Keep ’em coming in, folks: I’m not happy without a good cushion of photographs on my laptop. Today we have a selection of “backyard wildlife,” reminding us that we too often neglect the beautiful animals that surround us, with custom having staled their infinite variety. So here are some animals you can find in U.S. towns.
The first contribution comes from reader “theshortearedowl” with the notes:
Despite being in town, the West Virginia University Arboretum has a healthy population of fox squirrels (Sciurus niger). These guys are the biggest North American tree squirrel; bigger and redder than the more common Eastern grey. They were out making the most of the warm weather today.
And some pictures from my neck of the woods, provided by reader Ed Kroc:
Here’s a collection of photos I wanted to pass along from my trip to the Chicagoland area last month. If I recall correctly, this coincided with the time that you were in Bulgaria. Northeastern Illinois was enjoying perfect fall weather, and I was lucky enough to have some time to go exploring.
We start in Thatcher Woods in River Forest, IL. Two pictures of the underappreciated American Robin (Turdus migratorius), a male and a female, each drinking from the banks of the Des Plaines River. You can see the subtle sexual dimorphism in the colouring of the two birds: the female is grey where the male is closer to black, and the female’s orange belly is also more muted. They are very attractive birds, not fully appreciated due to their prevalence. [JAC: Like onions and Coca-Cola!]
Next, an Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) among some autumn foliage in Blackwell Forest Preserve in West Chicago. I remember that these birds were already scarce around the Chicagoland area when I was a kid, due mostly due to habitat loss. They are cavity nesters, so increased urbanization eliminates their nesting spots. Considerable efforts to repopulate the area with nesting cavities and boxes in the 1980’s and 90’s seem to have been successful, as these birds are now quite common again.
From the gorgeous West Chicago Prairie Forest Preserve back in West Chicago, an equally gorgeous male Rusty Blackbird (Euphagus carolinus). This species is one of North America’s fastest declining species, and for essentially unknown reasons. Habitat loss seems to be a common hypothesis, but it’s hard to pin their estimated 94% continental decline over the past 50 years on that idea alone, especially when other blackbirds seem to be doing relatively fine. The IUCN classifies the Rusty Blackbird as a threatened species, formally in its “vulnerable” category.
Two blackbirds that are definitely not in danger of disappearing from the continent any time soon, the European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) and the Brown-headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater), a male. The starling, on the left, is in his/her somewhat intimidating winter plumage. These guys aren’t natives, of course, but they are certainly highly successful additions to North America. This pair was perched in a bare tree at the edge of Big Woods Forest Preserve in Eola.
A few branches down, a male House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) basked in the warm autumn sunlight.
A male Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) with, perhaps, a member of its namesake in its bill. This one was fishing on the Fox River right in downtown Geneva. He would stand atop the boulder in the background, watching the water, and then dive down headfirst into the river when a mouthful passed conveniently close enough.
Finally, as a bit of unsettling lagniappe, a bleak and ominous sight: a Methodist monolith stabbing out of the prairie. This church was constructed about 10 years ago and now reaches imposingly out of the middle of the Big Woods Forest Preserve. I forget what was there before (most likely some anonymous warehouse), but I really wish DuPage County would have sprung for the piece of land and just added it to their forest preserve district. This seems to reflect a general trend of more and more new churches popping up in this part of DuPage County over the past 10 years, usually right next to forest preserve land, as it tends to be less developed. Do more people necessarily mean more churches? In the suburban US, I unfortunately think that the answer is largely in the affirmative.
Beautiful birds and sqrls. Funny that the red one is a niger??
Google tells me it is because the “type” specimen had unusually black hair.
interesting
Wonderful photos! I remember late one winter, many years ago, feeling astounded at the sight of a big flock of birds in our cranberry highbush. Their winter plumage was dazzling, all flashy and sparkly in the sunlight and contrasted against the snowy branches. It wasn’t until much later that I discovered that these were starlings! Starlings – the bane of many of our neighbours, for their habit of nesting in the dryer/kitchen exhaust vents of houses. But how beautiful they are!
We have reserved a part of our large urban garden for small wildlife. Consisting mostly of high-growing brambles, some young trees of heaven, and the chopped-down remains of an old cherry tree, it shelters easily about fifty starlings at a time. Their baths are close by so such a treat for us to see them splash like mad in between coming and going from their ‘sanctuary’.
I’ve learned something new today, Trees of Heaven. Thanks! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ailanthus_altissima
It’s very good of you to take care of the wildlife. We also have many trees in our small urban garden, and the birds love it. The sparrows even overwinter in our junky area by the shed. 🙂 Surprisingly, we’ve been seeing hungry cardinals this late in the season, when they’ve been kinda sparse all summer. Good thing we’ve got the feeders on the go.
We have two families of starlings that live year around in two eaves of our house. In the spring, you can hear their nestlings chirping wildly, esp. when the parents bring them food. Sometimes you can hear them scratching around up there and if you didn’t know they were starlings, you’d probably think they were rodents of some kind.
So they are now building churches that look like rusting metal girders? I don’t think that shiny thingie placed within the structure and which looks like a desperate afterthought is going to do much to stop advanced decay. 🙂
All the pix are delightful (Ed has such a good eye)!
Thank you!
That church monolith is indeed eerie. If those were corn stalks it would be even creepier.
Actually those are corn stalks! From where the picture was taken, I was standing in front of a small, private field wedged in between two pieces of the forest preserve and a boundary road. Definitely lends a creepier meaning to the phrase, “Children of the Corn”.
Yeah, “Children of the Corn” was exactly where I was going. My original post mentioned it, but before I posted, I looked closer at the photo, and decided it was wheat so changed my corn reference. At least we were still deliberating over grasses. 🙂
Wonderful background in the robin photos: the water reflecting the sky and the slick mud give a hand-painted quality.
And one had better appreciate robins in my urban home: we get all of four kinds of birds in the backyard.
I thought that too with the robin photos — much like a watercolour painting. Very beautiful.
House finch have such beautiful songs. Several pairs used to nest in the shade on my front porch light. I’d leave the door open to hear them singing. It was also the best channel on kitty TV!
Lovely photos! Thank you.
Very nice photos. Thanks.
One slight amendment to the cowbird commentary. Brown-headed cowbirds are indeed North American natives, and quite successful at that. They are brood parasites, building no nests of their own and reproducing entirely at the expense of their varied hosts. The common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is the Old World’s best example of the same (spectacular) strategy.
Despite their native status (and thus protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act), some states are permitted to trap and cull cowbirds in areas where high rates of brood parasitism detrimentally impact endangered species. The best example I can think of is Kirtland’s Warbler in Michigan (http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12145_12202-32591–,00.html)
Insert gratuitous David Attenborough clip
My apologies for the bad grammar in the commentary. You’re certainly right; the non-native bit was meant to refer to the European Starling only.
I did not realize that cowbird culls were a thing. Definitely not a fan of that.
Culling cowbirds is the *primary* management strategy preventing Kirtland’s warblers from becoming extinct. Cowbirds are not native to Michigan – they vastly expanded their range after the forests of the eastern US were logged. Kirtland’s warbler has no behavioral defenses against cowbird brood parasitism, resulting in nearly 100% mortality of its own nestlings when cowbirds are present.
Wow, that’s interesting. I hate the idea of culling any species, native or otherwise, but in the interest of preserving another native species, I do feel quite conflicted. I hadn’t realized the cowbird’s range extended that much as a result of human activity. I had also never heard of the Kirtland’s warbler before. It does seem like their very existence depends crucially on the help of humans. I guess in that sense, since it was human activity that largely allowed the growth of the cowbird’s range across the continent, we are obligated to protect them, even at the expense of a much more robust species. Thanks for the info!
I spent some time wondering about the name of the rusty blackbird (euphagus is Latinized Greek – cursed be Latinized Greek). I couldn’t figure out why it was a “good eater”. Then I realized, much like the confusion with the Greek name of the American city, Philadelphia, that this was probably a different word & looked it up in my Ancient Greek lexicon as one word to come to the conclusion that it means “brightly coloured”.
I like that squirrel! Sometimes I see Gray Squirrels with some red in them. I’d love to see squirrels larger than gray ones. I’m pretty sure those red guys don’t live up here.
Both robins & starlings are among my favourite underappreciated birds. I’ve had both as pets while nursing them back to health. The robin was released around migration time – they get an overwhelming urge to migrate when that time comes!
Blue birds are very fussy about their nesting areas as well & they are often outcompeted by other small birds like sparrows for places to nest. I have nest boxes all over my property for the picky little things & they take so long fussing over whether they actually will take a nest box that they often lose out to less fussy sparrows. The lesson here is, “he who hesitates is lost” or totally screwed out of a nesting box. Sometimes I want to shove them in them & say, “it’s fine, just lay eggs in there & stop looking at it & jumping in & out!”
We’ve had a HUGE red squirrel in our yard the past couple of weeks. Hadn’t noticed this type before. Maybe they’re migrating up here?
Looking at distribution maps, we’re just out of Fox Squirrel range. You might be seeing an Eastern Grey squirrel with lots of red in the fur. Or maybe a huge mutant of a red squirrel (they are smaller – almost chipmunks size – also ornery, they like their solitude),
He/she looks kind of dyed, so maybe it is a mutant? The tail is particularly bright red. It is at least as big as the other grey squirrels running around. 3-4X the size of any of the chippies. I have, in the past, seen the much smaller red squirrels that you mention.
The fox squirrels have very orange undersides compared to the greys. Could be climate change. How have the winter minimum temperatures been these last few years, locally?
Last winter in the Toronto area was extraordinarily cold. This winter seems to be coming in with a bang as well. Was just looking at the red guy out my kitchen window and it is mainly his tail which is really red (and bushy). His body’s more brown. Maybe he has a disease of the tail (or a dye-job?.
Nah, he’s just a reddish grey squirrel.
You’re probably right.
You would prefer Grekificated Latin…?
b&
No – no weird combinations!
No peanut butter in your chocolate? No lime in your coconut? No Logos in your Christos?
b&
Those are good combinations. Weird is whatever I think is wrong. Like vegemite & anything.
Oh, I don’t know…vegemite and an hazmat suit go pretty well together, so long as you’re careful about where you and the vegemite are in relation to the suit.
b&
Great pictures. I was especially transfixed by the male robin picture, where the reflections on the water made the whole image look like an abstract painting.
Never heard of that species of squirrel. Handsome little bugger. The second photo is a very pleasing photo.
I liked all the urban birds. Well done! Robins are one of my favorites too. Though they can get pretty territorial and aggressive. One year a Robin family nested in a tree right next to a big window in the den and the poor male constantly attacked its own reflection, thinking it a rival. I finally covered the window with newspaper, and that solved the problem. Though it made the den a little dark that spring. Hasn’t happened in subsequent years and for that I’m glad.
Poor robins are a bit simple-minded, at least compared to their corvid cousins. I wonder what other species will attack their own reflection when nesting? I’ve seen sparrows do this.