The Fledgling Birder

The Birds of the Franklin Park Zoo, Part III

2010-10-02T19:51:00.017-04:00

Northern Green-winged King Parrot

White-crowned Hornbill

Scarlet-chested Parakeet

Violet Turaco

Orange Bishop

Bali Mynah

Golden-breasted Starling

Kori Bustard

Barnacle Goose

Green-winged Teal

Tundra Swan

Citron-crested Cockatoo

Umbrella Cockatoo

Birds of the Franklin Park Zoo Not Pictured:

Barrow's Goldeneye
Blue-breasted Kingfisher
Guinea Fowl
Hammerkop
Mallard
Pied Imperial Pigeon
Red-rumped Cacique
Speckled Mousebird
White-crested Turaco
White-lined Tanager
Wood Duck
Yellow-rumped Cacique

The Birds of Franklin Park Zoo, Part II

2010-06-16T17:48:00.017-04:00

Ringed Teal (male)

Ringed Teal (female)

Scarlet Ibis

Saddle-billed Stork

Wattled Crane

Cape Barren Goose

Spectacled Eider (male)

Spectacled Eider (female)

Black Swan

Chilean Flamingo

Kea

Lady Ross's Turaco

Boat-billed Heron

Southern Ground Hornbill

The Birds of Franklin Park Zoo, Part I

2010-06-10T22:12:00.022-04:00

Hadada Ibis

Rüppell's Griffon Vulture

Bearded Barbet

Tawny Frogmouth

Yellow-billed Stork

Kookaburra

Double-barred Finch

Andean Condor

Indian Blue Peacock

Emu

Budgerigars

African Pygmy Falcon

more to come...

Birding in SE Massachusetts

2010-05-31T16:27:00.015-04:00

Went out birding yesterday morning to two spots in SE Mass that I've never been to before: Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary and Turkey Hill. Both spots were gorgeous and I saw a good variety of species.I went to Daniel Webster in search of the Sedge Wren that's been hanging around there for the past few days. The wren sang quite a bit, and wasn't all that shy. It came relatively close to the platform on top of Fox Hill and gave me several quick peeks as it flit around in the field. It flapped its wings so rapidly and almost seemed to hover at times, making it appear very much like a hummingbird. Here are a couple shots of the platform on Fox Hill and one of my better photos of the Sedge Wren:
I enjoyed the large numbers of Tree Swallows and Purple Martins zooming around in the sky above me. There's an impressive Purple Martin colony at Daniel Webster:
There were also lots of Common Yellowthroats and Bobolinks in the fields. The whole morning was a lovely symphony of birdsong, I love listening to Bobolinks. I'm still going through my photos and trying to ID a flycatcher, but right now my species count for the day at Daniel Webster is 30, not counting the flycatcher. If anyone has any skill identifying flycatchers, I made sure to record it singing in addition to taking its picture. I know that Empidonax Flycatchers cannot always be identified without hearing their voices, even when we get them in the mist nets at the banding station and can take several measurements, we often have to write down "Unknown Empidonax Flycatcher". Here's the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Qxm08sl94

Couple more shots of Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary:There's a cardinal singing over the flycatcher, I had to turn up my laptop volume all the way to hear it at all, but I'm still hoping it will be enough for someone to ID it for me. I already posted on Birdforum hoping for some help. If you've never visited Birdforum.net before, take a peek. It's a nice community of birders. You can get ID help, look at photos, and chat about anything and everything related to birding. Okay, enough of the plug, now for some pics from Turkey Hill:
I added 7 more species to the day's total at Turkey Hill: Eastern Kingbird, Chimney Swift, Turkey Vulture, Red-tailed Hawk, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, House Wren, and a Cormorant flew by overhead. I likely would have seen quite a bit more if it had been earlier in the day, and I intend to go there again right at dawn when I get the chance. Overall, I had a lovely day, despite the fact that I was silly enough to try to go to Parker River NWR at 3 in the afternoon on Memorial Day Weekend. I grabbed a bite to eat, with some difficulty. [Just wanted something simple, Bob Lobster was packed to the gills. Discovered that they will not make you a grilled cheese sandwich at the Plum Island GRILLE. Was annoyed. Apart from that and my unenthusiastic waitress, it seemed like a nice place, though. ] The refuge lots were full (of course) by the time I got there and finished eating, and I was satisfied with the birding I'd done that day, so I just went home. Too bad that I wasted my time, energy, and gas because I didn't think my plan through, but hopefully it's a mistake I won't make again soon. Until next time, folks:

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

How You Know a Birder's "Got It Bad"

2010-05-05T14:30:00.002-04:00

I showed up at the hawkwatch last Saturday around 1:30 pm. We had all been expecting it to be a good flight day with SW winds between 10-15 mph, ideal conditions for raptor migration as I understand it. When I approached the top of the ramp with my scope and tripod over my shoulder and bins and camera around my neck, our* hawk counter looked at me and tapped his watch with a teasing look of disapproval. I protested with a hint of a whine, "I know, I know!" I squeezed in on the platform's long bench between the regulars, and they asked why I was so late.

-"Well, it's hard getting out of bed when there's a sweet boy and a nice cat to cuddle with..."
-"You should know better- birds first! Birds before boys!"

And that, folks, is how you know if a birder's got it bad--they opt for more time with that special someone instead of going birding.

*I use the word "our" loosely. BBRR hires someone each Spring to count the raptors that migrate over the Braddock Bay hawkwatch. I volunteer with BBRR a little, and I noticed myself using "us/we/our" recently without realizing it.

Spring So Far

2010-05-03T23:09:00.004-04:00

Whew! What a Spring it's been so far. No time to go into much detail, but I've had a blast doing a little work educating the public. Led a girl scout troup on a tour to the Raptor Banding Station and helped out with an event at the Seneca Park Zoo teaching middle schoolers about Raptors. Was rather unsure of myself during the girl scout tour, but don't think I did too terribly for a first time on my own. I know I'll get better at it with more time and experience.

A stop by one of BBRR's Raptor banding stations brought about amazing sights, wide eyes, smiles, and great pictures. I was lucky enough to go out on a day with a pretty steady flow of birds. The BIC (bander in charge) and another BBRR volunteer who's currently a bander in training (how exciting!) were even joking, "Okay, 12 minutes until the next bird." because they were catching something every half hour. BBRR has something called Adopt-a-Hawk; many not-for-profits have similar programs. After banding a Sharpie, we all went outside to take its picture so someone could adopt it later on. After taking it's portrait, the BIC said, "Okay Amanda, now take off your camera..."

Now, I was plenty happy just being there and getting to witness the process of catching a raptor and banding it.

Me-"Are you serious?!!"
BIC-"Well, yeah. Now c'mon, put your camera down and come over here. You're going to grab the legs first, up close to the body just like you would do with a songbird....."

Next thing I knew:A half-hour later (on the dot):
Did I mention that I had spent the morning at BBBO mending mist-nets and banding songbirds? Amazing day. I want to do this stuff everyday, all the time. <3 Birds. :)

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Songbird Banding Season Begins

2010-04-23T15:38:00.004-04:00

Songbird banding season has begun and I'm doing my best to get out to RIT's bird observatory 3 days a week and to 3BO (Braddock Bay Bird Observatory) twice a week. RITBO is located near some wetland habitat, so some of the species caught there differ from the ones we generally get at 3BO. So far at RITBO I've discovered just how grabby Red-winged Blackbirds are. Attempts are made to allow the bird to grab a pencil or a straw instead of the bander's finger/s, with varying levels of success (think Indiana Jones substituting the bag of sand for the idol in the often-parodied beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark). Earlier this week a male RWBL I was banding flung the pencil he was holding at us, and then promptly grabbed onto my fingers again.

Tonight BBRR's 22nd Annual Bird of Prey Days kicks off with a live program featuring Liberty the Bald Eagle at 7 pm. I'm excited for this weekend's events, although admittedly kind of bummed that this also happens to be the weekend a couple of friends are coming to town for a visit, haven't seen one of them in months! Sigh. Guess it's not such a horrible problem--having lots of things to look forward to all at once, just wish they didn't conflict with each other.

Daily summaries of the banding operations at 3BO can be found here
and event details for Bird of Prey Days can be found here!

Mom + Dad at the Hawkwatch

2010-04-08T08:58:00.006-04:00

Mom and Dad drove out for a little visit this past weekend, and on Saturday I took them by the hawkwatch platform at Braddock Bay. I felt sure that Murphy's law would prevent me from showing them anything other than Turkey Vultures or Red-tailed Hawks, but it turned out to be a great flight day.

a kettle of Turkey Vultures

Birding with Friends

2010-04-05T22:59:00.007-04:00

Thursdays are my birding days, since my schedule is wonderfully blank. :) A couple of weeks ago I spent the whole day birding and even brought a couple of friends along, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. Both were very good sports, although my afternoon buddy gets the gold for putting up with my ridiculousness as we wandered around looking for a ruffed grouse, but I'll get to that in a moment.

Rob very admirably left the comfort of bed behind and came to join me in the morning at the marina on the west shore of Braddock Bay.
I got to show him a good variety of ducks, then brought him to the hawkwatch for a visit before he had to head off to work. Next I met up with my friend Chris for some more birding.

As for the grouse (which we did not end up seeing, or hearing), I had looked it up on eBird the day before, and written down the name of the road, figuring I'd just get out my map since I knew the general area it was in, but according to my map, the road doesn't exist. After some wandering, we stopped at a gas station and asked for directions. We left with the BEST MAP EVER :P
(and yes, I kept it)
Chris had fun teasing me when I brought him to the hawkwatch.
Hawkwatch regular: "Now, this is a different guy than you had up here this morning, right?"
Chris (jokingly shocked): "How many guys do you bring up here?!"
Me: "I told you I brought Rob earlier!"

Such silliness. :P We ended the day with some good pizza.

Just 9 more days until we set up the mist nets for songbird banding season!

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Halibut Point with Mom

2010-03-08T16:21:00.006-05:00

Today's the first day of classes for Spring quarter, so I just got back to Monroe county (home sub 2) after being home (sub 1) in Massachusetts for a week for Spring break. Not much birding, mostly spent time with friends I don't get to see often. However, I did get to go out to Halibut Point State Park to see Harlequin ducks--and Mom even wanted to come along! :)Yea, I know, I look kinda goofy. But I was warm, and besides--who worries about how they look when they go bird watching?!?

It was windy and a bit chilly, but actually fairly warm for the time of year and the fact that it's right on the ocean. I was glad to have a chance to show Mom how nice it is to have a scope, since, you know, my parents are the ones who bought it for me for Christmas. :P Since it was so windy I had difficulty keeping both my camera and the scope steady, which meant that I didn't 100% positively identify my lifer Black Scoter until I reviewed my pictures later that day.
I want to make sure I give due credit to Mom for her birding that day, even if it means admitting my own goofs (cue up keyboard cat).....

I initially set up my scope to look at what turned out to be a buoy. As I was confirming the sighting of my first 2010 Buoy Bird--
Mom: "Isn't that a bunch of ducks over there?"
I turn and look, naked eye. "Yes, yup, those are the Harlequins. Nice work."
Oops. Turns out locking on to the first dark thing you see floating in the water may not be the best duck-watching policy. :P

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

SPEAK UP FOR STATE PARKS!

2010-02-22T18:43:00.004-05:00

I cannot properly describe the nasty, hollow thing in my gut right now, although it most closely resembles fear, dread.

Please read this brief article.

I urge everyone who reads this to speak up for our state parks, whether you live in NY state or not. I am a registered voter in Massachusetts, but I will very likely remain in the Finger Lakes region after graduation, and begin to make my life here. I spend a great deal of time in government-owned parks--from town and county-managed property to the magnificent Letchworth State Park, and the thought of a single one closing, or diminishing in size, makes me shudder in horror.

NY isn't the only state considering or already planning to close state parks, as the article mentions. Even if your home state isn't considering making changes to its park system, I plead with you to write to your elected officials and to let them know how precious the parks are to you.

Our species continues to rape the natural world, let's face it. There are only tiny pockets that remain relatively unmolested. For the flora and fauna who dwell in these places, for future generations, and for yourself-- speak up!

Click here to email Gov. Paterson

In addition to what I have already asked of you, I ask one more favor: pass the word along. The birding community, I expect, will have a strong voice in this matter.

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

New Social Networking Site for Birders

2010-02-19T21:37:00.002-05:00

Heard of WeLoveBirds.org yet? It's a social networking site for birders! NRDC and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology partnered up to create it--check it out :)

No, I'm not dead...just busy

2010-02-16T18:51:00.002-05:00

No posts in November, a single post in December, nothing January, and now what is likely to be February's only post (although hopefully not). I have been insanely busy with schoolwork, and my birding--in terms of both the activity itself and networking with other birders--has suffered quite a bit.

I haven't seen a single Redhead or Canvasback all winter. That reflects on the amount of time I've had to go birding, not their presence, or rather, lack of presence. And apparently there are King Eiders in Buffalo, swimming around while I'm stuck doing a CS lab.....grrrr.....

Today as I got got back from class and was walking into my apartment I heard a bird singing, and after going inside to get my camera and snapping its pic, IDed it as a male House Finch. Memories of them singing from the trees in my backyard last Spring crept back into my mind, and I did my best to chisel the song a little bit more into my memory. I'm rubbish with IDing birds by voice and song, haven't had the time to work with my Birding by Ear CDs! Ahhh!

My feeders have been down all winter since the birds were waking my roommate up every morning, so I'm even more birding-starved. I'm sure a number of people can sympathize with me on this: I'm so much grouchier when I don't get to go birding at least 2 times a week!! I'm sure the frequency will vary, maybe some of you get grouchy if you can't bird everyday, or only if you can't bird 3 times a month, I dunno.

But it's okay, because I'm going to bird my brains out in the Spring, and it's going to be AMAZING. I've got it all worked out, you see. I did my best to sign up for evening classes for Spring quarter. That gives me the mornings and at least the beginnings of the afternoons to spend doing bird-related things: dawn to 6 hours after dawn I can be at the banding station/s, and then it's off to the hawkwatch platform! Hours upon hours of birding.....*bad imitation of Homer Simpson drooling*

I've been meaning to post for so long, and I have tons of homework to do for Chemistry, plus studying for Data Analysis (yay?), so I realize that this post is very all-over-the-place and thrown together, little or no proofreading, but blogging is informal, so why am I worrying about it?

The only two other little birding events I can think of were squeezed into my busy schedule:

driving back to Rochester after spending a weekend in Utica, I saw 3 Bald Eagles at Montezuma NWR, almost drove my car off the road I was so excited (they were flying pretty low at first). Quick detour to the park with my trusty new scope and my camera, and I got some pics. Nothing worth posting, they were too far off, but I got some nice looks nonetheless. Although I do like to get pictures, as long as I can see them with my own eyes, hear them with my own eyes, I can't really complain.
Walking back to my car after class, I heard a white-breasted nuthatch nearby. Not sure if I've seen one on campus before then, at least not in among the buildings (there's a patch of woods on campus, saw a Pileated there once). I admired him for a few minutes, pointed him out to a random stranger (who I assumed would find it odd that I was standing there looking up at a tree with a goofy smile on my face)

aaaaannd that's about it, although in the first week of January I did drag my brother out to Parker River in the bitter cold, but I'll have to post about that another time.

Finals week next week, perhaps I'll have more time to post, I need to tell you all about how I'm probably going to New Zealand this summer!! :O

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Aspiring Ornithologist sees a MacGillivray's

2009-12-19T14:49:00.012-05:00

Oh my--not a single post in November!

First things first--guess what? Changed my major.
Yup, after more than 3 years struggling along in RIT-NTID's American Sign Language--English Interpreting program, I finally threw in the towel. Had to admit that it's just not the career path for me. I love signing, but it comes a little slow to me--the other day I signed "year" instead of "hour" which, take my word for it, shouldn't be happening at this point. Pretty spazzy. Interpreting just isn't what I'm passionate about. Now, birds on the other hand.....

It may seem reckless and brash to base my new academic ambitions on something I've only been doing for about a year and a half, and maybe it is. But you know when you just.....know? Gotta go with the gut on this one. I can be down in the dumps like nobody's business, and if I happen to hear a nuthatch laughing a little way off, instant huge smile. Everything else fades into unimportance, momentarily falls to the bottom of the priority list. As some of my birding friends say--I've got the bug.

So, no more ASL major. Pending approval of my proposal, I'll be a Multidisciplinary Studies major. A committee has to look over the academic plan I've proposed for myself and give me the go ahead. I've never had to have anything approved by a committee before, has a very intimidating tone to it. I chose Multidisciplinary in an effort to salvage the credits I've already earned--don't want 3 years of college to go to waste! Essentially though, from here on out, I'll be focusing on Environmental Science and Biology.

It begins, folks. I'm goin' for it.

.....but none of that is really about birds, is it? At least not directly. Wouldn't you rather read about the MacGillivray's Warbler that graced Boston with its presence? Towards the end of my Thanksgiving break I finally realized that I should take a look at the rare bird sightings for MA--I haven't gotten into a good habit of checking regularly. Apparently there was a Barred Owl hanging out in town, as well as a MacGillivray's Warbler! So off into Boston I went. Drive to a T station, subway into town, foot from there. And what did I realize 5 minutes after I arrived on the Common? My camera battery was back home in the charger. D'OH! Briefly chatted with a couple of birders, easily identified by the binoculars around their necks. Apparently the Barred Owl hadn't been seen so far that day, so some of my frustration melted away. Long story short, I went back home and gave the trip a second try the next morning--making sure that my camera battery was in the camera this time.

I checked the Common again for the Barred Owl--no luck. However, it was a simply gorgeous day outside. Lots of adorable families--young couples with cute little tykes dressed in bulky red-and-green sweaters, trying to get the boys to stop chasing each other with willow branches so they can take the family photo for the Holiday card. Little babies in strollers all bundled up in puffy down-filled coats everywhere. It was just plain lovely. Great people watching time--a November day graced with blue skies on the Boston Common.

After a brief loop around the Common I set off for the Public Gardens, where the MacGillivray's Warbler was reported to be hanging out. Once there I simply looked for folks with binoculars. Found them pretty quickly. :P

gorgeous day at the Public Gardens

There was an Orange-Crowned Warbler keeping the MacGillivray's company, so I got 2 lifers that day! Got good pictures of both birds, too.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay around long because I had to drive back to school in Rochester that same day! (It's a 6-8 hour drive depending on weather, traffic, etc.)

Other than that birding expedition, I really haven't been out too much I'm afraid. Saw my first Long-tailed Ducks for this Winter the other day at Irondequoit Bay, but didn't stay long. I did miss those beauties, though. Really good to see them again. Can't wait for all the other Winter Anatidae favorites to arrive in greater numbers.

My brother convinced Mom to let us open a gift each early, so I already have two fantastic Christmas bird-related presents to spend time reading through: A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See it All by Luke Dempsey and the National Geographic Complete Birds of the World. I have a bunch of reading to catch up on for my Intro to Environmental Studies class, so I'm trying not to get too sucked in to A Supremely Bad Idea. I'm only a few pages in, and I like it quite a bit so far. Already made me laugh out loud. It's written by a Brit, so it's potential awesomeness is increased 10-fold. The National Geographic Birds of the World goes through every bird family on earth, and even just flipping through looking at the photos was mind-blowing. Curious about some of our more um, er, "interesting-looking" feathered friends? Try looking up some members of the Cotingidae family, like the Bare-necked Umbrellabird or the male Andean Cock-of-the-Rock. Also take a peek at the Wreathed Hornbill; it's very.....distinctive.

That seems to be quite enough for now, I'll just briefly mention that I did ask Santa to bring me a scope for Christmas, and I'll be participating in the Newburyport CBC again this year on December 27th! Visit Audubon.org to check out your local CBC's and to either join a field team or become a feederwatcher. Happy Holidays to everyone! And as I like to say.....

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Pacific Loon and Feeder Visitors

2009-10-30T12:49:00.005-04:00

I finally got my act together and signed up for the Genesee Birds List, which allows birders in the area to communicate with one another about rare sightings and various other hot topics. On the 25th the Genesee Birds List update in my email inbox informed me that there was a Pacific Loon at Hamlin Beach State Park. Unfortunately, I discovered this around 3 or 4 pm, but I immediately got my stuff in the car and headed out anyway.

I scanned the water near lots 3 and 4, where the loon had been reported to be earlier in the day. Now, I have a camera (18x optical zoom + 1.7x more zoom with my lens, so 30.6 x optical zoom overall?) and hand-me-down binoculars (10 x 25)--no scope. Trying to get a look at the loon that day, I made up my mind--definitely asking for a scope for Christmas this year. I had also been considering asking for snowshoes, but I think I'll get a lot more use out of a scope. Being a college student, I won't be able to get anything super-fancy. Some people have told me that if a scope is less than $1,000, don't even bother with it. In my case, I'm going to dismiss that advice.

Given my equipment, I didn't have much luck, but I did see another birder on the beach--with a scope--scanning the water. I approached him and asked if he was looking for the Pacific Loon. he was, and said that I couldn't be having much luck looking for it with a pair of binoculars. I wasn't, we chatted for a minute, I wished him luck, and started heading back towards my car. I hadn't gone very far when I heard some shouting, and turned around to see my fellow birder waving his arms at me and yelling "I've got it!"

I awkwardly fast-walked/ran back, holding my camera in one hand and my binoculars in the other so they wouldn't bounce all around. I got a peek through the scope at the bird, and it's now checked off my list. Always grateful to fellow birders who let me steal a peek through their scopes!!

I haven't heard any more complaints from my roommate about the birds waking her up in the morning, but she did say that in the springtime the noise can get "pretty intense." So, hopefully, I can keep my feeders up for the Winter. In the Spring I'll be getting plenty of birding and banding in, so I won't need the feeders so much to get my daily bird quota :-P

Yesterday there were 6 MODOs in the backyard (Mourning Doves). Also had a brief visit from a goldfinch. A female Downy is making regular visits, and a male Hairy even stopped by a few days ago! Below are pictures to compare the Downy woodpecker with the Hairy woodpecker. There are 3 characteristics that are generally used to distinguish the 2 species--overall size, bill length, and the presence of 2 black bars on the outer rectrices. (Alright, I guess it's really 4 characteristics: voice is also helpful in identification of these birds, but I'm still struggling with that, they sound almost exactly the same to me.) The black suet feeder in both pictures is the same, so the pictures make for good size comparison. The HAWO is pictured first, and the second, lower image is of the DOWO. The bars on the rectrices of the Downy aren't very clear from the picture, I'll try to get a better shot of them in the next few days.

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

.....and Happy Halloween!

Another BBBO video online!

2009-10-21T17:07:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that there is now a second video on NPR's Science Friday website about BBBO! Enjoy!

http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/watch/10248

Feeders--What to do?

2009-10-18T16:40:00.004-04:00

Set up my feeders yesterday: one clear one that suctions to the window above the sink, two suet feeders, one tube feeder, and one hanging platform feeder. Unfortunately, this morning one of my roommates told me that the birds woke her up with all their chirping, even with her window closed. Obviously, I can't keep my feeders up if the birds are waking my roommate up every morning, so I need to figure out what to do. At this point, I have no clue. I could move them farther back from the apartment, I'd have to check with the complex office first, but the problem then becomes deterring the squirrels. I already have a problem with squirrels, and if I moved the feeders back farther, they could simply drop down from the trees on top of them. Oh, what to do, what to do.

Despite the dilemma, there's already been a decent turn out. 2 Black-capped Chickadees, 2 Mourning Doves, a delightful visit from a Blue Jay, and at least a dozen of the pesky neighborhood House Sparrows. At first I thought I'd have to wait a few days to see some activity, so I'm pleased.

I'll post pics of my set-up later on, let me know if you have any tips on protecting feeders from squirrels from above! I'll be doing some research on it on my own, too.

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

BBBO on SciFri!

2009-10-09T12:16:00.003-04:00

Braddock Bay Bird Observatory is being featured this week on Science Friday! Click the link to watch a brief video that will give an overview of the process of songbird banding at BBBO. :) You can all see where I proudly volunteer!

http://www.sciencefriday.com/videos/watch/10246

Parker River with Mom

2009-10-03T22:52:00.007-04:00

Whoops! Looks like I let a whole month pass by without a single posting. What can I say? I've been busy, busy, busy. I've been meaning to post for a couple of weeks now, and since the cold-to-end-all-colds has me sitting at home on a Saturday night, I suppose there's no time like the present to catch up. Plenty of birds, not a whole lot of going out to bird watch. But, I should start from where I left off.

I took Mom bird watching at Parker River on August 26th. We didn't make it out for dawn, but we were there by 9 am. I got some nice shots of the swallow migration, and was giddy watching them all. Mom was a bit nervous about them, said she kept thinking of Hitchcock's The Birds, but she wasn't so anxious that she didn't appreciate the spectacle.

a harrier joins the frenzy

I brought Mom to North Pool Overlook and Hellcat, and we did the Marsh Loop and the Dunes Trail. Mom spotted a vireo that was right above our heads as we were on our way back on the Dunes Trail, about to cross the road. Unfortunately, the bird was too close for my camera to focus on it while the big ole lens was on, so I didn't get a shot.

Regrettably, by the time we made it down to Sandy Point there was no more parking. But, we were both starting to get hungry, so we made our way out of the refuge and grabbed lunch at Bob Lobster. After lunch we went for a little shopping in downtown Newburyport. I made sure to tell Mom that "bird watching isn't usually like this." :-P

Alright, that'll have to do for now, time for bed. Hopefully soon I'll get caught up with my blog, and then begins the daunting task of trying to catch up with everyone else's! (Hope everyone is well!)

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Bonnet Shores, RI

2009-08-20T09:07:00.011-04:00

Not a whole lot going on in terms of birding lately, at least not for me. Vacationed with the family for a week in Bonnet Shores, RI. Got some nice looks at several osprey and kayaked around Chafee NWR, which was just down the road. Explored Beavertail State Park, too. Really not too eventful, I must say. The entire time I was at Beavertail I kept thinking, "Okay, so Rhode Island in August is not the best birding ever, note to self....." Maybe it was just a bad luck day, after all, I was out in the afternoon instead of dawn and early morning.

A week at the beach meant lots of gulls- ring-billed, laughing, great black-backed, and herring- as well as sun burns. Some kids wandered the shores all day searching for any and all interesting sea life, like kids (and I) like to do. They found a couple of clams, and when it was time to go home, they tossed them to the gulls. I enjoyed watching the process of getting past the tough exterior to the clam itself.

Nom nom nom

The only other notable bit of bird watching came when a ring-billed gull was foraging through the belongings of a couple of women who were taking a dip. Their blanket wasn't too far from us, so I had a good view of the gull as it sauntered up. I debated getting up to scare it off, but then just started thinking about the fact that it's just another species adapting to the human take-over of the planet. As I was musing over this, the bird discovered the bag of Fritos. It used its beak to make one quick jab through the bag, breaking it open. It seemed to me as if the gull was quite familiar with the packaging and had learned how best to get past the protective exterior. Plastic, clam shell, there's a technique to get past each of these food-source barriers. I couldn't help but laugh as the gull swallowed a few fritos whole, as if they were minnows or some other small fish . Then, just as I began to get up to shoo away the gull, it grabbed an entire zip-lock of Cheez-its and flew off with it. I must admit I found this all very amusing, although I'm not so sure that Fritos and Cheez-its provide a gull with the best nutrition. For all I know, it's very harmful. I was mostly giggling at the silly women in the water who had left their snacks so unprotected.

I got up and moved a couple of their towels over the bag holding the remainder of their food, hoping to deter future foragers. When they returned we updated them, and they decided to feed the remaining Fritos in the bag to the gulls. They were poured out onto the sand, and I'm sure you can imagine the result. *facepalm* Once the Fritos were gone, the women expected the gulls to leave them alone. Sigh, and another facepalm.

So, all in all, not the most exciting week of birding. But hey, without uneventful birding, the eventful stuff wouldn't be so thrilling.

Can't wait for Fall's birding extravaganza. :)

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Two Osprey, a Squid, and a Snow Goose

2009-07-23T22:35:00.008-04:00

Before I get into the birding I did today, I have to say that I'm starting to get really excited for two different things. The first--family vacation to Rhode Island; right on the beach, directly next to a bird refuge. That's going to be in August, which seems to be zooming around the corner, wheels squealing. The second thing I'm excited about is the start of the school year. Wait, I can explain!!

Although the start of the school year means starting to retake classes (have I explained that part, yet? oh well, I will later if I haven't) it also means starting to take the Bird Banding course AND Fall Banding Season with BBBO. My schedule allows me two volunteer days a week instead of the one I could manage in the Spring (that was rained out about 5 weeks in a row). I. am. so. #*@$!^&. excited.

Unfortunately I'm missing the net set-up with BBBO, as well as BBRR's August Red-Tail Days. But, if you're in the Rochester, NY area at all August 21st and 22nd, you should definitely check it out! There's lots of stuff for kids this year, too.

Okay, on to today's birding.
Alarm off at 3 am.
Snooze for 30 minutes.
Alarm off at 3:30 am.
Out the door at 4:40 am.
Arrive at PRNWR at 5:50 am.
As is becoming my habit, I head for the live parking area next to the saltmarsh to watch the terns fish. I love watching terns fish. Didn't see any killdeer while I was there, which I thought was kind of odd, but dismissed it. When I left 4 hours later, I still hadn't seen any.

A Snow goose was munching on the grasses by North Pool Overlook. Lifer for me.
Then it was down to Sandy Point. I got to watch a pair of Osprey fishing for a while.
I didn't end up staying too much longer, by 10 am I was already feeling tired. Not sure why, just no pep, as my grandmother would say.

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Whale + Bird Watching

2009-07-21T20:00:00.003-04:00

At work on the 12th I all of a sudden decided that I was going to treat myself to a whale watch the next day. So, I did. I went with the same company I went with last summer, Seven Seas Whale Watch out of Gloucester. Last summer I was brand new to birding, this summer I have at least a year under my belt, so I had a better idea of what I was looking for. I realize that a year isn't a terrific amount of time, especially if you've been birding for most of your life, but I learned a tremendous amount in that 12 months!
The day brought 4 lifers:

Wilson's Storm-petrel
Leach's Storm-petrel
Greater Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater

I couldn't manage a picture of the Wilson's, but I definitely saw the straight-across tail with the legs projecting beyond it. As for the whales, we saw three Humpbacks known as Cajun, Pinpoint, and Crown. We also got two brief looks at a Minke Whale, but when I say "brief", I mean brief. If you've never been on a whale watch before, I highly recommend it. Also for those of you who have never been, you may not be familiar with the way naturalists catalog and identify the whales they come across.

Humpback whales : fluke patterns :: humans : fingerprints
Every individual humpback whale has a unique pattern on it's fluke, and naturalists photograph and catalog the patterns. Then they can record sightings of individual whales and track their movements to some extent. After years of studying the whales, naturalists and marine biologists can easily recognize a whale's distinct fluke pattern--that's how we knew which whales we were seeing, thanks to our on-board naturalist, that is. Apparently the dorsal fin of a humpback whale is also a good identification tool for individuals.

Here are some more pictures from the day's trip:

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Mount Auburn Trip

2009-07-14T10:57:00.005-04:00

On Friday I decided to go birding at Mount Auburn Cemetery. It's been on my list of places to go birding for quite some time, since it's so popular. Just took me until now to get around to it. I suppose it was a decent first visit, didn't see too much, though. On the other hand, I was feeling really tired on Friday--no pep--and I only stayed for a couple of hours. I imagine things are completely different say, during the height of warbler migration.

This was the first birding outing I twittered about while I was out there (gosh that's an awkward sentence). I kind of liked it, pretending that people are following my movements and just dying to know what will happen next. ;-P

This was my favorite picture of the day (mother and son?):
Followed by this photo of a bee on Wild Bergamot:
other pictures from the day

Maybe by the end of the day I'll catch up and post about my whale watching trip yesterday. Until then.....

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Backyard Barn Swallows

2009-07-03T15:06:00.007-04:00

There have been Barn Swallows zooming around our backyard and doing figure eights around the houses in my neighborhood for the past week or so at least. Yesterday after coming home from doing some errands I finally got the chance to photograph them.
Unfortunately I couldn't get pictures much better than these since those swallows are fast and it was cloudy and rainy out. I had fun standing in the middle of my backyard watching them swoop by me, several times within a few feet. When that happened, I didn't try to photograph them (after the first couple of failed attempts, anyway), just enjoyed observing them.

2009-07-01T12:29:00.001-04:00

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to go see the Henslow's Sparrow in Montague with my "new" red '98 Honda Civic! (lovingly named Moe)

Taking a Break

2009-06-25T12:10:00.002-04:00

Won't be birding for a while since I got into a car accident on the 19th and totaled my car. (Granted, it doesn't take much to total a '96 Tercel.) I suppose it's sort of a blessing in disguise, since these days I've got plenty I need to think about and figure out. Academically, I need to make a major decision- do I repeat a year of classes in a major I'm not sure about or switch to something new? Hope it won't be too long until I bird again.

At least I have our family's week-long vacation in August to look forward to: renting a house in RI that's right next to a Wildlife Refuge :)

So, I'm relying on all of you to have fantastic birding adventures so that I can vicariously bird through you! :-P

BwBTC and Mississippi Kite

2009-06-18T12:32:00.011-04:00

Saturday morning saw me climbing into bed at midnight after getting home from work, and setting the alarm for 3 am again. In the car by 4, at the refuge by 5. I watched the terns fishing for a while, trying in vain to get decent pictures: I knew there wasn't enough light to capture the speeding birds without plenty of blur, but I couldn't keep myself from trying anyway. Watching terns, swallows, and swifts and their aerial acrobatics always makes me smile (and feel a little jealous).

I meandered my way down the refuge road, and bumped into Tom again. I met Tom on Monday-- he's an experienced, knowledgeable birder who is lucky enough to live just 10 minutes from the refuge. At the North Pool Overlook he helped me finally see an Eastern Meadowlark, a bird I've been anxious to see for months. Without Tom picking out the Meadowlark's song for me and pointing it out, I doubt very much that I would have seen it at all that day. Then we were pleased to see both a male Green-winged Teal and a male Blue-winged Teal in the pool. Both gave us good looks as they cruised by.
By then it was about quarter to 7, and I had to swing by the Visitor Center to see if the Birders who Blog, Tweet, and Chirp (BwBTC) were meeting there: I wasn't sure if the meeting time was at 7 or 8 am. I pulled in to the parking lot with another car, and not 10 seconds after I had parked, saw the other car's driver pull over, get out, examine a wheel, and exclaim his frustration. As it turned out, the driver was one of the BwBTC group-Andy. He had hit the curb and gotten a flat. Since Andy had purposefully given himself extra time in case of traffic, getting lost, etc. I sort of thought things would still work out okay. Unfortunately, Andy didn't end up coming along with us to Parker River.

The meeting time was at 8 am, but around 7:40 or so folks started pulling in. Introductions were made, and I tried to remember at least a few names--a feat even more difficult for me than trying to photograph terns in flight without sufficient light. Luckily, Dawn had brought name tags. She even made buttons for us all for the event! Thanks, Dawn! :-)

I felt a little silly since Christopher's Blog was the only one I was actually familiar with, but now I've added several more birding blogs to the list of ones I follow! It was really nice to get to know some New England birders, since before now I've only gotten to know birders in New York around the Finger Lakes.

We figured out carpools and set off. First was Lot 1 to see the Purple Martins around their nest boxes and to try our luck seeing a Manx Shearwater or a Roseate Tern out over the ocean. No such luck. Christopher chatted with Plover Warden Janet and we decided to head straight for Sandy Point since it was Kids Go Fish! Day and the parking lots were sure to fill up quickly. Unfortunately, we weren't quite fast enough (kept getting distracted by those pesky things with feathers along the way), and there wasn't room for our little caravan when we arrived. We turned around and headed for the Hellcat Trails.

On the Marsh Loop we looked for the Virginia Rail, which wound up being a no-show, although we did hear a few calls from time to time. There were a few pairs of Gadwall and a few Marsh Wrens in the area, however.

Next we hung out near the Hellcat observation tower for a little bit while Chris went to meet Janet at the end of her shift. Then we would all reunite for a group photo. While there we enjoyed watching the industrious muskrats swim back and forth with cattails to use as construction supplies. Then we caught a brief look at a Least Bittern as it flew in front of our group. At this point I was starting to feel those 3 hours of sleep, and was more or less in autopilot mode. After the group picture I needed to head home to get ready for work.

Despite not getting to Sandy Point and the Virginia Rail being a no-show it really was a fantastic day of birding and socializing! I'm so glad Christopher invited me along and that I had the chance to meet so many other birders who, well, blog, tweet, and chirp! Now I just need to start using Twitter.....although I hear it's addicting!

Here's the list of everyone who attended the BwBTC event on Saturday:
Dawn & Jeff from Dawn's Bloggy Blog
Bev from Behind the Bins
John from Birding Maine
Sharon from A New England Life
Catie from Birding Girl
Janet from The Plover Warden Diaries
Steve from Shooting My Universe
Lauren (Lowie) from Worn Field Guide Blog
Laura from The Interstitial Spaces
Mark from Strack16 Blog
Dan from Nature Observances by Forestal

Yesterday I ventured out to Newmarket, NH to see the Mississippi Kite that is nesting there. The BwBTC group went out to see it after Plum Island, but I couldn't follow since I had work that evening. First I had a doctor's appointment in Newton, so believe it or not, I voluntarily used my dad's GPS. The world may be coming to an end, just FYI.

I haven't mentioned it before because I've never had a reason to, but I really don't trust technology too much. Yes, I'm blogging right now and using the internet, I do use technology to some extent. It's when machines start talking to me that I freak out (I've seen 2001 wayyyy too many times). So yea....give me a good old paper map over a GPS any day.....except, apparently, yesterday. *shrug*

ANYWAY: the folks in Newmarket I spoke with were all very friendly and helpful. I bumped into a couple of other birders who were there to see the Kite as well, and was treated to a peek through a scope at the bird sitting on its nest. I love when other birders let me peek through their scopes, it is much appreciated!! Several residents driving, biking, jogging, and walking by us inquired "Are the birds back again?!" upon seeing the three of us standing there with bins. This is the second year the Kite's been in Newmarket, and last year it was BIG news, understandably. I hung around for about an hour hoping to see the parents switch places sitting on the nest, hoping to see a Kite in flight, but no such luck.

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Getting Up at 3 a.m. is Always Worth It

2009-06-09T12:56:00.005-04:00

Hit the hay around 7:30 pm Sunday night with the alarm set to go off at 3 am. Out the door by 4 am. Arrived promptly in Lot 1 for dawn at 5:08 am. I was greeted by the Purple Martins and Tree Swallows as they darted around the nest boxes. A short stroll down the boardwalk brought me to the beach where a fisherman stood at the shoreline managing the three poles he had set-up. The clouds stayed close to the horizon, perhaps somewhat diminishing the beauty of sunrise over the Atlantic, but only ever so slightly.

I love waking up when it's still dark out to go birding, timing things so I'll arrive just at dawn, then racing the sun to my destination.

It was a great day of birding. I checked the listings of recent bird sightings at Plum Island before heading out, so I knew what to keep an eye out for. A Virginia Rail was apparently hanging around near the Hellcat Marsh Loop. When I talked to another birder I met up with, he told me it was most likely nesting near there, and that it was being quite boisterous and even walking around in plain sight in an effort to distract "predators" (birders, in this case) from the nesting site. When I walked the Hellcat Marsh Loop, that's exactly what I found. I took a couple brief videos with my camera and have posted them on YouTube. I was also delighted to come across a Marsh Wren building its nest, and have posted an additional video of this on YouTube. Unfortunately, all of the videos from yesterday are somewhat shaky, and for that I apologize.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-MlBwmAjOA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3ixM0JEWKc

Here are the totals for the species I counted yesterday:
13 adult Canada Geese and 17 fledglings
14 Mute Swans
12 Mallard drakes and 1 female
21 Double-crested Cormorants
6 Snowy Egrets
5 Great Egrets
(4 unidentified Egrets)
3 Turkey Vultures
2 Piping Plovers
8 Killdeer
12 Mourning Doves
18 Eastern Kingbirds
1 Blue Jay
6 American Crows
3 Black-capped Chickadees
8 Robins
29 Gray Catbirds
5 Northern Mockingbirds
14 Brown Thrashers
16 Cedar Waxwings
12 Yellow Warblers
2 Common Yellowthroats
3 male and 1 female Eastern Towhee
16 Song Sparrows
1 male Cardinal
12 male Bobolinks
21 male and 6 female Red-winged Blackbirds
3 male and 1 female Brown-Headed Cowbird
3 male American Goldfinches

Please note that this list only reflects the particular species that I made an effort to count. I'll be honest and say that I made no effort to count the gulls, terns, sandpipers, martins, swallows, House Sparrows, or grackles.

Lifers for yesterday include:

Virginia Rail
Least Tern

There are more to add to the lifer list for yesterday, I just need some ID help. I'll post an update when I know, maybe even be wild and do it via cell phone.

I've again decided to post my pictures on my shutterfly site instead of uploading them here:

http://b1rds0nthebra1npix.shutterfly.com/

.....is it just me, or do I sound very stuffy lately? I seem like such a stick-in-the-mud dope when I reread this stuff. I swear my usual antics are exceedingly entertaining.

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Parker River NWR May 30+31

2009-06-07T12:07:00.004-04:00

May 30th and 31st I had off from work, so I treated myself to a trip to Plum Island both days. I've decided to post the pictures on my shutterfly site for better viewing:

http://b1rds0nthebra1npix.shutterfly.com/

May 30th I added at least 4.5 lifers to my list. I know, I know: .5?? Let me explain: I have seen a Woodcock before, but the encounter reflected this bird's reputation in that it was very brief and I didn't wind up getting a particularly good view or a picture. Although the woodcock is known for being elusive, it is very distinct in its appearance, and that allowed me to identify it at the time despite the circumstances. May 30th, however, was entirely different. Within 5 minutes of pulling into the refuge, I almost drove right past one that was just hanging out by the side of the road! It wasn't even just after dawn--I had gotten a late start that day, and the time was 8:42 am! I pulled over and was treated to several great pictures of this spectacular bird, it was a wonderful way to start the day, and I admit I took it as a good omen. Later on, talking to some other birders, I found out that apparently woodcocks often perform their courting ritual in the parking lot to the Hellcat trails at dusk.

My other lifers for the day:
Bobolink
Savannah Sparrow
Least Bittern
Purple Martin

I believe there are some others, as well. I just need to process the photos I took and identify the shorebirds I'm not sure about [one of them is picture 32 in the shutterfly album, I'd appreciate any help :) ].

I should mention that the last 3 photos in the album were actually taken in Gloucester, not at Parker River. You'll also notice a turtle portrait in the album--I discovered this Eastern Painted Turtle just chillin' smack dab in the middle of the refuge road. It struck me as a poor choice of hang outs, so I somewhat timidly picked the fella up and set him down about a foot off from the side of the road in some low grasses.

My May 31st visit saw "only" one lifer--a very special bird indeed--the precious Piping Plover. I was beyond thrilled to watch an adult foraging along the sand at Sandy Point, and couldn't get over the fact that most people just simply walked right on by the bird. There are signs all over the refuge and barriers set up to protect nesting areas, so I assume most people must be aware of their presence. A large stretch of the beach at Plum Island is blocked off every year for the Piping Plovers. I couldn't (and still can't) decide if all of this uninterested people simply didn't know it was a Piping Plover and took it to be "just another shorebird" or if they were locals who see them each year. In any case, I managed to get several shots before getting chased out by the rain.

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

What I've Been Up to this Month

2009-05-27T12:33:00.009-04:00

Okay--get ready for a big ol' game of catch-up. Although I haven't been posting, I have indeed been birding this month, and I've added several lifers to my list. I'd also like to share some of my better photos, like this one of a very well camouflaged female mallard in Island Cottage Woods on May 5th:
Oh, great news! I'll be taking the banding course offered by RIT/BBBO this coming Fall. I'm really looking forward to it.

Three weeks in a row I was robbed of my volunteer time on Thursdays at BBBO- twice because of rain, then because of finals last week. I was especially disappointed since I had just started getting instruction on how to take birds out of the nets. I hadn't actually made an attempt yet, but that was the obvious next step, and really exciting for me.

YWAR-May 7, 2009-Mendon Ponds Park

My birding records are a mess. I used to have a decent system-after each trip I'd write down everything I saw and where on an index card. Later, this would be compared with my photos and I'd neatly copy the data down into a notebook. An example of my entries would be:

December 11, 2008
Irondequoit Bay State Marine Park, 4:53-5:56 pm

rock pigeons
7 long-tailed ducks (juv. + female) etc.

Lifers are indicated with red asteriks. I record the sex of as many individuals as I can and the number of each species seen that day if I can. I also record any other wildlife I see (apart from chipmunks and squirrels, that is): dragonflies, butterflies and moths, mammals, wildflowers, etc. I've gotten into the bad habit of just uploading my pictures to my computer and not writing down notes the same day of my trip. Ideally, I should take notes while I'm actually out birding, not later when I get home.

Alright, this catch-up game is going to be summarized instead of gone over in detail. Recent lifers include:

Island Cottage Woods in Greece, NY--May 12

Wood Thrush

Island Cottage Woods in Greece, NY--May 18

Northern Waterthrush
Blackpoll Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black and White Warbler

Oxbow NWR in Harvard, Massachusetts--May 26

Veery

I also added Blue-Headed Vireo and Red-Eyed Vireo to my life list at some point in May, I just need to "process" my photos and figure out when and where.

REVI-May 18, 2009-Island Cottage Woods

Schooling is Interfering with my Education

2009-05-11T10:19:00.010-04:00

The following was written on May 11th:
(then forgotten about during the hectic last weeks of the quarter, and is finally now being posted)

I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with the well-known quote from Samuel Clemens, otherwise known by his pen name, Mark Twain-- "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." Well, today marks the beginning of the last week of classes for me in this academic year. The sun is also shining and my camera battery is all charged and ready to go. Too bad I'm buried under piles of work.

Essentially, I'm starting to get slightly bitter that my schoolwork is keeping me from the birds. I keep hearing reports of wonderful rare birds in the area (a White Pelican is hanging around Braddock Bay) and it seems everyone else is out taking in all the sights and sounds of the gorgeous variety of warblers coming through.

Enough complaining, though. I did get a few lifers this past week, and I didn't miss out entirely on the sights and sounds of the warblers.

May 5 I visited Mount Hope Cemetery for the first time. I didn't stay too long, I found myself feeling slightly uncomfortable--I kept worrying about unintentionally being disrespectful, if that makes any sense. It was very beautiful, and I enjoyed the variety of wildflowers growing everywhere, but I knew I would feel much more at ease in the woods somewhere on a trail.

Apparently quite a few people have no problem being 100% intentionally disrespectful, as I found several empty beer and soft drink bottles strewn on the ground, or wedged in between tree branches. I always get upset and annoyed when I see trash thrown around in parks and in woods that are on public property, but I suppose the notion of people not caring about nature is something I'm exposed to more often than the notion of people being disrespectful of the dead. I do agree in part with the Buddhist philosophy that the body is simply a vessel while our souls inhabit this world, and that once we die, the body is nothing but an empty shell. However, I was not brought up believing this, and a large part of me still clings to the idea that although a loved one may no longer be in that body lying there, the body is to be respected and honored, as is its resting place.

Summary of that rant: Really people, really? You're going to go to a cemetery to have some beers with your buddies, then leave the empty bottles lying around the graves of other peoples' loved ones? WHY?!

Ok, done now, I promise. It's out of my system. Now, back to the birds. I continue to see lots of Yellow-Rumps, RCKIs, Yellow Warblers, and Palm Warblers. I always find delight in the breathtaking yellow of the Yellow Warblers, and I've been treated to several good views so far this Spring. I'm also seeing lots of Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers, and have gotten a couple fair looks at them from not-too-far-away, but not as many as I'd like. I find them to be very energetic, endearing little birds. I'm spending a lot of time looking straight up, and getting plenty of butt shots of all of these birds. At least I know for sure what the undertail coverts look like, right? *shrug* Alright fine--I see no benefit to butt shots.

Here's a series of photos of a mobbing incident I saw while I was at Mount Hope-

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Lifer in the Middle of Bio Lab

2009-04-28T22:16:00.009-04:00

Today while I was in the woods on campus working on a group project for Field Biology with a couple of my classmates, I suddenly saw a Pileated Woodpecker fly to a nearby tree and land there. I freaked out--"oh my god, guys, come here, come here! I can't believe this, it's a Pileated Woodpecker....come here, guys! No, really, I want to show this to you, it's a really cool bird." I've been wanting to see one for a little while now, and I honestly can't believe that I saw one on campus while technically in-class. My classmates weren't as enthused as I was, and I don't blame them a bit. If I were hanging out with a geologist and he started excitedly pointing out kinds of rocks, I wouldn't really care. *shrug* Just not my thing.

Unfortunately, no pictures of the bird since I didn't have my camera on me, and it also flew away while I was trying to get my classmates to look up at the tree where it was. Oh well.

Despite the weather predictions for the day, I raced against the rain and tried to get in a little birding. Then, even when it did start to rain, I just went back to my apartment to re-outfit myself: plastic bag and a solo cup with the bottom cut out to protect my camera against the rain. This provided more proof that I have no inclination whatsoever toward engineering, but it kind of worked. I only needed it to work for a little while, anyway. I'm glad I went out (to Mendon Ponds) because I saw lots of sparrows and Yellow Warblers. I can now check White-crowned Sparrow off of my life list. I also saw Yellow-rumped Warblers, Brown Thrashers, and Chipping Sparrows.
I'm not sure if I'd call this a lifer or not--I can't remember if I've seen a Field Sparrow before and somehow forgot to check it off my list, or if I really haven't seen one until today. In any case, I got very close views of a couple of them today.

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Springing Forward

2009-04-24T22:06:00.023-04:00

Tuesday was a day of kestrels, swallows, and phoebes. I went out to Burger Park and explored it. I've really only been in the little parking lot before. I was delighted with the grid of trails I found. It wasn't long before I remembered how impatient I can be when I'm trying to stalk the passerines hiding in the thickets and the trees. I'm not as stealthy as I think I am. After exploring the trails I laid down along the path near the parking lot to attempt to get some pictures of the swallows diving and swooping overhead. A few of the times I missed completely and got a picture of nothing but clear blue sky. When that happened, I'd make a funny little noise of frustration, reminiscent of childhood tantrums, and then just laugh and give up for the next couple of minutes. It was all too delightful to watch, how could anyone actually be annoyed?

I adore watching swallows dive and dip and plunge and swoop and swirl and sail and careen and soar and turn and otherwise rocket around. It just makes me smile. They look like freedom.
That day I also got a lot of good looks at Kestrels hover hunting. At the time, I had no clue that that was what I was watching, but a quick trip to the Hawkwatch (to pester one of the counters I knew would be there) answered all my newbie birder questions.

Yesterday wasn't as outstanding as was hoped for, but it was still a great day of birding for me. Three Sandhill Cranes flew by while I was at the Hawkwatch--first lifer of the day--the view wasn't outstanding, they were a bit far off, but it wasn't bad either.
Then someone pointed out a pair of Wood Ducks to me--second lifer of the day--they were also a ways off, but I got a couple pictures, and was thrilled that she had said something, since otherwise I would have missed it entirely!
The third lifer of the day was a Caspian Tern. I got good shots of it both yesterday and today.
After a while at the Hawkwatch one of the regulars I've been getting to know decided to go birding in the woods, turning the attention from raptors to songbirds. Things were slow up above our heads, so I joined her and she showed me Island Cottage Woods, which was a new birding spot for me. She showed me what Sapsucker holes look like: and put a name to a couple of plants I hadn't bothered to ID yet--May Apples and Trillium. Hermit Thrushes were everywhere. I suggest clicking on this first photo for a bigger look, and then admiring the camouflage this guy's got going for him Towards the end of our walk we got a special treat--a look at one that was only a few feet away, for maybe a good 45 seconds. It's always a thrill to get a close-up look at a bird, especially when it lasts for more than 2 seconds or so!
Today was a big day of migration: strong SW winds and hot. Lots of broad-wings. It was the first of "Bird of Prey Days" for BBRR, so there were tons of people there. There was an owl prowl in the morning, tours of the Hawkwatch, the Raptor Banding Station, and the songbird banding station, and presentations with live raptors (including a Golden Eagle) and live venomous snakes. Other presentations covered the endangered Short-Eared Owl in NY and the Raptor Population Index Project. Some of the day's pictures:
Some Great Egrets we had the pleasure of seeing today:
I got my lifer Golden Eagle today, and it honestly couldn't've been much better. It flew in overhead, getting closer and closer, but not too quickly (a lot of the birds today just got blown right over us in a blink because of the strong winds). Then it hovered above us and provided a fantastic photo op for everyone. Beautiful. Simply beautiful.

That wasn't the only lifer I got today while I was at the Hawkwatch, either. A few of the regulars around me suspected that a certain gull flying over the marsh nearby wasn't an ordinary variety. Then someone confirmed their suspicions and called out "Glaucous-winged gull!"

Tomorrow's the second day of BBRR's Bird of Prey Days. Here's a link to the schedule of events, if you're interested.

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Nets + Tours

2009-04-19T19:32:00.004-04:00

This week has been a really exciting one for me and my birding "career" (I use the term here very loosely). When I checked my email on Wednesday (April 15) I had something from one of the RIT professors who runs the on-campus banding station (an "e-hello," as he put it). He had gotten my email address from the BBRR volunteer list I had just recently signed up on. He asked what I was interested in in terms of birding, I gave the poor guy a very lengthy answer, and he invited me to stop by the RIT banding station. Essentially, more networking with members of the birding community--and I'm thrilled!

I went to bed around 1:30 am on Thursday morning after making some cardinal-shaped cookies (they turned out edible, but quite plain. that's fine by me, considering it was the first batch of from-scratch cookies I've ever made by myself in my life) and had a lot of trouble actually falling asleep--I was just like a little kid on Christmas Eve.

Then the alarm was going off. The glorious alarm! *YAWN* okay, maybe not so glorious. I arrived down at the banding station by 8:30, and was greeted with waves as I parked my car from a few women who were already at work setting things up. Introductions were made and we set to work. I had no clue how exactly these nets were set up, but everyone helped get me acquainted with things, and I learned a lot. The first one went a little slowly (or at least, it seemed to) and then as more people arrived and we got into the swing of things, the pace really picked up.

I met a lot of new people (no, I don't remember everyone's names. I'm terrible with names. Terrible. Horrendous.) and I'm really excited to spend my Thursday mornings out there with them all, getting to know them and learning from them--I'll definitely benefit from their experience.

We did end up keeping a few of the nets open for a little while: a black-capped chickadee was recaptured, and we banded a song sparrow and a grackle. I started learning how to act as a scribe--recording wing length, tarsus length, mass, sex, year, etc.

That was pretty much it for the day (not to imply that all that isn't enough for one day), I went home tired and happy.

Friday night, as I was getting ready to go out with some friends, I got an unexpected phone call from someone who works with BBRR (Braddock Bay Raptor Research, person's unnamed because I prefer not to mention names unless I have permission). I had just signed up as willing to volunteer and given them my contact information a week prior after the Saw-whet Owl presentation. Apparently the size of the group going on the Hawk Banding Tour the next morning had more than doubled at the last minute, and they needed someone to help out with the tour. They knew I had just signed up and this was last minute, but could I help out? I said I'd give it a try, I was given the details, and then I started to get really excited.

The next morning I was pretty nervous. Would I be able to answer questions? I didn't have to lead the tour, just sort of keep half of the group occupied while the other half was at the banding station (not enough room for everyone all at once), but could I do that and make it look like I knew what I was doing? When I explained to one of my roommates and her boyfriend why I was nervous, he asked if I would be "backwards-walking person." I said yes, and laughed. I quite like that way of putting it.

Long story short, it went just fine. I didn't feel totally useless (thanks to everything I learned from the regulars at the Hawkwatch station, the Saw-whet Owl Presentation, and my guidebooks!) and I feel so lucky that an opportunity like that just fell right in my lap. I had a really good time, and yea, I feel like a cool kid now. B-)

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

BBBO Set-up Tomorrow!

2009-04-15T09:20:00.002-04:00

It's marked on my calendar in orangey-pink fluorescence, outlined in black: BBBO banding station set-up! It's tomorrow, people! Excited much? Yes.

I bought a cardinal-shaped cookie cutter from Wegman's especially for this. Trying to win their favor? You bet I am. Plus, they're cookies.....shaped like birds.

Yeah, I'm a little hyper right about now. I still need to do a little write up about my latest lovely day at Montezuma (March 31) because I had a number of lifers that day and got some decent pictures, some nice ones of a pair of Osprey getting their nest ready. Anyway, off to frantically prepare for the day of classes I have ahead of me.

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Long-eared Owl + Hawkwatching

2009-04-11T16:58:00.019-04:00

Posting at two-week intervals seems to be becoming the norm for me.

April 2nd I saw my first owl--a Long-Eared Owl in the aptly named Owl Woods at Braddock Bay. I most likely would have walked right by if it had not been for the sharp eyes of the gentleman I was birding with. For the life of me, I can't remember his name, and I really hate that I can't. It makes me feel like such a jerk. I met him at the banding station after I stopped by and was lucky enough to get a personal tour. We left the banding station and decided to explore the pines of Owl Woods near the beginning of the trail together.

We stood in among the trees looking up, scanning them for any bumps along the trunk and things like that. I looked down in his direction (since I'm a young woman who was walking alone in the woods, I did make sure to keep him in my sights at all times, just in case. Nothing personal of course, just common sense.) to see him waving me over excitedly and staring fixedly up into one of the pines. I did my best to walk over quietly, and he pointed out the Long-Eared Owl. I was thrilled.

The owl allowed us an extended, close look. It even permitted us to move around the base of the tree to try to get a better look through the tree branches, cracking twigs and branches on the ground and making a fair amount of noise. Looking back on it now, I realize that we somewhat took advantage of the owl's patience, and we should have given him his space. This past Thursday night I remarked on my regrets to another birder I'm getting to know, who is one of the many regulars at Braddock Bay. His point of view was that the owl is much more in control of the situation than we are in those kinds of meetings, and that if the owl feels uncomfortable and wants to leave, it is more than able to do that. It's another way to look at things, but I still think I'm going to be more respectful of an owl's roosting space in the future.

I am getting to know a few of the Braddock Bay Hawkwatch regulars now. I stop by the platform when I can, and take advantage of their collective knowledge and experience. Several of the regulars have been coming to the Hawkwatch platform for raptor migration season for years now. I feel a little bit of that middle-schoolish desire to belong when I'm there--not social anxiety or a need to fit in, but I definitely want to be a part of the group. They're all friendly folks, lovely to spend time with. It's great to simply sit up on the platform on a nice day, heads tilted back, eyes scanning the skies, gossiping, joking, and swapping stories.

Turkey Vultures soaring overhead at the Hawkwatch Platform

April 9th I saw my lifer Northern Pintail and my lifer Pied-Billed Grebe while hanging out at the station. Both birds were spotted by other people who pointed them out to me (thanks!). Later that evening I attended a Saw-Whet Owl Banding presentation put on by Braddock Bay Raptor Research (BBRR). It was a great program and I learned a great deal.

Yesterday I invited a friend over to photograph the birds at my feeders.

I laughed out loud when I took this picture. I just love the goldfinch looking out from in between the branches like that. It's nice to see their breeding plumage coming in.

I'm thrilled to be seeing Chipping Sparrows again. They were the first species I was ever able to observe "at length." They hung around in the trees in my front yard last summer. I used to sit in the driveway and just watch them, wondering if the neighbors thought I was crazy.

Then we went out to Braddock Bay. We spent some time at the Hawkwatch, but things we pretty quiet because of the ENE winds, so after a bit we went to Owl Woods. We were delighted to see several Brown Creepers, lots of Golden Crowned Kinglets, and three Hermit Thrushes.
I also went birding at Montezuma NWR on March 31st, but I'll have to post about that later. I've got a nasty cold and am determined to rid myself of it ASAP--so it's back to bed for me.

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Wigeon, Ruddy Ducks, Siskin, Coot, and Cooper's

2009-03-28T18:30:00.022-04:00

It's been more than two weeks since I've posted, so I'm playing catch-up again. On the 19th I visited Ontario Beach Park (as well as a few other places) and took these pictures of mallard drakes bathing. I like the candid poses I caught them in, and have been looking forward to posting the series of photos I wound up with. These are not all images of the same drake, but it still paints a decent picture of the antics of a bathing duck.

I've added several lifers to my list since the last time I posted. At Braddock Bay on March 14 I checked off American Wigeon:
On March 15, Ruddy Ducks at Braddock Bay:
On the 17th I did some birding around Canadice Lake, and was thrilled to finally see Pine Siskins. Even better-I pished them in. I noticed a few birds flitting around the tree branches overhead, but it was too high up for me to make out any details. I began pishing for them, and just like black-capped chickadees, 4 siskins came down almost immediately. They remained just overhead in the branches for quite some time, allowing me to take plenty of pictures.
At Mendon Ponds Park on March 19, I saw my first American Coot. Unfortunately, none of the pictures came out too great since the bird was quite a ways out on the lake, but it's a distinctive bird, so someone was able to identify it for me through BirdForum. I got back from birding that day, looked through my pictures, and tried to ID the bird. I only really flipped through the ducks, geese, loons, and grebes in my guidebook--completely ignoring the famile Rallidae. Stumped, I do the same thing I always do when I'm stumped--ask the good folks at BirdForum.
I consulted other birders at BirdForum again on the 23rd. On my way out the door to class, I noticed a petite raptor (Merlin-sized) land in a tree in my backyard. I was quite surprised, and ran back into the house to grab my camera. I managed to get a couple shots before he flew off. When I looked at the pictures later I couldn't ID the bird (my bird of prey experience is pretty limited) and again went to BirdForum for help. Cooper's Hawk is the general consensus.

One last note to catch you up with news on my birding--saw my first 2009 Northern Flicker today. :-)

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Life Bird #101

2009-03-11T19:19:00.014-04:00

Saw Life Bird #101 yesterday: Common Redpoll. Tuesdays I only have one class, and since this is week one of Spring Quarter, we got out early--leaving me the rest of the day to bird! I couldn't make up my mind between Braddock Bay (my favorite spot to bird around here, closely followed by Irondequoit Bay) and Hamlin Beach State Park. I decided to definitely check out Hamlin Beach at one point, since eBird had sightings of Common Redpolls there in the past couple of weeks, and I've more or less given up on my chances of seeing Crossbills this Winter. Common Redpolls were another species on my mental list of birds I haven't-seen-yet-but-definitely-could-if-I-just-make-a-small-effort-to-go-find-them. Since Braddock Bay is on the way to Hamlin Beach, I gave in to temptation and stopped by. I've been going to Irondequoit Bay this whole Winter, and was pleased to see large numbers of diving ducks at Braddock Bay--mostly Ring-necked Ducks, scaup, and Redheads, with some Common Goldeneye mixed in. I also saw my first Red-winged Blackbirds of 2009.
I always visit the Marina of Braddock Bay when I go birding there. Now, I don't know if I just never noticed it before or if things have actually changed over the Winter, but the place is a DUMP. I kept thinking to myself, "Funny, it doesn't look like a trash can." [rant alert, consider yourselves warned]

I keep a trash bag in the trunk of my car since a lot of the time when I go birding there will be the ocassional piece of trash in the parking lot or on the trails, and the majority of the places I visit are Carry-In, Carry-Out. I think it's important to do your part, especially if it's a place you frequent--in my mind, once you become a regular visitor to a park, NWR, etc. it becomes your responsibility to look after the place in part. Anyway, the place was a dump. I kept muttering obscenities under my breath as I walked around with my trash bag, picking up beer cans, juice boxes, bottle caps, and a ridiculous number of lottery tickets (Cashwords, specifically. All of them.) Someone must come park their car at the Marina during their lunch break or something, eat their lunch, scratch their cashword, toss it out the window, and drive off. I don't know. Oh, and it was damp and muddy, too, did I mention that? There was even a Bud bottle stuck in a hollowed crevice of a tree.

Now, at one point as I was walking around the trunk of a tree and I discovered [this is a little PG-13] a bright purple vibrator. I just sort of stood there for a moment, nodding and thinking, "Yup. Seems about right given the other stuff around here. I really shouldn't be surprised." No, I didn't pick it up. And as you can imagine, after that I was a lot more careful about what I decided to pick up. If I didn't know what it was, it stayed where it was.

Reminds me of the time I was innocently birding at a park in Rochester and came across a couple having sex in their car. Yeah.....awkward.

That wasn't the rant I was expecting to toss out. I guess I've calmed down since. But let me tell you, I was P.O.ed while I wandered around filling my trashbag. Worst part? I hardly made a dent.

So, after Braddock Bay I continued West on the Ontario Parkway to Hamlin Beach, stopping along the way to get some good shots of Red-tailed Hawks soaring overhead.Upon arriving I noticed a large flock of small birds moving around excitedly, foraging around on the ground. I pulled over to get a closer look, and my suspicions were confirmed.

Then I got my first Brown Creeper of 2009.
If I had to estimate the size of the flock of Redpolls, I'd say around 200? Not sure. I ran into another birder while I was there, he was more experienced and said he saw an unusual number of Hoary Redpolls mixed in with the flock. I decided to stay longer and get more pictures. He let me grab a peek through his scope and tried to describe the location of one of the Hoarys, but I couldn't tell the difference between the Hoarys and the Commons. Oh well. I'm hesitating to check Hoary Redpoll off my list, not because I don't believe the guy, but because I somehow feel like it's cheating if I can't identify it. I'll check it off if I see Hoarys in my pictures, but I haven't studied them closely enough yet.New visitors to my feeders include:
Bluejays
Goldfinches
House Finches
Mourning Doves
For the time being, that's all, folks.

Snow Buntings and a Shrike

2009-03-07T09:01:00.007-05:00

This past Thursday I made the trip out to Parker River midafternoon for some birding. Lately I have been in the mood for new locales, but I had a lousy time at Great Meadows, and knew I could/can depend on Parker River for good birding every visit. But, after tramping through the snow on the Hellcat Marsh trail and coming up empty handed (I probably should have gone for the Dune trail instead), and with the daylight fading, I was getting grumpy. So I got back in my car and started back up the road, following the 25 mph refuge speed limit. I scanned the trees as I drove, and all of a sudden:
BRAKES. Check rear view, whew, good, no one behind me! Put car in reverse.....return to the ideal photo-op spot, put car in park. Um, not in a bad mood anymore! There was a Northern Shrike perched atop a tree at the side of the road, quite close by, and he hung around letting me snap his picture for a few minutes. I was thrilled. I saw my lifer Northern Shrike in December at Parker River doing the CBC as you may recall, and although I got great views through the scope, my photos came out somewhat lacking because of the distance. I am pleased to say that this time I got plenty of nice pictures.
The shrike did fly off after a bit, though. I continued down the road towards the park entrance with a considerably improved mood, and decided to park in Lot 1 and check out the beach briefly. Right after parking, I noticed a group of birds flitting around the road and since I didn't recognize their calls at all, decided to get a closer look.
Hurray! Snow Buntings!! I've been wanting to see these fellows for some time now, and I found them quite handsome. So, a lousy day turned into a great one. There's always a chance the day will end up changing in your favor if you're just patient.....

First Visit to Oxbow NWR

2009-03-03T19:30:00.008-05:00

I ended up opting for Oxbow on Sunday, and I'm glad that I did: lifer!! But, let me start at the beginning.....

In my limited experience I've found that it's always a good sign if you hear birds chirping the moment you get out of your car in the parking lot. If you don't hear any bird calls from the parking area, it doesn't necessarily mean you've chosen a bad spot for birding, but it is a good omen if you do hear them. Such was the case at Oxbow on Sunday. I immediately heard chickadees chirping in the nearby trees. So, with a smile I started out on the trail. I hadn't gone too far when I heard a couple of nuthatches calling back and forth to each other. I paused to try to locate them, a number of chickadees were also close by, so I hung around the area for a few minutes. Then, as I was scanning the tree branches--a brilliant spot of blue. It was too blue to be a blue jay, more a shade of royal blue. Up the binoculars came, and I confirmed it--Eastern Bluebird!

Now, maybe it's silly that I haven't seen any bluebirds until now, but I haven't. There were a decent number of them I came across while hiking at Oxbow, I'd say almost a dozen in all. Unfortunately, of all the pictures I snapped, only one or two came out decently (I still hadn't figured out my new camera's manual focus, although you'd better believe I did figure it out the moment I got home) and neither of those captures the brilliant shade of blue. The others are autofocused on branches in between the bird and my lens. Like I said--I know how to use the manual focus now.

The bluebirds were fairly skittish, I kept scaring them off whenever I took a loud step *CRUNCH* into the snow. Then the nuthatches would laugh at me.
I can't wait to go back to Oxbow later this week to (hopefully) get some good pictures of those bluebirds. It was slow going on the trail, since the snow is on top of a layer of ice covering the majority of the trailpath, but in a way that was better--forced me to move at a slower pace, make less noise, and observe more.

I also came across a male Common Merganser while at Oxbow, he was feeding in the Nashua River.

And I shouldn't forget to mention the goldfinches, robins, and downy woodpeckers I saw, too.

Chimney Bluffs + Letchworth

2009-02-28T19:04:00.015-05:00

It's been almost an entire month since I posted last--that's what happens when finals start creeping up on you. Let me see, let me see.....haven't seen much of the Red-Bellied Woodpecker at my feeders since his initial visit, spotted him briefly pecking at the suet a few days ago, but that's all. Juncos have started visiting very regularly, leaving their footprints on just about every inch of snow within a 2 foot radius of the "main" feeder post. At first there were a pair of them, but they must have told their friends, because the last time I counted the visiting juncos there were 7. The junco above is thinking, "num num num num." The downy and the pair of cardinals continue to come regularly, as well. The other morning I spotted the cardinals scavenging for dropped seeds on the ground at 6:30 am. Squirrels are still a moderate problem at my feeders. An invader (Feb 24):
on the approach (Feb 3): They can't climb the two posts I have up, but they do scurry in to get whatever dropped seeds they can, and my regulars don't appreciate that. The juncos put up with such intrusions for the most part, though. That about wraps it up for feeder news.

I'm really starting to itch for springtime now. To keep my impatience at least somewhat at bay, I've been exploring new places to go birding. On February 5th I drove out to Chimney Bluffs State Park. There was a lot of snow on the ground, and I wasn't able to hike the trails much at all (I knew I should have asked for snowshoes for my birthday afterall!), but it was pretty, and I can't wait to see it at other times of the year.
The other evening a friend of mine asked to use my printer, and while I fought with it (it was spewing lies about the new black ink cartridge not being compatible, when it was the exact same as the one I had just removed) he noticed the two big maps I have up on my wall: one of Massachusetts and the other of the Finger Lakes region. He asked if the push pins were birding places, I said yes, and then he asked why Letchworth had been ignored. I had indeed ignored Letchworth, in the bottom left corner of my Finger Lakes map. Odd that I overlooked it, too, considering it's impressive size: it's about 17 miles long and covers 14,350 acres. Well, lucky for me I have observant friends, who also happen to be Environmental Science majors with some knowledge of parks in the area. ;)

So, when I should have been packing to go home for break, I was driving out to Letchworth. It was beautiful outside, wanting so badly to be a spring day instead of a winter one, and trying so hard to fulfill that wish. I didn't have enough daylight to explore as much of the park as I would have liked, but it was a very satisfactory first visit. Even before I arrived I saw three red-tailed hawks hanging around 390 between exits 11 and 9. I hate driving on the highway and spotting a raptor, knowing I can't very well stop the car and grab my camera. Even on the rare occasion when I have spotted one while driving and indulged in the urge to pull over, I've never been able to get my camera out and aimed at the target in time. So, I was a little silly.....after the inital cursing that inevitably follows when this situation arises, I decided hell, I'm on my own schedule, and I don't see why I can't bird on the journey AND at the destination. So, I got off at the next exit, got on 390 northbound, and drove back. Then I "had some car troubles" and pulled over, turning on my emergency lights and thinking the entire time "this is unnecessarily dangerous and stupid" (I'm a sucker for those shocking video shows centered around dashboard camera videos, and I've seen a lot of videos of people innocently-enough pulled over, and then being crashed-into by another motorist). Anyway, I got some nice shots. The red-tail regarded me with slight curiosity before flying off into the woods behind him.
The dam at Letchworth:
I can't wait to see more of the park, which includes the highest waterfall in NY state. The trail ahead:
There were tons of downy woodpeckers and white-breasted nuthatches making their endearing calls, which have always struck me as a little silly-sounding.
Hogsback Overlook:
Better get to bed, if I'm very lucky my dad and I will take the kayak out tomorrow for some birding, although I haven't made up my mind yet about where I'd like to go: Assabet River, Great Meadows, or Oxbow?

A Fine Morning at the Feeders + Bird Beer

2009-02-02T08:56:00.013-05:00

With all the excitement surrounding the injured Merganser last week, I forgot to even mention that I started seeing birds at my feeders. First it was a solitary black-capped, and a couple of days later a pair of cardinals showed up, too.
This morning I was thrilled to see the female cardinal at the feeder when I went downstairs for breakfast. The male was no where to be seen, and the female didn't stay too long. They seem to prefer coming to the feeders right around dawn. Then I noticed not one, but three chickadees! And my window feeder even got some attention, although I didn't manage to get a photo.

I am kind of assuming that the pair of cardinals are the same individuals each time I see them, which I realize may not be the case at all. I haven't noticed any particularly striking unique characteristics, but there also aren't a ton of cardinals in our backyard--ever. Or at least, that I've seen since we've moved in. (Yes, I know, I'm being hasty with my conclusions.)

My boyfriend's backyard is a different story. There's a decent amount of good brush cover, a nice thicket. The past couple of weeks I've been making notes (both mental ones and the real kind, on paper) of the "regulars" there. 4 male cardinals, 2 females, 2 mockingbirds, and a blue jay. I've also seen a goldfinch and a song sparrow, but they're not "regulars" yet.

Anyway, as I was enjoying the presence of the 3 chickadees at my feeders, I was treated to another very nice surprise--
And a moment later, another visitor!
I was thrilled to get such great shots of the downy, and the ones I got of the red-bellied woodpecker weren't bad either. My face must've been ridiculous. If any of my roommates had come downstairs they would've seen a young woman in her PJs with messy I-just-got-out-of-bed-morning hair, a camera around her neck, and a huge grin across her face. I think I may have done a little tip-toe dancing, too. I can't wait until tomorrow morning!

Then, in the afternoon, ANOTHER species to add to the backyard list. He didn't visit the feeder that I witnessed, but maybe in a day or two ;)
My afternoon class was cancelled, so I went out towards Braddock Bay. I ended up going down Edgemere Drive, Beach Ave, and exploring Ontario Beach Park (not exactly sure of the name) a little before continuing on to Irondequoit Bay. I'm just so infatuated with the diving ducks.

Saw some interesting.....hybrids? I really have no idea what to make of these two:
If anyone has any idea about those two.....waterfowl, by all means, let me know. I'd appreciate it. :) To be honest, they kind of remind me of Toy Story, the toys Sid puts different doll-heads on and whatnot. They just look.....I don't know.

There was an article called "Losing Ruby" in Bird Watcher's Digest (Jan/Feb 2009) I found therapeutic--I guess I really took it hard when the merganser didn't make it. So if anyone has recently had to say goodbye to a wild bird, I recommend reading it.

PS-My roommates rule. Check out what they got me for my 21st
You're jealous. Admit it.

Heavy-hearted

2009-01-27T00:00:00.002-05:00

Well, the merganser didn't make it. I returned to the bay last night around 9pm armed with more bread and a flashlight. I threw the remainder of the loaf out to her in pieces, although most of the pieces didn't make it anywhere near her. The fact that I couldn't see very well didn't do too much for my already terrible aim. I did my best to keep my flashlight use to a minimum to avoid upsetting her (as well as the other waterfowl in the vicinity). I left around 9:30pm, after silently (okay, out loud a little, too) pleading with the merganser to just make it through the night, that help would come in the morning.

At around 12:30 pm today the woman the Vet's office had directed me to (the same woman who called several people/places to try to get help reaching the merganser, and who had advised me on what I could do for the bird) called me to say that she was at the bay. I described where the merganser was once she had the lighthouse in sight, and she said she would call me back. I waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, during break of my 4-6pm class, I left a voicemail on her cell phone, asking about what had happened. When class finished, I had a voicemail from her.

This woman acted with so much selflessness. All the hours I was anxiously waiting for her call, she was out there trying everything she could to find some way out to the merganser. It is my understanding that she eventually found some folks who were willing to help and who had access to a boat. Apparently, they almost had the boat in the water when the merganser finally passed away.

I really can't thank this woman enough, and though I've told her that over the phone a couple of times, well, I just can't say "I can't thank you enough" enough. So, thank you, sincerely and deeply for your dedication, kindness, and hard work.

Earlier tonight I went out to the bay to sort of say goodbye to the brave little merganser. When I first heard that she had passed away, I have to admit I kind of lost it. No, I wasn't sobbing uncontrollably, but there were definitely tears and some rantings. I just wish that she had passed away more peacefully, instead of hanging on through the night, for more than 24 hours, only to end up dying. Instead, she spent hours stuck to the ice, bleeding, helpless, and scared. It sounds funny to say this, but I was so proud of her for making it through the night. What a strong, magnificent creature.

I can't help wondering if the Bufflehead stayed by her side today.

Or how many other birds hunters will non-fatally shoot and leave for dead.

Injured Merganser

2009-01-25T17:55:00.006-05:00

Went out to Irondequoit Bay today, and as I made my way down the pier I realized that there was a bird on the ice, just laying there. It struck me as odd, and as I got closer I saw that the ice around the bird was stained orange.

A female Common Merganser had apparently been shot (currently there is legal duck hunting at the end of the pier) and got up on the ice to rest. I'm not exactly sure how, but part of her is frozen to the ice she is resting on, I believe. Perhaps some of the blood from her wound froze to the ice. Or, this might not be the case at all, and her injury may be inhibiting her movement so severely that she can't budge an inch.
I called a vet in the area, and they gave me a few phone numbers of a rehabilitation center, veterinary offices closer to Irondequoit Bay, and specialists to try. The vet offices and the rehabilitation center were closed, since it's Sunday. However, I did reach one of the specialists (I don't really know what to refer to her as, but she was/is someone who can help and who knows what to do) on her cell.

Long story short, this lovely woman advised me on what to do, and contacted anyone who might be able to help her get to the bird. No one can help either one of us reach the bird until tomorrow morning, and that's not definite. As advised, I got some cracked corn and bread and tried to toss some out to the Merganser. The woman helping me figure out how-in-the-heck to help this bird did say that neither one was really the best thing to feed it, but that it was better than nothing.

The wind and my poor aim made tossing the bread out difficult, and throwing the cracked corn just outright failed. The merganser kept waking up, fainting, waking up, and fainting again. I tried not to upset her, because when she first saw me, she started to struggle to get away. It was painful to watch, since she honestly can't budge from where she's lying, despite all her wing-flailing. I gave up after the third piece of bread (wasn't throwing whole slices, I broke it up into smaller bits) because I felt like I was doing more harm than good. I didn't want to upset her any more.

So, essentially, I'm going to head back out there around 8 or 8:30 to try to toss out some more food. All I can really do is pray for the sweet little thing to make it through the night, to survive until someone can get out to her. Either that, or for her suffering to end soon. Who knows how long she's been out there.....

In any case, she's not alone. This female Bufflehead stayed by her side the entire time I was there. She continued to dive and feed, but she was always nearby, seeming to watch over the merganser.

Maybe I've seen too many Disney movies, and in reality there was some other motivation for the Bufflehead's presence. But, in support of my theory of interspecies sympathy, if you will, there weren't any other ducks in the immediate area, making me think that there wasn't any insane abundance of food under the surface in that location. Maybe there's some sinister motive behind the Bufflehead's constant bedside presence (not sure what I even mean by that) and I'm off in La-La land where all the animals live together peacefully and there are lots of meadows, rainbows, and tulips. Whatever.

Here I go again, out into the cold. Not sure what I'll find. Either a still-suffering Merganser, or one that's finally succumbed to the loss of blood, lack of food, and the cold.

Expletive hunters.

3 Life Birds @ Irondequoit Bay

2009-01-22T20:15:00.016-05:00

Finally got out birding again. It's been quite a while. Drove to Irondequoit Bay after class today, and was very pleased to see a multitude of ducks gathered there. Unfortunately, there were also about 70-80 Mute Swans. When I pulled in to park, one standing nearby in a group of Mallards stared me down, as if daring me to come closer. If it came down to it, I think I could take him.

I merrily snapped a ton of photos with my new camera, and enjoyed having a decent pair of binoculars, too. My grandmother gave me a pair of hers for Christmas. There were dozens of Mallards, Long-Tailed Ducks, Scaup, White-Winged Scoters, and Redheads--a new life bird for me! I have to admit I had forgotten about Redheads and assumed I was looking at Canvasbacks. But, now I know better. My guidebook has pictures of Redheads with a dull red-brown color to them. The ones I saw? Ummm, not quite.
Rich, vibrant shades of maroon/burgundy. Gorgeous. I was thrilled to get such a good look at them. Not only did I wind up with three life birds today, but I also got great views and good pictures of Anatidae that I've seen in the past, but only from a distance, like this Hooded Merganser:
Lovely creature. Just absolutely lovely. It was quite cold out, and my fingers were almost devoid of any feeling, but who cares?!? BIRDS!!! I think these images will convey an accurate representation of the temperature:
The other life birds I saw today:
Common Goldeneye
Common Merganser (on the edge of the far side of the group)
Male Red-breasted Merganser (okay, not a lifer, I've seen several females before, but this was the first male Red-breasted I've ever seen. half a lifer?)
All in all, a wonderful little trip. I say "little" because I really wasn't there for too long. Just long enough for my fingers to start to hurt. I then retreated to the car. *contented sigh* I missed birding.

Wren on the Porch

2009-01-20T13:56:00.009-05:00

I completely forgot to mention the wren I discovered trapped in our porch on the morning I was getting ready to drive back to school. I was making trips back and forth to my car, loading it up with my stuff, when something darted from one corner of the porch to the other. I froze, watched the corner where the bird had gone (it was hidden from view) until it flew up and landed on one of the rafters (is that the word I want?). The only variety of wren I've ever seen before was a Marsh Wren, but the gestalt impression of a wren is pretty distinct, and I knew I was looking at a member of the Troglodytidae family.

Okay, no, I didn't know the Latin name for the Wren family at the time, I looked it up just now.....but I intend to remember it from now on!

I ran for my new camera (already in the car buried under a bunch of my stuff) and back to the porch. I managed to get a few good pictures before making an effort to guide the wren out of my porch. Our screen door is currently off the hinges, so there's an exit and entrance that remains unblocked, but once the bird accidentally gets in there, it's hard to find that gap in the screening again.
So after selfishly getting a few pictures, I turned my attention to trying to guide the wren back outside. I grabbed some birdseed and scattered it in a little path towards the door (well, towards the empty doorframe where the door would normally be). I waited a few minutes, tried some intermittent pishing, but I really had no idea how to help the little fellow out. I decided that leaving him alone was the best thing to do, since my presence was no doubt only adding to his anxiety and agitation. I went inside and told my parents and my brother that there was a wren on the porch, and that they should stay away from it until it found it's way out.

At that point, I had to get going. I was heading up to my boyfriend's house first, and then we were going to caravan back to school together. I am ALWAYS late, so the night before when I had told him I would try to be there around 11 am he responded with "So I'll expect you here around 1, right?". I was determined to be on time to spite him (hehe) so I left with the wren still stuck on our porch.

I texted my parents later on that day to ask if the wren had gotten out, but didn't get any response. And, I have to be honest, I've more or less forgotten about the incident since then, so I'm actually not sure what ended up happening. I'll find out.

Other than the Porch Wren I forgot to report, I've got a very exciting nothing else to say. Still haven't seen any visitors to the feeders. I'm hoping to go birding on Thursday, this lack of bird watching is making me grouchy.

Midterms and CBC Pics

2009-01-14T14:25:00.013-05:00

Not much to report I'm afraid. Midterms today and tomorrow. Actually, one next week on Wednesday, too. Haven't had any opportunities to go out birding (well, none that I've taken advantage of). If I push myself a little more I'm sure I can get better at going out in the morning to bird, because really the only reason I don't is that I'm too lazy. If I want to get up earlier to go birding, I'll have to get to bed earlier, so I'll have to procrastinate less on my homework. This could end up being beneficial for my schoolwork, actually. We'll see. The two times I have gone out birding at dawn it was definitely more than worth it. I'll try to keep that in mind.

The only thing I have to say is that I've finally set up my feeders in our teeny tiny backyard. The apartment complex itself has an extensive area that serves as a community backyard, and our townhouses have little privacy fences, so we also sort of have our own little space. Just waiting for the first visitors to arrive. While I was putting them up, I was pleased to see 2 Downy Woodpeckers, 2 Robins, and a male and a female cardinal. There aren't any evergreens in the community backyard, which I imagine must contribute to the presence of birds here, which strikes me as relatively low.

Next I need to put up the three birdhouses I've been working on. I've had them painted and waiting for a while now, the other week I started stenciling leaves on them [because clearly the birds will choose a birdhouse based on its aesthetic appeal ;) ]. I know that a bird would probably prefer a dark green or a brown house to a bright pink or a white one, but apart from that I'm not sure it makes much difference.

There is one thing I would really like to do--combine my hobby with my major. I want to go out birding with members of the Deaf community. What could be better than combining two of my biggest interests? I would love to get a feel for describing the physical characteristics of a bird in ASL. Sometimes I wonder if I should make a little poster or something to put in the RRCD clubhouse (Rochester Recreation Club for the Deaf), asking if any of the members are interested in birding with me. Then I wonder what I would actually write on the darned thing, and what the chances are of anyone taking me up on it, and I think "nevermind."

Oh! I've finally got some pictures from the Newburyport CBC! Take a look :)

First up, my lifer Northern Shrike. I know you can barely see it (yes, the photo's already been cropped) but I did get to see this guy through the scope.
more lifers, a male and female Bufflehead with some American Black Ducks
Horned Larks. Talk about camouflage......
I believe this is a Razorbill (which would be yet another lifer) but I'm not positive. I know squat about alcids.
Here my lifer Red-throated loon is hanging out near the Razorbill
This Harrier treated me to a close fly-by. Too bad I didn't have my shutter speed set any higher.
I should go study for my voicing midterm. I just wanted to post something, because I notice that the site hits seem to increase when I post ;)

Newburyport CBC

2009-01-04T13:42:00.007-05:00

I got my usually-lazy self out of bed at 3:30 am on Sunday, December 28th to go birding. At first I was planning on heading down to Fairhaven and exploring that area, but that just didn't quite fit my mood somehow. I craved a more familiar background that morning. So I decided to go to Plum Island and Parker River NWR, a fantastic place.
I hit the road and the closer I got to Plum Island, the brighter the sky became. I felt like we were in sync at some moments, and at others I felt like we were racing one another. I pulled in to the first parking area at dawn, and immediately noticed a group of birders gathered there. (They were clearly birders, everyone had a pair of binoculars around their necks, there were a few scopes around, and anytime something soared overhead, they'd watch it, and raise the binoculars if it looked interesting.) I just kind of got my things together, reorganizing them into the proper places in my backpack and what-not, stalling just a bit and waiting for the group to disperse so I could ask one of them if they were here for a CBC.
The group dispersed, and one man walked toward the car parked next to mine, I asked if they were doing a CBC, and he cheerfully replied "Yup! This is the Newburyport CBC!" I was delighted, told him I was an amateur birder, and excitedly accepted the invitation to join in and tag along. The man (Tim, I'm almost positive. I'm awful with names.) introduced me to the CBC coordinator, and said I could tag along with his section. I followed Tim in our respective cars to lot 5, where we met up with another birder (I'm embarrassed to say I can't remember his name!).

We set off down the road towards the end of the island (the road was closed to cars). After a little while the guys spotted a red-breasted nuthatch (we'd seen and recorded several other birds before the nuthatch, it's just that it was the first really exciting bird for me) and I confessed that I'd only seen white-breasted nuthatches before. Upon hearing this, they both made an effort to help me get a good look at the bird (they could both identify it by it's call quite easily, it seemed). I ended up spazzing out (autofocus is not very useful when a bird is hidden in a thicket, and I took forever to switch the camera to manual focus) and not getting a picture of the nuthatch, but I did get a good look at it. I prefer to get a picture of new birds (well, really of most birds I see when I go birding) but I was alright with missing it. Hadn't even been birding for an hour and I had a new lifer!

Now, I've read and heard before that one really great thing you can do to improve your birding skills overall is to go birding with advanced birders. It's not that I didn't believe this, I just never really had the opportunity to do it before that day. And let me tell you--definitely true. That first couple of hours I just kind of admired the skills both Tim and (gosh! I hate that I can't remember his name! If he was a jerk I might not care as much, but they were both such nice guys!) had. Any little speck that appeared on the horizon, they seemed to see it instantly, as if they had extended-peripheral vision. Two seconds later they had it identified, or at the very least narrowed down to two or three possibilities.

I learned a lot from birding with those two that morning, and I'm proud to say I even sort of contributed to the count. I saw about 7 or 8 lifers that day (honestly, I started losing track). They were pointing out some Buffleheads to me a ways away (since I said it would be a new bird for me), and then (as I remember it, anyway) they looked back to something else. When the buffleheads were initially pointed out, the guys recorded it as 4 on the list, but I kept watching them, and a couple more appeared (I assume those 2 had been diving when we first saw the group). I spoke up, the guys looked, and chalked up another two buffleheads on our list. Not big, I know, but I'm a silly little amateur birder, and I contributed, dammit!

A little later I spotted something soaring over a hilltop while the guys had their binoculars pointed in another direction. I wasn't sure if it was a gull or a raptor, couldn't quite see the wing shape, but it was soaring, so I spoke up. "Is that a gull or.....?" The guys looked in it's direction and decided it was a rough-legged hawk. I believe I got a "nice job" from them, and definitely felt a twinge of pride.

I guess it's a like the beginning of a relationship with someone, when the first time you cuddle, or kiss, is just so mind-blowingly exciting (for me and the other ladies I've talked to, anyway. Maybe I'm still just very young, and maybe guys don't feel the same way at all, I don't know). Any progress I make with my birding is thrilling, even when it might not be a big deal to an advanced birder. For me at this point, there's just so much that's still new for me.

I feel like I've blabbered on enough about this now, and I don't even know if anybody's actually reading my silly blog, so I'll wrap it up. That day I saw several lifers, including:
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Rough-legged Hawk
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser
Red-throated Loon
Northern Shrike
Horned Lark

And, of course, I forgot to transfer my pictures from my brother's laptop to my new harddrive (got my lappy back from the shop on new year's eve). So now my pictures are 7 hours away, until he sends them to me. Oh well.

Harlequins at Halibut Point

2008-12-27T22:20:00.000-05:00

As it turns out I did muster up my courage (and some willpower) to head out early Thursday morning. Up at 4 am and out the door by ten to 6. I got all bundled up--two layers of socks, new boots, leggings on underneath my jeans, boybeater, long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, and I had gloves, a ski-mask (with just one big opening for the eyes), my hat with earflaps, and my scarf in my backpack ready to go. I drove up to Rockport listening to my favorite Rage Against the Machine songs (helps to feel more awake) and then belted out some tunes from Taylor Swift's new album (odd juxtaposition, I know).

I got out there on the scenic overlook, ready to face the cold and the wind. And.......it was fine. No wind to speak of. And not that chilly, even though it was just barely dawn. A nice surprise, really.

I spotted a group of Harlequin ducks and cheerfully headed down closer to the shoreline.

I was at Halibut Point for about an hour and a half, taking tons of pictures of the Harlequins, and getting shots of all the other birds who treated me to a fly-by:
common eiders

a double-crested cormorant

6 white-winged scoters

2 surf scoters (a new lifer!!)

A common loon, a couple red-breasted mergansers, and a long-tailed duck were also in the area. Actually, common loons followed me wherever I went that entire day.

On my way from Halibut Point to Gloucester Harbor I stopped by at Folly Cove Landing to get some shots of a group of American Black Ducks. They were joined by a female red-breasted merganser (who I suspect to be the same bird I had seen earlier flying past in the general direction of the cove), a common loon, some ring-billed gulls, and a raptor I was unable to identify. I was just about to put my car in reverse and leave Folly Cove when I saw the raptor fly up and land in a tree. So, out the camera came again, just after I had packed it away in its case.

Then it was off to Gloucester. Hung around by the Fisherman's Memorial, taking pictures of the 2 common loons I saw there, the 5 or 6 long-tailed ducks (They seemed to be working on a chorus tune or something, made quite a bit of noise. Made me giggle at them fondly.), and the big bunch of common eiders hanging out not too far from the memorial. They were also making quite a fuss, with funny little muffled squeaks. Not sure if that's an accurate description, I just remember that they, too, got a fond giggle for their vocalizations. Once they saw me walk up to the railing by the side of the water, they swam over, no doubt expecting some bread crumbs.

I don't mean to leave out the gulls, it's just that I've been so enraptured by diving ducks lately.

A quick stop at home to upload the contents of my memory cards to my brother's computer, and I was off again, this time to Wachusett Reservoir. It was one of the places on my "need to explore" list, and I just sort of chose it at random. Went hiking along some of the trails, near-ish to South Bay, I believe, and was a little disappointed when I got close enough to the water to survey a large portion of the reservoir--a solitary bird-dot. You know what I mean by "bird-dot", right? Well, it turned out to be a common loon, which I watched for a little while as it dove and foraged underwater. The loon would stick its head underwater to survey potential prey, as far as I know, and then lift its head up for a moment. A few times it would scan underwater, lift its head up briefly, and then proceed to dive under, but at one point it seemed to be having some rotten luck. It repeated the scan-then-lift-head-up process several times again and again without diving, then seemed to resign itself to preening.

More hiking the trails led me to black-capped chickadees, a couple of downy woodpeckers (I have yet to see a Hairy), a white-breasted nuthatch, and at least a dozen kinglets. I was delighted to see them, I'd forgotten how much I missed those little guys. I still insist that they like having their picture taken. Such curious little birds. Once my presence was known, they flitted closer and closer to me, begging to have their pictures taken, but not willing to give up all the dignity of wild creatures. To maintain the self-respect of wild creatures, they hop around too rapidly to make taking their picture too easy. Funny little fellows.

Then I was more or less exhausted, and quite satisfied with good pictures of Harlequins, a new lifer, and seeing some kinglets again for the first time in weeks.

Brave Winter Weather Birds

2008-12-25T17:25:00.000-05:00

I may never tire of black-capped chickadees. I just adore them.

Anyway, I had a lovely Christmas with my family. My boyfriend's family spoiled me rotten (again) and gave me a very nice feeder, a pole to put it on, and bird seed. I'm excited to get back to school so I can set it all up. If my apartment complex gets uppity and says we can't have it in the backyard, I'll be heart broken. They're very strange about what we're allowed to keep in our backyards.....oh well. I keep scolding myself for not putting up a feeder earlier in the year, since I've read in a few different places that birds typically start scouting out food sources (which yards have feeders, for instance) in the Fall. Hopefully if my apartment complex gives me their blessing and I do set the feeder up, the birds will find it and enjoy it, even if I did put it up late.

In addition to the three bird books I opened as early Christmas gifts and the feeder, I also got a new camera (Panasonic Lumix with 10.1 megapixels and 18x optical zoom) and binoculars. I'm hoping that tomorrow morning I can get up enough courage to brave the cold and head down to Halibut Point. The last time I went I had my aging Powershot, and I'd really like to get some better pictures of the purple sandpipers and the Harlequin Ducks.

Those purple sandpipers are tough little guys, borderline crazy. Of course, I guess the ducks are even more insane, since they're diving into the freezing cold water, completely submerging themselves. Now, I realize that they've developed physical characteristics that enable them to survive in these conditions, but it still blows my mind. I mean, polar bears, whales, seals--I have a much easier time seeing them in icy cold conditions. That's probably because I just think "Oh, blubber. They're alright." But birds are such light-weight creatures, it's harder for me to think "Oh, their feathers are designed to trap body heat, and they also repel water."

One I finished typing that last bit I thought "Geez, I'd better look into this a little more before I keep rambling on, they'll think I'm an idiot." So I did some quick online research (not the best technique, I know). I was already aware of how feathers overlap and trap body heat, and that feathers also repel water (very very cold water if you're a crazy purple sandpiper). Now I know that when I see a duck balancing on one foot and holding the other up close to its body, it is trying to keep warm. Tucking the bill and face beneath a wing is another way to keep warm.

One thing I was clueless about until about 5 minutes ago is the system of blood vessels in a bird's feet that help to minimize heat loss. I must admit I don't completely understand it, but apparently this system is even more sophisticated in penguins than in other birds (which makes sense).

Maybe I'm just a wimp, but I'm still going to think "BRRRRRR!!!!" when I see those ducks and sandpipers out there on the chilly New England coast, whether it's the ducks diving under the numbing waves or the sandpipers huddled on the rocks getting splashed by them.

Happy holidays, and think warm thoughts!

Hard Drive Bites the Dust

2008-12-22T16:47:00.000-05:00

So, my laptop's hard drive died last night. I'm obviously thrilled. Guess posting pictures on here will have to wait, since my external hard drive isn't compatible with this compy.

No birding today, but I'm enjoying the three birding books I got last night as an early Christmas present. I thought I'd start summarizing some of my past birding "adventures" while one of our cats, Merk, naps in my lap.

It all kind of started this summer before our family cruise to the west coast of Mexico. I hit the town library about a week before we were scheduled to leave, planning on getting a general feel for the flora and fauna of the areas we'd be visiting. I was especially excited for snorkeling, since in the past I've had a blast snorkeling in the Caribbean. And, this time my boyfriend's family was lending me a camera and an underwater case for it so I could photograph all the fish my little heart desired (they spoil me rotten). I got a general idea of the birds I might see in Mexico, but it wasn't until we were actually there that something just clicked. Brown Pelicans, Magnificent Frigatebirds, and I even sniped a few pictures of a Hooded Oriole (I'm very proud that I even spotted him to begin with).

I also got to see Heermann's Gulls, which I thought were quite pretty as far as gulls go (I think I've seen too many fast food parking lot gulls, and now I'm a little prejudiced towards gulls in general). I try to keep in mind that they're not all like that, and that the ones that are, are simply adapting to what we've done to their environment.....I think.

I almost forgot about the two West Mexican Chachalacas we spotted near the beach in Puerto Vallarta where we went snorkeling!

Once we got back from the cruise--forget about it. I was hooked. I went birding at a few local parks and forests, my backyard, and the neighborhood pond armed with only my aging PowerShot camera and the $20 binoculars I bought on the cruise ship. The first all-day birding expedition I went on was to Plum Island and Parker River NWR. I didn't realize at the time what a great place that was to start at. Since then I've seen Parker River included in several lists of the "Best 100 Places to Go Birding in the US" and similar lists. I went with my Dad and borrowed my grandmother's binoculars for the trip. It hadn't been long, and I didn't know what I was doing at that point, but I still managed to see several new species on that trip, including a Common Eider. Walking the beach we spied him resting on a seaweed-covered rock at low tide. Through the binoculars I could just barely make out that distinctive Eider bill shape, that forehead that goes into the bill in almost a straight line. I'd been flipping through my guidebook, and thought the Eiders were pretty--I wanted to see one. So, off the socks and shoes came, and I slowly began picking my way closer to the bird through the slippery rocks. I got decent pictures with my elderly camera, but withdrew from the water as soon as a sea snake/worm looking thing wriggled by my foot. I'll post the picture of it later, it was pretty scary-looking.

About a month later I went back to Parker River during the height of the Tree Swallow migration. That was another excellent trip, and I can't wait to visit there again during spring break.

A Day Stuck Indoors

2008-12-21T22:38:00.000-05:00

Despite the fact that I'm now on my Christmas break from school and itching to go explore Assabet, Oxbow, and Great Meadows NWRs, I was stuck indoors today while the wintery siege of the region continued. Apparently as of last night thousands of people were still without power (it's been more than a week).

I did get to do a little window birding, though. Shuffling sleepily downstairs for some breakfast, I looked out the window and saw dozens of birds whizzing all over the backyard. After running back upstairs for the camera, I watched them for about half an hour. Tons of robins. Some starlings mixed in, too. There were a few squabbles between the two while they foraged, but nothing more than a chirping of "Watch it, you!" My next door neighbor's tree proved to be quite a favorite, I'm going to have to find out specifically what kind of tree it is. A male cardinal alighted in the branches, but it was a bit too crowded for his tastes and he took off. Saw a couple of flashes of the white secondaries of a mockingbird or two where our property meets the woods.

If only it had stopped snowing.....I would've had my dad's snowshoes strapped on to my new boots in a flash and been off to the neighborhood pond (not aluminum showshoes, I'm talking about snowshoes, the wooden variety you might see nailed up to a lodge wall in a decorative X).

It strikes me as a little strange to jump into my blog this way, but I can't really think of a better way to do it. I live in Middlesex County, MA and go to school in Monroe County, NY. So far I've been birding (in MA) at Parker River NWR, Halibut Point State Park (which I never would have visited if it weren't for reading another birder's blog!), some local parks, (in NY) Braddock Bay Bird Observatory, Hamlin Beach State Park, Mendon Ponds Park, Montezuma NWR, and Irondequoit Bay. I've got two big maps on the wall of my room in my apartment back in NY--one of Massachusetts and the other of the Finger Lakes Region. Both are riddled with color-coded push pins marking out where I've been and where I want to go birding in the future.