Book Review: Hawks in Flight

Due to a few work and home projects, I couldn't make it out to see the birds.  So for this week, I want to write a review of the latest birding book I picked up.  Dunne, Sibley and Sutton's book does a great job of outlining the challenges and pitfalls of identifying Hawks in Flight.  From regional differences to the challenges created by color morphs, Hawks in Flight outlines a lot of the forms that you can see out in nature.  One the things that I really an enjoying about this book is the fact that it places photos side by side to help you see how the different forms and the different birds look in the wild.  I've included a photo below so you can see how the pages look yourself.

This book is top quality how serves a very niche utility.  During Hawk Migration in the Fall, this book, cannot be replaced as a helpful guide.  I only real complaint is nullified by the point of this guide.  I love looking and learning about birds in their habitat and seeing multiple pictures of them.  This book is meant to guide the hawk watchers and counters who spend hours looking up at the sky.  While this book caters to them and their needs, it is still worth your while to pick up this book and marvel at the pages, photos and informations that fill its pages!

From Amazon.com and (c) of Houghton Mifflin Publishers

Some Sample Photo Comparions of a Red-Tailed hawk,  (c) to the Authors!

More Wild Goose Chases

Some stores follow the idea that someone goes looking for X and instead finds Y and Y turns out to be the best thing ever.  When X is a Barnacle Goose, whatever Y is just doesn't cut it.  I've seen all sorts of Geese and Warblers during my search for the goose.  But in some ways, I still wish I could find that darn goose.  I've gotten lucky and seen a Audubon's Warbler and Prairie Warbler along with 4 different kinds of Geese, but I can't stop thinking about that Barnacle Goose.  Here's an picture of my Winter Target and I'll let you know how it goes....

The Barnacle Goose

2012 Life List:

247

Recently Added:

Snow Goose, Greater White-Fronted Goose, Prairie Warbler

A Eurasian Gull

So after the Pelagic Trip, I headed for the local beach/pine forest state park, which also is one of the state's IBA (Important Bird Areas).  This park has yielded me several life birds, Black-Throated Blue Warblers, Tricolored Herons, King Eider, and even an Lapland Longspur.  And this weekend, Hammonasset gave me 4 great birds.  Red Crossbills, White-Winged Crossbills, Grasshopper Sparrow and a Black-Headed Gull (see pics below)!  The Black-Headed Gull had been scared off by an unleashed dog.  This set back had the potential to make me dip on the bird.  Yet, with some determination, we found the bird again.  I say we because the park was literally full of birders!

It was a great opportunity 

LOOK!  A SEAGULL!

2012 Life List:

240

Pelagic Birding

I've been on a boat before, I've seen birds before, I've even seen birds on a boat before.  However most of those boat trips have been trips to see something specific, eagles, swallows, whales, and other such things.  This weekend, the wife and I packed up and headed out to Cape Cod to take part in an 8 hour Pelagic Trip.  The Trip had the potential, for me, to bring a lot of life birds as I rarely get out into the open ocean like this.  But it also gave me the chance to see an even rarer breed... The SEABIRDERS!  They were gung ho about everything we saw and we saw some impressive stuff.  Grey Seals, Humpback Whales, Minke Whales and lots of birds!  We saw 2 Humpbacks make a bubble net rise to feast on their catch and then saw gulls and kittewakes going crazy and even darting into the whales' mouths to eat!  all while being no more than 100 ft from this!  I had to admit that while I am a frequent victim of motion sickness, I managed to sit on the front of the boat of most of the ride and had a ball seeing all the birds.  Kittewakes, Shearwaters, Jaegers and all sorts of auks make me very ready to go out again

The main thing that impressed me, after the spectacular show nature gave us, was the energy of the sea birders.  They were thrilled at every bit of nature that we could get our bins on.  Seals, Whales, didn't matter!  I think I've posted before about the encounter with 2 birders who disregarded the harbor seals sunbathing.  I was upset by their lack of interested in non-avian nature.  This time I was pleased to be surrounded by a good group of nature enthusiasts!  I've included a couple of pictures of the trip below.

 Great Shearwater

 Pomarine Jaeger

 Northern Gannet and Grey Seals

2012 Life List Update

240!

A Hurricane and New Feeder

While I may have dipped on the birds that Hurricane Sandy brought in, I did get a new feeder.  It was a squirrel proof Peanut Feeder.  Before Sandy Struck, Birds were going crazy getting food and getting ready to hunker down before the storm.  We were lucky as the storm had only knocked out our power.  The storm, as the news has broadcasted, has caused massive devastation in the neighboring states.  The storm brought in a wide array of birds and walking through my favorite parks made it easy to see the damage the storm did.  I managed to find a couple of Kestrel, A Leucistic Wren and a Laughing Gull.  But the real success lately has been my new feeder.  Its bringing in a great collection of birds.  I've had a Red-Breasted Nuthatch come to my feeder for a few days in a row and I snapped a few pictures of him below.  I've also had Tufted Titmouse, BC Chickadees and all sorts of sparrows and finches.  My suet feeder is getting, starlings and woodpeckers and I hope that I can keep getting good birds.

Reports are that the Tundra had a bad season so lots of winter birds will be hitting areas more southern than usual...  Gonna be a fun winter!

Life List:
224
Fox Sparrow!

Sparrows, Sparrows and More Sparrows!

This past weekend, I took a Sparrow Class offered by the Connecticut Ornithological Association.  So in the Early Morning, I headed out to Allen's Meadow to try and find some sparrows.  With about 30 other eager birders, we started to walk around the park.  At first it seemed like we'd find everything but sparrows.  We found Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Winter Wrens, Butterbutts, Cardinals and even some loud and active Pileated Woodpeckers.  We even found some Pine Siskens before we found some sparrows.
Eventually, we started to find some sparrows.  The first few sparrows we saw were White-Throateds and Savannahs.  They were later joined by Juvenile White-Crowned.  We heard of some Vesper Sparrows, but by the time we got over there, a dog had scared away the Vespers.  But we waited patiently and then they returned!  The eye ring is one of the key marks of the Vesper.  As I was looking at a Vesper, there's a call that someone found a Clay-Colored Sparrow!  (picture below)  The Buff Coloring near the eye and the rich coloration on the back help id this bird.  Its also a useful indicator to know where to look.  Both Vespers and Clay-Colored, Like many sparrows, enjoy open grassfields as  places to eat and fly about.  They'll be moving through to their wintering grounds these weeks so I will be on the lookout for more birds to see!

(c) goingslo on Flickr

2012 Life List
223!

Fall Migration!

A visit to Hammonasset was supposed to yield rare and random seabirds.  No seabirds minus the Double Crested Cormorants that are prepping for their migration.  While the seabirds were disappointing, the rest of the day was incredible.  Birds were literally dripping from the sky... or bouncing around on the ground.  The Life Birds I got were: Orange-Crowned Warbler, Golden-Crowned Kinglet, Blue-Headed Vireo, Black-Throated Blue Warbler and the Elusive Marsh Wren!  It was a great to be outside and birding!

On another note, it had been a while since I had such a good time meeting and encountering other birders.  Not that other birders are rude, most follow the rules of etiquette and some will just ignore you.  But everyone I encountered was great, friendly and helpful.  It reminded me why I love to bird.  The nature is fantastic but I always enjoy seeing people appreciating it as well.  Next week, I am taking a class on Winter Sparrows and many more exciting Birding events are coming up!

Get Outside!


The Blue-Headed Vireo (c) Cornell Lab of Ornithology

2012 Life List Total:
223 Birds