Getting Attached to the Dog(s)

Memorial Day Weekend is spent up at the cabin with Connie's family. We have been doing it for a few years now so that we can spend the weekend with her Mom, Dad and sister. This year we brought the new dog, Roxy with us. She is really getting attached to me. She follows me everywhere. In and out of the cabin, around the property, and along the trail. She has proven to be a great birding dog already. She stops when we stop and stays around while we listen and look at birds along the trail. This trip really awakened Roxy's nose. It is obvious that this was her first trip to the country. Here is a photo of our new girl:

I got attached to another dog this weekend too. Roxy and I were walking along the new clear cut in the pines on the property when she suddenly disappeared. She was right behind me one minute, and gone the next minute. I thought she might be down at the camps along the dirt road, so I went down to look for her. A woman in one of the camps yelled out of her screen porch that she saw Roxy running in the woods. So I started walking down the dirt road in that direction when all of a sudden a boxer came charging out of the camp and ran down the road after me. He bit me on the hand, then bit me again in the back of the calf:

Blood really ran out of the bottom puncture wound. It gave me Curt Schilling sock and sneaker (you need to be a Phillies fan to get that). It hurt, but I'm fine.

Anyway, back to the birding report. We put up a Bluebird box last summer and viola, we have nesting Bluebirds in the field - with a baby inside. Part of the roof was blown off when we arrived, so I pushed it back into place and got to see the baby. We watched the parents bringing big bugs all weekend. Here is pop on top and mom at the entrance hole.


We also had a singing male Blackburnian Warbler hanging around in the pines next to the cabin all weekend. He is obviously setting up his territory. Really pretty orange throat which is shown in the photo:


We had at least 6 separate Chestnut-sided Warblers singing at the stream this weekend. Connie and I discovered a few last year and managed to remember their song this year. We also saw real Purple Finches. The male is really purple all over. Not like the House Finches that we used to call Purple Finches as kids. This is a really bad photo but it shows the purple coloring all over:

More later.

Boom or Bust?

Bust. Trust me. We took the Bounder to Cape May on Friday - supposedly the best weekend of spring for migrants. Cape May Observatory even scheduled their "Spring Weekend" for the same weekend. I feel bad for them. Hundreds of people at our usual spots wearing weekend tags, following leaders, seeing basically nothing but mosquitos.

Diane and I drove the Bounder, Barbara drove her truck, Lori and Tara drove the "Schmellow". We all departed from separate points and ended up 3 in a row at the end of Route 55. What a coincidence. We stopped at Belleplain State Forest on our way down.

Oh, did I tell you about our new dog Roxy? She's a half pint Cocoa look-alike - but we didn't really plan it that way. We got her from a horse rescue in Quakertown called Last Chance Ranch. They got her from the Philadelphia Animal Control Shelter (PACS) where she was scheduled to be euthanized in 2 days because they didn't have space for all of the dogs. Sad. But, this isn't a dog blog. She did pretty good on her first birding trip.

Belleplain was not very good but we did get Ovenbird "teacher, teacher, TEACHER, TEACHER!" And Least Flycatcher "chePEEK". And Acadian Flycatcher "pyew". And a water snake.

After we parked the Bounder at the Depot Travel Park, we headed out to Higbee Beach. Tons of mosquitos, Prairie Warblers and Spring Weekend people. Tons of people. We walked the fields without much luck then we hit a little hotspot of Northern Parulas, a Black-throated Blue Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler and Red and White-eyed Vireos. Then it was over. We also saw the most evil looking orange turtle with evil red eyes along the path.

We also went to Cape May Point State Park (we call it the lighthouse) and the Villas WMA. Also busts except for Red-headed Woodpecker which was a life bird for Lori and Tara, and Blue Grosbeaks (M & F) which were lifebirds for Di.

And then it started to rain! It rained all day on Sunday so we packed up and came home early again.

Cold Ride into Work This Morning

I took the Yamaha TW200 into work this morning. Boy, it was colder than I thought. I froze my you-know-whats off. Arrived at Lemon Hill by 7:00 and was treated to amazing warblers:

Bay-breasted Warbler - my 550th bird. Up close and personal singing his little heart out. At one point, he was looking directly into my binocs.
Canada Warbler - really pretty slate color back, yellow belly and black "necklace" visible.
Blackburnian Warbler - brilliant orange/yellow throat. Also singing his little heart out.
Magnolia Warbler - very debonair. He stayed in the cedar tree for a long time.

Be sure to view this post on the real blog page and click on the names of the birds above to see more about each bird.

Thank goodness Barbara arrived and got to see the Bay-breasted and the Magnolia warblers.

We Won't See Anything at Lake Galena

This is what Lori told me Saturday morning when I arrived at her house. I was already up and out at PennyPack when she called me. I texted her at 6:30 AM and didn't get a reply, so I went to PennyPack by myself. It didn't look promising. Overcast and no birds to speak of at the parking area. Then I got the call that they were up and ready to go somewhere.

I thought we could go somewhere close so I suggested PennyPack, Tyler Park, Carpenter's Woods and Lake Galena. Lori didn't like the Lake Galena idea because she has been there a few times before and didn't really see anything. Hmmm. Didn't really see anything. We decided to try it anyway. This is what we saw:

Bald Eagle - yes a Bald Eagle soaring over the lake. Oh, and an Osprey, and 0ver 30 Cormorants, and Gnatcatchers making a nest, and a Northern Waterthrush - with a pretty buff breast, and a Yellow-billed Cuckoo - yes an actual Cuckoo - cooing, and Prairie Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, a Chat and 40 other species of birds. It took us over 4 hours to get through the walk. It was incredible. Oh, and freaky spawning Carp. Huge swirling carp half out of the water thrashing around to top it all off. Total of 51 species.

Yeah, we'll never see anything at Lake Galena - and Lori will never live that down.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Well, it finally cleared up last night after 9 straight days of rain. We might as well be in Seattle. It cleared up around 5:00 PM and I took the opportunity to dash out to PennyPack Trust for a quick walk. Wow. The trees at the parking area were dripping with Yellow-rump Warblers. I also got a long look at a Magnolia Warbler low in a tree. What a pretty bird. Very distinguished looking (click the link to see a photo). I also got a look at a Swainson's Thrush. I knew it was different and another man helped me identify it. Heard Wood Thrushes and Veeries too. Beautiful sounds of spring. Other birds included the resident gobbling Turkeys, male Scarlet Tanager, and Bluebirds.

I didn't make it far on my walk this morning since I hit another hot spot at Lemon Hill. I saw at least 6 Baltimore Orioles - some chasing each other around. I heard and saw a Norther Parula and American Redstarts too, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, female Scarlet Tanager, 2 Eastern Kingbirds and my first Black and White Warbler of the season.

That's all for now. More to come this weekend. Remember, it's the World Series of Birding this weekend, so follow Cornell Lab's team on Twitter if you want to keep posted on what they see and when. It should be exciting.

Oh yeah, it's Mother's Day too. Happy Mother's Day Mom.

Passing

I'm wondering if it can get any worse. My last post was Wed April 29th about how crazy the last few weeks have been. I thought that it would calm down a little - then my Dad passed away on Friday. He has been suffering for a long time with MS and recently needed long term care and was in and out of the hospital with respiratory issues. This time he just didn't make it. I'm not one for the "he's in a better place" but at least he's not suffering in the nursing home anymore.

On to the birding part of the blog. That's right. My sister and I had pre-arranged my father's cremation and services a few weeks ago, so there were only a few things to take care of on Friday. We (the PhillyBirdNerd gang) had already planned to go to Cape May for the weekend. So we went. It was better than sitting around the house wondering what to do. We took the Bounder (our new RV) on it's maiden voyage to check out the systems and see what we would need to fix it up for our comfort. Connie couldn't go, so it was just me, Di and Barbara.

We arrived at the campground at midnight after leaving the Phillies game in the 7th inning. Don't think we have ice in our vains - it was against the Mets - how could we not go to that game. We were up at 7:00 AM and off to Higbee Beach in overcast 100% humidity weather. Boy, do the mosquitos thrive in those conditions!

You go to Higbee Beach in May for the warblers and other migrant songbirds. This is the place to see them in the early morning because they migrate at night and usually dive into the first land that they see after crossing the Delaware Bay - which is Higbee beach. Hardly any birds were around on Sat morning. I guess the overnight rain kept them from crossing the bay.

We did get great looks at Prairie Warblers right on the path and our first Northern Parula of the year. Also got vireos, kinglets and gnatcatchers along with an oriole and Eastern Kingbird. But the mosquitos became unbearable so we headed back to camp and worked for the rest of the day.

Sunday morning was worse at Higbee. Not a bird in sight and more mosquitos than Central America (I mean all countries combined) so we ran away quick and decided to try the Villas Wildlife Management Area. We have never been there before, but Karl Lukens and other Cape May Bird Observatory bloggers post about it often. We found it easily off of Bayshore Rd. It's nice because it allows dogs on leash (as does Higbee) and has an open landscape. Something seemed weird about the landscape and then we realized that we were walking through a defunct golf course. In fact, the "paths" were actually golf cart paths. What a great idea for an old golf course. Keep the trees and open space rather than turning it into another housing development.

My sister and I didn't really spend the weekend dwelling on my father's death that much. It's really not like us. We had spent the past few months taking care of him and we didn't really talk about that. But we did talk about things that our Dad did with and for us when we were kids. One of those things was to take us to Hawk Mountain in the fall. The memory of those trips is what really launched our passion for birding. In fact, we decided to direct any "in leiu of flowers" donations to Hawk Mountain in his memory. We didn't feel guilty today when we were listening to the Great Horned Owl hooting in the middle of the day, or yesterday when we spooked a really big raptor out of the woods, or when we were at the Phillies game making fun of the cartoon clapping hands on the jumbo-tron. It's what Daddy would have wanted. . .

Home, Sweet Home

10 days, 20 eBird reports, 3 states. I'm exhausted. My month has been a whirlwind beginning with Cocoa's tragedy followed by a house full of visitors, a one day trip to New York City, then a week in Arizona and a conference in San Francisco. This post will be short!

My list grew from 502 to 549 in a 10 day span. It's almost too much to take in. I'm used to savoring each new species and discussing it with my companions. This trip saw 18 new species in our first day in Arizona. How can you savor that? Instead of savoring each species, we really discussed how amazed we were with the day as a whole. We each had our favorites.

For me it's the multitude of Wilson's Warblers. They were literally everywhere we went. At the stream side, on the top of the mountain, in the canyon. Just everywhere. We probably saw hundreds of them all tallied together and yet not one good photograph. They flit around so fast and in such bad lighting that neither Lori or I got one good shot. All blurry.

We also did alot of driving during our stay in Arizona. Our birding destinations covered a big area. So much interesting country to see. We didn't even get to all of the destinations described in our books but the locations we got to were just as described. We rented a mini van for the week and it was a great choice. Dodge Caravan. The new style with fold flat 3rd row seats and power doors which made stowing our gear and getting in and out easy. Kudos to Tara for coordinating the rental.

Some more pics from the trip:

Yellow-rumped Warbler - male breeding plumage:


Summer Tanager - male breeding plumage:


Gray Hawk - very rare in the U.S. but not in Southeast Arizona:


Broad-billed Hummingbird sitting on her nest:

Too Many Titles to Choose From

Try these titles:

Car Rental Fiasco
So I left the girls at the Phoenix airport and headed to the NTEN Conference in San Francisco. I arrive a day early so that I could extend my birdwatching by going to Point Reyes National Seashore on Sunday. I called the hotel to ask if there was a car rental nearby. They said yes, so I proceeded to the hotel only to find that all of the rental car agencies were already closed. Oy. Long story even longer . . . I had to take a shuttle back to the airport at 4:40 AM Sunday to rent the car.

I Don't Remember US1 Being the Windy (that's windy as in not straight)
Connie and I made the trip to Point Reyes about 10 years ago which is why I decided to go again yesterday. I just don't remember the road being soooo windy. It's a good thing that Enterprise gave me a free upgrade to a Nissan something or other. It was quite fun to drive that road without a passenger so that I could go as fast as I wanted.

Is it Always So Windy? (that's windy as in blowin' a gale)
I started the birding at the Beaver Valley Ranger Station which was really quiet at 7:00 AM. I saw a colony of Acorn Woodpeckers and got to watch a White-tailed Hawk hover hunting in the field. Here are a few photos - 1)hovering 2)flying away with it's catch 3) the pocket gopher



That Loon Wants to Poke My Eye Out
After a great day of birding, I was making my way back down US1 and saw 2 cars pulled off of the road and a Loon sitting on the road. That is NOT good. It was a Red-Throated Loon just coming into breeding plumage with a little red patch under his neck. Loons can bearly walk well due to the placement of their legs at the back of their body and cannot take flight unless they get a runnning start on the water.

The guy in the other car wanted to know if I had a "plan" when I got out of the car with my sweatshirt. Of course I had a plan. I was trained for such an occasion by the Tri-State Bird Rescue in Delaware during the big oil spill a few years ago. Diane and I volunteered to bathe the affected geese in Dawn dishwashing detergent and have the Coast Guard Citation to prove it. So, I put my past bird rescue training into action! I threw my sweatshirt over the bird's head, grabbed it by the neck, threw it under my arm and walked it over to the water.

That bird got it's head out of the sweatshirt and looked at me with it's red eyes. He really did want to poke my eyes out and would have if I let go of his neck for a second. I plopped him in the water and away he swam. He looked fine in the water and didn't even thank me. Some nerve. And they guy in the other car took off before knowing if the bird was OK. Oh well, what a day.

Scary, Scary Road to the Sky

We made the trip to the San Pedro river valley because it has several really good places to see really good birds. It's in all of the guides (Lori bought the Tuscon Audubon Society's "Finding Birds in Southeast Arizona" and I bought the ABA's "A Birder's Guide to Southeastern Arizona") so we went. We knew it would take 2 hours just to get to our first stop, so we were up and out of the house 5:00 AM.

Our first stop was the San Pedro River House which is run by a local non profit. It has trails through open country down to the river. We saw tons of sparrows which we couldn't identify. I took photos so we could cheat with the Sibley Guide later. I never saw so many warblers in my life. I bet we saw 100 Wilson's Warblers flitting around - at eye level, on the ground, in the trees, practically on our heads. No kidding.

Then we drove to Carr Canyon. To say it's a "road" would be stretching it a little. More like a gravel mule path up the side of a really steep canyon. Really steep. Lori drove, Connie sat shotgun, I drove from the backseat, and Tara closed her eyes the whole time. It really was the scariest road any of us have ever been on. Vehicles of more than 20 feet length are prohibited. I think the Suburban would not have made it - definitely not the Bounder (although there is a wonderful campground at the top). All I could think about was Lucy and Desi in the Long, Long Trailer. HA.

We drove 3,000 feet up that road to see high elevation birds such as Olive Warbler (didn't see it), Greater Pewee (didn't see it), Band-tailed Pigeon (saw it), and Grace's Warbler (saw it). We also saw an older couple from New Zealand who were really lovely, a great picnic area at the campground, and restrooms along with Spotted Towhee.

The New Zealanders told us that we should really stop at "The Beatty's" which is also mentioned in all of the guides as THE place to see hummingbirds in the U.S., so down, down, down we went. I drove this time and was forbidden from looking at anything other than the road in front of me. It was treacherous and I had to pass by 3 cars going up. Luckily 2 of them pulled over for me. The other jerk is another story.

The Beatty's run a bed and breakfast for birders up in Miller Canyon. Not a bad drive. We met Mrs. Beatty and paid the $5 each entrance fee to sit at the hummingbird feeders. It was really great to be sitting in the shade with 7 different species of hummers buzzing all around us. The Beatty's is one of the few places in the U.S. to see White-eared Hummingbird and we saw it. We also saw Blue-throated, Anna's, Black-chinned, Broad-billed, Broad-tailed, and Magnificent hummingbirds. Connie saw a Calliope's Hummingbird while the rest of us chased a report of a Spotted Owl. That's another blog in itself.

Anyway, it was a really long day but it was one that we will definitely remember for a loooong time to come.

meep meep

I found myself looking for an Acme anvil this afternoon. That's what I think of when I see a Roadrunner anyway. We were leaving Madera Canyon after a long day of hiking and birding when I spotted a Roadrunner in the pasture. "STOP!" "BACKUP! BACKUP! BACKUP!" "ROADRUNNER!" And there he was with a lizard in his beak scurrying through the field, hiding under scrub bushes. Lori kept pace with him for 1/4 mile in the van. Then he stopped, hopped up on a stump, and crossed the road. - Irony here - a Roadrunner running on the road. . .



Madera Canyon was great. We spent over 2 hours at the picnic area alone seeing Mexican Jays, Acorn Woodpeckers, Black-throated Gray Warblers, tons of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and lots of Flycatchers. Boy, those Flycatchers are tough to identify. It's a good thing I have the BirdPod now. Flycatchers are best identified by sound. I was really proud when I identified the Dusky-capped Flycatcher by it's hweeew, hweeew call.

We also got to see the Arizona Woodpecker which is cool because it's brown rather than black.

Everyone we met had only one thing to talk about - the Elegant Trogon. Did we see it, were we going to try to see it, would we be disappointed if we didn't see it. What a pain. Here we are seeing amazing life birds and quantities of some other birds that we would not be able to see in our area and all they want to talk about is that damned Trogon. Truth be told, we did want to see the Trogon too. And we took the people's advise and went to the spots where the Trogon was said to be seen recently. We parked up at the upper canyon and hiked the Carrie Nation Trail where everyone else was going. We hiked and hiked. We even heard the Trogon "bark" in the distance. Then, Connie quit. Tara quit. Lori and I trudged on. We lost the trail for awhile but found it again and found a photographer. We asked him about the Trogon. He showed us photos on his camera's LCD screen and told us that we had another 20 minutes of steep hiking ahead of us. We quit.

Let's just say that we heard the Trogon and had a pleasant lunch of PBJ sandwiches at the picnic area. Did I mention that we saw a Roadrunner? Meep, meep.

Arizona - 1st day, 40 birds, 12 lifers, all in our resort

That's the benefit of having the Juan Bautista de Anza Trail in your backyard. Arizona is 3 hours behind Eastern Daylight Time, so we were all up at 3:30 AM trying to stay in bed. By 5:20 we were all up and so was the sun. Connie and I took a quick walk around the neighborhood of Tubac where we are staying with Lori and Tara. We saw Lark Sparrow, Black-chinned Sparrow, Phainopepla, Lucy's Warbler, and Anna's Hummingbird just like that. 3 of those are life birds for us.

After a quick breakfast, we headed to the Anza Trail which has an entrance just up the road from our house within Tubac market place. We got another 10 species between the parking lot and the trail head including Verdin, Broad-billed Hummingbirds - lots of them, Red-Shafted Flicker (ours has yellow shaft), Say's Phoebe, and Vermillion Flycatcher. Please look these birds up in your book to understand how stunning they are.

On the trail we got Bullock's Oriole, Wilson's, MacGillevray's, Yellow-rumped and Yellow Warblers, Plumbeous Vireo, male and female Summer Tanagers, Abert's Towhee, and Bridled Titmouse.

We saw 2 Gray Hawks fly over pretty low. They are pretty rare, but said to nest in the area. We saw 2 of them flying together. A Cooper's Hawk almost took my head off too.

The point of this post is Holy Crap! We haven't even left the resort and we had an overwhelming morning of birdwatching. We were back at the house at 11:00 with our heads spinning. More to come, I'm sure.

Central Park - Those New Yorkers are Pretty Nice

It's not enough that I have a house full of company (Mom and Dave from Florida and Nathalie from Norfolk) and my Dad is in the hospital, and I need to pack for 11 days away. No, that's not enough. I also had to go to New York for a meeting today. You know me. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go birding in Central Park.

I took the 6:00 AM train from Trenton - side bar here: there must be 200 Crows that roost at the Trenton Train Station, what a racket - and arrived in Penn Station at 7:15. Took the C subway to 81st St and into Central Park by 7:45. Of course, I had no idea where I was going.

Thankfully, I ran into a guy with binoculars almost immediately but not before spotting my first Eastern Towhee of the season. The nice man showed me into the "Ramble" and to the feeders. We saw Ruby Crowned Kinglet, lots of White-throated Sparrows, other birds that like feeders and my first Swamp Sparrow ever.

I left that man and ran into another man with binoculars who told me about a Yellow-throated Warbler at the "Boat Pond" and Hermit Thrushes in "Strawberry Fields" and pointed me in the general direction. Wow, Central Park is a big place when you are in it and don't know where you are going.

Luckily, I ran into a nice woman with binoculars who escorted me to the boat pond. Apparently they race little model boats on this pond in warmer weather. The nice lady also pointed out Pale Male's nest on a building ledge. (For those of you who don't know Pale Male, he is a pale Red-tailed Hawk that is really famous. Read "Red-Tails in Love" for more of the story).

We ran into a bunch of people with binoculars who were also hoping for the Yellow-throated Warbler. They were being followed by a film crew. And there was a photographer with a giant lens hanging around too. How New York is that? My new friend and I (Di, is that grammatically correct) decided to move along when the first nice man in this story said "here it is" and pointed to a bird on the concrete the edge of the pond. The bird flitted right along the ledge, 2 inches over my lady friend's head and into the tree 5 feet away from us! Naked eye birding at it's best.

The film crew and the photographer were nowhere to be found. Honestly. What a morning in the big city.

All living things moving North now!

So far, we have seen Chipping Sparrows, Gnatcatchers, Louisiana Waterthrush, now Palm Warblers and "The Johnsons". My mother and Dave arrived safely today just after the Palm Warblers!

Those little Palm Warblers are so cute. All yellow with that chestnut cap - ala Chipping Sparrows - with their tail pumping furiously. I saw 8 at Pennypack Trust last evening and another 2 at Lemon Hill this morning. All with my new Leica Ultravid BRs that were purchased at CMBO on Saturday. I got the refurbs for $400 less than new. They come with lifetime warranty now, so I thought it would be best to save the money.

Speaking of Saturday. . . thanks to Di, Lori and Tara for driving all the way to Cape May in the rain. Our birding was close to a bust thanks to driving wind and rain but we did manage Gannets and Loons at the concrete ship again. We also had the best looks ever at 2 Louisiana Waterthrushes at Sunset Bridge in Belleplain. They really hung around and gave us a good show.

Sparrows and Kinglets and Falcons oh my

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.

Impromptu Cape May

My day started at 6:45 AM. My ice hockey team made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years which meant that we played at 8:15 AM in Aston. Since this is a birding blog, I'll cut to the chase - we won 4 - 0 and I scored the 4th goal which is VERY unusual. And, it was a good goal, not a fluke.

OK, now to the birding. I was home by 11:00, showered and bored by noon so I proposed a trip to Cape May to Connie. She accepted and off we went. We were at Turkey Point by 2:00 even after getting lost. Good stuff in the mud flats including Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs - which were good to study side by side. And a thousand Dunlin swirling in flight, some coming into breeding plumage with the dark belly blotch. Also ducks, gulls, and actual turkeys at Turkey Point.

Off to Cape May and the Concrete Ship. We got really close looks at Gannets which I assume was due to the monster wind blowing due North directly onto the point. Red-throated and Common Loons still not in breeding plumage (which I was kind of hoping for).

At the lighthouse we saw our first warbler of the year - Yellow-rumped - flitting around the bushes. And we actually got to use my new BirdPod to identify Fish Crows by call. We didn't walk the trails because it was getting late and we were tired of the wind. The ponds behind the dunes held some good ducks including Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked Ducks, Shovelers, and Widgeons. Also Rough-winged Swallows.

We had time to walk the Nature Conservancy's Migratory Bird Sanctuary which everyone calls "The Meadows"(you can see why) before we had to meet Biggie and Janette for dinner. They tore it all up last year and pulled the phragamites out, reconstructed the ponds for better water levels, improved the paths etc. It was brutally windy but we saw Osprey, Blue-winged Teal and others. I was surprised that Blue-winged Teal was my 501th bird in eBird. I guess I never entered it before although I have seen them several times in the past.

That's all for now. Wish me luck in the championship game on Sunday!

Spring Gloom

I haven't been out much over the last few weeks because I've been taking care of Cocoa. Back and forth the to vet. After 2 weeks of trying to figure out what's wrong with her, she had open heart surgery. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say Cocoa has less parts now than she did a few weeks ago. Furthermore, she isn't better. In fact, she is back in the hospital in critical condition as I type this post.

When she's home, I'm home with her. We can't go on walks. When she's in the hospital, I can't bear to walk without her. I forced myself to go to Pennypack on Friday. It was really tough to use binoculars. They just magnify the tears so I couldn't see anything at all. Boo hoo hoo.

Anyway, the Phoebe is back under the train bridge. A sign of spring. Robins were everywhere chasing and singing. Another sign of spring. Red-wing Blackbirds are taking up territories in the field. And Bluebirds are sitting on the nest boxes. Spring will come whether I'm there to see it or not.

I just hope Cocoa can go with me soon. She really is a good bird dog. By that I mean she prances along with me when we walk and she sits or lays next to me while I find something interesting to look at. Birds don't seem to be spooked by her (except Turkeys that are spooked by everything). Other birders don't mind her on the trail because they see that she is a very good bird dog. I promise that my next post will be more upbeat.

My Garden Buddy - or - Pheasant Anyone?

As most of you know by now, Cocoa had major heart surgery last week. I am home from work today looking after her and working in the garden. I decided to raise the beds in the vegetable garden, so I went to Primex and bought bags and bags of mushroom compost, humus, etc and some 4"x4" rails yesterday in anticipation of making the most of my "sick day" today.

I was back and forth with the wheel barrow and supplies including the power saw to trim the rails and kept hearing something walking around in the leaves. I assumed it was a robin or junco or something. As I was trimming the rails, I saw something moving around outside the garden.
Well, there he was - a male Pheasant only a few feet outside the vegetable garden walking around. I froze in place and watched him walking up and down the hill for awhile, but then I had to move and keep working. So I got the power saw going, banging the rails into place, raking out the leaves etc, and he didn't seem to mind at all.

On my next trip to the garage to get supplies, I grabbed a handful of mixed bird seed and put it on the ground where he was poking around. Yep, he came right out from under my arborvite to eat it.


He isn't really afraid of me. He casually walks into the cover when I pass with the wheel barrow. But he is definitely afraid of the landscape crew next door with their leaf blowers. He really took off and hid when they showed up.

But then he was back. This time at the pond for a quick drink. Right on the patio.

I haven't seen one of these in 20 years. I hope he stays around. And I hope Cocoa doesn't catch him.

Caught Red Handed

Wow. What a year it has been at the feeders. I changed the feeders around a little bit during the fall. First, I purchased a "squirrel proof" sunflower seed feeder. This has 6 feeding ports and holds a ton of seed. I also added a niger sock thanks to Lori and Tara's input. I also changed to hulled seeds so that there is no mess to clean up. I use the Patio Mix from the Wild Bird Center on the ground and the hulled sunflower seeds in the tube feeder.

Well, the results have been really good. We have Goldfinches by the dozen at the sunflower and niger feeders. We also have 20+ Pine Siskins as well which we have never seen at our feeders before this year. We continue to have the usual suspects including:

Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Chickadees, Titmice, Juncos, Song Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows, House Sparrows (but only 2), House Finches, Cardinals, Blue Jays (occassionally), Mourning Doves (although we had 2 killed by hawks this year), Carolina Wrens, and Robins (in the yard, not at the feeders).

Last week, the suet feeder was on the ground behind the garage. I thought that a squirrel got it. The other morning, I found the sunflower feeder on the ground, open and empty. Hmmmm.

Last night, I left Cocoa out to pee and saw the whole tree that holds the feeders shaking. I looked up to see the racoon holding onto the sunflower feeder. The little sucker wouldn't let go even with me yelling at him! So there I was at 10:30 PM on the ladder taking all of the feeders into the garage. Little sucker.

FINALLY - Snowy Owl!

Well, it finally happened. The temperature was supposed to be in the upper 60's and maybe hit 70. Not exactly Snowy Owl weather. We had this trip planned for weeks to Cape May for ducks and other sea birds. 5 of us set out in the comfort of the Excursion at 7:00 AM. We started at Turkey Point and helped an older couple identify the Harriers scanning the marshes. Then an explosion of Snow Geese took off which proved to be the harassment of 2 Bald Eagles. The Eagles landed in the mele, so we assume they caught one.

We left there and made it to the Concrete Ship where we got really great looks at Red Throated Loons a few feet off of the beach. Thousands of Black Scoters were cruising into the Bay, but too far offshore in the haze to get really good looks. We also saw 4 Northern Gannets - always a treat. At the Lighthouse, we saw other ducks on the ponds including Widgeons, Gadwalls, Scaup (Greater?) Ruddy Duck, Ring Necks, Swans and Coots. They are working on the beach, but we went out anyway in front of St. Mary's convent house and saw Purple Sandpipers, Ruddy Turnstones and one Oystercatcher on the jetties.

We toyed with the idea of the "poor man's pelagic" trip on the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, but opted to drive to Stone Harbor after lunch instead to try for the Snowy Owl. It was reported on the blogs on Thursday, so I thought we had a chance.

Stopped at Nummy Island for Brant (Lori identified right away), Bufflehead, Red Breasted Merganser.

Success! We went out to the new platform at Stone Harbor Point. I scanned each dune and viola. The owl was sitting on top of a dune as plain as day. Just sitting there. Awesome. Dogs and people on the beach and everything. It just sat there.

We pressed our luck and went to Avalon Seawatch in search of Harlequins - no luck there but we did get Long Tail Ducks, Common Loons and closer Black Scoters.

The Owl photo is really hazy, but you can make out the owl shape dead center. Enjoy.

Red Throated Loon:

Common Loon:

Long Tail Ducks:

Diane's first post - New species identified at Tinicum

This is my first post to this blog and I'll do you all a favor and keep it short. This is a quick report on an outing with Linda, Connie, Lori, Tara, Barbara and me (and Sam and Cocoa) on this chilly, windy first of March. Suffice it say that we saw some good stuff this morning whilst at John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, including - yes, I'll be the first to report, a bald eagle (immature).

The real find this morning was of a new species entirely. It was that of the "nutjob", or in the derivative looney-tus birdnerdus. We see this species mostly in winter. There were several different varieties and I have posted photos of all of them here. These are life-listers, for sure:

Grey-hooded Nutjob
(aka Nerdganser)

Rough-legged Nutjob
Red-hooded Nutjob

Lesser-striped Nutjob
Belted Nutjob

Buff-legged Nutjob

Linda will likely post more about our outing today, as we did see some good ducks.

The Bird Expert

Yes, that's me - the "expert". All you have to do is tell people that you are a birdwatcher, and you become the expert. I am by no means an expert birder. I cannot identify the one Western Sandpiper in the flock of thousands of Least Sandpipers like some people can. I cannot identify the migrating songbirds flying overhead at the Higbee Beach platform. I cannot even identify most of the hawks flying past Hawk Mountain unless they are really close or the professional counters shout out the name. I'm getting better at bird songs, but still get fooled by Titmice.

Even though I know that I'm not an expert, non-birders continue to rely on me to identify all kinds of sightings, and answer all kinds of bird behavior questions. As referenced by my last post - my mother sent a photo of a hawk in her backyard asking me to identify it. Coworkers ask me to identify birds based solely on their terrible descriptions of "the finch that is making a nest in my hanging plant" - turned out to be a House Wren. On and on . . .

Last week was the best yet. Kristyna - the young captain of my ice hockey team - couldn't wait to ask me about a bird that had become trapped in her fiance's apartment. She told me that it was the fourth bird in a week to get into the house (don't ask about # 2 and # 3 - they are no longer with us). They did manage to get a couple of photos of #4 before they got it out of the house though. Neither Kristyna or Brian could figure out what kind of sparrow this was. Check it out:




American Kestral - a Falcon! Inside the rowhouse in Mayfair. How in the world did it get into the house, nobody knows. But at least it's outside now. Thanks to Brian for having the wherewithall to take a few photos, or I would never have been able to render my expert identification.

Down at the Boathouses

Barbara and I went down to the Boathouses yesterday and saw plenty of Bufflehead. We counted 12, but they dive under so often that it's hard to get a good count! The males are all starting to bob and weave around each other angling for the gals. It should be quite interesting as the weather starts getting warmer. At least the ice is gone from the river now.

We also got really close views of one male Hooded Merganser. He was mixed in with the Mallards right at the edge of the river. WOW. Stunning plumage.


Still no Crossbills though.

Mom - Your Famous!

I write these posts and assume that they go off into cyberspace somewhere never to be read. Then, I mention someone by name and they get all "oh, I made the blog" and "hey, I saw you mentioned me in the blog". So it was with Barbara last week when I hated her for seeing the Bald Eagle. So it was with Lori when I hated her online too. So it will be with my mother when she gets a shout out today for spending 86 cents to send me - not one, but two separate letters with bird related things inside.

So, here's to Carolyn way down in the Villages Florida for sending me a great photo (shot with her point-and-shoot) of a Cooper's Hawk sitting on the light post in back of her house. She sent the photo along with a note that read - "What the hell kind of hawk is this?" followed by a few other cryptic lines of text about Dick and Loretta's son wanting to marry my grandmother (that's for another blog).

The other envelope contained a newspaper clipping about Snowy Owls erupting south this winter. My own mother is rubbing it in that I have still not seen a Snowy Owl even though the article states that the owls have been seen as far south as Tennessee. Thanks Mom.

I'm so sick of everyone

I had to be in work early on Friday, so I took Cocoa down to Lemon Hill earlier than normal. We went over to the Boathouses and along the Schuylkill River Trail behind the Waterworks and the Art Museum for a change of scenery. We saw some geese and lots of joggers.

My workday was very stressful and full of back to back meetings so I never got to my email until late morning. There was an email from Barbara saying that she missed me at the dog park this morning so she decided to take Sam over to the Waterworks to look for ducks but all she saw was a BALD EAGLE. A Bald F-ing Eagle flying down the Schuylkill River past the Art Museum. Bald Eagle. In Philly. Not just down by the Navy Yard where nobody sees them or cares, but smack in the middle of the busy Schuylkill Expressway where it turns into Vine Street Expressway, where everyone jogs Philly. I replied to her email stating that she sucks.

Today, we invited Lori and Tara over for dinner. Lori says "did you get my email?". I didn't get her email today because Connie had me working my butt off all day cleaning the camper (in 20 degree weather) and fixing the washing machine. Well, Lori had 4 Pine Siskin at her niger feeder today. Pine Siskin. Connie doesn't know what they look like because we've never seen one. Lori sucks too. She had photos and everything.

So, to recap: I spent Friday morning stressing out at work while Barbara watched a Bald Eagle and I spent Sunday morning cleaning mouse poop out of a trailer in 20 degree weather while Lori watched Pine Siskin from the comfort of her den. Hmmmm. I really hate everyone right now.

Jealous, jealous, jealous.

Backyard Birding

Linda asked me to post our backyard bird count from this weekend. Nothing unusual, but a high volume. Last year I signed up with Project Feeder Watch with Cornell Labs, and basically we count birds at the feeders for 2 consecutive days every week. So every weekend, myself and Alfie, (our orange tabby) count birds. Tara gets involved if I need confirmation on a bird, or if I want to show her how cute a song sparrow is. The count is based on how many of a type of bird I can see at one time.

juncos 20
white throated sparrow 7
house sparrow 5
cardinal 10
blue jay 4
mourning dove 8
downy woodpecker 2
starling 10
mockingbird 1
hawk, maybe cooper 1
goldfinch 8
cowbird 1
chickadee 1
hairy woodpecker 1
white breasted nuthatch 1
titmouse 2
house finch 3
carolina wren 1
red belly woodpecker 1
song sparrow 1
robin 1
21 different birds. Usually we see the Flicker, but he was a no show this weekend. And I don't count the blue heron who always flies over the house. Haven't seen any red breasted nuthatches or chipping sparrows this year, has anyone else? Used to see both a lot last year.

Jill's Big Mistake

"Who's on the phone?" "It's Jill - asking for another f#$&-ing favor". This time it's to help her pick up a sofa from her friends' Judy and Kate in New Brunswick. That is my fate when I have a strong back and a GMC Suburban. I get to help Jill and everyone else move things ;-)

Well, she made a huge mistake this time. She knows that Connie and I are huge birders. She should know not to mix birder friends with other birder friends unless she wants to be out of the picture. But that's just what she did when she brought me together with Kate and Judy.

We spent a few minutes talking about the new dog Eddie (really cute, his eyes just melt you) and looking at the house (gorgeous - needs a blog of it's own). Within 15 minutes I was showing them my new BirdPod that Connie got me for Christmas and talking about local hotspots.

We had a lovely brunch in Highland Park. The next thing Jill knows, we are driving to Johnson Park down by Raritan River looking for gulls and ducks. A few minutes later, she's sitting in the back of the SUV in the middle of the road while Kate and I are looking at Common Goldeneyes and all three Mergansers! Smart-aleck sat and took cell phone photos of us and sent them to Bonzi for a laugh, but her fate was sealed. . .

Back at the townhouse, the three birders were already talking about where we should go birding together - Monmouth county? Cape May? Potter? Jill was sitting in the lounge chair watching TV. Oh, and now I have my new friends' contact information so I don't need to do Jill any more favors for a while!

Friday, Dec. 26th, 2008

Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge

Tara and I went on our merry way the day after Christmas, sans Linda, to look at some big headed ducks. We knew since we were, sans Linda, we probably wouldn't be able to identify much, and we were right.

We did see the following: Pintail ducks, Northern Shoveler, Red breasted Merganser, Hooded Merganser, Black crowned night heron, juvenile, Northern Harrier, American Black Duck.

On the backside of wildlife drive, Tara spotted a huge bird way up at the tippy top of a large tree. She said, "is that a duck up there in that tree?" I guess since we just spent an hour looking at all kinds of ducks, that would be a normal assumption on her part. (never mind about those little webbed toes, not being able to grip a tree branch, who has time to process that kind of info.) It was not an enormous duck, however, but a red-tailed hawk. A common mistake I'm sure. Now you know every time we see a hawk, it will be a tree duck.

View from the Kitchen Window

This post comes to you from my kitchen. We haven't been birding for a while due to my Dad being pretty ill and in the ICU at Holy Redeemer Hospital and the really cold, rainy weather that we've had in December. For example, I went outside this morning to fill the feeders and needed ice skates! There is a layer of ice covering everything and it's still raining. Yuck.

I'm sitting here with a cup of tea, making my Christmas shopping list for the day and thought that I would post what I'm seeing at the feeder:

Goldfinches - fighting for position on the tube feeder
House Finches - same
Juncos - lots of them today on the ground with
Mourning Doves - 14
Carolina Wren - still singing even in this weather and eating peanuts
Downy Woodpecker - back and forth from the suet to the sunflower seeds
White-throated Sparrows, Chickadees, Titmice, Cardinals and White-breasted Nuthatches
Oh, and squirrels - lots of them

Pretty good for a backyard.

Feeder Bird

Linda had a slow blog weekend so she told me to post this picture of our hawk, who sits in our backyard and eats all our pretty little birds. He sat there for about an hour, hanging with his home boys, the blue jays. He didn't bother them and they didn't bother him.
I'm the novice of the group so I don't know if this is a sharp-shinned or cooper's, which is why I use terms like "big-headed ducks" and "seagulls."
He is simply, Our Hawk.
Lori

Center City Events

I use the same parking garage everyday. It's at Girard Square. The garage is interesting to say the least. You enter through an alley where you drive past appliance movers and unconsciously hum Dire Straits' "we got to mooove these refri-gerators, we got to move these color TVvvvvvs", past dumpsters and up a steep winding ramp to get to the parking levels. Levels 3 and 4 are reserved for monthly passes (which I have but somehow I never got an assigned parking spot). Level 5 is the roof, where I park everyday. There is no Level 2 for some reason. The elevators are the smallest elevators ever and only hold 4 people or 800 pounds - yeah right. Did I write elevators? With an "s"? Yes, there are two, but only one works. You can imagine how long we wait. And you can also imagine that we cram more than 4 people and Cocoa (my dog) into the elevator when it arrives.

Yesterday, I parked around 12:30, took the elevator down to the street and noticed a little bird hopping around near the dumpsters. I immediately knew that it wasn't a sparrow. It was a junco. What's a junco doing in Center City? Then I noticed that it's wing was twisted and it couldn't fly. It was hopping around quite well and I knew that I would never be able to catch it out in the open like that. Plus, there was a homeless man projectile vomiting about 20 feet away from it. (I swear, I'm not smart enough to make this stuff up). So I mumbled "circle of life, circle of life" and headed to the office.

I thought about the bird once or twice but it went out of my mind at the office because there was a bigger story being told. Ebony does our scheduling. Her boyfriend works for the Center City District doing street cleaning and is assigned to our area. He called Ebony in the morning to tell her that he just witnessed a man jump from Loews Hotel. What a tragedy. He jumped from the 33rd floor. His body laid on the sidewalk for 2 hours while people gawked at him under the sheet. What a shame. Poor man. Poor Justin. I feel bad that he had to witness that.

I left the office early so that I could get home, pick up Sammy and drop him off at Di's before hockey practice. Up the elevator, into the truck, down , down, down the winding ramp. What's that hopping around the ramp? Yep. It was the junco. Now I had to do something. I parked the truck in the alley, got the construction bucket (that I found at Sandy Hook on Friday) and a raincoat out of the back and proceeded back up the ramp on foot to catch the bird. Cars were trying to get up the ramp. People were staring at the nutjob with the bucket. Oh yes, I know what I look like. N-V-T-S: Nuts!

I finally cornered the bird in the elevator lobby (see how the story comes back around to elevators?) and got it into the bucket. I phoned Connie to let her know what was going on and brought the bird home. At home, we decided to put the bird in the shower stall overnight. I put some sticks for a perch, shredded newspaper (I don't know why but it seemed like a good thing to do), seed and a saucer of water. We left the light on for awhile so that the bird could see the food. I sprinted out the door for hockey practice.

The bird was fine overnight. He ate some seed for sure. Around 1:00 I got him into a box by chasing it around the shower with a net that I use to clean the pond (another AFV moment lost) and took the bird to the Shuylkill Center Wildlife Rehab Clinic where he will be evaluated and fixed if possible. Don't ask what happens if they can't fix him. . . I gave them $50.

Here is a photo of the bird in the shower. Wish him luck.



Well, I thought that I would share this with you because it does have to do with birds. And this is a bird blog.

Seeking White on Black Friday

It is now clear to me that I will never see a Snowy Owl. Until recently, I assumed that Snowy Owls were only found waaaaay up north in the Arctic and that it would be a reeeeaaallly long trip and we would neeevvveeer spend that kind of money to see an owl. Then came the Internet. Postings, reports and photos abound on the Internet about Snowy Owls in New Jersey, New York, and even Delaware. In the past, I would see the posting long after the Owl had left the area and be mad that I didn't check the web sooner. Last year, Connie and I read that there was one at Forsythe so we drove down to see it but didn't see anything. And this week, I tracked the Internet postings of a Snowy Owl at Liberty State Park. It was seen as recently as Wednesday. I figured that the omission of Thursday was due to Thanksgiving.

As of Thursday night, I couldn't decide whether to risk another let down or go chasing the bird. I didn't decide to actually go until 6:30 AM. Maybe that was too late. I got the Google directions, the "gear" and the dogs (yes, I still have Sammy) and headed up the NJ Turnpike to Liberty State Park. I arrived at 8:30 and found no other birders. No scopes of other birders pointed out at the wharf. Nothing but fisherman launching their boats in search of Striped Bass.

I did see the Statue of Liberty from the ferry dock. And, I did find a park ranger. I asked him if he knew anything about where the Snowy Owl was. "What?" "Snowy Owl, you know hoot-hoot." Yes, I said "hoot-hoot". He said that he hadn't heard any hooting. OK. I headed back to the boat launch. I barely parked the car when the ranger pulled up beside me. "There used to be a white owl. Is that what your looking for?" Let's see. . . Snowy Owl, white owl . . . He went on to tell me that he got real close to one - 3 years ago. Thanks for nothing. ( I think it was sweet that he tracked me down to help but the sarcasm sounds better in a blog)

I took the opportunity to explore the north Jersey area and decided to check out Sandy Hook. Another thing that I learned about on the Internet. I have been reading the Rare Bird Alerts for years and read alot about Sandy Hook. Now, thanks to eBird's rare sighting connection to birdcapemay.org, it's even easier to find birds in any state that are deemed "rare" either because they shouldn't be there at all, or not at this time of year. That's how I found the Snowy Owl this time. That's how I knew that it was at Liberty State Park near the boat launch. Lapland Longspurs were reported at Sandy Hook. That's why I decided to check it out today since I was already in north Jersey.

Sandy Hook must get mobbed in summer, but it was pretty empty today. I met another birder, Ken who helped me get the lay of the land out at the end of the hook. Ken grew up around Sandy Hook but lives in New Hampshire now. He was searching for an Orange Crowned Warbler in the brush. I took the dogs and headed for the beach. Ken told me that I had a good chance at Snow Buntings, Horned Larks and the Longspurs. I did see a pretty good swirling flock of little birds. They came pretty close and I could tell be the black and white wing patterns on some of the birds that they were definitely Snow Buntings. That was worth the drive. I also saw plenty of Yellow Rumped Warblers and Horned Larks. Seems like I can't get enough Horned Larks this year.

I stopped at another beach parking lot on the way out and got good looks at Surf Scoters close to shore in the rough surf. One adult male with his big white and orange schnoz and white patch behind the head, and about 8 immature male and females. It was too windy for the camera, so no photos today.

It was alot of driving, but I got gas for $1.69/gallon. I cannot remember the last time that happened.

Oh, did I mention that I ended up down the Parkway at Forsythe again? Third time.

Forsythe - Take Two

The weather was much better today but the company was much worse. It was only me, my dog Cocoa, and Di and Barbara's dog Sammy. Neither one of my companions are any good with spotting or identifying peeps or ducks. They never call out an Eagle or Harrier. They just sit in the back and pant. And Sammy can't sit still. And I have to walk them and pick up their poop. Enough about that.

My sister and Barbara decided to cruise the "Eastern Caribbean" - hence Sammy's company today. They better send photos and lists of the birds that they see from the ship or don't bother coming back. Lori decided that she needed a new lamppost and today was the day to do it. And poor Connie was sick. So I took the dogs and went back to Forsythe in search of big head ducks.

I got 2 big head ducks - Hooded Merganser and Bufflehead. Here is the best photo that I got of the Mergansers. The Bufflehead were too far away for any chance of a photo.



I also got a pretty good shot of a sleeping Ruddy Duck.

The Peregrine Falcon was sitting out on the platform today. I also saw one sitting on an Osprey platform close to the road eating some scraps of something.

Another wonderful sighting today - Laura and Stu (and his little dog too). I was quite surprised to see them today and it was fun talking through the car windows. I hope you guys saw the Widgeon. Stu had reports of Snow Buntings near the end of the wildlife drive. We didn't find any.

I wanted to check out some of the other roads to the bay today so I drove out to the end of Great Bay Blvd. It was kind of a bust. It's kind of a long road to the edge of the bay but you can't really see the bay from the end of the road and there were a lot of fishing boats screaming around so I imagine that there aren't any ducks anyway. Oh well.

2 Life Birds, 1 Day, Not Even Trying

It's 2:00 on Saturday afternoon. We are patiently waiting for the Penn State game to come on TV at 3:30. They play Michigan State and could clinch a spot in the Rose Bowl if they win today. I have already seen 2 new life birds today. It started at Pennypack Trust this morning with Field Sparrow followed by a Fox Sparrow right at our house under the feeder. Just like that, I had 2 life birds by 9:00 AM without even trying.

I'm pretty sure that I've seen both birds before. I guess I just never wrote them down or entered them into eBird. If you don't have an eBird account, you HAVE TO GET ONE. It's awesome. All of your favorite locations and your lists broken down by county, state, etc without any work.

Connie reminded me that our favorite guy Bruce pointed out a Fox Sparrow at Lake Nockamixon years ago. Connie can't remember to turn the lights off in the kitchen, but she can remember a Fox Sparrow from 10 years ago? You go girl.

Also at the house today and all week long is a Red Tail Hawk. The pair usually stay across the street but at least one has been in our yard 3 times this week. I guess he (or she) is stalking our abundant squirrels.

Go Joe-Pa. And congratulations to Chelsea and Mike on their wedding day today. We wish you all the best and a long, happy life together.

Bird Conservation, etc

So, I'm not about to lecture anyone about anything. Most people who will read this blog already understand the basics of birdwatching: you need birds in order to watch them. Pretty simple. You also know that the universe revolves around me (unless my grandmother is in the room, then it shifts to her). Given that, you will understand that I support any organization that makes my life better. Here is one of them: American Bird Conservancy. ABC is a great organization to join. Their mission is "to conserve native wild birds and their habitat throughout the Americas". This directly affects our ability to watch all of the birds that we enjoy - both resident and migrant. Members receive a great magazine and newsletter.


We watch backyard birds and migrating birds of all sorts because they fascinate us. We need to support groups that support birds whether it be conservation, education, or habitat protection so that we have birds to look at (forget about ecology, food chain, the bird's perspective). I just received an email from American Bird Conservancy telling me about a cool new feature that they have called Bird News Network. Basically, it's a YouTube "channel" that you can tune into to see new videos of bird conservation efforts. Check it out at www.youtube.com/abcbirds I would urge you to join or support any organization that supports bird conservation - ABC being on the top of that list.

ABC also has a program called ACT for Songbirds which targets specific migration or wintering areas that need help or allows you to take action on upcoming legislation through their website. Connie and I both "purchased" an acre on the Osa Penninsula in Costa Rica to support habitat last year. After visiting the Osa this year, we're glad that we did it.

Next post - Connie and me back at the shore looking for big headed ducks. Stay tuned.

Forsythe NWR for Ducks - in the rain

Well, Lori and I were the only ones that could make the trip to Forsythe NWR today but we went in sheer style and comfort in her new 2009 Ford Expedition. Sweeeeeet ride! We set up Connie's spotting scope on a tripod between the bucket seats in the back and had clear views of everything without getting wet.

The scope is a hand-me-down from Connie's dad. It's a Baucsh and Lomb Discoverer 15-60mm scope that he used for hunting. We also have a pair of hand-me-sown Zeiss 15x60 - yes, 15x60 binoculars that we lovingly refer to as "The Big Boys". They are huge. They almost look like a prop from a comedy show or something but they bring those distant ducks into view.

We got pretty lucky with the weather. Not much rain, but ferocious wind coming from the south sent wave spray over the road at times. We came to Forsythe looking for what Lori refers to as "big headed ducks": Mergansers, Bufflehead and the like. We didn't get any big heads today but we did get plenty of Brant, Pintail, Black Ducks, Mallards, Green Wing Teal, Northern Shovelers and cute-as-a-button sleeping Ruddy Ducks. We were also surprised to see hundreds (if not thousands) of Black-bellied Plovers with thousands of Dunlin. We also had 4 Lesser Yellowlegs which were good to identify by size next to the plovers.

Lori found us Meadowlarks in the grass near the Peregrine platform. The yellow chest and black V really stood out in the overcast setting. Great spot by Lori. We also saw dozens of Eastern Bluebirds on the drive out. They are planting alot of trees in the field near the "experimental pool". The bluebirds were sitting on those protective tubes for the young trees.

We decided to go out to Barnegat Lighthouse to see if we could find any sea birds blown in by the storms. Barnegat Light sits at the top of Long Beach Island at Barnegat Inlet. I thought that we might see some scoters or gannets. Nothing like that though. We did see Purple Sandpipers and Ruddy Turnstones on the rocks along the inlet. Purple Sandpiper is a life bird for both of us. We were also surprised to see 6 or so Yellow-rumped Warblers in the bushes behind the lighthouse.

Gulls are really difficult for me to identify. I'm not that advanced in my skills. I also had a hard time differentiating the terns in the inlet. One type had dark on the coverts of the wings, white on the primary and secondaries with a black edge. Another had dark primaries and was pretty big. I marked that one down as a Royal Tern. Then, there was a really small tern which I would normally mark down as a Least Tern but the range maps make it look like they should be gone by now. eBird doesn't have it listed for Barnegat Light in the "Most Probable Species" list either. So, I'm stumped by Gulls and Terns again. . .

Veteran's Day at Bombay Hook and Surrounding Areas

I played hookie on Veteran's Day and took Connie down to Bombay Hook NWR in Delaware. It's been a few years since we were there last. The weather was perfect. Big blue sky, not too cold. We made great time from our house in Abington down to Smyrna exit of Rt 1.

Our first stop was Woodland Beach off of Rt 9. There are a few entrances. We pulled into the southern most entrance and were greeted by an 8 point buck running through the field. We saw some birds in the mud flat there that looked like shorebirds from a distance. They turned out to be Horned Larks! 5 of them scurrying through the mud field. We got great looks.

We got into Bombay Hook just at 8:00 AM. The office was officially closed due to Veteran's Day, but there were a few volunteers that let us in for maps and such. Outside of the office we immediately saw what we came for - thousands of Snow Geese swirling around the beautiful blue sky. Wow!

On the wildlife drive we pulled off to scan the agriculture fields for anything interesting. We found American Pipits right at Tour 2 sign. Life bird for both of us. We have probably driven past Pipits a hundred times and never bothered to look at them before. However, I checked the Delaware RBA before our trip and read that Pipits had been seen. So, thanks to Andy Ednie for continuing to post to Virtual Birder.

Other notable birds seen at Bombay Hook - Green Wing Teal, American Avocet, Pintails, Dunlin, Semi-palmated Plovers, Greater Yellowlegs and 4 Harriers.

We drove south on Rt 9 to explore 2 sites that are regularly mentioned on the Delaware RBA that we have never been to - Port Mahon Rd and Little Creek. Thank goodness for eBird's Google Maps integration. It makes finding these sites so easy. We saw 5 Black Crowned Night Herons at Little Creek. It looks like they are building a serious levee there that will eventually allow you to walk all the way out into the marsh.

Anyway, it was a really nice day and we were home before supper.

Bird Nerd Overview

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: