Monthly Archives: December 2012
County Big Year – Goal Setting
As I plan for a Big Year for the county, I’ve been looking over the data on eBird for Washington County for counts of birds for the last few years. This year’s reports have new records — 196 for the … Continue reading
Posted in Backyard birds, Big Year, County Big Year, Vermont Birding
Tagged back, big year, county bird, Washington County
2 Comments
I Love Buffleheads
I’ve been watching a small flotilla of hen Buffleheads in the Amesbury section of the Merrimack River this week. It’s Butterballs’ diving that forces me to stop and linger, to observe for understanding. I watch the thrusts, leaps, propulsion and … Continue reading
Posted in Bird Behavior, Birds, Winter Birds
Comments Off on I Love Buffleheads
Baby Monitors for the Birds
Buttoning up windows for winter is great for energy conservation but no longer can you hear the “toot” on the Red-breasted Nuthatch or the chatter of Common Redpolls. Rich Guthrie, who write a great birding blog, discovered a simple solution to … Continue reading
Posted in bird feeding, bird song, Yard birds
Tagged Backyard birds, bird feeding
Comments Off on Baby Monitors for the Birds
Redpolls — Where Have You Been?
Common Redpolls arrived at our feeders in late November and ate us out of house and home for about a week — and vanished until today. I’ve not seen any Redpolls in the woods or anywhere around central Vermont but … Continue reading
Planning for a Washington County Big Year
Previously, I wrote that I was looking into doing a big year in 2013 since we are staying in Vermont this winter. I was considering a state-wide effort but after giving it more thought, felt that it would be a … Continue reading
Posted in Big Year, County Big Year, Vermont Birding
Tagged big year, Vermont Birding
Comments Off on Planning for a Washington County Big Year
A Wrap-up To The “What Sparked My Interest?” Posts
At the beginning of December, 2012, Gerry Cooperman posted a query on the MASSBIRD list serve in which he asked “all that bird to take a moment to step back and look at why you do what you do. What was the … Continue reading
Posted in Love_of_birding, MA Birding
Tagged bird watching, birding, sparks
Comments Off on A Wrap-up To The “What Sparked My Interest?” Posts
What Sparked My Interest in Birding – Part 14
Here are some more posts from MASSBIRD describing birding “sparks.” Matt began noticing birds early: I’m not sure I actually have a spark; when I was 2 weeks old my mother’s journal contains a line “Birds and airplanes catch his … Continue reading
What Sparked My Interest in Birding – Part 13
Jeff recalls hand-feeding chopped walnut meats to a Black-capped Chickadee: I didn’t have a spark per se but rather more of a constantly fed comfortable fire. My father was already a “bird-watcher” when I was born 65 years ago. There … Continue reading
Winter and the Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Winter and the Golden-Crowned Kinglet by Tom Kalinowski (from the Adirondack Almanack) It’s simple physics. In a cold environment, small objects lose heat at a faster rate than large objects. This is why most warm-blooded animals that reside in a … Continue reading
Posted in Birds, Winter Birds
Tagged Adirondack Almanack, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Winter birding
Comments Off on Winter and the Golden-Crowned Kinglet
What Sparked My Interest in Birding – Part 12
A fallout of warblers sparked Denise’s love of birding: What sparked my interest in birding back in the 1960’s was an awesome outfall of “sparks”, the springtime jewelry of migrating warblers in our beautifully flowering antique apple trees in Lynnfield. … Continue reading
Posted in Love_of_birding, MA Birding
Tagged bird watching, birding, spark
Comments Off on What Sparked My Interest in Birding – Part 12