The Zen Birdfeeder

Great Adirondack Birding Celebration June 6 - 8

The sixth annual Great Adirondack Birding Celebration (GABC) is scheduled for June 6-8, 2008 at the Adirondack Park Agency Visitor Interpretive Center (VIC) in Paul Smiths.
 

All programs, including field trips, are FREE. Registration is open for trips/programs by calling (518) 327-3000.

The 2008 Great Adirondack Birding Celebration will feature birding trips, lectures, workshops and the popular Teddy Roosevelt Birding Challenge. Wild Birds Unlimited - Saratoga Springs will be there with a nice selection of binoculars and spotting scopes, including digiscoping set-ups.

2008 Schedule
Download the 2008 schedule. (A 119k pdf file)

The guest speaker at 7 p.m. Friday, June 6 will be Lang Elliott, the author of many book/CD packages, including Common Birds and Their Songs, Music of the Birds, and The Songs of Wild Birds. He is the owner of NatureSound Studio, which he created in order to celebrate the sounds of nature.

The keynote address at 7 p.m. Saturday, June 7 will be given by Miyoko Chu, author of "Songbird Journeys: Four Seasons in the Lives of Migratory Birds." 

2008 Field Trips
Download the field trips list. (A 49k pdf file).  All field trips are FREE though registration is required at (518) 327-3000.

For more information about the Great Adirondack Birding Celebration, contact Lydia Wright at (518) 327-3000.

SOM Seeking SOF

Single Oriole Male, new to area since May 18th, looking for Single Oriole Female for monogamous relationship.

Great singing voice.  Enjoys meals of caterpillars, moths, aphids, and other insects as well as oranges, nectar, and grape jelly.  8" long, weight 1.2oz.  Flashy dresser (wears orange and black suit).  Well groomed.  Love to travel long distances twice a year. Vacations during winters along Atlantic Coast of US.  Spends summers in rural area of upstate NY. Will help build great pouch-shaped nest in treetops. Hope to raise 4-5 young ones this season. Establishing territory right now and waiting for that special somebird.

This male oriole has been around and singing exuberantly from the tops of trees every day since the 18th. I posted his song on the 18th and decided to try to help him out some more with this personal ad.  If any one out there has an extra female oriole looking for love, send her this way!

Banded Grosbeak

This male Rose-breasted Grosbeak that visited my feeder Wednesday morning has a band on its right leg.

Only about 1% of banded songbirds are encountered after their initial banding. If you ever find a banded bird, reporting the information makes a very valuable contribution to the bander.

A bird with a metal band on its leg was banded under a permit from the U.S. Bird Banding Laboratory. Federal Fish & Wildlife bands are plain aluminum, inscribed with a nine digit number. Read about types of bird bands on the USGS site.

It is important to report banded birds if you can get the numbers from the band. Without the numbers, nothing can be reported. The information that must be recorded includes:

• band numbers and letters
• town, county, and state where the bird was found
• date found
• alive or dead? how did it die?
• finder's name, address, and phone number

Call the information in to 1-800-327-2263 or report it on the Bird Banding Lab's website www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl. It can also be sent by mail to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bird Banding Laboratory, 12100 Beech Forest Road, Laurel, MD 20708-4037.

If you call them, they can often tell you where the bird came from and how old it is. They will also notify the person who originally banded the bird. You'll get a certificate with information about the bird and thanking you for helping the program.

Unfortunately, even with a digiscoped image, I cannot read the numbers on the band, so I'm unable to report it. But it does make me stop and wonder who had the joy of holding this beauty in their hand? Where was he caught and released? How long ago was he banded?  Was it just this spring?  What would the bander be able to tell me about my bird? 

I wish I could report SOMETHING to the bander, but I know that if I could, it would probably mean the bird had died.  I much prefer it this way.

Courtship Time for Rose-breasted Grosbeaks

Rose-breasted Grosbeaks returned this year on May 4, a full week earlier than 2007. A female returned first; a number of males appeared the following day.  (Click on images to enlarge.  Images 1, 2, and 6 were digiscoped.)
 

There have been numerous rose-breasteds at the feeders since then. When observing the males, note the red pattern on their breast - the shape and pattern of red varies from bird to bird. With good powers of observation, you can use this to identify individual birds.

For about the first week following their return, there wasn't a lot of singing going on. That changed this week. Both male and female Rose-breasted Grosbeaks have started singing like crazy.

Their song has been called "a robin with singing lessons".  Stokes Nature Guides to Bird Behavior describes it as "a robin in a hurry". The other day, one was repetitively singing "Blame it on the bossa nova." I haven't heard that song in years!

Now is the perfect time to listen for their sing-songy, rising and falling, up and down song. You can also hear their characteristic metallic-sounding "chink" call.

Grosbeak courtship and nest-building activities are now in progress here in upstate New York. I'm looking forward to seeing young grosbeaks, like this fledgling that landed on the deck and visited our birdbath a couple summers ago.

 

Fortunately, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are frequent feeder visitors. They prefer tray feeders or hopper feeders with generous perching areas.  Fill feeders with a quality seed blend like WBU Supreme, which has black oil sunflower, safflower, sunflower chips, and striped sunflower.

They also enjoy seed cylinders; this one is the WBU Supreme seed cylinder (same stuff as in the loose seed blend). Here a pair share a meal on a cool seed cylinder feeder.

Enjoy your Rose-breasted Grosbeaks this season!
 

Song of the Baltimore Oriole

A male Baltimore Oriole visited our yard again today.  I heard him before I saw him, as he was loudly singing his low-flutelike song in the plum tree right off the deck. I was able to capture a recording of his rich, beautiful song. (Click twice on the small forward arrow)

Both male and female orioles sing. Songs are "given between males in territory formation and between males and females during courtship". (Stokes Nature Guide to Bird Behavior) 

Orioles are most often seen in treetops, poking through trees like this birch for caterpillers and other insects like beetles and wasps. This digiscoped image was taken during his last visit a couple days ago.

Orioles can be attracted to an oriole feeder filled with nectar (1 part sugar to 6 parts water), fruit (orange halves), and even grape jelly (in small amounts so they and other birds don't immerse themselves in it).

The oriole is an infrequent visitor in my yard, so I especially relish its brilliant orange and black coloration and its beautiful song.  Read more about Baltimore Orioles on rightbird, Wild Birds Unlimited's Online Field Guide.

Wordless Wednesday

How about a good caption for this Wordless Wednesday digiscoped image?

Digiscoped Evening Grosbeaks

I had three Evening Grosbeaks at the feeder on Wednesday and wanted to share these digiscoped images.  Click on any image to enlarge.

 

Spring Arrivals and Departures (2008 #4)

Here's my fourth report of arrivals and departures this spring.

STILL AROUND
White throated Sparrows (numerous)

Tree Swallows (though we don't have the right habitat for them, we do have lots of Black Flies and other flying insects around)

 

NEW SPRING ARRIVALS
Rose breasted Grosbeak (two females on May 4, males the next day; in 2007, both male and female arrived 5/11). Digiscoped image below; notice the reflection off the feeder.

Savannah Sparrow (May 4; a new yard bird!  One day visit only)  Digiscoped image below.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (a female on May 4; in 2007, both male and female arrived on 4/27)
Northern Flicker (May 5)

DEPARTURES
Fox Sparrows (last seen 4/20)
Song sparrows (last seen 4/17)

OTHER VISITORS
Grape Hyacinth

Creeping Myrtle

Immature Sharp-shinned Hawk

Black Flies  :(
Black Bear (more on that in another post)

STILL TO COME
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Grey Catbird
Eastern wood Pewee
White crowned Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
Yellow-rumped Warbler and Black-throated Blue Warbler (both nest in our area)
Other warblers

Here's links to 2008 Spring Arrivals and Departures Report 1 from April 3rd, Report 2 from April 13, and Report 3 from April 21

Purple Finches in the Rain

We got some much-needed rain today, all day.  That plus the cooler temperatures seemed to help the bird activity, which had been SLLLLLOOOWWWW the last week or so. 

The Purple Finches are back in force.  Here's a couple images of them digiscoped through the window.

 

Showing off Spotting Scopes

Last weekend, we had a booth at the Adirondack Sports & Fitness Summer Expo.  We were there to introduce local outdoor enthusiasts to our Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop, especially our great optics selection.

We brought a great selection of binoculars by Eagle Optics, Vortex Optics, Stokes, and Leupold, and we introduced many show attendees to digiscoping, which is taking photos with a digital camera through a spotting scope.  The cardinal image below was digiscoped in my yard.

At the show, we highlighted two spotting scopes.  We showed the Vortex Skyline scope with the optional MK1 QR Digital Camera Adaptor. 

The scope has a fantastic 20x-60x magnification, and the 80mm objective lens ensures bright, sharp images.

The digital adaptor fits the Skyline scope (only) and provides a quick-release feature that allows you to switch from using the scope to digiscoping in seconds.  Watch this 5 minute video on YouTube showing the Skyline scope and digital adaptor in action.

The other scope we showed and are especially excited about is the Stokes Sandpiper scope. 


This scope was recently included in "Living Bird" magazine's Scope Quest 2008.  Here's a little of what they had to say:

"An even nicer surprise was the Vortex Stokes Sandpiper, which at $359 or less could be the best buy of any model we tested."

"With so many fine scopes on the market, choosing the right one should be easy and fun. Your selection should be based on budget— how much you can really afford—and the kind of birding you do most, or hope to do more of with a new scope. If you’re on a tight budget and want decent optics in the least expensive package, I’d try the Vortex Stokes Sandpiper."

Here's a link to the full Scope Quest 2008 article.  And read what Don & Lillian Stokes themselves have to say about the scope.

This is a great mid-priced scope that can help get you into the digiscoping hobby. Digiscoping with this scope is accomplished with the use of a Vortex Universal Digital Adaptor. 

The universal adaptor can work with just about any scope.  The adaptor seats the camera securely behind the scope eyepiece to provide the stability required to enhance your digiscoped images.

On Saturday, I conducted a seminar called "Capturing Images of Your Backyard Birds" to help attendees attract birds to their feeders and to take photographic or digiscoped images of the birds.

NOTE: If you know of a local group that would be interested in this presentation or other optics or bird-related presentations, please contact us at wbu@nycap.rr.com.

It was fun talking about binoculars, spotting scopes, and digiscoping to a whole new audience.  Stop by Wild Birds Unlimited - Saratoga Springs to check out our great optics selection.