Monthly Archives: November 2006

Thanksgiving week

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Monday, November 20, was a good day at Riverlands, with two life birds and one year bird. The life birds were Long-tailed Duck and Glaucous Gull; the year bird was Black Scoter. I went after work with a friend. Our plan was to find White-winged and Black Scoters and the Glaucous Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gulls that had been reported. The Long-tailed Duck was posted to mobirds shortly before I left work. It was clear and relatively warm out, so we were looking forward to a good afternoon.

The Long-tailed Duck was in close with a small raft of Canvasbacks and scaup and was doing little diving; she was easy to see. In past years, my unsuccessful attempts to find Long-tailed Ducks that had been reported were made on frigid days, with bitterly cold wind blowing in my face while I was trying to spot one duck amongst thousands. I like to think I can find a bird under challenging circumstances, but I was glad for this very pleasant viewing experience.

Another birder joined us and found the Glaucous Gull, which stood out from the smaller Ring-billed Gulls.

It was thrilling to watch the gulls in the waning afternoon light stream into Ellis Bay to roost. The changing light on the plumage of the Glaucous Gull played tricks on us. We thought for a while that we had two birds. But we only ever saw one at a time, and we saw the color of the bird we were watching change with the light. A good lesson.

On Friday, November 24, I made a quick trip over to the Hwy. 111 side of Horseshoe Lake in Madison County, Illinois. I saw three American Kestrels and no little birds on Bruns/Bischoff Rds. and a few Ring-billed Gulls, some Mallards, and 4 scaup on the north side of the lake. There was more species variety and greater numbers of birds in my backyard.

I haven’t seen the tailless Song Sparrow in the yard for several days and think a predator may have nabbed it. The House Sparrow flock is maintaining its numbers (I wonder whether the British government would consider funding my little urban breeding project). White-throated Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos show up every day.

There was a small flock of cardinals flying from tree to tree in the alley this morning. A male and a female have been visiting the yard, but this is the first time I’ve seen more than two from the window.

There is a 40% chance of snow on Thursday! The forecast is for a high of 36°, which will be 30 degrees colder than it is on the back porch right now. Friday afternoon will be a good time to take a turn around Bruns/Bischoff Rds. or maybe to take a trip to Riverlands.

Photos

I’ve set up a page for thumbnails of some of the photos I’ve posted in Urban Birder. It can be accessed here. Eventually it will be more of a gallery.

Update, July 13, 2010

My photos are now at sherrymccowan.smugmug.com.

Feeder watch birds

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I really do need to get out more. While the rest of the Saint Louis birding community is training its scopes on rare ducks and gulls, I’m transfixed by the backyard birds.

There have been two unexpected individuals in my backyard sparrow watch over the past eight days. Last Saturday a late Chipping Sparrow made a brief stop in the yard, and this morning an American Tree Sparrow, a newcomer to the yard, snacked for a moment on the asters and then moved on. The latter is my yard’s ninth tenth species of sparrow.

Since Saturday, November 18, there’s been a possible female Cassiar Junco (as per p. 501 in Sibley’s guide) in the yard. Unfortunately, none of the photos I took came out well (the two panes of glass comprising the interior kitchen window and the storm produce photos that have a strange filtered look). Last winter there was a visitor with a gray back and clearly contrasting darker hood that could have been the model for Sibley’s illustration of the adult male Cassiar. I’m now thinking that a bird I identified last winter as an Oregon Junco (photo here) might have been one of these intergrades.

Dark-eyed Juncos are graceful little birds and interestingly variable. While puzzling over this weekend’s unusual individual I happened across a good discussion, which can be found at Ocean Wanderers.

A Cooper’s Hawk has been taking an interest in the many little birds on the block. Here’s the terror of the backyard birds:

Cooper's Hawk

Back to birds

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It’s been a long time

Because of various projects, since early August the length of my average work week has been seven days. That doesn’t leave much time for trips to Horseshoe Lake, Busch, or Riverlands. All work and no play… my morning and afternoon walks in Forest Park have been my anchor to sanity.

I’ve completed the projects and am looking forward to spending less time peering at the monitor and more time peering through binoculars and scope.

Birding as part of the daily routine

During the past few months, I found that I was spending almost as much time each week in The Field as I do when I have a less hectic work schedule. The field was a restricted one, limited on all but a few occasions to Forest Park (and my backyard), but rewarding nonetheless.

In September and October I took to spending nearly an hour in the park on my way in to the office and nearly as long on my walk back to the car. Those rambles turned up a Pine Siskin, a Sora, a Clay-colored Sparrow, and a Blackpoll Warbler (documentation to the proper authorities duly submitted for review). I had the pleasure of seeing the day-to-day changes in species and numbers as late summer gave way to fall and fall yielded to early winter.

In the next week I’ll post some sightings and put up some photos.

POSTSCRIPT

I had forgotten I posted an entry early last month and was ruefully amused to see that I said photos would be forthcoming in the next week. Promises, promises…