Author Archives: Chris Bosak

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About Chris Bosak

Bird columnist and nature photographer based in New England.

It’s true. Blue Jays like peanuts

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue Jay grabs a peanut from a feeder in Danbury, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue Jay grabs a peanut from a feeder in Danbury, Conn., May 2016.

I’ve always heard that Blue Jays like peanuts. “Put them out whole,” they would say.

So I did and nothing would happen. In fact, not only would the Blue Jays not eat the peanuts, I wouldn’t even see any Blue Jays. (Therein was the real problem.)

But at my new place Blue Jays abound. Do they like peanuts? I asked again. Well, I gave it another shot and, yes, Blue Jays do like peanuts. So much, in fact, that I can hardly keep up with demand.

The Blue Jay were very wary at first. I had to watch them take the bait from inside the house looking out a window. Now I can put a handful of peanuts on the feeder, take three steps to the lounge chair and plop myself down. Within minutes, or even seconds, the Blue Jays surround the area. One brave one dives in for a peanut and the others follow. There goes that handful. On and on it goes for as long as I’m willing to grab more handfuls. It’s been great fun.

 

Another shot or three of the Blue-winged Warbler

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

Here’s a few more of the Blue-winged Warbler. See the post below for more information about the photos.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

Blue-winged Warbler, one cool-looking bird

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

I hadn’t seen one in years. I just haven’t been visiting the right spots as Blue-winged Warblers stick to a pretty specific habitat: low, brushy, shruby. You’re not likely to find one deep in the woods.

But I found myself with an hour to kill and driving in the vicinity of Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn. This was an old haunt of mine when I lived in nearby New York and had to drive past the exit daily. Now I found myself trekking the trails there again.

I had seen a few warblers — including a few Yellow Warblers, a specialty there — when I heard the song of the Blue-winged Warbler. It’s a buzzy song, almost insect-like. They look as cool as they sound with bright yellow plumage and a long, thin black eye stripe. It was nice to see them again (there were two) and even nicer that they were somewhat cooperative as I tried to photograph them.

Here are some shots of the Blue-winged Warbler. (I know the wings don’t exactly look blue. I don’t name the birds.)

Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue-winged Warbler seen at Fairchild Wildflower Sanctuary in Greenwich, Conn., May 2016.

More photos of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a feeder in Danbury, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a feeder in Danbury, Conn., May 2016.

You didn’t think a Rose-breasted Grosbeak would visit my yard and I’d post only a measly two photos, did you? Of course not. So here are several more photos. This guy hung around for about three days and then presumably headed north. Enjoy and good luck for the rest of this spring migration.

Let me know what you’re seeing out.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a feeder in Danbury, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a feeder in Danbury, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a feeder in Danbury, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a feeder in Danbury, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a feeder in Danbury, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a feeder in Danbury, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a feeder in Danbury, Conn., May 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a feeder in Danbury, Conn., May 2016.

Just a quick video I put together

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I’ve been having so much fun watching my homemade birdfeers attract so many birds I decided to video a few of the visitors. I have a longer video planned and in the works, but here’s a quickee I threw together (partially just to reacquaint myself with iMovie.)

Latest For the Birds column: Goldfinch with conjunctivitis

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Photo by Chris Bosak An American Goldfinch with Avian Conjunctivitis visits a birdfeeder in Danbury, Conn., April 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
An American Goldfinch with Avian Conjunctivitis visits a birdfeeder in Danbury, Conn., April 2016.

Here’s the latest For the Birds column, which runs weekly in The Hour (Norwalk, CT) and Keene (NH) Sentinel. I don’t always post my columns to this site, but this is an important topic so I figured I would. Thanks for supporting http://www.BirdsofNewEngland.com

…

I was stretched out on the lounge chair on the deck, binoculars and camera on one side, a fresh cup of coffee on the other. The sun was warm on this particular late morning. (The sun is that bright, hot thing in the daytime sky, just in case anybody forgot with all this gray, wet weather we’ve been having.)

Suddenly an American Goldfinch appeared out of nowhere. It didn’t attack the feeders from the flanks like the goldfinches and most other birds usually do. He flew right over my head and approached the feeders directly. His flight was awkward; not at all Continue reading →

What a visitor: Rose-breasted Grosbeak

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a homemade platform feeder in Danbury, Conn., on May 6, 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a homemade platform feeder in Danbury, Conn., on May 5, 2016.

I had a feeling one would show up. And I had a feeling it would just love a homemade platform feeder from which to eat during its migration. Boy, when you’re right, you’re right. Usually when I wish for a specific scenario it never happens. This time, Bingo!

Sure enough, this morning (May 5) I was awakened by a small commotion at my window feeder. It was a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak trying to land on the narrow perch. Even without my glasses on I could tell what it was. How do you mistake a bird like that? It eventually figured out how to land on the small window feeder. I hoped he would get tired of the narrow perch and eventually find his way into the backyard where the real feeding station is. I made sure the homemade platform feeder had plenty of seeds.

Sure enough (again), about 11 o’clock there he was. Standing on the platform feeder eating seeds. Grosbeaks are like finches or cardinals in their eating habits in that they will perch and stay there to eat seed after seed. That is unlike birds such as chickadees, nuthatches and titmice, which grabs seeds and go. So with the grosbeak sitting there chowing down, it presented a nice, long photo opportunity.

I’ll write more about it in a later post, but for now, I wanted to get these photos out there.

Thanks for supporting http://www.BirdsofNewEngland.com

Here’s one more shot, for now:

Photo by Chris Bosak A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a homemade platform feeder in Danbury, Conn., on May 6, 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Rose-breasted Grosbeak visits a homemade platform feeder in Danbury, Conn., on May 5, 2016.

How do Blue Jays eat acorns? And the answer is …

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue Jay eats an acorn at Selleck's Woods in Darien, Conn., April 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue Jay eats an acorn at Selleck’s Woods in Darien, Conn., April 2016.

As shown in the photo above and the photos below, they break the shell and eat the nut in pieces. I’m sure most of you knew that anyway. Just wanted to provide photographic evidence.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue Jay eats an acorn at Selleck's Woods in Darien, Conn., April 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue Jay eats an acorn at Selleck’s Woods in Darien, Conn., April 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue Jay eats an acorn at Selleck's Woods in Darien, Conn., April 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue Jay eats an acorn at Selleck’s Woods in Darien, Conn., April 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue Jay eats an acorn at Selleck's Woods in Darien, Conn., April 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue Jay eats an acorn at Selleck’s Woods in Darien, Conn., April 2016.

Quick quiz on Blue Jays

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Photo by Chris Bosak A Blue Jay eats an acorn at Selleck's Woods in Darien, Conn., April 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
A Blue Jay eats an acorn at Selleck’s Woods in Darien, Conn., April 2016.

Here’s a quick quiz on Blue Jays for you. The answer will be revealed in photos tomorrow, so time is limited to give this question some thought. The question is: How do Blue Jays eat acorns?

Do they swallow them hole? Break the shell and then eat the nut hole? Break the shell and eat the nut in pieces?

No need to officially cast a vote. Just give it some thought. Answer coming tomorrow morning.

The quirky Ovenbird pays a visit

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Photo by Chris Bosak An Ovenbird stands on a railing in Danbury, Conn., April 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
An Ovenbird stands on a railing in Danbury, Conn., April 2016.

The Ovenbird is an odd little warbler. It looks more like a thrush with its light brown plumage and spotted breast, but it is a warbler — a warbler that prefers to walk along the ground instead of fly among the treetops.

It is perhaps most known for its song — the ubiquitous “teacher-teacher-teacher” that rings out from the woods throughout May and June in New England. But just because their song is loud and proud, that doesn’t mean they are easy to find. They lurk among the leaf-strewn forest floor, blending in with their surroundings.

I’ve been lucky enough to have one (or more?) visit my yard over the last few days. I’ve enjoyed the visit, but know it won’t last long. Soon, perhaps it’s even left already, it will head farther north.

Photo by Chris Bosak An Ovenbird perches on a branch in Danbury, Conn., April 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
An Ovenbird perches on a branch in Danbury, Conn., April 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak An Ovenbird stands on a log in Danbury, Conn., April 2016.

Photo by Chris Bosak
An Ovenbird stands on a log in Danbury, Conn., April 2016.