STILL GOING!

I find that Flickr is actually a really good platform for sharing photos, and on the sets I can include a description of what I did, so I update over there now:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39445433@N02/

December 22, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery

Afternoon

This winter has been pretty mild so far; of course last year was the same until the 2nd to last day of the year...I headed over to Mt. Auburn to see what was happening.  This time of year always feels so dormant; I guess that’s the point of Winter.   Still, one never knows what they’re going to see when they come out to bird watching anywhere from late March to mid-June, and then again from mid-August to even mid-October.   Plus the times in between always contain a few surprises.  In the Winter you hope for irruptive species coming down to avoid a harsh northern Canada winter, but that’s usually hit or miss.  I wish I could see more Evening Grosbeaks, Siskins, Crossbills, and other winter exotica.  For today I settled for a House Finch and a Titmouse; the winter species that hang around in New England always remind me of Vikings for some reason, waiting out a barren winter.

This probably concludes my 2011 birding adventures.  I never really stopped watching them; I always saw them around.  I still remember late August of 2008 though when I finally decided to search the internet for places around here that I could actively go out watching them again.  I picked up like I had been doing it daily without a break at all.  I’ve got mountains of pictures from before 2011; most of them with a point & shoot camera though that doesn’t really do them justice.  Getting an SLR & then a 55-250mm lens really helped me immensely.  I still carry my binoculars with me and prefer to use them; but when it comes to identifying/freezing a moment in time, obviously nothing beats the camera.  It’s helped me take my identification skills up a notch.  So now on to 2012.  I’m thinking I’ve outgrown the XTi I’ve been using and will probably snag a T2i or T3i this coming year; we’ll see.  On to 2012!

November 26, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery & some pond in Cambridge.

Late Afternoon

Ended up going to two locations today, the first was Mount Auburn Cemetery, and the other was a pond in Cambridge, the name of which escapes me now. So far this Autumn has been unseasonably warm.  Of course last winter was also unseasonably mild and completely snowless and then from December 29^th through the first week in February we had 8 blizzards or something like that.  So we’ll see.  I remember last year noting seeing some invasive species and wondering if it was an omen of a particularly brutal winter.  Of course til the very end of 2010 it did not appear to be, and then of course they came to full fruition.  This year I’ve noticed several species appear to be wintering over; ones I’ve never seen this late before.  For instance on this trip to Mount Auburn I saw Goldfinches and Redwing blackbirds.

               For some reason seeing Goldfinches in the autumn always reminds me of getting the Audubon Society magazine in the mail as a child.  My mom always bought a subscription for me and I would go through the articles in the magazine when it came, paying attention mostly to the birding ones.  However the big thrill for me was on the back of the magazine there was a calendar for the month and it noted different things that were happening at that time of the month; so there’d be notes about what birds were nesting, what birds were about to migrate, when to look out for deer, etc.   This was how I marked my time passing from the ages of about 5 through 12.  Warblers returning (even though we didn’t have Warblers in my neighborhood), cardinals nesting, young birds fledging,  chipmunk families emerging from dens, hawks beginning to congregate into autumn groups.  The parts about the passage of time always caught my attention the most.  How some birds could still be breeding and others were getting ready to migrate; marking the passage of time in my life by the cycles of the birds, it was always a sort of happy wistful feeling I felt.  I still remember reading that Goldfinches didn’t nest until thistle came out in late August; I recall thinking what a frenetic pace they must raise their young at. As others around them are fattening up for autumn migrations or wintering over, the Goldfinches are just settling down to raise their young.  Anyhow, I cannot recall ever seeing them this late however, and there were flocks of them rustling about in the tops of trees, along with the redwings pictured above.

 I also saw this, maybe the first Evening Grosbeak I’ve seen in 25 years?  Those are actually the birds that really got me into birdwatching.  We had a shelf feeder attached to a windowsill, and as a child I’d come down in the mornings to the living room when the shades would still be pulled and I’d watch their silhouettes projected through the shade by the sun.  Then I’d open the shade and the birds would fly off before quickly returning to continue feasting.  I would sit inches away inside the window watching the Grosbeaks.  I didn’t know they were largely an eruptive species, and being young I thought Grosbeaks must always visit.  I never saw them again after I was 6 or so.  Here’s a picture, I’m not sure what it is, but it may be a Grosbeak.  I’ve been lax in writing all this stuff down formally, it’s July 30, 2012 when I’m writing this all down, and was sifting through the folder for this trip.  How odd it would be if this turns out to be a Grosbeak; sitting in a folder on my computer for 8 months, me unaware that I may have seen the very bird that got me started down this path in life.

edit: I think it's a goldfinch

               Most of this trip was spent around Willow Pond; I wasn’t expecting much bird activity but was pleasantly surprised at the flocks of foraging blackgirds and goldfii skimming around the tops of trees. As an added bonus I saw this creature:

I assume it’s a muskrat, or at least it looks like one, so we’re going to go with muskrat.  It was floating around on the edge of the pond swimming about doing whatever it is that muskrats do. It would dip under the water and pop back up; it paid us no mind as it went about its business.  I also wanted to show this picture of one of the Willows at the pond, it looks like hair hanging down; it really was beautiful.  I’ve never been a big fan of winter, or that dead period from late November to late February.  Those 3 months just bring up a feeling of malaise in my mind.  But looking at the willow here it reminds me of those days earlier on in Autumn; the stereotypical New England memories of apple picking, and apple pies, whole mountains bursting into color, and old corn stalks bunched up together.  Good times.

So we moved along at this point to a pond in Cambridge, the name of which escapes me now.  There were dozens of people milling about it.  The circumference of it was pretty close to a mile if I recall.  As we walked along the wooded path that led to the lake we saw several squirrels that appeared to be quite fat, ready for winter.   You could hear them noisily munching on the seeds and nuts they had collected.

edit: It's Fresh Pond

So we got to the lake and were lucky enough to spot this Heron sunning itself on a log by the edge of the water.   A lady there told us of a family of owls, and we walked for about 15 minutes after her only to come to the tree and note that there were no owls there at this time.  She said “Oh, I guess they’re gone.  Bye!” and walked away.  Good times.  Here’s the heron:

November 20, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mild, sunny

Driving by Auburn Lake today at Mount Auburn and I noticed some ducks swimming around in the middle of the lake. I had never seen Hooded Mergansers live before but recognized them by the males distinct crown immediately.   They circled around and around for quite some time just out of range of my 250mm lens; I got some decent shots, but nothing spectacular.  Wendy noted “They didn’t really do much, they just circled around in the middle of the lake”.  I’ll let them know that next time they should start throwing fire-crackers at the people on –shore. 

For a while what I thought was a flicker was bombing around the suet cage, and screaming from the tops of the trees.  Apparently though someone pointed out it was actually a red-bellied woodpecker.  Not sure how I never noticed that before.   Most of the pictures I have taken in the past have been of flickers, but I’m sure some that I’ve spotted have been red-bellies.  You’ll note the red belly on this bird, as well as the lack of the black marking on the cheek, the ‘whisker’ is missing.  It’s quite the boisterous bird, and it kept patrolling around the lake for some time.

Since it was bright enough out, and the mergansers weren’t lighting anything on fire, I decided to see how fast I could get my shutter speed while aimed at the feeder, I wanted to get some bird in flight shots.  I got several, and what follows is among the best; I got the shutter speed up to 1/1250^th of a second. 

The cemetery is really beautiful this time of year, it feels more like a cemetery and less like an arboretum at these times; something about the leaves dying and the ground turning fallow. The silence that hangs in the air, punctuated only by a distant chickadee or the woodpecker returning.  It’s so still; during the summer even if there’s nothing around there’s always a hum in the air, a distant buzz of an insect, the wind rustling through the leaves; a certain expectation of movement and excitement.  Now in the autumn the earth is sleepy, there are no leaves, and the insects have gone away. 

October 16, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery

Sunny, breezy, mild

Well this was a fun one!   As we drove into the cemetery on a windy day we were driving along a path and Wendy somehow managed to spot this bird sitting on a branch a ways back from the road.  How she spot it I’m not sure.  Haven’t seen an Accipiter in quite some time, and that’s what this was, so I was especially pleased.   This handsome fellow on the following pages is an immature Cooper’s Hawk.  He seemed perfectly fine with letting us get close to him, we got plenty of great shots as he swayed on the branch. 

We eventually carried on and ran into the Turkeys, which are becoming a frequent sight in the Cemetery, here’s a couple pictures of them.

I also wanted to include a couple pictures of Auburn Lake, since it looks quite nice this time of year:

Overall it was a lovely trip and we had a great time. 

October 2, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery

Mild, overcast

               Took a post-migration season trip to Mount Auburn to see if there were any stragglers.  I didn’t see any, but I did get some nice shots of some flora and a stoic Great-Blue Heron under a bridge.  Cloudy day out; this is really the beginning of the lull in birding.  Still too early for many of the northern Canadian species to come down yet, but too late to see any migrants, unless there are some stragglers. I did enjoy this gravestone; it looked somber, but seasonally appropriate with the pumpkins on it.  On to the pictures!

September 16, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery

What to do on a beautiful end-of-summer day, the day after I turn 30?  Go bird watching of course.   The day got started with a non-bird sighting;  I came across a fox just below the tower, and it ran off along a trail; here’s a picture.  I lost it shortly after this picture was taken. He looks like he’s in repose but in actuality he’s waiting to spring into action and lead me on a goose chase.

I didn’t resize it because I thought it made a nice picture.  It’s a bit over-exposed, but you can see him in the middle there.  After this I headed towards Auburn Lake and on the way ran into some Doves, and a camera shy flicker and an equally camera shy phoebe.  They actually were right next to each other, looking away from my camera the whole time.  Next I came across my first ever Wilson’s Warbler.  This thing was a pain to i.d. since it kept flitting around, but I got a couple good looks at it.  Unfortunately it was being rather uncooperative when I got my camera out. Long story short, who wants to look at a blurry Wilson’s Warbler chilling out with a nuthatch?  Hopefully you do, because that’s what the picture below is of.   

               I have to say that this was by far my most prolific year of bird watching. So many new species.  Probably because I have been doing it a lot more this year, and I’ve really gotten better identifying the transient Warblers, Flycatchers, and various sundry species that come through the area.   Growing up we had Audubon sanctuaries that we would drive to, or I could birdwatch on the flood plain on the other side of the dike in Westfield.  But back then I didn’t know how to time my trip requests so that my mom could take me during peak migration times and wot not.  I got to see the occasional Magnolia Warbler or Black & White Warbler in the yard at South Loomis Street, but by and large I never got to see many of the species that I have this year.   It helps too that there are swaths of birders at Mount Auburn.   I also have a DSLR camera and a lens capable of capturing good shots that I can put in this document for later perusal.   I have 1000s more where these shots came from as well.  It’s definitely increased my ability to ID things back at home if I’m stumped, but to also share with others, which increases my happiness.  Anytime I can share birds with someone I’m happier.

So carrying along I came to the opposite side of Auburn Lake (opposite the bird feeder) and there were several people there checking out warblers.  There was a Northern Parula Warbler, and a Redstart in autumn plumage; I had never seen one before, or more likely had never identified one before, so that was neat.  The Parula was an easy identification; it looks basically the same.  I wouldn’t have known the Redstart was a Redstart if someone hadn’t mentioned it.  In retrospect I can see the patterning under the tail.   I like the shots I got of both; they remind me a bit of poses you see in Audobon’s paintings.  First the Parula, and then the Redstart:

               Other sightings include a Red-Eyed Vireo; I believe it has a new name now, but growing up it was always known as the Red-Eyed Vireo, so I’ll stick with that.  The eyes themselves aren’t very red; this may have been a young one, as apparently their eyes take on more color as they grow up.   Here's a couple shots

In the middle of all this I got to watch a Red-Tailed Hawk tear apart a meal as well, and got a nice shot of him sitting atop a grave-stone perch.   There was also the omnipresent Robins, Flickers, Chickadees, and Nuthatches.  I’m assuming that this is probably the tail end of migration that I’m seeing right now.  It’s always somewhat wistful every year when this time comes, but honestly I’ve always enjoyed it.  Seeing the transitions in nature from Summer to Autumn is comforting in some way that I’ve never been able to fully express.  Regardless, I’ll transition into more fall activities; Apple picking, pumpkin carvings, and all that jazz.   Here’s the Red-Tail on a grave:

 Overall it was a great spring & summer of birding; and hopefully a great autumn to follow. 

September 3, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery

The return!  So I didn't mean to neglect this for so long, but I got a new job and was getting into a rhythm with the schedule.   Without further ado, here's the first of a few retroactive updates I have to post:

I wanted to come out birdwatching in August more than I actually did, in fact I don’t think I ended up going at all; I have no pictures to speak of.  August is a relatively quiet month, there aren’t any migrants passing through.  Most birds are done breeding for the year, or are almost there, and are bulking up for their migrations that are to follow.   I figured I’d go back this Saturday at the beginning of September since migration season should be starting soon.  I was also curious if the owls would still be around. 

We headed for the dell on arriving since that’s usually the area that most of the action has been occurring my last few trips earlier in the summer.  Andy was there as well and a couple other people looking for the Great-Horned Owl.  We heard it calling somewhere around us and after some wandering around we made it around a corner and the owl was about 6’ away on a branch just chilling at eye level. It was quite the sight to behold.  It didn’t stay long enough for any of us with bigger cameras to get set up.  Wendy got a couple shots of it, so I’ll have to snag them from her and post them.   At this point we were about 100 yards away from the dell, and it appeared the owl had winged it back in that direction.  We traveled back there and found it pretty high up in one of the trees a bit away from the dell still.  It looked particularly drowsy and was only mildly annoyed at our presence.  

I had decided that instead of cropping out so much of my photos I was going to start cropping out smaller portions, and just resizing them more so you can get a general idea of the scenery surrounding the birds.  In this case however that was pointless, the owl was completely ensconced in late summer foliage and was only partially visible, so here’s your token cropped-shot of a juvenile Great-Horned Owl, or at least several parts of it which are visible.   I’m thinking I may start using smaller thumbnail versions and linking to a flickr gallery or something, but if in 100 years I’m dead and gone and for some inexplicable reason famous, maybe someone will go back and read these bird logs.  In that case I doubt flickr will still be around or the hyperlinks still valid, so I’ll just keep posting these resized versions of full sized pictures in here until I come up with a better idea.  If you’re reading this in the online version of this log, then ignore the previous several sentences and keep reading .

After this Wendy, myself, and Andy decided to head over to Auburn Lake, which I have been to several times this summer, the bridge that goes over it is where the Phoebes had nested this past summer.  Upon arriving we were greeted by a flotilla of mallards that looked like they wanted trouble, so we kept moving around the perimeter of the lake.  I have to say that after migration season ended for Warblers it seemed like most of the action in the area shifted away from the dell and to this lake, it’s where a good chunk of my better sightings came this summer (and since I’m writing this in the log about 6 weeks after this early September trip I can say that this area would be a hotbed during fall migration as well).  Anyway, here’s the picture of the ducks, cruising in for trouble. 

Right away I also realized that I could hear a Kingfisher somewhere in the area, that dry rattle they make is absolutely unmistakable.  I haven’t seen one in quite some time; I think the last time was at some point last year at Willow Pond and even then it was brief.  The last time I saw one even vaguely clearly was back at South Loomis Street when I lived in Southwick growing up.  I was hoping I’d get a chance to see one today, and I was not disappointed.   But first we noticed a flock of small birds flitting around in the trees towards the more open end of the lake.  There were flocks of robins gorging themselves on berries in the area, but also smaller birds flitting around.  It was hard to get them with my binoculars since they moved around so much, so I decided to use my camera like a spotting scope and snap some pictures for later identification.  The pictures came out very backlit, but I believe what you are looking at here is a Red-Eyed Vireo in fall plumage.   Again, I’d leave the broader composition of the photo in, but it’s just a giant mess of backlit leaves.

So after following a bunch of vireos around we went back to the Kingfisher, which was perched exposed on a branch over the lake.  It actually was flying in a circuit around the lake to three different spots, all of which made for good photographs. At this point I was going to post about how the Kingfisher got its name.  Then I checked Wikipedia: “The etymology of kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) is obscure; the term comes from king's fisher, but why that name was applied is not known”.  Well…ok then.  Stop reading this and look at this picture of a Kingfisher instead.  I need a 300mm lens. 

 

                So the next sighting at the lake was from me; Andy told us there was a Little Green Heron stalking about in the area so I began scanning the shores.  I somehow spotted this thing from across the lake. I have no idea how I managed to see this thing from about 40 yards away without using my binoculars.  I feel like a tough guy now.  Anyway, we got some good pictures of it, before it flew to another spot in the vegetation and I got a couple decent photographs of it.  It was in the shadows so they’re not the best quality.  Actually, first here’s another picture of a Kingfisher taken from much closer.  It has a stick across its face. Deal with it.

Ok, now here’s a picture of the Heron.  Again, I cropped out a ton of vegetation.  Unless you’re reading this on the blog, in which case ignore this comment and continue looking at these poorly lit photos.

                So after this we discovered a Red-Tailed Hawk that was loping about in the low lying regions of the trees around the lake.  We chased it around and got some really nice shots of it.  Here’s one of the better ones.  I’m happy with the shot.  The lighting wasn’t great as the sun had gone in at this point, but the hawk cooperated by staying in well-lit areas on exposed branches.  Apparently this is the male Andy was saying.  The hawk’s name is Hamlet I’m told.  You can see the band on his leg there.  This year they had a couple babies that are still in the area as well, but I haven’t really seen them.  This guy here is actually immense.  I wish I had a hawk this big to sit on my shoulder when I walked around town.  After this it flew to a couple other spots and I got some more shots, but the batch that contained the picture I’ve posted here was the best of them.   After this Wendy and I packed up and headed back home.   Here, look at this hawk: 

July 24, 2011 Mount Auburn Cemetery

Warm, sunny, 4:30ish

Decided to go back to Mount Auburn today, it’s getting into late July and I’m not expecting to see anything too exciting.  I notice the board with sightings always has suspect claims this time of year “15 Philadelphia Vireos….5 Canada Warblers…250 Robins”.   I’m sure the person saw a ton of Robins, but the other 2 are highly dubious, if not flat out impossible this time of year, but I digress.  We walked around Willow Pond for a while and noted the turtles.  There were several people on the opposite side of the pond from BF Skinner’s grave; they had easels set up.  I got a picture of a father & son painting together.

After traipsing about by Willow for a while we headed over to Halcyon for a while, I wanted to find the Great Blue Heron.  I’m still irritated that the memory card ate the pictures I had taken of it the day I saw the Black-Crowned Night Heron.    Fortunately when we got there we spotted the Great-Blue after a few minutes of walking along the shore.  Wendy is always perturbed when she encounters one. I think because they’re only slightly shorter than her, and their wingspan is greater than her’s.   

I tried getting closer to it but it was having none of it, it kept creeping/flying away anytime I got within 20’ of it (The heron, not Wendy).   We started wending our way around the lake after the Heron extricated itself from our presence, and as we came around to the side closest to the outside road I spotted a nest up in a tree.  Andy was nearby and set up his equipment; his zoom lens is much better than the one on my camera.  He got some nice pictures of what turned out to be some baby Robin’s.  I got some pictures as well before my camera died, although they did not come out that great.Here’s another one, with one of the parents feeding the young one.  I’ll add it to my collection of pictures of bird rear-ends. 

July 22, 2011 Mount Auburn, Hottest Day of the Year!

Friday, Sunny, 102°

                I love the heat like a fish loves water.  I absolutely had to go out for this.  It was humid, the heat index was about 115 and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  I didn’t think I’d see much, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Not so much by the birds, but by the dragon flies.  They were everywhere. I did get to see some birds too, like this house finch, an exceedingly rare sight the last several years after a parasite knocked out most of the population.   I also got to see the Cormorant at Willow Pond again.  I’m sure it was glad to be a pelagic bird on a day like this.  Other birds were laying low, but that thing was just floating around out there like a battleship.  It’s really quite a striking sight. 

               

The dragonflies really stole the show though.  I’m sure someone out there knows all the species, but to me the dozens of them buzzing around the shores were just beautiful.   I can’t add anything in words that would be better than the pictures so I’m just going to post them now.   I feel so lucky to have witnessed this, a reward for braving the heat. 

 

Not the clearest picture but there’s 3 dragonflies buzzing around in this one.

                I decided at this point to go and see if the Phoebe’s were still at their nest, but did not realize that it had been almost two weeks since I visited them, and the nest is now empty, a reminder of an earlier part of summer.  There’s something provoking about an empty bird nest that I’ve never been able to fully describe.  But here’s a picture of the lake where they would catch bugs to bring to their babies:

 

As I wandered about I also got a shot of a sweltering Blue Jay, seen here, as well as a grave-top Cardinal, and that was all for this trip