Birds

The Calder wilds is a birders paradise! The soundtrack to our days are the beautiful songs of the more than a hundred different species that call this forest-covered hill home. Some of them stay here year round while others migrate through on their way north for the summer and south for the winter.

Our constant summer companions are the barn swallows that move in to our carport and make their nests in the rafters. Their constant chirping and acrobatic swooping to feed on the flying bugs liven up our days and it’s a treat to see the new fledglings leave the nest and make their inaugural flights every few weeks.

Word has also gotten out that we have hung a couple of hummingbird feeders from our awning and we now have dozens of these feisty little winged jet-fighters buzzing around the house during the summer months. Adorable as these tiny birds seem they are ferocious when it comes to defending their spot at the feeders, amicable sharers they rarely are! They do provide hours of entertainment for us and we’re sad to see the last of them fly off down south every September.

Other summer regulars are the bluebirds and tree swallows, who compete to make their nests in the bird boxes around the vegetable garden, the stunningly elegant cedar waxwings, dramatic scarlet tanagers, gregarious gold finches, chatty robins, insistent phoebes and many, many species of the cute yellow tinted warblers.

One of the largest birds we see year round is the wild turkey. In the spring the males strut their stuff, tails fanning out and wings bulging, competing for mating rights with the seemingly unimpressed females. Some do win the prize though and come summertime large groups of three to four hens, herding their two dozen or so young poults around, will be a common sight in the open meadows as they criss-cross through feeding on all manner of bugs, seeds and the odd unfortunate grasshopper.

Waterfowl fly in to bathe and fish in the ponds, from the common mallard duck to the festive hooded merganser, the colourful wood duck to the long-legged great blue heron. They don’t stay long but it’s always fun to see them come swooping in for a water landing.

Some birds are seen less but their distinctive calls are a familiar backdrop to our evenings and nights. As the sun sets on a summer’s day we are serenaded with the cheery sound of the whip-poor-will (“lekker wijf, lekker wijf”, as Tante Ria so perfectly described it!) and as we drift off to sleep we may hear the haunting cry of the barred owl or the horse-like call of the screech owl.

The real royalty of the skies are the birds of prey with the majestic bald eagles and striking golden eagles dominating the avian food chain. These magnificent birds are a glorious sight as they soar high in the clouds or swoop low to scoop up unsuspecting prey with their deadly talons. Smaller, but equally dangerous raptors, also hunt in these woods, it’s quite the sight to see a merlin come sweeping in to take out a barn swallow in mid-flight. Red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks are a common sight and the beautiful American kestrel is a feast for the eyes.

It’s an ongoing education trying to identify all our feathered neighbours by sight and song but with his many years of birding experience Steve is a fountain of knowledge and one by one these winged mysteries are becoming familiar friends.