Category Archives: life bird

O’ Canada

I’ve taken a break from birding for the last three weeks, aside from walks with the dog in our woods, as I work on some Airstream projects. Today, my friends at Grow Compost, a wonderful local business, had a day-long event which included a brief afternoon bird walk. A friend of mine was leading it and the owners hoped I might drop by, and so I did with very low expectations. After all, it is mid-afternoon in July.

A few of us gathered including the leader, Patti, and another Mad Birder friend, Pat Folsom. The six of us, after a repast of lemonade and cookies, trudged out by the fermenting piles of compost, aiming toward a Turkey Vulture perch at the end of the property. We saw and heard the usual suspects — Song Sparrows, Ovenbird, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee and once at the edge of the woods, found a few flycatchers that we finally decided were Eastern Phoebes.

It was fun being out and with some good birders and we ticked off about a dozen species, and then watched a warbler working away, actively feeding. It was pretty plain and of course, silent, so we sort of chalked it up to “unknown female/juvenile warbler.” Pat said, “Sometimes you just have to let them go.” Up ahead, we heard some chipping in a thicket, and stealthily approached, thinking that it might be a Common Yellowthroat. It was pretty aggressive calling and Pat got a glimpse of yellow but that was it. And it stopped.

We waited a while and since the time was over for the walk, had just decided to head back when a bird popped out on a hemlock branch. I spotted it and said, “I see it, it’s yellow, get over on it, Canada Warbler, got it …” I was sure it would disappear but the group got on it right away and sure enough, a male Canada Warbler was scolding us. He hopped around, giving us great looks, and I grabbed this shot of him. (Warblers are tough, they are always moving.)

This guy is life bird 346 for me -- a long time coming.

This guy is life bird 346 for me — a long time coming.

It was a year-bird for all of us and I was pretty sure that it was a life bird for me. (It was) We realized that it likely had a nest nearby, and that we had likely seen the female earlier. We quietly withdrew, with him still chipping away at us, and finished the outing on a real up note. It got us thinking that we should bird this area more extensively since there are miles of trails up high that have great potential.

The takeaway item for me was: you just never know with birding — sometimes it just pays to show up.

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Chouette lapone trouvé!

Three Mad Birders from central Vermont — Ali Wagner, Louanne Nielsen, and Scott Sainsbury — spent last Sunday looking for Great Gray Owls in Quebec.  Here is a guest post by Scott describing their successful outing.

We made our way across the border today — having heard that one or more Great Gray owls had dropped down from the sub-polar region, and was being seen occasionally in a swanky sub-rural part of Montreal, near the Arboretum. These birds only come this far south every few years. So the chance to see one is a special treat. None of the three of us had ever had the pleasure.

We got close to the part of town we were targeting. Then, we took a wrong turn and ended up on a road that was one of the lesser of our “target areas”. We decided we’d drive along it for a ways, just to work our way get back to the prime territory.

No sooner did we comment on how annoying it was that people sometimes ogle at mansions in neighborhoods like this (exactly what some of us were doing) rather than watching for birds, than Louanne said, “What’s that on that fence post by the road? Is it a bird … Is it a big bird … Is it an owl?” To which Ali added, “Oh My God, it’s a Great Gray!”

We abruptly dropped anchor in the middle of said mansion-draped winding little suburban street and stared. The owl was about 100 feet into a field on our right. We watched from the car expecting it to spook and fly away at any moment, and then slowly climbed out, grabbed a scope, cameras, etc. and tiptoed to a better spot (Mercedes birdmobile left in the street with trunk open). We got a few looks at the owl. Then, it flew. We gasped. It landed…. Closer than before! Phew.

The Great Gray just sat on a post about 75 feet away, and kept hunting. It pounced on a mouse and swallowed it whole. photo by lizjones112

The Great Gray just sat on a post about 75 feet away, and kept hunting. It pounced on a mouse and swallowed it whole. photo by lizjones112

Clearly, it couldn’t care less about us. It just sat on a post about 75 feet away, and kept hunting. Then it moved to a post even closer. Louanne proclaimed it owlgasmic! The deep eye circles and bright yellow eyes were astoundingly expressive — with a super-owly “I’m above all that that beholds me” attitude.

It pounced again. Seemed to miss that time. Remounted its pole. Sat for another 10 minutes, and then flew off to the top of a tree a couple hundred yards away. I snapped some shots, and when I got home, sure enough, it had another mouse in its beak as it flew off.

Louanne’s on-line sources said that the Great Gray is North America’s largest owl — stands 3′ tall with a 5 foot wingspan. The birds weigh less than two pounds, but is so formidable that it will drive bears away from its nest. In its homelands, the Great Gray is known as the “Phantom of the North”, and the “Specter Owl”. It was an awesome life bird for three of us!

Birding with Dane

As I noted last month, birding with grandchildren is one of my joys.  I’m appreciating it even more as I read the number of “What sparked your interest in birding?” posts where so often, birders say that they first got interested at age 8, or nine, etc.  In any case, yesterday Dane and I went on a Saturday morning birding expedition which started poorly but ended up great.

We are in Annapolis for a few days and enjoying the diversity of birdlife here.  It’s like seeing old friends that moved away from Vermont a month or two ago. The sparrows and kinglets are here and since most of our lakes are frozen, the loons and ducks are nice to see again.

Dane and I left to visit the Patuxent River Research area.  He had been there with his dad on a great visit this Fall but we wanted to check out the southern section.  So we launched into an early morning stream of traffic on busy Highway 50 (it take a while to get used to the people on the move here after Vermont) and worked our way northwest for 40 minutes.  Fog, mist, and heavy traffic and poor directions on my part brought us to the north tract.  It was closed for hunting.  We drove in looking for someone to ask directions of but nothing doing.  (In retrospect, I found out that I could have worked my way around to the south area, which was open.)

I decided on a fallback plan — nearby Oxbow Lake Refuge — where Tundra Swans had recently been reported.  We wove our way over, navigating through the massive housing development of which the refuge is part (looks like the developer set aside some wetlands as part of the deal).  We found a spot with what appeared to be visitor parking and as soon as we got out of the car, we could hear the geese.  As we poked through the woods and saw the marsh, I could see a few dots of white and getting the scope on them, saw two Tundra Swans hanging out with hundreds of Canada Geese.  These were life birds for both Dane and me.  We saw some hoodies, some Mallards, and decided to head back to another site nearer home.

Greenbury Point is a 231 acre peninsula at the mouth of the Severn River that is one of the best birding spots in the area.  It’s pretty busy on the weekend with runners, dog walkers, and birders.  It was cool to spot a Red-tailed Hawk perched on a tree on the access road — we pulled the car off to the side and got it in the telescope until it got sick of the attention.

This Red-bellied Woodpecker posed and chattered away as it fed on an old tree at Greenbury Point.

We walked a loop that features a lot of low brush and berries bushes and immediately ran into a batch of White-throated Sparrows.  These are great for young birders since they have distinct field marks, are pretty cooperative unlike some of their frenetic cousins, and often are at eye level.  Dane got some great looks at them.

Another cooperative bird was a Red-bellied Woodpecker, who was not only colorful but noisy.  We watched one through the scope for some time and took a few photos.  We ran into several others as we moved on.

There were hundreds of Cedar Waxwings in the high trees.  They were not easy to identify in the mist and lousy light until we got them in the scope.  As we  departed, we saw about a dozen Eastern Bluebirds foraging along the golf course.  They were a vivid ending to a nice outing.

Dane uses eBird so as soon as we got home, he reviewed his notepad and entered the birds that we saw.  He then shared the reports with me.  Another perk of birding with grandchildren.

Pine Grosbeaks – finally

As I have noted before, a Canadian ornithologist, Ron Pittaway, each year issues a  Winter Finch Forecast.  He notes that there is a “widespread tree seed crop failure in the Northeast” this year.  It looks like a good year for winter birds — we’re already seeing a lot of Purple Finches, Dark-eyed Juncos, and hundreds of Pine Siskins.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve seen reports of sightings of gaggles of Bohemian Waxwings and Pine Grosbeaks all over Vermont.  Friends of mine have reported berry trees laden with birds and yet, I’ve yet to come close to one of the visitors.  Until today….

Last night, before a board meeting of the North Branch Nature Center, I was whining to Chip, the ED, about all the reports of Pine Grosbeaks.  He asked, “Have you seen them up at Rumney in the fruit tree?”

A female Pine Grosbeak feeding on fruit at Rumney School, Middlesex, VT.

Rumney School is about a half-mile up the road and so this morning, after an appointment, I drove by the school and noted some birds in the tree in front.  I carefully parked out back and grabbed my camera, aware that school is in session and guys wandering around with binos and cameras may look suspicious.  I got close enough to make out the Pine Grosbeaks and took a few shots and left.  The birds were used to people and just filling their craws with the red berries.

The neat outcome was that when I entered the sighting into eBird, it marked it as a new life bird.  I had not realized that I didn’t have Pine Grosbeaks so it turned out to be not only a year bird, but my #350 life bird.  Thanks Chip.

Birding by the Dredging Containment Site

I’ve been birding in Maryland for a few days with my grandson, Dane, and seeing a nice array of mid-Atlantic birds.  Today, we drove up to the Swan Creek/Cox Creek Impoundment area outside of Baltimore to look for a Red Phalarope that had been reported yesterday — and dipped on it but had a great time.

I am part of a local FB group, the Anne Arundel Birding & Bird Club, and they kindly sent me directions and procedures to follow at the site.  This place is crazy — nestled between a chemical plant and a power plant, it has large diked areas for material dredged from Baltimore Harbor.

 It’s an active site with trucks, large backhoes, and assorted machinery working away while birders aim their scopes at the containment lagoons.  Some forward-thinking folks worked out an arrangement that keeps over a 100 acres in a conservation easement and a lot of restoration work and replanting has been done — and birds love it: over 160 species have been spotted there.  There’s a lot of debris and funky looking liquids but like many landfills and wastewater lagoons, it’s a great place to bird.

We showed up and signed in at the office and met a couple of birders who told us that no one had seen the Phalarope – that many of the “big guns” were there early with no luck.  (Early arriving construction workers reportedly flushed it.)  Still, looking at the ponds and then walking down to some reclaimed wetland, we did fine.  A Little Blue Heron flew right over us giving us good looks.  (It’s great when Dane can see stuff without fiddling with bins.)

Little Blue Herons nest on the property. 

I was on the lookout for an Orchard Oriole since I needed one for my life list and they had been reported by many birders over the last few days.  Just as a new acquaintance, Matt Grey, was giving me the details on Orchard vs Baltimore Orioles, we saw several and got some wonderful looks through the scope.  Of course, Dane comes to my chest so we have a fun time adjusting the telescope but he saw it well.

An Orchard Oriole was a life bird for me.

We saw some other good birds:  A diving Least Tern (another lifer), a couple of Snowy Egrets, a Belted Kingfisher, an Indigo Bunting, and others.  Returning to the ponds at the starting point, we scanned one last time and through the shimmer, picked out a Black Bellied Plover on the far shore.  

I left with a good feeling about the balancing act that folks have worked out between an active waste disposal site and a rich environment for birds, and birders.  It’s a place we’ll come back to again.
Site and Blue Heron photo from The Maryland Yellowthroat.
Orchard Oriole photo by Charles & Clint

A Couple of Life Birds

Like many birders, I subscribe to listserves for areas where I plan to travel and “lurk” on them, checking out what others are reporting in the days and weeks prior to my arrival.  Thus, I was reading MASSBIRDS prior to our grandparenting trip and noting that folks were seeing some neat birds at the Salt Pannes south of Newburyport on Route 1A.  I drove over the first morning after we arrived, to find several birders already in place with scopes aimed at the marshes.


As it turns out, it was the week prior to the MA Audubon’s Bird-a-Thon which is this coming weekend so birders were out in force scouting.  For Bird-a-thon 2012, there are 28 teams, each supporting an individual wildlife sanctuary, a group of sanctuaries, or a Mass Audubon program. The teams are vying to see:

  • Which team can spot the most bird species in 24 hours
  • Which team can raise the most money for their wildlife sanctuary or program
I no sooner got out of the truck and got my scope set up when a guy pointed out a Stilt Sandpiper, which is a new bird for me.  I asked him why he knew it was that and several folks pointed out field marks like the slightly down curved bill, the white supercillium, and a couple of other things.  Later, I read a great post by Jim Berry who said, 

This was a long-legged wader a little smaller than the nearby lesser yellowlegs, with a noticeable white supercilium and a fairly long bill.  I couldn’t see any droop at the tip of the bill on this bird, or any color on the face yet, as it was apparently just beginning to come into alternate plumage.  What clinched the ID was its behavior: bill held very vertically, the bird doing some pecking but also showing the sewing-machine-like drilling with the head underwater that is virtually unique to this species among the larger sandpipers (much faster drilling than dowitchers, whose motion reminds me of an oil derrick rather than a sewing machine). 

A Stilt Sandpiper in front of a Greater Yellowlegs.

Yellowlegs departs while Stilt Sandpiper keeps feeding

We saw a flight of Glossy Ibises but could not spot the earlier-reported White-faced Ibis among them.  Then, from stage left, paddled a group of Wilson’s Phalaropes which also had be reported, and were also a life bird for me.  I got some poor quality photos for the record but the camera auto focused on grass in the foreground and the images were blurred.


Other birds there included Mallards and Green-winged Teal, Willets, and a Solitary Sandpiper or two.  My new birder acquaintances all were hoping that the birds would hang around for the Bird-a-thon but who knows, it’s migration time.

Snowy Owl — finally

As all birders know, Snowy Owls by the thousands have shown up across the northern tier of the U.S.  I think I’m the only birder in Vermont who hadn’t seen one, until yesterday.  We had some show up in Vermont but I missed them before we left for Texas, and then kept reading about folks throughout New England seeing owls left and right.

Since we returned from the Southwest several weeks ago, there have been Snowy Owls reported at Plum Island.  I knew that we had a trip planned to MA for grandparenting in late April/early May and hoped that one would hang around — and it did.

I can’t take the dog on the refuge so Mary dog-sat Thursday and I made a quick run to seek out the Snowy.  Two friends from Vermont had seen it the week before and as I approached the Hellcat area, where it had been hanging out, I thought, “With my luck, it probably just headed out.”  I met two women coming out and asked and they said, “It’s right up there sitting on a post.”

And sure enough, it was.  It kept looking the other way and was pretty bedraggled from the heavy rains of the day before.  Dozens of birders watched, took photos, and admired the visitor from the north.  Here’s my low-quality photo — never could get it to turn our way.

Here’s a little recap on the irruption of Snowy Owls from Reuters:

“What we’re seeing now — it’s unbelievable,” said Denver Holt, head of the Owl Research Institute in Montana.

“This is the most significant wildlife event in decades,” added Holt, who has studied snowy owls in their Arctic tundra ecosystem for two decades.

Holt and other owl experts say the phenomenon is likely linked to lemmings, a rodent that accounts for 90 percent of the diet of snowy owls during breeding months that stretch from May into September. The largely nocturnal birds also prey on a host of other animals, from voles to geese. An especially plentiful supply of lemmings last season likely led to a population boom among owls that resulted in each breeding pair hatching as many as seven offspring. That compares to a typical clutch size of no more than two, Holt said.

Greater competition this year for food in the Far North by the booming bird population may have then driven mostly younger, male owls much farther south than normal.

 Research on the animals is scarce because of the remoteness and extreme conditions of the terrain the owls occupy, including northern Russia and Scandinavia, he said. 

 It was great to finally see a Snowy and add it to my life list.  Now, I worry about whether this guy will make it back north.  May is very late to be hanging out in Massachusetts even though the food supply is plentiful.  I’ll watch the lists and see when he’s headed out.

A Great Birding Outing

Yesterday, Mary and I loaded up Penny and left early for some back road birding north of Rockport. We started tallying gulls and “telephone line” birds and soon were on a Farm-to-Market road heading toward the hamlet of Bayside. These “farm roads” in Texas are usually narrow with a speed limit of 70 and lots of white pickup trucks in a hurry. Not too conducive to birding although usually there is a wide shoulder (or ditch.)
We pulled off on a little narrow road alongside Copano Bay called Egery Flat aka Mosquito Alley and were immediately confronted with a small mudflat/pond with hundreds of shorebirds. As we tried to sort through Dowitchers, Dunlins, Willets some Black-legged Stilts, and lots of sandpipers, I was wishing that I had an expert along. Just ahead, we saw and photographed a Reddish Egret – a white morph in breeding plumage – which turned out to be a new bird for each of us. It is neat to watch them fish, stirring up the water with their feet and then grabbing stuff they’ve scared.

The American Golden Plovers were in his pasture

As the road turned to dirt, we saw several birds flush out of the grass and settle. I knew right away that they were one of the species we were after – and it turned out that they were American Golden Plovers, passing through on their way north. I got out my scope and we got some good looks, an so-so photos. As I watched, a steer (seen above) watched us and started plodding our way. Time to move on.

American Golden Plover

It was a pretty spring day with no one around on this straight back road so we let the dog go and walked for a while. The temperature was about 80 with a light breeze and blue skies with sparrows and meadowlarks rising from the fields. Of course, the mosquitoes found Mary.
We passed another flock of plovers and then, just as we were nearly done with the loop, Mary spotted more birds. We pulled over, looked at them through the binos, and took some photos. About then, a deputy sherriff pulled alongside asking “Everything ok?” I guess the red Vermont truck with kayak on top looked pretty unthreatening and he was off. (I learned later that the birds were migrating Upland Sandpipers, another new one for us.

Upland Sandpiper

One of the purposes of the outing was to check out a local eating place which friends had raved about. Crofutt’s Sandwich Shop & Bakery calls itself “An Oasis in a Junk Food Desert” and it is. Plain looking and frequented by local oil and ranch workers, it has been running for 33 years. We had the Shrimp Po-Boy and they were great. I had to eat mine next to the truck since Penny had an anxiety meltdown and started pulling the rubber stripping from the door .. again. Washed down with iced tea, with a couple of decadent cookies for later, it was quite a feast.
We returned in time for a short nap and then Penny and I drove to the vet for a last checkup. Her leg is nearly there and after a quick check, the doc said goodbye giving her a few treats for the road.
While our more ardent birder acquaintances go out for all day, we found that a few hours, some fresh air, some good food, and a nap is our preference.
We have managed to see 201 different species this trip so far with about 25 new ones for me. Now to follow some them as they migrate northward.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Blogging with an iPad

Yesterday, I did some birding at the Salisbury State Reservation with my dog and found a nice mix of shorebirds and waterfowl. This cooperative Northern Mockingbird posed for a digiscoped photo. I got life bird 304, some White-rumped Sandpipers, who were hanging out with a bunch of Black-bellied Plovers.

My MacBook Pro is in for repairs at the Apple store but it gave me an excuse to buy an iPad. We are often without wifi in our travels so the 3G access can be really handy – like right now. Blogging on an iPad is a bit challenging but much better than trying it with the iPhone. I can import photos, do some cropping with PSexpress, and write it in BlogPress. It’s good for on-the-road blogging and you can always tidy things up later on.

It’s a showery Saturday in Massachusetts – the Vizsla and I are going out to a local reservoir and check for water birds. Good birding.

Birding with Joppa Flats Education Center

Today, I took part in one of the Wednesday morning birding events from the Joppa Flats Education Center in Newburyport, MA. There’s a faithful core of birders who have been doing this for years but each week, many others attend from all over the country. Today we had birders from North Carolina and of course, I’m from Vermont. It’s a very welcoming group and the two leaders, Bill Gette, the Center Director, and Dave Weaver, a certified volunteer leader, are excellent. This is the second time I’ve attended a Wednesday session and I’ve also done a Saturday one. If you are in the area, it’s a great opportunity.


Today, we went to the Parker River National Wildlife Reserve and in a caravan of vans, stopped numerous times to look at shorebirds and waterfowl. There were some good birds — we saw about 40 species, and for me, a couple (Eurasion Wigeon and Hudsonian Godwit) were life birds.


Something spooked these widgeons


Several things impress me about these ventures: the level of expertise among the participants is higher than I’m used to, the leaders work very hard to make sure everyone sees the bird, and the teaching is ongoing and very appropriate. Such things as “Notice how nervous those wigeons are — no one is feeding, there all acting tense. Something’s bothering them.” And just then, the whole flock scatters — probably spooked by a skulking raptor. It’s the kind of behavioral knowledge that makes birding much more than “Oh, there’s a Yellow Warbler.”

I try to plan our visits to Massachusetts to coincide with a birding session. If you haven’t taken part, I strongly recommend it.