The Nickajack Naturalist

Backyard Nature--February

This tufted titmouse allowed me to get quite close.  I believe it had been temporarily stunned after flying into the front door.  After a bit, it flew away.

The Great Backyard Bird Count.   

The Great Backyard Bird Count, a project of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society, took place over four days, February 13-16.  One could participate from a minimum of 15 minutes on one day to any number of hours each of the four days.  I counted birds in my yard at home for two half-hour periods, one on Friday, Feb. 13, when I counted 41 birds and 15 species, and one on Sunday, Feb. 15, when I counted 33 birds and 13 species.  There are often more birds than that around, but they seem to get scarce when I try to do a count.  Click here to learn more about the Great Backyard Bird Count.

A couple of blue jays visit the garden feeder.

  In this month's Backyard Nature post, I give examples of my recent attempts at bird photography.  Obviously, they leave a bit to be desired in level of quality.  Birds tend to be wary when I'm out in the yard with a camera, so I set up my DSLR with an 80-300mm lens and 1.4X adapter on a tripod just inside the back door, which works pretty well as a blind.  The problem is the feeders are just to far away to get good close-up shots.  So my plan is to move one of the feeders to a better location as well as to rig up a blind that will allow me to get closer.  Also, I hope to create more photogenic back-drops.  

As is apparent in this photo, this cardinal and white-throated sparrow underneath the hanging feeder are too far away for a good shot from the back door.

A hand-held shot of a robin, taken from the front door.

In the coming months I hope to make improvements to the yard enabling me to have it certified as a backyard wildlife habitat with the National Wildlife Federation.

Click here to see the introductory Backyard Nature post from January.

Bob Butters

After a recent snow, these squirrel tracks appeared on the shed roof.   (All photos: Bob Butters)


     

The Nickajack Naturalist Featured in Get Out Chattanooga

On the hike featured in the Get Out Chattanooga article.             (Photo: Bob Butters)

  Jennifer Bardoner, a writer with Get Out Chattanooga magazine, accompanied me on a group hike I led with Outdoor Chattanooga on Little Cedar Mountain on a cold but sunny day in January.  The resulting article, titled "A Winter Walk with the Nickajack Naturalist", appears in the February issue of Get Out Chattanooga.  Click here to see the full article as it appears in the magazine.  The article continues on pages 38-39.

Bob Butters 

Birding with Bob--Whooping Cranes

February 08, 2015

Whooping cranes.                                                                  (Photo: Steve Hillebrand/USFWS)

  This month's birding experience of note is an easy choice.  On January 24th, while viewing the variety of waterfowl and other birds, including large flocks of sandhill cranes, at the Stevenson City Park and Crow Creek Refuge, I caught sight of three whooping cranes hanging out among the sandhills.  While I had not been aware until recently that sandhill cranes were wintering at Crow Creek, I was certainly surprised to see whooping cranes there.  Previously, I've only seen them a couple of times at Hiwassee Refuge, which is well known as a crane watching location.

  For more, see the preceding post below.

  Until now, I also hadn't realized just how large whooping cranes are.  North America's tallest bird, they stand around five feet in height, with a wingspan of seven to eight feet.  Down to 16 birds in 1941, today there are over 500 whooping cranes, some in the wild and some in captivity.  The largest flock migrates between Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada and Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. The eastern flock, which migrates between Wisconsin and Florida, now numbers over eighty birds, with some wintering in this area.

  As you can see in the above photo, an easy way to identify them in flight is by the black patches on the ends of their wings.  When they're standing among sandhills, they're a bit larger and lighter in color.  Unfortunately, I have yet to be close enough to whooping cranes to get a good photo of my own.

Learn more about whooping cranes at Tennessee Watchable Wildlife.

See the introductory January post in the Birding with Bob series here.  

Bob Butters