Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

Well, that went well! With the election season over in a big way, I can say with certainty that no one truly expected the orange man with wispy hair to win the highest office in the land. Those of us with blue hearts and political leanings sighed despondently at such news, so naturally, we all needed to escape after the election results of this past Tuesday. I did so by heading to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. I had a quest for myself and the goal was to find a rare visitor that had appeared on the main pond for several weeks this year. In fact, not only did I find one far flung traveler on this day, but two more graced my presence in and around Montezuma. The first target I sought was a duck. While that may not seem that exciting, the duck in question was a Eurasian wigeon ( Anas penelope ), a duck more at home in the marshes of Slimbridge than the backwoods of central New York. Despite living and visiting the UK frequently in my life, I had never gotten the opportunity to see...

Hello all. Over the past week, I've been getting settled in up in Saco, ME and I'll be sharing a little bit about what life is like at the moment. I'm living literally 100 feet from Ferry Beach and it is an amazing resource. The beach provides splendid views of the surrounding coastline and represents the longest stretch of sandy beach in Maine! When I headed out yesterday morning to look for some wintering water birds, I didn't expect there to be so much mist. The clouds and cold temperatures had decided to bequeath us with a sprinkle of snow and as a result, the surrounding beach and ocean was veiled in translucent mist. The view south towards Camp Ellis and the jetty. With the spitting snow obscuring the camera lens and binoculars alike, I strained to make out the black, gray, and white blobs bobbing in the surf beyond. Fortunately, the light gave way to dozens of waterfowl and other water birds diving for clams and other molluscs in the surf below. Black ( M...

Sea ducks. Bay ducks. Marsh ducks. So many kinds of ducks! For those of you that think ducks are those aquatic birds that swim around in ponds, eating bread, and gracing the pages of the Boston-based classic Make Way for Ducklings , you would be right about 1 out of 39 times (39 being the number of regularly occurring species in North America). The most common and easily recognized duck is the Mallard ( Anas platyrhynchos ) and generally speaking, is the one most people think of when they think of a duck. Mallards at Hager Pond in Marlboro, MA. However, as the title suggests, the waterfowl family isn't simply one species. The birds I want to talk about today are some of the toughest, roughest, and even, dare I say it, attractive ducks in the Anatidae family! The name "sea duck" originates in several older documents including the earlier versions of Roger Tory Peterson's field guides and refers to their preferred winter habitat of coastlines, harbors, and the o...

This morning I had the great fortune of spotting not only a life bird, but also getting a fairly rare bird for Massachusetts. The bird I'm referring to is the Cackling Goose ( Branta hutchinsii ), but upon looking at the two photos below, you probably have noticed something unusual about the appearance of these birds. For all intents and purposes, a Cackling Goose appears to be a dead ringer for a munchkin-sized Canada Goose ( B. canadensis ) and to the uninitiated, it could be mistaken for a "baby" Canada Goose. However, we birders know that what a baby goose looks like with its fuzzy yellowish down, peeping voice, and angry, protective parents so to be seeing a "baby" goose at this time of year would be completely unexpected. The Cackling Goose was for a long time considered to be a high Arctic breeding race of Canada Goose in northwestern Canada and Alaska. They themselves can be split into three or four races as well and include the Taverner's, ...

It will be two more weeks until my time in Pennsylvania ends, but before that arrives, I've been actively trying to add more species to my year list in an attempt to beat my year birding record from last year (223 spp.) With the addition of two American Coots ( Fulica americana ) this afternoon during a visit to Peace Valley Park in Doylestown, I now have 211 species on the list thus far. While I'm confident I can beat my record from last year, the nail biting finish is fast approaching and I can only hope that the sea ducks, LBJs, and auks I need, manifest themselves before December ends. Still it's been an amazing year and I've been clicking away whenever I get the chance (both in terms of photography and blogging). I decided to walk around Lake Galena (the main attraction in Peace Valley Park) today for two reasons. This past week I've been using a pedometer app to track how far I walk during the day at work and for the most part, I get about 10,000 steps a day...

All puns aside, this is a post about the Whiskered Tern ( Chlidonias hybridus ) (sort of) and my visit to Cape May on Sunday. After working all last week and seeing report after report of this Code 5 Whiskered Tern at the state park at Cape May Point, I made the 2 1/2 hour journey from Horsham to Cape May and started my quest for the tern. After arriving at 10:45am and asking around at the hawkwatch platform, I was dismayed to find out that it had been visiting regularly in the afternoon instead. Despite this setback, I decided to comb the park for some year birds instead. I didn't have to wait long as I secured two Little Blue Herons ( Egretta caerulea ) and a Pied-billed Grebe ( Podilymbus podiceps ) on Bunker Pond, as well as a Blue-winged Teal ( Anas discors ) on the nearby ponds. The skies and bushes were filled with the sounds of nature. Overhead migrating raptors like Ospreys ( Pandion haliaetus ), an immature Bald Eagle ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ), and soaring Turkey Vultu...