January 22nd brought one of the coldest days of winter so
far for central Kentucky. Despite abundant sunshine throughout the entire day, the
high temperature for the day remained in the teens. Undeterred by the windy and
brutally cold conditions, we decided to do some birding around Lexington and
explore some sites around the area we haven't been to yet. It turned out to be
a good day to bird by vehicle, as anything more than a couple minutes standing
out in the single-digit wind chills had you quickly rushing back to the warmth
of the car.
Our first stop was at the Lexington reservoir to look for
waterfowl, which did not disappoint. The Lexington reservoir snakes among the
roads and housing developments near New Circle and Richmond road. Much of the
reservoir is on private property, so most of it is off-limits and good viewing
areas are limited. However there is one spot where you can drive across the
reservoir that offers good views across the water. In this spot, there were
hundreds of beautiful hooded mergansers, two dozen or so northern shovelers,
countless mallards, pie-billed grebes, and we spotted a group of seven
buffleheads. Unfortunately, the ducks were too far out in the reservoir at this
stop for any decent pictures so you'll just have to take my word for it!
After the stop at the reservoir, we hit up another popular
birding hotspot, the Lexington Cemetery. Lexington Cemetery exists as a virtual
green oasis among the sea of pavement and agriculture that surrounds Lexington.
Many of the trees in this large cemetery are quite impressive in size, and a
few of them are at least a couple hundred of years old. Among the large
hardwoods of the cemetery exists many various evergreens, namely spruce and
hemlock; perfect habitat for the rare wintering crossbills. White-winged and
red crossbills have been reported from the cemetery throughout the winter but
we came up empty-handed on this trip. But all was not lost at this stop, and we
still managed to come across several good birds.
 |
| This downy woodpecker was busy working away on this dead branch |
 |
| A red-breasted nuthatch allowed me to walk up very close |
Of the two nuthatches that can be found in this region, the
red-breasted and white-breasted, the red-breasted ones seem to be more
approachable from my experience. They are also notably smaller than their
white-breasted brethren, and the presence of a black eye-stripe helps to
further distinguish the red-breasted from the white. The breast color of the
white-breasted nuthatch can vary from an all-white to a rusty color, so this
characteristic is not the most reliable feature to distinguish the two by.
Red-breasted nuthatches are an irruptive winter migrant, meaning the range and
numbers of migrant red-breasted nuthatches vary based on the year. This year, a
large number of red-breasted have moved into the region. White-breasted
nuthatches on the other hand, are year-round residents.
 |
| White-breasted nuthatch for comparison |
 |
| White-breasted nuthatch for comparison |
A difficult bird to spot, this brown creeper is perfectly
camouflaged against the dark bark of this tree. Brown creepers will spiral
around the base of trees and exhibit nuthatch-like movements, but are much more
elusive and cryptic than the nuthatches. They use their stiff and pointy tail
feathers as props that help them move about.
 |
| Brown creeper |
The last stop for the day was at Spindletop farm, which is an
agricultural research and teaching complex run by the University of Kentucky that
is just north of downtown Lexington. The array of fields, tree lines, and
pasture create a great mix of open habitat for some target species we had our
sights set on. Northern harriers, horned larks, and savannah sparrows had all
recently been reported here. We saw many American kestrels demonstrating their
characteristic method of hunting, by hovering in one exact spot over a field
whilst scanning the ground for prey. We managed to find the savannah sparrows
which were hanging out by this excavated dirt mound. Unfortunately, I never managed to get a good photo of the sparrows.
 |
| JohnRyan moves in for a closer shot of the savannah sparrows |
The large pond at Spindletop was bustling with waterfowl.
Redheads, ring-necked ducks, pie-billed grebes, mallards, gadwalls, and Canada goose
were all present. But what happened next was very unexpected...
 |
| A trio of redhead ducks at Spindletop |
From the distance I could see some sort of bird of prey
approaching, and it landed in a tree on the opposite side of the pond. Could it
possibly be the northern harrier we'd been pursuing? I brought my binoculars up
to take a look and the profile of the bird didn't look very hawk-like to me.
The bird took off out of the trees and came flying across the pond directly
towards us. I couldn't believe it...Peregrine Falcon!! To my amazement he flew
right into the top of a tree not 30 yards away from me...incredible!
 |
| Peregrine falcon |
As he was perched in
the tree another peregrine started flying around above the pond...awesome, a
mating pair!! The pair of peregrines continued to circle around the pond for
several minutes and eyed-up the various waterfowl below. Peregrines were
historically called duck-hawks, a seemingly appropriate name given to them for
their keen ability to take down ducks as prey. Peregrines are known as the
fastest living animal in the world. In fact, they can reach speeds of in excess
of 200 mph during a dive for prey which is called a "stoop"! Peregrine
falcon numbers in the eastern US took a big hit with the use of the pesticide
DDT and were once considered and endangered species, but since the banning of
the pesticide in the 1970's, the falcon's numbers have slowly been recovering
thanks to recovery efforts. Many peregrines have established themselves in
major cities around the country, taking up residence in tall buildings and
feeding on the abundance of rock pigeons that can be found within the city
limits. However, they are still an uncommon bird to come across in wintertime
and were a totally unexpected find at Spindletop. Peregrine falcons are elite
predators and are an absolute joy to watch as they move through the air with
such incredible power and grace.
Eventually they flew off into the distance...however, this
story doesn't end here.
After I got back and pulled up my pics on the computer I
could see the one peregrine was banded. After zooming in on the photo, I could actually
make out the letters and colors of the bands. Peregrine falcon bands are
different from other bird bands in that they are colored and only consist of a
couple of letters, rather than the metal bands with a series of numbers that
most smaller birds are typically banded with.
 |
| An in-flight shot exposing his bands |
 |
| Close-up of the bands |
After doing some internet searching, I found out there was
an online database that had information about peregrines which have been banded
in the Midwest. After entering the information about the color of the bands and
the associated letters, it returned a single match!
This peregrine was a male
named Dakota, and he was banded back in 2010 as a hatchling in Jefferson County,
Kentucky (Louisville area). I thought it was pretty awesome that I was able to
attach a name to this beautiful bird! I have since contacted the KY Department
of Fish and Wildlife Resources and notified them of the named peregrine that I
had found since they are interested in tracking this kind of information. In
fact, the lady at the KDFWR who I contacted about the sighting told me that she
had personally banded this bird and was excited to see he was doing well and
has found a mate. She wrote a nice and thoughtful email back and thanked me for
contributing to their database and said reports like this make all their
banding efforts worthwhile! All in all, despite the brutal conditions, the birding turned out to be excellent and the experience with the peregrines is a memory I will
soon not forget!
