I went out to my creek today and saw into a lot of activity on the opposite side of the water. The lighting was poor and the birds were very distant to really see. The creek was too high to cross on foot, so I drove over to the field on the other side. I did not even have to leave the parking area to see tons of birds moving through the brush on either side of me.
Migrants were all over these trees and brush
Some of the residents would move over to this side to forage
The trees were full of Warblers, Vireos, Flycatchers, Sparrows and Buntings. I managed to get some photos of the birds for documentation and ID purposes. It’s a good thing I did because what I thought was a Magnolia Warbler in the field was actually a Canada Warbler!
Black-and-White Warbler
Canada Warbler
Prairie Warbler
American Redstart
Least Flycatcher (still confirming ID)
This young Indigo Bunting was begging at a [different] Flycatcher
It started to quiet down so I got back into my car to leave. As I was making my way out, I saw a larger bird with a long tail fly into the tree – not a Dove, not a Blue Jay. Perhaps a Cuckoo? I stopped the car again and hopped back out.
Black-billed Cuckoo
I was right! It was a young Black-billed Cuckoo! It was a life bird for me the other week – this time I got killer views of it.
Black-billed Cuckoo
It’s only the beginning of September – I can’t wait to see what else shows up locally!
Bringing binoculars and a long lens into the heart of a small city can raise some questions. “What are you taking photos of?” “Are you looking at birds??” are some questions that I am most always asked when I bird in downtown Binghamton, New York. There really isn’t much to see there aside from Pigeons and Sparrows, right? “There are Falcons here – look – one is perched right on top of that building.” Many people get an “a-ha!” moment when they realize that those Falcons are the reason that there are Pigeon and Sparrow wings scattered around the sidewalks. Some non-birders already know about these Falcons and love the fact that they keep the Pigeon population in tact. The young birds are loud and make their presence known. They train, hunt and eat in plain sight. This year, four birds successfully fledged.
Last week, I went out to find the recently fledged Falcons with a friend. We started on the top of one of the garages to get a higher view than from the streets. Three Falcons were found – two kids and one adult – all distant.
Finding Peregrine Falcons in Downtown Binghamton
It was hot and the birds were not moving around much so we decided to walk around at street-level to find the other birds. It wasn’t long before they started flying around.
Let the playing begin…
Two of the young chased each other around, locking talons a couple of times. In the three years of seeing Falcons here, this was my first time watching them actually play.
Sibling Falcons chasing each other
Sibling Falcons chasing each other
They would rest on top of the preferred perch – the Lady Justice that stood on top of the courthouse.
A preferred perch of the Falcons – Lady Justice above the courthouse
Another Falcon joins its sibling on Lady Justice
They didn’t perch for long though.
Taking a dive off of Lady Justice
Eventually three of the young were chasing each other around (I failed to get a photo of all three in one frame).
Chasing each other past Lady Justice’s base
One day I hope to see them actually catch a pigeon or exchange food. For now, watching them play was enough fun.
I have not been out birding much lately and have been very busy with some big changes in my life – I apologize for slacking with my posting! To make up for it, I will share photos of all of the nesting birds that I found locally this year. Most of the photos are not that great – this is because I observe them from a safe distance and do not want to disturb the nests!!
The only nest I found near my yard, so far, is a Red-bellied Woodpecker cavity. They made it easy to find by constantly calling from the tree. I am still waiting to see the fledglings come to my feeders.
Red-bellied Woodpecker in cavity
I found some nests while out in the field just by seeing birds fly into them.
American Goldfinch on nest
Red-eyed Vireo on nest
Blue Jay on nest
And others were pointed out to me by friends who already knew the location.
Canada Goose on nest
Wood Thrush in nest on my friends property
There is an abandoned building nearby that Cliff Swallows like to nest on every year. Unfortunately, right after we saw them this year the property owners knocked down all of their work.
Cliff Swallows building nest
While out on a trip with my local birding club, we found a female Baltimore Oriole building a nest right above the road. I re-found this nest over the weekend, but did not scout it out to see if it was active.
Baltimore Oriole building her nest
I’ve also found various birds carrying nesting materials – of course, they are very cautious when someone is watching them.
Common Yellowthroat with nesting material
Dark-eyed Junco with nesting material
American Crow with moss
To end this off on a cute note, I will share a non-avian nest – I found this Groundhog den at a local park. The young would crowd around the opening, forage and play.
Today, I took a better look at my yard bird list because I thought I hit the 100th milestone with a singing Wood Thrush. Well, it turns out that I did not hit it today – I hit it last month without realizing it! The Thrush ended up being number 103, making a Barn Swallow that I saw two days ago number 102 and an Eastern Screech-Owl that I heard number 101. Number 100 went to a good one and I wish I knew it at the time – I was outside talking to a friend about yard birds and I mentioned that I have been trying to see Bald Eagles migrate overhead so that I can get it as a yard bird. Ten minutes later, guess who came flying low over the creek while we were standing in my driveway? A Bald Eagle. I did not know it then, but that was yard bird number 100!
I will celebrate this huge milestone with a list of my yard birds and, of course, some photos taken from my yard.
I have some birds who stick around all throughout the year, my true residents and feeder birds
Northern Cardinal
Black-capped Chickadee
American Crow
Mourning Dove
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Blue Jay
Red-breasted Nuthatch
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Sparrow
Song Sparrow
European Starling
Tufted Titmouse
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Carolina Wren
Some birds are here year-round but do not show up often, or show up more in one season than another
Eastern Bluebird
Brown Creeper
Dark-eyed Junco
Ring-necked Pheasant
And Hawks who watch them or are seen flying over the house
Cooper’s Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Some birds stay to breed and I see or hear them throughout the summer, but they migrate south in the winter
Gray Catbird
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Purple Finch
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Baltimore Oriole
Eastern Phoebe
Chipping Sparrow
American Robin
Field Sparrow (heard only, seen in woods)
Veery (heard only, seen in woods)
Red-eyed Vireo
Turkey Vulture (flying)
Common Yellowthroat (heard only)
Cedar Waxwing
House Wren
Others stay to breed but I only see or hear them once in a while
Indigo Bunting
Brown-headed Cowbird
Northern Flicker
Ruffed Grouse (heard only)
Ovenbird (heard only, seen in woods)
American Redstart
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Barn Swallow (flying)
Tree Swallow (flying)
Chimney Swift (flying)
Scarlet Tanager
Eastern Towhee
Yellow Warbler
These birds stay throughout the winter but breed further north
Common Redpoll
Hoary Redpoll
Pine Siskin
American Tree Sparrow
My yard gets a lot of migrating birds who come through in waves
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-headed Vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
Bay-breasted Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler
Black-throated Green Warbler
Blackburnian Warbler
Blackpoll Warbler
Blue-winged Warbler
Cape May Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Tennessee Warbler
Wilson’s Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
And birds who come during migration and stay for a few days or even weeks
Fox Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Also birds who I’ve seen migrating over my house, both high and low
These birds are usually flying to or from the neighborhood creek
Mallard (flying, vocalizing)
Canada Goose (foraging across the street)
Green Heron (perched in a tree!)
Great Blue Heron (flying)
Killdeer (flying, vocalizing)
Belted Kingfisher (flying, vocalizing)
Common Merganser (flying, vocalizing)
I’ve only seen or heard these birds once, but hope they return soon
Bald Eagle (flying)
Northern Mockingbird
Osprey (flying)
Rock Pigeon (flying)
Eastern Screech-Owl (heard only)
Swainson’s Thrush
Brown Thrasher
Wood Thrush (heard only, seen in woods)
American Woodcock (heard only)
It is exciting to think about who will show up next or which birds I will see in my yard that I’ve only heard so far. Fall migration is when I get most of my new surprises but hopefully I do not have to wait that long for the next one.
Birds are on my mind! There is no better way to start the day then taking a walk in the woods or at a park where it is just me, the birds and my camera. Last week was was pretty quiet. All of the fallout birds we had previously have moved on while no new birds were showing up! High winds toward the end of the week made for very slow birding. Things are starting to pick up as I am finding more first-of-year birds.
I hit my first Warbler wave of the year which included Yellow-rumped, Pine and Black-and-white Warblers; along with high numbers of Blue-headed Vireos and Ruby-crowned Kinglets and one lone Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
Black-and-white Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Silhouette
I hear the songs of Ruby-crowned Kinglets everywhere I go. This is a song that I just learned this year and I’ve fallen in love with it – so much that I get their song stuck in my head instead of music…
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
I found my first Eastern Towhees, Thrashers and Hermit Thrushes. The low foragers are making some noise in the leaves. This Hermit Thrush, however, stayed out in the open.
Hermit Thrush
I still have some Fox Sparrows hanging around.
Fox Sparrow
And the Song Sparrows continue to contribute their tunes.
Song Sparrow
This afternoon, I heard a House Wren singing so I went to look for him. He hid only for a moment, then popped back up to sing and look around. I think he found a nice spot to settle into.
House Wren
House Wren
Another interesting recent sighting were three Northern Flickers on one tree. Two of them were doing a small dance to each other. I did catch a little bit of it on video, but it may be too shaky.
Three Northern Flickers
I also had my first Broad-winged Hawk of the year – he flew over my yard! This was yard bird number 96. I am almost at 100!
Broad-winged Hawk
I am hoping that this week brings in more new arrivals. I really love finding birds before work to start my day off right!
It took a while, but spring is finally here — though it still seems to be fighting with winter. I knew that the nice weekend we had in early March was just a folly, but I did not think that it would be this tough! After some nice weather the birds started to move, only to be stopped by more bad weather. Migration is slow, but the birds are slowly trickling in. Earlier this week, I wrote about my birding trips that involved migrating birds and fallout. Today I want to share some of my local year-round residents and new arrivals.
Sparrows
The Song Sparrows are filling the air with the variety of their tunes!
Song Sparrow
Juncos have been hanging around in full force. I get over 20 at a time under my feeders. I am glad they they do not eat from the feeders otherwise they would clean me out! I had multiple incidents where over 30 Juncos would fly from one single area. They are everywhere!
Dark-eyed Juncos
I enjoyed the songs of Fox Sparrows for the first time. They hung around for over two weeks and I had up to six at a time near my creek when they flew right at.
One of many Fox Sparrows who passed through
Finches
I still have some Pine Siskins hanging around at the feeders with the Goldfinches (who, by the way are starting to look very gold!).
Pine Siskin
The lingering Redpolls wish they moved on sooner. I suppose they learned the hard way that staying south did not mean sunshine and warm weather.
Common Redpoll in a rain storm
My newest feeder-bird arrival is the Purple Finch. I started with just one for about a week and yesterday I had three pairs.
Purple Finch
Waterfowl
Every walk at the creek produces at least one Common Merganser. I was able to get pretty close to them at times just by staying still near the edge of the woods.
Male Common Merganser
Female Common Merganser
For the first time, I had Geese across the street from me. I think the creek was too high and rough for them so they wandered a little bit in search for food.
Canada Geese across the street
Woodpeckers
The Pileated Woodpeckers seem to be a bit less shy then usual when they are looking for insects.
Pileated Woodpecker
Since I had no tripod I layed down on the ground across from him and used a stump and my knees to keep the camera steady so that I could shoot this video
I’m pretty sure that I found the nesting cavity for my local Red-bellied Woodpeckers. They are hanging around this tree and especially this cavity an awful lot!
Red-bellied Woodpecker at possible Nest
Other local birds
The air is also full of the loud songs of my Carolina Wrens.
Singing Carolina Wren
Brown Creepers are everywhere.
Brown Creeper
And last week marked the return of my favorite flycatcher, the Phoebe.
Eastern Phoebe
This past weekend I also had a long-awaited yard bird: while standing in my driveway talking to a friend an adult Bald Eagle flew low following along the creek. This happened not ten minutes after my friend and I were talking about having Eagles as yard birds. Talking about being at the right place at the right time!
Who would think that bad weather could equal really great birds? When birds are migrating through and run into poor migrating weather (storm, front), they will drop out of the sky, typically in good numbers, to the most convenient habitat that suits them. This is known as fallout. Serious birders will actually go out in the rain and look for these birds because many times, something rare is sure to show up.
On Wednesday morning it started with an early report of some Long-tailed Ducks and Bonaparte’s Gulls. It was before work, so I went out to find these birds with success. I had 27 Bonaparte’s Gulls and later in the day over 80 were counted in the same location. As the day went on, the reports started coming in quick from birders who were off from work — more Long-tailed Ducks (20+ in one location and 40+ in another), Red-necked Grebes in four different locations, Horned Grebes showing up in high numbers, Four Great Egrets foraging together in a local pond, Caspian Terns in two locations — it was too much to resist not taking a long lunch for these great reports! I went out and quickly found some of the birds with a friend, but did not have time to take photos or get all of the birds.
Four Great Egrets stop to rest for one evening
The next morning, I headed out with another friend to see if we could get the high number of Long-tailed Ducks. They were no longer around, but I did see two Caspian Terns, which I did not get the previous day.
Caspian Terns
We continued to get poor weather so many of the birds stuck around for the weekend. Bufflehead were in high numbers at every location.
Bufflehead Pair at Dorchester Park
Bufflehead at Lisle Park
For the first time, I saw Horned Grebes in every possible plumage — winter, transitional and full on breeding plumage. I was happy to finally get photos of them too!
Horned Grebe
Horned Grebes
Both birds were often together…
Horned Grebe and Bufflehead
The big Grebe news, however, were the Red-necked Grebes. It is rare in our area to see a single one – I had at least NINE in one location with great scope views (not so great camera views…)
Red-necked Grebes with other waterfowl in Whitney Point
Today, we also found a Common Tern actively fishing around a lake. Another great rarity.
Common Tern in Whitney Point
And, of course, our more usual waterfowl were also around.
Pied Billed Grebes and Blue-winged Teal
It was not just about waterfowl. I also believe we had a Kinglet fallout. Ruby- and especially Golden-crowned Kinglets were everywhere. At one point I was surrounded by at least 50 birds dripping from the trees. There was a Kinglet on every branch that I looked at. I failed at getting a decent photo of a Golden-crowned since they are so fast but I did manage to get a Ruby-crowned at one point.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
This weekend also brought my first Warblers of the year! I had Pine Warblers, Palm Warblers (in multiple locations) and Yellow-rumped Warblers.
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Other great highlights included another rarity for our area, a Vesper Sparrow who has been hanging around with some of our more common Sparrows and many first-of-year birds. We also did a Woodcock walk and enjoyed a male in good enough light to follow his aerial display.
Vesper Sparrow (far left) among Savannah Sparrows, a Junco and American Tree Sparrow.
I also had my best looks at singing Rusty Blackbirds – close enough to see how they got their name.
Rusty Blackbird
It was a great birding weekend and I am sad that it is over. I will write about my more local yard and creek birds in another post later in the week. This next week will bring more new migrants… I can’t wait to see who shows up!
Last Summer, we had a very famous Barred Owl family make their home at a nearby park. Local birders enjoyed great views of these very cooperative owls who seemed to be showing off for us! I only have time for a short post tonight, so I will fill this entry with photos of these beautiful birds!
The easiest way to find these birds were when they would call back and forth with a hissing sound. We found the two siblings pretty easily
Young Barred Owl
Young Barred Owl
A parent Owl eventually flew near the bog and gave the photographers a great opportunity.
Barred Owl parent
The next time I went with another friend, we found the young owls after an hour of searching!
The two young Owls
I took some video this day too. This one shows the Owl making its hissing call.
Listening to that is really making me itch for spring with the Red-eyed Vireo, Black-throated Green Warblers and Hermit Thrush singing in the background! This video shows both Owls together, with one getting very curious at the sound of my friend walking.
I returned again with a visiting friend and once again found both siblings.
Barred Owl
Barred Owl siblings
One of them decided to give us a show and stretched it’s wings, giving us great photo ops, even in the dark woods.
Barred Owl stretching
Barred Owl stretching
Barred Owl stretching
I also finally got a quick video of flight… well, a good enough video of one of the Owls flying off camera…
These Owls were such a pleasure to have. I hope they return this year so that I can spend more time with them. This time, I will set aside some days and actually stick around a bit more.
This past weekend was the tease of March – spring-like weather that gives us false hope that spring is near. I suppose it is near for many, but not for me in my area of upstate New York! I will not be seeing spring weather again until late April, aside from a few similar days here and there like I just experienced. I tried to fit birds into a very busy weekend with some success. On Saturday, I watched my friends fly their Red-tailed Hawk, Rusty.
Rusty the Red-tailed Hawk
Zack, Jenn and Rusty
He is a very handsome Hawk, but unfortunately looks won’t get him live food and he was not very into hunting that day. Could be that he wanted to enjoy the great weather too! He was eventually fed from his lure instead.
Rusty eating from his lure
Yes, that is a foot hanging out of his mouth. And he made a big mess when he gulped down a huge piece of the chick.
Rusty the Red-tailed Hawk
On Sunday, I went out to put up some nesting boxes around my yard. I could hear geese overhead, so I looked up.
Goose Migration
The skies were full of migrating geese! Thousands of Canada Geese passed by as well as Snow Geese. It was hard to keep my eyes off the sky! I also saw many Blackbirds and Gulls passing through, quickly riding the winds. There were other individual birds flying by who were going to quick for me to identify. They are also very high up for me in the valley.
Mixed Goose Flock, with Canadas and Snow
My resident Red-tailed Hawks were out gathering nesting material.
Resident Red-tailed Hawk
There were so many geese in the sky that I accidentally got this photo too.
Red-tailed Hawk with Geese in the background
I took a nice walk down my trails to see if I could find anything interesting. Birds were singing high in the trees, but none were low enough to photograph. I did find some other non-living things of interest: the Pileated Woodpeckers have been busy this winter.
Evidence of my resident Pileated Woodpeckers
Someone is digging up the holes that foxes used a couple of summers ago. Chances are that this is from groundhogs, but I can hope that my foxes are returning, can’t I???
Fresh Fox or Groundhog digging
The very last sighting I had on my trails was a good one! I finally found one of the feeders that the bears stole last time they raided my yard. It was still frozen into the ground, so I will recover it when the ground has thawed.
The feeder that bears stole in the Fall
Back at the feeders, I caught one of my Red-breasted Nuthatches holding on in the winds. He’s not very shy, so he stayed put as I went by.
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Not a bad weekend for birds. Spring is on its way!
I took off from work today to go birding locally. The original plans were to go up to Cayuga lake, mostly to see Short-eared Owls in the area in the evening, but the weather made us stay local. We decided that, even with not-so-cooperative weather, we were going to try to get 50 species of birds in Broome County, New York. This is tough to do in here in the winter, however, managed to get 55 species! This is only two less than the number of species that I have seen in my county for the entire year! It brings my grand total to 70. Not bad for someone who does not get to get out much and pretty good for my area.
The biggest highlight was our very first bird. We heard that Red Crossbills were showing up at a feeder so that was our first stop. When we got there, we saw tons of Redpolls and I eventually spotted the Crossbills in a tree. Life Bird!!!
The feeders were close to the house and the owners were nice enough to allow us to park in their driveway when they left. This allowed us to get closer to the feeders.
Red Crossbills at a feeder
Red Crossbill at a feeder
Some of the Crossbills would also forage on the ground, along with the Redpolls.
Red Crossbill foraging on the ground
I did not get the photo of a male that I would have liked, but this female was cooperative!
Female Red Crossbill
Other great birds included a migrating Golden Eagle, multiple Bald Eagles, a Northern Shrike, Horned Larks, Snow Buntings, our first returned Red-winged Blackbirds and Grackles along with numerous waterfowl such as Northern Pintails, Ring-necked Ducks, Great and Lesser Scaup, American Wigeons, a Coot, Green-winged Teal, Gadwall, Pied Billed and Horned Grebes and Bufflehead.
