LIFE AS A YOUNG BIRDER

www.NemesisBird.com

2010-12-22T14:32:00.000-08:00

I have decided to stop trying to update this blog and Nemesis Bird.com, so I am going to stop posting to this blog for the time being. Thanks to all my readers, and I hope you will all enjoy my posts that will now be featured on Nemesis Bird. Here is the link.

Rough-leggged Hawk - Centre County

2010-12-15T17:35:00.000-08:00

For the past week a Rough-legged Hawk has been hanging around CREP fields along highway 220 in Centre County. The habitat is beautiful and loaded with raptors but unfortunately all of the property is owned by the state prison. The best area to view the hawk from, was along 220 which has tons of traffic, so all in all, the hawk really couldnt have picked a worse place for birders to see it from. Luckily, it seems the Roughleg has chosen a new, more convienent location to be viewed from. If you take exit 78 off 220 and follow the road south, there is a gravel pull-off near an entrance road to the prison and an old barn. From here the Roughleg hunts close to the road on the east side. Anna Fasoli (http://annafasoli.blogspot.com) and I spent a while today trying to get decent photos of the hawk and to also determine what color morph and age the bird was, since no one has been able to get a good, long look at the bird yet.

(Photo by Anna Fasoli)

We determined the hawk is an Intermediate Morph Adult Rough-legged Hawk. The "intermediate" morph is sometimes considered a heavily marked "light morph" type.

The following criteria was used to come to this conclusion; dark underwing coverts, dark and very obvious subterminal band on the trailing edge of the wings, dark underside with very dark areas creating a belly-band and a dark breast, light-colored tail with a very dark subterminal band shown on both the upperside and underside. That last bit of info is crucial for deciding the bird was not a dark morph since on a dark morph, the upperside of the tail would be dark and not shown any white on a dark morphed bird. As far as why the bird is not a juvenile, the upperside of the wings were solid dark brown. In a juvenile, the upperside of the wings would be light brown/grayish on the primary flight feathers much like how a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk has lighter-colored primary feathers on the upperside of the wing. (Photos below were taken by Alex Lamoreaux)

References:

Wheeler, Brian K. Raptors of Eastern North America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2007

Bald Eagle State Park 12-14-10

2010-12-14T15:05:00.001-08:00

Today Drew Weber, Josh Lefever, and I birded Bald Eagle State Park from 12:00pm till 3:45pm. It was my last day birding in Centre County for this year and I really wanted to find a few more species I hadnt seen yet in the county. The state park was pretty exciting with a nice assortment of waterfowl in decent numbers and plenty of other species. A massive raft of 252 Common Mergansers was neat to see along with 9 other waterfowl species. Two Golden Eagles were also a treat. They were seen a quite a distance migrating south along the Bald Eagle Ridgeline. Below is our full species list from today with highlights in red font:

Snow Goose 105 - 3 flyover flocks, heading southeast over Bald Eagle Ridge
Canada Goose 175 - 1 GreylagXCanada Goose Hybrid; all at swimming beach
American Black Duck 2
Mallard 1 adult male
Redhead 37 - 34 adult male, 3 female-type
Bufflehead 2 - 1 adult male, 1 adult female
Hooded Merganser 18 - 7 adult male, 11 female-type
Common Merganser (North American) 252 - 87 adult male, 165 female-type
Red-breasted Merganser 4 - 2 adult male, 2 female-type
Ruddy Duck 16 - 6 adult male, 10 female-type
Great Blue Heron 1 adult
Bald Eagle 2 - 1 adult male, 1 adult female; local pair
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 7 - 4 adult, 3 juvenile
Golden Eagle 2 both were most likely adults
American Coot 6 - 5 adult, 1 juvenile
Killdeer 3
Ring-billed Gull 75 only 1 was a juvenile, all the rest were adults
Herring Gull 1 adult
Rock Pigeon 2
Mourning Dove 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
American Crow 30
Common Raven 1
White-breasted Nuthatch (Eastern) 2
Eastern Bluebird 30
American Robin 30
European Starling 218
American Pipit 8
American Tree Sparrow 26
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 125
Northern Cardinal 2 - 1 male, 1 female
American Goldfinch 30

I added 2 new county bird for myself at Bald Eagle State Park; American Tree Sparrow and Snow Goose. On the way home we tried to find a Rough-legged Hawk that had been reported near State College and we were successful, adding another new species for me in the county. I tried to get some photos of the RLHA, but it flew pretty far away and it was getting dark out, the photo below is the best photo I could get.

My Centre County year list is now up 179, nothing compared to Drew's 210, but I consider it pretty good for only birding in the county for3 and a half months, and only on weekdays. In 2011, I wont be able to start birding in the county till fall again, but I am gonna try to shoot for 200 next year.

Book Review: Birds of Europe (Second Edition)

2010-12-13T12:18:00.001-08:00

I recently received a review copy of Birds of Europe (Second Edition) from Princeton University Press Field Guides. Lars Svensson wrote the text and designed the maps for the book, and the illustrations and captions were done by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom. I have never been to Europe, but I reviewed the book as if I were planning on taking a trip there and wanted to use this guide in the field.

This second edition has updated taxonomical changes, newly revised maps, new info on how to seperate similar species, and has 10% more pages due to these revisions yet maintains a small, lightweight size. This field guide covers the 713 commonly occuring species in Europe as well as 50 occassional species, 32 escaped/introduced species; all in full detail with multiple color illustraions of each species in all of their various plumages, as well as another 118 rare species which are just listed and not illustrated. The illustrations in this book make it simply stunning. They are clear, bright, and very scientifically accurate. As I mentioned, every possible plumage type of each species is shown. This is an aspect of the book I really enjoyed. When I am out birding I like to narrow down a species to age and sex if possible and most field guides wont let you do that, since they only show a few of the possible plumages. Many of the plates also show the species in a natural setting - in settings you might typically see that species in the field. For instance, a group of shorebirds huddled together along a sandy beach or an owl hidden in a conifer with a crow species nearby mobbing it.

Since I am sort of obsessed with raptors, that section of the book was the first section I turned to, and I was quite impressed! Each raptor is shown in all of its plumages - male, female, subadult, juvenile, and color morphs if applicable. Each species of raptor is also shown in flight - but thats where it really gets good. Not only are the underside of each raptor shown in flight, but also the upperside for each plumage type! Check out this photo of the Golden Eagle plate to understand what I mean.

Another fantastic aspect of this guide is how often the authors included additional plates to assist birders in IDing difficult species, especially at a distance. For instance, this plate below, comparing Great-crested Grebe and Great Cormorant to Red-throated Loon and Great Northern Loon.

The basic layout of the guide is similar to the Peterson Field Guides. The species' plates are on on the righthand side and their descriptions and color range maps are on the lefthand side. I have gotten used to the Sibley Field Guide system, with species in a column, and the respective info and maps above or below the species, so I was a little disapointed in this aspect of the guide. There is so much info presented on the lefthand side that finding each species section and range map is a bit confusing. With some time in the field using the guide, I am sure any birder would be able to get used to this setup though.

The species descriptions are very, very detailed and well written. Each description starts off with the species' measurements, then a short section on what habitats they can be found in, then tips on how to identify the species compare to other similar species, and finally a description of the bird's voice. Interesting facts are also included in some instances.

The bottom line - this just may be the best field guide ever. The combination of loads of illustrations plus lots of info on each individual species make this a field guide to have. I highly recommend this field guide to any world birder and to any birder who (like me) is always hopeful of stubbling upon a European species out of range here in the US. Also if you just enjoy looking through a beautifully illustrated guide, this one is for you. Below are some more photos I took of two plates I really enjoyed that beautifully capture what this book has to offer.

Disclosure- I received a complimentary copy of this field guide from Princeton University Press.

Snowy Weather Raptors

2010-12-09T12:08:00.001-08:00

Between December 3rd and 7th, I spent quite a bit of time hawkwatching at the Dunning's Mtn site on the border of Bedford and Blair Counties. It was very, very cold but raptors were on the move, in very low numbers, but nonetheless, on the move. On December 3rd, I watched a subadult I Bald Eagle fly past the site as well as 6 Red-tailed Hawks. December 4th produced 7 Red-tailed Hawks; 1 Cooper's Hawk; 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk; and 2 Bald Eagles, 1 subadult III and 1 subadult I. December 5th had 1 Red-tailed Hawk. December 7th was great though, with 6 Red-tailed Hawks, 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1 Cooper's Hawk, 1 4th year Bald Eagle, and 1 juvenile Northern Goshawk!

I had been waiting all season for a raelly good look at a goshawk and I finally got it. The goshawk appeared over the trees directly in front of us. It was all tucked up in a fast glide. The bird shot right over our heads, glancing down at us and continued, like a bullet, southward and out of view. That quick look made my day and I still try to relive the moment whenever I look through the photos I took of the bird. Plus, I was able to see all three Accipiters in a matter of three hours that day! There is really something special about being outside on a ridgetop, with snow falling down heavy and seeing a raptor coming towards you, cutting through the snowstorm, it really makes me even more fascinated with these beautiful birds. Below are some photos I took of the various birds I mentioned. In some of the photos you can actually see the snow flakes!

Juvenile Northern Goshawk

Juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk
4th Year Bald Eagle

4th Year Bald Eagle

Adult Red-tailed Hawk

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk

Early December at Shawnee State Park

2010-12-08T20:18:00.000-08:00

The past five days, I have been down in Bedford County, PA birding and hawk watching. It was miserably cold most of the time, especially since the house I stay at doesnt have heat in the bedrooms. With enough layers on, going outside is tolerable though. Shawnee State Park is only about a quarter of a mile away from the house I stay at, so I tried to get over to the park as often as possible to keep track of what species are coming and going. Shawnee State Park is a 4,000 acre park, 451 of those acres are covered by a large lake. The proximity to the Allegheny Front Ridge flyway makes this a very important stop-over lcocation for many migrant birds.

Cackling Goose (front) and Canada Goose (back)

I managed to check out the park a total of 10 times over the course of five days. The birding was good. The highlight of my sightings at Shawnee this past week were three Cackling Geese that mixed in with the large flock of Canada Geese at the swimming beach area of the park. Friday morning (the 3rd) there were two Cacking Geese there, but the next morning more Canada Geese arrived and with them was a third Cackling Goose.

Over the course of the five days, I was able to find 12 species of waterfowl at Shawnee State Park, including: Cackling Goose, Canada Goose, Tundra Swan, Gadwall, American Black Duck, Mallard, Northern Shoveler, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser, Common Merganser, and Ruddy Duck. Other interesting birds were a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk (the first of this species I have seen at Shawnee), Horned and Pied-billed Grebes, lingering Double-crested Cormorants, and 4 American Pipits. Below are some photos I took this weekend at Shawnee.

Red-shouldered Hawk (juvenile)

American Pipit

Belted Kingfisher

Ruddy Duck

Gadwall

Answer to Mystery Bird Quiz # 7

2010-12-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

First off, thanks for all the responses to the mystery bird quiz. Below is the photo again to refresh your memory.

MYSTERY BIRD QUIZ

The top bird and bottom bird seem to be the best place to start in IDing these birds. Both birds are similar in size. Have rather long, slightly drooping bills, grayish heads, white belly, and black legs. Both of these birds are nonbreeding plumage Dunlin. The bottom bird is showing the white underwing, with gray tips to the flight feathers and the top bird is showing the gray upperwing with white area through the middle of the flight feathers. As far as the top bird potentially being a Western Sandpiper, the bill is a bit too long to be a Western and also the overall chunky look of the body doesnt agree with the slim look of a peep. Here is a photo of a nonbreeding Dunlin for comparison.

Dunlin (photo taken at Bald Eagle State Park)

Finally, the center bird with yellow legs. This bird is similar is size to the Dunlin; mostly gray and white; and has a black, drooping bill; but the yellow legs rule it out as another Dunlin. It has grayish armpits and a white supercilium. The first bird that comes to mind is a Lesser Yellowlegs. This species fits most of the descriptions, except Lesser Yellowlegs have a very straight bill without any droop and they are a bit bigger than a Dunlin, roughly 2 inches longer in length and 7 inch longer wingspan. Also Lesser Yellowlegs typically dont show such a profound white supercilium. Greater Yellowlegs can be ruled out also, because once again the bird is not nearly big enough and a Greater Yellowlegs bill is slightly upturned, opposite of the mystery bird. The only other North American species that fits the description is then the Stilt Sandpiper. This species is uncommon to rare in PA, but occurs occasionally during migration. The Stilt Sandpiper has a very obvious white supercilium in the adult nonbreeding plumage, yellow legs, and a somewhat long, drooping bill. Take a look at this photo of the same Stilt Sandpiper as in the mystery bird photo but in a standing posture.

Stilt Sandpiper

These photos were taken at the Kriner Road Water Retention Pond in Chambersburg, PA last October 25th. Ironically there was also a Lesser Yellowlegs present so below are some photos that compare the sizes and shapes of Dunlin, Stilt Sandpiper, and Lesser Yellowlegs. In the first photo notice the similar sizes of the Dunlin and Stilt Sandpiper, and the much larger appearance of the Lesser Yellowlegs. Also note the lake of an obvious white supercilium on the Lesser Yellowlegs. In the second photo, take a look at the severe size difference in the Stilt Sandpiper and the Lesser Yellowlegs, the lack of a white supercilium in the Yellowlegs, and the shape of each of their bills.

Stilt Sandpiper (left), Dunlin (center), and Lesser Yellowlegs (right)

Lesser Yellowlegs (left) and Stilt Sandpiper (right)

There were many responses, which made this more fun. Most responses I got said that they believed the the top and bottom birds to be Dunlin and they thought the center bird (with yellow legs) was a Stilt Sandpiper, so good job! Quite a few other responses thought the top and bottom birds were Dunlin, but considered the center bird to be a Lesser Yellowlegs. Some folks thought the top bird could be a peep of some sort, maybe a Western Sandpiper. Thanks so much for participating and I am very, very sorry for the poor quality of all of these photos, but I believe they were good enough to explain the identifications.

References:

Sibley, David. The Sibley Guide to Birds. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. Print

Mystery Bird Quiz #7

2010-12-01T08:44:00.000-08:00

Another Mystery Bird Quiz! This photo was taken on October 25th, 2009 by me somewhere in Pennsylvania. Three birds are shown landing. If you want to take a guess at what they are, leave your guess as a comment on this post. Have fun!

PA's First Ever Anna's Hummingbird!

2010-11-25T09:04:00.000-08:00

This afternoon I was able to drive over to the Mountain Springs Camping Resort near Hamburg to see the Anna's Hummingbird that was captured and identified by Scott Weidensaul last Sunday. This is the first time this species has ever been seen in Pennsylvania, so it was quite a treat, especially since just last winter, PA added Allen's Hummingbird as a new state species. That bird was also banded by Scott Weidensaul. Scott identified the Anna's Hummingbird as an adult female. While I was there, the bird showed itself three times. Once at 12:17pm for a few seconds as it landed in a tree outside M75, then again at 12:28pm for a few seconds when it flew over to M69 and fed from another hummingbird feeder, and then finally again at 12:37pm when it perched in the top of a tree outside M75 for about 1.5 minutes. I was able to get some great looks in my scope when it sat the last time.

New Jersey Birding - Part 2

2010-11-25T08:41:00.000-08:00

On Sunday morning, November 21st, we started off the day by going to Reed's Beach in Cape May. It was prety slow, and there wasnt too much around, but we did find 5 Boat-tailed Grackles perched in the top of a tree.

Boat-tailed Grackle

Next, we drove over to the Cape May Hawk Watch at Cape May Point State Park. They were having a fairly slow day as far as actual raptors migrating out of Cape May and crossing the Delaware Bay, but plenty of raptors were soaring around. The highlight of the morning was a sub-adult Golden Eagle that first appeared to the northeast, soaring and slowly made its way a bit closer to us for some good looks. Other raptors seen included Red-tailed Hawks (even the famous luecistic one named Lucy that has been hanging around Cape May Point for a while, check out a picture of her at this link), Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, a Peregrine Falcon, Red-shouldered Hawks, Northern Harriers, and both vultures. We also searched through the large flock of waterfowl at the various ponds around the state park in hopes of finding one or both of the Eurasian Wigeons that had been reported there on and off for quite a while. We were not able to find them, but it was ncie to see the other ducks at close range.

Golden Eagle (sub-adult)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (juvenile)

Gadwall

Northern Shoveler

Drew Weber drove down to Cape May and joined us for some birding for the rest of the day, until a report of the Anna's Hummingbird in PA sent him back. The whole gang, with Drew now included, drove over to the Nummy Island area. Shorebirds were present in good numbers, but they were WAY out on a mudflat, so could only be seen "well" through a scope. New trip birds here included Willet, American Oystercatcher, Semipalmated Plover, and Marbled Godwit. We then made the quick jump over to Stone Harbor Point to search the dunes for Snow Buntings and Lapland Longspurs. However, out over the ocean hundreds of Northern Gannets, Red-throated Loons, and scoters were migrating past which distarcted me while everyone else continued to search the dunes.....so, I ended up missing the 15 or so Snow Buntings that Drew, Josh, and Tim found. Luckily both Josh and Tim needed Snow Bunting as a life bird. I was pretty content with seeing the gannets and loons though. There were also some shorebirds on the beach that let me get in close for some photos.

Northern Gannet
Semipalmated Plover

For the fourth day of our trip, on the 22nd, we really didnt have anything planned, so we figured we would just spend some more time at the Avalon Sea Watch, since we all had a great time there. So after a quick stop at Higbee Beach (where bird activity was basically nonexistent) we drove over to Avalon. As we expected, Northern Gannets, Red-throated Loons, and scoters were still pushing through in massive numbers. Other highlights of the Sea Watch were some Purple Sandpipers, a banded Sanderling, and getting to see many species of waterfowl flying past on their way south.

Ruddy Turnstone with line wrapped around its leg/foot

Sanderling with leg band

Surf Scoters migrating past

Finally, it was the 23rd, and we had to head home. We decided to take the Cape May-Lewes Ferry across the Deleware Bay and then stop at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge before officially heading back to PA. The ferry ride was fantastic. I have ridden the ferry many, many times in the past, but the bird life seen on this particular trip was better than ever. Constant groups of Red-throated Loons flew past the front of the ferry; a few Common Loons; stream after stream of Surf and Black Scoters passed by. Thousands of Northern Gannets were literally everywhere you looked; diving behind the boat, sitting on the water, flying in the distance....they were everywhere. All the Northern Gannet age classes were present too, which was nice to see. By far the best bird of the ferry ride was an adult Parasitic Jaeger that I spotted flying out in front of the ferry, heading south very low to the water. This was a lifer for everyone in our group, except me.

Northern Gannet
Red-throated Loon

Common Loon

By 10:30am we were at Bombay Hook NWR. We basically had the whole place to ourselves and it was loaded with birds. At an observation tower near the start of the auto tour loop, we spotted a group of about 250 American Avocets, along with a few Marbled Godwits, Long-billed Dowitchers, and Dunlin. There were tons of waterfowl around. We searched pretty hard for the Barnacle Goose and White-fronted Goose that had been reported there earlier in the week, but couldnt find them. I did manage to spot a Cackling Goose among all the Canada Geese though, which was a lifer for a few of my friends. Other highlights of Bombay Hook were thousands of Snow Geese, a juvenile Little Blue Heron, Tundra Swans, and the shear number of individual waterfowl.

Bald Eagle

American Avocets

White-tailed Deer swimming through the marsh

So that brought us to the end of our trip. 5 days, 5 friends, 113 species of birds.

To check out all the photos I took from this trip, please visit my Picasa web album at this link.

Birding in New Jersey - Part 1

2010-11-24T16:27:00.001-08:00

Last Friday, November 19th, was the start of our Thanksgiving Break so my friends and I decided to go to Cape May, NJ for some birding with the hope of getting Tim and Josh some life birds and get me a few year birds for my Big Year. Nate Fronk, Tim Schrekengost, Josh Lefever, and a friend of Nate and Tim’s, Cory, and I were all packed up and ready to go Friday morning and made it to Brigantine, NJ by 2:00pm. Our first stop was the Forsthye National Wildlife Refuge. We birded the refuge till dark then went to our campsite in the Bass River State Forest. We managed to find close to 40 species at the refuge. The first stop we made at the refuge was an observation tower at the start of the wildlife drive loop, waterfowl were everywhere – thousands of individual ducks! But the highlight of the refuge (and probably the whole trip) was an American Bittern standing right alongside the road, partially hidden in grass. Until then, I had never gotten such a long and clear look at a bittern in my life, plus this was a new bird for my year list!

American Bittern

Like I mentioned, waterfowl were quite numerous at the refuge and we managed to see 12 different species including Atlantic Brant, which was a year bird for me! Northern Pintails were probably the most numerous dabbling duck species we saw, along with Green-winged Teal.

Atlantic Brant

Northern Pintail

Shorebirds were plentiful too, but not quite as diverse at waterfowl. Dunlins were by far the most numerous species, with easily a few thousand throughout the refuge. Black-bellied Plovers were also abundant. Six American Avocets were also a nice treat.

American Avocets

The next morning we woke up fairly early and drove over to the Barnegat Lighthouse, where there is a jetty that is famous for Harlequin Ducks, Common Eiders, and Purple Sandpipers. We stumbled upon Purple Sandpipers as soon as we started to walk out the jetty, and at the end of the jetty we found nice rafts of seaducks, including Harlequin, Common Eider, Surf Scoter, Red-breasted Mergansers, and some flyby Oldsqauw. There were also three Great Cormorants perched on a Channel Marker. The Harlequin Ducks and Great Cormorants were new species for my year list. Other interesting species at Barnegat Light were one juvenile Brown Pelican, Laughing Gulls, Bonaparte’s Gulls, Forster’s Tern, Northern Gannets, and Horned Lark.

Harlequin Ducks
Purple Sandpiper

Dunlin

Next stop was the Avalon Sea Watch in Avalon, NJ. We made it there by noon and walked out to the tip of the jetty to watch all the seabirds flying past. Red-throated Loons and Northern Gannets were the stars of the show, with hundreds of each species passing by. Surf, Black, and a few White-winged Scoters were also streaming by in good numbers. A raft of scoters right next to the jetty offered some good photo opportunities. A flock of 35 Tundra Swans flew by; it was kind of strange to see swans way out over open ocean. A Royal Tern also flew over.

Red-throated Loons migrating

Surf Scoter

White-winged Scoter

Common Eider and Black Scoter

Surf Scoter, White-winged Scoter, and Common Eider

Royal Tern

Check back here for New Jersey Birding - Part 2!

Golden Eagles!

2010-11-19T04:52:00.000-08:00

If you have ever spent any time around me at a hawk watch, you would know that every raptor that flies by gets me very excited. It doesnt matter if its the 500th Broad-wing of the season or the 60th Sharp-shinned Hawk of the day....each bird that migrates past is new and exciting in its own way. But, nothing compares to scanning out in front of you and landing your eyes on an incoming Golden Eagle. Long dark wings, bright golden shoulders, and a golden nape headed straight for you. You jump to a scope and are able to see the intensity in the eyes of the Eagle - its headed south and nothing is going to stop it.

Adult Golden Eagle

This time of the year is peak Golden Eagle migration, as the birds travel down from coastal Canada, where they breed, to the Southern Appalachians, where they winter. Central Pennsylvanian Hawk Watches gets some of the best Golden Eagle counts in the country, and one watch in particular, the Allegheny Front in Bedford County is exceptionally good. This year has seen a somewhat lower count than usual since its been primarily West winds all season, and the Front needs East winds, but still, there season total is at 87 so far. I have been spending quite a bit of time at the Front this season and luckily I was there last Saturday, the 13th, when a total of 17Golden Eagles migrated past the site. The wind was coming out of the East and the Goldens were tight along the ridge, passing the site only a few hundred feet out, some passing straight overhead and then stopping to soar above us. Below are some photos I took last Saturday of the Golden Eagles, and a Red-tailed Hawk, and a Northern Harrier that flew past.

Adult Golden Eagle

Juvenile Golden Eagle

Adult Red-tailed Hawk, coming in to harass the owl decoy.

Adult male Northern Harrier passing by.

Dunlin at Bald Eagle State Park

2010-11-18T11:54:00.000-08:00

This morning, friends of mine, Nate Fronk and Tim Schrekengost went to BESP to search for waterfowl. Waterfowl numbers and diversity were down, but they did find a juvenile Dunlin foraging on a sunken road at the east end of the park. Drew Weber and I needed this for our county lists, so we carpooled out there and arrived by 11:00am. The Dunlin was right where Nate and Tim said it would be. I was able to sneak in closer for the following photos:

Other birds seen, included the following:

Canada Goose 100
American Black Duck 9
Mallard 4 - 2 male, 2 female
Lesser Scaup 7 - 3 male, 4 female
Bufflehead 13 - 5 adult male, 4 juv male, 4 female
Hooded Merganser 13 - 5 male, 8 female-type
Common Merganser (North American) 10 female-type
Ruddy Duck 8 - 4 male, 4 female-type
Common Loon 1 adult
Double-crested Cormorant 1 adult
Bald Eagle 1 adult @ nest
American Coot 85 - large group @ Hunter Run Launch
Dunlin 1 Juvenile; Foraging on the sunken rd @ the entrance to Hunter Run Cove
Ring-billed Gull 1 adult
Rock Pigeon 60
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 20
Horned Lark 25 flyovers, calling
Black-capped Chickadee 2
European Starling 60
White-throated Sparrow 4
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 6
Northern Cardinal 2
American Goldfinch 20

BESP: Waterfowl and Black Bears

2010-11-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

Hoping the weather last night would push more waterfowl into BESP, Josh Lefever and I went to over from 6:30am till 8:30am. Apparently there must have been a break in the rain last night and most waterfowl had left the park. We were able to find 5 duck species and Common Loon and Horned Grebe, way down from yesterdays 12 duck species, way down from yesterdays 10 duck species. Nonetheless, it was a worthwhile trip, especially since when we stopped at Lower Greens Run I was scanning the far shore and spotted a dark blob that resembled a bear. Once I got it in the scope, I realized it really was a large Black Bear, that was soon joined by another large Black Bear. Both sat on the shore line for a while and then wandered off into the forest.

Black Bears (cell phone pic through my scope)

Horned Grebes

4th year Bald Eagle fishing

Number of species: 17

Canada Goose 133 - 47 @ swimming beach that then flew to grassy area by the dam; 67 @ Lower Greens Run; 19 @ Hunter Run Launch; individual with strange spectacle-like markings on face was still present
Northern Shoveler 1 - 1 female @ swimming beach
Greater Scaup 1 - 1 female @ swimming beach; same individual as yesterday
Red-breasted Merganser 1 - 1 female-type @ swimming beach
Ruddy Duck 64 - 32 males and 32 female-type at various locations around the park, biggest raft was at Lower Greens Run
Common Loon 2 - 1 adult near BAEA nest, 1 adult @ Lower Greens; adult @ BAEA nest was vocalizing with full call!
Horned Grebe 7 - 7 adults @ swimming beach
Great Blue Heron 2 adults
Bald Eagle 4 - 2 adults @ nest, 1 3rd year near nest site, 1 4th year @ swimming beach; the 4th year was seen tryign to catch carp, was successful but then dropped the carp and gave up
Red-tailed Hawk 1 adult
American Coot 150 - 20 near dam, 130 @ Hunter Run Launch
Killdeer 1 @ swimming beach
Bonaparte's Gull 1 first winter bird flying around Lower Greens Run
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1 male
Downy Woodpecker 1 female
American Crow 20
Eastern Bluebird 20

Centre County Waterfowl

2010-11-16T11:33:00.000-08:00

The rainy weather made perfect conditions for some waterfowling here in Center County today, so around 9:45am, Anna Fasoli and I headed to Bald Eagle State Park. We were instantly greeted by 14 Tundra Swans, and the largest raft of waterfowl I have seen at BESP. We were able to find 12 species of waterfowl at BESP. A complete list is below some photos from today all taken by Anna Fasoli.

Tundra Swans

Adult Cooper's Hawk
Strange Canada Goose with spectacles and white patch on forehead

Bonaparte's Gull
Female Greater Scaup
Ruddy Ducks
Horned Grebe

4th year Bald Eagle

Waterbirds Seen:

Canada Goose 106 70 @ swimming beach, 36 @ Lower Greens Run; one had strange markings on face - like spectacles
Tundra Swan 141 - 14 @ swimming beach, 97 @ the dam, 30 @ Lower Greens Run
Canvasback 5 - 2 male, 3 female @ dam
Ring-necked Duck 9 - 1 male, 8 female @ dam
Greater Scaup 1 - 1 female @ swimming beach
Lesser Scaup 10 - 2 male and 4 female @ dam, 1 male and 3 female @ Lower Greens Run
Black Scoter 4 - 4 female @ Lower Greens Run
Long-tailed Duck 14 - 10 males and 4 females @ the dam
Bufflehead 119 - 8 male and 7 female-type @ swimming beach, 48 male and 27 female-type @ dam, 14 male and 15 female-type @ Lower Greens Run
Common Merganser (North American) 2 - 2 female-type @ dam
Red-breasted Merganser 1 - 1 nonbreeding plumage male @ dam swimming with 2 COME
Ruddy Duck 90 - 13 male and 15 female @ swimming beach, 11 male and 11 female @ dam, 20 male and 20 female @ Lower Greens Run
Common Loon 2 1 adult @ swimming beach, 1 adult @ Lower Greens Run
Horned Grebe 7 - 4 adults and 1 juv @ swimmning beach, 1 adult @ winter boat launch, 1 adult @ dam

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next stop was Colyer Lake where we found 2 White-winged Scoters, and lots of other waterfowl including the following:

Mallard 7 - 6 males, 1 female
Canvasback 6 - 3 male, 3 female
Lesser Scaup 5 - 3 male, 2 female
White-winged Scoter 2 - 2 adult male
Bufflehead 6 - 5 male, 1 female
Red-breasted Merganser 8 - 8 female-type
Ruddy Duck 18 - 9 male, 9 female
Pied-billed Grebe 7 - 7 adults

Long-tailed Ducks, Canvasbacks, and White-winged ScotersClose-up of the White-winged Scoters

I added 6 species to my Centre County list today, bringing the total up to 175.

Bird Banding 11-12-10

2010-11-12T10:32:00.001-08:00

Since the weather was so nice (also read: "freezing cold") Emily Thomas decided to try banding this morning. There was quite a crowd there, from the local bird club, but unfortunately we didnt catch many birds. The species we captured included Northern Cardinals, Dark-eyed Juncos, White-throated Sparrow, and House Finches. Here are some photos from this morning:

Northern Cardinal (male)

Northern Cardinal (female)
Dark-eyed Junco

Dark-eyed Juncos; note the variation in the colors of their backs based on age/sex

For more photos of the birds we have captured and banded at Sunset Park in State College, please visit this link to one of my photo albums.

Jo Hayes Vista 11-9-10

2010-11-09T14:02:00.000-08:00

Today, I spent 8.5 hours counting migrating raptors at Jo Hayes Vista. It was a very slow day, with only 33 raptors flying past total. The highlight of the day (and also the first raptor I saw this morning) was an adult Golden Eagle at 9:45am. The rest of the day was less exciting with 29 Red-tailed Hawks flying past and 2 Cooper's Hawks. Complete list and numbers are below the photos.

Adult Golden Eagle that flew past at 9:45am; it was a little far away.

Adult Cooper's Hawk

Adult Red-tailed Hawk

Migrant Raptors:
Northern Harrier 1 juvenile
Cooper's Hawk 2 adults
Red-tailed Hawk 29; 18 adults, 11 juveniles
Golden Eagle 1 adult, passed at 9:45am

Other species:
Turkey Vulture 4 locals
Herring Gull 2 "1st winter"
Mourning Dove 5
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
Blue Jay 3
American Crow 25
Common Raven 8
Horned Lark 15 single flock, heading west
Black-capped Chickadee 3
White-breasted Nuthatch (Eastern) 2
American Robin 111
European Starling 41
Cedar Waxwing 50
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 4
Common Grackle 11
Brown-headed Cowbird 7
American Goldfinch 12

Redtails, redtails, redtails....and some Goldens!

2010-11-08T14:12:00.000-08:00

Hawk watching was very, very cold this weekend, but still lots of fun. Being the second weekend of November, it wasnt suprising that 90% of the hawks migrating past were Red-tailed Hawks. Other raptors of the weekend inlcuded 5 Golden Eagles on Friday and 2 on Saturday; 5 Red-shouldered Hawks on Saturday; and Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, Bald Eagles, and Northern Harriers throughout the weekend. Below are some photos I took on Sunday of a migrating juvenile Red-tailed Hawk.

Red-tailed Hawk (juvenile)

On another note, Anna and I found another Black Scoter at Shawnee State Park on Sunday morning!

Black Scoter

2010-11-04T16:00:00.001-07:00

Anna Fasoli, Cory Ritter, and I birded Whitetail Wetlands this afternoon in Bedford County. This is a private wetland complex. We stopped at the large pond and I spotted what I assumed was a Ruddy Duck swimming next to some Canada Geese and a drake Mallard. Once I got the scope on it, I was amazed to see a Black Scoter! This is a very rare species in PA and it is extremely uncommon to see one in a marsh-like wetland when they are always found on open ocean or at least massive lakes. Its also weird that my first PA Black Scoter ever was just on Monday on this past week.

Black Scoter

Rusty Blackbirds, like this female, were also very common at the wetlands today, with about 100 seen total.

Nemesis Bird Website

2010-11-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

I have been invited to contribute to another birding blog called "The Nemesis Bird". I will continue as normal on this blog but will also be posting on the Nemesis Bird website with other articles or duplicates from this blog. So check out both whenever you have a chance!

Answer to Mystery Bird Quiz # 6

2010-11-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

Like I was hoping, this Mystery Bird Quiz stumped some people. Over 150 people viewed the quiz, but I only got responses from about 20 people. All twenty people guessed one of the following 3 species: Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, or Red-shouldered Hawk. In the post, I had mentioned that the bird in question was in fact an Accipiter, so that should have narrowed the quesses down to Sharp-shinned, Cooper's, or Goshawk. Red-shouldered Hawk is a Buteo and so should not have been guessed, but since it was the number one guess, I will address why it is not a Red-shoulder. Red-shouldered Hawks are commonly refered to as the Buteo that looks and acts like an Accipiter, so I am not totally suprised this was guessed.

Here are the two photos I had given, just to refresh your memory.

Photo 1

Photo 2

In these photos the bird is shown in two different flight postures. The first photo shows the bird banking to the left as it soared above me. The second photo shows the bird coming off a soar into a gliding posture.

Lets start with why the bird is not a Red-shouldered Hawk. I believe people instantly thought Red-shouldered because of three features that are shown in the first photo. 1- The bird has broad wings, with the appearance of a "pale crescent" before the primary flight (finger) feathers. 2- The bird has a banded tail. 3- The bird has a chunky body like that of a Buteo. Of these three reasons, I believe the second reason is the most important for ruling out Red-shouldered Hawk (RS). In the juvenile plumage of a RS, the tail is very heavily banded with about seven dark bands. In the first mystery bird photo, you can easily see that the tail only has three dark bands. In the adult plumage of a RS, the tail does actually have three dark bands, but they are very thick, showing barely any white between each band, whereas the mystery bird's tail shows even black and white/gray banding. As far as the "pale crescent" in the wings; this is just an effect of how the sun was hitting the primary feathers, and creating an impression of a lighter patch in the wing. Furthermore, the wing shape is not quite right for a Buteo, the secondary feathers are bulging too far out and the wing is not long enough to be an Buteo's. Below are some photos of Red-shouldered Hawks for you to compare to the mystery bird photos.

Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk; note very heavily banded tail, long narrow wings, and large head. The pale crescents in the wings are very obvious in juveniles, like this one.

Adult Red-shouldered Hawk; note thick banding on tail, long narrow wings, and big head. The pale crescents are less noticeable in the wings of adult Red-shoulders.

This photo of an adult Red-shouldered Hawk's posture is similar to the posture in mystery bird photo 2; however the head is very large, and the wingtips are swept back in typical Red-shoulder fashion.

Next, lets discuss why the bird is not a Cooper's Hawk. Cooper's Hawk and Sharp-shinned Hawks are very similar in all respects, but can easily be differentiated if you take the time to look at multiple field marks, which is obviously easier to do when youre just looking at a photo as is the case here. The field marks that I feel led people to guess Cooper's Hawk were 1- The long wings and 2- The long tail with white tip.
The wings of the mystery bird in photo 1 do appear rather long, but the bulging secondary feathers ruin the shape for the bird to be a Cooper's Hawk by giving the wind a "stouter" appearance. The tail is the other field mark that could have thrown you off in this identification. First lets look at how wide the body is where the tail and the body meet. Cooper's Hawk have a very broad attachment point, just as wide as the rest of the bird's chest. The mystery bird's chest/tail attachment seems to pinch together a bit making the attachment point not as wide as the rest of the chest. The end of the tail is also not nearly as rounded as a Cooper's Hawk tail should be. Compare the photo below of a Cooper's Hawk in a similar posture to mystery bird photo 1.

Adult Cooper's Hawk, soaring and banking left; note long and narrow wings not showing any bulging in the secondaries. Also note the area where the tail attaches to the body, it is as wide as the rest of the bird's chest.

Compare this photo of an adult Cooper's Hawk to mystery bird photo 2. Note the very large head and long tail that is rounded at the tip.

So, as you probably realize by now the mystery bird is a SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. The overall stocky appearance, very small head, and stout wings with bulging secondaries seal the deal. I believe that if you had all seen the bird in the field, the ID would have been much easier since you would have also had the flight style to go on as well as see that the bird was much smaller than any Red-shouldered Hawk could be. I would be happy to discuss more with you about the identication of this bird, just email me or leave a comment on this post. Drew Weber, Tim Schreckengost, and Anna Fasoli answered correctly. All the photos in this post were taken by Alex Lamoreaux.

Red-necked Grebes and Black Scoters at BESP

2010-11-01T12:10:00.001-07:00

Drew Weber found two very rare species this morning over at Bald Eagle State Park, so I ran over there quick between classes. The species were Red-necked Grebes and Black Scoters. The grebes (one adult and two juveniles) were right were Drew had foud them, except they were way too far out for photos, so I drove to the other side of the lake and managed to get fairly close for the photo below.

Red-necked Grebes

Black Scoters are deep sea ducks that are rarely found inland, and I have never seen them before away from the ocean. There was a raft of 9 at the state park.

Black Scoters

Below is a complete list of the species I saw this morning at BESP:

Canada Goose 123
American Black Duck 19
Mallard 7
Black Scoter 9
Ruddy Duck 1
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Red-necked Grebe 3
Great Blue Heron 3
Bald Eagle 1
American Coot 110
Belted Kingfisher 1
Blue Jay 4
American Crow 20
Common Raven 1
Black-capped Chickadee 4
White-breasted Nuthatch (Eastern) 1
Eastern Bluebird 2
American Robin 4
European Starling 20
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 10
American Goldfinch 6

Weekend Sightings....

2010-11-01T11:57:00.001-07:00

I spent this past weekend, once again, down in Bedford County. Friday afternoon when I stopped by Shawnee State Park, and found a nice assortment of waterfowl including Red-breasted Mergansers, Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, and one Canvasback, as well as five other species. Friday night I owl banded up at the Allegheny Front and we managed to capture 3 Northern Saw-whet Owls despite the very strong winds.

Saturday I hawk watched at Tussey Mountain. It was a very successful day, with 62 total raptors migrating past. 5 red-shouldered Hawks, 1 Golden Eagle, and 9 Northern Harriers were the highlights. Below are some pictures.

Adult Red-shouldered Hawk
Juvenile Bald Eagle

Juvenile Golden Eagle

Ruby-crowned Kinglet at the Hawk Watch

Sunday, Anna, Cory Ritter, and I went to a few places to search for waterfowl. Shawnee State Park had some American Wigeons, Ruddy Ducks, Northern Shoveler, and Gadwall. Whitetail Wetlands had a very nice assortments of waterfowl, including Mallard, Gadwall, American Black Duck, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, American Coots, and best of all a beautiful Trumpeter Swan. Trumpeter Swans are very rare in PA.

Trumpeter Swan; photo by Anna Fasoli.

These two juvenile, male Northern Harriers were enganged in an aerial battle for a few minutes while we watched the waterfowl; photo by Anna Fasoli.

Sunday night I went owl banding again till 1:15 in the morning and we managed to catch 22 saw-whet owls!

BESP and Jo Hayes Vista 10-28-10

2010-10-28T15:44:00.000-07:00

This morning Tim Schreckengost and I birded Bald Eagle State Park. Highlights were 2 Greater Yellowlegs (photo below), 2 Common Loons, 7 Gadwall, and a raft a 133 American Coots. At one point one of the adult Bald Eagles that nests nearby dove at the raft of coots, but was unsuccessful in capturing one.

Greater Yellowlegs

From 1:00pm till 5:30pm, I hawk watched from Jo Hayes Vista. By the time I left, I had counted 91 raptors migrate past. Most numerous were Red-tailed Hawks and Turkey Vultures. Other species included Sharp-shinned Hawks, Northern Harrier, Black Vulture, Bald Eagles, and a Golden Eagle (my 442nd bird species this year!).

Most of the Red-tailed Hawks were passing in groups ranging in size from two to seven individuals, all lined up and gliding through. Of the adult Red-tails that flew in close enough to see well, individuals were evenly mixed between typical "Eastern" types and "Canadian" types.

Totals:

Black Vulture - 5; a group of 2 and a group of 3
Turkey Vulture - 24; mostly juveniles
Bald Eagle - 2; 4th year @ 2:10pm and juvenile @ 4:52pm
Northern Harrier - 1 adult male
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3; two adults, 1 juvenile
Red-tailed Hawk - 55; 46 adults, 8 juvenile
Golden Eagle 1 subadult; passed by @ 2:55pm

Adult Red-tailed Hawk
Adult Red-tailed Hawk

Adult Red-tailed Hawk - heavily streaked

Adult Red-tailed Hawk - lightly streaked (compare to the photo above; these two birds flew past together)

Juvenile Bald Eagle

Another Adult Red-tailed Hawk

Adult Turkey Vulture

Mystery Bird Quiz #6

2010-10-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

This afternoon while I was out birding around the University Park Airport, I spotted an accipiter harrassing an adult Red-tailed Hawk. My binoculars were in the back seat, but I had my camera nearby so I started taking photos of the bird even though I wasnt quite sure what accipiter it was yet. Soon the bird flew off and out of sight. When I got home I quickly downloaded the photos so I could figure out what species it was. Some of its field marks were very confusing, so I figured I would put it up as a mystery bird quiz to see if I could stump anyone else. Take a look at these photos and then leave you answer and an explaination as a "comment" on this post. Once some answers are in, I will provide the correct answer and an explaination in another post. Have fun!

Hawk Watching and Owl Banding

2010-10-25T08:31:00.001-07:00

Another weekend down in Bedford County watching hawks and catching owls....

Friday night I stopped by Shawnee State Park and found a Red-necked Grebe. This is a fairly uncommon bird in PA and was a lifer for me and also year bird 441! I went back the next morning to try to find it again, but couldnt. There was a beautiful looking Merlin though, terrorizing the American Goldfinches.

Merlin at Shawnee State Park

For the rest of Saturday I hawk watched at Tussey Mountain. It was a prety slow day with only 30 some raptors migrating past. Highlights were one male, one female, and one juvenile Northern Harriers; three adult Bald Eagles; and one adult Common Loon. Red-tailed Hawks made up the bulk of the count.

juvenile Red-tailed Hawk

adult female Sharp-shinned Hawk

juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk

Sunday I hawk watched at the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch. We had 56 raptors migrate past, mostly Red-tailed Hawks. We did have one Norhern harrier and one Red-shouldered Hawk though. Sunday night I banded Northern Saw-whet Owls. Before the full moon had a chance to get too high in the sky and make it bright as day out, we managed to capture 8 saw-whets. Seven were hatch year birds and one was a second year bird.

Bird Banding 10-22-10

2010-10-22T08:46:00.000-07:00

This morning was our last day of birding banding this fall. We caught a total of 9 species. One of the Northern Cardinals we captured today was a recapture that had first been banding on our very first day of banding in September! Our most numerous bird captured this morning where White-throated Sparrows, we ran out of bands after we caught 11 but we captured about 20 total. Other highlights were one Winter Wren, two Carolina Wrens, and one Blue Jay.

White-throated Sparrow

14 White-throated Sparrows

Blue Jay

Black-capped Chickadee
Winter Wren

Carolina Wren

Winter Wren (left) and Carolina Wren (right) - look at the size difference!

For more photos I have taken of bird banding at Sunset Park, visit this link.

This weekend I am headed down to Bedford County for more hawk watching and saw-whet owl banding, check back Monday for photos and info!

Hawk Watching - Jo Hayes Vista

2010-10-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

Josh Lefever and I hawk watched at Jo Hayes Vista from 1:15pm till 5:00pm today. Chet Gottfried was also with us till 3:00pm.

We had a total of 53 raptors migrate past during that time. 42 were Red-tailed Hawks as would be expected, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Cooper's Hawk, one American Kestrel, and one Bald Eagle made up the remainder.

Bald Eagle 1 juvenile; Flew past at 2:05pm
Sharp-shinned Hawk 7 adult
Cooper's Hawk 2 juvenile
Red-tailed Hawk 42 total; 33 adults, 8 juveniles, 1 unknown age
American Kestrel 1 male

Other species:

Turkey Vulture 6 adults total; not migrating just seemed like locals
American Crow 6
Common Raven 2
American Robin 1
Cedar Waxwing 23
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 2
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 2

Red-tailed Hawk (juvenile)

Red-tailed Hawk (adult)

Red-tailed Hawk (juvenile)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (adult female)

Common Raven

Scotia Barrens Owling

2010-10-20T21:50:00.000-07:00

My friends and I decided this evening would be good as any to go out and try to call in some owls at Scotia Barrens. We arrived around 9:00pm and made our way down Scotia Rd, stopping every once and a while to call Eastern Screech Owl and Northern Saw-whet Owl tapes. At our third stop, by the Scotia Pond, two Screech Owls responded to our tapes. One flew in and offered great looks and a few photos before flying away. About 2 miles down Scotia Rd we started calling for the larger owls, Barred and Great Horned. It didnt take much effort to get some Great Horned Owls to call back and before long, we had 4 around us. Two smaller Great Horned's flew into a tree together and called at us before flying away. Another lone Great Horned flew into the top of a tree at another stop along the road. This particular bird (pictured below) was massive. We also had one Barred Owl vocalize once. No Nothern Saw-whet Owls responded, but I wasnt too suprised considering the number of other larger owls around and how bright the moon was.

Eastern Screech Owl, gray phase

Another gray phase Eastern Screech Owl, looking to the right before it flew that direction.

Massive Great Horned Owl

Waterfowl are movin in!

2010-10-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

As the weather gets colder and October draws to an end, more and more waterfowl are showing up here in PA. Last week I saw Ruddy Ducks and American Wigeons at Bald Eagle State Park, yesterday I found an American Black Duck at a pond near the PSU campus, and today I found a juvenile Redhead on a farm pond along 322. Try to get outside and check your local water bodies for some waterfowl!

American Black Duck at the "Duck Pond" in State College

Mallard at the "Duck Pond"

Not a species of waterfowl, but Red-tailed Hawks like this one that I photographed flying over State College, are also on the move southwards.

Hawk Watching and Owl Banding this Past Weekend

2010-10-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

Another successful and bird-filled weekend down in Bedford County, PA. I hawk watched with Cory Ritter Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday; and we owl banded Saturday and Sunday nights. The raptor flight this weekend was dominated by Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks, but Cooper's Hawk were also fairly abundant. Some raptor highlights of the weekend were one adult Red-shouldered Hawk, and two adult Bald Eagles flying together on Saturday. An aerial dogfight between an adult and a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk was also nice to see since they were so close to where we were haw watching from.

Red-tailed Hawk (adult)

Cooper's Hawk (juvenile)

Bald Eagles (adult male and female)

Osprey (adult)

The local Black Vultures at one of the hawk watching sites.
Another abundant migrant of the weekend were American Ladies (like this one). Monarchs were the most common butterfly migrants passing hawk watches a few weeks ago, but it seems they all passed through so now its the American Lady's turn.

Saturday night we attempted to capture and band Norther Saw-whet Owls at the Allegheny Fron Hawk Watch, but the widn was too strong and we closed up the nets early. Another attempt Sunday night was more successful. By the time I had to leave at midnight we had captured 4 owls, 3 hatch years and one after second year. Dave Darney and Kim Van Fleet continued through till dawn and managed to net 16 owls total! The next couple weekends should be filled with Saw-whets assuming the info I am getting from other banding stations holds up.

Hatch year Northern Saw-whet Owl (cell phone pic)

Exciting News! - South Africa

2010-10-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

I have been officially accepted to study abroad next semester in South Africa! I will be leaving around January 16th and returning around March 31st. While I am there, I will travel along the southern and southeastern coast of South Africa along with 15 other students. We will be learning about the culture of South Africa as well as human/wildlife interactions and conservation in the country. We will be spending the majority of the time at the Dwesa-Cwebe Nature Reserve of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Here is Penn State's official overview and goals of the trip:

"Addressing Global Challenges Through Long-Term Integrated Undergraduate Research, Education, and Service Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa: The program integrates teaching, research and service across the multiple disciplines relevant to the management of protected areas, the economic development of communities surrounding those areas, and public education in ecosystem services and natural resource management. The program encompasses disciplines from conservation and land use management to community relations and education, livelihoods assessment, sustainability and entrepreneurship. In cooperation with university researchers, national parks services and other government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and private sector businesses, the project seeks to integrate these areas of expertise through a semester study abroad program offered to a cohort of 16 Penn State students and located in one of the coastal Nature Reserves of the Eastern Cape Province. Students take three 3-credit courses related to the Parks and People theme. Six more credits of independent study will be organized around individual or group research and service projects in the Nature Reserve or the surrounding communities."

Masked Weaver from my last trip (in 2007) to South Africa

Best of all there will be tons of birds!

Hawk Watching, Owl Banding, and the Big Sit

2010-10-11T09:52:00.000-07:00

This weekend I once again traveled down to Bedford County, PA. Friday afternoon and Saturday I hawk-watched. Friday was pretty slow, but Saturday was good with 73 raptors flying past at Tussey Mountain, which was 10 more than what they had at the Allegheny Front. Saturday night we attempted to capture and band Northern Saw-whet Owls, but the wind was very, very strong, so only one owl was caught all night and it was after I had already left at 2:30am. Saturday night straight through till Sunday morning we banded owls. We managed to capture 23 saw-whets! Most were hatch-year birds and one was a recapture from another banding site. Sunday I hosted a "Big Sit" at the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch which is also where we were banding. I was at the site for 20 hours total and managed to find 56 species of birds from within a 17 foot diameter circle! Highlights were all three falcons, all three accipiters, and a Ruffed Grouse. We also found 9 species of butterflies. Some photos from hawk watching this weekend are below.

Turkey Vulture missing all its tail feathers

adult Peregrine Falcon

juvenile Cooper's Hawk

Here is the complete list of species seen (and how many of each were seen) at the Big Sit:

Canada Goose 3
Ruffed Grouse 1 red phase
Wild Turkey 4
Turkey Vulture 20
Osprey 1
Northern Harrier 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 32
Cooper's Hawk 10
Northern Goshawk 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 19
American Kestrel 2
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Rock Pigeon 1
Great Horned Owl 1
Barred Owl 2
Northern Saw-whet Owl 23
Chimney Swift 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker 2
Downy Woodpecker 2
Hairy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 10
Pileated Woodpecker 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Blue-headed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 150
American Crow 50
Common Raven 2
Black-capped Chickadee 20
Tufted Titmouse 10
White-breasted Nuthatch (Eastern) 50
Brown Creeper 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 8
Eastern Bluebird 6
Veery 2 flight calls
Swainson's Thrush 4 flight calls
American Robin 50
Gray Catbird 1
European Starling 20
Cedar Waxwing 100
Cape May Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 10
Pine Warbler 4
Eastern Towhee 1
Song Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 6
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 1
Red-winged Blackbird 20
Common Grackle 75
Brown-headed Cowbird 50
Purple Finch 8
House Finch 20
American Goldfinch 40

Bird Banding 10-8-10

2010-10-08T08:40:00.001-07:00

Another productive morning of bird banding at Sunset Park here in State College. Our most numerous species was White-crowned Sparrow with about 10 captured. Other species included Blue Jay, House Wren, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Eastern Towhee, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Least Flycatcher, and Black-capped Chickadee. The highlight however was that we once again managed to catch all three species in the genus Melaspiza; the Song Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow, and Lincoln's Sparrow!

Swamp (left) and Song Sparrows
Male Ruby-crowned Kinglet

White-throated Sparrows

Least Flycatcher

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Lincoln's Sparrow

I am headed out for another weekend full of hawk watching and we will also be Northern Saw-whet Owl banding each nigth this weekend at the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch. On Sunday I am hosting a "Big Sit" at the hawk watch, so if you are free, please come down and join us! If not, check back early next week for photos and info. For more photos from the birds we banded today visit this link to my picasa web album. The photos from today are towards the back of the album.

Jo Hays Vista Hawk Watching

2010-10-07T16:21:00.000-07:00

I arrived at Jo Hays Vista (an overlook near State College)at 2:00pm his afternoon to search for migrant raptors. Bob Lindsey and Chet Gottfried had been there since noon but left shortly after I arrived. They said they had had at least 40 raptors fly by since noon. I left at 6:00pm and had 141 migrant raptors from 2 till 6. This would mean a grand total of at least 180+ raptors for today at Jo Hays.

For me, the flight was dominated with adult Sharp-shinned Hawks as would be expected. American Kestrels and Red-tailed Hawks were also plentiful. Two Northern Harriers and two Cooper's Hawks were also nice to see fly by. One Merlin (either a juvenile or adult female) flew by quickly as well as one adult male Peregrine Falcon. Two Bald Eagles (one 4th year and one 3rd year) migrated south, but two juveniles were seen heading north together. Below is a complete list of the birds I saw today from 2pm till 6pm. More photos of some of the raptors can be seen at my picasa web album at this link, the photos are at the end of that album.

Sharp-shinned Hawk (adult)

Cooper's Hawk (adult)
Red-tailed Hawk (adult; interesting individual - dark breast and belly band)

Bald Eagle (4th year)
American Kestrel (male)

Bald Eagle (3rd year)

Peregrine Falcon (adult male)

141 migrant raptors counted
Total number of bird species: 15

Turkey Vulture 37 were considered migrants; 3 were considered locals
Bald Eagle 4 total - one 4th year (4:20pm) and one 3rd year (5:11pm) migrated; 2 juveniles moved north together (4:40pm)
Northern Harrier 2 migrants (juvenile)
Sharp-shinned Hawk 54 - 40 adult, 4 juvenile, 10 were not able to be aged
Cooper's Hawk 2 adults
Red-tailed Hawk 24 migrants, 2 local adults (one individual was darker on breast, photos taken)
American Kestrel 18 - 10 male, 6 female, 2 were not able to be aged
Merlin 1 - either an adult female or a juvenile
Peregrine Falcon 1 adult male, sexed based on size
American Crow 6
Common Raven 5
American Robin 7
European Starling 50
Cedar Waxwing 20
Pine Warbler 1 flyover
warbler sp. 1 flyover

Bald Eagle State Park 10-5-10

2010-10-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

This morning Drew Weber sent out an alert saying that he found 2 Bonaparte's Gulls, 1 Herring Gull, and some waterfowl at Bald Eagle State Park. I needed the two gulls for my Centre County list, so I headed over after class and got to the park by 11:40am. The two Bonaparte's Gulls were hanging out on the swimming beach alongside a Ring-billed Gull, Killdeer, and Spotted Sandpiper. The Herring Gull was nowhere to be found. At the Hunter Run Boat Launch a female Merlin shot across the road right in front of my car. I also spotted a juvenile Peregrine Falcon soaring around and a Sharp-shinned Hawk flew over also. Around 1:30pm, at the Upper Green Boat Launch I spotted a juvenile Peregrine, but I assumed it was probably the same one I saw earlier. A complete list of the species I saw at the park today is below.

Bonaparte's Gull

Number of species: 36

Ruddy Duck 1
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Great Blue Heron 2
Osprey 3 An adult and one of the juveniles were seen either carrying or catching fish
Bald Eagle 1 aged as a "3rd year"
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Merlin 1
Peregrine Falcon 1
Killdeer 1 at the beach area
Spotted Sandpiper 1 at the beach area
Bonaparte's Gull 2 at the beach area
Ring-billed Gull 1 at the beach area
Mourning Dove 2
Belted Kingfisher 5
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 4
Eastern Phoebe 3
Blue Jay 83 A large flock of 66 flew over the beach area
American Crow 10
Fish Crow 2
Common Raven 1
Tree Swallow 75
Black-capped Chickadee 4
Tufted Titmouse 2
Eastern Bluebird 20
American Robin 2
Gray Catbird 2
European Starling 100
Cedar Waxwing 100
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 28
Pine Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Song Sparrow 4
White-throated Sparrow 20
Northern Cardinal 2
blackbird sp. 1 flyover; called multiple times, potential Rusty Blackbird
American Goldfinch 20

Dunning's Mtn Hawk Watch

2010-10-04T09:17:00.001-07:00

This weekend I helped out Corey Ritter, an PA Audubon Society Intern, with hawk watching at the Dunning's Mountain Hawk Watch on the border of Blair and Bedford Counties. Saturday was a slow day with only 22 raptors migrating past. Highlights were 3 Bald Eagles and 2 juvenile Northern Harriers that flew past together. Sunday was much better with 62 raptors migrating past, not including the 87 Turkey Vultures that migrated past. Anna Fasoli counted with Corey and I on Sunday. Highlights were 3 adult Peregrine Falcons, two of which came through in our last hour of watching for the day; 3 Bald Eagles, 2 Northern Harriers, and lots of great looks at Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks. The most numerous migrant of the weekend however were Blue Jays. We had 619 fly past on Saturday and 232 fly past on Sunday. The Blue Jays migrated past in groups ranging in size from 1 or 2 individuals up to groups of more than 55 individuals. Two young Herring Gulls soared past also.

Blue Jay migrating past the site

4th year Bald Eagle soaring over the hawk watch.

Bird Banding 10-1-10

2010-10-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

The first photo below sums up bird banding today....lots and lots of Gray Catbirds! By the time I had to leave at 10:15am, we had captured 26 catbirds. We also had a nice assortment of other species too. White-throated Sparrow were the second most commonly captured species. We also had a few Eastern Towhees, a Northern Cardinal, Song Sparrow, Black-capped Chickadee, Common Yellowthroat, Ovenbird, Least Flycatcher, and Eastern Phoebe. It was a great way to start off one of my favorite months, October.

6 Gray Catbirds

The crew this morning with 7 Gray Catbirds.

Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Towhee
Least Flycatcher
Common Yellowthroat
Ovenbird

White-throated Sparrow

For more photos of the bird banding we have been doing at Sunset Park in State College, visit this link to my Picasa Web Albums.

This afternoon I am heading down to Bedford and Somerset Counties for some hawk watching with Anna, so check back here Sunday or Monday for some photos and info from my weekend. I hope we get some Peregrines!

Storm Birding - Bald Eagle State Park

2010-09-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

Around 2:30pm, I met up with Drew Weber for some storm birding at Bald Eagle State Park. The rain was pouring down very hard and fog was quite thick. We did, however manage to find 22 species of birds at BESP including 6 Caspian Terns! While I was waiting for Drew at the beach area, two terns flew by and then a few minutes later he and I found four more back by the dam area. Other highlights included a large raft of Ruddy Ducks and a few American Wigeons. There was also a fairly large warbler flock near the swimming area consisting of Yellow-rumped Warblers, Pine Warblers, and Palm Warblers.

Caspian Tern

Here is a complete list of the species I saw this afternoon at BESP:

American Wigeon 6
Ruddy Duck 23
Pied-billed Grebe 2
Great Blue Heron 3
Osprey 2
Bald Eagle 1
Killdeer 9
Ring-billed Gull 1
Caspian Tern 6
Belted Kingfisher 4
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1
Eastern Phoebe 2
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 7
Eastern Bluebird 20
American Robin 5
Gray Catbird 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 20
Pine Warbler 10
Palm Warbler 5
Song Sparrow 1
Northern Cardinal 1

Hawk Watching 9/25 and 9/26

2010-09-27T12:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went down to Bedford County for more hawk watching at the Allegheny Front. Saturday was a decent day with 103 raptors migrating past, however the cloudless sky made if quite difficult to spot hawks and I am sure we missed a few. Sunday was the complete opposite as far as cloud covers goes, we had between 95 and 100% cloud cover all day long and were able to spot 211 raptors migrating past. Blue Jays are really pushing through right now, with over 200 seen flying past the hawk watch over the two days. Most of the raptors that flew by were Broad-winged Hawks but also lots of Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper's Hawks were passing by. Other species included Osprey, Northern Harriers, Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels, and Merlin.

The highlight of Saturday was this adult female Merlin that flew in close to attack the owl decoy.

On Sunday, we watched this juvenile Cooper's Hawk attack a juvenile Broad-winged Hawk right over top of us at the hawk watch.

Juvenile Broad-winged Hawk, heavily streaked.

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk

Kettle of 5 Broad-winged Hawks

It was a great weekend filled with my favorite activity in the world, hawk watching. For information about the latest count data at the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch, visit this link to HawkCount.org.

Bird Banding 9-24-10

2010-09-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

Friday morning, I joined Emily Thomas for some bird banding once again at Sunset Park in State College. We had a great morning and caught 31 individual birds. There were many amazing suprises today. The first was that we caught a Song Sparrow and a Swamp Sparrow. Both of these birds are in the Melospiza genus. In North America, there is only one other species in this genus and I joked to the others that I hoped we would catch the third; the Lincoln's Sparrow. Sure enough, later in the morning a Lincoln's Sparrow flew into one of the mist nets. This was a year bird for me and it was an excellent chance for us to see the three, very closely related species up close and personal. The second suprise was a Gray-cheecked Thrush that was captured in one of the mist nets. I didnt see the bird till it was brought back from the nets and someone mentioned it was a thrush but they didnt know what kind. I figured it was a Swainson's Thrush since tons are migrating over right now, and I have heard hundreds passing over during the night whenever I go outside. But passed on certain plumage characteristics, it was for sure a Gray-cheeked Thrush, another year bird for me!

Song Sparrow

Swamp Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

Common Yellowthroat

Gray-cheeked Thrush

Me and a Blue Jay

Tufted Titmouse

Eastern Towhee

Magnolia Warbler

Black-capped Chickadees

White-throated Sparrows

Here is a complete list of the birds we captured and banded:

10 gray catbirds
4 black-capped chickadees
3 white-throated sparrows
2 song sparrows
2 common yellowthroats
1 swamp sparrow
1 house wren
1 gray-cheeked thrush
1 blue jay
1 Northern cardinal
1 tufted titmouse
1 Eastern towhee
1 magnolia warbler
1 Lincoln's sparrow
1 Northern mockingbird

For more photos from today and other banding days at Sunset Park, visit my Picasa Web Album at this link.

Sanderling at Bald Eagle State Park

2010-09-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

A juvenile Sanderling was found by a group of birders Saturday at Bald Eagle State Park. This would be a new Centre County bird for me, but I had to wait until today to go see it, since I was away hawk watching all weekend. I arrived at the State Park at 11:30am and instantly spotted the Sanderling walking along the shore of the swimming area. I was able to approach the bird quite closely and take some photos. The bird seemed to be holding its left wing a little lower than its right wing, and I only saw it make one small flight a total of 2 feet. Perhaps it was injured on its migration south and is using the State Park as a refueling and healing area until it is well enough to continue its journey.

Sanderling

Note the droopy-ness of the bird's left wing in this photo.

I saw a total of 20 species in the hour and a half I was at Bald Eagle State Park today. The highlights were the Sanderling, one juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk, and one Broad-winged Hawk. For more photos I have taken of birds in Centre County, please visit my Picasa Photo Album at this link.

The Oil Spills Affect on Birds

2010-09-20T12:42:00.001-07:00

It has been 5 months since the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and finally the government is releasing weekly information of birds affected by this disaster. The weekly reports will be a species by species breakdown of which bird species were found dead or alive, if they were oiled or not, and if they survived. "According to the most recent report available, a total of 3,634 dead birds and 1,042 live birds have been found in areas affected by the spill, and about 1.5% of those collected live later died. The numbers are likely higher, closer to 7,000 total, these are the confirmed data, and the verification process can take weeks" (Audubon, 2010).

Laughing gulls have been affected the most, with 1,591 found dead and 294 rescued alive. The Brown Pelican, which just recently was taken off the endangered species list was the second most affected species with 376 dead, 192 alive. Here is a link to the PDF file showing the species by species breakdown.

Brown Pelicans moving north along the South Carolina Coast, photo taken in March 2010.

Hawk Watching Weekend

2010-09-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I drove down to Bedford County to help Anna with some hawk watching where see works as well as help out one of Kim Van Fleet's interns with hawk identification. Friday night, Anna and I went to Shawnee Lake State Park birding and had a ton of Pine Warblers among other warbler species. We also had three Great Horned Owls calling to each other. Saturday morning, Anna, Kim's intern Corey Ritter, and I went back to Shawnee State Park around 6am to listen for flight calls of migrant birds. We were exctied to heard about 350 Swainson's Thrush fly over in addition to Scarlet Tanagers, Veerys, and Gray-cheeced Thrush. There were also quite a few calls we didnt know. For the rest of the day Corey and I went out hawk watching. We went to Dunnings Mountain first and had a decent amount of birds that I helped Corey to ID since he is just starting hawk watching and will be conducting a count at this location for the rest of the fall. Later in the day we went to Tussey Mountain to count and had another nice flight of birds. By the end of the day we had seen 173 raptors migrate past us. Most were Broad-winged Hawk of course, but we also had Sharp-shinned, Cooper's, Red-tailed, Bald Eagle, and Osprey. We also saw one Yellow-billed Cuckoo foraging in a tree near the hawk watch!

Below are two pictures I took this weekend of juvenile Broad-winged Hawks. Notice the difference in the amount of streaking on the breast's of these two birds. The first is lightly streaked, the second is quite heavily streaked.

Lightly streaked juvenile Broad-winged Hawk

Heavily streaked juvenile Broad-winged Hawk

Sunday I helped Anna at her Hawk Watch and we had another nice day with 116 raptors migrating past. After we finished for the day, we went to Shawnee State Park and had about 50 Pine Warblers and some other warbler species.

Bird Banding 9 -17-10

2010-09-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

This morning I went over to Sunset Park for some more bird banding with Emily Thomas and the rest of the gang. It was a nice, overcast morning. We captured and banded 15 birds while I was there. Highlights were 1 Red-eyed Vireo and 1 Ovenbird. We also caught 5 Gray Catbirds, 1 House Wren, 1 American Goldfinch, 3 House Finches, 1 Song Sparrow, and 3 Northern Cardinals. One of the Cardinals was a recaptured from earlier this fall.

Gray Catbird

House Wren

Red-eyed Vireo

Song Sparrow

Northern Cardinal (female)

Ovenbird

For more photos of the birds we have banded at Sunset Park and some photos of other interesting Centre County Birds, visit my Picasa Photo Album at this link.

In other news, yesterday at Scotia Barrens I saw a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, which was a lifer for me! An American Woodcock also flew by, which was a year bird for me. Other than that, Scotia was pretty slow, we did manage to find 8 species of warbler though. The predawn flight calls were good, with Swainson's Thrush dominating, but also Veery called a few times, and Wood Thrush were calling in decent numbers.

Colyer Lake Shorebirds and Raptors 9-14-10

2010-09-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

I birded Colyer Lake from 12:00pm until 2:00pm. There were 4 Pectoral Sandpipers, 5 Killdeer, and 5 Least Sandpipers foraging on the mud flats.

Pectoral Sandpiper

As I was taking photos of the Pectoral Sandpiper pictured above, I noticed it look up at the sky, so I looked up and above me were 4 Broad-winged Hawk gliding past. I began searching around in the sky more and instantly found a kettle of 45 Broad-wings. Other migrant raptors that flew past high above Colyer Lake this afternoon were Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Bald Eagle, Osprey, and American Kestrel (totals of each species below). Total I counted 88 migrant raptors. There were two adult Red-shouldered Hawks present also, being harrassed by the local Red-tail.

Osprey 1 migrant
Bald Eagle 2 migrants (juveniles)
Northern Harrier 1 migrant (female)
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 migrants (juveniles)
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 adults; being harrassed by Red-tailed Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk 77 migrants; one kettle contained 45 birds, the rest were in smaller kettles or solitary.
American Kestrel 3 migrants; one eating on the wing

Joined by a Broad-winged Hawk, this Osprey glided low over the lake.

Weekend Hawk Watching

2010-09-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, I went down to Schellsburg, PA to help Anna out at her hawk watch on Saturday. We had a pretty decent day, with over 50 migrant raptors flying past. Most were Broad-winged Hawks. On Sunday, we went to the Alleghenny Front Hawk Watch, which is just a few miles upridge from Anna's hawk watch. It was a very overcast day, but the hawks didnt mind and were migrating through in good numbers. We saw mostly Broad-winged Hawks, but also had a few Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, Ospreys, and one Bald Eagle. The best bird of the day however was a leucistic Red-tailed Hawk that migrated past. This bird was very light overall and its head, back, and tail were pretty much entirely white or cream-colored.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Broad-winged Hawk

After hawk watching at the Alleghent Front for a while and then getting dinner, Anna and I drove over to Shawnee State Park, which is only about a mile from the house Anna is living in for the fall. We were very happy and suprised to instantly find two Caspian Terns flying over the lake. The terns made a few passes around the lake and then flew together due West and were not seen again.

Caspian Tern

We then went over to the other side of the lake, where the swimming beach area is. In the spruces, firs, and pines in that area of the park were lots of birds. We found 26 Pine Warblers, 2 Cape May Warblers, 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, and 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch all foraging together in the trees.

Pine Warbler

The final, and in my opinion, best find of the night was a lone Sanderling foraging on the swimming beach. Anna and I were able to approach very close to it, for some photos. Sanderlings are uncommon visitors to PA in the fall.

Sanderling

Monday morning, Anna and I went to Shawnee State Park again and found nice flocks of warblers in the tree around the swimming beach area. We saw 10 species of warbler total. Totals are below:

Nashville Warbler 1
Northern Parula 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Magnolia Warbler 4
Cape May Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler 1
Pine Warbler 22
Palm Warbler 1
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1

We also found Philadelphia Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Red-eyed Vireo, Scarlet Tanager, and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. There was no sign of either the Caspian Terns or the Sanderling. Next, Anna and I went back up to the Alleghenny Front Hawk Watch for two hours. The flight was rather slow, but we did see some Broad-winged Hawks, Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels, and Ospreys.

Anna and I were asked to give a presentation for the Conoocheague Audubon Society in Chambersburg Monday night at 7pm. Our plan was to first stop at the Pulpit to do some hawk watching since it was literally right on our way to Chambersburg from Schellsburg. We arrived at 3pm to find Dale Gearhart and Al Nelson counting passing hawks. They had had a slow morning with only around 20 hawks passing by. As soon as Anna and I stepped out of the car though, the flood gates must have opened, because tons of hawks began to pour past. We had to leave at 5, but managed to find 6 Osprey, 3 Bald Eagles, 1 Northern Harrier, 12 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 3 American Kestrels, and 112 Broad-winged Hawks! This was the best day so far this fall for the Pulpit Hawk Watch and really made me miss the place, since it was where I hawk watched almost every day for the falls of 2008 and 2009.

At 5:30pm we met Bob and Marion Carmack for dinner in Chambersburg, and then went to Norlo Park to give our presentation. Anna and I talked about the hawk migration project we made for the HMANA conference. We also talked about the Whimbrel and Yellow-billed Cuckoo jobs we had this summer.

Bird Banding and Scotia 9-10-10

2010-09-10T13:04:00.000-07:00

This morning I went bird banding again at Sunset Park. It was a fairly quite morning and we didnt catch a whole lot, but still had some neat birds. Highlights were two Brown Thrashers and two Least Flycatchers. I stayed till about 9:00am and then decided to head over to Scotia Barrens and meet up with Drew Weber, who had been birding there all morning. While I was at Sunset Park we captured 2 Brown Thrashers, 8 Gray Catbirds, 2 Black-capped Chickadees, 1 Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 3 Common Yellowthroats, and 1 Eastern Towhee.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (female)

Brown Thrasher

Gray Catbird and Brown Thrasher

Least Flycatchers

Least Flycatcher

Eastern Towhee

Common Yellowthroat (juvenile male)

Common Yellowthroats (juvenile male on left and adult female on right)

I met up with Drew at Scotia around 9:30am. Bird activity had slowed down a ton since the early morning hours, where Drew was able to find 20 species of warbler. I left at 11:30am after seeing 12 species. This cold front has finally brought good numbers of neotropical migrants into Central PA. Get out and go birding! For more photos of the birds we banded today and photos of other birds here in Centre County, visit my Picasa Photo Album at this link.

Scotia Barrens 9-9-10

2010-09-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

Tim Schreckengost, Nate Fronk, Mark Mizak, Josh Lefever, Zach Kick, and I birded the Scotia Barrens from 6:00am until 9:25am this morning.

Since we went expecting the "movement of relatively large & perhaps historic proportions" that was predicted by many birding experts last night, we were quite disappointed. However, we did manage to find 15 species of warbler; once again dominated by Cape May Warbler (12 at least this morning, in fact we had 5 in one scrub oak at one time). There was only one flock of warblers encountered, right across the road from the Research Building. The flock was very diverse. Other than that, there was basically zero activity along Scotia Rd, I haven't seen it so dead yet this fall. Perhaps the effects of this cold front will be seen around State College in the next few days, once the winds are on our side. One flyover Common Nighthawk and one Wood Thrush were nice to see though. Below is a list of the species seen today:

Number of species: 39

Turkey Vulture 4
Common Nighthawk 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Hairy Woodpecker 3
Least Flycatcher 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Blue Jay 10
American Crow 6
Black-capped Chickadee 12
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Wood Thrush 1
American Robin 150
Gray Catbird 8
European Starling 14
Cedar Waxwing 200
Blue-winged Warbler 1
Tennessee Warbler 1
Nashville Warbler 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 3
Magnolia Warbler 1
Cape May Warbler 12
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1
Black-throated Green Warbler 2
Blackburnian Warbler 2
Pine Warbler 2
Bay-breasted Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 1
Worm-eating Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 3
Eastern Towhee 2
Field Sparrow 1
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 1
Red-winged Blackbird 50
Baltimore Oriole 4
American Goldfinch 3

Mark Mizak and I went to Colyer Lake from 3:00pm till 4:10pm, below are the highlights of what we saw:

Cooper's Hawk 1 juvenile
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Killdeer 7
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Least Sandpiper 10
Pectoral Sandpiper 2

No photos from today because my camera's auto focus is apparently broken.

Scotia Barrens 9-8-10

2010-09-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

Tim Schreckengost and I birded the Scotia Barrens this morning from 6:30am to 8:10am. Activity picked up around 7:15am. We encountered two decent flocks of warblers. Cape May Warblers were very abundant, we saw at least 8 this morning and they were our most common warbler species. Adult males and females as well as juveniles were seen well.

11 species of warbler were seen in total, with Magnolia and Black-throated Green the most common besides the Cape Mays. Two Philadelphia Vireos were also seen, one with each of the two flocks of warblers. A Northern Parula put on a nice show by perching at the tip of a dead branch and snatching small flying insects out of the air for a few minutes.

Cape May Warbler

Northern Parula

Red-eyed Vireo

Below is a complete list of the species seen this morning.
Number of species: 31 (an X next to a species means it was seen in large numbers and not bothered to be counted)

Turkey Vulture 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Chimney Swift 1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 1
Downy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 1
Least Flycatcher 1
Philadelphia Vireo 2
Red-eyed Vireo 4
Blue Jay X
American Crow 2
Black-capped Chickadee X
House Wren 1
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
Cedar Waxwing X
Blue-winged Warbler 1
Tennessee Warbler 2
Northern Parula 1
Chestnut-sided Warbler 3
Magnolia Warbler 4
Cape May Warbler 8
Black-throated Green Warbler 4
Blackburnian Warbler 2
American Redstart 2
Worm-eating Warbler 1
Common Yellowthroat 2
Scarlet Tanager 1
Northern Cardinal 3
Rose-breasted Grosbeak 1
Common Grackle 5

Pectoral and Baird's Sandpiper at Colyer Lake 9-6-10

2010-09-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

This morning Anna Fasoli, Zach Kick and I went to Colyer Lake to try and see the Pectoral Sandpipers that had been reported there yesterday. When we arrived there was one Pectoral foraging with 8 Least Sandpipers and 2 Semipalmated Sandpipers. Later we also found a juvenile Baird's Sandpiper, which I would guess is the same one that was there on the 3rd and 4th.

Here are some photos taken today by Anna Fasoli.

Pectoral Sandpiper, Photo by Anna Fasoli
Baird's Sandpiper, Photo by Anna Fasoli
Baird's (left) and Pectoral (right) Sandpipers, Photo by Anna Fasoli

Least Sandpipers and Pectoral Sandpiper in flight, Photo by Anna Fasoli

Here is a complete list of the birds we saw today at Colyer Lake:

Mallard 2
Pied-billed Grebe 1
Green Heron 1
Turkey Vulture 11
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 flyover
Red-tailed Hawk 2 flyovers
American Kestrel 1 flyover
Killdeer 8
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Semipalmated Sandpiper 2
Least Sandpiper 8
Baird's Sandpiper 1
Pectoral Sandpiper 1
Chimney Swift 2
Belted Kingfisher 1
Blue Jay X
American Crow 4
Barn Swallow 12
Cliff Swallow 2
American Goldfinch 4

Bird Banding 9-5-10

2010-09-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

Banding was great again at Sunset Park this morning. We captured 24 birds of 10 species. Highlights were two Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and one Nashville Warbler. We also recaptured the Worm-eating Warbler from Friday!

Here is a complete breakdown of what we caught this morning:
9 American Goldfinches
4 Gray Catbirds
2 Song Sparrows
2 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks
2 Cedar Waxwings
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Nashville Warbler
1 House Finch
1 Worm-eating Warbler
1 Black-capped Chickadee

Common Yellowthroat (hatch-year male)

Nashville Warbler (hatch-year male)

Rose-breasted Grosbeak (hatch-year male)

Worm-eating Warbler (we recaptured this bird, originally captured on Friday)

Black-capped Chickadee
Cedar Waxwing

Later in the afternoon, Anna and I went to Bald Eagle State Park to see if the Caspian Terns were still there that were reported last night. They were not unfortunately. But we did see two Bald Eagles, two Osprey, and one Black Vulture.

Baird's Sandpiper - Colyer Lake 9-4-10

2010-09-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

Last evening Anna Fasoli, Tim Schreckengost, and I went to Colyer Lake to see if any shorebirds were around at about 6:15pm. The mudflats were busy with shorebird activity, with five species of shorebirds present. Tim and I went to the far corner of the lake to scan a portion of mudflat better since I noticed some Least Sandpipers running around there. As soon as we got our scope on the Least's, I noticed a bird that didnt look quite right. The sky was very overcast and it was beginning to rain, but I told Tim, "I think that shorebird looks like a Baird's". As we tried to get closer for a better look, we noticed another birder with a scope walking towards us. As he got closer he asked if we were here to see the Baird's. Tim, Anna, and I were pretty confused considering we didnt know someone had already found the Baird's that we thought we just found. Sure enough about an hour and a half before we arrived to Coyler Lake, another Centre County birder, Joe Verica had found the Baird's there, but we had no idea. Anna and I went back this morning to try for some photographs. Below are the photos Anna took, that show the juvenile Baird's Sandpiper very well.

Baird's Sandpiper, Photos by Anna Fasoli.

Today at Coyler we also found one Semipalmated Sandpiper along with the many Least Sandpiper and the one Baird's. There were also Killdeer, Solitary, and Spotted Sandpipers, as well as one Greater Yellowlegs. Three Pied-billed Grebes and one Blue-winged Teal were floating around on the lake.

Before we went to Coyler today, we went to Scotia Barrens with Tim Shreckengost and Zack Kick. The high winds made the warblers stay low in the trees or else move very quickly through the treetops. We left after seeing 11 species of warbler and 3 species of vireo. Here is a list of some of the highlights from Scotia this morning:

Least Flycatcher 1
Warbling Vireo 1
Philadelphia Vireo 2 foraging together
Red-eyed Vireo 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 3
Tennessee Warbler 2
Chestnut-sided Warbler 2
Magnolia Warbler 10
Cape May Warbler 3
Black-throated Green Warbler 6
Blackburnian Warbler 5
Pine Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 3
Worm-eating Warbler 2
Hooded Warbler 1

Bird Banding 9-3-10

2010-09-03T19:48:00.000-07:00

This morning I went bird banding with Anna, and some of my friends and Emily Smith, a PSU grad student. I was only able to stay from 6:30am till 9:20am, but it was an amazing morning. We caught 25 individual birds while I was there consisting of 14 species. The second net check was crazy with birds in all of the nets, including a Yellow-breasted Chat, Blackpoll Wabler, Worm-eating Warbler, Black-capped Chickadees, Northern Mockingbird, and House Wren all in one net! We also caught House Finchs, American Goldfinchs, a Northern Cardinal, Gray Catbirds, a Carolina Wren, and one Willow Flycatcher.

Black-capped Chickadee

Northern Cardinal
House Wren
Ovenbird

Magnolia Warbler

Yellow-breasted Chat

Worm-eating Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Northern Mockingbird

Carolina Wren

Willow Flycatcher

Birding has been good around State College lately too. Yesterday Anna and I found a Blue-winged Teal at the retention ponds on campus. This evening there was a Baird's Sandpiper at Coyler Lake! There were also Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary Sandpipers, Least Sandpiper, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, and one Pied-billed Grebe there.

Scotia Barrens Past Few Days

2010-08-31T17:51:00.000-07:00

The past three mornings I have been birding the Scotia Barrens before class with some friends. The birding has been excellent. We have been averaging about 32 species each time we got there and we usually can only stay for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Warblers we have been seeing include:

Blue-winged Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Northern Parula
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Pine Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-and-white Warbler
American Redstart
Ovenbird
Common Yellowthroat
Hooded Warbler

Vireos we have been seeing include:

Yellow-throated Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo (lifer for me!)
Red-eyed Vireo
Blue-headed Vireo

5 Species of Warbler in one picture! - Magnolia Warbler (two - red), Chestnut-sided Warbler (two - blue), American Redstart (yellow), Tennessee Warbler (purple), Black-and-white Warbler (green), plus a Tufted Titmouse (white). - Scotia Barrens (9-1-10)

PHOTO BY ANNA FASOLI.

Another 5 Species of Warbler in one picture! - Magnolia Warbler (two - red), Chestnut-sided Warbler (two - blue)), Northern Parula (pink), Tennessee Warbler (purple), Black-throated Green Warbler (dark red), plus Black-capped Chickadee (two - white). - Scotia Barrens (9-1-10) PHOTO BY ANNA FASOLI.

Black-throated Green Warbler and Black-capped Chickadee

Bird Banding and Hawk Watching

2010-08-30T09:39:00.001-07:00

Friday, August 27th I was invited to go out bird banding at Sunset Park behind the PSU campus with a grad student. We opened the nets at 6:30am and I was able to stay till 9:30am and when I left we had caught a nice assortment of birds. The first net check produced a beautiful Northern Waterthrush, House Finches, and a Gray Catbird. Nets checks after that produced more Gray Catbirds and some American Goldfinches. In one of the last net checks before I had to leave for class we had two Magnolia Warblers and a few more golfinch and catbirds. While we waited between net checks we just birded the nearby trees and found a Wilson's Warbler and Blue-winged Warbler.

Northern Waterthrush
Gray Catbird

American Goldfinch (male)

American Goldfinches (left to right, adult female, juvenile, and adult male)

Magnolia Warbler

For the weekend, I went down to the Schellsburg, PA area to help Anna count hawks. She has been hired by an Environmental Contractor to count the hawks that migrate through a wind farm in that area. On Saturday conditions were pretty good for hawk watching, despite there not being any clouds in the sky. We ended the day with 80 individual hawks passing through the wind farm. The bulk of the count consisted of Broad-winged Hawks (63 total), but we also had some Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, a Red-shouldered Hawk, and 4 Bald Eagles. There was a lot of other bird activity while we sat and watched hawks, including a nice Tennessee Warbler.

Bald Eagle (adult)

Broad-winged Hawk (adult)

On Sunday, Anna and I went hawk watching again, but it was a really hot day and activity was low, we ended the day having seen less than 30 individual hawks. The bulk of the count was of course Broad-winged Hawks again. Hummingbirds were really on the move though and we counted over 20 migrating past.

This Ruffed Grouse was standing along the road as we drove out of the wind farm on Sunday.

This morning, August 30th, I went to Scotia Barrens birding with Drew Weber, Nate Fronk, and Tim Schreckengost and we had a very good few hours. I left at 8:20am and had seen 12 species of warbler by then. The species were: Bay-breasted, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, Blackburnian, Pine, Black-throated Green, Black-and-white, American Redstart, Blue-winged, Tennessee, Hooded, and Ovenbird. I got a text after I left saying they found a Northern Parula Warbler and a Philiadelphia Vireo.....I would have really liked to see the vireo, especially since I havent see one this year yet.

Scotia Barrens 8-25-10 and 8-26-10

2010-08-26T18:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning and this morning I birded the Scotia Barrens with some other birders from PSU. Yesterday morning was very productive and in the hour and a half I was able to spend there before I had to head back for classes, I saw 8 species of warblers. The highlight was a Cape May Warbler. This morning I was able to spend about 3 hours there since my class didnt start till later in the morning. We left at 9:30am having seen 12 species of warbler in addition to 21 other species of birds. Highlights were one Golden-winged Warbler, two Cape May Warblers, and one Canada Warbler. Other warbles included: Blackburnian Warblers, Tennessee Warblers, Chestnut-sided Warblers, Black-throated Green Warblers, Black-and-white Warblers, Pine Warblers, Common Yellowthroats, Magnolia Warblers, and American Redstarts. A juvenile male Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a flyover Red-headed Woodpecker were also good birds. I added 7 new birds to my year list between yesterday and today. Also, the year list I was keeping on this blog was totally incorrect. The numbering system messed up and I forgot to add a bunch of birds for some reason, so my actual year list is currently at 426! I attempted to fix it, but didnt bother renumbering everything. Below are some photos I took today of a few of the species we saw. They are bad and out of focus shots, but you can make out the identification of them at least.

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

juvenile male Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Birding around State College

2010-08-24T17:30:00.001-07:00

I have started classes for the semester at University Park in State College, PA. I only have one class on Tuesdays, so after if was over my friend Mark Mizak and I headed out for some birding around the area. Our first stop was Bald Eagle State Park to search for the Baird's Sandpiper that had been found there a few days ago. Baird's Sandpipers are an uncommonly found bird in PA, they typically migrate down the west coast and through the midwest. However, they usually turn up in a few spots in PA each year. When we arrived, the Baird's was foraging along the beach of the swimming area alongside a Least Sandpiper. This was the closest I have ever been able to observe a Baird's Sandpiper and it really helped to learn this particular species characteristics. The Baird's appeared to be a juvenile. The Least was an adult in breeding plumage.

Baird's Sandpiper (left) and Least Sandpiper

Baird's Sandpiper

Mark and I also saw one juvenile Bald Eagle, a male and female Osprey, an adult and juvenile Red-tailed Hawk, and a juvenile Cooper's Hawk at Bald Eagle State Park. There were also a few Spotted Sandpipers, including one that was foraging on the beach near the Sandpipers. We saw about 23 species at the State Park in the hour we were there. Next stop was Coyler Lake Park. There were 8 Killdeer, 7 Semipalmated Sandpipers, and three Spotted Sandpipers around the lake foraging in the mud. I spotted a juvnile Sharp-shinned Hawk soaring above the lake and it was quickly joined by an adult female American Kestrel. The two birds engaged in an aerial dogfight that lasted a few minutes with each bird taking turns diving at each other. The Sharp-shinned Hawk seemed to be the more aggressive of the two. The highlight of this stop was when we were driving out of the park. I spotted what looked like either a kestrel or a Merlin in the top of a dead tree, so I pulled over to get a better look through the scope. Sure enough it turned out to be an adult female Merlin. We watched the Merlin for about 10 minutes as it preened and coughed up a few pellets. It was too far for a photo with my camera, but I managed to get a picture using my cell phone and spotting scope.

American Kestrel (top) and Sharp-shinned Hawk

adult female Merlin

It was a pretty decent few hours of birding, adding a bunch of species to my Centre County list. Hopefully this is a start of a very birdy two years here in State College.

Also, the other night I had 4 Common Nighthawks catching bugs around the huge lights surrounding the Tennis Courts on campus.

For more photos of the Baird's Sandpiper, visit this link to my Picasa Photo Albums.

Conejohela Flats

2010-08-21T19:18:00.000-07:00

This morning I birded the Conejohela Flats from 8:15am till 12:00pm. The flats are on the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County. I was joined by Mark Markiewicz, Zack Gershenson, and Mark's friend Paul. The sky was very overcast which made viewing flying birds somewhat difficult, but birds on the ground were very easy to see in both binos and the scope. The light wind made it very comfortable. Highlights for the morning were one juvenile Short-billed Dowitcher, two juvenile Sanderlings, and an adult and juvenile Caspian Tern sitting next to each other while a juvenile Forster's Tern flew nearby. Below is a complete list of the species we saw at the flats. Numbers of indidivuals are estimates, some birds were present, but I didnt bother to keep track of how many there were; for example: American Crow.

Location: Conejohela Flats
Observation date: 8/21/10
Notes: Birded by kayak for the majority of the time.
Number of species: 41

Canada Goose 150
Wood Duck 8
Mallard 20
Blue-winged Teal 12
Double-crested Cormorant 50
Great Blue Heron 6
Great Egret 15
Green Heron 2
Osprey 2
Bald Eagle 8
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Semipalmated Plover 6
Killdeer 85
Spotted Sandpiper 1
Greater Yellowlegs 1
Lesser Yellowlegs 10
Semipalmated Sandpiper 10
Least Sandpiper 50
Ring-billed Gull
Caspian Tern 2
Forster's Tern 1
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Yellow-billed Cuckoo 1 Heard only, "COO" call
Chimney Swift 1
Belted Kingfisher 4
Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
crow sp.
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Bank Swallow
Barn Swallow
Carolina Wren
Gray Catbird
Ovenbird
Song Sparrow
Swamp Sparrow
Northern Cardinal
House Finch
American Goldfinch

Butterflying was pretty good today. We saw about 10 species without trying to really see any, we just happened to spot them. Highlight was a Zebra Swallowtail that flew in front of our kayaks as we were going from one island to another.

2010-08-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

This morning I went for a quick kayak trip down the Susquehanna River from Duncannon to Dauphin. This route is about 5 miles. The weather was beautiful and the birding was good. I saw 35 species, highlights were one Tundra Swan, Bald Eagles, Osprey, two Caspian Terns, two Peregrine Falcons, and Bank Swallow. The Tundra Swan was a special sightings since it is very early for a Tundra Swan to be coming through PA. The Peregrine Falcons were working together to dive into a tightly packed flock of a few thousand European Starlings.

Common Merganser (female)

This Double-crested Cormorant let me get very close to it, it was about 2 feet away from my kayak when I took this picture.
Bald Eagle (juvenile)

Osprey

Tundra Swan

Drive from CA to PA

2010-08-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

Anna and I made the 2300 mile trip from CA back to PA over the past three days. We passed through 11 states total and overall did not see many species of birds besides starlings and Mourning Doves. We drove on I-40 most of the way home, which closely parallels the famous Route 66. While going through Texas and Oklahoma we encountered the best birds of the road trip and I have included photos and info below.

Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, like this female, were very common in TX and OK. We saw close to 100 from the highway.
When we pulled over for the picture above of the flycatcher, I spotted two Upland Sandpipers foraging in a field behind the flycatcher. Here is a bad picture of one of the sandpipers. This was a new species for me for this year.

Swainson's Hawk (adult, light morph).....too bad the telephone wire was in the way.

By far the best species we saw, and the one I was looking forward to seeing the most, were Mississippi Kites. We saw close to 60 along the highway through TX and OK and at one point had 8 soaring together on one thermal! Most of the kites were distant, or in areas where we couldnt pull over to get a photo. These photos below, are of two that were very close to the highway and offered us very close photographing opportunites. I was extremely happy to see the kites, especially up close, prior to this, Anna and I have only seen a Mississippi Kite once and it was very far away and only a brief look.

Mississippi Kite (adult)

So now I am back in PA. One more week and I have to go up to University Park to start the semester. This last week of summer will hopefully be packed with more birding around the Hershey, Pa area, so stay tuned!

Last Day of Work and TGB Recapture

2010-08-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

Today was Anna and my last day of work for the SRRS Yellow-billed Cuckoo project. Diane, Shannon, Anna, and I went to one of the restoration sites to attempt to capture the mate of one of our radio tagged cuckoos, named TGB. TGB's and his mate have raised a successful nest with three chicks, but since we havent caught TGB's mate, we dont have any information and dont have any blood or feather samples. A cuckoo was very interested in the calls we were playing at the net, and we finally got it to fly into the net and were expecting it to be the unbanded mate of TGB, but once we ran over to the net, we saw it was TGB.....where is his mate? Why cant we seem to catch it? At any rate, this allowed us to get some more information from TGB as well as take a few more photos.

TGB

It was a very fun last day of work and I am glad we were at least able to catch a cuckoo, even if it wasnt the one we were after. This season has been amazing and I am very, very glad I was able to be a part of it. I learned a ton about cuckoos, and had a great time with the other techs and Diane and Shannon, my two bosses. It was lots of fun going to all sorts of locations up and down the Lower Colorado River as well as Mexico to survey for and capture cuckoos. I am happy I was able to assist in learning more about this uncommon and elusive bird.

For all the photos I have taken this season of cuckoos, visit my Picasa Web Album at this link.

Cuckoo Capture 8/12/10

2010-08-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Anna and I were tracking a tagged cuckoo at one of our restoration sites when we spotted an unbanded cuckoo flying with food in its mouth. We followed the cuckoo to where it took the food and witnessed two more food carries to the same location. We figured for sure this meant there was either a nest with chicks, or fledglings in that area. So today, Shannon, Diane, Anna, and I went back to the same place and set up a canopy net to try and capture the cuckoo. Before we had everything set up, we all stood in various spots around the area to listen for a cuckoo to see if it was still in the area and where we should set up the net. A cuckoo came out into the open right in front of me at one point and I took the photo below....this turned out to most likely be the cuckoo we ended up capturing today!

Cuckoo prior to be captured

Once we had the net set up, we began calling for the cuckoo. It instantly called back, but was not moving any closer than about 50 meters away. Shannon called me on the radio and asked how far I thought it was and right as I was about to say 50 meters, the cuckoo flew in right above my head. Within another minute, the cuckoo was in the net! Shannon and Anna started to take the bird out of the net and we noticed that in the net right next to the cuckoo was a dead praying mantis. Its appears as thought the cuckoo was carrying the mantis in its mouth when it hit the net!

Praying mantis that the cuckoo flew into the net carrying.

Our 27th captured cuckoo of the season!
We tried to give the cuckoo its mantis back, but he just kept dropping it, I think it just wanted to get away and didnt care about the food any more....

Here is Diane releasing the cuckoo.

Anna and I only have one more day of work left and then we are heading back to PA. I have fall semester to get back to at University Park and Anna has a hawk watching job near Bedford, PA to get back to. Keep checking back here for some info about our road trip home and the birds we will hopefully see! For more photos of the cuckoos we have captured this season, visit this link.

Quigley WMA, AZ

2010-08-09T18:31:00.000-07:00

On August 8th, Anna and I went to Quigley Wildlife Management Area, east of Yuma to conduct a YBCU survey. Unfortunetly we didnt have any cuckoos, but the birding was good! On the drive there, a Long-billed Curlew flew over the highway, heading northward. Once we got there and began surveys, one of the first birds of the 30 species we saw, was a juvenile Peregrine Falcon. The falcon flew from a stand of tall cottonwoods, and then went around a corner and out of view. Later in the survey, we re-spotted it and were able to approach fairly close to get some photos of the beautiful bird.

juvenile Peregrine Falcon

Once we were done with the surveys, and on our drive back to where we are staying at Imperial NWR, we decided to stop at the exit near where we saw the curlew fly over the highway to see if there was a wet field or other area that the curlew may have taken off from. We were hoping there would be other shorebirds around. At the exit, there was nothing at all, except desert, so the curlew must have been flying for a while, not just taking off. However, as we were turning around and going back to the ramp to get back onto the highway, a Kit Fox ran across the road in front of us! It ran to the side of the road and stopped, looking back at us for a few seconds, before it ran away and hid. I was lucky to have my camera nearby and got a few photos. This is the second Kit Fox I have ever seen. The first was the other night when Anna and I were driving back from trying to find some owls at a campground near Blythe. Foxes are one of my favorites groups of mammals, and the Kit Fox has to be one of the most graceful and stunning looking.

Kit Fox

Recent Sightings and our 26th Banded YBCU of the Season!

2010-08-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

On August 3rd, Anna and I were driving to one of our YBCU sites to do a survey and on the way there, around 5:15am Anna spotted an adult Peregrine Falcon perched up on a telephone pole along the road. It was very dark out still, but I managed to get the picture below. This is pretty much the closest I have ever been to a wild Peregrine.

Peregrine Falcon
Once at the site we were surveying at, there was a large flight of White-faced Ibis all moving South to North. I counted around 1738 ibis total. Check out this post for more info on ibis movement in the area. This photo shows about 178 ibis passing by.

August 4th was my birthday, but nothing exciting happened, however today, August 5th, we went out to try and catch some cuckoos to put bands on. We set up the net near a nest we found a few days ago with two adults that are unbanded. We were able to catch one if the two adults this morning within minutes of setting the net up! This is the 26th cuckoo we have captured and banded this season. Below are a few photos.

leg band combination

left wing

beautiful tail and wings

right side profile

Anna releasing the cuckoo!

For more photos of cuckoos, visit the Picasa Web Album I made at this link!

Spotted Doves in L.A. - 8/2/10

2010-08-03T15:51:00.001-07:00

There are quite a few introduced species of birds in the United States that are considered "countable" by birdwatchers, such as the European Starling, House Sparrow, and Eurasian Collared-Dove. Well in the suburbs of Los Angeles lives another countable exotic, the Spotted Dove. This species was introduced from Asia through the pet trade and had established itself in Southern California, where it began breeding in the "wild". Now it is quickly declining in numbers and can only be found in a handful of well-vegetated suburban neighborhoods of SoCal. Since we would be traveling past L.A., I couldnt pass up the chance to get another lifer. Wes Fritz had given be an address that should get us close to where he had last seen Spotted Doves and so we drove there; Newell Stree, Huntington Park, Los Angeles. Sure enough, within a few minutes of searching I spotted a Spotted Dove fly over my car and land on a nearby house. I snapped a few photos and then we parked the car and decided to walk around for better looks. We found a total of 8 of these large, beautiful doves perched on telephone poles and lines, but the lighting was terrible, until we got back to my car and saw one perched right above my car on a telephone line. It sats still for a few minutes and let Anna and I get into position for some nice photos.

Spotted Doves

This was a great way to end our four day trip to the Southern California Coast. I was able to pick up 20 species of birds and I have never seen before as well as a few other species I hadnt seen yet this year, bringing my year list up to 393! We saw well over 150 species just on this four day trip! Once again I would like to thank Wes Fritz for his help and hospitality and recommend him as a guide for birding in SoCal.

Be sure to visit my Picasa Web Albums page for two photos albums from this trip, one of the Whale Watching/Seabirding trip and another of all the birds we saw at this link.

Also check out Anna Fasoli's blog for more photos and information.

Ventura Harbor Birds - 8/1/10

2010-08-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

After the Whale Watching tour, Anna and I continued traveling down the coast towards Los Angeles. We made a stop at the Ventura Harbor a few hours before dark and found some good birds. Western Willets were very numerous on the rock jettys and using the scope I picked out a few Black Turnstones and one Black Oystercatcher among the hundreds of Brown Pelicans, gulls, and Double-crested Cormorants. There was also one Bonaparte's Gull standing on the beach near the swimming area.

Right next to a large playground there were eight Western Grebes and one Clark's Grebes preening themselves in the water that was protected on two sides by the largest rock jetty. The Clark's Grebe is the one in the lower right corner of the following photo, below the grebe that is flapping its wings.
This grebes all seemed to be molting their flight feathers, because whenever they would sit back and flap their wings, I could see that they didnt have any flight feathers. Another interesting thing was that almost all the grebes had fishing linke wrapped around their bodies. The Clark's Grebe had it the worst and was constantly picking at the line, it never even sat flat in the water the entire time we were there due to the excessive amounts of line on its body. The most interesing observation about the grebes were that all the Western Grebe had various amounts of oil stanining there feathers right around the area of their body that sits at water level when they are floating. Some of them had very little oil, but two had tons of its, covering the entire front of their breasts. Is this a product of the "Deepwater Horizon" oil spill, or some other oil spill???

Western Grebe

Western Grebe, note oil staining on breast feathers

Anna and I then walked out on the jetty to try for some photos of the turnstones and oystercatcher we saw as well as the willets. We also hoped to find some Surfbirds, since we hadnt seen any yet. About 50 meters out onto the jetty, I spotted two Surfbirds ahead of us on some rocks, down by the water. We approached closer and were able to get a few good pictures, before they flew off. We ended up seeing about ten Surfbirds! There were lots of Black Turnstones and even one Ruddy Turnstone, which sat next to a Black Turnstone at one point and provided a nice comparision photo.

Surfbird

Ruddy Turnstone (left) and its evil cousin, the Black Turnstone

It was getting darker, so we decided to go for some dinner. On our walk back to the car we passed a group of Western Gulls eating from a dumped garbage can. We stopped and watched them for a moment and I spotted one with a blue leg band on one leg and a metal band on the other! I couldnt pass up this chance to get a resight, so Anna and I spent a good 45 minutes watching the gull through my scope trying to get the full number combination off the metal band. The combination was 2406-15939. I have submitted the information, so once get word of where and when the gull was banded, I will post it on this blog!

For all the photos I took on this trip, visit the Picasa Web Album I made at this link. Also be sure to visit Anna Fasoli's blog, where she also has photos and info from our trip!

Whale Watching and Pelagic Seabirding - 8/1/10

2010-08-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

On Sunday morning, we were signed up to take a Whale Watching tour on the Condor Express, leaving out of Santa Barbara Harbor at 10:00am. This was in place of not being able to get on the official Pelagic tour the day before. We were mainly going so that we could try and see as many seabirds as possible, but also would not mind seeing some whales, since I have never seen a whale before. The Condor Express, a high-speed catamaran, left the harbor right on time, packed with about 70 "whale watchers". Anna and I staked out our spot right in the front, center of the baot, while pretty much everyone else hid from the cold, wind, and splashing waves inside the cabin area.

Barely out of the harbor, we came upon a massive group of Common Dolphins. There were literally hundreds around the boat. A group even swam under and alongside of us for quiet a while, while others jumped and played all around us. This alone was well worth the trip!

Common Dolphin adult and young

adult Common Dolphin

After watching the dolphins for a few minutes, we had to keep going. A scout boat had found whales near San Miguel Island, the northernmost Channel Island, so that was our destination. This meant that the ride would be very long and we would not visit the actual islands as planned, but just go in search of whales the entire time. This decision was fine with Anna and I, because it meant going farther out into deeper water, where the seabirding would be better. The first birds we encountered were Sooty Shearwaters, hundreds of them. This remained the most abundant bird of the trip. Some approached close to the boat, but it was difficult getting photos when you have to try and stand against a railing while the boat is going 28 knots!

Sooty Shearwater
The second most common bird of the trip were Pink-footed Shearwaters. This shearwater can be told apart from Sooty's by their slightly larger size, white belly, and bright pink feet. We saw about 20 or 30 Pink-footed Shearwaters.

Here is a photo of some Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters taking flight as the Condor Express got closer.
Western Gull, Pink-footed Shearwater, and two Sooty Shearwaters

Along the way, we also spotted a few Pigeon Guillemots, like this one in nonbreeding plumage.

A totally unexpected sighting were two Cassin's Auklets. This tiny alcid nests on the Channel Islands.

Red-necked Phalaropes, like these three, were also very common and we saw at least 50.

After about an hour and a half, we finally made it to where whales had been seen by the scouting boat. Everyone started to pile out from inside the cabin and we all searched for a spout a water, signaling that there was a whale nearby. Sure enough, within a few minutes, spouts of water were being blasted into the air nearby and the Captain took the boat towards the spot. A few minutes later the whales surfaced right near the boat. They were Blue Whales, the largest animal to ever live on Earth! It was an amazing experience. We ended up seeing 6 individual Blue Whales, including two young whales that were just born this year. One of the young whales swam right under our boat! It was amazing to see there massive bodies come to the surface and then lift their giant tail into the air before they made a deep dive down for plankton. There were also a lot of California Sea Lions around.

Blue Whale about to make a deep dive.

Blue Whale Spouting, with a California Sea Lion watching nearby

A Blue Whales tail just before a deep dive!

After watching the whales for a few hours, it was time to head back to the harbor. Anna and I decided to go inside the cabin for a few minutes to warm up. On our walk from the front deck of the boat to the cabin, I spotted a dark bird flying towards us. We both figured it was another Sooty Shearwater, but since it was coming fairly close we stopped to take some photos. We both noticed it didnt look quite right, but didnt realize till after it left and we looked at the photos on our cameras did we ralize it was actually a dark morph Northern Fulmar! This is an uncommon seabird this time of year and I didnt expect to see it at all!

Dark morph Northern Fulmar

On the ride back, Anna and I decided to go up onto the top deck for a change of scenery. For most of the ride, we saw more Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwaters. We also finally had some confirmation looks and photos of Black Storm-Petrels. I had thought I saw some on the ride out, but was unsure since we were moving so fast and I didnt get any photos, but now we had some for sure.

Black Storm-Petrel

With only about 30 minutes till we made it back to the harbor, it seemed like we had seen all we could see as far as seabirds go, until Anna and I looked to our right and saw a very large, dark gull-like bird heading towards the boat. We both assumed it was a young Western Gull, and started taking photos since it was so close. As soon as we got our cameras on the bird, we both yelled "Jaeger!!!". The bird we were looking at was not a young Western Gull, but a juvenile, light morph Parasitic Jaeger! I couldnt believe it, and was completely shocked, since I thought we had no chance of seeing this beautiful bird, but here it was flying right over our heads only about 10 feet away!

Parasitic Jaeger; juvenile light morph

Back at the harbor, we got off the boat and couldnt wait to see the photos we had taken. I was worried everything was going to be blurry since the photographing conditions werent very good....extremely overcast, windy, kindy rainy, and we were always moving so fast on the boat. Luckily about 50 of the 500 shots I took were at least sort of in focus and I had managed to get a photo of each species we saw. This was a fantastic trip, not only did we see seven pelagic bird species (of which five were lifers) but we also saw Blue Whales up close! I would highly recommend anyone visiting the Santa Barbara area to take a Whale Watching trip on the Condor Express.

For all the photos from this whaling/seabirding trip, visit the Picasa Web Album I made for it at this link.

Santa Barbara County Birding - 7/31/10

2010-08-03T13:50:00.000-07:00

First thing on the morning of the 31st, Anna and I went back to the University of Santa Barbara's campus for a little more birding at their marsh overlook. We saw basically all of the same species as the night before, but also had this Osprey, that offered lots of close-up photo opportunities!

Osprey

At the nearby University of California Santa Barbara campus, we birded for about and hour. There is also a nice ocean overlook there and we saw a few a Whimbrel, Black-bellied Plovers, gulls, Brown Pelicans, Least Terns, and Bushtits along with the other usual West Coast birds. A Black-crowned Night-heron, transitioning from juvenile plumage to adult plumage allowed me to approach pretty close, for the photo below.

Black-crowned Night-heron

After a few more stops, with basically the same assortment of birds, we then drove to the Santa Barbara Harbor. There is a jetty there that has a nice flat, sidewalk-like path leading the entire way out, so we walked that. The side of the path that faces the ocean has a fairly tall cement wall to block big waves that might crash onto the jetty. On the other side of this wall, there are more nice big rocks. I periodically peeked over the wall to get a look at the rocks. Our goal here was to find Wandering Tattler, Black Turnstone, or Surfbird. These three birds were West Coast specialties and basically can only be found on rock jettys. About halfway down the jetty, I peered over the wall and instantly spotted three Wandering Tattlers sitting together on the rocks! I figured this would be the hardest of the three to get, but instead we found it first!

Wandering Tattler; best name ever.
A little further down the jetty, we found a few Black Turnstones.

Black Turnstone and Wandering Tattler

It was amazing to see these two species of shorebirds, that I have been waiting a long time to see in the wild, especially the infamous Wandering Tattler. To make the day even better, these birds (7 tattlers and 5 turnstones) were totally unafraid of humans, and let Anna and I get within feet of them for photos for a few hours. Other cool birds around the jetty were Whimbrel, Spotted Sandpipers, gulls, a Common Merganser, and Black Skimmers.

Whimbrel Spotted Sandpiper
female Common Merganser

We decided to leave the Harbor for a little and try a few more spots around Santa Barbara as well as visit the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum. The other stops were not very birdy, but the Museum was great, with lots of cool exhibits, especially an area with tons of bird taxidermies of all of the birds of California. After that we decided to go back to the Harbor to take more photos of the tattlers and turnstones. They were both still there and offered us more great looks and photos, but there was also a Long-billed Curlew there too, walking up and down the sandy beach area. Anna and I each picked a spot to lay on the beach and waited for the curlew or any other bird to come close to us. Sure enough, within a few minutes the curlew walked right in front of me, only a few feet away and I was able to get hundreds of photos, including the one below. Anna and I stayed on the jetty till dark, and then went for dinner. Another great day on the California coast!

Long-billed Curlew

To see all of the photos I took on this trip, visit this link to a Picasa Web Album I made.

Birding near Solvang, CA - July 29 and 30

2010-08-03T12:55:00.001-07:00

Early last week, I got word that there was a Pelagic Seabirding trip going out of Santa Barbara Harbor, CA. Since I am not that far from there and I knew there would be other good birding opportunities nearby, I figured I would try to get on the boat. However, my plans changed when I called and found out that I was put on the waiting list as they had overbooked the boat. A California birder that I met on my last trip to the SoCal Coast a few weeks ago put me into contact with Wes Fritz, to see if he could help get me on the pelagic. Wes called around, but it looked like Anna and I would just not be able to go, since the boat was so packed full of people. But, Wes found out we are from PA and since his family is from PA, he asked if Anna and I wanted to drive to his house on the 29th, go owling nearby and then stay the night and in the morning go out for some California specialty birds. Wes runs a birding guide service, focusing on taking people out to find the California specialties and so I knew I couldnt pass up this chance to go birding with such a great birder, that also knew all the secret spots. On the afternoon of the 29th, Anna and I headed to Solvang, CA where Wes lives.

Around dusk the three of us headed in to a canyon near Solvang, and searched for owls by stopping at certain spots and calling for different species. As we drove down a road, lined with huge Live Oaks, I could see Barn Owls flying above the car from tree branch to tree branch. At the first location we stopped at, we attempted to call in a Long-eared Owl. It never flew in, but we heard to call back to us a few times. There were also lots of Western Screech Owls calling all around us. Everytime we played a call we could also hear the distress tail-patting of Dusky-footed Woodrats.

Farther up the canyon, we tried calling for Western Screech Owl, Northern Pygmy Owl, and Spotted Owl at a few spots. Each location was packed with screech owls, sometimes they were calling from every direction around us....but the pygmy owls and Spotted Owls were quiet.

At the very top of the canyon, as soon as we stepped out of Wes's truck, Spotted Owls were calling nearby. We played a few calls in response and quickly had a lone Spotted Owl fly above the treetops over our heads, its dark silhouette gliding across an opening and then out of view. A few minutes later the owl flew back towards us and landed in a Live Oak. We quickly got a flashlight on it, and had amazing views of a juvenile Spotted Owl! This is a species I have wanted to see my whole life. The subspecies in California is the 'Northern' Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina), like the other two subspecies it is also critically endangered. We watched the owl for a few minutes as it starred back at us, and then decided to head back down the canyon to try for a few more owls.

A few more attempts for Northern Pygmy Owl were unsuccessful, except for one that called back to us twice. At the bottom of the canyon, we called again for Western Screech Owl and again had many around us. One seemed to be calling from a nearby Live Oak, so we got the flashlight on the tree and instantly spotted the little owl starring back at us.

Western Screech Owl

Once out of the canyon and driving through some agricultural fields and horse barns, we could hear Great Horned Owls and Barn Owls. We tried again for Long-eared Owl, but were unsuccessful once again. We ended the night around 1:00am and had see and or heard 6 species of owls all within a few miles!

The next morning (July 30), Wes took Anna and I back up into the canyon to try again for Northern Pygmy Owl. We didnt have any luck, althought one pygmy owl did respond to our call a few times. We were successful however, in finding many Pacific-Slope Flycatchers, Nuttal's Woodpeckers, Wilson's Warblers, Warbling Vireos, Orange-crowned Warbers, Lazuli Bunting, and Rufous Hummingbirds....all either lifers or new year birds for me!

Our next stop, was in ranchland nearby to try and see the ultimate California specialty, the Yellow-billed Magpie. This species can only be found along the Central Coast of California. A few miles down a road through the ranchland, I spotted a magpie off in a field flying up into a tree and told Wes to pull over, but he said, "Dont worry, you'll see them closer than that in a few minutes", so we kept driving. Soon we pulled into a house with a yard full of bird feeders. The yard was also full of Yellow-billed Magpies....at leasy 25 magpies were flying all over the yard, alogn with Band-tailed Pigeons, Lesser Goldfinchs, Anna's Hummingbirds, and a few Bullock's Orioles. It was amazing to see this beautiful bird so close!

Yellow-billed Magies; these two have unusually large yellow patches of skin around their eyes.

Band-tailed Pigeon
Yellow-billed Magpies

We spent about 45 minutes watch and photographing the magpies, and then headed to our next stop to try for more birds. This next location was an Ocean Overlook, called Surf Beach. We scanned the ocean with scopes and were able to pick up four lifers for Anna and I, including Pacific Loon, Pigeon Guillemot, Sooty Shearwater, and Common Murre. The loons and guillemots were very plentiful. The shearwaters were very distant, but identifiable, and their was only two murres, but they were identifiable.

Next we went to a nearby park, called Ocean Park were we had a few of the typical shorebirds, gulls, cormorants, and a Western Grebe. Wes also spotted two Baird's Sandpipers, which were a lifer for me! This park also had a few 'Belding's' Savannah Sparrows.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee was next up on our list of specialty birds, and after a few minutes of searching along a forest edge, we were able to see 4 chickadees total! I also spotted a Satyr Comma butterfly along forest edge, which was a lifer butterfly for me.

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

We then tried a few locations for Yellow-headed Blackbirds and eventually found two adult males at a cow farm. The blackbirds were feeding on the ground with some starlings and cowbirds and gave us some good looks until they flew away. We had also see the usual Red-winged Blackbird and its California subspecies, the "Bicolored Blackbird", so in just a few hours, we had seen all three Agelaius blackbirds of North America!

Wes had to head north to meet up with a tour group he was leading around a two-week long trip, so after the blackbirds, we headed back to Wes' house to get our car and head on our way. It was an awesome morning and I couldnt believe that I had seen 10 lifers in just a few hours! Wes is an amazing birder and extremely knowledgable. I would highly recomend him for anyone that wants to go birding in California. He knows where to find the birds and he knows how to see them up close and allow you get really study the birds. Follow this link to his website. Wes is a very outgoing and fun person, that really wants people to see and enjoy the beautiful wildlife of California.

Later in the day, Anna and I made a few more stops at some spots along the coast. One location, the University of Santa Barbara, had a very nice marsh and ocean overlook. We saw a few flocks of migrating Whimbrel and Long-billed Curlew as well as a few shorebirds on the mudflats, Belted Kingfishers, and herons.

For all the photos I took on this trip, visit this link to a Picasa Web Album I made.

Another Cuckoo Nest Found!

2010-07-28T12:46:00.001-07:00

This morning two of the other Techs (Tim and Lindsey) and I were out at one of our sites each tracking a trasmittered cuckoo. My cuckoo, LJ, wasnt really doing anything exciting, and neither was Tim's. Lindsey's cuckoo on the other hand, TGB, was doing very exciting things. Around 5:45am, Lindsey was able to finally locate TGB's nest, which many of us have been searching for for a few days now. This is the seventh cuckoo nest we have found so far this season, hopefully there are many more to come! The nest that was found this morning is in a Fremont's Cottonwood, about 2.5 meters off the forest floor. Latter in the morning we took the nest pole (extendable pole with a mirror on the end) to the nest, to see if there were any eggs or chicks. Sure enough, there were two little blue eggs in the nest! Below are some photos of the nest:

Here is the nest; well hidden in the cottonwood leaves and branches.

Here is a photo I took of the reflection of the nest in the mirror on the end of the nest pole. You can clearly see two light blue eggs in the nest!
Here is a cropped view of the last photo, showing the eggs better.

51st Supplement of the AOU Checklist

2010-07-27T12:22:00.000-07:00

Lots of birders have been awaiting the release of the 51st Edition of the American Ornithological Union's North American Bird Checklist. This checklist, which is organized and published by a commitee of professional ornithologists, is the official taxonomy of all North American birds. Major and long awaited changes were two species with subspecies that were "split" into seperate species. These are the Winter Wren and the Whip-poor-will. Now there is the Winter Wren and Pacific Wren; and the Eastern Whip-poor-will and Mexican Whip-poor-will. I was able to find a summary of the major changes on the Colorado Birding Listserve and http://www.xenospiza.com/ and have pasted it below in quotes and italics:

"The Old and New World "races" of Black Scoter have been split. The
Old World breeder is now known as the Common Scoter (Melanitta americana).

The dominate (Caprimulgus vociferus) and Arizona race of Whip-poor-will
(C. v. arizonae) have been split into two species, the Eastern
Whip-poor-will (C. vociferus) and Mexican Whip-poor-will (C. arizonae).
Colorado has records of both species."

Too bad I havent seen a Whip-poor-will here in Arizona, or I could have a new lifer!

"As predicted, the "Winter" Wren has also been split three ways. So those in the
Pacific Northwest are now the Pacific Wren (Troglodytes pacificus) and the eastern "Winter" Wren remains as Winter Wren (Troglodytes hyemalis), and the Eurasian Wren (T. troglodytes). Winter Wren's range roughly corresponds to that of Blue-headed Vireo; Pacific Wren's is like that of Cassin's Vireo; and Eurasian Wren ("The Wren") is distributed across temperate Eurasia."

The AOU also renamed scientific names for some species. They include:

"Blue-winged Warbler (now Vermivora cyanoptera, was V. pinus).

All other Vermivoras (Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Colima,
Lucy's, Flame-throated, and Crescent-chested) have been placed in the
genus Oreothlypis. Thus there are only two extant North American
warblers that remain in the genus Vermivora (Blue-and Golden-winged).
Bachman's Warbler, presumed extinct, also remains in Vermivora.

Molecular studies now support the removal of the Parulids (Northern and
Tropical) from the genus Parula and the AOU has now placed them in the
Vermivora genus.

Both Waterthrushes (Northern and Louisiana) have been removed from the
genus Seirus and have been placed in their own genus Parkesia. Ovenbird
remains in Serius by itself.

The "brown" towhees (Canyon, California, Abert's, and White-throated
(from Mexico) have been removed from the genus Pipilo and have been
placed in the genus Melozone. Spotted, Eastern, and Green-tailed
Towhees remain in Pipilo.

Cassin's, Rufous-winged, Bachman's, and Botteri's Sparrows (and others
in Mexico) have been removed from the Aimophila genus and placed in the
genus Peucaea.

Five-striped Sparrow, which was previously in Aimophila, is now in the
genus Amphispiza with Sage and Black-throated Sparrows.

McCown's Longspur has been removed from the genus Calcarius and has been
placed in the genus Rhynchophanes, which was previously recognized as
the proper genus for the species until 1957. Based on mitochondrial
data, Calcarius is paraphyletic and McCown's Longspur is more closely
related to Snow and McKay's Buntings than the other three species of
longspur. Paraphyletic basically means a taxa that contains its last
common ancestor but does not contain all the descendants of that
ancestor.

Ardeadae (the heron family) and Threskiornithidae (ibises and spoonbills) were transferred from Ciconiifrmes (the stork order) to Pelecaniformes (the pelican order).

Suliformes (gannets and boobies, cormorants, frigatebirds, and anhingas) were split from pelicans.

The genus Chamaea (Wrentit) is moved into the family Sylviidae ("classic" Old World warblers).

The Order of hawks (Falconiformes) has been split into Accipiteriformes and
Falconiformes. Accipiteriformes includes Vultures, Osprey, all
Buteoines, Accipiters, Harriers, Kites, and Eagles. Falconiformes now
only includes Falcons and Caracaras."

Pandionidae (Osprey) split from hawks (Accipitridae).

So that is pretty much all that was changed on the new checklist. To see it for yourself; follow this link to the AOU website, where the checklist will be available for download.

References:
Chesser, P.T., R.C. Banks, F. Keith Barker, C. Cicero, J.L. Dunn, A.W.
Kratter, I.J. Lovette, P.C. Rasmussen, J.V. Remsen, Jr., J.D. Rising,
D.F. Stotz, and K. Winkler. 2010. Fifty-First Supplement to the
American Ornithologists' Union Checklist of North American Birds. Auk
127(3):726-244.

YBCU Adventures 7-25-10

2010-07-25T13:07:00.000-07:00

This morning, Shannon, Diane, Tim and I went out to try and trap some cuckoos. While we were setting up the canopy mist net we could hear at least two cuckoos vocalizing around us, so that raised our hopes of catching some. Within an hour we managed to get a cuckoo to fly into the net. As we ran to the net, Shannon said, "I think that is LJ...". LJ is a cuckoo we captured a few weeks ago that we have already repatured once, so this was the third time we caught this particular bird.....apparently he likes being captured.

LJ tangled in the mist net

While Shannon and I were taking some measurements and photos of LJ, Diane and Tim continued to try and lure in the other nearby, calling cuckoo. About a half hour later, they managed to have that bird fly into the net also! Thankfully, this bird was a new capture! After having just held LJ, I could tell this new bird was much smaller.....

New cuckoo we captured this morning...

The new bird's band combination.

This photos shows a cuckoo's unique toe pattern. Cuckoos have two toes facing forwards and two toes facing backwards. One of the two toes facing backwards is also able to turn and face forward, if the bird needs it too.This is unlike most birds, which have three toes facing forwards and one facing backwards. This toe arrangment is called "zygodactylic". Some groups of birds are famous for this arrangment, such as owls and woodpeckers.

This morning we also have two accidental catches. The first was an adult White-winged Dove which immediately flew into the net when we opened it. The second was an adult male Brown-headed Cowbird, which we caught just before closing the net.

White-winged Dove

Brown-headed Cowbird (adult male)

We decided to call it quits after the two cuckoos we captured and closed the net up. Shannon, Diane, and Tim went cuckoo nest searching around the area, while I went over to a cuckoo nest that Tim found yesterday morning. A cuckoo we named Black Annie had built the nest, and when Tim found it yesterday, two cuckoo chicks had already fledged and were perched in a nearby willow tree. Shannon was able to capture one of the two and band it, but the second one got away. My plan was to go sit my the empty nest and listen for the fledglings calling so I could try and get some pictures. I had been sitting there for over 40 minutes and hadnt heard a thing, so was giving up hope, but then I noticed movement in the top of a nearby cottonwood tree and went to investigate. Sure enough, a little fledgling cuckoo was hoping through the tree tops. The fledgling looked just like an adult cuckoo, except its bill was all gray (not yellow and black) and its tail was only about an inch long (not 6 or 7 inches long). I was able to get good looks of the young cuckoo with my binoculars, but getting a picture was hard with all the leaves in the way. The fledgling was unbanded so I knew it must be the other bird, that they couldnt capture yesterday. It was so high in the cottonwood and it was also somewhat able to fly, so there was no hope of trying to catch this one with our bare hands....

Fledgling cuckoo

While I watched the fledgling, I heard the alarm call of an adult cuckoo and knew it must be Black Annie or her mate. I searched through the tree that I heard the call in and spotted the adult cuckoo and right away saw its bands, marking it as Black Annie. Her bands are gold, black, red, and white...very pirate-like, thus her name, "Black Annie". One interesting thing that was noticed yesterday on Black Annie is that the ring of skin around her eye was very obviously yellow, but when we caught her, the eye ring was black. The color of the eye ring was yellow to black was thought to indicate age and younger birds were thought to have yellow eye rings, and as they got older, the ring turned more and more gray/black. But this disproved everything, since over a matter of a few weeks, Black Annie's gray eye ring turned yellow! Perhaps cuckoo's eye rings turn yellow when they are nesting????.....So many questions, and the more we learn, the more questions there are!

Black Annie, showing her yellow eye ring and band combination.
On a completely different note, I saw this White-belted Ringtail this morning.....a lifer dragonfly for me, and a very beautiful one at that!

For more photos of the Yellow-billed Cuckoos we have banded and seen so far this season here in the Southwest, check out my Picasa Photo Album.

YBCU Banding Attempt 7-22-10

2010-07-23T13:10:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, July 21, Anna and I detected two cuckoos while surveying at Imperial NWR. The birds were not very responsive and we only actually saw one, the other stayed well hidden. Nontheless, Shannon and Diane decided to give trapping a try the next morning, since we havent banded any cuckoos this far south yet this season. The four of us set the canopy mist net up that evening and then the next morning attempted to capture the two cuckoos.....however the cuckoos had different plans and were nowhere to be seen (or even heard) the whole morning. Thats just how cuckoos are though, so we werent too disappointed.

Within minutes of opening the net, we did manage to accidentally capture a beautiful adult male 'Southwestern' Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas chryseola). This subspecies is only found in the Southwestern US (obviously). Traits that make it an unique subspecies are that the yellow on its throat it brighter than any other subspecies; the yellow on its throat extends around the black mask and joins the white above its black mask; and the olive on its back is very obvious.

Adult male 'Southwestern' Common Yellowthroat
This Common Green Darner (our largest dragonfly species) also managed to get stuck in the mist net, but we carefully got it out and I placed it on a twig for a quick photo before it flew away.......

Later in the day, Anna and I spotted this Burro walking near the road! It is difficult to see these wild donkeys during the day since they are usually asleep under a mesquite tree.

Busca del Cuclillo de Pico Amarillo en Mexico

2010-07-20T21:04:00.006-07:00

On Sunday, July 19th I went down into Mexico with Anna and my two bosses, Diane and Shannon to conduct some Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Cuclillo de Pico Amarillo) surveys while also teaching some folks from the Pro Natura Conservation group and also from the Sonora Institute.
The met up with all the people Monday morning around 5:00am and split up into four teams to go out and survey. We also had to teach the people on our groups how to follow the survey protocol for cuckoos while we were actually surveying. It was a ton of fun but also a little frustrating to try to speak in Spanish the entire time since I dont really know much (read: any) Spanish. But despite the language barrier I was able to teach the people in my group how to survey and we also found three cuckoos! The habitat was not the best, so I really didnt think we had any hope in finding a cuckoo and then all of a sudden a cuckoo called right behind us about 10 meters away and was soon joined by a second cuckoo. The two birds sat together in a tree and then flew with each other to another tree, occasionally calling. It was so awesome to be able to show the people in my group the cuckoos, since they rarely see them. Plus we had multiple long, unobstructed views of the cuckoos perching in trees and even catching an insect at one point! Later in the survey, at another site, we heard a third cuckoo, but never actually saw it. Anna's group didnt have any cuckoos and neither did Diane's group, but Shannon's group had one very cooperative cuckoo!

One of the two cuckoos I found perching together.

This Least Bittern was one of two we saw while surveying. This particular one perched in a low tree nest to a patch of cattails, and probably thought it was so well hidden....

Two White-tailed Kites were gracefully soaring above one of the sites I surveyed at. Here is a photo of one of the kites.

Burrowing Owls were very common in Mexico and the one in the photo below was one of five Burrowing Owls together along a road we drove down. Another great sighting was of a Western Screech Owl that I spotted while we were surveying. The screech owl was hiding in an Arrowweed bush and then side-stepped out onto a bare branch were it perched, staring at us for a few seconds before it flew away. I wasnt able to get a photo unfortunetly. The screech owl was a life bird for me and for many people in my group and was also the first record of that species for the site we were at.

Another rare sighting was this "Yuma" Clapper Rail (Rallus longirostris yumanensis). This subspecies of the Clapper Rail is an Endangered Species in the Southwestern US and in Mexico and can only be found along the Lower Colorado River. Because of how few Yuma Clapper Rails there are and how secretive they are, they are rarely seen so it was a great treat to be able to see this one along with about 10 other people that were with me while we were searching for the third cuckoo that we heard calling. The rail just stood along the edge of the marsh and preened itself while we all watched it, then after a few minutes, it slowly walked back into the reeds and out of view.

Here is a picture of me with most of the group we were teaching how to conduct cuckoo surveys. Everyone was very excited about cuckoos and so hopefully they can conduct surveys on their own in the future so that we can expand our knowledge of the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo!

The birding in the area was very, very good and I would reccomend that people looking for a birding vacation to consider taking a trip lead by Pro Natura and come to Mexico. Everyone I met was very nice and helpful and really loved birds and nature! Here is the link for Pro Natura and the Sonoran Institute.

YBCU chicks, White-faced Ibis movements, and some other good stuff.....

2010-07-18T16:59:00.000-07:00

The past couple days have been pretty exciting around Blythe....we have managed to find three cuckoo nests! The first two nests were found by Shannon and Tim and the third was found this morning by Lindsey. The nest Shannon found has two eggs in it, the nest Tim found has two chicks in it, and Lindsey's nest has three chicks in it. This morning we went out and banded the three chicks in the nest that Lindsey found. Below are some pictures of the chicks. They were all born about a day apart and grow very quickly! It takes about 13 days from the day the chick hatches till it looks like an adult cuckoo!

Here is the nest Lindsey found; you can see one of the chicks peeking over the side of the nest on the right side.
This chick is 4 days old.

This chick is 5 days old...some of its feathers have pinned out!

Here is another look at the 4 day old.

Here is the 5 day old...lots of rufous and brown feathers pinned out and a nice shiny gold band!

On another note, over the past few weeks there have movements of huge numbers of White-faced Ibis and Cattle Egrets here in the Southwest. Some agricultural fields I have driven by have been pakced full of literally hundreds of White-faced Ibis and/or Cattle Egret. On morning while I was doing Cuckoo surveys, there were flocks of ibis constantly flying overhead heading to a nearby field to eat for the day. I tried to count each flock that went past and in about 30 minutes I had counted 466 individual White-faced Ibis. They were in flocks ranging from 2 birds to over 80! I am assuming these birds are slowly making their way southward after just recently finishing up breeding in the interior Pacific Northwest and Canada.

Adult White-faced Ibis
Here is a large flock of White-faced Ibis migrating past.

This photo shows a very small portion of how some of the fields around here are....packed full of hundreds of Cattle Egrets and White-faced Ibis.

I also had some free time in the past couple afternoons to go out and try to find some butterflies and was lucky enough to add a few lifers in addition to ones I am very familiar with, but love to see.

American Painted Lady

This species is one that I have been looking forward to seeing for quite a while....the Bordered Patch.
This species, the Golden-headed Sootywing, is hard to find outside of Southwestern Arizona.

Not a butterfly...but this Greater Roadrunner offered me a nice photo oppurtunity this morning. Roadrunners are very common here, but its such a pain to get a decent photo of them, since they hide at the first sign of a human nearby....

Tomorrow I am off to Mexico to do some Cuckoo surveys. We will be showing employees from Pro-Natura how to conduct Cuckoo surveys, so that hopefully they can do their own surveys in the future so that every year there can be a fairly good idea of the population size of the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo. For more information on the Pro-Natura organization, visit their website at this link. My boss Diane said that only 2 of the 15 people coming known english....I knew I should have put more effort into learning Spanish!

For more information and photos from the past few days, including more photos of cuckoo chicks, butterflies, and a Western Kingsnake....visit Anna Fasoli's blog at this link.

World's Smallest Butterfly!

2010-07-14T17:17:00.000-07:00

If you were to guess where in the World the smallest species of butterfly lives, where would you guess...Central America? Tropical Africa? Some small island in the Pacific? If you guessed any of those you would be wrong, because the World's smallest species of butterfly lives right here in the United States! And lucky for me, it is the most common butterfly right here in the backyard of the field house I am living in in Blythe, California! This butterfly is called the Western Pygmy Blue (Brephidium exilis).

The wingspan of this butterfly is about a quarter of an inch to a half inch. To really get an idea of just how small this butterfly is, check out the picture below of a Western Pygmy Blue sitting in the palm of my hand.....

The Western Pygmy Blue is a common butterfly of the Southwestern United States. It can be found in a variety of habitats from salt marshes to disturbed urban sites. This butterfly not only is so beautiful because it is so unbelievably small, but also because of its striking coloration on both its upperside and underside. Its upperwings are copperish and fade into blue closer to the butterflies body and the entire wing is edged with a pure white border. The underwing coloration is copperish fading into gray closer to the body, with four large black dots on the edge of its hindwing and small white lines throughout.

References:

Brock, James P., and Kenn Kaufman. Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America. New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin, 2003. Print.

Fourth of July Weekend Birding in SoCal

2010-07-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

I had four days off over the Fourth of July weekend, so it was time for another birding adventure. This time to southern California! Anna and I used "A Birder's Guide to Southern California" by Harold Holt to plan our route....I only had the edition of the book from 1990 though, so that made for some confusion. So our first stop was the San Jacinto Mountains. This beautiful mountain range rises up out of the desert east of Los Angeles and holds an unique collection of birdlife. We spent the night camping in the Mountains and birded for a few hours in the morning and then continued heading west. Some of the great birds we saw were Western Scrub-jay, Oak Titmouse, Pinyon Jay, Violet-green Swallow, Mountain Chickadee, Brewer's Blackbird, but by far the best bird was the Mountain Quail. On the morning, of July fourth, we woke up and began driving out of the campsite and a whole family of Mountain Quail ran across the road in front of us. I pulled over and Anna and I followed them in into the woods, we were able to get some great looks at them through our binoculars, but getting a picture was going to be impossible since they were so sneaky and obscured by branches. Anna and I split up to try and get photos, when an adult Mountain Quail jumped up on to a rock right in front of her! I was too far away to get any pics so I just had to sit and watch while Anna got the amazing shot, pictured below....

Mountain Quail; photo by Anna Fasoli

Acorn Woodpeckers were also common and friendly throughout the Mountains.

The next day we birded in Bolsa Chica Wetlands Preserve near Huntington Beach, CA. We had planned on only staying at this location for a few hours, but soon learned that a Sooty Tern had been coming to the Elegant Tern colony on the refuge. The Sooty Tern is a very rare tern that can usually only be seen off the Southern Coast of Florida, so we couldnt pass up of the chance to see one. We spent the better part of the day waiting and watching for the Sooty Tern with a bunch of other birders, but it never showed. We learned a few days later that it did end up showing up later that evening, but we were long gone by then...oh well. But birding was still excellent at Bolsa Chica....lots of shorebirds were around and were very approachable. Black-necked Stilts, Marbled Gowits, Short-billed Dowitcher, and Western Willets were everywhere. Least Tern, Elegant Tern, Royal Tern, and Forester's Tern also flew over our heads as they traveled form the breeding colony out to their foraging grounds.

Black-necked Stilt
The "Belding's" Savannah Sparrow was also very numerous at Bolsa Chica. This subspecies of the Savannah Sparrow can only be found in Coastal California.

Elegant Terns, like this one were numerous and a lifer for me!

Three Marbled Godwits (one of my favorite shorebirds) approached extremely close to me while I was taking pictures of a Black-necked Stilt. Until now, all the Marbled Godwits I had ever seen were always very far away and I needed a spotting scope to see them well, but here were three just feet away from me!

Two birders that we met while waiting for the Sooty Tern learned that we wanted to see Allen's Hummingbird and knew of a nearby location where we were certain to see at least one; Huntington Central Park. They were kind enough to take us there and help us search for this tiny hummingbird. Sure enough, we found at least 5 Allen's Hummingbirds buzzing around a flower garden at the back end of the park. The only other time I have seen an Allen's Hummingbird, was the one that showed up in Lancaster County, PA back in December 2009, it was great seeing them in their proper habitat on the California Coast.

There was a family of Cooper's Hawks at tha park too, with 4 young! Here is one of the young Cooper's hawks hiding a dead rabbit from its siblings...

The next morning we birded down the Coast towards San Diego. Our first stop was La Jolla. This section of coastline has beautiful cliffs that were covered in Brown Pelicans, Brandt's Cormorants, Western Gulls, and Heermann's Gulls, as well as California Sealions! I have long wanted to see a Heermann's Gull and was exciting to see that they were quite common along the sea cliffs.

Heermann's Gull
This Black Oystercatcher was among 5 that we found in a small flock along a rock jetty near La Jolla...another lifer and beautiful West Coast shorebird!

California Sealions!

After birding at a few more locations near San Diego, our next stop were the Laguna Mountains west of San Diego. Birding here wasnt that fantastic, but the scenery made up for it. Various pull-off offered breathtaking views of mountains as far as the eye could see. We did add a few new species of butterfly here and also finally found some Wrentits sneaking through the bushes on the hillsides.

Wrentit

Our final birding destination for the trip was the Salton Sea, a massive man made salt lake right in the center of Southern California. This lake is a major migrant stop and was packed with Long-billed Curlew, Marbled Godwits, White-faced Ibis, Brown Pelicans, American White Pelicans, and Cattle Egrets to name a few. This is also a famous site for being one of the few places to reliably find Yellow-footed Gull, a species from Mexico that regularly comes up to the Salton Sea after breeding season. We were able to quickly find quite a few of these gulls.

Yellow-footed Gull

Hundreds of Black-necked Stilts were around and were nesting, their small chicks following them around and stumbling over their long legs. A very sad site, was a Black-necked Stilt we found that had flown into a telephone wire and died, apparently its wing wrapped around the wire and it starved to death not long before we found it. We also found a nice flock of Wilson's Phalaropes in a farm pond nearby, a new year bird for us and another of my favorite species. We also found two Peregrine Falcons, and a juvenile Bald Eagle that was being mobbed by Black-necked Stilts. We made a quick stop at an overlook to scan for birds when the earth began to move under our feet and all the birds in the area took flight. After a few more seconds of the earth literally moving and shaking I turned to Anna and said, "I think that was an earthquake!" Sure enough, I looked online a few days later and there was an earthquake. I couldnt believe how powerful it was, when it first started I almost fell over!

There were hundreds of migrating American White Pelicans at the Salton Sea, including this individual with a red wing tag...I am looking into who is doing White Pelican research so I can let them know I saw this guy.

More migrating American White Pelicans.

We left the Salton Sea after seeing 78 species there and ended back for Blythe because we had to work the next day. Our Southern California birding trip was a huge success! I added 19 species to my year list and 15 of them were lifers! My favorite species of the weekend were the Mountain Quail and the Heermann's Gulls...both West Coast specialties that I have wanted to see my whole life.

For all the pictures I took on this trip, check out the photo album I made on Picasa Web Albums at this link. There are a lot of photos on there of birds and other wildlife that was amazing to see that I didnt have the time or space to put into a blog post, so I really urge you to check out the photo album!

Also, check out Anna Fasoli's birding blog for more info about our trip and to see her photos, here is the link. Anna made posts day-by-day of our birding trip through SoCal that are a lot more detailed than this post that I made. And she finally figured out how to use her new camera, so she has some amazing photos!

Lesser Nighthawk

2010-07-03T10:27:00.001-07:00

Aside from Raptors, my favorite group of birds are the nightjars. The nightjars are large-headed, large-mouthed nocturnal birds that are evolutionarily somewhere between owls and swifts. There are eight species found in the North America. They are typically seen flying low over open areas in search of flying insects in the evening or early morning. Nightjars are also often seen sitting on dirt or gravel roads. The Common Nighthawk can be found throughout North America and as its name implies, is fairly common. However, here in the desert Southwest, the more numerous nightjar is the Lesser Nighthawk. The Common Nighthawk is slightly larger than the Lesser Nighthawk, but the nest way to tell the difference is that the white wing bar on the Lesser Nighthawk is closer to the wingtip than the white wing bar on Common Nighthawks.

Lesser Nighthawk sitting along a dirt road in Imperial NWR; photo by Anna Fasoli.

On my way out to survey for cuckoos every morning before the sun comes up, I get to see lots of Lesser Nighthawks. Unfortunetly this morning as I was driving to a survey plot, a nighthawk flew across the road and was hit by the front of the car before I even had a chance to react. I pulled over and ran back to see the bird, and sadly, it had died. One of my coworkers also had spotted another dead one along the road a few days ago, so between the two deceased Lesser Nighthawks we collected, I had taken enough photos to write this blog explaining how to tell the sex of them. One of the birds is a after hatch-year (AHY) or after second year(ASY) male and the other is a hatch year (HY) or second year (SY) female. Using photos I have taken, I will try to explain how I came to that conclusion.

This photo shows the top of the wing of an HY/SY nighthawk. Note the vertical white bar across its primary feathers. Also note the minimal cinnamon coloration on the tips of the primary and secondary feathers.This photo shows a AHY/ASY bird; note the lack of vertical white bar across its wing and also that the cinnamon-colored horizontal bars run much farther across its wing than they do in the above photo of the adult bird. Also note the cinnamon coloration on the tips of all the primary and secondary feathers.

The easiest way to tell age and sex is to focus on the vertical wing bar that runs across the Lesser Nighthawks primary feathers. The amount of cinnamon coloration on the wingtips can also be helpful in aging and sexing, however the presence or absence of a white wing bar is much more obvious and exact.

This first photo shows a close-up of the wing bar on the HY/SY nighthawk. Note that the wing bar is white and runs from one feather to the next seemlessly.

This photo shows a close-up of the wing bar on a AHY/ASY Lesser Nighthawk. Note that the wing bar is a cinnamon color rather than white and that it does not seemlessly transition from one feather to the next.

So now we know the we have a AHY/ASY nighthawk and a HY/SY nighthawk, now how can we tell more about sex? Take a look at the next photo, highlighting the white pattern on the 7th primary feather (also known as p7).

The fact that this white pattern (inside the red circle) is white and covering across most of the feather shows that this bird is a male. The white pattern on the p7 of a female would be much smaller and not as cleanly white. Like I mentioned, the white pattern is across most of the feather, but not covering across it completely so that it basically cuts off the black coloration from the tip of the feather and the rest of the feather. Also the small bit of cinnamon coloration at the very tip of this feather is another indicator that the bird is a HY/SY bird and not a AHY/ASY.

This photo shows the p7 of the HY bird. Note that the pattern in the red circle is not white. This immediately tells you that the bird is a female. Also, because the pattern is covering a good majority of the way across the feather, it is a AHY/ASY bird and not a HY/SY bird which would show a small amount of patterning.

Another way to sex Lesser Nighthawks is to look at the subterminal band across their tail. If the band is white, then it is a male. If the band is a lacking or buffy-white, then it is a female. The subterminal band on the HY/SY bird was white, therefore adding more evidence that that particular bird is a male. As for the other bird's subterminal band, it didnt have one....its tail band looked no different than any other marking on its tail, therefore its for sure a female. Unfortunetly I didnt take photos of the bird's tail bands....

So now that I confused everyone who plans on reading this (including myself), we have concluded that one bird was a AHY/ASY female and the other was a HY/SY male. The reason that we cannot go further and say exactly what age the bird are is because currently there is not enough research on Lesser Nighthawks to make that conclusion, but I think we narrowed it down well enough.

By the way, the live Lesser Nighthawk in the photo at the top of the post is a female, because it doesnt have a white tail band and its white wing bar should be evident in that position if it were a male, and it isnt, so once again, that bird is a female.

References:

Pyle, Peter. Identification Guide to North American Birds: A Compendium of Information on Identifying, Ageing, and Sexing "near-passerines" and Passerines in the Hand. Bolinas, Calif.: Slate Creek, 1997. Page 100 - 103.

Cuckoos, Peregrines, and Curlews

2010-07-02T13:29:00.001-07:00

Anna and I did two quick cuckoo surveys this morning and had 6 cuckoo detections, representing at least 5 individual cuckoos, probably 6. We were hoping to find a nest site, but didnt have any luck...oh well maybe in the next couple days.

On our way back home, we stopped by Cibola National Wildlife Refuge to check up on a radio tagged cuckoo and as we were driving down a dirt road on the refuge I saw something on the side of the road sitting on the ground in a somewhat flooded field and said to Anna, "Is that a Peregrine?". Sure enough, just as I asked, the bird took flight and it was a Peregrine Falcon! Then Anna spotted a second Peregrine! The two falcons flew low around the field together and then landed on the ground. One bird occasionally picked at a small prey item it had. The falcons did a few more short flights together and then took off to the west and went out of view behind some trees. The Peregrines were both juveniles and based on size, one was a male and the other a female. These are also the "American Peregrine Falcon" subspecies (Falco peregrinus anatum). This is the most widespread and common subspecies in the West and can be easily identified by their characteristic tawny-rufous underparts, streaking throughout their body, and the very distinct dark malar mark on their face. Where did these guys come from? How long will they stay in the area?

juvenile male (left) and juvenile female Peregrine Falcons

juvenile male Peregrine

juvenile male Peregrine in flight

We then checked our radio tagged cuckoo, which was safe and sound, and then decided to head home. In a well-flooded field on our way out of the refuge I spotted three Long-billed Curlew standing on a mud berm. This time of year, curlew are uncommon to rare in Southwestern Arizona so this was a nice treat. The curlew mostly stood on the berm, occasionally stretching their wings and then before we left, they walked down into the flooded field and began foraging. Their were also White-faced Ibis in the field.

two Long-billed Curlew

It was great seeing two unexpected and uncommon birds within 20 minutes of each other. Especially since the Peregrine is one of my top favorite species and the Long-billed Curlew is one of Anna's favorite species!

References:

Wheeler, Brian K. Raptors of Western North America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2003.

Two Cuckoos!

2010-07-01T16:18:00.001-07:00

This morning we went out in a nearby riparian area to try and capture some more cuckoos to put radio transmitters on. This particular section of forest has had some cuckoos, based on our surveys but we had not tried to trap any yet so we figured today was the day. After getting the net set uo and ready to go by 5:45am, we instantly had cuckoos in the area. At least two, maybe three, were calling all around us. It took quite a while to convince them to come closer to our huge mist net but finally about an hour and a half later a cuckoo was perched right above me in a small cottonwood and a few second later it flew right into the net. We quickly extracted the cuckoo and Diane and I started processing it while Shannon and another field tech, Tim, continued to try and lure the second bird into the net by playing more audio recordings. About twenty minutes later the second bird flew into the net. Two cuckoos in one morning! The cuckoo in the top photo is the second one we captured. It has blue marker on its breast so that it can be more easily recognized in the next few days while we radio track it. The dye will only last about a week.

Here is the first of the two cuckoos we captured. This one with yellow marker on its breast.

Here is a full shot of the second bird we captured; you can sort of see the transmitter antenna down on the right side of its tail.
Here is another close-up of the second bird.

After we released the second bird, it flew up into a nearby cottonwood and let me take this photo right before it flew off into the trees and out of view, hopefully I get to see it again though...and on a nest I hope!

It was a very exciting morning, but two more cuckoos out with transmitters means two cuckoos closer to finding a nest! For more pictures of cuckoos I have seen and captured so far this summer, visit this link to my Picasa Web Album.