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Singing in the Spring

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Chestnut Sided Warbler

By: Pat Coate

The symphony of bird song has been truly wonderful this spring and here are a few shots of various birds in action. Some things to note about ‘singing in the spring’:

• Male birds of many species migrate first. They sing to stake out their territory and then to attract the females when they too begin to move north.
• In many species the females don’t sing.
• Birds also defend their territory against birds of the same species to reduce competition for food since both birds would hunt for food in the same manner
• It is believed that changes in sunlight/length of day trigger hormonal changes in birds that trigger ‘singing in the spring’.

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Posted by  |  2 June 2011 | Categories: iPhone | Tags: , , , | 7 Comments

More Baltimore Orioles

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Baltimore Oriole

By: Pat Coate

We were very excited to have a Baltimore oriole visit our hummingbird feeder this year. First yard Baltimore oriole we have had.

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Posted by  |  26 May 2011 | Categories: iPhone | Tags: , | 6 Comments

Birding with Maddie

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(photo by Dad)

By: Pat Coate

One of the benefits of a large family is that I have lots of nieces and nephews to enjoy and, as some might say, to try to brainwash. Of my 13 nieces and nephews, Maddie has shown the greatest interest in birding (and other critters) and is great fun to bird with. She is very adept at spotting birds and continues to impress her parents by identifying birds they see in their backyard and on various excursions. I recently got to spend a morning birding with Maddie and my father at White Clay Creek State Park in Delaware.

Here is the trip report from my favorite young birder:

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Posted by  |  19 May 2011 | Categories: iPhone | Tags: | 3 Comments

ASP Geobash 6


This weekend (May 20-22nd) is the Allegany State Park Geobash Event. If you are a geocacher . . . . this is an event you dont’ want to miss! Last year we had 1140 people register making this the local MEGA event in the North East everyone comes to attned. For more info go to http://aspgeobash.com/

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Posted by  |  18 May 2011 | Categories: iPhone | Leave a comment

Small Snapping Turtle


I helped a small snapping turtle across the road!! Wasn’t too concerned of it biting me!! Washed my hands good afterwords.

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Posted by  |  13 May 2011 | Categories: iPhone | 3 Comments

More Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers in Allegany State Park

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Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (male)

By: Pat Coate

Spent a recent Saturday morning at Allegany State Park and was excited to see several Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers – yes, certain brother, that is their real name. And they really are well named as a major part of their diet is sap (along with fruit and insects) and they do have yellow on their bellies as can be seen in the pictures.

The male, identified by its red throat, in the picture above shared the tree with an aggressive European Starling as shown in the next three photos.

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Posted by  |  12 May 2011 | Categories: Allegany State Park | Tags: | 3 Comments

Eastern Towhee

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Eastern Towhee (male)

By: Pat Coate

What a beautiful spring weekend we had! I enjoyed some hiking and birding at Pfeiffer Nature Center and got a nice look at this beautiful male Eastern Towhee. These birds are normally scurrying about deep in the brush and I rarely get more than a fleeting glimpse of them. This fellow, however, was most accommodating, staying in plain view for several minutes and repeatedly giving a very clear ‘towhee’ call.

He may have tired of me watching him as evidenced in the next picture.

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Posted by  |  5 May 2011 | Categories: iPhone | Tags: , | 2 Comments

Some FOYs

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Grey Catbird

By: Pat Coate

We finally got some spring-like weather with the sun making an appearance (brief as it turns out) and temps reaching the 70s. Inspired by seeing my first of year (FOY) Common Yellowthroat Warbler in the back yard, I decided to take my FOY bike ride to enjoy the weather and see what birds might also be out and about. I got an hour+ ride in with about 20 species seen before getting stranded under a bridge waiting out a downpour. In my 20 species I did pick up a couple more FOYs: Chipping Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow and Grey Catbird.

The pictures were taken during the bike ride.

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Posted by  |  28 April 2011 | Categories: iPhone | Tags: , , | 4 Comments

Fish Stocking at Allegany


Had a great turn out today in Allegany State Park (30ish people) for Stocking Brook and Brown Trout (about 3500 fish). Little Clair even reached into the bucket and pulled one out to be released in Science Lake!! Good times seeing all the kids there today!!

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Posted by  |  22 April 2011 | Categories: iPhone | 3 Comments

Tree Swallows and Cold Weather


The Tree Swallows are doing what they can with these cold temperatures. As I see snow flurries in the air the Swallows are gathering around the generator looking for some escaping heat. I really need to clean out the bird boxes and I hope we don’t find dead ones in there. What happens is they pile up into a box and the ones on the bottom get squished from the ones on top. I have found up to 9 dead tree swallows in a box. Hard times for these blue and white friends . . . . lets hope for warmer temperatures for them! (If you look hard at this photo you can see N. Rough Winged Swallows and a Barn Swallow).

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Posted by  |  22 April 2011 | Categories: iPhone | 1 Comment