Ask Otus: Name that Bird! Answers to Pop Quiz

Otus Rufous, an Eastern Screech-owl, was born on Siesta Key and is a full-time resident there. An avid hunter, accomplished vocalist and genuine night owl, Otus is a keen observer of our local wildlife and knows many of nature's secrets. Otus will answer your questions about our amazing wildlife, but only if you Ask Otus™.

Dear Readers,

Why do you need to know proper bird names? Yes! Now let me explain why. It is high season and you are standing in line at Carrabba's Italian Grill (I know, just a few weeks ago you were warmly greeted and rushed to your favorite table ...) The families ahead and behind you are snowbirds from Indiana. Well, of all things! What a coincidence! Your nephew attended I.U. and his fiancée's parents once lived in Muncie. After a couple hours you and your new friends have exhausted the "Do-you-know so-and-so" exchanges, the history of coaching football at Notre Dame and basketball at I.U. (Go, Big Red!) and the weather. An awkward silence descends on your group until a Snowbird breaks it with the inevitable: "I saw a bird this afternoon. What do you suppose it was?" Well, here is your chance to play the warm, hospitable, knowledgeable Sarasotan and keep that conversation flowing.

The pop quiz recently featured birds commonly seen around Sarasota. Here are your answers.

No. 1. Palm Warbler. A winter migrant to Florida and the Gulf Coast, it arrives here in vast numbers early October and returns to the far North late March--almost qualifying it for the Homestead Exemption. It is a voracious insectivore and feasts on bugs, their larvae, and the occasional young anole.

Identification tip. Almost all other migrant warblers, vireos, and other teeny, tiny birds skitter, scatter, and flitter way high up in the dense canopies of the tree crowns, making them not only difficult to spot, but also to ID. The Palm Warbler enjoys foraging on the ground. And while it is hunting and hoping through the lawn, it waggles its rump in an up-down motion displaying its yellow undertail. So, when you seen a small dull-gray-tan bird hopping and flitting about and spot a flash of yellow, it's a safe bet that you can state authoritatively: "Oh, that? A Palm Warbler, of course." 

Nos. 2, 6, and 10. Little Blue Heron. During its first year, this bird has white feathers which slowly morph into mottled white and blue until, finally, in its adult and breeding stage it has a slate-blue feathered body and a purple-plumed neck and head without a trace of white in any of its feathers! This was not a sneaky entry to the quiz; it was more like, wicked! Many people mistake the immature white Little Blue for a pure white-feathered Snowy Egret or even a Great Egret. The secret to its correct identification is sooo simple! Check out those legs! The Great and Snowy egrets have black legs. The Little Blue has grayish-green legs. Isn't that easy to remember? And here is a photo just so you can reinforce that image in your mind.

No. 3. Cooper's Hawk. Immature hawks are notoriously difficult to identify. This was actually an adult Cooper's Hawk and yet I missed the ID three times! I won't tell you what I guessed. It is too embarrassing and birds have no talent for laughing at themselves the way people can. Some fascinating facts about this bird from the Cornell Ornithology Labs site ...

It is considered one of the bird world's most skillful fliers. One of its sneakiest attack maneuvers is to fly fast and low to the ground and then suddenly up and over an obstacle that was blocking its prey's view. And what is their favored prey? Other birds! That it is why it is frequently seen lurking about backyard bird feeders "looking for an easy meal (but not one of sunflower seeds.)" What a sense of humor some ornithologists have! And how does it kill its prey? "A Cooper's Hawk captures a bird with its feet and kills it by repeated squeezing. Falcons tend to kill their prey by biting it, but Cooper’s Hawks hold their catch away from the body until it dies. They’ve even been known to drown their prey, holding a bird underwater until it stopped moving."

I know what you are thinking now ... Darn it all! Just when I finally learned the name of one of those tiny migrant passerines, the Palm Warbler, some Cooper's Hawk is going to eat them all up and I'll have to learn another bird's name.

Well, don't worry! Cooper's Hawks hunt medium-sized birds such as plump Mourning doves, starlings, robins, and even jays. That leaves you with lots of Palm Warblers to ID. If you spot a Cooper's Hawk eyeing your birdfeeder or have seen one attacking birds at your it, the best advice is to remove the feeder completely from your yard for 3-5 days. The hawk will move elsewhere.

Identification notes: "With their smaller lookalike, the Sharp-shinned hawk, Cooper's Hawks make for famously tricky identifications." You can say that again! But I'll give you an important tip. If you spot a hawk around your yard in June, it is not a Cooper's. Sarasota County is just below the cusp of their permanent residence zone. They only winter here.

Here is a photo of one so you get an idea of what the term "hawk-eyed" really means!

No. 4. Great Blue Heron. Yes! That's our Charley. We're not used to seeing him staring straight at us and perched amid upper tree branches. He's more easily identifiable when standing sedately at a pond, or at the beach and fishing piers, putting on his pathetic (but highly effective) "I've never eaten in my whole life" act for fisherfolk. Here's another photo of him in an absurdly unexpected place--atop a Norfolk pine at Turtle Beach Park.

No. 5. Eastern Screech-owl, gray morph. I just wanted you to be aware that Eastern Screech-owls exist in gray and rufous (that's me!) forms. And look how beautifully Mother Nature has created our camouflage. We are almost impossible to spot until motion betrays our presence. The gray morph's eyes, as well as its beak, are more of a nephrite shade of green than mine. This is a close-up shot of my cousin, Otus Offal (pronounced "awful").

No. 7. Green Heron. I love this photo because our little Green Heron blends in so beautifully with its surroundings. His colorings, from tip of his bill (the proper term for "beak") to tip of his claws, all meld into the background. The Green Heron is very common around ponds, our bay, and lagoon. He deftly navigates the mangrove roots, or even the rope mooring your boat, to stab at little fish in the waters below. Identification is not a problem. Once you've seen a Green Heron, you will always recognize it — if you can spot it!

No. 8. Osprey. That fierce-looking raptor is actually a very young, helpless and flightless Osprey, named "Alpha". She has another 5 weeks to go before she will fledge and even then her parents must continue assisting and educating her on how to fish and fend for herself. As most Osprey nests are located way-up high or far out on a waterway's marker, few people have the chance to see inside the nest and get a good look at the wee ones.

Identification tips. I don't believe they are necessary when you see Alpha and her siblings looking just like Osprey!

No. 9. Red-shouldered Hawk. Again, when in their immature stage, hawks are very difficult to ID. Once a Red-shouldered Hawk matures into its second year, it is easily identifiable by the pronounced reddish feathers on its shoulders.

Unlike the Cooper's Hawk, our full-time resident Red-shouldered hawk enjoys a meal of small warm-blooded mammals and reptiles — rats, voles, bunny wabbits, and snakes to name a few. That doesn't mean it won't eat a young bird, just as a Cooper's Hawk will also eat a small mammal. We are speaking of the bird's preferred diet. My final photo is of an immature Red-shouldered hawk on the marker noting the end of Turtle Beach Park. It would sit on top of it then suddenly swoosh down to the sands and immediately hop back up on the perch with a tiny crab it had caught. It would do this for hours, leaving a large pile of tiny crab shells in the sands below it.

With some of the mysteries of bird identification now explained, the burden of your time spent on understanding your feathered friends along Florida’s Suncoast has become lighter. Enjoy and share your knowledge!

 — Otus