30 years of birds

 Thirty years ago on Easter Sunday my wife and I joined the Hampton Roads Bird Club's Sunday bird walk. It was our first time doing anything like birding. We had seen a poster announcing the semi-monthly walks while hiking at the park and thought it would be interesting to see what this bird-thing was like. Two things stand out in my memory about that walk. First, I saw a lot of things I didn't know what they were but the patient birders on the walk happily helped identify them.

ME: there's a bird on the ground

OTHER: That's a starling

ME: What's that bird on the sidewalk?

OTHER: That's a starling

Five minutes later

ME: What's that in the tree

OTHER: That's a starling

Five minutes later

ME: There is a bunch of birds flying by

OTHER: Those are starlings

Ten minutes later

ME: What's the bird on the railing?

OTHER: That's a starling

Another 10 minutes

ME: Is that a starling

OTHER: No, that's a robin

Luckily, no one lost patience with the new guy who quickly became the starling finder 😀

The second thing I remember is seeing a great blue heron. That became my spark bird, the one that focuses your initial energy and excitement and hooks you into this all-encompassing hobby. Driving around town and going on other walks in parks nearby, I saw a great blue heron each of the next seven days and I was hooked. And if you can't tell by the name of this blog, it became my special bird identity.

A recent great blue heron, not one of the spark ones

I didn't keep records or anything so all I know is that we saw at least two different species on that walk.

This past weekend we went on that walk again to celebrate. Not sure there was anyone here this time that was there the first time. Perhaps the current walk leader was, we don't remember. Over the years as the group as changed leaders and participants, the walk has expanded to cover more and more of the park and last longer. This week we spent about 6 hours birding, including walking a trail that usually isn't part of the walk in hopes of finding more migrating warblers. There weren't great warbler numbers but we still saw 56 species; at least a dozen of them were by call only. That concept would have blown my mind 30 years ago. 

Highlights today included seeing a pair of barred owls, a belted kingfisher with a fish, a prothonotary warbler about 20 ft away, and hearing several common yellowthoats singing. Only the kingfisher was in a position to get a decent photograph. 

Belted kingfisher with a fish for breakfast

Kingfisher whacking the fish to subdue it

Appropriately, there was also a couple of great blue herons. They are probably one of my most seen birds. I've recently been doing a data dive into my eBird data so I should be able to answer that question.  

I'm still amazed at how that decision to go on the walk, and the welcoming, helpful people on the walk, started a new hobby that has seriously changed my life (and usually for the better). I sometimes get lost in thought of how I would be spending my time if I didn't enjoy birdwatching. I've never came up with a good answer.

 

Gardens at Winterthur

 On a recent trip back from Philadelphia, my wife and I stopped at the wonderful gardens at Winterthur. Winterthur was the estate of Henry Francis du Pont, an avid antique collector and gardener in the early to mid 20th century. On the grounds is the massive, 175-room house that now is open as a museum highlighting American antiques. We focused on walking the gardens; over 60 acres. There are also 25 miles of hiking trails that we didn't explore this time but may stop back by to explore. Apparently some of the land is still old-growth forest. Something hard to come by here in the east. 

While we had a map of the grounds, much of our tour focused on the "white arrow" tour. Henry Francis used to set out white arrows to point the way for his visitors to see the areas currently in bloom. The museum continues that tradition.

Spring was still waking in many areas when we visited and a cold front moved through the day before so we were well bundled to enjoy the early bloomers. Flowering magnolia trees were one area of focus. We came across multiple group plantings of different cultivars with different color patterns. They made really nice combinations.

A focus of the early spring blooming flowers are ground covers. There were several places throughout the garden blanketed with flowers making the most of the available sun before the trees overhead leave-out. These included a huge bank of one of our favorite spring flowers, ipheion. At one of our first stops there was a bank of Italian windflower moving ever so gently in the day's breeze.

ipheion

Italian windflower

Near the ipheions on the edge of the sundial garden is a mix of flowering quince. Again, the mixing of the colors, ranging from deep red, to pink, to orange, is really beautiful.

And while many of the daffodils were starting to fade, there was this wonderful combination of daffodils and forsythia looking out over a golf course (yes, Henry Francis had his own, personal golf course).

Winterthur has truly wonderful gardens and I'm glad we decided to stop by. Maybe next time, we will get to see the fairies that live there.

Fairies cottage. Unoccupied during our visit

A Study of Pine Warblers

This winter we have been hosts to three very distinct pine warblers. And they are all coming to the feeder station we have out. This year I have a hopper with mixed seeds, a small dish that usually has dried mealworms, and recently I have added back the Bark Butter feeder. The Bark Butter feeder is a fallen limb that I drilled 1" holes all the way through. It used to hang from a pine branch that I could reach with a long stick. This offered good protection from squirrels and other mammals. But then that branch fell in a storm and there isn't anything else that is within good reach that would also offer mammal protection. So it had been in the shed for a couple of seasons. 

This year we have been getting a lot of activity at the feeder including a family or two of bluebirds and the western tanager visitor talked about in my last post. That, plus being home most days now that I'm retired, means I can better keep up with the full suite of feeders. 

Among the many visitors are the pine warblers. We have pine warblers in the yard year-round and they would occasionally come to the feeders. But this year they are being regular visitors and with the distinct plumages, we can readily keep track of them. It also has been fun to watch their interactions. One day I had the camera out and took a lot of pictures. Here are some of the highlights including the plumage variations and some of their interactions.

This is the palest of the pine warblers. On the front (see image below), there is only a slight hint of yellow. When we first saw it from the front, we were thinking it might be something like an orange-crowned warbler. But the wing bars and overall behavior make it clearly a pine warbler. 

Pale pine warbler on Bark Butter feeder

Palest pine warbler on the mealworm feeder to the right

This is the brightest and the middle pine warblers both on the feeder pole. A downy woodpecker comes in and flushes the middle one.

The brightest and middle pine warbler both on the feeder

A downy flushes one off

The brightest has very strong, distinct streaking along its sides. Very pretty.

Brightest pine warbler showing streaking on its sides

The warblers like the mealworm feeder too. But it is small enough that they usually don't share. First we have the brightest pine warbler displacing the palest. And then the palest coming back but failing to displace a bluebird.

Palest pine warbler leaving as the brightest comes in to the feeder

Pine warbler approaching bluebird already on the feeder

And not being successful in displacing the bluebird

And finally, the palest attempting to approach the Bark Butter feeder that the brightest is defending

While the palest seemed to have a rough time of it accessing the feeders the day I had the camera out, that does not seem to be a regular pattern. Just a little run of bad luck.

It appears that we have two mixed flocks with different makeups of species and a few times a day, they arrive at the same time. Or maybe it is a large one that sometimes splits into two?? The middle and brightest often travel together while the paler one is the lone pine warbler in its smaller group. The groups have different numbers of chickadees and bluebirds as well. When they get together there doesn't seem like there is much fighting so that's good.

'Til next time ...

A Rare Start to the Year

My wife and I like starting the new year by spending time with the birds and seeing all the new-this-year species. We will pick a local area and spend most of the day visiting several birding hot spots. This isn't "Big Day" style birding but a day focused on being out there and seeing birds. And if the weather is decent, all the better.

This year our day started with watching the morning flock at our backyard feeder. For the past couple of days we had been hosting a Western Tanager. The tanager would generally show up with a big mixed flock of bluebirds, finches, several sparrows species, cardinals, pine warblers, and many others. This morning, the visit was cut short by a Cooper's Hawk swooping through the yard. But we still managed to see 13 species in 5 minutes of watching.

Western Tanager

Western Tanager

That was one rare bird seen to start the new year. Our next stop was at an fellow birder's who was hosting a rufous hummingbird. The hummingbird, like the tanager, is a western US bird that migrated east instead of south. We don't normally chase rare birds since we feel the payoff of seeing it and adding it to a list doesn't offset the usual long wait that frequently ends in totally missing the bird. This was the exact opposite. When we arrived at the house, two other people were there. After introductions and some small talk we started watching the feeder. A minute or two later, one of them turned to us and said, "you know that it is right here in this tree" and pointed about 20 feet away. And there is was sitting on a branch. It soon took to the air to grab a bug and return. It continued perching and flying around for the next ten minutes or so. Only then did it go to the sugar water feeder. That was rare bird #2 for the day and we had spent about 15 minutes of watching time. We also saw several other backyard birds sharing the space with the hummingbird.

Rufous Hummingbird

A couple of years ago we had good luck at a local farm where you can bird along a driveway through the fields. That time we saw snipe and Killdeer in the fields and several hawks species overhead. My wife wanted to see snipe to honor the those of last year and the first one we ever saw together, also coincidentally on New Year's Day.  However, this year the fields were really dry, it hasn't rained here in about two weeks, and we didn't see any birds in the fields. There were many turkey vultures in a neighboring field and a handful of rock pigeons on the wires. So we moved on.

While it wasn't particularly cold, there was a biting wind making standing in the open uncomfortable. So our next stop was a small boat launch park that was well protected. We saw four woodpecker species and our first American Robins of the year. After a coffee stop, we drove along a parkway that travels along the James River. 

After a couple of quiet stops we came across a mixed flock that gave us a lot of good views and hung around for a while. The flock was mainly White-throated Sparrows. Traveling with them were a pair of White-breasted Nuthatches, a pair of Hermit Thrushes, and three Eastern Towhees among more typical members like chickadees and titmice. 

Further along the parkway as we drove past a mowed patch, my wife saw a handful of Tree Swallows feeding. There is no parking on the side of the road there so we u-turned and passed back by slowly. And by slowly I mean creeping along at zero miles per hour as our attention was on the swallows. The swallows are eBird-rare, meaning they are unusual enough we have to provide additional justification. At a later stop we also saw a Laughing Gull that is also eBird-rare. Both are typical fall birds that probably winter only a little south of us so it isn't uncommon to see them in early winter or even through winter. But unusual enough to feel like a special treat. 

By this time the light was starting to fade and the cold was seeping into us, so we headed home with a total of 51 species seen. 

Great Blue Heron seen along the shore

A wonderful way to start the new year, in which I am now fully retired. So I plan to post more-- keep an eye here.

Cumberland Marsh

 This week my wife and I joined a guide from The Nature Conservancy along with a few employees and other volunteers for a paddle through Cumberland Marsh in Eastern Virginia. We learned a lot about the restoration work TNC has done here including the removal of two dams. This site also has strong populations of a couple of endangered plants including sensitive joint-vetch.

Cumberland Marsh launch site

We drove back to a limited-access part of the preserve to launch and had about a 4 mile loop trip. 

The marsh during a snack break

There were nice views of a pair of northern harriers, a close fly-by from a bald eagle, and several belted kingfishers along the way. The marsh, especially near the start, had several hundred, if not thousands, of red-winged blackbirds and grackles flying around. 

Bidens in bloom

We also encountered some wild rice which the indigenous people harvest. 

Wild rice is the tall, thin stuff in the front left

And the chatting with all of the very interesting people was the real highlight. We have been on several such trips at various locations and with various groups. Everyone on this trip was interesting to talk with and came from different backgrounds. Not something you find on every paddle. 

A few of our companions

It was a great time and I'm looking forward to meeting some of our companions again on future adventures and volunteer activities.

Yet more flooding

 One of my major volunteering efforts is mapping storm tides as part of Wetlands Watch and their Catch the King. I've written about this a few times in the past including back in 2017 when we set a world record for the most contributions to an environmental survey.

  This year, the astronomical high tide for September and October are pretty close so we did a "Wet Run" for the September tide and the full Catch the King event in October. Early in the week during September we had a steady northeast wind that piles up water down here in the Southwest Chesapeake Bay so the tide even higher than the astronomical predictions. I was able to get out multiple days to do some mapping around my area. 

At one of our local boat launches, the parking lot was cut off by the flooding. Water crossed the road approaching the parking lot and the ramp area itself was flooding to mid-calf level. 

Flooded parking lot. There is two set of boat-trailer parking
rows underwater between here and the river

Close up of the kayak launch that usually goes down to the water

There is a boat ramp somewhere under that water. Again the floating
dock is above ground level

Luckily, this stayed in the nuisance / minor level so it mainly flooded open areas and yards and didn't do much damage to property. At the first place above, they did fail to secure the trash bins fisherman use. That unfortunately dumped a lot of waste and debris back into the bay. Events like this can really impact local water quality negatively.

Finally, I set up my camera to record the flooding in the marsh behind our house. Notice the animals making use of the recently flooded areas. This is a phenomena that we often see with herons and other animals feeding high up in the marsh during and after high tides. 

It is a week later as I write this and yet another storm is passing by and bringing more water. I'm about to head out for some more mapping.

Butterflies galore

Dunn skipper seen on butterfly count

On Aug 9, my wife and I joined three other Virginia Master Naturalists for the Northwest sector in the Williamsburg annual butterfly count. The count is in support of North American Butterfly Association (NABA) and locally sponsored by the Coastal Virginia Wildlife Observatory (CVWO). We have done several other counts in the region the last several years but this is our first time on the Williamsburg count. Usually in early August we can expect very hot and humid to very hot and very humid weather. This year we got lucky with the temperature and humidity at quite comfortable levels. 

Most of our stops were manicured gardens instead of the wild areas that we have been in for other counts. This included a plant nursery, a community garden, or allotments, the Williamsburg Botanical Gardens, and a couple of private gardens. With all of the blooming garden plants, there were a lot of eastern tiger swallowtails, monarchs, and sachems (a skipper) throughout the day.

Eastern swallowtail

Common buckeye

We started at the plant nursery with permission to be there before they opened for sales. The agastache (Anise hyssop) was covered with tiger swallowtails. We counted at least 8 moving between the blooms and at times, it seemed like a lot more with many in the air at a time. There were also high numbers of three different skipper species. 

A quick stop at the James City County library where there is a small storm water pond netted us several pearl crescents and common buckeyes. Both high counts for the day.

Sachem on a zinnia

Red-spotted purple seen
in the woods

The allotment gardens were a busy place; both people and butterflies. Probably half the gardens had people tending them on the Saturday morning. And with the blooming vegetable plants and a lot of zinnias, the butterflies were busy as well. We had sixty individual butterflies from 17 species; most at the allotments. This included 13 monarchs, another 8 tiger swallowtails, 8 variegated fritilaries, and 11 sachems. We also walked around some of the wooded edges and sports fields. A soccer field hosted 45 killdeer which would have been a great count if we were counting birds instead of butterflies. But it was still an impressive sight.

Our last major stop was at the Williamsburg Botanical Gardens. This was again full of tiger swallowtails along with a handful of sleepy oranges and a scattering of other species. We also had a very accommodating ruby-throated hummingbird.

Rudy-throated hummingbird (a bird, not a butterfly😁 )

All told, after 6 and a half hours looking for butterflies, we had seen 137 individuals from 20 species, including this male and female pair of zabulon skippers.

Male and female zabulon skippers