Prime Hook Turkeys...and other good birds

What a great site this was just this past week. Bill Jones, Prime Hook Staff,  had not seen this leucistic "white" Turkey. It was along the entrance road before the 90 degree curve approaching the Headquarters on 4/21/15.

Below is a Snowy Egret in full breeding plumage, with plumes and red lores.

Our next field trip meets at Prime Hook, and from there we will go to the State Wildlife Management Area next to Prime Hook. Woodland migrants will be our target birds.

Cape Henlopen Field Trip Summary, Apr 22, 2015

For our OLLI class field trip today, both the weather and the birds cooperated. We saw 46 species, but best of all we saw some really good birds, really well. Highlights were 3 Piping Plover, which we had missed on our first field trip to Cape Henlopen, an American Oystercatcher up close, and my top bird, a Peregrine Falcon, incredibly close and with multiple views from several locations.

Now many thanks to John Long for getting excellent pictures of the Peregrine Falcon and American Oystercatcher, plus a very nice pic of the singing Field Sparrow by the Point parking lot.

Our next field trip will be primarily for woodland migrants...during the peak of spring migration.

OLLI Firld trip April 22, 2015

For tomorrow's field trip to Cape Henlopen, weather looks good in morning....as of right now....BUT it will be windy.

So for those of you with a lot of hair, you may look like the attached Snowy Egret.

Me?.... of course I have no worries....and look forward to seeing all of you tomorrow....and hopefully spotting a Piping Plover and Brown-headed Nuthatch.

Bill

Today at Prime Hook NWR

I have been bringing my camera on our OLLI class field trips, but I rarely get time to use it. So today just me and my camera went to Prime Hook. Because of the high east winds, followed my a lot of rain last night, water levels were very high, and had actually been over Prime Hook Rd overnight. Even so, I got a few good bird pics to share with you, with a few more still to come. (Click on photos for larger image).

 Why is my blog called My Tern? Why not? Foresters Tern

 Yellow slippers??? Hey these are yellow boots! Snowy Egret

So what is the problem with Greater vs Lesser Yellowlegs???

Safe Haven feeder and up-side-down thistle feeder

These are 2 of my favorite feeders. Blackbirds generally can not deal with either of them, but as you can see, desirable birds such as Purple Finches, Goldfinches and even White-throated Sparrows love them. Again for details on the Safe Haven feeder, click on feeders under Labels (left index). The up-side-down thistle feeders are available at most bird feeder suppliers.

The next post will be about bird baths .......that really bring in the birds....especially the birds that do NOT eat seed....like thrushes, warblers, tanagers etc.

Birding Apps, and a book for beginning birders

This Nature Conservancy Blog by Timothy Boucher has a very thorough article on choosing a birding app for your smart phone. Also be sure to read the comments, as they add some good perspective. As I mentioned today, I finally selected the Sibley app, mostly because it presents more than just one song example, and because I really think Sibley drawings are the best.

A very good book some of you got to review today is the Young Birder's Guide by Bill Thompson III. In it you will find a whole host of tips for beginning birders, from selecting binoculars, to finding birds in the binoculars, to identifying birds, etc, etc. It is also a very useful field guide covering most bird species you are likely to encounter, and under each species, it contains unique "WOW" facts not found in conventional field guides. Available through Amazon and elsewhere.

SUMMARY - OLLI Field Trip, 4/15/15, and Bird Feeder Tips

First, we discussed bird feeding and grackle problems. I said I thought on this blog I had posted some detailed information about my home made feeder that excluded Grackles......and yes I had. It is HERE. Also note that I found my own posts by using Labels (on the left) and clicking on feeders. Try it for other topics of interest. Upcoming, will be some today-photos of my Safe Haven Feeder with photos of Purple Finches...so you can compare to more common House Finches.

Today was a productive day, and even an exceptional day compared to last week. Our cumulative class list is now up to 53 species observed, and 6 more heard. Highlights today were certainly the Yellow-throated Warbler, Ovenbird and Pine Warbler (all warblers), plus the large number of American Avocets (my estimate is 300+). Also noteworthy was the Great Horned Owl with chick, the large numbers of Northern Shovelers, good looks at a Hairy Woodpecker, and many very attractive male displaying Red-winged Blackbirds.

So next week at Cape Henlopen, maybe the weather and birds will cooperate, and hopefully we will get to see Piping Plover and Brown-headed Nuthatch, 2 specialties for the Park that we missed on our first trip there.

American Avocet from today's class

Feels Like 36 deg F......Today's Field Trip Summary

Yup, that is what my iPhone weather said when I got home, which jibes with what I observed.... namely 44 deg F and 20+ mph winds, with a smattering of misty drizzle.

So if you were one of the 14 on this morning's field trip, you deserve a medal for toughness. We did see some good birds, but my count total was only 20 species observed and called out by me, and observed by at least some of you. (My personal species count would have been about 30...but for instance with gulls, I decided to hold off on them for a future class when we are closer to them and less stressed by the weather).

Okay, 20 species makes it easy to focus on the highlights. Mine was certainly the number of Gannets so close to shore. It appeared they were flying north over the surf line at a rate of approximately 10 per minute. So had we watched for only them for 2 1/2 hrs, we would have counted roughly 1,500 Gannets....not bad.

Other highlights were: 2 Brant seen close through the scope by all, about 20 Red-breasted Mergansers, 5+ Osprey with 2 calling close overhead, a single Sharp-shinned Hawk and Northern Flicker, and vocally - singing Cardinals, Carolina Chickadees, Tufted Titmice and House Finches.

Our 2 primary missed target birds were Piping Plover and Brown-headed Nuthatch (although at least I heard one of the later at the end of our trip).

Next week we meet at the Prime Hook Refuge Headquarters at 8 am, Wed, 4/15....if your taxes are done. Will we see more birds next week?...Most probably....But a spring Northeaster could make today's weather seem not so bad.

Have a great week, and do enjoy birding, as new birds are arriving every day...... Bill

April 8 OLLI Field Birding Class Weather UPDATE

I'll be at the Cape Henlopen Nature Center at 8 am today.

It is presently 5:30 am Wed, and IT IS A TOUGH CALL!!!

First of all, NOAA and Weather Underground do not agree. Neither has a good forecast, but Weather Underground's is not too bad, and my read of the radar images and rain forecast agrees with them.

So lets leave it this way.....I'll be there at 8 am. If you are up to birding in some rain, and wind, please join me. We will probably end on the early side. Our travels will be mostly in our cars, and we will bird mostly via telescope, protected by umbrellas. It is quite cold.....44 degrees right now, so dress warmly if you do decide to be adventuresome.

Your choice.........Bill


---------------Following from 3 pm Tue......................

I am following the weather, and presently I think we are still a GO for tomorrow.

From NOAA at 3 pm Tue, Wed forecast is:    
A chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 51. Northeast wind around 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. 

I will decide go/no-go before 6 am tomorrow (4/8), and post the decision here by 6 am. Looks like we will have some rain, but light. Even so bring at least a rain repellent jacket....plus 51 degrees with 17 mph winds is COOL, so dress warmly.