JackBird21

Yesterday, I set aside lots of time to complete Melissa's assignment and it was well worth the time and effort ... in fact, it made for a better birding an photographic experience for me !  I sat out on our elevated back deck for 43 minutes and just sat still and observed the happenings.  A few birds flew through (Northern Cardinals, Red-breasted Thrush, and Blue Jay).  The first 10 minutes where torturous, but I practiced patience and soon began to hear more calls and observed more movements of birds.  I observe that there are two particular large, conifer trees and one lower bush that are on edges of our yard, that the birds preferred to perch in.  I think both of these locations gave the birds a concealed location where they could watch the yard for predators and other pals.  I noticed that all of the birds, while perched, continually looked right and left and up and down to be prepared for anything that might attack them.  I know where to place my feeders now for better photos ! I then drove to Parker River MRA and went out to Sandy Point, a HUGE, wonderful beach area where even on a cold day, many people were out just sitting in chairs enjoying the beach.  Gulls were the main attraction along with a flock of Horned Larks.  I took my time, moving slowly and angling away and around the Gulls, and for the most part they were cooperative and I was able to get closer to them today.  The Horned Larks were much more skittish and getting close was not an option, as they would fly off  when I was still far away. I mimicked what I observed Melissa do when she photographed the Piping Plovers on the New Jersey Shore.  The Horned Larks were foraging in a short, green grass area about 30 yards above the outgoing shoreline.  The sun was behind the shore and lighting up the grassy area the Larks were in.  So I lay prone with my camera and waited quietly.  Within 15 minutes several of the Larks foraged towards me and I was able to take my time and capture several dozen photographs, from a respectful distance.  Canon 1.4x Tele Converter on a Canon 150- 500 mm lens.

Activity 4:  The next step for me along my bird watching journey is to visit Cornell Labs; take live courses and workshops; and begin to plan travel to other areas of North America to observe more birds.  Some of this will have to wait until we have COVID-19 under control.  Meanwhile I will continue to study online with Cornell Labs, bird often with experienced birders; and continue to learn. This course has been wonderful ! I have learned so much.  Many questions about birds and bird habitat have been running through my mind, and now after completing this course, much of these questions have been answered and my direction with birding is becoming more clear ! Thank You !

Activity 1: I am a first year birder (2020) and during this COVID-19 infested year, I decided to follow my interest in birds and become an active birder... the reason, to get outdoors into the clean air, to be away from groups of people in closed in locations, and dive into the world of birds and learn as much about them as possible.  What were the biggest benefits to me ? Birding got me up early and out into nature.  This was great for my attitude.  Learning about birds through observation got my mind wondering more and more as to why birds do what they do.  This led me to sign up for online Cornell Lab education programs, just like this one.  I have learned so much about birds and now I know there is so much more to learn !  Yay !  This will keep me busy for the rest of my life !  In addition, I met and made new friends who shared their passion for birding and directed me to resources like Merlin, eBird and HOT SPOTS so that I could observe more birds !  It was these friends, who socially distanced with me, that the greatest learning occurred.  I have joined Audubon organizations in 2 states and I belong to the Brookline Bird Club.  Through these organizations I am learning faster and have resources and experts to go to - when I need help !

Activity 3: I chose to listen to bird songs by watching and listening to the Canopy Lodge Bird Cam for five minutes.  While there were many  different species on screen, they were not vocalizing.  What I have discovered in my first year of birding, is that "hearing" the birds is critical to finding the birds.  I am studying bird song each day on Merlin and challenging myself with app games.  My hearing is not as good as others, but with time I am hoping to get better at knowing many of the species songs.

Activity 1: What could be more fun than to watch beautiful birds at Canopy Lodge in Panama on Bird Cam !  I have been watching for over 30 minutes and have been able o observe the foraging behavior of Clay-colored Thrush, Green Honey Creepers, Blue-gray Tanagers, Crimson-backed Tanagers, Flame-rumped Tanagers, Chestnut-headed Oropendolas and Gray-headed Chachalas !  These would of course, all be Life Birds for me if I were there live!  5 pieces of cut fruit are laid on a board on a table and 2 sugar feeders hang from nearby posts.  The Gray-colored Thrush' are dominating the table and they chase off the smaller species from the fruit.  The Green Honeycreepers cleverly sneak in and grab fruit when the Thrushes are pre-occupied chasing others or flying away.  The Green Honeycreeper is bold enough to never fly off and it continued to hop around the table waiting for another chance to get some fruit ! It was obvious that the Green Honeycreeper continually looked up & around between bites of fruit to stay on guard for predators. The Blue-gray Tanagers were much more timid and kept their distance from the Thrushes.  They would land on corners, farther away from the Thrushes and only move in for the fruit when the Thrushes had completely flown away.  However, the Flame-rumped Tanager is aggressive and it charged the Thrushes with its beak extended and chased them off.  It then took its time eating the fruit.  This was a fun assignment !  

Activity 3 - When I go to the Macaulay Library and study the plumage difference of the Male American Goldfinches in summer and winter, it is apparent that the Summer Male has striking Gold-Yellow coloring !  When I study the Winter plumage, legs, bill and wings are the same, but instead of the striking Yellow- Gold colors, this bird is more tawny and blends in with the back better ! _____________________________________________________________________________ When I go to the Macaulay Library and study the plumage difference of the Male Common Loon in summer and winter, it is apparent that the Summer Male has a strikingly, contrast black and white plumgae with a horizontal, black colored necklace across its throat.  When I study the Winter plumage, the colors are a much more subdued gray and sometimes brownish color that contrasts the white belly, and the horizontal necklace band has disappeared all together !

The Yellow-bellied Flycatcher has an interesting migration pattern !  From observing the Range Map, this species spends over 7.5 months of the year Wintering in Central America.  All at once this species quickly migrates North, but flying West of the Gulf of Mexico- up through the Mid-western States - across to the Northeast and Central regions of Canada.  It appears that they complete this Northward migration in less than 2 weeks !  They then appear to spend about 2 months at the breeding grounds in Canada, before they start a fast Southern migration by returning to Central America !  They spend the most months of the year in Central America ... make a swift North and Northeast migration into Canada ... quickly get their successful breeding done ... and rapidly descend across the USA back into Central America.  It is not quite clear from the Range Map, but I believe many of these Y-B Flycatchers return to Central America by flying West of the Gulf of Mexico, while others make the non-stop cross Gulf of Mexico flight from Louisanna !  This is an amazing migration !

The Rufous Hummingbird Winters for 5 to 6 months in Central America.  It makes a Western migration up into the USA along the California Coast all the way up into Canada.  It does not spend a great deal of time in the breeding grounds, before it migrates swiftly South and they fly West of the Rockies and all the way back to Central America.  Most of this species makes the entire migration from South to North back to South !

The Scarlet Tanager Winters in South America for several of the Winter months of the year.  They then rapidly head North West into Central America, where they they fly across the Gulf of Mexico and land in the Southern USA, East of Texas.  They then continue to speed Northward towards Northern USA and Canada where they Summer (breeding) for a three months.  Then by September 1 they reverse their migration routes and close the distance back to Central America and then down into South America very quickly.  I wonder why they travel so far and why they are traveling so fast to reach the two final destinations of the Northern breeding grounds and the Southern Wintering grounds ? Why fly so far and take so much risk ?  Food ?  Temperature ?  What's the hurry ? The Western Tanager Winters for 5 months of the year in Western Central America.  It begins its very quick migration right after April 1st by   flying along the West Coast of Central America, along the California Coast and West of the Rocky Mountains and up into Canada to breed.  They spend only a few weeks in Northwestern USA and Canada (breeding) and then return swiftly to Central America by reversing their route.  It appears from the migration map that many of the Western Tanager only migrate 1/3 of the way, breeding (in New Mexico) and then returning to Central America.  How come many of these Tanagers fly all the way to Canada while others fly a much shorter distance, maybe not even North of Central America or just over the border in the USA ?  I think that the Western Tanager must be an efficient breeding species as it spends only a few weeks breeding !  Wow  !

Activity 1: I sat on the front porch of our home and observed birds that came to and close to our feeder.  Here is the list of  birds I saw during my 15 minutes of observations: Black-capped Chickadee Mourning Dove American Robin American Goldfinch Pine Warbler   Activity 2: Using Merlin’s “Most Likely” species feature, I was excited to see how accurate this tool is as each of the 5 birds I observed (above in activity 1) were listed as likely  !  While I am familiar with each of these species, I followed the instructions and listened to the call and song of each species on Merlin. The Pine Warble is awfully quiet when it calls and it has a very high pitched call that is hard for me to hear.   Activity 3: Using range maps I found five birds that pass through our area, that I knew nothing about ! Eurasian Wigeon (call is loud and "WEE are) American Wigeon (call sounds like squeezing a childs toy) Greater Scaup (call sounds like a screw gun) Lesser Scaup  (call sounds like a chicken clucking with a "whoop" like spinning a 45 record backwards) Clapper Rail (call is kik kik kik) I went to All About Birds, as well as Merlin to read a little bit about each of them.  I listened to each of their calls and songs, and looked at the bar chart to determine which were likely to be in our area the next two months (September and October).