The Beaver Pond on France Brook
Today a few members from the Jamestown Audubon Photo Club took a field trip to Allegany State Park for some photographic opportunities!! I took the group to one of my favorite Beaver pond along the France Brook Area and as you can tell the group had a wonderful time with many great pictures.
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Chestnut-sided Warbler
New-tropical Migrants
We have always seen warblers
as brilliancies of the North Woods:
lemon yellow of Black-throated Green
flame wings and tail of American Redstart
But the Redstart is Cuba’s “Little Candelita,”
the Black-throated Green flies his colors from Ecuador
Our boreal yellows, reds, blues are tropical,
burnt orange of Blackburnian,
orange-red of Bay-breasted
What do we send back?
Blackburnian with only the yellow,
Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Pine we can not tell apart – –
“Confusing Fall Warblers.”
Color them up, we say.
Paint back the cheeks and flanks of Chestnut-sided,
brighten back the pigments of Black-throated Blue
Send these warblers back.
On the Big Day in May
in Sugar Maple and Tamarack
we will check off glories of the rain forest
”Western” Palm Warbler
Yesterday evening I noticed a warbler up in the tree bobbing its tail during my evening walk. This warbler was in horrible lighting for a decent photo but I was happy to (CHECK) my first of the year Palm Warbler!
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Rose-breasted Grosbeak
I looked out my window this morning and found this Rose-breasted Grosbeak (CHECK) trying to get seeds from my thistle feeder! “Hey Mr Grosbeak . . . your bill is too large for those little thistle holes!! Just look at how the Goldfinch is able to get the seeds!! They have much smaller bills than you do”! We had a frost last night and birds very busy around the feeders! I couldn’t get the sunflowers into the feeders quick enough!!!
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Spring is becoming much more apparent the past few days with the leaves bringing us some green colors on our dull brown hillsides. A thunderstorm pushed through Allegany State Park area in the afternoon and this rain was very much needed after a few weeks with only a few sprinkles. Things are soo dry that my County has posted an open fire ban after many small fires have started across Cattaraugus County. Campers are bummed for not being allowed to burn their firewood but I have been enjoying this weather with many great birds pushing through the area!!
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Belted Kingfisher
I have not posted anything in the past few days! Had another dinner Thursday night and Friday night I was busy with some personal things!! I am up and going birding . . . . hope to have something more interesting to post about tonight! Just an update on the past few days . . . Yellow-throated Warbler (CHECK) was first heard yesterday and Thursday brought us three White-winged Scoters (CHECK) on Red House Lake with a raft of Buffleheads, Ruddy Ducks, Scaup Species, and a female merganser species (maybe Red-breasted Merganser). Can’t wait to see what I come across today!
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Osprey on the Power Lines!
I am exhausted after a long day but it was also a great day today! In the morning I was outside eating my oatmeal and heard not one but two Northern Parua’s singing (CHECK). During the day had my first Broad-winged Hawk (CHECK) flying overhead! On Quaker Lake I saw my first Barn Swallow (CHECK) and Cliff Swallow (CHECK) flying under the overspill bridge!! Then after dinner I headed up to the Buffalo Museum of Science with some friends to hear Dr. Geoff Hill’s lecture on Bird Coloration!! Did I mentioned that I am exhausted?? I have a dinner to attend tomorrow evening, so I am off to bed to get some sleep!
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Spring Azure from April 2007
I came across a few new species during Earth Day today! The first find was a Double-crested Cormorant (CHECK) swimming in Red House Lake. It’s funny since I almost always first find them over at Quaker Lake . . . . but not this year! We have been working in the same area the past few days and it was nice finding my first Spring Azure (CHECK) fluttering around once the sun got high enough in the sky (yeah to seeing those azure blues)! Then at lunch I saw my first West Virginia White (CHECK) moving down the trail (with only a quick look)! By the end of the day there were multiple Whites flying around and all my co-workers thought I was nuts looking at those white-moth looking butterflies! Hey . . . how often do you get to look at a species of concern up close?
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Common Merganser pair
Happy Earth Day everyone and not only should we look at taking care of our earth on this one day but lets make sure we do this every day! Every little thing you do can help and this is a day to become aware of those little and big things that we can do to help global warming! Read the rest of this page »
Welcome to the mon@rch nature blog and I hope you join us in some of our nature adventures through the Allegany State Park area!
I am a naturalist, field biologist and nature photographer from the Western New York area. I have started exploring nature writing through this blog and it truly has been fun sharing my numerous adventures with everyone. Thanks to the many other authors that help me with my post and they will be sharing some of their nature explorations.
I have always had a latent interest in birds and photography and have been lucky enough to find time to explore these interests over the last few years. I am very thankful to the Cattaraugus County Bird Club for getting me started, sharing their wealth of knowledge and for their wonderful programs. And many thanks to Tom for letting me share some of my adventures and photos on the Monarch Nature Blog.
Thank you for taking the time visiting and commenting on this blog.
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