My Yellow Warbler review
I have been banding birds for 18 years and I would like to start a series on my recapture birds that I have encountered during my banding carrier. The first bird that I would like to share is the Yellow Warbler.
Bufflehead on Red House Lake
Had some Buffleheads out on Red House Lake today here in Allegany State Park. It is great seeing these cute little duckies visiting the park!!
The Nature Conservancy
Spotted Salamander
Exciting News: The Nature Conservancy has recently published an article on Critical Linkages: Resolving the Conflict Between Roads and Wildlife. With permission TNC used video footage of the Spotted Salamanders that I have filmed here in Allegany State Park. They also used the above photo in the cover of the Massachusetts Nature Conservancy Newsletter.
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Willet at Red House Lake
Willet
On Monday (May 3rd) during my daily walk around Red House Lake with Mackenzie (dog) . . . we encountered 17 Willets (CHECK- first of the year) hanging out on the beach. This is my first time every seeing Willets within Allegany State Park.
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Snow-Swallows
Flying on Red House Lake (2007)
I observed a few hundred Tree Swallows flying over Red House Lake today with big snowflakes in the air!! Seeing this behavior reminded of the day in 2007 when I found a dozen birds cuddling together to keep warm. These birds just don’t do well in cold temperatures and my heart was broken after finding a few dozen of them dead in the bird boxes. Lucky this weather isn’t proposed to last for as many days as in the 2007’s storm.
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Salamander Movement Tonight
Spotted Salamander Smile
Allegany State Park has had some outstanding temperatures recently and I have been anticipating this night for the past few weeks! The migration of the Spotted Salamander starts each spring when these yellow spotted creatures emerge from the ground and slowly work their way towards their breeding pools.
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Grebe and Killdeer
Horned Grebe
I had a great yesterday. Red House Lake showed a few Horned Grebe’s (CHECK) swimming around with the Canada Goose. It was great seeing them along with Buffleheads and Wood ducks. I just love this time of the year!!!
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Song Sparrow
Song Sparrow photo from May 2008
Had my first Song Sparrow for 2010 today (CHECK)! I actually saw many along Red House Lake while walking the dog but only heard one singing near the house this morning.
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Red-winged Blackbird
Photo from May 2008
Had my first Red-winged Blackbird for 2010 (CHECK)! Multiple times it called the “yurk-a-ree” song!
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Feeling Like Spring
Walking with MacKenzie
A heat spell hit Allegany State Park today with temperatures reaching 50 degrees F. MacKenzie asked nicely to have our first walk around Red House Lake and we kept finding critters also enjoying the sunshine.
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Ring-necked Ducks hiding from the storm
Ring-necked Ducks
The first winter storm of the season moved through Allegany State Park today. We had all kinds of weather from snow, down poring rain, sunny skies, thunderstorm, small hail and even high winds for most of the day making any bird wishing they were not migrating south. Today we had 13 Ring-necked Ducks on Red House Lake who appeared to be ducking out from this storm.
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New Birding iPhone App [BirdsEye]
BirdsEye on the iPhone
This summer I purchased the iPhone after seeing the numerous applications available for birdwatchers (and I was jealous of Pattys iPhone)! I was holding out on purchasing iBird due to its expensive price and rumors that Cornell was coming out with a new application in August (which never came out until this December)! I currently purchased BirdsEye this week and for sure it is a good application . . . . but!!
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Buffleheads on Red House Lake
Buffleheads
The Buffleheads have been showing up on Red House Lake this week!
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Monarch Movement (love this time of the year)
Monarch Butterfly
Allegany State Park had many Monarch butterflies passing through the area today. I counted a good dozen while sitting in the truck today! Many more were observed following the roads moving in a southern direction!
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First Day at CLDC for 2009
Wilson’s Warbler
Last Sunday after the Allegany Nature Pilgrimage we started banding over at the CLDC MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) banding station. We placed bands on 14 species and we placed new bands on 19 individuals. In addition to the newly banded birds we recaptured 2 Song Sparrows, 4 Common Yellowthroats, 1 House Wren and 1 Indigo Bunting which were previous year banded birds (for a total of 27 individuals).
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First Monarch of the Year
Monarch
Today along Red House Lake I saw my first Monarch Butterfly (CHECK) for the year! The migration has just started moving through the Western New York area!
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May First
Gray Catbird
May first brought in a flurry of new birds species in the Allegany State Park area. The morning started off with a Blue-winged Warbler (CHECK) and Wood Thrush (CHECK) who were down in the wetland on the maintenance road. I finally saw my first Gray Catbird (CHECK) as it passed in front of the vehicle along Red House Lake! I spent most of my morning along the Bova XC/Mountain Biking trails, where I picked up a Hooded Warbler (CHECK) and American Redstart (CHECK). The Cliff Swallow (CHECK) was observed flying around the Administration Building exploring the locations that they have nested previous years! It is absolutely amazing how quickly birds arrive once you get the most perfect southern winds!
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New Neo-tropical Migrants
Northern Parula
Neo-tropical migrants were moving through the area last night in record numbers! This morning I saw on the list serv many more warbler “first of the year” sightings for April than I can ever remember reading! I figured this was an opportunity to report some of my recent first of the years to all my blogging friends!!
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Ripley Hawk Watch Visit
Birdwatchers at Ripley Hawk Watch
I joined the Cattaraugus County Bird Club today for the field trip to Ripley Hawk Watch in Ripley, NY! You know that it was the wrong day to visit when you show up and they say “Should have been here yesterday, we had over 7,000 birds pass over”! Yep, not the best day but did get a few species fly overhead! Most everything were bird specks . . . . . you know just dots in the sky!
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April BOS Count 2009
Woodducks
Sunday was the annual April BOS Count and I truly enjoyed the most beautiful spring day looking for all these birdies! I ended up with 54 species and 441 different individuals observed within the Allegany State Park’s area of Section 24. What was even more exciting was the nine first of the year birds that I located.
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Mid April Arrivals
Green Heron
My morning started with me flushing a Green Heron (CHECK) off from a beaver pond in France Brook as it flew up into a dead snag! I had thought for a second it could have been a Bittern but was only a Green Heron!
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At Lake Erie (Wordless Wednesday)
Double Crested Cormorants
Took these photos with Young Naturalist J yesterday at Lake Erie State Park.
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Caspian Tern
Caspian Tern
I took advantage of this sunny day to do some bird watching with Young Naturalist J since he is off from school this week. I told him that my target species was the Caspian Tern and after being on the road for about 15 minutes . . . . we found this group of Caspian Tern (CHECK)! This was a year bird for both of us and YN-J had also capture a few other first of the year birds throughout the day! He’s growing up everyone . . . I think soon that I will have to start calling him “Teen Naturalist J”! I had a wonderful day with him leading me around to all the birding hotspots in his neck of the woods! Cheers . . . we found the Caspian Terns!
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Pre-Easter Birding
Common Snipe on a telephone pole
This morning I went out to do some birding and enjoyed finding the birdies most everywhere!
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Mon@rch's Nature Blog 