Snowy Owl remembered

I’ve yet to see a Snowy in this irruption year, but tucked into an old book I found this photo my father sent to me.

Photo by Tom Lloyd

On the back he wrote, in his familiar scrawl,

“Taken at Orient Beach State Pk. February ’91. I took about 45 min to get this close – I crawled on my stomach. About 8″ to 10″ at a time. The owl was eating prey. Each time he would eat I would creep closer – Dad”

In ’91 my father was 71, eleven years past life-altering heart surgery. All his life he hated being cold. And yet he spent almost an hour on his belly crawling across a windswept winter beach to get this picture (with a heavy old manual-focus camera, I might add).

I have a proud birding legacy to live up to.

Roadside Raptors

I passed the time on the trip to and from Ithaca by counting raptors. Someone really needs to write ‘Hawk ID at Highway Speed’.

Of the 49 birds I saw, I’d say at least 35 were definitely Red-tails. Either I saw the red tail, the belly band, or their rumpled put-upon appearance when being harassed by crows. One had the slender body of an accipiter, and with absolutely no confidence I’d call it a Coopers’ Hawk. Another hawk in flight was without a doubt a dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk, and I suspect a lot of the perchers along the way were Rough-legs too. No Bald Eagles, though, and no Turkey Vultures although they hang out in the Ithaca area year round.

I saw my first Wild Turkeys foraging in a cornfield, too. New for 2012!

Free Bird!

January 10 was my liberation day. My sling came off and I began the slow and often painful progress towards free flight.

As a reward for my patience, it was a great day for seeing roadside raptors. In addition to the inevitable Red-tails, I saw my first unidentifiable accipiter sp? of the year. Some people actually have it on their official checklist that way, since 9 out of 10 times that’s the best ID you can get.

On one telephone line a nervous Kestrel swayed, then took flight, while a few miles on a larger heavier more stolid Merlin was undeterred by gravel trucks roaring past her hunting fields.

The day’s big surprise was a Harrier (Marsh Hawk) cruising the Corning Preserve. I have seen them down in Papscannee Preserve, no reason why one shouldn’t fly a few miles north.

Not a raptor but a welcome sight anyway was a Northern Mockingbird dashing into the viny scrub. It’s another oddball wintering bird that just doesn’t seem to fit in a snowy landscape.

Jan. 8 – 16 — Good intentions…

Road to hell, and all that. I did say it might be hard to stay motivated on a steady diet of Juncos, Starlings, and squirrels.

The good news is I’m de-slinged, starting PT and newly mobile! I can almost hold my binocs two-handed! The bad news is after a long mild run-up to winter, it’s finally gotten cold (though still not snowy) and the lakes have at last frozen over. So I missed the lingering migrating waterfowl. But I can start going on field trips again, huzzay!

Dark-eyed Juncos remain consistently FBotD, with the exception of a Downy Woodpecker one morning. Goldfinches have begun to arrive in flocks of a dozen to twenty. I’m scanning them carefully for Pine Siskins which are starting to show up just north of here. I still hold out hope of seeing a Snowy Owl in this irruption season. If nothing else, one has been consistently hanging out at a shopping mall in Ithaca, so maybe I can negotiate a side trip when we bring Will back to school.

Even though Eastern Bluebirds are year-round residents, in my mind I associate them with spring and apple blossom, so it’s always a sweet surprise to see a flock in the dead of winter. After the dreadful ice storm of December 2008 Randall photographed bluebirds foraging among frozen berries.

I’d like to think my first Robins of the year are a sign of spring but that’s going beyond optimism to delusion.

Dark-eyed Junco, Black-capped Chickadee, European Starling, Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Tree Sparrow, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Crow, Canada Goose, Red-tailed Hawk, American Goldfinch, Mourning Dove, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, Eastern Bluebird, House Sparrow, House Finch, Song Sparrow, American Robin.

22 species, 2 new for the year.

January 3 – 7

The first bird I’ve seen every day this year has been a Dark-eyed Junco. They are by far the most numerous birds at my feeders. I wonder how long the streak will continue?

We had two days of cold weather this week, one wicked cold night, and one day of constant snow flurries leaving the ground with a powdered-sugar glaze. Then back into the unseasonable warmth, two days of highs in the upper 40s. This feels not like winter, but I’ll take it.

Three gray squirrels were fighting over the front window feeder so furiously they, and it, slammed into the glass. That’s going to have to get moved, or I’ll have to Do Something about these pests. The squirrels and starlings are taking up entirely too much food.

Sightings consist entirely of the Backyard Basics. It’s been another housebound week — my last, I hope! Best bird of the week was an orange male House Finch, like the one in this Birdchick post. I only saw it on Wednesday, but I’m keeping a sharp watch for his return. I’d love to get a picture!

Dark-eyed Junco, Black-capped Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker, Tree Sparrow, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Mourning Dove, American Goldfinch, Blue Jay, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, Hairy Woodpecker, House Finch, Song Sparrow, European Starling, White-breasted Nuthatch, Northern Flicker, American Crow, Red-tailed Hawk, Canada Goose.

20 species, 7 new for the year.

At 7:05 AM, today’s first bird was (ta-dah!) a Dark-eyed Junco. Who’da thought?

“I should like to be a merlin,” said the Wart politely.*

Today was my first birding excursion in over six weeks. It was just a quick drive to Cohoes and Peebles Island, but it felt so good to be out of my yard! I chose the destination because I wanted to see something really impressive to start the year off, and figured a Bald Eagle would fill the bill.

Well, the weather has been so mild so far that the Mohawk isn’t frozen yet, so the eagles don’t need to gather at the open water by the falls. We did see one adult soaring, but most of the show was thousands of gulls swirling against the dark clouds like a cyclone of white confetti. A few ducks and geese in roadside ponds and a soaring Red-tail padded my list, but I was wishing for a WOW bird. We pulled into the parking lot at Peebles Island less than an hour before sunset. We strolled along the river’s edge reminiscing about last year’s floods as a few pigeons zipped by. As we leaned on the bridge railing before turning back to the car, a slender-winged shape glided past — a Kestrel, perhaps, but it seemed browner and a bit large. She lit on a dead snag and relaxed, scratching an ear, stretching a wing, extending her tail. I could see then the less-defined falcon eye makeup and sideburns, and the more uniform brown back and darker body, even in the glow of the low sun. I’ve seen Merlins before, but never one at almost eye level, 100 feet away, and perching unfazed by passing cars, dogs, and nuthatches. We watched her until the sun was setting.

Merlin, female or immature.

Oh, for a better camera!

This photo ©Jessie H. Barry from http://www.allaboutbirds.org

At home: Dark-eyed Junco, Black-capped Chickadee, Downy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, American Crow, Blue Jay, American Goldfinch, European Starling, Tufted Titmouse, Red-bellied Woodpecker.

At Peebles Island/Cohoes: Common Merganser, Red-tailed Hawk, Bald Eagle, Ring-billed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Rock Pigeon, House Sparrow, Canada Goose, Mallard, Merlin.

21 species, 11 new for the year.

 

 

*In The Sword In the Stone, part of young Wart’s training to become King Arthur  is magical transformation into all sorts of living things. He spends a night in the castle mews in the shape of a merlin, listening to the barracks-talk of the birds.

First count, 1/1/12

My first birds of 2012 were a small flock of Dark-eyed Juncos cleaning up under the feeders. And after that it got pretty quiet.

Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, American Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, European Starling, Dark-eyed Junco, American Goldfinch.

12 species for the day.

 

New Year’s Resignations

There are things I’d hoped to do this year that just aren’t going to happen. No pelagic trip, no 3-day excursion to Cape May (*sigh*), no new binoculars (*really deep sigh*). Ah well. Life goes on. and birds go on all around me.

Richard Fried set a new NYS record with 352 birds last year. My year list isn’t nearly as impressive (OK, I only have 212 birds on my state life list) but I made some shiny additions. Three trips to Montezuma NWR gave me Sandhill Cranes — 16 the last time we looked! — Black Terns, Trumpeter and Tundra Swans, several Sandpipers, and a really life-worthy look at an American Bittern. The Cohoes White Pelican that hung around for weeks was a standout I don’t expect to see again soon. New habitats like the Fort Edward grasslands brought great looks at a light-morph Rough-legged Hawk. In all I added 15 species to my state list. Not bad, considering I can’t just go dashing off to Suffolk County for a Mountain Bluebird, or a shopping mall in Ithaca for a Snowy Owl, just two recent state sightings.

I can’t responsibly do a Big Year, even a state one. Nevertheless, I’m restarting my counter at Bird Zero today and keeping a tally for the year. I hope that by taking advantage of the local birding institutional memory and all the day trips I can manage, I can bring my Small Year to a respectable total. What will that number be? I can’t even guess. But as of right now, 1/1/12, 9:38 AM, my count stands at 9. What a wonderful year ahead!