Eastern Bluebird - winter's blue

The Eastern Bluebird is more an icon than a native New England bird. Immortalized on sweatshirts and as porcelain figurines as well popularized by a widely followed conservation movement the Eastern Bluebird remains a fan favorite. Known as a partial migrant the bluebird sometimes stay on their breeding grounds in unseasonably warm winters or during bumper fruit crop years and can be found in New England all year long. As omnivores, bluebirds subsidize their summer diet of insects and grubs with winter berries and fruits. A picture of tranquility however, bluebirds are not. Territorial wars with other cavity nesters like  English house sparrows and European Starlings can turn deadly.  A bird of open ground such as meadow or pasture, the decline of the bluebird was in part due to these invasive birds competing for limited cavity nest sites in a sprawling suburban world. The extensive loss of farmlands in the Northeast since the 1970s was also to blame. But, the outlook for the bluebird is good. Christmas Bird Counts show a near 14% increase in bluebird sightings between 1964 and 2008 while the 2011 Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas give bluebirds a “likely increase” status. It seems that substantive nest box building projects cut down on competition and have allowed these midsized song birds to flourish. In the winter watch for bluebirds flying from ground to fence post in barren farm fields or orchard edge. For all their marvelous color bluebirds can be inconspicuous, appearing grayish in the long winter light. Watch for a characteristic flight style, with long wings that seem to lap the air like a dog’s tongue, pushing downward and barely rising above the back.

Suet

Winter is the time to feed the birds. Dependent on reliable food sources like cherry trees, winter berries, and open fields - feeders also provide winter birds with an important food store. Suet in particular can make for good fodder. Most often purchased as a store bought “cake” it is possible to get fresh suet from your butcher. If dealing with a cow’s kidney fat doesn’t sound like a fun family holiday craft idea purchase a metal cage and form fitted suet cake from any hardware, animal feed, or bird store. These cakes are often filled with dried seeds, nuts, or fruit and are easily hung from a tree branch or empty flower pot hanger. Unlike many seeds, suet is less attractive to squirrels and can be left without much worry that a grey, red, or little stripper will clean you out in one sitting. Among the birds that will visit a suet cage are woodpeckers, nuthatches, kinglets, bluebirds, wrens, robins, starlings, and if you’re lucky a brown creeper. Woodpeckers who don’t eat seeds are an exciting addition to the feeder station when suet is provided. Remember suet is animal fat and should only be offered in cold weather when there is no chance of softening or spoiling which is not only disgusting but also a health risk for the birds. Remember too that birds will rely on you as a food source and while November and December is a good time to start feeding it is important that you stay consistent until spring. Serve the fat!

Mute Swans – the Graceful Aggressor

The curved neck and large, bright white body of the Mute Swan stands out on ponds and marshes around New England. Larger than any other New England waterfowl, the exclamation “out of place” couldn’t be more accurate. Mute Swans are in fact not native to North America; they were imported from Europe in the early 1900’s most likely in conjunction with the rise of industrial wealth and a pension for romantic Victorian gardens. Mute Swans (note that there are native North American swans) were brought over from Britain and Europe and released into gardens and as sedentary bird (migrating only during severe winters) remained on unfrozen water year round. Captive populations managed to “go wild” and establish breeding communities around New England, New York state, and the Great Lakes. Studies in the 1980s found Mute Swan populations climbing at an alarming rate. Because of this and their aggressive behavior towards other nesting waterfowl and their destructive feeding habits (eating the base of aquatic plants thus destroying important aquatic habitat) Mute Swans were labeled an “invasive species”. This “invasive” moniker has not only found Mute Swans in the crosshairs of State Fish and Wildlife agencies but also on the poster of animal rights groups and swan lovers across the country. 

Love for swans in nothing new and the bird holds a prominent place in Greek and Roman mythology. The swan was associated with the god Jupiter who took the bird’s form to seduce Leda creating Helen of Troy. The bird was also associated with Apollo and the Muses often in reference to music, funny for they are virtually silent or “mute” alleged to sing out beautifully in the moments before death giving us the adage “swan song”. In the popular Western psyche swans are a symbol of fidelity – for their habit of life long, monogamy and often associated with matrimony.

As the ponds and lakes around New England begin to break free of ice, watch for these massive birds glowing white on the dark waters. The history of the Mute Swan is complicated and like so much in nature it is not the animal to blame but rather our human hand’s reckless prying.

American goldfinch

In its dulled down winter plumage the American goldfinch surprises bird watchers at feeders and in the field this time of year. Rolling across New England in nomadic flocks the American goldfinch turns from eye-popping, sunshine yellow in the summer to a drab, off green in the winter. Known as “bimorphism” it is the most extreme plumage transformation of any New England finch. But look close at the tight formed body, less puffy than a sparrow, with its thick, seed-cracking bill, and striking white and black wings. Male goldfinches retain a sunset of yellow below their bill and behind their eye even in winter. Surviving on an almost exclusively seed diet goldfinches love thistle feeders or a thistle seed “sock” and when scared off the feeder fly away in a characteristic, bounding flight calling softly, "chewwwwy?" 

When a Crow is a Raven

The Common Raven is a large member of the crow family (corvidae) at home whirling over the canyon lands of the southwest and bedfellow to wolves around a moose carcass in the great white north. Ravens hold a permanent place in the collective modern psyche: trickster and stealer of the sun, the cause for poetry, story, and rhyme. In the northeast however ravens float around the edge of the urbanized world like cowboys peering in the window of the mall; not scared just unclear to the purpose of this place. Bird watchers in Southern New England rarely see these large black birds however, in the past decade the Common Raven has been gaining breeding ground in Massachusetts. In part due to the maturing forests, no longer logged for timber.

Finding a raven in Southern New England is still not easy, but knowing how to separate a crow and a raven can be. While in some ways a raven is large crow there are actually visual clues that can help you identify a raven without the lucky comparison of a crow sitting next to it. Ravens are rarely seen in numbers larger than two or three. Their large beaks give them a “big nose” look and their tails have a distinct wedge shape that a Crow’s does not. Watch also for the long “fingers” of the wing, primary flight feathers that reach out into the sky and seem to spread further apart than a crow’s. Voice is another give away. While crows produce an incredible array of caws, clicks, snaps, and barks the raven is best known for a booming, throaty “aaaawwwack”. Think of a baritone compared to a tenor. Ravens also nest very early, beginning in the late winter. Listen for the call and response between a pair of birds carrying large sticks. Finding a raven’s nest early can provide weeks of watching.