If you know what the bird in the photo is, good for you! It’s a migrant. I only see this species over the Museum in the spring and fall, and there’s usually only ONE that I do see each season. They typically circle the Wetlands once or twice and move on. It’s an Osprey. On Saturday (4/2/11) I saw the first swallow of the season, a Northern Rough-winged Swallow. There have been many other swallow sightings in our area, butRead more
Posts tagged: #Osprey
The Grebe(s)
On the morning of September 26th, while walking along the boardwalk in Explore the Wild, I noticed a small brown, duck-like bird floating on the still, dark water. The bird was midway across the water but I knew almost immediately what it was. It was a grebe. A quick look through my binoculars verified that it was a Pied-billed Grebe. The bird was busily diving for fish, had something in its bill, and was thrashing it about in the water.Read more
The Urge to Nest, Martins on the Way
A Canada Goose was observed moving nesting material around on the small island in front of the Wetlands Overlook. The bird was apparently just going through the motions spurred on by the warm weather. The goose momentarily shuffled a few pieces of grass and leaves about on the island, then swam off to feed. Thinking that I was looking at an Osprey (unusual for this time of year), it was not a disappointment when the raptor that I saw glidingRead more
Looking Back: Birds
With the closing of the year it’s perhaps time to look back and see what we’ve observed on the Explore the Wild/Catch the Wind Loop. Below, in the appropriate segments, I give totals for some of the species seen since January of last year. There were 101 species of bird observed during 2008 at the Museum including such unlikely species as Double-crested Cormorant, Black-crowned Night-heron, Killdeer, Spotted Sandpiper, Osprey, Bald Eagle (3), and Northern Harrier. All of those species wereRead more