Spotlight On Ohio Birds

Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus)

Family: Charadriidae

Order: Charadriiformes

Description: Length 6-8″ (15-20 cm) ADULT MALE Has mainly sandy brown upperparts and white underparts, with a continuous black breast band and collar. Note the distinctive black patch through the eye and on the forecrown, defining the white patch in front of eye and very narrow and short white supercilium. Legs are orange-yellow and bill is orange with a dark tip. In winter, black elements of plumage on head are mainly brown, especially on forecrown; bill is mainly dark, but with dull orange at base of lower mandible. ADULT FEMALE Similar to male, but black elements of plumage on head are brown. JUVENILE Similar to winter adult, but breast band is small and often incomplete.

Voice: Utters a soft tchu-eep call.

Habitat: Common and widespread in breeding season, nesting beside lakes and rivers across Arctic North America and present there mainly May-Aug. Fall migrants can appear in any suitable open, damp habitats, but are obvious on Atlantic coast. Occurrence in winter is extremely wide-ranging: found on coastal shores and estuaries from Atlantic and Gulf coasts to southern South America.

Range:

FYI’s: Runs at speed (as if powered by clockwork) and then stands still for a few seconds before picking a food item from ground.

The Semipalmated Plover has been seen to swim short distances across small water channels during foraging while on migration. Chicks also swim short distances to follow parents to small islets on shallow lakes

Resource material provided by:

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ www.allaboutbirds.com

www.enature.com

Spotlight On Ohio Birds

American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla)

Family: Parulidae

Order:Passeriformes

Description: 4 1/2 – 51/2″ (11-14 cm)  ADULT MALE Has mostly black upperparts, but with striking orange patches on wings and base of tail. Head, neck, and chest are black, with orange on sides of breast and flanks, and otherwise white underparts. ADULT FEMALE Has greenish gray back, wings, and tail, grayish head, and grayish white underparts; orange elements of male’s plumage are yellow. IMMATURE Similar to adult female, although some (probably females) have only indistinct yellow color on wings and some males show orange tone to color on flanks and side of breast. First-spring females like adult females; first-spring males show some adult feather details. Full adult plumage is acquired with subsequent molt

Voice: Song is a thin, sweet see-see-see-see-shweer; call is a thin chip.

Habitat: Very common summer visitor (present mainly May-Aug) to a wide range of wooded habitats, including mature gardens and secondary woodland; range extends across much of the region. Winters mainly in Central and South America, but a few linger in southern Florida.

Nesting:  1-5 creamy white eggs with dark speckles around the larger end. Nest a tightly woven open cup fitted into branches or fork in tree or shrub. Made of grasses, bark strips, hair, leaves, twigs, or mosses, glued together with spider silk.

Range:

FYI’s:

• The American Redstart is not particularly closely related to the Painted Redstart and the other redstart warblers of the Neotropics. They all are similarly patterned and forage in similar ways, flashing their tails and wings to startle insect prey. In other parts of the world other unrelated species of birds look and act similarly, such as the fantails of Australia and southeastern Asia.
• A young male American Redstart resembles a female in plumage until its second fall. Males in the gray and yellow yearling plumage will try to hold territories and attract mates, singing vigorously. Some succeed in breeding in this plumage, but most do not breed successfully until they are two years old.
• The male American Redstart occasionally is polygynous, having two mates at the same time. Unlike many other polygynous species of birds that have two females nesting in the same territory, the redstart holds two separate territories up to 500 m (1,640 ft) apart. The male starts to attract a second female after the first has completed her clutch and is incubating the eggs.

Resource material provided by:

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ www.allaboutbirds.com

www.enature.com

 

Spotlight On Ohio Birds

Green Heron (Butorides virescens)

Family: Ardeidae

Order: Pelecaniformes

Description: 16-22″ (41-56 cm) ADULT Has dark green crown, rufous-maroon face and neck, and white running from throat down center of neck and breast to whitish belly. Upperparts are otherwise greenish gray; wing feathers have pale margins. JUVENILE Mainly brown, tinged rufous on face and with rufous streaks on otherwise paler throat, neck, and breast.

Voice: Utters a sharp skeeow call in flight.

Habitat: Locally common wetland bird. Summer migrant to north and interior parts of range, present mainly May-Sep; moves south and to coastal districts outside breeding season and winter range extends to Central America.

Nesting: Nest a basket of sticks, placed in small tree or shrub, usually over water. Nests in small, loose colonies. Clutch size is 2-6 pale green eggs.

Range:

FYI’S: The Green Heron is one of the few tool-using birds. It commonly drops bait onto the surface of the water and grabs the small fish that are attracted. It uses a variety of baits and lures, including crusts of bread, insects, earthworms, twigs, or feathers.

The Green Heron is part of a complex of small herons that sometimes are considered one species. When lumped, they are called Green-backed Heron. When split, they are the Green Heron, the widespread Striated Heron, and the Galapagos Heron.

As is typical for many herons, the Green Heron tends to wander after the breeding season is over. Most wanderers probably seek more favorable foraging areas and do not travel far, but occasionally some travel greater distances, with individuals turning up as far as England and France.

Spotlight On Ohio Birds

Northern Flicker ( Colaptes auratus)

Family: Picidae

Order: Piciformes

Description: 12″ (30 cm) ADULT MALE Has golden brown back and upper wing coverts, both with black barring; rump is white and tail is black. Head is grayish overall with buffish forecrown; “Yellow-shafted” has extensive buff on face, black malar stripe, and red nape patch (“Red-shafted” has red malar stripe). Note striking black crescent on chest and dark-spotted whitish underparts. ADULT FEMALE Similar, but head lacks malar stripe; “Yellow-shafted” has red nape patch. JUVENILE Similar to respective sex adult.

Voice: Northern Flickers make a loud, rolling rattle with a piercing tone that rises and falls in volume several times. The call lasts 7 or 8 seconds and is quite similar to the call of the Pileated Woodpecker. You’ll hear it in the spring and early summer, while pairs are forming and birds are establishing their territories. Flickers also make a loud single-note call, often sounding like kyeer, about a half-second long. When birds are close together and displaying they may make a quiet, rhythmic wick-a, wick-a call.

Habitat: Look for Northern Flickers in open habitats near trees, woodlands, edges, yards and parks.

Nesting: 5-8 all white eggs are laid generally in nests in tree holes like other woodpeckers. Occasionally they’ve been found nesting in old, earthen burrows vacated by Belted Kingfishers, and Bank Swallows.

Range:

FYI’s:Although they can climb trees and hammer on wood like a woodpecker, they prefer to find food on the ground. Ants are their main food source. You might hear people refer to them as “Ground Woodpeckers”.

The Northern Flicker is one of the few woodpeckers that is strongly migratory.

The red-shafted and the yellow-shafted forms of the Northern Flicker were once considered different species.

Resource material provided by:

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ www.allaboutbirds.com

www.enature.com

Spotlight On Ohio Birds

American Woodcock (Scolopax minor)

Family: Scolopacidae

Order: Charadriiformes

Description: 11″ (28 cm) Adult has brown upperparts overall, but feathers on back and wings are adorned with narrow black lines. Note the gray-buff lines on edge of mantle and scapulars. Nape and rear of crown are marked with dark bars, and face and neck are otherwise rather pale gray. Underparts are orange-buff unmarked and this color extends to underwing coverts. They have a long pinkish bill.

Voice: Call is a buzzing, squeaking PEENT

Habitat: Widespread and locally common breeding species in damp woodland and brushy forests across much of Eastern North America.

Nesting: 1-12 eggs that are creamy buff with brown spots laid in a shallow depression in the ground.

Range:

FYI’s: The American Woodcock is one of the few shorebirds hunted for sport

Their bill has a flexible tip specialized for catching earth worms.

The male American Woodcock has an elaborate display to attract females. He gives repeated “peents” on the ground, often on remaining patches of snow in the early spring. After a time he flies upward in a wide spiral. As he gets higher, his wings start to twitter. After reaching a height of 70-100 m (230-328 ft) the twittering becomes intermittent, and the bird starts chirping as he starts to descend. He comes down in a zig-zag, diving fashion, chirping as he goes. As he comes near the ground he silently lands, near a female if she is present. Then he starts peenting again.

Resource material provided by:

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ www.allaboutbirds.com

www.enature.com

Spotlight On Ohio Birds

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)

Family: Laridae

Order: Charadiiformes

Description: 23″- 26″ (58-66 cm)  ADULT SUMMER Has a pale blue-gray back and upper wings, except for white trailing edge and dark wingtips with white “windows”. Plumage is otherwise white. Bill is yellow with orange spot on gonys, and eye has yellow iris and orange eyring. ADULT WINTER  Similar, but head and neck are streaked brown; leg, bill and eyering colors are duller. JUVENILE & 1st WINTER  Have mottled brown plumage, dark tail, and dull pink legs. Initially bill is dark, but becomes dark-tipped pink by first winter. Note pale inner primaries create pale panel on upper wing and otherwise uniformly brown upper wings. Adult plumage acquired through successive milts: becomes more uniform gray on back and upper wings and whiter elsewhere. Retains dark band on tail and some brown feathering on upper wings into third year.

Voice: Utters a distinctive “kyaoo” and a anxious “ga-ka-ka”

Habitat: Widespread and common, nesting on islands in northern lakes and on coasts. Winter range is mainly coastal.

Nesting: 1-3 eggs, light olive, buff, or grennish with darker splotches or speckling. The nest is a hollowed out depression 10-15 inches across and lined with scrapes of vegetation, feathers, plastic, rope or other material.

Range:

FYI’s: They’re the most familiar gulls of the North Atlantic and can be found across much of coastal North America in winter

They prefer drinking fresh water, but they’ll drink saltwater when they must. They have a special gland located above the eyes which allow them to excrete the salt.

Incubation Herring Gulls will pant to cool off.

Resource material provided by:

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ www.allaboutbirds.com

www.enature.com