Twick or Tweet...

Tweetie and Sylvester, those lovable cartoon characters came to mind as I sifted through photos and prepared to summarize the afternoon excitement on Long Island. Read on and you will understand why. I was trudging up towards the beach front at Breezy Point in Queens when the phone call came in from my friend, Patricia Lindsay. Pat indicated that she along with Shai Mitra, had found a Common Ground-Dove at Captree State Park in Long Island. Does this sound familiar? Well, it was only this past Wednesday that I had fielded a call from Pat on the Franklin's Gull found at the same location and now it was a Common Ground-Dove. If you are a regular reader or read that report you would know that the Franklin's Gull chase was a successful one. Could I repeat it? There was only one way to find out and so I was running back towards the fisherman's parking lot at Breezy Point from the beach. Giving a few fishermen pause as they saw me hustling along with scope, bins and camera in tow...perhaps they even had a suspicious glance or two.

Bird admirer for all the wrong reasons

Nevertheless, I made it to the lot without any interceptions and then made the mad dash out to the Island. Thankfully, traffic was not too bad and before long, I was pulling into the parking lot at Captree noting all the birder paparazzi with their equipment. I hustled over to Pat's scope even thanking her before getting a view of the Common Ground-Dove.   Yep, it was another successful chase. The bird moved around a bit, but always seemed to return to a spot it favored. It's roving probably stemmed from the presence of a lurking Cat who seemed to be giving it the eye and I hope that this bird remain alert to avoid becoming a causality. Many birders showed up and got on the bird and were still arriving as I left this afternoon. If accepted by NYSARC (New York State Avian Records Committee) this will be a 1st state record. Hopefully, it sticks around for others to see it. Here are some photos of the Common Ground-Dove from Captree Long Island.

Tags: Common Ground-Dove, Captree State Park LI, Bird Watching

Pine Siskins in The Backyard...

This evening, I was going to write a summary of all the birds seen in the backyard this week. However, that will have to wait for possibly tomorrow as I just have to share some photos with my readers of what I witnessed this afternoon at my feeders. After hearing and reading reports about the great flights witnessed today at Cape May NJ and at Robert Moses State Park LI, I wondered what birds might venture inland. My plans were to hit the coast this afternoon, but I decided to check on the backyard feeders to see if they needed refilling. When I first got to the feeders I noticed there were not many birds around and as I went to one of the seed bins, I realized the cause, a cat was lurking near the feeders and took off once it got wind of me. As if on cue, the backyard became noisy and I immediately picked up the sounds of first Goldinfches, White-throated Sparrows, Juncos and House Finches. Then, I head Purple Finches and a sound that give me pause, I moved to get a look at the source. Yes! They were Pine Siskins and quite a few. In one view, I quickly counted 9 of them.  I ended up counting 18 Pine Siskins, but felt there were more, a Cooper's Hawk came in briefly and scattered everything and I did not think they all came back...at least when I was present.  Also in attendance were 6 Purple Finches, 4 females and two males.  Here are some photos from this afternoon.

Female Purple Finch on a Elderberry Shrub

Female Purple Finch on a Cherry Tree

Female Purple Finch

Pine Siskin on an Elderberry Shrub

Pine Siskins, American Goldfinch and Purple Finches

If the tube feeders got too crowed some moved to the mesh feeder

There are more Pine Siskins on the other side of this feeder.

There was hardly room at the platform feeders for all of the Pine Siskins.

Tags: Backyard Birds, Pine Siskin, Purple Finch

Franklin's Gull At Captree State Park LI NY...

Against the odds, I managed a successful chase out to Long Island this afternoon to get on an adult Franklin's Gull (state and life bird) at Captree State Park. Besides the birding gods who smiled upon me this afternoon, I was aided by the generosity of birders, Ken and Sue Feustel, Doug Futuyma and Gerta Fritz who stayed with the bird until I arrived. I should also acknowledge, Joan Quinlan, another birder who also stuck around for awhile and checked in with me to monitor my progress in traffic as I battled the dreaded rush hour.

My biggest thanks, goes out to Patricia Lindsay for finding this bird and for getting the word out about the action at Robert Moses and Captree State Park. This bird, an adult was the second Franklin's Gull seen in the area today; the first Franklin's was a first winter bird found by Ken Feustel earlier in the day. That bird to my knowledge was never re-found after it took flight from Robert Moses State Park Field 5. Below are some photos of the Franklin's Gull from Captree State Park.

Tags: Franklin's Gull, Bird Watching

Wordless Wednesday - Cooper's Hawk...

This hunting thing could be a real drag, it looks like they spotted me.

At least he is not flushing the birds. Wonder if he is getting my good side.

Maybe if I don't look at them, they won't notice I am here.

Sigh, that didn't work.  Back to the drawing board on this hunt.

Tags: Backyard Birds, Cooper's Hawk

The 10th Species of Sparrows Seen in My Backyard is...

Field and immature White-Crowned Sparrow in the backyard.

When I decided a couple of years ago to try and create a backyard habitat for birds and butterflies, I had no idea that I would see and record the number of species, both birds and butterflies that I have seen to date. My yard, proudly displays the National Wildlife Federation certification sign for backyards that are certified as Wildlife Habitat and I am thinking of adding signage that displays recent sightings. Yesterday, I added to my growing yard list a, Field Sparrow. This, is a bird that I did not expect to see in my yard at all. Then again, I was shocked at the Swamp Sparrow last year and the Eastern Meadowlark that stopped by albeit briefly and so on...you get the idea. The Field Sparrow, makes it number 10 for birds in the Family: Emberizidae. This bird made number 90 for my yard list; I could have a few more, but because I did not get to photograph or was able to confirm the ID, I have to leave them out and hope for another chance. Enjoy the photos.

Tags: Backyard Birds, Field Sparrow

Today's Photos - Peregrine Falcon

Tags: Peregrine Falcon, Birds

Third Time's The Charm For A Western Kingbird...

On October 8th, I had left a business lunch and on my way home when I picked up an e-mail that a Western Kingbird was seen at Fort Tilden Queens.  At first, I was a little irritated that this information was not disseminated earlier because I was near the area and could have zipped over to see what would have been a state bird. Not one to dwell on negatives, I began to calculate the time I would take to get home and then to get back into traffic (rush hour) to go after the bird.

Musing over my other 2 tries I had made and dipped on already, I decided that I would gamble and go for it even though it was several hours since the bird was seen.  Taking the approach that if it was there I would get it, I got home took the time to switch into birding gear and headed back out to Fort Tilden.

Western Kingbird at Fort Tilden

Within minutes of birding the area, I picked up my state Western Kingbird.  I took the time to observe and photograph the bird.  I continued birding the area and picked up another good bird in a Yellow-Breasted Chat, my 4^th of the year, but first for the county.  Fort Tilden, is one of my favorite places to bird and was the first site I started the year with, it was only fitting that I got my Western Kingbird here.  The bird was not seen the next day, so I was happy that I got out there and picked up quite a good bird.  I hope you are seeing good birds too - enjoy the photos. 

Western Kingbird at Fort Tilden

Tags: Fort Tilden Queens NYC, Western Kingbird