Male Downy Woodpecker Visits the Backyard

Male Downy Woodpecker on a Chinese Tallow Tree

Filmed a male Downy Woodpecker on February 24th in the backyard on a Chinese Tallow Tree. A long-range 800 mm hand held video of the littlest of woodpeckers that rarely stands still. Always a tough bird to capture on video. Back on January 25th I filmed a female Downy Woodpecker on the same tree:

They are likely mates and I have been hearing a lot of Downy calls the past few days in the dense foliage of the Oak and Loquat trees. In fact, the woodpeckers have been feasting on the ripening Loquat fruit. With any luck they will build a nest nearby this spring. This is the first year I can remember the Downy's being so active. The warm winter weather has brought a bumper crop of late winter fruit - that will keep them and many of the other fruit eaters hanging out in the backyard.

Snowy Owl Makes Rare Visit to Georgia Sea Islands

Video of Snowy Owl -  a Rare Visitor to  St. Simons Island Georgia

Snowy Owl a Rare Winter Visitor to Coastal Georgia

Photos and Story by Diana Churchill/For the Savannah Morning News

We've been seeing some unusual bird sightings in our backyard in central Florida this winter, including the rare appearance of a huge flock of Robins and Yellow Rumped Warblers, but nothing as unusual as the rare presence of a large Snowy Owl that has been hanging out around the Sea Islands of southeast Georgia to our north since early December when the video above was taken. It seems to favor the roofs of condo's and has caused quite a stir with many people trying to catch a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse and a photo or video of the rare visitor. Snowy Owls are usually driven southward in winter when food at high northern latitudes is scarce. The Snowy Owl was in the news again on February 21st as it is still hanging out for the winter. 

This has been a rare opportunity for birders to see the great Snowy Owl in the wild - a feat on many peoples birding bucket list. There is a great post on Flickr that has more details and  high quality photographs of the great Snowy Owl. Amazing Stuff!

Great photo embedded from:

http://www.wingsspirit.com/2012/12/timeless-snow-chasing-snowy-owl-in.html

Cold Squirrels Warming up In Florida

Wimpy Florida Squirrels Think 38 Degrees is Too Cold!

Its been one of the warmest winters in central Florida that I can remember, but we had a brief cold spell last weekend (February 17-18th). There was even a bit of ice in the birdbaths on the morning of the 18th.  Our resident squirrels seemed to be in shock last Sunday morning (February 17th) when the mercury dipped to a brutal 38 degrees! They spent several hours basking in the morning sun and stretching before being able to set about on their "busy" day. At one point there were 7 squirrels visible at once sitting out in the sun. The cold spell was short-lived and record heat returned this weekend (February 23-24). I'll discuss the heat in the next post.

International Festival of Owls - March 1-3

International Festival of Owls

Alice the Great Horned Owl. The festival started as a celebration of her hatch-day.

(c) Images by Ingavalson

Billed as the "only full-weekend, all-owl event in North America" the International Festival of Owls runs from March 1-3, 2013 in Houston, Minnesota. Sounds like a great time for owl-lovers - a whole weekend dedicated to owls with programs for children and adults with lots of live owls and owl-related events and a photography contest.  For the more serious owl aficionados, there are internationally known speakers, the annual World Owl Hall of Fame awards, and special Outdoor Owl Photography sessions. If you love owls this sounds like a lot of fun for a good cause. 

The mission of the International Festival of Owls is to: 

- spark a personal connection to owls and the environments we share with them

- provide financial support for the Houston Nature Center

- stimulate tourism in the Houston area

Why an International Festival of Owls in Houston, Minnesota you might ask?  Check out their web page and find out for yourself!

The Great Backyard Bird Count February 15-18 and February is National Bird Feeding Month

The Great Backyard Bird Count takes place February 15th - 18th 

February is National Bird Feeding Month

Video of Female Downy Woodpecker

Ruby Throated Hummingbird

Florida Red Shouldered Hawk

Painted Bunting in Florida

February is a good time to celebrate backyard birds as they are usually quite active in the late winter months and often hungry and thirsty  A celebration of Backyard Birding takes place over the long President's Day Holiday weekend - The Great Backyard Bird Count. Here are Seven reasons to get excited for the great Backyard BirdCount this weekends. You can submit your lists and pictures - see results from around the world and win prizes. You never know what you'll find in your own "backyard". 

February is also National Bird Feeding Month. Here is a guide on Backyard Bird Feeding from the Fish and Wildlife Service. It all boils down to food, water and shelter - even custom built homes like this woodpecker nest box.

                                Video of Red Bellied Woodpecker Checking out his new home!

Florida Owl Survives Being Hit and Gets Stuck in Grill of SUV!

Great Horned Owl Survives Hit by SUV on Florida Turnpike Gets Stuck Behind the Grill.

An Owl was all over the news yesterday and the story started in central Florida near Yeehaw Junction when a lady heading south on the Florida Turnpike at night struck a large bird. It was dark and remote and she kept on going assuming the bird was killed, she felt bad about that. The next day when she was running errands people told her there were eyes looking out of the grill on her large SUV. This story has a happy ending as Florida Fish and Wildlife officers removed the owl from behind the grill and it was relatively unharmed. The driver of the SUV showed tremendous empathy for the owl and was brought to tears by the rescue. An amazing story that is told in the video from CNN below.

CNN News Story on Owl Eyes in a Truck Grill

A similar incident happened in Vermont last December

Painful to look at, but miraculously the owl survived 

Source: sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net

Interestingly, this story on BuzzFeed tells the even more amazing tale of a Barred Owl that survived literally breaking through and getting stuck in the grill of a truck in Vermont. Clearly most owls struck by vehicles are either killed or seriously injured, indeed a lot of owls brought to shelters have been hit by vehicles. In these rare cases of miraculous survival I wonder if the large volume of feathers to body size helps act as a cushion to the impact. Screech Owls in particular  have tiny little bodies under all their feathers - more likely it was just their lucky day!

Squirrel Romance in an Owl Nest Box - A Valentine's Day Story!

Hidden Camera Video of Amorous Squirrels Intent 

on "Occupying" our Screech Owl Nest Box

Squirrel in a Screech Owl Nest Box

What a Squirrel Nest Looks Like in an Owl Nest Box - 

No room for owls!

 A Squirrel Valentine's Day Story of epic proportions! We've all seen squirrels "carrying on" in public parks and in our backyards and thought - why don't they get a room?  We'll this is the story of two classy, but adventurous, young squirrels who dared to check into an Owl Nest Box to conduct their courtship ... introducing an element of excitement, danger and intrigue to their romance........

OK, now the backstory. I like squirrels, I really do, but I love Owls. Attracting and observing Eastern Screech Owls in a nest box and dealing with squirrels go hand in hand. We first put up an owl box in late 2010 and had Screech Owls in early 2011 with no squirrel problems. Late 2011 was a different story. When I went to prepare the owl nest box and set up the camera in December it was full of twig and leaves and obviously had served as a nest for a litter of squirrel kittens already. I cleaned it all out and put in fresh wood chips set up the camera and replaced the nest box in its original position. The very next day I notice a squirrel head sticking out of the nest box and turned on the camera. One has to be careful with the big brother approach - and to my amazement two squirrels were clearly intent on raising another family in the newly clean and renovated owl box. 

Squirrels in Florida breed twice a year and December/January is the second breeding season. They were determined to keep doing the nasty and would no doubt be filling up the owl box with twigs and raise another bunch of kittens - thereby precluding the breeding of Screech Owls. This forced me to move the owl box to under the gable end of a large shed in the backyard about 8 feet of the ground , not perfect, but the owls love it. It was safe from all climbing predators and squirrels. The squirrels had to consummate their relationship and build a nest in a nearby tree, but fortunately I was able to document their brief moment of adventurous passion in an owl nest box!

How Owls Can Rotate Their Heads Without Injury

Our Backyard Screech Owl Demonstrates His Ability To Rotate His Head 270 Degrees

The big breaking news on the "Owl Front" this past week was scientific documentation of how Owls can rotate their heads without injury announced in a press release from Johns Hopkins University. It has long been observed that Owls have the unique ability to rotate their heads way beyond what looks to be healthy. Owls can rotate their heads approximately 270 degrees, a feat that is ably demonstrated by our very own Backyard Screech Owls in the video above. Claims have been made that owls can rotate their heads farther, even up to 360 degrees a la the "Exorcist".  That's obviously impossible and if you look at these videos purporting greater rotation you can see subtle indications that the owls have changed feet position an/or turned their lower body at the same time to achieve what looks like greater than 270 degree rotation. In the video above you see the entire owl including the feet firmly anchored and the lower body completely still - the rotating is an amazing feat.

I'm not sure why people aren't satisfied with 270 degrees - that's a lot - the typical human can only rotate their head about 70 degrees - any more and extreme pain and injury will result. Owls have 14 cervical vertebrae to our 7, but the real trick to the amazing head turn is in adaptations to the blood vessels in the neck that keep them from tearing and causing immediate death. Johns Hopkins researchers have produced a large schematic poster illustrating Owls amazing ability to turn their heads.  Smithsonian.com has a concise article on the subject. Check out the 
NPR story on: How Owls Spin Their Heads Without Tearing Arteries.

Johns Hopkins/National Science Foundation

Screech Owls and Other "Creatures of the Night"

Possums (Opossums),  Raccoons and Armadillos are the Screech Owl's Companions at Night and clean up any left over birdseed and enjoy clean fresh water.

We're expecting the return of nesting Eastern Screech Owls within 3 to 5 weeks and I'm testing out a new "nightvision" camera (more on that in a future blog) to hopefully get more action footage of the screech owls flying around the backyard at night. When all the other birds roost for the night the owls are just getting started, but there are many other  creatures that come out at night and are part of the same suburban ecosystem.  The video above shows a Raccoon and a Possum cleaning up  leftover seed around one of the bird feeding areas and partaking of the fresh water from a small birdbath. This is a regular stop at night for many creatures. In this case, the Raccoon and the Possum come to terms with each other and coexist rather peacefully, although the smaller Possum seems a little less trusting than the Raccoon who goes out of his way to avoid direct eye contact. The top predators in this environment are likely Bobcats and Foxes, but I have not seen any. They undoubtedly have a much farther ranging territory and do not stop by daily.  I hope to document whatever chased the Armadillo and scared the Raccoon and Possum at the end of the video. It looks like the nightvision camera is going to work - more to come.

Groundhog Day!

A Happy Groundhog Enjoying a Day in the Sun!

This Saturday February 2nd is Groundhog Day and a time to celebrate the groundhog and begin to start to think about spring. Of course down here in Florida where we never get winter, that's a bit of an abstraction. The most famous groundhog is Punxsutawney Phil of western Pennsylvania. Its a safe bet that he will not see his shadow tomorrow as the National Weather Service is predicting a 100% chance of snow. According to lore that would mean an early spring rather than 6 more weeks of winter.

We don't have Groundhogs down this far south, but I was fortunate to capture this magnificent, large specimen in western North Carolina near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park early last fall. Voracious eaters of tender grasses and vegetation the wild ones like this are very cautious and will run for cover at the first sign of visitors. Notice how large the feet and claws are toward the end of the video. They are on of the few mammals that truly hibernate. More information on Groundhogs Days  is at Wikipedia. Enjoy the day and maybe watch Groundhog Day, one of Bill Murray's funniest movies.