Saturday, October 1, 2011

Guests in the Garden...and..Bookin' with Bobb!

I gotta get rid of that window screen.
Our first Black-and-White Warbly Thing!


September turned out to be quite a good month. We went out birding for the first time since May now that things are settling down on the home front and the major chores are finished. We saw many of our good friends at the Midwest Birding Symposium that we missed this past summer...AND...ELEVEN, yep 11, new birds in the garden! Eastern Kingbird, Chimney Swift, Blackburnian, Black-throated Green, Chestnut-sided, Black-and-White, Magnolia AND Wilson's Warblys! That brings us to 14 Warbly Things! I really should do more yard work...

We're up to 79 total species spotted from our front and back gardens. It pays to keep your habitat as natural as possible. Food, water, shelter, it's as simple as that. Now if I could only convince the people coming to look at our home of that...

Hidden in there is a Cape May Warbly.
Hard to see...and this photo is cropped...a lot!


We had 5 new warblys in the garden while we were making dinner.
I ran outside to try to get a few shots...and only a few is what I got.
Who'd have thought I would get Warbly-neck in September?
By the way, that's a Chestnut-sided Warbly up there.

This Great Blue Heron isn't new to our garden, but he definitely was the lowest flying!

Good by little buddies! See you in May at Magee!

AND NOW...more of...
BOOKIN' WITH BOBB!

Bobb likes the birdy books...
and he's nice enough to read them to Doodlette and Bobbette!


First I need to send a big thank you to Jessica of Princeton University Press for keeping me well read while I was on hiatus from the blogosphere. If you're not familiar with their great selection of natural history books, please click on the link and check them out.

A well read birder need more than just field guides and my new favorite book is "Avian Architecture, How Birds Design, Engineer and Build" by Peter Goodfellow.
If you have any questions on how birds can manage to make such amazing structures, and NEW ones almost ever year, this is a great start for you!

The book is arranged by nest type with descriptions of materials, illustrations, photos and even blueprints...just in case you decide to BE a bird. Learning how our feathered buddies do such intricate work mostly with their bills and beaks gives one a better appreciation of that little nest in the shrubs.

Also new on my shelf is "Birds Of North America and Greenland" by Norman Arlott, part of the Princeton Illustrated Checklist series. This surprisingly small and inexpensive book covers the Nearctic region of North America and even includes Greenland (a place that Bobb thinks is really green.)

This guide covers the more than 900 species that you may be fortunate enough to spot while on your birding adventures. This would be a handy book to have along while you're working on your "BIG YEAR" as well. It has great color art work of each species as well as range maps and very concise descriptions.

Though it's not a substitute for a standard field guide, it's a great book to have along for those unusual vagrants that pop up now and again. And if you're visiting North America for the first time, this would be a great study guide to familiarize yourself with our feathered friends.

I'll have a couple more reviews next time...if I can get the books back from Bobb...
Stoopid Chipmunk...

Of course I wouldn't leave you without a bird butt!
You can actually tell this is a RED-bellied Woodpecker!
He was just barely hanging in there.

See ya soon!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Meadowbrook Marsh...close to, but not part of...

Going South!
A Magnolia Warblys version of 'carb loading' for his long voyage
to his winter home...or is it his summer home below the equator...
now I'm really confused...


Close to the Lake Erie Birding Trail, but not (yet) part of it, Meadowbrook Marsh on the Marblehead peninsula is a fantastic place to bird. Great marsh and wetlands, woods, meadows and LOTS of birds, even though they don't count towards The Doodles great goal...
"The Big Birdy Decade!"

We spent last Saturday looking for fall warbly things out there and to pop in at the Midwest Birding Symposium that was going on at Lakeside. We ran into so many birdy friends that we haven't seen in quite a while and we(mostly me! yakyakyak!) ended up talking more than birding. Even still, we had a good birdy day.

This is a view of the marsh.
The clouds passed us by and the sun came out for all of the visiting birders.


You never know what will pop up inside the marsh!
This time it was an American Redstart.


Speaking of things popping up in the marsh...
Hey kids, it's our buddy Greg Miller!
Jack Black's character in the upcoming movie "The Big Year" is based on Greg, though not as crazy as the real thing
(that's a compliment by the way.)


No respect...this is Ernie...doing his impression of "Loopy From Behind"...wise guy...
Bird Watchers Digest had a booth as MBS taking photos of attendees and placing them on the "cover" of the magazine.
Ernie will never make it...


Okay...back to the birds...
Love those fall warblys!
It's another American Redstart.


This is a difficult one, until you notice the feet.
Blackpoll Warblys have loud legs!


The Doodles and Rondo Rick were on the other side on this shrubbery chasing the birdies to me.
Then I would chase them back so Rick could get a few shots.
By the way, this is a Black-throated Blue Warbly.
Ain't birding fun?


I've never seen cabbage as white as this Cabbage White Butteryfly.
I don't get it.


Cedar Waxwings.
Not in a Cedar tree. by the way.
Wings made of feathers, not wax by the way.
I think the bird namers were overly medicated.


Speaking of overly medicated..
I think his Downy Woodpecker looks ready for rehab.


No jokes left.
Pretty flower break.
..

Hmmmm...
I think it's a Philadelphia Vireo.
I know, we're not in Philadelphia, but I still have my opinion.
It's my blog and I can call birds anything I want.
I think I'll call this one Bob.


Red-bellied Woodpecker in shock.
He shook all of the leaves off the tree.


This photo should be part of "International Crappy Photo Day" which will be coming soon.
This little Ruby-crowned Kinglet was right above two well hidden Marsh Wrens screaming their brains out.


Sub species of the Tufted Titmouse...
Tousled Titmouse.
Really, look it up, I dare you.


White-breasted Nuthatch.
Nuthatch...where I will be going one day.

The Doodles already has the paperwork.

Pretty flower break...again.
Ooooh...ahhhh...


Guess that booty!