The saga continues

Although the trimester has come to a close and the Ross school Ornithology class of 2011 has seized to exist, I have kept an eye on the skies and trees in my travels. Although I see mostly the regular birds around I have managed to see some pretty amazing birds in the past week. My personal favorite that I saw over the break was the Red-bellied Woodpecker. The amazing red plumage on its head was shocking and breath taking.

No montauk for me!

I was not able to tag along on this trip, but I did do some small scale, highly relaxed, ornithological appreciation. On sunday I went to the duck pond near east hampton village, to investigate the many species of ducks unknown to me. At the duck pond I was greeted by a reverberation eclectic quacks, stemming from various rafts of ducks, scattered throughout the small pond. During my pond visit, I was able to identify a medially sized selection of ducks, namely: the Mallard duck, Mottled duck, and the American Black duck. My very own Day of Ducks.

After the disambiguation of the duck pond, and after a luxurious spell of rest, I turned my ornithological eyes to an equally relaxing beach walk from beach lane beach to the mouth of georgica pond. Although my mind was eager for discovery the moment my feet touched the parking lot, the walk had a certain soporific quality that all but sapped my strength. When I finally arrived the the pond I was greatly worn out and rested for a brief spell. When my cognitive functions were returned to me I observed... The Usual.

Laughing Gulls, Greater Black-Backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Royal Terns, Black-Crested Cormorants, Great Blue Egret(s), Sandpipers, and... Well thats about it!

It was nice ;)

West Coast Birding

Birding in San Francisco was a crazy experience that any novice birder would love. This trip to California put me to the test to see if I could correctly identify birds without an experienced birder at my side to help. So, it was just me and my field guide left to discover the birds of the bay area. Saturday was my first day in SF and that evening we ventured over to Twin Peaks to watch the sun set. Twin Peaks are two hills of almost the same heights and are the highest point in San Francisco. On our way up to the top of the hill I heard a few Song Sparrows and when I looked around I saw about fifteen jumping around from shrub to shrub. Also for the first time I saw a White-Crowned Sparrow. These little birds have a white throat, mostly gray stomach, and a black-and-white striped crown. On Sunday afternoon we took the 30 minute drive across the Golden Gate Bridge and headed to Muir Woods. Muir Woods is a national US monument and is full of Redwood trees between 500-800 years old. On our way there I saw three Northern Harriers circling over a mountain. Two were adults but the third one looked like a juvenile. The adults had a chestnut spotting with black wing tips which signified that they were males. The tail was kind of rounded and they have a slim and sleek body. About two minutes after this very exciting sighting, we stopped at a stoplight and just as I looked to my right I saw a slim white bird with a black beak just hanging out in a little river next to the road. Immediately I grabbed my book and already knowing it was some type of egret it took only a glance to figure out that it was a Snowy Egret! The little guy is fairly uncommon at this time of year so it was really great to see it. This egret has a black bill, black legs but bright yellow feet, like little socks. After spotting this great and unexpected bird, I figured that that was definitely the bird of the day. After parking the car and walking towards the entrance of the national park, a gorgeous blue bird flew by about ten feet infront of us. It landed in a tree above us and when I looked up my eyes immediately noticed the black crest on top of its head. I had a hunch that it was some type of jay and because I had brought my guide with me I was able to look it up. This gorgeous bird was a Steller's Jay, Cyanocitta stelleri, and now was definitely tied with the egret for first place.

Monday rendered no bird sightings that were really important. A few pigeons and a Red-Tailed Hawk but nothing I hadn't seen before.This morning on my way to the airport I saw a Red-Breasted Nuthatch. This bird has a black eye line and black cap along with rusty underparts. This was a great bird to end a great weekend in San Francisco!

Saturday Birding

On saturday I indulged myself in a birding adventure of my own through a walk on Maidstone beach and various locations throughout the three mile harbor area. As usual I saw the common gulls, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, and Laughing Gull, I also saw the usual Double-Creasted Cormorants as well. However, a long red bill stuck out from the group, I immediately thought it was an American Oystercatcher, but I figured they don't stay around in New York during the fall / winter season. But I double checked in my field guide to find that the American Oystercatcher is in fact a year round bird. After my excitement of seeing the American Oystercatcher at this time of the season I hit a "dry spell." I kept finding the usual birds and decided to stop by a friends house who lives by Gerard Drive on Springs Fire Place Road. We "explored" the yard of what an acre of farm like property, which had a garden, a couple bird feeders (although it looked like squirrels were using them more then the birds were) and a colloquial stye house. While there I saw a myriad of different Sparrows, all though identifying sparrows is not my strong point I believe I spotted a few Field Sparrows ( due to the white ring and the red / pink tint to the bill), Swamp Sparrow (due to gay breast and brownish red top of the head) and I thought I saw a chipping sparrow but it turns out I was mistaken and it was in fact a American Tree Sparrow. Towards the end of my adventure I managed to see what I thought weretwo Northern Bobwhite quails, but then I remembered that they were Ring-Necked Pheasants, because Pheasants are larger then quails are. (I remembered their names from when we had raised them while i was in middle school, sadly all the quails got eaten by Raccoons and only the pheasants survived).

MTK

Woken up by a text from Ella on Sunday morning, I wasn't planning on coming birding, but I'm SO GLAD I CAME. Besides muffins and coffee, here are my favorite birds from the Montauk trip:
Surf Scoter: This crazy "skunk head" has a black body, with a white patch on its forehead and back of neck. Its beak is red, orange, and white with a big black spot in the middle, and it can only be found down around here in the winter.
Long-tailed Duck: This is the most excited I've ever seen April about anything. This black and white duck has a fantastic, get this, long tail. Insane, I know, but the spiky black tail on this bird is a sight to behold. I apologize to Gaby for doubting her naming skills, and to humanity for the slightly off color jokes Hughbert and P.P. made about the bird's former name, Oldsquaw.
BROWN PELICAN: That's right, a pelican in Montauk. It's basically the only thing I've talked about since birding. A PELICAN IN MONTAUK. IN NOVEMBER. WHAT? I'm glad the rest of the birders shared in my excitement for this find too, or else this would be seriously embarrassing. It was so surprising to peer through the scope on Gosman's deck and see, nestled in with some boring old gulls, the iconic head of a pelican. AND NOT JUST ONE, BUT TWO. Their dark, gray-brown coloring means the blended into the sand and the flock of gulls, but nothing can escape Doc and Peter's sharp eyes.
Greater White-fronted Goose: Okay, so this may sound like nothing after a pelican, but I'm really quite fond of this silly bird. We spotted this medium sized, dull brown goose in a flock of Canada Geese, where it's plumage, orange beak and legs, and white patch on its head made it stick out like a sore thumb.
Not-my-favorite birds: Gulls, Double-crested Cormorants, Common Loon, American Coot, Black-bellied Plovers, like a million Red-tailed Hawks from the car, Brant, and American Wigeon.

Bake Shoppe, Birding, and Boarding Brunch

To start the day off, Doc picked me up from the Walderdorff residence at around 8:50 (slightly late due to the inconsistent ferries). Thomas already waiting, the three of us set out to pick everyone else up. As the car quickly filled up, including some non-birders... we met up with "P.P" at Ross, and picked the other strays up along the way. When we arrived in MTK, we agreed to meet at the MTK Bake Shoppe, where I knew my long lost godparents owned and worked. (By long lost, I mean not lost at all, but simply haven't talked or seen them in a good ten years.) We caught up briefly, received a free Suddyn CD, (the Irish band in which my god brothers started), and left. We started heading towards our first stop, Suddyn playing through the stereo that was not meant to be touched due to Michele's audio tape's marked spot. We arrived, got out, and connected with the other car, which held a fake birder named Sam Kramer. Sam was not the only impostor, for there was Ella Stoloff as well. While I felt like they were imposing, (just kidding), their presence was quite welcomed, seeing as Sam was more prepared and well-informed than most of the class. While at the Lobster Deck, we spotted a Common Loon, identified by the black beak, black head, red eyes, and black and white stripes and spots on its body. We also saw a wide array of Gulls, and an American Coot, which has an all black body, except for a bright white beak and blood-red eyes. Moving on to the next stop, I felt the urge to give the giant lobster a hug, which Thomas took as a photo-op to make an exceedingly weird face ;). Ella was left there to be picked up, missing some of the most enjoyable parts of the trip. Getting out at the dunes, we all walked up to a little spot up high, looked around and spotted "Skunk Heads", AKA Surf Scoters, which are recognizable by their hard-to-miss back body, white skunk stripe on top of their heads, and very distinct beaks, which are a very unusual shape, yellow-tipped, and gradually blend into a bright orange into an almost neon red. They were very cool! Not only did we see these beauty-beaks, but we also saw... and wow did I get excited at this one, none other than the LONG-TAILED DUCK!! It was so cool with its black and pink beak, and multi colored body. However, the most beautiful part was definitely its long and up-curled tail! It was an exciting find! Along the shore, we also spotted a Black Bellied Plover. At the next stop, Gaby and I saw a huge amount of gulls in the parking lot sitting in the rain water, preening, taking baths, and just chilling like the villains that they are. While Doc and P.P got out their scopes, Gaby and I exchanged glances, wondering why we were getting so intense with these boring gulls that were so close by. We realized, (as everyone was walking away on a mission), that they were in fact, going someplace else to look at real things. While we rushed out of the car to catch up, I realized we had not seen the "special visitor bird" that was so frequently talked about at the other stop. We posted at Gourney's dock, binoculars and field guides in hand, searching the water, sky and island opposite us for birds. More gulls, and some Brants across the water, which are Geese that are mostly black with a white stripe on the front of their necks and black feet. There was nothing else too exciting.... UNTIL (dot. dot. dot.)

A BROWN PELICAN WAS SPOTTED. It was lying down on the island across from us, doing such a great job of hiding that Gaby could not even see it. The long beak stood out, while it was sedentary and listless, relaxing from its large meal of fish earlier this morning. Then....... we saw the other one!!! This ones back was towards us, giving us a different view of the bird entirely. JULIA AND I WERE SO EXCITED!

We drove back to the ranch we had previously been to, and along the way, we spotted a Red-Tailed Hawk. When we arrived, we spotted the Greater White Fronted Goose we had seen there previously. After waiting there for a while, we moved on to the final stop of the day...
There we spotted a bloated and drowned deer, but also spotted some Mallards, with a Widgeon swimming about. A Widgeon has an iridescent green patch on its face, a white beak with a black pointed tip, and a cream colored strip on top of its head.

Overall... this trip was really nice and SUPER exciting to see such cool ducks and geese and PELICANS.
We ended on a nice note of brunch with the boarders, and Gaby and I played bird word search in the gym for a while. I beasted...

Noah, Maddy, Anthony, Zeb, and Mamoun.... you were greatly missed. Hope you had great birding experiences as well and I can't wait for our trip on Wednesday together as a group! :)

Flock of starlings AKA Murmuration

CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME VID! quite a cool phenomena!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/02/murmuration-starlets_n_1072687.html