Day 90 - March 30, 2012

Although this post has nothing to do with seeing any birds, it does relate to birds.

For many years, I have been using EXCEL to keep track of the birds I see in a year as well as a life-list.  I try to keep many copies on the school's laptop as well as my own desktop computer.  However, things don;t work out like you plan sometimes.

The laptop had to be wiped clean and then have Windows put back on it in order to solve problems it was having.  Even though the Tech people backed up my files, it seems that the laptop was not saving things correctly for awhile.  So my EXCEL list for my 2012 sightings on goes from Jan. 1st to Jan 16th of this year.  Even the copies I saved on desktop only go up to Jan. 16th - go figure!

But using my data from this blog and the data I sent to eBird, I think I have most, maybe not every sighting from this year.  Just goes to show - back up often, use eBird, and have multiple  copies of your data.

DAY 80 - March 20, 2012

After checking the wetlands area on Trolley Bed Road today after school (many red-winged blackbirds), I decided to drive further up Old Sherman Hill Road to see what was there.  As I drove up Old Sherman Hill Road, I saw a pond on the left side of the road behind a house.  I stopped the car in the middle of the road, after checking for on-coming cars in my rear view mirror - of course, and saw ducks in the pond.  I realized I needed to take a better look so I drove up a bit to a spot where I could park off the road.  I got out of my car with my binocs and went to check out the pond.  It did not take me long to realize they were Ringed-necked Ducks and that they would be another addition to my Big Year!  However, I did not have my camera with me and, besides, they were too far out to get a reasonable picture anyhow - maybe another time.

DATA:   4:19pm; 76F; clear; slight

37)  Ring-necked Duck (5; 3 males, 2 females)

DAY 77 - March 17, 2012

While working on lesson plans today for the next three weeks, I heard a bird calling seeming to say "fee bee...fee bee" and I quickly thought Eastern Phoebe.  Even though I thought it was a Phoebe, I am still not good with many bird calls so I was not going to count a Phoebe towards my Big Year unless I could see it.  I did not have to wait long.  The Phoebe flew and perched in the gray birch tree outside the window that I was looking out of to see if the call I heard did indeed come from a Phoebe.  You can also tell if a bird is a Phoebe by an interesting habit of the Phoebe - as it perches on a branch, it tends to wag, or pump,  its tail up and down.  Finally, don;t be too surprised if you see the Phoebe seem to fall to the ground and then fly back up to where it was almost instantaneously - it is only catching insects and returning to its 'high ground' to look for more from above.

So, add an Eastern Phoebe to my Big Year...

Data:  4:07 pm; clear sunny skies with calm winds; 63F

36)  Eastern Phoebe

Day 66 - March 6, 2012

Had some time today so I drove up to Trolley Bed Road to see what might be in the wetland areas on the road.

As I drove slowly along the road, I spotted a hawk in a tree which turned out to be a Red-tailed when I looked at it through binocs (I pulled over to side of road). 

But what got me excited was my first Red-Winged Blackbird of the year - Number 35!

Then later on, on my way back, I saw 20 of them and heard a number of them calling.

4:22 pm; 40F; partly cloudy; slight breeze

DAY 64 - March 4, 2012

Today was probably the first day of my Big Year that I went out looking for a specific species - Saw Whet Owls.  After going with a few members of the Western Connecticut Bird Club last week looking for Saw Whet Owls (lead by Club President Larry Fischer), I learned that owls can be found in evergreen trees during the day.  So off I went to Flanders Nature Center I went to search that stand of evergreen trees I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that are near the new sap house.

Owl Pellet

Although I did not find any owls, I did find evidence of owls - pellets and white-wash.  It should be noted that there is a saying among many scientists that "absence of evidence is not evidence of absent."  In other words, just because you cannot find evidence of something being there that fact does not mean that there is nothing there.  I would have been just as happy if I found no evidence at all as I was in finding the pellets and white-wash.

Owl Pellet

Owl pellets are the remnants of an owl's meal and consists of the things that are either to hard to digest or items that are not digestible - bones, fur, feathers, etc.  Instead of keeping these items in its stomach to pass along its digestive system, which I am assuming would add extra weight and divert energy to the digestive system - think of how you feel after a Thanksgiving meal, the owl just regurgitates all of these items up and 'spits' it out as a pellet which falls to the ground.

Lens Cap is 6cm (2-5/16") in Diameter

These pellets can be dissected to reveal what the owl has eaten and can further determine, with a big enough sample of pellets, how well the owl population is doing as well as the prey population.  For example, if many pellets are showing the remains of the same prey species, then that prey must be plentiful since so many are being caught.  But if the pellets are showing the remains of many different prey species, then perhaps there is not a large number of a particular species to be caught - or it could also mean that that owl is an opportunistic feeder, that is, feeding on what ever it can catch.

A "Double Pellet"

 
Also, since pellets must pass through the throat of the owl, the diameter of the pellet is related to the size of the throat which means that the species of owl that made the pellet can be determined within a species or two.

White-wash

As for white-wash, that's just owl "poop".  As the owl perches, the droppings drop to the ground and since they are white an owl can appear to paint the ground below in a white wash.  So looking for white-wash is another piece of evidence in the location of owls.

male Hooded Merganser

After trying to find owls for 2 hours, it was time to leave Flanders but until I checked out the 'Beaver' Pond.  You never know what might be there since the warmer weather should have thawed out most of the surface.  And sure enough, as I got there I saw Canada Geese, 3 Common Mergansers, and a male and female Hooded Merganser (aka Hoodie) - bird #34 for my Big Year!

Made by a Bird of Prey??

 After checking out the Pond, I searched a stand of evergreen trees near the pond for signs but found nothing.  However, I did see a spot on the trail where tree litter had been disturbed exposing the trail itself.  This made me hypothesize that perhaps a bird of prey came from the right side to catch prey in ts talons and as a result the bird and prey piled up the litter into the patter seen in the photo similar to what a plow does to snow in the winter.

So even though I did not see any owls, I have to say it was a good day anyways.

DATA:  9:40 am - 12 noon; 39F/49F; Overcast/Mostly Cloudy

BIRDS:  Canada Geese (4)
               Common Mergansers  (3: 1 male; 2 female)
               Robin  (1)                     Starlings (8)
               Crows (4)                     Bluebirds (3: 2 males; 1 female)
               Red Bellied Woodpecker (Heard)
 
              #34  Hooded Merganser (2: male & female)