I ate my breakfast outside this morning and watched some of the Eastern Bluebird soaps!! That poor female continued to put up with this males bluebirds crap! How does she ever get anything done!! This continued to happen all day long!! To understand what I am talking about; click the video below! Read the rest of this page »
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Rainy Saturday
This rainy weather is for the ducks or should I say Common Mergansers! They are predicting sun for tomorrow, so expect me to get out and do some catch up on my birding. Read the rest of this page »
the ultimate birdQUIZ
Being a licensed bird bander requires you to not only know your birds but ultimately collected the data in the most scientific way possible. That includes being 100% sure about the species that you are banding or you are required to release the bird without a band on it. This is something as a bander that you would rarely want happening!! A fellow Bird Bander (and Western New Yorker) David Junkin captured this very unique bird that he couldn’t identify. He was stumped after reviewing the many field guides and other resources available to him. He took many measurements, photographs (every angle) and then released the unbanded bird without knowing if he would capture it again.
Stocking Fish in Allegany State Park
Today I had the opportunity to help with some stocking of Brook Trout here in Allegany State Park. I was only able to participate with a few stops but today they proposed throwing in about a thousand fishies into the streams! Not being a fisherman, I was amazed at how colorful and beautiful these Brook Trout are. Read the rest of this page »
Fiesta Poem
Fiesta
by Maxwell Croyden Wheat, Jr.
Comes with warblers,
waves of warblers
moving up the continents:
Yellows, Bay-breasteds
Black-throated Blues, Greens.
Myrtles, Magnolias
flourishing wing-tail skirts of white and yellow, Redstarts flashing flamenco fans of orange and red, Chestnut-sideds displaying headdresses of sun
Then, Blackburnians
flown from flames of Aztec fires,
Prothonotary emblazoned with Inca gold
migrants starting to move!
It is great finding Trilliums again!
Migrants are starting to move through the area! Yesterday evening I heard and saw my first Yellow-rumped Warbler (CHECK) for 2007. When I had first heard the butter butt, I had thought it could have been a Yellow-throated Warbler since they do have a some what similar song!! It appears the YTWA’s have not made it back yet and will be my next quest in locating!! I was happy to have followed many Pine Warblers around yesterday (although they wouldn’t let me photograph them so high up along the tree tops). So many places to go, so many bird sounds around me and yesterday I found myself taking my truck to the shop for some work! Uggg! Read the rest of this page »
Ecological Niches
Many of our diurnal and nocturnal animals will both have similar ecological niches. Think of a niche as a job someone (human) might have in the grocery store. Many employees that work in this grocery store have a specific duty and specialties in getting their job done. One employee might be the butcher and makes sure the meat isn’t spoiled or is always sliced the same way. Another employee will have the duty of keeping the fruit fresh and knows everything that needs to be known about the fruit they are selling. Some grocery stores have seafood departments, bakeries and even a pharmacy. By everyone working together will provide a location for us making choices in what we eat. Animals also have jobs and their “ecological niche” which keeps them from competing for food but still allows many species to live together in the same habitat. For example, nuthatches walk upside down on the tree to pull out insects that they can see under the bark (which other birds easily overlook). Walking upside down is their ecological niche! Read the rest of this page »
The Adventure to Ripley
We had a wonder time heading out to the Ripley Hawk Watch. In my previous post I talked about the many hawks we observed while on this trip. Overall we had 46ish species of birds, 5 first for 2007’s and one lifer on this trip! We started off this trip with some Barn Swallows under the highway bridge (CHECK, first for 2007). In this one town heading out to Ripley, the leader (who was in the car ahead of ours) had turned his vehicle around and started heading back the direction we were coming from. Then he pulled right up to someone’s house (it was trash day) and we thought he was interested in a TV that was out in the front lawn!! He was interested in their TV’s but the big feathery kind. He had observed a whole group of Turkey Vultures on top of someone’s house. The people at the Hawk Watch stated that the individual who owns the house is unable to sell it because the vultures are scaring off all potential buyers! I wonder what is so interesting with this one house that the Turkey Vultures?? Read the rest of this page »
Ripley Hawk Watch
Today I joined the Cattaraugus County Bird Club for our annual hawk field trip to the Ripley Hawk Watch in Ripley New York. We headed to this hawk watch because the birds will migrate north along thermos and then reach Lake Erie. Since the lake water is cold (causing cold airs and no thermos) the hawks will not cross the lake and follow the waters edge until they find a land bridge. These areas are perfect spots in seeing many raptors in one location. Although, it was a clear sky and hard finding these bird specks way up in the sky. It was fun anyways with many great birds. Read the rest of this page »
Just another Saturday
Today I cleaned out all of my Northern Saw-whet Owl boxes that I have here in the park. Hint to everyone, don’t accidentally delete your GPS coordinates or make sure you write them down somewhere before clicking “delete”. I have three boxes that I couldn’t seem to relocate and my luck is that they probably have a bird nesting in them. Read the rest of this page »
Mon@rch's Nature Blog 