Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Happy Birthday Mr. Audubon!
Today is the 226th birthday of John James Audubon. Funny that it wasn't mentioned at the chapter meeting I attended for the first time last week. I learned through a blog I subscribe to called Book-a-Day. If there's a birthday or theme for the day, the moderators try and celebrate it.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Birding for Beginners - Last class
Oops! I just realized that I did not record anything about last week's class! So bear with me while I recall last week's class.
The talking part of the class had to do with binoculars and high powered scopes. They had a selection laid out on tables for trying on. What I found most useful was learning how to hold them and how to adjust them to my eyes. Oh. And how to raise the binocs to my eyes while keeping my eye on the bird. Very useful tip.
Don, the leader of the birder teachers also introduced the head of the complex down in the meadowlands. One second while I look his name up; I can't remember his first name...Jim Wright. He spoke a few words of welcome and came on the walk. I happened to be in his group and it was so cool to see his enthusiasm. He blogs too: The Meadowlands Blog and The Celery Farm Blog. And he'll be the guest speaker at this month's Bergen County Audubon Society meeting. Here's a link to that site.
Then, we went on our walk. Luckily for me, I posted what birds I saw to my FB page. I saw an osprey, three cormorants, a barn swallow, tons of tree swallows, a few red-winged blackbirds, buffleheads and a gadwall duck, as well as five or six pairs of mallards.
The topic of this week's class was field guides. What makes a good one. Also, birding by ear cds and a bit about birding apps. Too much info for me. I have collected quite a few guides over the years and dug them out and dusted them off last week. Don carries these laminated trifold things that look awfully familiar. I could've sworn I had a few, but I can't find them. Those are more my style for the field. I am the worst traveler. I like it light. Invariably, I forget things. I would rather deal with it than pack for every possibility (like my husband does) and be dragging bags everywhere. As cool as high powered scopes are, I can't envision myself, 1. making that sort of financial commitment and 2. actually carting it and the necessary tripod everywhere I bird.
There was a torrential downpour throughout Bergen County last night and the water levels were way high, so the boardwalks were closed. I dropped in on David Hall's group today and he chose to stay on the shoreline close to the center and climb the hill, so I didn't get to the trails on the other side today. After the first two classes, I took a loop on the opposite side to where the class walked before leaving.
Today, was quite sunny and very windy. We saw tons of red-winged blackbirds today. Many more than last week. The tree swallows are still around. I saw three Black Ducks, which I learned cross-breed with mallards. I saw two cormorants or the same cormorant twice, lots of robins, a junco, and a couple of male cardinals, which is apparently unusual down at DeKort since there aren't that many trees. The thing that got David quite excited was a yellow tailed warbler. When he first spotted one, I didn't get a good look at it. Later, up on the hill, I saw a flash of yellow and pointed it out and learned that it was the yellow tailed warbler. This guy stuck around and gave the group a show. He had beautiful markings too.
Warbler season is coming up and this makes birders very happy, I surmise. Oh, that reminds me, last week Jim Wright saw a brown creeper, but I didn't eyeball it myself. He was excited about that.
So, that's the birding news. I enjoy these people and admire their commitment to, not just birds, but wildlife and conservation. I think I'd like to join the BC Audubon Society and find ways of getting more involved. I'd also like to start a birding club at my school.
Happy birding.
The talking part of the class had to do with binoculars and high powered scopes. They had a selection laid out on tables for trying on. What I found most useful was learning how to hold them and how to adjust them to my eyes. Oh. And how to raise the binocs to my eyes while keeping my eye on the bird. Very useful tip.
Don, the leader of the birder teachers also introduced the head of the complex down in the meadowlands. One second while I look his name up; I can't remember his first name...Jim Wright. He spoke a few words of welcome and came on the walk. I happened to be in his group and it was so cool to see his enthusiasm. He blogs too: The Meadowlands Blog and The Celery Farm Blog. And he'll be the guest speaker at this month's Bergen County Audubon Society meeting. Here's a link to that site.
Then, we went on our walk. Luckily for me, I posted what birds I saw to my FB page. I saw an osprey, three cormorants, a barn swallow, tons of tree swallows, a few red-winged blackbirds, buffleheads and a gadwall duck, as well as five or six pairs of mallards.
The topic of this week's class was field guides. What makes a good one. Also, birding by ear cds and a bit about birding apps. Too much info for me. I have collected quite a few guides over the years and dug them out and dusted them off last week. Don carries these laminated trifold things that look awfully familiar. I could've sworn I had a few, but I can't find them. Those are more my style for the field. I am the worst traveler. I like it light. Invariably, I forget things. I would rather deal with it than pack for every possibility (like my husband does) and be dragging bags everywhere. As cool as high powered scopes are, I can't envision myself, 1. making that sort of financial commitment and 2. actually carting it and the necessary tripod everywhere I bird.
There was a torrential downpour throughout Bergen County last night and the water levels were way high, so the boardwalks were closed. I dropped in on David Hall's group today and he chose to stay on the shoreline close to the center and climb the hill, so I didn't get to the trails on the other side today. After the first two classes, I took a loop on the opposite side to where the class walked before leaving.
Today, was quite sunny and very windy. We saw tons of red-winged blackbirds today. Many more than last week. The tree swallows are still around. I saw three Black Ducks, which I learned cross-breed with mallards. I saw two cormorants or the same cormorant twice, lots of robins, a junco, and a couple of male cardinals, which is apparently unusual down at DeKort since there aren't that many trees. The thing that got David quite excited was a yellow tailed warbler. When he first spotted one, I didn't get a good look at it. Later, up on the hill, I saw a flash of yellow and pointed it out and learned that it was the yellow tailed warbler. This guy stuck around and gave the group a show. He had beautiful markings too.
Warbler season is coming up and this makes birders very happy, I surmise. Oh, that reminds me, last week Jim Wright saw a brown creeper, but I didn't eyeball it myself. He was excited about that.
So, that's the birding news. I enjoy these people and admire their commitment to, not just birds, but wildlife and conservation. I think I'd like to join the BC Audubon Society and find ways of getting more involved. I'd also like to start a birding club at my school.
Happy birding.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Birding for Beginners
I started my Birding for Beginners class today. It's three consecutive Sundays and I'm very psyched. I have always liked birds and when my boys were small, we did a lot of nature activities, including trying to identify some birds. But I never really got good at it. In late December, I saw a notice for free bird walks hosted by the Bergen County Audubon Society and signed up for their New Year Walk.
It was a frozen and foggy morning, but I saw a ton of waterfowl. Had I not been walking with experienced birders, I would have looked at the birds and said, "Oh. Ducks." Well there were at least five different varieties in one bunch alone. So cool.
The Meadowlands Environmental Center is amazing as well. This was another place that I always meant to check out but never did. The NJ Turnpike runs right along the border, but I was surprisingly unaware of it. I couldn't hear the highway roar. Amtrak runs right by it as well. The eyesore that is Xanadu is hidden by a hill that is probably comprised of garbage.
The Bergen County Audubon Society runs free walks nearly every weekend and every Tuesday. I have not been free to go on another, but I did sign up for their email alerts and when I heard about the Birding for Beginners class, decided to carve out the time.
So. I'm going to be more aware of the birds. My husband, Mark and I fed them all this snowy winter. But I'm going to watch the feeder more. I'm going to keep bird lists. I may even consider going on a birding vacation.
I also learned about a web site that you can sign up for to keep your bird counts. When I rooted around the book shelves looking for my old birding books, I found The Birdwatcher's Book of Lists. I might take to carrying it around. I wonder whatever happened to the list of birds I made from January?
Today, I saw:
a pair of Mute Swans
3 Great Egrets - not snowy. I learned the differents
1 cormorant, but I don't know what kind
a bunch of bufflehead ducks - I got to see those through a high powered scope - so pretty!
a bunch of ruddy ducks - very cute
a red tailed hawk - but I see them all the time in my neighborhood
8 pairs of mallards
3 of this brown bird that was skinny, had a white band around its neck and a flash of orange on its back?
Anyway, birding is my new mania.
It was a frozen and foggy morning, but I saw a ton of waterfowl. Had I not been walking with experienced birders, I would have looked at the birds and said, "Oh. Ducks." Well there were at least five different varieties in one bunch alone. So cool.
The Meadowlands Environmental Center is amazing as well. This was another place that I always meant to check out but never did. The NJ Turnpike runs right along the border, but I was surprisingly unaware of it. I couldn't hear the highway roar. Amtrak runs right by it as well. The eyesore that is Xanadu is hidden by a hill that is probably comprised of garbage.
The Bergen County Audubon Society runs free walks nearly every weekend and every Tuesday. I have not been free to go on another, but I did sign up for their email alerts and when I heard about the Birding for Beginners class, decided to carve out the time.
So. I'm going to be more aware of the birds. My husband, Mark and I fed them all this snowy winter. But I'm going to watch the feeder more. I'm going to keep bird lists. I may even consider going on a birding vacation.
I also learned about a web site that you can sign up for to keep your bird counts. When I rooted around the book shelves looking for my old birding books, I found The Birdwatcher's Book of Lists. I might take to carrying it around. I wonder whatever happened to the list of birds I made from January?
Today, I saw:
a pair of Mute Swans
3 Great Egrets - not snowy. I learned the differents
1 cormorant, but I don't know what kind
a bunch of bufflehead ducks - I got to see those through a high powered scope - so pretty!
a bunch of ruddy ducks - very cute
a red tailed hawk - but I see them all the time in my neighborhood
8 pairs of mallards
3 of this brown bird that was skinny, had a white band around its neck and a flash of orange on its back?
Anyway, birding is my new mania.
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