On August 4, we had a delightful Bird Language sit at the Minnesota
Valley Wildlife Refuge. The sun was out and the temperature was
comfortable. As we settled in we may have triggered a couple of alarms
from house wrens. Early in the sit a couple northern cardinals made
their way through the area from east to west with some song and contact
calls. During the second period, there was a cascade of sounds and
alarms that started in the west and traveled northeast across the sit
area. A red-tailed hawk was chasing a blackbird from the west during
the third period which evoked some mild agitation in the woods by a
couple birds. During the final period the northern part of the sit area
got quiet and tense, something we observed in other sits during the
summer. We have hypothesized that there could be fledging sharp-shinned
hawks in the area that are putting songbirds on edge. However, on this
sit we didn't see one. |
Blog >