Dopes and Hawks and Progressive Pelicans
… together with something about hamsters and snowdrops
Let us begin with one of the commoner members of the 1001 Species …
Mourning Doves (aka: Dopes)
Perhaps, because we have a garden planned for wildlife, that includes a varied selection of bird feeders with a wide ranging menu of selected seeds and suet blocks, there are wise birds that are omnipresent in the colder months. Amongst these is a gaggle of Mourning Doves. I think ‘gaggle’ is appropriate although on looking it up I found that the collective noun for Doves is a ‘Bevy’. They are usually considered, though perhaps not fairly, to be rather foolish birds. Hence the common birders’ name for them of ‘Dopes’. Birds that flap and squabble when not just sitting dumbly watching the world go by. They can be surprisingly aggressive to others when there is food to protect, not really the calm and peaceful species of fairy tales.
On the railing around our deck we have a heated water bath for birds and squirrels to drink at during the cold months. At this time of year, as dusk falls, it is not uncommon for the bevy to sit around the rim of this dish - about eight at a time can be accommodated - with heads out and tails in, dipping in the water. And what do all those tails do as they hover over the water? They poop in it, which doesn’t seem to deter the squirrels from drinking. It’s hard to know why they do this? Possibly the heads out is the group keeping a watch for predators and equally possibly the tails in is because the water is nicely warm on a cold night. The avian equivalent of Colonel Mustard lifting his coat tails and warming his breeches by the fireplace.
For all their dumbness, it is a fact that they fly fast and straight when necessary and so can probably easily outrun many enemies. Their lives can be short, with a first year predation rate of some 75%, falling to 60% in successive years and an average lifespan of only around a year and a half. There doesn’t seem to be a shortage of them, for all that. They typically lay 2-4 eggs in a clutch but can repeat the process three or four times from spring through to late fall if there is adequate food and reasonable temperatures, meaning that a pair can often raise 8-12, possibly more, youngsters each year. Given that, the specie’s survival strategy seems to be, at least in part, to simply out-breed random threats, ensuring that there will always be be enough birds left come the next year’s nesting season.
“Delayed Spring” and Euro-Snowdrops
This is the time of year (in Quebec) when friends in the UK start sharing photographs of beautiful snowdrops coming up all over the place. They seem to be getting earlier every year. Here, of course, we don’t even think about snowdrops until the second half of March and possibly into April so all those UK flowers result in a severe case of envy in this household.
I recall the first year I was in Canada, arriving right at the end of March 1998 as the first snow melt was getting under way. Actually, as the plane took off from Heathrow the pilot came on the speaker to tell the passengers that a thaw was happening and cheers, whoops and clapping rang through the cabin. What am I heading towards, I thought, rather bemused. Anyway, I was used to spring being quite a laid back and prolonged season, starting with snowdrops and aconites (why don’t I see photos of those - love them too) in January and gradually moving though to March and April with a succession of daffodils and early fruit blossom and so on. What I was actually quite shocked to experience here - still am come to that - was a concentrated spring that lasted perhaps three weeks with all the usual flowers falling over each other almost simultaneously, and then suddenly - summer happens.
When the first of our snowdrops do put up their heads though, and they will, eventually, we go out with the band and play them a little happy tune for us all to dance to.
Feed the Birds …
Hawk activity in the area, and especially in the garden, has been busy this winter. Last week, driving along the Lakeshore Road we were following one car as another was passing in the opposite direction just as a beautiful Merlin swooped low over the road and, I rather think by the way it moved, was confused by the cars all moving past each other. It flew past us at head height and circled around in the gaps between us before heading away to safety. I had been worried that I might hit it, especially when it swooped across our track at headlight level causing me to brake. Never been that close, only a couple of feet away at one brief moment.
Then earlier in the week, Cooper’s Hawk below visited us. It paused on the deck railing twice, surveyed the meal options from a maple tree then landed on the main feeder to pose for his portrait. That was the end of Junco and Wren appreciation for quite some time. A truly handsome bird. We provide a wide selection of seed and suet at a variety of squirrel-proofed feeders for the birds, so are not greatly surprised when raptors drop by for a packed lunch. A Hawk has to eat too … having said which it is notable how unusual it is for one to succeed. The little birds know a threat when it arrives and scatter long before there is much chance of them being caught. Which is interesting, because the Hawks that visit are clearly in fine fettle and well fed so they must be being successful somewhere. Just rarely so here.
Quote:
“I may not have changed the whole wide world, but if I have planted and nurtured a tree, I have changed the earth at my feet for good — better for the next generation. Perhaps that’s all I need to do."
Two or three months ago, not being an accurate typist, I misspelled “Progressive politicians” in a piece that I was writing and the dutiful auto-correct gnome who lives in my computer amended it to read Progressive Pelicans. This being a newsletter that is intentionally about wildlife and birds and non-controversial things like that, it is nevertheless fair to say that anything about birds is fair game for inclusion. If ever I go into politics this will be my new banner. I say “our” because, needless to say, sensible people will flock to join the Pelican’s Party.
😉 It had been gently suggested to me that I can sometimes be a little prolix in my writing. I hope this has been more concise, and mayhap even pithy.
I often come across several Mourning Doves on my Nature hikes in Ottawa. You are not kidding with the speed in flight. Several times over the years I have had a Mourning Dove fly low overhead. I had never seen if anyting was pursuiing them like a falcon or hawk, but no doubt the dove could certainly make the pursuit challenging.
Is it at all possible that the 'bottoms-in' positioning is taken up not only for defensive watching, but also to warm the less densely feathered and thus more weather-vulnerable parts of their anatomy?