We’re Still Here

Pam and I are still alive, we’ve just been distracted/focused on other stuff the last couple of months.  Pam has been crazy at work, as have I, plus I’m getting into the meat of the cycling season.  In addition, since late March I’ve been focusing, when I can, on a new blog called Video Beer Reviews that I’ve wanted to do for a while.  I’ve been a lover of quality beer for 20+ years and now I am reviewing beers and posting the videos on the blog.  So, if you like beer and want to see somebody babble on about why they like or dislike a beer feel free to go over there and subscribe.  How does beer relate to birds you ask?  Well we spend a lot of time on the deck enjoying beer and watching the birds so there you go

Birds We’ve Seen And Missed

In the last month or two we’ve seen a few new birds in our yard including Brown Headed Cowbirds, Magnolia Warblers, Purple Finches (pretty sure although they are “rare” in Georgia), Red Headed Woodpeckers (very cool bird!), Cedar Waxwings, and Blue Jays.  We’ve also noted the return of the Ruby Throated Hummingbird to the sugar water feeder on our deck.  The Goldfinches have come back as well. I think we’ve missed most of the Spring Migration.  We were planning on getting out to bird with a group this Spring, especially for Warblers, but it’s May and most of them are gone.  We’ll catch them in the Fall and next Spring I guess.  Both our life lists are a little bigger than before.

Looking Ahead And Another Mystery Bird

We’re hoping to get back in the swing of birding more often and posting about our experiences.  I’m also going to try to get some more pictures to post as well, including one of another “mystery” bird that we just saw yesterday.  It was mostly brown, songbird sized, and had a thin white “crown” and white dots on the wing.  The beak is short and stubby and might be slightly hooked at the end.  It was hanging out at our feeders.  We’ve looked through our field guides but can’t find anything close.  We’ll keep trying and hopefully we will figure it out.  If anyone has any ideas please let us know.

Anyway, I’ll try to be a bit more regular in posting.  We really appreciate those of you that visit the site on a regular basis.  Thank You!!!

Right after I snapped the pictures he dove off the branch and nearly picked off one of the male Cardinals that frequent the feeders.  The Cardinal escaped several attempts by the hawk to grab it.  The two of them were flying in/out, and around a magnolia bush and pine tree.  Finally the hawk gave up and sat back on the same branch he started on.  I took a few more pictures.  Unfortunately they are pretty blurry due to the low light and my having to hand hold the camera.  Here they are.  Maybe one of you more experienced birders can tell us which hawk it is, Coopers or Sharp-Shinned:

These first two are of the front of the hawk:

Here’s a couple of the back:

Based on these pictures, and our Kaufman Field Guide, we think it is a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. What do you think?

A Winter Wonderland

This first picture is of the backyard at nearly the “height” of the storm.  There was a bit of slush/ice on the roads for a few hours.  The snow stuck around on the grass for a day or so and in the shady areas for nearly 3 days.  We ended up with maybe 2″ of accumulation.

Carolina Wren

here is one of our regular Carolina Wrens sitting on the snow covered platform feeder.  You can also see the beak of a male Cardinal peeking out from behind the tube feeder.

Cardinals And Yellow Rumped Warbler?

Here is a picture of a couple of cardinals along with what we think is a Yellow Rumped Warbler.  There’s a little bit of yellow under the wings along with the “wing bars”.  What do you more experienced birders think?

Another Picture Of The Warbler (We Think)

Here’s another picture of the bird we think is the Yellow Rumped Warbler.  See the little bit of yellow on his head?  The only place we didn’t see yellow was on his rump

Winter is on its way out here in Atlanta. March is usually when things start to warm up a bit here in the South so the late snowfall (March 1st) was a nice treat. Pretty soon we’ll be complaining about the 90 degree days with 90% humidity.

Lots of Participants

In 2008 over 85,000 checklists were submitted and over 9.8 million birds of 635 species were reported.  Obviously, lots of people take part.  We’re looking forward to being part of the 2009 edition.

Our Plan

The count takes place from February 13th to the 16th.  We will be around most of the weekend except for a few hours on Saturday.  Our plan is to spend some time Saturday afternoon as well as Sunday morning and afternoon recording all the birds we see in our backyard during those times.  Hopefully, we have some good activity and are able to get some good counts.  This will be a good opportunity to test our identification and “binocular handling” abilities.  We have a fairly large backyard so we will need to pay attention and count correctly.

A Good Opportunity

The Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way to participate in birding.  You don’t need to be experts, Pam and I definitely aren’t , and the information you gather is used to further science.  If you are getting started in birding like we are, this is a great way to contribute and have fun at the same time.

To learn more about the GBBC, visit their site, then get ready to count!

After getting some tea and OTC cold/flu medicine I took a nice 3 hour nap and then spent an hour or so sitting in the recliner, drinking tea and keeping an eye on our feeders and birdbath.

A Different Perspective

This was probably the first time I have been in the house by myself in the middle of a work day, doing absolutely nothing, in nearly 10 years.  On the weekends Pam and I run around doing errands, etc.  We spend some time watching the feeders but usually in the morning or late afternoon.  The middle of the day is not a common time to watch birds.  So this afternoon I just took in what I could see.  There were some differences in the bird’s activities in the middle of the day.  They seemed to be less rushed.  More of them just sat on the feeder and ate as opposed to taking one seed and flying away.   Is it because they aren’t trying to get the “last seed” before darkness?  I don’t know but it was fun watching them.  Also, the daylight is much brighter making the birds colors more vibrant.

The Tally

I only saw 12 species, kind of low for the yard.  I did see a new life bird, the Dark Eyed Junco.  Maybe it was because it was the middle of the day.  But, each of the birds was more laid back and I was able to watch them better.  A trade off I guess, quality over quantity.

I sort of enjoyed the afternoon birdwatching, except for the fever, chills, and hacking cough   Hopefully I recover quickly.

Time for another nap.

Birding On The River

After we got our New Years bike rides in and ate some lunch we drove a few miles to where Peachtree Parkway (aka Medlock Bridge) crosses over the Chattahoochee River and parked at one of the many sections of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area to do some quick birdwatching.  We walked along the trail for about 45 minutes or so and saw a lot of the same birds that visit our feeders.

But we also saw a new bird that we can add to the life list and that was the Yellow-rumped Warbler.  Pam and I saw a few of these flitting about in the trees next to the river.  We forgot our Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America so we noted the colors, etc. and checked as soon as we got home.  We’re getting a little better at least in identifying birds.  Both of us narrowed it down to either a warbler or sparrow without the guide.

Activity At The “Bird Hot Tub”

When we got home, around 4PM, we noticed some visitors to our new “Bird Hot Tub” (as my co-workers called it when they saw I was getting Pam a heated bird bath for Christmas).  There was a pair of Eastern Bluebirds hopping along the edge of the bird bath.  I had the camera nearby and snapped a couple of pictures:

They seemed to be enjoying the fresh water. It was neat that the first birds I saw at the bird bath were the same as the 1st bird I saw for 2009 earlier in the day.  It’s funny how things work sometimes.

A Nice Start To The Year

It was a nice way to start the New Year.  We are hoping to see many more birds this year and we are looking forward to sharing our experiences with you through this blog.

We hope all of you have had a good start to 2009!

It’s the first day of 2009 and Pam and I hope it will be a great year for all of you!

We also hope it will be a year of many new birds for both of us.  But, we all have to start somewhere each and every year.  So, as I posted yesterday, I thought I’d start off 2009 with a post about literally the 1st bird each of us see, whatever it is and wherever it is.  I think this bird qualifies as a significant bird for us because it will be the 1st bird of the first full year of birding for us.  It will hold the cherished spot atop our 2009 list and will be seared into our brains forever because of the circumstances in which it was seen.  The bird should be very proud of itself

And The Winner Is

Pam woke up a bit before me and spotted a female Northern Cardinal as her first bird of 2009.

I got out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen to make some coffee and as I was walking back to the living room I saw a male Eastern Bluebird, all puffed up against the cold, eating some suet.

Here’s a picture I took a while back that shows the Cardinal and Bluebird hanging out together:

How About You

So, the Cardinal and Bluebird were our first official birds of 2009.  What was yours?

Please participate and post a comment about the first bird you saw today.  It will be neat to see what everyone found as they opened their eyes on January 1st, 2009!

We figured we would start 2009 off right by recording the first bird we see and posting it here.  Nothing fancy just a way to document the start of the year.

I’ll post our “New Years Bird” sightings relatively early tomorrow morning.  If any of you want to join in the fun just comment on that post with the absolute first bird you saw in 2009, whatever it is.

See you next year!

Misty And Cool

We arrived a little ofter 9AM with the weather cloudy and cool.  It was about 50 degrees and there was a very light mist/drizzle in the air.  We stopped in the visitor center and got a map of the grounds.  The center has a variety of exhibits including a number of large birds including owls, hawks and a Bald Eagle.  The birds are unable to live in the wild due to a variety of injuries or other problems.

Let The Birding Begin

We spent a few minutes looking at the caged birds then headed out on the many trails to see what we could see.  Here’s the list.  Most of the birds are the same as we see in the backyard.  But we did see some new species (Bolded) It’s easy to see new birds when you have seen so few :

The birds that we were most excited to see were the Red-shouldered Hawk, and the Great Blue Heron.  Were hoping to see more water birds but the marsh boardwalk was closed due to the wet weather (too slippery).  We’ll have to go back and try that out later.

We’re Getting Better At This

Both of us really tried to improve our “binocular handling” skills.  One of the hardest things for both Pam and I  is to be able to put the binoculars to your eyes and follow the movement of the birds.  We had lots of opportunities to practice and I think we’re getting better at it.

A Nice Way To Spend A Morning

We finished up around Noon.  I total we spent a little over 2 1/2 hours actively birdwatching.  It was a nice way to spend some time together.  We saw a lot of birds including some new ones, and got to practice our birding skills.  Not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning!

Sitting On The Deck Minding Our Business

It was a beautiful Christmas day with temps right around 62. We were sitting on our deck watching the birds come and go from the feeder when we heard the familiar call of the Great Horned Owl.  He seemed to be way off in the distance, a few yards over.  A couple minutes later the sound was much closer.  Most of the time we hear them at dusk, when it’s too dark to see anything.  This time it was 3PM and still very light outside so I kept my eyes open in case I might actually see something.

A Big Shadow In The Corner Of My Eye

All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a big bird flying to the top of the neighbor’s pine tree.  I said to Pam, “over there” and we looked over in the direction of the shadow to see the owl perch on the tippy-top of a pine tree, about 100 feet up in the air.  Fortunately we had the camera with us out there so I was able to take some pictures:

I had to use maximum (12x) zoom on the camera and crop the pictures quite a bit to get these but they came out great as far as I’m concerned The owl sat up there for about 5 minutes turning his head from side to side to listen to the other owls call. We heard two others besides him. Finally he flew off the tree towards one of the other owls. We saw him again a bit later sitting partway down a tree right before dusk.

Worth The Wait

While it was frustrating hearing the owls for two years without seeing them, it was worth the wait!  We were able to get some good pictures of the Great Horned Owl as well as fantastic views with the binoculars.  There was enough light and it was a nice clear day.  That was the first time I had seen an owl in the wild since I was a kid and the 1st time ever for Pam.  She was very excited to finally see one somewhere else besides the Zoo!

Now that we’ve seen the Owl we hope to see him again very soon.  They are magnificent birds and I think it’s neat that they are living amongst all of us people like this.  It shows how much nature is right in your backyard if you listen, and look, long enough!