Immature Turkey Vulture
Immature Turkey Vulture
By: Pat Coate
Vultures certainly don’t fall into the glamour bird category. Their little bald heads and hooked bills have helped them evolve into nature’s perfect clean-up crew. And though we may not like to think much about them or their jobs, in areas of the world where their numbers have significantly declined the services that they provide are now being done by rats and feral dogs. The increasing numbers of these replacement scavengers has led to increases in human rabies deaths.
The Ubiquitous Song Sparrow
Song Sparrow
By: Pat Coate
The number of song sparrows reported in the area is increasing as the southward migration picks up and the days are starting to grow noticeably shorter. The song sparrow is a common bird throughout the United States, though there are some color and size variations by region. The photos shown here depict the eastern form and were taken this past April.
Young Ones Part 2
Adult Grackle feeding its youngster (early summer)
By: Pat Coate
We are continuing to get lots of families and first year birds visiting or passing through our backyard. The more typical visitors have been purple and house finches, rose-breasted grosbeak, cardinals, starlings, grackles, mourning doves, and ruby-throated hummingbirds. The most exciting visitors were ravens – we’ve had loud begging young crows before but the ravens were a first.
White-throated Sparrows
White-throated Sparrow
By: Pat Coate
The white-throated sparrow is a handsome bird that I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with. They tend to be on the early side of migration, so I love the re-awakening of the garden and the milder weather that I have come to associate with them. Each spring they make brief appearances scratching at the dirt and leaf cover in our strawberry patch to unearth sunflower seeds other birds have carelessly tossed to the ground from the feeder above.
Young Ones
Goslings
By: Pat Coate
Been seeing lots of new families coming to our backyard feeder which reminded me that I had a few pictures of newborns/fledglings from earlier this spring to post.
These Canada geese had at least 14 in their brood, usually I see 6-8. Per various sources the average brood size seems to be 4-7.
“Moosing” in Algonquin Provincial Park (Ontario)
Moose (adult female)
By: Pat Coate
Found a great new place in Algonquin Park to get my annual “moose fix” – this time by canoe. My husband and I took a two-day canoe trip to Hailstorm Creek, located on the western side of the North Arm of Opeongo Lake in the park. We did the 6-7 mile paddle from access point #11 (there are shuttles to the creek’s mouth available through various outfitters) the first day, then camped at a beautiful point near the creek. The next day we got an early start and headed up the river – didn’t go far when we got our first glimpse of this beautiful moose (I don’t think that is an oxymoron, though they can be gangly looking).
Hiking the Northville-Placid Trail in the Adirondacks – Days 3 & 4
Cedar Lake view
By: Pat Coate
On Day 3 we headed into the West Canada Lakes region, one of the most remote parts of the trail. Despite more climbing and a rougher trail with LOTS of blow-downs to circumvent, it was incredibly scenic and my favorite part of the trail so far.
Hiking the Northville-Placid Trail in the Adirondacks – Days 1 & 2
Silver Lake
By: Pat Coate
My friend Joyce and I decided to take on the 120-mile Northville-Placid (N-P) Trail that runs through the heart of the Adirondacks. We had done a trial backpacking trip a couple weeks ago on the West Rim Trail along Pennsylvania’s “Grand Canyon” to try out our gear and our legs. Making it through that hurdle, we semi-confidently set off last Friday from the Upper Benson trailhead, the N-P trail’s southern terminus (I don’t count the 10 mile road walk into downtown Northville).
Pine Creek Rail Trail – through the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania
Looking down on the PA Grand Canyon and Pine Creek Rail Trail from the West Rim Trail in Colton Point State Park
By: Pat Coate
Just back from a biking/camping trip with my husband on the Pine Creek Rail Trail in North Central Pennsylvania. The Pine Creek trail is an old rail trail that starts in Wellsboro, PA and runs about 60 miles to Jersey Shore, PA. We rode about 30 miles of the trail, from Darling Run to Black Walnut Bottom, camped at Black Walnut Bottom, and then biked back the next day. This part of the trail passes through Leonard Harrison and Colton Point state parks, aka “The Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.”
Herons, Egrets, Ibises and Interesting Behavior
Great Egret
By: Pat Coate
Spent the weekend with my sisters in Chincoteague, Virginia visiting the National Wildlife Refuge. Fantastic time with lots of birding (sorry Kathy). There were tons of herons (green, great blue, little blue, tricolored), egrets (snowy, great), ibises (glossy, white) and we saw some interesting behavior among them, described at the end of this post.
More from Muskoka
Moose (female)
By: Pat Coate
Besides the very entertaining sandhill cranes, there were other nice wildlife sightings on a recent trip to the Muskoka Lakes area of Ontario. I really enjoy seeing the moose in this area and was happy to find a mom with her calf at the back of this bog. They were kind of far for photos but I had fun watching them via binoculars.
Peacocks (or more properly, Peafowl)
Close-up (male)
By: Pat Coate
While visiting my daughter we, along with a zillion school children, enjoyed an afternoon at the Milwaukee Zoo. The free-ranging peafowl (males are peacocks and females peahens) were a source of beauty and amusement throughout the park.
Prothonotary Warblers
Prothonotary Warbler (male)
By: Pat Coate
Made a short stop at Magee Marsh on the way to Milwaukee last weekend and, though it was past peak, I saw about eight warbler species including a nesting pair of prothonotary warblers.
Dancing Sandhill Cranes
Bow to your partner..
By: Pat Coate
I had the wonderful experience of watching two sandhill cranes “dancing” earlier this month. I saw them in a field in Ontario and they couldn’t have cared less that I was there. The dance was so much fun to see – full of bowing, leaping, running.
Peek-a-boo and Warblers 2
Northern Parula
By: Pat Coate
Happily a recent trip to Allegany State Park yielded a warbler that I don’t often see – a Northern Parula. It, along with several other birds, seemed to be playing peek-a-boo with me while working its way through this beautiful flowering tree. Some field marks for the Northern Parula visible to varying degrees in the photo include white crescents around the eyes, white wing bars (2), yellow neck and chest with a reddish bar across the chest, and grey-blue head and wings.
Spring Warblers
Prairie Warbler
By: Pat Coate
Great time of year for birding. Lots of warblers are moving through the area. Nine species so far, hoping to add some more this week.
Tree Swallows
Tree Swallow
By: Pat Coate
Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s AllAboutBirds.com gives a good description of tree swallows and their typical behavior, which I have observed often:
“Handsome aerialists with deep-blue iridescent backs and clean white fronts, Tree Swallows are a familiar sight in summer fields and wetlands across northern North America. They chase after flying insects with acrobatic twists and turns, their steely blue-green feathers flashing in the sunlight.”
But recently I watched about twenty tree swallows repeatedly fly along a small stream and seemingly dip down to the water. I figured they were feeding on insects, but this next photo made me wonder if they might instead be getting a drink.
Osprey Back and Building (again)
Osprey
By: Pat Coate
There are now two ospreys hanging out together on the nesting platforms at the Birch Run DEC ponds. I presume one is male and the other female. However, I did not see the “dark necklace” that usually identifies the female on either bird. They have been busy adding new sticks to the nest.
Waterfowl 1 – Northern Shovelers
Male Northern Shoveler
By: Pat Coate
This has been a very good spring for waterfowl. There has been good quality and quantity locally as well as in birding spots near Buffalo and Rochester. The pictures shown here were taken at Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge and Montezuma Wildlife Refuge.
The Northern Shoveler is easy to identify due to its large, spoon-shaped bill. Its bill has over 100 small, comb-like structures that are used as a sieve to filter small invertebrates from the water. Marshes are its preferred habitat.
Elk of the Pennsylvania Wilds – Part 2
Pennsylvania Elk
By: Pat Coate
Here are a few more pictures taken in the Benezette area of the Pennsylvania Wilds, which is considered the heart of Pennsylvania’s elk country. Between a trip in mid-March and one this past weekend I ran into two herds totaling over 50 elk. One herd seemed very acclimated to people as the elk were grazing right on the lawns in the village, while the other herd was south of town in a more “wild” setting.
Eastern Phoebe
You know its spring when you have 68F degree temperatures and your nesting Eastern Phoebe returns to your barn!!!
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Mallards
Mallard (male)
By: Pat Coate
Based on how common mallards are, I think birders (me included) take them a bit for granted. But they are really quite beautiful birds, the male in particular displaying an impressive palette of colors.
Field marks for the male include:
• Shiny green head
• Bright yellow bill with black mark on tip
• Brown breast
• White ring around neck
• Silver on sides
• Blue speculum patch on wing (not always visible)
• Black and white in rear with a black tail curl
• Bright orange feet
All these field marks can be seen in the above or following pictures.
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