BirdingGirl

Google Map: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=hope+island&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl Here are some pictures from our trip to the San Juan Islands back in June. We had a wedding in Vancouver June 26th and decided to make a whole vacation out of it. Steve's old co-worker Julie (of J&J's Excellent Adventure fame) lives in Anacortes, WA and invited us to visit and stay with her and her husband Jay. Not only was it great to catch up with our friends, but how often do you get an amazing destination like the San Juan Islands to visit with personal tour guides?? On Friday they both had to work but generously let us use their car and sea kayaks to explore Puget Sound. On their advice we picked up lunch at Gere-a-Deli (the hummus veggie sandwich was sooo good) and then drove to Snee Oosh Beach where we put in. It was my first time in a sea kayak so I was little nervous in the fast-moving water, but at the end of the day I was proud of my accomplishment and cele...

On June 16th, the Boston Peregrine Falcon (the remaining male of the Christian Science falcon pair ) stopped by our office's window ledge. I assume this is the male of the pair because he is so much smaller than the female that we were used to. Another noticeable trait is how big the male falcon's feet are. Just look at the size of those talons! You can see the falcon's nictitating membrane up on its right eye. I'm not sure the reason for this, perhaps his eye suffered an injury or infection and he was keeping it up to protect it. At least twice I saw him lower it to look directly at us but he then he put it immediately back up. Does anyone know a lot about nictitating membranes? They've always fascinated me in birds. Here's one of a red-tailed hawk nictitating membrane that came up when it was preening/scratching. In one of these photos you can see part of the falcon's ID band. It looks like it has the letter I and the number 7 on it.

It's been a while since I've blogged about birding while jogging. This was one of my favorite things to do when I lived in Watertown, MA and had the beautiful DCR Charles River trails at my disposal. Here are a few of my "Birding While Jogging" posts from 2007-2008: http://birdinggirl.blogspot.com/2008/01/birding-while-jogging.html http://birdinggirl.blogspot.com/2007/08/birding-while-jogging.html Since moving to Bridgewater, MA I haven't been as inclined to go running because we lack scenic trails like the ones on the Charles River. However, there is a nice route I like to take that crosses the Taunton River and its off-shoots in a couple of places. Naturally rivers and streams are a jackpot when it comes to birding. So, since I've picked up running again I've also been trying to get in some birding while I'm out there. Here's what I've seen so far in my jogs this week and last: Yellow warbler Pine warbler Rose-breasted grosbeak Tree swallows ...

I try to get in at least one day of birding at Mt. Auburn Cemetery each year during peak spring migration. I made my trip there right on the cusp of peak migration- April 30th. I usually try to get there sometime in late April- early May to see the greatest variety of wood warblers, plus other colorful migrating birds. The day I was there I got to see some of the usual warblers, and even a lifer for me- the chestnut-sided warbler. Maybe I had technically seen this bird before on a group trip where it blended in with the rest of the birds we saw, but on this day it definitely stood out to me as the most exciting warbler of the day. Here are some pictures of the Chestnut-sided Warbler preening: Other (non-photographed) highlights from the day included: Northern Parula Yellow-rumped Warbler Black and White Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler Baltimore Oriole Chipping Sparrow Here's a red-tailed hawk we saw at the end of the day as we were walking back to the car. That's usually w...

I hate writing these kinds of posts. First, the Atletico Junior owl mascot was killed, and now this sad update to share. The Boston peregrine falcon that I'm always writing about and posting pictures of is a nesting pair (they're referred to as the Christian Science Administration Building peregrine falcon pair), and I just learned this week that the female peregrine falcon has died. I work in the Christian Science Administration Building where their nest is, and a MassAudubon director was here this week looking for the nest since the female was discovered dead on May 4th. I've offered what information I could to be helpful, since I've kept a pretty regular log of their activity over the past year and a half, but that was the extent of what I could do. I could see the band whenever the bird perched on my window ledge but never close enough to actually read it, so I could never be sure which falcon I was looking at. I know the females are larger than the males, but tha...

These pictures were taken on my birthday weekend, back at the end of March. I went down to see my parents on Cape Cod and my two birthday requests were: 1. I want to go Charlie's Place in Wareham for dinner. I've been going to Charlie's since I was a little kid and I have a lot of fond memories there. We're friendly with the owner, the prices are cheap, and their pepper & onion pizza is my absolute favorite. 2. I want to go birding. So, my parents took me to Bourne Farm in West Falmouth, and then later in the day I went for a walk on the Cape Cod Canal with my mom and my Aunt Marylou. Here are the duck pictures from the Canal. Red-breasted Merganser: Female Red-breasted Merganser: Common Eider Flock: I really enjoyed our earlier walk at Bourne Farm . There are walking, biking and horseback riding trails there that feature cranberry bogs, ponds, and an old herring run. Too bad I couldn't get very close to the ducks there since they were in the middle of the po...

Have you noticed today's Google Doodle? It's in honor of John James Audubon's 226th birthday! Yay for birds :) What is a Google Doodle? It's the picture on the Google Home Page: http://www.google.com . On special days like Earth Day, Christmas, and interesting anniversaries Google switches out their usual Google logo with an image that still spells out "Google." If you ever see a Google Doodle and are unsure what it means, just hover your mouse over the image and a tooltip will show up explaining what it's for. And, if you click on the Google Doodle it will show you all results for that topic.