Two new first-of-year birds while out walking the Indiana University Cross Country course today, plus a couple other species I hadn't seen yet this month.
* There was a Northern Rough-winged Swallow foraging over the IU golf course. BIGBY species #93 for 2010.
* There were two Chimney Swifts twittering away to the south of the XC course. BIGBY species #94 for the year.
* Spotted a Brown Creeper inching along a tree trunk. That's BIGBY species #78 for the month (I'm doing April as a walking "Big Green Big Month").
* Watched a Merlin for a bit on the north part of the XC course. BIGBY species #79 for April.
Finally, a few days ago I reported a half dozen Tree Swallows flying over the vacant lot at the southwest corner of Pete Ellis Drive and 10th Street. At the time I wondered if some of them might be interested in the old bluebird nest boxes in this lot. This morning I saw two swallows perched on top of the nest box that's closest to 10th Street.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
BIGBY species #91 and #92 for 2010
I saw a Ruby-crowned Kinglet yesterday on the Indiana University Cross Country course. BIGBY species #91 for 2010.
And I ran across a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher this AM on the IU XC course. It was flitting around the edge of a thick stand of bush honeysuckles, which are almost fully leafed-out now. I believe this is the earliest in the year I've ever seen one. BIGBY species #92 for the year. If I get 8 more species on or before April 28 I will have set a new personal record for earliest date to reach 100 walking BIGBY species. I think it's do-able.
I had a life first at the feeders a little bit ago. I had a Red-winged Blackbird clinging to one of my feeders, eating bird feed. I'm pretty sure I've never had a RWBL on a hanging feeder in my yard before. (If you're curious, here's what the feeder looks like: http://bit.ly/9tvCee).
Still quite a few Dark-eyed Juncos around. Seems like I see two or three under the feeders every time I look out the window.
And I ran across a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher this AM on the IU XC course. It was flitting around the edge of a thick stand of bush honeysuckles, which are almost fully leafed-out now. I believe this is the earliest in the year I've ever seen one. BIGBY species #92 for the year. If I get 8 more species on or before April 28 I will have set a new personal record for earliest date to reach 100 walking BIGBY species. I think it's do-able.
I had a life first at the feeders a little bit ago. I had a Red-winged Blackbird clinging to one of my feeders, eating bird feed. I'm pretty sure I've never had a RWBL on a hanging feeder in my yard before. (If you're curious, here's what the feeder looks like: http://bit.ly/9tvCee).
Still quite a few Dark-eyed Juncos around. Seems like I see two or three under the feeders every time I look out the window.
Friday, April 9, 2010
First week of April – 10 FOY species (and 90th BIGBY species)
The first week of April (4/1/10-4/7/10/0 turned out to be a very “springy” week on the Indiana University Cross Country course. During the last few days of March it still looked a little wintry, with only small leaf buds on the honeysuckle, some scattered violets and dandelions, and the redbud blossoms showing some faint promise. Now the honeysuckles are really leafed out, the redbuds and dogwoods are in bloom, and there’s a decidedly greenish tint to the trees as you look out over the woods.
I’ve started tallying bird species in detail now. Since the beginning of the year I’d only been noting the more interesting birds. Since April 1 I’ve been shoveling every last one of them into eBird, even the “usual suspects” that always seem to be around. I’ve decided to make April and May “Big Green Big Months”, to see how many species I can tally on foot from home. And I’m determined to break my personal “Big Green Big Day” record (74 species on 5/7/09).
My goal for this month is to exceed my previous BIGBY high count for April (not sure what that is...I need to check my records from past years). After one week (4/1/10-4/7/10) So far I have recorded 73 species in April. The daily species counts started off well, with 54 species on 4/1. But things went downhill from there, with 48 species on 4/2, 41 on 4/5, 39 on 4/6, and 33 species on 4/7.
Migration seems to be slowly picking up. I added 10 new BIGBY (and first-of-year) species for the week. My BIGBY count for 2010 now stands at 90 species. I think this puts me on track for my earliest date to record 100 BIGBY species...I just need to locate 10 more BIGBY species on or before April 28. Oh, yeah, the ten new BIGBY/FOY species were:
* Blue-headed Vireo (4/1)
* House Wren (4/1)
* Great Egret (4/2)
* Barn Swallow (4/2)
* Northern Parula (4/2)
* Pine Warbler (4/2)
* Yellow-throated Warbler (4/6)
* Worm-eating Warbler (4/6)
* Palm Warbler (4/7)
* Black-and-white Warbler (4/7)
A few other highlights:
* One of the most beautiful Eastern Bluebirds I’ve ever seen. Maybe it was the light conditions (it was a cloudy morning), but through my binoculars this bird was a vibrant indigo, rivaling the color of any Indigo Bunting I’ve seen. And his chest was a deep rich reddish brown color. Speaking of bluebirds, this seems to be a down year for them on the XC course. In past years it wasn’t at all unusual to have double-digit counts on a given day. This year I feel lucky if I see/hear 4 or 5 of them.
* Lots of Brown Thrashers. On 4/5 I pinpointed seven singing thrashers, with two only about 75 feet apart. My favorite Brown Thrasher has disappeared though. He had been singing loudly from the exact same treetop branch every morning for almost two weeks. He’s been conspicuously absent for the past few days, making me wonder if maybe he’d been snatched from his very exposed perch by an opportunistic hawk.
* On two different days I’ve had high counts of 10 Northern Flickers, foraging as a flock in the short grass of the northern section of the XC course.
* Two Northern Harrier sightings (4/1 and 4/5).
* A Red-headed Woodpecker (4/2). Very rarely see them in the vicinity of the XC course.
* A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (4/1).
* Louisiana Waterthrush (4/2).
* I’ve been seeing more Eastern Towhees than usual lately. I’m not saying there are MORE towhees than usual, just that I’m SEEING more rather that just hearing them. I’d have to say that the male Eastern Towhee is the most striking of sparrows. And I think the *female* Eastern Towhee is the second most handsome of the sparrows.
* I had what may be a personal high XC record for Field Sparrows on 4/7 – six birds, all singing.
* The Dark-eyed Juncos are still plentiful. I’ve seen them every day, so far.
* I heard/saw four Rusty Blackbirds on 4/1. Not a new bird this year, but I see them so infrequently it’s still a real treat. I love their calls.
* Finally, I saw 18(!) Eastern Meadowlarks on 4/6. My high count for the year. I think that 11 of them may have been passing through, as they were foraging together as a group. The resident meadowlarks seem too territorial right now to be hanging out in flocks like that.
I’ve started tallying bird species in detail now. Since the beginning of the year I’d only been noting the more interesting birds. Since April 1 I’ve been shoveling every last one of them into eBird, even the “usual suspects” that always seem to be around. I’ve decided to make April and May “Big Green Big Months”, to see how many species I can tally on foot from home. And I’m determined to break my personal “Big Green Big Day” record (74 species on 5/7/09).
My goal for this month is to exceed my previous BIGBY high count for April (not sure what that is...I need to check my records from past years). After one week (4/1/10-4/7/10) So far I have recorded 73 species in April. The daily species counts started off well, with 54 species on 4/1. But things went downhill from there, with 48 species on 4/2, 41 on 4/5, 39 on 4/6, and 33 species on 4/7.
Migration seems to be slowly picking up. I added 10 new BIGBY (and first-of-year) species for the week. My BIGBY count for 2010 now stands at 90 species. I think this puts me on track for my earliest date to record 100 BIGBY species...I just need to locate 10 more BIGBY species on or before April 28. Oh, yeah, the ten new BIGBY/FOY species were:
* Blue-headed Vireo (4/1)
* House Wren (4/1)
* Great Egret (4/2)
* Barn Swallow (4/2)
* Northern Parula (4/2)
* Pine Warbler (4/2)
* Yellow-throated Warbler (4/6)
* Worm-eating Warbler (4/6)
* Palm Warbler (4/7)
* Black-and-white Warbler (4/7)
A few other highlights:
* One of the most beautiful Eastern Bluebirds I’ve ever seen. Maybe it was the light conditions (it was a cloudy morning), but through my binoculars this bird was a vibrant indigo, rivaling the color of any Indigo Bunting I’ve seen. And his chest was a deep rich reddish brown color. Speaking of bluebirds, this seems to be a down year for them on the XC course. In past years it wasn’t at all unusual to have double-digit counts on a given day. This year I feel lucky if I see/hear 4 or 5 of them.
* Lots of Brown Thrashers. On 4/5 I pinpointed seven singing thrashers, with two only about 75 feet apart. My favorite Brown Thrasher has disappeared though. He had been singing loudly from the exact same treetop branch every morning for almost two weeks. He’s been conspicuously absent for the past few days, making me wonder if maybe he’d been snatched from his very exposed perch by an opportunistic hawk.
* On two different days I’ve had high counts of 10 Northern Flickers, foraging as a flock in the short grass of the northern section of the XC course.
* Two Northern Harrier sightings (4/1 and 4/5).
* A Red-headed Woodpecker (4/2). Very rarely see them in the vicinity of the XC course.
* A Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (4/1).
* Louisiana Waterthrush (4/2).
* I’ve been seeing more Eastern Towhees than usual lately. I’m not saying there are MORE towhees than usual, just that I’m SEEING more rather that just hearing them. I’d have to say that the male Eastern Towhee is the most striking of sparrows. And I think the *female* Eastern Towhee is the second most handsome of the sparrows.
* I had what may be a personal high XC record for Field Sparrows on 4/7 – six birds, all singing.
* The Dark-eyed Juncos are still plentiful. I’ve seen them every day, so far.
* I heard/saw four Rusty Blackbirds on 4/1. Not a new bird this year, but I see them so infrequently it’s still a real treat. I love their calls.
* Finally, I saw 18(!) Eastern Meadowlarks on 4/6. My high count for the year. I think that 11 of them may have been passing through, as they were foraging together as a group. The resident meadowlarks seem too territorial right now to be hanging out in flocks like that.
Joshua Klein on the intelligence of crows
A cool video from a couple of years ago where hacker and writer Joshua Klein talks about the intelligence of crows, and the "crow vending machine" he invented. Yes, wild crows learned to deposit coins in this machine to get peanuts. :-)
http://bit.ly/bYbDYU
The video is ten minutes long, and he doesn't talk much about the vending machine until near the end. He talks mostly about crow intelligence. Very interesting...
http://bit.ly/bYbDYU
The video is ten minutes long, and he doesn't talk much about the vending machine until near the end. He talks mostly about crow intelligence. Very interesting...
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
My Junco Countdown Begins!
According to Ken Brock's Birds of Indiana, today (April 6) is the departure date for Dark-eyed Juncos for the southern tier of Indiana. If I'm interpreting Brock correctly, this means that 90% of the juncos around here should have moved on by now.
This date triggers my annual Junco Countdown, where I start to track juncos day-by-day to see when they finally disappear entirely.
Today there are still juncos under the feeders whenever I happen to look out, but the numbers are lower than they were even a week ago.
P.S. As a point of reference, the junco departure date for the central tier of Indiana is April 11, and it's April 20 for the northern part of the state.
This date triggers my annual Junco Countdown, where I start to track juncos day-by-day to see when they finally disappear entirely.
Today there are still juncos under the feeders whenever I happen to look out, but the numbers are lower than they were even a week ago.
P.S. As a point of reference, the junco departure date for the central tier of Indiana is April 11, and it's April 20 for the northern part of the state.
Great Backyard Bird Count results for 2010
The Great Backyard Bird Count folks have released the results from the 2010 GBBC.
Overview:
http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/science-stories/2010-results
Top ten lists for 2010:
http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/top10
And you can also develop custom reports by starting at the "Explore the Results" page (http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/results).
A few examples for Illinois
* Illinois results, by locality, in alphabetic order:
http://bit.ly/bMp6ov
* Illinois results, by species, ranked by total number of individual birds reported:
http://bit.ly/dfyS8N
* Illinois results, by species, ranked by number of checklists reporting the species:
http://bit.ly/acLzij
Overview:
http://www.birdsource.org/gbbc/science-stories/2010-results
Top ten lists for 2010:
http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/top10
And you can also develop custom reports by starting at the "Explore the Results" page (http://gbbc.birdsource.org/gbbcApps/results).
A few examples for Illinois
* Illinois results, by locality, in alphabetic order:
http://bit.ly/bMp6ov
* Illinois results, by species, ranked by total number of individual birds reported:
http://bit.ly/dfyS8N
* Illinois results, by species, ranked by number of checklists reporting the species:
http://bit.ly/acLzij
Saturday, April 3, 2010
The Beauty of Meadowlarks
Each year I am entranced when I hear the first few tentative songs from Eastern Meadowlarks. These songs are definitely signs that spring is near. I never grow tired of them.
The Meadowlarks' songs have been increasing in frequency over the past several weeks on the IU cross country course. Yesterday I counted eight beautifully singing male Meadowlarks competing to maintain their territories.
While the Meadowlarks' songs are sweet, the hues of their breeding plumage are even more beautiful. I'm not sure there's anything more striking in the early spring than a singing male Meadowlark facing the early morning sun. The vibrant yellows seem to glow and pop in the sun's rays, like they're illuminated from within. And the crisp black "V" bib on the chest offers a stark contrast with the bright golden colors.Then compare this vivid yellow/black display against the deep blue of an early spring sky. Stunning...
One pair of Meadowlarks yesterday put on a showy aerial chase that sort of reminded me of jet pilots flying in formation at an air show...very synchronized. The birds were sitting near each other at the top of a tree. One was singing, one was not. The silent bird suddenly took off from the tree, with the other bird in hot pursuit. Over the next several minutes they did all sorts of twists and turns and dives, with the birds no more than a foot apart the whole time. An impressive display. Then another Meadowlark flew up from the grass to join them. It must have ruined the moment. The chase ended, almost as if the birds had lost track of who was chasing who.
In reading BNA Online, I think I observed a male and female in what BNA calls the Aerial Chase: "Aerial Chases are typically initiated by female; she regulates their speed. May be single flights of short duration or series of brief flights alternated with intervals of rest and posturing on ground; more commonly a tortuous affair of 4–5 min, carrying pair well beyond confines of their territory." Pretty cool to see.
The Meadowlarks' songs have been increasing in frequency over the past several weeks on the IU cross country course. Yesterday I counted eight beautifully singing male Meadowlarks competing to maintain their territories.
While the Meadowlarks' songs are sweet, the hues of their breeding plumage are even more beautiful. I'm not sure there's anything more striking in the early spring than a singing male Meadowlark facing the early morning sun. The vibrant yellows seem to glow and pop in the sun's rays, like they're illuminated from within. And the crisp black "V" bib on the chest offers a stark contrast with the bright golden colors.Then compare this vivid yellow/black display against the deep blue of an early spring sky. Stunning...
One pair of Meadowlarks yesterday put on a showy aerial chase that sort of reminded me of jet pilots flying in formation at an air show...very synchronized. The birds were sitting near each other at the top of a tree. One was singing, one was not. The silent bird suddenly took off from the tree, with the other bird in hot pursuit. Over the next several minutes they did all sorts of twists and turns and dives, with the birds no more than a foot apart the whole time. An impressive display. Then another Meadowlark flew up from the grass to join them. It must have ruined the moment. The chase ended, almost as if the birds had lost track of who was chasing who.
In reading BNA Online, I think I observed a male and female in what BNA calls the Aerial Chase: "Aerial Chases are typically initiated by female; she regulates their speed. May be single flights of short duration or series of brief flights alternated with intervals of rest and posturing on ground; more commonly a tortuous affair of 4–5 min, carrying pair well beyond confines of their territory." Pretty cool to see.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
