Sandhill Cranes, Blakeman on Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk Fall Behavior, Owls in Tulsa, and Birding Binoculars

The Thresherman's Park Sandhill Cranes in flight.

Here they are again, and I was having a heck of a time figuring out who was whom at first with all the contrast. More pics of them in another post attempting to get organized for draft flying. At one point there where three that looked literally on top of each other.

As you can see they are draft flying with the strongest bird in the lead. One of the juveniles is a much weaker flyer than the rest and sometimes acts quite a bit younger than the other. A late egg?

At any rate, that is Jamie in the lead, missing the primary, which makes sense. But where does Mom come in here? From scrutinizing which two have the fuzziest necks, Claire, with a smoother neck, is the bird flying second after Jamie in the bottom row. Which leaves the two juveniles--the one on top and the third in line on the bottom.

A SEPTEMBER 1st EMAIL ON RED-TAIL JUVENILES FROM JOHN BLAKEMAN

Donna,

Doubtless, there are winter immatures in NYC each winter. The question is whether or not these birds hatched there, or are they migrants from farther north?

On the basis of studying the red-tails in northern Ohio, at a similar latitude, I think that most winter immatures were hatched to the north and are spending the winter at the lower latitude. The locals, too, will spend the winter farther south, at a latitude south of their nests.

The availability of winter rats would be the main attraction that terminates the migration of these (putative) New England and Upstate red-tails in Central Park.

Of course, the exact answer to this question can only be resolved with banding.
--John Blakeman

AND BLAKEMAN'S EMAIL OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2010

Donna,

The question of immature migration continues. A few further thoughts on the matter.

First, it is very clear, both here in northern Ohio (at virtually the same latitude as NYC, but ecologically very different), virtually all experienced adults remain through the winter. They’ve mastered all that is required to survive, even thrive, in the winter months. They’re very aware of local prey populations. They’ve got everything figured out and have no compulsion to move south during the winter.

That’s not true a hundred or more miles to the north, where winter days are even shorter, colder, and with fewer available prey. The northern birds are required to move south, even the adults. The Ohio and NYC adults are not. There is no controversy regarding these observations.
But the question of birds-of-the-year in their natal (local) territories through the winter continues.

Does this happen, do local immature hang around for the winter? Surely they do, both in NYC and I’ve seen it here in northern Ohio. But at least here, it’s rare. Our rural birds begin to drift south late in September and really begin to move out in October. We do have immatures that winter here, but they are mostly from the north, residing in winter territories that no other hawks are using, or they tend to congregate almost socially in a few prime habitats with prey, local state wildlife hunting areas where voles abound.

The urge to migrate is not an endocrine function. It’s purely psychological, prompted by declining day lengths. Falconers who fly red-tails, as I do, are well aware of this phenomenon. It’s one of the problems with training and hunting with summer- or fall-trapped immature red-tails. Falconers are wise not to fly their birds on windy, sunny, blue-sky days in October. A well-trained immature red-tail in conditions like these are very prone to taking off and soaring up into the sky. Soaring red-tails are virtually never hunting. They are merely drifting around, playing in the wind. In the fall, immatures tend to get up a thousand feet or more and then just turn south, never to be seen by the falconer again.

They see all the other red-tail migrants all over the sky, many much higher. The local immatures seem to want to join this south-bound aerial parade.

It is very possible that a number of the immatures seen each winter in Central Park are local birds. Nonetheless, the migratory urge is rather strong.

As you mentioned, it would be so helpful if these birds could be banded. The same questions apply down at The Franklin Institute nest in Philadelphia. But that nest is a bit farther south, where migration is less urgent.

Actually, with modern digital cameras and telescopic lenses, comprehensive photography of local immatures in summer could reveal their winter presence, with detailed examination of feather patterns.

–John Blakeman

(My response to come. D.B.)

From the comments section of SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 06, 2010
Red-tailed Hawk Update: Kay and Jay of Tulsa, Plus Owls

Comment posted, Saturday, September 25, 2010 12:54:00 PM EDT,

Anonymous said...
There are red tails that live on the eastern edge of Whiteside park. One was making a lot of noise this morning and we stopped to locate him/her and we saw that there was a huge owl sitting quietly and almost completely hidden on a branch. We have seen and heard the juvenile red tails for some time but I had no ideal that owls that big lived in town. Any advice on small fairly inexpensive good bird watching binoculars would be appreciated.

Dear Tulsa Anon,
Amazing the number of large birds we suddenly see once we start looking isn't it? As you say the Owl was almost completely hidden does that mean you weren't able to get an ID on it. Or were you?

As to good reasonably priced birding binoculars, I've sent out some emails to a few folks that keep their eye on that sort of thing but in the meantime--
Get out your yellow pages and look to see if you've a camera, binocular, etc. specialty store in your town or near by. Go in and browse. Everyone's eyes, face, and hands are slightly different.

For instance some binoculars are better for glasses wearers than others, there are many personal variables.

Be sure to tell the clerk you looking for birding glasses not something to watch football with or even a multi-purpose pair. I've found that multi-purpose in binoculars means they're not terrific for any purpose. Then have the clerk bring some out and let you look through them, preferably out a window or other distance. See how the modifying bells and whistles work for your fingers, how do they feel in your hand? Is there a color shift? How crisply can they be focused? Is there a bit of purplish glare around things that are backlit? Is this pair something you'll want to carry around with you all the time?

Remember you aren't buying quite yet you're browsing. Make a few notes on your favorites w/price. In the meantime we'll see what advice comes in via email. After which time you can not only search out just the right pair for you but also do some comparison shopping to get the best price.

Donegal Browne

P.S. Ah ha! Just realized that at least in these photographs the Sandhill Crane adults have their feet more pointed and their legs touching along their length while the juveniles do not. Much easier to look for than fuzzy necks if, at least for the moment, the leg position holds true.

Are those Geese Doing What I think They're Doing? And Just Where Have Jamie, Claire, and Roger Gotten to?

I was about to give up on Jamie, Claire and Roger still being in the area and I still might. The preparation and the event itself, The Haunted Train Ride, has been going on over at Thresherman's Park for the last week or so. The steam train has a track that circles the whole park and the field where the Sandhills have been foraging along with all the to do with the spooks that scare the customers, is right next to the track.

Therefore I didn't know if the Cranes had relocated due to the uproar, that field was foraged out, or they'd just decided it was time to head south. Today I went out looking for them in the surrounding area. I was to about give up and decide they'd gone south when very late in the day, you can see how weird the color is due to poor light, and 1.2 miles (I clocked it.) from J,C, and R's original field, I spied three Sandhills.

Of course I wasn't sure if it was them or not. Plenty of Sandhill Crane pairs probably only had one immature with them at this point but it was the right area and I'd not seen others in quite some time....


But look at their sizes. Claire is a good bit smaller than Jamie and Roger and these cranes seem relatively the same size. The one I take to be the female may be a little smaller but Claire was a lot smaller.

Look back up at the top photograph. I'm thinking that this is a different trio. Perhaps three that have just flown in. The Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI, tends to send their Whoopers out on October 10th so it is time for them be in migration.

My best guess is that this is a different family passing through and we won't see Jamie, Claire, or Roger again until next year. If Jamie and Claire return to the wheat field, considering their differing sizes I'd be reasonably comfortable deciding it was the same pair. But young Roger who will be likely out on his own, will be more difficult to spot. Though he is huge now, he'll have filled out a little more with the testosterone and be even bigger than his Dad who is on the grand side of male Sandhill Cranes anyway.

We'll see what Spring brings.

And the Canada Geese? They're still passing over in droves come evening. I did see something rather interesting tonight though.

Geese tend to honk as they go over, right? Sometimes they seem to be "talking" all at once within their flight group, and sometimes they're calling to Geese on the ground who will answer back and then join the flying flock. I've always thought that the ones on the ground had just spread out further foraging and the calls were for regrouping of geese belonging to the group. Then again I suppose that with Geese, the more you can collect into your flight flock, the less often you need to take your turn in the strenuous lead goose position, so perhaps they'll take all comers. Haven't found out yet and perhaps no one has yet bothered to track it. It hasn't been all that long ago that it was nailed down that they take turns at all. It was long thought that the lead goose was the lead goose for the whole trip.

At any rate, this larger group of geese had come up from a field south of me and were getting organized for the night's flight with a honk here and there. Then I noticed that one goose seemed to going down from the tip of the V seemingly looking for a spot to squeeze in. Then I noted that there wasn't a lot of honking, but rather one goose would honk periodically and everyone began to turn east. More honks and more east and a little south. Was the lead bird unfamiliar with the route and he was being given directions from a more experienced bird? Or was it the lead bird giving the directions? And remember that guy looking to squeeze in? Actually as I continued to watch it didn't really look like he was trying to squeeze in after all. He fly in the opposite direction the line was going but slowly so the other passed him by. Then he's slightly go towards those that weren't queuing up properly and there would be a few honks. Wish I'd been able to see who was vocalizing. It looked like he was getting everyone into a nice aerodynamic V. Do adult geese have to chide or train the younger ones into cleaning up their aerodynamic sloppiness? Fascinating.

We do know now, of course that migration routes for cranes, geese, and others, are not wired in, they are learned. Might the urge to migrate be there, or even the urge to migrate in a V be there, but it takes an adult to tweak performance?

So the next time you get a chance to watch when a disorganized flock takes off the ground and is getting organized, early in migration or if they learn they'll have learned it already, don't be bored when you look up and say, "Oh it's just another flock of Canada Geese." Look up and try to help us all figure it out!

Donegal Browne