Winter term birds

Despite my life becoming totally consumed by ichthyology this month, I've actually been able to add a bunch more birds to my year list and even get in some local birding now and again. I have a lot to catch up on though, so bear with me.

About a week and a half ago I saw an email from a professor about a pied-billed grebe in one of our campus ponds that was tangled in soda can plastic, and they were looking for students to help corral and capture it. The plan was to get about 10 students or so in the pond to "herd" the pair of grebes into a large seine net, where one person (a student who also works as a wildlife rehabilitater) would detangle it or take it to the local seabird sanctuary if it was injured.

Unfortunately, only about 7 students showed up -- not nearly enough to keep the wily little grebes from slipping past us. We came close at one point. The grebe actually swam into our net while we were all on the other side of the pond, but by the time we got enough people over, it had somehow disappeared. We waded around, shivering in the pond for about an hour (it was around 45 degrees out), and finally had to give up. Hopefully we'll try again in a couple weeks if the grebes are still around.

Other than the attempted grebe rescue, I managed to get my birding fix over the last few weeks with the plethora of migratory and resident species present on campus this time of year. There are tons of palm warblers, tricolored herons, lesser scaups, blue-winged teals, and mottled ducks around the ponds. The usual for this time of year, but fun to see nonetheless.

Last week my class took a trip to the University of Florida's fisheries department up in Gainesville. The fish were cool, but I was really surprised by all the birds in the area! While we were seining, a pair of great egrets put on a spectacular courting display. I took a ton of pictures, but unfortunately they didn't come out too clearly because of the distance and low afternoon lighting.

By far my favorite birds of the day were the bald eagles hanging around the lake. There were one or two adults and at least one juvenile that I spotted multiple times swooping low over the water, hunting. It was spectacular! I've never seen a bald eagle hunting before, but it was quite a sight to behold. Around sunset a juvenile landed in a tree right over where we were working on the bank of the lake, making for a great photo op.

Now winter term is over and I'm about to return to the usual grind of a full class schedule. Yippee! So who knows when I'll be able to post again, but until next time...

Happy birding! :-)

Recent sightings

This semester has been a total killer so far -- I'm busier than I've ever been in my entire life, it seems (as you can probably tell by my infrequent blog postings). Nonetheless, in between running to classes, work, meetings, doing homework and studying, I've managed to watch the slow progression of fall migration creeping in.

Saturday temperatures dropped into the 60s, so I took some time to hike a little, but not much had showed up yet. There were a ton of Cormorants and Anhingas around the ponds, but little else besides the resident species. After Sunday though, I started seeing more passerines show up. Today I got my first-of-the-season Yellow-throated Warbler, along with a Palm Warbler and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher outside my window.

Fall break starts this coming weekend, so I plan on taking some time to go birding for at least a couple days while I'm home and see what else the season is bringing in.

Yesterday my roommate and I observed a gorgeous Bald Eagle flying really low over campus on our way to class. We got a fantastic, although brief, view of the bird. I haven't seen a Bald Eagle in our area in a long time, so it was a nice surprise. I've been keeping my eye out for it again, in the hopes that it may be living in the area.

Well, enough procrastination for now -- better get back to homework.

Happy birding!

Ornithological research, anyone?

Still no birding news to report, but I have, however, finally uploaded my bird research paper from Environmental Biology class last semester.

Before you read it, please be aware that some changes have been made to protect privacy that may look a little funny (i.e. I removed the name of my school, specific locations, etc). Also, the formatting on Google Docs squished it up a bit, so it looks significantly shorter than it is in print.

Nonetheless, all my research is there, as well as the tables and graphs with the data. If you're familiar with research papers, mine will not look very impressive but I will emphasize again that this was a learning experience in every sense. :-)

So, check it out here. And until next time,

Happy birding!

A quick hello from college

Just a quick update to say I'm still here! I know it's been a couple weeks since my last post, but I'm back at college now and have had no time for birding or blogging.

The good thing is that I'm staying busy though, with a more than full load of 5 classes. In the little free time I've had so far, I was able to get my year bird Black Skimmer, which was a nice treat.

I'm going to try to post my bird research paper from last semester sometime. I finally got my grade back on it, and was quite pleased to see that I got a 98%! Honestly, with never having written a scientific paper before, I couldn't help but be a little bit proud of myself. :-)

Well, not much else to report on at the moment. Hopefully when things slow down a bit I'll have more interesting birding news to share.

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Summer at last

By date, alone, it is not summer, but I think nature has other ideas. Driving home from college yesterday, I got some photos of the spectacular thunderstorms raging out over the bay. It was a quite a display -- lightning spiderwebbed across the steel-blue sky and the water boasted an odd seafoam green color, tossing white-capped waves over one another.

Thunderstorms are a sure sign that summer is here.

Today I took full advantage of my first day of summer break, not having any classes or meetings or obligations, and tried sketching a Prairie Warbler. It's hard to draw such a colorful bird in black and white, but I think I managed to pull it off, sort of.

Well, if the weather improves tomorrow, I'll try to get out and do some birding.

Oh, right! The GBBC!

College has this fantastic way of blurring the days together such that you lose yourself in the academic world, and neglect to nurture your need for the quiet solitude of nature.

Well, this morning I realized that when I woke up thinking about the Great Backyard Bird Count. It occured to me that I missed its first two days! I threw my birding gear into a bag and took off down the road on my bike to my favorite birding spot on campus.

It was still early enough for many birds to be roosting in the oak grove and around the pond. After tallying up the many vultures blinking sleepily at me from their perches, I turned my attention to the multitude of Lesser Scaups floating around in the water.

There seemed to be two seperate flocks of them, totalling 34 individuals.

There were also quite a few Mottle Ducks swimming around, as well as Coots and Moorhens.

I had never seen the above duck before, so it wasn't until I got back to my dorm and looked it up that I realized I had seen a beautiful male Blue-winged Teal! That's a lifer. Very cool duck, and one I definitely wasn't expecting to see.

It was a delightfully refreshing hike around the pond and through the oak grove, and a good reminder to myself that I need to take a break from college sometimes and make some time for myself.

Well, until next time,

Happy birding.

My GBBC report:

Observation Date: FEB 15, 2009
Start Time: 9:30 AM
Total Birding Time: 1 hour
Party Size: 1
Skill: good
Weather: good
Habitat(s):
-coniferous woods
-scrub
-suburban
-freshwater
-salt water
Number of Species: 25
All Reported: yes
Checklist:
Mottled Duck - 8
Blue-winged Teal - 1
Lesser Scaup - 34
Brown Pelican - 2
Double-crested Cormorant - 30
Anhinga - 5
Great Egret - 2
Snowy Egret - 1
Roseate Spoonbill - 1
Wood Stork - 1
Black Vulture - 20
Turkey Vulture - 12
Osprey - 2
Common Moorhen - 3
American Coot - 3
Laughing Gull - 16
Ring-billed Gull - 1
Rock Pigeon - 3
Monk Parakeet - 2
Blue Jay - 1
Fish Crow - 6
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Palm Warbler - 12
Northern Cardinal - 1

The college try

I am sitting here writing this from my college dorm. I didn't know when I'd have time to blog, but, despite having homework the first day of class yesterday (yes, we had to go to class on Saturday), I was able to get everything done with time to spare.

The college campus is beautiful, and should be *amazing* during migration season. Already yesterday I saw a life bird as I was coming out of the opening ceremonies: A Black Skimmer!

I took my swimming test yesterday so I am cleared to take out kayaks whenever I want. So, if I ever get a few free hours, I am definitely going to go out and explore the bay and surrounding islands.

There are already a ton of birds out here, even in the height of summer. My roommate and I had dinner out by the water this evening, and watched terns, pelicans, gulls, herons, egrets, anhingas, and other common shorebirds.

College itself is going to take some getting used to. I'm not sure if I like it yet, but I'm giving it a try. If I can get through this, I know I can accomplish great things.

Happy birding!

Leaving the nest

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

You may notice a slight change to my blog logo design at the top of the page. You guessed it: I am leaving the nest, so to speak; going off to college.

I have mentioned this briefly before, but now it's official. In a couple days, I'm moving to the coast to begin studying for my future carrier (hopefully) in the environmental field.

While this new endeavor provides me with exciting opportunities to go after my dreams, it also means that for the next few days (weeks, even?) I won't be able to update the blog. New classes, obligations, and other formalities are in order, so I am gearing up for a hectic few weeks ahead.

Nonetheless, my eyes and ears will remain open at all times, looking out for new birds to list and share with you.

I will update the blog as soon as I can, but until then:

Happy birding!

Birder on campus

"Hold fast to your dreams, for without them life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly." -Langston Hughes

As August draws steadily closer, I am constantly reminded of two things: college and new birding opportunities.

Yeah, it sounds kind of silly and trivial now, but think about it: I'm going away on my own to study and learn more than I ever have before. I'll be in a new place, which, by default, gives me the opportunity to see new birds.

The college is right on the water, so I expect to see some great sea- and shorebirds, as well as migratory species in the Spring and Fall. So there's gotta be a catch, right?

Yep.

As it turns out, I'm most likely going to be the only birder on campus. This doesn't surprise me, but it is a bit disappointing. Talking with some of the other freshmen online, I have found that none of them are even remotely interested in birding.

But that won't stop me. Birding alone is certainly not new to me (quite the contrary -- I have gone birding with a group once before!), so I will definitely make the best of it.

With kayaks available to students on campus and nature trails scattered throughout the area, I will be birding whenever possible!

Oh so close!

What a summer so far. Getting ready for college, trying to earn money and waiting out daily afternoon lightning storms has left little time for birding.

I went birding at the archery range today for about an hour but came up with nothing new. It was a bad time of day to go; I hate early afternoon. I saw quite a few Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Cardinals, a Downy Woodpecker, and heard an Osprey, but beyond that, the short trip was uneventful.

I have come close to seeing a couple new species though. Oh, so close! In my backyard, I found Yellow-bellied Sapsucker holes on an elm tree. I have never actually seen a sapsucker, which would be lifer for me.

And yesterday evening, my mom reported she saw a hummingbird at the penta flowers in our garden. I've been checking the flowers periodically, hoping the bird will come back. I have yet to see a hummer this year, so my hopes are up! It would be great to see one in my own yard.

Wish I had something more exciting to report on, but alas, I do not.

Until next time,

Happy birding!