Happy Christopher Columbus Day
Phoebe lying Around
Holiday’s are for lying around and that is exactly what I did. I took “2” naps today and they were very much needed after being skunked once again last night (with Saw-whet Owls)!! My first bird will arrive one of these days and just maybe it will happen “tonight”?? Although, it is good to know that another fellow Western New Yorker that lives about an hour (North) from here also hasn’t caught anything (well as of this weekend)! (more…)
NYS Ornithological Association Annual Meeting
Peregrine Falcon at Iroquois
This weekend I attended the New York State Ornithological Association Annual Meeting in Batavia, New York. This meeting was hosted by the Buffalo Ornithological Society and I would like to say “thanks” for doing such an astonishing job organizing everything. You guessed it . . . . I had a LIFER this weekend!! (more…)
Just fallen asleep and . . . .
My wonderful hotel stay at 11pm in the evening!
. . . . the Holiday Inn has the fire alarms go off. Hello Mr. Manager . . . . “this is a Birding Conference . . . . we birders wake up extra early in the morning to look for the birds!” Now I am too awake to fall back to sleep, so as you can see I am helping promote the wonderful things you will find when visiting a Holiday Inn around 11pm at night. Please make this your first choice of a hotel to stay at because your safety is our number one priority! Did I mention that it was only a false alarm and couldn’t turn the alarms off till the fire trucks arrive? They sure know how to do wake up calls to the whole building! (more…)
No Owls Yet (ugg)
Foggy Morning at Red House Lake
I am not banding Saw-whet Owls this weekend because I am out of town at the New York Ornithological Association conference. It should be a good birding weekend and will post more once I return (or sooner if I get some time to write/edit during the conference).
Rose-breasted Grosbeak Crazyness
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Today I headed over to a local elementary school and did a mini banding demo for some 2nd and 3rd graders. This was a very fun day with 30+ kids who were excited about birds and I was sooo happy to catch a Rose-breasted Grosbeak for them. This is a hatch year (born this year) Rose-breasted Grosbeak who is in its basic (winter) plumage. The red/yellow on the under wing coverts is the easiest way to determine the sex of the bird. Males have red and females have the yellow on their under wing covert. I just love the berry mess on this birds bill. (more…)
Everything but Saw-whets Last Night
What an evening!
The goal of my Northern Saw-whet Owl project is catching Saw-whets! But, in order to make that happen . . . . you sometimes have a few obstacles to work around. The video above was the Barred Owl who spent a great deal of the evening vocalizing around the nets. Hello Mr. Barred Owl . . . You are not helping me!! Go fly somewhere else!! (more…)
Fall Foliage Report
Red House Lake – Allegany State Park, NY
Isn’t it fun to look back at your blog posting from last year? I had done a Fall Foliage Report where I talked about the leaves just started to change. Ugg, our leaves have been changing for a few weeks now!!
I would have to say that our (un)official report is that the leaves are around 30% changed here in Allegany State Park. I will try to do another report next week sometime.
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 