My Life With Birds

New River Festival - Belated Post #1

2011-07-07T18:38:00.020-04:00

Julie Zickefoose on the hunt for golden-winged warbler at Muddlety....

Geoff Heeter, on the hunt for a Cerulean warbler...

Facebook has killed my blog. It's true. I am woefully late in getting this post (the first of two about the May 2011 New River Nature and Birding Festival) done. It is so much easier to put a pithy post or two and a quick photo on Facebook then to juggle the slow-loading and cumbersome Blogger site to put together a blog post. Besides, writing a blog post is more demanding intellectually (yeah, yeah - no comments from the peanut gallery on the quality of my writing, please) than a quick sentence on FB. But the wonderful New River Festival and the gathering of those wonderful women (and new man, Doug Sanchez!) who constitute The Flock deserve some attention. This trip fed my soul. Just like it did in 2009.

New River Gorge bridge (as seen from the boat in Birding By Boat field trip)

This year I did the Birding by Butt, Birding by Boat and Muddelty field trips. My goal - a Cerulean warbler. The Cerulean has been my nemesis bird for five years. I missed seeing it in 2009 at New River when everyone was racking them up by the dozens. I deliberately chose Muddlety since that mountain is known for breeding Ceruleans and may be lost to mountain-top strip mining any day now. Muddelty, Geoff Heeter and Julie Zickefoose (I was in total birder geek-dom) did not disappoint. Upon hearing that it was my target bird, Geoff and Julie put their trained ears and amazing talents to work and soon picked up a singing Cerulean. They worked hard to get me on the bird and I had satisfyingly long looks at a single male working a treetop just off the road. Yes, I cried. Hard. Sometimes good birds can move you to tears. And my friends, Susan Kaiholz-Williams, Laura Hardy, Kathy Hutton and Doug Sanchez were there to share the moment. It could not have been more perfect. Sometimes the birding gods hand you a lifer. And sometimes, they make the moment absolutely unforgettable.

Jim McCormac pointing out birds before we board the boats.

Birding the parking lot at Burnwood after breakfast. We never lose an opportunity to look for birds - even while waiting for our bus.
Another unforgettable moment occurred while wandering the grounds of Opossum Creek Retreat after breakfast at Birding By Butt. Walking with Doug Sanchez (welcome to The Flock, Doug. You fit in perfectly!) and Susan Kaiholz-Williams, we came across a yellow lady slipper. Susan remarked that it looked like a yellow scrotum. I said it had Hasidic Jew side curls. That's all it took. We all broke into uncontrollable giggles for long, long minutes. I will never be able to look at this beautiful wildflower the same way again.
Yellow ladyslipper (aka Yellow Scrotum Hasidic Jew Flower)

Other life birds at New River included black-billed cuckoo (wonderful looks at Opossum Creek) and golden-winged warbler. Thanks to Julie Zickefoose for getting me both of these birds. Once again, New River didn't disappoint in the sheer volume of birds, the beauty of the mountains and river and the amazing company. As Jeff Gordon once said, "this place is like summer camp for birders". Yes, it is. It really is.

Arizona and Life Bird #300

2011-04-10T11:26:00.025-04:00

This May (a few short weeks away!) brings two wonderful birding trips to my bird-deficient work-intensive life. The first is a half-week at the always-popular New River Birding and Nature Festival in Fayetteville, West Virginia. Accurately described by Jeff Gordon, ABA President, as "summer-camp for birders", New River is warbler heaven in one of the most beautiful places on earth - green, rolling mountains, white-water rivers, gorgeous sunsets over the gorge, breathtaking flora and a gathering of the noisiest, most gregarious and boisterous group of birders ever to assemble in one place - The Flock. Spending any amount of time with these wonderful women (and a few men) re-energizes my soul and I miss them terribly. The Cerulean warbler is my target bird for this trip - I missed it on the 2009 New River trip and it has been my nemesis bird for five years. I know Geoff, Keith, aka Paco, and the other trip leaders will make sure to find it for me. If I can put in my request now, I would like them to deliver a Cerulean to my hotel room as I drink my morning coffee. Now that is the kind of service one can expect at New River and Opposum Creek!

Vermillion Flycatcher

After one and a half days at home following New River (just enough time for laundry and a quick cuddle with the cats and the boyfriend - in that order), I fly to Arizona for my first west coast birding experience. At Thanksgiving last year, my bird mentor, Uncle Jim, casually mentioned that an Arizona trip with him and his lovely wife, Laura, was a possiblity in the spring of 2011. I agreed, assuming that like all good intentions, it would never occur. But I should never underestimate the lure of a life bird - Uncle Jim needs the Mexican chickadee and the juniper titmouse for his list. His good friend and fellow birder, Nell, knows Clifford Cathers, owner of Economy Birding Services, Inc and voila - a few emails, phone calls and plane reservations later, Jim, Laura, Nell and I are joining Cliff for a four day tour of southeastern Arizona.

Most of the birds on this trip will be lifers for me since I have no western species on my life list. Regardless of the number of lifers I collect at New River, the Arizona trip should put me over 300. I hope the 300th bird is a special one - my 200th bird was a Florida Scrub Jay at the Space Coast Festival in Titusville, FL. What will make the 300th bird so special is not the number, but the fact that I will be with Uncle Jimmy when I get it. It can't get more perfect than that.

Stellar Jay

The itinerary that Cliff prepared for us includes the Chiricahuas, Santa Rita Mountains, the low desert near Continental, Madera Kubo, Tubac, Rio Rico Ponds, Pena Blanca Lake, Madera Canyon in the evening for some owling (yes!!), Miller Canyon, Ash Canyon, Huachuca Mountains, Willcox Cochise Lake and Rustler Park. Wow! I will be one tired little birder - but with an amazing list.

Species we are targeting include gilded flicker, gila woodpecker, ladder-backed woodpecker, Gambel's quail, pyrrhuloxia, ash-throated flycatcher, vermillion flycatcher, brown-crested flycatcher, Lucy's warbler, Bell's vireo, verdin, curve-billed thrasher, cactus wren, black-throated sparrow, hooded oriole, Northern bearded tyrannulet, Albert's towhee, greater roadrunner, rufous-winged sparrow, red-faced warbler, Grace's warbler, olive warbler, Hutton's viroe, plumbeous vireo, Western wood pee-wee, white-throated swift, broad-tailed hummingbird, hepatic tanager, Western tanager, greater pee-wee, pygmy nuthatch, hermit warbler, Townsend's warbler, red-shafted flicker, dusty-capped flycatcher, elegant trogon, Mexican jay, acorn woodpecker, flame-colored tanager, Scott's oriole, magnificent hummingbird, broad-billed hummingbird, bewick's wren, bridled titmouse, juniper titmouse, Mexican chickadee, sulphur-bellied flycatcher, Arizona woodpecker, black-throated gray warbler, black-headed grosbeak, Cassin's kingbird, black-capped gnatcatcher, tropical kingbird, Western kingbird, gray hawk, common ground-dove, berylline and white-eared hummingbirds, least grebe, bronzed cowbird, black-chinned hummingbird, elf owl, western screech owl, whiskered screech owl, lesser nighthawk, common poorwill, Lucifer hummingbird, Montezuma quail, zone-tailed hawk, Botteri's sparrow, Anna's hummingbird, Western bluebird and short-tailed hawk. Whew! ALL of these would be life birds for me. Intense? Yes. Exhausting? Yes. Exciting? YES!

Juniper Titmouse (a target species for this trip)

I have purchased three new field guides for Western US and Arizona and am studying like mad. I don't think I will be nearly ready enough, but with four experienced birders to assist, I am looking forward to hitting 300. West Virginia with The Flock and Arizona with Uncle Jim. How lucky can one birder get?

70 Degrees in February

2011-02-19T06:01:00.020-05:00

A tree full of turkey vultures

With a gorgeous and unusual February day, what is more perfect than birding? I have been ashamedly lax in birding. The harsh winter and a job that keeps me on the road and working for hours when I get home are my excuses. But no more. A well-deserved vacation day and record-setting warmth and sunshine were on the calendar. I was prepared to bird in the cold, but lucky me.

Going to my usual haunts- Nockamixon State Park and Peace Valley Park- afforded looks at all the usual suspects. But at Nockamixon, hundreds of snow geese were unexpectedly flying over and making a terrible racket. I found one dark morph goose in with the rest, perhaps a blue morph snow goose. Nice. Life bird wiggle all alone while standing at the shore of a partially frozen lake surrounded by woods. Hope no one saw me and thought I was having an epileptic fit. But one must appease the bird gods after all.

Melting snow making torrents of miniature white-water rapids down the sides of the road added a beautiful background noise to the soundtrack of scolding titmice, frenetic chickadees, throaty red-bellied woodpeckers and single note chirps of brilliant red and orange Northern cardinals. The cardinals have never looked more striking.

The tall iron branches in the forest,

the dense fertility on the ground.

The world is wet.

The morning time

Mother earth is cool.

The air is like a river

which shakes the silence.

It smells of rosemary

of space and roots.

Overhead a crazy song.

How out of its throat

smaller than a finger

can there fall

the waters of its song?

Invisible power

torrent of music in the leaves.

Clean and freshwashed is this day

resounding like a green dulcimer.

Oh invisible little critters

birds of the devil with their ringing

with their useless feathers.

I only want to caress them

to see them resplendent.

I want to see them living.

I want to converse with them

sitting on my shoulders.

You can't touch them.

You can hear them like a heavenly

rustle or movement.

They converse with precision.

They repeat their observations.

They brag of how much they do.

They comment on everything that exists.

And by a sure science they know

where there are harvests of grain.

-Pablo Neruda

A New Year's Toast

2010-12-31T09:44:00.011-05:00

stolen shamelessly, and modified slightly, from an advertisement for Grey Goose vodka (fitting for a birding blog, natch?)

To nearest
To dearest
To my crew
To the cahoots
To the ones who have been there
To the ones who will be there
To dropping everything
To saying anything
To no judgments
To no doubts
To loyalty
To trust
To favors
To lifelongs
To been too long
To nothing's changed
To everything is different
To having history
To having your back
To moving on
To never too far
To growing up
To settling down
To my second family
To friends

Happy new year to all my birding friends. You truly are my second family and are never far from my thoughts and my heart.

Cape May Part Two - It's All About the Birds

2010-11-13T05:51:00.010-05:00

Flocks of tree swallows swirl over the sand

This year Cape May had the largest autumn migration fall-out in over 10 years. Driving to early morning field trips, I had to drive 10 miles an hour to avoid running over the dozens of birds on every paved surface - even the middle of the street. I had to stop the car at one intersection to pick up an exhausted sparrow who didn't move when my car approached and put him on the side of the road where he would be safer. The sky and trees were dripping with birds. Thousands of robins, yellow-rumps and sparrows, tree swallows (along with a lifer cave swallow), finches and kinglets flew through the night and landed in Cape May to rest and feed before continuing migration. Dozens of raptors wheeled through the sky at any given moment.

The weekend provided two life birds for me (cave swallow and lesser black backed gull) and almost 100 species total. But it was the sheer numbers that were breathtaking. I have only been birding for six years, but this was a spectacle unlike anything I had seen and had only read about. I felt blessed to be able to witness it.

My picture taking ability is limited to large birds perched close, so all the bird pictures I have are of mute swans. The most exciting birds I saw were the raptors - dozens of sharp-shinned hawks, Cooper's hawks perched on telephone wires and calling to each other, then flying down to the ground only yards away where I could get good looks at their patrician profiles. An osprey, immature and mature bald eagles, both turkey and black vultures, dozens of harriers (where I learned to identify the juveniles by their gorgeous buffy rufous bellies), red-shouldered and red-tailed hawks, peregrine falcons (!!!), broad wing hawks and dozens of kestrels were highlights of the weekend. There is no place like Cape May for raptor watching.

Morning flight over the hawk watch platform at Cape May Point Park
(click to enlarge and view the spectacle of hundreds of birds in flight)

One of the more unusual birds I saw close up was the woodcock blown in from over the ocean and perched under a staircase across the street from the Grand Hotel. It was obviously exhausted and stressed, so we stayed a respectable distance and, thanks to Jim from Kowa Optics who showed us the location and lent us his scope to observe, I got looks at a forest bird who flys mostly at dusk at Cape May in broad daylight!

Getting great looks at kinglets, thrushes, sparrows, ducks and shorebirds like oystercatcher, dunlin, black bellied plover, sanderling, purple sandpiper, ruddy turnstone (one of my favorite shorebirds), woodpeckers, herons, egrets and terns made for an educational as well as exciting weekend. I was able to clearly see size difference in the cackling goose at the tail end of the V formation of Canada geese. I learned to differentiate the white scapular outline on mallard duck wings and see the color and size difference of lesser black backed gulls vs. great black backed gulls.

I couldn't have asked for a more exciting weekend - birds and great friends.

Cape May Autumn Migration - It's All About the People

2010-11-07T09:53:00.020-05:00

Me and Susan at the Hawk Watch Platform at the Cape May Lighthouse.

The Flock (part of it, anyway) at the Autumn Festival. From left to right, me, Susan, Laura and Delia

The 2010 Cape May, NJ Autumn Migration Festival on my birthday weekend (October 29-31) turned out to be a magical birding experience. A lot of it had to do with the birds - the largest migration fall-out since 1999 (according to the Cape May experts) and two wonderful life birds (lesser black backed gull and cave swallow).

But mostly, the weekend was about the people - my birding peeps. Birding experts and heroes (Pete Dunne, Bill Thompson III, Louise Zemaitis, Jeff Gordon, etc), founding members of the Blogger Flock (who embraced me as one of their own at this very Festival three years ago) and newly-found bird friends and all-around wonderful people.

New friends, Gareth and Rick, at the C-View Inn, relaxing with The Flock after a hard day's birding.

Jersey-licious Laura (on the right) and saucy Susan at the C-View Inn

After arriving Thursday evening from business in Harrisburg, I hit the early morning Friday field trip at The Beanery. My first friend sighting was Jeff Gordon, newly appointed president of the American Birding Association and his lovely first lady, Liz Gordon. Then other friends arrived: Laura, Susan, Delia and Delia's partner AB.

Lots of hugs, giggles and catching up, interspersed with some birding, ensued. Throughout the next three days, we traveled Cape May marveling at the birds and enjoying each other's company.

Susan, Bill Thompson and Delia doing some bird-gazing

Top left: Jeff and Liz Gordon leading a field trip at The Beanery

Top right: Delia getting ready to enjoy whipped cream with a side of blueberry pancakes at Uncle Bill's

Bottom left: Parts of the Flock representing in Cape May (from left: Laura, Susan, Delia and me). Photo courtesy of Laura Hardy

A recent study by a psychologist at Stanford University concluded that one of the best things a man can do for his health is to be married while one of the best things a woman can do for her health is nurture relationships with other women. The myriad ways we connect with our women friends, offering unconditional support in tough times, love and laughter in good times and sometimes just an easy quiet being is undoubtably good for our souls. Being able to share our feelings in a non-threatening atmosphere boosts levels of serotonin, helping combat depression and foster well-being.

I didn't need a study to tell me that these women (and men) are good for me and my soul. But it did reinforce for me that time with my friends is the greatest gift I can give myself. Combine that with a hobby that never ceases to instill in me a sense of wonder and awe in powers greater than myself, and it was definitely a magical weekend.

photo courtesy of Laura Hardy

One Way to Kill a House Sparrow

2010-10-26T18:55:00.008-04:00

I found this dead sparrow hanging from the feeder in the backyard. Obviously it got it's head stuck while digging for seed. You can see the seed stuck to it's face once I removed the corpse from the feeder. What a way to go. I have found four dead sparrows in my backyard this year. Two under a hedge. One in this feeder and one with it's head stuck in the holes of ornamental brick that surrounds the base of my other feeders. House sparrows are annoying, aggressive and invasive. I am not shedding any tears over these dead sparrows, but cleaning up the corpses is kind of disgusting - especially when you have to detangle broken necks from the tiny holes in a feeder. Yuck.

Deep cleansing breath. I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the autumn sunshine and built a fire in the backyard pit. Good book, crackling flames, sunshine, golden and crimson leaves wafting slowly out of the trees, the smell of wood smoke. Life is good.

Autumn Birding

2010-10-10T18:26:00.015-04:00

With an unexpectedly free Sunday morning, I decided to use my Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve membership for only the second time in 2010 and take a birding jaunt on a sunny October day. With the temperatures in the mid-70s yesterday, I was unprepared for the very chilly temps in the mid 30s this morning, so I did not bring gloves or dress in enough layers. Walking briskly through the woods to keep my core temperature above freezing, I listened to squirrels rooting around in the dry leaves and woodpeckers banging on the trees. Crows and blue jays provided the only bird noise for quite a while. It was too cold to stand still and look for warblers. As soon as the sun came up, tufted titmice and chickadees added their voices to the din, but I was still the only human in the entire preserve. I was going to die of hypothermia all alone and no one would find my frozen body for hours.

Even the Bowman Hill cactus were shivering.

Walking across the bridge over Pidcock Creek, I stopped to scan the trees hoping for something warbler-ish. I was rewarded with red-breasted and white-breasted nuthatch and golden-crowned kinglets. Butter butts (yellow-rumped warbler), flocks of goldfinches (almost as many as an irruption - if they were the breed that irrupts) and wood thrush made for a rewarding morning and took the chill off. Red-bellied, downy and hairy woodpeckers were in abundance. Fly over blue herons, turkey vultures and red-tailed hawks rounded out the day.

Two and a half hours later, fingers numb with cold, nose running and ears tingling, I packed it in for a cup of hot coffee and the Sunday New York Times at the local diner.

Log cabin at the Preserve

I haven't been spending enough time birding lately, but am looking forward to the Cape May Autumn Migration Festival at the end of October. Not only will I get to bird at the height of migration in the migration capital of North America, but I will see my blogging friends (Susan, Laura and Delia) as well as pay my respects to the newly hired president of the American Birding Association and friend, Jeff Gordon. I plan on bowing in supplication and calling him "Your Highness" just to watch him blush. Seriously, it will be a wonderful way to spend my 46th birthday (Sunday October 31st) - with friends and with birds. What more can a birder ask for??

Wooded (and chilly) path through the Preserve

Non-Pelagic Birding on the Outer Banks

2010-06-19T13:55:00.025-04:00

After a 9 and 1/2 hour drive to North Carolina, I was tired, but ready to bird! So Uncle Jim and I started our birding weekend in his family room. Birding by Butt, North Carolina-style. Watching the crepe myrtle tree out the window and the pond with the drip faucet, we bagged ten species. Nothing unusual, but an auspicious start to the weekend. He also took me on a tour of his bat box, stuffed with sleeping brown bats. No screech owls in the nest box, but a colony of purple martins (Uncle Jim swears they are all lesbians - he runs a gay-friendly establishment). We made a quick run to the wastewater treatment plant next door and got ruddy ducks, bluebirds and some gulls and then to the quarry for rough-winged swallows.

Uncle Jim doing some birding from the couch.

a The next morning, we packed the car full of snacks, gear, luggage and a cooler full of ice and drinks and made our way to Lake Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge (stopping along the way wherever we thought there might be birds). It was quiet, muggy, hot and....quiet. Not much in the way of bird activity.

At one point, we got out to set up the scope to look at......a great egret. Yup. That's how desperate we were. As a matter of fact, Uncle Jim told me to make sure I put this picture on the blog telling everyone that we are setting up a scope to look at AN EGRET! But slowly and surely, we added a species here and a species there. Pretty soon we had an decent list. When we made it to the Outer Banks, we made sure to see the three lighthouses - each with a distinctive paint pattern and light flash pattern.

Ocracoake lighthouse. My favorite - short and stubby. I can relate.

The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Relocated in 1999, about 1/2 mile inland to pretect it from the eroding beach.

The Bodie Island lighthouse (under scaffolding for sandblasting and re-painting that will take about 12 months).

Another view of the Ocracoake lighthouse

This is the British Cemetary on Ocracoake Island. During WW II, the HMS Bedfordshire, a British fishing trawler was hired by our Navy to escort a band of merchant ships to the Outer Banks. The Bedfordshire was sunk by a German U-boat and the bodies of 4 sailors washed ashore at Ocracoake and were buried by the locals. The tiny cemetary is now maintained by the US Coast Guard station at Ocracoake.

Standing by the barrier protecting the least tern (LIFER!) and black skimmer nesting sites.

It's hard to see in this photo (click on the photo to enlarge), but the bottom of the sign reads, "Illustration by Julie Zickefoose". Hey, I know her! I've birded New River Festival with her! Awesome!

While on Ocracoake, we noticed signs posted on a lot of lawns and in front of a lot of businesses with slogans like "We the People, not We the Plovers". It seems that nesting sites for piping plovers and least terns are being protected at the expense of tourists and residents being able to drive on and access some of the beaches. At a restaurant one night, the waitress asked us if we were birders (looking out the window through binoculars at a green heron may have given us away). When we said yes, she asked our opinion on the plover issue. We explained about the endangered plover and how our encroachment on it's habitat has been the cause of it's demise and she expressed dismay at not knowing that it was an endangered species. It seems that bit of information is not getting as much press as the loss of tourist dollars due to lack of beach access. However, with the local economy built on fishing and tourism, it's easy to see why residents look at protecting a few birds not nearly as important as their livelihoods. I have a feeling this issue isn't going away any time soon.

So it was an awesome birding trip- 81 species, including ten life birds, but more importantly, time with Uncle Jim.

Pelagic Birding Off Cape Hatteras, NC

2010-06-12T16:25:00.023-04:00

Why did I say "yes"? A pelagic birding trip? Me? I get motion sick just riding in a car! No freakin' way. I just knew I would spend most of the trip heaving my breakfast over the side of the boat, adding to the chum slick and embarrassing myself in front of experienced birders. So I had resigned myself to never having pelagic birds on my life list. But it was my birding mentor, Uncle Jim, who suggested the trip. I love birding with him.

So in January I agreed. In February I started to panic.

I got a prescription for scopolomine patches from my doctor, stocked up on Dramamine, bought sunscreen and a rain slicker and pants and prayed to the bird gods and Neptune. Be gentle with me, please.

I studied my field guide to prepare for the birds we were likely to see. Uh-oh. They all look alike - small, brown and gray. This is not going to be a typical spring warbler trip! Well, I will be with some experts who can help me sort them out in between bouts of puking over the side.

The Stormy Petrel II waiting for birders at 5:00am

I drove to North Carolina and Uncle Jim and I birded Lake Mattamuskeet, Pea Island and the Outer Banks (to be covered in another blog post) on the way to Cape Hatteras where at daybreak on Saturday, we boarded the Stormy Petrel II, owned and operated by Brian Patteson and his wonderful staff.

There is a Wilson's storm-petrel flying off to the right in this picture. Honest. Click on the picture to enlarge.

We left dock at 6:00am to head to the gulf stream (a two hour and twenty minute top-speed ride). Lots of fun, if a bit damp. The only time I got queasy was when I went into the bathroom. The enclosed space and the rocking motion made for a bad time, but once out in the fresh air where I could see the horizon, I was just fine. I even managed to eat lunch without getting sick.

In my new rain slicker - steaming towards the Gulf Stream.

Uncle Jim getting salt-sprayed but looking foward to good birds.

Once we got out to the gulf stream, we saw dozens of Wilson's storm-petrels (they soon became the trash bird of the trip - they stayed with us the entire time we were on the gulf stream). They danced and fluttered on the ocean partaking of the menhaden oil that the Stormy Petrel II staff spread on the water to attract more birds. Wilson's storm-petrels dip their feet into the water as they feed, "paddling" to either hover over the food source or perhaps stir up more food. It gives an impression of seabird butterflies. Beautiful and magical. White-rumped storm-petrels soon joined in. I could not tell the difference between the two - the field guides say that the white-rumps have a divided rump patch, but with the speed of the birds and the rocking motion of the boat, all I could see was a brown bird with a white rump.

Pretty soon, black-capped petrels and greater shearwaters joined in. The shearwaters were easy to study since they often floated on the ocean like gulls and let us take good long looks. A Leach's petrel and Audubon shearwater were spotted by some but I didn't get on them. I did get great looks at a lone bridled tern (another lifer). A few Cory's shearwaters flew by. It is amazing to think that these birds spend all their time at sea unless they are nesting or are blown ashore in a storm. Pelagic life list was up to six. Life was good. But pelagic birding is long stretches of blue ocean and boredom punctuated by moments of intense excitement as a bird flies by. Six hours passed and the boat finally revved up to take us the two and a half hours back to shore.

Sunrise on the Atlantic

Suddenly, there was a big ruckus at the front of the boat. A group of six false killer whales was spotted. They gave us great looks as they swam close to and under the boat, almost playing with us. Dolphins, sunfish and flying fish rounded out the ocean wildlife for the day. Then, sooty and manx shearwaters flew in. Awesome - two more lifers for a total of 8 pelagic species for the day.

Two hours later we pulled into dock, salt-caked, sunburned and very tired, but exhilarated from the sights and sounds of a day on the Atlantic.

Fishing boats following us out to sea under a gorgeous sunrise

Wilson's and white-rumped storm petrels dancing on the oil slick (click to enlarge)

After a seafood dinner and a good night's sleep, we left for Ocraoke Island and the Cedar Island ferry, making our way back home. Thanks to Uncle Jim and the crew of the Stormy Petrel II for a fabulous time.

Wordless Wednesday - Missing Aunt Marybeth

2010-04-21T06:06:00.002-04:00

Backyard Carnage

2010-04-13T17:21:00.014-04:00

A fine spring day, scrubbing birdfeeders, admiring the plants in bloom in my yard (unfortunately, the forsythia didn't bloom - but it is full of green leaves and house sparrows!)...

This is the weeping cherry tree in the front yard. Was even more beautiful last week before half the blooms blew off.

And then I noticed this.....

Massacre.

Feathers at the base of the birdfeeder pole. No guts, no bones, no beaks....

Just feathers.

Lots of them.

I think it was a junco. But I am willing to entertain opposing points of view. Any thoughts from the more expert birders out there?

I just wish I had seen the sharpie or the red-tail who had lunch courtesy of the poor bird at my feeders.

After all, hawks have to eat, too.

Deep cleansing breath.

More yard beauty...

Boy Scouts Make Great Beginning Birders

2010-04-13T07:14:00.011-04:00

It has been a long time (about two months) since I posted to my blog. Lack of birding experiences is the main reason. I have a new job that involves a lot of travel and a company car (!!) and am getting ready to have my mother come live with me permanently. This has sucked up a lot of my free time, so birding has taken a back seat. But how could I pass up another opportunity to show young boys the joys of watching birds and help them earn their nature badges at the same time?

My friend, Kathy, has a son who leads a Boy Scout troop and they asked me to do a presentation on identifying common backyard birds.

Here I am with my cool raptor t-shirt from Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. God only knows what I was saying when I did this with my arms...

I asked the boys if they thought birders were nerds or were cool. One of them said, "Well, the t-shirt doesn't help the image"! Wow - cheeky little Scout.

I am passionate about birds. Can you tell?

Don't they look riveted? Actually, they asked lots of insightful and pertinent questions.

Their favorite bird (out of the 20 birds we reviewed)? The tufted titmouse. *sigh*. Boys will be boys.

Dispatch from Space Coast - Day Four

2010-02-21T12:23:00.027-05:00

Great Blue Heron at Viera Wetlands

The last day of the SpaceCoast Bird Festival in Florida arrived quickly. The only festival-related event was a panel discussion with the Bird Brain Trust of Kenn Kaufmann (who, due to laryngitis, was replaced on the panel by Alvaro Jaramillo), David Allen Sibley, Pete Dunne and Michael O'Brien. It was moderated by Kevin Karlson. Big names in birding, a packed auditorium and big expectations. The ID forum offered us the chance to watch experts identify birds and share their thought process. Unfortunately, with so many wonderful slides to view, the presentation quickly ate up the two hours allotted and we did not get through all the photos.

It was interesting to watch the individual criteria each expert uses for identifying birds and see how they reach the same or different conclusions. Sibley and Jaramillo are specific and scientific in their identifications, whereas Dunne is more emotional in interpretations. For instance, instead of giving us specific field marks to identify a reddish egret, Pete Dunne likens the way they move to "linebackers who dropped a tab of crystal meth". Now that is an image I won't soon forget and the next day, when I saw my lifer reddish egret, I couldn't have agreed more. He also compared a red-shouldered hawk's hunched appearance to Winston Churchill.

Winston Churchill (or maybe Alfred Hitchcock) on a pole at Viera Wetlands

Garnering an even bigger audience laugh, Pete Dunne tried to explain the difference between short and long-billed dowitchers. Short-bills have blunter and heavier bills and smudgier markings than the long-billed. He described the long-billed as "gentrified" and the short-billed as "shabby". "You wouldn't mind if your son or daughter was going out with a long-billed, but if they brought home a short-billed, you might have to pull them aside for a bit of a talk." Kevin Karlson asked the experts about their favorite birds and remarked that since the peregrine falcon was the symbol of the Cape May Bird Observatory, it must be Dunne's favorite. Dunne replied, "Yes. If I hadn't married Linda...". He does make me giggle.

When some disagreement on the identification of a female duck photo came up, Dunne asked who the female duck was seen "hanging out" with. She was seen with a drake mottled duck. "I am confident that a male mottled duck is more able to discern a female mottled duck than we are, so I'd call it a female mottled and be done with it." Classic birding-by-impression using shape, size, habitat and behavior to narrow down difficult identifications, rather than relying solely on field marks that could vary within one species from bird to bird -that's what I took away from this forum.

Cooperative blue wing teal at Viera Wetlands

After the seminar ended I took a solo trip to the Rich Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera, a series of connected ponds at a wastewater treatment facility in Central Brevard county, about an hour south of where I was staying. Besides, everyone at the festival was excited about the rare masked duck that had been at the wetlands for the past three weeks and I wanted to tick this one off on my life list.

The wetlands were my favorite of all my Space Coast trips. Although I went without guides who could have found me more lifers, there is something incredibly satisfying about finding lifers on your own. Driving onto the property, I saw a pair of crested caracaras wheeling above. Good omen. Ring-necked duck (lifer), lesser scaup (lifer), hundreds of coots and moorhens, pied-billed grebes, limpkins, glossy ibis, blue winged teal, egrets, herons, anhingas, wood storks, killdeer and tree swallows were abundant. But without a scope, I was hopelessly looking for a small, cinnamon colored duck with a Zorro mask. I didn't see an abundance of birders gathered in one spot which would have tipped me off to the location of the masked duck, either. As I slowly drove by one pond, a woman with a huge camera excitedly waved me over. All alone, in the middle of a pond full of coots and blue wings, was a tiny (smaller than a ruddy duck) beautifully colored duck with a pronounced black mask on his cheeks, diving repeatedly. How gorgeous. Masked duck. Check.

Driving further down the roads, I scanned the pond-edging reeds hoping for green heron (one of my favorite waterbirds) and perhaps a lifer bittern. I knew I was pushing my luck with a bittern - this secretive species is known for blending in with the vegetation and standing stock still making it difficult to spot movement that would alert a birder to it's presence. But a girl can hope, right?

I saw sparrows, green herons (yay!), egrets, little blue herons and turtles in the reeds. Then I saw what looked like some white feathers caught on a reed. I backed the car up at a painfully slow crawl and there he was - clinging to the reeds - a Least Bittern! Wow. Idid the Life Bird Wiggle from my seat and snapped one picture before he disappeared back into the reeds. Could this day get any better?

My lifer least bittern

A flyover pileated woodpecker capped off the day and I drove back to New Smyrna Beach, sated with lifers, but still missing a reddish egret, one of my target birds for the trip.

On Tuesday, my Aunt Maggie drove me to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge where I wanted to get that darn reddish egret before I went back to Pennsylvania. It poured rain for the first two hours of our trip, but we soldiered on and got hooded merganser (lifer!), American avocet (lifer!) - an elegant and beautiful bird - and finally, my lifer reddish egret. Harriers, skimmers, herons, egrets, spoonbills, terns, sandpipers, shovelers, teals, grebes, shrike, limpkin, tree swallows, vultures, hawks, pelicans, osprey, kestrels (by the dozens!), kingfisher, moorhens, coots, phoebe and an alligator rounded out the day. Wow. 3 more lifers with just a short trip to Merritt Island. And while in the gift shop, we got great looks at a male painted bunting, at the feeder, in the pouring rain. Not a lifer, but a nice trip-bird.

Dispatch from Space Coast - Day Three

2010-02-14T14:12:00.012-05:00

scoping for shorebirds on Disappearing Island

Day Three at the Space Coast Bird & Wildlife Festival held a new concentration for me - shorebirds. Peeps, plovers, willets, sandpipers, gulls, terns, loons, sea ducks - you name it - I'm lost. I needed teaching and I needed it badly.

We started our day in a classroom on the grounds of Brevard County Community College where Adam Kent reviewed the 29 species we are likely to see on Florida coasts in the winter, including my goal birds for the day, Piping Plover and Wilson's Plover. Not to keep you in suspense - I got great looks at both once we were in the field. Adam also provided us with convenient cheatsheets that described each bird. My wrinkled and rain-spotted copy is on the desk next to me and you can be sure I will be referring to it throughout this blog post as well as often in the future!

As a frequent visitor to Barnegat Light, New Jersey, I have seen my share of ruddy turnstones (my favorite shorebird until I fell in love with the Piping Plover) and purple sandpipers, but these were target birds for many in our group.

Piping Plover

Thunderstorms and heavy rain were forecast so we quickly drove to New Smyrna Beach and Smyrna Dunes Park. Originally scheduled for later in the day, our guides decided to take us by pontoon boat first over to Disappearing Island so we wouldn't get stranded there in the rain later. Disappearing Island is a large (acres wide) sandbar in the middle of the Ponce Inlet festooned with hundreds of shorebirds and in this case an additional 35 birders sneaking up on them. Without the distractions of crashing waves and other humans, it was easy to compare a Wilson's Plover (the largest plover with a long bill) to the smiliar looking and much more common Semipalmated Plover. I could not tear my binoculars away from the cutest plover of them all - the Piping Plover. An endangered species, the Piping Plover is often difficult to find - but certainly prevalent here on Disappearing Island. With a stubby bill, paler back and bright orange legs, it was cuddly cute.

After Disappearing Island, it was a boat ride back to Smyrna Dunes Park for a walk along the beach and looks at laughing, herring and ring-billed gulls, greater black-backed gulls, Caspian terns, black skimmers (lifer), sanderlings, more plovers including black-bellied, ruddy turnstones (which have developed a gull-like habit of approaching humans begging for food), pelicans, gannets doing fantastic dives into the ocean, short-billed dowitchers (lifer) and dunlin.

The rain came down heavily around 1pm, so a lot of us decided to cut our losses and trek back to our cars. The rain and the size of the group made for a difficult field learning experience, but any birding trip is a good birding trip! The inside of my car fogged up with condensation as I dried off during the drive back to BCCC campus to kill time before my evening symposium by shopping and taking in the sights at the Exhibit Center - chock full of artists, photographers, nature tours, crafters, wildlife and birding organizations and the always entertaining Raptor Project.

The evening presentation was the esteemed artist and naturalist, David Allen Sibley. He spoke about nature study and how it helps sate our desire to understand and classify our natural world. I certainly understand the need to put everything into little cubby holes and organize it - just ask anyone who has ever lived or worked with me! He explained how he struggled for years to pen his wonderful Sibley Guide to Birds and his newest Sibley Guide to Trees. Sibley is a brilliant, brilliant man with an understated and quiet sense of humor. I enjoyed his anecdote about a friend who once said "there is a fine line between birdwatching and standing around like an idiot." As David said to us, "Can you imagine how he feels about tree-watching?!" Insert chuckles here.

I don't know that tree-watching will be my next hobby, but I have ordered a copy of his guide because I can't help but admire someone who can dedicate massive amounts of time, energy and talent to classifying and structuring the world around us to make it easier for the rest of us.

Day Four (Sunday) of the Festival only held a symposium for me (a real Birding Braintrust) - but I planned a trip by myself to the Viera Wetlands to track down a rare Masked Duck that had been seen there throughout the previous three weeks. All the festival participants were abuzz about it. More about Day Four later.

Dispatch from Space Coast - Day Two

2010-02-10T06:49:00.016-05:00

Coming back home from Florida was a rude awakening. Got back just in time for 28 inches of snow followed three days later by another 24 inches (expected to fall today). Dealt with broken furnace and two days of bone chilling cold INSIDE the house, lots of snow shoveling, traveling to different accounts for new job at work...well, you get the picture.

anhinga perched on palm tree to dry out

Now that the excuses for not following up quickly with Space Coast blog posts have been laid out for your humble approval, the story continues....

Day two's field trip took us first to the Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area in Kissimmee. Bordered by Lake Kissimmee, Lake Jackson and Lake Marion, the WMA proved to be fruitful for life birds for me. Brown headed nuthatch, snail kite (one of my target birds for the trip), whooping cranes (another target bird), barred owl, savannah sparrow and crested caracaras were all seen and/or heard (in the case of the owl) along with 64 other species.

Here we are, all lined up on the side of the road to view the whooping cranes at the Double C-Bar Ranch south of St. Cloud, Florida. The ranch is where the original group of cranes was released in the 1990's (after flying from the Great Lakes - Wisconsin region following ultralight planes) . Naturally occuring flocks of whooping cranes in the southeastern United States disappeared in the 1930's. Florida participated in the relocation of over 280 cranes from 1993-2004 hoping to establish a non-migratory flock. Texas was another successful area where whooping cranes were transplanted, but since one hurricane hitting Port Aransas, TX could potentially wipe out the Texas crane population, Florida became an additional site for crane tranplanting. However, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission discontinued the release of whooping cranes into the non-migratory population. Here is the press release explaining the decision. The current non-migratory crane population in Florida is only about 30. There are only 500 of these birds in existence, 350 of them in the wild and the rest in captivity. What an honor to see a handful of them on this trip.

At Lake Jackson, our guide let me use his Kowa scope to try my hand at digiscoping. On the tree across the lake were 4 snail kites, 3 anhingas and one lone red-shouldered hawk (my spark bird!!). Click on the picture for closeup views.

I got great looks at kestrels (almost as common as mourning doves, perched every few feet on the power lines), red-shouldered hawks (I hardly ever see hawks perched when birding, but these reds seemed a bit lazy - always resting, but sharp-eyed), green herons (love me some green herons), and loggerhead shrikes (my bird club, the DVOC, named their World Series of Birding team the Lagerhead Shrikes, so this bird makes me smile - and think of beer).

Day three's trip was a shorebird excursion at New Smyrna Beach. I am pitifully inexperienced at identifying shorebirds, so I was hoping to learn a lot. After a second 12 hour birding day, I was eager to fall into bed and dream of birdies. So I did. More later...

Dispatch from Space Coast - Day One cont'd

2010-02-01T14:42:00.013-05:00

Day One at Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival continued with a trip to the T.M. Goodwin Waterfowl Management Area in the upper St. John's River Basin where I collected an amazing 14 life birds. Easy to do when you are as inexperienced a birder as I am, but still darn impressive.

I saw my first Sandhill Crane there (these proved to be quite numerous throughout the trip) as well as Common Moorhen, Limpkin, Purple Gallinule, Glossy and White Ibis, Pied Bill Grebe, Wood Stork, Black Bellied and Fulvous Whistling Ducks, Mottled Duck, Roseate Spoonbills and Black Skimmers. We also saw a Purple Swamp Hen, which is not considered countable by the ABA (they say it is an established exotic from Eurasia), but I put it on my list. It was clearly a different bird than the Gallinule as the face mask was deep red as opposed to the pale blue of the Gallinule and the bill was solid red as opposed to the Gallinule's yellow-tipped red.

Limpkin

The total species count for me for Day One was 52 with 18 being life birds. This day put my life list over 200 for the first time - a feat I had hoped to accomplish in 2009. Bird #200 was the Florida Scrub Jay and how could it be more perfect than to have it be the bird most associated with Florida?

The birders on my first field trip assisted me in finding as many life birds as possible. After all, birders are amazingly generous people. My name tag was often hidden by my binoculars or my vest, so most people on the trip took to calling me Pennsylvania once they found out where I lived. All day I heard the call of "Hey Pennsylvania, over here! I've got a limpkin in the scope for you!" or "Hey Pennsylvania, do you need a wood stork? I got one - come quick!". The entire bus broke into applause when we did the checklist at the end of the day and I discovered that I had the most lifers of anyone by at least ten. I am grateful for the leadership of David Simpson and Jeff Gordon, but I was touched by the generosity of my fellow birders. To all those birding compatriots - thanks for helping.

The amazing adventure of Day Two tomorrow. Another 6 lifers...

Dispatch from Space Coast - Day One

2010-01-28T17:37:00.020-05:00

Sunrise at the St. Sebastian River Buffer Preserve

Driving in the chilly 40 degree morning at the ungodly hour of 3:30am to get to the bus zone for my first field trip at the Space Coast Bird and Wildlife Festival, I couldn't help but think how crazy birders are for putting up with such early morning calls. However, if it will take the bus an hour to get to the site where the elusive red-cockaded woodpecker will briefly appear at the beginning of his day, you bite the bullet and make the sacrifice.

It turned out to be no sacrifice at all and well worth the effort. The bus was 40 minutes late (damn, I could have slept some more!) but we all grabbed some shuteye on the trip out to the St. Sebastian River Buffer Preserve where 8 clusters (family units) of red cockadeds are established. The staff at the Preserve have translocated another 5 pairs hoping that when breeding season comes around in March and April, that they will stay and increase the number of clusters to 13.

An active nesting cavity tree (note the spray painted circle)

White spray-painted circles mark the trees where active nesting cavities are. Red cockadeds singly inhabit a cavity and they are meticulous house builders and housekeepers. The woodpeckers instinctively know which live pine trees are infected with a disease that makes the wood softer and easier to drill into. However, the tree must reach an average age of 70-80 years before the disease takes hold, so clearcutting and logging have destroyed important habitat that is taking decades to reforest. Clutches of eggs are laid in the male's cavity while both parents as well as "helper" birds - usually males from previous clutches - all participate in feeding. It truly takes a village to raise red cockadeds. The females tend to leave the cluster and make a love connection with other males to start new clusters. The woodpeckers drill holes all around the nest cavity to make the resin run and deter predator rat snakes. Active management in the form of chick banding and the very successful human-built nest cavities as well as translocation and habitat preservation (with

controlled burns) have helped rebuild the population slightly.

Jeff Gordon searching for red cockaded woodpeckers

After trudging through knee-high saw palemettos and grass coated with dew, we came to a trio of active cavity trees and waited. As the sun rose over the horizon, two red cockadeds came out of their cavities to greet the morning and us. What awesome views of such a difficult-to-find bird - found in only 11 states and with only an estimated 6,100 clusters.

Jeff Gordon, tour guide extraordinaire, called in a Bachman's sparrow (another life bird for me), but I couldn't get good enough looks at this tiny skulking bird to count it. We returned to the trucks (we were sitting on hay bales in the back of several pickup trucks) and right by the truck was a Bachman's perched high on a shrub singing his heart out. Great looks in Jeff's scope gave me a view of a life bird that is certainly hard to come by.

Traveling by birder-hayride to another part of the Preserve, we got great looks at Florida scrub jays - funny, engaging and vocal birds. Socially gregarious and breeding in family groups, the scrub jay is the more important species to the St. Sebastian River Buffer Preserve. The Preserve hosts 70-80 scrubjays (in 39 family groups) but has room for up to 125. The Preserve is the fourth largest collection of scrubjays in the state. Disappearing habitat is responsible for their decline.

We left the St. Sebastian River Buffer Preserve to head over to the Marsh Landing Restaurant for brunch. Fortified with corned beef hash and eggs as well as four life birds, I was ready for the next leg of the trip - the T.M. Goodwin Waterfowl Management Area. There I collected an additional 14 life birds!!! More on that tomorrow.

Today's birds from the St. Sebastian Preserve (life birds are in bold):

Red Cockaded Woodpecker

Pine Warbler
Great Egret

Bachman's Sparrow

Eastern Towhee

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

American Kestrel

Eastern Phoebe

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Loggerhead Shrike

American Robin

Gray Catbird

Florida Scrub Jay

Eastern Meadowlark

Long Drive, Beautiful Sunshine

2010-01-27T13:16:00.008-05:00

Aunt Maggie's House - ain't it gorgeous?!

Palm trees instead of hedges outside the window. I'm not in Pennsylvania anymore!

Aunt Maggie must be a bird lover. Check out the statuary!

After a long drive (10 hours the first day and 7 hours the second day), I arrived in Florida for the Space Coast Bird and Wildlife Festival sponsored by the Brevard Nature Alliance. Driving the 30 miles from my aunt's house in New Smyrna Beach to Titusville to pick up my registration materials and explore the campus of the the Brevard County Community College from where the field trips will be staged, I was enjoying the 65 degree weather, bright blue skies and even brighter sun when I realized how sun-starved I was. Now I know why people travel south for the winter. I used to snicker at the "snowbirds", but as my mood considerably lightened and the problems of the past few months drifted away in the breeze, I became a convert. Sunshine, blue skies and birds in January - the cure for all ills. More to come on the Space Coast Festival-my first field trip begins tomorrow at 4:30am and one of the trip leaders is Jeff Gordon. I am anticipating lots of life birds and sunshine.

Blackwater Wildlife Refuge Eagle Cam

2010-01-23T20:32:00.004-05:00

photo courtesy of Blackwater Wildlife Refuge website

It's that time of year again - the eagle couple on the cam-monitored nest at Blackwater Wildlife Refuge in Maryland have successfully laid their first egg. An experienced couple who have returned to this nest over several years, they are expected to lay at least one more egg if not two more. I am addicted to this cam feed and even made a trip to Blackwater a few years ago to see the eagles (although this couple are not viewable since the Refuge will not release the location of the nest in order to protect the eagles from harrassment from too many visitors). The antics of the eaglets are too cute for words.

Blackwater is a beautiful refuge with plenty of hiking trails and comfortable driving trails for bird viewing and over 170 eagles in their recent census. Put it on your must-see list. And check out the Eagle Cam and the Osprey Cam (ospreys are expected to return to the refuge for breeding in March).

Birding Barnegat Light

2010-01-17T15:08:00.011-05:00

purple sandpipers lined up on the jetty to grab some shuteye (please excuse the poor quality of the pictures - I took them with my Blackberry since I forgot to bring my camera!)

I made my annual pilgrimage to Barnegat Light, New Jersey (at the northern tip of Long Beach Island) this past Saturday with my good friend, Kathy. Kathy and I have shared a summer rental in Barnegat Light for almost twenty years and I fell in love with this part of the Jersey Shore a long time ago. But when I started birding I realized that winters in LBI bring all sorts of feathered delights. The rocky shores and relative lack of humans makes it a perfect place for over-wintering sea ducks and other birds. So I have been making this trek in the bitter cold to stand on the jetty and delight in the birds for the last 4 years. I can usually con one or two of my non-birding friends, like Kathy, into accompanying me since a trip to LBI always includes a stop for lunch at the famous Mustache Bill's Diner.

With unseasonably warm temperatures hovering around 46 degrees and bright cloudless skies, the day was perfect for birding. We weren't the only ones who felt that way since the Lighthouse Park parking lot was jam packed with assorted birders and their scopes, cameras and binoculars. In the years I have been making this annual trek, I have never before seen so many birders on the jetty.

When the weather is not so good, the boulders that comprise the 1/2 mile long jetty can be slick and treacherous, but this time, the footing was stable. Alas, my poor friend, trying to take a picture of the purple sandpipers with her iPhone dropped the phone between the boulders and into the ocean. It was the only down part of the day, however.

Our first birds were common loon, common merganser and red-breasted merganser as well as flocks of American robins and European starlings flying over. We also saw brants, surf scoters, common eiders, the famed Harlequin ducks (the stunning bird that is the reason for my annual trip), purple sandpipers, ruddy turnstones, black-bellied plovers, swamp sparrows, turkey vultures, sharp-shinned hawk, Northern harrier and song sparrows. We saw dozens of pintail ducks which in my humble opinion, run a close second to Harlequin ducks in terms of sheer beauty. Assorted gulls including greater black-backed gulls rounded out the day.

With windswept hair and wind-burned cheeks, we trekked back on the jetty and made our way to Mustache Bills for fortification. On our way back down the jetty, I got a call from Laura (Somewhere in New Jersey) who was also coming to look at the winter birds with her friend, Jay, from BirdJam. Unfortunately, schedules being what they are, we only had time for a quick conversation in the parking lot, but it was great to see them.

All in all, a great winter birding day.

The Year in Birds (and other stuff)

2010-01-03T16:44:00.017-05:00

It seems the calendar has tipped over to another year. Gratefully (2009 was not the best of years - politically, economically, etc), I look back on my year in birds and other things.

2009 was the year I met all my blog friends (after a quick first meeting in Cape May, NJ in October, 2008) at New River Bird Festival in West Virginia. What a blast (traveling with a 40 pound cement chicken mascot was a strange part of this trip for sure). Forever-friends I will hold close in my heart for the rest of my life. You all know who you are....miss you and can't wait to see you again this year.

This was the year of lifers. My pitiful little life list grew by 30 in 2009 including my favorites - bobolink, chestnut-sided warbler, Swainson's thrush, woodcock and worm-eating warbler. The last lifer of 2009 was a veery in July. I am grateful for the help I had getting all those important lifers (yes, I mean you, Paco). It was a life experience this year at New River when I held a wild bird for banding. What a memory.

It was the year of the blog. I started this modest adventure in 2009 and made over 55 posts (more than one per week!). What started as a lark to keep Susan from bugging me became a real part of my life that I don't want to give up - although I would like it to be better.

In 2009 I tried my hand at leading bird trips (at least for birders under age 12!). Had a blast and can't wait to do it again.

And it was the year that my yard birds threatened to sue me thanks to the advice from my lawyer friend, Andy. To make up for dissing my yard birds, I did assist in rescuing 11 baby mallards at work.

I was a bird landlord and I traveled to the Philadelphia Zoo to check out more exotic birds I can't find in Pennsylvania.

On a personal note, my career is going through some transition (could be good, could be bad) but my health is much improved after bariatric surgery, so while I look forward to being healthy enough for more extensive birding, work could put a wrench in the plans for trips to West Virginia, New England/ Canada, Florida and Texas in 2010.

The first bird trip of 2010 will be The Space Coast Bird Festival in Titusville, Florida at the end of this month and I can't wait. I know that putting things in writing gives dreams and ideas more meaning and power. So here are my bird resolutions for 2010:

1.) Attend New River Festival again in West Virginia (April 2009)

2.) Go birding with Uncle Jim (mentor extraordinaire) on the New England/ Canada cruise we are taking in July to celebrate my mom's 70th birthday. Bird, don't just laze by the pool on the ship!

3.) Buy that new pair of binoculars I have been saving for (Nikon Premier series).

4.) On the family trip to Florida for Easter, get to Merritt Island for some serious birding.

5.) Visit the Rio Grande Valley of Texas for South American bird specialties.

6.) Buy a decent camera to spruce up the blog (although I will never be the photographer that Mary is - she rocks!).

In the next two weeks, I will make my annual pilgrimage to Long Beach Island, NJ to see Harlequin ducks, ruddy turnstones, purple sandpipers and dunlins that make Barnegat Light their home every year. Target lifer this year is a snow bunting- I am not leaving without one, even if I freeze my newly slimmed down butt off!

To all my birding and non-birding friends, have a great New Year full of health, love and laughter.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

2009-12-25T15:49:00.003-05:00

And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Not even Winston...

Merry Christmas and a safe and healthy New Year to all my friends and family.

Preparing for Space Coast - 59 Days and Counting

2009-11-29T16:18:00.012-05:00

I registered last week for the 13th Annual Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival in Titusville, Florida. I have an aunt (hi Maggie!) in New Smyrna Beach - only an hour away - so I will be staying with her and driving each morning to the festival. I will also be attempting my first drive from Philadelphia to Florida. Nineteen hours! I hate long distance driving and will be stopping for an overnight stay at about the twelve hour mark. If I don't get a lot of life birds, the drive back will seem twice as long.

Scouring the Festival brochure was almost as much fun as being there. This is a huge festival with dozens upon dozens of field trips, seminars and events. Running from January 27 to February 1, the Festival will host keynotes by noted bird celebrities Kenn Kaufmann, David Allen Sibley, Louise Zemaitis, Alvaro Jaramillo and Reinier Munguia. Also in attendance will be my personal hero Pete Dunne and the incomparable Jeff Gordon. I will try hard not to stalk them. But no promises.

The Brevard Nature Alliance is hosting the Festival and along with the Marine Science Center is also co-hosting a North American Gull Conference sponsored by Swarovski Optik. I didn't choose any field trips or seminars connected with the Gull Conference. I am strictly novice at gull identification and my personal goal of the festival is 20 lifers, so I am focused on field trips that will garner those numbers.

Here are my field trip choices (no pelagics - I get terribly seasick. I am afraid that my North American Life List will never include pelagic specialities).

Beach Birds Field Trip: at Smyrna Dunes Park in Volusia County (how could I resist a field trip only 10 minutes from where I am staying??). Rarities like Glaucous or Iceland gulls are a possibility, but more likely to see Wilson's Plover, Oystercatchers, Red Knots, etc.

Central Florida Specialities: looking for these lifers - Least and American Bittern, Glossy Ibis, Wood Stork, Limpkin, King Rail, Eared Grebe, Sandhill Crane, Crested Caracara, Burrowing Owl, Mottled Duck, Grasshopper Sparrow, Red-Cockaded Woodpecker, Bachman's Sparrow, White-Tailed Kite, Whooping Crane, Snail Kite, Roseate Spoonbill, Purple Gallinule, Long Billed Dowitcher, Red-Headed Woodpecker and Florida Scrub Jay. Think I am setting my hopes too high for this field trip?? Wes Biggs is one of the trip leaders and I had a wonderful trip with him at the Quiet Resorts Festival in Delaware. I look foward to tripping with him again.

Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera: Jeff Gordon is one of the leaders of this trip. Looking to collect these lifers: Black Bellied Whistling Duck, Lesser Scaup, Ring Necked Duck.

South Brevard County: Again a Jeff Gordon-led trip. Could see these lifers here: Bachman's Sparrow, Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Scrub Jay, Fulvous Whistling Duck.

I am also looking foward to the Expert Bird ID Forum, a panel discussion moderated by Kevin Karlson. The panel includes Pete Dunne, Kenn Kaufman, Michael O'Brien and David Allen Sibley. And the David Allen Sibley keynote address is also my to-do list.

A side trip to Merritt Island should also prove fruitful. My Aunt Maggie is used to ferrying birders around since she takes her brother, my Uncle Jim and my birding mentor, out to find birds every time he visits. So she is an experienced guide.

Four days of 8+ hour birding trips plus two seminars will wear me the heck out, but I am cramming in as much birding as possible. After all, how often do I get to visit Florida in the company of such distinguished birders?

Veteran's Day - and Dad

2009-11-11T18:38:00.010-05:00

Dad at the Marine Museum in Quantico. Once a Marine, Always a Marine.

My father was a Marine. And a damn handsome one. He served during the Vietnam conflict (stationed on board the Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier) and was away from us for many years while serving his country. He doesn't talk about his experiences in the war. Ever.

There are pictures of him from his Marine days all around his house and he wears his "Retired Veteran" baseball cap with pride. Not to mention the "Proud to be a Marine" bumper stickers competing for space with the Philadelphia Eagles car magnets on his bumper. But still, he never talks about it.

His son, Joe, became a Marine and served for 10 years (including the first Gulf War). My dad was proud as punch and when Joe presented him with an engraved sword in an elaborate Marine ceremony honoring a retired veteran, we all cried and my dad hung that sword on the wall. It's still there. But he doesn't talk about his service.

Dad, his wife MaryAnn and I took a trip to the Marine museum in Quantico, Virginia last year. Gorgeous museum. Eye oepning exhibits, making me proud and sad at the same time. My dad answered my questions when we walked through the Vietnam portion of the museum, but still, he didn't talk much about it.

Then we sat down for a movie about the brotherhood of the Marines. It was sentimental. It was moving. It was stirring (the Marines know how to do pomp and circumstance and they certainly know how to make a bunch of young men brothers to each other). I glanced over and saw the tears on my dad's cheek. He didn't have to say anything. I know, Dad. And thanks.

Missing Birds and Blogging

2009-11-09T18:15:00.011-05:00

I am sorry I have been out of touch lately. No blog posts and definitely no birding. I am preparing for some surgery next week (nothing serious) and work is keeping me in 14 hour days 6 days a week.

I realized how much I missed birding when I looked out the window to see.....a first of the season junco. While I love these little harbingers of cold weather, I never realized how much they meant to me until I felt the huge grin crack across my face. Since I have moved into my new house, my backyard birds have been limited to house sparrows, with a few titmice, mourning doves, nuthatches and goldfinches thrown in for good measure. At my last house, my yard list was a comfortable 57 species (just like the Heinz sauce!) - always full of diversity and something to look at.

Lilac, hydrangea and forsythia, a dogwood, an oak and a weeping cherry tree along with yew bushes line my yard providing good coverage and habitat, but still, the bullying HOSPS dominate. A cardinal couple and a white-throated sparrow joined the juncos pecking on the ground and I was in heaven. Then a house finch flew in. Never thought I would be happy to see a house finch, but I was!

Loooking at my new yard birds made me long for a real birding trip. Like last year's New River Festival. Or Cape May Autumn Festival. Or the upcoming Space Coast Festival in Titusville, Florida. I miss the Flock and I miss the birds.

Come January, I will be back to my normal, healthy self and plan on birding until I drop! And I promise to blog more often, too!

Wordless Wednesday - It's Kitty Time

2009-10-27T19:09:00.003-04:00

Beth, Birds, Boy Scouts and Bill of the Birds

2009-10-11T06:20:00.019-04:00

On Saturday I took a group of 12 Cub Scouts and 8 parents/ chaperones to Peace Valley Park to go birding. Bill Thompson went along in the form of his book, A Young Birder's Guide, which I distributed to all the kids. It was a fabulous two hours full of discovery for these young people. And I had a good time, too.

Bill's book ready for distribution

It drizzled all morning, but we had Scout badges to earn, so we met in the parking lot of the Peace Valley Nature Center where I gave a quick lesson on the use of optics and a field guide. The attention span of a ten-year old is about 6 seconds, so I lost them pretty quickly.

Off to the bird blind where we saw Mourning Doves, Eastern towhee, tufted titmouse, Carolina chickadee, Northern cardinal (easily the day's favorite bird), blue jay, white breasted nuthatch and house finch. While in the blind, I took the opportunity to talk about feeding birds, male vs female plumage and migration. The Scouts impressed me with their intelligent questions and their observations. I anticipated a bunch of apathetic pre-teens who would rather be in front of an X-Box or the computer. Boy, was I mistaken. They were anxious to learn and that warmed my heart (which was shivering in the cold drizzle).

On Deer Trail in Peace Valley Park

Checking out a bunch of rocks where a snake might live!

On to the woodland trails. We saw bluebird and owl boxes which gave me a chance to talk about nesting habits and nocturnal birds. One of the boys saw a great blue heron fly in and perch in a tree over Lake Galena, so we all got great looks at it. Meanwhile, three belted kingfishers were doing a noisy display diving for fish. We trekked for about an hour and saw gray catbird, American goldfinch, mallard duck, downy woodpecker (thanks to a quick spot by one of the parents - I love it when the parents are involved), red bellied woodpecker, Canada goose, Northern mockingbird and the last bird of the day - double crested cormorants. By the time we saw the cormorants perched on rocks in the lake, the boys were more interested in tossing pebbles, so I knew it was time to wrap up the trip.

Tallying up the day's list

The Scouts also found deer and raccoon tracks, deer poop, a small animal den (with a front and a back door, one of them pointed out), turned over rocks looking for snakes, and picked me a beautiful bunch of wildflowers to show their thanks. But the day's best find, and the one that garnered the most excitement and shouting each time it was spotted.....the gray squirrel.

We gathered back at the picnic pavilion to write down our observations and have a snack as well as to gather for a group photo.

Me and the new birders (note some of them holding up their new field guides)

It was a fun birding day (20 species - not bad for a day in the rain with a rowdy group) and I hope that I was able to turn at least a few young boys into birders. Thanks boys. I had a blast.

And a special thanks to Bill of the Birds for a wonderful book that helped us immensely throughout the day.

My thank-you bouquet

My Notebooks, My Treasures

2009-10-01T07:13:00.012-04:00

When I started birding four short years ago, I took a tiny notebook with me and wrote down every single thing I noticed about birds. Field marks (I didn't know that's what they were called), behavior, lists of what birds I saw or heard, mammals and flowers (with little stars next to the bird name if it was a lifer), sketches of tail or head shapes, date, weather conditions, time and location. Looking back over these four books (one per year), it is amusing to see how my skills (limited as they are) developed.

I never wrote down in my trusty Peterson field guide (my favorite because it was my first) where and when I saw each lifer, but the notebooks keep those memories alive.

What made me smile recently were the pages from September 17, 2005 *8am, foggy conditions* at Hawk Mountain in the Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania. It was a two hour drive early one morning. I was going alone to meet members of the DVOC for raptor watching at the height of hawk migration. I had just joined DVOC and had not met anyone from the organization or gone on any sponsored field trips. I was shy and nervous and little did I know that raptor migration was one of the hardest ID situations next to gulls.

I got to the parking lot over an hour early (told you I was nervous) and decided to start the hike up to North Lookout myself and meet them on the mountain. Improperly prepared/ outfitted, wearing sneakers instead of hiking boots and certainly not in the best physical shape, I struggled to make the climb. I felt it was a good thing I was alone instead of embarrassing myself in front of more experienced DVOC members.

photo courtesy of www.hawkmountain.org

I made it to North Lookout and was expecting a flat platform with railings, maybe some benches. Ha! Nothing but boulders, steep dropoffs and experienced birders perched all over. I was so intimidated. And scared out of my wits. I knew if I dropped off the face of the earth (a distinct possibility) none of my family or friends knew where I was. I was about to die alone.

I found a relatively flat boulder and perched gingerly. I tried to focus on birds that people were calling out all over: Magnolia warbler, Philadelphia vireo, Cape May warbler, cedar waxwing, rose breasted grosbeak, olive sided flycatcher, chimney swift, merlin....all of these would have been life birds if I could have seen them. When someone would call out a bird, everyone would jump up and swivel to find the bird. The first time I jumped up, I felt myself lose my balance and that was the last time I stood up. My butt got numb from sitting for almost 4 hours, but I was too scared to climb down! Besides, now it was quite crowded on North Lookout. I saw the DVOC group arrive, but I was so thoroughly cowed that I kept to myself and did not join them.

On a clump of trees in front of me, I noticed small bright yellow birds with black caps and wings. I looked frantically through my field guide, but couldn't find an id. I gathered my nerve and asked the woman sitting next to me (birders are truly friendly) and she told me they were American goldfinches. Wow! My first goldfinch and I thought they were gorgeous. I stared at them for 30 minutes. They were the only birds I truly saw on that trip. I wrote down every bird that others called out, but I only saw the goldfinches and waxwings.

I eventually climbed down the mountain and drove home. Enamored of birding, embarrassed by my shyness (I have certainly gotten over that!) and addicted to my notebooks where I write down everything I see.

Do you use notebooks in the field?

New Home - Finally!

2009-09-13T16:44:00.018-04:00

I am all moved in to my new house. It seems like forever since I signed the lease- 7 weeks ago. Lots of packing, unpacking, cleaning, moving, rearranging and all the accompanying stress.

Moving the kittycats was full of drama, trauma and a little bloodshed (from trying to get Winston into the cat carrier). But after two days huddled under the beds, the cats have adjusted well. They love exploring the new house - it is bigger than the last one. And with a lot more windowsills. A cat's dream home.

Winston, enjoying a little sun and a cool breeze on the living room windowsill

The birds did not follow me. I hung all my birdfeeders and so far have attracted nothing but a ton of house sparrows. Yuck. We'll see how it goes.

While watching my beloved Philadelphia Eagles in the season opener against Carolina (we won), I made a batch of Zick dough at halftime. I stuffed it in the new suet holders that my dad made. Now I will freeze them to harden the dough and have it ready for hanging when the weather gets colder. Aren't they cool? My dad took up several hobbies when he retired - homemade candles and wood crafts. I have benefited greatly from both.

Goldfinch suet holder (check out the serial killer eyes) and Northern Cardinal suet holder both full of Zick dough.

He and my stepmother spent a week with me after the move and cleaned the new house top to bottom (removing storm windows to clean, scrubbing toilets, hanging pictures and draperies, etc). It would have taken me months to finish without their help. My brother, Russ and his life-partner Jeff also visited to help hook up all the electronics. I am technologically challenged and not afraid to admit when I need help.

Dad and Russ hooking up the new flatscreen to the DVD, the DVR, the wireless router, the cable box and the electricity

Today, I had three of my best girlfriends over to see the house, have bagels and coffee and catch up. They live 50 minutes away and finding "girl-time" is difficult to say the least. So this was precious time. We all sat around the farmhouse table, drinking coffee, noshing and laughing so loud that I think I might get protest letters from the neighbors. When we went to make plans for our next outing, we all pulled out our PDAs, cellphones, iPhones and pagers. How pathetic is our dependency on gadgets?

Now that the move is over and I am settled comfortably, I will blog more regularly. I am taking a group of 10 Boy Scouts birding in 3 weeks, so that should make for one hell of a blog entry. Me and ten 10-year olds in the woods - the situation is ripe for great storytelling.

I leave you with a picture of the housewarming present from my friend Kathy - a punched tin bird that holds a tealight candle in it's belly. Friends know what you like. And they humor you.

Legal Troubles are for the Birds

2009-08-16T11:18:00.018-04:00

My friends often laugh at my passion for birding; but those of us who are birders understand and accept the occasional ribbing with good-natured humor (most of the time). For a more serious homily on offensive birder stereotypes, check out Susan's post here.

After regaling my friends about my upcoming move to a new home (only two weeks away!), my friend Janet asked "Beth, what will happen to all the birds that currently mooch off your numerous feeders? How will they know where to find you? Can you leave a trail of crumbs to the new place? This could be very traumatic for your flock…."

I got this email from Janet's husband, Andy, also a friend (I think) and a newly-minted law school graduate studying for the bar exam. Now I have to worry about being legally pursued by my backyard birds who seem to have quite a good case against me for removing the largesse they have enjoyed these past three years!

(I have edited the letter for space reasons)

Dear Ms. Russell,

It is an unconstitutional violation of the fourteenth amendment to deprive a person of life, liberty or property without due process of law. XIV amend., U.S. Const. Here, your wards (the birds) have come to rely upon your charitable contributions and that reliance is a property interest - which cannot be terminated without due process. There is also a liberty concern in whether you are requiring them to move to obtain their property.

For a violation that deprives a person of a property or liberty interest, both arguably at issue here, there must be a pre-termination hearing unless the situation can be resolved via a post-termination hearing without prejudice to the injured party. It is likely that a post-termination hearing, after you've moved their food supply to a new location, will negatively prejudice them as it will immediately deprive them of food, and will require a pre-termination hearing. Any such hearing must balance the private interests and the possibility of wrongful termination against the needs of the government.

There is a high likelihood of wrongful termination since you arbitrarily decided to move. These private interests likely outweigh the government's interest (that is, your interest) to move. Although I do not specifically address the issue, it is likely that an Eldridge hearing will hold that, at a minimum, you must continue to provide food at the present location until they agree to move or their needs are provided by other sources. You may defend by arguing that they are not citizens but you are unlikely to prevail. Termination of property rights based upon alienage classification is subject to strict scrutiny.

Though they are birds (Avian-Americans) they were likely born in the U.S. thus giving them jus soli as U.S. citizens. You may also argue that the XIV amendment only forbids state action and you are not a government entity. However, where an activity is a traditional government action by a private entity, the courts have found state action and applied the XIV amendment.

You are providing welfare, a traditional government activity, and the courts will likely find that the XIV amendment applies to you. Although I am not your attorney (in fact, I'm not an attorney at all), I'd strongly recommend settlement discussions with the birds to resolve their claims prior to a hearing or, more costly still, an action in federal court. Given the strength of the birds' position and the weakness of your defenses, the court could order you to continue feeding these birds and their progeny, forever. To ensure this result, the court could create a constructive trust after your death to ensure that your estate continues to provide support for these birds.Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. My strong advice is to seek competent legal counsel immediately.

So it seems that since the birds are legally considered Avian-Americans (hee, hee) with all the rights and privileges afforded US citizens, it would be in my best interest to enter into mediated negotiations with them to reach a settlement!

*sigh*

I think Andy has too much time on his hands!

Uncle Jim Bands Terns

2009-08-13T06:11:00.018-04:00

My Uncle Jim, bird mentor extraordinaire, often takes part in bird banding projects throughout the year. This summer, he traveled to Pamlico Sound, the largest lagoon on the Eastern seaboard and in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, to band young terns. A 45 minute boat ride from Cedar Island brought the group to a small island with breeding tern colonies.

Click on the picture below for a larger look at the amazing column of terns waiting to be banded

Accompanied by his son, JP, seen here on the left, they and their group banded 5,564 (!!!!) terns in 5 hours! Pretty intense work. It helped that the terns were too young to fly, so they were easily corralled and the group culled off 500 at a time. Don't they look cute all penned up and waiting for their turn/ tern (hee, hee) to get a little bling clipped onto their leg? It was a colony of mostly young royal terns with about 600 sandwich terns mixed in.

I wish I had been there - what an awesome way to spend a day - on a beautiful island in the Outer Banks with over 5,000 baby shorebirds and doing a needed bit for bird research.

Almost Fledging

2009-08-08T13:32:00.019-04:00

Here are two of the four baby bluebirds giving my camera the stink-eye as I check their box. How about those white spots on their feathers? Like a fawn is spotted when it is young.

It has been a long and crazy summer. Too much going on in my life to spend quality time birding and hence, the paucity of posts.

But the backyard bluebird couple are successfully raising their brood of four in the little house my father built for my backyard. I will be moving on September first, ten miles north of where I currently live, and am anxious to see the bluebirds fledge so I can take down the house, clean it out and pack it up for the move. I have already cleaned and packed the birdfeeders, so even my backyard birding has quieted down. But I did get my first yard Baltimore Oriole last week. That brings my yard list up to 53. And this morning, drinking coffee on the deck while trying to figure out how to pack up Beverly the Stone Chicken, I saw a flash of white in the trees. Tree swallows? Went inside for the binoculars and was able to id a pair of Eastern Kingbirds playing tag at the edge of the yard. Cool - first kingbirds of the year.

I remember the first time I saw and identified a kingbird. It was perched on the post that holds up my clothesline. Do you remember the first time you see each of your species? Most of them stick with me. Like the Painted Bunting I first saw with my Uncle Jim while the deer flies ate me alive. Or the Prothonotary Warbler on the tree over the creek that I saw from the bridge overpass. Or the Veery I just got in the parking lot of the state park a few weeks ago. How about the Bobolink in the hay field in West Virginia with my peeps, The Flock. Or the red-winged blackbird that swooped in front of my car onto the shoulder of the road while I waited at the top of an exit ramp. Or the Blue-Winged Warbler that I identified by voice and watched for 1/2 an hour while it sang in Peace Valley Park - my usual bird haunt. Or the Gadwall that Pete Dunne showed me in his scope on a Cape May Autumn Weekend. Or the Chestnut-sided Warbler that Paco got me on at the New River Festival (one of my nemesis birds at the time). Or the Gray Catbird that was so close I could touch it, flashing his rufous rump patch in PennyPack Park. I even remember my first starling - I was on my first bird trip with Uncle Jim and asked him what it was. He called it a "trash bird" and I remember thinking "How can such a pretty bird be trash?". Now I know.

So as I prepare for my move and lots of other stuff at work and at home, I push birding to the back burner. But I have Cape May in October and Space Coast in January (staying with my wonderful Aunt Maggie! - Thanks, Mag!).

Fairy Bluebirds and Bali Mynahs - McNeil Avian Center Part Three

2009-08-02T20:21:00.019-04:00

More amazing birds from my trip last week to the Philadelphia Zoo's McNeil Avian Center:

A Fairy Bluebird from the forests of the Himalayas, northern India, Burma and Indochina.

Check out the feather detail on this mystery bird. I did not write down it's name while I was at the exhibit and I can not find information about it on the Philadelphia Zoo website. If anyone knows what it is, please let me know. It reminds of what the feathers on a Gadwall look like-kind of plain brown from a distance, but the up-close looks will take your breath away.

This Violaceous Turaco from West Africa had amazing maroon underwings only visible when it flew. Unfortunately, I only got pictures of it perched.

Another look at the mystery bird. A funny shape that reminded me of a ballerina in her tutu.

My absolute favorite bird of the entire exhibit was this Bali Mynah from Indonesia. Snow white with teal blue face mask. Gorgeous. The Bali Mynah is critically endangered because of habitat destruction by timber harvest, illegal cage-bird trade, poaching, and nest site competition with the Black-winged Starling. Right now there are only about 13-14 Bali Mynahs left in the wild.

A Victoria-Crowned pigeon (about the size of a large chicken) from New Guinea sunning itself in one of the walk-through exhibits. The feathery crown on it's head would be the envy of lots of church-going ladies. On the 2008 IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature)List of Threatened Species, the Victoria crowned pigeon is listed as Vulnerable.

More Bali Mynahs....

McNeil Avian Center Part Two

2009-07-26T11:26:00.031-04:00

The Philadelphia Zoo's new McNeil Avian Center - home to over 100 exotic birds from around the world.

A Crimson-Rumped Toucanette from South America. They were not at all afraid of all the humans with cameras and flashbulbs. When he flies, you can see the red rump patch. And check out the cute little blue cheek patches:

This is the Blue Breasted Kingfisher from Africa:

There was also a Micronesian Kingfisher that is extinct in the wild, but the Philadelphia Zoo is trying to breed it. It was so shy that it was hidden behind too many branches to get a good picture. Here is a photo from the Internet showing what they look like:

photo provided by http://www.treknature.com/

My fingers are crossed that the Zoo gets a good breeding program for this bird in peril. Like other bird species in Guam, the Guam Micronesian Kingfisher (Halcyon cinnamomina cinnamomina) was decimated after the arrival of the introduced brown tree snake. Faced with imminent extinction, Guam and several research and conservation institutions, including the Philadelphia Zoo, captured the last 29 kingfishers between 1984 and 1986 to establish a captive breeding population in the hopes of re-introducing birds to the wild someday. Recently, a captive breeding population has been established on Guam.

Here is a pair of Collared Finchbills from southeast Asia:

" Dude, seriously. You need to trim your toenails!"

This amazing bird (about the size of a wild turkey) is a Yellow Knobbed Curassow from South America. He had jet black curly feathers on his crown and will eventually develop a yellow knob at the base of his bill (hence the name):

The Avian Center conducts a Flight Show twice daily with trained birds flying around Bird Lake outside the Center. The Sun Conure (seen below) can be found in most of South and Central America as well as parts of Mexico. In the wild Sun Conures are friendly, peaceful birds and seldom fight living together in groups of twenty or more, even during the mating season, and feeding on various seeds, fruits, and insects. The Flight Show included these Conures making circuits around the lake and swooping over the heads of guests. Colorful and cheerful, they were a joy to observe. You may have read in the news that one of the juvenile Conures made a break for it last week during one of the Flight Shows. Fortunately, he was spotted in Fairmount Park and quickly returned to the Zoo within 4 days.

And this is a Double Yellow Head Amazon Parrot who also took part in the Flight Show. He landed not 2 feet in front of me on a fence post and I got this picture of his face. Doesn't he look puzzled to see me?

"Whatcha' doin' out here in the sweltering heat, Beth?"

More pictures and birds of the McNeil Avian Center in the next post.

Babies, Babies, Everywhere

2009-07-26T11:15:00.004-04:00

The bluebird couple and house wren couple that have made their home in my nest boxes have both laid eggs and now the bluebirds have hatched. The pictures are poor quality because I can not get the camera all the way into the nestbox and I don't want to stress the babies or the parents by removing nestlings to get good shots. Four of the five eggs have hatched so far. I don't know if the fifth egg will hatch or not. As you can see in the picture, the babies are very new and are not sitting up or opening their eyes yet. This morning, the parents were kept quite busy bringing moths and caterpillars to the box to feed them.

The house wren mother was incubating eggs when I went to check the boxes and she did not leave as I approached, so I left the box alone. Instinct to incubate and protect the eggs is so strong that it overrides the bird's personal safety. I will check the box again in a week or so and see how they are doing.

The McNeil Avian Center at Philadelphia Zoo

2009-07-26T10:46:00.016-04:00

The new Aviary at the Philadelphia Zoo opened in May 2009, but I haven't had time to get to the zoo until now (and July is a hot crowded time to visit any zoo). The Philadelphia Zoo is America's oldest zoological park and I have been privileged to visit dozens of times as a child and adult. But I haven't been back to the zoo since I began birding four years ago, so I was excited to have an opportunity to see birds of other continents that I may never have the chance to see again. After all, I am no Phoebe Snetsinger and international travel is expensive!!

The Philadelphia Zoo’s new $17.5 million McNeil Avian Center has walk-through habitats with over 100 birds from around the world, many of them rare and endangered. The birds include huge Rhinoceros Hornbills, striking Victoria Crowned Pigeons and gorgeous Fairy Bluebirds and Bali Mynahs. Aimed at children, the 4-D Migration Theater has a animated movie following Otis the Oriole on his first migration to Mexico from where he hatched in Fairmount Park. In this movie, Cape May, New Jersey is prominently featured as a migration stopover for hundred of thousands of birds. Those of us who also migrate to Cape May for the bi-annual migration festivals are well aware of the special nature of Cape May.

At the McNeil Avian Center I got some great pictures with my little point-and-shoot digital. In parts of the exhibit, the birds are behind mesh cages and in parts you can walk right up to the birds (and they can poo right on you!).

Future blog posts will highlight the birds of the McNeil Aviary, but here is a video of the SubSaharan Africa section of the exhibit. You can hear the shrill singing of the Magpie Shrikes. The video pans over to a Hammerkop and an Egyptian Plover.

Eggs Have Arrived!

2009-07-19T14:49:00.006-04:00

A house wren has moved into one of the houses in my yard and bluebirds into the second house. I think the wren finally has a mate because I often see two of them going in and out. However, no eggs yet, although the nest has grown to gigantic proportions! Now the nest is lined with feathers, so perhaps they are preparing for eggs. Trust me (I stuck my finger into the nest cup - it is quite deep) and it is soft and totally feather-lined. See how close the nest comes to the top of the nestbox? It's huge!

The bluebirds have been more successful.

Mr. & Mrs. Bluebird have a clutch of five eggs. I couldn't get the camera all the way into the box, so you can only see two of the eggs in this picture. The bluebirds incubate most of the morning and evening, but in the heat of the day, they leave the eggs alone. Aren't they a beautiful shade of blue? And so tiny.

My Life as a Landlord

2009-07-11T18:01:00.007-04:00

My father made birdhouses for me to hang on the old volleyball net posts in my backyard. For the last two years, I have had tree swallows in the single house I hung and I loved watching them with their beautiful iridescent blue backs and snow-white bellies as they glided in and out of the house to feed the youngsters. Year one I had five babies fledge from the little house and year two saw a family of four babies fledge along with a mighty bad infestion of feather mites that swarmed over my arms when I took down the house after the fledging.

This year, my father made me two houses (one with a pink roof and one with a blue roof - how cute). I was hoping for tree swallows again. I hung up the houses on a Friday in early April and on Saturday morning tree swallows were checking out the real estate. But they seemed to have trouble fitting in the opening and soon left. I took the houses into work and bribed the Maintenance staff (with chocolate chip cookies) to enlargen the holes to 1.5 inches in diameter. The very next day the swallows were back. Whew. All is well.

Uh oh. Three days later, enjoying coffee on the deck, I saw a male house sparrow going in and out of one of the houses and the swallows were nowhere to be seen. Damn HOSPs. I went over to the box and evicted the HOSP by removing his messy nest. The other box was empty. I evicted the HOSP three more times over the next week before he gave up, but the swallows never returned. I was heartbroken.

I called my Uncle Jim (bird mentor extraordinaire) who assured me that bluebirds (who have up to three broods over the summer), wrens or chickadees may still move in. I kept my fingers crossed.

In mid-June, I noticed a bluebird couple checking out the house with the pink roof. Yipee! Meanwhile, a male house wren was studiously bringing sticks to the house with the blue roof. Whoa - I have an integrated neighborhood! The bluebird couple seem so loyal to each other with the male catching caterpillars and bugs from the lawn and bringing them to the female who continued to stuff the house with sticks and dried grasses.

The poor house wren (the males build the nests and then sing to attract females who choose a mate based on whether or not they like the nest) continued to stuff sticks into his house and spent many an hour singing at the top of his lungs in vain for a mate. Sometimes the sticks he would bring to the house were too big to fit in the opening and he would spend minutes figuring out how to get the stick in sideways. Quite comical.

The house wren still seems mate-less, but it could be due to the fact that his house is so stuffed full of sticks I don't think a bird could fit in there! A classic case of trying too hard.

The bluebird couple seem ready to settle down and make a family. No further sign of the HOSPs and that makes me happy.

I will keep a close eye on both houses to see if any families are created. My dad is proud that his handiwork is providing for little feathered creatures and I am proud to be a landlord that provides the kind of housing that birds want.

Titmice, Thrushes and Towhees

2009-07-11T17:06:00.013-04:00

Saturday morning, cool, sunny and breezy (for the middle of July anyway). No family or friend obligations. No pressing work issues. What's a girl to do with a whole summer day stretched ahead of her? Go birding, of course.

I usually bird Peace Valley Park only 3 miles from my house. Beautiful Lake Galena, woods, paved trails, hiking trails, whatever strikes my fancy. But today I wanted to try Lake Nockamixon, a state park about 10 miles away. So fortified with coffee and doused in bug spray, off I went - spotting turkey vultures in the sky for the first bird of the day.

I turned off the state road at the first hiking trail sign I saw and hiked into dense woods. Bugs everywhere, but the bird songs were loud and there was lots of movement in the trees. Yup, worth it. The first birds I saw were a family of noisy and rambunctious titmice chasing each other in spirals up the tree trunks. So inquisitive and cheerful. I know most birds don't participate in "play", but these titmice sure looked like they were playing. Time to move on.

Hairy and red-bellied woodpeckers were in attendance. White-breasted nuthatches (hello, old friend) and red-eyed vireos were singing up a storm (a monotonous storm at that). Peewees, catbirds, robins and phoebes were also collecting moths and other small bugs and feeding youngsters noisily begging for breakfast. A hermit thrush jumped from low limb to limb keeping an eye on me and allowing me a good look at his rufous rump patch. Chickadees and a lone rose-breasted grosbeak rounded off the forest trail birds I spotted in the first half hour.

Next, I headed to Lake Towhee and hiked into the "campground" areas in the woods surrounding the lake. The woods were silent. Tried using my new Birdjam (hi Jay!) to call in anything. No luck. So back to the car and as usual, the most bird action was in the parking lot. Doesn't it always happen that way? Robins, phoebes and catbirds were flitting around the edges of the woods. Chipping and song sparrows were on the manicured lawn of the playground area. Purple martins and barn swallows glided over the water. Eastern bluebirds flew in and out of two nest boxes near the playground.

Heard a wood thrush (gotta' love that eee-o-lay) and used Birdjam to call it in. Got a nice look and then saw another thrush-sized bird on the ground that wasn't a hermit or wood thrush. What the heck is that? Not a lot of chest streaking. No rufous rump patch. Juvenile robin or wood? Nope. Swainson's???? Nope, no eye ring. A song like a muted wood thrush (Peterson's describes it as liquid and ethereal). I took out the trusty field guide and found it - Veery! A lifer for me! I did the life bird wiggle (a condensed version since I was alone) and used Birdjam to call to it. Yup, it sang right back to me. Wow. How nice to get a totally unexpected life bird today. I got nice long looks at it and left the lake satisfied.

I drove to another hiking trail and went into the woods again. Something singing loud and insistently sounded familiar and very, very close, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I am not at all experienced at birdsong. I soon saw movement directly ahead of me about 10 feet up. Wow - gorgeous! Larger than a warbler but smaller than a robin. Black head and beak, white belly and chestnut side patches. Bright black button eyes. White outer tail stripes. What is it? This little bird was singing his heart out. Chestnut-sided warbler? Nope. Bay-breasted warbler (that would be a lifer!!)? Nope. What other birds have chestnut sides? I finally pulled out the guide. There it was. Eastern towhee. A bird I have seen a hundred times at feeders. Why didn't I recognize it? And isn't the lake nearby called LAKE TOWHEE???? And that distinctive song - drink-your-tea. I felt foolish for not getting it right away, but here was an opportunity to see a towhee (I still think of them as Rufous Sided Towhees - I don't like the name change) in the forest and not at a feeder.

Three hours had passed and I was getting eaten alive by gnats and skeeters despite my dip in DEET. So I packed it in for the day. Not a bad haul for 3 short hours.

Turkey vulture

Mourning Dove

Rock Dove

American Robin

Gray catbird

Wood thrush

Hermit thrush

Veery

Eastern bluebird

Tufted titmouse

Northern cardinal (looking a bit ragged - feather mites?)

Black-capped chickadee

Rose-breasted grosbeak

Eastern towhee

Purple martin

Barn swallow

Canada goose

Great blue heron

Chipping sparrow

Song sparrow

Hairy woodpecker

Red-bellied woodpecker

Eastern phoebe

Eastern wood peewee

Red eyed vireo

Blue jay

American crow

White-breasted nuthatch

Wordless Wednesday - Baby House Finches

2009-07-09T15:01:00.004-04:00

Final Duck Update

2009-07-06T16:05:00.016-04:00

Lucy and one of her youngsters strolling the courtyard.

It has been quite a saga with the duck families in the courtyard at work. See previous posts here, here and here.

Ethel and nine of her eleven ducklings were quickly relocated to the pond on campus to make room for Lucy and her eight babies. Two of Ethel's babies were adopted by Lucy, but died. Another three of Lucy's babies also died, leaving just five ducklings who soon grew into quacking, eating and swimming machines!

While I was on vacation, the Maintenance Department decided that the fountain was getting too polluted. One of the ducklings had already flown off on it's own and the ducks were getting too used to human company. It was time to relocate the rest of the family into the wild.

Catching the larger ducklings was easier than catching the tiny balls of fluff that so eluded us in the first relocation.

Ken, our Director of Plant Operations, with one of the youngsters looking longingly towards the ground.

Craig releases the family into the pond on the campus - their new home.

Swimming off into the sunset......bye, ducks!

I'll miss those little fluff-balls. It sure was fun watching and learning from them.

Some of My Favorite Things From Las Vegas

2009-07-02T21:08:00.013-04:00

Luxurious hotel rooms with turndown service, chocolates on the pillows and amazing staff...

Nothing like a good minibar...

Wow, the bathroom was bigger than my first apartment. And I am all about a soaking tub...

My new favorite drink - a Sidecar (vanilla infused cognac, Cointreau, pineapple juice, sour mix in a sugar-rimmed glass)....yummmmmmy....

Tacky statues in the casinos (this is Buck and Winnie Harrahs)....

Riding in a Cadillac Escalade limouisine....

the tub again.....

Fantasy fountains in the hotel lobby.....

It was a great trip even if the only birds I saw were house sparrows!

Birding in Las Vegas

2009-07-01T15:57:00.000-04:00

Prairie Spring

2009-06-30T16:13:00.012-04:00

Second only to birding, reading is my passion. I got my first pair of prescription eyeglasses just three months ago and never realized that for the last two years, my waning interest in reading was only due to eyestrain. Once I got the glasses I could again read for hours (I can sit in one spot reading until the sun goes down and it is too dark to see).

Getting books in the mail from my book club or Amazon.com or eBay is like Christmas morning. Just before vacation, a package arrived at work with three long-awaited books to take with me to Las Vegas.

Prairie Spring, by Pete Dunne (my birding hero -- right up there with Julie Zickefoose), is an amazing journey into the midwest grasslands of North America during the season of rebirth (excitingly for all fans of his, Dunne is writing books about each season - can't wait until the next one). Not just about birds (although there is a passage about sandhill cranes that moved me to tears, pages 46 to 52), Dunne takes the reader on a learning journey, painting pictures with words, but gently teaching when you aren't even looking. The power of the prairies, their fragility and their place in the cycle of nature is all laid before us for our wonder and our education.

For longtime fans of his work (that's me, Pete!), there is no dearth of his wonderful sense of humor. But pathos, drama and all other elements of a season are also present. Dunne writes just like he talks - full of wonder, passion and energy.

An excerpt: "...I couldn't help but think how much a person's life is like a shadow. When we are young, standing tall as we can in the morning light, it stretches out in front of us, pointing the way toward possibilities that seem beyond reach. At noon, with the sun high above and life at its pinnacle, our shadow disappears, we think. Or maybe we're just too busy to notice it. Later, as evening gathers and we have time to reflect and more to reflect upon, we look back over our shoulder, and there it is again! Falling along the path we've taken and, if we are lucky, upong many wonderful experiences extending all the way back to.... Well, I think I'll leave it to you to fill in the blank. You have your shadow. I have mine."

I finished the book on the plane and now want to make plans to visit the vast prairies of the United States - for the bison, the cranes, the sparrows and the pronghorn, the wildflowers, the Native American stone paintings, the prairie chickens and the canyons, the prairie dogs, the vastness....Pete Dunne has put the prairie bug in me. Thanks, Pete.

Blogging Without Pictures

2009-06-23T17:24:00.009-04:00

I wanted to post before I left at 4:30am (!!!) tomorrow for my vacation in Las Vegas. I diligently took pictures of the duck family in the courtyard at work and even took pictures of three new books I am taking with me on the trip (you can't spend ALL your time gambling when you are in Vegas for five days - one bird-related book, a new Pete Dunne book and a food book by Alice Waters, my culinary hero), but I left the USB cable for the camera at work. So this will be an old-fashioned blog post - no pix.

Duck Update:
One of the six remaining ducklings died last week (the smallest one - we think it was the last of the adopted ones from Ethel's brood). I found it in the food bowl when I checked on the family one morning. It was curled up with its eyes closed, so I thought it was sleeping, but upon closer inspection, it was clearly dead. No obvious signs of trauma, so I don't know what caused its death, poor little thing.

The remaining five ducklings seem happy and are getting a little too comfortable around humans. The fountain they swim in is very shallow (maybe four or five inches), but the ducklings like to practice "zoom swimming" where they rocket underwater like sleek little otters. Quite amusing.

Since the fountain is getting polluted and the ducklings are getting comfortable with human interaction, we decided to set them free next week. The plan is to herd them through the short hallway that connects the courtyard with the rest of the campus. Lucy (Mama Duck) can then lead them to a new home. Staff have promised to take pictures of the release for me so I can post about it when I return from vacation.

Vegas and Birds:
I am looking forward to some down time in Las Vegas with good restaurants, lots of laughter, a few shows, lazing by the pool and of course, some blackjack. In the five years I have been making this annual pilgrimage, I have never gone birding (Vegas in July is damn hot and my mind is on other pursuits). All I tend to see are starlings and house sparrows anyway. So don't expect bird updates from Vegas, but there may be other things to write about. What happens in Vegas...will probably make it to my blog!

Swirling Starlings

2009-06-16T09:45:00.004-04:00

Here is a link to an ABC News video of starlings swirling and converging on a tree and causing it to bend over. Scott Fraser, a member of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (DVOC), of which I am a proud member, captured this video while driving home one day. Pretty amazing!

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7816782

Duck Update

2009-06-10T11:12:00.012-04:00

This a post both happy and sad - updating the story of Ethel and Lucy, two female mallards who birthed ducklings in the courtyard at work.

We relocated Ethel with nine of her eleven ducklings to the pond on the same property as the courtyard where she and Lucy lived. She was spotted by our Director of Plant Operations crossing the driveway that very afternoon, followed by her brood, to the creek that runs behind the property. We haven't seen her since, so I happily assume that she made a home in the creek. Canada geese also inhabited the pond where we relocated her, so the duck family may have been unwelcome from the start (kind of a Crips and Bloods situation - fighting over the same turf!).

Ethel and brood swimming in their new home

Lucy, left in the courtyard with her original eight ducklings, quickly adopted the two of Ethel's ducklings that we couldn't find in time to relocate with Ethel. For two days, the brood of ten followed Mom around without incident. The Maintenance Department here (wonderful guys, all of them), built a little pavilion to protect the food bowls from the elements and Lucy and her youngsters were living the high life.

Food bowls under the handmade "Duck Pavilion"

The last few days, however, have only seen six of the ten ducklings with Mom. After searching high and low, we can not find four of the babies. Was it a hawk, illness, starvation or weather that caused the death/ disappearance of these ducks? We will never know.

Lucy and the six surviving ducklings

But life goes on - and the six ducklings left are enjoying swimming, eating, preening, chasing each other and other duck-like pursuits. I sit with them in the morning for 10-15 minutes. They are skittish at first but after I am still for a while, they ignore me and go about their business. It is an honor to share my mornings with them - I enjoy their antics. More updates to follow.

"What 'choo lookin' at????"

Cuteness x Eleven

2009-06-04T17:24:00.039-04:00

There is a gorgeous courtyard where I work. A fountain, lots of wonderful landscaping and a great habitat for birds, including ducks. Every year, a mallard mom lays her eggs in the courtyard and raises a family. This year, there were two moms - one with 8 babies and one with 11. That's 21 ducks in a very small courtyard. Not healthy for the ducks or the fountain! So we decided to relocate the family of 12 (the duck dads were absentee fathers: wham, bam, thank you ma'am). The Maintenance staff noticed that the ducklings could not climb out of the fountain so they built a small brick staircase for them. It worked. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the ducklings climbing the stairs!

So one afternoon last week two Maintenance staff (Craig and Josh), a Marketing Department staffer (Heather) and I gathered empty trashcans and cameras and trooped into the courtyard. Both moms (Ethel and Lucy) were sitting under a tree on the babies (it was drizzling). We approached cautiously, but the moms hissed and made their displeasure known.

Check out the gorgeous blue on Ethel's wing.

Hard to believe she could fit 11 ducklings under her.

One of the men threw a towel over Ethel and we put her in an empty trashcan. The chicks ran helter-skelter in all directions. The chase was on!

One by one, we gathered chicks - or should I say we TRIED to gather chicks. It was cold and muddy and rainy. Here were four educated, mature adults outsmarted by tiny balls of fluff. They ran under hedges and bushes and darted between our legs as we lunged helplessly after them. We got scratched by thorns and twigs, covered with mud and leaves and rain.

While we were searching, we found one of the nests with the empty egg shells. Pretty cool.

Catching the ducklings may have been

difficult, but holding and cuddling them was

worth the effort.

A little one (damp around the edges) in the holding tank.

Craig proudly holding one of his captures.

One youngster peeping loudly at me as I try to

focus the camera with one hand while not squishing him.

Heather enjoying her new friend before putting him in the trashcan with his brothers and sisters (with Craig and Josh still on duckling patrol in the background).

I tried holding them the way Bill Hilton taught us at

the bird banding demonstration at New River Nature and Birding Festival.

It calmed them right down. (Check out the mud on my hands and arms).

Soooo soft....

After an hour, we had located nine ducklings. We had to give up - the rain was getting harder and we were afraid of stressing out the family any more than we already had. We assumed that Lucy would adopt the two leftover ducklings into her brood (we checked back early the next morning and she had done just that). It was time to move the family to their new home (the pond on the campus about 1/4 mile away).

The new home for the transplanted family.

Loading the ducks onto the van for the short ride to the pond.
We let mom out first and the ducklings swarmed after her. They made an exploratory circuit around the new pond and seemed to settle right in. A happy ending for both families.

Rescuing 11 Baby Mallards

2009-06-04T15:29:00.002-04:00

Today I helped relocate a mother mallard and her 11 (!!!!) ducklings. More photos and more of the story in future posts.....

Yet Another List

2009-06-03T20:13:00.015-04:00

Wakerobin Trillium

My name is Beth, and I am a lister.

Yes, a serious lister. I love birding and I can't imagine my life without it. But I can't bird without listing. Every single time I go out. The only time I don't keep a list of the birds I see is when I am backyard birding. My North American ABA list is 190 species). My Pennsylvania list is 82 species. My North Carolina list is 78. My New Jersey list is 101. My West Virginia list is 90. My yard list is 52 species. I will have a Florida list when I go to the Space Coast Bird Festival in January 2010. Get the picture?

Keeping up with all the lists is almost a full time job in itself. Lots of spreadsheets and several notebooks with scribbles, smudges and wet pages.

Wild Strawberry

On my trip the New River Festival, I pretty much ignored all the wildflowers that people were seeing and appreciating. I wanted birds, darn it. I came for the birds. Well, the guides and the birders wore me down. I started to notice the wildflowers.

Then I started to keep a list.

I just bought a wildflower field guide.

Damn it.

I'm hooked.

Another list.

Cow Vetch

Winter Cress

Beard Tongue

A New Life Bird??

2009-05-31T06:36:00.008-04:00

Everyone knows I laugh easily (Susan calls me Tickle-Me-Elmo)...but this email had tears coming out of my eyes! It can be hard when none of your friends or family are birders. They don't understand the excitement of seeing a new bird or the satisfaction of stalking and identifying a bird. So my bird-habit is often the butt of family and friend jokes. It is all in good fun and I love a good belly laugh.

My uncle (who kindly invited me to spend a few days with him in West Virginia after the New River Festival), recently sent me an email:

"We were at the cabin for the long holiday weekend when we saw a bird that was smaller than a chicken. I said it could be a Cornish Hen, but I wanted to check with you and see if we were in their range".

A Cornish Hen? That would have been a lifer for me.

Hee, hee, hee....

Yard Sale-ing

2009-05-30T17:09:00.007-04:00

The SUV, loaded to the toppy top with goodies acquired at one sale.

Warm sunny Saturdays in May are meant for two things - birding (natch!) and yard sale-ing. Last weekend, two friends and I planned our attack on area yard sales. Our strategy included meeting early (6:30am- which is not early if you are a birder!), scouring the local Penny Power for area sales and plotting our route in the GPS. Perhaps one in fifty yard sales turns out to be unbelievably rich with quality items at cheap prices. This Saturday, we hit one of those sales.

Another view of the inside of the car, loaded with stuff.

Advertised in our Penny Power as being in an "upscale neighborhood" it had us scoffing at the implied (or explicit) snobbery. We were one of the first ones there and could not believe our eyes. Held on the lawn of a McMansion, the goods spread out were top quality and with incredibly low prices. We started stocking up.

My job was to guard the ever growing pile of stuff we wanted to buy from the other shoppers. Sometimes things can get rough, you know!

I spent $24 and came away with an Italian wooden salad bowl set, a floor lamp, two framed prints, two picture frames, a silver wine bucket, an insulated wine bottle/ picnic tote and a margarita set with pitcher and 8 glasses. My friends bought similar treasures including solid oak breakfast bar swivel stool/chairs for $3 each (I was so swept up in the spirit of buying that I almost bought those myself - but I don't have a breakfast bar!).

This is my friend Jody checking out the hula hoop before buying it (for $1). The hoop is weighted heavier than usual hoops so that it can be used for aerobic exercise. Jody got bruises on her hips from it, but bought it anyway! My other friend, Kathy watches as does the house owner.

Packing all our goodies into the SUV was quite a feat. Here I am in the backseat wearing the lampshade from my lamp so it doesn't get crushed and getting pushed around by the hula hoop.

After unloading, we travelled to other sales, but none lived up to the McMansion sale and we returned in the afternoon to see if there were new goodies put out for sale. Then it was off to Doylestown for lunch and a stroll through the used book store.

All in all, a very, very good day.

Wordless Wednesday - Baby Robins

2009-05-27T06:09:00.004-04:00

Cat People vs Dog People

2009-05-24T21:41:00.016-04:00

I have always been a cat person. My brothers tell me that if I adopt again, they will hold an intervention. I will be known in my old age as Crazy Cat Lady.

But this weekend, I met Dusty, a 10-week old golden lab who belongs to my friend Jody and her family.

This sweet face could turn me into a dog person.

All he wants is a stable home and leadership.

And in return, he will give years of loyalty, love and joy.

He almost made me a dog person. Almost.

There is no happy quite like puppeh happy...

My Life With Cows, Too

2009-05-24T09:05:00.008-04:00

I moved to the "country" three years ago after growing up in the heart of Philadelphia. All of my friends and most of my family are city-people. They love the dynamics, the crowds, the buildings, the culture. But 10 years ago, I couldn't wait to leave the city. I hated the cement, the exhaust, the noise, the lack of nature and green and peace and wildlife. So when the company I work for offered me a position in upper Bucks County, PA, I jumped. I moved to a farming community about seven miles from work. Close enough to retail outlets to make life convenient, but no crowds, lots of open space, farms, no streetlights or traffic on my street......and cows out my bedroom window.

I live next door to a dairy farm (which by the way, produces delicious milk). During the winter the cows stay in the barns or close to the barns which are 1/2 mile away, so I only see them when I go to the tiny store on the farm to buy milk, eggs and ice cream. But once warm spring weather comes, they walk the length of the pasture each morning aroud 6am and end up outside my house. I love to watch them amble, udders full and swinging, arriving at the electric fence where they munch grass and lie in the shade. When the calves are born they start accompanying their mothers on this morning stroll. They lie together under the shade of a tree while moms keep close eyes on them.

So the inconvenience of having to drive 60 miles roundtrip to visit family and friends can be annoying, but on mornings like this, when the birds are singing and the cows are outside the window, 60 miles seems like a small price to pay.

Ahhh - the Life of Winston

2009-05-21T19:47:00.014-04:00

It's been a rough week. Getting sick, trips to the doctor and the hospital, family issues, craziness at work. Anyway, all will work out eventually and there are no serious aftereffects, but the stress can get to me, especially first thing in the morning when I have to drag myself out of bed at an ungodly hour to go to work in the dark.

Both of my cats sleep on the bed with me at some points throughout the night, but Winston is the one who usually stays through all my tossing and turning. Sophie gives up after a couple of hours and huffs off in a tizzy to sleep in the cat bed in the living room.

A little kitty background: Winston has always been more of a mama's boy. When he was 8 weeks old he must have missed his mother and liked to nurse on my earlobe, wrist, neck or anything else he could dig his tiny, needle-sharp teeth into. He eventually grew out of that (thank God!). His mother is a barn cat who lives across the street and wanders into my yard occasionally. Winston and Sophie are indoor cats (as a responsible birder, how could they be otherwise?), so they sit in the kitchen window, intently watching Winston's birth mother in the yard, but I don't think either Winston or his mother recognize each other. Sophie came to me the same week as Winston, but from another family. So while I consider them brother and sister, they are not related - just adopted into the Russell household.

Back to my jealousy over the Life of Winston. I woke up one morning last week and dragged myself into the shower. I usually don't make the bed until after I am dressed for work. So when I came out of the shower into the bedroom, this is what awaited me....

What? What's so funny? Why are you laughing?

Yes, I WAS sleeping. Please stop bothering me and turn out the light.

No, you can't make the bed. Can't you see I am using this comforter? Aren't you going to be late for work, Mama? Please bring kitty treats home tonite. You keep forgetting and I am tired of reminding you.

To head off the inevitable sibling rivalry, here are pictures of Sophie for equal emphasis:

Mommy, I want to talk to you about Winston. He is hogging the catnip and eating all the treats. I thought I was your favorite...

I want a kiss Mommy. Please put that silly black box with the annoying light flasher away.

Taking Bird Pictures is Hard...

2009-05-16T20:25:00.003-04:00

Spring Babies

2009-05-16T20:01:00.007-04:00

Canada geese can be loud, obnoxious and messy, especially if they inhabit your property. But their babies are soooooo cute. This proud family lives two doors down from my house and I drive by on the way to and from work. The property comes with a convenient pond making it a perfect habitat for them. I tried getting out of the car to get better pictures, but mom and dad would herd the three youngsters away from the fence and out of camera range. So I took these pictures out of the window of my car. It is fun watching these little guys (and gals?) grow up. Check out mom and dad giving me the stinkeye...

Things I Learned in West Virginia

2009-05-12T15:46:00.022-04:00

I learned lots of useful things during my trip to New River Festival in Fayette county West Virginia and the following two days in Renick at my cousin's cabin. Here are just a few...

1.) Wildflowers are beautiful, interesting and as challenging as birds to id. This is a wakerobin trillium - one of the prettiest.

2.) Cows give a lot of attitude. Check out the mug on this cutie. I got the hairy eyeball when I called him "Hamburger".

3.) You can increase your hearing when you cup your hands around your ears and open your mouth. It also makes your birding buddies laugh at you. I don't know why....

4.) I don't like snakes. No paralyzing phobias, but I wouldn't want to touch one or have one touch me. This black rat snake is on my cousin's property in Renick.

5.) The Greenbriar Trail tunnel is pitch black even at the height of the day. But the birding just outside both sides of the tunnel is amazing.

6.) McCormick's Smokehouse pepper tastes good on everything!

7.) A warm puppeh feels good anytime.

8.) Nothing ruins a good day of birding more than having to stop and tie your shoes over and over again. Double knots that get wet and muddy in the rain are difficult to undo. Thanks for showing me a new way to tie my shoes and keep them tied, Uncle Barry.

But most important of all, I learned that friends make a good day better.

It Could Have Been Much, Much Worse

2009-05-12T07:17:00.006-04:00

The recent flash flooding in West Virginia made me grateful that while we were at the New River Festival, we only had to deal with occasional rain. We may have complained about the inconvenience (if not out loud, we were complaining on the inside), but we didn't lose our homes, our loved ones or have to deal with the immense loss of property and/or livelihood that residents of six West Virginia counties are now dealing with.

The Washington Post said "Mingo County was hardest hit by flooding, after downpours dumped several inches of rain Friday and Saturday. It had about 300 structures destroyed, 1,000 with major damage and 2,000 with minor damage. Wyoming County had 150 structures with major damage. Boone, Logan, McDowell and Raleigh counties were also under the state of emergency."

The New River festival was held in adjacent Fayette county. I was lucky to have met such wonderful people, spent time with such beautiful birds and visited such a magnificent place. Now my thoughts and prayers are with the residents of West Virginia as they struggle to recover from this flood.

Map courtesy of censusfinder.com

We Interrupt New River Posting to say...

2009-05-10T11:04:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to the best mom in the world!

Counting Birds and Friends

2009-05-09T16:57:00.022-04:00

Wakerobin trillium (photo by Tim Ryan)

New River was amazing in so many ways. First and foremost, I attended the festival for the birds. It is my goal to get to 200 life birds this year (before attending the festival, my ABA life list was 178). Living in eastern PA, I already have a lot of warblers on my list, but there were a few that were target birds for me - cerulean and chestnut-sided. I actually need to concentrate more on shore birds to get those numbers up and New River was not really the place for shore birds!

Secondly, I was attending the festival for the Flock. I met some of the Flock at the Cape May, NJ Autumn Migration Festival last year. After "lurking" on their blogs for over a year, I finally met them in person and they welcomed me with open arms. Now I am a full-fledged Flock member. But a lot of the Flock were new to me:

Jane from Wrenaissance Reflections
Mary from Mary’s View
Nina from Nature Remains
Tim from From the Faraway, Nearby
Kathie from Sycamore Canyon
Kathy from Life, Birding Photos and Everything
Kathleen from A Glorious Life
Jane from Jaylynn’s Window on Nature
Barb from My Bird Tales

Jeff from Jeff Gordon

Bill from Bill of the Birds and

Julie from Julie Zickefoose

Then there were friends that were not Flockers - Geoff Heeter, Dave Pollard, Keith Richardson, Connie Toops and my hotel next door neighbors and breakfast-at-Burnwood buddies, Dave and Kristi (thanks for pointing me in the direction of the good coffee!).

I don't know what was more exciting - the life birds or the life friends. Sharing a love of birds and nature brought us close online but being such caring and warm people made for easy laughter and true affection.

But back to the birds. I saw 12 life birds on this trip. Ten at the Festival and another two at the cabin in Renick.

Yellow-throated vireo, yello-throated warbler, Northern waterthrush, Louisiana waterthrush, black-throated green warbler, Canada warbler, bobolink, ruffed grouse and chestnut-sided warbler and Swainson's thrush were my Festival birds. American woodcock and yellow-bellied sapsucker were my Renick birds. On the Greenbriar River trail I also think I saw a Swainson's warbler and magnolia warbler, but without a positive ID, I can't count them.

My two days in Renick were restful and delightful. I love spending time with my uncle and his daughter (both from Maryland) who bought 80 acres on a mountain in WV ten years ago and built a beautiful vacation cabin. It is a misnomer to call it a simple cabin - it's a gorgeous log home with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a field stone chimney with a woodburning stove, wraparound deck with a porch swing, copper trimmed kitchen and homemade quilts on the homemade wood beds. The home is decorated with animal heads, antlers and skins from my uncle's successful hunting trips (he makes his own bows and arrows!). It's not as yucky as it sounds. I have gotten 10 life birds on their property alone (including these last two) and they humor me with long walks in the rain in the Monongahela Forest and Greenbriar River trail.

Handcarved wood bed with Christy's hand-stitched quilt.

Barry and Christy on the Greenbriar River Trail.

They are interested in wildflowers and trees the way I am interested in birds. They taught me much about the flowers we saw so now I can ID some of them myself. Marsh marigold, trillium (all kinds), star chickweed, serviceberry, squirrel corn (my favorite of all the flowers we saw), may apple, hobblebush, hemlock and red spruce, swamp buttercup, dwarf bearded iris, wild geranium, golden ragwort, yellow buckeye (my favorite tree), Japanese honeysuckle, multiflora rose and wild ramps. As a chef, the ramps and the morels on their property were more interesting to me than the flowers.

But the birds rule all! My life list is now up to 190. Ten more to go this year.

New River Festival - Sampler #2

2009-05-08T19:03:00.013-04:00

After another two hours of sorting, editing and trying to make sense of the pictures from New River, I thought I would post a random bunch of some of my favorite moments from the trip. No cohesive subject to this post. Just fun.

One of our guides, Keith Richardson, listening intently for warblers. Probably for the

f&*(%$# Swainson's warbler.

Susan giving the camera some model-like attitude in the bobolink field. Ain't she purty?

Checking out the wing wear and tear on a male goldfinch before banding him.

Beverly the Stone(d) Chicken (and Flock mascot) at the Cathedral Cafe in Fayetteville. She had a bit too much to drink that night, but she has recovered.

The inimitable Jeff Gordon intently watching the banding of a chipping sparrow.

Connie Toops, another of our fabulous guides, putting a flat-topped coral fungus back where she gathered it. After we all had a good look and a learning experience, Connie released this fungus back into the wild as all good nature-nuturers would.

So long until next year. True friends (Susan and Mary in this picture) never say goodbye, only so long.

New River Festival - Picture Sampler

2009-05-06T11:37:00.017-04:00

Although I posted twice while at the New River Festival, I spent the better part of today going through downloaded pictures, handwritten notes, smudgy from the deluge of biblical proportions all week long, and the postings of my Blog Family. Posts about birds and friends are stewing in my mind. I want to give posts the time and effort they deserve since the Festival gave so much to me. So in the meantime, here are some pictures- just a sampling of the 200+ photos I took in West Virginia.

After the Festival, I traveled to my uncle and cousin's vacation cabin in Renick, WV to spend another 2 days doing some hardcore birding (okay, a bit of relaxing, too!). I learned a lot about trees and wildflowers while I was there, so I will post those pictures soon.

Looking in vain for the f***ing Swainson's warbler. Damn bird. Good people.

Keith Richardson, tour guide extraordinaire, imitating Lynn's look of joy as she gets another lifer.

Susan and Dick watching a millipede crawl up Keith's hand. When the rain makes looking skywards tough, birders look to the ground for insects and flowers. We are an adaptable bunch.

Two members of the Flock, Susan and Lynn, posing in front of General Lee's tree. We were laughing so hard, I never read the sign to learn the historical significance of the tree. Oh well.

Listening for the bobolinks in the meadow. Amazing field trip and one of the best experiences of the entire festival.

Susan and Chet Baker. What a bundle of warm puppeh love (I'm talking about Chet, not Susan - she's a bundle of love of a totally different kind - but they both give great hugs!).

Friends and Birds

2009-05-02T16:58:00.013-04:00

scenic overlook at Smokey's on the Gorge

New River Festival couldn't have been more perfect. Well, we could have done without the week of non-stop rain. But it was a great opportunity to meet friends (old and new) and see lots and lots of birds. I added nine life birds to my list:

Northern waterthrush

Louisiana waterthrush

Swainson's thrush

Yellow throated warbler

Chestnut sided warbler (this one made me cry - so beautiful and I had looked for it for three years - a special shout out to Keith who made it his mission to get me on this bird. Thanks, Keith! You are da' man.)

Bobolink (with a song like R2-D2 - unforgettable)

Yellow throated vireo

Black throated green warbler

Ruffed grouse

I did not see my target bird - Cerulean warbler. But I have a few more days visiting relatives in West Virginia, so I am hopeful.

We had lots of laughs - too many to post now. I will spread that out over the next few weeks.

Susan and Laura hamming it up for the camera.

I learned quite a bit thanks to our wonderful guides- Jeff Gordon, Julie Zickefoose, Keith Richardson, and Connie Toops. This was the first time I met Julie Z. in person although I have been reading her blog for a couple of years. On one field trip, she borrowed my bandana to dry the rain off her camera. I told her I would never wash it again. Yes, I am a starstruck bird groupie- Pete Dunne and Julie Zickefoose: my heroes.

New River - Finally!

2009-04-30T15:02:00.020-04:00

Arrived at New River Birding and Nature Festival yesterday afternoon after an 8-hour drive through pouring rain. Spent the dinner hour(s) with members of The Flock - catching up, eating, listening to a birdsong presentation by Wil Hershberger, taking pictures and laughing. I haven't laughed so hard in months. I met lots of new Flock members to add to ny Bloggy Life List. I will talk more about that in later posts.

This morning at 6am, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed after a good night's sleep, I headed over to Opossum Creek Retreat for my first "field trip" - Birding by Butt. Now that's my kind of birding. Sitting on the porch, sipping coffee and watching the birds fly in. There was a nice long walk through the woods once the rain let up. And we watched Bill Hilton, Jr. of Operation Rubythroat (headquartered in South Carolina) trap and band hummingbirds. He put teeny, tiny bands on teeny, tiny hummingbird legs. Quite impressive.

In the mist nets he caught goldfinches, indigo bunting, chipping sparrow and most impressively, a palm warbler. Here are male (left) and female (right) goldfinches caught at the same time and ready for banding.

After banding them all, he released them and I got to hold and release a female goldfinch. That's a first for me - holding a live, wild bird in my hand. She was so tiny, so intense, so beautiful. It was a special, special moment that I will never forget. Bill says we shouldn't get emotionally attached to wild birds - too late! I'm attached.

Me and the female goldfinch sharing a moment before her release. Look at the goofy grin on my face!

Birding was good for my first day and in the rain - 38 species and 3 life birds (in bold):

Blue gray gnatcatchers (on the nest)
Northern cardinal
Eastern phoebe
Rubythroated hummingbird
Hooded warbler
Black and white warbler
Black throated blue warbler
Scarlet tanager
Eastern towhee
Brown-headed cowbird
American robin
Northern mockingbird
Eastern bluebird
Pileated woodpecker
American goldfinch
Northern parula
Chipping sparrow
White breasted nuthatch
Yellow throated vireo
Ovenbird
Wood thrush
Pine siskin
Tufted titmouse
Hermit thrush
American crow
Red eyed vireo
Mourning dove
Palm warbler
Blue jay
Red shouldered hawk
Indigo bunting
Downy woodpecker
Yellow rumped warbler
Carolina wren
Turkey vulture
Black vulture
Swainson's thrush
Yellow throated warbler

More tomorrow - plus more pictures!

Letting Go

2009-04-21T19:55:00.014-04:00

When I am gone, release me, let me go.
I have so many things to see and do,

You mustn't tie yourself to me with too many tears,
But be thankful we had so many good years.

I gave you my love, and you can only guess

How much you've given me in happiness.

I thank you for the love that you have shown,

But now it is time I traveled on alone.

So grieve for me a while, if grieve you must

Then let your grief be comforted by trust

That it is only for a while that we must part,

So treasure the memories within your heart.

I won't be far away for life goes on.
And if you need me, call and I will come.

Though you can't see or touch me, I will be near

And if you listen with your heart, you'll hear

My love all around you soft and clear.

Author Unknown

I'll miss you, dear friend. I'm glad your passing was quick and peaceful, but I was not ready to lose you.

Countdown to New River Festival

2009-04-19T17:20:00.016-04:00

Now I'm getting nervous. New River Birding and Nature Festival is a few short days away! As Susan says, "Is anybody ready to pee their pants yet?". I have been incredibly busy with work (budget season with a cantankerous CFO) and family obligations (hosting Easter weekend for 20 people) that I didn't see New River sneaking up on me.

Suddenly I have a to-do list a mile long to get ready for my 8-hour drive and my week with the Flock in West Virginia. Get the oil in the car changed; buy bug spray and sunscreen; assemble electronics (GPS, laptop, cell phone and camera) along with all their assorted chargers; buy a West Virginia road atlas in case the GPS fails me; decide which bird books to bring; pack the Teaching Company CDs (European History and European Lives from 1715 to 1914 is my latest purchase) to make the car trip entertaining and informative (I hate long distance car travel); put bottles of water and the Freez-Pak in the freezer for the cooler in the car; buy snacks for the drive; check that the hotel has wi-fi; stock the house with frozen pizza, Gatorade and Mountain Dew for the housesitter who has a particularly monotonous diet; buy enough cat food, litter, suet and bird seed so the housesitter can take care of my animals; remember to buckle the stone chicken in the passenger seat so she can be the New River flock mascot (thanks Susan) and pray that I don't get stopped by a trooper on the way down. Explaining a cement chicken riding shotgun may be hard to do.

I have the 1/2 week package at New River, so I don't arrive until Wednesday evening and my first field trip, Birding by Butt (gotta love it!) is on Thursday morning. Then it is Cranberry Glades on Friday and High Country on Saturday. After checking out of the hotel on Sunday, I will be driving an hour or so to Renick, West Virginia, to spend two days with my uncle and cousin who built a vacation cabin there. I have done some pretty sweet birding on their property (7 life birds on my last visit), so I anticipate another two days of birding after my three days at the festival.

Mostly, I am nervous about meeting the rest of the Flock. I met Lynne, Kathi, Susan, Laura and Delia last fall in Cape May, NJ at the Autumn Migration Festival. I was a lurker on their blogs for almost two years and never had the nerve to comment or introduce myself. Now they have opened their arms and their huge, wonderful hearts to me and I feel like a freshman at a new high school, worried about fitting in. There will be other members of the Flock that I will be meeting for the first time, like Mary. Sweet, wonderful Mary who moves me to tears with her blog posts and gorgeous pictures.

So the tension builds as the trip approaches. Part of me is nervous but most of me is so damn excited I can hardly stand it! Lots to do, lots to look forward to...

Saturday Morning Birding

2009-04-18T18:35:00.005-04:00

Carpenter's Woods in the heart of Philadelphia is a hidden treasure of warblers, songbirds, thrushes, meadow, deciduous forest and even a babbling brook. I spent three hours there this morning with my bestest friend, Kathy, showing her the joys of early morning birding. I think she sometimes humors my hobby, but she got excited about her first Northern flicker, red bellied and hairy woodpeckers. It was a woodpecker kind of day. In the woods, I got sunburn on my face and my arms. My Irish heritage is showing. I will have to pack lots of sunscreen for West Virginia.

Today's sightings:

Turkey vulture (this one's for you, Lynne)
Northern flicker
hairy woodpecker
pine siskin (what are they still doing around here? They left my feeders weeks ago)
palm warbler (male and female)
yellow-rumped warbler (or as the birder we ran into on the trail said, "sharpie chow")
pine warbler (male and female)
American crow
hermit thrush
wood duck (perched in a tree. I have never seen them in trees before. This drake was gorgeous and kept his eye on us while whistling - a picture is below, but I couldn't zoom my pitiful camera any closer)
Northern cardinal
European starling
brown-headed cowbird
tufted titmouse
American robin
Carolina wren (also for you Lynne!)
red bellied woodpecker
broad-winged hawk
mourning dove

Birding was followed by a stop at a garage sale and then off to a neighborhood cafe for chai tea and blueberry almond coffeecake. All in all, not a bad day (except for the sunburn).

Wood duck drake perched in a tree.

Stone Chicken

2009-04-17T20:18:00.018-04:00

A few weeks ago I went to the Gap, PA Mud Sale - a huge auction in Lancaster County to benefit volunteer fire departments in the area. It is held once a year in early spring (hence the name - Mud Sale - trust me, it's muddy). Lots of Amish crafts, quilts, woodworking, furniture, tools, household goods, yard ornaments, horse drawn buggies (popular with the Amish. For me, not so much). And the food is amazing. Thick milkshakes, homemade cream filled donuts, buttered soft pretzels, hand cut french fries, homemade root beer and barbecue chicken that is the best chicken I have ever tasted.

This year, as I stood with my brothers, watching the lawn ornaments, birdhouses and other crafts go up for auction, I saw a chicken made of stone coming up for bid. I felt the urge and raised my auction number. What the heck was I going to do with a stone chicken? It was tense as one other woman was vying for the same chicken. But my final bid of $17.50 won. I was the proud owner of a 35 pound cement hen. I collected my prize and the lady next to me whispered that the three stone eggs still sitting on the bench behind the auctioneer should have gone with the chicken. I turned to my brothers and said I thought the eggs would be too tacky. They looked at me incredulously. The eggs? Tacky? What about the damn chicken I just bought?!

Oh well, tacky or not, she is part of my yard, sitting proudly under my oak tree where I can see her out the kitchen window or while sitting on the deck. The ruby red lilies I planted last year are coming up all around her. She will look quite pretty surrounded in red. I haven't named her yet. Still waiting to see what her personality is.

I think she's wondering where her eggs went.....

Easter Kitties

2009-04-10T17:14:00.011-04:00

Happy Easter to all of you and your loved ones.

I will be at a Saturday family reunion at my brother's restaurant, cooking 20 pounds of roast lamb for 18 people on Sunday (we like leftovers!) and making brunch for family on Monday. A crazy busy weekend.

So I thought I would include some cleansing kitty pictures. These are my babies, Winston and Sophie. They are getting tiny Easter baskets with catnip toys (yes, they ARE spoiled!) on Sunday morning. Have a great holiday everyone!

Mom, Sophie's touching me! Make her stop.

No, I wasn't going to grab his tail, honest!

Birding Gear - It's What Makes Us Nerds

2009-04-06T16:12:00.019-04:00

Everyone I know looks at me quizzically when I say that I am a birder. Birding is supposed to be the fastest growing hobby in the United States. A 2001 study by the United States Fish and Wildlife Association showed that there are more than 46 million birders in the U.S., more than the combined total of people who fish and hunt. Fifty-four percent of birders are female; 83% are over the age of 35; 93% are white; 60% are college-educated and more than 1/3 have annual incomes of $50,000 or more. Birders are responsible for $32 billion in retail sales of equipment (binoculars, scopes and cameras), clothing, journals, magazines, books, etc. So you'd think that we would get a little more respect, right?

Maybe it's because we often look like this:Here I am on my very first birding trip (see the smile? That's before the car sickness and the deer flies made me miserable!). Uncle Jim is teaching me how to use binoculars. He was worried about sunburn, so he lent me this hat. It worked like a charm. Kept me sunburn free, even though I looked quite silly. But you know what I remember about that hat? I saw my spark bird while wearing it. I saw a Prothonotary warbler and a painted bunting (two of my favorite birds) while wearing it. So it was a damn lucky hat.

Now, as I start assembling clothes and gear for my trip to New River, West Virginia, I realize that I will miss that hat. I wear baseball caps on birding trips all the time, but there was something special about that darn hat. :)

I just purchased a travel vest with lots of pockets

to keep all my birding supplies. I usually keep my field guide, notebook, pen, lens cleaner, cell phone (important when you are birding alone!), car keys, water bottle and insect repellent in a hunting satchel (Bob Allen rifle shell pouch that I got on sale in the sporting goods section of Wal-Mart)that hangs from a strap around my waist. But I wanted to be a little more fashion-forward and not embarrass my bloggy friends! New hiking boots (I have been breaking them in for a month now), wool socks and a new rain/ windbreaker are all ready to go. Still need a rainhat (maybe it will be a lucky hat!). It's going to be a marvelous trip!

A Pennsylvania First

2009-04-03T18:17:00.004-04:00

About 40 miles away from home last week, I was stopped at a traffic light near a gravel quarry. I like to scan the skies near quarries and see what's happening - birdwise.

Turkey vultures were soaring everywhere - as usual - but my eye lit on one in particular. Lo and behold - my first black vulture in Pennsylvania! I've seen them in North Carolina, Maryland and West Virginia, but not in my home state. Of course, I thought of Lynne right away. How jealous will she be that I was watching a dozen TVs and a BV right outside my car window?

I never understood the appeal of vultures, but they do look majestic - soaring and gliding effortlessly. Well, it got added to the PA list as soon as I got home. With no effort, just looking out a window, you never know what you will find. I guess one birder's "trash bird" is another birder's "treasure bird".

How to tell a black from a turkey vulture? The BVs have silver on wing tips only, while the TVs have silver extending from wingtip to the body. The BVs are smaller with stubbier tails. Seeing a BV flying with TVs made the size difference apparent. Up close, the BV has a black or grayish featherless head (ewwwww!), while the TV has a red featherless head (ewwwww!). Both eat carrion (the TVs exclusively, while the BVs are not as picky) and are necessary to keeping the natural order - acting as vacuum cleaners.

Black Vulture

Back in Touch - For Better or Worse

2009-04-01T18:54:00.000-04:00

I finally got my computer repaired. Yay! It is amazing how reliant we have become on technology - computers, iPods, PDAs, cell phones... I felt so out of touch in the past week without my computer.

I taught a food safety class last week and the entire 16-hour course was developed on PowerPoint. When I got to the class location, I hooked up the laptop, projector and thumb drive. First the USB port failed and I had to change laptops. Once I got the presentation downloaded from the thumbdrive, the projector failed. After 45 minutes of fumbling, I gave up and taught the entire two-day class without the crutch of PowerPoint. As nervous as I was, it worked out fine. Of course, the "Jeopardy" style game before the final exam could not be used (the PowerPoint presentation included great graphics, music and automatic scorekeeping!), but since I already had the prizes purchased and since the game is fun and a good review of the material, I went to Staples and bought foamboard, colored index cards, double-sided tape and Sharpie markers and spent two hours making an old-fashioned version of the Jeopardy game. The students loved it and I realized that technology is not the only way to get information across. Of course, without my computer, I couldn't blog and I can't believe it, but I missed it.

No Computer Access

2009-03-26T12:34:00.001-04:00

I have lost computer access (temporarily) except while I am at work, so blogging will have to be put on hold for a while until I get a replacement AC adapter for the laptop. Hope to be back soon...

Eagle Cam

2009-03-22T17:56:00.000-04:00

I'm addicted to the eagle cam at Blackwater Wildlife Refuge in Cambridge, MD. The eaglets are about three weeks old now and this is the second year I have followed this nest-cam. I love to watch the older eaglet peck on the younger one. They also have an osprey cam. Try it.

Spark Bird and Birding Mentor

2009-03-22T09:40:00.003-04:00

It wouldn't be a bird blog if I didn't talk about what started me birding. I got started in birding late in life - in my 40's. My uncle, a long-time resident of North Carolina, is a dedicated birder for 20+ years. During a visit three years ago, he took me birding. My first un-assisted sighting was a plastic owl (I was so sure it was real)! I wasn't sure that this hobby was for me, but as I stood by some reeds at a marsh, trying to focus my binoculars on an egret, a red-shouldered hawk rose from the grasses and perched there for several minutes. I was enthralled and hopelessly hooked. When I returned home to Pennsylvania, I found myself constantly noticing birds - in the air, on the ground, and perched on wires and trees. It became a problem when I was driving and I annoyed friends when my attention would drift to what was outside the window or in the sky. I consider myself strictly a novice, but am enjoying the learning experience of recognizing species and adding them to my list - now up to 176 and hopefully to get over 200 this year.

So the red-shouldered hawk is my spark bird and my Uncle Jim is my mentor. He taught me to color in the lines when I was little - I vividly remember laying on the dining room floor at Grandmom's house, struggling to impress him with my coloring prowess. He gave me the gift of coloring and now he has given me the gift of birding. I am very grateful. Thanks Uncle Jim!

Pete Dunne, in his book "More Tales of a Low Rent Birder" says it best:

"Many, if not most birders, can trace their interest and their development to one special person who took them under a wing. Who taught them the skills and the lore. Who initiated them into the fabric of birding society. This mentor and pupil bond is key to birding, maybe irreplaceable. It helped make birding what it is. It serves to hold it together. And it guides us as we navigate a course through and uncertain future."

Beginning to Blog

2009-03-21T19:16:00.002-04:00

At the urging of my bloggy friends, most notably, Susan, I've ventured into the great unknown world of blogging. Now I am officially removed from the Lurker and Commentator list! Thanks, Susan. Although I may be cursing you later when this gets overwhelming. I certainly don't know any of the tricks to making a pleasant-to-look-at blog but I hope I will pick it up in good time. And I know my bloggy pals will offer suggestions and help.

I am looking foward to the New River Birding and Nature Festival in West Virginia in April. I will spend four days birding and laughing with friends and hope to see lots of wonderful birds. At the risk of jinxing myself, my target bird for the trip is a Cerulean warbler. My fingers are crossed that I will see one (or two!). After the festival, I am traveling to Renick, WV to visit my uncle and cousin who built a vacation cabin in the mountains near the Monongahela National Forest. Last summer when I visited, I participated in a little beekeeping - they have three hives. It was fun, if a little stifling in those darn suits.

Anyway, they harvested a record 70 pounds of honey that summer and my new nickname is the Bee Whisperer. Who knows what fate awaits me this time.

Uncle and me catching a glimpse of a scarlet tanager.