If you or I looked at a dead tree, we wouldn't think of it as the best place to sit. Maybe a branch would break. Too exposed. Full of bugs. That's just us though. To a bird - especially a bird of prey - a dead tree in the perfect place to perch. Great views of their prey. Lookout for foes. That's how it was in this particular tree out in the salt marsh. Mrs. Peregrine must have thought "this looks like a great place to perch", so she landed.
Mr. Peregrine probably thought "hmmm. Mrs. Peregrine got the good perch again" and then decided that it was his turn so he swooped in. She initially put up a fuss.
But then he showed her is talons. Now she's thinking "what's with him?"
"Fine, have the perch. I'm outta here"
Now he's thinking "wow, this really IS a nice perch" To the victor, goes the spoils.
Here are some close ups. I was pretty far away, so these are super cropped. You can see that Mrs. Peregrine has bands on both ankles.
Here you can see that Mr. Peregrine is not banded.
In case you have been living on Mars and didn't hear about it - the Pope is in Philly this weekend. If you have been paying attention for the past 6 months, it is all the news casters talk about. The mayor and the Secret Service have been announcing road closures and off limit areas and tow-away zones for weeks. Our office closed on Friday. We were all told to work from home. I chose to work from the Villas instead.
There have been very few birds around since that big Monday but recently, my friend Harvey found a Curlew Sandpiper at Forsythe (don't worry, I'm not going to give you another shorebird lesson). Curlew Sandpipers are supposed to be in Europe. Harvey regularly finds one in the spring but having one in our area in fall is really rare. Needless to say, I went to Forsythe before work the other day with Harvey to see the bird. This is the best shot I could get.
Curlew Sandpiper (center), Ring-billed Gull
The shorebirds were skittish - taking off and landing somewhere else - the whole time we were there. This had something to do with it:
Peregrine Falcon
A Peregrine Falcon was cruising the area looking for a meal. He/she sat down for a few minutes in the salt hay which made for a very fall-flavored photo.
Peregrine Falcon
We saw this nasty looking Marsh Wren in the weeds along the road.
Marsh Wren
And this Clapper Rail hunting the edge of the marsh.
Clapper Rail
On our way back to the Villas, we decided to swing by Reed's Beach Road to see if we could find another rare bird that was seen there this week - Western Kingbird. You can tell by the name that the bird shouldn't be found here. One Western Kingbird is a good find, but 2 is pretty rare. We found both birds sitting on wires along the road. I told Harvey that I needed to be back to the house to get to work so we got back into his van - or at least that was our intention. There we stood, looking into the van where both sets of van keys, both cell phones AND Peanut were locked in. Sigh. Luckily Harvey's friend Steve came along to see the Kingbirds and rescued us by calling AAA. A quick trip turned into 2 hours sitting on the side of the road. At least I got a few good shots of the birds while we waited for AAA.
Western Kingbird
Not sure what that red stuff is on his breast - looks like blood to me.
It was fun to watch them try to land on the wire. You can see how focused this bird is on that little wire.
Diane and I took a trip to Forsythe NWR today. Our goal was to see if we could add another Snowy Owl to my list for the year. Forsythe NWR is famous for it's "Wildlife Drive" which is an 8 mile loop road that goes out onto the marsh and back again. The road acts as a dike that allows the inside to remain fresh water while the outside is salt water bay. The refuge is a great place to see ducks in winter however the numbers are few due to the fresh water being frozen solid.
The weather was cold and overcast with a forecast of snow later in the day (it is snowing as I type this). We drove the whole loop very slowly looking for any sign of the Snowy Owl but failed to see it. We stopped along the way any time we saw anything interesting like ducks or geese. At one of our stops, we noticed that all of the shorebirds were flying around in a big ball. That only means one thing - they are being attacked by a raptor. Here is a video of some of the action (you need to click on it to make it play). Diane is your camera woman for this one and I have no idea why it goes sideways half way through.
The raptor on the attack this time was a young Peregrine Falcon. Here he is as he fly past the car. The first is full size. He came pretty close to the car. The second is cropped so you can see the markings.
Peregrine Falcon flying past the car
Peregrine Falcon
Here is looking pissed off because he couldn't grab one of those Dunlin. Better luck next time buddy.
Peregrine Falcon on S-6
We decided to get some lunch at Wawa and drive around the loop again to try for the Snowy Owl. So after about a 45 minute break we headed back out on the loop road. We parked at the first corner to eat our lunch and look for the owl. Just as we were about to get going, Di goes "Um, Lin. Look at that". Just then, our friend the Peregrine landed on the road sign right outside of the car. I mean - right next to the car! This photo is taken with my iPhone. You can see the pretzel rods on the dashboard.
Peregrine outside of the car
After a few minutes of trying to not scare it away, we decided to get bold and try to get some photos with the real camera. This first one is taken from inside the car.
Peregrine Falcon - windshield view
A few other cars drove by and it didn't move so I stuck the camera out the window and snapped a few shots. Then I got really bold and got out of the car to take a few more.
Peregrine Falcon on road sign
I hid behind the car but believe me, the bird knew exactly where I was. Here is looking directly at me - gulp!
You lookin' at me?
He really didn't seem to mind us or any of the other cars that stopped to look at him. He even did a little preening while sitting on the sign. Here is waving at us.
Hi there!
He finally took off after some other poor shorebirds. Di took this video with the iPhone too.
Just when we thought we had enough of the Peregrine - he showed up again. This time he caught a goose right in front of us.
Peregrine Falcon
We didn't have the heart to tell him that the goose was made out of wood. He'll figure it out. We left without seeing the Snowy Owl, but boy did we get a show!
While running around looking for birds this week, I have seen alot of other animals so I thought I would share some photos. You already saw the Harbor Seal from the beach. Here are some others. Let's start with cute and work our way toward the you-might-not-wanna-look. This cute Raccoon stuck his head out of the tree as a few of us were looking at Great-horned Owl babies in a nest above. What a surprise.
Raccoon
Here is a Red Bat that I happened upon at John Heinz Refuge. I just happened to see a Robin fly out of a little Oak tree and noticed something still swinging. This bat is hanging just 2 feet above the ground. Red Bats migrate south in winter, so I guess this guy is heading back north. Cute little fellow.
Red Bat
Here is a Snapping Turtle looking for love at Heinz. This is just one of about 2 dozen Snapping Turtles that I saw in the park either in the water or crossing the path. I guess it's that time of year where even the ugly creatures find a mate.
Snapping Turtle
Snakes, I never saw so many Garter Snakes as over the past few days. Patty and I walked up on 2 snakes fighting over the same tasty frog. Here they are playing tug of war. Poor frog.
2 Garter Snakes
One of the snakes finally let go and the victor finished off the frog. Here is a close up of the gory meal.
Garter Snake with Frog
One final photo for the post today. Yes, it's a bird. In fact, it's 2 birds - one eating the other. The predator is a Peregrine Falcon and the prey is a poor Northern Flicker. This scene was captured at Pennypack Trust. The Peregrine flew over my head carrying the hapless woodpecker and perched across the creek to eat. The photo isn't great due to the distance and lighting but it is good enough to see that the falcon is banded.
Peregrine Falcon with Flicker
Well, there you have it. Next post is back to birds.
Today I saw my first Chipping Sparrows of the season at Lemon Hill so look for them at your feeders soon. They are probably my favorite sparrows. So cute, so approachable and what a great voice.
Also got a great look at Ruby Crowned Kinglet singing low in a bush with his ruby crown flared up.He was really singing hard too.
Topped the morning off with a Peregrine Falcon flying low overhead.Looked like he/she was on a mission to get north quick.
For those of you not familiar with Lemon Hill, it's across Kelly Drive from the boat houses in beautiful Fairmount Park. Here is the Google map link. This location has proved better than some "parks" for warblers and certainly did well for us with ducks this winter in front of the boat houses. I got 13 species in one tree last year right on Poplar Drive leaning on my car.
Hello there. The purpose of this blog is to share my birdwatching experiences with anyone who is interested. I'll post backyard sightings, sightings at local parks like PennyPack Ecological Restoration Trust and Carpenter's Woods, and regional "hot spots" such as Cape May NJ and Hawk Mountain PA. Occassionally, I'll post sightings and trip notes from our big birding trips.
Connie and I have been actively birding for 15 years. Our interest has grown from looking at birds occasionally to planning full vacations around migration routes and times. That's why we call ourselves "Bird Nerds". My sister and her partner got caught up in this with us a few years ago and now they get dragged along with us. And then there are our friends from the ice hockey team who got totally hooked recently. I'm the most obsessed one in the group although Lori is gaining on me rapidly.
Anyway, I'll try to keep it fun and light. Take tomorrow for instance. We are planning a quick trip to Forsythe NWR in Brigantine NJ to see geese and ducks. The weather is calling for rain and thunderstorms and wind. No sun. We're going anyway because Lori just bought a new SUV and has never been to Forsythe. So, we're going. I'll let you know if we see anything.
The Osprey photo was taken last month at Cape May Hawk Watch. That was a great day for us. We saw a ton of Osprey. Mostly with fish for some reason. My sister started making snide comments like "Why don't they just call out the ones without fish for a change". That's just a ridiculous amount of Ospreys to see in one day. I never thought that I would see that many Peregrine Falcons in my lifetime let alone in one day. Our little group probably saw 40 Peregrines flying low, high, fast, slow. Wow.
I'm just old enough to remember the DDT days. When my parents took us to Hawk Mountain in the 70's, they preached all about the decline and possible elimination of these birds due to DDT. Now, 35 years later, we're making jokes about how many we see in one day. I know that the numbers aren't anything like pre-pesticide days. But it's terrific for us. Here is the Peregrine photo from that day too:
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