Jan 20 2011

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...

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.

Accipiter morning

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!)

Slow day, mad day

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.

End of feederwatch for a while...

16:03 I'd been watching the feeders on the deck for a while this afternoon and was just starting an article on differentiating American and Fish crows when this HUGE thing landed on the small table. I slowly looked up so as not to spook it and found a juvenile Cooper's Hawk about 12 feet away. It looked around , hopped up on the railing and then, after a brief visit next door was off.

I'm guessing we won't see any Dives for a while but a squirrel and Chickadee were back within 6 minutes

A near miss..

A couple of hours at Ben Brenman Park with Chrystal, we started early, arriving just after dawn.
The cloud formations were dramatic in the early like and a light breeze was gently agitating the leaves - finding warblers was going to be a challenge!
In the area area the picnic shelter near the dog park the were a few warblers, we had good views of 5 different Parulas. One bird was a very pale young bird, looking quite exotic until really good views were had (that is not to say this isnt one of the more exotic species anyway :) ).
There were good numbers of American Robin and Flicker in the bushes and flying over and Blue Jays were making themselves obvious both in the bushes and a small flock of 10 birds flying over.
As we passed over 'Pooh Bridge' a juvenile Night Heron flew over us towards where the rivers join. We elected to go to 'Cardinal Bridge' and immediately found it (black-crowned of course) on a low branch just down stream. We both spent some quality time looking at it through the 'scope with frame filling views. A beautiful, well marked individual with large spots and a subtle different tone to the base of the greater coverts - a slightly more rufous brown contrasting with the sandy brown remaining plumage base color.
Chrystal found a Magnolia Warbler nearby and following it across the stream, it joined two more.
As we were looking upstream, a coopers hawk passed low overhead (we had watched it fly in the other direction earlier). Suddenly it dived into the stream side trees only to appear a second later in hot pursuit of a birf that plunged into the water to avoid becoming breakfast. As the hawk flew away, we watched the Green Heron extracate itself from the stream and find a place to dry off.
Many folks around this morning in pleasantly warm temperatures (70* at dawn!). The usual dog walkers of course most of which are always happy to share their canine charges. A few folks showed an interest and some a good birding knowledge ("was that a Coopers?") including a couple who moved into Cameron Station yesterday after being deployed in Italy.