Second Birding Trip

Today was one of those days that, if given the chance, I would have stayed in bed all day and watched Tv. I was not, how so ever, given that chance… so I went birding. Starting the day off standing next to a sad looking shack at the Sag Harbor Ferry Port, looking up at the sky while hoping to god it does not rain on me, and hoping even more so that Dr.MG didn’t forget about me, which was a great fear at the time, for my presence at the port lasted around 15 minutes. I was not forgotten about though, for Dr.MG pulled up in his snazzy Birding Mobile (humming bird sticker (his favorite bird), awkward rattling sound and all), and we were off to find Mamoun. After retrieving Birder number 3, we were all extremely disappointed to find that no one showed up at school for the trip (Julia Lewis I am very disappointed in you), but hey, we had a dorm parent/hunter/ birder come along with us… and off we went.

The first stop of the day was at the air port in Easthampton. Astrewn with puffball mushrooms, this location is prime birding habitat. I have no idea how he did it, but Dr.MG locked in on a small blue bird, otherwise known as an Eastern Blue Bird, with his telescope. I tried to take a photo, but my white balance was off, so that clearly didn’t work. We also saw a red tailed hawk just randomly flying over the field. Deciding to move on, we packed up and left.

The second stop of the day was this sketchy looking farm on the side of a road. Evidently, birds tend to lurk in places like this. Starting off in the parking lot, we focused on the vegetation around us. Song Sparrows, House sparrows, Yellow-Rup Warblers, Carolina Wrens, an American Robin, and the TUFTED TITMOUS (<3) were all feeding on the Queen Anns Lace seeds. Working our way past the green houses, we heard a Screech Owl, which was only about 100-150 feet away in a tree. Dr.MG tried talking to it, I failed at talking to it, and Mamoun made some pretty good attempts at sounding like it. We finished working the outskirts of the farm, then made like a flock and migrated east.

Stopping on the side of a highway in Easthampton, we noticed Mourning Doves, New world Starlings, and a few American Crows. Wandering down the road, I noted the sound of a Woodpecker.

Nearing the water, we stopped on the side of the road near a pond, swamp, thing to look at the local birds. A Merlin flew above us as we watched a Grebe (breed?) dove under the water like a bad out of hell trying to get away from Dr.MG’s scope.

Finally arriving at the beach, we climbed up the sand dunes to look down at the flats with the scopes hoping to find something cool. Now, idkw, but the Double Crested Cormorant when standing there on the beach, looks like penguins to me… just saying. There were hundreds (Im guessing around 250) of cormorants on the flats, with a set of white swans randomly drifting around, and some random gulls. I took pics via my Android with the scope. AND, I took a pic of “a thing with a beak” as I have been affectionately been calling a Least Sandpiper. On the beach we noticed some loOns.

Not being satisfied with what we saw on the beach, Dr.MG had us wander down the road looking at birds in he bush. I take great pride in saying that I did notice a Palm Warbler, a Red Waxwing, and a strange cat trying to kill something. The existence of an American Cardinal was noted.

Twas a bird-filled day…

Birding with the best

This weakened, on a cold northernly blown day, I tickled my ornithological fancies on a Birding trip to various places with Thomas, Mr. Doctor professor, and his good friend Peter. The most prominent feature of the day blotted out the sky above in ragged dark formations. Double Crested Cormorants everywhere! Cormorants in the sky, sitting Cormorants, wading Cormorants, swimming Cormorants, diving Cormorants, wet Cormorants, dry Cormorants, Juvenile Cormorants, old Cormorants, middle aged Cormorants, all of them scraggly, cold, and South bound. On this trip we also saw a plethora of Sparrows, the most common of which was the House Sparrow. Myrtle Warblers invaded our vision, flitting from every describable angle, only to disappear again with a tiny flash of yellow and white. A less common bird that was seen on the trip was a Palm Warbler, which was spotted amidst the multitude of Robins, Myrtles, and over the hearty dialogue between Doctor Hugh and a lone Screech Owl.

The End

Weekend Birds

I had quite a bit of accidental birding this weekend. First, walking to class Friday afternoon, I saw Doc called over to identify a bird outside the senior building. It was a female Ring-necked Pheasant. This fat bird had a small head, a long tail, and a mottled brown coloring with small black spots on its back. Out apple picking on saturday down by Mecox Bay, the air was full of gulls. I recognized Great Black-backed Gulls with their white underbellies, black back and wings, yellow beak, and pink legs, Ring-billed Gulls with white underbellies, gray wings, black wingtips, and black ring around the end of their bill, and some other gulls that might have been Herring Gulls. On the bus ride home, I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk flying circles over the potato fields. It had long, broad, rounded wings, a light underbelly, and I wide tail with rusty red coloring that caught my eye as it turned. I looked pretty darn crazy craning my head out the window, but it's always worth it for the birds.

Could it be? A LOON?

Today while, sitting on my porch, i took out the binoculars to check out all the birds chilling on the pond. I counted a total of 145 canada geese, 110 which were adults and 35 juveniles. 2 mute swans (which are almost double the size of the goose aka huge!) In with the crew was a curious smaller bird that was flapping up its wings. At first i came to the conclusion that it was a Red Necked Grebe. I thought it must have been in its winter plumage because it didn't have a red neck. But as i researched the grebes i realized they don't live on long island ever.... Then because of its long straight and sharp bill, it led me to me to conclude that it was a common loon. I didn't assume this off the bat because the winter plumage in my bird guide was quite different than the winter plumage I later researched online. I am now quite certain it was a common loon i saw. (I also see why Doc doesn't recommend the bird guide I was using, it is considerably more difficult to identify the birds).

While i was furiously looking through my bird guide, a song sparrow landed on the tree right next to me, and i was pretty proud to have identified it within seconds, without binoculars or my poopy field guide. It was an exciting yet frustrating bird experience; Birding is so much easier with the Doc!

Birdwatching - October 23rd 2011

Today I was not able to go on the birding trip, but I was still able to fit birding into my schedule none the less. I started off the day (literally) when I heard an odd noise in my backyard. I went to look outside and I saw a large group of Common Grackles (Quiscalus Quiscula). After that, I went up the street and sat for about an hour looking around in the sky. I must have looked like a lunatic because several people were staring at me. Whilst sitting on a bench I spotted a massive formation of Canada Geese (Branta Canadensis) flying overhead. The extremely recognizable honking like call is what alerted me. A little while after the Geese flew by, I saw two Blue Jays (Cyanocitta Cristata) in a tree on the oposite side of Amagansett Square. The bright blue plumage was easily spotted even when jumping behind branches. After that there were only a few more fly-bys that I was not able to identify, so I decided to head back to my house. On my way back, there was a group of Wild Turkey (Meleagris Galloparo) lounging in the road on Hedges Lane. Around the corner from them, I saw two beautiful Cardinals (Cardinalis Cardinalis) perched in a large tree on the side of the road. The bright colors were amazing among the dull monotonous colors of the fall trees. I got home and saw Tufted Tit Mouse (Baeolophus Bicolor) on my bird-feeder. Not long after, a Black-Capped Chikadee (Poecile Atricapilla) landed on the bird-feeder. The rusty color under the wing was what gave it away. Although I was not able to go on the birding trip, I had a successful birding day non the less.

Marsh Birding

Today around four o'clock I headed out into the frigid waters of 3 mile harbor in a kayak, again to gather info for my Senior Project and to do some "Water Birding". The first birds I saw off the bat was a few Marsh Wrens, I unable to get a clear site of them, I figured they were Marsh Wrens due to their orange / brown tail. I then proceeded to see a flock of Canada Geese flying over head as I paddled towards the center marsh. I also saw a group of gulls, which looked like laughing gulls due to their smaller size and black heads. The final bird I saw was a Mute Swan which followed me on my way home.

I have a pretty sweet picture of said Swan, I just don't know how to upload it...

The Birds.......

I went for a walk yesterday and saw possibly the largest group of American Crows I have ever seen.
It was definitely something out of the movie Birds. I was waiting for them all to fly down from the trees and sit on my fence and just state at me. Very freaky!!

I am excited for the next birding trip as a group, because I was unable to attend this week's trip.

I heard a "Great Horned Owl" last night at around 1 in the morning outside my window.

I also saw a very large group of pheasants on my way home today...
OH SO MANY BIRDS!! :)

Montauk Birding

On Saturday, October 15th, we went bird watching in Montauk with the SoFo Natural History Museum birding group. The trip started out by the Montauk lighthouse. We started out on an overlook where we saw a couple of Eider Ducks, Crested Cormorants, Laughing Gulls, House Finches, Jaegers, common terns, Forester Terns, and two Bonaparte Gulls, Peregrine Falcon and a lot of Canada Geese. After standing there for a while, we moved on to the path towards the lighthouse and down to the cliffs. On the way to the cliffs, we saw a Merlin Falcon chasing a Warbler (possibly the most epic chase I have ever seen), a little while after that we saw a Myrtle Warbler. As we walked on, however, we saw a Merlin fly overhead with a puffed out chest, which was most likely a small bird that it had caught moments before. We headed back to the car to go to the ranch and on the way saw a Mockingbird and many other birds. When we arrived at the ranch, we saw a large flock of Canada Geese. In this large group we saw a Greater White Fronted Goose! This was a very nice find that was spotted very quickly by our leaders, Hugh McGuinness and Bob Wilson.

Over Montauk's Hills and Dales

Starting off exceedingly early, especially for a Saturday, I met the rest of our small, but satisfying group at Mary's Marvelous at around 7:20 AM. Maddy took her time buying some food, and then we were off in Doc's car. We all chit-chatted for a while, on the way to MTK. Once we arrived at the lighthouse, we met up with some other birders that claimed to be "beginners" and belonged to SOFO. They were most certainly NOT beginners. We stood up on a balcony-like ledge, overlooking the water which had a few boats and many birds that day. We followed the older, more experienced eyes when they shouted out things like "Eider ducks! Down by "Eastboard" ship, lower left, southwest, edge of Block island!" Although it was very hard to see, and even harder to follow their directions, we managed to hold our own. We stood up there for a while, debating on whether or not our whole birding trip would be like this. We recorded a few more birds, such as the Common Eider Ducks, (which we can identify by the long bills and wedge-shaped heads), a Peregrine Falcon, which Anthony took upon himself to record it as "Pear green" (silly Anthony), and some Crested Cormorants, which have black, sleek bodies and a long neck. Shortly after, we were on our way to the next of many stops, and we saw some House Finches in the brush on the edge of the sidewalk, which were tiny, with small, flat heads and large beaks for their body size. Over the water, we watched Artic Skuas or Parasitic Jaegers fly around. Continuing, we wrote down two Bonaparte's Gulls, Foster Terns, Common Terns and Laughing Gulls, which were all resting on the water or flying around. The group recognized the gulls because of their white triangular markings on the edge of their wings and because of their light gray bodies.

While continuing our vast journeys throughout Montauk, a Myrtle Warbler flew by us, which was soon followed by a bunch of Black-Capped chickadees. Next we saw a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, which is small (for a hawk) and has stubby wings with a long tail. Once we parked ourselves in one spot for a while, we looked to the sky and saw an American Crow harassing a Red-Tailed Hawk. Everyone seemed to get a major kick out of this. Speaking of major kicks, once on our way to the next stop, Anthony and Zeb were kicking Maddy and I, and made us look like complete fools to the experienced birders, "tripping over ourselves". Once we arrived to a little indent in the cliffs, overlooking the water, we saw a Song Sparrow and a Cedar Waxwing. We identified the Cedar Waxwing because of its large head, short neck and medium sized body. Later, we saw a Northern Mockingbird and a Red Winged Blackbird.

We filed back into the car and headed towards Deep Hollow Ranch. Binoculars and Telescopes in hand, we trekked down a long path and looked out into an enclosed field containing many, many birds. Given directions to "spot the only bird different from the group", we looked through our binoculars for a couple of minutes and noticed the only bird that had a whiter head, and pinky-orangey legs. Once you noticed these differences, the Greater White Fronted Goose really stood out from the sea of Canada Geese. The group that came with us was enthralled with a Stilt Sandpiper, which we watched for a while. We continued on, and went down some other path to look for some birds in a woodsy area. After debating about Chiggers and Lonestar ticks, we tried working our magic with the sounds that make birds curious and come out of their hiding spots. Once this didn't work, we all hopped back into our cars, and were on the road again.

Coming to our third and final destination, our group was pooped and reluctantly got out of the car, unaware of the last trek Doc would drag us on. Throughout the long debate of who sang the song "Build me up Buttercup", we saw some more Common Grackles, Starlings, and two Wood Ducks come out of nowhere on the pond.

This birding trip was very exciting, very successful and I was thoroughly exhausted for the rest of the day. I am very excited for the next birding trip!

Early Birding

The birding trip Saturday morning started off bright and early at 7:40 am in Montauk right by the lighthouse. Along with other “beginner” birders that came with SOFO, we looked at the birds on and around the fishing boats and ocean. There we saw a few Common Eider Ducks, which are recognizable by their noticeable wedge-shaped head and long bill. A Peregrine Falcon, or pear green falcon according to Anthony, flew right over our heads and dropped behind a group of trees before everyone got a good view of it. Through the binoculars we were all able to spot a couple Crested Cormorants; dark long body and long neck. Other birds we saw in that area include House Finches, little with fairly large beaks and flat heads, and Parasitic Jaeger/ Arctic Skuas. Among Laughing Gulls, Common terns and Forester terns, two Bonaparte's Gulls were spotted sitting right on the water while all the other birds were flying around. The gulls are identifiable by their pale gray back and the white triangle on the outer part of their wing. As we continued on the trail towards the Montauk Lighthouse, a little Myrtle Warbler flew right by us followed by a couple Black-Capped Chickadees. It was really great to see a Sharp-Shinned Hawk ,which is very common but one of my favorite birds so far. It’s a relatively small hawk with a long tail and short rounded wings. One of the funnier parts of the trip was a Red-Tailed Hawk being completely harassed by an American Crow. On a sadder note though we witnessed a little warbler being ferociously chased by a Merlin. In the bushes by the cliffs we saw a Song Sparrow and a Cedar Waxing. The Waxwing was medium-sized with a large head and short neck. We also saw a Northern Mockingbird and a Red Winged Blackbird. After all getting in the car and going to Deep Hollow Ranch, we noticed a goose in a large group of Canada Geese that was most definitely not of the same species. It was a Greater White Fronted Goose, which has a pink bill, and orange legs, and is also very rare to be seen out here. Just like the last visit at the ranch, we saw two Stilt Sandpipers hanging out by the cow’s pen. And also here we saw more Common Grackle and Starlings. Overall, this birding expedition was very long and I saw more birds on this trip that I have on any other one so far.

Water Birding

Yesterday I found myself kayaking across 3 mile harbor to gather information for my senior project. As I was paddling through +20mph winds towards the series of salt marshes I noticed a flock of ducks. To far away to noticed a paddled closer to see the shiny green head, which was a dead give away that these water fowl were indeed mallards. When I finally got to the salt marshes I noticed a variety of birds sheltering from the winds on the small beach on the marsh I could identify most of these birds as:

Double Crested Cormorant

White Egret

Great Blue Heron

Laughing Gull

Ringed-bill Gull

Black Skimmer

Despite being so windy, and almost falling out of my kayak I had a great time birding and gathering information for my SP.

Clay-colored Sparrow, Southampton Village

I went looking for sparrows during lunch time today and I found a good one-- a Clay-colored Sparrow that was in a grassy area north of Meadow Lane across from Cooper's Beach. I also saw an Indigo Bunting, a Swamp Sparrow and seven Song Sparrows at the same location. A very good lunch indeed.

canoe birding

Yesterday, I stepped out side in the morning and heard so many bird sounds calling back and forth. I recognized a couple blue jays and 2 black capped chickadees singing back and forth to each other in the trees. As I was watching these birds I remembered that I wanted needed to back to the pond and re-identify the blue binged teal through my binoculars. So i headed out on the canoe, looking at for the duck again. However no such blue winged teal found me (or whatever type of duck i had seen before.

I did see a few of cool birds that i was happy to be able to identify. 3 mute swans were gliding around, one preening its feathers. I could tell the species from its long curved neck, black head and orange bell. I identified a song sparrow in a tree which was very exciting after the lark sparrow. " rich, russet-and-gray bird with bold streaks down its white chest, the Song Sparrow is one of the most familiar North American sparrows" (cornell birds).

This weekend I have also seen 2 american robins in separate situation the trees and what i think was a mourning dove chilling in my bush but i am not sure cause i didn't have binoculars...

The early birds got to see the birds

Although i did not get the pleasure to go birding with the Gang and my good friends at Sofo, i did have my own bird oriented experience. Early Saturday morning, but not early enough, i rose and was greeted by another fine, windy day. I cast my gaze out my window to see a small rasp of guinea fowl. i was amazed at their skulking dinosaur like qualities and with their erratic pecking at seemingly bare grass. I ran out of my house to join them, but they did not seem to be in cahoots with the idea and promptly exited my yard. Another anecdote extracted from my day, and from my memory is the observation of a large murmuration of starlings wheeling effortlessly from tree to tree, forming abstruse and ambivalent patterns as they dipped and twirled. I wish there were more Mega Flocks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxqtvYt1z24&feature=related

Three Warblers and a Sparrow

I haven't posted in a while, but I have been birding a lot.

Today, Friday, I managed to squeeze in a few minutes while it wasn't raining and birded some fields along Town Lane. I was not disappointed. Almost as soon as I walked in a was greeted by a beautifully plumaged male Prairie Warbler. Right after that I saw a Nashville Warbler. But I was confounded by ticking that I heard. I knew it was a bird, but couldn't figure out where it was. Finally, I looked up high enough and was rewarded with an uncommon sparrow -- a Lincoln's Sparrow. It looks a bit like a Song Sparrow but has more delicate streaking and a striped bib with an orange background. What was especially nice was all three birds were very accommodating and let me watch them. Later I saw a Palm Warbler, too.

Last weekend, I had my first-of-season Winter Wren in a trail in the Stony Hill section. Also, at Quail Hill, there were Eastern Bluebirds, several Eastern Phoebes, and another small flycatcher. I think think it was A Willow Flycatcher because it seemed to respond when I played the song/calls of a Willow Flycatcher on my phone.

On Friday I had birded some spots further West, and saw some nice birds including a Blackburnian Warbler, Peregrine Falcons, Merlins, and some White-crowned Sparrows.

But the best moment was when I saw female Black-throated Blue Warbler. I had seen her in some bushes; she flew into a small tree nearby, at which point a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker flew out of the tree. When I looked closely, I saw that she was drinking sap out of the wells that had been made by the sapsucker. That was kind of cool.

Banding at Dam Pond

This past weekend we went to the north fork at dam pond to band birds. We saw many birds during this trip. We learned how to catch and band bird. Banding a brid is when you catch the bird in a banding net, After you have caught the bird you must record its information and determine whether it is a juvenile or adult and if it is a female or male. After you classify the bird you put an aluminum band around the birds leg. The band has a specific number on it so if caught again you can tell that you have caught and recorded the bird before. This method is often used for mapping projects to see where birds migrate to over the winter. One of the bird we saw was a myrtle warbler. This was a very energetic bird, when we had it in the cloth bag after we removed it from the net it was going crazy in the bag. We also so a type of woodpecker that we haven’t identified on a trip before. The woodpecker was all black with white spots on all coverts. We also saw a catbird, it was identified by its all gray body and swallow tail feather. When we were leaving thpark we saw a very rare bird in the parking lot. It had a yellow head with a black mask, sort of like a raccoon. It was probably one of the most colorful birds I have seen.

Bird watching

Although the pickings are slim in my neighborhood, I was able to catch a glimpse of a few birds. The most common bird that I saw was the Blue Jay (cyanocitta crisata). It was easily identifiable by its bright blue plumage and white white wing bar. Large groups of Canadian Geese are also quite abundant in East Hampton. American Crows are also a common fly-by bird. The cry of the crow is very noticeable as well as their oily black plumage. I also caught sight of a few Black-capped Chickadees on my bird feeder. Their white eye stripe and black crown is very noticeable when viewing from a close distance. Atop a large tree near my house, I was also able to spot a Tufted Titmouse perched on a branch. The rusty colored under wing area was the most noticeable characteristics along with the grey crest.

Boston Birding

I couldn't attend the fabulous banding adventure this weekend, but I tried to do as much birding as I could on the sidewalks of Boston. On the drive up, I was proud to be able to use my knowledge gathered on our Montauk birding expedition to point out some turkey vultures flying over the highway (fingertip wings!) to my mother. She humored me. On the streets of Cambridge I spotted some song sparrows in bushes, recognizable with their russet and gray coloring and streaks on their white chest, as well as house sparrows, with their brown coloring, yellow and gray bills, gray caps, rusty napes, and black around the throat and breast, and white underbellies. I also saw some European starlings, glossy black with the beginnings of white spots across their feathers, on the quads of Northeastern University. Not as productive as a day out with the birders would have been, but not a bad weekend.

A Big Surprise

Yesterday morning as I was waiting for the Ornithology students to arrive for our field trip, I heard a loud chip near the high school parking lot at Ross. At first I thought it might be a Fox Sparrow, but as I approached I realized that the chip note was not correct for that species. After spishing for a few seconds, I got a few glimpses of the bird: HOODED WARBLER, a species I have never seen on Long Island in fall before. I tried to get Mamoun and Noah to see it, but the bird was elusive.

At Dam Pond in East Marion a little while later, a lone PINE SISKIN flew overhead calling.

Today I went to Montauk with Peter Polshek. There were many birds about especially Yellow-rumped Warblers, Eastern Phoebes, and several species of sparrows. Highlights were an adult GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE at the south field at Deep Hollow, and a PEREGRINE, COOPER'S HAWK, AMERICAN KESTREL, MERLIN & TURKEY VULTURE at Third House. We saw 2-3 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS this morning as well.

That Dam Pond!

Despite the lack of Zebulon Jowers, our bird banding adventure was a successful one. The morning started off with Doc charging through the woods after the sound of a bird, which turned out to be a Hooded Warbler . After that exciting experience we took of to the North Fork. We ventured across two ferries and picked up a few other birders on the way. When we finally arrived to Dam Pond we were greeted by the smell of a decomposing animal off of the path. We arrived at the banding station, which was composed of two fine silk nets that were set up on the sides with a table and chairs set up to band the birds which would be caught in the nets. To my surprise we caught up to nine birds and each of us got to hold a bird. I was fortunate enough to hold a cat bird which was putting up a fight in the bag I was holding him in earlier. During our time there we saw the following birds: swamp sparrow, golden crown kinglet, myrtle warbler, white breasted nuthatch, downy woodpecker, tufted titmouse, ruby crowned kinglet and a phoebe. Despite the dead animals which we endured on the trail, I would say we had a very eventful day.

Banding the Little Guys

At the banding station we recorded each bird's identification: band number species, sex (how you know), age/year, body fat, Flight feather fat, flight feather wear, weight etc. There were about band sizes he had and we recorded the birds data according to its size.

It was most interesting to me how you could retrieve this information and what it meant. For example the bird specialist showed us how to blow on the belly through a straw and see how much of the fat their was. Birds naturally have a hollow on their stomach and if the hollow is filled with fat, it is a key give away that the bird is probably on a migratory root. Another trick he showed us was wetting a finger and robbing the crown of the bird to determine its age. He also uses, as Doc calls it 'The Bird Bible" by Peter Pyle which helped to see the different stages of the crown. As the bird develops it covers more of its head with feathers.

Eight different species flew into the black thin net. The smallest of which was a Eastern Pheobe with a mass of 5.2g.

It was a great opportunity to be able to see and i definitely gained knowledge that i wouldn't be able to on a normal birding day. However I prefer watching the birds from a distance through binoculars and identifying them through their field marks.

Due to over sleeping and not waking up in time, I was sad to miss the amazing trip to the station. Having been birding in Montauk last weekend, I sort of knew what birds I would be likely to see as I went out to bird watch. Besides the usual array of American Robins and Black- Capped Chickadees I was finally able to recognize a group of Common Grackle with their amazing iridescent coloring as they meandered around and finally flew in the direction of Montauk town. From the porch of my house you can see Fort Pond, the bay and then the ocean all in sequence. Using my binoculars I believe I saw a Great Egret which is identifiable by it's long yellow bill and black legs. I'm not sure how usual it is to see them near Fort Pond. There were two blue jays squawking at each other from either side of my yard, I could only see one of them but could clearly hear the other one. I may be crazy but I'm positive I saw a lark sparrow! I didn't believe it at first but then I checked it in the book and my birding notes from last weekend when we saw the other one and the field marks matched up perfectly; Cheek patch and dark spot in the middle of the breast, also with the Malar stripe. I saw some type of falcon as well but I didn't have time to identify it.

Band Birding

On yet another fine sunday morning I rose from my bed to greet a bird oriented morning. Even before we had the honor of caressing and being nibbled on by birds, the excitement was high. The first gripping moment of the day was the Good DoctA's sighting of a yellow warbler in the Ross Highschool parking lot. This was a rare bird because longisland is at the far extremity of its range and because the bird does not usually migrate here in the fall. after the lulling drive/ferryboating we arrived at Dam pond and were immediately greeted by birdsong and lush fauna. We walked down a short path and made the acquaintance of one of the Good Docta's acquaintances, a well known field guide illustrator and enthusiastic bird enthusiast. We continued on our way and came upon the man of the day, residing behind his shifty desk, bird in hand.

We captured a total of eight birds during our time at the banding station, ranging from a golden crowned kinglet to a downy woodpecker. The most incredible thing about viewing the birds up close was their minuscule size and exceptionally small weight, the heaviest bird captured being a smidgen under 30 grams. The thing i most enjoyed was holding the birds, even though i only did briefly. it was sweeet feeling there soft feathers, whilst marveling at their durability.

ALL in ALL it was an interesting day, BUT as already aptly put by the Loon i prefer to watch birds passively rather than with a silken net.

And on a trip I did go

So today was interesting. I went on my first Ornithology class field trip, which was conveniently located on the North Fork, and was most likely a once in a life time trip, for we were banding birds. After waiting at the ferry port for about 20 minutes (evidently because of something Gaby did), Dr.MG (and the cool kids in the class who went in this trip) rolled off the ferry in his highlander, picked me up off the side of the road, and off we went. After arriving at the park, it was only a hop, skip, 5 minute walked that was really 10 minutes, the smelling of a dead animal, the meeting up with the worlds best bird artist, and we were at the banding station... Onto the main attraction. Now, birds (the feathery little things that flutter about in the sky and poop on your car) are wild animals and quite frankly don't like humans, and so in order to capture them, you need to set up nets. There were two set up, both very simple in design. Two metal poles sunk into the ground with 5 black plastic strings running across, and an extremely fine mesh net held up by said frame work of strings and poles. At the bottom of each layer of netting, there is a little pouch formed, and in theory, the birds should hit the net, fall down into pouch, and get tangled up so it can be collected and banded. Analogy- The birds are like bugs getting caught in a spiders web... except the birds are usually fine in the end. All the birds we collected were tinny and really cute looking. The first two collected were a Swamp Sparrow and a Golden Crown Kinglet. The man who was teaching us knew all the birds by heart and kept asking me what they were, but because I am who I am and idk all my birds, I felt as dumb as a box of rocks. I soon redeemed myself my successfully retrieving a tufted titmouse from the net (Dr.MG failed at retrieving his bird... just saying). I also got to record the second batch of birds...a White breasted Nuthatch, Downy woodpecker, and a Cat bird. The third and last batch of birds consisted of my Tufted Titmous, a Phoebe, and a Bird so cute April wanted to ingest it so its cuteness would be inside her... the Ruby Crowned Kinglet. Said Kinglet was by far my favorite bird of the day, due to its small size and colorful plumage. It did not have a red patch on its head though, which after googling, I am quite sad I did not see, but now I have something to look out for on our next birding trip. Interesting things I learned this trip. Birds keep fat in a hollow in their upper chest. A bird can loose all its weight in one flight that can last 24 hours or more.

BANDING THOSE BAD BOYS

As far as my first group birding experience goes, this was definitely an interesting time...

We all trekked our ways over(ferries and all) to the north fork, the place I reluctantly call my other home, and arrived at Dam Pond in Orient. We parked and walked down some nature trails into multiple little paths, one of which consisted a large, but fine net. In the net, we inexperienced birders already saw two birds caught in it before we got there.

Shocked and confused, we walked up a slightly different path, where a desk, a box filled with various and strange tools, a few chairs and a man awaited us. Binoculars around our neck, and cameras in hand, we looked the part, but were soon put in our place by our severe lack of knowledge on banding birds.

I was up first for recording because I was labeled as having "nice handwriting". Later, we found I simply had innate talent when it came to recording banded birds, which worked in my favor and I went twice. Between the pressure to go first and the constant brusque remarks of our teacher, I was very stressed and wanted to get everything right. However, I was later comforted after the other recorders had ugly handwriting or messed up [Gaby we all still love you, including the birds :)]. Eventually, I had to blow on one of the birds to find out if it had fat, and didn't blow hard enough, so the teacher got frustrated. Then... I went to open the tag for the bird on the little pliers he had, and he told me to "figure it out". I was very frightened.

Later, I held the bird we classified as the "white breasted nuthatch", and it was squawking and screaming, and I was scared, not going to lie. I let it go like all the others and it could not get away fast enough. After we had identified 8 other birds, coming in with a total of 9 branded by us alone, we were able to recognize the swamp sparrow because of its rusty colored wings. We saw a Golden Crown Kinglet, which is self explanatory. Next, we got a Myrtle Warbler, the White Breasted Nuthatch, a Downy Woodpecker with beautiful white spots and a harsh beak, a gray Catbird, a Tufted Titmouse [:)], an adorable, tiny Ruby Crowned Kinglet (which I kept saying I just wanted to eat it because it was so cute), and finally a Phoebe.

I would say this was definitely and interesting and successful first group birding trip, and I can not wait for the next one :)

Montauk Birding. Lark Sparrow!

Yesterday we went birding in Montauk. Our first stop was Deep Hollow Ranch. Here we saw multiple Common Grackle who looked like they'd had oil spilled all over their feathers because of how iridescent their coloring was. Also mingling with the Grackle were Cow Birds; the females being grayish brown while the males had a black body and brown head. But, the greatest bird we saw at the Ranch was definitely a Peregrine Falcon! This being my first birding trip with everyone it was really exciting to see a Lark Sparrow. It was definitely one of the most exciting birds we saw out at "The End." The Lark Sparrow has a cheek patch and dark spot in the middle of its breast, it also has a mustache stripe a.k.a malar stripe. This sparrow was an adult and through the scope we could see every detail of this adorable bird. It was tough to spot sometimes as it moved around the grass but luckily everyone was able to look at it multiple times before we moved on. This amazing sighting was at the County Park and also at here we saw a Red-Wing Blackbird and a young female juvenile Red-Wing Blackbird. Thanks to the wonderful Julia Lewis who noticed a Merlin Falcon flying directly over us and because of her we were all able to get a good look at it before it flew over the tree line. Right after that we saw a Belted Kingfisher. Identifiable by its "finger tip" wings and being all black we almost immediately identified a Turkey Vulture circling around overhead. Overall I would say it was a great first birding trip!

Birding at the beach

On Saturday and Sunday I went to the beach in Southampton. The first day, on the way to the beach, I saw a brown bird on the telephone pole that I watched for a while. By observing its round head, and sleek body with frayed feathers and light brown spots on a light brown body, I came to the conclusion that it was an immature black-crowned night-heron.

When I finally got to the beach, I walked through the dunes and took little paths to be sneaky and creep up on the birds. I heard many, but only saw two Herring gulls on the beach flying. I believe they were in their second winters because they were slightly brown but still gray, and I could clearly see the black tip of their beaks.

I was excited with my findings and observations. FIRST GROUP BIRDING EXPERIENCE THIS WEEK! GET AMPED! :)

although i did not have the fortune of a bird centered morning i did come across some birds on my daily route. i first saw a phalanx of blue jays wheeling and dealing in front of my house, fattening up on our premium birdseed while its still available. the next sighting occurred on my way to peters pond beach. while en route i caught a glimpse of a small flotilla of Robins, with their distinguishable rust red undersides and inquisitive little grey heads. the final sighting of the day was of a lone gull, ring billed gull to be precise, slinking along the shore. i was surprised at not noticing more birds throughout my day, but then again there is a difference between seeing and noticing.

Birding at "THE END"

LARK SPARROW! we not only spotted the lark sparrow, but each student had the chance to study its field marks and observe its behavior. Perversely we got to see the lark sparrow, which is irregularly seen east of mississippi, before studying the the song sparrow, an abundant species on long island. Its head is most distinctive by its rusty cheek patch, black stripe on the side of the throat and small dark patch on the breast. It had an amazing camouflage against the tall grass. Their call note is a sharp tsip, often repeated as a rapid series (NGS).

American Robin--It was slightly embarrassing when we were ask to identify a juvenile robin and failed to do so. After seeing over 40 american robins with their solid red/brown bellies and grey wings it was quite misleading to see the juvenile with its underparts tinged with cinnamon and heavily spotted with brown.

Peregrine falcon--The first Peregrine was a juvenile spotted by sam and it had a striped underbelly. The second peregrine falcon only I saw, so its slightly unreliable, by i was able to identify it by its long tail, pointed wing and gliding flight by Third House.

Turkey Voltures--3 (Seen in flight, wings are held in a shallow V, seldom flapping their wings)

Belted Kingfisher--1 (in flight, noticeable by its rusty belly and flanks with a blue puffy crown)

European Starling--1 (mentioned in white room by cream)

Cowbirds--100 + (brown head, dark body)

This post smells "fowl"

Although I was unable to go birding this morning I had two successful bird sightings over this weekend. I had the pleasure of watching an Osprey fly across the marsh on Sunday morning. Later in the evening I saw a flock of turkeys hanging out in a neighbors lawn. I later learned that these types of turkeys are known as Eastern wild turkeys, Melagris gallopavo sylvestris.

Photos of the Montauk Wheatear

In case anyone had not seen it (or did and wants a souvenir) here's the Northern Wheatear found by Karen and Barb Rubinstein at TRCP in Montauk a couple of weeks ago.

Judging from the size and rich rosy tones , this is almost certainly a 'Greenland' Northern Wheatear, which nests in southern Greenland and northeastern Canada. They migrate back to Europe in the fall (via Iceland) where they join up with other populations and travel south across the Sahara desert to winter in open grassland and rocky areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. So this is a bird that is very much out of place in Montauk.

Where is it now? Florida? The Caribbean? Will it successfully winter in the tropics somewhere and return north in the spring? All great questions that we do not have answers to yet. Perhaps one day we will be able to mark these birds and follow their movements better.

One thing rare birds teach us is that the world of nature is interconnected. Here's a bird that only a few weeks before was with musk ox and arctic foxes in the arctic tundra and it's parents at least may have known lions, gazelles and other animals of the savannah.

Montauk trip

What a fantastic day for birding! Our trusty group of ornithologists headed out into the wild expanses of Montauk and were justly rewarded for the effort. Our first stop was along Deep Hollow ranch, where we learned to differentiate between brown-headed cowbirds (smaller, brown head, and a conical bill) and common grackles (long tail, iridescent purple sheen). Also spotted were a pair solitary sandpipers pecking in the mud, with yellow-green legs, a white chest, speckled wings, and white eyerings, a juvenile robin, and a long-tailed, pointed-wing Peregrine falcon spotted by Mr. Sam Kramer. The Peregrine was a juvenile, with a striped underbelly. The next exciting spot of the day was the uncommon lark sparrow, recognizable with its rusty cheek patch, stripe on the side of its throat, and dark patch on its breast, sighted over by Third House. PRETTY AWESOME. Our second bird of prey sighting was the smaller, darker badass merlin falcon, espied by yours truly. Three black turkey vultures, with their fingertip wings, hung around for a while as well, and I got to see the red-winged blackbird I'd been hoping for (in addition to either a female or young male of the species, which was neither black nor red-winged. A mystery to me.). All in all, a successful day for the Ross birdwatchers.

October 2nd, Bird watching

Todays bird watching adventure was full of amazing sightings. It started off at Deep Hollow Ranch where we were able to catch sight of some very interesting birds. There were a lot of Grackles due to the cow feeding station. After observing these specimens for a little while we moved on down the dirt road into a little clearing where we were able to spot a Peregrine Falcon flying by! after standing there for a while, we headed back to the car to go to another spot, but as we were pulling out of the ranch we noticed some Sand Pipers in a puddle. Next stop was Teddy Roosevelt County Park. Here we saw a Lark Sparrow which took the bird of the day award. We also saw a Merlin Falcon, A Belted King-Fisher, and three Turkey Vultures. all in all today was a very good day in the world of us weirdo bird watchers.