Eastern Meadowlark

Two Meadowlarks Arrive in St. Martins

Eastern Meadowlark [Marbeth Wilson Photo]

There have been two special visitors to St. Martins for the last week.  They are not very visible but nevertheless very welcome.  The birders from St. Martins shared that they had found an Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) in tall grass near the ocean.  Soon other birders came to see and it was discovered that there actually were two individuals.  Meadowlarks are relatively rare now in New Brunswick although that was not always the case.  I remember hearing them every spring in the 1970s and possibly into the 80s as they came back to the farms in the Fredericton area.  The last one I heard was about 10 years ago in the Hartland area.  According to 'Birds of New Brunswick: An Annotated List', they were more numerous in the 1940s and 50s and are now a rare summer resident and migrant.  

Eastern Meadowlark [Sharon Letourneau Photo]

The Eastern Meadowlark is a ground-loving Icterid (member of the blackbird family).  It would remind you of a starling in shape but just a bit larger.  It is 24 cm/9.5 in. long.  It appears heavy bodied, has a long sharp bill and short tail feathers.  It has a brown, gray and white striped back and wings, white outer tail feathers and a brilliant yellow breast with a contrasting black 'V'.  The yellow extends onto the throat.  It has yellow lores (the area anterior to the eyes) and a black line extending posterior to the eye which contrasts to the buffy face.  The top of the head is dark brown with a median beige stripe.  The flanks are a buff colour with brown streaks.  This bird is designed for camouflage!  When this species flies what one sees is a light gray and brown streaked bird with remarkable white outer-tail feathers.  

Eastern Meadowlark

The Eastern Meadowlark prefers grasslands and old fields.  The most likely way one would see one is when it perches on a fencepost, usually to sing.  Its song is a melodious 3 to 5 descending whistle sometimes interpreted as 'see you see yer'. It is a good one to remember because one is not likely to know otherwise that the bird is present.  I remember many years ago walking along the road going through Douglas and hearing a meadowlark singing from nearly every field along the line.  I wish that were the case today.

The range of this species covers the eastern half of the US mainly with small incursions into Ontario and Quebec and into NB's western border.  It breeds north of the mid-US and winters in southern US.  In the southern part of the range many are permanent residents and do not migrate.  On several trips to South Carolina in winter we saw Eastern Meadowlarks on dikes in wildlife refuges.  They were wary birds there just as they are here.

Eastern Meadowlark [Internet Photo]

The Eastern Meadowlark makes a grassy nest embellished with pine needles and animal hair.  It is a domed structure with a side entrance and built on the ground as you would expect.  Three to seven pale pink eggs with brown and lavender spots are laid and incubated for 13 to 14 days. The male helps with the incubation.  Male meadowlarks usually have two mates and sometimes even three.  They must be very busy at nesting time!  Meadowlarks feed on seeds, berries and invertebrates.  

The Eastern Meadowlark species is very divergent with up to 17 subspecies currently recognized.  Its population has declined due to habitat loss.  We have noticed this decline badly here also because we are on the fringe of its range.  An interesting fact is its Latin name, Sturnella magna, which means 'large little starling'.  It apparently was given this name because of its similarity to starlings in shape and behaviour.  

Ivory Gull

A Very Rare Gull

Ivory Gull

The Ivory Gull is a very rare gull to see in New Brunswick.  In fact, you could live your whole life here and never see one.  There was one reported from Pigeon Hill in 1997 and one from St-Thomas-de-Kent in 1998.  Our earliest record is one collected at Saint John in 1880.  Winter is the time one might see this gull, but very unlikely.

This rare gull is found almost always in the very far north, from Newfoundland across northern Labrador, the Arctic islands to Alaska.  It lives on the pack ice and feeds on carrion.  Here we might see it in winter along the coast feeding on winter carrion.  

The Ivory Gull (Pagophila eburnea) is a small gull (45 cm/18 in long).  It is all white in colour except for juveniles and first winter gulls which have dark blotching on the face and sometimes on the body and some black in the primary wing feathers.  The adult has black legs and feet and a black eye which contrast strikingly with the white body.  The bill is unique, a bluish colour with a yellow to orange tip.  See photo above.

I was lucky to see this gull shown in the photos of this post.  I was in St. John's, NL, on a gull workshop and this individual appeared on the ice of Quidi Vidi in the few hours before I had to board my airplane for home.  I spent the rest of my time with a fellow birder lying on the ice trying to get good photos.  It wasn't easy but I got the documentary photos presented here.

Ivory Gull

The Ivory Gull breeds in the extreme far north.  In North America it breeds on Baffin and Ellesmere Islands and Greenland.  It normally spends the rest of the year in the high Arctic.  It is a holarctic species, being found in Siberia and occasionally in the extreme northern-western parts of  Europe.  It feeds on fish, small marine mammals, excrement, and prey remains left by polar bears and seals.

Ivory Gull

The Ivory Gull nests in colonies on open ground.  The nest is made from whatever materials are at hand. One to three yellow-brown eggs with dark spots are laid.  Both genders incubate the eggs.  This species uses different techniques to hunt its food.  It usually walks along beaches but it also hovers over the water and plunge-dives for food.  It sometimes swims.  It sometimes feeds at night which would be necessary for such northerly living.  This species regurgitates pellets of its undigested food.  This is especially evident when it is feeding on lemmings.  It sometimes follows polar bears in order to feed on the remains of their prey.

Ivory Gull

The status of the Ivory Gull population is classified as 'near threatened'.  It has declined severely in some parts of its normal range due to pollution, hunting and climate change.  Some estimate the decline to be 80%.  It has completely disappeared in 13 of its previously know breeding sites.  

With this serious decline and the parallel decline in polar bear numbers (probably due to changing ice conditions due to climate change) things do not look good for this species.  Hopefully they will be able to adapt to living closer to human civilization and their population numbers will stabilize.  We are concerned for this unique and beautiful gull species .

Boreal Owl

Very Rare Owl to New Brunswick

Boreal Owl

The Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus) is a very rare owl to see in New Brunswick.  It does inhabit areas north of us but rarely comes this far south.  Never-the-less it is good to know its characteristics in case we come across one sometime.  The Boreal Owl is an Aegolius owl, a species to which the Northern Saw-whet Owl also belongs.  It is easy to tell they are cousins because they look a lot alike. 

Where does the Boreal Owl live?  It normally inhabits Newfoundland, Labrador and the northern areas of Quebec, Ontario and westward to Alaska.  It also ranges in mountainous areas in the western mountains southward into the north-western US.  It is a holarctic species and exists in Scandinavia, Russia and eastward.  It rarely is found in the northern parts of the United Kingdom.  In Europe this species is known as the Tengmalm's Owl.  It has this name in Europe because it is named after the Swedish naturalist, Peter Gustaf Tengmalm.

The Boreal Owl is 25 cm/10 in  long so is very tiny.  For comparison, the Northern Saw-whet is 20 cm/8 in long.  It is more dark chocolate brown in colour than the saw-whet which is more reddish brown.  The Boreal Owl has round spots on its forehead which is a key distinguishing feature to tell it from the saw-whet which has streaks on its forehead.  The Boreal has gray facial disks with a dark border compared to the saw-whet which has a buffy colour in the facial disks and no dark borders to the disks.  The young of each species are similar but the Boreal juvenile is much darker brown with little or no rufous brown.  They both have white eyebrows.  The juveniles of both of these species are shockingly different looking from the adults.  

Boreal Owl

The Boreal Owl is strictly nocturnal and prefers the boreal forest or mixed coniferous forest.  It roosts during the day in thick coniferous trees usually close to the trunk.  It feeds mainly on small rodents but occasionally takes small birds, amphibians and insects.  It hunts from low branches and takes its prey usually with a single glide from its perch.  This species nests in abandoned woodpecker holes in trees.  It occasionally will use a nest box.  When prey is scarce in its normal range, usually the females will fly southward looking for better habitat.  Juveniles disperse widely.  The photos above were taken by me in November, 2003, when just that happened.  A Boreal Owl wandered from the north to find a better living here.  Unfortunately it was so spent when it arrived it succumbed shortly after its arrival.  

Records for the appearance of this species in NB are from anywhere in the province and usually from October to March.  There was an invasion in the winter of 1922-23 and thereafter it bred on Grand Manan until the 1940s.  The Breeding Bird Atlas of the 1980s indicated it may be breeding on Miscou Island.  It certainly should be looked for in coniferous forest of the north of the province even today.

Boreal Owl [Internet Photo]

This owl, being so small, is definitely difficult to find even when it is present.  It is best located by its voice at night.  Birders will recognize its voice as being the first of the play series used for the owl survey.  It is also on the 'mobbing tape' known to many of our birders.  If you happen to see a very small owl, take a good look at its forehead and facial disks to see if you are lucky enough to find a Boreal Owl.  Good luck!

Bald Eagle

Great Comeback Story

Bald Eagle Adult

The Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)  has made a fabulous comeback in population numbers since its precipitous low in the 1950s to 1970s.  Its population was in severe decline when scientists discovered the effects of DDT on bird species.  It was discovered that DDT was softening the shells of birds' eggs and eggs were breaking in the nests of large birds causing widespread nest failures and subsequent population declines.  I remember when it was rare to see an eagle.  I remember how happy I was in the early 1970s to see the first Bald Eagle on my sector of the Fredericton Christmas Bird Count.  The species was declared endangered in 1976 and then upgraded to regionally endangered in 1996.  Now we have Bald Eagles flying around our property every day all year long.  The species is more numerous along the St. John River and southern coast but is increasing all over the province.  They are a majestic bird and we are lucky to have them.

Bald Eagle Adult

Adult male and female Bald Eagles look the same.  The female, however, is usually larger.  Their large size (79-94 cm/31-37 in) is impressive.  The wing span is unmatched by any other land bird in New Brunswick (178-229 cm/70-90 in).  The Turkey Vulture comes close but is still smaller than the eagle and its head is much smaller and dark rather than white like the eagle.  The adult bald eagle has a very distinctive white head and tail, a blackish-brown body and very bright yellow bill and feet.  It's eye is a piercing cool yellow.  If you are ever lucky enough to get close to this species you will be amazed at just how large it really is.  

Bald Eagles build huge stick nests in the top of a large tree near water.  Two or three eggs are laid and both adults incubate the eggs for 35 days.  Young leave the nest at around 10-12 weeks of age.  They are fed by the adults for the next year.  We often see young eagles chirping and 'whining' after adults looking for a meal.  They are a vocal species and we enjoy hearing their shrill, high-pitched chittering sounds. 

 

Bald Eagle Nest

It takes a bald eagle 5 years to become an adult.  The juvenile is all dark and the successive stages go through mottling on the wings, body and tail until they attain their adult plumage.  

Bald Eagle Juvenile

The photo above shows a juvenile bird with an all-dark body and wings.  The photo below shows a  second-year bird with significant white showing on its breast.  The eye has turned a greyish-brown or whitish and some mottling is just peaking through on its back.  It shows the beginning of a whitish superciliary line.

Bald Eagle Second Year

The Bald Eagle eats fish, carrion, waterfowl, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and roadkill.  They frequent open water in winter and garbage dumps.  They are opportunists and often try to steal food from other species.  

Bald Eagles can live to be 40 years of age in the wild and longer in captivity.  The 'bald' in its name means white.  It certainly is not featherless on its head.  The original meaning of 'bald' was white.  The Bald Eagle is an important species to the First Nations people of New Brunswick.  Their feathers have spiritual significance.  The Bald Eagle became the symbol of the USA in 1782.

The Bald Eagle is one of our most interesting species of birds.