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First.... more babies! I helped these geese protect babies back when the swan monster tried to kill them. The parents brought them back the next day--when they were very little. Today they're back. Now with their adolescents, or maybe tweens. I don't know. They're bigger. Nesting season is fun because of all the babies. Water fowl have all kinds of hazards because they lay their eggs on land, where predators are everywhere. But tree nesters also have predators. Hawks, raccoons are a constant threat. Snakes. And, well, sadly us humans. Particularly humans who run utilities that cut down trees during nesting season. --TREE CUTTING DURING NESTING SEASON Utilities that trim their trees or cut them down when it's convenient for them like during nesting season are engaging in reckless, cruel behavior. Even if the nest is moved during this time, usually the babies do not survive, because they are placed upon the ground. The parent birds will try but usually it's hopeless. Private property owners sometimes cut trees during nesting season. We usually do not regulate private property owners and some of them don't understand the importance of nesting to our ecosystem. We can only try to convince them to try to see themselves as living among the wildlife, not in spite of the wild life. But utility companies serve communities, are regulated, create enormous societal costs. They should know better. I have already put up articles on the decline of birds, but I will once again put up an article by the about a 2019 study that found significant drops in bird population since 1970. 1 in 4 birds disappeared. And the drop was in several common, everyday backyard birds we are all used to seeing. Juncos. Warblers. Blackbirds. Even finches. Dropping in population fast. Of course, the biggest contributor to the bird decline are cats. Then humans. Windows. Planes. And utility companies who display no concern for their societal and environmental damage when they aggressively trim trees or destroy trees in May and June. Like Eversource. Eversource announced back in April they were going to aggressively trim trees to prevent extended outages. We have a history of bad storms causing long outages. That's because we have an arboreal landscape. Eversource, however, also said they would be cutting down 100 trees. Healthy trees. These trees, they suggested, were hazardous to lines. First trees. Did you know the average tree absorbs 330 pounds of carbon dioxide? Even if you plant trees to offset this carbon footprint, that new tree takes at least a decade of growth to catch up. But, OK, maybe the utility company is in a bad position. They have to cut trees to prevent storm damage. It's a cost, and new plantings will not immediately offset this cost, but they have to do it. We all get this.... But here's the deal.... SOME UTILITIES, LIKE CONNECTICUT'S EVERSOURCE, ARE CUTTING DOWN TREES DURING NESTING SEASON! MAY AND JUNE! There is no excuse for this horrendous tree management. And when I called Eversource's PR representative and asked why they were cutting trees during May and June, her standard reply ("we follow all environmental guidelines") revealed no thoughtful understanding of why nesting season tree destruction should be avoided. She did not appear to understand the problem with bird population declines and how the risk of nest destruction could impact migratory populations all over the Eastern coast. They probably try to save nests, as I believe it's illegal to destroy nests, but unless they avoid taking down the tree, chances are high a moved nest will be nonproductive. I called legislators too, and one promised to talk with Eversource. But today, June 11, Eversource put out another press release, now claiming they are doing EMERGENCY tree trimming and cutting. Apparently the trees are dangerously close to the wires and they just noticed this. So now it's an emergency. Somehow back in April when they first announced the aggressive tree trimming, it was not an emergency. Now that neighbors have protested tree cutting, it is an emergency that has to be done right away. So, instead of assuring the community they are doing everything possible to consider environmental damage--maybe planting new trees, or checking trees for nests before cutting them down--they seem to be doubling down. It has to done right away because it's now an emergency. (if it is indeed an emergency, could this not have been predicted months ago?) We're already suffering from impact of the utility and energy industries' neglect of their impact upon global warming. Years of lobbying to keep regulation at bay, allowed them to continue to spew CO2 into our atmosphere. I was an bond utility analyst during the years when action could have alleviated our current global warming situation. I met with some companies who spent millions and millions on lobbies to stop regulation. It was way off in the future, didn't impact anything in the current, some even laughed at the "tree huggers." Some of the companies had good points--one being that US utility pollution control on a per BTU basis was quite competitive. Certainly the biggest polluter was (and is, although they are turning it around) China. But our growth still resulted in significant nominal contribution of global environmental damage. In my opinion, utility executives who were sincerely concerned about the environment, who did not laugh or suggest environmentalists were "tree huggers", who did not spend an inordinate amount of money on lobbyists, usually lead well-run, efficient energy companies. They tended to be excellent nuclear operators, and had good relationships with regulators. If you are reading this and think, well, this is Connecticut's problem. They have a utility company who disregards wildlife. No, it's not just Connecticut's problem. Migratory birds fly south in the fall and back here to nest in the spring. Some fly west and then back here to nest. Birds are everywhere. They belong to all of us. What Eversource is doing to nests here will impact the entire Eastern coastal territory. Call them. Call your legislator. Force utilities to care about our bird population. Maybe they should read the article below. Click on the crow below to read about the decline in birds. 
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Remember when the swan was a monster after the geese? Sure, he's an alpha and territorial, regardless of circumstances. But below is the real reason for his extreme aggression. Signets, or baby swans. Five signets are now at a relatively safe size. The snapping turtles are no longer a real threat to them now. Snapping turtles mate and nest here, so... Then signets are still threatened by numerous predators from above. Hawks. Owls. And then there are the minks and coyotes etc. Five signets is a success. They have survived storms, which bring surges into the grasses where the female swan nests. They have survived muskrats, raccoons, crows, minks, hawks, grackles (the most obnoxious bird on earth and a constant threat to nests). Now they have to make sure the babies get food--tons of food, which makes it difficult for the other waterfowl. We have a duck family across the pond and I am nervous they swan Dad may go after them. However, I've never seen the swans go after ducks. That's because the ducks do not compete for the exact same food. Below are the new signets. When the industry regulates itself, it doesn't work. Tap on image below for article.  Ugh. All Memorial Day weekend... rain rain rain. Swan babies are here. Duck babies--Junior's babies... are here. I couldn't get a good pictures, because.... rain. Rain. Rain. Rain. I am hoping I will see the duck babies again. She brought them to my yard, then stared at the yard, hoping for corn. By the time I arrived, she was off to the water, babies in tow. She tucked them away somewhere, then came back to eat corn. But no pictures. Daisy was upset she didn't get to play with babies in the rain.   The view out my window yesterday. Turkey bachlers competing.
So, Mr. Crow is what I call him, and he's been visiting. And eating peanuts, of course, as you can see from the pictures I've posted. I've read birds don't like crows but I don't see much fuss over Mr. Crow. Even the blue jays accept him. I call the male Mr. Crow because he's so magnificent, there's no name that does him justice. And he's a Mr something. He struts, he studies other birds. He's Mr. Crow.
Most every morning Mr. Crow is first to strut in the yard, as if checking it out before he allows his mate to arrive. In other words, he's a gentleman. I toss peanuts, he flutters up to a tree limb. He usually doesn't stay on the ground when I step outside. I used to simply toss peanuts out the window. He'd stare at the peanuts as the squirrels skittered about eating them. The mate would arrive. Then he'd drop down and eat. His mate would stay in the tree a while before eventually joining him. I always say "Mr. Crow" when I toss peanuts. Or "Miss Crow. " Always. And in a cheerful melody. Today was a milestone. Mr. Crow stayed on the ground when I stepped outside! Progress is baby steps in the world of birds. And a few interesting things happened. First, some background info. I've always named certain birds that are regular. I have names for a duck couple who come for corn during nesting season (Bubba and Louise). I've named two turkeys who come to strut, display and mate (Lorene and Harold). Bubba and Louise know their names. The turkeys do not. Also, I call the flock of blue jays "Jay, Jay". I say this in a certain way when I toss food so that they see that sound as positive. When they show up, I say it again. The blue jays seem to understand that "Jay, Jay" is their name. So, here is what happened a few days ago with the crows. They had been showing up up regularly for about a week. Then nothing. So, after a day of no crows, I walked out in the morning with my dog, looked up in the canopy and said, in a normal voice, not loud, "Where's Mr. Crow. Mr. Crow, where are you?" I filled the feeders and took my dog back inside. Within five minutes, I heard a distant "caw, caw." I opened the window and the caws came closer and closer. Soon the caws were in a neighbor's tree. Then my tree. Mr Crow landed in my yard. I grabbed the bag of peanuts, went outside. I repeated "Mr. Crow" when I tossed the peanuts. He stayed on the ground but flew up into the trees when I tossed peanuts, only eating after I left. His mate remained perched until I disappeared. (Needless to say, squirrels came out of the woodwork. I now have a small squirrel problem.) Anyway, it appears that not only do the crows understand their name, but also seem to respond to the name. Again, I emphasize, "seemed." Who knows? I called them again yesterday and within 15 minutes I saw them in the yard. This time they didn't talk. They quietly appeared. This morning, the ducks--Louise and Bubba-- arrived. And so did Mr. Crow. The ducks didn't seem bothered by a crow who is almost as big as they are. Mr. Crow was careful and polite. In fact both of them are always careful and polite. They seem to get there's a community here and rules. (Grackles don't get this at all.) When I brought out corn for Louise and Bubba, I told the ducks, "That's Mr. Crow. He'll keep the hawks away." My back was to the tree where Mr. Crow perched. But right after I said, "hawks," a loud, intense hawk scream imitation arose from the canopy. I could not tell if the crow imitated the hawk scream or perhaps a hidden blue jay. Blue jays always imitate hawks. I've read crows can imitate sounds, but I've never witnessed a crow imitating a hawk scream. But one of those corvids--blue jay or crow--heard "hawk" and imitated the scream. The combination of name recognition and response to the word, "hawk"-- the crow's and blue jay's greatest nemesis--leads me to wonder about how advanced their language skills are. Do corvids not only have their own language, but also, understand some of our language? Have they heard humans talk over the years and learned certain words, like hawk? It would seem reasonable that they would hear humans say "hawk" when hawk is nearby or flying over. Furthermore, it's obvious to me that Mr. Crow learned his name fast. Did he already know humans call him crow? Or did he simply associate "Mr. Crow" with peanuts, and from a distance (maybe 1/8th of a mile) heard it and thought peanut? So, he flew to my yard? Either way, this is a very smart bird. I know some people find crows annoying, and perhaps a murder of crows is annoying. But I've had a different experience. Grackles are annoying. Geese can be annoying. At times, blue jays can be annoying. But Crows? So far, they've been nothing but gracious and polite. So, the swan. They're very beautiful, create cute babies, strike me as somewhat intelligent (but not quite as smart as the geese... as my story will reveal), seem to recognize names I've given them etc, and have distinct personalities. I like them. But they're an invasive species in this area, which is not good for waterfowl. Swans eat a lot of food, the same food the Canadian geese prefer, are very aggressive and territorial, and the ecosystem does not appear to have evolved to adjust to their presence. Nesting is difficult for waterfowl when the swan is around. During swan nesting, the male swan becomes hyper aggressive, particularly with the geese. The male swan chases the geese, tries to kill the female, and if the eggs are successful, he goes after goslings. He doesn't just scare parents and goslings, he tries to kill them. I have no idea why the geese stubbornly return to the pond, or the pond to the left of my pond, to nest each spring given the brutality of the swan, who obviously wants the female and babies dead. It would seem the geese would forget this place. But, no, they nest on the pond to my left, then bring the babies over to my pond en route to a creek that takes them away. How do they do it? I made a video showing it. I happened to be out and awake when they made the big trip with babies. This is how the geese deal with the evasive creature. They work in groups, they confuse the swan with constant distraction. In the video below I try to show how it works. They have two adult family members helping out. One goose at each corner of the pond, ready to distract if the swan goes for the babies. The morning of this film -yesterday-- the swan cornered the parents and baby. And that's where I come in. (I had to do this last year too) I got my whole wheat bread (only used when this happens. Never ever feed babies bread. Very bad for them) and called the swan over. His name is "gorgeous" and yes, he comes when I call gorgeous. He loves bread. While I distracted him, the parents walked through the woods towards the far end. The video is below. And the next day, the parents brought me their babies. So cute. I put a video of them below. But they truly should stay away. I suspect they lost a baby and came back for it, then came onto my property protected by the fence. They also noticed I helped save the babies and probably knew I would help again. Yes, I did. I once again distracted the swan so they could get away. Sure, most people find the geese annoying and their poops a mess. But these birds are are highly intelligent and creative creatures. I am amazed how they work in groups to protect the offspring. This requires planning, communication skills, and organized processing. I'm impressed. So, I was going to talk about the ducks, as once again duck wars are a thing. I have controlled them, however, and Louise and Bubba are sneaking back when the other drakes are not looking. Bubba still hangs out with his drinking buddies when the hens tend to nesting. Also, Lorene, the turkey, is back, as is the handsome male, Harold. But this spring, they are shy. I am assuming they have bad experiences with humans, like my neighbors across the pond who chased them through the wetlands a week back. Why, I do not know. Turkeys supposed to be in wetlands. Humans are not. But, whatever. Blue jays are busy nesting and still like peanuts. I tried mealworms but they like peanuts better. You'd think they'd tire of them. But here is the big deal. I saw this gorgeous bird in my yard and thought Ravens at first. Ravens are not as common here on the coast of Connecticut. Sure, they hang out near the coast at times, but I have not seen but two ravens since living here. When-- out of the blue--this very large bird landed in my yard early in the morning, I at first thought crow, then wondered if it was a female raven because her head was too big for a crow.. I tossed her peanuts and she flew off, then came back and ate a few. Too shy for a crow? She returned with her mate--a huge, handsome guy with a massive head and shiny feathers. While I tossed peanuts out the window again, they didn't appear to be here for food. They walked around, checking out my place. They perched up in a white pine for a while. Well, I posted a picture on a page with experts and they explained to me in detail why my bird was a crow. There are huge crows around my coast and it's easy to confuse a crow for a raven when they strut next to tiny birds. It was the beak that pointed to crow, though. Too small and straight. So, I edited my post. Doesn't matter. They're gorgeous and friendly. Let's hope they keep me as a friend but only eat mice, lizards and frogs. If you have cowbirds, it may be tempting to take their egg from a nest you have found. Cowbirds, if you don't already know, lay their eggs in another bird's nest, forcing the host mom to feed it. The mother doesn't know any better, she follows her instincts. But sometimes the cowbirds are bigger than the host baby birds and can hoard food--starving other nest babies. Birds hate them. But if you see a nest with a weird egg, do not remove it. I found this article on another backyard bird page. It's interesting. tap the picture below for the article.  So, here we are at spring. The country is healing. About half of us are vaccinated. We are seeing friends and actually hugging them. We are emerging from our nests and joining humanity again--well, small, itty bitty pieces of humanity because baby steps. Have the birds noticed? Are they sad that once again clusters of human tribes are coming alive. Once again, cacophonous noise is rising from all our human engines. Once again, hazy air is smothering migration paths. Or, are they sad we are leaving them and going back to our insular human social lives? They actually connected with many of us for the first time over the past year. More of us noticed wildlife out our windows as we tired of social media and explored other life forms. I think our awareness of the backyard life has been good for us. It has made us all realize just how important it is to preserve our wildlife. And maybe some of the birds and typical backyard animals have met better representatives of our species. They always meet hunters, trappers, cars and planes. So they understand human danger. It's good they have see more of human decency. Spring always begins for me with activity of waterfowl and swans--who are an invasive species here but we still love them. Bubba and Louise have migrated back and visited for a treat. They are always shy at first, because they have to study me, make sure it's me. I suppose, just as ducks look all alike to humans, we all look alike to them. And over the years we change as we age, unlike the ducks. I have to be careful this year because the other ducks are competitive and territorial. Even Bubba's son has become violent. To take over the pond for their nesting, it looks like the drakes kill the female. I suspect this is what they do because once again some drakes are trying to kill Louise. I do not feed them at all since feeding would make it worse. Occasionally Bubba and Louise will sneak in and visit. I'll give them corn, then take it up before anyone else notices. Anyway, it's the beginning of nesting for everyone. The blue jays are busy but I see them around, sending alarms when Cooper's hawks fly over. I've not seen Hawthorne, the hawk, in quite a while and assume she is on her nest. Harold, the turkey, showed up a while looking for Lorene, but she hasn't been around but once and that was brief. Hopefully, the turkeys will make an appearance again and I can get more pictures of the babies. But this year, something seems different. A hesitancy. Less activity. I wonder if they all know humans are coming back. The air is thicker with our smells and noise. I just don't know. Anyway, tomorrow is publication day for my novel, DEAD FISH and What the Blue Jays Know. I hope you read it and I hope if you buy it, you'll stick with the book all the way to the end. The ending is important for the feel/theme of the book. I don't want this to be simply a funny book, I'd like it to inspire. OK.. So, below is a video of Bubba and Louise. After the video is a picture I captured of our gorgeous wood ducks.  |
AuthorI like to write about people, animals, dogs. I enjoy ideas, good books about ideas, funny books about ideas, funny people who have ideas, advocates for people who don't have voices to express their ideas, and animals who have ideas we can't understand. Archives
May 2025
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