Thursday, May 3, 2012

Kathie’s April Birds 2012

1. NOFL-kab Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker Lake Hayward, CT 4-29-12

It’s been a busy and birdy month around here with many new species arriving. I was gone for the last four day of the month with a visit to Connecticut, Maine and New Hampshire! This helped fill out my monthly bird lists and more birds are arriving daily. I have already added one new species to my yard list for May with a Blue-headed vireo that showed up yesterday!

2. lake Hayward, CT-kab Lake Hayward 4-29-12

With my visit down to Connecticut I was finally able to get back to Lake Hayward to count a few birds. Most of the ducks seem to be gone but I did see swallows swooping over the lake and I found a Yellow-rumped warbler in the woods near my brother's cabin. Lake Hayward is in Middlesex County which is separate from New London County where my mother lives. With a stop off in Killingly, which is in Windham County, on the way down I counted birds in three of Connecticut's eight counties this month.

3. EAPH bog-kab Eastern Phoebe 4-7-12 Stirling Street Bog, Andover, MA

I started seeing and hearing phoebes at the beginning of the month.

4. NOFL bog-kab Yellow-shafted Northern Flicker at Bog 4-7-12

 

5. RBWO SHP-kab Red-bellied woodpecker at Sacred Heart Park, Andover, MA 4-7-12

I’ve been counting birds at the bog and the park on a regular basis. I saw a Palm Warbler here at the park on April 16th, but I haven’t seen ANY warblers since then.

6. SASP-kab Savannah Sparrow at Great Meadows NWR, Concord, MA 4-14-12

Taking a stroll through Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge was so much fun, especially since I saw and photographed a Virginia Rail! This made species number 424 on my Life List!

7. VIRA-kab Virginia Rail, Great Meadows NWR 4-14-12

 

8. NOCA SHP-kab Northern Cardinal at Sacred Heart Park 4-17-12

 

9. Bog goose-kab Canada Goose in flight at the bog 4-23-12

I’ve seen Canada Geese just about everywhere, but this is one of my favorite photos I have taken of this species.

10. Killdeer Killingly, CT-kab Killdeer at Killingly Commons Mall, CT 4-26-12

I often stop here at Killingly Commons on my travels up and down the highway to take a restroom break and count birds. There is a retention pond and a wetland at the back of the parking lot where I have seen many different species.

10a.Retention pond-kab Retention Pond at Killingly Commons 4-26-12

 

11. Geremonty Marsh-kab Song Sparrow at the Geremonty Marsh, Salem, NH 4-30-12

After returning from Maine the day before I headed up to New Hampshire to do errands on Monday. Of course, while I was there I did stop at the Geremonty Marsh first to count birds. Beside the numerous song sparrows I saw a pair of Tree Swallows coursing over the marsh. They were a new species for this location and I was so happy to add them to my eBird list! However, Swallows in flight are very hard to photograph and I never did get a decent shot, though I tried!

11b geremonty marsh-kab Springtime at the Geremonty Marsh 4-30-2012

Though many of the trees are in flower or bud at the marsh I was surprised at how dull and gray the old marsh grasses and cattails look. The green has not begun to creep up here yet!

11c. Geremonty marsh-kab Geremonty Marsh and the Kelley Library in Salem, NH 4-30-2012

In my bird listing obsession I also counted birds at Petsmart, Target, and the Rockingham Mall before I finally left to go home.

12. TUVU on chimney-kab Turkey Vulture 4-30-12 Andover, MA

It was so funny to come home on Monday and find this turkey vulture roosting on the chimney across the street! He and his four companions formed a Committee of Vultures in the nearby trees!

My April eBird Stats

 

Life

Year

Month

Total Species

424

97

58

Total checklists

4270

514

89

States Birded

     

Massachusetts

169

88

54

Connecticut

136

50

30

Maine

110

36

15

New Hampshire

63

30

27

All in all I counted birds in 4 states and 12 counties in the Month of April.

13. may flowers-kab May Flowers/Bluets in Norridgewock, ME 4-29-12

With May Flowers in bloom now I wonder how many species I will see this month!

9 comments:

  1. Wow, Kathie you sure get around! You have been a busy birder. I love all the pictures but the one of the Virginia Rail is great! Love the coloring.

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  2. Hi Katie.....lol I have never see a Turkey Vulture do such a think!!
    Blue headed vireo I am going to look up good for you!!
    I was almost positive I saw a Flicker yesterday, but wasn't sure enough to put in for a count!
    Great shots of the Killdeer and the Virginia Rail...and don't you just love the Phoebe's song!!
    I have Yellow bellied Sapsuckers battling out for territory..!!
    It is nice to get back to some commenting again..and getting some bird counts in myself!! With cataract surgeries behind me now I can focus on these things!

    Keep counting and clicking
    Grace

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  3. Great collection of birds, Kathie! Congrats on your new yard bird. Love the rail shot!

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  4. Your posts have been lots of fun to read Kathie; you've been busy with the birds!
    Hopefully it holds through this weekend. From what I here elsewhere, the Warblers are now starting to head up en masse.

    Looking forward to reading and seeing your next sightings. Congratulations on #424. That's marvelous.

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  5. An impressive array of birds and beautiful captures.

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  6. I so enjoy your birding travels and photos.

    Saw, and tried to photograph, a Gilded Flicker today. They sure are noisy.

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  7. Kathie, you have been quite the busy birder of late. Great variety of spring birds! All of your photographs are stunning! Congratulations on the Blue-headed Vireo sighting. That list keeps on growing!

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  8. Nice series of pics, K.! I am also an eBird data entry person. i think it's a wonderful way for people to provide useful, lasting information to science about birds and encourage everyone who birds to use the service. It's free. And, I love the Yard Bird function where I can keep track of all the species in my own yard. It inspires me to pay more attention to what's going on out there, too.

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  9. I just love looking at your photos. I swear you could put them in a birding book. The colors and detail is so great. I learn more from your blog about bird types than from any book!

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Welcome to my nest! I hope you will enjoy spending time here with me and the birds. Thank you for your comments. I will try to get back to you as soon as I get back from counting more birds.