Finding Purple Martins
While heading to Crane Creek from Presque Isle State Park . . . . Young Naturalist J and I decided to take an alternative route to the thruway. I felt at one point that we were lost but I am glad we continued the adventure because we found this wonderful series of Purple Martin houses (my brakes screeched and I yelled “Purple Martin” (CHECK). Since the business that had these Martin houses were closed . . . we decided to take a few pictures of their birds!!
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more new birds and butterflies
Red Squirrel wondering what birds I am seeing!
I love waking up to my morning alarm clock again and I was extra excited hearing a Woodthrush (CHECK) singing along with my buzzing hummingbirds!! Not bad hearing two great birds before getting out of bed in the morning!! Later in the day I saw my first of the year Indigo Bunting (CHECK) singing up in a tree and didn’t expect in finding the Meadow Fritillary (CHECK), Juvenal Duskywing (CHECK) and American Lady (CHECK) who were also flying roadside! Yeah . . . . to the butterflies!
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New birds from yesterday
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
I almost forgot to let everyone know about my first of the year birds that I saw yesterday!! I put my hummingbird feeder up in the morning and found 3 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (CHECK) buzzing around the feeders by lunch time (actually the two males were fighting over the feeders territory). I then found an American Redstart (CHECK) singing up in the tree while waiting for some fellow employees (actually it got very close to us and wished I had my camera with me). Later in the day I found a Red-eyed Vireo (CHECK) singing in an area that we were working in . . . . well kinda . . . . I think I had them over the weekend but wasn’t 100% sure it was a Red-eyed Vireo until today’s find.
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Birding at Moms House
White-crowned Sparrow
I did a little birding in Allegany State Park this morning and of course it was raining!!! Didn’t see anything unusual but I did capture a picture of a Gray Catbird. It took visiting my mothers bird feeders to add two first of the year birds to my checklist (did I mention it stopped raining by the time I arrived at my parents house?)!! The first bird I saw was a White-crowned Sparrow (CHECK) and the second bird was a Baltimore Oriole (CHECK)!! But didn’t get an opportunity to photograph the Oriole but heard it many times! Below are some of the other birds hanging around her feeder:
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Osprey Dinner
Osprey with trees in the background!
This morning the black flies were unbearable and I didn’t do the birding like I would have wanted to do. Between swatting those black flies and driving around in my vehicle . . . . I saw my first Common Yellowthroat (CHECK) and Gray Catbird (CHECK) for 2008! I know many other great birds are in the area but I just couldn’t take it anymore and had to return to my vehicle.
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Jamestown Audubon Photo Club
The Beaver Pond on France Brook
Today a few members from the Jamestown Audubon Photo Club took a field trip to Allegany State Park for some photographic opportunities!! I took the group to one of my favorite Beaver pond along the France Brook Area and as you can tell the group had a wonderful time with many great pictures.
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Morning Surprise at my Feeder
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
I looked out my window this morning and found this Rose-breasted Grosbeak (CHECK) trying to get seeds from my thistle feeder! “Hey Mr Grosbeak . . . your bill is too large for those little thistle holes!! Just look at how the Goldfinch is able to get the seeds!! They have much smaller bills than you do”! We had a frost last night and birds very busy around the feeders! I couldn’t get the sunflowers into the feeders quick enough!!!
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Saturdays moving birds!
Spring is becoming much more apparent the past few days with the leaves bringing us some green colors on our dull brown hillsides. A thunderstorm pushed through Allegany State Park area in the afternoon and this rain was very much needed after a few weeks with only a few sprinkles. Things are soo dry that my County has posted an open fire ban after many small fires have started across Cattaraugus County. Campers are bummed for not being allowed to burn their firewood but I have been enjoying this weather with many great birds pushing through the area!!
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Morning Kingfisher
Belted Kingfisher
I have not posted anything in the past few days! Had another dinner Thursday night and Friday night I was busy with some personal things!! I am up and going birding . . . . hope to have something more interesting to post about tonight! Just an update on the past few days . . . Yellow-throated Warbler (CHECK) was first heard yesterday and Thursday brought us three White-winged Scoters (CHECK) on Red House Lake with a raft of Buffleheads, Ruddy Ducks, Scaup Species, and a female merganser species (maybe Red-breasted Merganser). Can’t wait to see what I come across today!
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Earth Day Findings
Spring Azure from April 2007
I came across a few new species during Earth Day today! The first find was a Double-crested Cormorant (CHECK) swimming in Red House Lake. It’s funny since I almost always first find them over at Quaker Lake . . . . but not this year! We have been working in the same area the past few days and it was nice finding my first Spring Azure (CHECK) fluttering around once the sun got high enough in the sky (yeah to seeing those azure blues)! Then at lunch I saw my first West Virginia White (CHECK) moving down the trail (with only a quick look)! By the end of the day there were multiple Whites flying around and all my co-workers thought I was nuts looking at those white-moth looking butterflies! Hey . . . how often do you get to look at a species of concern up close?
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Birding around the Lean-to
Dark-eyed Junco
We could only found 17 species of birds around the lean-to during our three days of backpacking on the North County Trail. But, do note that they were great birds to watch as our entertainment while at camp. Dark-eyed Juncos and American Robins were the most visual of all the birds we saw. The Juncos appeared to have nest building near the water spring and was protecting a territory!
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Returned from Backpacking
This weekend Young Naturalist J, his father and I did some backpacking along the North Country Trail here in Allegany State Park. We stayed two nights at this lean-to on the western side of the park and you can tell from the pictures that we had an amazing time.
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Common Flicker
What is this looking out of my box?
While out backpacking . . . . I wanted to continue my post with this woodpecker who I found inspecting my Screech Owl box on Friday!! Of course every year the only thing that uses the box is European Starling (which I always need to evict)!! Maybe this will be the year for the Flicker??
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Blue-headed Vireo’s arrived!
Blue-headed Vireo (photo from Oct 2004)
I was working in the same area today and just after noon heard the call! CHECK . . . first for the year Blue-headed Vireo! I went looking for the Louisiana Waterthrush after work today . . . didn’t see them and maybe they will return tomorrow??
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My Nature Update
Common Loon
There are many great birds moving through the Western New York area right now. Loons seem to be arriving on a daily basis and we had a very large flock of Buffleheads on Red House Lake today. Other new birds into the area today included 10 or so Bonapart’s Gulls and one Field Sparrow (CHECK).
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Feathery Friday
Mourning Doves in the grass!
I woke up with Common Flicker’s (CHECK) out in the yard this morning! Yesterday I had my first Pine Warbler (CHECK) and on Wednesday had my first Winter Wren (CHECK) for 2008!! I didn’t get any pictures of the Warbler and Wren since I was working . . . . but I was still ecstatic for their return into the area. I just love this time of the year because you just never know what you will see next!!
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Lets Go for Bluebirds [Poem]
“Let’s Go for Bluebirds!”
Grandfather would call on a March morning,
snow sparkling in the sun.
Pulling on his wool cap,
He’d lead me down the cow path,
crusts of ice crackling under our boots
“Wait. Let’s look around,” he’d whisper
when we reached the orchard,
searched rows of apple trees,
gray trunks gnarled,
branches craggy
If I heard the singer,
blue-backed, red-breasted thrush,
I waited for Grandfather to point,
trying to keep his voice to a hoarse whisper,
“There he is. On that high branch.”
And what did he always add?
“A piece of sky has landed in the trees!”
Northern Visitors [Video]
Common Redpoll and Pine Siskin
For the past few weeks my northern guest have continued visiting my bird feeders! Three years ago the Pine Siskins actually stuck around all summer and nested in my back yard! Wouldn’t it be neat to have both Pine Siskins and Redpolls spending the summer with me this year??
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Sunny Sunday
Osprey with nesting material!
I enjoyed today’s Sunny Sunday with temperatures reaching above 60°F. I finally opened my windows for the first time and let the kitties get some outside smells. At the entrance of Allegany State Park, I observed the Osprey pair doing some nest building. The male would go down into the grass and bring back a talon full of grass/sticks. I knew it was the male because I also watched them do a little copulation before gathering some of the nesting material!
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Frogs on the Road [Video]
Friday night while the Spotted Salamanders were moving, I also had an opportunity to photograph some frogs that were also crossing the road.
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Famous for a Reason [Guest Post]
A Suet Bandit (Pine Martin)
Guest Post by Marg (aka makeupanid)
Last weekend I traveled to Algonquin Park with a Flickr friend and fellow birder. You would think being a birder that I would have been to Algonquin recently but I haven’t been there in years! I wanted to add Gray Jays and Pine Grosbeaks to my Life List-which is the only reason I was willing to get up at 4 a.m. on a weekend. I get enough of that during the week with my regular job! Algonquin has famous the world over and for a good reason. It is a Nature Lovers paradise. The boreal forest sweeps across it and it is full of birds, mammals and I’m sure reptiles too. But I was there for birds and some mammals-a Pine Marten and Fisher were on our species list. No luck on the Fisher but as you can see we got the Pine Marten-you can read all about him by clicking on the photo. This post is about birds.
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Blue for sky . . . Brown for ground!
Blue for Sky!
No time to play with the new camera today . . . . the mission was to get my hair cut and get some groceries. Mission successful! To complete my mission, I had to travel to Jamestown and happen to find 5 Bonaparte Gulls flying along the Allegheny River (CHECK, first for 2008)! I also had someone new cut my hair because Andrea who typically cuts my hair just had a baby last week. I would like to say thanks to Barbara who did a wonderful job with my cut and small world . . . she’s also a bird watcher!! We talked birds and I passed along my blog address for her to view this site! Anyone notice how expensive eggs and orange juice is now days! Ugg . . .
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Click, click, click. . . !
Belted Kingfisher with the new Nikon D300
I got my new camera (Nikon D300) in the mail today and although it is the same . . . it is also very different from my older camera. The biggest difference is that I can’t edit my raw files with Photoshop CS2!! Grrrrr!!! I haven’t figured the raw editor that is offered from Nikon but from what I have seen online, it isn’t anything like Photoshop (big disappointment). I can’t update the editor plugin because Adobe doesn’t support CS2 anymore!! Uggg!! I am also having the same problems with my 400mm lens as I was having with the D70s!! I had hoped those problems would disappear with a new body (but it didn’t). Probably should have gotten a new lens before a new camera body!! O, well . . . with that said I absolutely LOVE the Nikon D300!!
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 