Mon@rch's Nature Blog

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Spring Dusk Birding!

This evening I went searching to see if our American Woodcocks have arrived. Not long after sunset, one of the Great Horned Owls started vocalizing (only one individual this time). It wasn’t long and I saw this silhouette of the Great Horned Owl fly across the sky! I had only wished my camera wasn’t sitting in the truck. I continued to watch this silhouette fly from tree top to tree top looking for something to eat (or a good place to sit). I sure hope they are not hunting my woodcocks??

While leaning up against my truck, I was starting to believe the American Woodcocks hadn’t arrived yet …… but then I hear it ….. Peent…… Peent ……Peent… (CHECK, first of the year) few minutes later I hear a second bird .. Peent……. Peent ……. Peent … Peent…..then they starting doing their twittering flight display way up into the sky! I was lucky able to follow two of their flights up into sky! What joy this is watching such wonderful birds on the beginning of spring. I continued listening to three different birds doing their display till almost twilight (then there was silence again). They were too far away from the road to capture any video clips/pictures. Once I return from my conference, I plan on hiking through the snow and get some up close video clips of them doing their display (I promise).

BTW: I had a major scare this morning. Pulled the 400mm lens out to try and capture a few pictures of the Fox Sparrows. Hmm, error!! Hmmm still erroring! Hmmm ….. I can’t seem to be able to take any pictures!! hmmm (ok, now you can start changing the hmmm’s with words that I should be typing)! I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t able to capture any photos with my 400mm!! Kit lens, no problems! Hmmm, after many hours assuming my lens died just before my big trip to Cape Cod something came to me by a fluke. I realized that my manual f-stop ring had moved. In digital SLR’s your older lenses irises need to be opened up all the way before the body can properly register the lens….. YEAH!! Mystery solved! Once again I am to take pictures again and the world hasn’t come to an end!

Posted by mon@rch | 20 March 2007 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Birds, Nature | Tags: discovery | 10 Comments

Equinox

Depending on where you live in the world, March 20th or March 21st is your official Equinox with 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. To celebrate this important “natural” holiday you can make many wonderful camping style treats for your Equinox party. The dessert called “DIRT” is one of my favorites:

DIRT DESSERT

3 pkgs of instant vanilla pudding *

4 ½ cups milk *

1 u oz pkg Cream Cheese (room temperature)

1 carton Cool Whip (room temperature)

1 pkg Oreo Cookies (frozen)

Gummy Worms

Mix vanilla pudding, milk and cream cheese together. Fold in cool whip. Chop cookies in blender or food processor. Layer (starting with cookies and ending with cookies) one of cookies, then pudding mix, then cookies, etc. Top with Gummy Worms.

*1 large pudding and 3 cups milk can be substituted.

It is always good to see dirt after a long winter. I figured this Dirt Dessert would be right up everyone’s alley. Don’t forget your gummy worms!! Happy Equinox and I have a ton of things to write about but very little time to get it posted. I am trying to get ready for my Eastern Bird Banding Association conference at Cape Cod this weekend (well leaving on Thursday). Lets hope that the big “Salamander Migration Night” doesn’t happen while I am at the Cod!

BTW: Had my first Fox Sparrow of the year today!! CHECK!

Posted by mon@rch | 20 March 2007 | Categories: Birds, Nature, Salamander, Weather | Tags: discovery, et al.. | 8 Comments

Dark-eyed Junco Behavior and Vocalization

You can learn a great deal about a bird once you begin watching their behaviors. There is no better time to start observing these behaviors than during the spring months when the birds are just starting establishing their territories. The Dark-eyed Junco or also known as the Slate-colored Junco (Junco hyemalis) is one of Allegany State Park’s early species that are just beginning to sing. Before we learning their song, here is a video for you to become better familiar with two of their calls. Read the rest of this page »

Posted by mon@rch | 17 March 2007 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Birds, Blip.tv, Flickr, Nature, Ornithology, Science, sounds, video, Weather | Tags: Birdfeeder, Birdfeeding, discovery | 30 Comments

Happy Furry/Feathery Friday

I ended up finding the birds very active around my window feeder today and it was probably due to the St. Patrick’s snow storm hitting us. So, I decided to capture some wonderful up close videos of the birds interacting together. I am very excited to add these to the blog but I first want to figure out how to make them educational (so they should be posted soon)!! I began to review them on the computer and something wonderful happened (and I quickly grab my camera)!

Although this was a test with my cats self control; the real birds outside quickly refocused their attention elsewhere. Do note that I edited out the 5 minutes of Phoebe studying the screen and showed you the two cat’s breaking points. It was very cute to watch.

Happy Furry and Feathery Friday everyone.

Posted by mon@rch | 16 March 2007 | Categories: Birds, Blip.tv, Nature, video, Weather | Tags: Pets | 9 Comments

Such a Warm Stinking Flower

As promised, I have finally gotten around to writing something about Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus). My interest in this flower started late last week when two of my friends were posting pictures of their first of the year wildlfower; Jennifer photo 1, photo 2, and photo 3 & Salamanderdance photo 1 and photo 2. But, after thinking about it, this isn’t my first wildflower for 2007. In January before the 2007 “Ice Age”, I saw dandelions growing out on the lawn. So, this really is my 2nd flower species for 2007 but, does very much feel like my 1st flower also this year.
You might ask why this is a remarkable wildflower? Read the rest of this page »

Posted by mon@rch | 15 March 2007 | Categories: Allegany State Park, bugs, Flickr, Mammals, Nature, Science, Wildflowers | Tags: Blogroll, discovery, Hiking | 10 Comments

Change of Plans!

I first intended this post to include a wonderful in-depth discussion on Eastern Skunk Cabbage!! But, things just continue to occur which has kept me from writing it (high school friend called, cat puked, ect…)! So, I have decided that instead of writing a half ass post that I am going to hold off till tomorrow. I hope this White-tailed Deer video clip that I captured on Sunday will make up for my laziness.

Although, I am pleased to report more signs of spring are still becoming apparent! Today I saw my first Red-shouldered Hawk this season displaying high up in the sky. CHECK – Great part is that I didn’t see one, but three different males displaying in three different locations here in Allegany State Park! Even though they wouldn’t allow me to photograph them, they are still my favorite of all hawks!

Posted by mon@rch | 13 March 2007 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Birds, Blip.tv, Mammals, Nature, video | Tags: discovery | 14 Comments

Things you find at dusk!

This evening I went out searching for some early arrivals of the American Woodcock here in Allegany State Park. My searching started close to dusk where I almost stepped on a caterpillar while getting out of my truck. Not exactly sure which species of caterpillar this is but looks like it could be in the dagger family (See photo below). Finding this little fuzzy caterpillar had encouraged me to continued searching for little things on the pavement. It didn’t take long before I located another caterpillar called the Woolly Bear. But, this one wasn’t photographable because it was about as flat as a quarter. You can only find on so many dead Woolly Bears on the pavement before you start focusing your energy on something else (like unusual sounds).

Didn’t take long before I heard my first sound of the night …. Could it be the twittering sounds of the woodcock during its display?? …. Read the rest of this page »

Posted by mon@rch | 12 March 2007 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Birds, bugs, Flickr, Nature | Tags: checklist, discovery, Fun, Hiking | 15 Comments

Sunny Sunday

Today was a perfect day to do some bird watching and I was happy to locate 29 species of birds. Although most of the waterways were frozen over, there were 6 species that were first of the year sightings for me (which include the): Pied-billed Grebe, Woodduck, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Killdeer, and Song Sparrow. Other great sightings for the day included the Bald Eagle, Rough-legged Hawk, Wild Turkey, Hooded Merganser, Bufflehead and a Red-necked Grebe! I spent extensive time watching the Red-necked Grebe with hopes that I might be able to see a band on it. I even tried to shoot some video threw my spotting scope and this evening I reviewed all the video clips frame by frame. Here are two good clips of the Grebe that I captured through my spotting scope (most others were too wobbly): Read the rest of this page »

Posted by mon@rch | 11 March 2007 | Categories: Birds, Blip.tv, Flickr, Nature, video | Tags: discovery, rescue | 9 Comments

Could spring be near?

Rumor has it that spring temperatures will be around for this next week and there have been many signs that just maybe spring is finally starting to get close. Yesterday I heard one of those familiar signs during my walk around Red House Lake!! Read the rest of this page »

Posted by mon@rch | 10 March 2007 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Birds, Flickr, Mammals, Nature, sounds, Weather | Tags: checklist, discovery, Fun, Hiking | 12 Comments