I’ve had some interesting birding encounters of late at the Falls of the Ohio and so I thought now is an opportune time to post them. I took this image of the Northern Rough-winged Swallow recently. To my eye, this species seems to be on the increase as is its cousin, the more familiar Barn Swallow. This is especially good since they eat big quantities of flying insects. Herons (especially Great Blue Herons and Black-crowned Night-Herons) are abundant and since the fishing has been good of late…I’ve seen plenty of both species. Here are two more recent images. The first is of a pair of Great Blue Herons that were taking advantage of the recent Skipjack Herring run.
The most common heron here is the Black-crowned Night-Heron. They are considerably smaller than the Great Blues and have striking red eyes. You can find them wading in the shallower waters looking for fish, crayfish, or small frogs. This image was taken in the eastern section of the park and this bird was perched on a log stranded on top of the dam’s wall.
I’ve saved the two most interesting avian encounters for last. A couple of weeks a go, I was sitting at my outdoor studio under the willow trees when I heard the sound of a young bird pleading for food. Looking around, I was able to find the hungry bird and I snapped this picture of it.
I recognize that this is the young of the Brown-headed Cowbird. What is fascinating about this species (and the two other species of cowbirds in North America) is that the adults do not raise their own young. Cowbirds parasitize the nests of other bird species. In the case of the Brown-headed Cowbird they have been known to lay their eggs in the nests of about 200 different species of birds. Usually, the young Brown-headed Cowbird out competes the host specie’s nestlings. I was curious to see who this bird’s “parents” were and it didn’t take long to find out.
In the case of this cowbird chick it is being raised by a hardworking pair of Carolina Wrens. The baby is nearly double the wren’s size and vibrates its wings along with calling out to stimulate the wrens to feed it. Here are a couple more pictures of the wren feeding the cowbird.
In case you were wondering, cowbirds are not the only species to lay their eggs in other bird’s nests. In Europe, the cuckoo also does this, but parasitizes fewer species. I often wonder how does the cowbird know it’s a cowbird especially if it is raised by a completely different species? Obviously, some behaviors are “hard-wired” and innate . In the early Spring, Brown-headed Cowbirds are early arrivals and always on the look out for other breeding species of birds and their nest sites. Their courtship is not a thing of beauty with each drab Brown-headed Cowbird female usually being pursued by multiple males. Moving on, here is a recent picture of an adult male and you can see why they are called Brown-headed Cowbirds.
Recently, I was in the far western section of the Falls of the Ohio State Park where I saw my very first Indiana Rail. Rails are much smaller relatives of the heron family and other wading shorebirds. The Indiana Rail is a little smaller than a chicken and rarely seen since it favors dense underbrush and is usually more active at night.
I was taking a break sitting on the fossil rocks when this bird with a long, bright red bill appeared from among the ever-growing vines. I held still and was able to record this species with a small series of photographic images. This bird seemed very interested in the holes situated among the rocks.
Unlike the cowbirds…both the Indiana Rail male and female participate in raising their own young. Typically, four or five green mottled eggs are deposited in a loose bowl constructed of decaying river vegetation. It is believed that the heat generated from this decomposing matter helps to incubate the eggs , but this is still speculative. There is a lot left to learn about this enigmatic creature.
I watched the rail for about twenty minutes as it poked around the vines that were beginning to cover the fossil rocks. Every now and then it would use its strong-looking bill to probe the cracks around the drying mud. Just as mysteriously as it appeared…it disappeared leaving me with this wonderful memory and a hand full of pictures to prove it was here. See you later!
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