Spring Colors

I love spring in our neighborhood. The flowering trees and flowers are just breathtaking. They have come real early this year. In fact most of them have already gone by. I guess this year we can say "April flowers bring May showers."

 

Just a Mallard, Not

This mallard was having a Sunday morning bath, but not just any old type of bath. I mean a diving, swimming underwater, coming up and shaking off and diving again kind of bath!  I had never seen a mallard do that. I've seen mergansers, loons and other diving type birds do this but not a mallard. But whose to say he shouldn't enjoy his Sunday morning bath. I was enjoying my Sunday morning walk in the park and watching him.

Taken in Prospect Park on a Sunday morning.

Bluebirds Househunting in Allens Meadows

Went to see my mom in CT and dropped by Allens Meadows first in Wilton.

 I met up with a bluebird couple shopping for a house to rent for nesting. Think they were quite satisfied with the accommodations available and the surrounding fields and gardens.

"What do you think dear?"

"Seems quite roomy inside. Just right for our nestlings this year."

"Shall we settle in?" "Let's check out the area first."

"Nice gardens, looks like a lot of potential here."

"Lots of fields for juicy bugs"

"Thinking of bugs has made me hungry, think I'll get myself one or two."

Well, I do hope this bluebird couple settles in for the spring and summer! I'll look forward to checking in with them at a later date.

Great Back Yard Bird Count

This was my first year participating in the event. It was fun. I counted for about 2 and one half hours today. I was hoping that the red-bellied woodpecker would make an appearance and indeed he made a brief visit to the suet feeder. In all I had 9 different species: 43 house sparrows, 1 white-throated sparrow, 10 mourning doves, 8 rock doves, 2 starlings, 2 northern cardinals, 1 red-bellied woodpecker, 4 house finches and1 herring gull flying over. These are my regulars. Not bad for a little Brooklyn, NY backyard.
This isn't the clearest picture of the woodpecker but this is the beauty that has been visiting my suet feeder all winter. Below him are my other regulars from another day - a snowy day

Red-bellied Woodpecker

White-throated sparrow

female Northern Cardinal

That's right I'm looking at you

male Northern Cardinal

Cape May Late Migrants

It was my first trip to Cape May to bird. I got up early and was on the road at 4:00 am to make it for a 7:30 birding walk at Rea Farm. So I literally birded from sun-up/moon down to sunset. What a gorgeous day in a gorgeous place. The only down side- hitting a deer on the way down :( . Damages to the car but no injury to me.

Moonset early morning

Turkey Vulture

 

Black Vulture

I had never seen a black vulture before. I was surprised that when looking at the underside of the wings of the Turkey Vulture they are two toned with the flight feathers being lighter. While the underside of the Black Vulture's wings are black with white fight feathers. Also the Black Vulture's tail is shorter and square compared to the longer, rounded tail of the Turkey Vulture.

I saw 2 American Kestrels (another life bird) but they were a little too far away to get clear pictures. They are a beautiful bird but much smaller than I thought. They were across the field from this vineyard and bluebird. We saw Kinglets, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and Blackpoll Warblers, and heard several Carolina Wrens. The walk around the farm was leisurely and there were many knowledgeable birders along.

After the walk around the farm we found a bathroom at the lighthouse and then went to get some tea. I then walked around the newer birding preserve I believe called The Meadows. I saw Dark-eyed Juncos, an assortment of ducks including Northern Pintail, American Wigeon, Gadwalls, Northern Shoveler and Green-Winged Teal.

Next I went back to the lighthouse. I took the late evening Hawk watch. However, since the wind was still up there weren't many hawks to watch. So instead we took a walk around the ponds at the lighthouse. We walked through a variety of habitat. We saw Coot, Pied-Billed Grebe and an Eurasian Wigeon as well.

Pied-Billed Grebe - isn't it the cutest thing

American Coot

Coot in flight

As we walked through the woods we saw a flock of Cedar Waxwings. The sun was setting and as I looked at the pictures I have to say their bodies looked like smooth golden wax.

We got near the end of our walk. We were looking at some ducks and one of the kids on the walk went up to the leader and said there is a different looking swan over there. He has an all black beak. We went to look and sure enough we had a Tundra Swan. The Mute Swans that were swimming with it were actually ignoring it. Apparently they will usually run them out. Another lifer!

Tundra Swan

You can see that not only does it have an all black beak it has what looks like a yellow tear drop called a basal spot. Also this is a native swan where as the Mutes were introduced from England. It was a great way to end the day. And then there was the sunset....

 What a great day. I hope you enjoyed the day as much as I did. The ride home was smooth as I didn't hit or even see any deer on the way! Thanks for stopping by.

Sparrows and More, Allen's Meadow with the BwBTC Gang

To echo what everyone else has said, what a great day with friends and birds! We arrived soon after sun-up to the Community Gardens at Allen's Meadows, Wilton, CT. We saw some great birds and had a wonderful time getting caught up with one another and learning more about new friends.


White-crowned sparrow

Vesper Sparrow

Savannah Sparrow

Juvenile White Crowned Sparrow

Birding and Chatting (in the picture)
Cathleen Voss~BIRDINGGIRL, Daniel Huber ~Nature Observances, Kathie Brown ~ Kathie's Birds, Diana Fruguglietti~Travelling Birders,  Catherine Hamilton~Birdspot, Mardi Welch Dickinson~Kymry ~ A look in time….  and Dawn Fine of Dawns bloggy blog.

Diana Fruguglietti, Dawn Fine, and Mardi Welch Dickinson

Black-capped Chickadee, the acrobat seeks a sunflower seed - he entertained us all

I think the wire fence caused the abstractions of the cone flowers

Had to show a couple of flowers from the Community Gardens

Last but not least - the Very Rare Yellow-billed Plastic bird alighting upon Dawns fingers 

If you ever get a chance to go birding with this group don't hesitate - its such a fun group of people with a lot of collective birding expertise. I'm already looking forward to next years meet up!