Birds inspire the fine art of writing

At dinner last night, my husband and I were sharing tidbits from what we were reading that day. He got up to get his book and came back to share several poems from Billy Collins' Ballistic. They were all fun, but the one that I've copied below was my favorite.

Ornithography
By Billy Collins

     The legendary Cang Jie was said to
     have invented writing after observing
     the tracks of birds.

A light snow last night,
and now the earth falls open to a fresh page.

A high wind is breaking up the clouds.
Children wait for the yellow bus in a huddle,

and under the feeder, some birds
are busy writing short stories,

poems, and letters to their mothers.
A crow is working on an editorial.

That chickadee is etching a list,
and that robin walks back and forth

composing the opening to her autobirgraphy.
All so prolific this morning,

these expressive little creatures,
and each with an alphabet of only two letters.

Perhaps I was thinking something along theses lines when I took the photo above of sparrow tracks in the snow. And a friend sent this photo to me of great blue heron tracks on a concrete pier after a recent bird walk. Words and images come together once again. Are they sending us a message?

Lots of critters, but not the ones we were looking for

Diamondback Terrapin

A lot of Historic Rivers Master Naturalists got up early today to help with Virginia Terp Search 2011. A Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) graduate student recruited us to canvass the waterways of the Williamsburg area for diamondback terrapins. I was with Team 4 and our territory was (of course!) Queen's Creek from the shores of New Quarter Park.

At 7:30 a.m., the deer are abundant.

According to VIMS, "diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) are the only turtles in the U.S. that live exclusively in brackish saltwater marshes, coastal bays, and lagoons. They range from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Corpus Christi, Texas, including Chesapeake Bay. Terrapins mainly stay in the water though they can be spotted basking along marsh banks. They are named for the concentric markings and grooves on their shells. They are not sea turtles, but like sea turtles their populations are in trouble. Threats include drowning in crab pots, habitat loss, nest predation, and boat strikes."

Osprey

The purpose of the graduate student's work was to conduct a survey that would estimate the species population. Our group can attest to the fact that the terps are in trouble on Queen's Creek. We saw one head bobbing across the stream in  2 1/2 hours of looking. But in any case, time outdoors is never wasted on a Master Naturalist! We saw lots of other critters, starting with herds of deer grazing in most of the park's meadows.

Great Blue Heron

When we settled into our first lookout location, we unsettled Mother Osprey on channel marker 15. We tried to keep our eyes on the water, but it was much more fun to watch for glimpses of her young one in the nest. The osprey mom keep us in sight and squealed a cry at us from time to time just to let us know she was paying attention.

A little crab sex?

Right around the corner, the pine trees provided nesting space for Great Blue Herons. They called, flew, and landed to look for snacks in the marsh beside us. Now remember, we were looking for terrapins. Really! And it was at this location that we saw our one and only of the day. Just a head poking out of the water. We were pretty sure it was a terp.

Fiddler Crab

At our next station the beach was hopping with fiddler crabs. As I looked behind the reeds for terp nests, eggs, or footprints, I caught a couple of fiddlers going for it. The female is on top. The male grabbed her from behind and somehow they ended up in this position. Next I came across a fiddler with the biggest fighting claw I'd ever seen. Okay, little fellow, I see you all ready!

Sunday morning paddle

While we were at station 1 we saw a couple of homo sapiens board a canoe and take it for a spin on Cub Creek, a tributary of Queen's. Later, we saw them again at station 2 on Queen's Creek and one more time at station 3 at the New Quarter Park floating dock, where I snapped this.

Mud toad!

People watching continued to be good at the floating dock where we watched a father and son fishing. They pulled up a croaker, several oyster shells, and a mud toad while we were there. The dad told us that his son has been crazy about fishing since getting a rod and reel for his birthday. The kid's a little ham, I might add.

Northern Watersnake

And to cap the day off, we were excited to see just one more extra special species: a northern watersnake! Don't worry, it's not poisonous. People sometimes think it's a water moccasin, but you can tell them apart by their beady little eyes. That's the sort that non-venomous snakes have while poisonous snakes have slitty eyes.

Well, so we didn't see much of our target species, but the morning was just fine, all in all. The temperatures were in the 70s and sun was peeking in and out behind the clouds. Like I said, time outdoors is never wasted on a Master Naturalist.

House Wren Fledging Day

House Wrens in the Bluebird Box

I've been watching the House Wrens this spring as they selected the old bluebird box in my backyard and built their nest, brooded eggs, and feed nestlings. The noisy little bird is one of my favorites, even if the resident couple did chase away a timid bluebird pair who were also intent on the house.

House Wren Fledgling on the edge

Yesterday, I took this photo of a parent at the box. The little chicks go crazy when one of the parents brings a bug. Their little mouths fly open and they push and shove to get right in front. The parent tucks the bug in a gaping mouth faster than a speeding shutter, waits a second or two, accepts a fecal sac, and flies away to dump the diaper and get another tasty treat.
The babies have been edging closer and closer to the opening and this morning I saw one perched precipitously in the door of the box. He was looking this way and that. Gripping and fluttering from time to time as if to maintain his balance. Obviously, he was there long enough for me to get my camera and change to the long lens.

Hey! No pushing!

The parents would chatter at their nestling, seeming to urge him out. Dad seemed to say, "You're a big boy now, kiddo, no more free treats!" Eventually, the inevitable happened. One of his siblings bumped him from behind and he fell forward, clawing, gripping and flapping for dear life. He scrambled back in, but this only made Dad more demanding. "Chatter, chatter, chatter! Do you hear me? Chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter!"

Okay, I'm outta here.

So Junior came to his senses in about a minute and popped into the door hole again. This time he flexed his legs a few times and then . . . one, two, three, and out! He swoop, swooped and made a reasonably soft landing on the ground. Hey! He liked this flying thing. I watched as he chattered to anyone within listening distance and took short practice flights back and forth between low branches. He took off for the bird feeder! He went back to the box to tell his siblings it was okay to come out now.

As I've watched the birds this morning, I've also seen Mom and Dad cardinal with their four young. Yesterday, Mom and Dad were feeding them, but today they've discovered they can help themselves from the bird feeder too. There are several super-small chickadees too. More fledgling toddlers, I suppose. So cute.