Orchard Oriole

Orchard Oriole - Our Smallest Oriole

Orchard Oriole Male

The Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius) is our smallest oriole.  The only other oriole species we regularly have is the Baltimore Oriole which is 22cm/8.7" long compared to the 18 cm/7" of the Orchard Oriole.  The Orchard Oriole is a very rare spring visitor usually to the southern part of the province, mainly to the Fundy coast.  The number of visitors each year varies from none to several.  One banner year (1997) brought more than 30 records.

Orioles are members of the blackbird family, Icteridae.  Other members of this family include bobolinks, blackbirds, meadowlarks, grackles, and cowbirds.  The normal summer range of the Orchard Oriole is the eastern half of the US north to the Great Lakes and the southern prairies.  In the east it normally is found north to New York State and Massachusetts.  It winters in Central America and northwestern South America.  It prefers open woodlands, orchards, and suburban gardens.

Orchard Oriole - Male  [Internet Photo]

The male Orchard Oriole is not as striking in appearance as the Baltimore Oriole.  It is black on the head and back and shows a chestnut brown on its breast, flanks and rump.   The bill is black with blue on the lower mandible.  There is a white wing bar and the flight feathers show white edges.  The tail is all black unlike that of the Baltimore Oriole which is black and orange.  

Orchard Oriole - Female  [Internet Photo]

The female Orchard Oriole is difficult to identify.  She can be confused with female Scarlet or Summer Tanagers.  The tanagers, however, have large light-coloured bills and no wing bars.  The female Orchard Oriole is olive green above and bright yellow below and shows two white wing bars.  I have never seen a female Orchard Oriole but look forward to finding one here some summer.  See the photo above.

The immature male Orchard Oriole looks much like the female but shows a black bib and lores (area in front of the eye).  Sometimes by summer it shows some chestnut on the breast.  The photo below shows an immature Orchard Oriole which I photographed in Grand Manan recently.

Orchard Oriole - Immature Male

The Orchard Oriole normally eats insects, nectar, flowers and fruits.  It builds its nest in trees or bushes and out of grass and lines it with plant down.  It weaves its nest just like the Baltimore Oriole does.  It normally lays 3 to 7 pale blue or gray eggs with gray, purple or brown spots.  The female incubates the eggs for 12 to 14 days.  The song of the Orchard Oriole is a long series of rich whistles, just as pretty as the song of the Baltimore Oriole but different.  Its call note is a distinctive 'chuck'.  

Orchard Oriole - Male

The male Orchard Oriole shown above was photographed in the Fredericton area.  It is interesting to note that this is the second year this individual has come to this location.  Last year he was in immature plumage.  This species is a loyal feeder species.  They readily eat sugar solution, oranges, suet, jelly and raisins.  This individual has found a wonderful place to spend the summer.  We all hope it can find a mate.  

Orchard Orioles usually appear late in the spring, after their cousins, the Baltimore Oriole.  They also leave very early for the south, sometimes as early as mid-July.  They have a long way to go!

The Latin name for this oriole, 'spurius', which means spurious or illegitimate was given because it was confused in the early days with the Baltimore Oriole.  That is interesting because it is easier to tell the Orchard Oriole from the Baltimore than it is to differentiate the many other species of orioles which don't occur here.

I hope the Orchard Oriole becomes numerous enough here so there is no longer any confusion!

Summer Tanager

A Very Rare Tanager - Summer Tanager

Summer Tanager Male

The Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) is a very rare species to find in New Brunswick.  However, this year we seem to be having a minor incursion of this species.  There have been reports of at least 10 individuals, sometimes 2 in one place.  How exciting that is for bird enthusiasts!

The Summer Tanager is a member of the Cardinalidae family, which it shares with other tanagers, cardinals and grosbeaks.  It is a large tanager, larger than the Scarlet Tanager which is more common here; (20cm [7.8"] compared to 18 cm [7"] for the Scarlet Tanager.  

The Summer Tanager is a most spectacular breeding bird.  The male shows a uniform blood-red plumage with wings slightly darker.  The female is a deep yellow, often with an orangish tinge.  The female plumage colour is variable though, often making identification difficult.  The bill of both genders is large and light grayish to a straw colour.  There are no wing bars and the wings of both genders contrast with the body by being just a bit darker.  The wings are not black like in the Scarlet Tanager.  The young tanagers take 2 years to acquire adult plumage and young males usually show very streaked  red and yellow plumage.

The female is sometimes difficult to tell from the female Scarlet Tanager but the wings of the Summer Tanager are dark yellow, not black like in the Scarlet Tanager.  The under-surface of the tail of the Summer Tanager is yellow compared to gray in the Scarlet Tanager.  

Birding is often not easy and there is a trait of the Summer Tanager which can make identification difficult.  There sometimes is a red morph female in this species.  She is often an orange-red but never-the-less, red.  The photo at the top of this post is labelled as a male and it probably is but since it has an orange cast to its red pigment and not blood-red, it could be a red morph female.  This form is very rare, however, so the bird shown at the top is likely a young male.

Summer Tanager Female

The Summer Tanager is mainly a species of the southern US, spending its summers from the central US (east to west) to the south.  It winters in the tropics from central Mexico south  and in the Caribbean Islands.  This species prefers hardwood habitats along streams and rivers.  It feeds on insects and prefers bees and wasps.  It is interesting how it handles feeding on these stinging insects.  It catches a bee in flight and kills it by beating it on a branch.  Note the large bill.  It then removes the stinger by rubbing it on the branch before eating it.  

Summer Tanager Male

The male Summer Tanagers shown here were photographed in New Brunswick, in Gagetown, just recently.  The song of this species is pure and melodious.  It is a series of whistles or warbles and can be confused with the song of the American Robin or the Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  It is beautiful to hear I wish we heard it more often here.  

Shown below is a visual delight I was privy to recently.  This particular family had many birds coming to their back yard feeders.  I was able to capture the male Baltimore Oriole feeding at the same time as the male Summer Tanager.  Feast your eyes!  Nature produces such marvellous beauty.

Summer Tanager Sharing Feeder with Baltimore Oriole

Winter Wren

Winter Wren - Small Bird with a Mighty Song

Winter Wren [R d'Entremont Photo]

 The Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) is a small reclusive bird which is seldom seen but often heard.  Its song is long and melodious. Up to 8 seconds long, it is a mixture of high-pitched trills and warbles with many changes in tempo and pitch.  It is for this song that people often ask, 'What bird is that?'  The bird, however, is seldom seen.

The Winter Wren is our tiniest wren.  We don't have many wren species but occasionally have the House Wren, which is larger.  The Carolina Wren and the Marsh Wren are rarer.  The Winter Wren is just 10 cm (4") long.  It is a dark brownish-gray colour with a short, pale eyebrow, a dark brownish belly and with dark barring on its belly, flanks, wings and tail.  It holds its short tail straight up like most wrens.

The Winter Wren spends most of its time in dense shrubbery and tangled roots and prefers boreal or mixed forest.  In our forest it frequents the roots of upturned trees, fallen logs and thick vegetation.  It often goes into holes and cavities looking for food.  No wonder it is hard to see.  When you hear one singing near you, it is often difficult to actually locate the bird.  This species breeds throughout most of the Canadian provinces and is a permanent resident in British Columbia.  It winters in the eastern US mostly from New York State southward.

Winter Wren [Holland Photo]

The Winter Wren conceals its nest among the upturned roots of a fallen tree.  It builds it from twigs and moss and constructs a side entrance.  Four to 7 white eggs with brown flecks are laid and incubated 12 to 16 days by the female.  The normal diet of this species consists of insects and small invertebrates.

The song of this species has been studied and its nuances are used to differentiate it from the Pacific Wren which looks very similar.  Per unit weight, the Winter Wren sings its song with 10 times the power of a crowing rooster! (iBirdPro)  This species was first described in 1758 by Carolus Linnaeus.  Its Latin name, 'troglodytes' is from the Greek words, 'trogle' meaning 'a hole' and 'dyein' meaning cave-dweller.  These words appropriately describe this species.

Say's Phoebe

Say's Phoebe Shows Up in Keswick

Say's Phoebe

We were lucky last week to get a call telling us there was a Say's Phoebe (Sayornis saya) in Keswick.  In spite of the rain a friend and I made the short trip and found the bird immediately.  It was sitting on a play structure in the back yard of the person reporting the bird.  We watched and photographed it from the protection of her deck.  Not all twitches are that easy nor hosts as obliging!

According to Sibley this species is common in expansive open areas such as prairies, tundra, farmland, and playing fields.  Clearly this bird was far from home!  

The Say's Phoebe looks much like our Eastern Phoebe although only slightly larger (19 cm vs. 18 cm long).  In fact, I had to look closely for the orange on the lower breast and belly to confirm it was a Say's Phoebe.  It perched, moved and flew out from the perch after insects the same way our phoebe does.  

Say's Phoebe [Internet Photo]

The Say's Phoebe has a pale gray throat and upper breast, gray-brown wings and upper parts, brown-black tail and is pale rufous on the belly and undertail coverts.  The juvenile is browner and has pale rufous wing bars.  It does not pump its tail like the Eastern Phoebe.  Our visitor showed pale slightly orange-tinged wing feather edges so may have been a young bird.  The Eastern Phoebe does not show any orange, is slightly smaller and has a darker head and white underparts.  What I noticed about this individual is that its head looked darker like the Eastern Phoebe except in good light when you could tell it was light gray.  All 3 photos in this post show a dark head.  The top and bottom photos are of the bird seen in Keswick and it did have a lighter head in good light.

Say's Phoebe

The Say's Phoebe is a western species.  Its summer range covers inland Alaska, British Columbia, Alberta and southern Saskatchewan, and all the western US states.  It winters in coastal California east to Texas and south to much of Mexico.  It is a permanent resident in some of these areas.  

The Say's Phoebe is an active flycatcher.  It feeds on insects and sometimes berries. It builds its nest in a sheltered dry site on a ledge, rock wall, bridge or building.  It builds its nest of grass and fibres and lays 3 to 7 white eggs.  Incubation is 12 to 14 days and is done by the female.  She usually raises 2 clutches.  

The Say's Phoebe is named after an American naturalist, Thomas Say.  This phoebe species breeds farther north than any other flycatcher.  It breeds as far north in Alaska as there are nesting sites.  Sadly the population numbers of this species are declining like many other species of birds.  It is thought that the decline is due to the loss of habitat in its winter range.  

Snowy Egret

Egrets Arrive From the South

Snowy Egret

 It is early May and the egrets have arrived.  At this time of year we usually have two species of egrets stray into our province from the south.  Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets often come in the spring and a third species, Cattle Egrets, often come in the fall.  Snowy Egrets are listed as rare visitors in 'Birds of New Brunswick: An Annotated List'.

On Sunday, April 28, we found 2 Snowy Egrets (Egretta thula) at Saints Rest Marsh in Saint John.  They were on the highway side of the marsh and were easily seen from the roadside.  They were busy feeding and comfortable with the heavy traffic whizzing by.   It was a real treat to watch them.

The Snowy Egret is smaller than the Great Egret (61 cm/24" compared to 99cm/39") but larger than the Cattle Egret, which is only 51 cm/20" long.  The Snowy is a delicate-looking bird,  pure white with beautiful plumes coming off its head and breast in breeding season.  It has a black bill and yellow orbital areas.  Its legs are black with bright yellow feet, 'golden slippers' as described by some.  It is found in both fresh and salt water habitats but usually appears in salt marshes here.  It feeds on fish, aquatic invertebrates and sometimes snakes and amphibians.  It feeds by standing still in water and stabbing at prey.

Snowy Egret

Usually the only species that you would have to distinguish the Snowy Egret from here is the Great Egret and size and the presence of the black bill and yellow feet tell you it is a Snowy.  However, in rarer circumstances you might have to differentiate it from a white morph Little Blue Heron which would be very rare here.  That form of the Little Blue Heron has a bicoloured bill,  greenish legs and often black tips to its primary feathers.

The Snowy Egret is a permanent resident of Florida, the coastal areas of Georgia and South Carolina, Mexico, California and the West Indies.  It moves northward throughout the US as far as the mid-central area to breed and some of those migrating birds overshoot up the eastern coast to Maine and New Brunswick.  In its normal range it forms colonies with other large wading birds.  It nests in trees where it builds a platform nest from twigs and sticks.  It occasionally nests in marsh grass.  Both adults incubate the eggs for 18 days.

Snowy Egret

The Snowy Egret population was nearly driven to extinction in the late 1800s and early 1900s due to the millinery industry.  Their beautiful plumes became desirable to decorate womens' hats and the price of plumes was driven above the price of gold at that time.  That led to the near demise of this beautiful species!  Human beings and their foibles!  I hope we have learned that vanity does not trump the conservation of our animal and plant species.

Another interesting fact about the Snowy Egret comes from iBirdPro.  Apparently a pair of these egrets has trouble recognizing each other, distinguishing the individual from any other Snowy Egret.  When one of the mates arrives at the nest to relieve the other, it has to do a special greeting ceremony to be recognized.  Otherwise it would be attacked by the mate.  That is something we miss seeing because these birds do not breed here.