Big morning in the garden...

[laughingwillow]

I was watering in the tomatoes and a few new trees this morning when the routine was shattered by the sound of something hitting a window of the house. I looked up in time to see a young grackel bounce off the glass, followed by a largish preditor to the ground. But the hunter saw me and flew up into a nearby tree. So I shut off the hose and walked into the house to grab me bird guide. Pretty soon the bird flew down to a perch a few feet away. Then she buzzed the area and left, only to return to the yard in a couple of minutes. I watched her hop through the grass to a spot right under the window before grabbing her prey and heading for a tall tree on the property line. There she ate her fill before heading off to the east with snack in claw.

According to the book, the bird was a Merlin. And  I got a pretty good look at her. The problem is, the book doesn't list central Iowa as habitat for the merlin. They supposedly are found as far east as Nebraska. I'm guessing a pair has ventured out onto the prairie by way of wooded riverways. This is the first summer sighting of any preditory birds on the property. They usually hang out in the winter when the birds are flocking to the feeders. (and then its usually sharp-shinned hawks or coopers.)  But I've been feeding all spring.

Anyway, I've heard more than a few birds banging off our glass this spring. I even found a young dove by the house with a broken neck the other day. And a window in the cactus room was shattered last week by something bouncing off an outer pain of safety glass. But when I went out ot find the dead/injured bird, nothing was there. Now, maybe I'm starting to understand the current situation in the garden.......

ps: The wife is afraid our smallest caty will get carried off now. hehe

lw

[space]

Mornin', lw...Here at Bird Central (we're surrounded by forest, and we feed the birds year round), the air is thick with fledglings.  They haven't mastered their winged art too well yet, and the young'uns hitting the walls and windows sound like an aerial bombardment.  

Last year we had some nesting red-tail hawks nearby, and watching that giant fledgling go crashing through the woods on his/her maiden flight was quite a show.  

All the fledglings are fun to watch because they haven't learned as much fear, and we can approach the window and outdoors feeders closely without scaring them away.  Unfortunately, they also pay little attention to predators, and we lose a number each year to Sharpshins, Coopers and other small bird hawks.   We don't interfere, but we do try to place feeders so that they don't double as hawk feeding stations.  The smaller birds--esp. the titmice and chickadees--do a pretty good job of mobbing and driving off any predators before they can strike.

We have an old contorted filbert in our yard that some people love (I do) and others are creeped out by..."It's just too damned gnarly, man!" one friend told me, "Looks like a effin' snake bush!"  It has a light tan to golden bark and light sage green leaves that are also wrinkly and gnarly.

I'm sorting through my stacks looking for an old article on a black locust stand in the Adirondacks that was the source of a "new strain":  because the tribe that lived nearby had managed the stand, eliminating the crookedest trees, they had established a strain of straight, timber quality black locust.  It is the hardest wood in North America and is tremendously rot resistant.  We've been trying to establish it in our woods in upstate NY.  Reportedly, the seed pods yield a strong narcotic tea; also reportedly, the entire tree is toxic    disclaimer    

Sounds like yours was developed to maximize it's gnarliness.  Do you know, is it a pseudoacacia like the black locust?

Edit:  Duh.  I see from your topic title is is...

[laughingwillow]

I don't mind feeding the hawks and falcons at all. Our sunflower and suet feeders are tucked away in the safety of a big pine next to the house. The birds that feed there are relatively safe. The goldfinches have a feeder right up next to the house that seems pretty safe. But the sparrows/grackels/doves/squinneys and rabbits hang out at a feeding station by the garage that's highly visible from the house as well as the outer environs of the neighborhood. Don't get me wrong, I hardly let the cats outside when the birds are fledging. I love watching them figure out the vageries of life on the prairie without having to worry about a prowling cat. But preditor birds are different, imo. Even though I love every last little sparrow that lives in our yard, the sparrow feeded doubles as a preditor bird feeding station and I'm OK with that.

Btw, I've been wondering about the activity of a psudoacacia. This strain was supposedly started from a single specimin that ended up on a compost pile in New Zealand/Australia back in '96 and was rescued by a nursery worker.

Thanks for the reply, bro.

lw

[laughingwillow]

I almost forgot to mention.....

Yesterday morning the yard was completely deserted while I watered the trees and roses. Not a bird in sight. I figured they were just waiting for me to finish up, but I've never really seemed to bother them so much in the past. They know me. I'm guessing that dumb little grackel was one of the first to venture out of safety. And then for the next half hour or so, while the merlin fixed breakfast for the kids, nothing moved. But the minute she left that tree and headed for her nest, the yard filled with birds. Just like that. They ain't no dummies.

Let that be a lesson to you youngies. hehe

lw

[space]

I have no objections to the feathered predators:  keeps the predated species strong, after all, and I love their fierce freedom.

But I figure we're an artificial food supply, and the hawks already benefit (boy do they!) from the increased prey populations.  Also, the wife is a softie for the wee ones...I would lure the squirrels into striking range of the red-tails and red-shouldered hawks at the drop of a hat--have another tulip bulb, Rocky :twisted:

The black locust strain I mentioned is called Shipmast, grows like one, and is also resistant to a borer beetle that plagues the other black locusts; like Sally, this particular strain is difficult to grow from seed and is usually propagated from cuttings.  Sound familiar ?  

I came across many references to pharmacologic activity in pseudoacacia with a number of traditional Native American uses; nearly as many references from university and government agri-sites to it's toxicity...so, applying the standard analysis, it probably bears looking into...