This is a question that I am asked frequently. People never have a hard time understanding why I am in the Wildlife Sciences major at Penn State, but when I tell them I want to study birds, it seems that it confuses them. Why would someone spend hours and days watching and photographing birds....!? I try to explain to them my fascination with birds, all I usually get is a pause and a strange glare like I'm some kind of "loon"....other birders will understand that one.. It can be frustrating when you explain how smart and complex birds are to someone and get nothing back. Thier behavior, migration, courtship, it is unlike many other species in the wild. Especially raptors, there is nothing like standing up to your waist in water with a trout rod in your hand and seeing an Osprey hover over the surface, then plunge into the water like some dive bombing aircraft, and come up with a big ole fat trout flopping around in it's grasp, though sometimes it would be cooler if the fish was one the other end of my line.... Or this past fall while I was watching a group of ring-necked ducks try to land on the DuBois Reservoir but a hungry cooper's hawk was hot on their tails, denying permission to land. Even after an explanation like that, some might think the edge-of-your-seat nail bitting steelers game is a better way to spend an afternoon. Sometimes I think that maybe it is strange that we go out of our way just to watch birds be birds. Then I remember what my biology prof. Dr. Pope says, as biologists it is nearly impossible to not poke things with a stick, and leave stones unturned. It is just our nature to ask questions, and observe nature. So, here is a really cool video that was posted on The Nemesis Bird.
The Nemesis Bird is a blog updated by young Ornithologists, that I follow religiously. They update usually once a day. Here's a link to the blog.
http://www.nemesisbird.com/
Another great blog is Words About Birds, updated by Tim S. and Nate F., both graduates of Wildlife Technology and Wildlife Sciences degrees from Penn State. Here is a link to Words About Birds.
http://wordsaboutbirds.com/
Monday, January 16, 2012
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Help out wintering birds!!!
Ya'll got your winter bird feeders out!?
When food isn't readily avaiblable for winter resident birds, they congregate at feeders allowing for great up close looks. You might even see a wintering raptor keeping an eye on your feeder birds too!
When food isn't readily avaiblable for winter resident birds, they congregate at feeders allowing for great up close looks. You might even see a wintering raptor keeping an eye on your feeder birds too!
Creepy Crawlers!!!
I'm not a HUGE fan of bugs. But now and then when they catch my eye I slow down and poke at them a bit. I went for a walk on Game Lands 44 today, and though I didn't pick up any bird species it wasn't a waste of time. As I was walking an old service road, I stepped over a fallen tree branch when this caught my eye, whatever this is....
Though these creepin' critters don't exactly sit well with me, they have a place in nature and I respect that, now when they are in my house it's a different story. All things in nature have thier place, and some of these guys are very beneficial to us. Such as the carnivorous praying mantis, eating anything that it can get it's goofy hands on. I have read that these eat black flies, mosquitos, and much more, some species even eat frogs, lizzards, and birds! This little guy could be helpful for you gardeners, because they also eat scale insects. The downfall, they eat anything the can get thier goofy hands on....so other beneficial insects are also devoured by this alien like creature. On the contrary, some insects are of course pests, such as the emerald ash borer, a small beattle that our environment agencies spend much time, money, and research on. This beattle bores into our ash trees, and of course kills them. Though they are smaller than a penny, this green slender beatle has swept across alot of ground, leaving behind millions of dead trees. Though they are not my favorite member of the animal kingdom, insects can be interesting!
Larvae in the branch of a Red Oak
I have never taken any classes studying insects, so I don't know much about them. And usually when I find things like this I have no idea what they are. Like when we were getting our Christmas tree this year and me and my brother were trimming off branches in my garage when I saw something attatched to one of the branches. I have never seen anything like this before, and being a biology major, I kept it.....other biologists understand..
Look at his front legs, I think this guy is part crab!
The one day I was outside and noticed something hanging on my garage door, another mystery to me. 
Though these creepin' critters don't exactly sit well with me, they have a place in nature and I respect that, now when they are in my house it's a different story. All things in nature have thier place, and some of these guys are very beneficial to us. Such as the carnivorous praying mantis, eating anything that it can get it's goofy hands on. I have read that these eat black flies, mosquitos, and much more, some species even eat frogs, lizzards, and birds! This little guy could be helpful for you gardeners, because they also eat scale insects. The downfall, they eat anything the can get thier goofy hands on....so other beneficial insects are also devoured by this alien like creature. On the contrary, some insects are of course pests, such as the emerald ash borer, a small beattle that our environment agencies spend much time, money, and research on. This beattle bores into our ash trees, and of course kills them. Though they are smaller than a penny, this green slender beatle has swept across alot of ground, leaving behind millions of dead trees. Though they are not my favorite member of the animal kingdom, insects can be interesting!
Field Guides: A Woodsman's best friend...?
When I leave for an outing, some things I simply cannot leave behind. Pencils, field notebook, binoculars, camera bag, and maybe hiking boots and a daypack with lunch and some water if it's going to be a trek. Of all things, my Peterson Field Guide has got to be at the top of the list. Sometimes even when you have the correct I.D. of a bird, it can be helpful to have a field guide with you so you can compare the bird with similar species. This is one thing that the creators of Peterson Field Guides are great at, pointing out the key identification features of a species. Of all pocket guides, Peterson is by far my favorite.
I have recently been using Field Guide applications with my iPod touch, which I find extremely useful. It is great to have so many different guides in your pocket, and they are all packed with information. I usually use iBird Pro: Interactive Field Guide to the Birds of North America byMitch Waite Group, or Audubon Birds: A Field Guide to North American Birds by Green Mountain Digital. I really enjoy these apps because they have GREAT photography, usually of each species and different sex and age plumages as well as breeding and nonbreeding plumages, which I find more helpful in identification than illustrations. Another great feature that both apps have is the vocals of species. I preffer Audubon's sound library with birds from different populations, which have different accents, because a golden-crowned kinglet from New York sounds significantly different than a golden-crowned kinglet from California. Another reason I spend more time on Audubon's app is because they have incorporated eBird into thier app. EBird is a website where anyone can join, and submit thier sightings as often as they would like. EBird then makes county, state, country, ABA and non ABA lists with your findings and much more. You can also explore other user's bird sightings and data, and see where the sightings were on maps, and it's free to join! So if you like birding, and make species lists, head over to eBird where your findings will contribute to ornithological knowledge!
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
With the technology of eBird, I can open my Audubon app and as long as I have wifi tap on find birds with eBird, select a location, then I can choose to search for birds nearby, locate a bird, find notable and rare birds, or find a hotspot with observations surrounding my desired location. Which I think is really cool.
Another book I accumulated was when my girlfriend and I were Christmas shopping in Greensburg and ran into a Barne's and Noble. As soon as I spotted it, I knew that it would be added to my shelf. Bird: The Definitive Visual Guide from the Audubon Society is PACKED with hundreds of species from around the globe. I only cost me around 30 bucks I believe, and has some really great information. 512 pages of range maps, awesome photography, and some info on many common species around the world, this was a good buy. Not all common species that I encounter are in this book because it covers so much area, but I think it's great to come home and read some text about some of the birds that I have shot that day.
Latest version of Peterson's Birds of Eastern and Central North America
A plate of warblers from the guide, arrows pointing out key field marks.
I have recently been using Field Guide applications with my iPod touch, which I find extremely useful. It is great to have so many different guides in your pocket, and they are all packed with information. I usually use iBird Pro: Interactive Field Guide to the Birds of North America byMitch Waite Group, or Audubon Birds: A Field Guide to North American Birds by Green Mountain Digital. I really enjoy these apps because they have GREAT photography, usually of each species and different sex and age plumages as well as breeding and nonbreeding plumages, which I find more helpful in identification than illustrations. Another great feature that both apps have is the vocals of species. I preffer Audubon's sound library with birds from different populations, which have different accents, because a golden-crowned kinglet from New York sounds significantly different than a golden-crowned kinglet from California. Another reason I spend more time on Audubon's app is because they have incorporated eBird into thier app. EBird is a website where anyone can join, and submit thier sightings as often as they would like. EBird then makes county, state, country, ABA and non ABA lists with your findings and much more. You can also explore other user's bird sightings and data, and see where the sightings were on maps, and it's free to join! So if you like birding, and make species lists, head over to eBird where your findings will contribute to ornithological knowledge!
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/
With the technology of eBird, I can open my Audubon app and as long as I have wifi tap on find birds with eBird, select a location, then I can choose to search for birds nearby, locate a bird, find notable and rare birds, or find a hotspot with observations surrounding my desired location. Which I think is really cool.
Another book I accumulated was when my girlfriend and I were Christmas shopping in Greensburg and ran into a Barne's and Noble. As soon as I spotted it, I knew that it would be added to my shelf. Bird: The Definitive Visual Guide from the Audubon Society is PACKED with hundreds of species from around the globe. I only cost me around 30 bucks I believe, and has some really great information. 512 pages of range maps, awesome photography, and some info on many common species around the world, this was a good buy. Not all common species that I encounter are in this book because it covers so much area, but I think it's great to come home and read some text about some of the birds that I have shot that day.
A couple pages ducks in North America from "Bird"
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
first birds of 2012!!!
My good friend from the U.S. Army was home over the holidays, and on New Years' Day he and I had to run some errands in DuBois. On the way home I decided to drive past the Tannery Dam and through Gameland Road. While passing the Tannery, I noticed a flock of European Starlings flying over, and an Accipiter land in a tree by the church. I quickly pulled in behind the church and circled around to try and get some looks at the raptor. After doing the best I could to get close, snap a few photos, and confirm a positive I.D. on the bird, I concluded that it was an immature Cooper's Hawk. It was hard to tell because the bird was between us and the sunset, so it was more of a silhouette, and the photos did not turn out as good as they could have if the sun was right.
Immature Cooper's Hawk
Immature Cooper's Hawk
Immature Cooper's Hawk
this was about the point when the bird had enough of my ugly blue truck and flew off
Also at the Tannery Dam were mallards and canada geese, both in good numbers.
Today on my way home from work, I again travelled past the Tannery Dam and over Gameland Road just to see if anything would flush from the roadside to add to my empty year list. While pulling out of work I noticed many American Crows flying overhead, as well as on Gameland Road. There was a single Mourning Dove perched on the electric wires by the church by the Tannery Dam. That's 6 for my year list, and Clearfield county list for 2012. I then detoured around Daniel's Road and flushed 4 Dark Eyed "Slate Colored" Juncos and a single White-breasted Nuthatch, adding 2 species to my Elk county list, with a total of 8 to my year list. Nothing to brag about, but I haven't had time to go birding yet and have two lists at least started.
White-breasted Nuthatch
Sunday I have off and plan on hiking Game Lands 44 in Brockway, hopefully adding a good number of species to my year list, which at the moment is more like a year post-it.....
Monday, January 2, 2012
12/11-12/31
It has been a VERY busy December, and I haven't done nearly enough birding as I had hoped that I would during break. The few times that I have been out was on the way to work or Christmas shopping and took a dirt road to get there hoping that something would catch my eye. One of these times was after work were I took a detour to the DuBois Reservoir and then Kyle Lake on the way home. At the Reservoir I didn't pick up any new species, there was some ice cover and no waterfowl present. Just some canada geese, mallards, and mixed diving ducks. Among the divers were these hooded mergansers that were close enough to offer some not-so-terrible photos.
Hooded Mergansers at the DuBois Reservoir males on either side of bottom centered female Bufflehead female top centered
On the way home from the reservoir I swung by Kyle lake. I didn't see any waterbirds, but I did spend some time watching a female Hairy woodpecker in search of food.
Female Hairy woodpecker
a male will have a red patch on the back of his head, and a downy woodpecker will have black spots on the outer tail feathers
Female Hairy woodpecker
Female Hairy woodpecker
Female Hairy woodpecker scratching an itch
On 12/27, there was a good amount of rain coming down, so I hoped that this would put down some migrating waterfowl. I went to the DuBois Reservoir after work, and as it turns out, I was wrong again. I saw some mallards, american crows, canada geese, and some mixed divers. The immature snow goose that has been hanging around between the Tannery Dam and reservoir was present, and I got this shot of a flushing female hooded merganser.
Female hooded merganser
On 12/29, I ran to the DuBois Reservoir after work to see if I could come across any waterfowl photos, hoping that there would be free water with staging waterfowl closer to shore. There was a good raft of diving ducks in the center of the reservoir, and I got this shot of a female Bufflehead. She wasn't cooperative at all. As I approached her trying to keep large trees between us for cover, she would come out on either side searching for me, and once I got within 30 yards she seemed very timid, so I snapped a picture and let her be.
Bufflehead female
2011 was my first year actually counting and listing my observations. My list isn't as long as I would like it to be, I hadn't even broken 100 species. But, I observed all different kinds of animals and birds in the field, met some really cool people, and even took a few photos that didn't turn out too horrible. Hopefully 2012 has a few more species to offer, a few more hundred would be pretty cool, but I'll take what I can get. As long as I'm out, I won't complain.
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