It wasn’t an official Christmas tree, but these robins made it one on this Christmas morning. Happy holidays everyone!
A lively Christmas tree
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Merry Christmas from Birds of New England
Happy holidays, and merry and blessed Christmas to all. Thank you for your support of Birds of New England.
For the Birds: About that coyote
My experience with the coyote the other day got me curious about the species. As I mentioned last week, coyotes are fairly common throughout all of New England these days, but I’ve seen them on only a few occasions.
The recent sighting was my closest encounter with a coyote to date and the only one so far that afforded a photo opp. As is often the case, once I get a decent photo of a species, I do a deep dive into its life history.
Here are some interesting facts (at least I found them interesting) about the eastern coyote, gleaned from several sources on the internet.
Continue readingFor the Birds: Coyotes crosses the scene
My usual walk at a park near my home starts with a slight downhill trail abutting a huge field. The trail soon branches off in two directions: right leads into the woods, and left takes you along a wide trail with brushy habitat on either side.
Nine times out of ten, I take the trail to the left. The brushy habitat is home to a greater number and variety of birds than the narrow trail through the woods. While the left trail is rather wide, approximately 15 feet, the brush on either side is tall and thick and blocks the view of what lies immediately on either side.
There is one spot along the trail, however, where the brush is matted down, exposing a crumbled rock wall and an expansive view of the field. For the adventurous, this spot also offers a chance to gingerly walk on the matted-down brush, step on some of the fallen rocks from the wall and jump down into the field on the other side.
Continue readingPurple finch vs. house finch
Here are some photos of house finches and purple finches, for comparison.
Males
Another shot of the downy woodpecker on wasp nest
Here’s another shot of the female downy woodpecker looking for food by tearing apart a dormant wasp’s nest.
For the Birds: Look carefully in the fall
Last fall, I watched and attempted in vain to photograph several little birds fitting among low-lying bushes at a particular spot in the woods.
Eventually, I was able to get a good look at one and identify them as golden-crowned kinglets. Fitful for kinglets, they moved constantly. They sat still for only a second or two as they moved from one branch to the next. Most of the time, they remained concealed by leaves.
The other day, I walked by that same exact patch in the woods and noticed two small birds flitting among the bushes. My instinct was to move on without getting a better look, as I assumed they were golden-crowned kinglets that wouldn’t let me photograph them anyway.
Continue readingFor the Birds: What’s in a (bird) name?
Some bird names are spot on. Yellow-rumped warblers have yellow rumps as an obvious field mark. Mourning doves have a mournful-sounding call. Bluebirds are, well, blue birds.
Some bird names do not seem to make sense. A red belly is hardly a red-bellied woodpecker’s most distinctive field mark. Yes, their bellies are red and yes, the name red-headed woodpecker is already taken by a more deserving species, but still. American robins are actually thrushes, and most warblers do not warble.
Then there are bird names that make sense only after looking up the meaning of a few words. Semipalmated plovers and semipalmated sandpipers are so named because there is partial webbing between their toes. The zoological definition of palmated, according to dictionary.com, is “web-footed.” I was several years into my birding hobby before I learned this. I don’t think I gave it a second thought before I heard it for the first time. I just accepted that as the name and moved on.
Continue readingCatbird photo just because
Here’s a handsome, cooperative gray catbird I came across on my walk this morning.
For the Birds: Fishing, birding: It’s all good outdoors
My oldest son Andrew, who somehow is now a full-blown adult at age 21, recently took up shore fishing as a hobby. I was happy when he told me because any hobby that requires spending a lot of time in the great outdoors away from screens and technology is a good thing.
I was equally happy when he asked me to come along on a recent outing. I have fished on and off throughout my life, but the hobby never really grabbed me in the same way as some other outdoor pursuits. I have great memories of trout fishing with my brother when we were teens and teaching my boys to fish when they were youngsters, but other than that, my fishing experiences are rather few and far between.
I purchased a few marine fishing licenses online, and Andrew and I headed to the Connecticut coast of Long Island Sound. I brought my camera just in case there happened to be birds there too.
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Birds of New England.com 