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...