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Mallards

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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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Posted by  |  4 April 2013 | Categories: iPhone | Tags: | 1 Comment

Saw-whet Success

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Northern Saw-whet Owl

By: Pat Coate

Took advantage of my daughter flying into the Rochester airport to visit several birding spots in the area prior to her arrival. One stop was Owl Woods (part of Braddock Bay Fish & Wildlife Management/Braddock Bay Park) to search for migrating northern saw-whet owls. Success!

These owls are always a joy to see. They are only 7-8 inches tall and weigh in at a whopping 2-5 ounces.

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Posted by  |  29 March 2013 | Categories: iPhone | Tags: | 4 Comments

Hurricane Sandy Relief Continues

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Oceanfront home for sale in the Rockaways (NY)

By: Pat Coate

St. Bonaventure University has a wonderful service group called BonaResponds (http://bonaresponds.org/) that recently spent their spring break helping with Hurricane Sandy relief on Long Island and at the Jersey shore. The group is headed by a finance professor, was started shortly after Hurricane Katrina and has assisted at most national disasters since – as well as doing a lot of good work locally. I had the opportunity to join the group for the week.

I had been to Long Island with the Red Cross back in December. Though progress has been made there is still a tremendously long way to go. I was especially surprised by the amount of work to be done along the Jersey shore. We were in the Manasquan-Ortley Beach area and a good portion of this area looked largely untouched. There was a significant police presence and some utilities were not yet fully restored. We also noted that there were lots of billboards for lawyers offering their services to challenge insurance claim denials.

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Posted by  |  21 March 2013 | Categories: iPhone | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Elk of the Pennsylvania Wilds – Part 1

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Pennsylvania Elk

By: Pat Coate

On my way home from a weekend trip to New Jersey I decided to stop by the Village of Benezette in the heart of Pennsylvania’s elk country to see what I could find. I got very lucky and ran into a herd of about 25 elk just outside of the village.

Hunting, logging and a growing human population drove the Pennsylvania elk to extinction in the late 1800’s. However, in 1913 elk were brought in from Wyoming and released into the Pennsylvania Wilds. For the first 50 years there was minimal population growth, but the past 50 years has seen the Pennsylvania elk population grow from about fifty to over five hundred.

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Posted by  |  14 March 2013 | Categories: iPhone | Tags: , , , , | 2 Comments

End of the week Highlights


End of the week we had some exciting birds arrive to the area. Had my first Rough-legged Hawk of the year (CHECK) and then Patty found our first of the year Turkey Vulture (CHECK).

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Posted by  |  11 March 2013 | Categories: iPhone | Leave a comment

Turkey Vultures

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Turkey Vultures

By: Pat Coate

Turkey vultures are very common in most states (though some only during breeding season) including New York. The black vulture is a more southern U.S. species and had rarely been seen here in Western NY. But over the past several years black vultures are being reported more often as their territory seems to be expanding northwards.

One local area where black vultures are now consistently being reported, roosting in the same area as turkey vultures, is the Village of Lewiston. We made a quick stop there on our Buffalo-area birding trip. Though we didn’t see the black vultures there were about 20 turkey vultures in the area.

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Posted by  |  7 March 2013 | Categories: iPhone | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Deer and Turkey Expo


Getting Excited . . . . . Two weeks from today we are Going to the Deer and Turkey Expo http://deerinfo.com/ohio in Columbus Ohio. This will be my first big hunting expo thing I have ever attended. Anyone have any tips or suggestions on things I should be looking for or be asking at the show? I do plan on attending a seminar or two and excited to see all of the new products that are being offered. I kind of hope my new compound bow will be in by then. Any vendors want me to visit their booth?

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Posted by  |  1 March 2013 | Categories: iPhone | Leave a comment

Great Blue Heron


Saw 2 Great Blue Heron’s yesterday (wasn’t a year bird, saw one in Jan) but it was great seeing them because this means they are starting to move back into the area. Spring might be getting a little closer . . . . which I am ready for.

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Posted by  |  1 March 2013 | Categories: iPhone | Leave a comment

Eastern Mole

Found an Eastern Mole dead in the road today. I forgot how big these guys are. It has been a few years since I can remember seeing one.

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Posted by  |  26 February 2013 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Flickr, iPhone, Mammals, Nature | 1 Comment

Red Crossbill (LIFER)

Red Crossbills feeding on salt in the road.
3 Red Crossbill’s in the road.

Today while driving along the roads near Quaker Lake (Allegany State Park) . . . . I saw a some larger birds feeding on the salt in the road. I slowed the vehicle down and needed to take a closer look at these guys. I realized they were crossbill’s and quickly grabbed my binoculars (which I luckily had in the truck) to discover they were Red Crossbill’s (CHECK) 45 species for 2013. This wasn’t any ordinary check this was a LIFER CHECK!!!
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Posted by  |  25 February 2013 | Categories: Allegany State Park, Birds, iPhone, Nature, Ornithology | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment