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

Atlasing North Brookfield 10 & 11 Day Three

Female Eastern Towhee enjoying the first sun of the day

It was a second day in a row of bird atlasing today, covering North Brookfieild 10 and 11 with Alan. We had started the day bright and early and got there at 5am because we wanted to hear who the first birds would be to sing and what their songs would be. Over the past month or so, I have become fascinated with bird song and joined the Cornell Web Site so I could study various bird songs and call in further detail. Anyhow, some of the information I have learned was that various birds will sing various songs given the time of day or their mating status (i.e. certain birds will sing song A at dawn if un-mated, if mated may not sing at all until later in the morning and sing song b instead.)

So Alan was crazy enough to venture out there with me that early so we could see some of this avian behaviour ourselves (one of the best things about finding a birding buddy as crazy as yourself is that we both found it normal to leave town at 4:15 when the only people out on the road were diehards leaving the bar and the milk man! HA).

When we first arrived we didn't hear much bird song at all. Just your typical American Robins, Gray Catbirds and Eastern Towhees.

Male Scarlett Tanager with his gal pal in the tree right next to him.

Soon enough the Black-capped chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatches and various warblers joined in to create a chorus that made distinguishing song a from song b close to impossible!

Female Common Yellowthroat foraging for insects for her nestlings

The odd thing about this was that the area we were birding at would be filled with bird song for a while and then cease all together and all would be silent and this would cycle throughout the morning where we had periods of various songs and periods of still silence.

Male Black-throated Blue Warbler who didn't get the memo to cease constant singing in June. He was singing for almost an entire 1/2 hour.

The one thing that became very clear to the both of us, is that finding birds has become a lot more difficult recently, especially when it comes to atlasing because many are not as visible as they were in May as many are busy nesting already so don't perch and sing like they did just four short weeks ago.

Female Red-winged Blackbird gathering materials for her nest.

Despite these challenges, Alan was able to get a few new birds on his list and do some upgrades too.

So, since the birds were not as visible as I would have liked, I decided to use my camera to practice on other critters including this little guy above. So cute watching it hop away!

A chipmunk posing perfectly for the camera.

An unknown insect that I just had to take a picture of. Such a cool looking bug!

A Great Spangled Fritillary perched upon some wild flowers.

My first shots of the year of a Tiger Swallowtail.

Koi Fish in an ornamental pond.

And a pretty little water lilly.

Take care all.

Friday Birding & Peregrine Falcon Update!

Peregrine Falcon Update: The female Peregrine Falcon chick was released today back into downtown Worcester. I got a voice mail from Emily inviting me to the event as she was going to be the one to release her and invited me to go with her for pics, but I was out of the office today so unable to. Doh!! She will email me tonight to tell me how it went. Let's cross our fingers that every thing works out okay.

Speaking of finger crossing, I have my fingers crossed for the Common Loon above who is currently sitting on eggs at Wachusett Reservoir in Boylston. We have had so much rain the past two weeks that the water levels have gotten very high and there is a good chance nesting will fail due to flooding. Mass Wildlife got over there this week and took the eggs away to raise the sand and gravel level some to give these Loons a chance as Wachusett Reservoir is as south as they go for breeding so Mass Wildlife has a vested interest here for success. According to the Telegram & Gazette, the female Loon was frantic during this process but it looks as if she has calmed down some since.

Just to give you an idea on how dire the situation is. So heart breaking and the rain we are forcasted to get the remainder of the weekend makes it worse. Cross your fingers everyone that the water levels won't rise much more.

Lousy shot of the male Common Loon in the reservoir.

I spent the greater portion of my day atlasing with Alan. We were outside of the atlas block when we came across this Golden-crowned Kinglet!! Lousy shot, but wanted a record pic as this is my first sighting of this bird for the year.

Common Yellowthroats were everywhere. I saw a female carrying food in her bill so I am guessing they are feeding their young. Very interesting to watch.

Blurry and out of contrast shot (the story of my day) of a Hermit Thrush. LIFER!! I have not gotten a lifer in over a month now so this felt good. I have seen plenty of Wood Thrushes the past two months but have not been lucky enough to see this one so it was a real treat.

Chestnut-sided Warbler teed on on a branch and singing his heart out.

An ant hill that I found extremely interesting! The rain made it look like a sand castle.

Wood Frog hidden in some leaves.

Have a great weekend everyone!

An Award for me

Richard from At the Water was kind enough to nominate me for the award above in appreciation for letting him use some of my photos for his own blog. I strongly suggest you check out his blog as he has wonderful photos and very creative one liners for some of his pictures. Plus he gets birds that we don't here so it's always a treat for the eyes.

Anyhow, here are the rules:

Here are the 7 STEPS of this award:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.

4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.

5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.

6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

7. Leave a comment on each of the seven blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

In the past I have not followed the rules and decided to nominate just one person for the award because I can often think of 20 bloggers I would like to give an award too so I get really bad analysis paralysis which makes me sit on the awards like I have been doing with this one for a week now. To make it easier on myself I decided again to nominate only one blogger I think best describes the award which to me is a creative blogger. All of the blogs I read are creative, but I want to give a special mention to one in particular that I enjoy reading whenever I have the time (which has been not as often as before sadly due to my hectic schedule)

That person is:

Ratty from The Everyday Adventurer . Ratty's blog caught my attention when I first started blogging because if focused on hiking and the daily adventures he encountered while on the trails. He has the wonderful ability to take the ordinary everyday and turn it into an adventure that is always fun to read. Plus he has wit and a sense of humor which makes his blog a real treat to go to.

Now 7 things about myself as in compliance with the rules:

1. I have a hard time relaxing but do enjoy it on occasion. If they had tested for Attention Deficit Disorder when I was a young child, I would have probably been medicated. HA. I do know how to relax but it has to be something I enjoy as I can't sit around the house all day because it drives me crazy. The one thing I have realized is that birding has calmed me down considerably compared to how I was in my 20s and 30s. I think its being able to get out there and be active and watch the birds. I love to learn because it gets my brain in the zone which forces you to stop and think and I learn something new every day when I am birding.

2. I taught myself how to cook at the age of 12. I would come home every day after school and run to the TV to watch Julia Child's French Chef program that was on WGBH every afternoon at 3PM. My first meal that I made was spaghetti where I proceeded to put in too much red pepper! I have gotten better since obviously.

3. I am a compulsive number counter. This is ironic because I hated math a a child but now it is a big part of my job and love to crunch numbers. I do this at the grocery store and calculate the price of everything that goes into my cart. While putting it on the belt for checkout, I re-add it in my head and will usually be off around $5 to $10 which is what I want because I round the numbers and it makes me feel good to know I saved some money. I am also a data geek. I love looking at a ton of data and putting it all together through queries to get information. I now do it with bird data and have created my own mini-databases on birds that I update regularly and have just recently learned to export my ebird data into my own database for further analysis!! So cool!

4. I was a tom boy when I was younger. I never wanted to hang out with the girls because all they wanted to do was play with dolls which was sooooo boring. I used to venture out with a boy that everyone thought was odd because he used to like to collect garter snakes and put them in empty milk jugs (he released them afterwards of course at his mothers insistence!). I used to venture out with him and help. We used to get all excited when we found a green snake!

5. I have never liked jewelry. Most women adore the stuff but I find it gets in the way and makes me uncomfortable to have it on. I would rather spend my $$ on other things like saving up for a new camera and bird guides!

6. My former career was community/public relations. I was responsible coordinating all of the volunteer events of our bank as well as reviewing grant applications that would come into our charitable trust foundation. I am hoping I can utilize some of that experience in the future for land conservation issues which is my biggest pet cause. I DETEST DEVELOPMENT and think humans have destroyed enough land over the centuries, it's time to give some of it back! Nothing breaks my heart more than seeing a habitat that birds once thrived in being destroyed for another Home Depot or worse condos that all look alike!! Grrrrrrrrrrr. I am also passionate about my causes as you can see. ;o)

7. I am not the crying type of person and don't burst out into tears too often, except for movies where an animal gets hurt of killed. In fact, it is so embarrassing that I tend to avoid movies like that because the outcome for me is certain. Even Disney movies do it to me! I get this from my mother who is even worse than I am.

So that's it!! Thanks for the award Richard!

Atlasing North Brookfield 10 and 11

Alan, my birding pal and I spent the day atlasing the North Brookfield 10 and 11 blocks as I wanted to tag along and see what it was like. For those of you unfamiliar with altasing, it is basically an attempt to collect information on breeding birds throughout specific geographical footprints. It is not as simple as it sounds as you have to have specific evidence for certain sightings and they all have to fall within specific safe dates so it's a lot of hard work but for a very good cause. It makes for interesting birding as you are not doing it for pleasure per say, but more for citizen science.



That's not to say that it isn't enjoyable of course. It was a wonderful learning experience with a couple of great surprises here and there like the Red-tailed Hawk we saw shown in the pictures above.

In case you haven't noticed I have a deep fondness for raptors and could search for them all day if allowed. Oh sure, I love warblers, woodpeckers, gulls and shorebirds, but there is something about a raptor that captivates me and leaves me transfixed as I observe it. I think its because birds of prey are the epitome to me of wild and untamed which I appreciate in a world that dictates perfection and self-discipline on a daily basis.

Anyhow, Alan and I were in a wetland like habitat with plenty of snags and cat tails in search of a nesting Red-bellied Woodpecker that Alan saw earlier this week as well as more evidence of an Eastern Bluebird nesting in a natural cavity. Suddenly I could hear some rustling in some brush that caused my ears to perk up as we searched for the two target birds we came to find. Alan saw this Red-tailed fly up onto a snag and proceed to have breakfast right in front of our startled eyes.

I couldn't get any decent shots of that as it had its back to us, but it did indeed see us and didn't seem threatened by our presence what so ever so I decided to maneuver my way through swampy water and branches to get a better angle of him with the sun in my favor.

We were able to get within 15 feet of this hawk and all it did was stare at us on occasion as it preened itself and relaxed a little after its snack.

Definitely one of my most memorable birding experiences and one that will last forever in my mind.

Preening and perching!

There were also quite a few Indigo Buntings at both blocks we went to. Such gorgeous birds but ones I find hard to photograph due to the fact that they are almost entirely the color blue so it's hard to get a good contrast on them.

Since we were there for evidence of breeding we kept our eyes and our ears open for any signs of evidence including a small flock of approx. 6 Bobolinks who were all in a hay field mingled in together with food being carried in their bills. This would equal a confirmed for an atlas code. Other birds seen carrying food included Pine Warblers and Black-capped Chickadees.

A blurry shot of other Bobolink carrying food.

A Red-bellied woodpecker at its nest cavity.

A Black and White Warbler which was a welcome sight for me because it appears as if they have been in hiding the past few weeks. I saw my first one last evening and then another one today.

And finally a confirmed nesting cavity of the Hairy Woodpecker. We could hear the nestlings begging (boy are they loud!), so we decided to stick around for a while to see if we could see one of the parents bring food for their hungry young. We stuck around for a while but the parents were nowhere to be found so we ventured on just in case they were not going to the nest because of us being there.

I will be doing more citizen science tomorrow for a breeding survey at Wachusett Meadows. Who ever knew science could be so much fun. ;o). Take care all.