Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

The past few mornings this week I've been hearing the high-pitched clucks and kuks of the log cock or as it's more commonly referred to as the Pileated Woodpecker ( Dryocopus pileatus ). Pileated Woodpeckers are really something to behold. For one thing they are big! When you see a Downy Woodpecker ( Picoides pubescens ) or even a Hairy ( P. villosus ) at the feeder, they looked pretty well proportioned for a woodpecker. Even Red-bellied Woodpeckers ( Melanerpes carolinus ) look fairly decent as well. But once you have a Pileated visit, you don't soon forget it! Another pecker of the trees I've been noticing recently is the Northern Flicker ( Colaptes auratus ). When I went out to take some photos yesterday evening, I saw a family of flickers dust bathing and anting in the parking lot. I'd never seen that before and while I tried to get closer, the whole group flushed as I made my approach. While the pictures were from far away, they still seem to capture the dedi...

It's the middle of the summer (although some might argue that the middle of the summer would be around August 6th) and the lull before migration is weighing in. There have been a few bright spots such as the recent sighting of that Red-necked Stint ( Calidris ruficollis ) in Parker River NWR and at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR, as well as the many Little Gulls ( Hydrocoloeus minutus ) dotted around the Atlantic coast and Great Lakes. With my other computer in less than perfect condition, I have to rebuild my bird list from scratch, starting with the difficult decision to scrap all bird records without sufficient dates. I know I've seen them before, but I don't know when. As a result, I have no better recollection of what I might have seen and what I might not have seen and as a result, the numbers on the list will suffer. This does throw the goal of 350 birds into jeopardy as well and at the moment, I'll have to see what the list looks like without those dateless species fi...

Today's blog entry is going to take a little bit of a turn in content. I'm visiting my girlfriend for July 4th weekend and I went to work with her at her sites today. As we were leaving the last site, I noticed a rapidly weaving, dove-like bird, flutter to the top of a telephone pole. We stopped the truck and got out to have a look. It wasn't a dove at all but instead an escaped Cockatiel ( Nymphicus hollandicus ) sitting pretty on top of the pole. I tried whistling to it to coax it down, but not no avail. These are the pictures I took of it. It appears to be a pied male and it was spotted on the intersection of Sunbarr and Stygler in Gahanna, Ohio. I would be thrilled if any of my readers could get this bird back to its owner (as it is most likely an escaped bird. Ohio isn't known for its burgeoning Cockatiel population after all.). It was seen just after 1pm and it seemed pretty happy to be free. I hope I have been of help and we can get this bird home A...

Well it's been hell over the last few days. I was an idiot and poured water on my laptop and had to wait for the right funds to come in before I could get the one I'm currently using, but more importantly for this blog, something more significant has occurred. As a result of my computer related mishap, I've lost all my bird lists including my life list, year list, and Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Preserve property list. It sucks and I'm trying to get everything back as quickly as possible. Sorry for the setback. I hope I can share some better news soon.

I got to visit home this weekend and visited my old stomping grounds of Great Meadows in Concord where I went looking for Least Bitterns ( Ixobrychus exilis ). As you can imagine, my cryptic bird searching skills aren't stellar, so I went about my business looking for other familiar marsh birds. I didn't have to search for long as some birders were clustered near a bench towards the start of the center trail leading into the marsh. I walked over and looked carefully. It took me a few moments, but I finally saw the little bird of interest. It was a Sora ( Porzana carolina ). The second Sora I've ever seen (the first being last year at Great Meadows as well). Below are the pictures I managed to get of the little one and I was so pleased with the results. The added advantage of my putting these up here is that I can also link my eBird account to here for verification. The algorithm considers these to be rare at Great Meadows for this time of...

Apologies for the late entry, but I have finally gotten around to writing this week's entry.  This past Sunday I got the chance to visit a very cool place called the Negri-Nepote Native Grassland in Franklin Township, NJ. I came here after hearing that a pair of Dickcissels ( Spiza americana ) had been spotted the day prior. After arriving, the first birds I saw were the ubiquitous American Robins ( Turdus migratorius ) and a few pairs of Eastern Bluebirds ( Sialia sialis ), as well as hearing the jabbering song of a nearby House Wren ( Troglodytes aedon ). I'd come for two other species other than the rare Dickcissels. I found them within the first ten minutes and they were a sight to behold. The first life bird I got was a Grasshopper Sparrow ( Ammodramus savannarum ). This lovely male decided to survey his surroundings from atop this bird house support pole allowing for good pictures and lasting views. For such a furtive bird, being out in the open seemed unusual. How...

I'm back in Ohio this weekend and I'm so pleased to announce that my girlfriend, myself, and her colleagues have spotted the Bell's Vireo ( Vireo belli ) that have been frequenting Heritage Trail Metro Park in Hilliard. We called this male in using a playback call on our smartphones. It responded more or less immediately and posed for these photos. 332 down and 18 to go on my way to the 350 I want to have by the end of the year! Let's see what I can find this week ^_^.