June birds

Common St. Johnswort, Hypericum perforatum - blooming along an unmowed slope - wonderful summer color, and very attractive to pollinating insects. photo by Lynn Jones

June birds are generally those that nest here - and this week there were lots of youngsters around. We see them either following parents, all the while begging to be fed, or we hear cheeping and peeping from within a nest box.

Mama Wild Turkey was sheltering a brood of chicks near our building, House Wren chicks make a very noticeable racket in or near their natal boxes, and young robins are abundant. A treat one noontime was watching a female Common Yellowthroat feed one of her youngsters.


Bumblebee, Bombus sp., on Crown Vetch, Coronilla varia, a species introduced for erosion control - and quite invasive. Photos by Lynn Jones

Bird list for the first week of SUMMER!!, June 20-24, 2011

Wild Turkey
Black-crowned Night-heron - another fly-over AND... Tom Parlapiano and a group of boy scouts surprised one feeding at the edge of the Oyster River in the nature preserve!!
Red-tailed Hawk
Herring Gull
5. Killdeer

Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Northern Flicker
Chimney Swift
10. Willow Flycatcher

American Crow
Blue Jay
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
15. Warbling Vireo

American Robin
Wood Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
Gray Catbird
20. Black-capped Chickadee

House Wren
Barn Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Yellow Warbler
25. Common Yellowthroat

American Goldfinch
House Finch
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
30. Indigo Bunting

Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow


Silhouette birds - any guesses?
Photo by Lynn Jones.
The upper is bird #10 on the week's list, the lower is bird #33.

April showers, May showers, June showers...

Another mostly rainy week for Connecticut - but a few windows of sunshine sprinkled throughout. Notice the fireflies on warm evenings?


Abandoned nest of Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata. Last week Lynn heard young birds begging and saw the adults fly, very quietly, into the pine. Today we found the nest.

This is the time of year when the Connecticut Ornithological Association sends us birders out to survey the population of breeding birds in our state. Similar to National Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count, it's a survey of what birds (and how many) are around during a specified time period and defined geographic area. Link to COA's summer bird count info here.

The summer count for the area that includes West Campus was last weekend, but Lynn and I were elsewhere, so WC birds were not added to the data. We plan to spend a morning next week thoroughly counting our resident birds in order to establish a baseline for next year's effort.


A pair of Mallards, Anas platyrhynchos, on the roof of the warehouse today, taking advantage of... puddles? warmth? a strange sight indeed.

Birds around West Campus this week, June 13-17, 2011:

Wild Turkey (the two toms that have been hanging together all spring)
Mallard - the above-mentioned pair
Herring Gull
Killdeer
Black-crowned Night-heron, Nycticorax nycticorax - bird number 120! - Lynn was lucky to see two flying overhead one morning. The link takes you to Dendroica, at natureinstruct.com, a good site for both voice recordings and photos - take a look!

Red-tailed Hawk - a pair nesting on campus
Osprey - seen flying over, with a huge fish
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Northern Flicker

Willow Flycatcher
American Crow
Red-eyed Vireo
Cedar Waxwing
American Robin
Wood Thrush
Northern Mockingbird
Gray Catbird
European Starling

Barn Swallow
Rough-winged Swallow
House Wren
Carolina Wren
Indigo Bunting
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow
Yellow Warbler
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Grackle
House Sparrow

A big thirty-three species for the week - woo hoo!


Two young bucks, White-tailed Deer, browsing in the early morning haze.


Yes - you finally noticed I was watching you - guess those words could go either way!

This weekend I'll be counting birds for the Storrs area Summer Bird Count - it's perfect that my count territory includes my yard.
have a good weekend
Sue

Hot week! 80 to 92F, 27-33C

One hot day this week, Lynn and I thought we could escape the heat by staying in the shade of the woods. All well and good, we were out of the sun, but there was no way to escape the mosquitoes that almost devoured us alive! We opted for the shade of parking lot trees instead, surrounded by sunshine and asphalt.


Mock Strawberry, Duchesnea indica, Rose family (Rosaceae)

In the woods, the Wood Thrush sang again, and the strawberry in the photo above caught our eye. I learned that it's not our native wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana) but a flavorless invader from India!

Out in the open we found the Indigo Bunting singing again, and Red-eyed Vireos chasing each other from tree to tree - singing too. In the heat of summer, sometimes the vireos are the only birds singing.

Okay, on to our bird list for the week of June 6 to 10, 2011.

Wild Turkey
Killdeer - or a clever Mockingbird?
Since I mention clever Mockingbirds, I have to add that at one point we thought we heard a mockingbird imitating the sound of a weed-whacker starting up. It called three times, then nothing. Three times is very typical of mockingbirds. A few days later I returned with a recorder and captured the sound, this time it went on for a bit, and was more insect-like than bird-like. Click here to listen to the weed-whacker cicada. Oops, coming soon.

Red-tailed Hawk
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Rock Pigeon
Belted Kingfisher, Megaceryle halcyon
Lynn heard the kingfisher calling - we'll count it as bird number 119 for West Campus!
Northern Flicker
Downy Woodpecker

Willow Flycatcher
Red-eyed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
American Crow
Blue Jay
Wood Thrush
American Robin


Eggshell fragments of the American Robin, Turdus migratorius. The female carries the eggshell away from the nest and either drops it or consumes it.

Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Cedar Waxwing
Barn Swallow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
European Starling

Yellow Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Black-capped Chickadee
House Wren
Carolina Wren

Indigo Bunting
American Goldfinch
House Finch
Northern Cardinal
Song Sparrow

Baltimore Oriole
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Sparrow

Thirty-seven species for the week - that's summer for you -we birders are too hot and lazy to put out much effort, and the birds are busy feeding young and not singing as much.

Hey, have a good weekend - and steer clear of tornadoes!
ciao - Sue

Birding Lite

We didn't try very hard this week - busy with work and all... hence the title, birding lite.


but here's a photo to keep things interesting!!
Dog Vomit Slime Mold, Fuligo septica - ID by Lynn, our resident Slime Mold expert
found in a landscaped area here at W.C.

and now on to the bird list for the week of May 30 to June 3, 2011

Wild Turkey
Red-tailed Hawk
Killdeer
Mourning Dove
Northern Flicker
Chimney Swift

Willow Flycatcher - back in the same place as last year - the grassy slope between A-21 and A-42
Red-eyed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
American Crow
Blue Jay

Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
House Wren
Cedar Waxwing - suddenly reappeared in numbers, nesting activity beginning
American Robin

Northern Mockingbird
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Yellow Warbler
Common Yellowthroat

Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea - new to WC!! - a male singing away from exposed perches near a clearing
Song Sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle

Baltimore Oriole
Brown-headed Cowbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

31 species for the week


And - for those of you who never get to the top of a Tulip Tree, Liriodendron tulipifera, here's what the flowers look like! These were actually at eye level, but usually they're too high to see. This is one of the fabulous specimen trees bordering the parking lot here in building A-21.