One More Time…

Blue-winged warbler, male.

One Cuckoo Flew Over

The day actually started all wrong. The nets were frozen. Yup, almost the end of May and the nets are frozen at 6 AM. This was more than your run-of-the-mill hoar frost. This was ICE. In pretty little balls about the size of a chickadee’s eye, and all holding the nets closed tight. It was [...]

Anemones Growing on Cedars?

So there I was at six this morning, opening the very wet field nets, when I noticed the sea anemones in the cedar trees. Huh?
Now, since I consider myself to be fairly intelligent, I guessed right away that they weren’t really sea anemones – but had to be something else, in spite of what they [...]

Morning Jewels

This morning began with one of my favorite species – the ovenbird. This one has something stuck on her head, though I could not determine what it was – possibly sap. To remove it would have cost her more than a few crown feathers, so I opted to leave it alone.
I think ovenbirds are one [...]

Just Can’t Do It

Do three days away count as time off?  I realized that busy as I am – if I don’t blog I tend not to write, and that’s not good.  So, while I most likely will never post in the morning unless the weather isn’t good for banding, I’m going to make every effort to keep [...]

Just One More

Ok, Ok – I know what I said yesterday and I’m still taking some time off – but I had to show you this male indigo bunting, especially since I posted the female in the last post.  Sorry, it’s slightly off-focus around his head, but he wasn’t exactly cooperative.  See ya!

Warblers, Bunnies and Buntings

This wild bunny lives near one of my field nets.  Yesterday morning when I first arrived around six in the morning to open the nets, Bunny was at the far end.  I stood still, and he came within just a few feet of me.  At that point, he wasn’t too sure what this thing was [...]

Where did the weekend go?  I spent this morning banding a few migrants (very quiet out there today) and speaking with a couple of visiting birders who are going to take part in the World Series of Birding next Saturday.  Then, 200 kids descended on the camp, and I was called to lead two separate groups [...]

Golden-winged Warbler

Isn’t he just exquisite?

Aptly Named

We have 200 school kids in today and tomorrow, besides the regular banding, so I don’t have a lot of time to post or read other blogs until the weekend.  But here’s the bird of the day:  Rose breasted Grosbeak.   Aptly named – he bit me – hard!  Nursing bruised fingers.

Notice the lovely pink underwing [...]