Still too hot to bird!

Tweet With temperatures ranging from 95 - 100° F, I haven't felt much like going out of the air conditioner. However, I was able to get out a few times early in the mornings before the heat of the day and swarms of people to see if anything was moving birdwise.

I checked the beach at East Fork SP, and was able to find a Least Sandpiper.

Least Sandpiper

While watching the Least, another peep flew in. Luckily, they were close enough that I didn't need my scope (the way I like it).

Since I have been feeling a little rusty on my birding skills as of late, I welcomed the chance to practice my peep ID.

The two peeps joined up, giving me the chance to compare them. I was quickly able to ID the one that joined the Least as a Semipalmated Sandpiper.

Semipalmated and Least Sandpipers

The size difference is only slight really. The Semi sand has black legs, while the Least has yellow legs. This is not always discernible though.

The Semipalmated appears longer legged to me. Here is a pic of it by itself.

Also, been seeing lots of deer on my morning walks. Here are a few pics of fawns from a few weeks ago (because I like baby pics).

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Too hot to bird!

Tweet Between working and the muggy, hot summer days, I haven't had much of a desire to go out birding recently.

Since birding is usually slow here in the summer, I often turn my attention to lepidoptera and odonata. Here are some of the butterflies that we found on the 1st annual East Fork Butterfly Count.

Least Skippers were everywhere...

Least Skipper on daisy

We also saw Hackberry Emperors, a butterfly that will often land on humans to get at the salts in your sweat.

Hackberry Emperor on hat

And we saw a few Peck's Skippers...

Peck's Skipper

And, since this is a bird blog, here are some pictures of some birds that I have ran across while out in the field recently.

This year seems like a good year for Indigo Buntings, as I have had up to four males in the yard this year.

Indigo Bunting male

And, I found these cute little baby Killdeer at Armledder Park. There were three of them.

Baby Killdeer

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Female Canvasback at Armledder Park?

Tweet Today, I decided to spend some quality time exploring Armledder Park in Hamilton Co., OH to become better familiar with it.

I found a large flooded area that was just off the paved trail that I presumed to be the "bean field" that many birders are familiar with.

The first bird of note there was a Spotted Sandpiper feeding right in front of me. It was also calling. I slipped in the mud and fell into stinging nettles, which caused the bird to flush. I also noted an odd duck with mallards. I IDed this duck as a female Canvasback.

June 8th, 2008 is the latest record of this duck in the area, occurring at Miami Whitewater Park.

Here are the pictures I took, the bird was very far away and I did not have a scope.

And in the background is a Great Blue Heron for size reference.

Comments welcome.

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From water everywhere to scorching heat

Tweet After a long while of having many of my birding spots under water, the waters have finally receded. This had left behind lots of mud, and some mud loving shorebirds.

I walked right up to this Least Sandpiper which was sleeping in the mud. I did not see it till it lifted its head. I was so close, I had a hard time focusing my camera!

I startled it up, it walked around me till it was later spooked to flight by a person with a dog. Was able to get a good shot of it.

Least Sandpiper

Also spotted these Semipalmated Plovers in the mud. They are so small when seen up close. They look and move like little wind up toys.

Semipalmated Plover

One flew to the lake to take a bath, here it is taking off.

The swallows were also taking advantage of the abundant food available left by the receding waters. I was able to see Bank, Cliff, Barn, Northern Rough-winged, and Tree swallows at the same time.

Barn Swallow

This was the first time that I seen a Cliff Swallow close up. It just started to rain when I took this picture. They are a nice looking bird!

Cliff Swallow

The receded waters must have left an abundance of food around. Here are some pics of birds seen in the remnants of the flooded woods.

Pileated Woodpecker - this bird was on the side of the road!


Pileated Woodpecker



These birds were everywhere!


Baltimore Oriole



Red-eyed Vireo



Blue-gray Gnatcatcher



Eastern Kingbird

Then came the heat. Temps in the high 80's and then 90's quickly turned the good birding off. It left a lot of amphibians and reptiles high and dry. Here are a few that I had come across.

Found this Painted Turtle in the middle of the road while out birding. I had put him back in the pond. Love this turtle's colors.

Painted Turtle

My nephews had found this little Western Chorus Frog (at least I think it is) on the patio. It was small enough to fit on my thumbnail.

Western Chorus Frog?

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2011 Queen City Bird Festival

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On Saturday, May 14th, my friend Ashley and I took two of my nephews to the Queen City Bird Festival held at Hueston Woods State Park. They had a good time!

They got to make origami birds...

And see cool birds up close...

Red-tailed Hawk


Turkey Vulture

And got to chill out with Susan Gets Native's Storm, Lucy and other of Raptor Inc.'s birds...

And see more up close birds at bird banding...

Male Indigo Bunting

And then we went birding...

Looking at a Yellow Warbler


Jon from Oxbow Inc. showing James how to use a scope

And they got to make a pine cone bird feeder...

And make a bird mask (They chose an owl)...

Ralph showing off his owl mask that he made at the 2011 Queen City Bird Festival!

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Yard Birds, Flood Birds

Tweet Haven't been able to get to some of my regular birding spots lately because the roads to get to them have been flooded. For this reason, I have been spending more time in my yard. So far this year, birding has been great in my yard. A lot of new yard birds!

I don't usually see many warblers in the spring in my yard, however this spring has been different...

Northern Waterthrush - new yard bird!

Wished I could get better views of the warblers in the yard, but this is the typical warbler view that I get -

The underside of a Yellow Warbler

Here is a little better picture of a warbler -

Blue-winged Warbler

While watching warblers in the yard, I found this female Red-breasted Nuthatch. I have never seen one in here in the spring.

Female Red-breasted Nuthatch

Both Orioles have been plentiful and singing away in the yard.

Baltimore Oriole singing

It is interesting to listen to all the immature male Orchard Orioles singing. Each one has a different song.

Immature male Orchard Oriole

The adult males, which look quite different, chase the young males away.

Adult male Orchard Oriole

Eastern Kingbirds have been flying high above the yard... (Love this expression)

Eastern Kingbird

A pair of House Wrens has moved into my swing set where a pair of Carolina Chickadees had been nesting. The wrens violently fought the chickadees off. The wrens are new nesters for the yard.

House Wren singing

Field Sparrows sing their ping-pong ball like song constantly from the field adjacent to my yard. Here, one tries to play hide and seek.

Field Sparrow

However, the flooded habitat has its advantages as well.

Such as these Willet that I found on the side of the road on the way home from work.

Willet

It is odd to see shorebirds walking on roads that I used to drive on. There is a road behind the spotted sandpiper, under the water.

Spotted Sandpiper

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