Evening Grosbeak

Over the years I've seen Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Japanese Grosbeak, Blue Grosbeak but never ever the best looking of the lot, an Evening Grosbeak. Theres been an influx of them this year, and last Sunday and Monday we spent several hours looking for a flock that Brian saw without success. Out of the blue this afternoon a txt message from Tim sent me haring off like the old twitcher I am in pursuit of a flock at a nearby feeder a few miles away. Tim's message gave the address as M****** Drive and as I headed out of the driveway I asked Siri to navigate to the address. Siri came back with directions to M***** Road so I said no I want M***** Drive. This went on through several iterations until I told her to go and do something  unnatural with the rough end of a Pineapple. I stopped and entered it into the cars built in GPS and it took me to M***** Drive except when I got there the road sign does say Road after all. I apologize Siri. Anyway after waiting for a few minutes the Grosbeak flock flew over the house and into the distance. Oh well I've seen one I thought but I'll give it a few more minutes. They came back.

Evening Grosbeak

Evening Grosbeak

Evening Grosbeak

Evening Grosbeak

Red-breasted Nuthatch

 I saw my first ever Red-breasted Nuthatch about 31 years ago. Not in the US but at Holkham Pines in Norfolk. It was accepted as a first for Britain and certainly a first for me. Lovely bird, lovely call, I saw it several times during its 5 month stay. You could often find it by its call or see it drinking from a gutter on the old summer house.

This year I've got at least 3 hanging around the yard. I'm keeping the feeder well stocked up with black sunflower seed in the hope of attracting a flock of Evening Grosbeak. Hoping. In the meantime here's a few of the Nuthatch from today.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Red-breasted Nuthatch

A few more from Tuesday

As we're currently being swiped by Tropical Storm Zeta I'm inside in the warmth and dryness of the living room with a nice cup of English Breakfast.

Carolina wren

Dark-eyed Junco

White-breasted Nuthatch

 

Terrible Day Birding

 Monday October whatever it is has been a lousy day for birding. We went back to SGL145 to try for the flock of  Evening Grosbeak without any luck whatsoever. We did see Bluebirds, hordes of Chipping Sparrow's, White-throated Sparrow's, Song Sparrow's, Pine Siskin's, Goldfinch, House Finch, Purple Finch, Pileated, Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied Woodpecker's and Flicker's, Tufted Titmice, Chickadee's but not one Evening Grosbeak. So I came home. 

At the base of one of the feeders was a stunning male White-crowned Sparrow which I didn't manage to photograph. Bugger, I'm not having much luck today at all. I reluctantly decided to have a go at photographing out of the window at a new perch I set up at the weekend. Damnit I missed a Red-breasted Nuthatch. This day has been just awful. I did take a few shots while I was waiting for the Red-breasted to come back which he didn't. All in all a terrible day's birding.

Carolina Chickadee (probably)

Dark-eyed Junco

House Finch

Immature Male Northern Cardinal

Male Northern Cardinal

Purple Finch

Purple Finch

Red-bellied Woodpecker

Blue Jay

One goes up, one goes down.

 Brown Creepers always go upwards on a tree or log. Nuthatches always go downwards. Soon have to get some perches arranged in suitable locations for the winter photography.

Brown Creeper

White-breasted Nuthatch

Tufted Titmouse

 After a few years where I hardly saw any there's loads this year so I hope they've made a come back.

Tufted Titmouse

Cape May Day 2

 After a nights sleep at the Jetty in Cape May I headed for the Morning Flight at Higbees Beach. From the car park at the end of the road I went right to the tower which has been pretty good in the past. Not as good as Thursday's flight but not bad and very still compared to Thursday's breeze. I didn't stay too long as I wanted to get to Brigantine before the light got too harsh.

Morning Flight

A quick stop at Wawa for a coffee and a bagel and up the Parkway to Brigantine. Brigantine is a lot like Minsmere except it's 10 times bigger and you drive round on raised embankments rather than walk. 

Brigantine with Atlantic City in the background.

Initially I was driving into the sun and having to photograph behind me or to the side but the light was pretty good after a turn to the North.

Caspian Tern

I spent a good while photographing the Caspian Terns who were actively feeding close to the embankment. 

Northern Harrier

There were several Harriers around and I missed a Peregrine and a Harrier having a tussle.

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egrets were greatly outnumbered by the Great Egrets.

Great Egret

Cape May

I took myself off to the coast on Thursday for a visit to Cape May. I left before the first Sparrow's fart at 3am and arrived at the Higbees Beach Morning Flight Songbird location at 6:30 just as it was getting light.

It was absolutely amazing, I've never seen anything like it. Birds were mostly moving left to right just over the trees, in front of the trees and through the trees. There were 5297 Myrtle Warblers counted with 4288 unknown warblers. Just how they managed to precisely count that many is beyond me. I'll just say there were lots of birds that morning.

The official count is here Cape May Songbird Count

After a couple of hours I left for the Hawkwatch at the Lighthouse and spent a few hours there photographing the raptors flying past. The full Hawkwatch count is here Cape May Hawkwatch

Mid afternoon I left to check into the Jetty Motel and went for a walk along the beach to find the Skimmer flock. Then after a bite to eat it was time for sunset and then I was in bed fast asleep in just a few minutes.

Cooper's hawk

Broad-winged Hawk

Osprey with lunch

Black Skimmer

Black Skimmers

Laughing Gull

Royal Tern

Cape May Sunset

Warbler Sunday

 A nice mild sunny Sunday morning brought a wave of warblers to the wooded yard. The trees were dripping with warblers. At one point I counted 15 assorted warblers in my waterfall. There were mostly various shades of yellow without my bins though I was able to pick out Myrtle's and Blackpolls.

I decided I was going to get the blind out of the garage but by the time I was setup to photograph the wave had passed......damnit! I sat there for a while with just a Black-throated Green but after lunch it picked up a bit with a few other species. The light wasn't great by then so I had to shoot these at ISO5000 and they're a bit on the noisy side.

Black-throated Green Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Pine Warbler

Tennessee Warbler