Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

As I mentioned in my weekend post about the American White Pelican ( Pelecanus erythrorhynchos ), Alison and I headed up to Beaver Lake Nature Center to watch the action at the feeders and to spot some year birds for our lists as well. As I write this, I thought about deviating from my usual "describe how the day/event went" style and instead create an unofficial guide to the species we saw at Beaver Lake. So without further adieu, here we go. Beaver Lake Nature Center is a 600+ acre park located in Baldwinsville, New York and features 9 miles of hiking trails, abundant wildlife, a wide range of habitats, and a 200 acre lake popular amongst local canoeing and kayaking fans. It has quickly become our favorite park to visit and so we decided that on Saturday afternoon, we would visit the main building to watch the feeder birds flit about and snarf away many, many sunflower seeds. The first birds we noticed were the American Goldfinches ( Spinus tristis ) in their dull straw...

So during my first week in New Jersey I've learned two things: 1. Living on a wildlife preserve is the most amazing thing I think I've ever done in my life (which will lead to an important announcement at the end of this blog post) and 2. The main species of chickadee here are Carolina Chickadees ( Poecile carolinensis ). Now I've seen Carolinas before. Last year when I visited Assateague National Seashore (my girlfriend worked there as a plover steward), I heard their higher pitched and almost raspy calls in the trees above. Now that I'm in New Jersey however, I have hit upon an interesting problem. In New Jersey, both Carolina and Black-capped Chickadees ( P. atricapillus ) exist practically side by side, with Black-caps occupying the more northerly areas, while Carolinas are more central to southerly. Now, one would think that such a difference in range would put them on either side of a well defined line, but as any good birder will note, where their ranges seem t...