A Murder of Crows and a great bird guide in Eastern Europe

A huge racket of crows on Weesuck Creek drew me out of the house in the middle of the day yesterday to run down to the water. Unfortunately, by the time I got to a place where I had a clear view of the creek, the crows had all disappeared over the Pine Neck tree line on the opposite shore. But the racket continued; there must have been dozens if not hundreds of crows involved -- a veritable 'murder of crows' (yes, 'murder' is the correct Olde English noun for a collection of crows). As more and more crows came streaming over the creek to get to the site of all the action, I suddenly noticed two crows flying in the opposite direction back across the creek. What happened to make them change their minds? Why weren't they caught up in the excitement? And then one of the crows called and I had my answer. They were Fish Crows!

It's often said that, when you hear loud drumming coming from a tree trunk, it's a woodpecker song. In other words, woodpecker music is percussion music and woodpecker males drum loudly to establish territory and attract mates. Be that as it may, I heard and saw a female Downy Woodpecker drumming on a dead tree trunk and making about as loud a percussion racket as this little bird can make. It kept it up until suddenly a male arrived, at which point the female flew away. There was what looked like a fresh hole not far away and it occurred to me that the female was calling the male to take over nesting duties. However, although the male hung around the trunk for a while, it did not go in and, as it seemingly searched for food, took its investigations to several nearby trees. Perhaps the female was calling it in to take over duties at the nest hole (finishing the excavation of the nest hole if not actually sitting on eggs). If so, the male -- perhaps spooked by my too obvious interest -- would not go there while I was watching.

Last fall, I posted a trip report about my visit to Latvia -- partly a tour of my music and music-theater work but also including a wonderful week birding with Karlis Millers (you can find the report in the 2010 archives of my blog ). Karlis -- or Carlo as he likes to be known -- is perhaps the premier birder in this small Baltic country which is noted for its mix of northern, Western and Eastern European birds. It has many birds that are very difficult to see in Western Europe and some Eastern specialties that you will not see in the West. It is also a hotspot during migration; I had the privilege of witnessing the biggest migration spectacle I have ever seen anywhere at a place called Pape with literally thousands of birds of dozens of different species moving through on all levels on a brilliant early fall morning. Karlis has put together a Latvian bird site and he also organizes bird tours in his country (and in the three Baltic countries generally). He knows the birds, he knows where they are, his English is excellent and he is a great guide. His e-mail contact is . Tell him Eric sent you!

Eric Salzman