It’s finally May, and May means migration! There is no single month that can top the action and excitement of peak spring birding here in New York. This mad dash to the breeding grounds is the most intense time of the year for many species. As much as I adore fall migration, the southbound movement of birds is a more … Read More
The Season So Far: Fall 2020 Highlights
Each of the four seasons has something special to offer the birding world. I will always cherish the lively color and music of spring when birds return after months of absence. Winter brings the festive joy of Christmas Bird Counts and new year lists, while summer offers breeding bird surveys and plenty of free time for adventures. Even so, I … Read More
Late central New York Hummer
This morning I had the pleasure of visiting a home that is hosting a very late hummingbird. Generally, hummingbirds should be gone from central New York by mid-September. A late hummingbird is exciting because frequently, a hummingbird after November 1st is a Rufous Hummingbird. Particularly intriguing about this bird was that when I talked to the homeowner on the phone, … Read More
Yellow-bellied Invasion – PSU Fall Banding
After a week’s worth of warm weather, the cold front moving through also brought an incredible push of migrants across the Northeast. I was very excited to get out this morning and try to catch some birds, hoping Big Hollow would be full of migrants. As I was walking to the banding site I could hear (and sometimes see) warblers … Read More
Mid-summer Yard and Patch updates
It’s mid-summer and the frenzied pace of adding species to yard and patch lists has likely slowed down for a while. I thought it would be interesting to see what the first 6 months have produced. There are some very impressive yard lists from the first half of the year in all size classes. At least one person has managed … Read More
Hummingbird banding photos
Yesterday, Justine and I had the opportunity to join in on some hummingbird banding just down the road in Huntingdon County. We were not sure what to expect as the forecast was calling for 90% chance of rain all day. We had some torrential rainfall at the very beginning but it soon cleared off around 10:30am and by the time … Read More
More hummingbirds
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have really increased at our feeder recently, presumably due to the fact that young have fledged and can now feed on their own. All the hummers that I have seen recently have been either adult females or immatures; the last adult male I remember seeing was back in May. Activity should only increase further as the birds begin … Read More
Backyard Ruby-throated Hummingbird
For the last two weeks now, we have had at least two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds visiting out window feeder throughout the day. I decided I wanted to get a photo through the window but the first problem I ran into was that the dust on the window really showed up in the photo and so I had to fix that with … Read More