Quiet rambling bird walk today

Another fairly quiet, warm-in-the-sun, cool-in-the-shade sort of day. We walked the west side of A21 and circumnavigated the B's, following the brushy plantings and pausing on the bridge awhile. The autumn olives and other fruiting trees are a real bird-magnet these days.

birders: Lynn and Sue

birds:

Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura

Red-tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis

Canada Goose, Branta canadensis

Herring Gull, Larus argentatus

Eastern Phoebe, Sayornis phoebe
Cedar Waxwing, Bombycilla cedrorum

American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos

Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata

Brown Creeper, Certhia americana

http://www.saaudubon.org/Photos/BrownCreeper_SSchaezler.jpg

Black-capped Chickadee, Poecile atricapilla
Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Regulus calendula

American Robin, Turdus migratorius

Northern Mockingbird, Mimus polyglottos

Northern Cardinal, Cardinalis cardinalis

Savannah Sparrow, Passerculus sandwichensis

White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis

Dark-eyed Junco, Junco hyemalis

Brown-headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater

Thursday birding

Thursday lunchtime was freakishly quiet, but maybe we've reached that time of year - when the migrants are gone, the sparrows have plentiful natural food, and all that we see are the more common hangers-on.
today's birders: Lynn, Scott, Nick
today's birds:
Blue Jay
White-throated Sparrow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
House Finch
Canada Goose
Dark-eyed Junco
American Crow

Ring-billed Gull http://www.wqed.org/birdblog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/RBGU_Ring-billed_Gull_47_rsz_ct.jpg
and another sad window-strike saga
Song Sparrow - dead
Thrush - stunned and recovered (maybe)

Wednesday Birdwalk

We're staying inside today - no organized Wednesday birdwalk. Just too wet to be slogging around out there in sneakers. Maybe instead I'll work on a plan to protect the birds from our window hazards. This is what Lynn picked up in the A-21 courtyard yesterday morning - probably a few days' accumulation.

left to right:
Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco
Melospiza melodia, Zonotrichia albicollis, Junco hyemalis

Field Triiip!!!

A windy, rainy lunch hour today - didn't think there would be many birds around, so we abandoned our plan to walk in the woods and escaped to the beach. Less than a ten-minute drive away, we stopped first at South Beach in West Haven, then made our way north-eastward, stopping along the way for coastal birds.

These birds don't count as West Campus birds, and indeed some of them would NEVER be seen in our landscaped and forested habitats.
Today's birders: Sue and Lynn


Today's birds:
Peregrine Falcon, cruising over the beach, stirred up a flock of:
Semipalmated Sandpipers and a
Black-bellied Plover
American Oystercatcher, three
Brant, a flock feeding in shallow water
Black Duck
Double-crested Cormorant
Great black-backed Gull
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Laughing Gull
Gray Catbird
House Sparrow
European Starling
Rock Pigeon

Additional Campus birds:
Wild Turkey (Nate's sighting)

American Crow (huge flock in the courtyard-Barbara's sighting)

Blue Jay

Brown Creeper (Tom's sighting)

Monk Parakeet, more on this one another day (Tom's sighting)

15 species for our little field trip:
Falco peregrinus
Calidris pusilla
Pluvialis squatarola
Haematopus palliatus
Branta bernicla

Anas rubripes
Phalacrocorax auritus

Larus marinus

Larus argentatus

Larus delawarensis

Larus atricilla

Dumetella carolinensis

Passer domesticus

Sturnus vulgaris

Columba livia

plus the campus birds:

Meleagris gallopavo

Corvus brachyrhynchos

Cyanocitta cristata

Certhia americana

Myopsitta monachus

No birding today.

What a sad title!
Hopefully we all got in a little birding yesterday - a beautiful warm Sunday which followed Saturday's south winds and pouring rain.
So, yes, I wasn't able to get out birding at lunchtime today, but thought I'd share a photo Lynn took last week. She was checking the ground below a huge expanse of glass, a multi-level building connector here on West Campus, and found a Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

Regulus calendula, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, photo-Lynn Jones

This little guy had been stunned by a window-strike, and was sitting below the window, eyes closed. As it sat for photos, it must have regained strength, and eventually flew up into a nearby pine. Today, as she approached the same place, Lynn noticed a lot of small-bird activity in the shrubbery, and sure enough there was another vicitim. This time a Golden-crowned Kinglet, which also seemed to recover, and fly away.

Research on window-strikes has shown that 50% of the birds that are able to fly away, eventually die from their injuries. Cornell University's Laboratory of Ornithology has a lot of information collected in one place, if you're interested in reading more:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Publications/Birdscope/Summer2008/window_screening.html

Friday October 23rd

Gray and blustery today, so we decided to head into the woods for our birds. We walked the perimeter fence at the south end of campus as far as the Oyster River. This swampy area was full of small birds, and one White-tailed Deer - likely the same buck we saw on Wednesday.

Todays birders: Lynn and Sue
Today's birds:
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk (being pestered by crows and bluejays)
Canada Goose
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Northern Flicker (heard only)
Eastern Phoebe
American Crow
Blue Jay
American Robin
Hermit Thrush
Black-capped Chickadee (quite a little flock)
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Cardinal
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
and
Swamp Sparrow

http://mdc.mo.gov/nathis/birds/sparrows/images/spar12.jpg

What we didn't see today.

Ever notice how sometimes you notice something because it's NOT there rather than because it IS there? We have seen Eastern Phoebes every day we've been out birding, for four weeks now. And today we didn't see them. We were in a somewhat different habitat than our usual daily walks, but we have seen them throughout campus. So keep your eyes open for our Phoebes. They are usually among the last migrants to leave in the fall (and the first to arrive in the spring) so they could easily be around into November. Eastern Phoebes usually spend the winter in the southern U.S. and Mexico.

Eastern Phoebe in fall plumage.
http://animal.discovery.com/guides/wild-birds/d-h/eastern-phoebe.html

Wednesday bird walk.

A good group went exploring at lunchtime today, checking for birds in the brushy edges around the south end of West Campus. Overcast with no wind, temp. in the low 60's.

Today's birders: Sue, Lynn, Tom, Kristof, Brian and Becky.

thanks for taking the photo Becky

Today's birds:

Wild Turkey (seen earlier in the morning)

Canada Goose

Merlin (fly-over, good eye Becky!)

Herring Gull

Rock Pigeon (seen earlier in the morning)

Mourning Dove (seen earlier in the morning)

Northern Flicker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (late afternoon, near Tom's bldg.)

Red-bellied Woodpecker (late afternoon, near Tom's bldg.)

American Crow

Blue Jay

American Robin

Gray Catbird

European Starling

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

House Finch

http://www.chickendancetrail.com/images/birdpics/HouseFinch.jpg

American Goldfinch

Song Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

Eastern Towhee (heard only)

House Sparrow

Common Grackle

Red-winged Blackbird

And, while we watched for finches, sparrows and warblers amongst the brambles of bittersweet, autumn olive and goldenrod, a white-tailed deer strolled through the scene, his head and antlers just visible above the vegetation!

Tuesday's birds

The brushy hillside down from the A21 parking lot - fine habitat for sparrows etc.

A rather quiet day, calm and sunny. The birds were quiet too.

Birders: Lynn and Sue

Birds:

Wild Turkey

Red-tailed Hawk

Ring-billed Gull

Killdeer - three

http://www.hse.k12.in.us/staff/cvanalstine/images/Killdeer.jpg

Mourning Dove

Downy Woodpecker

Eastern Phoebe

American Robin

Hermit Thrush

European Starling

House Sparrow

American Crow

Blue Jay

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Black-capped Chickadee

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Palm Warbler

Song Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow - huge flock

Dark-eyed Junco

Eastern Towhee

Common Grackle

http://www.birdzilla.com/images/stories/450images/common-grackle-450.jpg

Grackles are often seen in huge mixed flocks with other blackbirds at this time of year. Lynn saw a few individuals on campus this morning.

BIRD WALK TOMORROW, 12:30, MEET IN PARKING LOT BEHIND EDUCATION CENTER/ DAYCARE CENTER - access is from within West Campus

Windowkills in the A21 courtyard

So, this is where we pick up 90% of our windowkills. Scattering birds get not only a view to the sky and trees beyond, but also reflections of the trees within the courtyard.

This morning, after the weekend, there were two victims, a junco and a sparrow. Research shows that the best deterrent is to completely cover the window area with a screen. The commonly used raptor decals work only if placed very close together - this window would need about 100, just on this side. More on this topic when I have more time.
As I approached the window to take that photo, a stunned Eastern Phoebe flew up right in front of me, to perch in the tree above.

photo by me! Susan Hochgraf

And this is one of the curious Yellow-rumped Warblers who actually came close enough to be photographed by my little Nikon Coolpix 7600.

Monday birds.

Bright and cold this morning after yesterday's snowshower, but breezy and pleasant at lunchtime, so we headed out to see what we could see.

birders: Lynn and Sue

birds:

Red-tailed Hawk

Rock Pigeon

Mourning Dove

Downy Woodpecker

Eastern Phoebe

Blue Jay

American Crow

European Starling

Hermit Thrush

American Robin

Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Black-capped Chickadee

Blue-headed Vireo
Yellow-rumped Warbler - many

Song Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow

Dark-eyed Junco

and

Northern Waterthrush!!

http://kvr.state.wi.us/birds/bird_photo_get.asp?photoid=217&locid=115

West Campus habitats

Here's the front entrance to my building, A21, early this morning, where we've seen Palm Warbler, Yellow-rumped Warbler, and Hermit Thrush, as well as the common sparrows.

And here's one of the landscaped edges, where we've seen sparrows, juncos, towhee, and many other birds, including the Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Blue-headed Vireo in the tree-tops. More habitat photos to come... the courtyard and the really brushy slope.

Friday's triumph

Well, for those of you not in Connecticut, yesterday after the rain we had snow - just a little, but who needs that! Today it's still cool, breezy and overcast but at least it's not snowing. After lunch we took twenty minutes to look in the scrubby edges around the big warehouse, then mid-afternoon did a quick survey of the A21 courtyard... And still the sparrows come.
today's birders: Lynn and Sue
today's birds:
Red-tailed Hawk
Canada Goose
Rock Pigeon
Eastern Phoebe
American Crow
Blue Jay
Hermit Thrush
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Chipping Sparrow - biiig flock
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Field Sparrow - several today
Savannah Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
and, yessss
Lincoln's Sparrow, photo below

http://www.suttoncenter.org/images/Lincoln%27sSparrowHeck.jpg
And, while leaving the building this afternoon, two more birds:
Palm Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
I'm almost certain we've seen both of these already, so neither are new for our list, but beautiful little birds. Palm warbler below.

home.comcast.net/~kontonicolas/trips_capemay.htm

Lynn's Thursday birds

Yesterday during the sparrow fall-out, we had some good birds right in the A21 courtyard. All birding was done through the windows, since it was pouring rain at the time.

birders: Lynn and Nick

birds:

Eastern Phoebe

Song Sparrow - many

White-throated Sparrow - many

Dark-eyed Junco - many

Brown Creeper - again!... the same one as yesterday?

and

Field Sparrow - yup, another new bird

http://www.mariewinn.com/marieblog/uploaded_images/field-sparrow-1-713194.jpg

On second thought.

A troubling sparrow yesterday which was neither Song Sparrow nor Lincoln's Sparrow (I'm still trying for one!) turns out to have been a Savannah Sparrow. So, yesterday's count was 22 species, with four of them new for our list. Oh yes, counting the Black-capped Chickadee that Annette saw at the feeder, it's a day record of 23 species.
http://www.conservationphotos.com/Merchandise.htm
Incidentally, all along Connecticut's shoreline yesterday morning was a huge sparrow fall-out. Here's a good introduction to what this means: http://10000birds.com/fallout-fun.htm

October 14th

Too many birds, too little time. Another lunchtime stroll around the parking lot, and behind the old warehouse building. THREE new birds!
Birders: Lynn and Sue
Birds:
Red-tailed Hawk
Osprey
Downy Woodpecker
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Eastern Phoebe
Blue-headed Vireo (Vireo solitarius solitarius)
American Crow
Blue Jay
American Robin
Swainson's Thrush
Hermit Thrush
House Wren
European Starling
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Brown Creeper
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Eastern Towhee (heard only, today)
Eastern Meadowlark

http://www.birdspix.com/Species%20folders/Eastern%20Meadowlark/Eastern%20Meadowlark%20240%20cr.jpg

I think that was all for today - but it was tough to come back inside and leave the heard-but-not-seen birds undiscovered.

Birders at work!

Thanks for the photo Lynn. From last Friday's outing in the rain, here are Nick and I scanning for whatever's out there!

Tuesday lunchtime walk

With a tip that a small hawk had been seen yesterday over the A21 parking lot, we headed out at lunchtime hopeful...
today's birders: Lynn, Judy, Nate, Sue
today's birds:
Cooper's Hawk, Accipiter cooperi, flushed from trees near the parking lot (new, thanks for the tip Tony and Nate)
Sharp-shinned Hawk, Accipiter striatus, two overhead (new)
Turkey Vulture, Cathartes aura, one over the parking lot
Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura
Gull, Larus species, flew overhead
Eastern Phoebe, Sayornis phoebe
American Crow, Corvus brachyrhynchos
Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata
American Robin, Turdus migratorius
European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia
White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis

www.symbolicmessengers.com/Coopers_Hawk

Monday October 12th

Wow! more great lunchtime bird sightings. We walked the brushy perimeter of the parking lot up near A21, and added three new species to our West Campus list (in boldface).


Red-tailed Hawk
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
European Starling
American Crow
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee - first visitor at our birdfeeder!
Swainson's Thrush - another one!
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Solitary Vireo - beautiful little bird!
Eastern Towhee (photo below)
Dark-eyed Junco - at least a dozen today
White-throated Sparrow
Song Sparrow - at least a dozen just in the courtyard




http://www.geocities.com/tgrey41/Pages/EasternTowheep.html

It's Friday...

Around 8 this morning I checked out the "sparrow place" to see if anything was around. Several Song Sparrows, a White-throated Sparrow, a Catbird, a Phoebe, a Cardinal, a brief glimpse of a warbler. No sign of my White-crowned Sparrow. At lunchtime, in light rain, Lynn, Nick and I went back again! Song Sparrows, Catbird, Northern Yellowthroat, Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jays, Northern Flicker, heard a Towhee, and had many Robins. As the rain became more persistent we moved on to another spot, took shelter under some white pines and found three tiny Golden-crowned Kinglets feeding busily right overhead. (googled photo below) Our last stop - all still within the large parking areas at the south end of West Campus - yielded a large mixed flock of Robins and Flickers. Seriously, there were at least a dozen Flickers. To wrap up the outing, add House Sparrows, Rock Pigeons, Mourning Doves, Crows, Turkeys, Starlings, Cowbirds, Canada Geese, unid. gull flyover.

Wednesday October 7th

Wednesday birdwalk. Lynn's back from her vacation trip to Germany, but Nick has gone back to Peabody's main campus, so today's walk was just Lynn and me. Today dawned gray with heavy rain - so we thought there would be no birdwalk, but instead, very blustery winds blew the storm through, and we spent fifteen minutes looking at sparrows in the grassy-brushy areas near one of West Campus' big parking lots. Many Song Sparrows, a few White-throated Sparrows, several American Robins enjoying ripe fruit in the Autumn Olive bushes, a Chipping Sparrow, which may yet turn into a Field Sparrow (I'll keep you posted). Small flock of Herring Gulls keeping company with our resident Canada Geese, four Rock Pigeons breezed through, Bluejays called from the woods - and I'm leading up to my bird-of-the-day - a lifer for me - a White-crowned Sparrow. For those of you who may be non-birders, a lifer is a bird for my "life-list", or if a list is not actually kept, it is the first time I've seen this bird. This photo again, taken from the web. These birds are residents of the western states, but not uncommonly seen in the east. This bird was photographed in Connecticut.

Cicada found last week

I've done some research on the cicada we found last week... It's an annual cicada (as opposed to a periodic cicada), of the genus Tibicen, family Cicadidae, order Hemiptera. Some members of this large genus are known as dog day cicadas, because they hatch during the dog days of late summer. Thanks Ray, for helping with the ID. Here's my photo again, enlarged.

Tuesday Oct. 6th

So, at lunchtime today, the usual flock of Mourning Doves - and another window-kill, the small flock of American Robins, and the Gray Catbird again. There was a good-sized mixed flock of sparrows feeding around the edges of the courtyard, under the shrubbery, and, try as I might, I could not make any of them into a Lincoln's Sparrow. A few White-throats, many Song Sparrows, many Chipping Sparrows, and, not to disappoint my birding effort, a single Dark-eyed Junco. So, no matter what the thermometer has been reading these last few days... 65, 75 degrees, we now know for sure that winter is coming. An old common name for our Junco was Snowbird - you can see a northern bias in a name like that, but in New England anyway, the Juncos really do arrive for the winter. an anonymously published photo from the web

Monday October 5th

Another windy, though warm morning in our little courtyard. Nick and I saw several Mourning Doves, a small flock of American Robins, Song Sparrows, Chipping Sparrows. A flock of Cedar Waxwings flew overhead earlier in the morning, they'll probably be around all winter, since we have so many fruiting trees out at West Campus. Another new bird for our courtyard list - we had two Gray Catbirds skulking in the shrubbery, but giving themselves away with a raspy
"meaow". And now, unfortunately, I report that we had THREE windowkills over the weekend. Two Mourning Doves and a beautiful little Lincoln's Sparrow. I've never seen a Lincoln's Sparrow in life, so it's pretty sad to see it for the first time dead. In the photo, the White-throated Sparrow from Friday is the upper bird, the Lincoln's the lower.

Swainson's Thrush

Since the Swainson's Thrush was a pretty exciting find in the A21 courtyard last Friday, I thought I'd find out a little about it's fall and winter habits. This info elaborated on, and taken from Cornell University's Birds of North America Online: this thrush is generally a nocturnal migrant, but stopover migrants move locally during the day. Migrating birds call to each other continuously while in flight. Telemetry data suggest that individuals depart shortly after sunset in clear conditions, later under cloudy conditions and maintain constant heading and air speed regardless of wind conditions, cloud cover, or landmarks. While overwintering in Central America and Northern South America, the Swainson's Thrush is known to follow army ant swarms! Gotta love biology.

Friday's birds!

It was a great day for birds in the A21 courtyard today. Nick and I went out at lunchtime for half an hour and saw:

Downy Woodpecker
Mourning Dove - 2
Eastern Phoebe
American Robin - 6
Swainson's Thrush - beautiful photo below that I raided from google
House Wren
Palm Warbler
Song Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
House Sparrow
heard a Buteo, probably our resident Red-tailed Hawk
and picked up a windowkilled White-throated Sparrow