When there is snow or ice, natural food for birds can be more difficult to come by so they flock to feeders in higher numbers. I woke up to plenty of ice this morning and it has not gotten warm enough to melt – the ice is still neatly covering tree branches and anything else that was not manually de-iced. I was able to get some photos this morning through my sliding doors of some of my common feeder birds – the first real “set” of photos from my new house. Enjoy!
Dark-eyed (Slate-colored) Junco
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Finches
Male House Finch
Mourning Doves, sticking together like usual
American Goldfinch
Male American Goldfinch
Even my feeder Chickadee was frozen
And some more birds from the next morning:
Female Red-bellied Woodpecker
Blue Jay close-up
Male Downy Woodpecker
Carolina Wren
Dark-eyed Junco moving snow around to search for food
Last month, I moved to my new home in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. My yard in Vestal, New York was extremely birdy – in three years and a couple of months, I saw or heard 106 different species of birds. In May, I wrote a post about my first hundred yard birds, which turned out to actually be 103 when I went back and really counted. I saw more great birds after that post – a Great Horned Owl and a Black-billed Cuckoo (I also tacked on one more, a Least Flycatcher, with a photo from 2012). I knew my Vestal yard would be tough to beat.
I set up my feeders as soon as I moved in to my new place and immediately had a few Tufted Titmouse visitors, joined by White-breasted Nuthatches. More birds eventually joined including my favorite feeder birds – a pair of Carolina Wrens.
Carolina Wrens came to visit after hearing them for many mornings
I have three species of woodpeckers visiting regularly – Downy, Hairy and Red-bellied. I’m still waiting to have a Pileated in my yard. So far, I’ve only seen them while biking around the community.
Red-bellied Woodpecker showing us where she got her name
I had a one-day visit from a one of my favorite common finches, a Purple Finch.
Purple Finch
I actually sort of lack in the same regular feeder-bird variety that I had in New York – it’s the MIGRANTS that have hit me hard so far. I am more in the woods and my office is near the tops of the trees so seeing birds is much easier.
My new feeder set up, outside my loft office
Some of my better migrants included tons of Blue-headed Vireos, a Philadelphia Vireo, seven species of Warblers – including one that I never got in Vestal, the Black-and-white Warbler, Cedar Waxwings, both Kinglets, Eastern Phoebes and Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers.
I also had two surprise birds visit my actual feeders who never did in New York – a Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Brown Creeper.
This Ruby-crowned Kinglet used my feeders
It’s been little more than a month and I have 33 yard birds. Things are looking good so far!
Have you ever caught a bird basking in the sun? They tend to let loose like no one is watching. Feathers spread, bills wide open, wings and tails stretched out… Today’s post will be a short, comical one showing some birds who I caught looking their silliest.
Many birds find my feeder polls to be a nice spot to get some sun.
Blue Jay
Downy Woodpecker
Common Grackle
Others are really attracted to my shed, especially the roof.
Eastern Phoebe
Dark-eyed Junco – notice the wing shadow
The branches on my feeders are also out in the open and a perfect spot to get some rays.
American Goldfinch
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
My local creek residents find places to sun bath after taking a dip in the water.
Gray Catbird
Belted Kingfisher
Last December, I bird-sat my friend’s Kookaburra. I put him near the front window on a very sunny day and even he enjoyed the sun for some time.
This is my favorite time of year for backyard birding. Parent birds are bringing their begging babies to my yard and tirelessly giving them food from my bird feeders.
Common Grackle family
The parents are very often attentive and I hardly ever see them actually feed themselves.
Northern Cardinal mom feeding young
Chipping Sparrow feeding young
House Finch Family
American Goldfinch dad feeding young
The young woodpeckers seem to be the most patient and often quietly wait for their meal, not far off from Mom and Dad. They are also the most fun to watch as they attempt to cling anywhere and everywhere.
Hairy Woodpecker
Young Downy Woodpecker
Some birds, like the Crows and Jays will continuously beg even though the parents ignore them.
Young American Crow begging to an adult
Begging Blue Jay
Others show up after they are already on their own and shyly feed themselves.
Young Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Young male Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Young Cedar Waxwing
Feeding young is a tough job, but someone has to do it!
I have not been out birding much lately and have been very busy with some big changes in my life – I apologize for slacking with my posting! To make up for it, I will share photos of all of the nesting birds that I found locally this year. Most of the photos are not that great – this is because I observe them from a safe distance and do not want to disturb the nests!!
The only nest I found near my yard, so far, is a Red-bellied Woodpecker cavity. They made it easy to find by constantly calling from the tree. I am still waiting to see the fledglings come to my feeders.
Red-bellied Woodpecker in cavity
I found some nests while out in the field just by seeing birds fly into them.
American Goldfinch on nest
Red-eyed Vireo on nest
Blue Jay on nest
And others were pointed out to me by friends who already knew the location.
Canada Goose on nest
Wood Thrush in nest on my friends property
There is an abandoned building nearby that Cliff Swallows like to nest on every year. Unfortunately, right after we saw them this year the property owners knocked down all of their work.
Cliff Swallows building nest
While out on a trip with my local birding club, we found a female Baltimore Oriole building a nest right above the road. I re-found this nest over the weekend, but did not scout it out to see if it was active.
Baltimore Oriole building her nest
I’ve also found various birds carrying nesting materials – of course, they are very cautious when someone is watching them.
Common Yellowthroat with nesting material
Dark-eyed Junco with nesting material
American Crow with moss
To end this off on a cute note, I will share a non-avian nest – I found this Groundhog den at a local park. The young would crowd around the opening, forage and play.
Today, I took a better look at my yard bird list because I thought I hit the 100th milestone with a singing Wood Thrush. Well, it turns out that I did not hit it today – I hit it last month without realizing it! The Thrush ended up being number 103, making a Barn Swallow that I saw two days ago number 102 and an Eastern Screech-Owl that I heard number 101. Number 100 went to a good one and I wish I knew it at the time – I was outside talking to a friend about yard birds and I mentioned that I have been trying to see Bald Eagles migrate overhead so that I can get it as a yard bird. Ten minutes later, guess who came flying low over the creek while we were standing in my driveway? A Bald Eagle. I did not know it then, but that was yard bird number 100!
I will celebrate this huge milestone with a list of my yard birds and, of course, some photos taken from my yard.
I have some birds who stick around all throughout the year, my true residents and feeder birds
Northern Cardinal
Black-capped Chickadee
American Crow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Blue Jay
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Sparrow
Song Sparrow
European Starling
Tufted Titmouse
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Carolina Wren
Some birds are here year-round but do not show up often, or show up more in one season than another
Eastern Bluebird
Brown Creeper
Dark-eyed Junco
Ring-necked Pheasant
And Hawks who watch them or are seen flying over the house
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Some birds stay to breed and I see or hear them throughout the summer, but they migrate south in the winter
Gray Catbird
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Purple Finch
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Baltimore Oriole
Eastern Phoebe
Chipping Sparrow
American Robin
Field Sparrow (heard only, seen in woods)
Veery (heard only, seen in woods)
Red-eyed Vireo
Turkey Vulture (flying)
Common Yellowthroat (heard only)
Cedar Waxwing
House Wren
Others stay to breed but I only see or hear them once in a while
Indigo Bunting
Brown-headed Cowbird
Northern Flicker
Ruffed Grouse (heard only)
Ovenbird (heard only, seen in woods)
American Redstart
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Barn Swallow (flying)
Tree Swallow (flying)
Chimney Swift (flying)
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Yellow Warbler
These birds stay throughout the winter but breed further north
Common Redpoll
Hoary Redpoll
Pine Siskin
American Tree Sparrow
My yard gets a lot of migrating birds who come through in waves
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-headed Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
And birds who come during migration and stay for a few days or even weeks
Fox Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Also birds who I’ve seen migrating over my house, both high and low
These birds are usually flying to or from the neighborhood creek
Mallard (flying, vocalizing)
Canada Goose (foraging across the street)
Green Heron (perched in a tree!)
Great Blue Heron (flying)
Killdeer (flying, vocalizing)
Belted Kingfisher (flying, vocalizing)
Common Merganser (flying, vocalizing)
I’ve only seen or heard these birds once, but hope they return soon
Bald Eagle (flying)
Northern Mockingbird
Osprey (flying)
Rock Pigeon (flying)
Eastern Screech-Owl (heard only)
Swainson’s Thrush
Brown Thrasher
Wood Thrush (heard only, seen in woods)
American Woodcock (heard only)
It is exciting to think about who will show up next or which birds I will see in my yard that I’ve only heard so far. Fall migration is when I get most of my new surprises but hopefully I do not have to wait that long for the next one.
It took a while, but spring is finally here — though it still seems to be fighting with winter. I knew that the nice weekend we had in early March was just a folly, but I did not think that it would be this tough! After some nice weather the birds started to move, only to be stopped by more bad weather. Migration is slow, but the birds are slowly trickling in. Earlier this week, I wrote about my birding trips that involved migrating birds and fallout. Today I want to share some of my local year-round residents and new arrivals.
Sparrows
The Song Sparrows are filling the air with the variety of their tunes!
Song Sparrow
Juncos have been hanging around in full force. I get over 20 at a time under my feeders. I am glad they they do not eat from the feeders otherwise they would clean me out! I had multiple incidents where over 30 Juncos would fly from one single area. They are everywhere!
Dark-eyed Juncos
I enjoyed the songs of Fox Sparrows for the first time. They hung around for over two weeks and I had up to six at a time near my creek when they flew right at.
One of many Fox Sparrows who passed through
Finches
I still have some Pine Siskins hanging around at the feeders with the Goldfinches (who, by the way are starting to look very gold!).
Pine Siskin
The lingering Redpolls wish they moved on sooner. I suppose they learned the hard way that staying south did not mean sunshine and warm weather.
Common Redpoll in a rain storm
My newest feeder-bird arrival is the Purple Finch. I started with just one for about a week and yesterday I had three pairs.
Purple Finch
Waterfowl
Every walk at the creek produces at least one Common Merganser. I was able to get pretty close to them at times just by staying still near the edge of the woods.
Male Common Merganser
Female Common Merganser
For the first time, I had Geese across the street from me. I think the creek was too high and rough for them so they wandered a little bit in search for food.
Canada Geese across the street
Woodpeckers
The Pileated Woodpeckers seem to be a bit less shy then usual when they are looking for insects.
Pileated Woodpecker
Since I had no tripod I layed down on the ground across from him and used a stump and my knees to keep the camera steady so that I could shoot this video
I’m pretty sure that I found the nesting cavity for my local Red-bellied Woodpeckers. They are hanging around this tree and especially this cavity an awful lot!
Red-bellied Woodpecker at possible Nest
Other local birds
The air is also full of the loud songs of my Carolina Wrens.
Singing Carolina Wren
Brown Creepers are everywhere.
Brown Creeper
And last week marked the return of my favorite flycatcher, the Phoebe.
Eastern Phoebe
This past weekend I also had a long-awaited yard bird: while standing in my driveway talking to a friend an adult Bald Eagle flew low following along the creek. This happened not ten minutes after my friend and I were talking about having Eagles as yard birds. Talking about being at the right place at the right time!
Last Summer, I went to Italy to visit family. I have been there before, but not as a birder. I used Birding Pal to find a local birder who may be able to take me around. Thankfully, I found a very kind birder and also met a couple other local friends of his. Since it was the middle of summer, we went looking for water birds. He took me around Castel Volturno, Riserva Oasi Dei Varicon and other areas to the north of Naples.
The first birds we saw were all Sandpipers – Common, Wood, Green – all of which look very similar to me! The most exciting early sighting was a Grey Heron. I was very happy to see the Eurasian counterpart to the American bird that I love so much!
Grey Heron with Eurasian Coots and Black-headed Gulls
The next location was full of Black-winged Stilts, Yellow-legged Gulls, Mediterranean Gulls, Little Egret and Moorhens. I also caught glimpses of a Eurasian Oystercatcher, Gull-billed Tern, Little Tern. I did manage some [bad] photos of some of the birds.
Black-winged Stilts
Eurasian Oystercatcher with Mediterranean Gulls and Black-winged Stilt up front
Yellow-legged Gulls with Black-winged Stilts
Common Moorhens
We stopped at a beautiful spot, Riserva Oasi Dei Varicon, which brought us many more great waterbirds. Here, we saw Redshank and Greenshank, Kentish Plover, Little-ringed Plover, Little Stint, Shelducks, Garganey, Ferruginous Duck, Little Grebe and Sandwich Terns.
Sandwich Terns
Shelduck
Redshank and Greenshank
While driving around, I got better looks at some of the birds and saw many others that I did not get photos of suck as a Eurasian Kestrel, Crested Lark, Turtle Doves, Magpies and Night-heron. Some that I did get photos of are below.
Little Egret
Squacco Heron
Cattle Egret with Cattle
Zitting Cisticola
We were staying in Sant Agata were I saw mostly common birds like the Italian Sparrow, Blackbirds, Eurasian Collared Dove and Hooded Crows.
Italian Sparrow
Eurasian Collared Dove
We took a tour to Pompeii and the Vesuvius and saw some other common birds such as swifts, Hooded Crows, Jackdaws and Magpies. The bird I was hoping to see, the Hoopoe, was no where to be seen even though they are known to breed in Pompeii.
Hooded Crow
Jackdaws
Common Swift
Alpine Swift
And on our way back home from that tour, we saw a beautiful Serin above the streets.
Serin (wild Canary)
Other birds were spotted around family’s property including Spotted Flycatchers and, one that I was very happy to see, the European Robin.
Spotted Flycatcher family
European Robin
We took a trip to Trieste to see cousins and were surprised with some good birds in the gardens. Even though these are common birds, I was very happy to see them! They were very attracted to the plum trees which made it easy for me to see them.
Eurasian Jay with a plum
Eurasian Jay
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Blackbird Fledgling
We also saw many colorful Chaffinches while out in the area.
Chaffinch
We made a last minute stop to Isola della Cona, South of Malfalcone. This reserve gave me the best surprise of the entire trip – a bird who was on my must see list that I did not think I would see – the European Bee-eater!
European Bee-eaters
The reserve itself was full of Camarague horses and Cattle Egrets who would hang out nearby.
Camarague Horse with Cattle Egret, Lapwing, Wagtail and Duck
Cattle Egret
Other great birds at this location included Northern Lapwings and White Wagtails. I never did have to go chasing any of the Lapwings who showed up on the east coast of the US since I already saw them here!
Northern Lapwing
White Wagtail
The reserve was also full of many birds I already saw, plus some new waterfowl.
Black-winged Stilt
Northern Shoveler
Mixed Ducks
Graylag Geese
Common Snipe
Black-headed Gull in winter plumage
Common Sandpiper
The sun was strong and heat made for poor far-away photos, but I am happy that I at least got these memory photos. The last good bird here was another common one that I was happy to see – the European Goldfinch.
European Goldfinches
Overall, I saw over 50 life birds, and even though I didn’t get to see a Hoopoe as I had wished, I really enjoyed the birds I did see!
Last December, I entered a photo into Project FeederWatch’s BirdSpotter contest on Facebook. The photo did not win, but it received recognition from Cornell and plenty of kudos from fans. That day, I received a private message from an editor of the National Wildlife Magazine who was interested in using the photo for an article. I didn’t get my hopes up yet because the image was not the best quality and probably not good enough to print. I sent the photo over and it turned out that the photo was usable! I was told that it would appear with a story about summer bird feeding in the April/May 2013 issue. I still did not want to get too excited because it all seemed to good to be true.
Then yesterday, the magazine showed up in my mail box. I saw my photo as soon as I opened the magazine – it ended up on the centerfold article! It really happened! I was published in a national magazine!
So, how about some back-story on this photo? It almost seems too perfect to have happened and I’ve been accused of it being photoshopped many times; but it really was a lot of patience and especially luck.
In 2010, I moved from central New Jersey to upstate New York. The decision to move was made easier because the company that I work for, Local Wisdom agreed to let me work from home. In the absence of people, I decided to make the best of my new situation by putting my desk downstairs near my sliding glass doors. I immediately purchased bird feeders that were visible from my desk and so began my love of birds. I made sure my set up was ideal for both working in a relaxing environment and having maximum exposure to my yard. I always have my camera facing out the window, even on poorly lit days because you just never know what will show up.
My home office, with camera set up to face outside
On warmer days, I set up outside for even more exposure and a better overall view of my yard.
My outdoor office, on a second story deck, taken with my HTC Thunderbolt
This set up paid off a few times where I was able to get photos that I would have otherwise missed. From new yard birds to Warblers who perched for only a few seconds; a rare Hoary Redpoll who disappeared after four snaps; and the most colorful photo that I have ever taken.
Indigo Bunting, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch, Baltimore Oriole
Too bad I was not 100% prepared for it! At the time, I was aiming to get a photo of my most colorful birds. I was zoomed out because my original yellow bird was a Yellow Warbler who would often perch on the branches to the right. I kept coming close to the perfect photo with female Goldfinches instead of male. Still very lucky, but not what I really wanted!
The photo taken right before my all-male photo
This was taken only a few seconds before my prized photo. The female was not cooperating enough and never made it to the feeders, but then a male flew in and I quickly took another photo.
The original uncropped photo
Then I zoomed in and took another one… and he was gone.
Three Colorful Males and a Chickadee
The Goldfinches were much more fidgety than the other birds. But the Cardinal and Oriole seemed to not want to pose anymore either. Any more attempts after that only resulted in three colorful birds, not four. But hey, I won’t complain about it!
Goldfinches, Indigo Bunting and Baltimore Oriole
Always be ready, you never know what surprises you may catch!
I took off from work today to go birding locally. The original plans were to go up to Cayuga lake, mostly to see Short-eared Owls in the area in the evening, but the weather made us stay local. We decided that, even with not-so-cooperative weather, we were going to try to get 50 species of birds in Broome County, New York. This is tough to do in here in the winter, however, managed to get 55 species! This is only two less than the number of species that I have seen in my county for the entire year! It brings my grand total to 70. Not bad for someone who does not get to get out much and pretty good for my area.
The biggest highlight was our very first bird. We heard that Red Crossbills were showing up at a feeder so that was our first stop. When we got there, we saw tons of Redpolls and I eventually spotted the Crossbills in a tree. Life Bird!!!
The feeders were close to the house and the owners were nice enough to allow us to park in their driveway when they left. This allowed us to get closer to the feeders.
Red Crossbills at a feeder
Red Crossbill at a feeder
Some of the Crossbills would also forage on the ground, along with the Redpolls.
Red Crossbill foraging on the ground
I did not get the photo of a male that I would have liked, but this female was cooperative!
Female Red Crossbill
Other great birds included a migrating Golden Eagle, multiple Bald Eagles, a Northern Shrike, Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, our first returned Red-winged Blackbirds and Grackles along with numerous waterfowl such as Northern Pintails, Ring-necked Ducks, Great and Lesser Scaup, American Wigeons, a Coot, Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, Pied Billed and Horned Grebes and Bufflehead.
