Category Archives: Birds

Birds, In the neighborhood

Skimming

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I went fishing for photos this evening, just as the sun was beginning its earnest descent for the day, and came upon another doing its own sort of fishing.

Black skimmers are as magical-looking as they are improbable: the lipstick-bright band that highlights their underbite, the way they twist and turn over the water, alternately showing black on the topside or silver beneath. That I should find them so close to home, just down the street where the small creek widens into something resembling a lagoon, is something of a surpise. I should know better, know that it’s just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

The cormorants were waiting for something in the willow overhanging the shoreline, shadows of ducks flew overhead and landed in the water at my feet. A few night herons, silhouetted against the setting sun, the kingfishers dashing back and forth over the creek and I saw this one skimmer, far off in front of an improbably large waterfront home. Oh, how I would love to have this view out my front window!

Most often I see skimmers from my car while sitting in traffic, waiting for the bridge to go down after the sailboats pass below on the river. It’s always just a glance out the car window, that flash of silver and black, and lipstick red. This evening was a treat to see one coursing along the creek, dipping and turning as it searched the water below. But it’s only ever one or two. At Cape May, in late September, I know to look for the skimmers resting on the beach, facing into the wind, a whole gang of them, looking about as improbable as any bird could.

Birds, In the neighborhood

Home is…

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wherever you make your nest!
Ospreys seem to have oddball nesting preferences, don’t they? At Sandy Hook a few pairs choose chimneys of the out-of-commission officer’s buildings rather than the available salt marsh nesting platforms. I’ve seen them nest on channel markers, cell towers, and once in the top of an old dead tree – imagine that! Are there any oddball nests in your neighborhood?
Birds, In the neighborhood, Snapshots

Storm-swept beach

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“The wild wind raves, the tide runs high, as up and down the beach we flit, one little sandpiper and I.”
–Celia Laighton Thaxter
NJ beaches don’t look like this the weekend before the 4th of July. There’s little solitude now and very little protection for beach nesting birds. Despite the efforts of many to keep them safe, piping plovers face a multitude of dangers. Here’s the story of one of those dangers.
Birds, Garden, Pond

Bath interrupted

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All the neighborhood birds, especially the robins, love the shallow end of our pond.
Have you noticed that one bathing bird seems to draw others? I focused on the robins, but there were a few house sparrows and a mourning dove waiting their turn on the sidelines.Raccoons or wading birds could have a feast with the *walk-in* design of our pond, but the fish have plenty of hiding places and like to tickle the bird’s toes in the shallows while they bathe.
My husband says we have the biggest and nicest birdbath in the neighborhood. I think the robins would agree.

Birds

Little gifts

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The chickadees from the box in the front yard magnolia chose today to fledge and my special birthday treat was the chance to *rescue* this little one from my neighbor’s steps. Getting out of my car from work, my neighbor was almost frantic at the baby bird who had taken up residence just outside his front door. He said it had been sitting there for a few hours and every so often another little one would come along and try to help it. Bird whisperer that I am (lol!) I was able to pick up the little chickadee and place it in a bush without so much as a cheep in protest. The parent scolded me from above, but we both felt the baby would be safer off the ground. A few minutes later when I returned with my camera, I watched it make a very deliberate flight to the pear tree where it perched for its’ first photo. I often poke fun at my neighbor because any sort of wildlife encounter makes him very nervous. He’d have left the baby bird alone, but worried over it endlessly. I’m glad he knew enough to leave it alone. So often, well-meaning people *kidnap* perfectly healthy baby critters in an effort to help them. I’m wondering now where the other five babies are. I haven’t seen them, but consider that to be a good sign. I’m sure they’ll show up in a few days at my feeders with their parents. Baby birds are the sweetest things and the chance to hold one, even for just a second, is a nice little gift on my birthday.

Birds, In the neighborhood

Purple martins

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I’ve only this random photo to share today – a few of the purple martins at the small colony maintained in a local park by a volunteer. I drive by the park on my way to and from work, but never had the time to stop and see if there were any martins occupying the apartments. I was glad to find them instead of starlings. It surprises me because I’ve always had the idea that martins will only nest close to water – sure there’s a reservoir within a few miles – but it’s hardly close. I love that all of the apartments and gourds are numbered so that each couple knows its’ own address.

😉

I’m off to sulk about the end of my vacation now.

Birds, Wanderings

Follow me

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The other day I went for a walk in the woods to see birds. Other than being temporarily distracted by a singing scarlet tanager, I didn’t actually see very many birds at all. There were a few cuckoos who kept taunting me, the ever present and wonderful ovenbirds, and a gazillion blue gray gnatcatchers whose song became little more than background static once I gave up trying to spot them.
Instead I followed the chipmunk’s chatter and he led me to find some special things…
He scampered about under the cinnamon ferns…
and helped me see the Pink Lady’s Slippers that I’ve been searching for everywhere…
When I got over finding those, I noticed that the Mountain Laurel was just about ready to burst into bloom.
Then I met up with a few of these garrish beetles patrolling the sandy paths. None would let me get close enough for a nice pic, despite my dusty knees.
Finally I took a break and sat on a bench beside a swampy pond with the chipmunks still chattering at my back. My binoculars were focused on the yellow bladderworts blooming on the far shore when I noticed these tiny flowers at my feet. I think they may be Canada Mayflowers?

On my way out of the woods, the scarlet tanager was still singing and I watched a few bluebirds hawking insects from the grass. I’ve not had any luck with photographing birds this spring, and little luck with finding wildflowers when I go out looking for them, but I seem to do better with one when I’m paying attention to the other. Does that make any sense? Maybe this day I can credit my better luck with following the chipmunk’s antics.

All photos from Allaire State Park, another local warbler hotspot.

Birds

Swift rescue

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I know the photo is awful, but that sooty black blob in the middle of the towel is a chimney swift that was caught in our furnace today. I was down in the basement late this afternoon changing pooty boxes when I heard this odd scratching sound coming from the furnace pipe. Sure enough when my husband took the pipe leading from the chimney off, down under the cover of the furnace lay this very quiet swift. He scooped it out and we went outside and set it free.

We usually have a half-dozen or so chimney swifts chattering away over the neighborhood and just yesterday I was wondering alound to my husband about where they nest and roost for the night. Not many people have chimneys they can use anymore. Chimney swifts aren’t able to perch like other birds because of the way their feet are arranged – they cling to vertical surfaces and build their half-saucer shaped nests from twigs and other materials glued together with their own spit. Neat! The DH will get a cap for our chimney so another doesn’t find its way in, but I do wonder what it was doing in there in the first place. I may have to have a look and see if I can spot the beginnings of a nest in our chimney.

Birds, In the neighborhood

World Series Day

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Today was the World Series of Birding here in NJ when birders try to find the greatest number of species to raise money for conservation. I play every year with the Sandy Hook team, but this year only joined the group for a few hours in the late afternoon. While the poor souls who had been at it since 5:30 this morning had their dinner break, I watched the terns feeding on Sandy Hook Bay. That’s a battleship of some sort in the background at the nearby naval weapons station.

The terns weren’t the only ones fishing on the bay, but they seemed to be much more successful than the others. I love to watch the terns wheeling and diving over the water – makes me dizzy!

We did the *death march* out to the salt ponds at the very tip of Sandy Hook and saw hundreds of swallows and some shorebirds. Patrick from The Hawk Owl’s Nest is somewhere in this group photo; he was a co-leader for the day and is a nice guy and has a wonderful smile!

We visited the locust grove looking for warblers feeding at dusk. The sunset over the dunes was gorgeous tonight – somehow I managed to miss the peak of the beach plum bloom, but they’re still very pretty. We ended the day listening for woodcock, barred owls, whipporwills, and nighthawks, but found only a great horned owl perched in the distance. All told, I think the group had about 125 species today which is a respectable number, although they missed some *sure to see* birds.
Birds, In the neighborhood

Find me a warbler!

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If you’re looking for gorgeous spring warbler pics, you’ll have to go elsewhere. The best I can manage so far this season is mediocre photos of the trees I often find them feeding in. These are red oaks (I think) and there’s an overgrown arboretum near to my hometown that has lots of them. I like to position myself on this dirt path that’s lined on both sides by these trees and see what I can find feeding way up in the tippy-tops of the trees. The other day there were mostly black-throated greens and northern parulas, but I also saw a great-crested flycatcher and strangest of all a chipping sparrow! Isn’t he supposed to be feeding on the ground like a proper sparrow?

I’m curious if others north or south (or west) of NJ find a similar preference for red oaks when they’re in flower or if there’s some other type of tree you loiter under looking for warblers?