Magic Tree West

Have you ever noticed that you can go birding or walking and see very few birds and then all of a sudden, there is this one tree that is full of them? If you go back to that tree the next day and it is full of birds again, do you wonder why? The answer is easy - it's a magic tree! Magic trees are only magic for part of the year. Either when they are in bloom or when they are oozing sap. There is a pretty famous magic tree in Cape May which attracts warblers in fall - only around 4 PM when the sun hits it just right and the sap starts to flow. The sap attracts bugs and the bugs attract birds. The tree is a Chinese Elm.

I found a magic tree in Los Angeles this week. I went to a park called Sand Dune Park. It is called that because it has a giant sand dune - like 3 stories high that people climb up and down for exercise. I think they are nuts. I did not attempt the climb. I used the stairs that are off to the left of the photo.

Sand Dune Park

I was there due to reports of a Lazuli Bunting which would be a cool bird to see - I didn't. But I did see alot of other birds. Guess where - in the magic tree. This tree is called a Silk Oak. It first caught my attention because it was covered with yellow flowers - and birds. Black-headed Grosbeak was one of the birds that I wanted to see in California and I did. It was pretty high in the magic tree but just like the other birds, it was focused on those flowers.

Black-headed Grosbeak

Orange-crowned Warbler

Townsend's Warbler

Western Kingbirds

As you can see, I could barely shoot a frame without catching the yellow flowers in the shot. A local birder told me that the Silk Oak flowers like that throughout the migration season so that it attracts birds. And here I thought I discovered it - HA!

The Magic Tree

I'm not even kidding. These birders now have such a thing as a "magic tree". It looks like pretty much every other tree in Cape May to the casual observer - but not to the birders.  They know that the tree possesses magic powers.  The magic only happens just before sunset.  If you look at the tree at any other time of day - nothing.  Nothing special at all.  But once 5 o'clock rolls around, the magic begins.  Birds invade the tree looking for a quick meal and boy do they get it. 

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Magic Tree

Black-throated Blue Warbler - Magic Tree

 

 Golden-crowned Kinglet - Magic Tree

 Ruby-crowned Kinglet - Magic Tree

Bay-breasted Warbler - Magic Tree

Red-breasted Nuthatch - Magic Tree

These images are a few of the terrific photos that I got last week at the famous tree on Bob and Edie's front yard.  They are very accommodating to us crazy birders and even invite us onto the lawn for closer looks at the birds.  I literally stand between famous bird photographers and authors a few feet from the tree to get photos like the ones above.  Not only do we stand together, but they give me advice too!  Pretty cool. 

The photos above are not cropped by that much, if at all.  That is how close I am to the birds.  On Friday night, we counted over 25 Red-breasted Nuthatches in the tree. There were 11 of them on the same branch.  They were so engrossed with finding bugs, that they didn't notice how close we were to them, and they didn't care either. 

Here is a cropped photo of Ruby-crowned Kinglet which shows why it is called "Ruby-crowned".  Click on the image to enlarge and notice that one red feather that barely peaks out of the top of his head.  Also notice the spiderweb hanging off of his back.  You can't get images like that unless you are really close to the bird. 

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Thank you Bob and Edie and thank you Magic Tree!