Monday, October 01, 2007

Weekend recap and a new lifer

This weekend was rather bird intensive, so I'll get right to it. On Saturday morning, I went outside and heard a very buzzy warbler-like noise amongst the usual birdsounds in the backyard. I looked around and lo and behold, I saw my first palm warbler! He was bobbing his tail up and down like crazy, and the yellow patch on his underparts was really bright. The streaking on his chest was faint but obvious. Wow! I had my camera but I was too slow (and the light was too terrible) to get a better picture than this:

Still, I was pretty certain of my ID, and I confirmed it when I went back to this Birdchick post and saw her palm warbler. My bird looked just like the one Birdchick was holding. Whoot! My first positive warbler ID in my yard, and my first fall warbler ID, and a lifer! This excitement is really contributing to my mounting level of geeked-uppedness for the Cape May Autumn Weekend and First Birding Bloggers Conference. I can hardly believe it's already October; just four short weeks and I'll be in New Jersey, birding it up with other birders and bloggers, probably freezing my tail off, and (I hope) seeing tons of warbler action!

I also caught this little song sparrow:


and this crazy downy woodpecker pecking on the front corner of our house!

Clawsie was sitting in the window underneath, quite upset at the ruckus (which really wasn't that loud) and trying to look out the window and up at the bird. These pics were taken from the porch; check out this supreme disapproval:

I also paid a visit to the duck pond near PSU and caught this little bunch of mallards benefitting from a kind man who was feeding them just before I arrived:

And I finally got a pic of this Canada goose whose wings seem to be all wrong:

I've seen this goose every time I've gone to the pond, as well as another one who's only bad on one side. I've never seen these birds fly, even a short distance. What's wrong with them? What happened to their wings? They look all chewed up, and they always stick out like that.

So happy to finally have seen a palm warbler. Now if I can just get over this head cold....

6 comments:

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Lots of soup and orange juice! Don't let it hang on, you need to be healthy for Cape May! Comgrats on the palm warbler. I id'd a palm warbler last summer up at Hasty Brook too. Isn't it satisfying when all the pieces fit together and you confidently identify it? For me, with warblers it doesn't happen often...

Splotchy said...

Congrats on the palm warbler!

I'm looking forward to reading about your upcoming bird 'n blog shindig.

Hope you're healthy and in good spirits for it!

pissed off patricia said...

yep, that little tail going up and down is a sure sign. As soon as it gets cold up north our snow birds will return down here, both feathered and human kind.

I'm still waiting to hear the first cat bird. Should be happening in the next couple of weeks.

Mary said...

You better nip that cold in the bud.... You can't be ill before your trip!

Susan Gets Native said...

That goose looks like it had bilateral wing fractures that obviously didn't heal. The feathers would look chewed up because they stick out and are probably difficult for the goose to preen. Poor thing. It should be put out of its misery.

dguzman said...

Feeling a little better today, thanks. I drank two pitchers of OJ yesterday, so I've had enough vitamin C to BE an orange. I also stayed home yesterday, sleeping and drinking that OJ.

Splotchy--thanks, and me too!
PoP--you don't have catbirds? My gosh, they're EVERYWHERE here. For a catbird-related giggle: http://beginningtobird.blogspot.com/2006/07/when-animals-attack.html

Mary-I'm working on it, and feeling better.
Susan--do you mean (gulp) euthanasia? Can he fly at all, or is he just stuck on the ground? How could this have happened to him?