Horned Grebes

Yesterday I took a trip further northeast in Montana, away from the side channel of the bird migration river at Fort Peck, to the main stream, where the migration is even more evident in the extreme corner of the state. More on that later.



For now I wanted to share some photos of a pair of Horned Grebes. This species seems to follow the water around, and this spring there is plenty of potholes and wetlands to choose from in the little bit of the prairie pothole region that reaches into Montana. This couple was in a small pond next to the road just north of Medicine Lake National Wildlife Refuge.



I was watching the pair of a while when they started what appeared to be some courtship displays including rushing through the water together, side by side.



They soon came over to a shallow mat of old vegetation and much to my surprise, the bird I had assumed to be the male based on other behaviors and plumage, proceeded to the platform first, assumed the passive position, and was mounted by the other bird. Hmm, that was different, but I thought I had learned something about plumage differences in Horned Grebes. Turns out I learned even more when I got home.



After the "copulation", which lasted only a few seconds, the bird on top moved to the front of the passive bird and did a quick water treading behavior where the bird sits up in the water and paddles vigorously while stretching its neck up (notice the bubbles and churning water in the photo above).



The passive bird remained on the platform and preened for a while.



and they preened even more.



When I got home I looked at the Birds of North America account for the Horned Grebe and found that according to the this account, copulation in Horned Grebes is a reverse copulation with the male in the passive role. A little more digging and I found out that it isn't even necessarily reverse copulation but more correctly reverse mounting. Apparently reverse mounting occurs more often early in the courtship period and isn't a breeding attempt as much as it "constitutes a regular and integral part of their courtship behavior" (Nuechterlein and Storer 1989). Also, these early courtship copulations often occur on a temporary courtship platform, which would explain the rather unsubstatial nature of the platform I had assumed was a rather poorly built nest.

It turned out I was correct in my initial assumption about which sex was which, and Nuechterlein and Storer warn that mounting behavior may be unreliable to determine sex in grebes. However, I was certainly incorrect in my assumption on the traditional nature of Horned Grebe sex.

Stedman, Stephen J. 2000. Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online

Nuechterlein, G.L. and R.W. Storer. 1989. Reverse mounting in grebes. The Condor 91:341-346

Sprague's Pipit - Free Fall Fight

Yesterday I stopped at one of my favorite spots to see what grassland birds were on territory there. I found both the expected Longspurs- McCown's and Chestnut-collared. There were also many Sprague's Pipits singing high above me. Occasionally I could spot one but more often than not I was staring into what appeared to be blank sky with a song coming from nowhere.

Once I watched two singing birds circle close to each other and then engage in what appeared to be a territorial dispute and I managed to get a few distant photos of the altercation. After looking at the photos it was apparent that the fight was just a vicious as any bird fight I have observed but it took place about a 100 feet above the ground.



In the photo above you can see the bird on the left has a mouth full of feathers.






After falling for a while, but not yet really close to the ground, the broke apart and headed off in opposite directions, back into the sky, to start singing all over again - a show that will go on for the next couple of months on a daily basis.

Antarctic Video of Oceanites Work

Elise Larson counting Adelie Penguins on the Fish Islands

Last November I traveled to Antarctica with Sally Wiggens, a television news anchor from WTAE in Pittsburgh. Earlier this spring Sally produced a series of video pieces on her trip and a lot of her piece featured the work that Oceanites is doing. If you would like to see the series, you can check it out here. (Make sure you watch to the end of Part 1, my favorite part).

This reminds me I still have a few Antarctic posts to deliver. I will have to make sure I get them done before I head back again (crossed fingers).


Sally Wiggens taking video on the Antarctic Peninsula

Backyard Woodpeckers Back Again

Last year we had a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers nest in our ornamental crabapple tree just outside the dining room window. We were able to watch the male excavate the cavity, leaving a pile of sawdust on the ground below the tree. The entrance to the cavity is only about 3 feet above the ground and faces the house so we were able to listed to the youngsters as they grew and finally, just before they fledged, we were able to see them when they started to appear at the hole to be fed. This link will take you to all the posts and photos from last years attempt (just ignore the posts that show up in this search that don't have anything to do with Hairy Woodpeckers!)



Within the last week or so a pair of Hairy's have been casually inspecting the hole on an infrequent basis, but this evening I noticed the male spending quite a bit of time in the cavity, occasionally emerging to dump a load of sawdust on the ground. The female has been hovering around the area and occasionally she would come down to the cavity and check things out. According to the Birds of North America (Jackson et al, 2002) account there is no data on nest maintenance or re-use. Perhaps I will be able to add some information to fill in that gap.
Hopefully we will again have the pleasure to watch another brood of Hairy Woodpeckers grow up in our backyard.

Jackson, Jerome A., Henri R. Ouellet and Bette J. Jackson. 2002. Hairy Woodpecker (Picoides villosus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online.

Uncommon Saturday (part 2)

After Benton, Crean and I finished spending a few minutes in the park we headed out to one of my favorite spots near Fort Peck. It is a high, small butte the provides a wonderful overlook to what used to be a strong north bend in the Missouri River through a rather narrow gap in the hills, but now is the main part of Fort Peck Lake. On our way out of town we found a roadkill beaver that a couple of Turkey Vultures were feeding on and we got to watch them soar around us for a while.





Further out on this ridge are a series of sandstone breaks and short cliffs where the Prairie Falcons and occasional eagle or hawk nest. I also helped build an small alcove in one of the cliffs as an artificial nest site for prairie falcons many years ago when I worked for the Charles M. Russel National Wildlife Refuge. The most wonderful thing is that this hole in the sandstone that we carved out with portable drills and hammers and chisels has been used pretty heavily by Prairie Falcons over the years. I will remember to bring my short lens next time and get some photos. I also found my first swallowtail butterfly of the year flying along the ridge top.



We had a great morning hiking around on the rocks with the Sprague's Pipits singing above and the Rock Wrens making a ruckus in the rocks. There was a pair of Prairie Falcons at the natural nest site and I hope they take residence there this year. Benton was finding dinosaur bones everywhere including a rather recent Coyote scat. I figured it was a Bushy-tailed Woodrat, but you never know. Crean and Addie were just happy to be out and about and they both had a wide grin on their faces. Later we climbed to the top of the butte and had a snack. I had packed some water and a package of local made jerky to the top and we looked out over the lake and brush filled drainages and had a few slices of jerky - or as Crean later stated "We had turkey on the mountain."



On the way home we stopped by a large concrete building where a small locomotive used to raise and lower the spillway gates is stored because the boys always like looking at the train. The building is surrounded by a few hardy trees and as we were looking in the window a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker flew out in front of us.



This was a bird I had not observed in Montana before and it was a nice find thanks to the boys insistence that we stop to look at the train. That was immediately followed by Crean's rather traumatic observation of a snake which he insisted was a rattlesnake. I couldn't find any snake at all so I told him he must have scared the snake as much as the snake scared him. He still insisted it was time to leave so we headed home for a nap after a wonderful day in the field with my two favorite students!

Uncommon Saturday (part 1)

Yesterday was an uncommon day that started with a couple of birds unfairly labeled with a "Common" name. Both the Common Loon and Common Goldeneye are certainly not common in their appearance.
Friday evening Dad called and told me that a Common Loon appeared to be intent on spending the night at our local kids fishing pond and he thought I might be interested in getting down there early in the morning for some photos. It was a great suggestion (thanks Dad!)






The loon appeared unconcerned with my presence and even went to sleep in short time I was there early in the morning. I was only there for a short while, filled up my CF card on the camera and had to head home to take care of the boys. When I got home I phoned Dad and suggested that he head down because the bird was quite accommodating. He got some good photos too.





As I was leaving this Common Goldeneye flushed from the far end of the pond and flew past me.







Later as the boys and I were heading out for a day on the prairie, we stopped by to see if the loon was still there and he was. I spent a bit more time in some better light and filled up another card.

Grouse Comparison

Below are three photos to compare the appearance of the hybrid Sharp-tailed Grouse/Greater Sage-Grouse with both of it's parent species.


Sharp-tailed Grouse


Hybrid Grouse


Greater Sage-Grouse