Noland Trail 3/28/09

On the Noland Trail starting from the North entrance I saw a male hooded merganzer, mallards sleeping on the same log as turtles.

There was a pie-billed grebe around a bridge I was crossing and despite me hanging around for about 5 minutes and other people crossing it stayed within the proximity of the bridge (pic). It kept diving which made me wonder if there was something yummy around and that's why it wasn't leaving.

After a while proceeding down the trail I heard laughing gulls; these and some I had heard Tuesday (3/24) during oceanography lab at Lion's Bridge were the first I've heard/ seen in person since learning about them in class. But as I was looking up, looking for the gulls I saw a bald eagle soaring around the trees and lake (pic).

On my way back heading towards the South Entrance I started seeing some ospreys flying around. And one was in a tree that was practically right on the trail, eating a fish (pics). I could hear it taring off the peices and see some of the pieces fall as it was eating. It looked like it was eating the fish head or gill first and the tail was hanging over the branch.

Newport News Park (Lab 3/23/09)

Here are a few birds of the many that we saw during lab on March 23rd at Newport News Park.
1) Brown-headed Nuthatch
2) Red-headed Woodpecker
3) Osprey
4) Dark-eyed Junco

Out West

I was able to spend my break at Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada. Since spring is right around the corner the bird diversity at the refuge was amazing. I don't know if it is always like that or if I am just more aware of it now, but birds were every where! Some of the note worthy observations include:

Lesser black backed gull (only the second one ever seen in Nevada), Gambles quail, northern harrier, Great blue heron, Black-necked Stilt, American Coot, and a Greater Roadrunner.

Unfortunately, photographing most of these was difficult although I was able to snag a few shots.

Birds of Jupiter

Isaac, Jenevieve and I went birding throughout the week on our vacation to Jupiter Island. Most of our trips took place on Jupiter, but locations also included the Palm Beach Zoo (lots of migrating ducks) and Jonathan Dickenson State Park.

Bird Species: Little Blue Heron, Boat-tailed Grackle, Swallow-tailed Kite, Sandpiper sp., Great Blue Heron, Canada Goose, Rudy Duck, Redhead, Anhinga, Northern Pintail, Green Heron, Northern Shoveler, Turkey Vulture, Sandhill Crane, Osprey, Peacock, Double Crested Cormorant, Flamingo, Scarlet Ibis, White Ibis, Herring Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Barrow’s Goldeneye --> Should have been in Canada!

Barrow's Goldeneye

Jamin Valentine's Adventure: The 2nd Installment

Below are some of the avian wonders I observed while at Indian River Park in Hampton, VA. This little excursion wasn't as productive as I would have anticipated in that the vastness of birds wasn't quite so vast (mallards, geese, and gulls) ; so I coupled it with a few random sightings from around my neighborhood along with some others that I couldn't identify from earlier trips.

This is one of the birds I couldn't identify on my first trip. It has a large knob on its bill. Exotic much?

This is the other bird I couldn't identify with the poof ball on its head. High-fashion maybe?

If you look closely, this is a mix of Mallards and a female Hooded Merganser.

Graylag Geese (domesticated and a wild type)

Graylag Goose

Why did the Ring-billed Gull cross the street?

Jamin Valentine's Adventure: Bluebird Gap Farm, USA

Below are some of the magnificent organisms of Class Aves I observed while at Bluebird Gap Farm in Hampton, VA:

Indian Blue Peafowl showing its gorgeous display feathers.

White Peafowl showing its heavenly display feathers.

Wild Turkey gobble-gobbling loudly.

Turkey Vulture sunning its broken wing.

Black Vulture watching the Turkey Vulture.

Barn Owl striking a pose for my camera. Say cheese so the mice can come-a-runnin'!

Rock Pigeon scouring the ground for lunch.
Mute Swan gracefully swimming.

The Great Starling Rescue

During my spring break, instead of going to the birds they decided to come to me! I heard something in my chimney and figured there was a critter there but at the time I didn't know what it was. So I didn't worry much about until I still heard it the next day as well. My husband and I knew that it was a bird because we could hear flapping, so we decided to smoke it out. Well, that didn't work. We removed one small piece of the wood stove and could see the blackbird (which turned out to be an European Starling) and at that point we knew it was much to big to get out by itself. So when he settled down I was able to get my hand in the stove and pull him out by the tail. He initially went into shock and I wrapped him in a towel and got him outside. I cleaned off his beak and he just laid on the ground for a couple of minutes. As I got the camera out to take pics of him he hopped up and walked off a little. He got into the grass in the yard and ate for awhile. Later, he flew away that night. Another birdie bar-b-que adverted!

Another Birdie visitor...Mourning Dove

American Robins are everywhere!