The Stroud Preserve, 26 November 2012

When I headed out for today’s walk I had in the back of my mind that it was high time that a Winter Wren showed up. Approximately 10 minutes into the walk, a tiny fluff ball flew across a brush patch. Well that was easy, number 144 for me, and 162 for the Preserve. It took me about five minutes of spishing, but I finally managed to coax it out of the brush into full view. I even got it to sing! This was a the first east coast Winter Wren that I have seen in over twenty years, it was also the first one that I seen since the “Winter Wren” complex was split into three species; the Eurasian Wren, the Pacific Wren and the Winter Wren.

In Washington State, we had the Pacific Wren. Visually it is quite different being a warmer rusty color compared to the Winter Wren. After hearing the Winter Wren today, I’d say the song is of greater difference. You can’t miss the Pacific Wren’s song. It is extremely loud and carries for a great distance. The Winter Wren song I heard today was very muted in comparison.

There were few people at the preserve today as well. The only ones I saw were up in trees with guns waiting for deer to stroll past. I did see three deer, which were nowhere near the people with guns.

Stat time: 10:00
End time: 12:30
Temp: 39-45
Wind: slight from the north.
Skies: clear
Species Total: 31
 
Great Blue Heron – 1
Black Vulture – approx. 70!
Turkey Vulture – approx. 25
Canada Goose – approx. 350
Cackling Goose – 1
Mallard – 3
Red-tailed Hawk – 2 adults
Mourning Dove – approx. 10
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 2
Downy Woodpecker – 2
Northern Flicker – 2
Blue Jay – approx. 10
American Crow – approx. 500!
Fish Crow – 2, heard only
Carolina Chickadee – approx. 10
Tufted Titmouse – 4
White-breasted Nuthatch – 2
Carolina Wren – approx. 6
Winter Wren – 1, Bird of the Day! New to the Preserve list.
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 2
Eastern Bluebird – 5
Northern Mockingbird – 7
European Starling – approx. 10
Eastern Towhee – approx. 5
Song Sparrow – approx. 25
Swamp Sparrow – 2
White-throated Sparrow – approx. 50
Dark-eyed Junco – 1
Northern Cardinal – approx. 20
House Finch – approx. 10
American Goldfinch – approx. 15

The Stroud Preserve, 23 November 2012

I got another late start today, but being the day after Thanksgiving, a late start seemed appropriate. My major accomplishment for the day was a tie for the lowest species count for a visit. I was not the only person that thought that a warm walk through the country side would be a nice thing. While my bird species count was low, I don’t think I’ve ever seen more humans walking around the preserve! When I arrived there was only one parking spot left. When I returned to the car, there were about a dozen cars parked out on Creek Road. Something that I have never seen before.  

Stat time: 11:00
End time: 1:30
Temp: 49-56
Wind: none.
Skies: mostly clear.
Species Total: 24
 
Black Vulture – approx. 20
Turkey Vulture – approx. 20
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 1 adult
Red-tailed Hawk – 4 adults
Rock Dove – approx. 15
Mourning Dove – approx. 40
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 3
Hairy Woodpecker – 1
Northern Flicker – 1
Blue Jay – heard only
American Crow – approx. 100
Carolina Chickadee – approx.10
Tufted Titmouse – 2
White-breasted Nuthatch – approx. 10
Carolina Wren – 6
Eastern Bluebird – approx. 15
European Starling – approx. 30
Chipping Sparrow – 1, Bird of the Day! I don’t know why these are so few and far between in the fall, but this was only my 4^th observation since the first of September.
Song Sparrow – approx. 25
White-throated Sparrow – approx. 50
Dark-eyed Junco – 1
Northern Cardinal – approx. 5
House Finch – approx. 10

The Stroud Preserve, 15 November 2012

I did slightly better with bird observations today than I did yesterday. I did have one odd observation. I was looking at some juncos and kinglets when I heard someone behind me calling my name and turned around to find our neighbor Barb on a large white horse named Toby! I don’t see that everyday! We both agreed that it was a nice day to be out of the house!

Stat time: 11:25
End time: 1:40
Temp: 43-46
Wind: none
Skies: high clouds
Species Total: 32
 
Great Blue Heron – 1
Black Vulture – approx. 15
Turkey Vulture – approx. 25
Mallard – 2
Bald Eagle – 1 adult
Red-tailed Hawk – 5
Golden Eagle –
Rock Dove – approx. 10
Mourning Dove – approx. 20
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 4
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Hairy Woodpecker – 1
Northern Flicker – 2
Blue Jay – approx. 5
American Crow – approx. 500
Carolina Chickadee – approx. 15
Tufted Titmouse – approx. 15
White-breasted Nuthatch – 3
Brown Creeper – 2, Bird of the day! My first observation for the preserve.
Carolina Wren – approx. 5
Golden-crowned Kinglet – approx. 20
Eastern Bluebird – approx. 20
American Robin – 2
Northern Mockingbird – 1
European Starling – approx. 15
Eastern Towhee – 2
Field Sparrow – 2
Song Sparrow – approx. 10
White-throated Sparrow – approx. 50
Dark-eyed Junco – approx. 15
Northern Cardinal – 4
American Goldfinch – 4

The Stroud Preserve, 14 November 2012

The last visit to the Stroud Preserve was way back on October 26^th just before Hurricane Sandy came to town. In the nineteen days between visits I can safely say that fall departed and winter arrived; all the leaves on the trees have fallen, all the weed that the Purple Finches and Goldfinches were feeding on were now lying prone on the ground; the land, for the most part, had that quiet packed away feel to it. Most of the birdlife has moved on to some other place. In fact, this was the lowest species count that I have recorded on all of my visits to the preserve, a whopping 24 species!

Stat time: 11:45
End time: 1:10
Temp: 43-45
Wind: none
Skies: clear
Species Total: 24 

Great Blue Heron – 1
Turkey Vulture – approx. 25
Bald Eagle – 2 adults
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 1 adult
Cooper's Hawk – 1 adult
Red-tailed Hawk – 3 adults
Mourning Dove – approx. 15
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 3
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 2
Downy Woodpecker – 1
Hairy Woodpecker – 1
Blue Jay – 5
American Crow – approx. 500. Bird of the day due to their overwhelming numbers!
Carolina Chickadee – approx. 10
Tufted Titmouse – 4
White-breasted Nuthatch – 2
Carolina Wren – 2
Eastern Bluebird – approx. 10
Northern Mockingbird – 3
European Starling – 1
Eastern Towhee – 2
Song Sparrow – approx.10
White-throated Sparrow – heard only
Dark-eyed Junco – heard only
American Goldfinch – heard only

Sandy Jarred Something Loose

As I mentioned in my blog post from 31 October big storms like Sandy are usually followed by a short period of extreme birding excitement. In fact, many unusual and out of place birds showed up all cross the northeast part of North America in the week following the storm. Perhaps the most unusual of these was a Pterodroma petrel found under a mailbox in the middle of Pennsylvania. It was taken to a animal rehab center but died shortly there after. Pterodroma petrels are notoriously difficult to identify in the field and apparently they are difficult to identify in the hand as there is still some question as to which species of petrel this is.

Unfortunately I was unable to get out and see any of the storm related rarities. Instead, I lived vicariously through the email posting of others. One strange thing that I noticed after Sandy was concerning, not a seabird, but Golden Eagles. Most of the hawk migration monitoring sites post their daily totals to the local list servers. After the storm most all of them experienced daily and seasonal all time record high numbers of Golden Eagles.

Below are the numbers from the monitoring sites in the mountains. The coastal and piedmont sites didn’t see an unusual change in Golden Eagle numbers. I have often wondered about the winter distribution of Golden Eagles on the east coast. We have a fair number of them pass through in migration, as shown below. However south of here, observations are few and far between. My guess is that they stay in the mountains spread out over a large geographic area where there are fewer birders in winter. Whatever they do in winter the numbers below are exciting to see!

Post Sandy, Doing Dandy

This is just a quick update to let everyone know that everyone at 302 N Franklin St in West Chester PA is doing just fine. We were very lucky in that it seems that we missed the worst parts of Sandy. The places here that took the brunt of the strom were low lying  and coastal areas. We hardly had a flicker with our electricity nor did we get any basement leaks. 

This was a good test for the basement. When I arrived here last summer the basment walls only seemed to slow down the water. I spent the first couple of months here doing a lot of work trying to find the leaks an dry out the area. I am happy to say that I could not find a single drop of water down there at all. 

Now, don't get me wrong, Sandy was not a good thing for many reasons which I need not go into now. But I can tell you that as a birder and ornithologist, events like this are very exciting. Why? Well, birds have wings and storms like Sandy will send animals with wings to far off places that you would never see them otherwise. 

Over the last two days ther has been an absolutely unprecedented number of oceanic and coastal bird throughout Pennsylvania. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Pennsylvania's geography, we have neither coast nor ocean here. Large numbers of Leach's Storm-Petrels, Jeagers, Terns, Oyster-catchers and other such birds have been seen throughout the state. Unfortunately for me, I have not been able to get out and see anything myself, but it has been terribly exciting to see the reports of others. The best report that I have seen so far is of a Red-billed Tropicbird (photo above salvaged from the web) which found alive in southern New Jersey. It is only the second record for the state ever! 

Stay dry!

Russell

The Stroud Preserve, 26 October 2012

Today’s walk was by for the calmest of the season. I’m thinking it is the calm before the storm and it seemed as if the birds know what is coming our way. I did manage to see the Cackling Goose again. It (I’m assuming it was the same bird as yesterday) was in with about 300 Canada Geese that lifted up from one of the fields in the Preserve around 9:30 AM. They are very easy to pick out of a crowd being half the size of everyone else. Here is the rundown on the day.

Stat time: 8:45
End time: 10:45
Temp: 57
Wind: none
Skies: overcast
Species Total:
 
Double-crested Cormorant – 6, overhead
Great Blue Heron – 2
Turkey Vulture – 2
Canada Goose – approx. 300
Cackling Goose – 1
Wood Duck – 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 2
Red-tailed Hawk – 2
Herring Gull – 1, Bird of the Day! Only my second for the preserve
Rock Dove – 3
Mourning Dove – approx. 30
Belted Kingfisher – 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 2
Downy Woodpecker – 5
Blue Jay – approx. 40
American Crow – approx. 50
Tree Swallow – approx. 15, just when you think they are gone, they show up again
Carolina Chickadee – approx. 10
Tufted Titmouse – approx. 20
White-breasted Nuthatch – 5
Carolina Wren –  7
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 2, heard only
Ruby-crowned Kinglet – approx. 15
Eastern Bluebird – approx. 60, I really can’t figure out if these are migrating or just milling around. Either way, there are a lot of them.
American Robin – approx. 300, flying to the southwest
European Starling – approx. 20
Yellow-rumped Warbler – approx. 25
Palm Warbler – 2
Song Sparrow – approx. 50
Lincoln's Sparrow – 1
Swamp Sparrow – approx. 10
White-throated Sparrow – approx. 150
White-crowned Sparrow – 2
Dark-eyed Junco – approx. 10
Northern Cardinal – approx. 25
Red-winged Blackbird – approx. 75
Purple Finch – approx. 15
House Finch – approx. 40
American Goldfinch – approx. 40