Bird fight clubs emerging

I see that I have used the unusual weather as an excuse for lack of birds for several of my June and July columns, including last month. I guess I will stick with that, though June is usually a quiet month with little migration, and raising young the main order of business, regardless of weather.

The babies in the back yard include Chickadees, English Sparrows, European Starlings, Robins, Blue Jays and Downy Woodpeckers. A male Downy is doing the teaching and feeding of two young Downys, a male and female. With many of the birds, I can't tell if a male or female is doing the parenting. So far, no baby Crows or Cardinals that I know of.

On June 13, I went out in the back yard to hear a great commotion, all kinds of yard birds making all kinds of noise. It was more than the usual uproar caused by a nasty cat or similar hazard. And I couldn't find any nasty cats. I finally spotted a Peregrine Falcon soaring very high over the block. (I know Peregrines are not supposed to soar, but sometimes they do.) The commotion continued for some time and, as it turns out, a second Peregrine was high in the neighbor's pine tree. I did not see it until it left the tree, empty-handed, so to speak, and then things settled down for a while.

Later the same day a smaller incident occurred between a group of Grackles and English Sparrows. One Grackle was carrying a dead baby sparrow, which I saw it drop twice, including on top of a neighbor's car. Grackles are not designed for carrying away other birds I guess. I don't know how the incident started but the group of adult sparrows were really hassling the Grackles, though it was too late for the baby the Grackles had. Years ago, I saw some English Sparrows attack and kill all the babies in a Barn Swallow nest. I don't know if there are good guys or bad guys in nature. It is just the way things go. Darwin and survival of the fittest and all that.

On to another somewhat troubling subject. As anyone who has been to Powderhorn lately has no doubt noticed, about half of the willow tree on the island has broken off and fallen into the lake. I noticed it leaning a lot on the 22nd, and in the lake the next time I was there on the 25th. I hope the rest of the tree survives. The part in the lake doesn't hurt anything or present a "hazard to navigation" as we sailorly types would say. In fact, various birds and animals depend on dead or fallen trees in parts of their life cycles. It would be fine with me if the tree just stays there but who knows what, if any, plans the Park Board has for the standing or fallen part of the tree.

In other tree news, two medium sized elm trees, one on the north side of the lake and one east of that one, near 15th Avenue, have been marked for the Grim Reaper because of Dutch Elm disease.

Now back to birds. The Great Blue Heron has been at the lake off and on in June. On the 5th, there were actually two Great Blue Herons for a while. The one I assume to be the regular eventually chased the interloper away. I have seen a Black-crowned Night Heron on the island twice in the last third of June. It stays pretty well hidden in trees and may be there often, feeding at night, as its name implies. Some years, two or more Night Herons have been around the lake, day and night, most of the summer. I still have not seen a Green Heron all year, or an Egret at the lake since April.

After about a two-week absence, the missing adult Canada Goose parent returned, and the parents and seven goslings are doing fine. I have no idea which parent went missing, though I assume it was the male, or where it went, but everything seems fine now. I have not seen any other geese at the lake in June.

The ducks and ducklings seem to be doing well and growing. A new group of 10 baby Wood Ducks just arrived at the end of June.

A mystery duck, I believe it was a Gadwall, was on the lake one day in the middle of the month. It never came close to shore. If it was a Gadwall, it was the first one I have seen at Powderhorn.

I both saw, early in the month, and heard, late in the month, a female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, after not seeing or hearing one since April. I also heard Nuthatches late in the month. Goldfinches, Chimney Swifts, Chipping Sparrows, and Eastern Kingbirds can be found near the lake most of the time.

Painted and Snapping Turtles are around on the rare warm and sunny days, vying for safe places, away from rotten kids, to soak up the sun.

Early in the month, during one of my walks, a woman came up to me holding a small Painted Turtle and asked if there were any turtles in the lake. I assumed this was just a ploy so she could approach the handsome, debonair, famous outdoor writer for the Southside Pride. It turns out she did not know I was a famous writer. She had found the turtle in the street near South High, saved it from being run over, and was looking for a safe place to release it. I pointed out the corner of the lake near the ballfields where I had just seen several Painted Turtles and thanked her for her concern and actions. Several years ago, I was walking not far from the same spot when a man was returning a fairly large Snapping Turtle he had found a few blocks from the park. I guess most people are kind to humans, other mammals, birds and reptiles, but I am sometimes troubled by the bad behavior of unsupervised kids and young people with no apparent values or social standards that I find in the park and neighborhood on occasion.

I came across two other situations in the park late in June, one displaying the best in human behavior, the other near the bottom of the behavior barrel. Neither involved birds or animals. Maybe I will have time, space or motivation to write about them next month.

Comments and observations are always welcome. Send them to me, in care of the Southside Pride. Thank you.