Bird Watching - November 6th

Today was an unexpected birding day for me. I woke up not expecting to go but ended up meeting the gang at Hook Pond. I could not find the group at first, so I sat in the car for a minute and saw a huge adult Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias). The plumage coloring was one of the give aways along with the long black plume coming off of the back of the head, The long yellowish bill, and piercing gaze from its white eyes. After a couple of minutes, I decided to move on down a road and found the group. The minute I got there, the group had spotted a Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon). The shaggy plume on the top of its head and blue plumage was very noticeable. After Hook Pond, we moved on to a beach which I do not know the name of. Here we saw Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla) which was not only given away by Doc's constant fake laughter, but also by its plumage. Soon after, we spotted some Royal Terns (Sterna maxima) which was noticeable in the crowd of Gulls because of its bright red bill and black plumage on its head. After spending a little bit of time at the beach, we moved on to the field next Wosnofski's potato farm. Here we saw the bird of the day, three Wilsons Snipes (Gallinago gallinago) which we were not expecting here. The long bill and multiple shades of brown stripes were hard to spot among the grass and browning pine needles. The eyes and light stripes on its face were what helped us spot it. After this amazing find, we moved on to a golf course in Bridgehampton where we saw a Green-winged Teal (Anas crecca) which was noticed due to its bright green patch on its rust colored head. We also saw Ruddy Ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis) which were identified quite by its thickly striped head.

so much death

For the third time in about a month a Hermit Thrush has crashed into the window and died instantly. This time I got to see it happen..... immediate death.

Seems like the poorly sighted individuals are being eliminated from the Thrush family; natural selection right in front of my eyes. Hopefully in a thousand years Thrushes will have stronger vision.

Halloween Birding

On this lovely four day weekend, I went out three of the four days to go birding.

I saw a lot of the same things, but there were a few that stood out.

While in Southampton, I went to the beach and saw a huge swarm of Herring gulls and Ring Billed gulls.

I later took a walk through town, and journeyed to the duck pond. On my way to the pond, I saw 5 very fat Greater White- Fronted Geese, mixed in with a family of Canada Geese. They were waddling across the street, looking exceedingly out of place surrounded by Mallard ducks (identifiable with bright green heads and yellow beaks), and what I believe to be Mottled ducks, which I had to figure out based off of the dark brown bodies, multi-colored feathers (blue peeping through), yellow beaks, and orange legs. It also had a darker brown eye line, which could have been confused with another duck.
When at the pond, more excitingly, I spotted a Great Blue Heron, calmly picking at the reeds with its long, slender neck and dark legs.

Overhead, I saw many, various birds, all flying in their traditional, usually migratory "V" shape. Almost every specie I saw this weekend, I saw flying together in a larger group later on.

The birds that flew overhead consisted of:
-Great Cormorants (large and very black with a white flank patch)
-Sea Sparrows (olivey-gray body with a yellow spot in front of their eyes, white throat, and no wingbars). I saw these up close, but a huge cluster flew out of nowhere from a little bush nearby.
- Song Sparrows
- And these black birds which I strongly believe were small herons, all flying slowly and gracefully in a "V" shape, but I am still unable to identify them.

Even though there was no group trip this weekend, I certainly got my fill of birds. Not only that, but I was forced to not only dig through my bird guide for a long period of time, but also to look up certain traits and characteristics to attempt and identify the black bandit.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend, and that the birds didn't eat too much candy... er... trash.

November 1st Bird Watching

Today My birdwatching adventure started at Quail Hill where I did not see much. There was a large bird flying further down the path that I was not able to identify. There was not much action so I decided to move on. I walked further down the path through the tree farm on the south side of town lane and noticed a Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) flying by. I was able to find it in my binoculars with ease and took note of the Diamond shaped tail with white tips and black subterminal bands. I continued walking and went up onto the train tracks. Even though the scattered piles of deer bones fascinated me, I was able to spot some birds. Three or Four Blue Jays (Cyanocitta cristata) which were easily spotted even without my binoculars due to their bright plumage. I also spotted a Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)and Carolina Chickadees (Poecile carolinenis) which I was able to identify by its black and white head, short conical beak, and grey edged feathers. I continued walking off of the train tracks and through the potato fields where I saw a Belted Kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon) sitting on an electrical Pylon. The shaggy crest, long bill, and dark breastband were the main factors in its identification. I pressed onward to Amagansett school where I sat in the frigid winter evening. Although I was not able to feel my feet, I was able to catch sight of a House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), which was somewhat hard to find among the bushes due to its striped multiple shades of brown plumage. The grey and brown underbelly was more noticeable when it finally turned around. I was panning across the field through my binoculars and spotted an American Robin (pale)(Turdus migratorious). The orange breast was easily spotted amongst the green grass. I think I might have seen an American Goldfinch fly overhead, but I am not sure. The field marks that I was able to see seemed extremely similar, but I was not able to get a great look at it.

Birding around Springs

On my solo birding adventure I had decided I would start by walking around maidstone to see what birds I would see today, I saw the typical birds; American Robins, American Crows, Tufted Tit Mice, various different Sparrows, Cardinals (both male and female), and a few Blue Jays. As well I so what I thought was just another American Crow but on further examination, I noticed it had a different color eye then the crow. I did what any birder would have done during this situation and flipped through my "Peterson Field Guide" to figure out type of bird it was. I was leaning towards it being some type of Grackle but I was unfamiliar with the common names so I flipped to page 392 and BAM there it was, the Common Grackle. I educated myself on the differences between the two birds before continuing my birding expedition. I had another exciting moment when I thought that I saw a Lark Sparrow, I quickly looked at the map in my field guide to find out that Lark Sparrows don't occur in this region of the United States, disappointed I looked back to find the little sparrow, but it had flown away. In hindsight I figure that it was in fact a Swamp Sparrow. Coming away from this birding experience today I feel successful, I saw a few new birds including the Red-Winged BlackBird, which I have not seen this fall / winter. As well I noted a few Cowbirds, Black-Capped Chickadees (or a Carolina Chickadee, I had a hard time figuring out the differences).

First...

On a brightly chilled October 31st, I went birding. First I investigated the areas closest to home, namely my very own feeder. Equipped with my Peterson's Guide, and my inherent skill, I identified the usual. Three Northern Cardinals, four Blue Jays, several Tufted Tit-mice, a gazillion House sparrows, intermingled with Song and Vespa, as well as a lone Downy Woodpecker. These are the normal birds of my house they have taken up a more sedentary lifestyle, arranged around the single bird buffet in my front yard. The next stop was the telephone wires, where i had the delight of putting a face, this face to be precise,

http://www.thedauphins.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/EasternScreech-Owl-8.jpg.w300h249.jpg

with the call that I had been attempting to imitate. Yes my friends! an Eastern Screech Owl! As well as Owly I saw a number of distant birds in flight, and, along with the neverending flood of Sparrows, which is to be expected, I saw a Red-Winged Blackbird, identified by its colored wings. I wrapped up my birding extravaganza, by closely studying the remaining chicken in my refrigerator.

The End.

There's no such thing as baygulls

The jitney ride home this morning jumpstarted my birdwatching day. Nearing Manorville I was able to spot a speedy little Peregrine falcon--spotting on the belly + dark malar stripe-- zip around a couple of trees before dropping below the horizon. Then, passing through the Napeague stretch and almost into Montauk Town a gorgeous Great Egret was flying in the direction of Montauk Elementary School (right by my house.) After getting home I walked down to the bay to do some late afternoon bird watching. Today it seemed that all I could spot were gulls so, I decided that this was the afternoon I would start learning my gulls. I already knew the Ring-Billed gull with the black circle around the edge of it's beak and when it's not breeding it has a sort of dark speckled/streaked black area on the top of its head. The following 25 minutes were pretty birdless and so I found myself deciding to turn in when I saw through my binoculars one gull with a black head. Flipping through the field guide I thought it would be a Laughing Gull but couldn't determine that until I saw the top of i's wings. Waiting a little longer it finally took off and it was a Bonaparte's Gull! The difference between the Laughing and the Bonaparte is best recognized in the wings; the Laughing Gull has grey wings that fade to black towards the primaries while the Bonaparte's wings are white toward the tip but the tips are all black and it has a grey back. I remember seeing two a few weeks back when we went birding with the SOFO group so it wasn't a completely new bird for me to see. After seeing the oh so common Herring Gull I decided it was time to call it a day since the sun was starting to set. Today wasn't the best day of birding but definitely a start for getting better at identifying gulls!