Earlier in the week, Sally came upon an American Bittern right at the end of our path to the river. All I had was my iPhone and the photos, in poor light, were not good. Yesterday, we saw it again, without phone or camera. Today, at the end of a long bird walk, I snuck down the path and Voila!
Our friend will be on his way southward soon but what a great backyard treat.
I’ve taken a break from serious birding for a few weeks but it’s hard not to notice that migration has started and transitions are underway. Lots of juveniles flying and feeding, some pretty ratty looking molting going on, and flocks are starting to gather and move through. It’s a bittersweet time of year as we never say goodbye — suddenly our summer friends are gone.
A week or two ago, I spent some time in Massachusetts and did a little birding with Penny. There were large flocks of Eastern Bluebirds, most looking a little ragged, who are likely gone by now. There were dozens of flycatchers out and about, silent as church mice, except for a number of very vocal Eastern Wood Pewees. Here’s one singing away.
On the same walk, I came across a number of Chipping Sparrows. It wasn’t until I unloaded the camera that I saw the meal this one had just caught.
Back home in Vermont, I took the boat out early one morning last week and found these Common Mergansers preening on the boat ramp. I launched quietly down the beach and left them to their morning ablutions.
I keep the hummingbird feeder stoked and clean and love watching the youngsters fight with each other as the jockey for food. Any day they will be gone, perhaps today. I grabbed a shot of one perched yesterday morning and noted that they were pretty active all day. Long flight ahead.
Our local Red-shouldered Hawks are active. Two juveniles have been calling and flying overhead the last couple of days. This one was right above me as I drove home from errands downtown.
We get a lot of morning ground fog this time of year. Tuesday morning I took a drive down to our reservoir but from the dam could not see much. I got out of the car (without the camera) to walk the dog and immediately heard some geese in the fog. Suddenly, twenty-five Canada Geese came right out of the fog toward me, saw us and swerved, with lots of geese trash talk, and headed south at low level. It was a cool way to start the morning.
Cedar Waxwings seem to be everywhere, feeding like crazy, moving through in small groups. They are often pretty high in our pines but this one was feeding in the wild grapes as the dog and I took our afternoon walk out back. The end of the day was neat as well.
If you follow this blog, you know that we planned an extensive trip to the Southwest and California this winter with our Airstream. We have completely cancelled the trip. Mary has just been preliminarily diagnosed with lymphoma and we are readying ourselves for the final results and the road ahead to recovery. We’ll learn more this week and I’ll likely post something to follow this. I suspect that there won’t be a lot of birding posts or photos here for a while – we have a challenge ahead.
It is comforting to see the local birds at the feeder — the Black-capped Chickadees give us great delight as do the many woodpeckers and nuthatches — even the ravenous Blue Jays that come to our back deck. We’ll soon have juncos, pine siskins, and some of the other winter birds.
Here are a few shots I took this afternoon of our chickadee friends.
We can see the lights of Mexico across the lake from our Airstream windows – and it’s quite lovely at times. Not so lovely is that their telecom companies can overwhelm our AT&T 4G signal and make communicating a challenge. (To put it in non-barnyard language.)
There’s no decent wifi within 15 miles or so – and we rely on 4g for our iPhones and iPads and do ok, as long as we watch the data usage. I’m writing this on my iPhone with only a couple of bars and “AT&T LTE” showing. However, at any time, since we are about a mile from the border, my signal may go to TELCOM, the powerful Mexican system.
I’ve turned off “roaming” on all our devices to avoid international charges so when this rogue system takes over, my connection just dies.
My iPad is hijacked by a system called MOVISTAR so that’s been useless here at the campground.
Now we have been here before and know the drill but it’s still frustrating. We called the kids yesterday afternoon after driving five miles or so to get a decent signal. (Of course, that’s the distance I have to drive on Vermont to get coverage when our power goes out.) we have learned some tricks to get our electronic fixes. Libraries are great, coffee shops ( if there was one within 50 miles) and many fast food places are wired. I’ve found that some box stores have great wifi.
So, if you see this guy in Walmart or H.E.B. carrying his iPad, glancing at it surreptitiously from time to time, it’s only me using the wifi to download *Sports Illustrated* or *The New Yorker*, or TurboTax updates. As our son Rich quipped, “Download not quite done yet, time to cruise the baby food aisle again.”
I’d better finish this before TELCEL gets greedy. I’m down to one bar.
This year has been one of the best for attracting hummingbirds to our feeder — we had several families nest in the area. Many feisty juveniles have delighted us with their antics over the last few weeks. They have been hitting the sugar water and more than once, I have thought: “Tank up, you’ve got a long haul ahead.”
This past weekend, we took the Airstream over to New York state to visit some dear friends and returning Monday afternoon, I immediately noticed that the hummers seemed to have left. A couple of days later, it’s definite. They are on their way.
We saw trees turning color in the higher elevations and noticed the Canada Geese moving in New York state. Here, the goldenrod is everywhere and the bees are loving it. Soon the asters will blossom and more birds will depart. The Common Yellowthroats are still here as are the Song Sparrows but they have their bags packed to go.
Sitting on the back lawn with a blue sky above and northwest winds blowing the pines, I’m thinking of those hummers, wondering how far they have gone so far, and wishing them a safe passage on their long perilous journey.
See you in Florida or here in the spring. Buen Viaje amigos.
A heaping helping of Evening Grosbeaks from the FeederWatch Cam in Ontario.
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Common Redpoll photo by Missy Mandel
The next season for the Project FeederWatch Citizen Science program begins in just one week! Share your observations about the birds coming to your feeders between November and April, and help reveal important patterns in bird numbers and distribution over time. The FeederWatch website has a fresh look for the program’s 27th season as a North America-wide initiative, and offers new web tools to make participation and exploration even easier and more fun.
Check out the interactive Common Feeder Birds online tool to explore food and feeder preferences for nearly 100 species of common feeder birds! This exciting new resource is cross-referenced and searchable by region, bird species, food type, and feeder type.
We also recommend a visit to the Ontario FeederWatch Cam to enjoy a live view of activity at the feeders of Bird Studies Canada members Tammie and Ben Haché in Manitouwadge, ON. If you aren’t lucky enough to have Evening Grosbeaks in your neighbourhood this weekend, try catching a glimpse of them online at the Hachés’ feeders!
We have had a pair of Winter Wrens in our woods all the Fall and while they don’t sing the way they do in the spring, they chip away at the dog and me on nearly every walk. I know just where they hang out — in a brushy area with some old apple trees — and I can hear one of them before we approach. Because they are low to the ground, the dog too often gets interested.
So, I have been on a quest to get a photo or two of these cute little balls of energy. Sometimes I don’t have my camera, other times it is too dark, but too frequently, the guys just move too fast in the brush, popping up for clear looks once in a while. I got lucky the other day.
Here’s how we normally see our Winter Wrens, visible but surrounded by brush and branches.
But this guy just popped up for a “What are you doing?” pose. 1/250 f/6.5 215 mm
I just love these birds — feisty, inquisitive, and a beautiful singer. Glad we have a good habitat for them — and I look forward to their springtime calls that seem to go on forever. Have a good winter, buddy.
One of the wonderful harbingers of spring is the fluid call of the Hermit Thrush. Always starting on a different key, the song is unmistakeable and just a delight. But this time of year, while the birds are still around, all you get is a chip once in a while.
This morning, while doing some birding prior to appointments, I visited a favorite spot up by nearby Berlin Pond and along with some warblers and vireos, found this guy (or gal) hanging out in the lower branches of some trees along the road. Not a great shot but it’s hard to get HETH’s in the open.
Hermit Thrush – Berlin IBA – Oct 3, 2013
So, it got me thinking about this state bird of ours. I did a little checking and found out that it was a contentious choice. Here’s how one web site described it:
As in so many states, the Vermont Federated Women’s Clubs played a part in the adoption of the Vermont state bird. They adopted, in 1927, the hermit thrush (Hylocichla gutta pallasi) as their state bird.
It was not so easy for the hermit thrush to gain status as the official state bird of Vermont. According to the Vermont Legislative Directory and State Manual, Biennial Session, 1993-1994:
“Among other things, it was not considered a true Vermonter because, unlike the blue jay or crow (which were favored by some legislators), the Hermit Thrush leaves Vermont during the winter in its southward migration. The record is not clear, but this bird was selected to represent Vermont, among other things, because it has a distinctive sweet call, and because it is found in all of Vermont’s 14 counties.”
The hermit thrush was adopted as the official state bird of Vermont by an act of the Legislature in 1941, effective June 1, 1941.
State bird or not, it’s one of my favorites. We have dozens of them on our property and they are part of our spring/summer early morning dog walks. We don’t consider them flatlanders.
We are inundated with American Goldfinches. What a neat problem to have. These brilliant bursts of yellow and black sing from the treetops, bounce through the air with their unique flight, and mob the thistle seed feeder. They also sit still for photographs.
They seem to know they are photogenic – pausing and giving you different looks.
Some of our Blue Jays and Purple Finches are still looking pretty ratty from the molt but the Goldfinches seem to be about done — and are strutting their new outfits.
We know they’ll be heading out soon but in this wonderful stretch of ripe blackberries, blossoming golden-rod, and beautiful blue skies, they add a wonderful pizzaz to a late summer day. Tank up kids, long trip ahead.
