jane_c's Journal

Spent about 3 glorious hours outside today. It seems like summer is here!

Had several very exciting spots in the arb. I had planned to only check out the ponds in the arb, on the off-chance of seeing more fancy ducks, however I got distracted by:

female downy woodpecker (small beak!)

red-bellied woodpecker (I love the call of this bird. Seriously sounds like a dinosaur. Something about it sounds so wild, every time I'm like "what the hell is that?!?")

red squirrel scaring two blue jays

beautiful male cardinals making his mating face, with the hair tuft haha. I believe he scored since a female followed him across the lake...

three golden crowned kinglets! A new species for me. I had seen these little birds the other day when I was going for a run and was very frustrated not to have gotten a good look at them. However I saw them again today! And it took my a good half hour to catch them in my binoculars. They are so small and quite zippy. But, I finally did. Very satisfying.

3 American Crows foraging together. I love how they are social birds.

Yellow-bellied sapsucker. Another new species for me. One of the most beautiful birds I've ever seen. His colors were so bright. I loved his red face, contrasted with the black chest mark and the yellow. This one was very yellow, which was nice. I am very happy to have identified one. I feel that I have finally worked out my native woodpecker distinctions, which I am proud of.

Next time I will try to make it to the reservoir, because there is an intriguing marshy area where I will probably get good looks at amphibians.

As a N.B. on the eighth I saw a hawk being harassed by a crow. Very cool, but I still do not know my hawks well enough to have gotten an id. I also did not have my binoculars, though the hawk did fly only about thirty feet from me. I have seen this individual before, I feel. He is rather light colored.... Maybe another time

Returned from Equine Affaire feeling pretty drowsy from the car trip and everything. Had tea, the sky cleared around 8pm so I went for a run. I've decided I like running on trails a bunch, so went down to the Arb. And of course, there were some unexpected fancy birds!

A flock of 5 fancy ducks. Maybe long-tailed ducks.
Perhaps a grebe.
A group of swallows foraging over the water.
Saw the yellow-crowned kinglets.
and a little blue bird, perhaps a blue-grey gnatcatcher.

I ran back to my dorm to get my binoculars, but by the time I got back it was dark. The swallows were gone, the ducks I could see, but not well enough to ID, and I didn't get another look at the mystery little blue. I might have, as a small fluttering blob... not enough light to distinguish even from a few feet away.

so, the run was short, but energizing, and the birdwatching was also short, and frustrating. perhaps i will wake up early tomorrow and head down there, now that there may be some exciting things to see...

I think Dan is a lucky birder. went to the arb together today and we saw:

WOAH! A COMMON LOON!!! I have always wanted to see one of these birds. And never thought I would. How crazy. It's much bigger than I expected. And we heard its awesome call.

Yellow crowned kinglets. They're still here, it is possible that there were also ruby-crowned kinglets too, but who can say.

tufted titmouse - much smaller than the titmouse i thought I saw a few weeks ago, so now I am doubting the identification of that bird from the past...

yellow-bellied sapsucker
cardinals
robins
blue jays
turkey vultures

the unknown brown ducks from yesterday. the buffleheads had moved one.

the snake from the other day with nicholas. Got a better look this time, but still don't know what it is. Two yellow lateral lines and a whiteish dorsal line. Patterned black dots, perhaps in diamond shapes. I will have to remember to note scale shape, and the scale line the stripes fall at...
perhaps it is a common garter snake, that is our best guess.

And to wrap it up, a beaver! My first beaver haha! its crazy. there was so much to see.

barn swallow - 100th bird!!!!!
pied grebe -these have been on the lake for awhile. finally IDed with help from native
blue-gray gnatcatcher - very cute birds. pale greys. saw another that was even paler which was confusing, but we think it was the same
yellow throated vireo - i imagine a vireo. i dont know how to recognize their silhouettes yet, but the color pattern matched pretty exactly
yellow-rumped warbler - very exciting! saw several of these guys. it seems that it is warbler seasons, and that duck season is over...
song sparrow - grace liked this guy. we got a very good look at him. he really does have a beautiful song

eastern phoebe - going to have to go with eastern, but looked more like black, though that is impossible geographically... (apparently)
red bellied woodpecker, a regular
white breasted nuthatch <3
other swallows, possibly tree but more blue than green
turtle swimming in reservoir
2 canada geese
hawk, unidentified, but chilling. he's large bodied

huge frog - must be Rana catesbeiana bc of its size and distribution. though it was very dark rather than olive green. perhaps covered in mud? just got out of burrowing?
grey snake with white stripes

both the reptiles were pointed out to use by the woman

beaver the previous day

A new adventure to Findley Park 20 minutes out of town. I will return this week as long as Drew and Noah do not crash my car tonight...

Spotted some amazing birds there, even a few new ones:
White-throated sparrow
house wren
palm warbler (migrations season!!)
blue-winged teal (super cool. Identified them from the air. they are shy it seems)

and some old favorites:
Eastern Bluebird (truly a favorite)

Tree Swallows (a ton of them. And they were not shy, I got within four feet of a bunch of them. They are beautiful! I love the passerines.)

Great Blue Heron (stalking prey by the lake's edge. so cool!)

Yellow Warbler (funny because I could hear it in a bush for at least five minutes and I'm looking at the bush and getting frustrated because I don't know why I can't see this bird at eye level ten feet from me. But then he appeared! Bright yellow is a good camouflage believe it or not)
Hairy/Downy? woodpecker, foraging on the ground which was cool

black-capped chickadees
very angry canadian geese, with yellow goslings
yellow rumped warbler
red-tailed hawk
blue jays
chipping sparrows, which are everywhere. and two other sorts, but i was too tired at that point to really try and id them.

i think i saw the nose of a turtle poking through the water as well. will have to study my turtle noses, of all things. practiced whistling too.

really it was a day. i think i even impressed nick with my list, and he makes a point not to care about birds... though he likes jays and cardinals. I'd guess he'd like yellow warblers too, hard not to like really