Most of us can affirm that summers keep getting fuller, and from meaningful activities, we hope, such as work, family time, serving at church, learning, discovering God’s world, etc. It was thus for our birding team, except the exploratory aspect fell into neglect. Nearly two months elapsed since the trip to the Bluffs, before we finally pulled together an outing, and to where else … but back to Bluffer’s Park. Yes, sadly we missed much observation in between, but this day was far from disappointing. Bluffer’s is turning out to be a sweet spot for us: plentiful avifauna, modest driving distance, walkable. Free daytime parking on weekdays? Who can resist!
The highlight of this trip was easily the juvenile Black-crowned Night-Heron [pictured] taking a morning nap by a treatment pond. Night-Herons are common here, and last time we saw an adult at the water gate. A nesting pair was reported soon afterward; we returned just as their progeny had fledged and begun fending for themselves. As this youngster matures, it will become bluish-white with a dark hood and blood-red eyes. An hour later, the same juvenile or its sibling was cawing up in a tree [picture #1]! That very vocalization earned the Black-crowned Night-Heron its scientific name,
Nycticorax nycticorax, which literally means “Night-Raven”. Does that sound cool or what? Not if you are a small fish, frog, or bird, to whom the Night-Heron is a silent nocturnal menace.
We looped around to another section of the treatment pond, to find Warbling Vireos [picture #2] and Eastern Kingbirds [picture #3] causing a ruckus in a grove of willow and locust trees. Here were two completely different birds of disproportionate size and feeding strategy: a small foliage-gleaner and a robust fly-catching aerialist—yet they treated each other acrimoniously among the branches. Perhaps the Kingbirds were defending their nests from Warblings insistent on foraging at a favourite riparian haunt. For what it was worth, to us anyway, keeping track of agitated Warblings was a rewarding pain-in-the-neck.
Onward we went to a small creek, where birds were engaging in matters of avian hygiene. Grooming means big business for birds. An idling bird will obsess over preening itself, even when the onlooker notices no apparent lack to its plumage. Birds are so attentive to maintenance because even a few ruffled or missing feathers can make the difference between life and death. Feathers become soiled or worn out, and parasites living on or near the skin cause not only irritation but also damage or loss of plumage. And if the water-repelling oil coating is disrupted, then hypothermia is a deadly possibility as well. A bird that is sluggish or unstable in flight is either a poor predator or an easy prey. Hence, birds keep meticulously tidy, and supplement preening with regular dust or water baths to keep dirt and parasites at bay. The trickling creek illustrated this point: within the span of ten minutes, it was visited by European Starlings, Cedar Waxwings, American Robins [picture #4], Red-winged Blackbirds, a juvenile Baltimore Oriole [picture #5], female House Finches, and many American Goldfinches.
So that was “round two” at Bluffer’s Park. Besides the above-mentioned, we saw, among other species: Solitary Sandpiper, Willow Flycatcher, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Brown Thrasher, and a Cooper’s Hawk being mobbed by songbirds. A fine morning!
More photos from this trip:
Posted September 25, 2014 by Blazing B.
