Before I began researching this lesson I thought a wattle was merely the fleshy skin that hangs from the throats of some birds. But according to Wikipedia a wattle “is a fleshy dewlap or caruncle hanging from various parts of the head or neck in several groups of birds, goats and other animals.”
That means these roosters have wattles (the red fleshy flaps) hanging from their throats and from their cheeks.
The tall rooster has more to tell us. He’ll be back next week.
(photo by Ron Proctor on Wikimedia Commons. Click on the image to see the original and its attribution.)
Male spruce grouse, Boot Cove, Maine (photo by Jim Honeth)
This is a Life Bird, the first spruce grouse I’ve ever seen. The fact that I saw him and even have his picture is thanks to Naomi and Jim Honeth of Portland, Maine.
Now you may wonder, how did I manage to vacation in Maine for 27 years and never see a spruce grouse? Well, I’m from Pennsylvania and I wasn’t thinking. I assumed spruce grouse behaved like Pennsylvania’s state bird, the ruffed grouse, which hides in the oak forest until the last minute and bursts skyward in an explosion of sound and feathers. Silly me. I would never have found a spruce grouse without a guide.
I first met Jim and Naomi on September 7 on Campobello Island as we watched birds, whales and seals in the turbulent water where Passamaquoddy Bay meets the Bay of Fundy. We were pleased to see so many sea birds from land: greater and sooty shearwaters, phalaropes, razorbills and murres. The next day it was foggy and by afternoon I was casting about for a place to find birds when I saw the Honeths in South Lubec. We compared notes on what we’d seen, then Naomi said, “Do you want to see a spruce grouse?” You bet!
We drove to Boot Cove Reserve. Jim brought his camera and Naomi led the way down the narrow path in the mossy forest. She whispered instructions on where to look and told me the male spruce grouse at this location was nicknamed “Spruce Bruce.” I wondered why. My rainproof pants made swishing sounds. I was afraid we’d scare off the grouse.
At the Bog Path junction we stopped to discuss what trail to take. By this point the Honeths had expected to see the grouse and were worried he wouldn’t appear. Naomi said, “He is usually more cooperative.” I wondered what “cooperative” meant in terms of a grouse.
While we chatted we heard the whir of wings. Jim was behind us and called, “There he is!”
The male spruce grouse landed on the path and walked toward us. He stopped and stared. Several times he flew to a tree branch, then back to the ground. He decided to convince us that he owned the forest so he paused on the path, raised his bright red eyebrows, fanned his tail, puffed his chest and opened his wings. Wow! He was so close I could see the dark brown iris of his eyes. No wonder he has a name!
Eventually Bruce flew into the woods and we resumed our hike but soon had to stop because his lady (Betty?) was standing on the path in front of us. She was a little shy but posed long enough for Jim to take her picture.
What cooperative birds! Yes, spruce grouse are tame compared to ruffed grouse.
Thanks to the Honeths I saw the fabulous Spruce Bruce and his lady.
NOTE: When Picasa’s website disappeared, so did my link to Jim’s album of Spruce Bruce and Betty. Here’s a photo of a female spruce grouse from Wikimedia Commons.
Female spruce grouse in Canada (photo from Wikimedia Commons)
(Male spruce grouse photo by Jim Honeth; female spruce grouse from Wikimedia Commons; click on the image to see the original)
Fans of John James Audubon will enjoy the fourth show in our line-up on Things With Wings Sunday, September 26.
Based on the book of the same name, the film reenacts the summer of 1821 when Audubon secured a job as a tutor for the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Pirrie in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.
Audubon accepted the tutoring job because he was bankrupt, a situation that nearly forced him to abandon his bird folio project. He didn’t think the job would advance his bird project at all, but that was before he spent the summer at Oakley Plantation among Louisiana’s beautiful and plentiful birds.
Audubon’s summer of birds deepened his art and writing and permanently influenced that region of Louisiana.
Don’t miss A Summer of Birds on Sunday September 26 at 5:00pm on WQED, Pittsburgh.
(logo from A Summer of Birds. Image credit: New York Historical Society. Click on the image to see a preview from Louisiana Public Broadcasting.)
Yow! I nearly missed it! Sunday was International Rock Flipping Day (IRFD) and I almost forgot. If I didn’t to flip a rock Pittsburgh, PA would go uncounted.
I raced to my backyard, flipped the rock that props up my bird bath, and snapped away with my cellphone camera. Here are the before and after results.
You’re right. There is nothing of interest is under that rock. At least nothing I was able to photograph. I did see a centipede run away, but that was before my cellphone camera had time to respond.
Undaunted by this lack of success I looked for another likely rock to flip and found the next best thing: an upside down birdbath I haven’t used in a long time. I flipped the defunct birdbath with better results, indicated below by the red arrow.
Here’s a closer look at the spider web built at the crook of the tree roots:
Conclusion? ‘Tis better to flip the old birdbath than the rock that holds up the new one.
Click here to read more about IRFD (organized by Wanderin’ Weeta) and the news from rock-flippers around the world… or click the links below to read the participating blogs.
While I was watching shorebirds in South Lubec, Maine, Steve Gosser was photographing them in Conneaut, Ohio.
Remember how I said that peeps sometimes head-butt sanderlings? Well, apparently sanderlings aren’t above fighting with each other. Steve caught them in the act.
Back home in Pittsburgh the weather feels like Maine but sunrise is much later.
This morning I had more than an hour before dawn to sip coffee on my front porch and listen to the birds fly by in the dark. Most of the migrants sounded like spring peepers but I heard a few mystery birds mixed in. What were they?
But the real champion of ruff raising is the bird whose name is simply “ruff.” Two of them are pictured above trying to win the affections of a female (not in the photo). She is not called a “ruff,” she’s a “reeve.” (Go figure!)
Ruffs (Calidris pugnax) are shorebirds native to Eurasia that rarely visit North America. Occasionally a single ruff will appear on the East Coast in the non-breeding season and spawn a Rare Bird Alert.
Because they don’t breed here we never see them displaying.
Plovers are one of my favorite shorebirds, partly because they’re easier to identify than peeps.
This one is a semipalmated plover, distinguished by his single black belly band and black and white forehead. Bobby Greene snapped this photo just as the bird was taking a step so you can even see the semi-palms between his toes that give him his name.
To me this plover is “The Bird with the Headlamp.”
Not many shorebirds at South Lubec yesterday, which was disappointing for my shorebird study, but I went to Campobello Island (New Brunswick) and saw whales, seals and ocean birds very close to shore at East Quoddy Head Lighthouse. There were black-legged kittiwakes, razorbills, common murres, red-necked phalaropes just off shore.
Today is very foggy with intermittent rain but I went to the sandbar anyway and found many more shorebirds — black-bellied plovers, semipalmated plovers and sandpipers, least sandpipers, sanderlings, short-billed dowitchers, red knots, whimbrel — plus a life bird Hudsonian godwit!
To top it off a merlin cruised by to find his breakfast, though I didn’t see him catch anything.
It will be hard to beat those two sightings in the rest of the day.
UPDATE at 5:00pm. I did beat those two sightings. I saw another Life Bird: spruce grouse! Thanks to Jim and Naomi Honeth for showing me the trail at Boot Cove where the spruce grouse lives.
Not many shorebirds at South Lubec yesterday, which was disappointing for my shorebird study, but I went to Campobello Island (New Brunswick) and saw whales, seals and ocean birds very close to shore at East Quoddy Head Lighthouse. There were black-legged kittiwakes, razorbills, common murres, red-necked phalaropes just off shore.