Nature Haikus – Geese
By Young Naturalist C
Geese
In a v-shaped form
honk, honking into the sky
Long into the night
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birdQUIZ Blog is Back
The most recent birdQUIZ
Some of you might have noticed that Young Naturalist J (aka Birdbander11) has started postings over on birdQUIZ. I figured since he likes doing his bird quizzes on flickr . . . . he should also start posting them on this blog!! I have given him the permission to upload to the blog and he has been doing a wonderful job with the two post that he has done already (see the links below)!! So, let me introduce Birdbander11 (although he will always be Young Naturalist J to me)!! (more…)
People Trying to Help The Birds
Bonaparte’s Gull along Lake Erie
This weekend Young Naturalist J and I heard about some dead Common Loons that were found along Lake Erie (and had to check it out). We made a little detour from some roadside birding to check a public beach to see if the rumors were true. We found 4 dead loons in just one small area of the beach and it was soo sad seeing these guys. I found a press release that was released today discussing the die off of these Common Loons in this area and as we expected, they died due to Type E Botulism!
Good First Day Back at Work
I planned on doing an interesting post this evening but was reminded about a meeting that I need to attend on invasive species! So, no big blog posting and no owl banding!! I promise to catch up with everyone blog here soon!! After taking a weeks vacation, it really wasn’t that hard coming back to work today like I thought it would be!! But, I do miss sleeping in till 10am each morning! 😦
Orange Sulphur from October 2002
I did locate an Orange Sulphur fluttering around this sunny warm afternoon (55F). I also had a Mink run across the road and disappeared along the stream somewhere (but couldn’t get a photo of it). We had some Buffleheads and a Scaup species swimming in Quaker Lake today. Red House Lake had a larger group of Buffleheads, Pied-billed Grebes and Horned Grebes!! As you can tell it was a very good day back at work today! (more…)
My backyard or is it their backyard?
Ever wonder about your neighbors that don’t speak any English? I have tried pishing (strange noise birders make to get the birds to come closer) those chickadees and I found that they only pish right back at me! Yesterday Young Naturalist J and I tried to learn about these seed hungry neighbors by doing some backyard banding. We were able to recapture 7 Black-capped Chickadees and 1 Slate-colored Junco.
Black-capped Chickadee. (more…)
Backyard Banding
Eastern Tufted Titmouse
This morning Young Naturalist J and I decided to do a little banding in my back yard. Our goal was to catch those Pine Siskin and Redpolls that had visited my house last Friday. Although the Redpoll never returned, we “just” missed an opportunity to band one of the Pine Siskins! 😦 (more…)
Trying to Break 80
Snow for Mary
Yesterday evening we had 6 more visitors (people) at the Northern Saw-whet Owl banding station here in Allegany State Park. I was lucky to have Young Naturalist J here to help with banding the 5 owls we captured and he will continue to be around for tonight’s banding (if the weather allows). (more…)
Winter Finch Arrive (Finally)
Pine Siskin and Common Redpoll (Feb 2004)
I woke up and found a Common Redpoll feeding with a flock of American Goldfinch this morning! OMG – that was my first for the year Redpoll (CHECK)! I think it has been since the winter of 2003-04 since I have seen one of these guys and there it was sitting on my birdfeeder! (THINK TOM) I quickly scattered to get my camera and of course it flew away just as I was pulling my camera up to take its picture!! So, after getting my hair cut . . . I spent the day trying to capture a picture of that Redpoll! (more…)
Cat Television
Phoebe watching Cat TV
Being off from work this week has allowed me to spend some valuable time watching Cat TV with my kitties. They needed some bonding time and “they” say I have been ignoring them past few months. I figured I could take this opportunity to watch for winter finches that everyone “else” has been seeing (and not been to my feeders yet). (more…)
Understanding the bird’s wing!
Osprey in flight (from March 2007)
Birds use the ability to fly for finding food, escaping from predators and even migrating to areas that can better support them when there are fewer resources available. Obviously their feathers are not permanent to their body and they need to replace their older (worn) feathers with new (sturdy) feathers. The molting (loosing and growing new feathers) patterns on the wing of the bird can help us banders understand the age of the bird (well sometimes). (more…)
Proper Identification
What is wonderful about watching birds is that you can enjoy them anywhere you go in the world and you can also enjoy them in multiple ways! I have some friends who are just backyard birders and they just want to be sociable with others. Then I have those friends who are “listers” and will travel multiple miles just to see one species of bird that accidentally shown up in their state. Most birders fit somewhere between those two extremes and of course I am not sure where I fit!! I spent multiple months studying them via the Ornithological side (which is more the job side of birding) but I do enjoy the sociable and recreational side of birding (which is the fun side of birding). It seems like the Ornithological side always gets in the way when I am just trying to enjoy the bird around me. This is exactly what happened to me today!
Eagle photo from my spotting scope!.
Don’t Forget to Turns Your Clocks Back!
Photo by Young Naturalist J.
We had another busy night at the Northern Saw-whet Owl banding station here in Allegany State Park. We had a fellow birdbander and 3 others from the Allegheny National Forest visit us this evening. They were able to see 2 of our Saw-whet Owls being banded and then be released (before heading home). We also had Sarah from Jamestown Audubon visit for most of the evening (and she was able to see 4 of the birds)! I tried to convince her to stay later but she needed to head home. I know that she made the right decision since we did not catch anything again until the wee hours of the night. It has been wonderful with so many visitors visiting the banding station this week. (more…)
Weekend Visitors
Young Naturalist J glad to be banding again!!
We had more visitors at the Northern Saw-whet Owl banding station this evening than owls! I need to high-five Grace 🙂 for helping locate our 70th bird of the season (in the mist net) and then allowing me to barrow a book that I need to read. Mike and Terry decided to head home early after banding our first 2 fluff balls (thanks for visiting). Grace left only minutes before we captured our 3rd bird and then recaptured the 2nd bird again (The owl must be net happy). (more…)
Little Visitors
Kids smiling for moms picture!
I had some smiling little visitors at the Northern Saw-whet Owl banding station tonight. I expected a “big” night with North-West winds but was only able to banded 3 different individual owls. Not sure why the other evening I captured 4 individuals with southern winds?? I assume science will just keep us guessing with unexpected answers! At least our future birders were happy and of course they didn’t want to head home!! Dad promised they could come back again before the end of the season. (more…)
Owls and other kinds of Owls!
Barred Owl
Another busy Owl night this evening!! Obviously looking at the photos . . . . I captured my first Barred Owl for the season!! Yes, I did get taloned on the finger by this bird but nothing too bad! 😦 (more…)
15 minute drive and . . . .
Ruffed Grouse (from 7 January 2007 )
I made a quick trip over to Quaker to do a few “work” related things and you would never guess how many critters that I encountered!! I first came across something that looked like a duck in the middle of the road. Quickly remembering that grebe rescue from last winter . . . . I soon realized that it was just a bold Ruffed Grouse. It had put its crest up, turned its head looking at me from one side to another! By the time I pulled my point-and-shoot camera out, got the camera started, zoomed in and began framing . . . . the grouse flew away! I continued down the road sad that I didn’t get the picture but still happy to have seen it . . . . (more…)
Daisy and Owls
Ox-eye Daisy
and this isn’t climate change? This evening I almost stepped on this Daisy while checking my nets for Saw-whet Owls! Sure put a smile on my face once I found it . . . . I figured why not blog it and make everyone else smile! (so use your 🙂 smile face in the comments) (more…)
Breaking 50
Moon photo from 1999
The bright moon makes it hard to catch owls because they are able to see the mist-nets. Lucky we did have a few clouds when we first opened this evening but ended up where I could check nets without needing my headlamp. Yeck! To my surprise . . . . I still happen to capture 4 Northern Saw-whet Owls tonight and my 4th bird was my 50th capture for the season!! YEAH!! Did I mention the perfect northern winds that we had?? I was pleased to have a few leaves left on the trees that created some shadows but I would have been bombarded with birds if this had been a new moon! grrr. . . . I decided to closed everything up at 11pm because the moon was directly over my nets and plan to try to catch up with some sleep!! I also figured 50 owls for the season was a great way to end my night! (more…)
Saw-whets . . . . did you expect anything else?
Foreign Recaptured Saw-whet!
Last night I caught another 3 more Northern Saw-whet Owls. These three were not your average captures and defiantly kept me on my feet while banding them. The first bird was a foreign recapture (banded by someone else) that was originally banded in Pennsylvania last November (2006). I can’t wait to hear more from the Bird Banding Lab about whom and where this bird was first found. (more…)
Banders Meeting
Junkin’s Warbler Painting
Today I joined some fellow bird banders to discuss what projects we have been participating in over the past year. This Banders Meeting was hosted by David Junkin, who you might remember as the individual who discovered the Junkin’s Warbler. It was great hearing directly from him about how he found what he called this “freak bird” and the following steps on how the world also discovered this bird. I was so pleased to have an opportunity to see the original Junkin’s Warbler Painting that was done for the publication “Living Bird”. (more…)
Few Songbirds Still Around
Blue-headed Vireo
I have been seeing many songbirds flying around the area this past week! Some are those to be expected like the White-throated Sparrows and White-crowned Sparrows. I have heard a few Swamp Sparrows and Song Sparrows singing in a few locations near Beaver Ponds. The Dark-eyed Junco’s seem to be scattered just about everywhere. (more…)
More Visitors
This evening some staff and volunteers from Jamestown Audubon joined me to band some Northern Saw-whet Owls. First few net checks we had come up empty and just before they were about to leave we heard what I believed to be a Saw-whets vocalizing around the net! Of course I kept them past their bed time and they waited to see if we would end up catching an owl with our next check. (more…)
What an Owl Smells Like
Old picture of me teaching kids some bad habits
If you regularly follow this blog . . . . then you would know that I have an obsession with smelling the heads of woodpeckers. The woodpeckers head have a pine-musty odor to them but for some reason the smell is very pleasurable to me (ya, I am nuts – I know already)!! This evening while studying the migration of the Northern Saw-whet Owls . . . . I had a quick whiff of that odor! Bet you can’t guess what I did next?? (more…)
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