Wordless Wednesday

Call of the wild

I was standing at the lookout scanning the water with perhaps half a dozen other birders. We were calling out species and remarking to each other on their beauty and behavior. When faintly, seemingly off in the distance, there was the call of a loon. Everyone’s heads jerked up. We all looked around. My friend prodded me hissing, “Turn off your phone!”

Crap. Right. My phone. I sheepishly fumbled my phone out of my pocket and turned it to vibrate. I apologized for getting their hopes up. And while there was general laughter; I did see some scowls.

I like having bird calls as my ringtones; it does turn a few heads. I have had them for about a year. I think they were like $2.75 a piece. I searched for months and months to find them and there was no selection to speak of. Perhaps it’s better now. I have the loon for any text messages and a red-tailed hawk for calls, although I do swap out barred owl and whippoorwill. If you want to do it too, bear mind that you need either internet or texting capabilities on your phone. And always test your phone and service for compatibility.

Next time you hear a loon, owl, red-tail, wolf or elk look around someone may be pulling out there phone.

Birding a powercut

I parked the car and stepped out to the hiss and singing of the high-tension wires overhead in the powercut. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise. Until I moved north, I had never considered birding a powercut. Heck, I don’t think I even knew there were birds near the wires. It is a little scary. But the birding is glorious. Many birds like the second growth of the large swath kept cleared by the power company.

Ignore the raised hair on your arms. Pay no attention to the wires. Stop. Listen. There. Do you hear it? The chickbur of a scarlet tanager. C’mon, let’s go. On the way up the hill there was the sweetness of yellow warblers, the bee buzz of the blue-winged warblers and the throaty monotony of the yellow-billed cuckoo. The chestnut-sided warblers all around were so pleased to meetcha.  My head swiveled searching the cacophony of sound for movement. I saw indigo bunting, chestnut-sided warblers, prairie warblers, and the increasingly rare golden-winged warbler. Many of these birds are a crap-shoot to find during migration but are a sure thing in a powercut. Wait. There is a flash of scarlet dashing from one side of the cut to the other. Ahhhhh.

Go down a back road road, to a dirt road to another dirt road, somewhere you will find a powercut. My favorite powercut is off Paradise Road but the one on Van Orden is also good.

Some of the best birding is in unlikely places.

Last Beech Road Birdwalk

I lay considering the pitter-patter of rain on the windows.  Should I go to Beech Road or not?  Rain is not much of a barrier with the right gear, but I had to go to work right from the field.  On the other hand it is the last scheduled bird walk with Weis for the season and although migration is slowing down, there are still new arrivals daily.  I threw back the covers and headed for the shower.

When I arrived Suzanne was the only person there.  As we waited we watched the swallows zip by, a large flock of cedar waxwings settle onto a cedar (go figure), and a green heron erupt from the shoreline to find a comfortable snag.  Just as a carload of birders pulled up, a warbling vireo started a complex musical interlude.  Finding a smallish non-descript gray bird can be difficult in the flat light on a gray day.  But his song kept us focused.  Suzanne finally spotted him tucked into a fully-leaved out maple.   I found him once he flew and started to carol again.  Everyone had good looks.

We tracked many of the birds by ear.  But some of them were silent, elusive, intent on feeding, setting up territory and getting on with their lives.  They were not “wasting daylight” as my mother would say.   Among the later category I would put the mystery warblers; the silent ones that were high in the canopy, furtive maybe magnolias or canadas or drab olive tennesees.

Here is the list that I saw or heard–not counting the mysteries.  Not bad for an hour.

Redstart
Louisiana Waterthrush
Blue-winged Warblers
Chipping Sparrows
Green Heron
Tree Swallows
Rough-winged Swallows
Doubled-crested Cormorant
Ovenbird
Red-winged Blackbirds
Catbirds
Cowbirds
Blue Jays
Wood Thrush
Red-eyed Vireo
Robins
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
A few mystery warblers

Wood Duck with 7 ducklings

Wordless Wednesday-Lunch with a Great Egret

Birding Clinton Road

Hard on the heels of my disappointed over missing the World Series of Birding because of my delayed flight back from New Orleans; a friend and I spent some time yesterday on Clinton Road. Clinton Road is a 10-mile wooded wonderland that goes from Route 23 to 94. It snakes through the Newark watershed, has sparkling streams that fall over iron-laced boulders, is a cool delight in summer and breathtaking in autumn. It is also the nesting territory for many of the wood warblers. (should I mention that it is haunted?)

My friend arrived at my house proclaiming that it was a very birdy day. From the house I could hear Orioles, Titmice, Chipping Sparrows and the “Weeeep” of a Great Crested Flycatcher. We threw our gear in the car and headed out.

We rolled down the windows and cranked up the heat (yes, it is still cold up here) listening as we crept down the road. At one end of Clinton Road there is the lake. At this hour the Red-winged Blackbirds were frantically shoves their epaulets in our faces, the Yellow Warblers were chasing each other like sprayed drops of feathered sunshine.

When we got past the houses and into the wooded section, the woods erupted in the melodious songs of the warblers. I smiled and thought to myself, “welcome back”. The Black-throated Greens were murmuring in the trees, Ovenbirds teaching from the forest floor, Prairies ascending the heights, Parulas and Redstarts singing for all they were worth. We were awash in Chestnut-sided Warblers. It was amazing to hear it all. In the end we got 52 species in 4 hours.

Black-throated Blue, Prairie Warbler, Black-throated Green, Ovenbird, Wood Thrush, Veery, Yellow Warbler, Blue-Winged Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Parula, Redstart, Pine Warbler, Black & White Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Indigo Bunting, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Baltimore Oriole, Goldfinch, Scarlet Tanager, Purple Martin, Barn Swallow, Tree Swallow, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Mallard, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Turkey, Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, Broad-winged hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Cooper Hawk, Mourning Dove, Cardinal, Robin, Blue Jay, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Pileated Woodpecker, Phoebe, Great-crested Flycatcher, Red-eyed vireo, Crow, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Catbird, Chipping Sparrow, House Sparrow, Cowbird.

Are you intrigued? Come to the highlands.

Happy Mothers Day

Birding City Park in New Orleans

Right before I left NJ, I threw out an email to a birdingpal from New Orleans. I have not been successful with using this service in the past, but 2 people told me that have connected with someone and got great advice. So, what the heck. When I arrived in the city I wandered through the French Quarter to get my bearings and was welcomed by the chittering of chimney swifts. Ah, I remember the swifts. Once long ago, on my first trip to New Orleans, I was amazed by the swifts. They darted above and between the historic rooftops and galleries of the French Quarter. I remember sitting in a rooftop lounge drinking crisp white wine and watching the swirl of their antics and not paying much attention to the conversation swirling about me. I smiled. If nothing else, New Orleans has swifts. A first of the season for me.

But birdingpal came through. I received a lovely email with several options within an easy streetcar ride since I had no car. She recommended Audubon Park and City Park. Audubon Park is on the St. Charles Street line and has a 1.7 mile jogging/biking loop. On an island in the middle of the water on the left is a heron rookery. The trip to the park was a major time commitment though. The concierge at the hotel said it would take 45 minutes to get there—plus walking the loop and getting back. I was looking at 3 hours- minimum. City Park, on the other hand, is on the Canal Street line. It takes only 30 minutes to get there. I could wander around, come back when I needed. I opted for City Park for expediency’s sake even though it was a warm muggy afternoon.

The Canal Street stop for the streetcar is on the median outside the hotel. I hopped on, slid in my dollar and dropped the quarter in the slot. I sat on the beautiful wooden seat. A lovely warm breeze blew in through the open window. The car clattered forward with a merry clang of its bell. People got on and off as we left the city and headed toward Metarie.

I got off at the last stop, City Park, outside the museum. The first thing I heard when I crossed the busy intersection and walked into the park was the distinctive call of boat-tailed grackles. I wandered off the sidewalk in the direction of a creek flowing in the distance. A cattle egret eyed me warily as I approach the water, flying off a few steps. A flicker of white caught my eye; I spun to watch a least tern dive headlong into the still brown water. Then a common tern dashed past. I could really see the size difference. Along the far bank I saw the stately white of an egret. I walked along the bank A harsh squawk out from the reeds stepped a yellow-crowned nightheron. It watched me, gave an almost shrug with a ruffle of its feathers and started to pick in the grass. Apparently finding nothing of interest it flew off.

I got 23 species in all: Laughing Gull, Mockingbird, Monk parakeets, Least Tern, Common Tern, White Ibis, Brown Pelican, Tri-colored Heron (but you knew that already), Yellow-crowned Nightheron, Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Snowy Egret, Mute Swan, Black Swan (not countable, but cool none the less), Bronzed Cowbird with the demonic glowing red eye, Blue Jay, Mourning Dove, Canada Goose (really small though, smaller than the domestic white geese floating around), Mallards, Boat-tailed Grackles, Ring-necked Doves, and of course, Starlings, and House Sparrows.

Louisiana Heron in Louisiana

Yes, I know it’s really a Tri-colored, but when I started birding this was a Louisiana Heron and lo and behold here I am in Louisiana and I saw one at City Park in New Orleans.

Ever want to be in a World Series?

A few years ago, some friends and I participated in New Jersey Audubon’s World Series of Birding and it was a hoot! (Get it? Hoot. Nudge, nudge. Eye rolling…Oh, never mind….) It is a competition and fundraising event. We were on the Passaic Pewees team out of Weis Ecology Center. But instead of the insane 24-hour marathon that the professional teams undertake, we met at the crack of dawn for owls, whippoorwills and other night birds, then birded from West Milford to Garret Mountain—all in Passaic county. I think it was more of a 12-hour thing. We saw or heard over 100 species. It was totally fun in a fast-paced non-competitive friendly, laughing, bird watching, bear-spotting kind of way. (Yes, we did see a gigantic bear; we were in West Milford after all.)

Well, the Passaic Pewees are on the prowl again on May 10th. If you would like to come and play; you can call Weis at 973-853-2160 to sign up. I won’t be able to do the whole day but I hope to do part of it. You don’t have to do all of it either. C’mon. Meet me at Weis at 4am. It will be fun!