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Ice on the Levee (Sunday, January 26, 2014)

5/28/2014

The warm sunny day called me to the Brainerd levee, one of my favorite nature observation spots. It was well after 4:00 in the afternoon when I arrived and walked to the pond enclosed by a bend in the structure.

Absence was a notable feature this day. I saw few of the perching birds that normally dominate the skyline. No large flocks of American Robins or Cedar Waxwings filled the trees. One or two cardinals and a pair of Mockingbirds filled out the population, along with four European Starlings, strangely different from the huge winter flocks that often congregate on the driving range across the road.

As I reached the second bend, I was pleased to see large growths of mistletoe on the trees across South Chickamauga Creek, but the heron nests were gone. I remember one March day seeing a number of them sitting on nest. A Great Horned Owl with two chicks occupied one heron nest which it had claimed early that year. Neither Great Blue Herons nor Great Horned Owls graced the opposite shore on this day. The Great Horned Owl had surely nested elsewhere. She would normally lay her eggs in January.

Although open water was not totally absent, is was scarce. Ice covered most of the pond. In the open water on the far side I saw a flock of Northern Shovelers swim toward the shore in single file. Further on, two female ducks patrolled the icy water. A small group of Gadwall, two males and two females patrolled the open water near the shrubs. I am surprised these shrubs continue to grow, their roots in water soaked mud.

A flock of Green Winged Teal claimed the larger opening further down the shoreline. Though I saw no killdeer, four shorebirds worked the shoreline.

As I walked back to the parking lot and my truck, I noticed a small flock of Canada Geese crossing the sky over the levee. When I heard them call from behind me and turned to watch. Flock after flock followed. I would number them at 200 or so.

Starlings perch on cold branch
Ducks and geese patrol the levee
Depart when ice comes

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A Year Begins

5/26/2014

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New Year’s Day, 2014

I saw eleven Hooded Mergansers glide across the pond at Amnicola Marsh. I have loved the grace and delicate beauty of this particular species since I first saw seven cross Jemima Pond on Cape Cod some thirty years ago. The males seem to lift their white crests with each nod of the head in their gentle swimming strokes.

Although the Hooded Merganser is a duck, its habits are quite different from the more familiar Mallard Duck and its close relatives such as Gadwall and Blue-winged Teal. These are puddle ducks. They tip up and grab water plants for their dinner with wide spatula like beaks.

The Hooded Merganser, along with such relatives as the Common Merganser and Red-breasted Merganser, is a fish eater. Its long narrow beak has a row of sharp narrow teeth fro grasping its prey. It body is small and built for speed. In addition to the white crest on the head, the males have a white breast and two black bars on each side, just in front of the wings. The flanks are a rich brown color with a hint of red and the wings and back are dark, nearly black, sometimes with white stripes.

Female mergansers are gray, with the upper parts darker and lower parts lighter. The belly is white. Their crest is generally described as brown, but I see it as a dull red. The crest can be lowered and raised, depending on the bird’s mood, and males are said to raise their white crest to attract the female’s attention. Apparently this strategy is fairly successful. Observers have recorded sightings of female mergansers followed by as many as 18 ducklings while swimming in wooded coves. I have never encountered commentary as to what use female mergansers make of their red crests.

Like the equally lovely Wood Duck, mergansers nest in hollow trees or in boxes which humans construct specifically for that purpose. The young bird’s first experience is free fall from a height. The Wood Duck’s young bounce when they land. This is likely true of Hooded Mergansers as well. The elasticity of the body which allows a young bird to bounce reduces the likelihood of injury on landing.

On this day, a few coots and mallards accompanied the Hooded Mergansers. They paddled about the shallows as a heron crossed the pond. Its stately wing beats kept it just above the surface.

I found Chickamauga Dam clouded in dense fog. I could barely make out the concrete structure and the river. I saw no birds at all. The heron rookery just off Amnicola Highway abandoned. The birds were not yet ready to resume nest building. A flock of Gadwall navigated the stream. Though I have heard some birders refer to Gadwall as nondescript, the dark rump stands out against any background. The white on the trailing edge of the wing is not always visible, but it is a sure sign of this species.

Ice in winter home
No water plants or fish to eat, water
Birds move further south

Just as T.S. Elliot saw the world end, “not with a bang, but a whimper,” I saw the year begin with only a few species of birds. I had returned to Amnicola Marsh hoping to see the 35 Hooded Mergansers I had seen on this same day, a year ago. This year followed a different course, with many species visible in smaller numbers early on. The small ponds and marshes froze over in January, and likely the normal winter residents moved further south.

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Crane Festival (1.18.2014)

5/25/2014

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Recent rewrite
I expected a dense crowd of Sandhill Cranes, much as I had seen in past trips to the Hiwassee State Wildlife Refuge. In a busy year, flocks glide across the field of vision, flapping wings with the slow downbeat of regal ease.

Their movements always appear easy, giving the lie to the high energy requirements of flight. The casual observer has no idea of the stress on feathers or the necessity for air sacks in their bodies and hollow bones. Everything that can be spared has been stripped away to make these birds light enough to fly.

Throats make rattled calls
Feathered wings give quick downstroke
Cranes leaving the marsh

Landing, the birds disturb the crowded shoreline. Those already on the ground shift and dance. Even my old, half deaf ears would fill with that rattling coo unique to cranes, like doves amplified 1,000 times.

In such years the rattle becomes mere background noise as I scan the crowd for the one or two Whooping Cranes, pure white against the gray of their smaller kin. As I scan for whoopers, I sometimes notice the occasional Sandhill Crane stained reddish brown with the mud they use for camouflage.

At the viewing platform, I examined a small finger of water, the closest part of the slough. Cranes populated neither near nor far shore. A scattered few gleaned what they could from the rows of corn on the hill beyond the water, while a dozen or so gathered beneath the branches of a pine. Calls were an occasional punctuation of the stillness, rather than the expected incessant racket.

The cranes had dispersed, but bird watching opportunities abounded. A large bird circled over the tree line. I watched a while before I noticed its white head. With binoculars, the large bird became a Bald Eagle soaring in the distance. Another came to my attention higher up, circling with a third. The shape and plumage confirmed that one was a Golden Eagle. The second was another Bald Eagle.

I looked back to the small finger of water, where a smaller brown bird of prey work the farther shoreline. As it circled and moved, its turns revealed a flash of white above the tail. The white rump is an unmistakable mark of a Harrier, sometimes known as a Marsh Hawk.

I had seen Harriers work the salt marshes elsewhere, with mice and large insects as their prey. Brown females and gray males show a more obvious difference in forms, sexual dimorphism, than many other birds of prey. The Harrier I saw on this day was indeed a female, though one observer said he had spotted a male bird earlier.

Where some birds soar, and rise aloft on air currents, this Harrier glides just above the marsh grass. Arriving at a snag, she lifted up and crossed over. Then she was down to grass top level, circling and gliding. When she spotted a potential meal, her flight stalled as she back pedaled with wings outstretched. She hovered, and descended for the catch.

The Northern Harrier demonstrated maneuverability characteristic of birds of prey.

Glide on wings aloft
Swoop, stall and change course at will
Birds of prey on hunt

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May 22nd, 2014

5/22/2014

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Ray Zimmerman

P.O. Box 2204

Chattanooga, TN 37409

znaturalist@gmail.com

Ray Zimmerman’s creative endeavors include photography, storytelling, nonfiction writing, and poetry.

Editing
Ray currently edits the Chattanooga Chat, newsletter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, Chattanooga Chapter. Copies available at http://www.chattanoogatos.org

Book Reviews and Critical Reviews
Ray’s book reviews appear at Amazon.com. Book reviews and some critical reviews of performances appear on his Facebook page. He currently has a backlog in this department. Please do not send copies of your book. View his reviews at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A14X3ING7BLY83/ref=cm_cr_rdp_pdp

Photography
Ray is currently converting his extensive collection of 35 mm slides and negatives to digital format. He has photographed natural areas at Chattanooga, Assateague Island National Seashore, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Everglades National Park. His images have appeared in Tennessee Conservationist magazine and the Photographic Society of America Journal.

Poems have appeared in:
Southern Light: Twelve Contemporary Southern Poets - Ford, Falcon, and McNeil (Executive Editor). This collection is currently available from the editors, Ray Zimmerman and Bruce Majors. It is no longer available as a hard copy from Amazon.com, but may be released as an ebook at a future date.

First Days - Finishing Line Press
Ray wrote these poems while recovering from Coronary Bypass Surgery. The collection begins dark and ends on a hopeful note. It is available from Finishing Line Press online bookstore, from Amazon.com, and from the author.

Ray’s poem “Glen Falls Trail” won second place in the Tennessee Writers Alliance poetry contest (2007) and appears in the Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VI: Tennessee (2013).

Nonfiction has appeared in Cappers (Topeka), Legacy: the Journal of Interpretation (Fort Collins), Photo Traveler Newsletter (San Francisco), The Hellbender Press (Knoxville), Envirolink (Chattanooga), The Art of Living (Chattanooga), and 2nd and Church (Nashville). Samples are available on his website http://rayzimmerman.weebly.com and on his blog at http://rayzimmerman.blogspot.com.

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May 21st, 2014

5/21/2014

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This book is another triumph for Peter Matthiessen, a founder of the Paris Review and author of numerous books of natural history. Matthiessen describes the life history, geographic distribution, and survival potential of each of the fifteen species (classed in three genera), several of which are endangered.

Many of us have heard less knowledgeable people identify Great Blue Herons as cranes, but Matthiessen points out that this misidentification, so common in modern day America is nothing new. Linnaeus …named the Eurasian, or common crane, “Ardea grus,” or Crane Heron, and in the nineteenth century, Audubon would portray a Heron as the “little blue crane”.

Reading this book we also learn that Siberian natives call the lesser Sandhill Crane the crane from the east, although we in North America regard it as a western species. We also hear of the “Accidental Paradise,” Matthiessen’s term for the Korean Demilitarized Zone, which has become a refuge for the Red-crowned Crane, Hooded Crane, and the White-naped Crane.

In his travels Matthiessen (born 1927) has encountered each of the many species of cranes. I place this book in a class with The Snow Leopard, for which he won the National Book Award. Matthiesen died in New York earlier this year.

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Reviews

5/20/2014

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The Great Blue Heron
Haywood Alllen

I found the text and illustrations helpful in explaining my observations of the species. They nest in a rookery off Amnicola Highway, and watching them is a joy, now magnified by further understanding. The author reviewed several more technical publications and culled photographs from multiple sources to produce this book. He devoted most of the book to the chapters of feeding behavior and on nesting behavior. The result is an informative piece rendered in non-technical prose which will enhance the reader’s experience observing this rather common species.

North American Wading Birds
Text and Photos by John Netherton

This lovely book is, unfortunately, out of print, but serviceable copies are available from reputable used book dealers. The outstanding feature of this book is, of course, the photographs by Nashville photographer John Netherton who, during his lifetime, became Tennessee’s premier nature photographer. He also wrote the text which includes a life history of the selected species. Each of the accounts includes a description of the species physical appearance and life history, including feeding, roosting, and nesting behavior.

A biologist would certainly regard the selection of described bird as an artificial grouping. Netherton devoted the largest portion of the book to herons and egrets, and left out their close relatives, the bitterns. He then added descriptions and photos of the Limpkin, Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, three species of ibis, and the Sandhill and Whooping Crane. The result is an account made whole by the similarities of habitat and life ways. The text is brief, but well worth the time spent reading,, and makes a nice compliment to the stunning photography.

A Treasured Keepsake of Art
Daniel Swanger

How could such fops and fools today see fault
With like of thee, who o’er their heads do vault

With this couplet, Daniel Swanger ends his Sonnet, “Pallas Athene, as by Canova.” It is notable that Swanger, himself a post-modernist artist, makes poetic references to images by artists of the classical era. He uses the term “formalist.” I say conservative in the best sense of the word. His poems speak of a tradition that values elegance and beauty as expressed in the classics. His work as a form poet is a testament to his meticulous and patient attention to craft. His collection is indeed a Treasured Keepsake of Art.

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Ice on the Levee (Sunday, January 26, 2014)

A Year Begins

Crane Festival (1.18.2014)

May 22nd, 2014

May 21st, 2014

Reviews

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