Encounters with Black Blobs and Other Adventures

Hello again, my lovely readers. I recently returned from a long weekend with my family in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, and I thought I'd write a bit about it. I'd never actually been to the Smokies before, despite having visited Tennessee yearly for almost my whole life and driving through Knoxville several times. Now, however, we live about 8 or 9 hours away and we thought we'd give it a shot.

Driving into Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg on Thursday was a neat experience. Pigeon Forge, as it turns out, is pretty much the most redneck tourist attraction in the country, advertising everything from 'Hillbilly Golf' to 'souvenirs, sunglasses, and live sharks' (true story). In other words, it was awesome.
We had almost reached our cabin in Gatlinburg when what should run out in front of our car and scare us to death but a black bear! It was the first one any of us had seen in our lives, and it was enough to boost our excitement for the weekend to come.

On Friday, I woke up early and took advantage of the balcony attached to my bedroom. Upon opening the door, I was greeted by the songs of Eastern Phoebes, Song Sparrows, and Northern Cardinals. The air was chilly, but I stood outside and happily counted birds and admired the view for almost an hour.

A flock of Pine Siskins swooped into the thicket of trees just in front of the balcony, and though the morning light mostly masked their trademark yellow wingbars from view, their buzzy songs gave away their identities. It felt strange to me to see Pine Siskins in trees with leaves on them, and actually, it was strange. According to all the range maps I could find, Pine Siskins do not breed anywhere near the Smoky Mountains. But when I researched the matter further, I found that for a long time scientists suspected that siskins nested in the Smokies, and recently proof was found. However, the nest described in the article I linked to is in Clingman's Dome, which is at a much higher altitude than our cabin. Seeing a flock of around 15 siskins was unusual in that area, and I felt lucky to have that experience.

Here's my pathetic attempt at a photo of a Pine Siskin so you can look at it and feel better if you ever feel like a bad photographer.

After breakfast, we headed to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Since half of my family is under the age of ten, we had to find a trail that wasn't too strenuous. We settled on Laurel Falls Trail.
The trail wound for 1.3 miles through hardwood forest up the side of a mountain to a beautiful waterfall at the top. Warblers songs floated from the edges of the trail, and I identified Northern Parula, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, Hooded Warbler, and Louisiana Waterthrush. I was pretty excited about the waterthrush, as that species had been a nemesis bird of mine for quite some time and it felt so good to check it off my life list.

When we reached the falls, the rushing water drowned out all birdsong except for one loud, sweet warbling call--the song of the...I had no idea. Some kind of warbler. I stood on the edge of the trail with my toes practically hanging over the side of the mountain straining my eyes for a glimpse of the bird, but no luck. Not knowing was killing me, but we had to go back to the parking lot as my little brothers were getting tired of walking. After we got home, I took advantage of the Cornell Lab's All About Birds website and discovered that the mystery bird was a Swainson's Warbler (lifer #2 for the trip). No wonder it wouldn't show itself!

Laurel Falls

My twelve-year-old brother was quite insistent that we visit Cades Cove to look for deer and the possible bear, so that's where we went next. The road that we drove on was surprisingly rife with cars, and the occasional traffic jam occurred. We quickly found out that where there was a traffic jam and/or a crowd of people with cameras, there was some kind of animal.

Twice it was a bear--or maybe just a blob of black fur half-hidden by branches and the cameras of eager tourists. It was hard to tell.

Another sample from my repertoire of photographic fails.

Apparently, American black bears are much more common in GSM National Park than they used to be. My parents would visit the park often during college, and they never once saw a bear. But 20 years later, we saw 3 bears in 2 days. The Park staff estimates that there are now about 2 bears per square mile.
Much more often than bears, deer were the ones causing the traffic jams. They were all your typical white-tailed deer, but they were considerably less afraid of humans than usual and there were mountains in the background. These factors, of course, made taking a picture a necessity. Thus, traffic jams ensued.

A White-tailed Deer buck.

Sadly, much of the fun ended there. Most of my family members woke up sick on Saturday morning and so we weren't able to do any more hiking. But that didn't stop us from driving up to Clingmans Dome, the highest point in Tennessee.
Clingman's Dome, because it's so high, has an ecosystem very similar to that of the northern boreal forest. The drive from the foot of the mountain to Clingman's Dome has been compared to 'a drive from Georgia to Maine'. The altitude is the reason that the Smokies are the southernmost breeding grounds for many northern species of birds like Black-capped Chickadee, Common Raven, Northern Saw-whet Owl, and Pine Siskin.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to see any of these birds. But I did get to admire the ecological anomaly that is Clingman's Dome. And I took pictures!

On Sunday none of my family felt like doing more than sitting around and blowing their noses. So we stayed at our cabin and watched Marvel movies.
Monday was our drive home. We made pretty good time for a bunch of half-awake sick people. 
And now we're at home trying to get better and waiting for summer. I hope to 'see' you guys again soon! Thanks for reading.

--Katie

Great Backyard Bird Count 2015

The Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is something I look forward to every year in mid-February, when the weather is bleak and my year list is still in its infant stages. This last weekend, 2/13--2/16, was the GBBC this year, and I have to admit it was one of my favorites so far. I was limited to my yard and neighborhood, but with the oncoming ice storm the birds were more willing than usual to show themselves as they worked up all that fat and energy.

Day 1 (2/13):

I got up relatively early this morning, to be greeted with this friendly face:

Our new dog--Xena, Warrior Princess.

I set out for the patch of woods down the street from my house at around 7:20 AM. Common Grackles were abundant, and I strained my ears to hear the unmistakable call of Red-winged Blackbirds among the grackles' rusty creaks and squawks, but no such luck. The expected Red-wings are a bit late this year. Despite the cold temperature (around 20 degrees, which is pretty cold for Mississippi), the woods yielded 11 species, but surprisingly no White-throated Sparrows or Dark-eyed Juncos.

After birding the woods for about 45 minutes, I walked down our street and around the corner, which was lined with brushy weeds and bushes and pine trees. I got an additional 8 species in that half hour, including a Great Blue Heron that flew from a pond straight in front of me and scared me to death.

Day 2 (2/14):

Besides being Valentine's Day, today was the day we decided to stock up on supplies before the imminent winter storm. So the majority of the second day of the GBBC was spent braving the crowds of people at Kroger and Target. But---I did manage to snare 10 species (including a year bird!) while following my little brother around the yard and trying to keep him from splattering muddy water all over himself and the dog. I'll take it.

Day 3 (2/15):

Today was the most successful day of the GBBC this year. I set out at 2:30 in the afternoon for the same woods I birded on Day 1. The birds were more active today than the first day, probably because of the ice storm that would hit that night. The highlight species was a Golden-crowned Kinglet--one of my favorite birds ever. (Along with Eastern Bluebird, Great Blue Heron, Veery, Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Tanager...Okay fine, it's really not that hard to get on the list).

Golden-crowned Kinglet

The White-throated Sparrows made up for their absence on Day 1 by appearing in droves on Day 3--I estimated there were at least 100 of them today.

Afterwards I decided to go up to the undeveloped land on the other side of my neighborhood, which proved to be a good idea. There I found several Song Sparrows (year bird!) and a couple of Swamp Sparrows, which was a surprise as I'd never seen them at this location before.

Swamp Sparrow

Before I left, I managed to be startled by a Great Blue Heron again, and flush a very loud Killdeer (another year bird!). I ended the day with 28 species, seen and heard in 2 hours.

Day 4 (2/16):

As I sit here writing on the last day of the GBBC, freezing rain and sleet coats everything in ice outside. White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, Chipping Sparrows, and a few other species are raiding the feeders, but sadly, I'm not hardcore enough to venture out into the winter weather. Nevertheless, I'm pretty satisfied with this year's GBBC, and I'm looking forward to next year!

Birding in My Neighborhood

You know how I said there would be new posts soon? Back in December? Yeah, obviously that didn't really go as planned. This poor blog has been neglected and pushed aside lately, and I will admit that procrastination is one of my best friends. But now I'm back, at least for now, to write a little about the place where I spend most of my time: my house and neighborhood.

The back of our house.

 We've lived in north Mississippi for around 3 and a half years, and I have to say that I love it here. When we moved down here from our tiny town in Upstate New York, I knew I'd miss our fifteen acres of woods and meadow, but I was excited to not have to struggle through hip-deep snow for more than half the year.
Our neighborhood in Mississippi is suburban, but with our five acres and large barn we like to imagine we're still out in the country. We used to have chickens (until they all disappeared one night) and soon will again.

And of course, the birds don't often disappoint either. The first bird I saw at our house was a Mississippi Kite, a lifer back in 2010 and now one of my favorite birds. Since then, I've recorded almost a hundred species in our yard and I'm hoping it won't stop there.
Since upgrading to a DSLR camera, I've been exploring my neighborhood even more. I've found a few places to bird and take pictures, and my little brother (let's call him George) has been pretty enthusiastic too.

A stream next to several houses under construction.

A goldfinch at our new feeder. (That isn't snow; our window was just a little dirtier than to be desired)

Snow Geese we spotted flying over our house during the GBBC.

George learning that dedicated birders sometimes have to endure being mauled by thorn bushes.

 

Every day, I'm learning that suburban neighborhoods can have more habitats and species than I previously thought.



 

A Random Contemplation

It seems whenever I come back from birding somewhere; be it my backyard, a park, or anywhere; someone always asks me "See anything good?". My reply is usually "Well, I saw *insert list of species here*." I never actually answer the question.
But what makes a bird a 'good bird'?

The Pink-footed Goose is considered a good bird in America. Whenever one gets blown over here, people come from all over the country to see it. But in Europe, the Pink-footed Goose is considered a pest.
It's the same the other way around. If, say, an American Robin got blown over to England, the poor thing would be mobbed by birders lugging hundreds of pounds of optics just to get a look at a bird we Americans dismiss as 'just a robin'. So I guess location is one of the ingredients in the 'good bird formula'.

Another ingredient, I think, has to do with the personal experience of a birder. When I had just started birding, any bird was good. I would spend hours watching chickadees at the feeder, and I distinctly remember running out in my pajamas in the freezing cold to see Piliated Woodpeckers chase each other around a tree trunk. Of course, I was six years old, but I'm sure every beginning birder has moments similar to that. And of course, if the bird is a lifer, it is most definitely a good bird.

If a good bird is defined by its location and its observer's experience, then isn't every bird a good bird somewhere, and to someone?
There are, of course, some birds that are always good, regardless of where they are or the number of times you've seen them. The Spoon-billed Sandpiper, for example. There are so few left that whenever one is seen it's an amazing find.
The definition of a good bird is more complicated than I thought.

New Place, New Experiences, New Birds

We just got back from vacation in coastal Alabama! We went with our grandparents, uncle, aunt, and two cousins. The reason we went was to celebrate our grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. We stayed at Fort Morgan Island, a barrier island off of Mobile Bay. We'd never been there before, and all of us but my dad and older brother hadn't been to the beach for about five years. That meant lots of fun, new experiences, and, of course, new birds.
I've always loved Alabama, but I had only been to the northern part of the state before. Southern Alabama is completely different. Firstly, it's way flatter. No mountains there. Not even hills. Secondly, the people talk different. It's still a southern accent, but different somehow. And thirdly, some of the birds are way different as well. It has most of the birds of north Alabama, but also the special birds of the Gulf Coast. So yeah, southern Alabama is awesome.
But just how awesome? Our first peek at that was as we were driving over Mobile Bay. From the bridge you could see the battleship U.S.S. Alabama, which was retired and turned into a museum. My brothers thought it was great, and so did I, but my attention was slightly diverted by pelicans, gulls, egrets everywhere! I was not ready for the Gulf's birdiness (which is a real word, I assure you).

We arrived on Friday, August 31st, but it was too late to do anything but unpack and go to bed at our rental house. On Saturday, we went to the beach bright and early. The sun was shining, the water was just right, and there were shells just waiting to be collected and birds just waiting to be found. I wasted no time kicking off my flip-flops, grabbing my binoculars and camera, and setting off down the beach. I had forgotten to change into my swimsuit, so I couldn't go in the water, but that was all right. I immediately spotted some Sanderlings, which to some are considered too common to be interesting. But you forget, I hadn't been to the beach in five years, so to me, they were a real treat. So were the Laughing Gulls, which believe it or not, was a lifer for me.

Sanderling among seaweed.

Out to sea a little ways, I saw brown pelicans and some terns I identified as both Royal and Common (both of which were lifers!).
I decided to take some notes on the Sanderlings, and followed them a little ways to where I was rewarded with yet another lifer--a Willet! It was very cooperative and did not seem to mind the ecstatic clicking of my camera. 

My lifer Willet.

While I'm on the subject of Willet, I will say this. Isn't it funny how sometimes the AOU code for some species are actual names? Like Willet is WILL. Dickcissel is DICK. And Hudsonian Godwit is HUGO. Yeah, I know, that was completely random.

So anyway, we came back to the beach on Sunday and I did something I've always wanted to do--I birded in my swimsuit! No lifers then, though.
Also on Sunday, we went to the famed Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge in Gulf Shores, AL. We went around midday, so that combined with all the sound we were making meant we didn't see that many birds. We saw Prothonotary Warbler(!), Great Blue Heron, and Royal Tern, among others. We also saw two dead snakes, one of which may have been a copperhead (we couldn't tell--it didn't have a head).

The boardwalk at Bon Secour NWR.

Bon Secour NWR is part of the Alabama Coastal Birding Trail, and covers over 4,000 acres of maritime forest, beaches, swamps, and dunes. It is home to the endangered Alabama Beach Mouse, and is a nesting site for loggerhead and Kemp's ridley sea turtles. The Kemp's ridley is critically endangered, and is only known to nest on the Gulf Coast.

Speaking of endangered animals, I found evidence while at the beach that the BP oil spill is not completely gone. I noticed some black stuff in the tide and asked what it was. My uncle, who had been there before, told me it was the remnants of oil.

Oil in the tide.

Sunday night we took a walk on the beach at night. Wow, it was beautiful. We arrived at sunset, and only when I saw the amazing photo opportunity did I realize I had forgotten the camera. But fortunately, when there's good light, it doesn't matter what camera you use. I used my dad's iPhone. I don't have the photo uploaded yet, but I'll try to get it up here soon.

We looked for ghost crabs and found a whole bucketload of them. The art of ghost crab catching is surprisingly difficult. The crabs are so fast you must be stealthy, quick, and have good eyesight.
Once we had caught about twenty, the scene inside the bucket began to look a little too much like a crab version of the Hunger Games, so we let them go.

Monday morning dawned bright, warm, and, as is so typical of southern Alabama, humid. We went to the fort for which Fort Morgan Island is named, which was used in the War of 1812, the Civil War, and World Wars 1 and 2. It was huge, interesting, and altogether very cool.

On Tuesday we went home. I had only one regret: I had not seen an Anhinga, a bird I had always wanted to see. I was just thinking about this when out the car window, in a wooded swamp, I saw a large, majestic, heronlike bird with a long, thin neck; its black and white wings stretched out to dry. An Anhinga. It wasn't a great look, and only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to put a smile on my badly sunburned face and give me one last lifer before leaving the state I now love even more. Alabama. :-)

Strawberry Plains Audubon Center-- 8/4/12

The school year has started. That simple phrase can fill some with dread, others with happiness, and still others with a mix of the two. I enjoyed my summer vacation, but I'm excited about the new school year all the same. There are several good things about it. It means I'm in 8th grade (scary thought), it makes the weekend all the more sweet, and........it marks the start of fall migration!

My dad, my little brother and I celebrated by taking a trip to Strawberry Plains Audubon Center in Holly Springs, MS on Saturday. We set out at about 8:15 AM and arrived at about 9. It was supposed to be a group walk, but the leader never showed up. So another very nice person, a mammalogist, drove us to a nearby pond to see some shorebirds. Upon getting out of the golfcart, we spotted a number of small indistinct shorebirds. Determinedly, we raised our binoculars and squinted at them. Our mammalogist guide was at about the same place I am with shorebird identification, so we discussed their field marks until we had to resort to a field guide. We ended up identifying them as Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, as well as a lone Least Sandpiper.

This photo shows all three species.

The pond was full of many more natural wonders, including turtles, fish, insects, and footprints. We found raccoon, coyote, deer and even bobcat tracks.

Bobcat track.

There were also scores of bird tracks.

A heron track among sandpiper prints.

We looked up from the footprints just in time to see a yellowlegs being chased by.....was that a hummingbird? Those little guys are fierce!

We also noticed about ten turtles sunning themselves on some dead branches sticking out of the water.

As far as we could tell, they were all Red-eared Sliders.

We then decided to move on to the wildflower meadow. The wildflower meadow is an old farm pasture that is controlled with fire and planted with wildflowers. It is a great place to see all kinds of grassland species. It was getting kind of late in the morning, so we didn't expect to see too many birds, but we got a pretty good amount all the same. We heard Field Sparrow, saw White-eyed Vireo and Indigo Bunting, as well as a female Common Yellowthroat; all nice additions to our list. We ended up with 14 species in an hour and a half.


Some of you may have heard of Strawberry Plains Audubon Center's Hummingbird Migration Celebration in September. It is the biggest Audubon event in the country, and it is awesome. It happens this year on the weekend of September 7--9, and I am definitely looking forward to it. The hummingbirds were there in force on Saturday, as we found out when we saw the large collection of hummer feeders at the Center. They were cooperative, friendly, and altogether fun to photograph!

Shaw Nature Reserve

 I'm aware that I haven't posted in almost a month, and I am SO sorry! I've been extremely busy, what with summer camps and preparing for next school year.

 My family spent the most of the first week of June in St. Louis, MO; exploring the Science Center, Botanical Garden, Butterfly House, and much more. Well, actually more like re-exploring. We lived there until about 7 years ago, and it's where I was born. Most of the five days we spent there were not spent birding, but the last day, Saturday, we went to Shaw Nature Reserve in Gray Summit, MO; about 30 minutes outside of St. Louis. I decided to write this post in more of a story form, just for fun. I hope you enjoy it too!


The morning of Saturday, June 9 dawned bright and warm. As our family slowly woke up in our hotel in Clayton, Missouri, at first all we could think about was how much our muscles ached from hours and hours of walking around St. Louis's many attractions. My body ached, too, but I thought it could take a little more. I had birds to watch at Shaw Nature Reserve and Arboretum in Gray Summit, Missouri. So did my 9-year-old brother, George, evidently, because the first thing he said when he woke up was "I hope we see a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher today." I was a little surprised. I didn't know he was that in to birds. My spirits were high as I woke the others up.

We were sluggish, but we finally set off at about 10:00 AM for Shaw. As we drove, I tried to think up a list of birds we could see there. I'd heard that Shaw was one of the best birding places in Missouri, mostly due to its habitat variation. It had prairie, forest, glades, and wetland. I'd been there once before when I was about 4 years old, but of course I couldn't remember it much. We were there for their annual Prairie Days celebration, and the only thing I could remember was the insect booth. How it worked was a guy would sit there and ask kids what their favorite insect was, and then he would ask them questions about it. After that they'd get a token. When he asked me what my favorite insect was, I said "Cabbage White", and he just gave me the token. But I couldn't remember the birds, as I was more interested in bugs then.
 By the time we got to Shaw, my mental list included Song Sparrow, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Eastern Meadowlark, Grasshopper Sparrow, Eastern Kingbird, and Lark Sparrow.

As we pulled into the visitors parking, I looked out my window and took it all in. I could see forest surrounded by prairie scattered with glades, and a large pond over a hill. Paired with the blue sky, it was beautiful.

The view from the visitor center

We all got out of the car, George and I excited about birds, and my 6 year old brothers, Dennis and Huck, excited about bugs. After a quick spray of insect repellent and a dab of sunscreen, we were ready for a great day in the field.

And it was. Within the first ten minutes I had counted Eastern Meadowlark, Song Sparrow, Killdeer, Purple Martin, Indigo Bunting, Eastern Wood-Pewee, and Eastern Phoebe. We had to walk along the forest trail to get to the prairie, and the forest revealed more birds, such as Summer Tanager, Ovenbird, Red-eyed Vireo, and Kentucky Warbler. Ethan walked on ahead and stumbled on a concealed pond. He came running back, claiming to have seen a Little Blue Heron take flight from it. I was a little doubtful, as he often confuses them with Great Blue Herons. But he said it was a lot smaller, and had a darker head. So I took his word for it and wrote that down too. That sighting made Ethan's spirits rise, as it was a lifer for him. In fact, so was Indigo Bunting. He'd never heard or seen one, but they were everywhere at Shaw! They seemed to be singing from almost every tree. I counted 15 by the end of the walk.

Indigo Bunting

Summer Tanager

We finally emerged into the prairie, and were greeted by this sight:

 The prairie at Shaw is some of the last left in the U. S.  Most of it has been plowed for farmland.  But there are still a few pockets of prairie left, and Shaw has about 100 acres of it. The grass can reach 7 feet in September and October, but in June it's about 3--4 feet tall. The prairie is full of life, with over 50 species of wildflowers and insects. There are lots of birds, too--as we found out. Almost as soon as we stepped out of the forest, we heard a Bobwhite from across the field. It was soon joined by 2 others. Male bobwhites usually sing their two-note songs from posts or stumps, where they are easily seen by rivals, but we didn't see any.  I momentarily turned my attention to photographing my non-avian surroundings, and here are some of my results:

If you look closely, you can see a milkweed bug on this.

Altogether, we spent about 2 hours there, and ended up with 29 species. Here's the eBird checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10947110

Drawing Birds

Lately, I've been trying to work on my drawing skills. I want to start slow, with what I'm comfortable drawing. Birds are often the subject of my drawings, so I decided to start with them. I'm best at drawing from photos or good paintings, like David Sibley's or Roger Tory Peterson's. So I looked through my old copies of magazines like Living Bird, Birds & Blooms and BirdWatching. These magazines are always full of great photography, so I found quite a few models in them. Here are some of my drawings:

 A White-eyed Vireo, based off a photo from Birds & Blooms. 

 A Hooded Warbler, based off a photo from Living Bird.

 A Baltimore Oriole, based off a photo from Birds & Blooms.

 A Great Blue Heron. This was actually an original drawing, but was inspired by the nest cams from the Cornell Lab.

A Least Tern, based off a photo from a book called A Reference Atlas to the Birds of North America. (A great book, by the way.)

Another original drawing, this one of a Pine Siskin with a written description of the bird.

This one is the last one for right now. It's some sketches of different bird groups. If you look near the upper left corner, you'll notice gulls are not my specialty. Neither is identifying them. :)

As always, thanks for stopping by my blog!

The Yellow-crowned Night Herons of Midtown Memphis

Wednesday night my dad and I went to the last meeting of the Memphis chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society (MTOS) until September. It was the first one I've been to, despite having been a member since December of last year. We'd never been able to make it until then.
The meeting was great and I met a lot of birders. Even, as I was surprised to find, another young birder. Funny, he was the first one I've ever met in person. I was delighted to see that about 25 people showed up. "See," I told my dad. "I'm not that weird."

At every meeting, the MTOS does a talk about something of interest. Wednesday's talk was about the Yellow-crowned Night Herons of midtown Memphis. Apparently, night herons are nesting all over midtown, though people don't often notice them. A lot of them nest in people's yards. Now, that would be cool.
The night herons (or YCNH when abbreviated. Find a chart of standard bird name abbreviations here) have been nesting there for a few years now. I've never seen them, so I made a mental note to suggest it some weekend when we've got nothing to do. The YCNHs usually nest deep in hardwood forests or swamps, and it was a shock to find them in the middle of fast-growing Memphis. Their range includes most of the southeastern U.S., but only the western part of Tennessee. Their range stretches as far north as New Jersey, but only along the east coast. YCNHs also usually nest very high up in trees, but in Memphis they are nesting from only 18 to 20 feet above the ground. The presentation included a lot of great photos, most taken in the breeding season of 2011. They couldn't take photos of the young when they had just hatched, because obviously you can't see them from ground level. There were also photos of courtship and mating, and I learned that male YCNHs, when courting, spread out the plumes on their backs (called nuptial plumes) into a fan that looks almost like a peacock's tail. The guy giving the talk said they get more of these plumes as they get older, so if you see a particularly old male doing it, it's apparently quite amazing.

Young night herons, when they reach about 2 weeks, begin to explore. They move around the nest, which is pretty big, but still crowded with 4 or 5 baby herons in it. Little by little, they make their way to the branches around the nest, where they start testing their wings by spreading them out and making a few expirimental flaps. They, like most babies, are fascinated by their enviroment. A few photos showed the babies perched on branches, looking down with a quizzical expression at cats, dogs, humans, and other curiosities. Occasionally, the baby night herons fall of the branches while doing this. Once they're on the ground, they're pretty much toast. They can get eaten by dogs, cats, or other predators, or just starve or drown.

Yellow-crowned Night Herons are very similar to Black-crowned Night Herons. There are some distinguishing field marks, however--the first one that comes to mind being the color of their crowns, of course--but when they're most active (just after sunset), it can be hard to see colors. So a good way to tell the two apart is their shape. If you stumble upon a night heron, looks at its legs and feet when it flies. Black-crowns tuck their feet up under them, while Yellow-crowns let them trail out behind. It's a good trick to know when looking for night herons. 

YCNHs have a whole lot of unique traits. They are one of the least-studied North American birds, so they might have more. For instance, when a YCNH drops a piece of nesting material, it doesn't fly down to pick it up. This is strange, because every heron species we know of picks up the material if it drops it. Not Yellow-crowns, though. YCNHs also don't prefer getting their feet wet. They live in marshes and swamps, eat crabs and crayfish, and are called long-legged waders, but don't like to get their feet wet. Kind of strange. Another trait they have is also claimed by other heron species. One of their first methods of defense is their stomach. If some kind of predator is climbing their nest tree, they'll lean over the side of the nest and--WHAM. Deflate their stomach. If you're a researcher or biologist of some kind, and you want to see into a heron nest by climbing up their nest tree, they'll do the same to you. The guy giving the talk said it happened to him with Cattle Egrets in Hawaii. He said it was worse than being sprayed by a skunk. Ew.

So now I have another bird on my wish list.

A Birding Update

Saturday, May 12, was International Migratory Bird Day. The Memphis chapter of the TN Ornithological Society (of which I am a member) hosted a Shelby county Migratory Bird Count, but I was unable to participate because my brother had a baseball tournament and I live in DeSoto county, not Shelby. I'm sure there were other counts in other places, and if you participated in one I'd love to know how it went! Just leave me a comment down below.

Friday was the first game of my brother's baseball tournament. He's on the Blue Jays, but their uniforms look more like the White Sox and the players sound more like the Braves (southern accents :D) . They're a rec team, but they were playing competitive teams from other towns. They lost every game, but they did well considering who they were up against. My 3 littlest brothers made an interesting discovery that day. They, while running around with their friends, stumbled (thankfully not literally) upon a Killdeer nest.

It was just outside the fence around one of the ball fields; one of the worst places it could have been. There were little kids and baseball players everywhere! I tried to get my brothers and their friends away from the nest, but they seemed not to hear my saying "If you stay here the mother bird won't come back". So I switched to "If you stay here you'll get hit by a ball", as there was a team warming up very close to us, and promptly got hit in the foot myself. "Sorry," said the player. "No problem," I replied. "Thanks for illustrating my point!"

I finally did get the kids away from the egg, but the adult Killdeer was still going berserk. There were at least 20 people way to close to her egg for her liking. Unfortunately, there wasn't much anyone could do about it. She had picked the second worst place to nest in the whole ballpark. The worst would be the parking lot. Or the sidewalk. Or home plate.

When I came back on Saturday I didn't get a chance to check on the egg, but the adult Killdeer was still hanging around there. I hope she successfully raises a chick!

I also recently discovered a Cardinal nest in one of our bushes. The day I found it there were three eggs, and the next day, May 10, the first chick had hatched. The day after that, all three chicks were out of their eggs.

The first chick

I also have been having a whole lot of dreams about birding this week. Is that a sign? I've had one about an Ivory-billed Woodpecker showing up in our yard (I've had a bunch of those), a dream about finding a flock of Northern Gannets while birding the Tennessee River (is that even possible? Probably not), and a dream about finding a Lesser Yellowlegs that turned into a Prothonotary Warbler. Now that one was weird.

And that's pretty much all the significant birding I've done in the past few weeks. I've never been able to get out much; I'm lucky if I get to go birding once a month. I try not to complain, but I'm becoming very twitchy. One of my major goals is to learn how to drive so I can chase after every rarity I can get to. That should give my life list a boost.

I have gotten a few year birds, though. I saw Common Nighthawk at the ballpark about 2 weeks ago. Also when the whole family went fossil hunting at Coon Creek Science Center in McNairy County, TN a few weeks ago, I did a lot of birding by ear, adding much needed species such Black-thraoted Green Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Field Sparrow, Ovenbird, and Indigo Bunting.

But I just finished reading Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman, and as anyone who has read the book can recall, near the end he starts to lose his interest in listing as he realizes it's not the important part of birding. He comes to know that the most important part of birding is the birds; finding them, studying them, knowing them. After reading that, my life list of 163 and year list of 77 doesn't seem so pitiful after all. But it's still fun to look for the birds and try to get as many as you can on one list. And you know you're not getting enough when your wish list is longer than your life list. :)

Happy Birding!


P.S: Does anyone have any tips on identifying shorebirds? I'm trying to work on that, but I haven't had very many opportunities to practice. Any help is appreciated!

Migrant of the Week 4/15--4/21 2012

Today, April 15, the American Birding Association's Young Birder of the Year contest starts! To find details (and to see the winners of last year's) click here. To celebrate, I have chosen for this week's migrant, a bird that all birders long to see, North America's rarest warbler. The Migrant of the Week 4/15--4/21 2012 is.....

The Kirtland's Warbler!
 An amazing bird.


Random Cool Facts:

Like I said, the Kirtland's Warbler is the rarest warbler in North America. All known Kirtland's Warblers breed in the jack pine forests in Michigan and winter in the Caribbean. Jack pines depend on fire to survive, because their pinecones open only after being exposed to high temperatures of at least 122 degrees Fahrenheit.  It is a large warbler of the family Parulidae. Like the Palm warbler, it constantly pumps its tail.


Identification:

The Kirtland's Warbler is a small, chunky songbird, but large for a warbler. Their upperparts are bluish-gray to dark gray; their underparts are yellow, with black streaks on their sides. They have two crescent markings around their eyes, one above and one below. They forage for food from the mid-levels of trees to the ground.  Photo accredited to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

Nesting:

Kirtland's Warblers build their open cup nests out of grass, pine needles, and leaves. They line them with hair, rootlets, and plant fibers. They nest in depressions on the ground, often with a tuft of grass overhanging the nest. A full clutch is 3--6 white or buff eggs with light brown spots usually concentrated at the end. One brood per year.


Kirtland's Warblers are in danger of extinction because of habitat loss, and some years because of lack of fire. They deserve our help as well as the title of Migrant of the Week.


Note: I don't know as much about Kirtland's Warblers as I do about other species, so if you see something wrong with this description and life history, please let me know in the comments. Thanks!

Migrant of the Week 4/8--4/14 2012

I recently came up with an idea to write a post every week during Spring Migration (assuming I remember) about an interesting migrant. It'll be a different one each time. I'm a little late with this one (as it's Monday already), but as they say, better late than never. So without further delay, the Migrant of the Week 4/8--4/14 2012 is....

The Red-eyed Vireo!
I love this bird :).

Random Cool Facts:

The Red-eyed Vireo is a delightful little bird in my opinion. It is one of the first vireos to return to its breeding grounds in the spring.  It is one of the most common birds in eastern forests of the US, and is often heard rather than seen. They usually sticks to the tree-tops, foraging for insects. They nest rather low, however, and are a popular host for Brown-headed Cowbirds. Red-eyes grow up to 5.1 inches long, and way only 0.4-0.9 ounces. Red-eyed Vireos living year-round in South America may be a separate species.

Identification:

Red-eyed Vireos are quirky little birds with bright red eyes (as their name suggests), a dark eyestripe, an olive-green back, whitish underparts, and an attitude. They are overall a small, drab bird, but still very enjoyable to chase after on sunny mornings, I've found. Immatures have brown eyes and yellow underparts. The adults' other field marks include a gray to smoky blue crown, and a white supercillium (which, in case you didn't know, is just a fancy way of saying "eyebrow".)

Voice:

Red-eyed Vireos have a very distinctive song, which sounds like "see me; here I am; way up; in a tree". They will sing this for hours without a break. The song is similar to the Blue-headed and Yellow-throated Vireos', but is much faster. to listen to a recording, go to: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-eyed_Vireo/sounds. Their call is a catbird-like "myaah".

 Nesting:

The Red-eyed Vireo builds its nest rather low for a bird that spends most of its time in the tree-tops. As I said before, they are a popular host for Brown-headed Cowbirds. The female builds a cup nest of bark, grass, spider webs, and other plant material. She usually lays 3-5 eggs. The male and the female feed the young, who leave the nest after about 12 days. They occasionally raise 2 broods in a season, but just 1 is more common.


Red-eyed Vireos are very, very interesting birds, and I think they deserve the title of Migrant of the Week.

Breaking News: Female Cornell Heron Lays a FIFTH Egg!

I know! It's amazing, isn't it? At 2:20 AM EDT (or maybe a little earlier) this morning, the female of the Great Blue Heron pair the Cornell Lab of Ornithology is monitoring laid a FIFTH egg. We didn't see that coming. A full Great Blue Heron clutch is 2-4 eggs, but 5 has been recorded on rare occasions. But every time, the fifth chick was tiny and usually ended up dying. Now I'm worried.
Someone watching the cam apparently found a website that said herons lay 4-7 eggs, but only 4 hatch. Cornell, instead of denying it, demonstrated their great sense of open-mindedness by saying, and I quote "I guess we'll have to find out!" :) I love them.
Now a little about the Cornell Herons:

In spring 2009, the Cornell team was delighted to find a Great Blue Heron pair building a nest in a dead oak in the pond right next to their Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity. It was the first known Great Blue Heron nest in Sapsucker Woods. The herons successfully raised 4 young that year. They came back in 2010, and raised 4 young again. And they did the same thing in 2011. We can't be sure the female is the same from all the years, but the male is missing his back toe on his right foot, so we're certain he's the same as every year.


                                         All photos accredited to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

The female right after she laid her 3rd egg.

Mom and Dad at the nest.

The Lab was able to document never-before-seen behavior, such as egg-laying shown here.

The Herons also offer great entertainment!


If you would like to see the webcam, (and I'm sure you do) here's a link. There is also a chat that goes along with the cam, which is monitored by the Lab. If you have questions, or just want to talk about birds, you can chat with other people just like you.

Getting into Spring with Photography

Spring is definitely my favorite season for photography. It brings more of my favorite subjects--birds and flowers! I recently got two new photography books: Nature Photography Workshop by Nat Coalson and The Bird-watcher's Guide to Digital Photography  by David Tipling. Both have been helpful to me, except they expect you to have a DSLR, which I, unfortunately, do not own. But, like I said, both have been helpful and I've taken some pretty good photos with my advanced compact camera. Here are some:

 A peach blossom.

A Cedar Waxwing.

Another Cedar Waxwing.

Flowers on the bush outside my window. Does anyone know what it is?

Pear blossoms.

A male robin.

A male house sparrow.


And that's all for now. I'm saving up photos for Scottish Gal's Spring Challenge, which lasts from March 25--31. It should be fun!