Can You Say Phoebe? (FEE-bee)

Eastern Phoebes are a type of flycatcher that we see very often in all sorts of habitat around Philly.  Woods, yards, meadows, you name it - we see them.  They are around in spring, summer, fall and even into the winter sometimes.  They are what you would call "common".  They even have a distinctive call that is unmistakable.  They say - Fee bee! in a kind of mad-that-you-asked kind of way. They are very photogenic due to their habit of posing on dead branches.  They have a habit of bobbing their tail while the sit there which makes them even easier to see - even for beginners. They are a flycatcher that has a clear white belly and is pretty black/gray on the head and back.

 Eastern Phoebe

Why then, would we go out of our way to see a Phoebe?  Because an unusual type of Phoebe showed up at the Cape May Point State Park (Lighthouse) on Sunday.  A Say's Phoebe.  Say's Phoebe is a bird that never comes east of the Rocky Mountains.  If you look in the field guide, it shows a clear line that the bird really never crosses. So when one shows up on the east coast, people flock to see it.  Adding to the attraction is the bird's gorgeous salmon belly which makes this ID easy.

Say's Phoebe

Who knows how this guy got all the way to NJ when he should be in Colorado or Texas or Oklahoma heading south to Mexico but here he is.  I assume he will head south and wow some other birders along the way.

Working Hard at Tuckerton

This week, I have been working with Tuckerton Seaport Museum to set up a new cash register system for their gift shop. Tuckerton Seaport is a cute place in Tuckerton - north of Atlantic City on Route 9 - that shows visitors the back bay lifestyle from years past and today.  They have displays in the museum and also a village set up of old houses and storefronts which is pretty cool.  Out back, they have a dock and various boats that baymen use for clamming and duck hunting (yes, duck hunting).   They also have a chicken coup and 2 goats in a pen to show how people would have kept their own livestock for eggs, milk and meat. The gift shop is terrific too with lots of duck decoys and other nautical items to purchase.

This year, the Seaport was asking to help raise Bobwhites to repopulate some areas of NJ with the bird.  They had over 100 eggs which hatched and now they have the Bobwhites in a "flight cage" out back.  Here is a photo of some of the birds:

Bobwhite fledglings

The guy that I am working with to set up the cash registers had to go feed the Bobwhite on Friday and of course, I said that I would help.  We both went into the pen.  While I was snapping photos with my iPhone, Nick went to refill the water dishes.  I was just happy to keep shooting photo and video like this:

Bobwhite in the shelter

Little did I realize that the back door was open while I was filming - look again - and the little birds were escaping one by one in single file like school kids during recess!  Aahhhh!  I yelled for Nick but I couldn't get close to the door without scaring the rest of the birds out, so I just stood there watching them go outside one by one until Nick ran over and closed the door.

Next thing I know, the 2 of us are trying to herd the Bobwhites back into the pen where they obviously didn't want to be.  Picture me waiving 2 pirate shirts - yes pirate shirts - at these little birds while Nick used a fishing net to catch them one by one.  Hysterical!  Meanwhile, other visitors are staring at us and other staff are trying to explain the situation by saying "this never happened before"  and stuff like that.  I think we got them all back into the pen.  If not, keep your ears open for the sound of  "Bob - white" next time you are near Atlantic City.

Volunteer Recap

I am volunteering again this year to be a Shorebird Steward along the Delaware Bayshore.  The NJ Dept of Fish and Wildlife, in conjunction with Conserve Wildlife NJ closes several beaches in order to protect endangered shorebirds such as the Red Knot while they migrate from Argentina to the Arctic.  I did this last year too and I think it is an important way for me to engage with wildlife conservation in addition to simply running around looking at birds.  If you want to learn more about this important issue, go to http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/protecting/projects/shorebird/ and http://www.nj.gov/dep/fgw/ensp/redknot.htm . 

Diane joined me this year, so we were stationed at either end of the closed area in the Villas. I was stationed at the north end of the closure at New Jersey Ave while Di was stationed at Rose Ave which is at the south end.  I had a great time talking to people, getting them to take surveys, and scanning the thousands of birds to find any that had been banded. I met new friends, got 12 surveys completed and over 50 banded birds documented and photographed. Di didn't have such a good experience.  She didn't get any surveys completed and only got 4 banded birds.  I guess I had the better end of the beach!

This is what the beach looks like as the tide starts to go out. Thousands of Sanderlings and other birds running along the water's edge picking through the sand for Horseshoe Crab eggs.  The birds concentrate at any point where there is a spit of sand. I guess that is where the most crab eggs are exposed.

 

Here is a closer look at the birds and an unfortunate Horseshoe Crab which is on its back.  We walk along the beach each morning "flipping" crabs but we are not allowed inside the closed beach, so we watch in vain as these crabs lay upside down all day until the tide comes back in.  Hopefully, they will flip themselves back when the water surrounds them.  This photo also shows a variety of birds - Ruddy Turnstone on the left in front of the crab, Dunlin on the right closest to the camera, and 6 Sanderlings of various colors in the middle - one of them is banded.

Here are a few of the good photos of the banded birds from last weekend:

 Here is 3NH with other birds including a Ruddy Turnstone in the middle

 This is 3YY.  He is in process of molting from dull winter gray to vibrant summer brown.  He hung around my area alot and was photographed too many times!

 This happened a few times, where 2 banded birds ended up in the same photo. Meet AM4 and P2Y.  They are the same species - Sanderlings - but in different stages of molt.  AM4 is almost ready to get a mate while P2Y still has a ways to go.

 Here are 2 more banded birds in the same photo. They guy in the front is interesting.  He has different colors of bands and no number/letters.  I can't wait to get the feedback on him after I enter him into the database.

 The HITS just keep coming.  Actually, this is H1T, but I called him/her HIT. That is a wave crashing on the beach in the background.

 Here is KM8. I snapped this photo just as he was snapping up a crab egg.  You should be able to see a small greenish egg in his bill if you click on the photo to enlarge.

Here is Stumpy.  this guy/gal hung around my beach all weekend and looked like he was getting around just fine even though he is missing a foot.  He wasn't the smallest bird on the beach which means that he is managing to plump up on crab eggs before heading to Canada.  You go Stumpy!

Please post a comment and let me know if you like seeing these photos.  Also, let me know who is your favorite banded bird so far.

And on the Third Day . . .

I'm not religious and I don't think that the world was created in 7 days, but I would like to think that if it really did take 7 days to create this mess, Cedar Waxwings would have been one of the first creatures created. It was on my third day here in Winchester Virginia, that I finally managed to get up close and personal with the 100+ Cedar Waxwings that make the local park their home.  I have been seeing and hearing these birds all 3 days but they treated me like family today by inviting me to watch them feast on Mulberries.  There were literally 100 birds in the trees surrounding me while I stood there in awe.

I don't believe in heaven or hell and I don't believe in reincarnation BUT . . . if there is such a thing, I hope I come back as a Cedar Waxwing.  These birds really have the life.  They are always in a group, are always calling to each other in that high squeaky call note and always appear to be having care free days.  That suits me just fine. 

Cedar Waxwing - typical pose high on an exposed branch

 Another typical pose - looking for his/her companions

 I love the white eye liner

 Look closely - the red dots at the end of the wing feathers is what gives the Cedar Waxwing it's name.  These red dots are waxy deposits that form at the end of the feathers from accumulated wax in their diet of (usually) cedar berries.

 Waxwing hanging out in the mulberry bush

Waxwing buddies

Listen for high thin calls in your local park, then look up.  If you see more than one bird flying over head it is probably a flock of Cedar Waxwings.

Big Day Results

I'll begin by saying that the Bird Nerds did indeed have a Big Day.  Unfortunately, so did the 8th graders. 

The scouting went well. We planned our route, then we re-routed based on intel gathered at the "swap meet".  The swap meet is a meeting held on the Thursday before the contest for all teams to swap scouting reports.  This year's report also included a weather report from Dave LaPuma who runs the woodcreeper.com website stating that winds would be perfect for migration and that birds would be arriving at Higbee beach on Friday night. Guess who else went to the swap meet?  Yup, the 8th graders.

Our Big Day started at 3:30 AM (slightly later due to lower G.I. distress by your truly due to an untimely virus).  We pulled up at Higbee Beach at 4 AM and sat and listened for a Barred Owl to hoot for about 5 minutes when 2 other cars pulled up - another team.  They all got out of the cars and walked out into the field.  We all looked at each other and then got out of the car too. We figured they knew something that we didn't know about the Barred Owl that we were waiting to hear.  After another 5 minutes, the other team came walking past us out of the field.  We said "good morning" as they walked past, then one of them yelled "its the Nerds!".  It was Patty and her team.  They didn't really know what they were doing and they didn't hear the owl, but they were going to another location to listen. We heard the owl hooting about 5 minutes after they left the field. HA.

That was the first time our team got a Barred Owl on the Big Day.  Things only got better from there. We were scheduled to be at Higbee until 8 AM, but we left at 7 because we already had 58 species tallied.  58 species in 3 hours - 90 minutes of those were in the dark. By 9 AM we already had 2 other stops under our belts, the dogs were home and fed, the cat was fed, and 12 more species were racked up.  We were really on a roll. 

Each team member contributed to our tally in different ways. We got at least a dozen species through one member or another looking, listening, or re-routing us which really showed the team effort.  I'll let them tell you their stories in their own time.

By suppertime, we had surpassed our previous total by quite a few birds, but still didn't have Red-tailed Hawk which should have been easy.  We also didn't have Kingfisher, Green Heron, or Black-Crowned Night Heron.  If we could get those birds, we would  break the 140 mark. We got those birds and ended the day with 144 species - 23 more than last year!

But still 19 fewer than those 8th graders.  Bitter?  No. Do I seem bitter?

Pre Game

We are all fired up for the Big Day tomorrow.  We have been scouting for a few days now and we think we have a good a good game plan.  We will start at 4 AM at Higbee beach - sitting in the car listening for a Barred Owl and any other birds that are chirping at that hour of the morning.  We spent a few hours there this morning (not before dawn) and got alot of birds.  We can only hope for the same tomorrow. 

It has already been exhausting, so we are off to bed in a few minutes.  I thought I would share a few colorful photos with you to get you ready for spring.  This guy was singing full force at Tinicum on Tuesday.

Yellow Warbler

Here is Indigo Bunting.  There are alot of these guys on our World Series "route".  They sing really loud from almost every field in the area.  We are sure to get one of these for our list.

 Indigo Bunting

Another really colorful bird that has arrived from his winter home is the Summer Tanager.  These birds turn greenish yellow in winter and then shed all feathers and go red for summer.  We like to think they go Phillies Red!

Summer Tanager

Wish us luck by commenting on the blog!

More California Wildlife

I have so much fodder from our trip that it has been difficult to pull it all together into stories rather than just post a mile-by-mile recount of our trip down the coast.  So here is the last installment of the trip notes. Highlights include Golden Eagle sitting in a field, Gray Ghost, Elephant Seals and Coyotes.

The Golden Eagle was spotted south of where we saw the Condor where the land started to flatten out a bit down by Hearst Castle.  We originally saw the bird flying erratically and then land in the middle of a field.  I screeched to a halt on the side of the road and ran across the highway to take a few shots.

   Golden Eagle

It turns out that the Eagle had harassed a Red-tailed Hawk into dropping something and had landed on it to claim it.  A few minutes later, the Hawk worked up enough courage to chase the Eagle out of the field and out of sight.  Having the Red-tail chasing the Eagle gave us perspective as to how big the Golden Eagle really is.  Trust me, its a big raptor.  Second only to . . . you guessed it - the California Condor.

A few miles after this, we saw another raptor flying over another field and pulled over.  This time it was the male Northern Harrier which is known as the "Gray Ghost".  This bird is not rare. It is not uncommon in our area. I have seen many.  But it is cool to see the gray ghost.  It also brought back memories of my first Harrier which we saw along this same stretch 20 years ago.

Northern Harrier - "Gray Ghost"

It is sad to say that these birds were not the highlight of our day - which they would be on any other day.  It's just that we saw so much, including the Condor and Elephant Seals, that it was just one more WOW for the day. 

Oh yeah, we saw Elephant Seals.  They were hauled out of the water on a protected beach.  The State Park system put in a nice parking lot and boardwalk so that you can get up close to the seals without disturbing them.  We could have stayed for hours. 

 Elephant Seal flinging sand to keep the sun off

 Elephant Seal grunting at a neighbor

 Squabbling

 Look at the pink inside his mouth!

There were hundreds of seals out on the beach laying around and squabbling with their neighbors.  Oh, and it is a good thing that the wind was blowing away from the boardwalk because they STINK!

While in Pasadena, we birded the Arroyo Seco which is a little canyon that ends up at the Rose Bowl stadium. I have posted about this before.  This time, we had pretty good birds but that was not the story. The story is that we felt like we were going to be lunch for this Coyote!

 Coyote

Look at those eyes - YIKES!

Although he looks mean, he was more interested in the gophers than the people. He obviously roams this very busy park often and is not bothered by the people, dogs, or horses. 

Next post - back to the East Coast baby!

Nevermore

I work a block away from the Edgar Allen Poe house in Philadelphia.  There is a bronze Raven sculpture in the front yard of the house where he supposedly lived for a few years.  Ironically, there are no Ravens in Philadelphia but there are lots of Ravens in California.  Lots.  We encountered Ravens on each outing from San Francisco down to Pasadena but a few are blog worthy. 

The first Raven we photographed was hanging out on a fire pit at Muir Beach.  California allows dogs and fires on almost all of their beaches which is pretty cool.  This Raven was obviously used to both of those things.

Common Raven

Check out the big beak and thick neck on this bird that distinguishes it from a Crow along with the size difference.

The next notable Ravens were seen at Mt. Wilson observatory outside of Pasadena.  Di and I took a drive up to the top of the 5,000 foot mountain where they have several really large telescopes on Sunday.  One of the workers noticed our binoculars and camera and asked if we would be interested to see a Raven's nest.  Hell yeah!  He said "see that cliff over there?" "Um, which one?" "the one with the missing rock" "Um, which one?".  Well, you get the gist of it.  He was patient and we finally saw the nest:

 And then we got to see the birds fly out of the nest and soar around the canyon.  Trust me, the soaring photos were terrible!  Here is the best shot I could get of the Raven leaving the nest:

They were quite cooperative and landed on a tree snag right along the path to the telescopes for these photos.

But the raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only,
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour.
Nothing further then he uttered - not a feather then he fluttered -
Till I scarcely more than muttered `Other friends have flown before -
On the morrow he will leave me, as my hopes have flown before.'
Then the bird said, `Nevermore.'

To Sur with Love!

I know I spelled Sir wrong.  Or did I?  After a brief set back at the McDonald's in Monterrey where the Iced Tea dispenser broke and soaked both of us and made me bleed in 2 places, Di and I hit the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) on Friday en route to visit our uncle in Pasadena. Some of the best scenery is along Big Sur.

I got 8 life birds and Di probably got 20 or more.  The biggest life bird for both of us is coincidentally the biggest bird in North America - the California Condor.  The sighting is also a cute story . . .

The PCH is a twisty-turny-uppy-downy road with constant breathtaking views of the Pacific ocean and mountains for over a hundred miles.  It is almost too much to endure without taking a break.  So much so, that we pulled into a State Park for a rest and to look for a bandaid to help stop the bleeding from what is now know as "the iced tea incident".  As soon as we got out of the car, we were met with a flurry of bird activity including this Stellar's Jay.

 Stellar's Jay with acorn

The ranger on duty obliged with a bandaid and was happy to give us directions to good birding locations. He told us that the best birding location on the whole Big Sur coast was back north on the PCH about 5 miles - where we just came from.  Diane hesitated to go back 5 miles but then he asked us where we were from and reiterated that it was only 5 miles up the road, insinuating that we were already 3,000 miles out of our way so what was another 5?  Good point.  Off we went - back north on the PCH to Andrew Molero State Park for great birding.

The ranger at the Andrew Molera gate was a peppy young woman who just oozed happiness.  I told her that I would pay the $10 entrance fee but I wanted it back if we didn't see a Condor.  She said that she couldn't make that deal but proceeded to tell us that we could see Condors down the road about 20 miles.  That would be 15 miles south of the other guy's park.  We parked and hiked at Andrew Molera and saw great birds and great scenery:

 Diane with Big Sur Coast

Why does Di keep telling me to take another step back for this photo?

 Orange-crowned Warblers were singing and posing

So was this Wilson's Warbler - I love the little black cap

 Surfbirds were picking along the rocky shoreline

We headed south again to Julia Pfeifer State Park where our park ranger told us we may find Condors.  She said that there were 2 fledged babies along the ridges and that the parents were often seen there too.  What she failed to mention is that there was also beautiful waterfall that went right to the beach and water that is a color of blue that I can't describe:

 Waterfall and turquoise water

Linda posing

Even though we were both mesmerized by the water, we kept scanning the skies for big birds - without luck.  On our way back to the parking lot across the highway, I stopped to scan the canyon and thought that I might have spotted something.  Take a look:

 I put red arrows in the photo where I thought I saw something that looked like a big black bird (maybe a baby Condor)

That is when Diane started scanning the skies and said "I think I got the Condor", or something like that.  I looked up, way up, no farther up than that, waaaaay up there and saw a tiny dot in the sky.  It could have been anything, but just then it turned around and viola!  Condor.  You can tell this is a giant bird even at that distance. The photo below is zoomed way in and cropped. That is how high this bird was soaring when Di picked it out of the thin blue sky. Literally.

 California Condor

If it wasn't 20 miles back in the wrong direction, I was going to go give that young woman another $10!  Her tip really paid off.


More later.

TimberDoodle

I just found out what a TimberDoodle is - its another (cuter) name for the American Woodcock - a small shorebird that lives in the woods rather than by the shore.  TimberDoodles were all over the electronic airwaves last week.  I received emails, other blog posts, text messages, and photos about them.  Why?  Because its that time of year again - TimberDoodle Dance time. 

Woodcock dancing time starts and peaks during the first 2 weeks of March.  This is when you will hear them in the fields near your house or local woods "peent"ing.  It really sounds like that.  Go ahead, make that sound - "PEEENT" and you have just done a spectacular imitation of a TimberDoodle! 

Now, drive to a field nearby that has some woods close to it at dusk and listen.  "PEEENT!" means that you should get out of the car and stand in the field to witness the "dance".  Listen for whistling sounds above your head.  This is the TimberDoodle actually doing the "dance".  The male TimberDoodle will PEENT a few times, then fly into the air circling the field going higher and higher until he is completely out of sight.  Then he plummets back to earth.  All of this to impress his lady friend who generally sits hidden in the weeds acting uninterested. 

You can hear him doing this more than you can see him since it occurs at dusk.  His feathers whistle during the flight.  You can follow the whistling sound going around and around.  If you are lucky, like Di, Barbara and I were last night at Jake's Landing - you will see the TimberDoodle's silhouette against the dusk sky as he ascends.  If you are really lucky like my friend Patty was at Rancoacas Nature Center - the TimberDoodle will plop right down next to you and have his photo taken!

Male American Woodcock (TimberDoodle) - Photo by Patty

Learn more about the American Woodcock at Cornell University's website - All About Birds

In other news, we worked on the Green House this weekend (link to the photo album) but still managed to see the Bald Eagles sitting on our beach again and got this decent photo of Savannah Sparrow. 

 Savannah Sparrow - Ipswich race

Heading back down to Florida for a quick trip later this week.  Stay tuned. 

No Snow But Still Snowy

I was holding on to this post in order to have something new for you to read during the doldrums of February and March.  However, I can't hold onto it any longer because there are no doldrums.  The weather is warmer than I can remember for Feb or March and the birds are headed north already from their winter homes.  We are seeing shorebirds on our beach in the Villas such as Dunlin, Red Knots, Piping Plover and Black-bellied Plovers - all of which I just saw a bunch of on Bunche Beach (get it? a bunch on bunche).  We are also getting reports of other birds arriving.

Anyway, all of that to say that Lori, Tara and I got to see a Snowy Owl a few weeks ago at a reservoir in north Jersey.  As usual, the weather was not very cooperative with high winds that numbed our hands.  Here are a few photos. 

 Snowy Owl tucked away in the rocks.  This is the back side of the damn that holds the water into the reservoir at Merrill Creek.

 Cropped to show the owl trying to doze off

Scratching her head.  We are pretty sure that this is a "she" due to the amount of black barring on her feathers.  Males tend to be whiter.

In case you couldn't tell from the recent posts, I am on a bit of an owl prowl lately.  I am hoping to see seven species.  I will post updates as they occur.

Di and I are off to see a vagrant Broad-tailed Hummingbird that apparently spent the winter in someone's yard in Cape May.  This species is rarely seen east of the Rockies and is the first documented record in New Jersey.  It would be a shame if we didn't spend 15 minutes to witness this historic event and wish the little guy well before he takes off for Colorado.

Sunday Walk and Answer to the Mystery

I'll start by saying that the DVOC gang all agree that they mystery shorebird from the last post is a Long-billed Curlew.  Thanks to all who posted a comment with your thoughts.  The conclusion was based on the thickness of the bill rather than the length and the overall plumage pattern.

Now on to this morning's walk. It is February in Pennsylvania but you wouldn't know it by listening to the singing birds this morning.  It sounded more like spring.  Roxy and I went to Pennypack Trust and had some nice interactions with Bluebirds, Song Sparrows, a flock of Turkeys and a surprise encounter with this Cooper's Hawk.

It is not unusual for a Cooper's Hawk to sit low in the woods watching for his next meal. But it is unusual for it to sit there and let me take a few photos.  I had to use manual focus in order to cut through the obstructions but it is still a pretty good photo that shows the white tip of its rounded tail which is why I am calling this a Cooper rather than Sharp-shinned Hawk.

I am still trying to get a good shot of a Bluebird that shows the stunning blue.

 Here is the male Bluebird singing

Here he is singing again.

Here is a video of the singing birds: