Departures: The Chimney Swift for one...

Ever seen a perched Chimney Swift? Probably not.
(Photo by G. Armistead)

Do you know what an "FOY" is? What about an "FOS"?

Birders keeping track of their bird list for the year often refer to these sightings. FOY = First of the year. FOS = First of the season. I just had my FOS Broad-winged Hawk today at Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. I'm not really doing a big year but am keeping track of what I see in Philly this year and I had my FOY Little Blue Heron at Heinz NWR two days ago.

As birders we're pretty good at noting new arrivals. They're fun. All of a sudden something is present that wasn't there before. We're a lot less good at noticing when something isn't around anymore. When's the last Orchard Oriole you saw? If you've been birding regularly this year it's probably been close to a month since you last saw one. They're gone (until ~late April).

For me one of the big events each year is the arrival of Chimney Swifts in spring. It's the same every year. It's late April and I'm walking somewhere in Center City and I hear that familiar twittering call and then I know; spring really has arrived. And when they're gone winter is practically upon us. But when are they gone?

I'd like to issue a challenge. Let's see who will find the "LOY" Chimney Swift; the last-of-the-year Chimney Swift. The Chimney Swift Challenge we can call it. Try seeing Chimney Swift as late as you can. Let's see who sees the last one. I think of them as being gone in mid-October, but if you look at the eBird data (below) you'll see there are actually a few November sightings for Philadelphia. But their numbers here are thinning as we speak, as they head for points south in South America.

The x axis (frequency) is the percentage of eBird lists during the period that recorded a Chimney Swift. The species is not present here in winter but is common in spring and summer, with a sharp increase on arrival in the spring and a sharp decline in fall as they disappear from the region.

If you're interested in learning more about arrival dates, late dates, and high counts of species in Philadelphia, check out this eBird link. Lots of cool information to peruse there. In the meantime, keep after those Chimney Swifts and let's see how long they stick around this year. Fall will be over before you know it.

The ol' "Flying Cigar", a migration champ, the Chimney Swift.

September 4th Informal Meeting - Philadelphia Zoo

Blogged by Phil Witmer

The September 4^th, informal meeting of DVOC was a lot of fun.  We met outside the Philadelphia Zoo and then were escorted through the Zoo to the McNeil Avian Center by Aliza Baltz, Ph.D., and Curator of Birds.  About 20 of us got a private tour of the center and enjoyed gorgeous birds from Africa and South America including a huge pair of hornbills and a pair of hammerkopfs continuously adding to their nest.  The birds were the source of many questions and Aliza was very gracious in the time spent answering them.

 

Following the tour about 12 of us braved rush hour traffic and managed to lead a caravan of cars across Girard Avenue with only a handful of illegal turns and traffic violations to the relative calm of Memorial Hall for our picnic.  Rice salad, hot dogs, pepper/tomato dish, fruit salad and watermelon were a great first course for the brownies that followed.  A small crowd gathered in the clearing to watch a single nighthawk fly over followed by a handful of bats dodging in and out of the trees.  It was growing darker as we doused the coals and packed up after a very pleasant evening.

 

(Pictures by Bert Filemyr)

 

Extralimital: White-headed Woodpecker

One in an intermittent series of posts on birds not generally seen in the DVOC area.

The White-headed Woodpecker is a bird found only in the mountains of western North America. They range from the Mexican to Canadian borders, in the mountains of California, Oregon, Washington and just into British Columbia. Similar in size to our Hairy Woodpecker, these are distinguished by their white head and all black backs (there are hairys out there too).

We saw this pair on a recent trip to Yosemite NP. In the Mariposa Grove of the giant sequoia. The guy above is peeking out of his nest hole in one of the fallen giants there.

This pair was actively flying in and out the their nest, the female with the all white head, the male with the red cap.

Female Perched, Male Leaving the Nest

The birds would take turns foraging and at the nest, one leaving and the other right there to take its place. They did not travel far when out of the nest, a few hundred feet at most, foraging on other downed trees in the immediate vicinity.

We got good albeit somewhat distant views as they came and went. Taking prey back to the nest for the unseen but no doubt hungry chicks.

The birds were common throughout the park and they are non-migratory year round residents. Should you find yourself in the mountains out west look for them in conifer forests, as in addition to the expected insects pine seeds are a dietary staple.

While they seemed completely disinterested in us we still enjoyed their company as we hiked through the park. I'm sure you will too.