Autumn at Ottawa...

Last of the fall warblys.
I don't often get the opportunity to see the yellow stripe on the head of Yellow-rumped Warblys!
I usually see the yellow spot at the other end...

Just a couple of minutes down the road from my favorite Magee Marsh is Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, my second favorite place to be. It was a great autumn day for a walk through the woodland area of the refuge. It was a sunny and warm day with just enough insects buzzing about to keep our feathered friends full...and the Doodles swatting at thin air. It's fun to watch!

Oh, almost!
I'm getting closer to shooting an in focus portrait of a Brown Creeper...one of these days!

This is a Canada Goose that was hard of hearing.
"What's that? Speak up!"

This pretty little Dark-eyed Junco means it's going to snow soon. Nuts.

Golden-crowned Kinglets move at lightning fast speeds in and out of shrubs and trees.
Sometimes you just have to keep shooting and up they'll pop!

Waaaaay back there in the deep, deep woods is a bird.
Well, looky there, it's a Northern Flicker!

Be very, very quiet, I'm hunting Ruby-crowned Kinglets.
Now say it like Elmer Fudd...go ahead, it'll be fun...huh-huh, wooby.

Look at that very fine streaking, I do believe this is a Savannah Sparrow!

Remember my post of last week when I asked for ID help?
Figure this one out, I dare you!
I'll give you a hint, it's a Thrush...and this was the only shot I got.

This is a little bird that must be on crack.
I have never watched anything jump up and down and in and out of a log as fast as this Winter Wren.
I gave up on him...

This is my token autumn leaf photo.
Appropriately enough, that's an Autumn Meadowhawk too!

There's still a few butterflies flitting about, like this Clouded Sulphur...

...and this Eastern Comma.

I hope this Grasshopper knows about Aesop's Fables!

I'm so cheap...instead of giving the Doodles flowers, I just say
"Hey, look at these flowers!"
(and watch out for the bee...oops, too late.)

I'll leave you for now with this very cute Golden-crowned Kinglet.
If you look hard, you can see his golden crown!

No Mysteries Monday...

No mystery here...it's Doodle-Booty!
Actually it's not a Doodles Booty, it's a Wilson's Snipe!(thanks Paula)
My stealthy stealthiness paid off this time!
Well, not really, after I spotted him from the car, I slammed on the brakes of the DoodleMobile,
put it in 'R' and jumped out, got the camera and started shooting.
He didn't care, he just did his wobble walk...off into the grass...toodles doodles!

We made it back to our peaceful place, Magee Marsh this past weekend. It's always great to go to your special getaway...and get away from all the moronic political TV ad's...idiots. Anyway, two days, no TV, nice happy birds, dinner with friends and a roaring fire...that will be in a later post. Very warm.

Walking along the boardwalk in autumn is outstanding. It's so tranquil, just hearing the fallen leaves crunching underfoot as you walk along. Aaahhh...

This Wilson's Snipe stayed still long enough for me to get a butt shot and a profile!
This is the first time I saw one's under carriage this clearly.

Serenity.

These mushrooms may explain the Doodles giggling...

If you look very closely at this Ruby-crowned Kinglet's crown, you will notice a bit of rubyness!

And this would be my normal view of the Kinglet...ZOOMIES!!

No amount of preening can make that rustiness go away!

It's always exciting when we get to see these Rusty Blackbirds.
They are always skulking and well hidden
As David Sibley says, listen for the gurgling "chrtldltlr."

I've developed a special pishing technique that makes birds pop up facing away from me.
It works especially well on White-throated Sparrows. Really.

After they pop up, I give them a quiet 'psst' and they turn around.
I don't make this stuff up. Ask the Doodles.

Yellow-rumped Warblys know enough to not eat anything bigger than their head.

I had to post this pretty photo of a Yellow-rump to brace you for the next shot...

Hey everybody! It's the cute Doodles and the obnoxious as always Loopy!
I have my BSBO gang sweatshirt on and my vest with the Birdman patch...we're so cool...

More Mysteries from Magee...and more, uh...just more.

Okay kids, put your thinking caps back on!

I have another mystery warbly-type thing for you to help me with. Once again, these were taken on August 7th at Magee Marsh. It was one of those days full of flustering fledglings and bewildering warblys! My brain was certainly itching that day. Now I know why I skipped that file and never labeled anything...yoiks.

Well, it's got a little streaky thing happening on the sides, no wing bars, possibly a weak eye ring.
If only I had a shot of it's booty...

Speaking of fledglings that I'm not sure about...Here's a fledgling I'm not sure about!
Definitely a Flycatcher...maybe an Eastern Wood-Pewee...or maybe not.
I await your decisions!

GARDEN BIRD UPDATE!!

Didn't anyone ever teach these birds that they should eat with their beaks shut.
How rude...

This Eastern Towhee was first spotted Wednesday evening under the feeders in our back garden.

The Ohio Ornithological Society brain trust in action!

During last weekends conference, the Black Swamp booth had my blog up on their laptop hoping someone give a proper ID to last weeks mystery bird.

From the left we have Andy Jones of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Larry Richardson, world birder, horse owner and curmudgeon extraordinaire, Judy Kolo-Rose, our neighbor and BSBO mega-volunteer, Dave Russell, ornithologist, educator and bird bander and John Pogacnik, Lake county Metroparks naturalist.

So, last weeks mystery bird with their help and many others is a...Common Yellowthroat. Thanks!

My new best friend...

Chipmunk Chaser!!

Oh yeah...a NEW best friend! And Bobb better be on his best behavior...or he'll have a new play mate...

A few months ago, after a "delightful" , uh, procedure as an out patient, I came home and spied what I thought was a Weasel in our small pond. Now being a bit on the medicated side, the Doodles thought I was hallucinating. Not this time! While we were cleaning up the gardens after being at the BirdMobile all summer (yoiks!), Doodles spotted this furry fella in our driveway.

I ran inside to get the camera hoping against hope that he wouldn't move, ha. When I came out he was in the neighbors garden chasing a Chipmunk around in circles. I thought to myself "Myself, that little Mink is a carnivore!" AND he likes to get them little @#%&*@ Chipmunks!

Those Chipmunks were getting a little too fat and need the exercise. By the way, no Chipmunks were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.

I shall call him Manny the Mink, and we shall be friends.

Isn't Manny a real cutie?
If it wasn't for those sharp little teeth, I would give him some nice petties on his heady.

...In other Garden news...

We had visits from hoards of Ruby-crowned Kinglets!
We also had a few Golden-crowns thrown in for good measure!

Where's Waldo?
Those Brown Creepers are still giving my auto focus a hard time!
Not to mention my faulty focusing eyes...

I know, stop shooting through screens!
The only way I could get a shot of the White-crowned Sparrows was by staying in the kitchen.
There's about a dozen under the feeder as I write this. How cool is that?!

The White-throated Sparrows aren't as bothered by my presence...kinda like the Doodles...

Warbly things in the yard are ALWAYS a good thing!
Sunday we had visits from a number of Yellow-rumped Warblys.
One of my favorite bird names...

I owe a lot of thank you's
... and apologies to all of the great birders that viewed my last blog post of this mystery fledgling warbly at the OOS conference.
It is indeed, a Common Yellowthroat.
Listening to all of the discussions was great!

...Mystery Bird of the Week!...

As usual, all I got was this butt shot of this mystery bird going into our Eastern Screech Owl box.
It's tail feathers seem to resemble fur, and note the odd foot and talons gripping the top of the box.

Any ideas on the identity of this would be greatly appreciated.

Mystery at Magee Marsh!

Of course I have a butt shot!

I'm always excited when I find a file of photos that I forgot about...except when it contains birds I can't identify!

I actually have three different days from my little weekend forays into Magee Marsh with my little camera. These shots are from August 7th of this year. I do remember a lot of fledgling birds about. Very hard to ID fledgling birds...possible Eastern Wood-Pewee...or was it a Eastern Phoebe...hmmm...

And then there's this little fellow. When I first saw him preening, I thought he was a Common Yellowthroat(I'm still leaning that way) fledgling. Look at his bill, he still has the yellow edges, but it looks so big for a Yellowthroat. Too small for a Tanager or and Oriole. Must be a Warbly-thing. Help me out here. I'm tired and can't think. Yeah, I heard that! It's worse than usual.

This is low right along the creek after he was preening.

I followed him(or her) for about thirty feet, until he went up into this tree then back into the marsh.

This is an easy one!
It's a juvenile Bald Eagle with an Eastern Kingbird on his back!
I was taking photos of him as he flew over my head, when I realized he had a passenger.
I shot as fast as I could, but he was zigging as my camera was zagging and this is the best I got.
Pretty cool!

I'll be at the Ohio Ornithological Society conference at the Radisson Hotel in Eastlake Firday and Saturday. Stop by and say "Howdy-do" if you're in the area!

Uh...a post on Monday...

A Timberdoodle for the Doodles!

Yep. Monday. My brain itches. You're on your own...

American Redstart taking off.
He can't deal with me either...

Black-and-White Warbler booty for Kimmay.

Blackpoll Warblys have cute little yellow footies.

Yes, that says footies!
Black-throated Blue Warbly...you can tell it's a she because of that look on her face.
I see that a lot.

A Black-throated Green Warbly showing his lack of a black throat.
Still green though...

Hunch backed little creep!
Brown Creepers will not let me take their picture!

"What? I suppose you have something silly to say about me too!"
Cape May Warbly things can be very touchy...

These are Mark Shieldcastle's hands.
He likes to point at parts of Common Grackles and taunt them.

After being freed, the Grackle took out his frustrations on this little defenseless berry.

Look, an almost motionless Golden-crowned Kinglet!

This butts for you.
Can you guess what it is?
You'll have to, because I'm not gonna tell. So there.

It's a two-butt Monday.
I'll tell you this ones name.
It's a yrufdbdurajwjdsf Warbly thing.
ha.

This is how I feel.
I'm a cranky Northern Cardinal.
"I'll bite you!"

Where's Waldo?
There's a warbly thing in there somewhere!
Find the Ovenbird.
Now you know how much I enlarge some of these pics!

Once again, the wrong end of a Red-breasted Nuthatch.

Mark had a Rose-breasted Grosbeak at bird banding.
"You can tell by the wing pattern why it's called a Rose-breasted Grosbeak."
(He didn't really say that...)

Here's a Rose-breasted Grosbeak hiding from Mark and his mist net...

Wow, almost a whole shot of a Wood Thrush.
Look out National Geographic!

For some reason, this photo of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker looks like a museum display.
It's not, it was on the Magee boardwalk.
Well, not actually on the boardwalk, but near the boardwalk.
Is that clear?

Oops. How'd that photo get in here?

There we go. A Yellow-rumped Warbly thing from the proper angle.

I now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.
Thank you for your patience.

*By the way, the "yrufdbdurajwjdsf" Warbly thing is a Nashville Warbly.
The other un-named warbly thing is simple, just look at it's tail pattern!