BirdingGirl

I was so happy to be home this past weekend so I could do some backyard birding, and count birds for Project Feederwatch. Actually, I recently connected with another Bridgewater birder, the " Bird Man of Bridgewater ," who also took pictures in the snow over the weekend. John is good at identifying the gender of birds in his pictures, something I blogged about last spring. I love this picture- I'm excited to have my very own picture of a Carolina Wren at a suet feeder. It's such a common picture for carolina wrens, and I'm glad this guy came around on Saturday to pose for me. This suet actually was a Christmas gift from my mom- it's a Berry blend and the birds love it. Carolina Wren and Downy Woodpecker: On a related note- not sure how to tell the difference between a Downy Woodpecker and a Hairy Woodpecker ? I wrote a post about it nearly a year ago. Red-bellied Woodpecker: Winter Goldfinch: Dark-eyed Junco (I like how you can see the darker feathers with it...

I went birding in West Bridgewater State Forest last Sunday. Steve suggested it since he had noticed on a map of the Bridgewater area. We're always looking for new places to go hiking and birding, plus we're also slightly obsessed with Hockomock Swamp ... I was a little disappointed not to see anyone else out enjoying the beautiful weather this past weekend. There was plenty of evidence of people partying in the area, and ATV tracks, but that was it. Lucky for me I hit it up in off-peak hours! I got to enjoy the sounds of the woodpeckers, chickadees and robins. I also encountered some red squirrels, which scared the heck out me. I saw Downy Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpeckers, and Red-bellied Woodpeckers (a lifer!). Red-bellied Woodpecker: The red squirrels I encountered while I was walking by a historic stone wall. Steve and I encounter these a lot while hiking in New England. I remember learning as a child about early settlers who cleared the land for farming and used the rocks to...

This picture of a woodpecker from my trip to Colorado reminded me how difficult it can be to tell the difference between Downy Woodpeckers and Hairy Woodpeckers. I see far more downy woodpeckers here in Massachusetts, but when I'm at Steve's parents house in Connecticut I see more hairy woodpeckers. There's one that lives in his parents' yard and is always pecking away at the tree in the front yard. Colorado was completely new territory so I didn't know what to expect. I remember this bird being on the larger side when I took the picture, and you can notice its elongated neck and extensive black on its shoulder. I was curious if woodpeckers were any different out in Colorado. While I was doing research on All About Birds I found a link more information about birds of the Rockies: Based on this I am pretty confident it was a hairy woodpecker, not only because of the size, but because of the extensive black on its shoulder/back. This picture came from Cornell Lab of...

It was toward the end of my walk home yesterday that I heard this little guy and stopped to get some close-ups. This juvenile downy woodpecker (note the red on its crown) was pecking away on what appeared to be a sapling, or just a very small tree. I was surprised by that, but there must have been something inside it was trying to get at! Look at the red on its chest- is that coloring normal? I didn't see any mention of it in my guidebooks. I thought it just bumped into something messy like fruit on a tree. Note the black bars on the outer tail feathers. This is one of the ways to distinguish a Downy Woodpecker from a Hairy Woodpecker, yet apparently some Hairy Woodpeckers do show this. In which case the Downy's smaller size would be the giveaway.

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.

On Sunday my boyfriend and I went to Blue Hills to test out the new camera. This time we went to the Fowl Meadow area since we hadn't been there before and it seemed like a good place to look for birds. We didn't get there until midday so there wasn't too much activity, but we did manage to see some good birds. These included a Northern Flicker, White-Breasted Nuthatch, Black-capped Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, a female Cardinal, Downy Woodpecker, and what we believe to be a Mourning Dove. The best pictures of the day came from the nuthatch. I just love them- they have such great personalities. Northern Flicker: Mourning Dove (?): Yes I know, not too exotic. But at the time it seemed much bigger than any mourning dove I'd ever seen and I had never seen the tail hang down as long as it did. We were on one side of a creek and it was on the other side high up in a tree. When it finally flew away, again, it seemed much bigger than a mourning dove. I was fortunate to be abl...

Here are some pictures from my visit today to my parents house. They live on upper Cape Cod and their yard borders several acres of state forest. They always have a steady stream of birds visiting the bird feeders in the front and back yards. Today was mostly a practice day, learning how to take pictures with my camera. I don't have the greatest camera, but it's good enough for right now. I was pretty excited about the chickadee I was able to capture in flight. With the holiday coming up this week I'll have much more time to spend watching for birds both here in Boston and on the Cape. I'll also spend some time researching birding and learning what I need to get started in this hobby.