Banding: Day 2

Yesterday was my second day of banding at the Arboretum at Penn State. I was not expecting to do to well, assuming that there was snow on my Jeep before I left my apartment at 6:30 am, my thermometer read 25 degrese, and there were constant hand numbing wind gusts. Our first round of net checks at about 7:25 surprised us with several birds, including 2 fox sparrows!

 

Fox Sparrows

 

Throughout the day we caught more birds than I expected, including dark-eyed juncos, white-throated sparrows, american robins, and a northern "yellow-shafted" flicker. This was a first for our bander in charge, who has banded thousands of birds.

 

Josh taking a wing measurement of the Northern Flicker

Northern "yellow-shafted" flicker

Ten points to the person that guesses why this is a "yellow-shafted" flicker...

 

The day ended early due to high wind and cold tempereatures, after all our main concern while doing any kind of field work is the well fare of the animal and environment. So we closed the nets at 9:30, making our last birds of the day 2 american robins.

 

I wasn't wuite ready to go home, so I checked out the Centre Furnace Duck ponds for anything exciting. There wasn't much other than mallards, ring-necked ducks, canada geese, and american coots, though I did pick up golden-crowned kinglet, and snapped a few pictures of northern mockingbirds picking at berries and an american goldfinch.

 

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

American Goldfinch

 

This pair of canada geese were upstream of the pond at what seemed to be a potential nesting site. It is amazing how camoflauge these birds can be when they have their heads down, trying to remain undetected.

 

Canada goose in stealth mode

Canada goose

 

I will be back at it first thing tomorrow morning setting mist nets, Saturday morning as well. Hopefully we can get some good birds banded!! Take care and check back!!

 

 



Banding Season is Upon Us!!!

Here at Penn State, some of my coleagues, classmates, other volunteers, graduates, and myself have been anticipating the start of spring banding at the Arboretum at Penn State. Last Thursday was the first official day of the banding season, it would have been the Tuesday prior but it was cancelled due to weather. The first bird that I banded this year was...

 

A Dark-eyed Junco

 

We caught several juncos, black-capped chickadees, american robins, and a white throated sparrow last Thursday. I was not at the banding station Saturday, but some highlights were fox sparrow and 13 cedar wax wings!

 

Last weekend I was at home getting some things together for an upcoming camping trip. I got to do a little birding in DuBois Pa while I was in town. Nothing to exciting, most water was still frozen over, though I did see this adult bald eagle fly over while I was checking out the wetlands on beaver drive.

 

Adult Bald Eagle soaring over Beaver Drive

 

I had more than a dozen species while on Beaver Drive, with lots of canada geese, commonn grackles, and red-winged blackbirds. One of these canadas stood out from the rest.

 

Canada Goose

 

The canadas were all stirred up, chasing each other away from mates and claiming resting areas along the banks.

Canada Goose pair.

 

On my way to the DuBois Reservoir, to find out that it was frozen over, I saw a Red-tailed Hawk being harassed by a couple of american crows.

 

Red-tailed Hawk and foe.

 

 

 



Birding with Brooke

School has really taken the toll this year on my outdoor time, so last Saturday I decided that it would be a good idea to get out. My girlfriend Brooke was visiting for the weekend so it was nice to spend some time with her outside as well. We first hit the Centre Furnace Duck Pond to see the locals.

 

Mallard

Redheads

Ring-necked Ducks

Buffleheads

Lesser Scaup and Ring-necked Duck

Common Goldeneye

Mallard

 

I was comparing and contrasting all the ducks that were present, and what makes them different for Brooke, when a couple of American Coots started to chase each other around, which made for a few action shots.

 

American Coots

 

American Coot

 

There was also a Canada Goose with a roughed up wing, I have seen this bird the past several times visiting the duck pond.

 

Canada Goose

Canada Goose

 

We left the Centre Furnace Duck Pond and headed for Bald Eagle State Park where we saw a TON of Red-breasted, common, and hooded mergansers, ring-billed gulls, a pair of common loons, tundra swans, and an adult bald eagle. Most birds observed were distant, making it hard to get good photographs.

 

Tundra Swans

Common Merganser

Common Loons

Red-Breasted Mergansers

 

Also present at the park, were both the men and womens Penn State University CREW.

 

Mens PSU CREW

Womens PSU CREW

 

There was not a wide variety of bird species at Bald Eagle State Park, but my student was very attentative.

 

Brooke, she hardly ever complains when we go out!

 

On our way back to my apartment, I noticed a light morph Northern Harrier along I 99 near the I 99 / Route 150 overpass. So I decided to stop for a quick photo.

 

Norhtern Harrier

 

On Saturday the 16, the PSU Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences 407 Ornithology class went on a birding trip to Hadleman's Island. I only had taken a few pictures during the trip due to the bad weather, but here is one of at least 200 mallards flocking to corn stuble. I had never seen this many ducks on dry land in Pennsylvania up to this point. there were also some american Black Ducks, and Northern Pintails mixed in the flock.

 

Dabblers flocking to corn stubble

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



3 Wise Men

When I was younger, my dad once told me, big bucks don't get big by being stupid. I believe that there is allot of truth to that statement. I also believe that it goes with more animals than just deer. As some of you may have already found out for yourselves from hunting, photography, or birding, that birds can be the smartest critters there is. I think that this is especially true for wild gamebirds. It seems odd to me that you can search and search for these things, and come up without a trace; they disappear, they can be invisible, they are ghosts. Yet you look out of the kitchen window, and they can be found digging up your backyard in search for food. Over spring break, I found that these three gobblers spent some of their time in the afternoon scratching around the Northern Red Oak tree in my back yard.

 

Though these birds are leaving themselves vulnerable in the open like this, there is no doubt in my mind that they are very wise.

These boys got some ropes on em' eh!?

 

 

One of them seems to have a busted, and slightly deformed spur. It could be from getting shot, maybe an unsuccessful attack from a predator, or even disease. Or maybe he was just in a gobbler scuffle. Either way, the leg knob that this guy is yielding gives him character, if you ask me.

 

You can see the unusual spur on the right birds' right leg as these two do their turkey scratchin' line dance.

Here is a better view of the spur.

 

I watched these birds for a good ten minutes, how one bird would take watch as the other two had their heads down picking, taking turns watching their perimeter, scratching at the ground, sending each other certain vocalizations which I'm sure each had their own meaning.

 

Two birds scratchin', with one always keeping watch.

 

These guys seemed to be more concerned with the corn kernels and bird seed that they were finding, rather than me and my camera; as soon as I started to get a little bit restless, they had had enough of my presence, and the 3 wise men made their retreat back to the safety in the stand of hardwood which they came from.

 

The last of the three birds bringing up the rear, as they scurried back into the forest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Gettin my Waterfowlin on

This afternoon I stopped by the Centre Furnace Duck Pond to see what was new and exciting, and to greet me was the Great-Blue Heron.

 

Great-Blue Heron

Great-Blue Heron

 

Also present were several mallards, canada geese, gadwall, ring-necked duck, a handful of american coot, the usual.

 

American Coots

Ring-Necked Duck with Canada Geese

Redhead

 

This muskrat kept me company while I was shooting the birds too!

 

Muskrat

 



Centre Furnace Duck Pond's 4th

This past Saturday afternoon, I went to check out the 4th ever Double-Crested Cormorant at the Centre Furnace Duck pond. While I was there, the  bird just hung out on the opposite bank with the canada geese and american coots.

Canada Geese, Mallards, and American Coots

Double-Crested Cormorant

Other birds present were white-breasted nuthatch, american black ducks, ring-necked duck, and gadwall.

Gadwall

I also saw a red squirrel, two grey squirrels, and a muskrat, which was a challenge to get photos of.

Muskrat

After hanging around the duck pond for about fifteen minutes, I headed for S. Nixon Road to search for songbirds, I'm not sure why due to the lack of snow. But I thought that it might be worth a try. I pulled off of Whitehall Road heading SE on S. Nixon, and spotted a larger bird in one of the trees adjacent to the farm house on the left. I pulled off and put the bins on it, and found that it was a mature Cooper's Hawk, a female I believe judging by size.

Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

Copper's Hawk

I sat and watched the accipiter for about ten minutes preen it's feathers and watch over the fields. And that was it....the rest of my time on S. and N. Nixon was a bust....nothing happened.. BUT, I always enjoy getting looks at a raptor, so it was worth it!