Birding Dude

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Photo Quiz...

Take a crack at counting and then identify the species in today's photo quiz. I'll post the submissions and an enlarged image to discuss the identities next Tuesday. Good luck!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Adirondack Birding - Saving the Best for Last!

Gray Jay eating food from Joe's hand.

The next day we returned to the area where Joe had the Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis). We had walked in a few yards when I turned around and spotted a Gray Jay flying in behind us. I quickly took out some birds seeds and threw it on the ground. In a matter of minutes we had 4-5 Gray Jays coming in. I gave Joe some seeds and a curious Gray Jay came right in and took some from his hand. We were stoked!!! We headed back out to try the other side of the trail for Boreal Chickadees and I put out more food. Eventually, we had at least 10-12 Gray Jays coming in to get the food. Joe and I took turns holding food in our hands and had Jays eating out our hands. It was the coolest thing!!! The Gray Jay was a life bird for me, so I soaked up the views. Joe by then had started to look for Boreal Chickadees (Poecile hudsonicus) and had walked in a little on the other side of the trail when he yelled, “Boreal Chickadee”…I hurried over and got my bins up in time to see 2 Boreal Chickadees flying in to see what the Jays were fussing over. We were estatic!!!! 2 more target birds picked up in matter of minutes, we were on a hot streak! I looked over at Joe and said to him, “seeing as how we are riding this hot streak, how about we try again for better looks at the Bohemian Waxwings” (Bombycilla garrulus). Joe was in agreement so we headed out to try once again for the Bohemians. On our way, we made one stop to try another area for Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus), which we did not get but we did get to see 2 more Boreal Chickadees. We arrived at the area where the Bohemian Waxings were seen on day 1 of our trip and in a matter of minutes, Joe had the birds. I got my scope out and soaked in the birds. I watched them flying in and out over the tree line and suggested that we walk back up the hill to get a better look.

Bohemian Waxwings!

I had a hunch that there were birds perched or moving around nearer the ground around the tree line that offered better looks. The gamble paid off, as soon as I was half way up the hill I picked out Bohemian Waxwings perched on a tree. I quickly waved Joe on and had the birds in the scope for him to view once he got to where I was. In watching the birds, swoop around the bushes, I wondered if we would get lucky with them coming in closer. Again the gods smiled on us as the Bohemian Waxwings began circling and coming in closer to us. I was so excited that I almost forgot that we were on a hill with incoming traffic. I was able to digiscope and photograph the birds and then we safely walked back down the hill and then on our way to Fort Edwards the last stop before heading home. At Fort Edwards, we picked up several target birds, many of them for Joe as I already had these birds for the year. Rough-legged Hawks (Buteo lagopus) and Eastern Bluebirds (Sialia sialis) were easy, but the most difficult of the the 3 the Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus) was not to be seen. We summed up our trip on the way home as a very successful one but wished we had a few more of our friends to share the moments with. Maybe next year?

Tags:

Bohemian Waxwing,

Boreal Chickadee,

Gray Jay,

Adirondacks NY

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Today's Photo - Wilson's Phalarope

Friday, March 4, 2011

Adirondack Birding Day II...

See here for Adirondack Birding Day I
We started out very early the next day in -18 degree temperature. After a lousy cup of coffee, we birded Oregon Plains Road and Bigelow Road in Bloomingdale, NY. The area encompasses a bog and cedar woods with sedge marsh and coniferous woods, great habitat for boreal species. Unfortunately, we did not see much bird movement. Pine Siskins, American Goldfinches and a few Black-capped Chickadees, were the only birds that moved around in the area. After a while we decided to head out to look for Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) and possibly Hoary Redpoll (Acanthis hornemanni). We visited local feeders at a private residence in the area that we had intelligence on and we picked up both target birds! From the local feeders, we decided to try another set of feeders at the Newcomb VIC. We had success in seeing Evening Grosbeaks again along with lots of Common Redpolls (Acanthis flammea) and another Hoary Redpoll – though no Purple Finches (Carpodacus purpureus) or Pine Siskins (Carduelis pinus).

Joe and I took some time to study the Redpolls and twice we picked out a Hoary Repoll at the feeders among the many Common Redpolls that kept pouring in. Rich and Rob who were on their way back to NYC, decided to try for Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) a bird that Joe had at the VIC on a previous trip and so we joined them donning snow shoes to try the trails. Joe was hesitant and did not seem comfortable with the snow shoes, so after about 5 minutes into the trail, I offered to turn back much to his relief. We departed Newcomb biding Rich and Rob good luck in their Grouse search. Joe and I then tried an area that we were told was good for Boreal Chickadees, but the trail was inaccessible and so we abandoned that plan. We headed back to Bigelow Road where we tried again for species like Boreal Chickadees (Poecile hudsonicus), Black-backed Woodpecker (Picoides arcticus) and Gray Jay (Perisoreus canadensis). Joe got a lone Gray Jay that flew in to check him out, but I missed getting satisfactory looks as I had walked on ahead on the trail trying to see if the guy I spotted feeding birds in the trail up ahead had Gray Jays. We called it a day soon after and over dinner made plans for our last day before heading home. Next up Day III - homeward bound.

Tags:

Adirondacks NY

Adirondacks Birding Day I...

Graylag Goose in the Adirondacks NY

Last Tuesday, my friend Joe Guinta and I made a trip up North to the Adirondacks for some northern birding. Our first stop was in the town of Keene in hopes of Bohemian Waxwings (Bombycilla garrulus). As we were driving around, I noticed activity at a residential feeder and picked out Common Redpolls (Acanthis flammea). This led to a pull over and scoping, which got Joe his first of the year Redpolls. The owners came out to inquire about our presence and after we explained that we were just harmless birders out looking for birds, we were invited in for lunch and shown their pet Graylag Goose. We turned down the lunch, but I took some photos of the Goose. It just so happened that a couple of our own local birders, Rob Bate and Richard Fried had made the trip up north as well and pulled up while we were speaking with the home owners. They had seen birders with a scope and wanted to make sure they were not missing out on any birds. We exchanged pleasantries and intelligence.

Bohemian Waxwing flock in the Adirondacks NY

They had seen a flyover flock of Bohemian Waxwings near where we were, so Joe and I took off to scout the area. After about an hour of patiently searching the area, we spotted a flock of birds flying in the distance and picked out that they were Bohemian Waxwings. The views were not satisfactory, so we continued working the area. We drove around and then walked into a field where we found about 9 Bohemian Waxwings perched that took off before we could get the scope on them. This was a good enough look for a check, but we wished for better looks. However, we decided that we needed to move on if we were going to hit other spots before nightfall and so headed on to our next stop which was to try for Black-backed Woodpecker and other boreal species. Along the way we had a flyover Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus) and several Common Ravens (Corvus corax). At one of our sites we heard the sound of Black-backed Woodpeckers (Picoides arcticus), but never got on any of them. By then, it was time to call it a day. We arranged to join Rob and Richard for dinner and over dinner decided to join forces the next day to go after Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus), Hoary Redpoll (Acanthis hornemanni) , Black-backed Woodpecker and a few others species. Next up Day II.

Tags: