Tag Archives: Birds of New Engand

Which Bird is the Little Blue Heron?

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Can you tell which photo is of a Little Blue Heron?

If you thought all three images are Little Blue Herons, you are correct!

Friends often tell me about the “egrets” they are seeing at our local ponds. You would think yes, a small white heron is a Snowy Egret but look more closely.  Snowy Egrets and Little Blue Herons are about the same size but a quick way to differentiate the two is that Snowy Egrets  sport unmistakeable bright cadmium yellow feet whereas the legs and feet of a first hatch year Little Blue Heron are an even yellowish-grayish-greenish. Snowy Egrets also have yellow lores at the base of their bills that the Little Blues lack (see gallery at the bottom of the page).

In the gallery at the top of the page, the white bird is a first hatch year Little Blue; the calico patterned bird is a second year Little Blue transitioning from white to blue plumage; and the last photo is the adult Little Blue Heron with its body feathers a beautiful deep slate blue and neck feathers a rich magenta. Although the adult plumages of both birds are entirely different, the two species are closely related members of the genus Egretta.

 

You can also tell the difference by how the herons forage. Little Blues when feeding at our local ponds hunt in a stealthy manner. They stride slowly through the mud and hold very still, then strike swiftly for the fish, frog, dragonfly, or other insect. Little Blue Herons have another method of foraging called “aerial hunting.” The LBH flies out over the water looking for frogs. It will hover briefly overhead before plunging into the water to grab its prey.

Snowy Egrets appear much more excited when hunting. They animatedly run back and forth, and with their bright yellow feet, stir up the sand and mud to flush out prey. This hunting strategy is called “foot stirring.”

Watch as the Little Blue Heron gets an easy meal when the dragonfly perches on its leg!

A gallery of Snowy Egrets to compare the differences.

 

 

The Magical Month of May for Migrations in Massachusetts

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I first posted the “Magical Month of May for Migrations in Massachusetts” on May  22 in 2017. Right on schedule, our skies are filling with beautiful winged creatures – last night and this morning our East Gloucester neighborhood was graced with thousands of Chimney Swifts pouring onto our shores. Several days ago our same neighborhood hosted a flock of beautiful, beautiful Cedar Waxwings, which also included a half dozen Yellow-rumped Warblers darting in and around flowering branches.

What will tomorrow bring! <3

The Magical Month of May for Migrations in Massachusetts

May is a magical month in Massachusetts for observing migrants traveling to our shores, wooded glens, meadows, and shrubby uplands. They come either to mate and to nest, or are passing through on their way to the Arctic tundra and forests of Canada and Alaska.

I am so excited to share about the many beautiful species of shorebirds, songbirds, and butterflies I have been recently filming and photographing for several projects. Mostly I shoot early in the morning, before setting off to work with my landscape design clients. I love, love my work, but sometimes it’s really hard to tear away from the beauty that surrounds here on Cape Ann. I feel so blessed that there is time to do both. If you, too, would like to see these beautiful creatures, the earliest hours of daylight are perhaps the best time of day to capture wildlife, I assume because they are very hungry first thing in the morning and less likely to be bothered by the presence of a human. Be very quiet and still, and observe from a distance far enough away so as not to disturb the animal’s activity.

Some species, like Great Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, Black-crowned Night Herons, Great Egrets, Brant Geese, and Osprey, as well as Greater and Lesser Yellow Legs, are not included here because this post is about May’s migration and I first began noticing their arrival in April.

Several photos are not super great, but are included so you can at least see the bird in a Cape Ann setting. I am often shooting something faraway, at dawn, or dusk, or along a shady tree-lined lane.

Happy Magical May Migration!

The male Eastern Towhee perches atop branches at daybreak and sings the sweetest ta-weet, ta-weet, while the female rustles about building a nest in the undergrowth. Some live year round in the southern part of the US, and others migrate to Massachusetts and parts further north to nest.

If these are Short-billed Dowitchers, I’d love to see a Long-billed Dowitcher! They are heading to swampy pine forests of high northern latitudes.

Black-bellied Plovers, much larger relatives of Piping Plovers, look like Plain Janes when we see them in the fall (see above).

Now look at his handsome crisp black and white breeding plumage; its hard to believe we are looking at the same bird! He is headed to breed in the Arctic tundra in his fancy new suit.

The Eastern Kingbird is a small yet feisty songbird; he’ll chase after much larger raptors and herons that dare to pass through his territory. Kingbirds spend the winter in the South American forests and nest in North America.

With our record of the state with the greatest Piping Plover recovery rate, no post about the magical Massachusetts May migration would be complete without including these tiniest of shorebirds. Female Piping Plover Good Harbor Beach.

LOVE BIRDS!

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I’ve been keeping my eye on this pair of Mourning Doves and early this morning I found their nest! They saw me filming and photographing them and flew away. I hope they don’t abandon the nest as it would be wonderful to film the babies (squabs).

Mourning Dove Pair Cape Ann Kim Smith Designs.comThe male approaches the female with bobbing head and puffed chest, inviting her to a nesting site.

Mourning Dove Female Cape Ann Kim Smith Designs.comFemale Mourning Doves build the nest.

Mourning Dove Building nest -2 Cape Ann kim smith designs.comThe male dove carries the nest building material to the female.

Mourning Dove Female Building nest Cape Ann Kim Smith Designs.com A loose collection of twigs, pine cone needles, and grass, the nest is usually sited in a tree.

DSCF2662I hope I can find the nest again! Keeping my fingers crossed the pair will still be there when the rain lets up.

Mourning Dove Cape Ann Kim Smith Designs.comMourning Dove morning song

Birds of New England: Mourning Doves and Why Birds Fluff When Cold

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Mourning Dove pair in snowPair of Mourning Doves in Pear Tree

While writing this post and listening to recorded songs of Mourning Doves, I was immediately transported to my grandparent’s summer cottage on Cape Cod. Their home was sited on a bluff overlooking Cape Cod Bay. Adjacent to the house was a tumbled and scrubby overgrown field and, only a sort walk down down the lane, the freshwater Hiram Pond. There was no shortage of bunnies and birds, toads and turtles, along with the occasional frog and fox. From a child’s point view, it was pure paradise. Mixed with the sound of the surf, imprinted forever is the familiar song of Mourning Doves cooing at the first light of dawn. For much of the day the nesting doves remained hidden in the tangled undergrowth. Then in the fading rosy light of day’s end, their gentle song was heard again mixed with the laughter of rambunctious family feasts on the screened porch my grandfather had built.

*   *   *

Mourning Doves during the winter months are not calling to their mates but instead are struggling to survive the cold temperatures and sparse supply of food. Our bird feeders are filled often during the week, primarily with safflower seeds. As I have explained in previous posts, squirrels, which can be a real nuisance at feeders, typically are not interested in safflower seeds. Suet and such invites rats, rabbits, and raccoons, which in turn draws coyotes.

Four Mourning Doves ©Kim Smith 2014Mourning Doves in Pear Tree ~ fluffed and unfluffed doves

Feathers are insulating and by fluffing, the bird traps pockets of air to hold in body heat and keep out the cold. During warm weather, birds press their feathers close to their bodies to eliminate the insulating air pockets to allow heat to escape.

When the bird is incubating eggs, the insulating properties of feathers can be a drawback because the feathers keep some of the bird’s body heat from reaching the eggs. The bird either sheds some its breast feathers naturally or pulls them out to expose bare skin.  The exposed area is called a brood patch.

Read More Here: Feathers

Addendum today ~ So sadly, my husband found beneath our kitchen window this morning a beautiful Mourning Dove. For the past several months we’ve had half a dozen doves, or what looked like three pairs, nestling in the pear trees and at the feeders. Our dead Mourning Dove seemed perfectly intact, except for a few drops of blood on its head. The single greatest threat to songbirds visiting our backyards are collisions with glass.  I never thought of our wind- and weather-worn original-to-the-house 1850s window glass as potentially hazardous. Time to rethink our little backyard sanctuary.

Dead Mourning Dove ©Kim Smith 2014From Bird Watcher’s Digest, the top ten suggestions for making your windows less deadly for birds: The Top 10 Things You Can Do to Prevent Window Strikes 

Mourning Dove Coo ~

Essex Bird Shop and Pet Supply is an excellent source for bagged safflower seeds.

Mourning Dove puffed feathers ©Kim Smith 2014 copyMourning Dove (Zenaida macroura)

New Video: Reflections Good Harbor Beach (and sunrise time lapse)

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Outtakes from films in progress, too pretty to delete. In thinking about music for my forthcoming film I found this beautiful pan flute song “Mochica en la Noche” by Santiago y Sus Flautes de Pan. The evocative music and heron in the vivid rising sun just felt like a perfect pairing.