Weather systems often bring in unusual birds. Strong cold fronts sometimes carry with them birds from the far north. Unusually cold weather creates strong needs within birds to feed, simple survival is the name of the game. During extreme cold periods you often see birds at your feeders that are absent during mild weather especially when the leaf litter is covered with snow. On Thursday, a day when upon awaking from a three dog night, the air temperature was aRead more
Posts tagged: #migration
Lawn Thrush
Everyone is familiar with the robin. It’s the bird that, when describing another bird, people often use as a reference, “it was about the size of a robin.” We see them on our lawns, in city parks, in our fruit trees, and even nesting in our backyards. We see them in every season of the year from the blistering heat of the summer to the frigid (especially this year) winter. The American Robin got its name from the early EuropeanRead more
Bald Eagle
Okay, Okay, it is a bit far away. But, the eagle was quite high and the lens out at full zoom. It’s the best I could do with what I had at hand. I know, I know, Bald Eagles are supposed to have a white head and tail. You’re right, adult eagles do. But, it can take about four years to acquire those features, the white head and tail. This eagle, the eagle in the photos, is only about twoRead more
A Butterfly, a Flycatcher, and an Intro to Trig
By all accounts this has been a slow year for Monarchs. I’ve seen five flying over the Museum’s airspace this fall on their way south to Mexico. The numbers of Monarchs seen here are never great, but five is particularly disapointing. It may be wishful thinking to say that the weather has not been conducive to a good Monarch flight here in the Piedmont. I hope that’s all it is. While photogrpahing the Monarch above, two phoebes were calling fromRead more
Fall Again
I was walking past the Wax Myrtle that grows along the edge of the Wetlands and remarked about how the fruit is ripe and ready to be eaten by the warblers, the Yellow-rumped Warblers. I hadn’t seen any yet this year, but about thirty minutes after making my remark about that waxy, myrtle fruit, there it was, my first sighting of a butter butt this season (10/10/13). The fruit of the Swamp Rose is ready for consumption as well, roseRead more
Herons
I haven’t seen any of our local Green Herons in over two weeks. They’re either being very secretive or they’ve moved on. It is, in fact, October and traditionally we loose our resident Green Herons to migratory urges during this time of year. A Great Blue Heron has been an on-and-off visitor this past summer but seems to have now settled into the on position, I’ve seen it every day for several weeks. This is not an unusual occurrence, we’veRead more
Ospreys on the move!
Back in February of 2011, through the magic of satellite transmitters, I followed the travels of a young Osprey named Belle who had been fitted with a transmitter and who had flown as far south as Brazil to spend her first winter, the farthest recorded migration south of any Osprey to date. Then again in August of 2011 I informed you of Belle’s whereabouts as well as another young Osprey named Buck who was hatched in South Carolina. Well, Belle’s at itRead more
We have much to do before winter
With each passing cold front the temperatures are a little cooler, the humidity a little dryer, and winter a little closer. There’s plenty going on outside during this transitional time of year when we make the shift from summer to winter. It’s time to prepare for what’s to come and the birds, mammals, and insects are doing just that. As the cicadas wind down so too the activities of the Cicada Killer. Hopefully their burrows are stocked with cicadas forRead more
A Lone Sandpiper
We had a brief visit by a Solitary Sandpiper last week. I’ve recorded only three species of shorebirds in our little wetlands, Spotted and Solitary Sandpipers and Killdeer. Solitary Sandpipers are the most frequent visitors and that’s what showed up last week. You may remember when two years ago a solitary wandered in to our wetlands and nearly became dinner for a bullfrog. In fact, two solitaries dropped in that year due to the very low water levels, exposing theRead more