Our First Junco

Back in Whiting, I was looking out the back window when I saw a bird kicking around in the leaves at the edge of the lawn--our first Dark-eyed Junco here. That seals it--summer's over, autumn's over:

Winter is icumen in
Lhude sing Goddamm

Prospect Park 10/20

Osage Orange

I'm trying to cram in as many trips to Prospect Park as I can before we move permanently down to Whiting. The WMA behind the house there is great, but it doesn't have the diversity of habitat that there is in the park and thus, not the diversity of birds either. I'm going to miss being able to find 30 or 40 species in a morning.

After the heavy rains of yesterday the winds (southerly) blew in, which kept bird numbers down though there were plenty of distracting leaf birds both in the air and flapping in the trees. Still, there were some interesting finds: I spotted a Spotted Sandpiper bopping along the edge of Duck Island, near the huge piece of machinery used for skimming the leaves and muck off the surface of the lake; a Hermit Thrush posed on a log in the Lower Pool; a pair of Wood Ducks were out in the open on the Upper Pool; and once I attached myself to one of the park's bird magnets (Rob B) things really started to pick up with sparrows, warblers and a few feisty phoebes.

37 species wandering around the park starting at the 15th Street entrance and exiting at Grand Army Plaza with a trip to the lake in between.
Canada Goose  50
Mute Swan  10
Wood Duck  2    Upper Pool
Mallard  55
Northern Shoveler  20
Ruddy Duck  15
Double-crested Cormorant  1 Three Sisters
American Coot  7
Spotted Sandpiper  1    Duck Island
Rock Pigeon  5
Mourning Dove  4
Red-bellied Woodpecker  1
Downy Woodpecker  1
Northern Flicker  2
Eastern Phoebe  3
Blue Jay  10
Black-capped Chickadee  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  4
Hermit Thrush  1    Lower Pool
American Robin  17
Gray Catbird  1
Northern Mockingbird  2
European Starling  10
Nashville Warbler  1    Near G.A.P. entrance
Northern Parula  1    Vale
Blackpoll Warbler  1    Sparrow Bowl
Palm Warbler  4
Pine Warbler  1    Sparrow Bowl
Yellow-rumped Warbler  8
Black-throated Green Warbler  1    Sparrow Bowl
Savannah Sparrow  1
Song Sparrow  1
Swamp Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  6
Northern Cardinal  3
House Sparrow  35

Pier One 10/18--Marsh Wren

I took a quick walk around Pier One late this afternoon. The park was very busy with parents and their children on the lawns, so birds were scarce and could only be found along the edges of the less traveled paths. But the "quality" bird (as Peter would say) I found near the end of my walk, a Marsh Wren, in, appropriately, the marsh (artificial), scurrying around in the high grass, but popping out a few times long enough to give me some very good, close views.

That's the 64th species recorded at the Pier (not counting some dubious records).

The sun was setting quite photogenically as I was leaving.

13 species in the gloaming:
American Black Duck  2
Mallard  2
Double-crested Cormorant  2
Ring-billed Gull  11
Herring Gull  3
Marsh Wren  1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  1
Gray Catbird  1
Palm Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Song Sparrow  1
White-throated Sparrow  10
Dark-eyed Junco  15

Pier One 10/13--Can't Count It

I found this white and blue Budgie on Pier One this morning, sitting on a railing along the path beside the salt marsh.  I took this picture with my primitive phone-camera; I was standing next to it, so obviously it is very tame (though not trusting enough to hop on my finger) and an escapee. The photo doesn't do justice to the subtle blue highlights on its wings.  You can't "count" escapees, but it was still a surprise on a misty morning walk. 

I was interested to see who stopped to look at it and who didn't--dog walkers yes, joggers no. 

Not as many birds as the other day (no warblers) but the Swamp Sparrow was the first I've seen in a few months.

12 species (not counting the parakeet)

American Black Duck 5
Mallard 3
Double-crested Cormorant 4
Ring-billed Gull 5
Herring Gull 5
Eastern Phoebe 2
Gray Catbird 1
European Starling 2
Swamp Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 30
Dark-eyed Junco 4
House Sparrow 25

Birding the New Place, Birding the Old Place

I spoke to the landlord today and told him we were moving in December--I thought he'd be happy to get the apartment but it seemed like he felt it was one more damn thing he had to deal with. Ya try to make some people happy...

Until then we're spending going back & forth, which gives me the opportunity to bird in 2 states on the same day. I started early, walking my usual route through the Whiting WMA, ending up at the lake. Unseasonably warm still but the sun wasn't strong this morning so aside from one active pocket of birds there really wasn't much around. The last few days I've added both kinglets and White-throated Sparrow to the species list. I'm up to 43 species in the small part of the WMA that I regularly walk. But today, I only found 8 species .
Hairy Woodpecker  1
Blue Jay  3
American Crow  1
Carolina Chickadee  5
Tufted Titmouse  2
White-breasted Nuthatch  1
Pine Warbler  7
Chipping Sparrow  3

We got on the road around 10:30 and by 12:30 I was sitting in the car waiting out Alternate Side of the Street Parking just like the old days. After lunch, I walked down to Pier One. The marshes there are so overgrown that, while they make a wonderful habitat for birds, It is very hard to actually see the birds.

There were a lot of birds there; unfortunately the constant thrum of the useless (and apparently deadly) tour helicopters made them very skittish and they dove into the underbrush every time one passed by.

The best find was a Golden-crowned Kinglet working the edges of the pond. That makes the 63rd species recorded at Pier One, which, I maintain, is pretty good for what is essentially a pier jutting out into the East River.

There were 4 species of warblers I could identify and one that I wasn't sure about--Orange-crowned Warbler was what it seemed to me to be but it wouldn't stay still long enough for me to confirm my hopes. And the juncos are back, my FOS. A large mixed flock of juncos, White-throated Sparrows and yellow-rumps were feeding on the lawns--the grass is very high and they were easily hidden if you didn't get the right angle and height. Altogether I found 17 species there, one less than we were able to get wandering all over Sandy Hook this weekend.
American Black Duck 4
Mallard 3
Double-crested Cormorant 3
Ring-billed Gull 10
Herring Gull 5
Mourning Dove 1
Eastern Phoebe 1
Golden-crowned Kinglet 1
American Robin 1
Common Yellowthroat 1
Blackpoll Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler 4
warbler sp. 1
Song Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 30
Dark-eyed Junco 20
House Sparrow 4

In the next couple of months I hope to get down to Pier One a few more times. I'm still hoping for one really great bird, some weird rarity, to show up there. I leave it to birders more skilled than I am to find it.

Sandy Hook 10/9--Some FOS

Absolutely gorgeous October day--cloudless skies, temperature around 80, a great day to be at Sandy Hook and that was the problem--everyone else had the same idea. The Hook was as busy as mid-August, or at least  it seemed that way. We tried to bird a couple of areas but we couldn't even find a parking space. There was a bike race, a motorcycle club  picnic, lots of beach goers, plus numerous other birders. We should have gotten there earlier in the morning but didn't arrive until around 10:30 when the heat was starting to put the birds into hiding.

Still, we did find a few First of Season birds, the "best" being one of my faves, a Brown Creeper near the Sandy Hook Bird Observatory which we watched while we were eating lunch. At K lot, where we did most of our birding we also found a few first for Fall Savannah Sparrows and a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. Ruby-crowned Kinglets were around and they always bring to mind Peterson's illustration on his Confusing Fall Warblers page where the kinglet is labeled "Not a Warbler." Only a few warblers showed themselves. A few hawks circling above. Geese. Couldn't get to the water to find any ducks or herons. Only 18 species in 3 hours before we gave up as the cars continued to stream into the park.
Canada Goose  140
Turkey Vulture  2
Northern Harrier  1
Red-tailed Hawk  3
Herring Gull  X
Great Black-backed Gull  5
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker  1
Brown Creeper  1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet  3
American Robin  4
Gray Catbird  3
Northern Mockingbird  6
Common Yellowthroat  1
Pine Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Eastern Towhee  1
Savannah Sparrow  3
White-throated Sparrow  10

A Perfect Combination for this Blog--Bird Typo

HOW MANY LEGS DOES A TURKEY HAVE?

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(Emphasis mine)