Saturday, October 22, 2011

It Looks Just Like the Stuffed One!

If I heard that once, I heard that a hundred times today.  What a difference binoculars make.  Today, Deb, Jay and Brendan joined us at Higbee beach for an incredible day of birding.  We loaned Deb and Jay some good binoculars and viola, we couldn't stop them from looking at birds.  Exclamations such as "wow, look how RED they are regarding Robins, and "it looks just like Brendan's stuffed one" regarding Downy Woodpecker and other birds just kept pouring out of Deb's mouth - really loudly.  So loud that she had the rest of the birders were quite amused.

There were thousands (yes, thousands) of Yellow-rumped Warblers today.  They were literally everywhere.  In the sky. In the trees. On the ground.  In the bushes.  Everywhere.  Along with Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets.

The newly hooked birders also saw birds that were completely new to them such as this very tame Yellow-billed Cuckoo:


He even landed on the path in front of us which I have never seen a cuckoo do:


And this Blackpoll Warbler that made a meal out of the Porcelainberry to the enjoyment of the new birders:


We saw 2 immature Bald Eagles over the fields today but still no good photo:



Lastly, there were Brown Creepers today (alive):



I wish that Deb's photos were ready for the blog post. They are really great!  Maybe next time.

2 comments:

Family of young birder said...

Hi, Our child is a young birder. We were told about you by a family member of yours that we met. We went this year to Cape May to see the monarchs, but we were one to two weeks late for the bulk of the migration. Also, we went recently to Hawk Mountain. We arrived in the afternoon, but did not see that many hawks. Next year, we will try to arrive early in the morning. We have not started documenting our bird watching; we try to keep moving for the exercise. We are open to any tips you have for young birders in the area. Thank you!

Linda said...

Hi. Thanks for the comment. I would suggest that you look into PA Young Birders. Here is the link: http://www.payoungbirders.org/PA_Young_Birders/Welcome.html

The bottom line is keep going outside!!!