The Stroud Preserve, 4 January 2013

Did I start my last post about the Stroud Preserve off with “Burr?” I should have saved that for today. While the temperature was a few warmer today the wind made it feel much, much colder. Double Burr!

The birdlife was typical with about the winter average of 31 species. The single larges group of birds today was a single flock of about 200 Morning Doves feeding on the ground in one of the plowed fields. The usual species with large numbers, crows and geese, seemed to be somewhere else today.

The first three birds of the day were good ones, Fox, Savannah, and Tree Sparrows. The Savannah may have been the same individual that I saw there on Wednesday as it was in the same general area. More impressive news about this group of sparrows was the number of American Tree Sparrows; 24 in all! That may be the most that I have ever seen in one place at one time. One sparrow that seems to have disappeared with the arrival of the artic weather is Swamp Sparrow. They are usually an easy find along the road between the parking area and the old farm pond, however, I have not observed one since 15 December.

The number of American Tree Sparrows would usually be enough to qualify it for the bird of the day. However, that will have to go to the Ring-billed Gulls as it was only the second time I have seen them at the Preserve. Any gull over the preserve is notable as was also only the 5^th observation of a Herring Gull.

Stat time: 8:50
End time: 11:00
Temp: 32
Wind: Brisk out of the NW
Skies: Overcast
Species Total: 31
 
Great Blue Heron – 1
Black Vulture – approximately 12
Turkey Vulture – approximately 40
Canada Goose – approximately 175
Red-tailed Hawk – 6, 5 adults, 1 immature.
Ring-billed Gull – 2
Herring Gull – 1
Mourning Dove – approximately 275
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 6
Downy Woodpecker – 2
Hairy Woodpecker – 1
Northern Flicker – 2
Blue Jay – approximately 10
American Crow – approximately 60
Carolina Chickadee – approximately 20
Tufted Titmouse – approximately 10
White-breasted Nuthatch – 3, heard only
Carolina Wren – 4, heard only
Eastern Bluebird – approximately 25
American Robin – 13
Northern Mockingbird – 2
European Starling – 7
Eastern Towhee – 2
American Tree Sparrow – 24
Savannah Sparrow – 1
Fox Sparrow – 1
Song Sparrow – approximately 100
White-throated Sparrow – approximately 100
Dark-eyed Junco – 4
Northern Cardinal – approximately 12
American Goldfinch – heard only

The Stroud Preserve, 2 January 2013

Burr. Today was cold! There was still plenty of snow on the ground from 29 December. As you can see from the photo above, I was able to identify yet another public use for the preserve, snow sleds! It looks like people had fun sliding down the hills.

The day started off with nearly dead silence. Very little was sing, calling, or other wise making any noise. I was afraid that I was going to set the all time low for species and total numbers of birds today. However, as I worked my way around the preserve, and the sun rose a little higher in the sky, things seemed to pick up (notice I didn’t say it got warmer!). I saw a good many birds that I don’t see on a daily basis, starting with Red-breasted Nuthatch. They quickly followed by Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. I had great looks at this one. Most that I record are fly by or heard only. Then I saw the Herring Gulls as a fly over. As I walked back on the main road, I had great looks at a Red-shouldered Hawk over head. I don’t know why I don’t see this species here more often (only the 5^th time for me). Then by the side of the road near the old barn, there was a Savannah Sparrow (only the 19^th time). Again, with so much in the way of grassy fields, I’m surprised this one isn’t any more common.

Then to top it off, the final bird of the morning was a single American Tree Sparrow. Perhaps the best look that I have ever gotten of one of these. It was right at eye level about 5 feet away, then flow over my head and down on the side of the road, again about 5 feet away. It slowly pecked around on the ground looking for food as if I wasn’t there. Pretty neat!

Stat time: 8:50
End time: 11:00
Temp: 28-30
Wind: None
Skies: Clear
Species Total: 29
 
Great Blue Heron – 1
Turkey Vulture – approximately 30
Canada Goose – approximately 200
Cooper's Hawk – 1
Red-shouldered Hawk – 1, bird of the day until I saw the Savannah Sparrow!
Red-tailed Hawk – 6, 5 adults and 1 juvenile
Herring Gull – 4
Mourning Dove – approximately 80
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker – 1, bird of the day until I saw the Red-shouldered Hawk!
Downy Woodpecker – 3
Blue Jay – approximately 15
American Crow – approximately 100
Carolina Chickadee – 6
Tufted Titmouse – 5
Red-breasted Nuthatch – 1
White-breasted Nuthatch – 3
Carolina Wren – 5
Eastern Bluebird – approximately 40
Northern Mockingbird – 2
European Starling – 6
American Tree Sparrow – Bird of the day! Fantastic views from about 5 feet away. Both in a small shrub and on the ground.
Field Sparrow – 3
Savannah Sparrow – 1, bird of the day until I saw the Tree Sparrow!
Song Sparrow – approximately 20
White-throated Sparrow – approximately 20
Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 15
Northern Cardinal – approximately 12
House Finch – 6
American Goldfinch – 12

Happy New Year!

2013 has arrived and along with it, at last, winter. Our first snow of the season was Christmas Eve, which mostly melted way by the next morning. We go our second snow in December 29th. That one has stuck around as it is still pretty icy in some places. 

For the second year in a row we welcomed in the New Year at our neighbor's Stan and Diane's house. I think that officially makes it a tradition! Most of Franklin Street was in attendance. Diane and Stan recently visited the Virgin Islands and were inspired to give us a Caribbean style meal which was quite delicious! The kids and adults were mostly segregated with the kids in the basement and the adults upstairs. I'd like to think the louder, but I'm not sure that is true. 

As the midnight hour arrived the adults and kids (minus Emily and William who threw in the towel early) converged in the livingroom to count down the seconds with the folks in Times Square. With Champane and Kid Champane (sparkling apple cider) in hand we all welcomed 2013 in style. Thanks Diane and Stan for a wonderful neighborhood party! 

New Years day we had lunch with the Fozards to celebrate New Years Day and more imporantly Louie's birthday! It was also Sheldon's birthday who we saw for all of about 4 minutes before he rushed of to Anut Sheila's house to meet up with Ricky and Cousin Sheila to head back north. Happy Birthday Louie and Sheldon! 

Check out photos of the celebrations here.

Happy New Year! 

Russell, Mary, Emily, William and Paddy

The O'Brian's Visit, Part 2

Sheila, Ricky and Sheldon headed back to their desolate rock in the north Atlantic today. Before they left, we did have a gathering with other aunts, uncles, and cousins in Chadd's Ford on December 29th, which was also Mary's birthday. Happy Birthday Mary! 29 again. See photo's here. 

On New Year's Eve, Mary, William and I took Sheldon on a tour of old City Philadelphia. We stopped by the Constitution Center, the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, The Dream Garden, Jeweler's Row, Jim's Steaks, South Street, New Market (which is really an old market), Penn's Landing, Elfrith's Alley, and the Betsy Ross House. All in one Day! Then we got home in time to go to our nighbor's house for a New Years Eve Celebration! See Photo's of our day in Philly here. 

We enjoyed our visit with Ricky, Sheila, and Sheldon, and hope someday soon to visit them! 

Russell, Mary, Emily, William and Paddy. 

The O'Brian's Christmas Visit

About 23 years ago, before Mary and I were married, we visited her mother’s homeland of Fermeuse, Newfoundland, Canada. Most of Mary’s aunts and uncles left Newfoundland in the late 1940’s to come to West Chester. The oldest of Mary’s uncles, Uncle Ned, was already married and had a family when the rest of the Kenny clan emigrated, so he stayed behind. On our visit we stayed with Mary’s cousin Sheila O’Brian, Uncle Ned’s daughter, and her husband Ricky.

Mary and I had an absolutely wonderful visit to Newfoundland in 1989. The drive to and from was quite an adventure, which included a hurricane, an iceberg, black bears, cod tongues, hundred of thousands of seabirds and a hike up Gros Morne where we napped on giant boulders surrounded by Rock Ptarmigans. We got to met Uncle Ned and Aunt Anna and the rest of Mary’s family while we were there. Shortly after this visit, Mary and I got married and moved to the west coast. We haven’t seen any of Mary’s Newfoundland relative since.

This Christmas, Ricky and Sheila came down to Pennsylvania for a visit. They brought their son Sheldon, 20 years old and who we had never met, along with them. We basically picked up the conversation where it left of 23 years ago. They head back to Newfoundland on the 2^nd of January See photos of the O’Brian’s visit, so far, here.

See photos of Christmas day and the Rogers/Moore house here. 

Kid Cookery

For some reason, all of the kids have taken an interest in doing more of the cooking around here. Emily and William take basic cooking classes in school. When I say basic, I mean basic. Emily said that one day the made Top Ramen. Yum!

I asked Emily if they have covered taking care of their mise en place and she said that they were no where close to such concepts. Humm...what is a dad, who is a longtime student of French cooking, to do? Looks like it is time for some home schooling. 

One dish that the kids like, looks fancy, and if pretty easy is pull off is fish in papillote. This is simply cooking fish in a parchment paper envelope. the basic principle to keep in mind here is that things need to cook quickly in a hot oven (425 degrees), so the veggies need to be cut small and and the same size. The only other tricky part of the disk is cutting the heart shaped paper big enough and in the right shape, to hold your dish. Emily did a great job and got an A+ in her home school cooking class. She even let me take a few pictures of her at work. 

Paddy got the job of putting cookie dough on the cookie sheet. He did this well and didn't eat too much of the uncooked cookies. The only problem was that we couldn't account for all the cooked cookies once he was done. Humm?

William hasn't done much cooking in the past couple of weeks because he has been busy working on another major paper house project. Last year he completed a model of the Westminster Abby. This year, he wanted to make Grandma Linda and Grandpa Gene a model of the White House for their Christmas pressent. After many, many hours of painstaking X-acto knife cutting of tiny windows, he completed it and it looks great. See photos of both of these project here. 

Happy Holidays!

Russell, Mary, Emily, William and Paddy

The Stroud Preserve, 21 December 2012

When I woke up this morning I got a message on my iPhone from my weather app that said that there were flood warnings for West Chester. What? I knew that it rained last night but it didn’t seem that bad. When I got the Stroud Preserve I saw that the Brandywine had indeed left its banks! Also for the first time in any of my visits the water was flowing over the road just to the west of the bridge. The only other time that I knew that the water flowed over the road was after hurricane Sandy, but I didn’t see it, only it’s aftermath.

Today was a slow day as far as birds went, only 25 species and pretty low numbers. Today was notable in that it was my 81^st visit in 2012, and the first one where I did not see a Carolina Wren. There are only four species left that I have seen on every visit, Downy Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, and White-breasted Nuthatch. Carolina Wren now joins the ranks with Blue Jay, American Crow, European Starling, and Northern Cardinal.

Stat time: 9:00
End time: 11:15
Temp: 50-41 (dropping dramatically! It was in the low 30’s by sunset)
Wind: Brisk from the north
Skies: Overcast
Species Total: 25
 
Black Vulture – 6
Turkey Vulture – approximately 25
Snow Goose – 68, Bird of the Day, always exciting to see a flock of these on the wing.
Canada Goose – approximately 100
Mallard – 12
Red-tailed Hawk – 4
Mourning Dove – approximately 75
Red-bellied Woodpecker – 2
Downy Woodpecker – 2, heard only
Blue Jay – approximately 12
American Crow – approximately 200
Carolina Chickadee – approximately 20
Tufted Titmouse – approximately 10
White-breasted Nuthatch – 2
Golden-crowned Kinglet – 2
Eastern Bluebird – approximately 20
American Robin – approximately 12
Northern Mockingbird – 2
European Starling – approximately12
Song Sparrow – approximately 50
White-throated Sparrow – approximately 75
Dark-eyed Junco – approximately 12
Northern Cardinal – approximately 10
House Finch – approximately 20
American Goldfinch – approximately 10