Bald Eagles Give & Take
Although a Bald Eagle is massive, has excellent eye sight, powerful leg muscles and strong talons to grip prey with, their predilection for foraging for live prey (mostly fish but also mammals, birds and reptiles) isn’t as great as one might imagine. Often they (particularly immature eagles who lack experience foraging) resort to scavenging dead animals or stealing prey from other birds rather than capturing live prey. Marauded birds include ospreys and herons which are better at capturing live fish and aren’t particularly good at defending themselves.
What seems fitting given that eagles secure much of their food from other birds is that they in turn provide many birds and predators with a meal . Crows, ravens, coyotes, bobcats, and foxes all are known to move in when they become aware of an easy dinner. Eagles are said to be easily displaced by these species at scavenging sites. The pictured American Crows, however, are patiently waiting their turn. (Photo: American Crows waiting for 2nd year Bald Eagle to finish feeding on a fish; inset – Bald Eagle’s 5″-long tracks)
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Winter Provides Predators With Access to Beaver And Muskrat Lodges
Foxes’ and coyotes’ sense of smell is such that they rarely miss an opportunity to check out inhabited beaver or muskrat lodges in the winter, when frozen ponds and marshes allow them access to these tempting sources of food.
Beavers are well protected due to the amount of frozen mud in their lodges that provides an impenetrable barrier to visitors (inset photo: coyote investigates beaver vent in inhabited lodge). Muskrats are not as well protected (even though the walls of their lodges can be up to a foot thick) as their lodges are made of vegetation, primarily cattails and grasses, with very little, if any, mud. In addition to lodges, muskrats build feeding platforms, called “push-ups,” where their scent is strong enough to attract attention from hungry predators (main photo: fox tracks investigate a muskrat push-up).
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Long-tailed Duck
Congratulations to Margaret Curtin, the first NC reader to correctly identify Monday’s Mystery Photo as the tail feathers of a diving Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis), formerly known as an Oldsquaw. This Arctic sea duck spends the winter on both the east and west coasts of North America as well as on the Great Lakes.
Long-tailed Ducks are known for their diving ability, where they use both their feet and wings to propel themselves deeper than most other diving ducks – as deep as 200 feet — in order to feed on invertebrates and small fish. Males have two slim and elongated central tail feathers that stream behind them (lacking in females) and are the last part of their body to vanish when they dive. (Unfortunately, these feathers are wet and under water in my larger photograph.) The other distinctive feature of this duck is its loud nasal-sounding call which can be heard quite a distance along the coasts of its wintering grounds as well as on its tundra breeding grounds.
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Mystery Photo
Can you identify this mostly-submerged creature? Photo taken 2/11/22 off Massachusetts coast. To submit your response, go to the Naturally Curious website and scroll down to “Comments.” Answer will be revealed Monday, 2/21. Looking forward to your creative responses!
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Happy Valentine’s Day !
May you enjoy the warmth of friendship today and every day!
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Female Bobcats In Estrus
The peak of Bobcat breeding occurs in February and March. Blood at the site of this scrape, where both feces and urine were deposited, confirms that a female bobcat is in estrus. For the past few weeks she has been rubbing on bushes and stumps, urinating frequently in order to mark her territory and vocalizing frequently in order to advertise her coming availability. Once estrus is approaching, pairs of bobcats engage in all kinds of antics, from chasing each other to jumping up and surprising each other.
The female indicates when she is receptive (as well as when she’s not) to an interested male. Although the actual mating is only about five minutes long, it is performed up to sixteen times a day for several days. (Photo by Mary Landon)
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Horned Lark Update
HORNED LARK UPDATE
It looks like I have been extraordinarily fortunate in finding Horned Larks this winter, for according to Ian Worley, noted Vermont birder, numbers are down significantly for not only Horned Larks, but also Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs this winter in the Champlain Valley. He suggests that this may be due to global warming as well as changes in agricultural land tilling and harvesting practices and equipment.
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Horned Larks Aplenty In Vermont’s Champlain Valley
Along the sides of plowed roads flocks of brown birds called Horned Larks (Eremophila alpestris) may rise up as you drive by, fly in undulating fashion for a while and then settle back down on the roadside where they resume foraging for the seeds of ragweed, foxtail, crab grass and other weedy plants.
With its tiny feather tufts looking like miniature devil horns, this winter visitor from the north and the only native lark of North America will rarely if ever be seen perched in a tree or even a low shrub, for it is a creature of the ground where it both feeds and nests.
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Inside A Beaver Lodge
Recently I came upon an abandoned beaver lodge that was built on the edge of a river that had receded to below one of the entrances to the lodge before it froze. This left the entrance to the lodge visible as well as accessible. Assuming no-one was home (exposed entrance meant beavers most likely weren’t in residence and there were no visible tracks in the snow) I decided to investigate.
I could just squeeze through the entrance which opened up into a relatively flat area with very little head room, where soaking wet beavers once drip-dried while eating the bark off retrieved branches and where they spent hours grooming themselves. Two entrances (once, but no longer, under water) led to this platform area. Off of this central area was a hole about two feet in diameter which led into a raised chamber which once served as a bedroom for the resident rodents, who at one time may have numbered as many as eight or more, judging from the size of the lodge. This second room was roughly six feet long, four feet wide, and two and a half feet high from floor to ceiling.
This bird’s eye view of the interior of a beaver lodge reminded me of the tale of John Colter, a trapper who was part of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. While secretly trapping beavers on Blackfoot hunting grounds he was discovered and chased by Blackfoot braves. Running for his life he is said to have reached the Madison River where he dove in, somehow found the entrance to a nearby beaver lodge and hid inside it until it was safe to come out.
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