BirdingGirl

I only birded for a couple of hours in Presidio Park while in San Francisco, but I was excited to see some birds I had never seen before. Female Anna's Hummingbird: Male Anna's Hummingbird: I especially like this profile one: The hummingbirds at Presidio Park were so fun to watch. I first noticed them as I was walking down the Park Presidio Blvd. corridor of sequoia redwoods. I kept hearing this weird wheezing noise and would stop to look for the bird but couldn't find it. It wasn't until I got into the main park, near Mountain Lake , that I realized that wheezing noise was coming from the hummingbirds! I'm no expert at hummingbirds (and especially not West Coast ones) but Anna's Hummingbird was the closest match to my photos and is also very common in the Presidio Park. I also saw my first Wilson's Warbler: This was another tricky ID for me because I had trouble finding pictures where the black cap comes down the nape of its neck as you can see in the fi...

I was in San Francisco last week doing some training for our West Coast office. I arrived on Sunday May 17th, the day after Bird-a-thon wrapped up. As soon as I checked into my hotel I took a cab to the Presidio. Little did I know but they were coming off of a heat wave so I had beautiful weather for my birding trip-sunny with temps in the 80s. I had done limited research before leaving, but I did find some good tips for San Francisco birding here: http://www.towhee.net/sfspec/index.html I walked down the corridor of Park Presidio Blvd. (lined with sequoia redwoods) and then I basically spent most of my time around Mountain Lake: The write-up shown above (taken from the Presidio Park website: http://www.presidio.gov/nature/natural/projects.htm ) describes what they have done to improve the Mountain Lake area. It really is a cool area, with wetland sections and dense underbrush. That's where I was scouting for warblers (ID-d a Wilson's Warbler) and was watching the chestnut-bac...

Here are the rest of my pictures from Bird-a-thon in Winthrop. Savannah Sparrow: Eastern Kingbird:

I spent Saturday birding in Winthrop with my friend Abbie. We were birding for Gordon's Gaggle- thanks again to everyone who pledged money for me! We went to Deer Island, Belle Isle Marsh, and Winthrop Beach. Here is our list from the day: baltimore oriole gray catbird european starling common grackle mourning dove red-winged blackbird house sparrow house finch rock pigeon semipalmated plover common eider ring-belled gull herring gull great black-backed gull eastern kingbird savannah sparrow song sparrow northern mockingbird double-crested cormorant american black duck long-tailed duck surf scoter snowy egret tree swallow barn swallow I was very excited about some of the diving ducks we saw. Long-tailed Duck: Common Eider: I also had to include this picture of the eider with a juvenile gull- I thought it was interesting they were hanging out together:

I'm trying to catch up on some back-logged photos from Mt. Auburn Cemetery last week. I was so excited to post my pictures of the Indigo Bunting I didn't have time to put up the others. House Wren: Yellow-rumped Warbler: [I even have a mystery warbler. I remember it was yellowish and fairly drab. Here are the only pictures I got]. UPDATE: Thanks to Grant for identifying this warbler as a female American Redstart! I didn't see any males that day so it didn't even occur to me!

I've officially signed up for Bird-a-thon this weekend- I'll be birding for the Gordon's Gaggle team. Since my schedule was somewhat restrictive I had to get creative if I was going to participate. I'm flying out to San Francisco Sunday morning and Steve's going to be working in the field all weekend so I had to find a way to get to the airport. I decided to ask my friend Abbie who lives in Winthrop if I could stay with her Saturday night and then just take a cab from her place (very close to the airport) Sunday morning. Since I'll be in Winthrop all day Saturday hanging out with Abbie, it would have been tough to meet up with other members of Gordon's Gaggle. That and I'm working all day Friday so it would have been really tough for me to meet up with anyone on that day. Finally, after some back and forth with one of the team's representatives we arrived at a solution- Abbie would join the team with me and that way my observations would count. (Bir...

I was so excited to see my first Indigo Bunting today. I quickly ran over to Mt. Auburn during lunch to take advantage of peak warbler season before it's over. I'm going to be in San Francisco for work all next week so I fear by the time I get back the birds will have moved on. There were a lot of birders there today and of course lots of activity around the Dell. That's where I saw a flash of blue fly into the undergrowth at the edge of the water. None of the other birders with scopes set up were bothering to look at it. I'm assuming they had already seen it and were focusing on other more exciting birds- such as the pair of screech owls that have been reported at the Dell recently. Here is where I first sighted him at the edge of the water. There was also a female cardinal there splashing around trying to cool off. He then flew up into the bushes on top of the wall behind the Dell, where I got a better picture. I was very pleased with the day! It's addicting tho...

I was inspired by this post from Lowie about birding tips. I just stumbled upon her blog through ChirpTracker and for a 22 year-old she's quite accomplished! Check out the picture of her 300th life bird cake! I haven't even started my life list. I suppose by mining my Blogger tags I could do it pretty easily. It's just a matter of doing it... I've noticed some nice blog widgets for life lists. Anyone have a favorite? Definitely check out Lowie's post, which is very well-written and clearly outlines how and why you should be doing certain things to get started in birding. Here's my own list of tips I put together for Stephanie, one of my readers from the Cape. 1. Find your motivation: Start a blog and/or join a bird list site like http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ , http://massbird.org/ , or http://birdstack.com/ . Having a specific goal like adding to your life list or getting great pictures for your blog will really get you motivated to keep up with the hobby ...

I spent a half hour birding before work this morning. I stuck to my favorite section of the Charles River in Watertown, MA, but one of these days I really need to make the effort to bird along the other side in Nonantum. I've been invited to contribute to a new local blog called Newton, MA Birding . When I lived in Watertown I spent a lot of time on the Newton side of the river in the village of Nonantum. When I would go running or birding along the river I would always cross over the footbridge before Watertown Square and then again over Bridge St. I really enjoy birding in the Watertown/Newton area so I'm going to try and get over there someday soon. I chirped/tweeted this morning about the warblers being gone already from my favorite stand of trees along the Charles. Perhaps I just didn't spend enough time there, or maybe I didn't get there early enough. I'm confident there are still plenty of warblers at Mt. Auburn Cemetery though so I'll just plan on getti...

Steve and I spent the weekend with my dad at the South Shore Antique Auto Club trading bee at Great Woods (a.k.a. Tweeter Center, a.k.a. Comcast Center) in Mansfield, MA. I've been going since I was 12 years old, helping my dad load up the trailer with his junk, set it up Saturday morning, and pack up what's left on Sunday afternoon. For the past couple years we've gotten spaces in Lot 9, which was previously used for vendor parking, but as the trading bee has grown they've started selling spaces up there. The lot is grass and gravel and usually reserved for people guys ripping it up with their mini-bikes, 4-wheelers, dirt-bikes and anything else loud and obnoxious. My dad really likes being up there though and we get good traffic and usually good sales since there aren't many other vendors around us. I saw a hawk land in a tree on the edge of the parking lot and of course grabbed my camera to try and get some good shots. Steve and I took turns with the camera. Her...

I was excited to see my first Rose-breasted Grosbeaks of the year. They were very noisy and very active, picking at the buds on the trees, chasing each other and also the Baltimore Orioles. There was quite a bit of action in Stiles and Hart yesterday. Rose-breasted Grosbeak: Baltimore Oriole: I also got a (slightly) better picture of a Yellow Warbler, which I had seen in a different part of the conservation area a few weeks ago. I also saw a Palm Warbler, which I always get really excited about because I think it's a new species of warbler for me but then when I look more closely I realize that's all it is. Still cute though and fun to watch.

It occurred to me as I was Googling "female red-winged blackbird," that it's funny how we indicate the gender of the female of a species but not the male's. It goes without saying when you share a sighting of a Red-winged Blackbird or a Baltimore Oriole that you're talking about the male. Why is that? Is it because males tend to be more brightly-colored than females and therefore more exciting to observe? Or is it because statistically birders observe more males than females? In my experience it seems males are more abundant and certainly more noticeable. They're very showy when they're demonstrating to attract mates or intimidate the competition and they also seem to be more active. They're always chasing each other around while the female calmly perches somewhere nearby, away from all the action, and certainly away from the observer's eye. I also think the female is also likely to be out of sight when she's sitting on her nest or foraging for...

I've found a new way to work birding into my busy work week. As I mentioned last week, I've started birding along the Charles River before work to catch migratory warblers while they're at their peak. Some days I don't have enough time for a full walk so I've been pulling over and parking on Charles River Rd. right near the prime spot I mentioned (stand of trees right after Watertown Square) to get in some quick birding. I did it on Tuesday of this week and saw some more yellow-rumped warblers but didn't get any good pictures. Then on Thursday I decided to pull over and stop in the same spot on my way home. I was excited to see my first Baltimore Oriole of the year! This is a young male I believe- the black is still coming in on its head: Then I spotted another male along the banks of the river: I also enjoyed watching the double-crested cormorants that were roosting in the trees rather than perching on logs/dead trees in the river. This was because the Boston C...