Northern Shrike : a butcher-bird

In North America there are two species of Shrikes. The Loggerhead Shrike is a southern resident and Northern Shrike breeds in northern boreal areas. They are cool birds. Loggerheads are more common and a nearly extirpated breeder in Ohio. Northern Shrikes are rare and local winter visitors from November to March.

I have always liked shrikes. They are solitary birds that are just uncommon enough to always be a great find. Mosquito Creek Wildlife Area is known to harbor winter Northern Shrikes with it's rich and diverse open areas and plenty of perches around from which this bird loves to hunt from.

Shrikes are by every standard a successful and efficient predator. They can fly-catch, hover and ounce on insects and small birds relying on speed and stealth for a successful catch. Shrikes, like jays are hoarders. Jays stash or cache nuts and shrikes impale their victims on thorns, barbed wire or pointed sharp twigs. It is common in Texas to find grasshoppers impaled on the tips of the yucca leaves. Friends of mine documented a Golden-crowned Kinglet wedged in the crotch of two tree branches by a Northern Shrike.

I have not found the Northern Shrike in the ideal expanses of Mosquito Creek Wildlife Area until about a week ago. After several visits to adjacent grassy and old-field areas I have finally gotten some photographs. Recently, I found this bird perched at the top of a tree near the road. In the process of getting pictures the bird continued to sing musical notes repeated like a mockingbird (perhaps a soft "practice song") that ended with 3 loud, sharp, raspy calls followed by flight to another high prominent perch. It was a pretty song. It certainly didn't sound like a fearsome predator or an animal known as "a butcher bird".

Northern Shrike, Lanius excubitor was named by Linnaeus for the same species in Europe, the Great Gray Shrike. The genus name lanius means "a butcher" and excubitor further describes the bird (according to Linnaeus) "It looks out for the approach of hawks and warns little birds". It seems that the genus and species names are contradictory.

In our modern world the term "butcher" has been applied to both real and perceived monsters of both historic and science fiction characters. Surely the name reflects this diabolical hoarding practice. But the musical song and the recognition of alerting smaller birds just doesn't fit the mold.

It turns out that the term "butcher bird" is not at all judgemental but simply descriptive. You see, in 1544, long before America was even known, scientists gave the bird a name borrowed from the place almost everyone in the day could relate to: the market. The fellow that prepared the meat for purchase did so in a process. The early stage of carving meat was the sectioning the animal carcass and hanging sections on hooks where they remained until further processing. Butchers hang food on hooks and so do shrikes.

I love the middle of nowhere. The more you see, the more you wonder. And wonder leads to research, and research results in learning. The Northern Shrike is a wonderful bird with a wonderful song, and a wonderful life history. It was a wonderful experience, indeed.

A "Normal Day"..... with a camera

It was 16 degrees Fahrenheit when I got up this morning and we had a new 4 inch blanket of snow. Otherwise it looked to be a pretty nice day in spite of the cold and hefty 15-20 mile per hour winds. It didn't look promising for birding but looked like a good day to take the camera and document whatever crossed my path.

I wasn't disappointed because when you get into nature there are always surprises and discoveries. I like safe bets.

No one likes to get out in the great outdoors and run across a dead animal especially one that was harvested during hunting season. When you travel through wildlife areas you eventually find the spoils of hunting. This fact has never bothered me because it fits perfectly into the intricate web of nature.

Dead animals provide nourishment for any number of creatures from vultures, scavengers, and insects. Things that cease to live become an important part of the ecosystem. A concept that isn't often articulated is played out in reality every day. This is the transfer of nutrients through an ecosystem from the once living, to to be regenerated in many forms throughout the system, often living once again.

In the case of a carcass left by hunters, this is a practical recycling practice that is far more efficient then your local recycling services. I have provided pictures of Black-capped Chickadees and a Downy Woodpecker feeding on a well devoured corpse. These insectivores need protein and the carcass provides it. This happens to be the second carcass these birds have foraged on in this area over the last couple of months.

Whether you agree with hunting or not it is important to recognize that hunting is a recycling program practiced by humans for a very long time before we invented that name. I assure you that the chickadees and woodpeckers are very grateful today to be able to refuel on the spoils of hunting. This practice helps carnivores, scavengers and insectivorous populations survive the most trying of times of the year.

Seed eating birds have quite a different problem. Birds like Northern Cardinal don't eat meat but do need protein. They depend on fruits and seeds to get the necessary nutrition for surviving winter. December and January are challenging for these birds but a cold and wintry February can be a killer if the food supply is consumed earlier in the winter.

The ace-in-the-hole for most of these birds is Staghorn Sumac. This is that familiar natural shrub that has "hairy" or pubescent branches terminated by a similar red seed pod. The seeds are poor in nutrition but abundant, and just unpopular enough to provide sustenance for those birds in need for the final stretch of winter's cold and fury.

Actually Sumacs want to be consumed. This is one of the plant's survival strategies. Birds that eat the fruit and pass the seeds, distribute the seeds far and wide as well as nearby creating the possibility of growing new plants in places where they otherwise could never reach.

So the camera took me on a natural history tour of places, sites and sounds I experience every day. I documented the recycling of nutrients through the system by hunters, deer, chickadees and woodpeckers. I watched cardinals feeding on the fruits of the sumac to survive harsh conditions, knowing that somewhere a stand of new sumac will appear out of nowhere, thanks to a hungry songbird.

Yes, I saw a Pileated Woodpecker fly across the road in front of me. I watched a Red Fox pouncing playfully in the snow in hot pursuit of a Meadow Vole. The fox got a meal and in it's jubilation flung the Vole in the air and cased it down again, before they both simply vanished somewhere in drifting snow.

Nature is beautiful; balanced by stark realities that, while unpleasant, remind us that most importantly nature is a complex and amazing living system driven by survival and sacrifice. The best place to get enriched is in the Middle of Nowhere! Get out and discover it for yourself.

The Tipping Point

February 12, 2013 will probably be most remembered as "fat Tuesday". Otherwise it won't come up as any significant day in 2013 history but it is still significant. It isn't of meteorological interest nor seasonally noteworthy. Or is it?

I have already blogged about signs that spring will soon be upon us, at least here in Northeast Ohio. This Tuesday morning I observed a pair of Hooded Mergansers on a Mosquito Creek Wildlife area pond with a patch of open water. Those two are at least thinking about a family if not engaged in courtship.

There were 3 Male Common Goldeneye in a little open water on Mosquito Lake. They were swimming together and all three were bobbing their heads and ending with a gesture with bill skyward and the back of their heads almost touching their backs. This is a courting tactic that bonds them with a female. They weren't doing it to impress their buddies or to show off at all. At least not yet. You see, they just can't help themselves. It's SPRING. Their internal guidance system to attract the girls is in full throttle. They are doing this because they have to.......ready and perfected for some lovely would-be mate just up some north woods stream.

The morning started out with a serendipitous look at a Mink on ice skirting a stream that feeds into Mosquito Lake. This is a mammal that by 1860 was nearly hunted into oblivion for their furs, but have made a remarkable comeback because of conservation, protection and improving environmental conditions. They are a ferocious predator. I have seen them carrying a drake Mallard killed for its hungry family. The Mink is likely on the prowl for an early spring meal.

In the marsh I found a Virginia Opossum munching on some morsel of food it scavenged from the marsh. These Marsupials are primarily nocturnal but they are searching for much needed food after slim pickings on cold and snowy winter landscapes.

These things are signs of spring but do not necessarily define the beginning of spring. But one thing does announce that spring is official and joyfully true.

Winter is a silent season. There are sounds in winter. Canada Geese may be the only species more vocal than humans, no matter the season. There are natural sounds even in the deepest hours of winter. But on some day in early February songbirds begin to sing. It is like someone turned on a faucet. In fact the handle on the faucet is the lengthening daylight. And February 12, 2013 was the day the singing began and therefor announcing the first day of spring. There will be song in every habitat until the eve of next winter. and from this point it will build to tremendous and glorious crescendo in May and June.

I was serenaded by a Purple Finch at Mosquito Lake with a continuing loud song that was sung to absolute perfection. I could not find a Purple Finch for more than two months. They were probably there but I never could find them. Ironically, I enjoyed every note of the repeated song....but I could never find the bird. I'll take a song any day and the proclamation of spring.

It seemed everybody was joining the celebration. Tufted Titmice, Cardinals, even Yellow-rumped Warblers, could be heard uttering call notes, not a song, but that won't be too far down the trail. The middle of nowhere is somewhere and that somewhere is on its course for another year of beautiful places and wonderful sights and sounds.

You won't see February 12, 2013 as the first day of anything but take my word for it, Spring is officially here. In fact, don't take my word for it. Get out and find a little piece of nowhere and listen. No matter how cold or snowy it gets, the days from this point on will usher in song and spring!