Pale Male, the Junco Startle Offense, Cardinal Takes On Everybody, and Possum Rides the NYC Subway

Pale Male, the Monarch of Central Park surveys his kingdom.
Photo courtesy of palemale.com

Word from the Hawk Bench is that everything appears to be going along swimmingly for Pale Male and Ginger Lima.

In Wisconsin, winter having taken a vacation until mid January has now decided to make up for lost time.

Apparently when the snow appeared the accipiters that had had all the feeder birds in hiding, took to their wings, and the feeder birds are now back with a vengeance.

When these photographs were taken today it had already been snowing for many hours and the temperature was beginning to plummet further which could have something to do with their brazen hyper eating.

A Black-capped Chickadee who had been frequenting the sunflower seed feeder suddenly flew down, grabbed a piece of bread the size it her head, didn't get off the ground with it the first try but on the second try she power winged herself and the bread into a tree.

I've never ever seen Chickadee's eat bread. EVER. And it wasn't like there weren't sunflower seeds, their feeder staple, available. Perhaps she felt the need for a few carbs today?


I looked out at Mrs. Cardinal and she looked back at me. She's really terribly shy so felt the need to see what I was doing. But that gave an opening for the Junco to come closer. Juncos use this particular Junco leap from a standing start to startle each other and other birds too.

Now I know they're going to do it and so do the other birds but it works anyway. Their lazzi is to mosey closer and closer to another bird who has worked through the snow to a layer that holds seed beneath the snow. They do their startle jump. The working bird goes WAAAAA, and flies off. The Jumper doesn't have to do the work for the seed.

I'm beginning to believe that within a certain perimeter that birds have a kind of wired in startle response that their rational mind absolutely cannot control and which the Juncos as a species take advantage of. It is almost as if the Junco can enter a certain perimeter near another bird, Junco or other typical feeder bird, the Junco jumps, the attackee cannot stop the startle to flight response. They take off and loose what they worked for. Even though sometimes they appear to know it is coming but can't do anything about their response.

Jack Junco has gotten closer while she looked at me. She now turns straight onto him and raises her crest. He nonchalantly chews.

She looks at me again, Junco gets into position for a jump. Mrs. Cardinal can't take it and off she flees.

Mr. Cardinal is about to get company at the feeder from the sparrows.




Having finally gotten the feeder to himself Cardinal discovers all the currently accessible sunflower seeds in the mixed seed feeder are gone. He looks towards the sunflower seed feeder. It's already got customers and he goes for the numerous seeds spilled on the ground.

It is an everyday occurrence for a Goldfinch to visit a feeder but rather rare in this flock of inveterate ground feeding Juncos to find a Junco eating somewhere besides the ground.

Allowances must be made for 8 inches of new snow and temperatures plummeting to zero and below.

There is currently a flock of 17 Juncos--15 males and 3 females.

Why the lopsided count?

Because Junco males can be very aggressive towards females in winter flocks, therefore many of the females just head further south than the males go and have their own flocks in a warmer clime.

The females who have stayed to over winter with the males here don't put up with much bullying from them.

In fact one puts up with none at all and just leaps at any male trying to startle her off of the scrape she has scratched in the snow to get to buried seed.

Cardinal on the other hand is beginning to feel crowded by the Juncos below the feeder.

He lifts his crest at them. Nothing. He then flies off and comes whipping back in and lands with a great puff of snow. The juncos startle into flight and he looks downright pleased with himself.

Ah. That worked. Alone at last.


But where did I leave my feet?

And here come the sparrows...

A note from NYT Livestream Chat moderator and Washington Square Park Hawk watcher PonDove about a hawk radio interview tomorrow, the 21st, 1:30-2:00pm EST.

Dear Friends,

As most of you know, Saidhibin did a phone interview for Canadian Broadcast Company and I did one in the NYC studio. The interviewer put both interviews together. She is discussing the hawks with someone else and in between are excerpts of our interviews. It will be on from 1:30 until 2 tomorrow EST. It will also be available after tomorrow online if you miss it. I don't have the url yet but will soon. Here is how you can listen live tomorrow:

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Radio

Best to all, Pon

Photo courtesy of The New York Times

And from our New York Times gleaner, W.A. Walters--
N.Y. / REGION | January 18, 2012
Seen It All on Subway? Look Under This Seat
By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM
Last Friday - yes, it happened to be the 13th - the straphangers on a late-night D train were startled to discover that a nonhuman creature was in their midst. An opossum, to be precise.
(For more hit the link above. Eventually the possum comes up missing- follow up story link below.)
Caged? Writing a Book? The Next Stage in Life for a Subway-Riding Opossum

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

Published: January 19, 2012

Case of the missing marsupial.

After it emerged that a stowaway opossum had been spotted aboard a late-night subway train last week in Brooklyn, forcing the evacuation of fellow riders and a delay on the D line lasting nearly 30 minutes, one key question remained unanswered:

What happened to the opossum?

Some officials claimed the creature had been given to a Manhattan animal care center, but the city insisted it had no record of having received it. The police said the opossum had been carried away in a cage, but no subway workers could recall such details.

(So what happened to the possum?-link below)
N.Y. / REGION | January 20, 2012
Caged? Writing a Book? The Next Stage in Life for a Subway-Riding Opossum


Donegal Browne

The Hooded Crow vs the Eurasian Crow and What Is Play for Play's Sake?

Courtesy of 10,000 Birds Look familiar? This is the visiting bird seen on Staten Island in 2011. New York City birder Eleanor MacDonald was the first to pop up with an ID for the snow sliding Corvid- Dear Donegal Anyone who has spent time in Scotland will recognize a Hooded Crow, or "Hoodie". They are more common in the North and West of Scotland and almost the only crow seen in the Outer Hebrides. One frequently sees both the all black and the hoodie versions in the same locations in Scotland. A hoodie was recently reported in Staten Island. Eleanor MacDonald Then I received an email from long time contributor Diane D'Arcy-- Hi Donna: Thanks for the posting. The bird is a Eurasian Crow just having fun! Happy New Year, Diane Dear me, I thought. Here we have the exact problem, the use of two different common names for possibly the same species...or not, that was supposedly solved by the use of "Scientific Names". A problem I expressed to Diane while scrambling madly for hours looking for unavailable answers as to the incidence of triplets in sheep. Diane came through with another email- Hi: Thanks for writing and here is the information I derived from the following field guides... 1) Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe, Petersen, et al and 2) Birds of Russia and Adjacent Territories, Flint, et al; The bird is Corvus corone cornix or Corvus corone. It can be divided into two races one solid black and one black with grey. The bird in the English book is named the Hooded Crow and in the Russian book it is the Eurasian Crow. Suffice it to say that looking at the range maps in both books the bird has a huge range over Western Europe and all across Russia. Interestingly one showed up in NYC last year and Rob Jett posted photos on his blog City Birder. I am no expert but have come into a large library of bird books. It is fun to look through them and in instances like this they are very useful. Best, Diane And I'm glad she did. The plot thickened. Once done with the triplet sheep search I did a little sleuthing on my own on the net. And a very thick and downright messy plot over centuries it turned out to be. Many thanks to Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooded_Crow, for the following information- Back in 1758, Linneaus, the father of scientific names and scientific classification, classed the bird in question as-- Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Corvidae Genus: Corvus Species: C. cornix Binomial name Corvus cornix Then the games began. Corvus cornix as per Diane's email is a very widespread species which peskily looks somewhat different depending upon where its home range occurs. The group in Iraq and Iran look almost white against the black from a distance. There were heated arguments amongst naturalists and ornithologists as to whether some of these odd versions of Corvus cornix weren't other species altogether. And if there were different species how many different ones were there? And in the meantime, Corvus cornix got a new scientific name and the rows propagated. That is until not so many years ago when DNA testing became available. Guess what? After all that Linneaus was right and the name of the species reverted back to his original binomial name Corvus cornix. BUT... it was also decided that there were a number of subspecies which took in those pesky differences within the population. The subspecies then were renamed the their scientific names in subspecies form that the people who originally brought them to light in the scientific community gave them. Better but let us just say that there are still some questions.... Four subspecies of the Hooded Crow are now recognised; previously all were considered subspecies of Corvus corone. A fifth, Corvus cornix sardonius (Trischitta, 1939) has been listed though it has been alternately partitioned between C. c. sharpii (most populations), C. c. cornix (Corsican population) and the Middle Eastern C. c. pallescens. C. c. cornix, the nominate race, occurs in the British Isles (principally Scotland) and Europe, south to Corsica. C. c. pallescens (Madarász, 1904) is found in Turkey and Egypt, and is a paler form as its name suggests. C. c. sharpii (Oates, 1889) is named for English zoologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe. This is a paler grey form found from western Siberia through to the Caucasus region and Iran.[7] C. c. capellanus (P.L. Sclater, 1877) is known as the Mesopotamian Crow or Iraqi Pied Crow. This distinctive form occurs in Iraq and southwestern Iran. It has very pale grey plumage which looks almost white from a distance.[7] It is possibly distinct enough to be considered a separate species.[8] SEE? Exactly where is our bird who is doing that sliding? Siberia maybe? She does look slightly paler than the bird seen in Staten Island. Might she be C. c. sharpii? Enter all the variables about light on feathers, type of camera, and operator that we just went through with Bobby of WSP's new girl... THEREFORE A PAUSE TONIGHT--FOR ROBIN OF ILLINOIS REGARDING "PLAY" IN ANIMALS A TOPIC WHICH REARED ITS HEAD IN THE NEXT POST DOWN-- I sort of always thought that animals' play was survival / skill based, as in young goats (kids) bouncing around like ping-pong balls to increase their agility for rock climbing, and Ice Man and Rocky head-butting, but for the life of me, I can't think what skill is being developed or affirmed in a Corvid who has developed snow-boarding skills? Maybe there is just play for the sake of play?

Robin, perhaps there is as we see it. And perhaps there is a lesson in this. You're right, typically we think of young "playing" animals developing physical skills as above or stealth skills- as in kittens hiding and jumping out at each other.

Corvids have a brain capable of coming up with solutions to obstacles when it comes to food at least, right? For example, the jay that bent the metal wire in the form of a hook to retrieve the food. She's capable of figuring out how to get around three differing obstacles, three steps to get the food. She keeps her eye on the prize. She has focus.

Corvid play like human play might well include the more advanced honing of problem solving skills. Why do humans love puzzles of many kinds? We like jigsaw puzzles. We like mystery novels. Do we enjoy them because they are building pathways in our brain-- which they do. Or do we enjoy them because they are "fun"?

Is the feeling of "fun" our body's "reward" for doing things that will stand us in good stead for survival later? Those of use that feel the joy of fun do those activities that give it to us. And let's posit that those activities might help us survive later.

Those of a species that don't do the activities because they have no "feeling of fun" doing them, don't. Therefore not gaining a possible survival advantage which might lead to a demise before reproducing? Was the sliding crow not testing perhaps what she could do to improve "the fun"? Problem solving?

For instance, the pecking up of the lid to make the lid slide when it didn't immediately go when she got on? Had she already realized the importance of steep slope as she brought the lid up on the roof but perhaps not the importance of a particular amount of snow cover on a steep slope? After all the snow stopped her lower down where it was deeper.

Once one solution has worked in a situation, does it cross over to others?

Crows have a reputation for problem solving as do parrots. Some parrots are absolute wizards at escaping parrot cages which often have a sequence of manipulations necessary to get the door open. Sometimes in such cases they do manage the door or go for another cage weak spot such as lifting the bottom grate, then tipping the catch drawer to escape through the gap. Some parrots even put everything back in place after going back into the cage so unless caught in the act the humans are mystified as to who in the world opened the sugar canister and dumped the contents into the floor.

How does honing mental skills fit with the crows watching each other ride pigs? I suppose that had something to do with problem solving but not so one could notice. The pigs were crowded and broad backed. The crows hopped on while watching each other, in a similar manner, and the pigs didn't react noticeably. Perhaps they would have if the crow wasn't delicate in landing? Or was it all on a dare?

Bet you won't ride the pig! I'm wondering if bragging rights aren't as important to crows as they are to humans. Is there a built in urge to one up one's fellows in crows? One upping ones fellow crows would go with outsmarting them in food stashing.

Cleverness in tricking others so they don't find one's own stashes but seeing what they do with theirs and stealing them would mean more food for the "one upper" and therefore increased survival possibilities. When we think about it, exactly "what is play for the sake of play" anyway? Definition anyone?

AND MORE FROM ROBIN ON THE BLACKWATER EAGLE'S NEST "01/18/12: Our parents have really been hiding the eggs -- even putting grass on them -- so it's been hard to rule out a third egg. We'll post a clear photo of the eggs once we get one."

http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html

A Detour to Triplet Sheep Plus Play Behavior: Cleatus the Duck, Rocky the Goat and Ice Man the Ram

The reason we're suddenly talking sheep is Ida Mae's fault. Well she and her triplets.

Not to worry we'll be back to Bobby's new girl, and the sledding Corvid tomorrow, as while I've been doing sheep, blog readers and contributors Eleanor MacDonald and Diane D'arcy have been on the job and on our current topic. I roped Robin of Illinois into helping with sheep. Many thanks Robin!

But back to Ida Mae. I got a call that Ida Mae had done a rare thing for an animal with only two teats. She'd had triplets. So I figured I'd run over, take a few pictures of the triplets for the newspaper and get back on the real job of the day- Red-tails and the Corvid who Sleds.

When I took the sheep pix in, the publisher decided I should write a story about Ida Mae and the triplets, so late in the day Monday I was suddenly doing a crash course on sheep.

I learned many fascinating things. Not all of them useful.

Courtesy of Sheep 201-A Beginner's Guide to Raising Sheep

Like the fact that some breeds of sheep have wooly scrotums.

Who knew?

But having my mind on "play" in different species due to the sledding Corvid it also gave me time to process some of the "play" I observed amongst the animals shut in the sheep shed due to the first heavy snow.

Meet Cleatus the Duck.

Cleatus and the Cat watch the ram and the goat play.

Then Cleatus puts his head down and jumps at the cat. The cat runs and Cleatus chases her. Big fun.

I wondered why Cleatus wasn't hassling the Cat like a normal duck, i.e. Cleatus would jump at the cat with his neck stretched and bill out. The cat would run. Then eventually the cat would hide and jump out at Cleatus later. A common form of interspecies fun.

Here are the two playing animals that Cleatus and Cat were watching.

The rump on the left belongs to Ice Man a young Dorset ram. On the right is his pen mate, Rocky the young goat.

Notice that Ice Man has now braced his back legs. Rocky has gone to the far side of the pen and is leaping toward the ram. The reason Ice Man is bracing forward is because Rocky is going to leap over to Ice Man, put his head down, and the two ruminants will butt heads with a resounding crash. Then they'll do it again.

I wondered if this "play" may have, with the youthful rush of all that testosterone, gotten a little out of hand and perhaps Ice Man, even though larger, wasn't having as much fun as Rocky was and perhaps was just defending himself. Not the case it seems because one day the family heard Ice Man bawling his head off. Somebody went to check on him and found that the reason he was bawling was because Rocky had escaped from the pen and Ice Man wanted him to come back.

Could all this jumping and head down butting between the goat and sheep have affected how the duck plays with the cat?

It seems unlikely but then why isn't the duck acting like a duck?

So many questions and so few answers.

A Wild Hooded Crow "talks" Back... he keeps responding anyway
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=milHiN94luM

THE BLACKWATER EAGLES HAVE A SECOND EGG FROM ROBIN OF ILLINOIS!
http://www.facebook.com/FOBNWR

http://www.friendsofblackwater.org/camhtm2.html

Donegal Browne