Feb 14 2009
The Great Backyard Bird Count, Day 1 (Feb. 13, 2009)
A dismal first day. Here’s the meager list of feathered visitors to our backyard feeders: 3 American Goldfinches 1 Tufted Titmouse
Archive for the 'bird watching' Category
Feb 13 2009
The Great Backyard Bird Count, Morning, Day 1 (Feb. 13, 2009)
I’m having an ignominious start to 2009′s Great Backyard Bird Count! There’s not a bird to be seen. Plenty of food and three squirrels hopping around by the base of our feeders, eyeballing the piles of nuts and seed, but no birds. Curses!
Feb 04 2009
Gearing up for the 2009 GBBC (Great Backyard Bird Count)
Brace yourselves for birdwatching excitement and drama! (OK, so allow me to be a little hyperbolical) We’re just over a week away from the Great Backyard Bird Count, and this household is primed with plenty of bird food, ‘bins’ (cool bird watcher slang for binoculars), and not one, but two bird identification books. And heck, [...]
Jan 28 2009
1st-Time Visit From a Red-Bellied Woodpecker
Our peanut feeder had a visit from a Red-Bellied Woodpecker for the first time this morning. At first, we thought it was the chipper Downy Woodpecker that likes to drop in from time to time for peanuts, but the red nape that extends from its shoulders to its beak was unmistakable. The Red-Bellied Woodpecker’s bill [...]
Jan 14 2009
Making peace with local squirrels
Early in 2008, I was embroiled in a bird watcher’s war of attrition with the neighborhood squirrels. They would twitch their noses at me and scale my bird feeder with impunity, despite my efforts to stop them from eating my sunflower seeds, peanuts and anything else I would put out for the local birds. I [...]
Jan 10 2009
iBird: The new bird-watcher’s field guide for the iPhone
At long last! Someone finally created a bird watcher’s guide for the iPhone! Thanks to the folks over at ibirdexplorer.com, bird watchers have their choice of a number of versions of birding guides for the iPhone and iTouch: iBird Backyard: For common backyard birds of North America ($4.95) iBird West: For Western birds of North [...]
Nov 07 2008
An avian assortment visits our feeders today
What a morning for birdwatching! In the span of 20 minutes, we were visited by seven species of birds. The highlight though, was two or three Purple Finches, which made a first time appearance at our feeders to dine on black-oil sunflower seeds. At first we thought it was a House Finch because the reddish/purple [...]
Jun 20 2008
Picnicking with Cedar Waxwings at Atkinson Common in Newburyport
It was a beautiful Thursday so my wife, son and I went for a picnic at Atkinson Common in Newburyport, Mass. The sun was out, there was a hint of a summer breeze, the clouds seemed to be avoiding our section of sky and flitting amongst the evergreen and viburnum trees was a small, active [...]
Jun 14 2008
The Hoopoe: Israel’s new national bird
The State of Israel finally has a national bird. Behold, the Hoopoe, chosen during this year’s celebration of the 60th anniversary of the nation’s independence. The Hoopoe (Photo by Dhaval Momaya, via Wikipedia) According to a news brief from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the bird is native to the Middle East and has an Israeli [...]
Mar 15 2008
Red-winged Blackbirds arrive en masse
It’s that time of year again, when the Red-winged blackbirds have arrived in force to our neck of the woods. Coming from area marshes, meadows, fields and wetlands in Salisbury, Newburyport and Newbury, they often come to the fields, woodlands and yards of Amesbury during spring foraging trips. In fact, they came in huge numbers [...]
