STOKES BIRDING BLOG

Blackpoll Warbler, yes

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Tue, 29 May 2012 15:20:00 +0000

Blackpoll Warbler, male, against a gray sky, on top of Cannon Mt. NH

Here's a side view

He was singing, and singing.

Went birding this weekend in northern NH and here are some photos of a Blackpoll Warbler that we found on top of Cannon Mt., NH. This is a cool warbler, that nests in spruce-fir forests and has a VERY high-pitched song, above some people's hearing range.
Gray sky, backlit, dense forest, very challenging conditions and I took these photos with my new Canon SX 40 point and shoot superzoom, with lens at full digital zoom as the bird was far away, hence not top quality photos, still.... I am still learning what this camera can do.

Blackburninan Warbler

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:44:00 +0000

Blackburnian Warbler

I love Blackburnian Warblers, they're one of my favorite warblers. What's your favorite warbler?

Northern Saw-whet Owl, baby!

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:59:00 +0000

I'm on the NH Audubon birdathon fundraiser today, doing a big sit category in our yard and just got this photo of a young Northern Saw-whet Owl in our owl nesting box, too cool!!!
Ok, back to the birdathon.

Bestseller, The Stokes Field Guide to Birds of North America, now in its third printing!

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:57:00 +0000

Bestseller!

The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America is now in it's third printing!!! Yippee!

Buy it here or from your local bookstore.

Morning Walk

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:50:00 +0000

This morning, weather dreary and it had been raining. Went with Don and the Corgis around our big field. Took the Canon SX 40 HS, just to see what it could do in the dim light. The Canada Geese have babies already.

Tree Swallow was resting and drying

Aren't they all cute! (Abby on the left, Phoebe on the right)

This is not that good an image, but I use it as an example of what the camera can do at full digital zoom (way beyond the 840 mm optical zoom) and a very difficult situation of a moving bird, dim light and obscured by foliage. ISO 400 1/125 f 8. For all of these images, I only sharpened them a bit, nothing else. I am continuously experimenting with this camera and trying different settings. One of the fun things is you can take scenics, close-ups and far zooms, all with one little lightweight camera with you.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak and warblers are migrating!

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:01:00 +0000

Beautiful, male, Rose-breasted Grosbeak at our feeder. Can't get enough of this bird. Attract them with sunflower seed and a feeder with a wide enough ledge or perch to accommodate their size. These birds (as well as many warblers, vireos, thrushes and more) are migrating through many places now. Photo taken with my new Canon SX 40 HS camera.

We've been birding every chance we get, since this is peak migration time for much of the middle and northern parts of the country. In the East, warblers are coming through big time. Get out and go birding, even in between raindrops, as many birds will stay grounded during rain. Check your own property, as well as known birding hotspots near you. Here are some of the beautiful warblers we have been seeing.

Blackburnian Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

This weekend we are participating in the NH Audubon Birdathon fundraiser, where participants try and see how many species they can see in a day. Hope the skies clear and there are lots of migrants. Wish us luck!

From Tanagers to Bluebirds

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Thu, 03 May 2012 02:25:00 +0000

Summer Tanager

Eastern Bluebird

We migrated back from FL to NH, just like the birds are doing. Summer Tanagers were flooding into FL on migration. Eastern Bluebirds have a nest with eggs already, here in NH. These photos were taken with my new little Canon SX 40 HS camera, which I am still learning about and has a lot of potential. It's nowhere near as good at my Canon 1D Mark IV, but then it shouldn't be, given the price difference (about $400 for the SX 40 vs. about $5000 for the Mark IV). Bluebird photo taken at 800 ISO.

Fallout, Sanibel Lighthouse

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 02:32:00 +0000

Every birder dreams of fallout. Today dreams came true at Sanibel Lighthouse park where neotropical migrant birds were pouring in, in historic numbers. A big weather front came through the Gulf of Mexico, migrants came behind it, then got slammed with the strong NW winds which grounded them. The fallout went on all day and will likely continue tomorrow as there are still strong winds.

Here are some of the photos I took, giving a small taste of the amazing and colorful parade of birds. You could see many species just in one tree. Summer Tanagers, like this male, were everywhere.

14 warbler species, including this Magnolia Warbler zipped around.

Many Eastern Kingbirds flew in.

Scarlet Tanagers flocked in the trees.

The most abundant species was Indigo Bunting. There must have been hundreds of them. Everywhere you looked there were spots of blue.

Baltimore Orioles ate the fruits of the fig trees, as did many migrants.

Orchard Orioles filled the trees with the Baltimores.

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks came in numbers.

This secretive Yellow-billed Cuckoo hid in a tree, delighting the many birders who were there.

Tennessee Warblers were in multiples.

This Black-and-white Warbler worked over a tree trunk.

HIdden in the underbrush, a Northern Waterthrush hung out by one of the water pools made by the rains.

Multiple Dickcissels were seen. We had Warblers, Kingbirds, Vireos, Tanagers, Orioles, Buntings, Grosbeaks, Thrushes, including Gray-cheeked and Wood Thrushes and a Veery. It was an amazing, amazing day, and it's still going on. Word has it that much of the west coast of Florida experienced this fallout today. Get out tomorrow.

Worm-eating Warbler in the bananas

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:30:00 +0000

Worm-eating Warbler

Last evening this Worm-eating Warbler showed up in our Sanibel yard, cool! This is a less common migrant warbler here, so we are always excited to see one. This warbler breeds on wooded hillsides and ravines in the lower part of the East. It is known for foraging in dead leaves, and as we watched it in our yard, it worked its way through leafy tangles then went to our banana plants and foraged on the dead lower leaves, classic!!!

We also had a steady stream of migrant warblers moving through our yard at the end of the day including, 12 Prairie Warblers. a Black-and-white Warbler, 4 Palm Warblers and a Common Yellowthroat.

(photos taken at 1600 ISO, from quite a distance, in dim light)

Baby Owls!

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 13:45:00 +0000

Great Horned Owls

Burrowing Owls

Baby owls are just amazing. We recently got to see both Great Horned Owl and Burrowing Owl young. In both cases, the young were getting old enough to leave their nests soon. You can see them literally stretching their wings.
Great Horned Owls live in trees and do not build a nest, but use the old nest made by another bird. In this case, the nest was made by an Osprey. Burrowing Owls dig a nest burrow in the ground.
We just loved watching the antics of these young owls.

Prothonotary Warbler beauty

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:00:00 +0000

This lovely Prothonotary Warbler came in to the Sanibel lighthouse on migration recently, and first stop was the Strangler Fig tree fruits to refuel. Gotta love that buttery yellow plumage. We just stood and enjoyed watching it feast.

By the way, it's pronounced "pro tho no tary" (not "tory").

These striking warblers nest in wooded swamps and actually nest in cavities. I remember canoeing with Don once in the Pine Barrens of NJ, seeing many Prothonotary Warblers along the route, glowing like flames against the dark wooded edges of the stream.

Kentucky Warbler, Hooded Warbler, Yellow-throated Warbler, oh my!

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:51:00 +0000

Life is good when you see the more southern breeding warblers coming into the Sanibel lighthouse on their migration. This morning we saw this Kentucky Warbler, male. Now that's a bird we don't see in New Hampshire where we're from.

Kentucky's like to skulk

in the underbrush, so your'e lucky to get a good look, let alone photograph one in the dense vegetation at this location. What a cool bird!

This Yellow-throated Warbler had just crossed the Gulf of Mexico and landed in a tree next to us.

There are two subspecies of Yellow-throated warbler and here is how to tell them apart. dominica breeds from s.e. New Jersey to s. Florida; it has a yellow supraloral dash (just above the eyeline) and usually a yellow chin and throat (although the uppermost part of the chin may be white. The species pictured here is subspecies albilora; it is white above the lores and has a white chin and the white can extend slightly down the sides of the throat, as seen here. This subspecies breeds in the rest of the Yellow-throated Warbler range.

Here's a close up view of white under and on the sides of the chin.

Such a dramatic coloring, with the bright yellow throat set off by the black.

This Hooded Warbler, male, was seen yesterday.

You can see why it's called a Hooded Warbler. This is again a species that lays low in the understory. At the lighthouse, very few warblers sing or even call, unlike by the time they reach the mid and northern sections of the country, when they are singing. Hooded Warblers, however, can be located because they do give a call note, a metallic "chink."

These warblers breed mainly in the more southern to mid areas of the eastern part of the country. Look for them soon.

Black-and-white Warbler and more at Sanibel lighthouse

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 19:18:00 +0000

At the Sanibel lighthouse this morning, more migrant birds came in from the Gulf of Mexico, including this Black-and-white Warbler male, who was

working over the tree trunks in search of food, and

this Red-eyed Vireo enjoyed some fruits.

A Cooper's Hawk has to eat too. This one landed in a big fig tree, making the migrant songbirds lay low.

This Prairie Warbler quietly landed in the shade of a Sea Grape tree.

We saw many other birds, including Blue Grosbeak, Hooded Warblers, many Indigo Buntings, Northern Parulas, Palm Warblers and the Blue-winged Warbler was still there.

Northern Parula migrating

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 01:25:00 +0000

Saw this female Northern Parula migrant today at the Sanibel lighthouse park.

She was in a native Strangler Fig tree with a few other Northern Parulas and Indigo Buntings and she and was eating the fig fruits. Great snacks for hungry migrants who have just crossed the Gulf of Mexico.

Blue-winged Warbler and more migrants

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 00:54:00 +0000

This afternoon, after seeing all the swallows migrate in the morning, we returned to the Sanibel Island, FL lighthouse and more migrants had come in. We saw this wonderful Blue-winged Warbler in a bush.

Then we saw this little Northern Parula Warbler who had been eating fruits from a Gumbo Limbo tree. There were also handfuls of Indigo Buntings and a few Palm Warblers. These birds had come in across the Gulf of Mexico and encountered the strong north wind shift. So they landed and sought shelter and food.

Northerly winds expected tomorrow, more migrants possible.

Cliff and Northern Rough-winged Swallow migration now

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:39:00 +0000

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Cliff Swallow

Barn Swallows, all were migrating today in Sanibel

Just got back from the Sanibel Lighthouse where migrating Cliff, Barn and Northern Rough-winged Swallows were flying by. Strong WSW winds were keeping them low. I was lucky to get some photos even though it was tricky shooting conditions of cloudy skies, wind and they are erratic flyers. What beautiful birds!!!

Migration conditions are improving and I look forward to seeing more neotropical migrants here in the next several days. I will keep posting photos and updating you, these birds will be headed your way!

Lazuli Bunting in Florida

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 20:33:00 +0000

We just saw this Lazuli Bunting, 1st year male, at a feeder in Ft. Myers, Florida, where he is not supposed to be. Lazuli Buntings are usually a western species, but can sometimes be found out of their range, so be on the lookout. Lazuli Bunting males can look like this in their first year. They eventually will turn into the brilliant colors of the breeding adult male who has a turquoise head, back, wings, 2 white wing bars, orangish breast, and white below. Here's a link to a photo of an adult.

Here's a back view, you can see the blue on his rump.

The blue is on his face, throat, wings, rump and tail, but not much on back and head and not much color on the breast. Even now, the wingbars are prominent, although dull.

For comparison, here's a photo of a first year male Indigo Bunting, a species the Lazuli Bunting may be confused with. We saw this Indigo Bunting recently at a feeder in mid-Florida. This one has much blue growing in over the breast and underparts.

Here's another first year male Indigo Bunting who looks like he's been in a paint ball fight! Big splotches of blue are all over, but no prominent wingbars, or pale beige breast with white below like the first year male Lazuli Bunting. As an adult, this first year male Indigo Bunting eventually will look like

this beautiful adult male Indigo Bunting, who was at the same feeder, and who is brilliant blue all over.

Female Lazuli Buntings and female Indigo Buntings are mainly brownish with a faint blue tint to rump and wing coverts, but the female Indigo Bunting has faint blurry streaking on breast and a more contrasting whitish throat. Even adult Indigos and Lazulis will have some brownish edges to feathers of their upperparts during non-breeding. Buntings are fun and Florida is a great place to see them at feeders in winter. For more extensive information and photos of the plumages of Lazuli and Indigo Buntings see our new, The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America.

Barn Swallows are migrating now!

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:28:00 +0000

Down here on Sanibel Island, FL we are now seeing Barn Swallows migrating north along the beach and they're coming your way! These beautiful swallows winter as far south as South America then return and breed, usually on man-made structures like sheds and barns, across much of North America.

Northern Gannet Bonanza

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 21:17:00 +0000

Spectacular Northern Gannets were flying by in large numbers. It can take 4-5 years for them to reach their white adult plumage. Younger birds have dark on their bodies.

We moved over to the breakwater on Captiva, just north of Sanibel because they were closest to shore there.

Such a dramatic bird, this one is almost an adult.

They were stacked up but did not touch.

They went up above the horizon then roller-coastered down low to the waves.

We climbed out onto the breakwater, I stood on the rocks above Don. He counted, I photographed the gannets. (photo of us by Meade Cadot.)

On Sanibel and Captiva Islands, Florida, today, Northern Gannets, dramatic, large seabirds, were migrating past at the rate of about 900 per hour!! We went with our visiting NH birding friends, Meade and Sandy, to the beach at Blind Pass and could not believe the numbers. Strong storms had come through and there was a WNW wind blowing hard, pushing these birds, who normally are out farther in the Gulf of Mexico, closer to shore. The birds were heading south and will eventually go around the Florida peninsula and up the Atlantic Coast to their colonial breeding grounds in the North Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
These birds are incredible flyers and spend most of their life at sea. They fly in lines, undulating up and then down, skimming along in the wave troughs. The eat fish and can plunge dive as deep as 72 feet.
We had a fabulous time watching them.

Who-Cooks-For-You

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:11:00 +0000

We just visited Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and the highlight was this Barred Owl. Barred Owls nest there in hollow trees and, if you're lucky, you will see one sitting right next to the boardwalk. Their hooting sounds like, "Who-Cooks-For-You."

It's not just the birds that give you special moments there. This beautiful Ruddy Daggerwing butterfly posed on a leaf out in the water.

A Great Egret balanced on the boardwalk rail, its breeding plumes hanging down like a bridal veil.

Northern Parula Warblers were everywhere in the low light of the Cypress forest canopy, some were singing and about to migrate.

Black-crowned Night-Herons were active, even though it was daylight.

Beauty is where you find it when you're a photographer like I am, and its often right in front of your nose. I don't pass up a photo up just because it's a common bird, like this White Ibis.

Corkscrew Swamp Audubon Sanctuary, in Naples, Florida, is a magical place, be sure and visit when you go to south Florida.

Short-tailed Hawk, a Florida specialty

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:35:00 +0000

Short-tailed Hawk, another sought-after Florida speciality for birders and not easy to see. This bird breeds primarily in southern and central Florida and a little in southern AZ and south TX. We have one on our property list here on Sanibel, FL, lucky us.

The Short-tailed Hawk comes in two morphs, a light morph, shown here, and a dark morph. Dark-morphs are dark below with blackish brown body and wing coverts, paler flight feathers and tail, and dark trailing edge to wings. Short-tailed Hawks mostly soar and may hang in one spot for a time. We almost always see them in flight when we encounter them.

Mangrove Cuckoo, the holy grail of SW FL birding

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:35:00 +0000

Mangrove Cuckoos are striking, but elusive birds found in Southwest Florida.

They can sit still in the vegetation and you would never know they were near you.

The long tail (folded here) has bold white tips to outer tail feathers.

Perhaps the most sought after species for birders in Southwest Florida is the Mangrove Cuckoo. With its limited range and secretive habits, its like the holy grail for these birders. We recently ran into a birder at Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge who has been searching for more than 10 years for this bird. We have been lucky and seen it a number of times at Ding Darling in winter, but usually there are only a handful of sightings of it there during this time.

Mangrove Cuckoos are the rarest of the landbird specialists inhabiting mangroves and research indicates their population is in decline. However, exciting new research is now going on at J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel Island, Florida, on the Mangrove Cuckoo to help shed light on the habits and behavior of this elusive bird, about which very little is known.

The Ecostudies Institure, with support from the JN Ding Darling and Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuges and Disney's Wildlife Conservation Fund, will study the cuckoos by putting radio transmitters on a few of them, to learn about their nesting ecology, habitat preferences, and seasonal movements. Hopefully this will aid in the future conservation of this species. To follow the progress of the project, see their facebook page.

Swallow-tailed Kites, Wow!

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:16:00 +0000

The Swallow-tailed Kites have returned from migration here on Sanibel Island, FL.

These beautiful birds winter mainly in South America

and return to the Southeast U.S. to breed. Note the interesting pattern on the topside of the wing.

We lucked out and had just pulled into a parking lot and saw 3 kites overhead. They did lots of calling and diving at one another. Swallow-taild Kites catch insects in the air and may pluck lizards from trees. They nest in woodlands and forested wetlands and build nests in trees. What a show we had.

Reddish Egret Prize

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:47:00 +0000

Morning's catch of this Reddish Egret. What a prize!

Bird Photography at Ding Darling NWR

noreply@blogger.com (Lillian and Don Stokes) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:33:00 +0000

Just got back from leading a group of bird photographers through Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge as a fund raising event for the refuge. Don took one tram of people and did bird identification, and I took a second tram of people and taught about bird photography. The refuge is closed on Friday so this was a special privilege to be there on this day. Ding is a top bird photography spot because there are so many birds and they are used to people there. Here are some of the photos I took this morning. This Little Blue Heron posed next to the culvert, then caught breakfast.

White Pelicans flew into the tower pond and landed on the sand bar. My tip was to get on a bird in flight early and start tracking it well before it gets close.

This beautiful Yellow-crownded Night-Heron posed for the group, but was a bit in shadow. The group learned about how to use dial in exposure compensation to deal with birds that are in too bright, or too dim, light. They also used how to use a lower F-stop, which gives a more shallow depth of field, to keep the bird in focus but blur undesirable backgrounds.

And this immature Yellow-crowned Night-Heron just looked amazing soaking wet taking a bath. Love the way the yellow eye stands out and the background is dark.

Some Hooded Mergansers swam in the distance. The best shots were when the male displayed to the two females. Be ready to catch the action on birds that don't look like they are doing much.

Most photographers were still learning the setting on their cameras. Knowing the settings so well you could move them in your sleep is critical to being able to capture the image you want in the field. When all else fails, read the manual (just kidding.)