Millbrook Marsh in 15 minutes

I had a few minutes to kill yesterday after work before I met my new gal for dinner, so I stopped by Millbrook Marsh just north of Beaver Stadium. I was only there for about 15 minutes, but I got some nice birds:
Yellow Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
American Crow
European Starling
Song Sparrow
I didn't get to the actual pond area and viewing platform before I had to go, but I did get some photographs! These are the best (and only) pics I've ever gotten of my FOY Common Yellowthroat:
I drove several of these guys nuts with my BirdJam, but they were wily enough to remain quite well hidden whenever I got my camera ready. I got some good looks in the binocs but had to settle for these crappy photos. Still, it was fun hearing and seeing them instead of being fooled by the similar call of the Carolina Wren.

An obliging Song Sparrow:
So cute!

Tomorrow after work, the girlfriend and I are meeting at the marsh to really give it a thorough birding. I'm really excited; I've only ever been there once before, but it was cold and wintry so there weren't even any Red-winged Blackbirds, much less warblers. I hope to have some good pics for you Friday.

This weekend will also be rather birdy, as Baby G and I will be checking out the sure-thing American Woodcocks and Whip-poor-wills at the Scotia Barrens (aka TICK WORLD--more on this later) on Saturday evening, and then we'll be joined by our friend Anne the Writer for some Sunday crack-of-dawn birding at Bald Eagle State Park, where I'm hoping to see a Scarlet Tanager, dangit!

Now--you'll recall that I'm in search of Lifer #200, but I have some issues with the list now. I've heard and kinda seen a fuzzy darkened outline of a woodcock, so does that count? Because I counted it, though now I feel a little funny about it--but that's part of how I got to 199. Still, I'll definitely see them Saturday (unless it's freezing or raining, both of which are NOT on the forecast), so I figure it all evens out. Right? But then, if I hear a Whip-poor-will but don't see it--does that count? I haven't ever counted heard-only birds, but I did count the woodcock, even though now I honestly don't know if I only imagined seeing the bird's shape in the darkening conditions at Middle Creek.

I guess, for the sake of whatever, that the woodcock counts, but if I only HEAR the Whip-poor-will, it will not count. If I actually SEE it, it will be #200. But you know that I really want the tanager to be #200. Of course, I may not even see the tanager on Sunday.

I guess whatever new bird I see will be #200, no matter whether it's a tanager or a whip-poor-will or even a snipe.

Now for some info on Scotia, aka TICK WORLD: several people have been commenting about the ridiculously abundant ticks at Scotia. They're bad every year, but this year, a woman talked about finding over FORTY! of them on her and on each of her kids! And they stayed on the mown paths and dirt roads! Gretchen and I are terrified, and we will NOT be taking Domino. Speaking of Domino, here she is, whoopin' it up at Em's recent birdday party:
hee hee! She's such a party animal. Anyway, back to the ticks: I guess we'll just have to drown ourselves in DEET and hope for the best, checking ourselves for the dreaded ticks all the way and afterwards. Eek.

What birdy stuff are you doing this weekend?

Lol birdz

Barn Swallows can be so cruel to one another.

(from ICHC)

My hopes for #200

As I mentioned in my next-to-last post, I'm now officially at 199 birds on the lifelist. I have been hoping to go birding one of these mornings before work, but it's been raining all week. Like I didn't get soaked enough in Cape May?

I'm hoping that we get a good sunny morning on Saturday or Sunday. In that spirit, here's my list of bird-candidates that I'd like to see take the coveted 200 spot:

Photo by Jeffrey A. Gordon, taken at the New River Birding and Nature Festival

1. Scarlet Tanager--this bird has been my nemesis for a couple of years now. I always look but never find. Zick found one for me at Oil Creek two years ago, but of course it flew away right when I looked up, so I caught only a blur. I don't count blurs. I just want to see this bird so badly--red is my favorite color, and the thought of such a beautiful red bird with black wings just makes me happy. And my gosh, look at Jeff's beautiful photo! (I shamelessly stole the pic from his excellent blog.)

2. Painted Bunting--I know--unless I'm going to Florida (with a blindfold on the whole way), the beautiful "Monet bird" is NOT going to take the 200 spot. I still love this bird, though--always have. Some day....

3. Bobolink--at least this one's possible, given my location. I soooo want to hear this song, which was described by some Flockers as sounding like R2-D2, one of my favorite Star Wars characters. (Han Solo's the man.)

4. Evening Grosbeak--I dig the black and yellow birds, and I especially love grosbeaks. (Rose-breasted is my favorite.) When I was at Middle Creek, a guy told me he hadn't seen an Evening Grosbeak in PA in over 15 years. WTF!? Odds are this bird won't appear, but I want to see one!

5. Prothonotary Warbler--would LOVE to see this bird; he's so beautiful! And now that I live in PA, I actually kinda know what a prothonotary is! (I wanted to drive to Belleplain when we were in Jersey just to see this bird, but we just never found the time.)

So this is my wishlist. I should take Painted Bunting off, but you know me--always dreaming of having silly stuff like Slayer strength or the ability to go into Harry Potter's world (and of course I'd be a Muggle witch just like Hermione!).

I'll keep you posted on the quest. Meanwhile, cross your primaries and think birdy thoughts!

A little more from the Cape, and a Niblet update

I also took some phone-camera pics in Cape May that I wanted to share with you. Here we go:

Sunset at Sunset Beach--the only sunlight we got all weekend, for about 15 minutes. Still, it's beautiful.

There were so many dead horseshoe crabs on the beach at Sunset. We also saw two of them mating in the shallow waves--come on, guys, produce some eggs for the Red Knots!

Why does the CMC Health Dept insist on mentioning (ugh) "human fecal matter" in the restroom of every single restaurant in Cape May? Is that really necessary? Can't they just say "wash your hands or else!"?

A book cover I saw that reminded me of a certain monkey we all know.


My amazing campfire on Saturday night. I tried something new this time, a trick for starting great fires; I read it in a book called Camping and Woodcraft (which is actually two books combined), written by Horace Kephart. The amazing thing is that I only paid 50 cents for this book at the local AAUW book sale (which is coming up this weekend!), but you can't get it online for less than 17 bucks!

Photo by Baby G

Here I am, taking the above photos of my excellent fire.

Anyway--here's the trick: get some cotton balls, some baggies, and some Vaseline. Rub the cotton, two or three balls at a time, into the Vaseline, getting a good amount into the cotton. Make sure to coat the entire blob. Note: this is really messy, but the good thing is that you can just rub the extra Vaseline onto the skin on your knees and elbows--it's moisturizing! I did about 30 cotton balls, again two at a time, and put them into three baggies. When it came time to start the fire, I piled up the wood and some kindling into the classic teepee shape; then I poked some of the cotton/jelly blobs into the base of the teepee and lit them with one of those Aim-n-Flame type lighters. (IMPORTANT: You do NOT want your hands anywhere near this highly combustible material.) I used probably three blobs of the now soaked-through cotton and got a fire that the Aggies would've been jealous of.

Gretchen and me at the lighthouse, exhausted but happy from all the birding and walking and rain.

It was a great trip, but I sure did miss my Flock friends in West Virginia. We'll migrate again, ladies and gentleman! Soon!

Now for the Niblet update. Thank you all for your continued good wishes and thoughts for the health of my little Son, Moon, and Stars™. He's doing great! No return of the infection, and I think he feels better in general these days, as he's become much more social and friendly again! The only remaining evidence of his surgery is the bald spot on his head:
Dr. Scholz said it would likely grow back the next time he had a big shed and re-grow. It's very soft! I try to kinda comb-over the surrounding fur so you can't see it. Hee hee!

He's really doing well, and he's been so affectionate for the last few weeks. I think he finally believes me when I tell him we're done with all that hurty stuff at the vet.

The BFF birding trip 2009

Last Thursday, Gretchen and I left for Cape May about 7 p.m. Spirits were high, despite the fact that I’d just phoned the campground and found out that we would have to sleep in the car (“car-camp,” as Gretchen called it) that night because check-in ended at 7 p.m., and we didn't want to lose out on Friday morning birding.

I didn’t think it would be soooo terrible.

I was wrong.

We got there about 1:30 a.m., thanks to a too-long dinner stop in Harrisburg (oh well!). That wasn’t the terrible part. The terrible part was that I discovered it’s impossible for me to sleep in the driver’s seat. Call it conditioning, call it too excited to sleep, call it steering wheel in the thighs, but I got about 2 hours of sleep that night. Gretchen, however, slept like a corpse. In fact, she may or may not have slept through:
--my 3 a.m. bathroom run to find an open convenience store
--my second bathroom run a couple hours later
--my moving of the car a couple of times to minimize light
--the rave party with live band and circus acts
--the rare but severe earthquake that struck the Jersey shore that night
In short, she was OUT while I was wide awake until about 4 a.m.

We awoke at 6 a.m. the next day, across the street from Uncle Bill’s Pancake House. After a little early-morning bathroom break, during which I found out that there was a public restroom not 50 yards from where we were parked (rage!), we had a great breakfast. We then headed to the Second Ave jetty to look around. I’d seen Black Skimmers and several kinds of gulls there the last couple of times I was in Cape May, but this time there wasn’t much: a few Forster’s Terns flying around, some Laughing Gulls, and a lot of first-year Herring Gulls. That pretty much was the tally for the whole weekend, which looked a lot like this--cloudy and cold:
What a start to a very long weekend of endless walking, warbler neck, and rain. We cooked over the campfire all weekend, with the exception of some burgers I grilled. I had pre-cut all the veggies, so food prep was easy and our meals were delicious. So at least we ate well!

Birding was pretty rough the whole weekend; a lot of rain, the cold temps, and perhaps the early date conspired to make birds scarce. No Sanderlings chasing the surf, no flocks of Black Skimmers on the beach, few birds at all on the marshes, and hardly any warblers or songbirds to be found. I hope this weekend is better, for the World Series of Birding. On a good note, Gretchen got to see first-hand how nice other birders are when you meet them in the field; we shared observations and tips with several people along the way, and everyone was very nice.

In all, we birded at CM Point (beach, pond, nature trail); Higbee Beach (where we were almost eaten alive by mosquitoes); Sunset Beach; the Meadows/Nature Conservancy; Second Avenue jetty area; the CM-Lewes Ferry area (on the CM side); and even our campgrounds in Rio Grande, a place which proved to have a few surprises in store for us.

Here’s my list of 48 species:
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Carolina Wren
Northern Cardinal
American Robin
Mute Swan
Canada Goose
Common Grackle
Boat-tailed Grackle (LIFER!)
Great Egret
Red-winged Blackbird
Fish Crow (LIFER!)
Tree Swallow
Purple Martin (LIFER!)
House Sparrow
American Goldfinch
European Starling
Forster’s Tern
Little Blue Heron (LIFER!)
American Oystercatcher (LIFER!)
Swamp Sparrow
Yellow Warbler
Mourning Dove
Gadwall
Laughing Gull
Herring Gull
Double-crested Cormorant
Northern Mockingbird
White-throated Sparrow
Bald Eagle
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Killdeer
Blue-headed Vireo
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Gray Catbird
Piping Plover (LIFER!)
Northern Parula (heard)
Glossy Ibis (LIFER!)
Great Black-backed Gull
Sanderling
Chimney Swift
Worm-eating Warbler
Great Crested Flycatcher
Yellow-crowned Night Heron (LIFER!)
Tufted Titmouse
Blue Jay
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Common Tern (LIFER!)

Only nine lifers—far short of the forty I’d hoped for. But considering the conditions, I think we did all right. The dumb thing is that I realized that I’ve not counted several lifebirds on my giant list (like the Least Flycatcher I saw with Zick at Oil Creek), and so my tally of 186 is WRONG! I just went back this morning and corrected my errors, adding several species I’d apparently lost along the way by moving my big list from one spreadsheet to another (usually by memory—I know—feel free to laugh yourself silly; this time, I went back and checked my posts).

So once I added these eight lifers to the big list, my real and certified! count is 199. 199??!! One away from 200? Sheesh. So the next lifer I see will be the one. If only we’d seen the Black-necked Stilt that was supposed to be wandering around the Meadows, or the Say’s Phoebe that was seen at a couple of spots on Cape May!

This is my first time at the spring migration in Cape May, and I can tell you that it's VERY different from the fall. In the fall, there were just so many birds everywhere, even in the rain and cold. The ponds at the Meadows and at the lighthouse were always full of all kinds of ducks and shorebirds; this past weekend, however, the ponds were relatively bare. I don't know if we were just there too early or what, but we didn't see much in the way of migration.

Baby G in full rain gear.

My big disappointment of the weekend (besides not getting 40 lifers) was not getting to bird at the Beanery. It would’ve cost us $39 each to do so, as they require a CMBO membership and didn’t offer any kind of day pass. I think we might’ve seen more boreal birds there, but who knows? It might’ve been relatively empty, like a lot of the other places around the island. So we didn’t go there, and I’m bummed. I really like that place—so many good birds! We also didn’t drive the hour to Belleplain, preferring to stay in Cape May and enjoy our weekend there.

Now for some highlights:
1. You wouldn’t believe how we saw the Yellow-crowned Night Heron: a pair of them flew into the trees over our campsite! One of them stayed and watched us all weekend, hanging out in a big pine near us. I did get some decent photos of him, along with some other birds.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron in breeding plumage:


He was so beautiful.

A TV, hangin' at Cape May Point (photo for Lynne):

Young Herring or Great Black-backed(?) Gull and a lifer, an American Oystercatcher, showing us his badonkadonk from the concrete ship at Sunset Beach:
An Osprey--we saw a few of these:
Another lifer, a Piping Plover, photographed from waaaaay outside his protective roped-off area:
More lifers! Purple Martins (and a dumb HOSP) on their front porches near the Education Center at CM Point:
Yet another lifer, a Fish Crow--one of the million who "car"-ed their way through the entire weekend above our campsite:
A Laughing Gull photographed on the CM side of the CM-Lewes Ferry:

A Ruby-crowned Kinglet refused to be photographed:
A Carolina Wren singing his heart out--these were plentiful all weekend:


A Great Black-backed Gull at the Meadows, with some Forster's Terns in the background:

2. Gretchen and I said some crazy things that will stick in our memories for the rest of our lives. Here are a few examples of the birding-related comments, because even out of context, they made us laugh all weekend long:
“Oh holy crap… oh holy crap… oh holy crap!… oh wait. It’s a leaf. I thought it was a molting Summer Tanager. Crap.” (DG)
“If I see one more grackle, I’m going to gouge my eyes out.” (Gretchen)
“Can you please stop yelling ‘bird sex’ so loudly? You’re scaring the birds.” (DG)
On our way back, Gretchen made the same mistake I made last year when I drove back from CM through Philly/Harrisburg: she missed the exit for Harrisburg. (This time, I was sleeping!) We ended up on the turnpike for an extra hour or two, but it all worked out in the end.

3. It seemed like death was all around us all weekend. We found this tiny turtle near the hawkwatch platform at CM Point:
Dead-—we were too late to save him. Springtime can be so hard on the little ones. Any idea what kind of turtle this is? He was mostly black with red little speckles in a pattern on his underside and around the edge of his tiny though perfectly formed shell.

Another day as we walked on the Second Avenue jetty, looking between the huge blocks of rock to see what shells and stones had washed into the crevices, I encountered this:Having watched the waves crashing rather violently on the jetty, I figured it must’ve been easy for this little shark (maybe a nurse shark?) to be swept right onto the jetty and into this crevice by a big wave. He wasn’t alive, but that didn’t make it any easier. I got Gretchen to pull him out:I touched his skin a little bit—because how many people can say they've touched a shark? His body was very rubbery by this point (he was a little ripe), but the skin itself was tough and abrasive. Gretchen threw him back into the water so he could at least rest back in his home.

4. We stopped by this alpaca farm, hoping to be able to love up the cute little guys, but we didn't get any closer than this:
Probably for the best--we might've been tempted to snag one and put him in the car!

All in all, an exciting if soggy weekend. We got back last night about 8 p.m., exhausted, sandy, and happy to be home.

UPDATE--Checking out the Cape May sightings blog, I'm wondering if that was a Lesser Black-backed Gull (he was kinda small, but I had no other black-backs to compare him to). And I'm wondering if among those Laughing Gulls were some Bonaparte's. Only the Lesser BBG would be a lifer, but ???. Pete Dunne led the Meadows walk this morning, and I wanted to go soooo badly--but I had to come back to work!

Last stop before Cape May

I'm leaving this evening for Cape May, for my long camping weekend with Gretchen. I thought I should once again check the weather--oy vey:

It's changed almost every day I've looked at it, but this is the worst by far. Rain all three days!? Really?

Well, I guess whatever happens happens. I've birded in the rain out there before, with the Flock two years ago (our first migration).

Just hope the tent doesn't leak.

I got a real bargain last night at Target: an inflatable mattress, twin-sized, with onboard pump (4 D batteries) for... get this!... $7.54! It was on clearance! SWEET!

I'll try to get some good pics!

Birdies all around me, but no time to see them!

oh no! rain, rain, go away!

This morning I opened up my email to find 171 emails from the PA birding listserv. I know--crazy! Still, apparently every warbler and bird that hangs out in PA just arrived this weekend, and everyone in PA saw them EXCEPT ME. I was busy toodling around doing things like having brunch and going to the lake with my new gal! I saw a few birds here and there, but nothing like the warbler fest that everyone else saw. It seems that while I was goofing off, having fun, the birds were arriving and unpacking their little bags. I've really got to get in on this action!

I'm wondering if I could possibly make myself wake up super early and do some birding before work. Hmm... I HATE waking up early--not a good trait for a birder. Wait! Come to think of it, I could take a couple hours of authorized absence time some day this week, go birding in the morning, and just come in at like 10 or 11 instead of 8:30! Now THAT'S an idea! My little gears are turning!

This coming weekend, Gretchen and I will be in Cape May, and I'm really hoping to get a lot of lifers. I may have mentioned this before, but I checked the Cape May list and found that 40 of the "common" and "fairly common" birds seen there in the spring would be lifers for me -- can you imagine? When I went to Cape May's Fall Weekend the first time (when I first met some of the Flock), I got 31 lifers. That's the most I've ever tallied, having gotten 23 lifers in Oil Creek in 2007 when I birded with Julie Zickefoose at the first Oil Creek Birding Festival. Ah, the memories of both of those weekends will be burned into my brain's hard drive forever!

So the thought of potentially getting up to 40 lifers in one weekend is quite exciting--what a challenge! That would put me well over 200--FINALLY. I think Baby G (that's Gretchen's street name! Mine is, quite fittingly I think, D-Thug) and I will pretty much exhaust every minute of every day birding.

OH NO! I just checked the weather for the weekend this morning at weather.com and was really disappointed to see that they have rain down for every day except Saturday. DANGIT! I'm hoping that changes as the week drags on. Keep your fingers crossed for us in Cape May, and for the Flock down at New River in West Virginia! Come on, weather gods!

A little weekend birding, and a work thing

On Sunday, my new gal and I went walking in the Toftrees state gamelands from about 4:30 to 6pm. We didn't see a whole lot, but it was a nice walk. Here's the list:
Eastern Towhee
Cedar Waxwing
Dark-eyed Junco (shouldn't they be in the hills and/or flying north now?)
Northern Flicker
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Song Sparrow
Tree Swallow
Northern Cardinal
American Crow
Common Grackle
Blue Jay
Eastern Bluebird
Canada Goose
Black-capped Chickadee
Mourning Dove
Mallard
Red-winged Blackbird
Red-bellied Woodpecker (heard)
The next day, someone reported seeing some Savannah Sparrows there, and I honestly think I saw one--but I just can't be sure that it wasn't a Song Sparrow. I didn't take enough time to really stare at him to make sure, so I'm not counting him. Also, the light was so crappy (overcast) that I didn't get any photos. I'm hoping to do some birding this weekend, when we're expecting some sun, so maybe I'll have some good pics next week.

- - - - -
Every year, my workplace has a Kids to Work day, and they always focus on environmental themes, which is pretty cool. This year, though I'm unsure of the theme, I found out that they'll all get a bluebird box kit and will be putting them together! I kinda wish I could snag one of those myself, but I'm sure they're all counted out. Still, it's nice to work for a company that cares about the environment.

Splotchy's Eye Meme

So my pal Splotchy said I could do his new Eye Meme, in which one should

1. Post a picture of your eyes.

2. Tag a few people.

Now... Look into my eyes.... you are getting sleepy... very sleepy...

Bird couples--it's not all paradise!

Did you hear this story on NPR? It was on a few days ago, and when AB (that's the woman I'm dating; I'm trying to be discreet and only use her initials for now) heard it, she thought of me and my love of birds.

It seems some birds, though mated, will commit adultery (to use human terms) and that some bird couples try their best to thwart their partners' roving eyes!

Birds seem like models of monogamy — building their nests, hatching their eggs and raising their young together. But it turns out, in the avian world, adultery is not uncommon. And both males and females may have a wandering eye.

Ornithologists Nathalie Seddon and Joe Tobias of the University of Oxford have been studying the songs of the Peruvian warbling antbird. In their latest research, published in Current Biology, they report that an antbird couple will sing a harmonious duet when confronted by an intruding rival pair.

But if an unattached female enters the scene, the antbird "wife" starts jamming her mate's song. She interrupts her spouse with her own music, to his great frustration.

Dr. Seddon believes these findings could provide insight into the development of human music.

WOW! Imagine--these birds are just like those sad couples you see sometimes, where the guy is always checking out other women and the woman lets him know she's not happy about it!

Now I don't know if I agree with the idea that human music development might've been affected by these little displays of jealousy. That seems to imply --what?--that perhaps humans started doing this same kind of singing (?) when they experienced similar events in their own relationships? I don't know about all that. I'd have to hear more about this theoretized link.

Still--I find it fascinating that love relationships in the bird world can be so similar to human ones, even if the motives behind the actions might be different. I try not to anthropomorphize animal behavior; I'm guessing the female is only working to keep her partner in line to ensure that he's around to help with the brooding and care of their young, hence better chances of survival. I'm sure the female bird isn't thinking, "My GOD, he's looking at that Phyllis Antbird AGAIN! Doesn't he still love me? Is he gonna break my heart?" (hee hee) But the partner still sees something she doesn't like, and she sure lets him know about it. Pretty neat.

There is a big indicator that the writer of this story doesn't know a lot about birds; the lede of the story is kinda silly. We birders know that not all male birds stick around to help out the female after the necessary deed is done. Northern cardinals may mate for life, but I'd guess such devoted couplehood isn't that common in the animal world.

Still--this is some pretty amazing research, don't you think? Birds are so cool.

Previews of coming attractions

It feels weird, knowing who reads this blog, to write about my plans for Cape May at the end of the month; after all, many of you will be taking your own adventure to West Virginia -- which I was supposed to do as well, until finances got in the way. So -- I'll write about the plans, but just know that my little birdy heart is still wanting to be in WV with the Flock at the same it wants to be in Cape May with Gretchen. I feel a little torn in two.

I love you guys!

That said, things are going well in preparation for the Cape May trip. We have our deposit down for a campsite at Beachcomber Camping Resort, 4 miles from Cape May. We're thinking that we shouldn't take Domino, because we probably wouldn't be able to bring her birding with us. Not that she isn't a great dog to bird with, because she is -- she stays right by Gretchen's side and is very quiet; she's a very mellow old girl. But I'm sure we probably couldn't take her on the boardwalk at CM Point, or to the Meadows, etc. So I'm kinda bummed, because I was looking forward to getting a picture of her on the beach--she would love that--but it's probably best that she stays home with friends.

So that's handled, and the campsite is handled, and we've outlined several birding trips we'll be going on to make sure we see as many birds as possible. We'll also ride the ferry to Lewes DE and spend some time on the shore there, as Laura said that's the best place to see shorebirds. It's gonna be truckloads of good birding, and I can't wait.

And by the way... remember how I said I wanted to meet someone who was actually interested in birds? Well, I did (update: and it's not Gretchen! She's my bff; this is another woman I'm referring to)--she's terrific! Things are kinda weird because I'm moving away in a few months, but in the meantime--we're just going to enjoy our time together. So if my posts get all gushy and happy, now you know why!

No peents, but some other birds

Well, despite our efforts to find some woodcocks on Saturday, we didn't even hear a single peent. It was windy and cold, which might've had something to do with it. Still, we saw
Eastern Phoebe (FOY)
Eastern Bluebird
Ring-necked Duck
Red-winged Blackbird
American Robin
American Crow
Northern Cardinal
Turkey Vulture
Song Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Tree Swallow (added this later--I forgot we'd seen one--also FOY)

Then it just got too cold so we went home.

Perhaps my adventure that night led to my illness--I think I have a sinus infection now. The cold had still been hanging in there, keeping things snotty, and when I woke up yesterday I felt as though someone had punched me in the face. The soonest I could get in to the doctor's is tomorrow afternoon, reinforcing my opinion that it's easier to see the Queen than it is to see a doctor at my doctor's office. Grrr. Meanwhile, I'm completely plugged up and my face is killing me.

We'll try again next week for woodcocks, assuming I'm well by then.

I also heard an Eastern Phoebe singing across the street from my house, so that's a new yardbird for me. My yardlist is quite pathetic, but here it is:
Eastern Phoebe
Black-capped Chickadee (pair, hollowing out a hole in a tree near my window)
Turkey Vulture
American Crow
Tufted Titmouse
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
House Sparrow
European Starling
Not exactly like the old Marsh House list, but still--not bad for in the city.

Weekend birding plans

Gretchen and I are going to Bald Eagle State Park tomorrow to look for woodcocks!

The park holds a birding festival (really tiny) each year, a woodcocks and grouse festival--and this year, it's April 18. So I figured that maybe the woodcocks are already there, especially because they were already calling at Middle Creek last month when I went there.

I hope to have some photos for you Monday!

Feeling proud

Back in February when I went to Texas, I went birding as often as I could courtesy of my sister Mary who was kind enough to take some days off work, drive an hour and a half from Austin, and wake up and drive me around at ungodly hours of the morning just to look for birds.

It seems, however, that I was not the only one who gained from our trips together. Mary is now beginning to bird too! She's gotten a new camera and some binoculars, and she's taking regular trips out to the many birding areas near her house. I couldn't be more proud when she calls me up to talk about where she went and what she saw. Even her boyfriend Jim is getting into it, calling her about a Red-headed Woodpecker who seems to be hammering out a cavity in one of Jim's oaks. Imagine: A RHWO as a yardbird! I told her to tell him I was jealous.

She's even sent me some pictures. She's still learning about the incredible difficulty of taking pictures of birds in the field, but she's trying hard. Here are a couple of pix of a mystery bird:

Any ideas? A wren of some sort? A big warbler? A vireo? Remember -- this is a Central Texas bird.

Some of her pics are really good ones though. Look at all these beautiful Northern Shovelers: (who are apparently Southern as well)
And here's a Carolina Chickadee:I had only seen Black-caps until I went down there.

And this one is for Lynne--I've never seen so many TUVUs roosting together in my whole life!
I can't tell whether they're all TUVUs or there are some BLVUs mixed in. But here's a little TUVU action:
Suppertime!

It's so neat to find out that my enthusiasm for birding, as well as the beauty of the birds themselves, has taken root in other people. Kat was never very interested in it at all, but someday I'm confident I'll find someone who loves birds or is at least willing to just open up and let them win her heart.

It's also fun to pass along some of the things I've learned since I first was beginning to bird and started this blog. My advice to Mary so far has pretty much been "practice practice practice" with the camera and concentrate on fieldcraft (learned from Mike McDowell), and try to skulk around and get as close as you can (learned from the amazing birdstalker herself Mary in North Carolina).

I'm proud of Mary, and of my bff Gretchen who'll be birding Cape May with me at the end of the month, for their willingness to try something that most people think is for dorks and/or old people.

All photos courtesy of Mary Guzman.