Snow Day 2010

American Goldfinch - Out in the Blizzard

What a great snow storm!  The only problem was my husband was out helping a friend.  So I was home alone.  I spent the day working on a puzzle and watching for birds braving the snow and wind.  My Goldfinches turned out to be quite hardy.   

American Goldfinch - Braving the Wind

Blizzard of 2010!

There is nothing like a guilt-free day!  Can't get out of the house and don't want to!  It is in the 20's with a sustained wind in the 30 mph range, with gusts up to 50 mph. 

This has been a difficult month for Birds of a Feather.  It has been so cold and we just have not gotten together to do any birding.  Pretty much the extent of our Bonding has been playing Scrabble over wifi.  I promise we will do some birding as soon as we can.


In the meantime, so you don't think that I've blown off the blog, I am posting some pictures of my backyard during the blizzard.  Most pictures are not that great due to the high wind and blowing snow.  These were the visitors to my yard.

If any other feathered friends come to the yard, I'll add them to the post.  Until next time, which hopefully won't be too long....




Cardinal

 

Downy Woodpecker



Junco in coconut half





 





House Sparrow

Mourning Dove

Blue Jay



White-Throated Sparrow





European Starling





Song Sparrow

 

Red-Bellied Woodpecker



Black-capped Chickadee

 

Alway's on my Mind

I may not be blogging as much as before, but it is always on my mind.  I am always aware of my surroundings as far as looking for opportunities for a bird sighting.  On my way home yesterday I took a shortcut down Maple Avenue.  The pond was packed with fowl, so I turned around to check things out.

I carry my camera most of the time now, because you never know what you might spot.  I was the only one there, so as soon as I parked the Mallards, Seagulls and Snow Geese came crowding around my car.

They were all so cute and docile.  As soon as the realized that all I brought with me was a camera, they soon lost interest.








They were surrounding me at one time and I have never seen a Mallard that close up.  What a marvel of creation.  I used to think how dull the female Mallard was, but she is beautiful as well when you can see the intricacies of color in her muted feathers.

So each and every day we need to be aware of the lives around us, flying above or walking around or even hiding in bushes.

Once all the wildlife saw that I did not come with any tidbits of day old bread, they all too soon lost interest in me.


So they waddle back to their foraging and swimming and just hanging out enjoying the sun on this very cold Autumn day.

What to do for our 1 year Anniversary?

No new adventures to write about, no new bird to add to our list.  I have been home for the past three days, and I haven't seen many birds. 

All the feeders are full, sun was shining but only a stray Downy Woodpecker and a Dark-eyed Junco.

Of course as soon as I got my camera he refused to turn around for me.  But this is a sure sign that winter is just around the corner since Junco's winter on Long Island.  Which means Birds of a Feather will soon be celebrating our one year Anniversary. 

San and I are trying to think of a fitting way to commemorate this special occasion.  We could return to a spot we have visited in the past, or we could go to a new birding spot.  

San is putting together a list of birds we have yet to see here on Long Island.  So the logical choice would be a spot that can afford us the most opportunities to see the many birds that have alluded us all summer.

So we were wondering if any of our fellow birders had any ideas.  Let us know what you think.  I have a few ideas, but I would love to know what all of you think as well.  So leave us a comment and we will keep a list going on our blog.

The Park Before Dark

Once again there never seems to be enough time in the month, week or day!  Having a scant two hours before the sun went down, we went, yet again, to Sunken Meadow State Park.  We were not seriously birding.  Rather, we were just trying to eek out some quality time together.  Besides, it was the last day before the clocks were turned back and we would then have one less hour of daylight in the afternoons.

Our efforts proved serendipitous!  While not actvely birding, we were happy to spot two Great Blue Herons.  These large birds stand four feet tall and live year-round on Long Island.  We are so glad to be able to add a bird to our list.  It's been about two months since we saw the Belted Kingfisher.  Hopefully our next addition will not be months away!

In addition to seeing the Great Blue Herons, we saw the usuals at Sunken Meadow.  These include the Mallards, Herring Gulls and Canada Geese.  There were Double-Crested Cormorants on their rock in the Sunken Meadow Creek.  We saw the usual assortment of song birds.  It turned out to be a wonderful two hours!  Following are a few shots that we took along the way.



Grackles, Grackles everywhere!!!

Each Morning my yard is a sea of black iridescent birds with hundreds more in the treetops.  They are loud and intimidating at times.  This time of year the Common Grackle is out in full force taking over many a backyard. 

You’ll often find Common Grackles in large flocks, flying or foraging on lawns and in agricultural fields. They strut on their long legs, pecking for food rather than scratching. At feeders Common Grackles dominate smaller birds. When resting they sit atop trees or on telephone lines, keeping up a raucous chattering.

Common Grackles are resourceful foragers. They sometimes follow plows to catch invertebrates and mice, wade into water to catch small fish, pick leeches off the legs of turtles, steal worms from American Robins, raid nests, and kill and eat adult birds.

Grackles have a hard keel on the inside of the upper mandible that they use for sawing open acorns. Typically they score the outside of the narrow end, then bite the acorn open.  Since my yard has an abundance of Oak trees, we have quite the feast for these noisy birds.

I found this fact to be quite interesting.  You might see a Common Grackle hunched over on the ground, wings spread, letting ants crawl over its body and feathers. This is called anting, and grackles are frequent practitioners among the many bird species that do it. The ants secrete formic acid, the chemical in their stings, and this may rid the bird of parasites. In addition to ants, grackles have been seen using walnut juice, lemons and limes, marigold blossoms, chokecherries, and mothballs in a similar fashion.  What a wonder of creation!


In winter, Common Grackles forage and roost in large communal flocks with several different species of blackbird. Sometimes these flocks can number in the millions of individuals.  This explains why there are so many of them this time of year.

Common Grackles are large, noisy, and gregarious birds that often flock with other blackbirds, cowbirds, and starlings, especially in winter. At feeders they tower over other birds and push them aside to get at food. Grackles typically forage on the ground and roost high in trees or on power lines. Common Grackles sometimes nest in loose colonies of up to 200 pairs, showing little territoriality except when nesting in the spring.  No wonder large groups of Grackles are referred to as plagues!

It's about time!

Who ever heard of a birder without a decent camera!?  Well the San part of Arsan finally has gotten up to date.  Here are my first three bird pictures.  A Song Sparrow, a Blue Jay and a Finch.  Can't wait to share more.

Impromptu Birding Adventure

We have been trying to get together for a few hours of birding.  We found out that there were quite a few sightings of birds at Sunken Meadow park.  All we had to do now was find the time.  We vacillated endlessly about do we go or do we re-schedule.   



Red-Winged Darter Dragonfly

 We finally agreed to go on this past Sunday, but we choose a closer birding spot.  The weather couldn't have been more picture perfect.  The air was crisp, the breeze was warm and we were making time to go bird watching.  

Armed with a list of potential birds to spot, off we go back to Caleb Smith's Park.  The leaves were beginning to turn, the park was a buzz with activity.  We studied our trail map, and decided to go where Cedar Waxwings are normally spotted at the park.  

Sadly, no Waxwings to add to our list, but we did find an Eastern Phoebe.

Perhaps the most familiar flycatcher in eastern North America, the Eastern Phoebe nests near people on buildings and bridges. It can be recognized by its emphatic "phee-bee" call and its habit of constantly wagging it tail.  Even though we can't add them to our list, it was a great sighting. 


 







We continue on, and we see the typical water fowls such as Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks. Mallard Ducks are dabblers.  

Dabblers, filter-feed at the surface of water, tips-up in shallow water, and makes occasional dives in deeper water.  We were able to catch two of them doing just that!

 

As we slowly move on the Yellow trail we come to this field with birds flying in and out of the bushes.  This is where we see White-Throated Sparrow's which winter on Long Island. 

We also saw Junco's which also winter on Long Island.  Although they look nothing alike and aren’t particularly closely related, the White-Throated Sparrow and the Dark-eyed Junco occasionally mate and produce hybrids. The resulting offspring look like grayish, dully marked White-Throated Sparrows with white outer tail feathers.
 
As we get deeper into the woods, we spot a bird that fellow birders tried to tell us wasn't what we thought it was.  Needless to say we were right.  

We spotted a Yellow-Rumped Warbler, they too winter on Long Island.  Yellow-rumped Warblers have two main calls. The more common one, a sharp chek, differs between the myrtle and Audubon's races. Both forms are quite recognizable and are a key call to learn for a bird watcher hoping to start sorting out migrating warblers in fall. Both sexes make this call frequently, both while foraging and while flying. Yellow-rumped Warblers also make a soft psit and a high tsee in flight.  Based on the song we heard these Warblers were from the Myrtle race.  
 
Before we knew it, it was 4pm and the park was closing.  We have made tentative plans to return.  We had a wonderful few hours, and it was close to home. 


We are very glad that funding was found to keep Caleb's Smith park open to the public.  It is definitely worth the trip. 

A day at Robert Moses with the Seagulls

A beautiful summer like day in the fall, home on a staycation, what to do?  Let's go to the Beach!  The waves were spectacular.  The birds were as enthralled with the magnificence as we were.  The waves kept most of us out of the water, so that gave us the opportunity to watch the Seagulls.

As we meander back to the car, we see something amazing.  A Seagull at the water fountain.  Now you may wonder why would that be amazing, well how often do you see Seagulls drinking from a water fountain!  The Herring Gull regularly drinks fresh water when it is available. If none is around, the gull will drink seawater. Special glands located over its eyes allow it to excrete the salt. The salty excretion can be seen dripping out of the gull's nostrils and off the end of its bill.

The Herring Gull is part of a complex of large, white-headed gulls that breed across the northern hemisphere. Some people consider all of the forms as one species, while others would recognize 10 or more species. The Lesser Black-backed and Yellow-legged gulls currently are recognized as different species, but birds intermediate between them and the Herring Gull occur. Only one form, the American Herring Gull, is common in North America.  It was a great day for all.

Hatless at Hawk Mountain

Against all odds, we made it to Hawk Mountain.  It was touch and go for a while.  In fact, we referred to each other as "Asthma" and "Cracked Rib".  How glad we were to have made the effort.  Neither of us had been there for several years.  So, anxious to get started, we arrived about 9:00 am.  It was a beautiful day.  The forecast was mostly sunny, in the low 80's, winds WSW at 10 mph. 

The trek to the South Lookout is a short one.  The trail is unobstructed and wide.  From the get go, however, we realized that even a slight gust of wind, at this time of year, would produce a barrage of falling acorns.  And while acorns probably weigh only about 1/2 an ounce, by the time they hit the ground they sounded more like falling baseballs!  Oh how we were wishing for hard hats!  Not having planned for this, each time the wind blew, at least one hand would be covering our heads.  Here is a picture of a little stash of acorns someone's been collecting for the winter. 

From the South Lookout there is a picturesque view of the valley known as the Kettle.  During the Broadwing season thermals develop above the River of Rocks carrying "kettles" of Broadwings high over the Sanctuary.  The River of Rocks is a boulder field resulting from indirect glacial activity.  Here's Ar at the South Lookout.

The trek to the North Lookout is an entirely different story.  While not far, (about 3/4 of a mile) the climb becomes steeper and rockier.  The Sanctuary has kindly incorporated some rocky staircases.  They even included some much appreciated handrails and a bench at the top to take a breather!  There goes San.

Since 1934, well over one million persons have climbed to the North Lookout, including many well-known naturalists including Robert Bateman and Roger Tory Peterson.  The view from the top is quite spectacular.  You can see North, East and South.  The view to the East is the Kittatinny Ridge.  This "endless mountain" of the Lenape Indians snakes its way south from the Delaware Water Gap, some 50 miles to the northeast.   The Kittatinny Ridge is part of the larger Appalachian Mountain range which begins in Nova Scotia and ends in Georgia.  Over 2,000 miles of mixed deciduous and coniferous forest.  The Ridge facilitates the locating of migrating birds.  The slight peaks, or knuckles are numbered 1 to 5 from right to left.  The Sanctuary personnel with the spotting scope, is the one doing the official counting.  He alerts the rest of the birders where to look.  For example, "Bald Eagle over 2 moving toward 3."  On days with northerly winds, look between 4 and the slope of 5, on days of south and east winds, birds can be spotted off #1. 

The picture with the ridge to the right is the Pinnacle.  The Pinnacle is a southern extension of the Kittatinny Ridge.  There are several parallel ridges.  Others are Owl's Head and Hemlock Heights.  These ridges are also useful in locating a bird sighting.  A new means of bird locating in the past few years is the power plant on the ridge to the north.  It can be clearly seen as can the windmills dotting the horizen.  The new wind farm was controversial due to the large corridor of migrating birds.

We staked our claim on a comfortable rock, away from the crowds.  It didn't take long to realize why no one was sitting out here.  It was oh so hot and bright!  Necessity called for hats but there was no reply.  We had forgotten them!  We will not make that mistake again!  The smart birders all found lodging in the shade of some trees. 

Once settled, we donned out binoculars to scan the ridges.  It wasn't long before the Broadwinged Hawks began riding the thermals.  The birds in each kettle ranged anywhere from 12 to 50 in number.  In our four hour stay, we saw at least 6 or 8 kettles.  We also saw a number of Sharp-Shinned Hawks, 3 Ospreys, 3 Bald Eagles, and Ar saw either the one Merlin spotted for the day or one of the two American Kestrels.

There were two other winged creatures that we saw in great number.  One rather large, the other rather small.  Although some migrate, Turkey Vultures can be seen year round in Pennsylvania.  They also ride the thermals, looking for a tasty, dead morsel.  The other winged creature was six-legged rather than two-legged.  Everyone referred to this annoying little creature as a Stink Bug.  Why?  Because apparently they stink if you crush them, which we did not.  We shooed them away while, at the same time, making sure that we did not fling our cameras or binoculars off the cliff!

We have included the final count for the day, which is posted everyday at sundown.  Birding is not an exact science.  On days when conditions are ideal, few birds may be seen.  You may see many on days when conditions are not optimal.

Any who...you may be wondering why we are blogging about Hawk Mountain at all, since our stated mission is to focus on the birds living year-round on Long Island.  Well, Hawk Mountain is,  for lack of a better word, a magical place.  It's a place to clear your head, view our beautiful planet, and enjoy some of Jehovah's majestic creations!  Our focus is still Long Island birds, but we enjoyed going out on this tangent.  Hope you enjoyed reading it.  Hawk Mountain is a great place to visit.  Check it out at www.hawkmountain.org.  Hopefully pictures added soon!