Biding around home -- Canada Goose Goslings

Today has been very fine for birding.  First interesting bird of the day was a Great Blue Heron fishing in a small stream (draft) near my house.  We got a good look (maybe about 5 minutes long), and than the heron flew away upstream.  2nd interesting bird of the day was a Red-tailed Hawk perched with some birds (grackles maybe) on a post, off a road.  3rd neat bird/encounter was a Fish Crow on a wire (I assume it was a Fish Crow, not an American Crow, because according to Sibley Fish Crows perch on wires, but American crows rarely do), but I hardly know the viewable differences between the 2.  Once the crow got off the wire, a grackle started dive-bombing it!  Then on the side of a road, where a small pond is located, there were 5 Domestic Muscovy Ducks, a Domestic Mallard, and 2 Canada Geese parents with 2 goslings!  The goslings were getting pretty big.  Unfortunately no photos today.

I'm going to Chincoteague Virginia for a week, leaving tomorrow, so I'll be off of blogging for a while.

Birds in Shenandoah Valley and Charlottesville Virginia -- 5/10/10

Gray Catbird photo, copyright: flickr user Robinsegg.  She is a good photographer, Click Here to see her flickr photostream

Yesterday was fine for birding.  We had to go to Charlottesville (about 1 hour from our house).  It turned out to give me some good birds.  I got one new species that I've never seen before in Charlottesville: Gray Catbird.  There were 2 of them hanging out in the brush.  It was really awesome!  On the way back we saw a Broad-winged Hawk cross our path at fairly close range, and a Red-tailed Hawk cross at further range.  

Birds in Shenandoah National Park -- May 8 and 9/2010

2 days ago (saturday) I got up early to go to Shenandoah National Park to look for bears.  We found 3 bears (a mom with 2 cubs), and some birds such as Brown-headed Cowbirds and a Hairy Woodpecker.  We went back home, and later that day I and my mama headed out to camp in Shenandoah National Park for 1 night.  We saw 3 bears (3 solo ones) and many birds.  As we drove into the park, we had a young Red-tailed Hawk fly right in front of our car.  Over the 24 hours we saw Wild Turkey Gobblers fanning their tails, Scarlet Tanagers, a Wild Turkey hen, an American Redstart, a Great Crested Flycatcher, 2 Pileated Woodpeckers, a Hairy Woodpecker, and more.  When Wild Turkey Gobblers (Wild Turkey males) fan there tails, they are trying to attract a female to mate with.  This one gobbler was fanning his tail and then a second male came in.  They chased each other through the woods, and when fanning their tails then, it appeared to be to see who would get the territory.  I've added some photos of the birds : Scarlet Tanager (top photo), Pileated Woodpecker (2nd from top photo), Hairy  Woodpecker (3rd from top photo), Wild Turkey Gobblers -- one fanning tail (bottom photo) .  

Birds in Shenandoah Valley -- Mallard ducklings

Mallard family photo, copyright flickr user Dave W. He is a great photographer, here is a link to his flickr photostream.

Click Here to see his flickr photostream

Yesterday was a great birding day. When I was in the house yesterday morning (before I went out), my papa called out "I hear a woodpecker outside. I think it's a flicker". I went outside and didn't see any woodpecker, but I did see/hear both a starling and mockingbird mimicking different calls, as well as some of my 'regulars'. Also near home yesterday I had a Kestrel sighting. I went to Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton, a half hour from my house, which has a duck pond which has:

2 Resident Mute Swans
Resident Domestic Swan Geese
1 Resident Egyptian Goose
1 Resident Domestic Muscovy Duck
As well as mallards, canada geese and a wood duck that sometime fly in and out. Lately the Wood Duck has always been there, I think he's made it his summer home. Yesterday there were there was a mama duck and its 8 ducklings (I'm not sure if it was a mallard or a black duck -- but I think it was a mallard). I didn't get any photos of her or her ducklings, but I've included a photo of a similar-sized mallard family. The ones I saw, one or two were very adventuresome, staying a fair distance away from mama duck.

Birds in Shenandoah National Park -- Bald Eagle sighting and Wood Thrush

Yesterday evening I went to Shenandoah National Park to look for bears.  I didn't see any bears, but I did get some nice birds.  On a hike, I saw a young Bald Eagle fly overhead.  Young Bald Eagles have mottled white against a brown plumage, where adults have a black body, and a white head and tail.  On the drive out of the park, in the dark, we saw something on the road.  I thought it was a HUGE frog, and papa thought it was a bird.  Papa turned out right, it was a bird, and it was a Wood Thrush.  The bird was in the road, so we carefully picked him up, and put him on the side of the road, where he would be safe.  He flew very short distances, and we couldn't see any severe injured signs.  I think he was just shocked from having flown into a car, or something, but will really be okay.  We sure can hope!

Click Here to view a photo and more information about Wood

Thrushes.

Red-tailed Hawk dive bombed by crow and other birds -- near home

Today has been good for birding so far.  I have had some of my 'regulars' such as crows, starlings, pigeons, etc.  I had a Red-tailed Hawk fly directly over me, and away.  Also have had a male American Goldfinch.  A Fish Crow overhead (Fish Crows are different than what I usually call 'crows' which are American Crows).  I had an unidentified bird (between sparrow and meadowlark size, it went unidentified, it had a yellow belly).  I kept hearing several pretty songbird calls in my yard, I wasn't quiet sure what it was (or what they were).  I found a Northern Mockingbird mimicking different calls.  It stayed in a tree for a while, and then flew across a field, and started dive bombing a crow.  The crows were calling loudly (others were calling).  I think the mockingbird backed off, but what was interesting is a Red-tailed Hawk came in patrolling low.  Then the crows got on the hawk and starting dive bombing, and chased the hawk across a field.  It's been interesting for birding, but unfortunately no good bird photos today.

Birds and bears in Shenandoah National Park -- 5/5/10

Great birding day.  I posted earlier about my birds in the valley.  This afternoon I went to Shenandoah National Park to look for bears.  I found 4 bears: a mama with 2 small cubs, and a large adult male.  I also found some neat birds.  I saw some of my regulars on the way to the park, and in the park, such as crows and turkey vultures.  Highlights of Shenandoah Park birds included:

2 Baltimore Orioles

2 Broad-winged Hawks

1 Pileated Woodpecker

1 Red-bellied Woodpecker

The Baltimore Orioles were flying together (chasing?) each other through the woods.  The Red-bellied Woodpecker flew over Skyline Drive, and both Broad-winged Hawks and the Pileated Woodpecker flew across Skyline Drive.  I've included a photo of one of my bears from yesterday (the mama of the 2 cubs).

Excellent birding around home -- BALD EAGLE SIGHTING!

Today has been excellent for birding already!  I started out by going out side and seeing what I could see.  I saw my regulars, plus 2 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Killdeer, and 2 American Goldfinch.  The one hawk was spotted first soaring.  He soared for a good while, and then was pestered by a crow.  The crow chased the red-tailed hawk around the sky for a decent minute or more.  The crow then left, and then the hawk was soon joined by the 2nd Red-tailed Hawk.  The 2 soared peacefully together.  As the Red-tails soared, 2 Killdeer flew by.  Then I and my papa went out on a short drive to look for birds.  We spotted 3 Turkey Vultures, and one large bird.  We thought "Raven", "no, dark morph Red-tailed Hawk!", "no, Bald Eagle!".  It turned out it really was a Bald Eagle!  We observed for about 10 minutes and then the eagle flew away.  It really was a great encounter.  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me at the time, so I've included a few photos of Bald Eagles from Caledon Natural Area, about 100 miles from here, and we took the photos just over a month ago.

BONUS POST: California Condors

Condor photos copyright Gabriel Skvor.

       Although as I blog, I will mainly be blogging about what I see that day (a daily journal), over the past year I have had some pretty amazing encounters, so I thought I would share one with you.  When I and my family were in California last summer, we had the privilege of being able to view 6 California Condors.  They were near Big Sur.  We talked to a ranger and told him that we really wanted to view condors.  He told us that he saw them on an A-Frame house, a few miles up the highway.  We pulled over, and sure enough we saw them.  There were 6!  It was amazing, because they are so large.  A Turkey Vulture flew by us, and then joined the condors.  What was amazing, is when seeing the large turkey vulture, next to the massive condors, I stated "the Turkey Vulture looked like a sparrow!", since the condors were so huge.  At one time in 1987, due to poaching, lead poisoning, and habitat destruction, there were only 22 known living condors.  These birds were taken captive to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, and the Los Angeles Zoo.  While bred in captivity, numbers rose.  Condors slowly began to be released back into the wild.  As of March 2010, there are 349 known living condors, with 180 of them being in the wild.  The California Condor remains a Critically Endangered Species. 

Birding around home -- 5/4/2010

Today has been fine for birding!  A Red-tailed Hawk sighting, a kestrel sighting, a Brown Thrasher sighting, 2 Blue Jay sightings, a male goldfinch sighting, several Cardinal, Chickadee, and Nuthatch sightings, A Northern Flicker sighting, 2 Red-bellied Woodpecker sightings, a Pileated Woodpecker sighting, Mallard sighting, a sighting (I think it was a crow, not a Grackle, and I think it was a Fish Crow, not an American Crow), as well as my 'regulars', such as starlings, grackles, house sparrows, crows, swallows etc.   The Red-tailed Hawk was in a bare tree off a country road about 30 yards.  Papa thought it was a crow or raven,  but I could see details.  The kestrel was a female and she flew off a wire, and across a field.  The mallards were flying over, and landing on a very small stream (draft) near my house.  The Northern Flicker is the one woodpecker that commonly feeds on the ground.  It was in my yard for a good while, I watched it, as it perched on  a tree, and fed on the ground (see photo of the flicker perched in the tree, upper photo, and see video of it feeding on the ground, below).  Brown Thrashers are medium-large sized songbirds, with a brown-red color.  About the size of a mockingbird.  Long-tailed, and a fairly long, 

curved bill.  A Tree Swallow pair has been using my nest box.  Within the last few weeks, they have checked it out, and within the last week they have started to nest build.  (see photo above left: one of the adult Tree Swallows is looking out of the nest box).  I also took a photo of a Barn Swallow near our house (above right).  I've also uploaded a photo of a male House Sparrow near my house (above, center, 2nd to furthest top photo).