Light Birding w/ a Light Mist-oh, and a Cool Blog Alert

I got out of work early today and ran up to Brierly as world on the street is there's a Bald Eagle loafing around somewhere near Brierly Pond. Of course I didn't see it but visibility could have been a factor as there was none this afternoon. I did see the regular Ring-billed Gulls though on their favorite rock as you can tell!

I decided to hit the Millbury Bike Trail knowing I probably wouldn't see much given all the local ponds remain ice free so that means no birds resorting to the river, but figured it would be nice to get a little exercise anyway so off I went. Last winter, there was a favorite perching branch of a Great-blue Heron and low and behold there it was on the same branch as last winter. Not sure if it's the same one or not but quite the coincidence considering there are a bunch of branches along the path for a heron to chose from.
The highlight of the walk was a flock of song birds being led by a Black-capped Chickadee of course. Scores of chickadees, Tufted Titmice and Golden-crowned Kinglets were scattered about and I attempted to once again get a picture of the oh so cute Kinglet. I believe it's somewhere in this bush but can't find it. If you look to the top left of the picture you will see a Tufted Titmouse who somehow managed to get in the picture without my knowledge though! Will get a decent shot of a Golden-crowned Kinglet if it takes me all winter!

And another cool blog alert for all you hard core gull addicts!! This one comes from overseas all the way from Northern Scotland called Chris Gibbins Gulls & Birds . Be sure to check out his most current entry called "The Riga Dump Experience" as he has some amazing pictures of gulls and trash. The vastness of both will be sure to overwhelm you!!! Very cool blog with some really nice pictures of not only gulls, but other birds too!

Happy Thanksgiving and take care!

Book Worm or Shall I say Bird

With the weather getting cooler and the days getting shorter, I have found myself sitting around at home more which has been a bit of a shock to my system lately considering I would spend much of my free time outdoors, looking at birds, running, walking woods, etc. but much of that can't be done anymore after work so I have had to come up with other things to do including finally catching up on many of the old vintage bird and nature books I have bought over the past few months.

I have a fascination with the past and history and that includes older books. Before birding I would collect those old 1930's to early 50's movie and music magazines with a special interest during World War II which in my opinion some of the best movies and music were made during that time era. I still have all of these packed neatly in boxes and collecting dust I'm afraid, but I have quickly found something to replace them and they all have feathers (what else is new!)

Life Nature Library: The Birds by Roger Tory Peterson: Copyright 1968

I have several types of vintage bird books with the majority of them being a combination of both pictures and information because I find the pictures help a lot with bird identification as it gets imprinted into memory without even trying. Love the picture of the Least Bittern above which according to the book is "beak high and striped front displayed a Least Bittern tries to merge into its reedy background". Is this a cool looking bird or what!!

Life Nature Library: The Birds

I also love looking at the old books because many of the birds we know today were referred to something different back then like this American Kestrel above who was more commonly referred to the the Sparrow Hawk in the past.

Life Nature Books: The Birds

And had to post the picture above for all of you at the Forbush Bird Club Meeting last week when DCR came in to talk about tagging and banding gulls. Can you imagine them having to attempt this. Look at the deep concentration in the woman to the left! According to Life, "this Herring Gull is squirted with a scarlet spray in a project to ascertain the habits and range of gulls from six colonies along the New England coast". The Herring Gull doesn't look at all happy with the color choice and I wonder what the other gulls thought when they saw it for the first time!
And I don't just collect adult books either, but kids books too. I find that many of the second hand book shops will have books like the one above that sits on the shelf for ages collecting dust, so I scoop them up eagerly and get them off their hands.

National Geographic: Baby Birds and How they Grow: by Jane R. McCauley: Copyright: 1983-Hooded Warbler

And then I also lean toward very detailed books with very little pictures but filled with tons of graphs and charts because I really like graphs and charts. The book above has a copyright of 1969 and was part of a study to analyze raptor predation. The study was conducted in Township, Michigan.
Chart showing the winter food selection by Rough-legged Hawks.
And then of course, there are those book you buy for light reading like this 535 page book called the Ducks, Geese & Swans of North America by Frank C. Bellrose, copyright 1953. This book is filled with fabulous charts and graphs like the one above of the Mallard which shows migration patterns in various regions of the United States.
And a comparison with the American Black Duck which I thought was very interesting to cross compare
And then there are times when I just leaf through the books and look at the birds, trying to figure out what I want on my list next year (similar to how most women catalog shop, but I do it with birds instead ;0) ). The gorgeous photo of the American Avocet above, comes from the book The National Audubon Society Collection Series: North American Birds by Barbara Baur with a copyright of 1984. Wish a selling price of $3.00 who was I to resist!!!
The book I am currently engrossed in and can't put down is Waterbirds of the Northeast by Winston Williams, Copyright 1989. Check out the name above for the Green Heron. I had never heard of a Green Heron referred to as the Green-backed Heron so I did some googling and found this at the Cornell All About Birds site: "The Green Heron is part of a complex of small herons that sometimes are considered one species. When lumped, they are called Green-backed Heron. When split, they are the Green Heron, the widespread Striated Heron, and the Galapagos Heron."
This book also has some of the best photographs of birds I have seen in a while. Check out the photo of the Belted Kingfisher above. Is he a handsome devil or what!! Love the fact that the fish is almost as big as him!
And a view of a Great Egret I had never thought of before. This is how one looks to a fish!
And one of my number one target birds for 2009, the Cattle Egret. Seriously I could look at this bird all day.
And now I know why all of the shorebirds departed swiftly when the Great Black-backed Gull was walking toward the shore in Plymouth. A shocking photo indeed. Poor little tern, but that's nature for you!
And decided to leave you all with a blast from the past, the good old Oldsquaw, now referred to as the Long-tailed Duck to be politically correct. So funny to see the original names in some of the books.

Anyhoo, as you can see birding has been kind of dull the past couple of days, but not to worry. I have 4 days off starting Thursday and I am certain I will get out there here and there even if it means an umbrella. After all, the gulls are always out rain or shine. ;-)

Take care all and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones!

Birding by Foot-November

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I decided to bird around my town by foot today with a couple of goals in mind with the first being to check on the local Red-tailed Hawks around the Cross Street area to see if they were still around. I set off with a backpack filled with waters, chocolate and a sandwich and three layers of fleece to keep me warm as it was downright chilly this morning. I started off near the woods in the area where I run now every morning while it is still pitch black. I often wonder as I run by what birds are there during the day so it was the first place I went. I was very happy to see that not only were there the regulars like Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, etc. but there were also a small flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets and a Northern Flicker. Funny though because I have never had a flicker in my yard before and these woods are only a few houses down from me. Was there this past summer and didn't hear them then either. Glad they are there now though.

I walked a little over a mile and a half to the Cross Street Powerlines and was overwhelmed with the number and the flock size of the sparrows. There were sparrows on grass, sparrows on top of branches and sparrows hidden in brush like the Field Sparrow above. Very cool to see this bird as I would never have imagined seeing one this late in the year. As you can see it's still as attractive as ever.
I had the usual Song Sparrows like the weird looking one above. Seriously, that rusty colored crown really threw me off as I had never seen it that color on a Song Sparrow before. It did pose nicely for me though.
And my first look this season of the American Tree Sparrow. This one was part of a flock of 12. All of the other sparrows were in this same location and I was treated to a chorus of singing Song Sparrows, White-throated Sparrows and American Tree Sparrows. Some of these birds are first year birds as some would forget their verse in the midst of the song and have to pause for a moment to get their groove back which always makes me laugh. Had never paid much attention to the American Tree Sparrow song before but let me tell you, it's as lovely as the White-throated Sparrow. Such a sweet song from such a sweet bird. I actually sat on a rock in this location and ate a candy bar and just listened to them all which was heaven for me (nothing better than birds and chocolate!)
Mixed in with the sparrows were the regular Dark-eyed Juncos, Northern Cardinals and a large flock of Cedar Waxwings. I had forgotten how much I missed powerline birding until today but it's hard to bird in these areas now with hunting season underway (speaking of which, I bumped into one today which is illegal as it's a Sunday). Was a little annoyed with it because I have a theory on 50% of the hunters out there and that is they don't know how to hunt and have no business carrying a pocket knife, let alone a shotgun, so I don't like to be in the woods with them. The other 50% are fine with me as my fathers side of the family are all avid hunters, just don't do it on a Sunday unless allowed!
Oh, and the whole reason of my journey by foot of course which were the Red-tailed Hawks. Allow me to introduce to to the first one who was perched within the powerline section where trespassing is not allowed so I didn't get closer for a better picture.
Right across the street from that one came this one flying past me.
I saw the hawk again a few moments later getting harassed by a few American Crows. That's right folks, with winter underway you will see many of these pictures as they were my favorite kind last winter! ;-) All in all, birding by foot was a lot of fun and something I will do again. Did about 6 miles and it didn't even feel like it!
Hate to end this post on a sour note, but will. The picture above is bags of leaf litter and old wood that was dumped in the stream in the woods going into the powerline. I have no idea what kind of piece of excrement would do such a thing but it got me so mad that I thought about it for 10 minutes afterwards. Now I know there are a bunch of idiots out there who have no problem dumping their garbage into the woods as they are complete slobs with no respect for wildlife, but this is even lower than that in my opinion. And I wonder why I have less tolerance for people every year I get older. Seriously, I just don't get people at times which is probably why I like to bird so much in the woods, where I don't have to deal with them.

Take care all.

Saturday Central Massachusetts Birding

I got out bright and early this morning with Alan to take advantage of the warm weather to hit some of the local spots to see if there were any new waterfowl around. The above average temperatures we have been having recently is both a blessing and a curse because the local ponds really need some freezing here and there to make the ducks easier to see as they have less room to roam around in but on the other hand I don't want frozen ponds because that means snow, cold and ice and I am really liking the warm weather. Sigh, the trials and tribulations of being a New England birder.

Anyhow, one of the first birds we saw today was the Cooper's Hawk in the picture above. This bird was seen in another part of Millbury than where I live so I'm not sure if it's the female that lives near my neighborhood or not. Am kind of hoping it's a different one because the more Cooper's Hawks in town the better of course. Love the shot above as it really shows off some of the Cooper's Hawk most notable field marks (note the hawk doesn't look as though it has a neck though which is more in line with a Sharp-shinned Hawk). Accipiters are so inconsistent!
We also made our usual stop at Lake Singletary to see what would be there and what was there were the usual Ring-billed Gulls as shown above.

After that we hit a couple of places at the Wachusett Reservoir including Scar Hill Road where we saw almost a dozen Common Goldeneye, a Common Merganser and Horned Grebe and the most notable sighting were the 250+ Common Grackles we saw. We could hear a noise coming from the woods that was so loud it sounded human made so decided to get a little closer to see if we could investigate. Suddenly we realized what we heard were their calls (like the squeaky wheel), combined with the sound of their wings flying from the tree tops to the ground for feeding. So cool to see and it's a sound I will never forget.

After that we headed to Mile Hill Road where there were 4 Common Loons and quite a few American Crows. Next it was onto Coachlace where we saw over 70 Greater Scaup and 3 Lesser Scaup. The picture above is of a drake Lesser Scaup. Notice the peaked head on the male which is different from the Greater Scaup whose head is more rounded which you can see very well in the picture below of the female Greater Scaup.
While we had scopes on the Scaup a bird came flying into view and landed in the water and we were delighted to see a true-blue American Black Duck join in on the party. So funny to see him appear as he did it so nonchalantly and got right to work preening along side all of them. Check out how different in size both species appear next to each other in this picture. Very interesting.
Such a handsome duck.
And a close up to highlight that gorgeous yellow bill the drake American Black Duck has.
After Wachusett, it was onto the boroughs with Marlborough being our first stop and Bartlett Pond in particular. The first birds we see are the 7 Mute Swans shown below. It seems as if everywhere I go lately there are many of them. While taking the train back from Boston yesterday at about 1:30 PM or so, I saw 12 of them on the pond near the Assebet Conservation area in Westborough. I understand many readers are fond of these birds, and can understand their appeal as they are pretty birds, but numbers as large as this are not good for other wildlife that rely on local bodies of water for a food source as the Mute Swans are also voracious eaters and often leave nothing for others, add to that they become very defensive during nesting and drive our native ducks out of those ponds and you can understand why many states are trying to control their population some as they are an invasive, non-native species in the first place. Spoke with a local in that area who said that the two adults have 5 of them every breeding season and you kind of get the point! The two American Wigeon and the Pied-billed Grebe made up for it though (well kind of) ;-).
Since we were on a roll at that point, we set our sights on Westborough and Lake Chauncey.
I decided to practice some of my micro photography some while there and spotlight some of the pretty fall flowers and out of the box foliage.
Not a great shot of a Pied-billed Grebe but I liked it just the same. I find silhouette pictures are very useful because your eyes are forced to focus on the overall shape of the bird vs. the colors and this type of identification is a great way to learn your birds. Notice the stout bill and thick neck.
We made a couple of other stops that were not that notable so we decided to head to St Philips Cemetery in Grafton where we saw quite a few birds including the Eastern Bluebird below.
One of the prettiest birds out there with that vibrant colors of theirs.
We also had 4 Green-winged Teal which was a first for me this fall. Take care everyone.

Some of the checklists for today:

Location: Boylston' Scar Hill Wachusett Res
Observation date: 11/21/09
Number of species: 9

Common Goldeneye 11
Common Merganser 1
Horned Grebe 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Blue Jay 3
Song Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 1
Dark-eyed Junco (Slate-colored) 2
Common Grackle 250

Location: Clinton, Coachlace Pond
Observation date: 11/21/09
Number of species: 9

American Black Duck 1
Mallard 25
Greater Scaup 77
Lesser Scaup 3
Hooded Merganser 3
Belted Kingfisher 1
Blue Jay 3
American Crow 10
Black-capped Chickadee 3

Location: Northborough, Bartlett Pond
Observation date: 11/21/09
Number of species: 9

Mute Swan 7
American Wigeon 2
American Black Duck 1
Mallard 45
Pied-billed Grebe 1
American Crow 6
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 1
Song Sparrow 1

Location: Grafton, St Philips Cemetery
Observation date: 11/21/09
Number of species: 10

Green-winged Teal 4
Great Blue Heron 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker (Yellow-shafted) 1
Blue Jay 5
American Crow 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Eastern Bluebird 3
Song Sparrow 1

Tagged Ring-billed Gull info

Ken from DCR got back to me on the orange tagged Ring-billed Gulls I saw yesterday so I thought I would share.

The first three I reported A330, A334, A335 were all captured the morning I reported them at Clark Street School in Worcester so obviously this was the first sighting. Funny how all three of them were tagged together and then took off to Indian Lake afterwards. The three of them seemed unfazed by the whole ordeal so I guess they quickly forget.

The only one with a sense of adventure was A38 Above.

A38

Captured 10/03/08 at Worcester Hotel & Conference Center, Worcester, MA

Map of capture sight: 42.295643, - 71.774175

Captured using a rocket net baited with bread and Cheez-its

Adult ring-billed gull

Florescent orange wing-tags: A38

Red leg band: PP

federal band: 0974-05397

released on site

Sightings:

10/07/08: Lake Chauncey, Westborough, MA

10/30/08: Lincoln Plaza, Worcester, MA

03/16/09: Lincoln Plaza, Worcester, MA

03/20/09: Lincoln Plaza, Worcester, MA

03/21/09: Lincoln Plaza, Worcester, MA

03/25/09: Lincoln Plaza, Worcester, MA

06/23/09: Hammonasset State Park, Madison, CT

06/24/09: Hammonasset State Park, Madison, CT

06/25/09: Hammonasset State Park, Madison, CT

07/23/09: Lincoln Plaza, Worcester, MA

10/06/09: Lincoln Plaza, Worcester, MA

10/15/09: Lincoln Plaza, Worcester, MA

10/27/09: Kendrick Fields, Worcester, MA

11/18/09: Lincoln Plaza, Worcester, MA (11:46 am- just before you saw the same gull at Indian Lake).

Am wondering who the Lincoln Plaza stalker is and how come I haven't bumped into him as I spent a lot of time there this past winter out of pure desperation when there were no other birds to look at Hmmmmmmmmm. Also noticed that the gulls caught in 2008 were fed both bread and Cheez-its whereas the gulls in 2009 have been fed only bread (must be due to state budget cuts, so glad to see the state being so diligent in cutting costs!) Lastly impressed with his choice of summer vacation this past June and with the fact that someone was there to track the bird!

Take care all!

Guess What I saw at Indian Lake Today

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had a little time to myself this afternoon to head to Indian Lake to check to see if any new birds had arrived since I was there last. Nothing new, but did see the group of American Crows that hang around there including the one above, a rather large flock of Juncos, with a few White-throated Sparrows mixed in and of course, the Common Mergansers who didn't have even close to the impressive numbers as a couple of weeks ago as I only had about 25 or so.
But don't despair as I didn't leave empty handed because there were plenty of gulls for me to look at through the scope and take pictures of. Just look at the group above. Who says late November birding is dull!
There were quite a few Herring Gulls including this handsome one above. Such a stoic pose. I actually really like seeing the Herring Gulls as they are not as common as the Ring-billed here in Central Mass so it's more of a treat. Plus, these birds were nearly wiped out between approx 1875 until the early 1900s as they were hunted to be used for women's hats and many also stole their eggs which just goes to show if anyone can make a comeback, it's a gull!
But for the most part, it was all Ring-billed Gulls with a count of about 80.
They would fly from one end of the lake to another. They also spent a lot of time preening by splashing about in the water and were also feeding on something I assume as they would stick their entire head in the water too which was interesting to observe. :-p
And of course, what would any gull post of mine be without the orange tagged gulls!!! There were 4 of them today including number 335 in back. I had gotten down to the shoreline when I realized I didn't bring pen and paper with me and was afraid I would forget and was too lazy to go back up to the car
So this was the genius idea I came up with. Beach walkers will see these all over Indian Lake and wonder what they mean I'm sure.

A gang of Herring Gulls. There were 9 Herring Gulls in total today and it was funny to see some of them forming their own group away from most of the Ring-billed Gulls
Another tagged Ring-billed Gull. Don't know what it did with its tag but I think it's one of the 4 gulls I got numbers of and I am just seeing him from the other side. Will be sending this info to DCR and will post my findings as soon as I get the info as I know you all really look forward to my now weekly posts on the subject! Also note, for those of you in the area, that Ken MacKenzie and Dan Clark from the MA DCR Water Supply Gull Study will be the guest speakers at tomorrows Forbush Bird Club regular meeting. They will be discussing the program and how important it is to get folks to report any tagged gulls they see both locally and country wide (see DCR link if you see any tagged gulls and scroll down to the bottom until you see their email addresses). Should be very interesting.

And just when you thought it couldn't get any more exciting, I present to you a bug on my office window taken while waiting for a conference call to start. The things I do for my readers!

Take care all.

Golden-winged Warbler-Summer-2009 in Massachusetts

Source: Wikipedia

It was an ordinary work day morning as I sat at my desk, staring at a spreadsheet and longing to be outside on another gorgeous day with bright sun and blue skies. I was working on a query, when suddenly I get a message popup of an incoming email from Alan which I found odd considering it was only 10AM and normally I don’t here from him until at least 1 when he is done with his birding for the day. You see, Alan is the first birding friend of mine I had ever met and he lives in the same town as I so very often he emails me to tell me his finds for the day, just in case I want to scope it out after work, or just to share his bird tales with me as I live vicariously through him during the work week while stuck in the office while he is birding.

Anyhow, I prepare myself to open the email hoping its not too good of a bird as that is torture when you are cube bound because you can’t see it for yourself. I finally open the message and am perplexed over how cryptic and rushed the email seemed which went something like this

“Kim, I was at one of my atlas blocks this morning and I just found a Golden-winged Warbler! I got a really good look at it, but it flew away and really need a record shot. Can you leave work to get some pictures for me? I can pick you up and drive you back to work if you need me to.”

Source:USDA: Breeding Bird Survey 1994-2003

I read the email one more time and wonder why the excitement. I had heard about the Golden-winged Warbler before and even seen some pictures, but at that point in my birding I had no idea how significant a find such as this was. I do a quick google search and read up on it and come across a map and suddenly I understand why the message is so rushed. I do some google image searches and before my eyes is one of the most beautiful warblers I had ever laid my eyes upon. Suddenly my breath quickens as I try to think of ways to get out of work. I can hold my stomach and run past my co-workers toward the bathroom telling them it must be something I ate, I can run out in a panic with my handbag and laptop and just tell them a crisis arose and I have to leave immediately (that one is almost true!). But alas, I realize there is no way I can leave and the only thing one can do at that point is pray that the bird decides to stay until the weekend when I can get there for record shots.

Female Eastern Towhee who was also a resident at the same area

Soon enough the weekend arrives as we head out to the block hoping the bird was still there. Alan had not returned since that day as he didn't want to disturb it in fear the bird would take off. We made our way through thick brush as various warblers were heard and seen along the rough path. Both of our eyes and ears were on everyone of them, just in case it was the Golden-winged. We get to the exact location where the warbler was found and look around and decide to wait for a while.

The first look at the Golden-winged Warbler

After much patience and waiting a tiny gray and yellow bird came flying into some brush. "Kim, that’s him" Alan whispers. I get my camera on the bird and click goes my camera before it flies off again. We search furiously for it and it appears quickly again on another branch quick enough for me to get a photo before it flies off again (that was the pattern throughout the encounter). All of this movement made for terrible pictures as I could never get my camera to focus on the bird, but rather the brush around it, plus lighting was terrible that day so all of my photos came out over exposed as I didn't have time to play with my ISO settings). Finally we head back toward the car as my spirits were a little down. Sure I got to see that magnificent, gorgeous bird, but my pictures came out lousy and I wasn't even sure if Alan could use them as record shots. I wanted these pictures to come out crystal clear so everyone could see this magical little bird my friend had found as I knew it was most likely the only one in the state and was happy that Alan was the one who found it. Anyhow, the pictures were what they were, and I was glad a couple came out well enough for a positive ID.

Picture of it diving down into brush which it often liked to do

Another shot of it hiding from view!

Sure enough the photos are acceptable proof and both of us are asked to keep this quiet so the bird doesn't leave in the middle of the breeding season. This caused some anguish for both of us with Alan in particular as he has many birding friends out there he wanted to tell so they could see it for themselves. I had a few too, but in all honesty there was a good chance word would have broken out as it always does and scores of birders from all over New England would have been headed there all in an attempt to see the bird for themselves which both of us could truly appreciate. There are times when one must always put the bird before the birder (in fact, it should always be that way), and this was a prime example. As hard as it was, it was kept secret because we wanted that bird to stick around and perhaps even breed at that location and give the bird a chance.

Notebook that was used to learn more about this warbler. I have many of these binders!

We had gone there again a few days later to see if we could get a better look at this elusive little bird. I had printed out a ton of material on the bird at this point, as well as information on the Blue-winged Warbler as they have been known to inter-breed and have a similar song so wanted to really get the songs down pat to make searching for the bird a little easier next time. Once we arrived we could immediately hear the birds Type II song as we got out of the car. Neither of us had any experience with the song first hand, but had listened to it endless times during the week and I was almost convinced that’s exactly what it was vs. the Blue-winged Warbler Type II song which is very much alike. Finally Mark and Sheila arrive as they both knew of this bird as they are the regional coordinators for Central Massachusetts and they wanted to come to see the bird for themselves and get some pictures. The bird decided to continue to hide but you could hear its Type II song throughout clusters of trees in the middle of thick brush that would have been impossible to navigate through. Both Mark and Sheila are extremely experienced at bird song and were able to confirm it as the Golden-winged Warbler type II song and we were all glad it was still sticking around. Alan returned by himself exactly 7 days later to get the bird as a probable and there before him stood the Golden-winged Warbler, teed up on a branch singing his heart out and his type II song.

A visual of the Golden-winged Warblers Type I and Type II song

Wildflowers found along the rough path and thick brush.

So with that I share this story with you all. Why did I wait so long to post it? There are quite a few reasons with the primary one being we had to wait until breeding season was over with (bird before birder). My computer had crashed which had my pictures (Alan had them saved on his own computer thank goodness) and of course, the fact that we never shared this birds sighting with anyone and Alan kept it quiet and only told a couple of people afterwards and I respected that. So with the leaves falling from the trees, the frost forming on grass and daylight being robbed from us every day, I thought now would be the perfect time to go back when the sun was bright and the skies were blue. I also want to share this story to give credit to Alan who is one hell of a birder and deserves proper credit for one of the most significant bird findings of the year in my opinion. Through his hard work, patience and countless hours of atlasing, he had discovered a very special bird out in the middle of an overgrown area many would have never ventured to. Hats off to you my friend, job well done!

Take care all