Cooper’s Hawk Dossier

November 5, 2009 at 7:08 am (birds, species dossiers)
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by Carl Strang

It has been a while since I have shared one of my species dossiers. One of my practices is to keep records of what I have learned from my own observations of various species, as opposed to reading about them in other sources. Today I bring out my dossier on the Cooper’s hawk. In reviewing it I see that I have left out a lot of observations of this species, which has become common in the Chicago suburbs over the past decade or two, but those other observations would be much like the ones below. The observations begin with my date codes.

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13SE85. Spring Valley Nature Center, Schaumburg. A Cooper’s Hawk pursued a frantic, cheeping young thrush in and out among the trees, in sharp twists, turns, and vertical climbs and plunges, for a good 15 seconds. Then the hawk broke off, and the thrush escaped. This took place in an old field between stands of trees. Could the cheeping have been a signal to the hawk that the thrush had plenty of wind? As soon as the hawk turned back into the woods, the thrush continued its flight over an open field.

2AP88. One passed through woods at Hartz Lake (in Indiana), occasionally calling “kip.” Flew and perched, flew and perched its way across woods.

12MR92, McDowell Forest Preserve. A Cooper’s flew, northerly, high above woods. Pursued by a crow that occasionally swooped at it, but the hawk itself was nearly crow-sized, and it often turned and flew at the crow. Flight faster and more twisty then, but the crow turned to pursue the hawk when the latter resumed its path. Three such cycles observed.

18AP92. Hartz Lake. Pair of Cooper’s hawks hanging around a clearing in the woods, often calling: a wild-sounding, almost woodpecker-like “eh-eh-eh-…” (15-20 repeated syllables).

20AU92. Cooper’s chased a couple crows at Herrick Lake F.P., not seriously. They rattle-called afterwards.

18MR99. An immature plumaged Coopers appeared, hung around the Willowbrook riparian area (SE corner of preserve) for the rest of March, calling frequently, but vanished in early April.

1SE99. Cooper’s hawk soared above Nature Trail area of Willowbrook, moving north to south. They soar from time to time.

15JE00. Morton Arboretum. Near Parking Lot 7, when I arrived around 8am, 3 robins were giving the high‑pitched thin call repeatedly, and the forest otherwise was relatively quiet. After 10 minutes, a Cooper’s hawk started calling nearby, then flew out away from the forest edge until an eastern kingbird started to chase it. It immediately turned around and flew back the way it had come, and kept going. The robins then were quiet.

16JE00. Willowbrook. In the afternoon, a Cooper’s hawk perched near the west edge of the prairie, drawing alarm calls from a robin (the hawk‑whistle warning call) and a cardinal, and a chorus of 7 loudly mobbing jays.

18JL00. Willowbrook. In the early afternoon, a Cooper’s hawk soared low above the marsh and areas east and west of it, while 3 red‑tails soared high. One of the visiting red‑tails called once, but the Cooper’s, which has been resident all summer, called repeatedly.

26FE01. A Cooper’s called for a long time from the top of a tree near the islands in the river at McDowell Grove. A harrier was flying overhead, but the Cooper’s did not appear to be looking at it while calling.

14AP01. 2 Cooper’s, possibly a pair, at West DuPage Woods. One made an unusual flight through the open air, with exaggerated, moth-like wingbeats reminding me very much of a short-eared owl.

5MY01. A Cooper’s hawk incubating a stick nest high in a tree at Wayne Grove Forest Preserve. Tail visible from below.

10JA02. Two jays newly arrived at Willowbrook (for weeks there had been one, at most, and these were in addition to that one). They were mimicking crow caws, with lower volume and a brighter tone that made the mimicry clear, but an interesting sound. One of them also repeatedly imitated a Cooper’s hawk’s calls, both the string of notes and the isolated single notes. Again the volume was lower than in the hawk, but tonal fidelity was very good. They were in brush, low to the ground and close to me (the Cooper’s imitator was within 20 feet and clearly knew I was there). Before long I saw a Cooper’s hawk, almost certainly the same one that we saw hunting the day before by sitting and waiting on a tree branch for a minute or 2, then moving to a new perch. Today the hawk was perched about 100 yards from the jays.

12MR02. As 2 Cooper’s hawks began to call in the woods at Willowbrook, a jay flew to the treetops above them and began the bobbing “teakettle” call. Another jay arrived and began to “jay” call as the first continued on away in the direction it had been going.

26OC07. A Cooper’s hawk still calling at Fullersburg.

2006-2008. Cooper’s hawks nested at Fullersburg. The great horned owls there prefer to use a hawk nest from the previous year. In at least one year the Cooper’s were successful, as fledglings frequently were to be seen. In at least one year, and perhaps two, the hawks started to incubate but then abandoned. In one case this happened shortly after a pair of broad-winged hawks arrived and began to advertise their territory nearby.

24MR09. Mayslake. Scattered feathers of a Cooper’s hawk in the prairie south of the stream corridor marsh. The location, and nature of feather damage pointed to great horned owl as the predator.

Coopers kill 2b

 Late summer 09. Mayslake. One day a Cooper’s hawk caught a young-of-the-year robin in the woodland east of the mansion.

 Autumn 09, Mayslake. A Cooper’s hawk, flying low, could see through the windows of the library wing, and attempted to fly through as it would a space within a forest canopy. Unfortunately the windows were closed. It was not flying fast, and after bouncing off flew away, apparently unharmed.

With the winter’s slower season arriving, I expect to be sharing more dossiers. I encourage any student of natural history to be careful in separating what you know out of personal experience from what you have heard second hand.

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American Toad Dossier

June 12, 2009 at 11:08 am (reptiles and amphibians, species dossiers)
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by Carl Strang

It has been a while since I have shared one of my dossiers. The idea, which I began in the 1980’s, is to make a written record of everything I have learned about a species from personal experience. Some dossiers have grown to be relatively large over the years. Others, like this one, have remained small.

Toad 2b

American Toad

Terrestrial most of year, in wooded areas, hunting for insects at night, catching them with long-thrown, sticky tongue. Sing in numbers in ponds in spring, song a trill. Sings later than chorus frogs, spring peepers and wood frogs. Smaller males ride on females’ backs, clasping with forearms. Eggs laid in long strings, hatch into tiny black tadpoles which develop in a few weeks into tiny toads that disperse, sometimes in great numbers, into the surrounding landscape. Common near home in Culver when I was a child. Once the dog grabbed one but spit it out and showed distress, salivating excessively afterwards.

10MY87. Singing at McKee Marsh.

30AP88. Singing at McKee Marsh.

12-13MY99. Singing at Willowbrook.

30AP00. I can hear them singing from the house on Briarwood, Warrenville.

21AP01. First of year singing, heard from the house. On 22nd, also, many singing at Pratts Wayne Woods.

13JE06. Tri-County State Park. Chorus frogs and American toads have resumed singing after heavy recent rains have raised water levels, here and at Fermilab for chorus frogs, and here and at Fullersburg for toads.

21MY09. Mayslake. A toad moving through the savanna, mid-day. Earlier in the season several sang in the marsh just west of the stream, but only there on the preserve.

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American Robin Dossier

April 29, 2009 at 2:48 am (birds, botany, ecology, species dossiers)
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by Carl Strang

 

Today’s post is another in my series of species dossiers. It begins with the summary paragraph written when I established the dossier in late 1986 or early 1987. I have edited out some less informative entries.

 

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American Robin. Familiar bird of natural and artificial savannas. Primarily a summer resident, although small numbers remain in northern IN and IL around fruit-rich areas as long as winter weather is not too severe. Waves of migrants seen each spring and fall. Nest typically on branches of broadleaf trees, or in shrubs. Nest of grasses and mud, with deep inner cup. Sometimes grasses dipped in mud before delivery to nest. Eggs deep sky-blue. Young may get out of nest a short distance a couple of days before fledging, but after early-morning departure from nest they tend to travel some distance and do not return. Young scattered, tended individually by parents, who swoop and may peck at people or mammals which approach the young. Fledglings have dark spots on breast. Worms and insects hunted on ground in summer; fruit the winter food. Mulberries eaten by both adults and young in early summer. Winter berries include buckthorn, mountain ash. Song dominates habitat in early morning and dusk. A musical series of phrases, each composed of 2-3 clear, slurred whistling notes sung from mid to high perches in trees, on aerials, etc. Alarm call “cheet’-der-der-der-der.” Occasional battles, presumably territorial, take place. Striking white spots on tips of tail feathers may be “follow-me” signals. Preyed upon by cats, on occasion. When hunting worms, run 2-20 feet over the ground, stop, then may move a short distance, lean down with side of head turned toward Earth, then possibly reach down and pull up worm with beak.

26AP80. Pennsylvania. Robins, when startled into flight across the path of an approaching car, appear to use body-twisting and turning tactics more appropriate to flight from a hawk.

14JE87. Young-of-year eating mulberries at Culver Fish Hatchery.

9SE87. Large flock in Willowbrook Back 40. One ate grapes.

16SE87. In the evening, within a half-hour before sunset, robins were migrating south over Willowbrook. They flew just above treetop level, in flocks of 3-30, occasionally perching to rest for a time in the treetops, then moving on. The birds occasionally called to one another in flight, alternately flapping in short bursts, and gliding.

29AP88. A robin on a nest at Pratts Wayne Woods Forest Preserve, 6 feet up in crotch of a 15-foot, 3″dbh fencerow box elder.

7AU88. Young robin, apparently independent but still with spots, eating black cherries in Willowbrook Back 40.

30AU88. Lots in Back 40, mostly on ground but 1 in black cherry going after fruit.

5OC88. Robins eating grapes, Back 40.

6OC88. Robins eating gray dogwood fruits, Back 40.

12OC88. Robins eating honeysuckle fruits, Back 40.

17JE89. A broad-wing calling repeatedly, in north end of Maple Grove Forest Preserve. Robins definitely disturbed, with nervous dee-dee-dee’s every 20 seconds or so.

28AU89. Robins eating gray dogwood fruit, Back 40.

21OC89. Robins eating buckthorn berries, West DuPage Woods Forest Preserve.

3JA90. A robin singing very softly at Herrick Lake Forest Preserve. Temperature ~40F, sun.

 

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14JA90. A large robin flock, scattered in woods on ground, moving as they do when hunting worms. Ground frozen. Saw occasional reaches to turn over a leaf, but no feeding.

7AP90. Robins in forest at Winfield Mounds Forest Preserve, throwing leaves with beaks to find food.

2JE90. Culver. A robin foraging on lawn (20 feet from nearest shrub) singing, 7:30am.

14SE90. Willowbrook, robin ate a couple small grapes, swallowing them whole.

JA99. Robins present on Willowbrook preserve all winter. Heavily fruiting asiatic bittersweet (Celastrus vine) a particular attraction.

6FE99. At Morton Arboretum, in an area thick with honeysuckle beneath a mesic forest, many robins feeding on the ground, vigorously throwing leaves aside and eating very small things too quickly to identify. I dug, found a mix of insects and fruit-like items.

9SE99. 2 robins eating buckthorn berries at Willowbrook.

13OC99. Robin occasionally singing at Willowbrook.

8FE00. Robin eating buckthorn berries at Willowbrook. They are fewer and more intermittent than last winter, 1 or 2 at most at any time.

13AP00. Willowbrook. One robin chasing another in the savanna. Could robins have nested in prairie savannas in years when fire burned off the tall plants beneath the trees? They might have fledged an early brood before the new plants got too tall for them.

16AP00. Willowbrook. A robin carrying nesting material.

1JE00. Arboretum. Along the Joy Path, a robin was perched in the lower branches of a maple, well concealed from above by leaves, sitting absolutely still and barely opening its beak at intervals to give a high-pitched note, somewhat waxwing-like but louder, better defined, that was difficult to locate.

15JE00. Arboretum. Near Parking Lot 7, when I arrived around 8am, 3 robins were giving the high‑pitched thin call repeatedly, and the forest otherwise was relatively quiet. After 10 minutes, a Cooper’s hawk started calling nearby, then flew out away from the forest edge until an eastern kingbird started to chase it. It immediately turned around and flew back the way it had come, and kept going. The robins then were quiet.

16JE00. Willowbrook. In the afternoon, a Cooper’s hawk perched near the west edge of the prairie, drawing alarm calls from a robin (the hawk‑whistle warning call) and a cardinal, and a chorus of 7 loudly mobbing jays.

5JL00. Willowbrook. Many robins, adult and first‑year, on the preserve today. A young one, and also a red‑bellied woodpecker, sally‑foraging for insects, possibly flying ants, from the top of a tall dead tree near the stream. (One passing insect was observed for a few seconds before the robin flew out and caught it).

11MR01. A robin singing loudly, Timber Ridge Forest Preserve.

28JL01. A newly on-its-own robin chased a cicada through the air, the insect giving its predator-discouraging call, but broke off the chase and flew back the way it came. The robin was never close to the cicada during the part of the chase I saw.

13MR02. First morning of robin (or any) dawn chorus at my house.

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Eastern Chipmunk Dossier

April 9, 2009 at 11:00 am (mammals, species dossiers)
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by Carl Strang

 

The first chipmunks began to show themselves at Mayslake in the second half of March. Today I’m sharing my dossier  on the species. The codes are my representations of dates, the day followed by my month code, finally the year. The dossier was established in late 1986 or early 1987, entries added thereafter as needed. Since this one is relatively long, I have edited out some entries that simply give date and location observations.

 

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Chipmunk, Eastern

Lives in underground burrows; often plugs some entrances with debris. Vocalizations include “chip-chip-chip…” and chip-trill alarm “chip-chip-churrrrr.” Single “chip,” birdlike. Lives in forests and at forest edges. Also savannahs with some bushy cover. Can climb trees but usually forages on ground. Disappears for most of the winter, apparently plugging burrows. In presence of red fox (passing with another chipmunk dead in mouth), they gave a couple quick chips and were silent (MY86). I have had one “singing” while watching me.

6MR87. Newly opened chipmunk burrows in Willowbrook Back 40 the first signs of that species this year.

7AP87. Chip-trill at my approach produced response by gray squirrel: jumped onto low branch, looking alert.

10MY87. Chipmunk pursued by another, stopped with 3 high chips in a lily-of-the-valley patch within forest at North Blackwell, as the other turned back. Then the first one came out into deep oak litter and foraged. Frequently stuck head under leaves, a few times burrowed completely under. In one spot munched several invertebrates, only remains found later were part of a striped slug (1/3 of head end missing, recently bitten off). Ate at least 3 items, 2 appeared to be slugs, the other had legs.

23AU87. When running hard (e.g. crossing open space), hold tails vertical. One ate an acorn.

27AU87. Chipmunk drank from small pool: barely put mouth in water, remained still until done except for rapid fluttering of cheeks. It drank for about 20 seconds.

16AP88. Morton Arboretum. An old chipmunk’s hoard of acorns, now reduced to shells, inside the hollow root of a dead oak. The top of the root has rotted away, exposing the shell fragments.

29MY88. Hartz Lake, in woods. A chipmunk saw me move my arm laterally, gave 3 chips increasing in speed, and ran. Immediately 2 jays feeding on the ground flew up. They were 40-50 feet away.

4AU88. Willowbrook Back 40. Chipmunks active. Early estivation this year because of drought?

 

chipmunk-2b

 

31AU88. Willowbrook Back 40. Chipmunk 15-20 feet up, on slender branches of a 25-30-foot-tall black cherry, cheeks full.

1SE88. Willowbrook. Active past couple weeks, sniffing over the ground and quickly climbing high into cherry trees (and quickly down, head-first), filling cheek pouches.

5MR89. A cold (20F) windy day, ground frozen with crusted snow layer, yet some chipmunks active in a firewood pile at McDowell.

12MR89. Hartz Lake. An area hotly contested by 4-6 chipmunks, in low wooded area with many fallen trunks, standing hollow stems, and brush. Much chasing, sometimes turn around and chase back. Often make squeaking calls. I stalked successfully within 5 feet, lay down with arm alongside log for a while without being recognized, but none came close enough to touch (they had pretty much settled down by then).

 

chipmunk-3b

 

8MY89. A foraging chipmunk appears to find its food mainly by smell, sticks nose into vegetation with eyes closed, takes object with mouth and pulls out to eat.

31AU89. Chipmunks producing lower “chuck” call with great horned owl above.

7SE89. Chipmunk eating a small (less than 0.5″ diameter) red crabapple fruit.

28JE&1JL90. Chipmunks up in mulberry tree canopies (15 feet up) at Willowbrook and West DuPage Woods (mulberries ripe more than a week now).

Late MY90. Hartz Lake. Chipmunks foraged by nosing and digging among oak leaf litter in area of scattered trees.

30AU90. Chipmunks in cherry trees, Willowbrook.

5SE90. Willowbrook. Chipmunk tracks, clear, in fine mud. 3-lobed heel. Hind tracks less clear; pushing off harder from hind feet.

 

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18JE91. Chipmunks on ground, Willowbrook, stuffing themselves with fallen mulberries at midday.

13SE94. Chipmunks climbing high into box elder trees and eating seeds, this week. Go out to the finer twigs, look a little clumsy but undaunted.

5AU95. On Red River in WI, mink hunting along shore. As it came close, chipmunks gave a single loud “chip” apiece and were then silent (see red fox entry, in MY86).

Summer 1999. I listened and watched daily, and did not detect a time when there were no chipmunks active. No estivation, or overlapping among individuals?

2MR00. Willowbrook. First chipmunk of the year seen.

15MR00. Willowbrook. One chipmunk chasing another.

12NO01. Chipmunks still foraging, on a sunny day in the 50’s, Morton Arboretum.

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Woodcock Dossier

March 25, 2009 at 12:33 am (birds, species dossiers)
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by Carl Strang

 

After yesterday’s account of woodcocks at Mayslake, I thought I’d share my dossier  on that species. As always, I began with my observations of the species prior to setting up the dossier in 1987, then added observations coded by date:

 

Once I got a close look at one beside the Tippecanoe River. It walked slowly, with a peculiar bobbling gait, teetering on its short legs. Courtship display observed near Purdue in IN, in PA, and in DuPage County, IL. Male usually flies to his dancing ground in mid-late dusk, with distinctive mothlike flight (continuous flapping of round wings, with some curves and turns in course). Display begins with male on ground, emitting a flat, buzzing call, “beezt,” at 2-8-second intervals. A close observer hears a faint hiccup preceding (coupled to) this “peent” call. The bird turns occasionally to face in different directions. After several minutes of peenting the woodcock takes off, flying low with a whistling titter sound, then turning and flying upward in a spiraling or zigzagging climb. When the bird is near the apex of his flight he still is roughly over his ground site, and the whistling becomes more frantic and labored, in bursts rather than continuous. Finally he hovers or zigzags at an altitude of at least 300 feet, singing a beautiful plaintive whistling song with repeated phrases of separate notes going up in pitch, then down (usually 3 notes, with increasing emphasis, then 3 notes down with lower emphasis). Finally the bird becomes silent and zigzags steeply back to Earth, usually landing where he started, in a little arena of short grass within an early-shrub-stage old field near heavier brush. Often a bird will have 2-3 alternate ground sites. Began late March, ended by 1MY in northern IL, often extending later (even into June) in Indiana, e.g. at Hartz Lake. One bird was observed dealing with an intruder on 2 different nights at Pratts Wayne Woods Forest Preserve, in 1986. Intruder peented a couple times, resident made a loud long buzzing call, then flew toward the intruder, who took off. The pursuing bird escorted the intruder away the first time, but chased it closely for a long time the second night, eventually returning to his initial site. In NE IL the birds danced for around 45 minutes, going up 3-12 times during that period. As the season grew late, they went up fewer times.

12JL87. Flushed 2 in nearly dry artesian-well pond at Culver Fish Hatchery. Looked a little unsteady in flight: youngsters?

8AP89. No woodcocks flew at Pratts Wayne Woods (I heard 7-9 the previous week, and they flew for a program 4 days before that). Weather cold after a cold front, with snow. Also failed to fly 4 days later. Weather cold through that period. A couple peents each night, no more.

15AP89. Hartz Lake, IN. I approached 2 displaying woodcocks. One walked around a lot, over a 10-15 foot area, stretching up and walking slow or fast, between flights. Other walked only a little. First’s peenting frequency became very rapid once, when another woodcock flew over.

13MY89. Still going strong at Hartz Lake. After quitting in dark, one began peenting intermittently later (I was camping), well after dark, and even flew once, at ~11pm. No moon, dark with intermittent showers.

26-29MY90. Hartz Lake. Display still strong on 26th, with about 5 flights in evening. But number of flights tailed off daily. Both morning and evening displays. Morning pattern the reverse of evening’s. Only peented morning of 30th.

2JE90. Woodcock tracks in muddy rut of path at Pratts Wayne Woods. Interspersed with many beak-probe holes. Holes 1/8″ in diameter, sometimes soft mud produces a little larger hole. Middle toe 1.25-1.5″ long, side toes around 1-1.25″.

 

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28FE00. 3 woodcocks peenting in north part of Warrenville Grove Forest Preserve. At least one did complete display at least once.

27MR00. As I ran the prairie path near the Northwoods subdivision at Timber Ridge Forest Preserve, I heard 2 peents from a marshy area at around 6:15pm, well before the light was dim enough for the usual beginning of the courtship display.

27AP06. Fullersburg. Woodcock probed in wet soil near edge of Salt Creek on Willow Island. Caught a large worm, pulled it out, cheeks bulged as it swallowed. Resumed probing after rocking from foot to foot several times. Later, when approached by a red-winged blackbird, it severely cocked its tail up beyond vertical. When the blackbird moved on the woodcock flew across the creek to a brushy area to the south.

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Mink Dossier

February 22, 2009 at 12:29 pm (mammals, species dossiers)
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by Carl Strang

 

Last weekend I paid a visit to Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve. I was surprised to find mink tracks, representing at least 4 individuals, all over the preserve. In the three years my office was there I had seen tracks only once or twice per winter, with only one individual in each case. Today I thought I would share my entire dossier  on that species. Here’s a photo of the critter, then on to the dossier.

 

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We saw them frequently in daytime when floating the Tippecanoe River in Indiana when I was a child. Usually they ran along the shore or appeared in drift snags. Occasionally one dove under the water. I first identified the tracks at Fullerton Forest Preserve in 1985. Five toes each foot, very round appearance in sand or mud, larger than one would expect for the size of the animal (paddle feet for swimming). Winter tracks in snow at McKee Marsh, Blackwell Forest Preserve, early 1986: nearly all in trot or lope patterns (actually a bound with offset feet). Dropped to straight bound once when passing through an area of deeper (6-8″) snow.

25MY86. One observed traveling through a small, cattail-choked waterway at Herrick Lake Forest Preserve. Moving, body seems to flow, even on dry land. It saw me, turned around, and after going back upstream 10 yards or so climbed back over the embankment that separated the smaller waterway from a larger marshy area.

28NO86. At Culver Fish Hatchery:

 

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11JA87. Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve, Sawmill Creek near mouth at Des Plaines River. Mink dug leopard frog up from somewhere beneath trunk of fallen tree resting on bank. Mink carried frog on a twisting path before digging hole in the 8″ snow and depositing the frog without filling hole. Frog not yet frozen, tracks very fresh. Tracks restricted to area around that tree, with many burrow-like holes entered. Mink has shelter there or else emerged from and entered river under tree roots.

21JE87. Tracks crossing muddy road at Herrick Lake Forest Preserve. Photos: in first picture, left track 1.125″ long x 1.25″ wide, right 1.375 long x 1.25 wide. Stride ~13″ in bound. In second picture, front? definitely smaller, hind? aligned more with previous set. If front’s supposed to be larger, animal turned right. In drawings, #1 1.125W x 1.25L; #2 1.25W x 1.125L; #3 1.25L x 1.125W; #4 1.25W x 1.0625L.

 

mink-track-drawing-2b


27JE87. I was picking chickweed in a rank patch at McKee Marsh at about 9am as a mink passed. It was so buried in the chickweed I thought it was a woodchuck, but it seemed to be shaking plants less and making less noise than I would expect, and moving faster. Caught glimpse of its hindquarters and tail. Had passed within 5 feet of me as I stood still. Was moving toward woods, away from marsh, ~40m from marsh.

16JA88. In shallow snow over ice of river, mink did much bounding in travel (mostly). In bound may lead with one side so that some tight “lopes” are actually bounds. Several photos to illustrate this, after fox trot photos. Photos of mink gallop. Sets 2 feet separate, and each set well spread out (bounds on the same ice were 16-18″ apart).

17JA88. See meadow vole entry.

23JA88. McDowell Forest Preserve. Mink trail wound in and out of fence row along edge of brushy/small tree area and grassy field, with some sorties into either but no more than 10m from boundary. Once went down burrow, once apparently slid on belly. Last photo on roll shows separate front and hind feet (otherwise mainly bounding with hind feet landing on fore). FF ~1.125 x 1.125, HF ~1.5 x 1.25W. Entered and exited several more holes. Eventually went into the river. These tracks were made early last night: some in water that later froze; also, I had noticed crystals had formed in tracks, when I tried to blow snow away. Backtracking: had climbed into low (3′) crotch of large willow, crossing to the other side before jumping down. A tangle of trails where a very small stream (6″ wide) flows into river. If the mink I had followed went no farther, its evening home range included ~0.25 mile of shoreline and inland up to 100m.

I picked up another trail consistent with age of first, and followed it back inland, through logs, in and out of holes, etc., until it led to where mink had pulled out of water, on other (N) side of parking lot. Toward end, at least, mink mostly led with left side, though it sometimes led with right.

13FE88. I spotted mink tracks from U.S. 31 between S.R. 110 and Rochester, IN, got pictures. Had tunnels and slides.

 

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15JA89. A mink at Herrick Lake Forest Preserve was dragging something, sometimes leaving only a thin mark atop the bounding set, sometimes a wider (3/4″) mark that was continuous between and over sets. The mark was on top of the tracks, therefore following them, but was on the right side while the hind feet were on the left, implying that the marks weren’t made by the tail. (See red fox 19DE89). Last month at McDowell, I found where a mink had apparently dragged something for a considerable distance, but this time the dragging was continuous and the heavy mark was more than an inch to the left of the bounding tracks. In both instances the animals were moving along the edge of a frozen lake, on the ice.

6JL90. At Hidden Lake Forest Preserve, the largest mink I’ve ever seen, moving from a perennial-old field area backed by forest into the new large marsh area.

5AU95. Red River, WI, near kayak put-in. Mink hunted along shore, on land, within 8 feet of water, moving downstream. Sniffed ground, looked into vegetation. Sometimes stopped, sometimes diagonal walked, sometimes bounded, covered 150 yards of shore before it caught a large crayfish and carried it inland. Chipmunks responded as they did to red fox at Arboretum.

8AU98. Red River, WI. Across from lunch area at first drop: beneath a group of river’s edge white cedars was an old stump with a 4″ hole. Nose of my boat touched a foot away from it, and a mink’s head appeared. I sat still and watched it for more than 3 minutes. It mostly sniffed, looked around, yawned a couple times, stepped its front legs out to sniff my boat, ducked back in a couple times.

30OC99. Dead mink, not dead too long, red blood still around mouth but no other sign of damage, on a mudflat near a stand of cattails at Fermilab. Internal injury, or self-biting during convulsions associated with illness?

21FE99. In the 3 days since the last snow, no mink tracks at McKee Marsh. Was the dead one at Fermi last fall the sign of a diseased, crashing local population?

14OC00. A mink seen at Fermilab, not far from the location of last year’s dead one. 80 yards from water, in upland old field.

31AU01. Algonquin Park, Ontario. A small one, probably an adult female, using the boardwalk of the Spruce Bog Trail, in the bog, to travel on. I was standing still, she did not notice me until 15 feet away, then turned around, went back a few steps, and got off the trail into the bog, disappearing quietly into the dense vegetation. When hunting, she sniffed frequently, and occasionally looked to the side.

20AU05. A mink and I startled one another in the early afternoon as I walked the pond in my dragonfly monitoring route at Songbird Slough. It made a brief loud squalling sound as it turned and ran away, a sound very similar to that made by a complaining juvenile raccoon.

4SE06. A mink visited my camp on the last night of my Georgian Bay sea kayak trip. I was able to get some photos.

 

214-mink-3b

 

14FE09. Fullersburg. Mink tracks are all over the preserve on the morning after a 1” fresh snow over bare ground. There appear to have been 4 individuals active last night: 2 traveling together between Sycamore Peninsula and the York Road bridge, one on and around Willow Island (on both sides of Salt Creek), and one in the west part of Butler Woods. This is in marked contrast to the rare observations of single individuals at Fullersburg over the past three years. Recovering from decimation by disease?

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Species Dossiers

December 6, 2008 at 12:50 pm (birds, methods, species dossiers)
Tags: ,

By Carl Strang

 

Some years ago it occurred to me to wonder, what do I know about wildlife from my own experience rather than from my reading, from TV, or other sources? I began creating dossiers on vertebrate species that included only my own experience-based knowledge. I was appalled at how little there was, even for familiar common species. It prompted me to pay more attention, expanding the dossiers as my observations allowed. These dossiers will be a significant source for future postings. I encourage people generally to make a distinction between what they know from their own experience and what they know second hand.

 

Gray catbird

Gray catbird

 

 

 

For now I will provide an example, for the gray catbird. Looking at its dossier I see that I have failed to note some things I have observed in recent years. For instance, catbirds are in the Mimidae, a family of birds famous for their imitations of other birds’ songs. One of them, the mockingbird, has very good fidelity in its mimicries. Catbirds, with interesting rare exceptions, perform their mimicries with such a strong catbird accent that identifying the model can be a challenge. I have had a number of enjoyable occasions of trying to identify the songs of other birds in catbirds’ performances. I want to make a list of species I have heard catbirds imitating. Robin, cardinal, goldfinch and yellow-throated vireo come to mind from memory.

 

OK, so here’s the dossier:

 

Catbird, Gray

A familiar species on Winfield Street in Culver in childhood. Nested in dense bushes, 4-6 feet up. Also frequently encountered in old field areas in PA and DuPage Co. Tends to stay within thick vegetation and on ground except when singing. Slinky, sneaky movement through brush. Generally 2-4 pairs on Willowbrook Forest Preserve’s [then] 43 acres.

Song consists of a variety of multisyllabic phrases, evenly spaced, with squeaky harmonics in tonal quality. Occasional “meow” notes, very catlike, thrown in. “Meow” sometimes used by itself, I suspect as an alarm. Another alarm, “bwert” with slight “bwoit” tendency.

9JE86. A catbird ran/hopped and paused, robin-like, down sidewalk at Willowbrook before grabbing an invertebrate at the edge.

Still present on territory and rarely singing at Herrick Lake in mid-September 1986. Cat calls heard most frequently, used as a contact call as well as for mobbing/warning. The “bwert” call also used.

Present, singing by 4MY87.

Migrants heard or seen in 1987, Willowbrook: September 10, 13, 14, 15, 23, 25, 28.

13MY88. Catbird using “meow” call as a contact call. The one near me replies, and answers as it forages in shrub. The distant one is out of my sight, almost certainly too far away to be responding directly to my presence.

2SE88. A few still around, Willowbrook. A couple on 13SE, 27SE, 3OC.

30JE90. “Put, put” alarm call resembles Swainson’s Thrush’s in tonal quality.

23JL90. A catbird hopped while on open ground.

3MY99. First of season noted at Willowbrook.  

15SE99. Catbird has a loud, blackbird-like, abrupt sputtering call, “sp-tack!” I’ve been hearing it through the migration season.

12OC99. Last catbird of the season at Willowbrook.

5MY00. First catbirds arrived at Willowbrook yesterday. Today one was eating smooth sumac berries.

17JE00. Arboretum, Joy Path. A catbird sang all morning, or at least every time I was nearby from about 8am to 12 noon, and except for the last part of that period was on the same perch on an exposed dead branch high in a cottonwood, overlooking an area with a lot of ornamental shrubs.

24SE00. Migrating catbirds still abundant.

17SE01. A catbird sang briefly, at Willowbrook.

14SE02. A catbird eating black cherries at Elsen’s Hill.

12OC02. A late bird calling, Fermilab.

22SE08. An unusual group of 11 catbirds together in a low wooded area at Fullersburg.

Unusual catbird conclave, Fullersburg, 22 September 2008

Unusual catbird conclave, Fullersburg, 22 September 2008

 

 

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