And Robins are back!!

American Robin, Turdus migratorius
Lynn's photo

What's not to be happy about? A big wave of migrating birds has come in with the recent south winds and warm weather. On campus we've seen lots and lots of robins these past two weeks. Elsewhere in the state, folks on the coast are monitoring the plankton blooms to get ready for the gulls which follow. Large blackbird flocks are noticeable even to the casual observer driving along the interstates. One late afternoon I watched many small skeins of Canada Geese moving northward.

Yesterday evening at home I heard two American Woodcock calling - "peenting" as birders hear it, followed shortly by the whistling sound made as the bird spirals back to the earth. These sounds are part of their early spring mating display. The males will call from a small patch of open ground then take off skyward, flying so high they're almost lost to our sight. Then they perform a sort of spiralling freefall back to their patch of turf, air rushing past specially modified wing feathers to make the whistling sound that we hear.

Watch for Red-tailed Hawks performing their dramatic aerial duets. Watch for the first moth, the first butterfly on the first dandelion, the first salamander crossing the road on a warm rainy night.

The return of spring still thrills this Homo sapiens, who lives in a world where so many people seem to shut out the natural world.
No way, I say hooray for spring - let's all go out and get MUDDY!!

West Campus bird list for the two week period from February 27th through today, March 9th, 2012:

Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Killdeer
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
Red-tailed Hawk
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
10. Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
American Crow
Fish Crow
Bluejay
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
European Starling
20. Northern Cardinal
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
27. House Sparrow

Blackbirds arrived this week!

Basically an unseasonably warm stretch, but overnight last night (23rd-24th) it snowed. Just an inch or two, then changed to fine rain, and now, at the end of the afternoon, the temperature is still low enough that the snow lingers.


One of our local Red-tailed Hawks, Buteo jamaicensis.
Lynn's photo.

Birds for the two week period from February 13-17 and 20-24th, 2012.

Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk - a kettle of seven birds, a mix of five "tails" and two
Cooper's Hawk (probably) - which did NOT include our two local Red-tails
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
10. Northern Flicker

American Crow
Fish Crow
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
Northern Mockingbird
American Robin
European Starling
Northern Cardinal
20. Song Sparrow


An old familiar tune is back on campus - the Song Sparrows are singing!
Lynn's photo. Melospiza melodia melodia

House Finch
American Goldfinch
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
26. House Sparrow

Just the regulars...

Red-tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, photo Lynn Jones

The "tails" have been more noticeable these last two weeks. Three were seen more-or-less together one morning over West Campus. Lynn recently photographed this beautiful dark adult.

No snow cover, night-time temperatures in the twenties, daytime temps in the forties - this seems more like mid-March than February. The birds are usually around our feeders when it's particularly cold, or when a storm is threatening, but with the milder temperatures, they've been rather scarce.

Still we've managed a two-week list of twenty three species.

Birds seen at West Campus between January 30th and February 10th, 2012:

Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Turkey Vulture


Lynn caught this male Wild Turkey displaying yesterday.

Red-tailed Hawk
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker

American Crow
Fish Crow
Blue Jay
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird

European Starling
Black-capped Chickadee
Carolina Wren
Northern Cardinal
White-throated Sparrow

House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow


same handsome fellow as above, now you can appreciate the detail

January 2012

We've been birding and blogging at West Campus for two and a half years now, compiling quite a list of bird species, and documenting seasonal changes in the process. Occasionally we submit a list to e-bird, a website developed by Cornell University for the purpose of collecting and sharing data on bird sightings. (see end of blog post)

Usually when we contribute a list to e-bird it's because we've either seen something "good" that we want to share, or because we've done a thorough survey, such as the Christmas Count or a hawk watch. Advocates of e-bird would like us birders to get in the habit of submitting ALL of our birding efforts, to better document year-round bird activity in our favored "hot-spots".

Although we understand the reasons, we don't necessarily always have the time. Ultimately e-bird is happy to get whatever data we citizen scientists are willing to volunteer. As an end-user of e-bird data I certainly appreciate a plethora of birding reports. For example, over the semester break I was birding in Florida, and was able to check the reports of other e-birders to plan my stops.

I checked for species, such as the Florida Scrub-Jay (Florida's only endemic bird), and the Red-cockaded Woodpecker (a vulnerable species). Searches can also be made by specific location, such as Sanibel Island or the Anhinga Trail within Everglades National Park. Ultimately, e-bird is just one of many tools a birder can use to find good places to go birding.


We finally have some snow cover, and look what shows up...

I haven't posted our list here on the blog in over a month - feeder activity has been s-l-o-w, but I'll list the birds we've seen since the start of the new year. Many of these birds are using our assorted feeding stations, placed in the courtyard where we can observe. I'll just write "feeder" after these species.

West Campus bird list for the first three weeks of 2012:

1. Wild Turkey - feeder
Canada Goose
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
5. Merlin
Ring-billed Gull
Herring Gull
Mourning Dove - feeder
Rock Pigeon
10. Downy Woodpecker - feeder
Red-bellied Woodpecker - feeder
Blue Jay - feeder
American Crow
European Starling
15. Black-capped Chickadee - feeder
Carolina Wren
American Robin
Northern Cardinal - feeder
Dark-eyed Junco - feeder
20. Song Sparrow - feeder
White-throated Sparrow - feeder
Fox Sparrow - feeder
American Goldfinch
House Finch - feeder
25. House Sparrow - feeder

Here's a link to e-bird. http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ You'll see there's a lot to explore, and Cornell continues to improve the user interface as well as the data-generating possibilities.

112th Annual Christmas Bird Count

The year 2011 is the 112th CBC, the first official Christmas Bird Count was in the year 1900. There's a pretty long run of citizen science for you.

As we have for over a decade, Tom, Lynn and I each participated in our own regional counts on Saturday, which meant West Campus was not counted that day. Instead we counted here today, and by the official rules we cannot add numbers, only species to the official tally - and only if it's a species that was not found in the New Haven circle on Saturday.

Two years ago our Barred Owl was added as one of these "count week" species. Today we weren't able to add any new species, but put in a good birding effort anyway.

Here are the results:

number in party: 3 (Lynn, me, Tom)
party hours: 7 (6:45 to 2:15 with a lunch break)
weather conditions: cold 20-28F, clear and calm in the early morning, partly cloudy and breezy through the mid-day.
no snow, moving water was open, still water with thin ice
number of species: 34
number of individual birds: 454

31 Canada Goose
1 Mute Swan
5 Wild Turkey
1 Turkey Vulture
4 Red-tailed Hawk

75 Ring-billed Gull
20 Herring Gull
30 Rock Pigeon
10 Mourning Dove
3 Red-bellied Woodpecker

6 Downy Woodpecker
1 Northern Flicker
7 Blue Jay
40 American Crow
1 Fish Crow

8 Black-capped Chickadee
1 Tufted Titmouse
2 White-breasted Nuthatch
2 Carolina Wren
3 Ruby-crowned Kinglet

1 Hermit Thrush
50 American Robin
1 Gray Catbird
2 Northern Mockingbird
43 European Starling

9 Song Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
14 White-throated Sparrow
1 White-crowned Sparrow
2 Dark-eyed Junco

14 Northern Cardinal
45 House Finch
10 American Goldfinch
20 House Sparrow

An excellent birding effort - beats our 2009 number by one, and the 2010 number by several - but last year's search was hampered by two feet of snow on the ground!

2010 results here
2009 results here

Mid-December update

Immature Cooper's Hawk, Accipiter cooperi, perched just a few meters above our feeders one morning last week. photo: Lynn Jones

December is just not a normal month. There's the transition from late fall to winter, when those warmish days are just fewer and farther between, and we resign ourselves to the fact of cold weather.
We have ways to deal with this.

If you're connected to students and the academic world in any way, there are end-of-semester issues. Grades and evaluations are due, plans are sketched out for second semester, last-minute challenges are par for the course.
We have ways to deal with this too.

And then there's the craziness of the "holiday season". THIS is self-inflicted, I mean the craziness part. The holidays, well they've all been around longer than we have, but what have we done to make them so crazy?
We have ways to deal with this too - GO BIRDING!!!!

It's time for the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count, so tomorrow instead of joining the shopping craziness we birders will be out driving and walking our "territories" in search of every last chickadee, gull and wandering warbler we can find.


New squirrel baffle for one of our feeders - provided by Tony - the other two feeders are there in the background - one for sunflower seeds and the other for thistle seeds, which the finches are supposed to prefer.

West Campus bird list for the past two weeks, December 5-9 and 12-16, 2011:

Wild Turkey
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
10. Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
American Robin
European Starling
Northern Mockingbird
Black-capped Chickadee
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
20. Dark-eyed Junco
House Finch
American Goldfinch

Twenty two species for the middle of December - probably just about what you'd expect.

Next week, Lynn and I will report on our West Campus Christmas Bird Count.

Sue and Lynn - West Campus birders - with camera trap.

The segue from November to December this week brought a few cold nights, but warm daytime temperatures linger still. Our sparrow population is down, but a good variety of thicket-haunting birds was around this week.

Ruby-crowned and
Golden-crowned Kinglets

Carolina and
House Wrens

Northern Mockingbirds and
Gray Catbirds

Dark-eyed Juncos and a
White-throated Sparrow

Blue Jays and
American Crows

House Finches and
American Goldfinches

Mourning Doves and
Rock Pigeons

Downy Woodpeckers and
Red-bellied Woodpeckers


Lynn keeps the courtyard feeders full.

Black-capped Chickadees and a
Northern Cardinal

American Robins and
European Starlings

Ring-billed and
Herring Gulls


Wild Turkey flock browsing? grazing? one morning this week.

Wild Turkey flocks
Canada Goose flocks, and a
Red-tailed Hawk
and always a few
House Sparrows

Twenty six species for the week - again, a week in which we didn't get outside much during the workday, but saw our good skulkers before work in the mornings.

Nocturnal visitors

Okay, here's something fun we've been trying for a few weeks - off and on...
We noticed some unusually large scat out in the courtyard and set up our camera trap to see who the nocturnal visitors might be. The possibilities are limited, since the area is only accessible via the trees - or via flight.


Virginia Opossum, Didelphis virginianus - North America's only native marsupial.

We were thinking it could have been a Gray Fox, since they're arboreal - and the scat was fairly large - so we'll keep trying! - fun stuff.

Bird list for the last few weeks (November 14-18 and 21-23, 2011):

Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Red-tailed Hawk
6. Cooper's Hawk

Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Downy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
11. Northern Flicker

Blue Jay
American Crow
Fish Crow
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
18. Cedar Waxwing


Celastrus scandens, Oriental Bittersweet - bad weed, but good food supply for the birds.

Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
House Wren
23. Carolina Wren

Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
House Finch
28. American Goldfinch
Brown-headed Cowbird
Baltimore Oriole - two!!
31. House Sparrow


Diverse habitat near the Leaf Pile - some bittersweet, some Phragmites, some open woodland.

This is often a good place for morning bird activity - in fact on a warm, humid morning earlier this week, this spot was alive with birdsong. Robins were singing, the Baltimore Oriole sang a few notes, White-throated and Song Sparrows joined in. Felt like spring!

An unseasonably warm week - such a pleasure, after a string of frosty mornings, well, and not to forget the big snowstorm 2 weeks back.

Bird list for the week of November 7-11, 2011.

Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow - 89 birds counted
Fish Crow - 12 birds counted
(the West Haven crow roost is gathering again!)


American and Fish Crows gather on a West Campus rooftop.

American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Carolina Wren
Black-capped Chickadee
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Eastern Towhee
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow

Catching up

fall colors afloat on the Oyster River

Among other excuses, I have had a cold for the past two weeks and opted to stay indoors knitting, rather than go out birding - so, the list this week is 100% attributable to Ms. Lynn Jones - her photos too.

Bird list for the week of October 31 through Nov 4th.

Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Great Blue Heron


Ardea herodias, G B H, passing through West Campus

Ring-billed Gull
5. Herring Gull
Killdeer
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
American Kestrel
11. Mourning Dove

Rock Pigeon
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
American Crow
16. Fish Crow
Common Raven
Blue Jay


A small amount of birding involves unsolved mysteries. Here's half a hawk Lynn saw this week. An immature Buteo? - I was going for young Red-tail, based on the rufous head, pale belly, dark back, vertical streaking. Who knows?...

American Robin
Hermit Thrush
21. Tree Swallow

European Starling
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Black-capped Chickadee
Song Sparrow
26. White-throated Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Brown-headed Cowbird
31. House Sparrow


Here's a beauty - the Blue-headed Vireo, Vireo solitarius, Lynn saw last week.

New Haven Bird Club's Feederwatch (link, or see below) started this week, and Lynn has begun keeping a tally of our feeder birds, as she has for the past two winters. So far, the usual visitors are a pair of Blue Jays, a few chickadees and sparrows, Mourning Doves, woodpeckers and a gray squirrel. This week a huge flock of juncos descended - sixty at the highest count!

NHBC 19th Annual Winter Feeder Survey November 1, 2011 through March 31, 2012 This is a yearly census to help determine the number and frequency of birds visiting feeders in the Greater New Haven area. You are invited to observe and record the activity at your feeder at least once a week for the entire time period. Contact-Peter Vitali: 203.288.0621,vitali_peter_e@sbcglobal.net

So, in last week's post I mentioned a taste of winter, with more to come. Saturday, October 29th the northeastern US was hit with a snowstorm - a nor'easter on a scale usually only seen in mid-winter. [hmm, interestingly, I took no photos] Parts of the state were without power for 7, 8, nine days, as heavy snow brought down trees which still had a full complement of leaves.

Read Scott Kruitbosch's well-written account of the storm - from the perspective of a birder. Local news media provided plenty of coverage of the storm's aftermath - from the perspective of disgruntled customers of the state's electric utilites. Now, close to two weeks after the storm, here's a link to a blog in which the writer posted power outage maps for October 31st.