Global Big Day 2017
The weather was terrible in Upstate NY, but I got some good photos anyway...
Many female birds, which seems appropriate since today is Mother's Day...
Hen Turkey - Sterling, NY
Staghorn Sumac are an important Spring food source...
Gray Catbird - Sterling Nature Center
Female Eastern Towhee - Sterling Nature Center
Female Yellow Warbler - Sterling Nature Center
Female Red-bellied Woodpecker - Sterling Nature Center
Male Common Yellowthroat - Sterling Nature Center
Tom Turkey - Sterling Nature Center
Female Rose-breasted Grosbeak - Sterling Nature Center
White-crowned Sparrow - Sterling Nature Center
Male Eastern Bluebird - Sterling Nature Center (He was checking out the nest boxes while a female looked on)
Male Yellow Warbler
Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge has been protected since 1937. Amazing that we once had a Progressive Government...Today it is a Globally Important Bird Area in combination with the state owned Northern Montezuma Wildlife Management Area and in partnership with local farmers.
Least Sandpiper - Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge
Lesser Yellowlegs - Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge
Canada Goose - Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge
Common Gallinule - Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge
Great Blue Heron - Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge
I was able to get some of the best Sandpiper photos I've ever gotten yesterday...
Lesser Yellowlegs - Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge
Spotted Sandpiper
Not a Sandpiper, but they hang out in the same places...Female Red-winged Blackbird
Lesser Yellowlegs
Carncross Salt Marsh is an inland salt marsh that is protected by the Nature Conservancy as part of the Montezuma complex.
Solitary Sandpiper - Carncross Salt Marsh Preserve
One last warbler...Male American Redstart - Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge
Comments
Are the Lesser Yellowlegs included in the peeps?
The Solitary Sandpiper is a very handsome bird!
I have not checked on census #s today from LoO. Later! TY!
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
@riverlover The "Peep" Sandpipers are
The "Peep" Sandpipers are Least, Semipalmated, Western, Baird's & White-rumped. So, no...
Peterson listed them on the same page as the Willet, Greater Yellowlegs, Solitary, Stilt & Wilson's Phalarope...
" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "
We have a lot of birds in my back yard--
I've never had so many species of raptor around before: owls (which I rarely see, but often hear--I think they're Barred Owls, from the sound--), a pair of kites, a pair plus one of Cooper's hawks, and once (but only once) a big redtailed hawk that chased one of our murder of crows back to their nesting spot just over the fence and, um, killed one of them (I was wondering if the unlucky crow had been trying to raid the redtail's nest).
Last night the Cooper's hawk was in various parts of our yard and on our fences, and the squirrels seemed mightily unconcerned. One young squirrel started to go right up to it. It kept going down into our red bark mulched borders; once it looked like it was eating something, but when I looked later there was no carcass. I don't know why it likes the mulch. Bugs in there, perhaps, but wouldn't it rather eat squirrel?
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
Crows usually mob Red-tails
But if a hawk gets a crow one-on-one the crow better watch out...
Cooper's Hawks eat birds almost exclusively (European Starling, Rock Pigeons, and Morning Doves are favorited). In the east they might occasionally take a chipmunk, bat or squirrel. Mammals are a more common in the diet of western Cooper's.
" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "
@boriscleto They might be eating
They might be eating our bats...we have a number of those as well. Which is the first down side of having Cooper's hawks around--I want the bats to flourish, for obvious reasons. In FL, we can use all the help with pest control we can get!
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
@boriscleto It kind of blows my
It kind of blows my mind that we still have songbirds around given how many raptors we've got. Like I said, I've never been in a place that supported so many. I personally love predator birds--I think they're magnificent--and I hope the presence of many of them indicates that we have a strong and thriving food web going on here.
We do have snakes around as well, and we saw a hawk pick up a young snake a few weeks ago, so that might be an additional source of food...
Some birds that have apparently moved on: we had two different woodpecker pairs that have disappeared (or at least I can't hear them anymore). There were wild turkeys in the cemetery over the fence (where the crows also live). The cranes, of course, migrate; they left a couple months ago (they gathered over my house before leaving, which was cool).
In my last house, we actually got to see things like titmouses and Carolina wrens (my favorites) occasionally; around here what I mostly *see* is cardinals, as far as songbirds go; I hear more than that, of course. I guess with the murder of crows living right there and so many raptors about, songbirds are keeping a lower profile.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
This Kauaʻi bird is alas extinct
http://birdnote.org/bird/kauai-oo-moho-braccatus
In 1987 David Boynton, a wildlife photographer, managed to record the song of the last known member of the species.
These make my heart sing.
These make my heart sing. Thanks.
lots of babies around yesterday.
We got out to a couple of places for Global Big Day. Hubby and I met up with Snoopydawg; that was nice. We saw one family of wood ducks with babies, and lots of Canada geese and mallards. I tried paying more attention to the trees, but the ones I saw moved too fast. Heard lots of different songs in the trees though. Saw a flock of cedar waxwings flying at Murray Park, but I couldn't see where they landed. Pity; they're one of my favorites and I really want to photograph them.
Been too busy/tired to look at my photos from yesterday; but I'll either come back and share some here or post them in the next photography OT.
Cheers!
This shit is bananas.