Pinebrook Park is my go-to park for a quick, birdy walk during the spring and summer months. Songbirds are not the only draw to this park – the Brodhead Creek runs along side it, which brings a great variety of water-loving species. I often see Common Mergansers around the creek from a distance or flying by, however, late in August, they gave me a couple of nice photo opportunities.
Common Merganser after a dive
During my first photo op, I only had one subject who was busily fishing close enough to my side of the shore. This was in the morning, so I did not have a ton of time to photograph it.
I returned the next evening and had an entire cooperative flock who swam right by me and perched on some rocks. The lighting was perfect!
I was able to slowly creep closer to them behind the vegetation and get some nice views of them resting, preening and stretching.
I was very happy with the results! I left as soon as I lost the sunlight and the birds remained on the rocks behind me.
I cannot say that I am a huge fan of snow and ice storms, but I do like to take advantage of them for photography when they occur during the daytime hours. Poor weather brings the birds flocking to my feeders. This winter has been pretty mild so far. We finally had our first storms in the past couple of weeks. During these storms, I photographed my feeder birds through my sliding doors with pleasing results.
Dark-eyed Junco
As usual, the birds pose nicely on the branches that are attached to my feeder poles.
Downy Woodpecker (male)
Tufted Titmouse
Downy Woodpecker (female)
Hairy Woodpecker (male)
House Finch (male)
Black-capped Chickadee
I recently set up a fallen branch on top of my deck rails in hopes that it will provide a good perch for photo ops. It certainly has not disappointed me so far!
Tufted Titmouse
Dark-eyed Junco
White-breasted Nuthatch
Dark-eyed Junco
White-breasted Nuthatch
I ended up sprinkling millet on the branch during a snow storm and the Juncos immediately enjoyed the treat.
Dark-eyed Junco
Dark-eyed Junco
I also propped up my old Christmas tree, as I have done since I moved to Pennsylvania. I added millet to the branches of this tree during that same snow storm. With this spread, I get up to a half dozen Juncos roaming around the little five foot tree at the same time.
At least the bad weather brings the birds! I’ll enjoy it while I can, from the comfort of my home.
At the end of the summer, my friend and I were looking for birds at Pinebrook Park along the Brodhead Creek. We both heard something behind us and turned to see a small surprise.
A Black Bear gets into the creek
This Black Bear quietly made it’s way to the creek without us noticing, about twenty feet away. It got right in the water and crossed to the other side.
Bear crossing the creek
On the far bank
The bear’s fur was soaked! But it probably felt pretty good in the heat.
Dripping water
What’s a bear to do?
After situating itself on the other side, it shook the excess water off.
Lighting was a little tough, but we still managed to get a few keepers of it on the other side of the creek.
Posing on an open log
Within five minutes, it disappeared into the woods on the other side.
Northern Saw-whet Owl in hand, taken with my iPhone
The coolest part about it was seeing the bird under a black light. Birds feathers display UV patterns which can indicate the age of a bird. This Northern Saw-whet Owl’s feathers were glowing pink across the under side of its wing, which showed that it was a hatch-year bird.
Left wing under UV light
Right wing under UV light
If the bird had older feathers, they would not glow as bright as the newly grown feathers. For more information on this, check out my friend Ann Nightingale’s article on BirdFellow, Pretty in Pink: The Northern Saw-whet Owl’s Flashy Secret.
Once all of the measurements were taken, the banders allowed me to release the bird. It’s so tiny!
Me holding the Owl before release; photo taken by my friend, Steve
Once the bird was released for the second time, it stuck around in a nearby tree, allowing us to get some nice photos. I used the light from our headlamps to lighten the bird up rather than using a flash. It was a great experience to see this tiny owl up close. I hope to do it again next year!
Northern Saw-whet Owl hiding behind the leaves
Northern Saw-whet Owl perched, after getting banded
I’ve had a very welcome visitor in my garden since late last week. It ended up being the very first subject shot with a new lens that I purchased on Saturday.
The first photo op I had with my new lens
The bird is an Ovenbird. It looks like a thrush, it acts like a thrush, but I promise you that it is not a thrush. The Ovenbird is a larger-sized Warbler that forages on the ground and has a familiar song that echos through the forest in the summer.
I first noticed this bird on Friday while I was watering my plants. It was near the area under my feeders along with some Mourning Doves and Chipping Sparrows. I did not try to get a photo of it on that day. The bird has been seen often every day after that. I even caught him bathing in my small pond.
Bathing Ovenbird shot through my front window
He searches for food all around my garden – he must be finding some good stuff!
Ovenbird foraging around my garden
When I saw him today, he only ran under one of my shrubs, only to come right back out and continue his search. This bird is gearing up for migration to Mexico and has very little fear of me.
This Ovenbird seems to like the perch over my pond
I think I have an addiction – an addiction of photographing the Pine Siskins who have been visiting my deck this winter. My Flickr followers must be getting sick of seeing upload-after-upload of Pine Siskins (I try to break it up a bit with some other birds). How could I not photograph them though? I get anywhere from thirty to seventy visitors at a time. They are very active and don’t even mind it if I stand outside with them.
I do not want to flood my Facebook followers with all of these Siskin photos since there are so many that I like, so I will share a bulk of them in this post.
I get plenty of photos of my Pine Siskins on the branches that are attached to my feeder poles.
When it snows, I get even more photos.
I set up my old Christmas tree, a Fraser Fir, in-between two of my feeders. The birds use it as cover and a place to wait their turn.
They often perch on the top branches.
And at the very top of the tree.
These birds are one of the most aggressive song birds I’ve seen at feeders. They spend more time defending their territory than they do actually feeding. I have five stations set up for them – two thistle feeders, two black oil sun flower seed tubes and a sunflower heart tube. They also go after the suet and seed cakes. Still, they decide to fight each other. If they spent less time fighting, they would not use up so much energy!
On a day that I had around seventy birds, I took a video with my phone. They did not seem to mind me and kept up their routine like I was not even standing there.
I hope you enjoyed these photos as much as I liked taking them!
Barnacle Geese breed in the Arctic islands in the North Atlantic. They will occasionally find themselves off course in the United States. A couple of weeks ago, a pair of them were reported at a lake that is about 20 minutes away from me in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania. I went after them the day after the initial report during my lunch hour. I had just enough time to drive to the lake, spend about five minutes with the birds and head back home. The lake is private and fenced, so there is no trespassing unless you are a member. I was lucky though – the geese were grazing on the shoreline close to the fence. I was able to see them from the small parking area.
I went up closer to the fence and took a few more photos. The rare birds were very cooperative!
Oh, and did I mention that they were life birds? What a great view!
This species has showed up in a few places within hours of me. There is no evidence that they were escaped birds. This pair seems to be moving with the migrant Canada Geese who may spend the entire winter here, as long as the lake does not freeze.
I usually like to think of one word that describes migration in my yard – this fall it is “Blackpoll.” I had days where I lost count at 20 individuals in only one small section of my yard. There were a ton of them.
Blackpoll Warbler
Inbetween all of the Blackpoll Warblers, I would see other birds – usually only once or twice. Many of them came up to my windows or deck and posed nicely for me. The following are some photos of the warblers who cooperated for me.
This Chestnut-sided Warbler photo-bombed the American Redstart
Black-and-white Warblers were early migrants
Another Blackpoll Warbler
Tennessee Warblers showed up often
Black-throated Green Warbler
And another Blackpoll Warbler
Ovenbird near my feeders
I also had plenty of visits from Blue-headed Vireos. One stayed in my yard until the end of October. These birds were very cooperative!
Blue-headed Vireos like to pose nicely
My resident Hummingbirds stocked up at my flowers and feeders before they left and other migrants also stopped by.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird gearing up for migration
My biggest surprise was a bird who would often visit my garden. I was hoping that it would stick around, but I have not seen it in a couple of weeks.
A new yard bird, the Winter Wren
While Common Nighthawks were migrating through the area, I saw some flying around my house as I was driving home. I safely hurried home in time to get the yard bird from my driveway!
A Common Nighthawk during migration (not my yard bird)
I also kept my eyes in the sky for raptors and gained another new yard bird soaring with a Red-tail. This is another bird I did not have in New York.
Black Vultures migrating over my house
It was another great migration season. With the new added birds, my yard list now stands at 93. I was hoping that I could have hit 100 by the end of the year, but I guess it will have to wait until next season. Still, not bad for a very small yard!
My most frequent hawk yard bird is not the more common Red-tailed Hawk – it is a bird that I did not see often when I was in New York, the Red-shouldered Hawk. Since they were difficult to see in New York, I did not have this as a yard bird at my old house… not even a flyover.
Last November, while at my new house in Pennsylvania, I was surprised with a beautiful adult right outside my window. This was on my birthday – a great gift from nature! After that, I would see or hear this bird often and I am pretty sure they ended up nesting in the neighborhood.
Adult Red-shouldered Hawk
Lately, I have been getting multiple visits from a young Red-shouldered Hawk. I wonder if this bird is one of the offspring.
A visit during my Project FeederWatch count
At the end of October and again a couple of days later, I saw this hawk grab a snake. The first time, it was right behind my house so I had a few photo ops. Despite the high angle, I am still happy with the photos!
Look closely – the snake is wrapping around the hawk’s leg
The snake was still alive and wrapping around the hawk’s leg.
The hawk works at killing and untangling the snake
It eventually gave up and the hawk left with its meal.
Finally, the snake gives up
The hawk picked up its catch and flew off
I have to admit that I was a little confused as to the identification of the younger bird. Some friends on Facebook helped me with the ID and gave me good information on how to ID the juvenile. This Sunday, I went to a hawk banding and they caught a Red-shoulder that looked just like my bird. I knew what the bird was as soon as I saw it in the net and it was really nice to see the details up close. The following photos are from the banding and not from my yard.
Red-shouldered Hawk in hand
Details in the wing
A close-up that I only wish I could get in my yard
If I were to describe this year’s spring migration in one word, it would be “outstanding.” Especially in my very own yard. Within a couple of months, my yard bird list went from below forty to over eighty – EIGHTY – species of birds (84 to be exact, and 80 total in 2014 so far). All of these birds were either seen or heard from my house – not from acres of land, but from either one of my decks on my [less than] .4 acres of property. This far exceeded my expectations – especially after leaving such a great hotspot in New York. As of today, I have 15 species of birds on my PA yard list that I did not have on my NY yard list and I am a little over 20 species away in matching my NY list, which had a final count of 106 over three years.
This spring marked the return of breeding birds that grace many people’s backyards such as Baltimore Orioles, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and our tiny Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. The Hummingbirds continue to visit daily.
Baltimore Oriole chattering at me from my deck
Adult male Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak
One of my female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds
These were expected yard birds; the unexpected birds came in waves – very large waves. And they kept on coming. The best part is that there were no leaves on the trees, so I could actually SEE the birds. Many of them even came close enough to my deck for photo ops.
One of my most common migrant visitors were Black-throated Green Warblers. I had them singing for a few weeks before they completely moved on.
Black-throated Green Warblers were very common during migration
Yellow-rumped Warblers were my other most common migrant. I could see them at any time of the day foraging high and low, near and far. They were everywhere!
Yellow-rumped Warbler at eye level
My best Warbler surprises were Blackburnian males and tons of Northern Parulas. I even had a surprise Canada Warbler singing from further in the woods.
Blackburnian Warbler, right after he perched about 5 feet away from me (no, I did not get a photo of THAT)
Other Warblers included American Redstarts, Ovenbirds, Bay-breasted, Black-and-white, Black-throated Blue, Blackpoll, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Nashville, Palm, and Pine Warblers.
Male Black-throated Blue Warbler, after leaves came in
During this migration madness, I had an addition built onto my house – a large deck that comes off of my renovated porch (now sunroom). I was able to enjoy the birds at eye level from this deck and my (already existing) balcony.
Scarlet Tanager at eye level from my deck
In fact, some days, I did not need the extra elevation because the birds seemed to prefer to feed down low. I had at least four male Scarlet Tanagers feeding on the ground at once, along with a few females. This is a bird that is usually seen high up in the tree tops. What a treat!
One of at least four male Scarlet Tanagers foraging on the ground
Now that migration has slowed down, I have other breeders who sing every day. This includes the very first bird that I heard in my yard before I actually owned it last June – the Eastern Wood-Pewee.
The Eastern Wood-Pewee was technically my first yard bird
Another bird that I hear throughout the day is also a flycatcher who sing early with the Robins and are calling as late as 9PM! Great Crested Flycatchers are fun to watch. I often see the local pair hawking insects together.
I love hearing Great Crested Flycatchers calling all day
Red-eyed Vireo and Wood Thrushes continue to serenade me with their songs, just as they did in New York. I love hearing both of them!
Red-eyed Vireo at eye level from my deck
Some other notable migrants that I’ve had are Indigo Buntings, Willow Flycatchers, Eastern Kingbirds, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, both Kinglets, Hermit and Swainson’s Thrushes (I finally heard the Swainson’s sing!), Blue-headed and Yellow-throated Vireos, Cedar Waxwings, Common Ravens, Osprey and Broad-winged Hawks. Oh! And how can I forget my most recent yard bird, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, who I heard calling multiple mornings!
This Yellow-billed Cuckoo was not my yard bird, but I wanted to show it anyway!
Migration was awesome this year. I hope that this sets the tone for what my yard will be like every spring. In New York, I only had a good fall migrations – it was nice getting the spring colors and songs. Too bad peak migration only lasts about a month – I already miss waking up to the songs of Blackburnians, Parulas, Black-throated Greens…
This Northern Parula serenaded me with his beautiful song
