Saturday, Oct 1 Warbler Weekend at Grand Vue

At 8:00 Grand Vue is hosting for the first time an opportunity for birders to get together for some birding. Fall warblers should be enough of a challenge!! Hopefully someone shows up.

September 2011 Grand Vue

Many moons since my last post so here is a catch up for the month of September. I walked Grand Vue at least one time each week this month. Indigo buntings, towhees, cardinals, red tailed hawks were common sightings. Flickers are in abundance every week. I see as many as 20 birds within a 50 yard radius. Blue birds did well this year. Three of the boxes fledged young multiple times. Also today I saw song and field sparrows, Downy, Hairy, Pileated Woodpeckers, Jays, carolina wrens, cedar waxwings in large numbers, and other relatively commoners.
My ipad has been a great birding tool. Though a bit big it has everything at my fingertips.

The best birds today were oven bird, yellow billed cuckoo, and an other warbler that I saw briefly but did not identify. My best guess is a blue winged warbler. The eye stripe was the best field mark. The i-pad audio helped with the cuckoo ID. We called back and forth and he stayed low and in the open. I did not get a response from the warbler which makes me question the identification. It was a nice, sunny, 75 degree day.

Backpacking Trip to Savage River St Park

I enjoyed a 3+ mile backpacking/camping/fishing trip this past week. My brother, Oren and I packed into Poplar Lick which is a tributary of the upper savage river in Garrett Counyt Maryland. Birds galore. I observered more Louisiana Waterthrush and was much better at identifying these birds. The best bird was the Winter Wren which was heard repeatedly throughout the day. Nesting wrens were all around us. They are very alusive however and I was not able to see a wren sitting for very long. Most were in flight leaving thick cover.

Winter Wren, Lousiana Waterthrush, Waxwings, Least, Acadian, Great Crested Flycatchers, Wood and Veery Thrush, Warblers: Blue Winged, Yellow, Yellow Throat, Black throated Green, Towhees, all apparently nested in the area.

Fishing was good on that small stream. We both caught a good number of fish. My highlight came on day 2 when within two hours I caught two ten inch brooke trout and saw a black bear (my first). He stepped into the water in front of me about 50 feet. He came to about my waist at his shoulders. I spotted him first and when alerted to my presence he bolted. FUN.

Chickadee nest in back yard

June 20, 2011. I almost forgot to post my observations on the chickadees that nested in a nestbox under my deck. Two young birds came out of the box a little early. I was easily able to pick them up, take some pictures, and put them back in the box. I will try to upload some pictures to this site. Since June 20 I have not seen any activity in the nestbox.

July 2011 summary post

Many hikes and observations have taken place since the last post. A follow up to the Norther Waterthrushes at Nauvoo. My last visit in June yielded two Waterthrushes that stayed within a 20 foot radius of me when I positioned myself in the small stream bed. I had to be right on top of their nest but they never went back on the nest. I did not have time wait them out. More hooded warblers and verios and many blue birds. The orchard orioles definitely nested at nauvoo.

In early July I picked berries at Nauvoo and noted the following:
Red Tail Hawk that I scared away for a near by powerline.
White Eyed Verio
Yellow throated? verio
Hooded Warblers
Common Yellow Throats
Red eyed verios
Blue birds
Barn, Tree,swallows
and many other sitings.

May 11, 2011 Grandvue

The walk today yielded Northern Orioles, scarlet tanagers, rose breasted grossbeaks, many woodthrush, flickers, and a coopers hawk. Bluebird boxes had a nest with eggs moved outside of nest pocket. An other box had young birds. A great walk at dusk.

Saturday, May 7 2011 Nauvoo

I traveled to Nauvoo to walk the same path previously taken in hopes to confirm the Northern Waterthrush. This walk in the morning gave a better chance to hear the song. Anyway, about half way through the walk I did spot them. This time however, they did not stick around. One flew off immediately and the other popped up on a branch and then slipped out of site. I did have a good view of the bird. Again tail bobs were straight up and down. Eventually I did hear the waterthrush and noted three beginning notes but they were not the slurred notes of the Louisiana. Emphasis on the end of the song confirms Northern Waterthrush. I may be able to enter this into the breeding bird atlas.
Other birds included Turkeys, Roughed Grouse, Black Throated Green Warblers, Ovenbirds, Red eyed verios, yellow throat, wood thrush, scarlet tanager, rose breasted grossbeak, Red tailed hawk, yellow warbler, Red Starts, Phoebe, Bluebirds, Chipping and Field Sparrows, Pileated, Hairy, Red Bellied woodpeckers and catbirds.
The good warbler day was highlighted by three or four hooded warblers.

April 25, 2011 Nauvoo

Walked Nauvoo today and saw some good birds. First I observed one bluebird box with 5 eggs. Another next was in a tree cavity. Other boxes that usually hold house wrens currently are not occupied.
The wak in the woods along the stream that passes behind the house yeilded good views of the following:
Hooded Warbler, Northern Water Thrushes, Yellow Throated Vereo, and Yellow Rumped Warblers were all seen within 50 yards of eachother. In addition I saw scarlet tanagers, a wood thrush, and many more common birds. In a 2 hour span I probably saw 25-30 species. Weather was warm with partly cloudy skies. It was a great walk.

April 23, 2011 Middle Creek

I just wanted to note the first warbler of the spring. I went to Middle Creek Elementary to see the Blue Haron nesting site. Observed at least 27 active nests. Other birds included mallard ducks, song sparrows, chipping sparrows and a yellow warbler. At first I thought I was hearing a water thrush. I could not make a visual. It turned out to be a yellow warbler. I was a little confused by the longer slurring of the first three notes and the elusivness. I never have problems spotting a yellow warbler. This is the same location where I saw the Lousiana water thrush last year. Anyway, I pulled up the water thrush on birding by ear and got no response. When I played the yellow warbler immediately the bird flew into view.

April 2011 Bald Eagles

Two notes on bald eagles:
1. Nesting on Fish Creek Island on the Ohio River near the AEP power plant and in Jefferson County OH on the ohio river.
2. Eagle cams becoming very popular in many of our schools. Kids journaling and classroom discussion is great.

Spring 2011 April Notes

April 22, 2011 I walked Grandvue. Of the 5 bluebird boxes I now have three nests. One nest holds 4 eggs and the others have no eggs as of this date. Of the other three smaller boxes I have one house wren nest.
This mornings walk yielded mostly typical birds. Brown Thrasher, Cowbirds, Pileated, Red-bellied, many Towhees, chipping, field and song sparrows, cardinals, jays, etc. were all observed.
I did hear what I thought was a coo-coo (black billed). As is often the case this bird was elusive....... he sounded close by but I did not get a visual. I am investigating if other birds sound similar. I'm sure it was a coo-coo.

The flicker is nesting in her usual cavity. This bird flushes from the nest as I walk the bend on the trail. I can usually get a glimpse of her exit as I get within 20-30 yards. Seldom does she allow me to get closer than that before she flushes. The nest site is an old tree with fungae acting as a "porch roof" above a perfectly circular hole.

two or three weeks ago I saw two phoebes in an opening at Grandvue. It was a great chance to see their behavior for 15 minutes or so. Constant tail "bops" as they fed in the clearing. I hope they nest.

January 17 2011 Grandvue Hike

Off on MLK day and enjoyed a nice afternoon hike at Grandvue (26 degrees and sunny). In addition to the more common birds including many woodpeckers I was happy to see a Yellow Bellied Sapsucker and several Golden Crowned Kinglet. The sapsucker was an adult male with full red under the beak. 3 or 4 Kinglets moved through the trees as I hiked the West ridge all the way down to Sun Valley. I was able to get a great view of all of these birds.
I also saw several Pileated Woodpeckers and a hawk that flew ahead of my trail. I did hear the Red Tail at another location.
Expecting a wintery mix tonight. If tomorrow is a snow day I hope to get out again.

December 30 2010 Oglebay and Grandvue

I walked the trail at Oglebay again looking for the winter wren. After an icy morning on the 29th I rescheduled the walk for the 30th. I did not see the wren but many other more common birds. I was also hoping for a kinglet or two, but that did not happen either. Good to report that the new hiking boots did a nice job!

On the way home the sun came out and I decided on a hike at Grandvue. All boxes are up and I hope to make a few more this winter. I hiked off of the muddy trails and down the point toward Glen Dale Creek which is my breeding bird block. I noted several old Oriole nests and several old hawk nests as well.

I did see multiple times a mature Red Tailed Hawk which flew and screemed from one side of the valley to the other. I had good close visuals of the bird from my vantage point above. Also, a pileated woodpecker within 25 feet was a good bird to see.

December 2010 Bird Count and Hikes

Long time between blog entries. After the spring flurry of birding opportunities I did get out some for autumn hikes but it is more difficult to make entries regarding what I saw as they became more common place. I am discovering however that there is a lot to see in the winter as well so, after purchasing some good insulated and waterproof hiking boots maybe I will get into the winter birding and early nesters.

Dec 18: I participated in the Christmas Bird Count at Oglebay along with Jim A. I was happy to see in our company Bill Beaty and his wife along with ____ Pendelton. Bill and Nancy(?) started the bird count at midnight with 27 screech owls counted (and one visit from a policeman). Mr. Pendelton talked about his birding in the Cadiz area and his up and comming visit to The Wilds in Ohio. I would like to make the short trip to locations that would allow me to see grassland birds and western birds uncommon to much of the Ohio Valley. Though I did not see too many notable birds we did have pretty good numbers and unfortunately we had to leave early for some family Christmas plans. Most notable for me was hearing the WINTER WREN. This was a first for me...... I should have taken more time to make a visual. My plan was to visit the location again. I look forward to the Bird Count magazine that will give final tallies.