EC Bird Lane - Hiking the Glen

Acknowledgements

& Credits

Bird Lane at the ECEC is based on a project originally developed at the New Jersey School of Conservation. The project was spearheaded by Associate Director of the School Randall Fitzgerald with assistance from a group of interns. Ms. Mongiello who also interned at NJSOC, loved the project, later joined the staff of the ECEC and led the development of Bird Lane at the ECEC. She is currently serving as the ECEC Program Coordinator.

The Bird Lane project was fortunate to have had the artistic talents of Maxine Segarnick to execute the original bird replicas for the project. Ms. Segarnick has also joined the team again to update some of the original replicas during the 2013 refresh of Bird Lane.

This guide to Bird Lane is based on the original guide and further supplemented with additional material from various internet sites and as well as traditional guidebooks.The author gratefully acknowledges the efforts of the original team, however the current guide is my responsibility and as such any comments or suggestions should be sent to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

A personal thank you to all the members of the Essex County, Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department that have helped and encouraged me in this effort.

zHawk
West Caldwell, NJ
2013

The Photographs of Bird Species

The Bird Lane project is fortunate to have the permission of several talented photographers to use their photographs to illustrate this guide.

Alan and Elaine Wilson of Vernon, British Columbia, Canada have graciously allowed us to use their images for the American Goldfinch, the American Robin, the Barred Owl, the Belted Kingfisher, the Black-capped Chickadee, the Downy Woodpecker, the Great Blue Heron, the Great White Egret, the House Sparrow, the House Wren, the Northern Cardinal, the White-breasted Nuthatch and the Wild Turkey illustrations, Their website at www.NaturesPicsOnline.com contains many more examples of their wonderful work. They have over 75 Galleries of nature and wildlife pictures from all over North America for your viewing pleasure. If you are interesting taking pictures of nature and wildlife they also have many tips and tutorials for the novice photographer, including basics like equipment selection as well as specialized discussions of issues like the ethics involved in ensuring taking of photographs of wildlife doesn't endanger their natural wild existence.

Dick Daniels has provided images of the Blue Jay and the Great Crested Flycatcher. Dick is a retired engineer who has taken his passion for pictures of birds of all kinds and developed a huge collection of images of birds from all over the world. His website shows his work as well as work of another almost fifty photographers. The website is located at www.CarolinaBirds.org and in spite of the name includes birds from all over the world. Charlie Westerinen who exhibits his work on Dick's website has provided the image of the Red-shouldered Hawk.

Please visit these sites if you want to view some really great wildlife photography, and thanks to them all for assisting in the development of the Bird Lane guide.

Species Range Maps

Background Information for the Bird Species

The development of this guide required the collection of additional information to fill out the profile for each of the species. This required consulting many bird related websites as well as traditional bound field guides.

The favorite, and most helpful, websites were the following.
The WikiPedia Bird Portal website which is the entry point to a massive amount of information about birds of all kinds.
The All About Birds website managed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that contains a wide range of information about birds and many bird related activities.
The National Audubon Society website of the leading bird related conservation organization in the country.
The New Jersey Audubon Society website of the leading bird related organization in New Jersey who in partnership with the ECEC offer bird and nature programs throughout Essex County.

The most frequently consulted field guides were the following.
The Sibley Guide to Birds, by David Allen Sibley, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 2001 printing.
The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Birds, Eastern Region, by John Bull and John Farrand, Jr., Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1987 printing.

Station 16
House Sparrow

Physical Traits

Physical Traits

House Sparrows are chunkier than other sparrows, fuller in the chest, with a larger, rounded head, shorter tail, and stouter bill than most American sparrows. Male House Sparrows are brightly colored birds with gray heads, white cheeks, a black bib, and rufous neck – although in cities you may see some that are dull and grubby. Females are a plain buffy-brown overall with dingy gray-brown underparts. Their backs are noticeably striped with buff, black, and brown.

Habitat

Habitat

House Sparrows eat mostly grains and seeds, as well as livestock feed and, in cities, discarded food. Among the crops they eat are corn, oats, wheat, and sorghum. Wild foods include ragweed, crabgrass and other grasses, and buckwheat. House Sparrows readily eat birdseed including millet, milo, and sunflower seeds. Urban birds readily eat commercial bird seed. In summer, House Sparrows eat insects and feed them to their young. They catch insects in the air, by pouncing on them, or by following lawnmowers or visiting lights at dusk.

Diet

Diet

Behavior

Behavior

House Sparrows hop rather than walk on the ground. They are social, feeding in crowded flocks and squabbling over crumbs or seeds on the ground. House Sparrows are a common sight at bird feeders; you may also see them bathing in street-side puddles or dustbathing on open ground, ruffling their feathers and flicking water or dust over themselves with similar motions. From living in such close company, House Sparrows have developed many ways of indicating dominance and submission. Nervous birds flick their tails. Aggravated birds crouch with the body horizontal, shove their head forward and partially spread and roll forward their wings, and hold the tail erect. This can intensify to a display with wings lifted, crown and throat feathers standing on end, tail fanned, and beak open. Males with larger amounts of black on the throat tend to dominate over males with less black. When males display to a prospective mate, they fluff up their chest, hold their wings partially open, fan the tail, and hop stiffly in front of the female, turning sideways and sometimes bowing up and down. Sometimes, other males who spot such a display in progress will fly in and begin displaying as well. In flocks, males tend to dominate over females in fall and winter, but females assert themselves in spring and summer.

Nest Building Techniques

Nest Building Techniques

House Sparrow nests are made of coarse dried vegetation, often stuffed into the hole until it’s nearly filled. The birds then use finer material, including feathers, string, and paper, for the lining. House Sparrows sometimes build nests next to each other, and these neighboring nests can share walls. House Sparrows often reuse their nests. House Sparrows nest in holes of buildings and other structures such as streetlights, gas-station roofs, signs, and the overhanging fixtures that hold traffic lights. They sometimes build nests in vines climbing the walls of buildings. House Sparrows are strong competitors for nest boxes, too, at times displacing the species the nest box was intended for, such as bluebirds and Tree Swallows. House Sparrows nest in holes in trees somewhat less often.

Migration and Range

Cool Facts

Cool Facts

The House Sparrow takes frequent dust baths. It throws soil and dust over its body feathers, just as if it were bathing with water. In doing so, a sparrow may make a small depression in the ground, and sometimes defends this spot against other sparrows.

House Sparrows in flocks have a pecking order much the way chickens in a farmyard do. You can begin to decipher the standings by paying attention to the black throats of the males. Males with larger patches of black tend to be older and dominant over males with less black. By wearing this information on their feathers, sparrows can avoid some fights and thereby save energy

Where is the Sparrow?

Station 14
Red Shouldered Hawk

Physical Traits

Habitat

Diet

Behavior

Nest Building Techniques

Migration and Range

Cool Facts

Cool Facts

The Red-shouldered Hawk is divided into five subspecies. The four eastern forms contact each other, but the West Coast form is separated from the eastern forms by 1600 km (1000 mi). The northern form is the largest. The form in very southern Florida is the palest, having a gray head and very faint barring on the chest.

Although the American Crow often mobs the Red-shouldered Hawk, sometimes the relationship is not so one-sided. They may chase each other and try to steal food from each other. They may also both attack a Great Horned Owl and join forces to chase the owl out of the hawk's territory.

By the time they are five days old, nestling Red-shouldered Hawks can shoot their feces over the edge of their nest. Bird poop on the ground is a sign of an active nest.

The Great Horned Owl often takes nestling Red-shouldered Hawks, but the hawk occasionally turns the tables. While a Red-shouldered Hawk was observed chasing a Great Horned Owl, its mate took a young owl out of its nest and ate it.

Where is the Hawk?

Station 15
Black-capped Chickade

Physical Traits

Physical Traits

This tiny bird has a short neck and large head, giving it a distinctive, rather spherical body shape. It also has a long, narrow tail and a short bill a bit thicker than a warbler’s but thinner than a finch’s. The cap and bib are black, the cheeks white, the back soft gray, the wing feathers gray edged with white, and the underparts soft buffy on the sides grading to white beneath. The cap extends down just beyond the black eyes, making the small eyes tricky to see.

Habitat

Diet

Diet

In winter Black-capped Chickadees eat about half seeds, berries, and other plant matter, and half animal food (insects, spiders, suet, and sometimes fat and bits of meat from frozen carcasses). In spring, summer, and fall, insects, spiders, and other animal food make up 80-90 percent of their diet. At feeders they take mostly sunflower seeds, peanuts, suet, peanut butter, and mealworms. They peck a hole in the shell, and then chip out and eat tiny bits of seed while expanding the hole.

Behavior

Behavior

Chickadees are active, acrobatic, curious, social birds that live in flocks, often associating with woodpeckers, nuthatches, warblers, vireos, and other small woodland species. They feed on insects and seeds, but seldom perch within several feet of one another while taking food or eating. Flocks have many calls with specific meanings, and they may contain some of the characteristics of human language.

Nest Building Techniques

Nest Building Techniques

Both male and female chickadees excavate a cavity in a site usually selected by the female. Once the nest chamber is hollowed out (it averages 21 cm deep) the female builds the cup-shaped nest hidden within, using moss and other coarse material for the foundation and lining it with softer material such as rabbit fur. Nest boxes, small natural cavities, or abandoned Downy Woodpecker cavities; often excavate their own cavities. In the case of next boxes, seem to prefer to excavate wood shavings or sawdust rather than to take an empty box. Nests can be at ground level to more than 20 m high, but are usually between 1.5 and 7 m high. They tend to excavate in dead snags or rotten branches, and often select alder or birch.

Migration and Range

Cool Facts

Cool Facts

Even when temperatures are far below zero, chickadees virtually always sleep in their own individual cavities. In rotten wood, they can excavate nesting and roosting holes entirely on their own.

The Black-Capped Chickadee hides seeds and other food items to eat later. Each item is placed in a different spot and the chickadee can remember thousands of hiding places.

Chickadee calls are complex and language-like, communicating information on identity and recognition of other flocks as well as predator alarms and contact calls. The more dee notes in a chickadee-dee-dee call, the higher the threat level.

Where is the Chickade?

Station 13
American Robin

Physical Traits

Habitat

Diet

Diet

They eat large numbers of both invertebrates and fruit. Particularly in spring and summer they eat large numbers of earthworms as well as insects and some snails. They have rarely been recorded eating shrews, small snakes, and aquatic insects. Also eat an enormous variety of fruits, including chokecherries, hawthorn, dogwood, and sumac fruits, and juniper berries. One study suggested that robins may try to round out their diet by selectively eating fruits that have bugs in them.

Behavior

Nest Building Techniques

Nest Building Techniques

Females build the nest from the inside out, pressing dead grass and twigs into a cup shape using the wrist of one wing. Other materials include paper, feathers, rootlets, or moss in addition to grass and twigs. Once the cup is formed, she reinforces the nest using soft mud gathered from worm castings to make a heavy, sturdy nest. She then lines the nest with fine dry grass. The finished nest is 6-8 inches across and 3-6 inches high.

Migration and Range

Cool Facts

Cool Facts

Robins eat a lot of fruit in fall and winter. When they eat honeysuckle berries exclusively, they sometimes become intoxicated.

Robin roosts can be huge, sometimes including a quarter-million birds during winter.

In summer, females sleep at their nests and males gather at roosts. As young robins become independent, they join the males. Female adults go to the roosts only after they have finished nesting.

Robins eat different types of food depending on the time of day: more earthworms in the morning and more fruit later in the day.

Because the robin forages largely on lawns, it is vulnerable to pesticide poisoning and can be an important indicator of chemical pollution.

The oldest recorded American Robin was 13 years and 11 months old.

Where is the Robin?

Acknowledgements

& Credits

Acknowledgements

Station 16 House Sparrow

Station 14 Red Shouldered Hawk

Station 15 Black-capped Chickade

Station 13 American Robin

Station 16
House Sparrow

Station 14
Red Shouldered Hawk

Station 15
Black-capped Chickade

Station 13
American Robin