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…