Chrystal & Rob's Blog

Feb 5 2012- Moscow

2012-02-05T05:25:00.001-05:00

A short walk up the road and through the snowed up park found a few birds and a couple of surprises. Amongst the house sparrows were a number of tree sparrow. The former looking very dingy and grimy, the latter looking smart and dapper so it can't be soiling, maybe there a darker sub species of passer domesticus here. A couple of Blue Tit looked 'normal' but the great tit looked grubby too. A single fieldfare fed on some tree fruit and looked a little odd by itself (I'd seen a couple of large-thrush flocks from my window which were also probably this species).
It's still a little strange seeing Hooded Crow dossing around and relatively tame (as opposed to Scotland's wild and distant birds) but there were a number around the park. High over Moscow City a Hoodie was watched aggressively mobbing an Accipiter of approximately equal size.
A small flock of mallard take advantage of the ice breaking operation on the river

Feb 4 2012 - Moscow (yes THAT Moscow!)

2012-02-04T08:52:00.001-05:00

Despite being -20c (or maybe because..) there was a flock of hooded crow and jackdaw around the airport car park and a few hoodies along the route into town. I also picked up house sparrow and FRPD and over the city centre a Peregrine. Weather doesn't look great for a lot of outside time so we'll see how much else can be added.

Jan 14 2013. Riverbend wildfowl walk - lite

2012-01-14T16:46:00.001-05:00

With the recent rain, the river was in full glow and the wildfowl well dispersed. However chrystal and I had a good group of 7 and we walked downstream. Conn Island didn't produce it's usual duck but the pair of Bald eagle perched nicely. At various points on the river we had 100 or so Ring-necked, Buffleheads, Common Mergansers and a few Coot. Before and after the walk we had single black duck and finally found 3 female and 2 1st-w male lesser scaup before we came away.

Jan 8 2012

2012-01-08T17:01:00.001-05:00

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The grebe getting shy

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The coot getting used to being around people!

Jan 7 2012 field trials for Chrystal's new scope!

2012-01-07T18:31:00.001-05:00

A trip to the patch to try out Chrystal's new scope and take some fresh air found an American Coot with a Pied-billed Grebe in the reception pool area and then we nearly overlooked the imm. Night Heron (BC!) under the green heron tree.

We were quite late so it was a little quiet although a nice Winter Wren skulked around Pooh Bridge and later we watched a juv Red-tailed Hawk on the gravel in the area (from our vantage point up stream on Rusty Bridge). A few moments earlier an American Crow was mobbing an Adult Red-tail as it circled nearby.

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Nov 12 2011 - where did they go?

2011-11-12T21:36:00.000-05:00

Good day at Chincoteague from sunrise to sunset
The sea was quiet to start with but later had a good procession of ducks (Black Scoter and teal mainly, what no surf scoter?!?) and good numbers of Gannet. several flock of Snow Gees over were the only ones seen (later they were absent form the pool). Several parties of Bonaparte's Gull were watched.
Several small parties of dolphin breached conveniently.
Hundreds of YR Warbler everywhere plus at least 1 Palm.
The flock of Dunlin included a couple with some remaining dark belly feathers
A rather nasty black duck x mallard hybrid swam nearby
The only white birds on the wildlife loop were Tundra Swan including a couple showing small areas of yellow at the bill base
A 2nd yr (?) male Harrier hunted the marsh and gave great views and 3 1st w white ibis were with the egrets in the marsh
Goof numbers of teal, wigeon, pintail and shoveler were periodically spooked by the harrier and the local eagle

Nov 5 2011 - migrants thru Occie

2011-11-05T14:17:00.001-05:00

A good selection of migrants and others today.

A Hermit Thrush and Thrasher joined some Robins and Rusty Blackbirds found amongst the Blackbirds

Out in the bay a nice total of Eleven Horned Grebe were counted and seven Pied-Billed Grebe, the first Shoveler and Bufflehead and a late 1st w Parula.

23 oct 2011 - palmies

2011-11-05T13:57:00.001-05:00

At Occoquan today I found an incredible number of Eastern Palm Warblers (c200)...

Sept 16 2011 - one extreme to another, a day in the Rockies

2011-11-05T13:53:00.001-05:00

Apart from some good birds, it was great to get right up close and personal with the continental divide at 10000 ft and then back down to 'normality' at half that at Barr Lake near the airport. In the mountains waves of showers drifted through but once we were down on the plain the big sky had a couple of foreboding thunderstorms that thankfully circled us but made for some impressive skyscapes.
Nice birds today. Up in the mountains the very best must have been the Gray Jay that eventually gave up being elusive and came and sat in the tree above us. It took a little while but we eventually came across feeding parked of chickadees and kinglets and white-crowned sparrows were particularly numerous and showy.

Nov 4 2011 - crow time again

2011-11-04T07:19:00.001-05:00

Flocks of crows flying away from roost before dawn over the bar side dinner. From calls all seemed to be American crow

Returning from the cinema last night around 9 (well after dark ) at least one American crow was heard flying over home

Sep 9 2011 - out in the desert

2011-09-15T22:23:00.001-05:00

A trip to Arizona for a wedding and some birding. We found a great place at Riparian Preserve at Gilbert Water Ranch, so we went back again the next day !
Lots of Abert's Towhee around, a local speciality and a very large number of Yellow Warblers during Friday afternoon. Many fewer the next day but we did find a Wilson's. We were excited to ID a MacGillivray's Warbler and saw a few others on both day. Just occasionally I thought I had found a Geothlypis warbler with a complete eye ring but didn't get much more on it than that.

We did find a big group of 50 long-billed dowitcher and some interesting duck including a cinnamon teal

On the Sunday morning we headed an hour east out of town way out into the Sonoran Desert to the Boyce Thompson arboretum, a wonderfully verdant area around a creek surrounded by harsher terrain.
Cactus Wren was a great bird and came within a few feet. Lots of flycatchers and vireos on the trees along the (dry) stream bed.
At both sites Gila Woodpeckers were plentiful and noisy!

Sep 4 2011 - the patch

2011-09-04T10:22:00.001-05:00

Initially pretty quiet on our walk from the rail bridge over the river to Rusty Bridge. We did find a perched hummingbird across the tracks and walking back passed the dog park we happened across a feeding party. Not much variety but 4+ Blackburnian with the redstarts and the vireos more than made up for that!

Cameron Stn, Ben Brenman Park with Chrystal, Alexandria, US-VA
Sep 4, 2011 8:15 AM - 9:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
0.5 mile(s)
28 species (+1 other taxa)

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) 4
Green Heron (Butorides virescens) 1
Greater Yellowlegs (Tringa melanoleuca) 1
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) 2
Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) 75
Mourning Dove (Zenaida macroura) 30
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) 5
Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) 1
Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon) 2
Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) 6
Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus) 1
Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) 3
Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata) 3
Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus) 5
crow sp. (Corvus sp. (crow sp.)) 5
Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) 2
White-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta carolinensis) 3
Carolina Wren (Thryothorus ludovicianus) 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) 1
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 15
Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) 15
Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) 15
Cedar Waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum) 12
American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) 2
Blackburnian Warbler (Setophaga fusca) 4
Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) 1
Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) 15
Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula) 6
American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) 2

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2 (http://ebird.org)

Sep 1 2011- Kildeer meaning business

2011-09-01T08:22:00.001-05:00

An odd sighting walking back from the customer offices to my hotel here in te outskirts of Denver - 10 kildeer running around on the well manicured lawns of the building next door.

AUg 21 2011 a warm summer day at the patch

2011-08-28T15:43:00.000-05:00

Aug 28 2011 after the wind...

2011-08-28T15:30:00.001-05:00

A quick trip to Dyke Marsh after the hurricane.

Found 9 Black Tern amongst the large numbers Forster's, Royal, Caspian with a couple of Common Tern and a couple of 1st winter Least Tern.

Along the shore of the marina a collection of birds feeding (many insects were around on various branches and limbs)

good morning :)

August 11th back in uk

2011-08-12T16:06:00.001-05:00

Hobby over m25
Rook and magpie

Sparrowhawk over motorway looking chunky

Off deck at lodging- 10+ coal tits Inc juvs plus treecreeper (froze after playing crest calls) nuthatch and goldcrests

red crossbill Calling and seen in flight

Woodpigeon feeding from the pancake house feeding station

July 3 2011 allegany mountains

2011-07-04T21:13:00.001-05:00

Brief visit to the area including a quick foray in West Virginia. There were a few Bobolink seen in a very rural and remote area. Around the b and b both Barn and Cliff Swallows seemed to be nesting

June 23rd - green heron 'colony'

2011-06-23T07:11:00.001-05:00

A quick walk around the lake at the patch. At least 7 Green Heron flying to, from and hanging around the reception pool. At least one large chick in the usual nesting tree

June 17 - and speaking of breeding

2011-06-19T11:40:00.001-05:00

On return home we found a family of Grackles feeding on the deck Also

June 18 2011 - Riverbend

2011-06-19T11:37:00.000-05:00

Here's the results of the breeding Survey walk at Riverbend June 18th

Here are the rest of the records:
Scarlet Tanager, singing by boat ramp
Phoebe singing near visitor center
Orchard Oriole nest in front of visitor center
Baltimore Oriole singing and pairs present around boat ramp
Mourning Dove singing
Pileated Woodpecker, pair present in front of visitor center
Red-eyed Vireo singing many place (10+)
Great-crested Flycatcher singing and calling (4+)
Northern Parula 1 singing
Common Merganser female plus 5 chicks, plus 2 additional female including one with injured wing
Indigo Bunting several singing (5)
Wood Thrush 1 singing
Warbling Vireo 1 singing
Tufted Titmouse, several family groups seen
Eastern Kingbird holding territory
Eastern Wood Peewee, several singing
Catbird agitated behaviour near Nature Center
Tree Swallow with recently fledged young, near boat ramp
Cowbird singing
Red-winged Blackbird singing

also present
Barn Sallow
Bald Eagle
Eastern Bluebird
Goldfinch
Rough-winged Swallow
An unidentified Empid near the Nature Center
Cardinal
Common Grackle
Carolina Chickadee
Double Crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
WB Nuthatch
Black-crowned Night Heron
Mallard
Hairy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Canada Goose
American Crow

May 21 2011 - Singapore!

2011-05-23T19:01:00.002-05:00

Rather few birds during a busy work week with occasional java mynas along orchard road and a Indian House Crow flight at dusk (usually outside the office where we were still working.
Today I walked the other way up Orchard and found the Botanic Gardens.

Here an approx full list with sone notes

House crow

Java myna, everywhere

Common myna, few
Asian glossy starling

Little heron, one on dawn lake
Spotted dove, common, Inc one darker displaying male
Black-naked oriole
Pacific. Swallow
Black-nest swiftlet
blue-crowned hoping parrot
Stork-billed kingfisher
Asian glossy starling
Pink-necked green pigeon

Crimson Sunbird
Olive- backed sunbird
White crested laughing- thrush
White breasted kingfisher.
Collared kingfisher

Long-tailed parakeet
Rose-ringed parakeet
Lesser whistling duck

Wandering whistling duck - maybe a hybrid with that much rufous on tail coverts

Later at the 'Marina' a Brahimy Kite was a nice additional and a black-napped oriole along the promenade a surprise.

Each night walking back from the office there has been cord call I'm some of the trees - depending on the time. This evening it became clear that many hundreds and probably thousands of (presumably java) mynas were coming in to roost. I could still hear them 15 stories below me when I got back to my room

May 11 2011

2011-05-23T18:48:00.000-05:00

Very unusually a grackle visited the deck, wandered around under the fat blocks and had a drink.

A late junco visited.

May 11 2011

2011-05-11T08:03:00.001-05:00

Very unusually a grackle visited the deck, wandered around under the fat blocks and had a drink.

A late junco visited.

May 7 2011 - warbler walk at the 'bend

2011-05-07T12:18:00.001-05:00

A bit quiet on the warbler from yellow rumps, a fine male Yellow, a few Parula and La waterthrush. Bit a good group of 6 enjoyed the orioles, flycatcher (Kingbird, Many great Crest, peewee, Phoebe )Vireos were playing hard to get although there were several aroundA pair of red-tailed hawks were 'sky dancing' with territorial display flight. Lots of water snakes were in the boat ramp wall

May 6 2011 - monti

2011-05-06T07:54:00.001-05:00

Quick pre-work visit on a sumny but initially cool day
A delightful Canada in the stream and 2 Cape May high up were the highlights
Also grosbeaks, both m and f b and w and lots of BT Blues

May 2 -at the patch

2011-05-02T07:45:00.001-05:00

Double-created Cormorant on the pond - not unheard of but unusual
Baltimore Orioles pair nesting in tree on pooh bridge side of stream, seemingly natural materials this year!
Gnatcatcher
Red-eyed vireo in several places
Indigo bunting
Rw swallow
1st s and adult orchard orioles singing
Empidomax - least fly singing at the magic spot
Black vulture on the dead tree across the track waiting for it to warm up

Brown thrasher coming to pishingAnd the first youngsters of the year...

May 1 2011 - bluebirds and an overcast day at monti

2011-05-01T21:14:00.001-05:00

My first trip round the golf course, the only chicks were still hatching with the last chick just about to exit the egg. A couple of BB nest had tree swallows in attendance so we'll see how that shapes up and one BB was built atop a house wren nest
Box 8 has a huge house wen nest

At Monticello we had a female / young male hooded plus great views of veery, BTGreen, Indigo bunts, scarlet tanagers, and a swainsons thrush coming to my starling sqealed!

April 30 2011 -at last

2011-04-30T10:59:00.001-05:00

Much delayed first visit to Monticello Park turned up some great view of black-throated green, a showy blue-winged and an early Blackpoll

April 20 2011 - then sprig was here

2011-04-20T09:40:00.001-05:00

Snatch of house wren song outide corp apartment in PA - just one,at 5am-ish!

April 12 2011 - YAWN

2011-04-11T16:32:00.001-05:00

12 hour time diff = 24/7 firefighting :( oh problems please just resolve yourself sometimes :)

April 11 2011 - here we go....

2011-04-11T02:44:00.001-05:00

Late Night e Clarkson with subtitles - was I dreaming ?
Apparently not

Jumped in a taxi to go 1 mile to work central plaza is PRIMO location Nieghbours are eBay and Paypal up here on floor 32
.

Chinese banquet at lunchtime on day 1 - apparently my chopsticks skills are GOOD - or Agnes is just very polite and ignores the debris on the tablecloth

The usual challenge of keeping people on task but super ~~enthusiastic~~ group

Use the triangle!

Team dinner - at the local Italian - surreal.

HK at night is Times Square on steroids!

April 10 2011 - HK Sunday

2011-04-09T20:55:00.002-05:00

An awefil lot of shouting going on out there...

April 2011 hk birds - april 10 update

2011-04-09T20:08:00.002-05:00

Black-eared kites beneath my window - tum ling twisting and locking talons, one caught some paper floating up high

Small egrets on bay

Tree sparrow

black-billed magpie

Sunday am

Red-whiskered Bulbul - everywhere!

Black-collared Starling - serious nice looking but darn hard to photograph (with a phone anyway)

Spotted Dove

Tree Sparrow

Black-eared Kite flying even in dank humid conditions early

Japanese White-eye

Oriental Magpie-Robin

Common Kingfisher

White-throated Kingfisher

Barn Swallow

Little Egret

Chinese Pond Heron

Crested Myna

Black-crowned Night Heron one with bubble gum pink coloured legs - is this a breeding plummage? another closeby had standard yellow legs

Small flock of Masked Laughthrush

Chinese Bulbul
Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

Apr 9th continued

2011-04-09T08:40:00.001-05:00

A huge ( somehow predictive text turned that into' UBS Jesuits' !!!) powernap after the best shower EVER kinda wipes out the rest of daylight.

Walk aroun the park after dusk - the impressive light show from the sky scrapers begins.

There a tennis center with some fine young player playing under the floodlights - must though I don't much care for the game.
For the umpteenth time this evening a feral cat crossing my peripheral vision make me jump

No such action on the lawn green bowling next door - such an English game feeling a little out of place in this warm oriental environment

A few starling like squeals can't be located - could be good in the morning, I the cats don't get them first lol

Elected for dinner in schmancy 27th floor restaurant looking down over my domain for the next week or so. Tiger Prawn - now THAT'S some shellfish !

Apr 9 2011 so that was a short Friday

2011-04-09T00:39:00.001-05:00

Almost ready for the third leg - the United desk opens at 4:30 and off we go....

Upgrade 3 in business on the jumbo for 3.5hours, next to chatty Jon on his way home from Jakarta to Columbus, OH.
Right now we're flying into a stunning sunrise...

Oh they make the materials for the smelting pots btW

The Chicken Rice for breakfast was an interesting experiment - probably should have taken it a little easier on the chilli sauce buy hey

And no, toilet seat comes crashing down on Jumbos - sorry (formerly?) sleeping peeps on ya fancy flatbeds. :0

And so after 20 yrs or so I complete my circumnavigation of the globe ....

FUUUUUUUCK I'm in Hong Kong all alone Yikes! And safely reunited with Natasha

I hope the first bird Is more exotic than the shops traveled, HSBC and'bucks

Ahhhhhhh that would be a feral pigeon then....

Astonishing sights so far - never seen so many tower blocks and shipping containers...

So the first thing Park Lane Hotel offers me? Why a flagon if the finest local brew..... Carlsberg

One THIS is a room

April 7 2011 -

2011-04-07T09:29:00.001-05:00

First barn swallows at Dulles.

April 5 2011 - and then ...

2011-04-05T22:35:00.001-05:00

March 31 2011 wilson bridge

2011-04-04T22:14:00.003-05:00

First Osprey sighting of the season as I approached the wilson bridge coming south down 295

April 2 2011 - i see no ships

2011-04-04T22:14:00.001-05:00

A quick weekend for Rhiannon's birth and towards dusk we grabbed just a few minutes to look off Selsey South Beach

A small flock of Brent geese flew low over apart from that Herring Gulls were hanging in the wind calling loudly and a Great Cormorant was on it's usual perch just off shore

After a good curry - one or more Robins were singing in budgens car park and a Barn Owl over the road at Siddlesham Ferry

April 4 2011 - Sparrowpalooza!

2011-04-04T22:13:00.001-05:00

Considering it started as just a quick glance st the feeders today turned into quite something.

A couple of Chipping Sparrows around the deck including one on the Niger feeder were the immediate surprise

Shortly after a Fox Sparrow flew into the tree from the lower are of the garden - both species reappearing later in the afternoon ( but with only quick photo ops ).

3-4 different White-throated Sparrows were around throughout the day abs the Song Sparrows remain the only ones interested in the mealworms on offer.

It was generally busy all day with an unusual visit from 2 Starlings and the appearance early afternoon of a pair of Cowbirds - probably a new garden species

Mar 29 2011 - more goldfinch

2011-03-28T09:34:00.001-05:00

This one looks like a first summer male

Mar 27 2011 - after the 'big snow'

2011-03-27T12:37:00.001-05:00

Just a light covering of snow in some places that soon melted however may have been responsible for a flock of 9 Junco as I put out food for the birds. Pretty quiet so far otherwise, one goldfinch is coloring up nicely

Mar 26 - spring on the way, snow tomorrow!

2011-03-26T10:39:00.001-05:00

Mid-morning visit to the patch found trees in bloom and a cool but sunny morning.

A few juncos are still around and the occasional white-throated sparrow. Cardinals were singing loudly in several places and song sparrow and particularly Robins were numerous, especially around the picnic area. Across the rail tracks a Sapsucker was actively moving through the tops of the trees.

At the rusty bridge this mockingbird was showing well when it suddenly drew it's plumage in, looked much skinnier and disappeared into the middle of the bush. I looked up to see a Coopers Hawk pass close by. It was interesting to watch how the feather tracks changed orientation, especially the coverts aligning more with the bill to tail access than shown in thus relaxed shot.

Around the receiving pond a pair of Grackles remain - maybe they will breed here? They have Been around for a while in an unusual place fir them.
At the confluence of the Rivers a pair of Cowbird were skulking around the scrubby area maybe looking for early victims.

Mar 18 2011

2011-03-18T18:54:00.001-05:00

Hundreds of Grackles o er the outskirts of Vinton this evening including in the tree next to our hotel room / temp office for the day

March 13 2011 - back in the 'hood

2011-03-13T10:47:00.001-05:00

Quick trip to the patch, albeit a little late (10am)Signs of spring with song sparrow, red-winged blackbirds and others signing in the early spring sunshine. Nothing too unusual - 2 Black Vultures maybe the least expected sighting. Up by the picnic area near the dog park, spent some time with a group of Robins. They seemed mostly males although not all were as well marked as this individual.

March 7 2011 - zurich

2011-03-12T18:19:00.001-05:00

A small field outside my hotel had a single strip of earth tilled earlier today. I was a little surprised that no birds were following the ploughing but just now I noticed some movement and found 3 White Wagtail feeding on the newly exposed earth.

March 12 2011 - back at the 'bend

2011-03-12T18:16:00.002-05:00

An unexpectedly busy day at Riverbend this afternoon with people at least. Plenty of people but the strong current has moved many if the ducks away. The major event on the river was a large flock of ring-billed gull feeding on the river. Many birds were standing on the flotsam maybe feeding on it. Some tried to land on small debris and struggled, 'cycling' it's feet to keep from slipping off and flapping to retain balance.

Counting the gulls (651 btw) there were several ducks but also a horned grebe - as is often at this time of year, the head pattern was somewhat atypical - as shown in my sketch

March 5 2011 - Spaggers back in da 'hood

2011-03-05T10:49:00.000-05:00

In the last couple of days, the 'mob' of House Sparrows seems to have reformed and occasionally visits to see what goodies i have put out. Included in the group is a female with a white tertial on the left wing, presumably the same bird seen previously (in the autumn?)

Everything is very jumpy today, I am guessing the Cooper's is also around!

Looking for a special birthday bird for Chrystal :)

March 02 2011 - and again

2011-03-02T15:04:00.001-05:00

Another visit from a (the?) lone Cedar Waxwing. Again, just for a couple of minutes, and then gone....

Mar 01 2011 - new visitot

2011-03-01T22:51:00.001-05:00

In the middle if a particularly intense business call, I look out onto the deck and get a partial view of an unusual but familiar silhouette. Managing to reach my handy bins, and a Cedar Waxwing joined the deck list.

As a Mourning Dive crouched in relaxed pose on the bird bath I had a chance to study the feather tracts around the head. In a very relaxed posed the feathers on the ear coverts, above the black mark at the bottom, rear of the coverts, stood out like a tufts in otherwise smooth plumage

Feb 26 2011 - Waterfowl galore, Riverbend Park

2011-02-27T11:51:00.000-05:00

A couple of hours out of desk duty at the Park allowed me to look at the fine collection of Waterfowl on the Potomac between the visitors centre and the dam.
The big prize was the red-necked grebe that has been around for a week or so. Very mobile and feeding between Riverbend and Conn Island, I have just received somewhat convoluted instructions as to where it had just been seen, when it surfaced just in front of me! A really dusky bird, ostensibly it was close to summer plumage patterns but with a smoky colored fore-neck and only indistinctly pale cheeks. The basal 2/3 of the bill were dull but clearly yellow.

On the way down stream the coot flock was accompanied by a few Am Wigeon and Ring-necks, a similar symbiotic relationship as in the UK, although Gadwall don't seem to 'play' here, as they do so frequently in the UK

The Duck flock was impressive with 829 Ring-necked and 165 Redhead counted

The 65 Lesser Scaup contained 3 Greater Scaup (2 males and 1 female). One female Lesser Scaup exhibited a curious bill pattern. The black tip was rather extensive and the usually only slightly paler area behind was white. Otherwise a 'prefect' Lesser Scaup female, the bill was glaringly different from all others. This does seem a variable feature on web pictures though

Female birds made up about 1/3 of lesser Scaup, almost half of the Redheads seen (many apparent pairs) but still a very small percentage of Ring-Necks

Feb 15 - birding in cold abd snowy places

2011-02-15T07:58:00.001-05:00

So for a few weeks now I've been on the road to areas with cold, windy, snowy conditions. One I am sure their are birds out there, a few kestrels on wires in Iowa last week and occasional small flocks of lark type birds seen roadside, but at speed. However without the right combo of time and clothing, it's been a pretty bird free period. Here in MI American Crows are often around the hotel, expert flyers in the windy conditions. Unfortunately the same wind keep everything else secluded away somewhere - next time maybe....

Jan 26 2011 - since we've no place to go....

2011-01-26T16:40:00.001-05:00

And here it comes! 2,4,5,6 or 8 inches heading our way depending on the channel.

Jan 25 2011 Falconsville

2011-01-25T12:40:00.001-05:00

The mostly overcast start gave a dramatic flaming sunrise and the dark and still relative cold may have resulted in the lateness of the last crows as they departed the roost area somewhere off to the north.

Relatively few Passerines today but (maybe because of) plenty of raptor activity. A Coopers flew over Cardinal bridge and both red-shouldered hawk and Merlin were perched near the confluence of the two streams. The latter bird much more crisply streaked on the breast than Saturday's smudgy bird.

Later a Peregrine flew over quite high but seemed to be on the look out for pigeon- breakfast.

Jan 22 2011 - a first field trip for Birding DC - Rock Creek Park and Haines Point

2011-01-22T17:53:00.004-05:00

By way of preparation for Birding DC Chrystal and I explored one new large site and checked out another that we'd not done fully before
The trip started in Alexandria bur few birds were seen en route, probably due to the frigid conditions. The was a light but biting breeze but the temperature gauge in the car read 11 F early on.

Apart from the flocks of European Starling and Feral Pigeon nothing was seen until out first stop.

Around the Nature Center in Rock Creek Park we studied the various species visiting the feeders and then walked the wooded, hillside trail loop, disturbing - but only mildly - 8 White-tailed Deer in the middle of the loop. After completing the loop we studied the woodland around the Center, picking up a few feeding parties. After visiting the very nice Center briefly we drove Ross Drive stopping at a couple of locations and finally for the park, parked at the southern end of the closed section of Beach Road. Altogether a six Woodpecker morning with multiples found of each (excluding the lone Flicker).

Leaving the Park south on Beach Road we headed towards the Watergate building and the monuments, and headed out to Hains Point for the final bracing stop of the day. Here, however we connected with two quality birds in the form of a Merlin and the best bird of the day, a young Long-tailed Duck

Canada Goose - Branta canadensis     1000 seen at Hains Point plus 2-300 on the Potomac bank near the Lincoln Memorial
Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos     - a few pairs at Hains Point
Long-tailed Duck - Clangula hyemalis     - a young bird seen at Hains Point, at one point had to drive to avoid the attention of a pair of Bald Eagles
Bald Eagle - Haliaeetus leucocephalus     2 - Hains Point, see above!
Merlin - Falco columbarius     - 1 perched in a tree, Hains Point, made off up river, towards downtown
Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis     - many around downtown, the Tidal Basin and Hains Point
Herring Gull (American) - Larus argentatus smithsonianus     - several adult and juvenile birds at Hains Point
Great Black-backed Gull - Larus marinus      - several at Hains Point, also on the ice by the Jefferson Memorial

Rock Pigeon - Columba livia     - seen at several locations downtown
Mourning Dove - Zenaida macroura     <10 seen around the Nature Center
Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus     a few seen around the Nature Center and Ross Road
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Sphyrapicus varius     - the first bird we saw at the Nature Center, followed by another later there
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens     a few seen around the Nature Center and Beach Road
Hairy Woodpecker - Picoides villosus     a few seen around  Ross Road and Beach Road

Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus     One on the Woodland Trail
Pileated Woodpecker - Dryocopus pileatus     two birds see destroying the integrity of rotting trees!

crow sp. - Corvus sp. (crow sp.) - a distant, still and silent bird at Hains Point

Carolina Chickadee - Poecile carolinensis     - many around the Nature Center and Beach Road

Tufted Titmouse - Baeolophus bicolor     - several around the Nature Center, c25 in a flock at Hains Point
White-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta carolinensis     - many seen and heard around the Nature Center and elsewhere
Carolina Wren - Thryothorus ludovicianus     - single bird(s) at the Nature Center feeder
European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris     many seen at various urban location
Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia     - several seen along Beach Road
White-throated Sparrow - Zonotrichia albicollis     - many around the Nature Center and along Beach Road
Dark-eyed Junco - Junco hyemalis     a few around the Nature Center and a small flock at the first Picnic Area on Ross Road
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis     - several seen with small flocks of 6-10 birds, along Beach Road
House Finch - Carpodacus mexicanus     - a few at the feeder
American Goldfinch - Spinus tristis     - a couple of birds along Beach Road

Location assessment
Nature Trial loop - rough terrain on hillside
Ross Road - stopping could be a problem when busy - no problem with 11 degree weather though ;)
Beach Road - the middle section is closed to cars 7am Saturday - 7pm Sunday and is easily walkable. Narrow footpath in places for other times of the week
Hains Point - easily birded by car for most of the area but undoubtedly busy at times (bad birding times anyway, fortunately), Short walk to the point.

Panerra's soup and sandwich is IDEAL for a frigid day!

Jan 21 2001 - getting brave

2011-01-21T09:07:00.001-05:00

With the feeder 1/3 full and only two perches offering seed, goldfinches seem to shake off their reticence to feed in the open with up to 6 birds feeding from the table - albeit nervously. The squabbling for the productive perches shows them to be the preferred location however.

Jan 20 2011 - patch scenics

2011-01-20T08:39:00.001-05:00

Jan 20 2011

2011-01-20T08:35:00.001-05:00

The partially albino ring-billed gull was on the ice at the park this morning. Ratio of ages was 12 adult: 2 2nd winter : 1 1st winter
(increased to 97 birds in 10 st w and at least 3 2nd w by the time I finished my coffee)

For a second day, a raptor caused a last minute distraction with a young red-tailed hawk posing at the reception pool bridge

Jan 19 2011 - watch out little birdies...

2011-01-19T08:41:00.001-05:00

A quick visit this morning with a couple of interesting raptor sightings.
A Merlin dashed through, over the new soccer field and away over Cardinal Bridge.
As I was preparing to leave I spotted a Coopers Hawk in the oft-used tree above the crossroads. I drove back to the crossroads and subsequently watched the bird fly down to a large bush in front of one of the houses. The bush moved s little and after a few seconds the Coopers appeared to be pursuing something on foot as it ran around the base of the bush before flying off, maybe following a bird that had decided to chance outfliyng the hawk.

Jan 18 2011 - a new twist to cod

2011-01-18T10:39:00.001-05:00

A new twist on the cold overnight with a trifecta of snow sleet and freezing rain topped off with freezing temps

Jan 11 2011 - (another) one that got away

2011-01-11T10:04:00.001-05:00

A quiet morning at the park.

8 Hooded Merganser were in the receiving pool area, the largest unfrozen water are. 30 Mallard were also there.

On the main pond 53 Canada Geese were standing. I scanned but only noted a slight presumably gender related size difference. Later as 20 or so geese flew over me at the 'magic spot' one of the birds looked securely short necked and slightly smaller. It didn't look small enough for a classic Cackling Goose but I didn't get a great look and must make a note to look through the flock some more.
A little further up the path a Carolina Chickadee reacted very strongly to Carolina song when played, reasonably well to Black-capped Song but (for good measure and in the name of science!) ignored that of Mountain Chickadee.

Jan 10 2011 - Meat!!

2011-01-11T09:54:00.001-05:00

Good numbers at the feeders today (all things being relative....) the Niger feeder is often full I'd Goldfinches (6) with sometimes up to 3 waiting. They still seem to find it hard to eat the seed on the table although a couple did for a while. Interestingly I'd a perch became free they soon went there even though plenty of see remained on the table. One bird even visited the large seed feeder. The meal worms that were put out had been ignored for a week however today a Song Sparrow slowly worked through the worms

Jan 09 2011 - Keep off the Ice

2011-01-09T19:38:00.002-05:00

A bitterly cold day kept away the human customers at Riverbend. The River was mostly frozen but the bay on the Maryland side and a few other areas. In the bay there were a couple of hundred Ring-necked Ducks. Mixed in were a few Common Mergansers, a Hooded Merganser and (around) 19 Redheads. A single female Canvasback was also in the flock. As is usual in winter at Riverbend the vast majority of Ring-necked were male, maybe 90% in this group.

Futher up stream, in the next sizeable area of open water a close-knit group of 20 Redheads were found and a big raft of maybe 120 Bufflehead

At the Visitors' Center a block of suet attracted more than the usual customers including Tufted Titmouse and Cardinal. The female Cardinal that had been attacking its reflection the last two visits wasnt seen today.

A Squirrel ate fries from the rubbish bin outside the center :O

A mini invasion

2011-01-03T08:44:00.001-05:00

A small flock (nine) of Junco this morning coming to the seed on the deck, the biggest number I can remember here

And the first 2011 bird is....

2011-01-01T14:50:00.000-05:00

Actually I can't quite remember, i think it was an odd-calling Chickadee on the deck. I know it is considerably milder today but song already?

At the patch the lake remains frozen apart from the 'receiving pool' under the Green Heron nesting trees.
I thought the BEaver had been invited to leave by the authorities but if it has its friend has taken revenge by removing a pretty substantial tree

Over the first bridge there a first-winter red-shouldered hawk was sitting atop the first lamp post.

It proved to be quite tame and allowed close approach as it moved around the lake in front of me.

Back at the receiving pool, a Great Blue Heron fed from on top of the aborted Beaver lodge
I believe this is the same juvenile seen previously that shows pale coloration to the thighs

Apart from this interesting start, birds were thin today, probably die to the 9:40 start.
With the vegetation at its lowest of the year probably, Wrens are easier to see than usual, even when not responding to a surreptitious 'pish'.
The first Nuthatch for a while was near the 'Magic Spot'

Dec 22-27 2010 - Josephine lives!

2010-12-25T11:44:00.002-05:00

Not too much birding on the UK trip this Christmas Recent and still standing snow meant lots of birds in Dad's garden and a chance to get reacquainted with the locals such as Jay, great-spotted woodpecker and the like.

Mid-afternoon a THUD on the patio window and a squeal from the girls found a female blackbird suffering the consequences of a collision with the glass. Fortunately just stunned, the bird, quickly festively named Josephine by Robyn, recovered after several minutes While she was recovering however a fox came down to investigate the bird food but fortunately stayed the other side of the pond. Walking through Chichester town centre on Christmas Morning and absent it usual background noise the noise from the crows and pigeons echoed round the empty streets. In "Chi-gate" a couple of large Euro-Herring Gulls prowled the car park looking for scraps and an occasional black-headed screamed overhead. A few Great Cormorant flew around the canal area where Santa and the reindeer were on their usual barge.

Smile please!

2010-12-12T14:06:00.001-05:00

A few shots from the around on a damp, cold Sunday

Keep off the ice....

2010-12-11T09:46:00.001-05:00

It's a wee bit chilly out there. I called in at the patch on my way to lunch. The pond is largely frozen apart from the receiving pond ( as I've apparently decided to call it) under the Green Heron trees, and the areas around the fountains (poor water quality have some advantages sometimes). Most birds were around one if the fountains with 72 ring-bills and a Herring gull. Also 15 of the 18 Hooded Mergansers were there.....time for lunch

i spy dinner...

2010-12-07T22:51:00.000-05:00

Another couple of days keeping the eyes on the feeders for Project Feederwatch.

House Finch number have gone right down, now we are lucky to have two at a time. Chickadees are still numerous (if you can call 3 at a time numerous) and the House Sparrows come en masse a couple of times during the day.

Yesterdays highlights were multiple visits by a rather large (presumably female) Coopers Hawk and a smaller (male?) bird, both brightly colored adults. No doubt the gatherings of birds on the deck is providing an attraction to them.....

Winter arrives at the park

2010-12-05T19:15:00.001-05:00

A cold and breezy day at Riverbend saw few visitors, human at least. The feeders were busy with lots of Titmice and others. The seed was low so many birds were attracted to the suet. However the woodpeckers rules the roost when they chose. There was (at least) a pair of Downy and a couple visits from a 'bellied'The river was high and flowing fast and I only managed 4 Common Mergansers and 8, very cute, Bufflehead. Towards the end of the day I found this eagle eating (apparently a bird) across the river

Another day at the seaside

2010-12-04T18:47:00.001-05:00

An ultimately fruitless return to Chincoteague after news that the arctica Dunlin was seen last weekend but nevertheless an enjoyable day.

I explored further down the beach than I had done previously, it helped me find the first flock of smithsonius Dunlin of the day in the northern corner of the pool. It was a chilly NW wind but a spectacular beach-scape, feeling very remote with (for most of the time) no sight nor sign or anyone else. Alone that is, except for the company of Yellow-rumps! In many of the bushes (or what remains if them) there were groups of them. The bush below contained maybe 35-40 birds, some of which got a little agitated by a little light pishing.

On the sea, their was a little scoter movement and a few Gannet but the big difference from three weeks ago was the number of Loons. Several hundred flew south and, a bit later, many were seen on the sea, often just beyond the breaking waves. A nice, cleanly marked, dark Red-throated caught me again (as this plumage often does!), but it didnt look convincing enough to be anything else. A few Sanderlings and the odd Western? Willet paraded the beach and three adult Lesser Black-backed Gull went north along the sand. The Willet feeding in the pool were deep-wading birds, a habit indicative of Western.

On the pool there were 14 Tundra Swans (and 54 from the wildlife loop later), a Cackling Goose joined a couple of the swans.

poor record shot of the Cackling Goose

Along the creek opposite the visitor center, a female Greater Scaup rested and eventually gave up a few decent photos


Female Greater Scaup, showing the white spreading to the inner primaries, and a good head shape

Later in the day an increasing passage of Bonapartes Gull was seen at first struggling to get good distant looks (a 'real' "SEA GULL"?) - I then found 40 odd on a mud bar in Tom's Cove, only for them to be found, on the rising tide, feeding alongside the roadside near the visitors centre....


1st W Bonapartes Gull, Tom's Cove, Chincotaegue, 12/4/10, digiphoned & cropped

The tide running away to a midday low tide didn't help keep the waders in one place as the uber-hide tides of last month must have. I check all the Dunlin that I could find but to no avail...

<Sure there was more to be written here....> !

On the wildlife loop, impressive numbers of wildfowl were constantly being shuffled by one of the adult eagle. But that did give the oppportunity to hear the Long-billed Dowitcher flock (54!) calling for confirmation of their ID. At one point it looked like it was going to take a Teal but the duck escaped shortly before impact.
There was a huge flock of Tree Swallows over the water, I guestimated 750 although there was probably more than that.


An adult eagle about to shuffle several thousand Duck

Play by FoxSaver®

Of odd gulls and waxwings...and a dance

2010-12-02T09:32:00.001-05:00

Cold morning but with the cloud cover breaking around dawn, it warm a little by the end of my walk at 8:40

Nothing on the lake to start with and the first bird was an adult Ring-billed Gull that has large white blotches in the grey back and wings. I've seen a similar plummage partially albino bird here before, maybe it's a returning visitor. Along with the relatively light gull passage this morning, two groups of four American Herring (or should that be Smithsonian) Gulls flew over.
An excellent candidate for Black-capped Chickadee showed well at Pooh Bridge, a big, constrasty, bull-necked bird, with large white cheek patch,white bordered secondaries and some white on the coverts. I'd have like to have seen a Carolina nearby for comparison but had to wait thirty minutes before doing so (of course they are visiting the feeders at home every minute!)
Just above the slope to the riverbed, 14 Waxwings were feeding in a berry bush and taking refuge in the tree above.
Finally back near the Rusty Bridge maintenance shed, 2 Mockingbirds played out a comical dance as they faced off with each other hopping this way and that in a choreographic dance

Trying to get a good look at Chickadee's at the feeders but BOY they move fast! There are undoubtedly many Carolina around.
A very smart adult Cooper's visited the garden behind, sitting on the fence and deck for a few minutes.

C c c c cowbirds and an odd heron

2010-11-28T11:42:00.001-05:00

38* with chill NNW breeze

No sign of the Beaver this morning but the partial lodge is still under the Green Heron tree although it doesnt look like it has been added to much.

Nearby, a flock 400 or so cowbirds were feeding near the road. They were quite tame allowing fairly close approach before taking off in unison and flying straight over me before wheeling back round.


Cowbirds, just after take off, video grab

From the river bed, looking back towards the Holmes Run 'warterfall' a Great Blue Heron attracted my attention. Seemingly a juvenile moulting/moutled into adult plumage. However, looking more closely, the thigh feathers were whitish. On the folded wing there was just a small area of rufous, not always visible. When I approached the area from above (near the softball field / warbler corner) the bird flushed quickly.


GBH - yucky lighting

Mammal morning

2010-11-26T10:19:00.001-05:00

A couple of nice looks at mammals this morning. A beaver seems to have taken up residence in the small end of the lake, beneath the Green Heron tree and was watched going about the business of building a new lodge. Of course how long it will be allowed to stay is another thing but they certainly seem to be persistently returning to the site despite efforts to move them away

As I was pondering the beaver, near the building on the far side of the lake, a Raccoon came bundling out towards the road. It was scared by a passing car , changed direction and headed straight towards me, passing within 10 feet of me before seeking the shelter of the water and the Lake edge. It then swam back to roughly where it started from!

Dull and showery morning (55* though, crazy warm but will cool as the front passes). Avian activity was pretty slow. Few crows today and they seemed to be largely local birds, wandering.
On Pooh bridge, I pished up several sparrows, mainly white-throated. A winter wren joined then and was watched investigating an old new, presumably for hiding insects.

At the feeders today

2010-11-24T21:02:00.001-05:00

A male House Finch with a badly diseased right eye at the feeders today.
Busy with Carolina Chickadee, 10 or more Doves But no sighting of the Coopers for several days

Still busy researching and documenting the Dunlin, waiting on a few folks to respond.....

Inactivity and adaption

2010-11-22T09:01:00.000-05:00

A dull, misty day led to general inactivity amongst the passerines. The resulting dullness presumably led to the protracted departure from the crow roost with birds dispersing all through my visit with no particular pattern to the species mix.
On the lake there were 19 Hooded Mergansers until they started to depart around 7:40, flying off downstream toward Eisenhower.
Another adaption to the made made environment of the park, the new flood lights on the soccer field have been adopted by Starlings with 120 or so birds at first light. How long before the Coopers discover them?

Rare Wigeon and Dunlin

2010-11-21T23:34:00.001-05:00

Odd weekend as far as birding goes. The trip to Mason neck found the ducks WAY over the other side and too distant to pick out a Euro Wigeon (2 are present)

Lots of Dunlin research. -last w/e bird is turning into quite the bird.... Is it an arctica? Or is it a Russian bird as Persson is suggesting? All very interesting... Trying to get some info on arctica moult timing now.

Filled up the feeders buy only a couple of Chickadees and a single house finch today... Bas start to Feedwrwatch.

Flying visit west

2010-11-19T13:56:00.001-05:00

Almost no time in a quick 24 hrs in San Diego but the usual Western Gulls around the car hire. As the car was dropped off a pair of Brewers Blackbird flew down expectantly. The male showed a nice pale iris, the female a dark eye.

The rest....and the absentees

2010-11-17T19:19:00.001-05:00

The Rest

A nice Hermit Thrush jumped on a sparrow we were studying (White-throated as it turned out)

The Dunlin still look extraordinarily long billed to my UK eyes. The one exception being a bird that retained a significant amount of black on its belly

This from Sibley :

Greenland breeding populations (recorded several times on Atlantic coast) are smaller and shorter-billed than American, drabber in breeding plumage, and paler-breasted and grayer in nonbreeding; they molt during or after fall migration

article on arctica Dunlin

Dunlin with black belly with Sanderling and Snow Geese

Small black-legged Calidrids with Dunlin

Also wading around the Geese were Semi-p Plover, Least Sandpiper (all but one in adult type plumage), and a few small black legged peeps that should be Western Sandpipers

The Absentees

There were :

Only 3 Laughing Gulls all weekend, the Ring-bills got all the bread!

Only 1 Snowy Egret and no Tricolors, both often very numerous a little earlier

There was no mud at low tide, except around the very edges, the tides were very high. At high tide the larger waves were washing over the sand dunes and washing into the (formerly) fresh water of the pool opposite the visitors center

The sea....and eagles...

2010-11-17T19:01:00.002-05:00

Often at this time of year we get a decent sea and while this one wasn't as 'good ' as the narrow miss with a hurricane 3 years ago in October, neither was the weather as bad. A breezy, 60 degree weekend but with super high tides and the remnants of a depression offshore somewhere lead to some impressive seas.


impressive sea with gulls - and a black-bellied plover

Unfortunately the wind wants quite right or there just wasnt too much moving. Most of the Scoters and (both) Loons were pretty far out

Talking of Scoter, the easiest one to watch all weekend proved to be the (usually most difficult) White-winged Scoter with a female feeding on both days in Tom's Cove and easily, if a little distantly, watched from the comfort of the balcony outside the visitor center

As the constant reshuffling of the Snow Geese would show, Eagles were around in some numbers. Here are two shots of two that were stationary enough to be photographed,

same sea, no gulls


different eagle apparently eating a teal, tourists prepare to cycle away at speed

A fab weekend

2010-11-17T18:16:00.000-05:00

Things I should write about separately
> the sea
> the Scoter
> the geese
> the nuthatches
> the rest ( yrw. Hemit, ducks. Waders )
> Stuff missing from an earlier time (month and year)- Laughing Gull, all but 1 Snowy Egret, Tricolor Heron, mud at low tide!

But until then....

tame Brown-heads

not as tame as this pic makes it look - Ross's

weird looking dude - hybrid

Location: Chincoteague
Observation date: 11/13-14/10
Number of species: 79

Snow Goose - Chen caerulescens X
Snow x Ross's Goose (hybrid) - Chen caerulescens x rossii 1 good looking 'fake' Ross's goose, small in stature, small bill, round head but with all pink bill and grin patch
Ross's Goose - Chen rossii 3
Canada Goose - Branta canadensis 50
Tundra Swan - Cygnus columbianus 16
Gadwall - Anas strepera 30
American Wigeon - Anas americana 50
American Black Duck - Anas rubripes 250
Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos 20
Northern Shoveler - Anas clypeata 40
Northern Pintail - Anas acuta 100
Green-winged Teal - Anas crecca 250
Surf Scoter - Melanitta perspicillata X
White-winged Scoter - Melanitta fusca 1 female feeding in Tom's Cove
Black Scoter - Melanitta nigra 8
Bufflehead - Bucephala albeola 40
Common Merganser - Mergus merganser 1
Red-breasted Merganser - Mergus serrator 1
Ruddy Duck - Oxyura jamaicensis 100
Red-throated Loon - Gavia stellata 30
Common Loon - Gavia immer 50
Horned Grebe - Podiceps auritus 1
Northern Gannet - Morus bassanus 1
Brown Pelican - Pelecanus occidentalis 3
Double-crested Cormorant - Phalacrocorax auritus 100
Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias 15
Great Egret - Ardea alba 50
Snowy Egret - Egretta thula 5
Little Blue Heron - Egretta caerulea 9
Black-crowned Night-Heron - Nycticorax nycticorax 1
Black Vulture - Coragyps atratus 10
Turkey Vulture - Cathartes aura 20
Bald Eagle - Haliaeetus leucocephalus 6
Northern Harrier - Circus cyaneus 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - Accipiter striatus 3
Cooper's Hawk - Accipiter cooperii 2
Clapper Rail - Rallus longirostris 1
American Coot - Fulica americana 3
Black-bellied Plover - Pluvialis squatarola 2
Semipalmated Plover - Charadrius semipalmatus 2
Solitary Sandpiper - Tringa solitaria 3
Greater Yellowlegs - Tringa melanoleuca 3
Willet (Western) - Tringa semipalmata inornata 30
Lesser Yellowlegs - Tringa flavipes 1
Marbled Godwit - Limosa fedoa 15
Sanderling - Calidris alba 35
Western Sandpiper - Calidris mauri 2
Least Sandpiper - Calidris minutilla 4
Dunlin - Calidris alpina 10
Long-billed Dowitcher - Limnodromus scolopaceus 11
Bonaparte's Gull - Chroicocephalus philadelphia 1
Laughing Gull - Leucophaeus atricilla 3
Ring-billed Gull - Larus delawarensis 75
Herring Gull (American) - Larus argentatus smithsonianus 40
Great Black-backed Gull - Larus marinus 25
Forster's Tern - Sterna forsteri 1
Royal Tern - Thalasseus maximus 100
Belted Kingfisher - Megaceryle alcyon 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - Melanerpes carolinus 1
Downy Woodpecker - Picoides pubescens 4
Northern Flicker - Colaptes auratus 1
Carolina Chickadee - Poecile carolinensis 5
Red-breasted Nuthatch - Sitta canadensis 6
Brown-headed Nuthatch - Sitta pusilla 11 including 4 drinking from puddle behind our car
Carolina Wren - Thryothorus ludovicianus 1
Hermit Thrush - Catharus guttatus 1
Northern Mockingbird - Mimus polyglottos 1
European Starling - Sturnus vulgaris X
Yellow-rumped Warbler - Dendroica coronata X 'everywhere'
Palm Warbler - Dendroica palmarum 2
Savannah Sparrow - Passerculus sandwichensis 4
Song Sparrow - Melospiza melodia 30
Swamp Sparrow - Melospiza georgiana 5
White-throated Sparrow - Zonotrichia albicollis 1
Northern Cardinal - Cardinalis cardinalis 4
Red-winged Blackbird - Agelaius phoeniceus 50
Boat-tailed Grackle - Quiscalus major 15
House Finch - Carpodacus mexicanus 50
American Goldfinch - Spinus tristis 1
House Sparrow - Passer domesticus 1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Accipiter morning

2010-11-17T08:39:00.001-05:00

A Cooper's sitting in One of the ornamental trees in Van Dorn Street metro parking lot was unexpected. A Sharpie over the beltway at the Robinson Terminal showed typically 'no neck', small stature and snappy wing beats (yes there was congestion...surprise!)

HF with bad eyes

2010-11-11T18:43:00.002-05:00

Plenty of chickadee activity at the feeders today and the numbers of House Finch remain higher than last year. A few birds are showing the eye disease. Per Project Feederwatch

"House Finches (and to a lesser extent American Goldfinches and other species) are susceptible to House Finch disease or "mycoplasmal conjunctivitis." See the House Finch Disease Survey web site to learn more about the disease and how to diagnose it. If during a count day, you see a House Finch or an American Goldfinch that appears to have House Finch eye disease, please report the number of sick birds you see in the box provided on your checklist.
Unlike FeederWatch, the House Finch disease survey collects data on a daily basis. You may report any healthy OR sick finches that you see on NON-COUNT days by using the House Finch Disease Survey form on the House Finch Disease web site."

.

Attracting birds to feeders, aka illustrating the foodchain

2010-11-09T17:20:00.002-05:00

The new feeder model seems to be settling in and accepted. There are often 4-5 goldfinches between the two feeders and the new one being well used. A dove has learnt to feed from it if it is left too close to the railing. One Goldfinch is particularly recognizable with several white feathers on crown.
Still impressive numbers of house finches coming to feed with 4-6 often around. The sparrow mafia frequently rolls in with up to
18 birds. One female house finch was defending her feeding patch aggressive from the sparrows with some success today. The female Sparrow with white middle left tertial remains a frequent visitor.
There are more Carolina Chickadees than I remember last winter, , often three at once with four just now. A Carolina Wren and WB Nuthatch also visited today
All this activity is, I am sure, encouraging the almost daily visit from a Cooper's. Today again an adult (female?) visited; spooked everything by arriving from the left today. It rested for a few seconds and then returned in a minute or so to sit, less conspicuously, in the tree for a bit.

The other 7am

2010-11-09T09:12:00.002-05:00

First time since the tine change and of course I'm now an hour behind everything. A pleasant calm day probably resulted in successful early feeding and relatively slow birding by the time I arrived.
Nothing on the pond but 2 female-type Hooded Merganser upstream from cardinal bridge.
On the slope down to the riverbed I watched a red fox settle down to sleep in the sun but that meant that my Ruby-crowned Kinglets and Yellow-rump moved up the hill

Near the dog park a small group of sparrows included a chipping sparrow which was much less co-operative than this Junco, the former hiding away at the top of a tree while I tried to turn it into something more exotic with no luck...

Wren taxonomy

2010-11-08T15:14:00.000-05:00

Here's the scooby on the Winter Wren complex taxonomy per IOC

ENGLISH NAME UPDATES - IOC Version 2.5 (July 4, 2010)

Eurasian Wren Troglodytes troglodytes
(Change English name to Eurasian Wren follows split of North American "Winter Wrens"'; BOU choice?)

Winter Wren

Troglodytes troglodytes

Eurasian Wren

Follows split of NA Troglodytes spp

ENGLISH NAME UPDATES - IOC Version 2.6 (Oct 23, 2010)

Winter Wren Troglodytes hiemalis

Eastern Winter Wren

Troglodytes hiemalis

Winter Wren

Follow NACC reversal to simpler traditional name, IOC's original recommendation

Pacific Wren Troglodytes pacificus

Western Winter Wren

Troglodytes pacificus

Pacific Wren

Follow NACC reversal to simpler new name, IOC's original recommendation

Occoquan 11/07/10

2010-11-07T17:20:00.000-05:00

A decidedly chilly start to Sunday morning found Chrystal and I at Occoquan NWR for a local Audubon walk led by Rich Reiger and helped by Kurt Gasklil.

While we waited for the group to assemble, we saw the only Waxwings of the day, a flock of 30+ birds over towards the Ringing station. By the time we got around there, they were nowhere to be seen however. Good numbers of bluebirds were around, maybe a flock of 40 to start with and several others around the reserve. Also in good numbers, Kinglets, and unusually Golden-crowed out numbered Ruby-crowns, with maybe15 of the former and 4-5 of the latter seen during the morning

Out in the bay huge flocks of Gadwall and Coot predominated - maybe a 1000 of the duck (including later flyover flocks of a couple of hundred) and 600 Coot. Pied-billed Grebe were plentiful with maybe 30 seen, undoubtedly there were more.

In one of the streams leading down to the bay a fine Rusty Blackbird was feeding less than 30 feet away, a excellent look at a species that is often hard to see this well.

A couple of Palm Warbler were found along the 'shore' but no sign of the Orange-crowned Warbler photographed by another birder coming up from the point.

Palm and Fish

2010-11-05T15:10:00.001-05:00

Pre-Dawn, the crows were flying away from
roost in dispersed flocks. All the larger groups seemed to be almost exclusively Fish Crow with American crows in ones and twos.
On the lake 5 and then later 6 Hooded Merganser Inc 2 males where less active than the other morning - perhaps they display actively when they first arrive on site?
Passerines were pretty quiet until I found a small party in tree along the rail-track just past the Magic Spot. A skulking, but ultimately well seen, yellow Palm Warbler was in a small group of ruby-crowned kinglets and a yellow-rumped warbler. The warblers flew over to the stream-side trees, leaving the Kinglets.

New visitors

2010-11-05T13:26:00.001-05:00

A new, noticeably marked Male house sparrow with white left wing primary and right wing secondary was feeding this afternoon. I wonder how many new birds arrive unnoticed.

Pine siskin :)

Not all together unexpwcted considering there are a lot around right, nwver the less a welcome visitor to the nyger feeders from late afternoon pretty easy to pick out :
Colder darker brown
Much smaller than house finch
Crisper clear wing bar and tertial/ secondary edging and all together more contrasting
Very suble greenish edges to primary edges up towards the coverts
Very thin and subtle supercilium behind eye
Pale border to dark ear coverts and 'face'
Fine black bill

The new feeder seems to be bedding in. Not on was it visited by this bird, it had a max of 5 goldfinch today. Also several House Finch and the occasional Sparrow :(.

(In)activity at the feeders

2010-11-03T12:34:00.001-05:00

The new Nyger feeder seems to taking time o adjust to with only a Goldfinch and a House Finch seen so far. The old feeder is much more frequently used.

We seem to have a couple of female House Finch with the eye disease. One female has a fully closed eye and another has some disturbed feathering and a swollen partially closed eye (both right eyes I think from memory).

Brrrrrr....

2010-11-03T08:19:00.001-05:00

In the lake seven Hooded Merganser were found in the light mist over the lake at dawn. As the sun came up 2 of the 3 males were displaying frantically to 1 or 2 of the females. No sign or the grebe or Bufflehead of a couple if days ago.

Only a light crow passage from roost this Mir ing despite being early. Most looked like fish crows and the majority that called were. Later I found a party sitting in trees above the riverbed, one looked bigger and there were certainly odd American Crow still.

A few flocks of 20-25 Robin flew over high and smaller parties were in the trees around the picnic area.

Slow day, mad day

2010-11-01T15:58:00.001-05:00

As shown, sometimes even the sparrow and finch chaos subsides and the feeder becomes a perch.

30 mins or so later, Doves, sparrow, finches and Cardinals EXPLODE in all directions as an adult Coopers pays a visit to it's feeding station. This bird was a little smaller than the juvenile that visited the other day but nicely barred rufous.

Twitching Alexandria

2010-11-01T09:27:00.000-05:00

Checking the Birdseye iPhone app on Saturday we saw that a nearby park had Red-breasted Nuthatch reported. Neither of us knew of Chinquapin Park but on Sunday we found it just behind TC Williams HS. It was towards midday so very quiet but the stream looks a great area for migrants in the Spring (if it has water!) . The other side of the park, we found some Pines and after a little playing of Nuthatch "Toot"s soon has at least three birds calling, seeing two birds easily. Probaly female or young birds, they were pale orange underparts. They were reluctant to come down out of the Pines, feeding actively.

Returning to the car we heard one nearby (possibly one of the three) and another maybe 1/4 mile away.

The first frost

2010-11-01T09:14:00.000-05:00

A frosty morning at the park for the first time this season and, perhaps not surprisingly all the bees have moved from the still flowering plants.

Oddly no Mallard or Geese were seen to day and the long staying Hooded Merganser seems to have a new companion in the shape of an eclipse or young male Bufflehead. I judged to be a young/eclipse male by the white breast and grey side although it had a full female type head.

Down at the riverbed a pair of Killdeer were flushed and flew off towards Pooh Bridge. A male Belted Kingfisher noisily fed around the area where the two streams join. The weedy area contained a lot of birds, mostly Goldfinch but also Yellow-Rumps, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and the first of two Phoebe

Just past the Magic Spot a juvenile Sapsucker was watched. The black pectoral band becoming well developed but no red is showing on the head yet.

Crow moult

2010-10-31T08:48:00.003-05:00

Update on crow moulting from the very interesting Cornell site, contra Pyles

Fish and American Crow

"American Crows molt earlier than Fish Crows. During the summer the two species can be distinguished by their stages of molt. In much of their range American Crows breed a month or more earlier than Fish Crows (Johnston 1961, The biosystematics of American crows, Univ. of Washington Press; Clapp and Banks 1993, Raven 64: 90-98; McGowan 2001, Fish Crow (Corvus ossifragus) in Birds of North America, No. 589). In upstate New York American Crows start incubation the first week of April, while Fish Crows don't start until May. Most birds do not molt until they are finished breeding, and the molting schedules of the two crows reflect the month difference in their breeding schedule. The earliest Ithaca American Crows (non-breeders and those whose nests have failed) will start molting in June and will be finished by the end of September. Ithaca Fish Crows, on the otherhand, start molting in late July and don't finish until October."
"

A quiet Riverbend

2010-10-30T22:41:00.001-05:00

Not much happening with birds or people today. The 'new' entrance to the visitors centre gives a good reflection in early afternoon leading to a femLe Cardinal attacking her reflection for about an hour in short spells.

Crowwatch - or not, 10/29/10

2010-10-30T08:48:00.001-05:00

It’s COLD out here! 52 per the Weather Channel but brrr

17:59 few crows low over houses mainly Am, one/two Fi calling, circling
18:00 all quiet, few birds calling in mid-distance
:04 C.Chickadee wanting to come down but too scared...
:07 nothing substantial yet, a Fi calling out in the distance somewhere
:14 suddenly a cacophony from about 20 Am. (and 1 Fi!) in the trees to the left of the deck - raptor? - i dont see anything

:19 well it looks like no crow streams tonight, i wonder why? its been windy but not too bad, its been cooler but not too cold and there’s obviously some crows around, a puzzler

:24 all quiet apart from the occasional distant Am.

:25 Signing out,,,,

Lively afternnon on the deck

2010-10-29T14:04:00.001-05:00

Busy afternoon on the feeders. Mostly sparrows but 3 or more Chickadee,a Cardinal, Downy on the fat, House Finches and the first Junco sighting for the season, a Song Sparrow also joined

More Crows

2010-10-28T17:14:00.002-05:00

This morning there were 500+ crows circling over Sanger. Ave junction with Van Dorm just at dawn.

Tonight there is an amazing stream of American and Fish Crow over the community here at Hillwood. They are low, barely roof height and must have been coming over at 50-100 / minute for 15 minutes. Vast majority of the latter birds seem to have been Fish Crow

I've just taken a video of a minute or so of passage and the following is a frame from that.

537 crows in 1min 28! Even if we conservatively half that, that's about 3000 birds in 15 mins

Just because I'm smaller than you...

2010-10-28T15:19:00.000-05:00

Pretty quiet couple of days at the feeders, heavy rain yesterday morning and I was mostly absent.

A couple of Goldfinch has started to appear at the Nyger feeder. Unlike the other species they tend to just sit quietly and eat while others bounce all around them.
Fewer House Finches seen today.

Late in the day, a White-breasted Nuthatch fed at the large feeder (combination of small seed and Nyger). It was distributing seeds all over the place as it picked through the different seeds until it found a suitable one (whatever criteria that was). At one point a Mourning Dove was on the rail above it and it started some strange posturing, swaying from side-to-side, with partially open wings

Chrystal & Rob's Blog

Feb 5 2012- Moscow

Feb 4 2012 - Moscow (yes THAT Moscow!)

Jan 14 2013. Riverbend wildfowl walk - lite

Jan 8 2012

Jan 7 2012 field trials for Chrystal's new scope!

Nov 12 2011 - where did they go?

Nov 5 2011 - migrants thru Occie

23 oct 2011 - palmies

Sept 16 2011 - one extreme to another, a day in the Rockies

Nov 4 2011 - crow time again

Sep 9 2011 - out in the desert

Sep 4 2011 - the patch

Sep 1 2011- Kildeer meaning business

AUg 21 2011 a warm summer day at the patch

Aug 28 2011 after the wind...

August 11th back in uk

July 3 2011 allegany mountains

June 23rd - green heron 'colony'

June 17 - and speaking of breeding

June 18 2011 - Riverbend

May 21 2011 - Singapore!

May 11 2011

May 11 2011

May 7 2011 - warbler walk at the 'bend

May 6 2011 - monti

May 2 -at the patch

May 1 2011 - bluebirds and an overcast day at monti

April 30 2011 -at last

April 20 2011 - then sprig was here

April 12 2011 - *YAWN*

April 11 2011 - here we go....

April 10 2011 - HK Sunday

April 2011 hk birds - april 10 update

Apr 9th continued

Apr 9 2011 so that was a short Friday

April 7 2011 -

April 5 2011 - and then ...

March 31 2011 wilson bridge

April 2 2011 - i see no ships

April 4 2011 - Sparrowpalooza!

Mar 29 2011 - more goldfinch

Mar 27 2011 - after the 'big snow'

Mar 26 - spring on the way, snow tomorrow!

Mar 18 2011

March 13 2011 - back in the 'hood

March 7 2011 - zurich

March 12 2011 - back at the 'bend

March 5 2011 - Spaggers back in da 'hood

March 02 2011 - and again

Mar 01 2011 - new visitot

Feb 26 2011 - Waterfowl galore, Riverbend Park

Feb 15 - birding in cold abd snowy places

Jan 26 2011 - since we've no place to go....

Jan 25 2011 Falconsville

Jan 22 2011 - a first field trip for Birding DC - Rock Creek Park and Haines Point

Jan 21 2001 - getting brave

Jan 20 2011 - patch scenics

Jan 20 2011

Jan 19 2011 - watch out little birdies...

Jan 18 2011 - a new twist to cod

Jan 11 2011 - (another) one that got away

Jan 10 2011 - Meat!!

Jan 09 2011 - Keep off the Ice

A mini invasion

And the first 2011 bird is....

Dec 22-27 2010 - Josephine lives!

Smile please!

Keep off the ice....

i spy dinner...

Winter arrives at the park

Another day at the seaside

Of odd gulls and waxwings...and a dance

C c c c cowbirds and an odd heron

Mammal morning

At the feeders today

Inactivity and adaption

Rare Wigeon and Dunlin

Flying visit west

The rest....and the absentees

April 12 2011 - YAWN