Since we have decided not to travel to the Southwest this winter and since the Airstream is sort of laid up due to the damage to the back, I am putting this blog on hold for a while. I invite you to visit my other blog, Vermont Birder, at http://www.vermontbirder.com. I hope you’ll consider subscribing through the rss feed or through email signup.
Category: Vermont Birding
Birding License Plates
I met a Canadian birder last winter in Texas who had an interesting side hobby: she collected birding vanity license plates. I decided to start doing the same myself, starting with hers shown here.
Of course, since then I have not seen many and if I do, the camera is stashed or Vermont mud covers the plate. But this morning, I found a friend’s car parked and grabbed this shot with my iPhone.
So, I think I’ll crank this project up a bit and see if I can build my “life list.” I know there’s a Pipit plate near here and just need to watch more closely. Do you have a bird plate photo you’d like to add the collection. I’d love to see it.
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Beyond a Murder of Crows
Most birders know some of the collective names of birds such as a murder of crows, a skein of Canada Geese, a charm of goldfinches. Sue McGrath, who leads bird walks in the Newburyport, MA area, recently published a humorous listing of some of the terms she uses in the field:
A hood of robins
A litter of catbirds
A tanning of bronzed cowbirds
A lamentation of mourning warblers
A lettering of scarlet tanagers
An oxidation of rusty blackbirds
A chain of bobolinks
A ridicule of mockingbirds
An alphabet of jays
A maniac of ravens
A Ulysses of brant
An 8×10 of glossy ibis.
A shishkebab of skuas
A drift of snow geese
A timber of wood ducks
An outfield of flycatchers
A glimmer of Northern flickers
A wave of surf scoters
An asylum of common loons
A brass of horned grebes
A tart of American bitterns
An illusion of merlins
An applause of clapper rails
A dune of sandhill cranes
A haze of purple sandpipers
A garage sale of juncos
A w.c. fielding of chickadees
A pilot of palm warblers
A range of ovenbirds
A paddling of red-tails
A hangover of red-eyed vireos
A derby of Kentucky warblers
A fifth of wild turkeys…
Sorting Sparrows
I took the Vizsla on a birding outing this morning to the local North Branch Nature Center – I wanted to check out the community garden for birds. I hitched up her leash to my belt and off we went, with her dragging me along the mowed pathway. I met an acquaintance who I see birding from time to time and he reported that he saw many sparrows, and ticked them off to me, including a couple of juvenile Field Sparrows.
Well, my sparrow expertise is about like my warbler ID skills – not great — but I had already heard a Song Sparrow sing from the top of a bush as I started out. That seemed pretty unusual for this time of year but it was a good start.
I entered the fenced-off garden and watched dozens of skitterish sparrows scatter here and there. I could see that many were Song Sparrows but then I started to see a few White-Crowned Sparrows. Here’s a poor picture of one — I’ll blame it on the morning light.
In addition to the many active Black-capped Chickadees were a dozen or more Chipping Sparrows.
I also saw some Lincoln’s Sparrows and was looking for White-throated Sparrows but they were likely back in the woods. Finally, a gardener, with a dog, showed up and I left her to her fall chores since my dog was very interested in hers.
This afternoon I went for another walk with the Vizsla in our woods and among other birds, saw two very cooperative White-Throated Sparrows. They flitted around and I was able to grab a couple of photos of them.
I suspect I’ll try to get back to the garden sans dog later this week and check for Field Sparrows. I have yet to see one this year — about the only one I’m missing from our usual suspects.
When I watch sparrows I wish that I had started birding decades ago like many my age but hey, we all need challenges. Sparrows are one of mine.
Stock up on Niger Seed, the Siskin Boys (& Girls) are in town
We take in our feeders at night to avoid bear and raccoon problems. Early yesterday morning, I hung up the bird feeder and thistle feeder and immediately had a dozen Pine Siskins flitting about, waiting for me to leave. The same thing has happened all week — we have an onslaught of Siskins — as do other parts of New England in reading the eBird reports and list serves.
Pine Siskins are fun to watch but rather drab, after months of American Goldfinch watching.
Here’s what the Cornell Lab of Ornithology says about them:
This nomadic finch ranges widely and erratically across the continent each winter in response to seed crops. Better suited to clinging to branch tips than to hopping along the ground, these brown-streaked acrobats flash yellow wing markings as they flutter while feeding or as they explode into flight. Flocks are gregarious, and you may hear their insistent wheezy twitters before you see them.
A Canadian ornithologist, Ron Pittaway, each year issues a Winter Finch Forecast. He notes that there is a “widespread tree seed crop failure in the Northeast” this year. We may have a lot of visitors this winter — we’re already seeing a lot of Purple Finches and Dark-eyed Juncos.
This is the first winter in the last four that we are staying in Vermont — might be a good one for winter avian visitors. My feed store friends are going to love me.
Quieter Woods
Things are pretty quiet these days in our woods as I walk the dog on our trails — aside for some deer watching us nearly every walk and numerous red squirrels and chipmunks, the activity has died off as birds prepare for migration and winter. The Chickadees are still chipping away and I watch them for visiting warblers honing in on their local knowledge. Blue Jays are as raucous as ever and lately, Red-breasted Nuthatches have been calling away as they forage.
There are some spots along the way where I have seen Common Yellowthroats all summer. They are still here but never sing and even chip less frequently. I can tell where they are from the movement of the bushes where they hide and every so often, get a glimpse of one — as the shot below illustrates.
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| A Common Yellowthroat hiding in the bushes. |
Song Sparrows are also still here but furtive in their movements. They no longer sing from the top of bushes but we have a nice crop of juveniles getting fattened up for their trip south. They tend to sit a little more cooperatively like this guy that I photographed a few days ago.
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| A young Song Sparrow |
It has been interesting watching the American Goldfinches at the feeder. Some have bright new plumage, others are pretty ratty looking as they molt. All seem to be loading up with food and I expect that soon their boisterous arrivals and departures — a spectacle of gold and black — will be out of here.
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| Dozens of American Goldfinches adorn our backyard but they’ll be off before long. |
The White-Throated Sparrows don’t sing their “Peabody, Peabody, Peabody” call that livens up our woods all spring and summer but they are around with a new crop of youngsters. They may head out but we’ll have their northern cousins here all winter.
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| A White-Throated Sparrow hiding from the camera |
I read an interesting article on fall birds by Kenn Kaufman in the latest Bird Watcher’s Digest. I had never thought about the fact that many more birds migrate in the fall than the spring (due to the hatches during the spring/summer). Kenn notes that due to the foliage, the duller plumage, and lack of singing, that birding is much harder in the fall — and thus to some a welcome challenge, and to others — a “forget about it” time for birding. I’m going to take a hard try at picking out the warblers as they come through but I already know it’s going to be frustrating.
A Solitary Sandpiper
We don’t have a lot of shorebird habitat hotspots in central Vermont so we make do with puddles in cornfields, small mudflats along the rivers and ponds, and other spots where water gathers. We go over to Lake Champlain or down into Addison County for real shorebird birding.
However, this time of year when stuff is starting to move, we’ll sometimes spot a long-billed migrant in the county. One spot I like is just down the road from a gathering spot we all love — The Red Hen Bakery — consisting of a little pull off busy Route 2 right beside the Winooski River. There are often ducks there and today, a sole little wading bird.
I had the dog with me in the front seat and she wanted to join the action as I scanned the river and set up my scope. I took a few so-so digiscoped shots (the sun was not a big help) and looking over the shots, realized that it was a Solitary Sandpiper. No big deal per se but the first one for me this year and a nice looking bird. And by itself — oh yeah, solitary.
Bird Watcher’s Digest Subscription Drive
I just read a compelling blog post by Julie Zickefoose, an author, illustrator from Ohio who has written many great birding articles and books. I am currently reading her The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds.
Julie, who writes and edits for Bird Watcher’s Digest, asks us to consider subscribing to BWD if we do not already do so. She writes in part:
Bird Watcher’s Digest is going to have to find more subscribers to help pay for the cost of putting this magazine out.
Bird Watcher’s Digest is having a subscription drive. Only $19.95 for a year’s worth of good writing, good backyard tips, ideas for birding excursions, fascinating insight into bird behavior, and clever humor from writers like Alvaro Jaramillo, David Bird and Al Batt. With your paid print subscription, you get free access to BWD’s stunning digital edition, which is the entire magazine plus video and audio bonuses we can only do on the Web. (Several of our columnists, including me, read our work so you can listen to it online in the digital edition). If you lean that way, you can also subscribe to the digital edition alone for only $9.99 per year. Print subscribers also get access to the BWD App for reading on the iPad, Kindle Fire, and other such digital devices.
I don’t know about you, but I can spend $20 without even thinking about it. I can hand a $20 bill to Phoebe and forget I even did it. Such a modest expenditure can bring you so much over the next year. If you enjoy the kind of writing and information you find on this blog, won’t you try the Thompson family’s magazine?
I just signed up for a digital subscription after reading her request. Take a look at her article — and see if you can do the same. It’s a great investment in a great publication.
Adirondack Birding – The Barn Swallow
Coinciding with the onset of bug season in the Adirondacks is the return of our insect eating birds. While nearly all of these perching birds have an attractive musical call that announces their presence, most maintain a secretive routine so they are rarely spotted.
The swallows are the most visible bug consumers as their preference for perching in exposed places and feeding over open settings allows these skilled aerialists to be regularly seen.
Additionally, their habit of placing their nest close to human dwellings and in plain view of any passerby makes them well known to residents and visitors of the Park. Among the various species of swallows that come to the Adirondacks to » Continue Reading.
Chasing The White Bird
Yesterday morning I drove up to Berlin Pond, a favorite local birding site, and immediately noticed several larger birds moving with the Tree Swallows over the water. One was graceful, black-bodied, and flew down to the water seemingly to grab insects. It was a Black Tern — the first one I’ve seen.
The light mist made camera-work tough and I almost ignored the white Tern that seemed to be flying near it. I’m not great at identifying terns and thought that it was a Common Tern.
Moving around the pond in the truck, I noted Common Loons, ducks, geese, a Bald Eagle and then ran into two birder friends who were all excited about the white Tern. They had only a quick look and thought that it had characteristics of an Arctic Tern. So, the hunt was on. Cellphones passed the news of this probable and we spent an hour or two looking for it, with no luck.
Meanwhile, as we waited, a Green Heron did a close fly-by, circled, and landed not far away, posing for this digiscoped picture. What a neat bird — we hope they might be nesting nearby.
Well, the Arctic Tern idea was a false alarm. Other experienced birders had got a good look at the white bird and were positive that it was a Common Tern. However, in looking at the records for Arctic Tern sightings in Vermont, all four occurred about this date in May. And the Black Tern, while not that rare, was a pretty neat visitor to see. Wonder what will show up next?