Birds

 

On sunny days at the farm when I'm sitting comfortably in my camper I'm often visited by birds passing through the area. The Carolina wrens are the most frequent and inquisitive visitors, often walking across the roof and even peeking through the windows at me. Song sparrows and blue birds also make frequent daily visits. These little friends all go quiet when the American kestrel shows up mid morning as well as when the larger red shouldered hawk passes through. The most impressive bird to come by is the occasional red-tailed hawk. 

 

I can frequently hear crows in the distance and during the winter months for several years in a row I've heard the low caw of ravens passing over head.   I can only assume they come down from the mountains further west, but where they are going is a mystery to me.  All of the maps I've read showing the raven's range indicate they shouldn't be here, but they are.

Although all animals on the ranch are connected to each other in some way, few birds interact directly with the bison.  Crows and wild turkeys will tear apart bison poop looking for bugs to eat and I've found bison hair used to line the nests of many small birds. Most things, however, seem to wisely avoid direct interaction with the bison. The one exception to this rule is the cow bird.  Cow birds are drawn to bison and once followed many if not most bison herds.  During the summer months the cow birds flock to the herds and typically walk in the grass immediately in front of the bison as they graze. There the birds capture insects flushed from the grass by the grazing.  The birds get extremely close to the bison and the bison don't seem to mind or notice.  This year, for the first time, I saw cow birds actually sitting on the backs of the bison.  This is a new behavior and surprised me as bison are normally very opposed to anything touching them. I'm not sure if the birds were just hitching a ride or perhaps they were looking for the dreaded horn flies that plague both cows and bison alike.  Either way it's pretty neat to see this ancient relationship between two animals continuing to this day.