On 10/10 I observed a Hermit Thrush foraging in my backyard. As I watched it I noticed it was quivering its feet alternately to scare up prey. It would quiver a foot and then pounce. I had never seen this behavior before and it was fun to watch. I did a little research and found that all of the North American catharus thrush species have been observed doing this but not the Wood Thrush. There is even a Youtube video showing “amazing Hermit Thrush behavior” which shows the exact behavior I observed. It is one of those things that may not be rare but shows that there can always be surprises in our wonderful hobby.
Also of note in my yard I found a Cape May Warbler on 10/9, a Nashville Warbler on 10/10 and heard an Eastern Screech-Owl tonight (10/12). On 10/9 there was a Swainson’s Thrush eating the berries from the volunteer Solomon’s Seal in my yard, which shows how useful native plants can be for migrating birds. My younger daughter Phoebe found a dead Chipping Sparrow in our front yard today. The bird did not look to have noticeable trauma, and all of the windows in our complex have outside screens, so it must have been killed by a cat or something. It made me feel sad because Chipping Sparrows successfully nested in the pine trees outside our back window last summer. The nesting pair had to contend with the ever-present local squirrels and constantly forage to feed their chicks. The nest was concealed well and the birds fledged. I would hate it if the dead bird made it through all of the obstacles of being raised in an urban environment just to be killed by a cat before it had a chance to migrate south. I guess I will never know the true story of what happened to the dead Chipping Sparrow. Good Birding, Jason Caddy Kingfield, Minneapolis [email protected] ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
