Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

My "naturadar" was going off again today. Anyone is who in awe of the natural world possesses some form of this mechanism. Some people are only just discovering theirs, while others always seem distracted by the petals on a flower or the smell of the ocean in the wind. Mine is constantly on, scanning for signs of life in and around the house. While sitting in my parent's kitchen, I glanced out of the glass door leading out to the deck. Flecks of snow drifted quietly from the skies above while caramel oak leaves littered the ground, occasionally dancing to the wind before settling back down. The cloudy skies above almost disguised the flakes as they left their skyward home and descended haphazardly to the earth below. Further along the decks railing stood our well worn bird feeder swaying gently on its hook. Our bird feeder is a large tube feeder with a metal top and bottom, plastic tubing, and stiff metal perches. The top bore the scars of squirrels trying to chew throu...

As crazy as it sounds, the Inner Harbour of Lake Onondaga in Syracuse has been graced with an unusual winter visitor in recent weeks. While the usual reports of Glaucous ( Larus hyperboreus ) or Iceland Gulls ( L. glaucoides ) swirled about on the listservs, few surprses seemed likely. That all changed to sudden pandemonium, as local birders erupted online with talk of an American White Pelican ( Pelecanus erythrorhynchos ) spotted on Lake Onondaga in mid January! Alison and I were lucky enough to see this rare visitor (and a possible first for the county in winter) yesterday, before heading up to watch the feeders at Beaver Lake Nature Center in Baldwinsville. After spotting some local birders watching a culvert under the bridge supporting Spencer Street, we were rewarded with an excellent view of this huge white bird. As we watched it emerge from the culvert, its massive pouched bill swelled and shivered. It didn't seem to mind the 20 degree weather as we shivered ourselve...

After dealing with the piles of snow that have graced New England the past fortnight, my girlfriend Alison and I went to check out two Mass Audubon sanctuaries south of Boston. We first toured the Sharon Beals exhibit at the Museum of American Bird Art in Canton, where the exhibit featured the photographers portraits of birds nests from all over the world. We looked at each of the nests lining the walls of the art gallery as they portrayed the many ways birds build nests ranging from the neat weavings of sparrows and thrushes, to the simple depressions of shorebirds, and then to the macabre stick and bone nest of the House Wren ( Troglodytes aedon ). This sometimes horrid, little songbird has the nasty habit of taking over the nests of other songbirds and will even pierce the eggs and kill the chicks inside to secure the nest site for themselves. The nest in the photograph, set on black to show the subtle details that had gone into each nest, was lined with the dessicated remains of th...

As I left the house at a little after three today to go look for a Northern Shrike ( Lanius excubitor ) that had been reported at Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in Concord, I had mixed feelings over whether I would find it or not. Instead I came across a complete surprise. A sign of spring for some perhaps, but when seen in the middle of February, an Eastern Phoebe ( Sayornis phoebe ) is not the first thing that springs to mind. It is an especially strange sight to see after a snowstorm as well, but nonetheless, the photos do not lie. As I travel to Newton and Assabet River NWR tomorrow in search of more year list birds, I will think about this phoebe and how early it is. Could it possibly mean an early spring for us? Only time will tell.

The name "Sprig" is an old hunters name for the Northern Pintail ( Anas acuta ), a slim duck with a handsome chocolate brown head, white lined neck, and gray body along with a long tail that gives it its namesake. The females are delicately patterned when compared to female Mallards ( A. platyrhynchos ) and are slightly smaller with a gray bill and the same pointed tail.  They were congregating (about 9 birds altogether) on Hager Pond in Marlboro where they not only spend a good part of some winters and migration season, but it was also here that I saw my first Pintail as a young birder. While feeding the ducks after brunch one Sunday, I looked through my trusty Bushnell's to see a female Pintail congregating with the resident Mallards and Canada Geese ( Branta canadensis ). It didn't beg for food like the others, but still stayed close enough to the shore for me to get a good look at her. Picking away at ice and snow. Looking for bread maybe? Wai...

Just as it started snowing this afternoon, I noticed some corvid visitors poking around the front yard. See if you can notice one clearly digging for something. I know that dirt had been turned up by a gas line installation recently, but with many cold nights recently, I would think there would be nothing edible or even soft and chewy in the ground at this time of year. If anyone has any idea that they might be eating, please leave a comment below.