Spring!!!

Today I had a Clouded Sulphur and 2 Cabbage Whites flutter through the yard!

The Bluebirds are eying up the houses across the street, Field, Song, and White Throated Sparrows are singing their hearts out!

The Spring itch is here!


Matt

Rainy start to October has been excellent!

Well with yet ANOTHER camping weekend being washed out, Deb, Ron, and I were bummed out a bit. But, Deb and I decided to get some birding in anyway yesterday, even in the rain. The morning started well, as I was checking the weather we had this Cape May Warbler visit our stream/pond out front!
Having done Cape May, Brig, and Donio park a million times in the last month, I decided to go to one of my spring herping/birding routes to see what I could come up with. So we hit Jackson Road and Cedar Lake first. 2 Cape May Warblers and 2 Yellow Rumped Warblers were the highlights here amongst a modest flock of migrants.

Then Heislersville WMA. Rain coming down. Not much in the impoundments. So we decided to call it quits. On our way out, In a pretty steady rain, we ran into a very large flock of migrants, and while trying to keep the rain off our lenses, we started calling out lots of birds!
Baltimore Oriole, Redstart, Magnolia, Waterthrush, Yellow, B+W, BTB, Yellowthroat, Parula, Palm, White Eyed Vireo, Red Eyed Vireo, Phoebe...Bald Eagle above!

So in about 3 hours of birding we ended up seeing 63 species!

So I decided today I would do my usual lazy route: Donio, then the backyard.
Donio was loaded with great shorebirds. 13!! Pectoral Sandpipers! Semipalmated, Least, L Yellowlegs, 27 Killdeer, and a solo Spotted Sandpiper.

The house was even better...12 migrating Ospreys, Merlin, Chestnut Sided Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Redstart, Yellowthroat, Cape May Warbler, RE Vireo, House Wren, 5 Indigo Buntings.

So even though we didn't camp, we got our fair share of birds!

Milestones:
Yard Bird #115 - Tennessee Warbler
Atlantic County Bird #222 - Northern Waterthrush
Cumberland County Birds #166-168 - N Waterthrush, BTB Warbler, Magnolia Warbler

Local findings...Sicklerville birding!

Well some rain, wind, and crappy weather forced me to delay my Cape May camping trip to a further date (yet to be determined). So, I spent my Sunday/Monday/Tuesday birding in the backyard and at Donio Park and Penbryn Pond.

Sunday consisted of a few afternoon hours on the back porch overlooking the garden...and it was surprisingly fantastic! First off, 3 Ruby Throated Hummingbirds were busy all day feeding in the garden and on a new feeder I got. They are still present today.

The more exciting show though, was the steady stream of warbler surprises in the confines of the garden....the first being a very dull Cape May Warbler that I flushed from the garden, and then spent a good 15 minutes in the red cedars, where a Magnolia Warbler was also foraging. A Northern Parula, 3 Common Yellowthroats, 4 American Redstarts, a Chestnut Sided Warbler, and a Black and White Warbler also made appearances. And a blue tailed, brown-bodied Indigo Bunting spent about an hour in the backyard.

Found a Ruby Crowned Kinglet on Monday in the backyard. A sure sign of Autumn arriving!

Donio Park has been a hotspot. I visited Monday and Wednesday and in just 2 40 minute walks saw:
2 Blackburnian Warblers
1 Tennessee Warbler
4 Northern Parula
1 Black Throated Green Warbler
1 Pine Warbler
1 American Redstart
1 (adult) Bald Eagle
1 Pectoral Sandpiper, 1 G Yellowlegs, 8 L Yellowlegs, Semi Sandpipers
Rough Winged Swallows (plenty)
2 Green Winged Teal

Though the numbers aren't as impressive locally compared to in Cape May or other migrant traps, I certainly get more satisfaction out of finding stuff locally!

You never know in August...

I've always thought August was a strange month for birds. Nesters are leaving, some migrators are starting to pass through, and who the heck wants to go out in the woods in August (i.e. mosquitos, humidity, flies, bugs, humidity, mosquitos, etc. etc.)? I always used to think growing up that September and October were the times to see migrating birds. We always used to assume August was a "dead month" for migration. I don't really know why. But, I remember a few years back hitting Higbee Beach around August 20th and finding a wealth of quality birds including Cerulean, Blackburnian, Canada, and Brewster's Warblers in a 1-hour walk. The following week landed more goodies at Brig (Yellow Headed Blackbird, CS Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, etc.)

Ever since I've tried to make a better effort to get out more in the last half of August. This morning was one of those mornings! Though I only recorded 22 species in my backyard in about 2 hours, I was treated to some very enjoyable and surprising finds!

I didn't get out of bed til about 9:00, so when I stepped outside around 9:20, my expectations weren't exactly through the roof. I couldn't even find a bird for the first 5-10 minutes in the yard.

Then I found one: a White Breasted Nuthatch. Not amazing or rare, but a start nonetheless. I ventured back deeper into the woods, and all I could come up with was a ton of squirrels. Everywhere. Oh, and a few spiderwebs (that entangled my face).

So, after 15 minutes, I had more mosquito bites than bird species, and I was ready to quit, and started thinking about where I might go to find some birds, then I heard a welcoming sound, when one is looking for warblers...a Tufted Titmouse. Then I located an American Redstart....so I decided to keep looking around.

I let my woods go a bit this year, opting not to mow much and let it get overgrown in certain spots to see if that would help with habitat. Well, the male Canada Warbler that was working in that brush certainly confirmed my decision :) I watched him for about 10 minutes. Awesome.

I had been distracted watching him and hadn't paid much mind to some other birds up in the canopy of the black cherry trees above me. So I started looking up when I caught a raptor flying circles above, about 40 yards above...a Peregrine Falcon. In August. In Sicklerville. Weird!

After spending a few more minutes out in the woods, I came up with a female Black & White Warbler, then I went in to get some breakfast.

I was telling Deb how the only "getable" hawk I had left to get for a yard bird was a Broad Winged Hawk which I told her would probably be a long shot....not 15 minutes later...that longshot was flying at 20 yards high right over the Meads house! I couldn't believe it! Deb and I ran out to the front and watched it circle over the field across the street for a bit.

The last interesting find this morning was a flyover Lesser Yellowlegs.

So 4 new birds for the yard (113 now) on a warm August morning was a surprise, though I'm starting to expect these crazy finds in August!

I'm Alive!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey all. Been a while since I last posted. I may backtrack and do a few posts from trips over the last few months.

But, for now, I will catch you up on recent occurences.....there haven't been too many. I've been working a lot, doing yard work alot, and have very little free time to get out and about.

But, in my yard this month I've already recorded 51 species of birds and a handful of butterflies so that's been good.

The yard/field across the street highlights are as follows:
May 3 - 3 singing male Northern Parulas and a singing Prairie Warbler
May 4 - 1 American Redstart, 3 Yellowthroats, 1 Prairie Warbler
May 6 - a male Blue Grosbeak, a singing Blackpoll Warbler, a singing Yellow Warbler
May 7 - Brown Thrasher, Osprey, American Kestrel
May 9 - a male Scarlet Tanager flyover, a Great Crested Flycatcher, 2 E Kingbirds
May 10 - a male Indigo Bunting, Blackpoll Warblers continue

The latest interesting butterflies in the yard have been an American Copper, a Silver Spotted Skipper, and a Red Spotted Purple. Eastern Tiger Swallowtails have become regular in the last few days, as well as American Ladys.

I'll be doing a herping post soon from a few weeks ago.

Yard birds galore!

Well the snowy day didn't let me down! Recorded 32 species in the yard today.

Geese were non-stop flying west all day long. Counted for about 90 minutes this afternoon. 1235 Canada Geese and 205 Snow Geese. 2 Mallards were in the mix as well.

Feeder birds were also good with at least 146 individuals visiting the feeders. Our Fox Sparrow, a solo Pine Siskin, 53 DE Juncos, 20 WT Sparrows, 2 WB Nuthatches, 2 Downy and 2 Red Bellied Woodpeckers, and a nice Chipping Sparrow. Another interesting sighting was 2 pure white Pigeons (they are neighborhood birds but I've never had them at the feeders).

5 Eastern Bluebirds were hanging on the front wire for awhile as well.

Odds and ends

It's been pretty quiet overall lately, since all the lakes in South Jersey are frozen solid....

But, the backyard has been busy still. The solo Fox Sparrow and Red Breasted Nuthatch continue and a flock of 25 Pine Siskins visited the feeders for about an hour yesterday.

An adult Sharp Shinned Hawk has been staying nourished. I've seen him hit a DE Junco and a RW Blackbird in the last few days, which is pretty cool.

A trip to (predominantly frozen) EB Forsythe yesterday was pretty quiet with only 32 species. However, great looks at 3 different Eastern Meadowlarks were awesome, a distant light-morph Rough Legged Hawk was really cool, and a handful of songbirds made it interesting including 10 Savannah Sparrows, a Swamp Sparrow, a Grey Catbird, 2 Hermit Thrushes, 2 Eastern Towhees, and a Brown Thrasher. Ducks were scarce though. Outside of Geese and Black Ducks, just a few Greater Scaup, a solo RB Merganser, and 2 Snow Geese.

That's all for now. I'll be watching the feeders all day tomorrow. Maybe somethin odd will show up!

More finches....

I will be posting shortly about my trip to Cape May last Monday which was excellent! But in the meantime, I have had some nice feeder regulars lately. 1-3 Pine Siskins have been consistent all week, a male Purple Finch a few days (though they seem to be slowing down) and a very regular female Red Breasted Nuthatch has been visiting the feeders. As many as 28 American Goldfinches have been present. I keep adding more thistle sacks!

Also, it is interesting to see the chain of command amongst the finches. Here's what I've observed:

House Finch>Purple Finch>Pine Siskin>American Goldfinch

House Finches particularly do not care to feed next to Purple Finches. Interesting!

Now, the next bird to visit the feeders? Common Redpoll? One can only hope...

Finches, lots of finches

Today I had all 4 finch species today at the feeders! 1 Pine Siskin, 1 Purple Finch, 10 American Goldfinches, and 8 House Finches. Oh, and the first Dark Eyed Junco at the feeders this year.

More Purple Finches...

Last night there was 1 male and 5+ female Purple Finches on the feeders. The House Finches were bullying them.

This morning there was at least 11 female Purple Finches on the feeders, outnumbering all other birds at the feeders!

Purple Finches...

Today I woke up to 2 Purple Finches (females) on my Squirrel Buster feeder. Very cool to have these semi-regularly so far this fall. Hopefully Siskins will be here soon :)

My Sicklerville Big Day (sorry so long!)

So my big sit was today in the backyard. I only made it 6 hours (8-2) because my eyes were in pain. So i decided to turn my big yard sit into a Sicklerville-style World Series of Birding. I stayed within my zipcode and tried to find as much as I could. I actually didn't bird the whole 6 hours at home (included a nap, lunch, eye breaks, etc). But here's how I did.

My first photo op were these two female Northern Cardinals fighting for the feeder:
And then the Wild Turkey clan (5) came along to clean me out of cracked corn:

Petunias are still strong here in October!

My first major highlights were 2 Northern Harriers (yard bird #103) and 54 Double Crested Cormorants, all migrants flying very high! But then the day hit a screeching halt and all I really saw was the following:
Oh, and:

But then as the afternoon approached some local hawks started to fly. 1 Cooper's Hawk, 1 Sharp Shinned Hawk, 3 Red Tailed Hawks, 2 Black Vultures, and a bunch of Turkey Vultures.

That followed with a few high migrant hawks (2 Cooper's Hawks, 1 SS Hawk)

So I ate lunch with Dad and tallied another brand new yard bird, a Red Breasted Nuthatch (#104) and then headed off to Lake George and Donio Park.

Lake George had a very pleasant surprise: the early arrival of 50-60 diving ducks (all Ruddy Ducks and Ring Necked Ducks). 2 weeks early for that local gang. Also, picked up Belted Kingfisher and Mute Swan there.

Then I went to Donio Park for shorebirds, swallows, and ducks to add to the list. I got Killdeer, L Yellowlegs, and Solitary Sandpiper, N Rough Winged and Tree Swallows, and a Merlin! But, the real highlight was the songbird group feasting on bugs.

Mainly consisting of dozens of Yellow Rumped Warblers, I was hoping for Palm Warbler, and I managed two of them, a "western" and a "yellow" subspecies. Poorly pictured here :)

I also had a diverse group of sparrows. 4 total sparrows, all different species! Chipping, Field, Savannah, and Song. Here's a Chipping Sparrow with a YR Warbler:

And a Field Sparrow with a Yellow Rumped Warbler:

And a Savannah Sparrow with the Chipping Sparrow (sorry bout all the pics, I thought it was cool all the sparrow diversity mixed with YRW's)

Here's a pair of Yellow Rumpeds (nickname "Butterbutt" makes sense)

So I was thrilled with my successes there and the fact I added about a dozen birds (including both Kinglets on the way out, and Eastern Bluebird).

So I had to get my car cleaned , filtered, and vacuumed today so I went home and figured I might manage a few more species to meet my yard bird goal of 40 for the day (needed 3). Tree Swallow was #38, a female Purple Finch was #39, and a very nice "Yellow" Palm Warbler was #40! It was also yard bird #105! He hung around for 90 minutes feeding in the grass in the backyard!

So I totaled 40 for the yard, 55 for Sicklerville and I really look forward to doing another Sicklerville Big Day next month!

Local notes

Went to Paintworks (Silver Lake) and Green Acres in Gibbsboro with Deb today.

Coincidentally, we had another Northern Water Snake being eaten by a Great Blue Heron.
At Green Acres, we had a small "classic October" flock consisting of 2 Brown Creepers, 6 Golden Crowned Kinglets, a solo Pine Warbler and a bunch of Chickadees.

Also had a Hairy Woodpecker, a Green Heron, and a Eastern Towhee.

At home, nothing overly exciting so far today. The local Turkeys were in the backyard today for the first time this month though.

It is possible I will be doing my very own "Big Sit" in the backyard on Wednesday (while I do some yard work). So that should be fun!

I knew I spent tons of money for a reason...

Though my investment was quite large in the garden, it is exceding my expectations at this point in what I created it for! It's interesting to see how much water, food source, and cover play a great part in attracting warblers. This morning I had my first October male Common Yellowthroat scurrying along the ground, dashing in and out of shrubs but allowing excellent looks with a little help from some pishing. Ha. So far, I've been actually keeping track of warblers that are physically in my garden (not including woods or other areas of yard, strictly the garden. Here's the warbler list:
(2) Nashville Warbler
(1) Northern Parula
(1) Magnolia Warbler
(20+) Yellow Rumped Warbler
(1) Black Throated Green Warbler
(1) Blackpoll Warbler
(6) American Redstart
(1) Northern Waterthrush
(7) Common Yellowthroat

The warblers do seem to favor certain shrubs I have in the yard. The Butterfly Bushes are by far the most popular, but they are definitely big fans of the grapes and the viburnums as well. The Bayberry is also often included in many of their routes. I am probably going to do some warbler research and see if I can plug in a few more warbler favorites around the garden. The Cedar trees, Blue Spruces, Magnolia tree, and tall Oak that are along the border of the left side of my backyard are definitely a benefit as well. The warblers truly love the cedars.

Nothing else too exciting today in the backyard. 2 White Throated Sparrows were nice, lots of American Goldfinches today.