BirdingGirl

These mallard hybrid pictures were taken at Scargo Lake in Dennis (on Cape Cod) during our vacation this past August. We were vacationing with our friends Dave and Meg, and I asked Dave what kind he thought they were since he's a hunter, wildlife biologist, and general expert on the subject of birds - especially ducks. He said they looked like a hybrid- probably mallard hybrid and domestic duck. It's funny because these ducks just wouldn't learn- they kept coming in dangerously close to our rental house's dock, only to be chased off by Dave and Meg's dog Foster , who's a trained hunting dog. He had a lot of fun doing it each time though, so no harm no fowl :) Just look at this precious boy- such a cutie!

Wow- it's hard to believe it was over 2 years ago that I wrote a post wondering about mallard hybrids . I had seen a green-winged teal for the first time and I was very confused about what I was looking at- is this a seagull with a mallard head? haha Juvenile mallard ducks are quite interesting because of the blue mark on their wings. I always get excited when I see that- thinking it could be some type of teal, wood duck, or other interesting duck species. Nope- just a juvenile mallard! These pictures were taken in Plymouth, MA at the beginning of the pathway that goes to the to the Jenney Grist Mill. Steve and I went for a random drive and walk around Plymouth back in mid-October. We live so close! There's really a lot to see and do there, and Plymouth Harbor is also a great birding spot. I saw the Ivory Gull there back in 2009

Dawn Fine (of Dawn's Bloggy Blog fame) is coming back our way and is planning another BwBTC (Birders who Blog, Tweet, and Chirp) birding trip for the weekend of August 28th/29th. Read her full post here: http://dawnandjeffsblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/bwbtc-outing-new-england.html It's a lot of fun! If you're local to New England you should consider joining us :)

These Great Blue Heron pictures were taken at Carver Pond on Memorial Day Weekend. We stayed in Bridgewater to avoid traffic and decided to take advantage of all of the wonderful parks in the are. (Earlier this day we went to the Tuckerwood Conservation Area, and then went directly to Carver Pond.) Anyone want to take a guess at what kind of fish it's eating? I haven't a clue, but I do know it's huge! I would never expect to see a great blue heron eating a fish that large, but that just goes to show how much I know about great blue heron eating habits. What's funny is that I wasn't even trying to sneak up upon this great blue heron eating its dinner. I was simply walking down to the water to (yes- this is gross) wash off the mess of a mosquito I squashed on my leg that happened to be full of my blood- yuck. Once I was down at the water's edge I saw the great blue heron across the way and of course whipped out my camera. For those of you local to Massachusetts, h...

These yellow warbler photos were today this morning at Pratt's Farm in Middleborough, MA. One of the easiest ways to identify a yellow warbler is to look for the red streaks on the male yellow warbler's breast. They're also uniformly yellow (whereas lots of other warblers have tinges of gray on them) and they're very small. Yellow Warbler Singing: Yellow Warbler photos:

It's the height of migratory warbler season and I've been trying to squeeze in birding every chance I get. This morning we dropped off some friends in Middleborough and asked if there were any good parks or conservation areas nearby. They told us to try Pratt's Farm - a small piece of land owned by the Middleborough Conservation Commission. This time of year I'm confident I can find warblers just about anywhere so we decided to try it out. There's even a small pond there, so even better- we had a feeling our odds were good. There are lots of grassy, meadow areas there, complete with honeysuckle bushes, and other flowering trees and bushes. Perfect spot for warblers and orioles. We saw and heard lots of blue-winged warblers. The blue-winged warbler call is something like a "buzzy beeee-BZZZZZZ" according to my Sibley Guide. To me it just sounds very "buzzy" and we followed the sound all around the patches of meadow.

Welcome to my birdwatching blog. I decided to start this blog to learn the fundamentals of birding and to document my sightings along the way. A major motivation for starting this blog is my upcoming trip to Hawaii (Big Island) in March. I'd like to be able to identify some of the birds I see while there. Living in a suburb of Boston, I don't see the most exotic birds in my yard, but I hike regularly, go for walks on the Charles River and visit various conservation lands in the area. As a child I was always hearing my grandparents talk about interesting birds that came to their yard, and I learned to identifiy common birds from them and my mother. It's their interest in birding that has stayed with me all these years and has made me always aware of the birds around me. My vision for this blog is to share my experiences and knowledge as I learn about birding and put the practices into effect.