Wholly Natural

American Bald Eagles

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Any day you see an eagle is a very good day.

~Frank Leonard

Truer words were never spoken, thank you Frank. We are fortunate to have an increase in the bald eagle population in our region and there are several nests that are actively incubating right now. My hubby and I went to two of them today and we were able to observe one eagle on each nest, each tending to incubating duties. I was hoping I would observe an incubation duty exchange or a feeding, but was happy just to be able to see one of these regal birds on the nest. The pictures below are of a nest that has been active for over ten years now, some people tell me it's actually been as many as twenty years. Although the nest is fairly close to the road it is within a state game lands and the area is restricted to all but authorized personnel, which keeps the area close to the nest relatively undisturbed. There is also an abundant food source including fish in the creek that runs below the nest. In spring the creek is swollen, attracting many migrating and resident waterfowl that are fair game for the eagles.

In a couple of months from now the nest won't even be visible from the road as the leaves fill in.

This red-tailed hawk was soaring near the nest looking around the game lands for its next meal.I don't think that the eagles' nest near my home will be active this year. Tom Wasilewski from the Presque Isle Audubon Society Eagle Watch Program thinks that there might be another nest further up the creek. I think he may be right because the eagles are still being seen up there. We are trying to get permission from the landowners to go further up the creek. I'll let you know if we find anything:)

Toni and I will bringing you more information about the local eagles on our new blog, Presque Isle, Naturally. The eagles' nest that is on Presque Isle does not appear to be active at this time but we are not giving up hope yet.

Wild Wednesday at Presque Isle

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 15:24:00 +0000

It was a sunny but chilly day on Presque Isle when I headed down to test drive my knee and search for all the wonderful waterfowl and other wildlife people had been reporting on the park. I was not disappointed, by my knee or the wildlife, like the pair of ring-necked ducks above.

A handsome male ring-necked duck, head held high.
This is a great black-backed gull in flight. The great black-backed is the largest gull in the world. Presque Isle is lucky to host this gull as well as the smallest gull in the world, the little gull during migration.

A pair of turkey hens trotting to catch up with the flock.

The resident great horned owl appears to be incubating in the same snag as last year.Perhaps the highlight of my trek was seeing this immature bald eagle scare up a large raft of ducks and swans.

As I sit here now posting this, looking out my window at the sunny day, I wish I were back at Presque Isle. Then I think, how could I share this beautiful place if I weren't sitting here posting this? There will be more sunny days as spring draws nigh and more good fortune to share.

Stay tuned to more highlights of Presque Isle as Toni and I debut a new blog, Presque Isle, Naturally where we will both share our adventures at Presque Isle and introduce guest contributors who share our passion for Presque Isle.

Weekend Matinees

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:34:00 +0000

Since I fell and sprained my knee a couple of weeks ago on my way back from the eagles' nest I've been relegated to bird watching out my kitchen window and door. I didn't mind it too much because the weather was quite frigid and wet and besides, the birds put on a great show. I even had another visit from the yellow-bellied sapsucker:) & the Oregon Junco is still coming around too.

A pretty song sparrow doesn't find much to sing about these days.

This red-bellied woodpecker listens to that strange clicking noise.Mr. Cardinal seems to be ready for a molt.This white-breasted nuthatch loves Jim's Birdacious Bark Butter!And, yes, the Carolina Wrens are still here! Their pronounced "eyebrows" just remind me of Groucho Marx!

Toni from A Spattering and I have been working on a new blog dedicated to sharing information about Presque Isle and the Erie region. It will be called Presque Isle, Naturally and we are very excited to be bringing it to you. We will certainly let you know when you can start tuning in!

Another blog that you all might find very interesting (I know I do!) is Moonfire Film Productions. My cousin, Tracy Graziano, and her husband, Ben, are involved in a coyote tracking project and the blog offers a wonderfully detailed and interesting account of how the project is progressing. It is both entertaining and educational and allows a behind the scenes look at how real wildlife research is conducted. The project has just gotten underway so start following now to get an up close view of this years long undertaking from its inception to its fruition.

Exciting Rarity at My Feeders-Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker!!

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:09:00 +0000

I was so excited to see a yellow-bellied sapsucker (YBSA) at my feeders today!!!! I was washing dishes at the kitchen sink watching the birds out the window and spouted an expletive upon seeing the YBSA. Holy &*%^!!! And here's a first, my camera was locked and loaded on the kitchen table from some shooting I'd done yesterday. Hurray!! My hubby, who thinks (knows) I'm crazy anyway just shook his head as I ever so gingerly opened the sliding glass door onto the deck and snapped a few photos. I e-mailed my birding instructor, Jerry McWilliams, with the news and photos and he told me that yellow-bellied sapsuckers are very rare here in winter and in 45 years of birding he's only seen a couple during winter!! I also had both Carolina Wrens, which he said was good because they often don't survive harsh winters like this one. Oh, yeah, and the Oregon Junco is still hanging around! My feeders were very busy today with 15 different species counted. I took many photos but am reserving this post for the yellow-bellied sapsucker:)

Isn't he a handsome gent!?!?

What's Missing Here?

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:44:00 +0000

Recently I was telling Toni (A Spattering) about a Mourning Dove (MODO) I had at me feeder that was missing something. I knew right away there was something different about her (the bird, not Toni:)) but it took a few minutes for me to realize what the problem was.

Can you tell what's missing?

Does this help?

Compare their back ends...Yes! I knew you'd get it. Her tail feathers are missing!

It didn't seem to bother her at all. In fact, I think I was more distraught than her. I'm not sure what the other MODOs were thinking but one got a little violent with her.

She just took it all in stride and kept on eating.

A few posts on PABirds stated that missing tail feathers in MODOs can be caused by their tail feathers freezing to the surface on which the bird is perched. The bird takes off and leaves her feathers behind. OUCH!! It can also be caused by predators such as a hungry, but just a little too slow, cat. I'm not sure how poor little "No-Tail" lost her feathers, but I hope they've grown back by now and she is again strutting her stuff.

Raptor Rapture

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:59:00 +0000

We took a ride up to the Pymatuning/Linesville area last week just for a quick getaway. The lake was almost completely frozen over so we didn't see many waterfowl or gulls but we did get to see a few raptors along the roadside. One new one I can add to my list (I do have to start keeping one!) is this red-shouldered hawk. The in-flight shot is an adult, while the one perched on the wire is an immature. If you look closely (photo 3) you can see the anomaly in the lower mandible (beak) of the immature. It is twisted and juts out and past the upper mandible. I've been told that this may be due to an old injury and that it may keep growing, like a fingernail, since there is nothing there to impede its growth. As for now s/he looks pretty healthy and well-fed.

This past summer we pontooned on Pymatuning Lake and I had seen and photographed a barred owl that had a nesting box in the woods near the picnic area where we had docked for lunch. As luck would have it we drove around and were able to find the picnic area and not one but a pair of barred owls:) As before, they were fairly cooperative and allowed me to get a few shots.

Barred Owl August 2008

Barred Owl February 2009

I'm sure we'll go back up to Pymatuning to pontoon and kayak again this summer. Maybe there will be some baby barred owls then:)

Another Day at Presque Isle

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:23:00 +0000

I headed down to Presque Isle SP on Sunday in hopes of seeing some white-winged crossbills that had been sighted along Pine Tree Trail. I told myself that I would start there and then make a few more stops on the east end of the park. That meant skipping my favorite complex of trails, Old Gas Well, Duck Pond and Canoe Portage Trails. Guess what...I couldn't do it! I stopped and hiked out onto those familiar trails. I was surprised to see many foot prints from the day prior. I thought I was the only one to frequent those trails but I could tell they had been heavily traveled recently. I felt like one of the three bears..."Who's been eating my porridge?" Whoever they were, I hope they enjoyed it. Really! Not too far into the trail I heard a very familiar song. It sounded like springtime! I came upon a large flock of robins feeding on a bush covered in red berries. I'm not sure what kind of plant it was.

While I was photographing the robins I kept hearing a loud drumming that I assumed was the pileated woodpecker I've seen along these trails. It sounded like she was down low on a tree behind some brush between her and I. I got up from my spot behind the tree and saw the pileated fly over into a tree down the trail. I followed her for awhile but then told her I'd try and catch her on the way out as I was on my way to see some more cooperative birds. Maybe even an owl, so there! Well, as luck would have it, there were no more cooperative birds down the trail:( I did spot some golden-crowned kinglets and as I was trying to capture (digitally, of course) those little rascals I once again heard the busy work of the pileated WP. I found a good vantage point and waited, and waited, and...finally she popped her head up for a short time and I was able to get a few shots of her. This is an adult female, note the black malar stripe (vs. red in males).
Then she flew off and I headed for Pine Tree Trail for those crossbills...but wait...I had to stop and take a look at the channel where lots of cool ducks had been seen recently. I did see a canvas back duck,a ruddy duck, lots of mallards and gulls.

One ring-billed gull was looking for some ham and cheese to go with the piece of rye he had found. Then there was the herring gull looking for some bread to go with his fish.

I had only planned on being at the park for 3 hours so I headed toward my car...but wait...look at that cute little chickadee...but you can see 100s of those a week in your back yard...oh, but this one is soooo cute!! They are all cute! I'll give you that.

Finally, I made it to Pine Tree Trail in search of the crossbills...of course, I saw none. That's OK though. There's always next week. Right, Mr. Chickadee?!

Merry Christmas Bird Count-Presque Isle

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:53:00 +0000

Belated Merry Christmas everyone! After a longer than intended hiatus filled with Christmas hustle and bustle I finally have a chance to sit down and post! I'm sure you can all relate. Last Saturday my friend, Julie, and I headed down to the Christmas Bird Count (CBC) on Presque Isle State Park. As I was driving to pick up Julie, the dash indicated it was a balmy 17 degrees outside. Don't worry though, I think it hit the toasty 20s by the time our bird counting adventure began:)

This was my first CBC and Julie's as well so we took our cues from our more seasoned counterparts. Participants for the CBC met at the Ranger Station on the park; Julie and I were fortunate to be teamed up with Chuck Snyder, a former Edinboro University professor who had taught ornithology, and our great birding buddy, Joao. Each team was assigned to "count" a designated area of the park so when we got our assignment we loaded in to Chuck's car and headed out into the frigid and icy "wilderness". The trails were carpeted with snow, crusted over with a layer of crunchy ice. This made walking quite cumbersome, not to mention noisy! Things were "slow" on the park. Obviously the birds had more sense then we did! Chuck has been participating in the CBC for many years and he said that this year is one of the lowest tallies he's had, likely do to the inclement weather. We recorded 23 different species of birds in our area with the highlight for me being a group of tagged trumpeter swans. I have e-mailed a swan banding station in Ontario to see if the swans might be from there. We were also fortunate to see a small flock of golden-crowned kinglets. We also observed a large group of 8-10 beautiful red cardinals that were feeding together. I had never seen so many cardinals together before. For a brief history of the Christmas Bird Count, including its grizzly forerunner, click here.

Don, Joao and Julie scope out some waterfowl including scaup, mergansers, mallards, goldeneyes and buffleheads.No fishing today!Birding: NOT for wimps!Joao starts the mid-count tally.The trumpeters take time for a stretch and preen.
Joao, Jerry and Chuck G. (moving at warp speed) check out a field guide.
Pat, Janet and Chuck thaw out and discuss their morning finds.When the clouds cleared the sun shone beautifully through the ice covered trees.It kind of reminded me of one of my favorite Frost poems.

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
-- Robert Frost

So, the 2009 CBC is in the books. Not an auspicious start for me, but will I do it again next year? In the "immortal" words of another who got off to a less than auspicious start, "You betcha!"

Suspended Animation

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 22:28:00 +0000

I was astounded when I read Toni's (A Spattering) post about her experience with the hanging white-breasted nuthatch in her yard and the fact that she had scared off a Cooper's hawk, because I had an almost identical experience here on the same day!! I looked out my window in the back and saw a white-breasted nuthatch just hanging from the catch tray on my sunflower seed feeder (In my haste and excitement when commenting on Toni's blog I wrote "suet" feeder). I have seen nuthatches perform some weird maneuvers but when he stayed there for quite some time I wondered what was up. I called my husband into the kitchen to check it out and he noticed a downy woodpecker on the other side of the deck just "frozen" clinging to a post. I've seen this behavior before (I read it's part of the "Fight-or-flight response" to danger) and I told him that there must be a hawk around. I went to the door but didn't see the hawk. My grandson, never one to be left out of anything, came to the sliding glass door and started pounding on it. That didn't cause the nuthatch or downy to move but a few minutes later a Cooper's hawk swooped over the deck and into the pines. The nuthatch and WP just stayed in their places and I grabbed my camera. I went out onto the deck and took these shots of the nuttie and downy. I was only limited by the close focus distance on my long lens and if I had had my macro on I could have gotten very close but these birds were already traumatized enough. The last two shots are of a Cooper's hawk I found dead in my yard last winter. There is no gore, but it may not appeal to some. I just wanted to provide a pictoral reference.

Beautiful piercing eyes.

Sharper-than-nails talons wrapped around my thumb! It's no wonder the little ones freeze in terror.

The Christmas Card Pose Off

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 23:32:00 +0000

OK, for those of you recalling my "birds are like ice cream" post, this bird might be vanilla, but sometimes these "commoners" can amaze you with there beauty. I try not to to take any bird for granted because I think they all have something special to offer. In the case of the eastern tufted titmouse, cuteness seems to be their specialty. We have titmice all year round, but they are never more social than in winter, especially on blustery days, and it was a fairly blustery day when I took these shots a couple of weeks ago. There were definitely other contenders for the Christmas card but I decided to pick the titmouse this year. The chickadee was not happy, but he will surely get his chance! Last year I used a junco and house finch.

"Gorgeous, darling, but can you put your chin up a little?"

"That's it! Marvelous!" "Now, let's look to the right. Smashing!"

"Now back to the left. Hold it there. Perfect!"
"Oh my! Are you OK darling? Perhaps a little brandy to warm you?"

"All better now? OK, all the way right. Lovely dear!"

"Now let's try with the costume."

"Oh, yes! That's it! We have found our new Christmas card model. Brilliant!!"

Merry Christmas from the Franz Flock!

A Few from the Zoo!

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:53:00 +0000

Our local zoo closes for 3 months in the winter so hubby and I decided to take our grandson, Emory, on the last day of this season. We love zoos and when traveling we try and visit the local zoo in whatever city we happen to be in. Our zoo is fairly small but clean and nicely kept, I think. While I was photographing the orangutans someone mentioned that it is too bad these beautiful animals are caged. I had been thinking that myself and mentioned it and we both came up with some positive things about zoos. I liked one of her rationale best; if we did not have the access to wild animals that zoos offer we would be much less likely to want to save them. Reminds me of the adage "out of sight out of mind".

A Grivet monkey chillin'.

One of the very cute meerkats!A red panda eating some young bamboo.

A pretty Amur leopard...ready for a long winter's nap! Just in from the Detroit Zoo, our new male polar bear, Norton. He's loving this winter weather.And last but certainly not least, Dasa and her daughter, Leela share a goodnight kiss.

Carolina Wrens

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:04:00 +0000

I recently joined the PABirds listserv and for the past few days have seen several posts regarding Carolina wrens in PA; posts from people like me who were surprised to see these beauties coming to feeders in this rather inclement weather. According to some of the seasoned birders, Carolina wrens were not always year-round residents of PA but are now and are actually quite abundant in some areas. The wrens use seed and suet feeders during cold weather, but, alas, many die because of the cold weather:( I guess all I can do for my part is to keep providing the seed and suet they need. I have also kept my wren houses up in case they would want to roost out of the elements but I'm not sure if they will do that.

These shots were taken in the late morning on Saturday, November 22nd.

Where there's a will, there's a way!Ladies with an attitude,

Fellas that were in the mood.

Don't just stand there, let's get to it.

Strike a pose, there's nothing to it!

Vogue, vogue, vogue, vogue

There are way too many chickadees at that feeder. I'm outta here!

Oregon Junco, YES!!!

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 03:04:00 +0000

I sent some of my junco photos to my birding instructor, Jerry McWilliams. author of The Birds of Pennsylvania, The Birds of Erie County, etc... and this was his reply:

Yes, your junco is an "Oregon" Dark-eyed Junco. I am not familiar with name Cassiar junco. Oregon's are rare, but regular in Pennsylvania. I have only seen a handful of them in Erie County and only a couple were males.

I then sent him this excerpt describing the Cassiar Junco to which he replied:

According to this description of Cassiar junco, I probably have seen a few of these, especially females. I would still call any ADULT MALE juncos with a distinctive hood and orange-brown flanks, "Oregon" Dark-eyed Juncos. It really becomes a problem making this distinction between a "pure" subspecies and hybrids between the two subspecies when trying to identify females and immature males.

As of Saturday the "Oregon" was still hanging around and I took "a few" more shots. I'm not sure how I expect to catch up with all the categorization I need to do if I continue taking all these photos! Looks like rain for the next few day so maybe that will keep me in the house and focused on the task at hand:(

This guy's sure packin' it in!

Notice how distinct his hood is from the rest of the body. I've seen them darker in pictures but according to Cornell's website the hood can be dark to dull gray.

Here is a male dark-eyed junco, slate-colored form. Not sure if he's singing or yawning:)

This is a female slate-colored junco chomping on a sunflower seed. This cute little female adorned one of my Christmas cards from last year.

As the afternoon wore on it started getting pretty cold and windy...

so I headed indoors for some hot coffee and a cozy warm blanket!

Not Your (My) Usual Snow Birds!

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:30:00 +0000

OK, maybe a few of them, like this goldfinch, are but they are all so darn cute they deserve there 15 minutes. With the snow here now the birds are coming into the feeders by the score. I started shooting at about 3:00 p.m. and by 4:00 p.m. it was already starting to get too dark to get decent shots:( But I guess that's OK since I took over 250 in the one hour period and saw 13 different species. Because of the poor lighting I was having to shoot at 800 ISO which is why some of these are a little grainy. Also, most of these are shot at 1+ exposure to compensate for the bright snowy backgrounds.

Of course, there were lots of noisy little chickadees!And the quintessential "Snow Bird", the slate-colored junco.But then, I spotted this fella, which I am fairly certain is an Oregon Junco!According to Sibley's this species is a rare visitor to the eastern US.

I can always count on this white-throated sparrow to show up with the juncos!

Not to be outdone, there were the always-entertaining tufted-titmice!And this downy that waited patiently for his turn at the suet.

And last but certainly not least, guess who's not gone after all. That's right! The Carolina Wren is still hanging around. I was very pleased and a little surprised, but I thought I had been hearing him in the mornings.
He looks a little mad doesn't he. Bet he's upset that he's here in over a foot of snow! Maybe next year he'll take off sooner.

A Photographic Pot Pourri

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:14:00 +0000

My apologies for the tardiness of this post. I have been working on organizing all the photographs I have stored on my hard drive including deleting a lot of duplicates and flops. I bought a new external hard drive and want to get the organizing done before I copy everything over to it. I have also started, again, to develop a website for my photo galleries, etc. Since I've been going through so many photos I thought I'd post a little pot pourri, mostly of our fine feathered friends. The lead shot and the one below is a female yellow-rumped warbler that I had the great joy of seeing in my own back yard. I've not seen one here before although they may be around. I do have a few warbler residents in the gully in the summer including a hooded warbler, common yellow throat and Louisiana waterthrush. I've also seen redstarts once in awhile. "Where," you may ask, "are those pictures?" Hmmmm...maybe next year.

This is one of the many chickadees that frequent our feeders. This was taken about a week and a half ago. The background is compliments of a burning bush plant that, sadly, is now bare until next spring.
Here's a shot of a tree top full of cedar waxwings and another of a waxwing with a crab apple tree berry. Like the other shots of the waxwings, I took these in Titusville, PA near one of the facilities I worked in.
A pretty mourning dove. I think these guys may be more plentiful than the chickadees. Some people find them a nuisance; I think they are beautiful and quite photogenic.
I never did finish my series on Put-In-Bay but here is a shot of a great egret I took at the Ottawa Nature Preserve which is near there.

Especially for Toni, this is my first junco of the year.
And last but not least, here is a fox that was in the gully last fall. I've not seen one here before or since and neither has my neighbor who's lived here in the gully all his life. P.S. If anyone is looking for a house to rent my neighbor is renting out his house here in the gully. Anyone intrepid and interested, leave a comment!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:11:00 +0000

Thought I'd bring you some scary looking spiders for Halloween!! These first few shots are a marbled orb-weaver. The top shot and following three are of a female orb-weaver. She wraps herself up in a leaf where she hides until she feels a tug on the web at which point she quickly lowers herself down for the kill. Trust me, I saw her in action when I lightly jostled the web with a small stick to try and get her to come out. Wow! I only fooled her once though. The fourth shot is the male orb-weaver and although you can't tell from this shot he is much smaller than the female.

The underside of the female orb-weaver.Male marbled orb-weaverThis is "a snack" the spider wrapped up for later. It was still alive and struggling like heck to free itself.
These spiders were holed up in one one of my hubby's old cars.

Hope you all have a safe and Happy Halloween!!

OK, These guys are in my Top 10!

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:25:00 +0000

Remember I said I can't really decide on my favorite bird? Well, this beautiful bird, the cedar waxwing, is definitely in my Top 10! I've been asked to work out of town a lot lately and always try and make the best of it (looking for photo ops on the drive, etc...). I don't have to go too far, just to facilities 50-75 minutes away and I really don't mind the drive...yet (although it was a little sketchy driving home in the dark in freezing rain tonight). I worked in a small town called Titusville, PA last Thursday and was excited when I got outside to see a large flock of beautiful cedar waxwings feasting on the fall berries of the crabapple trees that line the drive. I ran to my car, grabbed my camera and stood in the drive watching and shooting for an hour! I couldn't believe it when I looked at my watch.

What is that clicking creature with one long eye!?

These guys were voracious! I couldn't believe they could fly after eating all those berries!

But flying they were--back and forth between the crabapple trees and a tall sycamore. Guess where I had parked. My poor Subaru got covered in purple poo!!

I caught this bird laughing at my plight!

I have to work in Titusville again tomorrow. I'll be looking for the waxwings...and watching where I park!

The End!

Carolina Wrens aka Carolyn, are you missing a couple of birds?!

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:55:00 +0000

I woke up Wednesday morning to the melodious but not-oft-heard sound of a Carolina Wren! I had seen this little guy on my deck Sunday morning but thought it would've moved on by now because it's getting a bit nippy up here in Erie, PA. I expect that these cuties are much more acclimated to the area my fellow blogger Carolyn at Mountain Musings posts about. I had a rare early day at work and took a seat on the deck hoping to get a few shots of the resident chickadees, titmice and nuthatches. I had almost forgotten about the wren when I heard what most people refer to as the wren's sweet "tea kettle, tea kettle" call, or, as I prefer to call it the "cheeseburger, cheeseburger" call.I know, I know, not very bird like, and, what's with all these food references for birds?! Anyway, I imitated the wren's call and not a minute later didn't the little guy come swooping over my head (like within 2 feet) and land in a tree above my roof! I kept calling and he swooped over me a few more times but I couldn't get a shot. Dang!! I reluctantly gave up and went back to the way more cooperative chickadees. A short time later I was again taunted by the call of the wren from my neighbor's yard. I took a hike over there and started calling. The little wren flitted back and forth through some brush and small pines and to my surprise (and delight) while I was watching this wren another began calling from the other side of the yard!! I was able to approach the other wren using a rock wall as a blind and got some fairly close looks and shots until it flew off. I waited awhile and called again and both wrens came back. I think they were either getting used to me or they knew I wasn't about to give up my pursuit so they backed down and allowed me to take these shots to get me out of their hair, or is that feathers?!Whatever it was, thanks little wrens, you made my day!! And, yes, of course, you too my little chickadee!!

Birds are Like Ice Cream!

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:42:00 +0000

When I tell people I'm into birding I inevitably get the question (as I'm sure most birders do), "What's your favorite bird?" Well, I can't really answer that question except to say that, to me, birds are a little like ice cream! There are sooo many I can't choose just one, some days I prefer vanilla over chocolate (although VERY rarely), and it just crossed my mind that perhaps I have not even come across my favorite yet--although I'm willing to keep searching until I find it!! The sacrifices we make for the things that we love, amazing! Here is just a little "taste" of the birds in my photography archives (NO, not my freezer!) I hope you enjoy this lo-cal, carb-free, offering of a few of my many favorites.

A tufted-titmouse photographed in my backyard (MBY) last fall.A pair of house wren chicks wondering what that clicking noise is (MBY).A handsome white-breasted nuthatch in a classic pose (MBY).An eastern screech owl, Presque Isle State Park (PISP), early spring 2008.A northern saw-whet owl, PISP, early spring 2008. A barred owl, PISP, mid-winter 2008,

Its always exciting to try new flavors but sometimes you have to go out of town to find them. Here are a few shots taken around Tucson, AZ this past January. My sister was living there but has since moved back to Erie so I'm not sure when I'll make it back there. I highly recommend southern AZ for anyone into birding.

Pied-billed grebe, OK, I could've seen this one here, but this was more fun.
Loggerhead shrike, a handsome gent.

Phainopepla, a stunning bird, also known as the silky flycatcher.
A snowy egret, notice the black legs and bright yellow feet!

Wow! Did that make anyone else hungry?! It's off to the freezer for me:)

Glorious Goldenrod!

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:47:00 +0000

After helping out at the banding station this past Saturday I made my usual loop around Presque Isle and ended up along Beach 11. I walked down to the water's edge in search of shore birds and, finding none, headed back towards my car. I had been hearing the "potato chip" flight song of a goldfinch when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted him diving into the middle of a span of grasses and wildflowers that skirts the shoreline. Camera in hand, I waded into the sea of golden rod and grasses and scared out the poor little goldfinch:( Head hung in shame for scaring the bird, I continued through the patch until my eyes hit upon a particular golden rod plant that was virtually bathed in activity. From a distance I could see there were at least 4 or 5 bumble bees on this one plant. As I got closer I also saw 2-3 different types of wasps and what I thought was a very colorful beetle. I started snapping away with my telephoto lens which does a fairly decent job with macro. After a few minutes with the wind continually forcing me to wait too long (for me) between shots, however, I headed to the car and attached my macro lens. This allowed me to not only get closer, but also to hold the stems of the goldenrod to keep them still. It was just starting to get dark and cooler so the bees and wasps were quite docile. While photographing one of the bumble bees, I spotted an amorous pair of green spotted beetles. I had never seen this species before so was anxious to get some shots to do some research and find out what they were. That's one of the many things I love about nature photography and blogging, the learning process. I'm really not fully satisfied until I've definitively identified what I've photographed. In this case the beetles were spotted cucumber beetles. Aren't they so cute, and acrobatic!? Hard to believe they're so harmful to crops.

This black wasp with a white spot on his face was another new one on me. I turned to my two favorite on-line sites for "bug" identification, Bug Guide.Net and "What's That Bug?" and found that it is a Mason Wasp. This is the little beauty I first thought was a colorful beetle. It turned out to be an ailanthus webworm moth, responsible for the webs you see at the end of many tree branches on PISP.

The Spotted Cucumber Beetles--must be love!

OK, I'll leave you with one of those critters that has escaped my attempts at identification. I think it may be in the bluet family of damsels. Any help out there?

Bird Banding at Presque Isle SP IBA

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:54:00 +0000

Sadly, my fall birding ID class with Jerry McWilliams is completed. Happily, that afforded me the opportunity to help out Desiree and her assistant, Erica, with bird banding this past Saturday. It was a slow but steady banding day as we netted and processed white-throated sparrows, hermit thrushes, a couple of downy woodpeckers, and a winter wren. Desiree and Erica have been banding birds 6 days a week at the park, weather permitting, alternating between Niagara Boat Launch (T-Th-Sa) and Fry's Landing (M-W-F) starting at daybreak and running through to around 2:00 pm.

Erica extracts a Hermit Thrush from one of the 13 mist nets set up behind Niagara Boat Launch.

Erica places a band on a white-throated sparrow...and then hands it off to Desiree for weighing and measuring.

I was a little rusty when starting out but Desiree is a generous and patient teacher who showed me a little bit more about extracting the birds from the net as well as processing the birds. Sarah, Desiree and Erica have the processing down to, well, a science.

My first extractee this fall, a little downy that was a recapture from September.

Once a bird is captured and the species determined it is banded with an appropriately sized numbered band, aged, sexed, wing measurements are taken and fat status is determined. Then, of course, the bird is set free. Sarah, the lead bander, Desiree and Erica are also collecting ticks from the captured birds. The ticks collected will be used in a research study being conducted by Yale University. The entire process is done as quickly and efficiently as possible as to disturb the birds as little as possible. All of the information gathered is written down in a log book for purposes of later comparison as well as for uploading to a larger data base.

If you've never seen a birds ear before, you can't say that anymore!Erica delicately tweezes a tick from this hermit thrush.Each specimen vial contains ticks from one bird.

Ron Leberman, the Godfather of bird banding at PISP, looks on at the processing.

Ron and his family banded birds for 49 years at PISP. Ron tells wonderful stories about the great numbers of birds that used to frequent the park, including one ten day stretch in which they netted 650 birds!

A frequent visitor and helper at the banding station , Dave, was reluctant to extract a bird from the net, but with Desiree's not-so-subtle persuasion he finally caved and Desiree showed him how it's done!

SUCCESS!!!

Banding will continue through the end of October for the fall migration and resume in mid-April 2009 for spring migration. If you live in the area and are interested in observing or volunteering, come on down to the sites. It's definitely a wonderful and rewarding learning experience.

Playin' Hooky!

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 20:15:00 +0000

I've been pretty busy at work and on Wednesday took advantage of some "extra hours" I had accumulated. What better way to spend those hours than to take the morning off to do some birding at Presque Isle State Park:) The weather was great, much more like summer than fall. I stuck around the east end of the park and saw some pretty weird things in the first hour or so.

First, I found this plastic skeleton that someone had wire-tied to one of those fold up canvas chairs. Ok, so I embellished the photo a little.

Then I came across this "attractive" fish. This is what happens when you let your "friends" bury you in the sand!

OK, that's it for the weird stuff! I continued down the beach toward Thompson Bay and saw a small flock of shore birds flying in. I panned my binos with their flight and they were headed straight for me!! It was a group of 4 lovely immature sanderlings.By this time it was time to head back to civilization and work. On my way out of the park I ran into Brian from the DCNR as well as Jerry and Linda McWilliams and their friend, Mary Ann, from Iowa. They are lucky to be on the park much more often than I. I better start playing the Powerball, because with the economy the way it is now I might not get to retire until I'm 70! For now, I'll settle for the few hours a week I am able to get to PISP and relish every minute. Like last Sunday when I got to sneak away from home for a short while to try and get some shots of the warblers we had seen in Jerry's class on Saturday. The light was pretty harsh but the birds didn't seem to care that backlighting is the worst possible photographic challenge!

I believe this is an immature common yellow-throat.

Black-throated Green Warbler female

A very handsome black-throated blue warbler
I love my job and my home, but it sure is nice to get away and play some hooky once in awhile!

Sanderling Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:14:00 +0000

I took these shots of a young sanderling last Saturday during a bird identification class I am taking. I had never seen a sanderling before and was surprised that it approached us as closely and nonchalantly as it did. According to my birding instructor, Jerry McWilliams, however, this is not an uncommon behavior for sanderlings. Sanderlings are pretty small sandpipers, 7-8 inches with a wingspan of 14 inches. They weigh only about 1.4-3.5 oz! That has always amazed me about birds but it shouldn't seeing how they have to be able to fly:)I thought these images would be sharper than they are given his proximity but maybe it was the light mist of the day. At any rate, it was a beautiful bird to see and add to my life list, that is if I kept a list. I really need to start writing these things down:)According to Cornell's All About Birds Bird Guide on-line the sanderling is one of the most widespread wintering shorebirds in the world. It breeds in extreme northern Canada, parts of Alaska, and in parts of northern Greenland, Russia and Norway. The sanderling winters on all coasts from southern Alaska and Nova Scotia and southward to southern Chile and Argentina. Its range is quite incredible.

I wonder where this guy is now. Maybe a quick stop over in Florida, then onto the balmy shores of Argentina. Aaah, the good life.

Put-In Bay, Chapter Trois

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 23:51:00 +0000

Aaaaah, the Frosty Bar, probably hubby's favorite place at Put-In Bay, maybe on Earth:) We stopped there to cool off after the Butterfly House which is kept fairly humid for the butterflies. We sat down and ordered up a couple frosty ones and watched some of the Olympic beach volleyball event. We were also entertained by some "well-frosted" 20-somethings arguing about a variety of inane topics including whether or not the bald volleyball player' s goggles had lenses in them. Oh, to be young and all-knowing again:)

After the Frosty bar we headed back to the mainland where we were staying in Sandusky, Ohio. The next morning we decided to head to Middle Bass Island to see how things were progressing there and also because we had heard that there was an active Bald Eagle nest on the island. We had seen the bald eagles flying around when we were up in the Perry Memorial Monument the day before. When we had been to Middle Bass a few years before and it was just starting to be built up. It is definitely less touristy than South Bass Island, where Put-In Bay is, but is starting to take off.

In order to get to Middle Bass Island we had to take a boat or kayak over ourselves as we had done two years ago. Since hubby did not feel like getting wet we headed over to the dock and bought a ride on the Sonny S. While waiting for the boat we were entertained by a few of the local birds including grackles, red-winged blackbirds and a few sparrows.

"Ok, someone told me Leonardo DiCaprio was going to be here!"

"Now get up on that other fence post and do exactly as I do."

"That's more like it!"

Middle Bass should really attract more tourist when the marina they are building is completed next year. We rented a couple of bikes and toured the island but, alas, were not able to find the eagles nor the nest. We stopped back at J.F. Walleyes where we had rented the bikes and had a bite to eat and chatted with the owner who filled us in on the progress of the marina. They've recently sunk a lot of money into the place and the back outside bar/pool area is awesome. If you didn't know any better you might think you were in the Caribbean.

Back to the mainland then and planning a day trip to the Toledo Zoo for our last full day of vacation. Stay tuned.

What in the World is THIS? Wednesday!!

noreply@blogger.com (MicheleRF) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:00:00 +0000

Live from the basement at Six Mile Studios...Welcome to the premier of "What in the World is THIS?" Each week we'll be bringing you, our brilliant and esteemed audience, a new photo. It is your challenge to identify the object in the photo from the very small snippet provided.

**The first audience member to correctly identify the image will win an all expense paid trip to...Sao Paulo, Brazil! There you'll spend a fun-filled week that includes a guided tour to see how the Purple Martins live during the winter.

In case you hadn't guessed the picture at the top of the page is this week's WITWIT snippet! If no one has guessed correctly by Wednesday evening a clue will be provided. So come on, take a guess, don't be afraid. Remember, there are no dumb ans... Oops! That's questions. Oh, what the heck--GOOD LUCK!

**Contestants who are relatives of any staff member of Six Mile Studios and/or its affiliates, residents of any state whose name contains an "i" or "e", people who are not registered to vote, and those with opposable thumbs are ineligible for the grand prize.

09/12/08 Update Here is a photo of the blue headed green frog. Click on the image to see it in its entirety.