My Home/Yard Birdlist

A couple of days ago, I ran into friends Cathy and Ellen who inquired about my home bird list.  How is it that I could possibly have seen 103 birds in my less-than-an-acre yard?   Here is how.  First, I have been recording the bird sightings since 1991.  Second, we have a pond in our backyard which attracts tons of birds including ducks and herons.  We once had a red-shouldered hawk nest high in a tree over our shed.  Third, we have a lot of trees and bushes of all sorts of varieties, and a very "au natural" lawn (ie. no chemicals, lots of weeds and bugs). Fourth, I have feeders going year round.    Fifth, I am sort of obsessed with birds.  I see and hear birds that many people might not notice.  Over the years, I have listened to tapes and CDs of bird calls so my ear is pretty good at picking up birds songs.  I hear a bird and I will think "oh! that is a blue-winged warbler!  I must go find it!".  Or sometimes, I hear a song and I think "oh! I don't know what that bird song is!!! I must go find it".  Off I go with the binoculars, leaving my cereal to get soggy..  Many of the birds have only been spotted once, such as the pileated woodpecker or the yellow-throated vireo.  Some birds have only been heard, such as the owls.  Some birds are seen from my yard but not "in" my yard, such as the chimney swifts and the turkey vultures.  Anyways, it is a long list.  And here it is in case you are interested.

Great Blue heron

Green heron

Carolina Wren

Cardinal

Tufted titmouse

Robin

Blue Jay

Kingfisher

Grackle

Northern Oriole   10

Eastern Pee Wee

Yellow Shafted Flicker

Black-capped Chickadee

Downy Woodpecker

Great Horned Owl (heard)

Screech Owl (heard)

Wood Ducks

Mourning Dove

White-breasted Nuthatch

Canada Geese  20

Junco

House finch

American Crow

Goldfinch

House Sparrow

Brown Creeper

Song Sparrow

Starling

Purple Finch

Redwing Blackbird  30

Cowbird

Fox Sparrow

Phoebe

Mallards

Tree Sparrow

Chipping Sparrow

White Throated Sparrow

Rufous-sided Towhee

Ruby crowned Kinglet

Chimney Swift 40

Yellow-rumped warbler

House Wren

Black & White Warbler

Northern Parula                                                           

Catbird

Common Yellowthroat

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Wood Thrush

Hairy Woodpecker

Eastern Kingbird     50

American Redstart 

Cedar Waxwing

Ovenbird (heard)

Mockingbird

Ruby-throated hummingbird

Great-crested Flycatcher

Red-Shouldered Hawk

Turkey vultures (overhead)

Blue-winged Warbler

Yellow Warbler    60

Chestnut-sided Warbler                

Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Prairie Warbler

Killdeer

Nighthawk

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Broad-winged Hawk

Merlin

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Common Redpoll   70  (1/7/1994)

Red-breasted Nuthatch 

Red-tailed Hawk

Yellow-throated Warbler

Hooded Merganser

Red-eyed vireo

Northern Waterthrush

Swamp Sparrow

Barred Owl (heard)

Eastern Bluebird

Magnolia warbler    80

Cooper’s hawk  

Barn Swallow

Hermit Thrush

Black-crowned Night Heron

Ring-necked Duck

Blackpoll Warbler

Veery

Pine Siskin

Warbling Vireo

Yellow-billed Cuckoo   90

Turkey 

Ring-billed gull

Canada Warbler

Cormorant

Blackburnian Warbler

Scarlet Tanager

Palm Warbler

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Raven

Pileated Woodpecker   100

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 

Wilson’s Warbler

Pine Warbler (1/27/2015)

Spring Migration at Mount Auburn Cemetery 2015

It seems counter-intuitive to go from my suburban hometown with open space aplenty to go bird watching in the city BUT the way it works is Mt Auburn Cemetery is an amazingly beautiful arboretum-like compound with a a handful of ponds, that serves as an oasis for migrating birds to rest in during their migration north.  The migrating birds arrive in high concentration every May just around Mother's Day.  Yesterday was a bonanza for birders at Mt. Auburn.

I arrived at 7:45am and was amazed at how many cars were already there, all typical parking areas filled with the overflow crowd just parking along the many lanes.  I was amused at how many Prius were present as I parked mine in a row with 3 others. 

You don't need a field guide on days like these because there are so many experienced birders around that all you have to do is ask your question out loud and several people chime in with their opinions.  I flitted around the cemetery from group to group not unlike the many warblers flitting around in the trees.  It's pretty fun for a bird nerd to be around so many kindred souls.

Yellow-rumped warblers were everywhere.  I can't say how many times I heard people say "oh, it's just a yellow-rumped". A woman I met taught me the term "butter butts"....just another butter butt.

I didn't bring my camera so I could relax and enjoy the birds rather than get myself distracted trying to catch a good shot.  Regretted the decision a few times but had a great time anyways. The above photo was taken with my cell phone.I passed a bush closely and out flew a robin.  And there in plain view was the nest.

Here is a list of the birds I saw....I composed the list after I got home so there might actually be more than 41 species.  I just don't clearly recall seeing a house sparrow or a song sparrow, for instance, which were highly likely to be there but can't write what I don't recall.

in no particular order- (out of laziness I am not going to use capital letters)
turkey
bald eagle
great horned owl
robin
great blue heron
mourning dove (it gets better sone I promise)
blue jay
catbird
grackle
baltimore oriole
orchard oriole
solitary vireo
scarlet tanager
phoebe
mallards
white throated sparrow
eastern kingbird
chickadee
tufted titmouse
redwing blackbird
chipping sparrow
crow
chimney swift
red tail hawk
cardinal
and 16 species of warblers
 black and white
 cape may
 chestnut-sided
 black-throated blue
 black-throated green
 yellow
 tennessee
 nashville
 parula
 palm
 pine
 common yellowthroat
 blue-winged
 yellow-rumped
 blackburnian
 wilson's

Buffleheads, Plymouth Harbor, 4/5/2015

 Bufflehead Ducks are so adorable....and gotta' love the name.

love the head-on look

nice profile dude

got an itch

Buffle Butt

Mama duck

Mr and Mrs Bufflehead

Great Egret Study

beauty in flight

Beautiful breeding plumage

What's up with the neck?

Neck close up

Hi there!

"Eager lean" as described by Peterson

another breeding plumage shot

hunting

classic pose

a few pix from this morning

Dapper Dude

Here's looking at you

Goldfinch spat

Mourning Dove and Cardinal hanging together

Cardinal waits for Goldies to finish

Goldfinch- molt almost complete

Goldfinch scolding female house sparrow

nuisance Cowbird

 Beautiful Wood ducks

Birding during breakfast

16 species of birds between vitamins and final cup of tea-

Mallards
Wood duck
housefinch
goldfinches
Cardinal
mournng dove
chickadee
tufted titmouse
downy woodpecker
hairy woodpecker
red-bellied woodpecker
flicker
pine warbler (back after a long hiatus! yay!)
cowbird (first of the season... booo!)
house sparrow
bluebird

a few photos to follow......

Favorite Winter 2015 Photo

Suet Duet