Homer Simpson Is A Birder - Blue-headed Vireo & Yellow warbler

Female Yellow Warbler - Phippsburg, Maine  August 2010

     I have a dilemma. I posted these photographs to the Maine Bird List Serve (an Internet reporting service for birding enthusiasts) asking if it was a Tennessee Warbler. Because the bird looks olive green to me, I was thrown and floundering on the identification. The color threw me completely. I was told by numerous respondents that it is a female Yellow warbler. I've seen lots of Yellow Warblers and have photographed many of them, so I didn't think that was it. I spent a fair amount of time wading through bird guides before I posed my question to the larger audience. To give you an idea of how complicated this is I have included one of the responses I received -

"The bird Robin photographed is a female Yellow Warbler. Note the decurved culmen and rather stout bill typical of the genus Dendroica and unlike the nearly straight and sharply pointed bill of Tennessee (genus Oreothylpis, formerly Vermivora). The bird is short-tailed and has yellow edging to tail feathers and the wing; it has a paler yellow eyering; and, unlike Tennessee, bright yellow through out the underparts."

     Now, doesn't that just give you a headache? And admit it, you didn't read the whole thing, short as it is. That's okay. I'm a devoted birder and yet, I too find some of it pretty tedious. My reaction probably accounts for my failure to get it right a lot of the time, too. Warblers at this time of year are a significant challenge because they are wearing non breeding plumage. They are also migrating, so there are more of them including juveniles, headed south.
     My dilemma is that I do want to know what the birds are, but so often, I can't figure it out, so I want to keep asking the experts. Responses to my questions like these, "It's yeeeeeelllllllllllllllow.........now THAT would be a hint," and "Look it up," indicate to me that my questions are annoying. Do ya think? I guess you never get too old to ask a question which someone more knowledgeable will regard as a stupid question. So, should I keep putting it out there just how dumb I am, or keep asking the questions?

Blue-headed vireo eating a Cicada, Phippsburg, Maine August 2010

Blue-headed vireo eating a Mountain ash berry, Phippsburg, Maine August 2010

     Which brings me to this bird. I was pretty sure it was an American redstart. My inclination was that it was a female, or that it could be a first year. I felt pretty pumped up and big for my britches that I had figured that out, too. The head shape and spectacles made me nervous, though. Yes, nervous. Shouldn't birding and photography be fun first, anxiety provoking second? My palms were sweating as I put the question out to the list serve. I reflexively pulled the collar of my shirt away from my neck. I coughed. My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth. I felt a hive welting up. I grabbed a paper bag and pulled it down over my head to stop the hyperventilation I could not control. My head was reeling as I hit send. And of course, I was wrong. In less then twenty-four hours, I committed to the wrong bird! Aachararrrrrrrghhhhh! Being the Homer Simpson of birding, I slapped my head, "N-DOH!"
     At least this was not one I had ever seen before. It is a Blue-headed vireo. There are fifteen species of vireos. Three of them, Plumbeous, Cassin's and Blue-headed look very much alike. In the past, they were lumped together as all one species, the Solitary vireo. Blue-headeds are the eastern most of the three and they like coniferous forests which the other two don't care for so much. Vireos are about 4 1/2 inches head to tail. Their pronounced spectacles are one of their primary identifying features. They are primarily insect eaters though they do eat some fruit. They are migratory in Maine and head to Mexico and Central America when it gets cold which makes them smarter than me and Homer Simpson.


Thanks to David Allen Sibley, The Sibley Guide To Birds and allaboutbirds.com for some of the information.

Mess Of A Nest - Bald Eagle & Yellow Warbler Nests

Yesterday, I went birding all day with a birding pal. We made a couple of stops in Portland. The first was Evergreen Cemetery and the second was Capisic Pond Park, both off from Stevens Avenue. I saw Yellow Warblers at both places, but at Capisic, I also saw this nest. I'm assuming it's the nest of a Yellow warbler as I saw the bird several times in the branches of the trees just above the nest, which was tucked into some of the wild honeysuckle. The honeysuckle was in bloom and the sweet fragrance wafted through the air. If I were a warbler, I'd make a nest in the honeysuckle, too. There was white and pink; this warbler had chosen the pink. Could that mean that it was expecting a girl? The nest was only about four feet off the ground though, which didn't look too safe to me.  I was struck by how soft the baseball sized nest looked and how well constructed it was.
    Before I had headed off to Portland, I stopped on my way out of The Burg at a spot where I know there to are two eagle's nests. One I thought had been abandoned two years ago, but I wasn't sure. The second was built last year, but it never looked like eggs had been laid. It does look as if this year, they may either have eggs or are about to do so. Both adults were there, though one was a few trees away. I'll be checking on them regularly now to see what if anything takes place. By comparison, the eagles are real slobs about their nests. Both nests are about four feet across and a big mess of sticks and branches, each fifty feet or so up near the tops of  White pines. The structures look solid enough, but very sloppy and unattractive. If bird nests were compared to furniture, the warbler's nest would be a fine, slender legged Chippendale chair. The eagle's nest would be more of a Lazy-Boy recliner thing with a holder in the arm for a beer can, practical but lacking elegance.

"Honey, bring me another, Bud, will ya?"

Last Call - Final Call, Gothic Oven Bird

The fall migration of birds has barely begun and already, two Oven Birds have committed suicide on my living room windows. I only see them in the fall and only after they've tried flying through a window. I don't know what possesses them. I have tried to prevent this with hanging plants and branches nailed to the house in front of the windows. I also have those tacky decals on the glass meant to deter birds, but to no avail. It breaks my heart to find them broken on the ground like this one. Though dead, they are, nonetheless breathtakingly beautiful. To me, they are no less beautiful than this Yellow warbler, another seasonal migrant here. They make almost biblical subjects to photograph. However, it is against the law to keep them, or even possess them, according to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. The MBTA was enacted to stop over-hunting of many birds which was resulting in decimation
of their populations. A loop hole closure in the law says that migratory birds on the list can not even be possessed dead. This is intended to stop a perpetrator that claims "Well, geez Officer, I found the Dodo Bird dead on the side of the road. I didn't kill it, honest." Where upon, the Officer says "Ya well, pal, you're the Dodo Bird and you're comin' with me!" Thus, someone such as myself (neither a Dodo nor in possession of one) who does not have some sort of license must either take a bird to someone who does (and hope they don't get busted while transporting said bird) or toss it onto the compost pile. To unceremoniously fling a thing of such gentle beauty as if tainted garbage is sacrilege. I'm not sure it's even legal for me to photograph them, which to me is to honor them. But rest assured, after I do, I get rid of them. Swear on a stack I do.


For more information on the MBTA of 1918, see these links:

http://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/migtrea.html
http://en.wikipedia.org wiki/Migratory_Bird_Treaty_Act_of_1918