More Mountain Tales

We returned to the camp for our annual July 4th family trip. This year, Connie and I spent the whole week which gave me plenty of time for more nature hikes and photography. The first photograph isn't "nature" exactly but it is pretty interesting. To most, it just looks like a dirty window but look at the pattern of the dirt - bear paws!

Bear Print

Outside of the cabin, we found another "home" situation going on. Connie and I watched these dedicated Yellow-bellied Sapsucker parents as they flew back and forth the their nest hole with food for their screaming babies. Here is Mom. She would bring the food and then go into the hole and bring out the baby poop to remove it from the nest. 

Mom- Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Here is Dad. He is truly a good provider. His beak was overloaded with bugs each time he returned to the nest. Typical male, he didn't do any dirty diaper duty. 

Dad - Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

We spent an hour just watching the daily routine. Pretty remarkable. We also took a good hike up at the top of Nelson Run Road and stumbled on a male Mourning Warbler as he was carrying out his fatherly duties. Here he is with a beak full of bugs. 

Mourning Warbler

Mourning Warblers are secretive birds that spend their time in bushes so getting a photo isn't easy. He never revealed the location of his nest and babies. We left him alone after a few minutes so that he could deliver the goods. 

We expect birds to be singing in spring. The woods are loud with song in May and early June but we don't expect to hear birds singing in July. These 2 didn't get that memo. This male Towhee was singing away. He was either done with his first brood and looking to start a second family or maybe he missed out on a mate in May and is hoping for a late start. Either way, he was dedicated to the song. 

Eastern Towhee

This Chestnut-sided Warbler was also singing. At closer look, I noticed that he isn't quite in his adult breeding plumage. He doesn't have the "chestnut side" that gives this species it's name and the rest of the feathers are also dull. Maybe "he" is really a "she" who likes to sing? Maybe he is a young male still in that awkward pre-adult phase? Regardless of the situation, the song filled the trail. 

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Our neighbors, Linda and Frank mentioned that they have seen Flying Squirrels at their camp lately. The squirrels come out just before dusk. Come out from where? Apparently, the squirrels live in the rafters of the attic and come in and out through a tiny hole above the porch. We sat on the deck and watched for the critters to come out.

Flying Squirrel

How cute right? He would sit on the rafter for a few minutes and then run up to the roof and fly to a nearby tree. The whole motion takes a few seconds. Unfortunately, they are so fast and the light is so dim that capturing a photo is nearly impossible.  

Potter County 2019

Wow. Where did June go? I'll tell you where - to house projects, that's where. After 20 years in our house, we broke down and decided to do some renovations and upgrades. After weeks of disruption by contractors and painters, we headed up to Potter County with our friends Jill and Becky for the summer solstice weekend. The plan was for Becky to teach us how to fly fish but the weather made that impossible. It rained for 3 weeks straight prior to our arrival making the streams unfishable. We hiked instead and I got to show them some birds. Cedar Waxwings are easy birds to show to non-birders. They are beautiful and often pose like this one did.

Cedar Waxwing

Really pretty birds are great to show non-birders. Unfortunately, many of the pretty birds are often difficult to see. Blackburnian Warblers are usually bouncing around at the tops of trees which puts them in that "difficult-to-see" category. Not this guy. This guy was flitting around in a walnut tree at eye level right in our yard making it easy for Jill to see. She was impressed.

Blackburnian Warbler

I snuck away to do some early morning photography down by the stream while the others lounged at the camp. There is a place where I can stand on the road at the tree top level which makes it easy to photograph yellow warblers and willow flycatchers. On this day, the stream was running high and fast. I heard a quack and saw a mother Common Merganser swimming against the current followed by 3 tiny ducklings. Wait til you see how cute this is:

Look how fast #3 swam to catch up! And then it got cuter. I snuck upstream to get an angle for some photographs. Mom didn't know that I was there until I moved. Then, she sounded the alarm call and the ducklings hustled close and jumped onto her back for safety.

Common Mergansers

I don't know where #3 was. Only 2 jumped on her back. I left them alone to continue their upbringing. 

We did see a fish this weekend when we went to the Austin Dam. This is a Sucker Fish that was swimming around a clear pool of water below the dam ruins. 

Suckerfish

Colorful birds aren't the only attraction on our hikes. Jill spotted this Red Eft along the logging road. 

Red Eft

All-in-all it was a great weekend despite not being able to fish. The good news for me and Connie is that we were headed back to Potter for a whole week over July 4th holiday. More about that soon.

Taken By Surprise

You just can't predict birds. My local birding patch is an abandoned housing development in Abington that we refer to as The Mudhole. The developer cut down most of the trees, cleared 15 acres, put in sewer, a road and curb cuts, then abandoned the project. That was 10 years ago. Since then, the local joggers and dog walkers have used the area (posted private property) due to the flat road and lack of traffic. The landscape is weedy fields and small trees backed by mature woods. Peanut LOVES this place. She runs free, darting in and out of the weeds and woods. Most of the time, she has dog friends that join our walk making it that much better. 

I usually bring bins and usually find local breeding birds such as cardinals and a few migrants stop here in spring and fall. I don’t know what happened yesterday, but the Mudhole was hopping with birds. I tallied 35 species on our morning walk including close looks at Tennessee, Wilson’s, Magnolia, BT Green, BT Blue and a Mourning Warbler! In addition, I saw a Pileated Woodpecker for the first time at this location too. Of course, I am in the habit of leaving the camera in the car since it never gets any action. So, no photos. Sigh.

Peanut and I headed back to the Mudhole after work. This time, the camera came with us. We found a few more special birds but not the frenzy of the morning. We added a nice juvenile Palm Warbler.

Palm Warbler

And a Great Blue Heron roosting in a big old tree. I regularly see them flying around the neighborhood but never perched like this. 

Great Blue Heron

The best birds of the evening were the Common Nighthawks soaring overhead. These birds are in the "Goatsucker" family and only fly at dusk and dawn snapping up insects. Folklore has it that they suck on goat tits but that isn't true. They migrate in flocks. I counted 14 of them last night. David Sibley (author of the field guide) describes them: "Long pointed wings held angled and raised, bounding flight and white bar across primaries distinctive".  You can ID the bird even in this crappy photo. 

Common Nighthawk

A better photo shows the markings of the bird. You can still see the white bar but you can also see the giant head that this bird has. They have a wide, gaping beak which helps them snap up the insects in mid air. 

Common Nighthawk

The sad news is that another developer has recently taken over. The Mudhole will soon be turned into an “Active Adult” community for people 62+. They plan to put a walking path in but it won’t be the same. Just when it was getting good. . . 

Assignment: Warbler

On our annual trip to Connie's family cabin in Potter County, our friend Frank gave me an assignment. He wants photos of all of the birds that are found on Hogback Mountain - the mountain and area surrounding our cabins. He specifically wanted a photo of Hooded Warbler which we hear in the woods all around the mountain. Hooded warblers are easily heard. The male's song is very loud and distinctive however, seeing the bird is challenging. Photographing them is even more difficult since they are a bird of the deep woods with low lighting.

With 4 days to accomplish the task, I set out to photograph Hooded and other warblers. Started slow due to some torrential rain. This Common Yellowthroat was happy when the sun came out.

Common Yellowthroat

I got a bonus with Blackburnian wablers posing for me. Here is one guy who came to investigate me and Peanut right outside of our cabin.

Blackburnian Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Here is Yellow-rumped warbler in the pine trees near the house. I forget that these birds nest in Potter County and am pleasantly surprised when I see them flitting around.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Meanwhile, we found another accommodating Blackburnian warbler up at the slate quarry. This time, I used sound recording on my iPhone to draw the bird closer. Here he is looking at me like "you're not an intruding male, why do you sound like one?"

Blackburnian Warbler

Once he checked me out and figured he was safe, he hung around the rocks and picked up a few bugs to munch on.

Blackburnian Warbler

There is a great spot to watch and photograph birds down along the stream. I headed out by myself one morning in hopes of finding a few birds. Luck was on my side. This juvenile Black and White warbler picked bugs in a tree right beside the bridge at eye level.

Black and White Warbler

He didn't care about my presence at all.

Black and White Warbler

He was doing a great job feeding himself.

Black and White Warbler

This Yellow warbler also showed up to feed his baby in the same tree. That baby looks big enough to get her own food.

Yellow Warblers

I ran across this family of American Redstarts at their nest just upstream from the bridge. Here is Mom checking up on the 3 babies.

Female Redstart at nest

Here is Dad feeding one of the babies a big fat insect. Male Redstarts are very colorful with black and orange markings.

Male Redstart at nest

I made great progress with the warblers but struck out on Hooded until our last day. I finally ran across this female at the edge of the path, close enough to photograph.

Female Hooded Warbler

I noticed that she had that big bug in her mouth and sure enough, the baby appeared and screamed to be fed.

Baby Hooded Warbler

Dad was close by keeping an eye on the situation.

Male Hooded Warbler

Finally, assignment accomplished! But that didn't end the photography. I also ran across this baby in the woods.

Fawn

And these Mandarin duck babies at the campground where they are kept as pets. All three are named Daisy.

Daisy

Every year, I wonder why we don't stay longer. (oh yeah, because we have jobs)

All the Way to Pittsburgh

Why would I drive to Pittsburgh after driving all the way across Pennsylvania into Ohio 2 weeks ago? The only reason would be for a wedding. Connie's cousin Danny married Emily and it was one of the best weddings that I have attended in a long time. The ceremony was quick and to the point. She looked fabulous, her family was a blast and Danny is happier than I have ever seen him.

Of course, I took the opportunity to go after a life bird while everyone was sleeping off their hangovers. I was up and out of the hotel at 6 AM (with a mild hangover) and up to the grasslands by 7. The "grasslands" turned out to be a couple of fields that had grown over a strip mine. It turns out that grown over strip mines are actually good habitat for some birds such as my target - Henslow's Sparrow plus other cool birds like Bobolink and Meadowlarks.

I'll save you the suspense and get to the same old story - it took me a long time to find the Henslow's Sparrow and when I did, it wasn't the wonderful experience that I had imagined. All of the other birds sat up and sang, did their flight displays, posed for photos but not that Henslow. No, he hid in the middle of the field. He didn't sing for 2 hours. Then he sat up on the top of a piece of grass for about 20 seconds - you know, just long enough for me to find him before he dove back into the grass.I'm counting that as a life bird but hoping to see another one soon.

Here are some photos of the friendly birds starting with a Savannah Sparrow. This was his favorite post. He let me get really close with the car.

Savannah Sparrow

Bobolinks were all over the place singing their weird songs and fluttering around. I love these birds.

Bobolink - weird beak

Bobolink

This is Grasshopper Sparrow which looks alot like the Henslow but has a better song.  This guy was going gangbusters singing, singing, singing away. He looks like it takes alot of energy doesn't it?

Grasshopper Sparrow

Meadowlarks were all over the fields too but I couldn't get a photo of one sitting still. Here is one flying around showing off.

Meadowlark

The bird that stole the show was this male Northern Harrier which is also known as Gray Ghost. They hunt birds over the marsh and fields. He put on a show cruising over the fields and occasionally diving down to try to catch a meal. Look how menacing he looks coming across the field.

Northern Harrier

 Here he is focused on something that he heard or saw in the grass - just about to pounce!

Gray Ghost

Maybe that's why the Henslow's Sparrow was too scared to sing!  I was back at the hotel by 10:30 in time to say goodbye to the bride and groom.

Fun With Owls

This weekend was packed with major birding events. It started on Friday night with a Warbler Workshop followed by a field trip to Belleplain State Park on Saturday and another field trip on Sunday to Tinicum. I'll tell you all about that in the next post. This post is all about what happened after the big weekend when I was supposed to be casually visiting my friends in Elkins Park. I borrowed a sump pump from Tim so that I could drain and clean the pond - which I did in between all of the bird events.

I stopped over to Tim and Amy's around 6 PM. I was telling them about how we saw a Great Horned Owl nest on our field trip. Amy said that she had never seen an owl. Now, I know that they have owls in their neighborhood because I've heard them hooting. Just then, we heard a bunch of crows going crazy. I boldly said - you wanna see an owl? We walked to the end of the street in the direction of the crows and there is was - an adult Great Horned Owl being harassed.  Man, I looked like a genius! Luckily, Barbara's scope was in the back of the car, so I set it up on the sidewalk so that Amy could get a good look at the owl.

Then I remembered that I had the iPhone adaptor, so we took some video to show to Evelyn (HH) who was preparing dinner for the gang. Click on the video to play it.

You can imagine that 3 people with a spotting scope on the sidewalk in Elkins Park PA would draw some attention. It did. We showed about a dozen people the owl as they walked past with dogs and kids. People stopped their car to ask us what we were doing.  It was fun to show the kids an owl. But it got even more fun when we found the nest hole with a fluffy baby owl sitting in it!

The baby was a crowd-pleaser for sure. The neighborhood kids couldn't get enough of the owlet. The dads couldn't get enough of the scope with the iPhone attachment. Here is a photo of both.

Enthusiastic Owl Watchers - Elkins Park PA

The baby never did take his first flight while we were there. He wanted to. He should be out of the nest today. I'm going back to check on them and will keep you posted. Thanks again to Barbara for allowing me to keep the scope in my car. This would have never been a success without it.

I Just Can't Stop Myself

I started Friday morning back at the Phila International Airport at 7 AM to try to see that Snowy Owl again. I busted for a 7^th time. That owl just doesn’t want me to see it! Here is a link to the Project Snow Storm map of "Philly's" movements. (http://www.projectsnowstorm.org/maps/philly/) I have spent hours looking at runway 27R without seeing the owl. Ugh.

After giving up, I picked up donuts for the office and then my coworker Mark and I headed out to York PA for a client meeting. We left the office a little early so that we would have some time to scour the farms in Lancaster County for the Snowy Owls that have been reported there. We headed to Farmersville Rd first and found a murder of crows. They were casually picking at the corn stubble.  We figured that there was no Snowy Owl in the area since the crows would have probably found it and harassed it already.  We drove around the area slowly using the flashers. This is Amish country so it was interesting to see the horse and buggies, teens on bicycles and laundry hanging out on the wash line in 5 degree weather. That laundry was as stiff as a board!

No owl to be found but we did get great looks at a single Lapland Longspur amongst the Horned Larks in one of the fields. If you have been reading this blog carefully over the past year or so, you know that the LALO (short-hand for Lapland Longspur) was almost impossible for me to see for the contest. I only got a glimpse of 2 as they flew past us on Stone Harbor Point only to disappear in the dune grass.  

Horned Larks and LALO (left most bird)

The experts were right. They told me that Lapland Longspurs are much easier to spot when there is snow on the ground since they tend to be near the edge of the fields where the ground is exposed. That is precisely where we found this juvenile LALO.  He is not much to look at now, but he will be handsome come summer when he sports a black throat and rich cinnamon neck.

Lapland Longspur

We met another carload of birders from Maryland who also could not find an owl.  We gave up and headed to our meeting with an empty feeling. We met a really nice new client at York YMCA. Turns out that he is from Philly - a  Father Judge HS graduate!

I had sent out a note to the PA Birders email list on Thursday asking for information about the Lancaster birds. I received many responses but it was Bob Ferguson’s info that inadvertently paid off – he suggested Habecker Church Rd which we hit after our meeting. We didn't see an owl there, but we did meet another couple who were looking for that owl too. The driver told me that he just left the Musser School Rd owl so that is where we headed. The guy gave us great directions and viola! My coworker got his lifer Snowy Owl and I got #8 – a beautiful dark female owl. She was tucked in with some tobacco stubble. Here is the idyllic Amish farmland scene. Can you find the owl?

Amish Farm - Lancaster PA

 Look closely at the pile of sticks in the center of the field. The owl is sitting right there. Talk about great camoflage!  Here is a cropped view showing the owl. She occasionally looked over at us but we were pretty far away so she wasn't concerned at all.

Snowy Owl in Tobacco Stubble

It was a great ending to the day since Mark got to see a Snowy Owl. We also showed the owl to a passerby.  We are supposed to get another arctic "clipper" today, so no more owl chasing until next week. For now, I'm stuck at 8.

Happy 2013!

We went to Peace Valley Park (Lake Galena) on New Year's Day to find the Rough-legged Hawk that has been reported over the past few weeks. These hawks are rare in our area. They nest in the arctic tundra and winter in open fields usually north and west of PA. Bucks county would be at the southern edge of their wintering grounds.  They are not as plentiful as our regular Red-tailed Hawks anyway, so seeing one is noteworthy.

I am soooo glad that we made the trip. Di spotted a hawk in a tree almost immediately as we pulled into Sailor's Point parking area.  We got out to the truck and tried to get a view of the distant bird but poor Barbara is still on crutches so I told them to get back in the car so we could drive up the road a bit.  That was a lucky move on our part because the bird we were looking at was NOT the Rough-legged Hawk. How did we know? Because the Rough-legged Hawk met us at the top of the parking lot sitting in a tree about 20 yards from the entrance! WOW.

We stopped the car right on the road and watched the bird for a few seconds thinking for sure that it would fly off but it didn't.  Then, the weird part started happening - cars, trucks, bikers, and joggers went past this bird at varying speeds. The jogger even stopped to look at the bird while jogging in place. The bird didn't flinch. It didn't care one lick about the people and vehicles. It just sat there on its branch looking for rodents in the field.  I got out of the truck and snapped a bunch of photos while standing at the driver's door.  Then, I followed a few bikers up the road another 30 yards to get a different angle. The bird didn't care.  I loaned the bikers my binoculars so that they could get a better look at the bird.

You can tell immediately that this bird is different.  No other hawk in our area has this black belly and lighter chest. The first photo is full frame (not cropped at all) so that you can see how close we were to this hawk. Mind you, we were ON THE ROAD. We didn't venture into the woods chasing it.

Rough-legged Hawk

Occasionally, the bird would look right at us like in the photo below.

Rough-legged Hawk

This next photo really shows the reason for the name "rough-legged".  These hawks live in the tundra, so they need extra protection from the cold. They have feathers all the way down their legs to the feet just like Snowy Owls and Ptarmigans to keep the heat in.  Check out those white spats.

Rough-legged Hawk - cropped

Just after that photo was taken, the bird took off and landed right in front of me and the bikers in the grass.  It was trying to catch a meal. It stomped around in the grass trying to feel a vole of something.  Again, un-phased by us humans standing 10 yards away gawking at it.  The next photo shows the under-side of the wing pretty well.

Rough-legged Hawk

Rough-legged Hawk

 The next photo shows the hawk just before it took off and landed in another tree right above the road. 

Rough-legged Hawk

Cars and trucks drove right under the hawk as it sat there. Barely 6 feet separated the top of the truck and the hawk's tail feathers. I couldn't resist snapping this next photo from the sunroof as we drove under the hawk!

Rough-legged Hawk - from truck sunroof

A New Year's event to remember!  The only regret from the day was that it was super overcast which makes the photos kink of gray. On the plus side, I like the snow in the background when the hawk is on the ground.