My fondness for Snowy Owls is well-documented. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to live in a corner of the continent where sightings of these nomadic raptors are an annual occurrence. I’ve spent many a winter’s day trudging about on the barrier beaches of Long Island in search of Snowies. It was through such scouting efforts that I honed my field … Read More
Life in Queens: A New Patch
My recent move from Nassau to Queens was one of the final big events in a very eventful 2019. A few months out, I’d consider myself comfortably settled in, and the pros certainly outnumber the cons so far. Somewhere in between “notably shorter, easier commute” and “return to reliance on laundromats” on the Cool-to-Lame Scale lie the changes to my … Read More
The Thrill of Jaeger-watching
The spectrum of birding is vast and amazing. Depending on where we live, a select variety of birds can be found locally, and within certain travels of where we live. Right now birds are migrating in full-force. The colorful flurry of warblers have molted into drab plumage, which helps them stay camouflaged during the fall and winter months. Common Nighthawks … Read More
Black-headed Gull – Hunt Valley, MD
On January 31st Mark Mizak, Josh Lefever, and I left on a 5 day birding trip for New Years. Our first target of the trip was to the Black-headed Gull at Hunt Valley Town Center near Baltimore, Maryland. This is the third year in a row that an adult Black-headed Gull has over-wintered with Ring-billed Gulls in this parking lot. We … Read More
Parasitic Jaegers – Daytona Beach Shores
While scanning through the incredibly massive gull flock at Daytona Beach Shores with Anna recently, we were fortunate enough to see multiple Parasitic Jaegers come in and take advantage of all the gulls in the area. The jaegers were lured in with all the commotion the gulls were causing, both on the beach and over the water. Every few minutes, … Read More
Northern Shrike – Moraine SP
Anna Fasoli, Gretchen Lasser, Delia Guzman, and I spent almost the entire day today searching Moraine State Park for the previously reported Black-headed Gull(s), without any success. Luckily there was a very beautiful adult Northern Shrike that I was able to see multiple times throughout the day in the same parking lot as where the gulls roosted. Below are two … Read More
BESP: Northern Shrike, etc
This morning was the State College Bird Club’s annual field trip to Bald Eagle State Park, led by Bob Snyder. About 20 of us met at the McDonalds in Milesburg, and then carpooled over to the state park. Our first stop was Lower Greens where there wasn’t much activity besides a few Common Mergansers. Next we drove around to the … Read More
BESP 8/25/11 – Forster’s Terns, Common Loon, etc
I made a quick run over to Bald Eagle State Park this morning and was rewarded with a few interesting species; two Forster’s Terns (a juvenile and an adult at the swimming beach), a very early Common Loon, two juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers, and a Least Sandpiper. The Common Loon, which was a 1st summer bird, this is the third record … Read More
Western Gull plus 6 other species at Canyon Co. Dump!
This afternoon Jay Carlisle, Heidi Ware, Anna Fasoli, and I went to search for interesting gulls at the Pickles Butte Dump (Canyon County Dump). There were hundreds of California Gulls and Ring-billed Gulls around and we quickly spotted a few Herring Gulls and Franklin’s Gulls. About 10 minutes after we arrived a 1st winter Glaucous-winged Gull flew past. This was … Read More
Injured Vesper Sparrow
This afternoon, while hawk watching at the Dunning’s Mtn site in Bedford County, I spotted a Vesper Sparrow foraging along the roadside. Last weekend we had seen a Vesper Sparrow in the same spot with some Dark-eyed Juncos. Something looked a little weird today and when I tried to move in closer for a photo, I realized that its wing … Read More