HI all, When a sleek rusty bird with a long tail landed in one of the cottonwoods along the stream on my property, I immediately thought "cuckoo", particularly after it gave a harsh call that even caught my non-birder hubby's attention. Indeed it was a Black-billed Cuckoo. It started pecking a web-covered twig, from the bottom of which suddenly poured numerous tiny caterpillars, hurrying as fast as a caterpillar CAN hurry down silken threads that presumably they had just dropped from their rapidly disintegrating webby home. It was pretty amusing to watch. The cuckoo got plenty though, and then I realized there were actually two cuckoos, the other one nearby that took over when the first finished snacking.
That species counts as a yard first, a deck first, and a while-eating-breakfast first ;-) Another yard bird: during the past two weeks we've been flushing an American Woodcock regularly from the vicinity of our compost heap. Neither of us has been able to sneak up on it while it's still on the ground to get a better look, but its gorgeous rufous color and bold black stripes on either side of its dorsal surface as it flies off are pretty distinctive. The compost heap is a bit up from the bank of the stream and the woodcock flies off into the beaver meadow next door, which is pretty good habitat for that species. These 2 new yard birds brings the number of species I've seen perched in or flying over my yard during the past 32 years to 92! Marie Marie Read Wildlife Photography 452 Ringwood Road Freeville NY 13068 USA Phone 607-539-6608 e-mail [email protected] Website: http://www.marieread.com Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Marie-Read-Wildlife-Photography-104356136271727/ -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
