BirdingGirl

I've been so busy taking pictures that I haven't paused to recognize my cousin Sue (of Nature of Framingham ), who was so thoughtful in selling me her Sony telephoto lens (actually she refused to accept my $$ so I'll need to find a way to get her back- I'm thinking of getting her a nice birding gift). I had blogged about wanting to buy a telephoto lens for my Canon PowerShot S2 IS and got a tip from Spencer at Beginning Birding that he uses a Sony VCL-DH1758 for his S2 IS. I then tweeted about it to see what people had to say about that lens. I'm very happy with the lens so far, although I'm really just happy to have a tele lens. Here are some recent pictures taken with it:

This was my first winter seeing American Goldfinches since it was the first time I offered a thistle feeder. It was only until I hung the thistle feeder I got for Christmas that the Goldfinches and Pine Siskins showed up. I'm so glad I got to observe American Goldfinches in winter or non-breeding plumage since I had no idea that they changed this much. While the other species in its family molt once in the fall, American Goldfinches through a second molt in the spring. I've been observing their daily change in color. At this point, they're almost all yellow. And how ironic that these pictures are of my black oil sunflower seed feeder...But I stand by my argument that the thistle feeder is what drew them to my yard! I just found some older pictures (taken February 1st) that I never posted. This picture shows the drab winter plumage of the goldfinch.

Here are some pictures from the backyard on Sunday. We've been getting a lot more woodpeckers coming to the tube feeder. That's the one with black oil sunflower seed in it, and I'm honestly surprised at how much they like it. I usually think of woodpeckers as eating suet or hard-packed seed cakes. The Hairy Woodpecker really likes the terrarium wood Steve put out there for the birds "on deck" to sit on. He originally bought it for our Gold Dust Day Gecko Pololu, but we only had her for about a month- she died last May :-( At least now our backyard "pets" get to enjoy it! I can't imagine that there's anything to eat in there- the wood has been in dry storage in our house- but if the woodpeckers want to peck at it for fun that's ok with me! I like this picture that captures two of them: Here's an American Goldfinch really stretching its neck to get in there:

I was at my parents' house on the Cape this past weekend and despite the rainy weather there was quite a lot of activity at the front and back yard feeders. I saw a lone Chipping Sparrow, which went back and forth between the front and back yards, a Goldfinch pair, a female Cardinal, several chickadees and nuthatches, and a titmouse. I was also happy to observe that both of my parents' birdhouses are currently being moved into—the nuthatches are moving into the front yard birdhouse and the titmice are moving into the back yard birdhouse. Two years ago my parents had a great crested flycatcher family attempt to live in the back yard feeder, but House Sparrows kicked them out. They cleaned out the birdhouses after that and repainted them, but didn't get any inhabitants last year. My dad hypothesized that maybe they didn't like the fresh paint smell and now that the houses have had a year to 'season' they're attractive again. Nonetheless, I'll be anxious to...

This morning I got up early and went to Pilates, then planned on going for a run afterward. I called my boyfriend before leaving the gym and since he was up for a run too I decided to forgo the warmth of the gym and head home to go for a jog along the river with him. As I left the lot I saw groups of seagulls, geese and (what appeared to be) buffleheads gathered along the edge of the ice covering in the bay (of the Charles River). My long jogging route involves going from my apartment to that very spot so I certainly had motivation to make it back there today. I made sure to pack my PowerShot inside my camelback and wear my fingerless mittens for quick access to the camera (they've been indispensable this winter!). It worked out well to bird while jogging today since the route is 6 miles and in this cold weather it was a difficult task to do non-stop. Mallard Ducks: It was their rows orange legs that caught my eye as I was running past. I had to stop and snap them since it was a v...

While I was at my parents' house this weekend I got to see lots of birds up-close at the bird feeders and suet basket in the yard. They're so used to my parents and dog being out in the yard that it takes a lot to scare them away so the whole weekend they were in close proximity. Birds I saw this weekend include: Goldfinch Purple Finch Chickadee Nuthatch House Finch Downy Woodpecker Tufted Titmouse I also saw a female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, with the beatiful green back. My dad did some tree-trimming in the yard on Sunday and unfortunately one of the falling trees knocked over a hanging plant that they like to visit. However, after I repotted it and hung it back up she returned as if nothing happened! My mom also has two hummingbird feeders but the past few times I've been home I've seen them favoring this plant. I'll have to bring my camera next time so I can get some pictures to post.

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 ala...

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been doing a lot more of my runs in the morning now that the sun's out so early. It's great especially since we're having a little bit of a heat wave so it's still nice and cool in the morning. I really like the challenge of trying to identify birds without slowing down or stopping. The path I run along is very dense in vegetation, which makes it even harder to spot the birds when I hear their calls. The few birds I was able to spot yesterday morning included two Baltimore Orioles (very vocal), a Goldfinch and what I believe was a Northern Waterthrush, since my Sibley Guide says they're very common in dense shrubs and small trees new slow-moving or standing water . I've seen these little and white-streaked birds during many of my trips down to the river, but I haven't put much effort into identifying them. I'll have to get a better look next time. I'm going to be down the Cape this weekend for Memorial Day. I...