BirdCam Photos of the Week, etc.

Happy Thanksgiving all! I hope you have a wonderful day both seeing and eating birds. This is, of course, only if you are eating Turkey or House Sparrows. I kid. I kid. House Sparrows are not filling in the least!

Below are some of the more interesting photographs from my Wingscapes BIRDCAM. If you are thinking about a gift for the birder, naturalist or photographer in your life, get the BIRDCAM. The link is over there on the right. Get one. It's a hoot.



Happy Thanksgiving!

Dan

Few things in life are better...

NPR has a great story about how something as delicious as chocolate can help save the world. CHOCOLATE! Now starting eating people.

-Dan

Falcon on the Bridge?

While I was out birding Greenbury Point on Saturday morning, I believe I scoped a PEREGRINE FALCON fly and then land on one of the towers on the West Bound span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The distance however, made confirming that ID impossible. That said, I feel like I've got some experience watching PEREGRINES fly and land on or near bridges.So why post this, you ask? Well, the next time you are on the Bay Bridge, maybe you could (*or preferrably your passenger) take a look at the tops of the spans to see if a large raptor with a striking brown moustache is present. If you observe one, let me know.

All the best,

Dan

uh oh

THIS is not good. All in favor of changing your own personal habits, making sacrifices and taking care of our planet... it's time to get active.

I was birding today at Greenbury Point. In a few months, our Navy will remove several fields, a mulching facility and some rather important natural space. In their place, two turf rugby fields (one impervious fake grass, the other simply environmentally unfriendly, fertilizer-craving, water-runoff loving grass), some bright lights (for safety at night) and some asphalt for parking cars (it's doubtful that they'll be a bike rack anywhere). Oh, super.

While I was hiking the point this morning, I noticed that the summer's green growth is dying off. The leaves are falling to ground. Revealled in their absence are a slew of empty plastic bottles, bags, wrappers, trash and refuse left behind by some idiot(s) who could care less about taking care of (what is left of) the wild spaces in our area. It's beyond frustrating. It's disturbing that all too often, some human beings are nothing more than destructive, careless, inconsiderate and lazy.

In some cases, it's someone who carelessly throws their used water bottle into the bushes. In other cases, it's a developer who thinks rugby fields and asphalt are more important than a nature trail and a wild meadow for Northern Bobwhite, Eastern Bluebirds, American Kestrel and Tree Swallows to breed. In too many instances, it's a developer who thinks what the world around here needs is another housing development, road, shopping center, business park, etc. At some point, our consumption will consume us, and we will be forced to alter our lifestyles.

Instead of a new highway, maybe we should be thinking about new ways to travel? Instead of a sprawling community of houses, maybe we could rebuild old, run-down neighborhoods? Instead of sprawling business parks, storage facilities and strip malls, maybe we could concentrate our developments? Wild ideas, I know.

Turn on the news and you'll hear a flow of reports about looming droughts, famine, floods, Global Warming, toxic waste, obesity, pollution, hurricanes, species extinction and other, even more alarming abuses of nature.

I'm sure the folks that left their empty gatorade bottles and doritos bags on the trails of Greenbury Point will pay little mind to those warnings. Or maybe these lazy polluters, as well as other folks like developers, government officials and even us consumers will wise up. With any luck, they'll care deeply about future generations and the planet they'll hopefully enjoy. Perhaps then, they'll wise up and realize the consequences of their action (and in some cases, inaction). This planet isn't ours to trash.

We're only renters. Our responsibility is much larger than merely taking care of ourselves.

The basic idea here is it's time to think differently about our consumption, the challenges that go along with population growth and the need to dramatically decrease the destruction of the world's natural resources.

Consume less, enjoy more. Sounds like a contradiction, but really it's common sense. I'm not throwing stones here (or empty water bottles). I am making changes in my own day-to-day life when it comes to consumption. It's not going to be easy, but it will surely be rewarding for both myself, my family and future generations.
-Dan

Florida Birding

I was in Orlando, Florida all week for the School Specialty National Sales Meeting. In between meetings and in the afternoons, I spent my time walking around the resort birding. I give kudos to my company for putting us in a resort right next to a preserve. I saw:

Mallard
Wild Turkey
Double-crested Cormorant
Anhinga *
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Cattle Egret
White Ibis
Wood Stork
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Common Moorhen *
American Coot *
Limpkin *
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Carolina Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Pine Warbler
Palm Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle
House Sparrow
44 species with FOUR LIFE BIRDS.
(Hey, I'm new at this birding in FLA thing)

So, if you absolutely must stay at Disney in the future, might I suggest the Coronado Springs Resort? It's quite nice, bird-wise and has fine meeting rooms too!

Ok, so now that that's over with, I am delighted to report that Oiseau and I finally had a PINE SISKIN on the WINDOW FEEDER today. My dog hopped up on the counter to inspect and confirm the sighting. He and I both agree, without-a-doubt, that it was a SISKIN!

I do, however, have some questions on this past week's BIRDCAM expedition. Whilst I was enjoying sunny, warm Florida, a few guests arrived that, well... what do you see?



It's good to be home!

Good Birding,

Dan

Waiting for Siskin

Here I've been... waiting all week for the PINE SISKINS, RED CROSSBILLS, PURPLE FINCHES and EVENING GROSBEAKS to visit my feeders. All that's been eating my thistle, suet and sunflower seeds, it would seem, are HOUSE SPARROWS (HOSP). Earlier in the week, there were about 9 of HOSP. The past two days have produced numbers well into the 30's. I figure by the end of the week, HOUSE SPARROWS will number in the thousands!
Where is that COOPER'S HAWK when I need him?

I'm not complaining, mind you. It never gets old to see some BLUE JAYS, CARDINALS, HOUSE FINCHES, WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, CHICKADEES, TUFTED TITMICE, DOWNY WOODPECKERS, SONG SPARROWS, GOLDFINCHES, DARK EYED JUNCOS & CAROLINA WRENS. (Impressive, right?? Movie action from the BIRDCAM. Is there no limit to the fun???)

But reports of the SISKINS and PURPLE FINCHES arrival around our region are being posted posted daily on MDOSPREY! Maybe SISKINS avoid areas where dense populations of HOUSE SPARROWS exist? Maybe they've seen the COOPERS HAWK and decided to venture of to nuttier pastures? As you can see, I've lost half of the pine tree in last winter's ice storm. Could it be a lack of pine cones in the yard?

With both eyes fixed on the feeders, Emery and I will be here in Annapolis, anticpating the arrival of Mr. Siskin and his Boreal friends.Good Birding,

Dan

Southern MD: Another Day At The Office

I did quite a bit of driving today for School Specialty. My car and I visited Maryland's Southern-most school, Ridge Elementary in St. Mary's County. In between all of today's many school visits, the birds were showing themselves often (even at the posted speed limits).

TOP HONORS go to: An American Kestrel, two Red Shouldered Hawks, two Red Tailed Hawks, a Coopers Hawk, four Bald Eagles, one Palm Warbler, a Brown Creeper and six Brown Pelicans.

The most cooperative bird of the day (was a tie): An American Kestrel in Calvert County offered me a superb view for several minutes. This brilliantly colored raptor perched on a telephone wire approximately 30 feet away, across the street from my idling car on the roadside.

The other rather cooperative raptor was a Red Shouldered Hawk in St. Mary's County. The bird stood out on the skyline as I drove on Route 5. It was perched in a dead tree near a bar called the Green something or other. Might have been the green 'door' or 'shed'? I'm sure they have excellent food.

In any case, the traffic was light, so I pulled into the parking lot for a much closer look. This Red-Shoulder was having a time of it, jumping around on a junk pile, then to the ground to eat something it pulled from the grass. And then it was back on the junk pile and repeat. It was quite entertaining and since all this was happening some 15-20 feet in front of my car, I snapped two photos from my trusty iPhone. Enjoy!
One thing I feel I should mention: the water on the Potomac side of Point Lookout is clear. The bottom is visible, even where the depths are two feet and more. If only the upper parts of the Chesapeake enjoyed that same clarity.

Good Birding,

Dan