Birding W-C presentation

Wednesday, Lynn and I were in the spotlight for a West Campus Brown Bag Lunch Presentation. "A Bird in the Hand is worth Two in the Bush - Why Bird Conservation at West Campus Matters"


Sue and Lynn with specimens from the collection, displayed for our audience.

We set up a slide show, narrating the photos as we progressed from Past, through Present, to Future. The historical overview of conservation and education efforts by Bayer employees from 2000 to 2006 was pretty enlightening to our small audience. I'll have to fill you in on this another time.

The core of our presentation took us through a full year of birding on the campus, spanning the seasons, habitats, food sources, nesting, migration and species surveys. We ended with some hopes for future conservation efforts, in the direction of providing nest boxes for two of the state's "species of special concern" - the American Kestrel and the Purple Martin.


After the presentation, Sue T. and Maureen explore the display of mounted specimens, study skins, field notebooks and equipment (while munching on sugar cookies - hummingbirds and owls).

So, we DID get some birding done this week, between bouts of preparing for our presentation.

Birds for the final week of October:
Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Red-tailed Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Northern Flicker

Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Common Raven
American Crow
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
European Starling
Gray Catbird
Black-capped Chickadee
Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Golden-crowned Kinglet
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Okay, that's thirty species for the week - with some pretty nice birds in the list. Fun to have good looks at both species of kinglets, ravens and the immature White-crowned Sparrow - unfortunately though, I also picked up one of the latter, dead.

Halloween is almost upon us and cooler weather is pushing in again. We certainly enjoyed this week's respite - with spring-like temperatures in the 70's! Next week - NOVEMBER!!!!!!!

Sparrow season.

Immature White-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys
http://www.pbase.com/paulasullivan/white_crowned_sparrows

Hmm, Sparrow Season, that sounds a bit too much like duck season or deer season. Most of the neotropical migrants have already passed through on their way back to the tropics, and now is the time when we notice sparrows. They're seed-eaters, and we typically find them scratching under shrubs, skulking in dense tangles and searching the edges of gardens.

The sparrows we've seen at West Campus this week are typical for this time of year. Our year-round Song Sparrows, our winter White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos and our migratory Savannah and White-crowned Sparrows all made the checklist this week.

Many of our migrating birds head to warmer climes because their food supply (insects) is gone. But many of our familiar summer birds instead switch from a diet of invertebrates to a fruit-based diet. This conversion has been widely studied - with respect to nutrition, digestion, pre-migration fattening and food source availability.

The classic example from West Campus would be the American Robin - worms and insects in summer, berries and crab apples in winter. I've added a few reference articles at the end of this post.

Science in our back yard...

How about the week's bird list?
Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
American Kestrel
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove

Monk Parakeet
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
-- no Phoebes!! --
Bluejay
American Crow
American Robin
European Starling
Northern Mockingbird
Gray Catbird
Black-capped Chickadee

White-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow - immature
Savannah Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco

American Goldfinch
House Finch
House Sparrow

Thirty-three species for the week. Not bad, still holding on to our decent numbers, but the days of a high count of twelve species for the week are ahead of us... o frabjous day! callooh! callay!
ciao, have a great weekend!
--Sue

There are so many articles on the subject of diet in birds, I chose one which was relevant to dietary shifts and pre-migratory fattening.
okay, and another one about sugar-rich vs lipid-rich fruit choice in the American Robin
there's so much more - I didn't even scratch the surface!

the Ides of October

Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca

Another week deeper into fall weather. We've had cold fronts push through, with temps just under 40 degrees at night, followed by sunny but blustery days. Our feeder birds have chosen their favorite feeding stations -- sunflower seeds in a tube, thistle seeds in a "sock", suet cakes, or sunflower in a shallow tray.

At the feeders this week we've seen:
1. Downy Woodpecker
2. American Goldfinch
3. House Finch
4. Black-capped Chickadee
5. House Sparrow

Under the feeders - the clean-up crew:
6. Mourning Dove
7. Song Sparrow

Other birds seen in the courtyard this week include:
8. American Robin
9. Eastern Phoebe

In the shrubs and tangles around building A-21 we've also seen:
10. White-throated Sparrow
11. Chipping Sparrow
12. Dark-eyed Junco
13. Northern Mockingbird


Virginia Creeper, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, with fruit and twigs of Rosa multiflora

Campus-fly-overs this week include:
14. Osprey
15. Red-tailed Hawk
16. Sharp-shinned Hawk - pursuing juncos
17. Herring Gull
18. Ring-billed Gull
19. Monk Parakeet
20. Red-winged Blackbird

And the ever-present:
21. Rock Dove
22. Canada Goose
23. European Starling

And saving the best for last:
24. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, seen by Lynn on Thursday
and
25. Brown Creeper, reported by Tom, also on Thursday


This is under the pines - what is it Lynn??
Looks like a young Amanita muscaria var guessowii or formosa, depending on which authority is recognized.

Raven!!

http://www.msjnha.org/

Late Friday afternoon, while guiding a group of Cub Scouts on a birding field trip at the Education Center, Tom Parlapiano caught sight of a larger than usual crow. Another second of observation, and he realized he had a raven.

Northern Raven, Corvus corax

The scouts had a chance to try out their binoculars on the raven - while Tom tried to impress upon them how special the bird really was.

Other birds Tom reported from the outing with the cub scouts, which are additions to my list from last week:
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Osprey
Turkey Vulture
Red-tailed Hawk
Gray Catbird
Carolina wren

So, the week's list grew from my paltry 27 to an impressive 35, with the help of many extra pairs of eyes!

Bioblitz - Stratford, Connecticut

A few photos to share from the Peabody Museum - Beardsley Zoo - Connecticut Audubon Bioblitz last weekend. More photos can be found at the Peabody's Bioblitz facebook page.

FRIDAY AFTERNOON, OCTOBER 8th

Stratford Point, Bioblitz HQ


Karen and Sue, one team of several, recording birds for the Blitz


Black-bellied Plover, Pluvialis squatarola, feeding in the mudflats at low tide


several Northern Mockingbirds, Mimus polyglottos, were singing from any high perch


Garter Snake, Thamnophis sirtalis - even fresh roadkill counts in the Bioblitz


Cottontail rabbit, Sylvilagus sp., seen at dusk on Stratford Point


in the interest of full disclosure, this is the cottontail photo before photoshopping


lights of Short Beach at after sunset

SATURDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 9th

Stratford Point Encampment at dawn


Raccoon tracks, Procyon lotor, in sandy flats near Short Beach


immature Yellow-crowned Night-heron, Nyctanassa violacea, near Short Beach


Great Egret, Ardea alba, near Short Beach


Double-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, near Short Beach

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Harley, Terry and Lynn of the Connecticut Valley Mycological Society identify and label fungi at Blitz headquarters


saltmarsh at Stewart B. McKinney National Seashore


high tide floods the path to the observation platform


Karen 'scoping the saltmarsh

So, our two-woman team had 60 species during the twenty-four hour period - and the total for the whole Blitz was 122 species. We had only one totally unique bird - the Black-throated Green Warbler, but several unique species were seen in "our territory" by others as well.
the White-tailed Kite, of course
the American Pipits, right on the sandy shore of Stratford Point
the American Bittern, in the saltmarsh pictured above
and the Common Nighthawk, which did a late-evening fly-over of the Point, witnessed by several astonished onlookers.
Hooray for lots of people being out birding - that's what I think.

Friday Wrap then off to Blitz!

Just a quick listing today, then I'm off to help count birds for the Bioblitz!

Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
American Kestrel
Merlin
Cooper's Hawk
Double-crested Cormorant
Herring Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Northern Flicker
Mourning Dove

Rock Pigeon
Eastern Phoebe
American Robin
European Starling
American Crow
Blue Jay
Black-capped Chickadee
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
Savannah Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Brown-headed Cowbird
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

Twenty seven species - yeah, I didn't work too hard at it this week, but I'm looking forward to the next twenty four hours of "blitzing" in Stratford.
ciao
Sue

October already?!

South winds and a fair amount of rain made for not a great week to be out birding.  Still, there are 35 species on the list - with some of our winter birds putting in a repeat showing (from last week) - guess they're here to stay!

New England Aster, Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, photo S.Hochgraf

Wild Turkey
Canada Goose
Double-crested Cormorant - eight flew overhead
Turkey Vulture
Osprey - 3, thanks Tom!
Red-tailed Hawk - Tom's effort too
Cooper's Hawk - another from  Tom
Merlin - and another
American Kestrel - spectacular male (slaty-blue and russet-orange) perched in the courtyard
Ring-billed Gull

Herring Gull - the gulls were feeding on a swarm of emerging crane flies?
Killdeer - still up to three hanging out in the parking lot between A-21 and B-25
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
American Robin - flocking and feeding on Russian Olive fruit

European Starling
Tree Swallow - two, over the Education Center
Gray Catbird - also consuming fruit from various shrubs
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Black-capped Chickadee - seen at the feeder, and elsewhere
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow

White-throated Sparrow - here for the winter
Dark-eyed Junco - also here for the winter
American Goldfinch - a few coming to the feeders
Common Grackle - big flock down at Tom's building
House Sparrow

Unfortunately the House Sparrows heard that we were filling the feeders again, and emptied them in short order.
'til next week
Sue