentí desilusionada al notar que la tenía en MANUAL y estaba ajustada para condiciones soleadas, no una rama cerca de un bosque muy sombreado.
Lo observé lo mas que pude, pero cuando tomé un paso para adelante el búho voló rápidamente al bosque de mangos. Estaba determinada a ir y encontrarlo, pero mi tío me llamó "¡Cristina! ¡Venga para acá qué ahí hay culebras!" Ciertamente hay serpientes ahí. Hace un tiempo encontraron una pitón cerca de ese lugar (afortunadamente en vez de matarla llamaron a los bomberos, quienes se la llevaron a un lugar lejos de ahí). No tuve opción excepto obedecer, y me devolví a la casa, muy emocionada de todos modos.
Después estuve preguntándome si lo que vi fue o un Mochuelo Centroamericano (Glaucidium griseiceps) o un Mochuelo Caburé. Por un momento pensé que era un MCA (mochuelo centroamericano), pero después de revisar el hábitat y rango de distribución me incliné al Caburé.
Un par de días después, mientras revisaba y retocaba algunas fotos en Photoshop, me llegó ls idea de que tal vez si aclaraba la imagen quizá podría alcanzar a ver algo, y así fue:

Click para engrandar

(aquí aclaré la imagen, y en la esquina inferior derecha delineé el contorno del búho por si tienen problemas viéndolo) ¡Esto confirmó lo que había visto! ¿Ven las rayitas en el vientre del búho? Las del MCA son más gruesas, entonces este sí es un Caburé, y así fue.

El mochuelo caburé, o realmente este tipo de búhos pequeños en general son típicamente diurnos (activos de día), pero son más crepusculares (activos al amanecer y al atardecer). El MCA habita los bosque húmedos de la vertiente del Caribe, mientras que el Caburé se es común en el Valle Central (Costa Rica).

Creo que ví uno joven, ya que su cabeza era algo grisácea ¡Es más, creo qué lo ví cazando!

Mochuelo Caburé (c) 2010 Dan Lockshaw, Owling.com.

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-Cristina

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Imágenes/ Photos:  First and second image are taken by me, source specified in third one/ Primera y segunda imagen son tomadas por mí, la fuente de la tercera ya es especificada.