Skip to main content

Summertime Birdwatching

I've started seeing a lot of the same birds during my runs along the river. What amazes me is that what I always believed to be common birds have the most beautiful and most diverse range of calls. Just tonight I heard an interesting call while I was jogging and looked up to see a robin. Last week I saw a speckled bird that turned out to be a juvenile robin. It reminded me of the plovers I saw in Hawaii ,or some sort of shore bird but my Sibley Guide told me otherwise.

Another thing I've been noticing lately is how active hawks are. I was home on the Cape Sunday and saw 3 different hawks- one of which swooped down to grab a mouse in the grass by the side of the road and then flew up to the top of a telephone pole to eat it. When it came down it looked like it was going to hit the side of our car but obviously he had a precise flight plan. They really are amazing.

Speaking of hawks, there was a good article in the Cape Cod Times about this very subject: Bird scouts sound the alarm.

Later on Sunday while I was in my parents' yard I got to appreciate the songbirds that visit my mom's birdfeeders. She has an abundance of purple finches, gold finches, nuthatches, chickadees and cow birds. The gold finches are my favorite because of their vibrant color and amazing songs. I'm always surprised at how close they come to us too when we're sitting in the yard. There was a nuthatch that landed on the suet basket in the lilac bush right above where my mom was sitting in the yard. In addition to songbirds, she has hummingbirds that visit the feeders regularly. Without fail every time I'm home I see one. Usually they're on the fuschsia plant she has hanging in the front garden.

I still have Hawaii pictures to post so I'll get on top of that.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Difference Between Grackles and Starlings

I saw a sad sight today during my lunchtime jog—a dead grackle. Or was it a starling? I'll get to that in a minute. I was making my way down to the trail along the Charles River when I saw what I thought was an injured bird in the middle of the road. It was just sitting there and I figured it was just stunned or maybe had an injured wing. The bird probably didn't have much of a chance, but the least I could move it out of the road. As I got closer to the bird I saw it had its mouth open and then I realized the gruesome truth—it was dead and was frozen in that position. I just got shivers thinking about it. The poor thing. Anyway, so it got me to thinking 'What is the difference between grackles and starlings?' I use the two interchangeably and haven't really made an effort to sort it out. Until now. I like to use All About Birds from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as an online resource. The site is comprehensive and easy to use. (I also really like the 'Cool ...

Killdeer Chick in Yellowstone National Park

These were taken at West Thumb Geyser Basis, along the beach. It was really cool to get to watch these little chicks up close and personal. I had never seen Killdeer chicks before- only adults. These pictures are from our trip to Montana/Wyoming in July 2012.

Red-tailed Hawk Attacks a Girl at Fenway Park

Apparently there are three resident red-tailed hawks at Fenway Park. One of them attacked a middle school student from Connecticut while she was there on a tour of the park. She received a scratch on her forehead and was treated and released from Children's Hospital. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff What a terrible thing to happen, but at the same time I'm fascinated by these Fenway Park hawks. Boston.com has full coverage with both a news story and a pictorial giving a high-level account of the story. I recommend taking a look at the pictorial by clicking on the image above because there are some amazing pictures in there. WCVB, TheBostonChannel.com, also covered the story and has a video of the hawk watching visitors in one of the luxury boxes. The video captures both angles- the visitors chattering behind the glass and of the hawk perched in front of the window watching them critically. Click on the image to view the video (taken by reporters touring the park) on their site. It...