Peace, Caffeine, Linux

World Series of Birding 2009 - The Wet Week of Scouting

My World Series of Birding team (yes, there is such a thing!) is at it again for our 12th year in a row. If you live in the Philly region you may have read a recent story in the Daily News about the event that included quotes from Bill Reaume of The Loons.

You can visit the team's blog for more information on the team and the "WSB".

It's looking to be a wet week of scouting, but honestly that will not diminish the fun of being in the most beautiful spots of New Jersey (yes, there is such a thing!) during spring migration.

We are raising money for The Nature Conservancy's Migratory Bird Program. Thanks for your support!

Cooper's Hawk Nest Building

Last weekend I had some major Cooper's Hawk luck - I found TWO active nests about 3 miles apart. One had a bird on eggs, the other was still under construction. I was able to photograph, videotape, and capture audio of the pair that was nest building. I put some highlights into this short video. It was fascinating to watch the Coop gather nesting materials. A number of times he actually landed on a nearby driveway, walking around and searching.

The audio I got at the start of this video was a great score - I have heard Cooper's Hawks many times before, but having the pair vocalizing simultaneously was new. I used an Olympus LS-10, a very small hand held digital recorder, to capture their calls.

Tufted Titmouse

Been a long time since I have posted here! Twitter has sucked the life out of me on the blogging side. But I have a lot of news and tidbits that will not fit in SMS sized chunks, and here is the first:

My wife and I found a Tufted Titmouse nest hole while walking in the woods this weekend. I spent some time staking it out and got a minute of footage as the bird emerged singing and stretching. The Titmouse had gone in the cavity with a beak full of nesting material, and stayed there for at least 20 minutes! I waited, and finally it popped out. While standing by I could hear mice chattering to one another in the leaf cover nearby, and watched a Cooper's Hawk swoop through the clearing, crossing the adjacent small pond. It was the first really warm day of the 2009 Spring.

World Series of Birding 2008 and more 15 Second Batches of Fame

11th year now! 24 hours of no sleep, and lots of fun birding for a good cause. That's it in brief - go to my teams website to learn more. You can also follow the scouting on twitter here.

So what about the fame? Well if you check out the team blog you can see myself and the Loons briefly on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" here.

Please consider supporting us by donating to The Nature Conservancy. We raised many thousands of dollars last year for TNC, and hope to do the same this year.

Thanks again!

Northern Goshawk kills Australorp Chicken

My wife raises chickens, guineas, and ducks to provide locally sourced food, as well as entertainment for our family. (Seriously, kicking back in a lawn-chair and watching these birds can be great fun - they are downright comical!)

This weekend while eating breakfast with the kids I realized we were hearing our largest rooster "Fred" give off his alarm call. I ran to the window and was surprised to see a hawk standing over the body of one of our black chickens - all the other birds were hiding in their coops. We were thinking it was a Cooper's Hawk, maybe on top of one of our small black bantams (miniature chickens).

Grabbing my binoculars to get a closer look, I almost immediately dropped them in excitement. The hawk was a juvenile Northern Goshawk - a rare and mystique-ridden woodland hunter from up North. I could not believe what I was witnessing in my own back yard! I told the kids to stay inside - no chasing off the hawk please! I went and grabbed a video camera to capture some footage.

The "gossie" had killed an adult Australorp hen. Known as Australia's "national breed", they are an excellent dual purpose (meat & eggs) chicken. Australorp hen's weigh about 6.5 pounds at maturity.

It took the raptor 30 minutes to kill, pluck and eat it's meal. Both the hen's breasts were cleaned right off. Afterwards it flew into the woods and perched nearby - perhaps waiting for more chickens? We emerged from our hiding near the house and it took off, effortlessly disappearing into the thick of trees further back.

We were sorry to lose the chicken, but grateful that it had not been to a fox or worse yet - a raccoon. The chickens were spooked. They did not venture out of their coops till 1 PM, and then went back in to hide for most of the rest of the day. They were clearly shaken up by the unexpected visitor!

The footage (no sound) is below - the light was bad, and my scope and tripod was not handy, so the quality is not the greatest. I also took some pictures, which you can find here.

Cedar Waxwing Nestlings in September

This summer we had Cedar Waxwings, one of the latest breeding Pennsylvania migrants, nest in our London Planetree. Nest building was happening as late as August 5, and on the first of September I filmed the nestlings being fed. What a surprise to have this happening so late in the year!

Cedar Waxwings are exceptionally beautiful in the hand. I first became interested in birds the moment an amazing college professor of mine placed a fresh road-kill Cedar Waxwing in my hands. He had pulled our van over to the side of the road to retrieve it.

I had no idea what was about to happen. I looked down at that bird and was shocked - my mind was reeling. Before that moment I had never really noticed birds. Right then, sitting in the van holding this wonderful specimen, was an inflection point for me. So many thoughts and questions fought for priority as I came to terms with the fact that this one little creature was far more stunning than anything I had ever focused on before - how could something like this be real? How could I have not seen one of these until that day? What else was I missing?

Some notes:

• Waxwings are one of the most frugivorous birds out there, and can live on fruit alone for extended periods of time.
• Watch the adult birds cough up berries to feed the nestlings - sometimes 8 or more in one visit! I have not worked on identifying the berries yet. They appear too large to be from the Eastern Redcedar's that are near the nest.
• The adult's consume or carry fecal sac's away to keep the nest clean.

I also captured footage of the nest building, though not as close up as the above. If you want to see the pair building the nest, go here.

Red-bellied Woodpecker Excavating Nest Hole

Things are really picking up around our yard. Spring is here at last!

For those new to birding, the name of the Red-bellied Woodpecker makes little sense - the bird's belly does have a red tint to it, but why don't we call it the Red-headed Woodpecker? Turns out that name is taken.

I captured the video below this week. It shows a male Red-bellied excavating a nest hole in a Norway Maple I have left standing in our yard for no other reason than to feed and house woodpeckers. The blue-gray bird with a white face and black cap investigating the hole is another cavity nester, the White-breasted Nuthatch. Looks like he is doing some drive-by house shopping.

World Series of Birding 2007

Yes indeed, I am doing it again. I think this is the 10th year in a row now. Wow. I get tired just thinking about it - 24 hours, no sleep, see as many species of birds as you can in New Jersey. National Geographic is covering the event this year. Read more about it here in last year's post,

Please visit The Loons team website, and consider supporting us by donating to The Nature Conservancy.

Thanks

A Monarch is Born

Have you ever gotten to watch a Monarch emerge from it's chrysalis? Many have visited our house on their way South this year, and I was (finally) able to track down some chrysalises and capture this amazing footage. I have put together a time-lapse video of two Monarch butterflies emerging, as well as some other pictures leading up to the event. Hope you enjoy it.

By the way, the bright orange aphids are Oleander Aphids (Aphis Nerii).

       

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Nest Building

As I have noted in an earlier post, we had a tree this spring with many active nests in it all at the same time. The first nest I found in it this year was a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher nest. Not a bad find in our yard, and the London Planetree the pair was building in was not typical habitat in PA from what I have read.

Here's some footage I shot of the pair nest building: