Eggs arrive on Easter!

Sunday, March 23^rd:

4:15 PM, Temperature: 8 C (47 F)

Blake sent me an email on Saturday stating he had seen Cinnamon on the nest and had also observed Jasper bring a squirrel to her. I immediately suspected that Cinnamon had laid the first egg of the season. So, today I took a short walk to the nest to document this new development.

The nest had grown a lot in size by now and approaching Olin Hall from the east I couldn’t see anything on the nest. Once on the west side of the nest, I could clearly see Cinnamon’s tail sticking out over the edge. I moved to the bridge on San Martin Drive and was observing through my binoculars when I heard a few short calls kee-ah, kee-ah, to the north followed by a response from the nest. Cinnamon took off and flew straight in the direction of the caller.

Jasper and Cinnamon have been busy enlarging the nest in the past 3 weeks.

It was Jasper returning from a hunt. Both birds met on one of the oaks, where I saw Jasper hand over a snake to Cinnamon! I had never seen this before and it was really cool. Jasper flew a little aside and perched a few feet from Cinnamon. Then I saw one of the most unusual of wildlife scenes: As Cinnamon was starting to feed on the snake, Jasper mounted her and the two mated for about 10 seconds, Jasper calling in rapid succession during the entire session! This is probably the bird equivalent of a man treating his woman to a delicious dinner followed by (or in this case at the dinner table) rapturous sex!

Jasper (left) pauses before taking off on another hunt, while Cinnamon (right) is ready to resume incubation.

Cinnamon flew back towards the nest, perched on a branch for few minutes and resumed her incubatory duties while Jasper made a few soaring flights and flew south, perhaps for another kill. While I kept an eye on the events at the nest, I also heard a couple of hoots coming from near the pond indicating the presence of the Barred Owl.

Cinnamon's tail sticks out above the nest rim as she incubates her eggs.

I went down behind Olin Hall and looked across the pond for signs of the owl. The sun was low in the sky and shone through the confusion of dry vines and bare branches, illuminating the white underside of the owl, which was fortunately facing the sun and me. The outline of this white shape and a hint of the large, black eyes among the pattern of brown and gray was enough for me to spot the bird. I trained my binoculars on the shape and noticed the plumage on the bird’s breast and belly which was a fresh white, with only a few dark streaks. Comparatively, its face was a little dull and dark. I am still unsure as to which of the owls this was, but it may be the previously disheveled bird. A few good looks more, and I hope to resolve the case of identifying each of these birds!

Spring Break!

Wednesday, March 12^th:

6:00 PM, Temperature: 7 C (46 F)

I was a little surprised to see the owl again today, perched very near to its yesterday’s roost by the pond. As usual it was not very active and stood perfectly still while lazily observing its surroundings. Its mode of observation is the most ‘human’ of all birds and this is mainly due to its large eyes and forward gaze which gives the owl a remarkable 110 degrees field of vision with about 70 degrees of stereoscopic view. This frontal gaze and large, immovable eyes, requires the owl to turn its head around to bring objects into sharpest focus¹. This is why owls are often seen turning their heads towards the object of interest (just like humans) when looking at them. It may also be the reason why owls have evolved to achieve a 360 degree movement for their necks! And this (apart from their spooky calls) is certainly one of the most bewildering characteristics of any owl.

As our owl kept watch at the pond, and Laurel and I kept watch over the owl, another owl flew in from the west and landed near the first bird. It had been a while since I saw both owls together and this was a welcome sight. Within a few moments of the arrival of the second owl however, the first owl took off towards the direction from which the second had flown in! This was most unusual and strange. Even more strange was the plumage of this second bird. It was beautiful and bright, just like the owl I had photographed in February. I had not noted any abnormality in the plumage of the first owl of today. If the second owl looked great, then the first should have appeared dull and disheveled, as I had noted this difference between the two birds earlier. Had the dull owl recovered from its malady and grown new feathers? Was there any difference left between these two individuals anymore or were they going to follow the bird guide and look alike?

The Barred Owl is almost hidden even as it sits in plain sight against the background of brown tangle.

There seemed, at least superficially a difference between the two owls today. Between looking around and short naps, the first owl would often groom its breast feathers. Often, it would stretch one leg forward and perform a maintenance routine that resembled a cat licking its paws! This was behavior I had noted as a characteristic of the disheveled owl. In contrast, the second owl that flew in to the pond later was extremely active and alert. It was hungry and started hunting immediately, chasing the occasional squirrel. This was in line with the behavior of what had until now been the more beautiful bird. Laurel and I both looked at the pictures taken earlier and then pored over the hunting owl to see if we could catch any similarities/differences, but there were no conclusive observations. For now I am content with the idea that the first owl of today is recovering from an illness that spoilt its coat. We will just have to wait to see both birds together again to check if there are/aren’t any obvious differences between them.

Why did the first owl leave when the second owl arrived? – Perhaps the pair has found a place to nest nearby and has laid eggs. Maybe both birds are taking turns incubating!

Monday, March 17^th:

5:00 PM, Temperature: 10 C (50 F)

The first day of Spring Break! It wasn’t quite spring yet, but a beautiful evening nonetheless for a short bird-walk. A few weeks ago, Laurel and I had met Blake, a bird-enthusiast who had moved to the area and would often visit the pond behind Olin Hall. It was a pleasant surprise to run into Blake again this evening as we watched Jasper impatiently fly from one tree to the next making a wide arc along San Martin Drive.

Then suddenly, we heard Cinnamon calling as she flew in from the south and over Olin Hall with a small rodent in her talons towards Jasper. The pair then moved to the east across the bridge and perched high up on one of the oaks. Jasper watched as Cinnamon focused on her meal. I moved closer towards the tree to try and get a clear view and possibly a decent picture. In a few minutes she was done and being wary of my approach she flew off.

Cinnamon feeds on a morsel of delicious rodent!

I returned to the road to meet Blake, who was in high spirits – he had just spotted a pair of Wood Ducks! The three of us hurried down to the pond to take a look. It was an exciting event and indeed a rare sight. None of us had ever seen a wood duck here! We watched the pair swim through the tangle of branches for a few minutes before they became aware of our presence and flew off.

¹ Johnsgard, Paul A. (1988) - North American owls: biology and natural history. Smithsonian.

Daylight Savings! - Why birders should be happy!

Tuesday, Mar 11^th:

10:30 AM, Temperature: 6 C (42 F)

I’m still adjusting to Daylight Savings Time, which has made waking up early a little uncomfortable. So, I was on my way to Olin a little later than usual. For the past few days I had noticed a small flock of Cedar Waxwings hanging out near the Hopkins Club. They were accompanied by a much larger flock of robins. Both flocks were attracted by the berries on the holly trees. This morning as I approached the lawn I could hear the high-pitched calls of the waxwings zzeeep, zzeeep, coming from the large magnolia tree across from the holly. Another sound – a rain of seeds among the magnolia was also filling the air. I watched as the waxwings routinely raided the holly, swarming all over it for a few minutes and then returning to their perches in the magnolia. There they made quick work of venting the seeds from the berries picked up from the holly and repeated their raids. I watched them for a few minutes, took a few shots, and hurried along to work.

Nearing Olin, I saw Jasper and Cinnamon both taking turns to add twigs to their new nest. It has been two weeks since I first saw the two mating, and I think it should not be much longer before Cinnamon lays her clutch.

5:15 PM, Temperature: 11 C (52 F)

The Barred Owl is now roosting on the trunk of a fallen tree just east of the pond. Here the owl is less than 10 feet above ground, making this an unusual roost. But, it is one of its preferred sites where it is well hidden among all the clumps of branches and dry vines. From ground level it would be almost impossible to locate the owl here. From the vantage of my office and the evening sun illuminating the white underside of the beautiful bird I have a clear view.

Cinnamon has now taken position on the beech tree north of the pond and is as yet unaware or unconcerned of the owl. The last time the two birds discovered each other was one dramatic event! Since that day the owl has been a less frequent visitor to the pond. This time however, Cinnamon was too occupied with procuring dinner and not having much luck at the pond she flew off to the south.

Daylight Savings Time (DT) may at first seem an annoyance – effectively making you wake up one hour earlier! But, on second thoughts, this is a good thing for birding. Here’s why – Let’s say you make wake up at 7:30 AM every morning. On DT when you wake up at 7:30 AM it is actually 6:30 AM. Before DT, if you had to wake up 6:30 AM to go birding, now you can sleep until 7:30 AM! Happy Daylight Saving!

Jasper and Cinnamon!

Thursday, Mar 6^th:

10:00 AM, Temperature: 4 C (40F)

Observed both the Red-shouldered hawks from 9:15 am onwards. One of the birds was perched high up on the dead tree behind (south of) Olin Hall while the other bird seemed to be hunting, flying around the area, sometimes soaring briefly. The perched bird appeared pale, with slight horizontal barring on its underside. I had noticed earlier (Mar 4^th) that the hawk involved in the conflict with the owl was very vibrant, with rich colors and some dark, brown streaks extending from underneath the chin to the upper parts of its golden-brown breast. If this is truly a distinguishing feature between the two birds I will most likely be able to identify the male from the female. When I’d watched the two mating (Feb 28^th), I had only noticed the apparent size difference and had not been able to tell them apart based on plumage. So, I looked again at the short video taken that day and could pick out the streaking on one of the birds. If my observations of the day are correct, I can say with some certainty that the bird with the streaks on her breast is the female and the pale breasted, slightly smaller bird the male!

(I’ve now decided to give the pair names. The female with her cinnamon-streaked breast will henceforth be referred to as Cinnamon, and the male as Jasper. You can clearly see the rich colors and dark streaks on Cinnamon photographed on Mar 2^nd.)

Both birds then called to each other and Cinnamon landed next to Jasper. With both birds facing me, I could through my binoculars, clearly see the difference between the two. The pair spent around 15 minutes at this perch and then took off over Olin Hall and found a new perch in the beech by the pond (where I’d seen them mate). I could now see them from my office window. Here they stayed enjoying the warmth of the sun until 11:00 am, while I wrote down my observations in my journal. I kept one eye out to see if they would mate again giving me confirmation of my gender identification.

11:20 AM, the day was warming up (7 C, 45 F). The pair moved to a lower branch from where they had a commanding view of the pond below. I decided to video shoot and in a few minutes Jasper dived straight down from his perch and caught a small rodent near the edge of the water. For a few moments he was in the water itself! He then flew up to one of the tangles growing along the edge, completed his meal and made that his new perch. Cinnamon, not having much success here, flew off towards the nest.

Why do Jasper and Cinnamon have different plumage?

The Red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) is divided into five subspecies – lineatus (widespread, eastern race), alleni (southeastern), extimus (southern Florida), texanus (Texas – surprised?), and elegans (California)¹. Of these, the subspecies alleni ‘usually lacks breast streaking’¹ and is also ‘slightly paler’². B. l. lineatus is known to breed in eastern North America from Texas through Canada, whereas B. l. alleni is a known resident in the southeast from Texas through Florida and South Carolina³.

Jasper and Cinnamon together facing opposite directions - Cinnamon keeps an eye on me (top); Jasper keeps watch (above).

Jasper and Cinnamon seem to show enough plumage differences (pale vs. streaked) to suggest the possibility that Cinnamon belongs to the more widespread lineatus subspecies and Jasper comes from the southeastern alleni subspecies. Indeed, there is some evidence for the eastern subspecies to overlap each other’s range and thus come into contact with one another⁴.

On the other hand, this may just be a case of significant variation within B. l. lineatus. To clearly make a subspecies distinction between this pair with my limited experience would be foolish. Nonetheless, the distinctive plumages of Jasper and Cinnamon, certainly make it easier to identify each of them separately!

(If any of you out there can confirm/refute a subspecies distinction between Jasper and Cinnamon, please let me know!)

¹ Field guide to the birds of North America, 4^th Edition, National Geographic Society.

² http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Buteo_lineatus.html

³ Johnsgard, Paul A. (1990) – Hawks, Eagles & Falcons of North America. Smithsonian.

⁴ http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Red-shouldered_Hawk.html

Olin Hall? Is that off-campus?

The Johns Hopkins University (Homewood) campus, sits in the middle of Baltimore city – just over 2 miles north of downtown! Homewood is surrounded by urban, residential neighborhoods on three sides and on its western boundary is Wyman Park – a mile long strip of green running north-south. Through Wyman Park flows a little stream, and running parallel to this stream is a walking trail. Oak, beech, tulip and other trees form the canopy in this park, evidently making a good urban forest habitat.

Olin Hall, housing the department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, is located along San Martin Drive and is virtually surrounded by a small patch of urban forest connected to Wyman Park. One can almost call our location off-campus!

Immediately north of Olin Hall another small stream flowing under the curved bridge drains into a shallow pond. All office windows are along the north side of the building, facing the woods and the pond – making it a perfect setting for any nature lover. Along with a variety of birds we also have a resident pair of foxes, raccoons, and the occasional deer.

The Red-shouldered Hawks are continuing residents in the neighborhood and I’ve found them nesting for the past three years in close proximity to Olin Hall (the years on the Google Earth image mark the approximate nest locations of the pair since 2006).

Nesting begins - Barred Owls!

Monday, Mar 3rd:

6:15 PM, Temperature: 11 C (51 F)

I first saw the Barred owl (Strix varia) in late January when it arrived right outside my office window in the early evening with its characteristic call - "hoo, hoo, too-HOO; hoo, hoo, too-HOO, ooo" which is sometimes translated as - "Who, cooks, for-you? Who, cooks, for-you, all?". I had never seen a Barred owl before and it was an exciting moment for me! Since then, I’ve seen two birds – the first one I saw is a fine specimen (see pictures) with exquisite plumage, and the other, a more dull bird, has a slightly disheveled appearance. I’m uncertain about the gender of each bird, but I’m tempted to assign the more beautiful bird (which also appears a bit larger) as the female. Reverse sexual dimorphism (females larger than males) is common among raptors and is generally the case with Barred owls^1,2. The owls seem to start their day (night, for us) rather early and I’ve seen them frequent the area around the pond as early as 3:00 pm! On most occasions they appear to be roosting while sometimes the ‘female’ will attempt to make a catch among the numerous squirrels foraging on the forest floor.

Earlier today (~4:30 pm), I had seen one of the owls being harassed by a group of crows near the pond. The owl had then flown towards the bridge and was hidden from view in a tangle of branches.

But, around 6:15 pm, a little after sunset, I heard both owls call nearby and saw one of the birds fly towards the other. Both met among the tops of the thin ___ trees and made contact for a few seconds. It was too dark and it was hard to tell if they actually mated or if it was part of a courtship interaction. It happened again in the same manner within the next minute and then both birds flew north towards the road. I heard their calls through the later evening, and I thought, perhaps they’re mating and will have a nest/hollow in the vicinity.

Tuesday, Mar 4th:

4:00 PM, Temperature: 15 C (59 F)

I was talking to a colleague in my office when suddenly I heard loud calls of the Red-shouldered hawk uttered in a sharp manner and in rapid succession. They sounded harsher than the usual drawn out keeeaah. This time they sounded more abrupt and I immediately suspected something was wrong. The hawk sounded alarmed!

I rushed to the window and instead of seeing the hawk I saw the Barred owl perched low near the tulip tree. Then I saw some movement nearby and it was the hawk! For a moment, I was confused – what is this trick? Am I seeing an owl or two hawks?

Then it occurred to me – The hawk was probably flying over and had spotted the owl as it was starting its day. It was obvious that the hawk did not like what it saw. It was evidently quite agitated with the owl perched within a hundred meters of its new nesting site. Barred owls and Red-shouldered hawks are known to nest within each others territories without apparent conflict¹. They are both usually active at very different times of day and that keeps them out of each others way. But, our owls are early risers – sometimes active more than two hours before sunset. This is one of the ideal times for the hawks to be hunting as well. They are very similar sized birds, but the hawk was clearly more aggressive in this situation. Its calls had a determined tone. The message to the owl was clear – you are in my territory and you are not welcome!

The owl retreated to the northern side of the bridge, gave a few low hoots and was gone. The hawk still calling, decided to hang around for a while and hunt from its low perch. Soon, it swooped low and picked up a small rodent then flew towards the pond. From there it again dived low near the fence behind Olin hall and caught another snack, before flying north into the park.

¹ Johnsgard, Paul A. (1988) - North American owls: biology and natural history. Smithsonian.

² Earhart C. M. and Johnson, N. K. (1970) - Size dimorphism and food habits in North American owls. The Condor, Vol. 72, p 251-264.

Nesting begins - Red-shouldered Hawks!

Thursday, Feb 28th:

10:15 AM, Temperature: -3.5 C (~27 F)

The Red-Shouldered Hawks (Buteo lineatus) were active around Olin hall near the pond. It was a bright sunny day, I heard the birds calling intermittently for about 10 minutes and saw each of the two adults glide past my window. A little later I saw the male bird perched high up on the tulip for a few minutes. He then took off in a westward smooth glide and I watched it brake slightly as it approached the beech near the road. Its then that I noticed the female bird perched in the beech tree facing south. In the next moment the male in flight had mounted the female and the two coupled for about 10 seconds, after which the male perched to the left of the female almost in a close snuggle. I got out my video camera and shot the birds for a few minutes, the female on the left and male on the right of the frame. After a few minutes, the male took off again while the female stayed for another 45 minutes enjoying the sunshine.

I’ve observed the hawk pair nest around Olin hall for the previous 2 years, during which they’ve raised 7 young in two nest sites within 100 m of each other. The young birds have been seen in the area since then, but I have no clue as to how many of them have survived to adulthood. Last year’s nest is in great shape and I suspect that the pair will re-use it this time.

Sunday, Mar 2nd:

11:00 AM, Temperature: 3 C (39 F)

Was approaching Olin hall when I noticed first one and then the other of the hawks on two separate trees – one near the walkway and the other near Hodson hall. This was particularly interesting as I had been observing a nest high up on the beech right next to the walkway that looked fresh and remarkably similar to the previous nests I’d seen built by the hawks. I had also noticed this nest grow in size over the past two weeks and suspected that it was a new hawk nest. But, until now I had no visual proof that this was the case. And now I had an opportunity to observe what the birds were up to at this nest site.

I quickly got my camera and walked around the area under the birds. One of the birds (near Hodson) had left and was not within sight. The other bird now flew over to the trees north of the walkway and started inspecting the branches. It then chose a thin branch and pounced on it as if it were its prey and using a combination of its talons, beak, and acrobatic maneuvers pulled it out and flew right to the nest in the beech! It lay there for a minute making adjustments to its new home and then flew out to look for more building material. Soon it had found another twig and was back at the nest. I estimated each trip to take about 10 minutes. I observed the hawk for about 40 minutes and took a few shots. This was a really exciting find – the location of the nest is perfect for observation. In about a little over a month there will be a new hawk family!