Bird of the week: Dark-eyed junco

The Dark-eyed juncos are back! On saturday morning, I saw 2 flickers so I went outside and started watching them with my binoculars. Then they flew to the neighbors yard so I walked over to the fence to get as close to them as I could. when I got over to the fence I saw a little gray and white bird in a tree so I focused my binoculars on it and saw that it was a junco. Here is some information on Dark-eyed juncos:


http://www.birding.com/topbirds/8888jnco.asp

project feederwatch...

Project feederwatch starts in two weeks! I can't believe almost a whole year has gone by already! So if you are going to sign up, better do it soon. (by the way you can sign up late). I did it last year and it was lots of fun. (actually I didnt sign up until January and didnt get my stuff until Febuary so it was really this year. It starts November first). They also have lots of neat stuff like pictures from previous feederwatch seasons on their website. Also there are several bird counts coming up soon such as the christmas bird count,great backyard bird count and the delaware bird-a-thon (if you live in Delaware or are in Delaware then).

-the birdman-

wordless wednesday

Dogs Dogs Dogs...

Or maybe I should cut the title down to two dogs, meet our new puppy Bentley! She is a mixed breed with a basset hound and a Swiss entlebucher mountain dog. the picture at the top of that link does'nt look exactly like her (she has freckles) but it does look similar to her. Here is a picture of her...

our trip to North Carolina...

Day 1: A warm welcome (by bees)

In our family, when we turn ten, we get to pick a trip. Since I turned ten this year I decided to go to Cape May and spend the day birding. A few days after I had decided to go to Cape May, I changed my mind. I thought going to go visit the Tribe was a better idea. On Friday (the 14Th) we were finally on our way. At about 7 pm (and 8 hours later), we pulled into their driveway and started playing in the front yard. A few minutes later, we hear Aaron screaming "I have a bee on me". Our wonderful mutt a.k.a. Rafferty had stepped into a ground bees nest :(. A minute later Rock gets stung on his neck (and also three times on his knee although he didn't notice it then. sigh). Then Parker starts screaming, (ugh)a bee had stung him on the shoulder (through his shirt!). Mommy ended up being stung by the bee on Aaron as she tried to get it off of him. Thankfully, at this point we went in the house so me and Mag escaped being stung. The daddies then rushed to the store for wonderful benedryl cream (and of course some wasp and bee killer spray).


day 2: The bird park

The next day, (Saturday) we went to sylvan heights waterfowl park they had lots of neat birds there such as Golden pheasants,Mountain quail,Common eiders and even Trumpeter swans! we had a very good time there and hopefully we will go again next time we go to North Carolina. We spent the rest of Saturday playing and just having a good time together.


day 3: Church and goodbye

on Sunday, we had church and sang some songs such as "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" and "In the garden". After that, we went outside for a little bit while mommy packed up. Then came in to get ready after we had done our goodbyes, we had an emergency (at least, it was a little bit of an emergency for Parker) green white (Parker's webkinz frog) was missing. We searched the whole house for him, especially the room we were staying in and I finally found him under the couch and brought him back to Parker. (to bad it didn't take longer to find him so we could have stayed longer.)

We had a great, but short visit and I really hope we can see the Tribe again soon!




-the birdman-

Bob-white/144 species on my life list...

This morning I was outside filling my bird feeders. I had just finished putting the bird seed away, and was getting ready to come back in the house when I thought I heard a Bobwhite. A lot of other birds were singing at the same time, so I wasn't sure. I decided to try calling so i did the Bobwhite call and I heard it again. This time i was sure it was a Bobwhite. Since I had never seen or heard a bobwhite before (except in captivity) this is a new species for me, when i add it to my life list, I will have seen 144 species since last may! ;)

-the birdman-

a new bird website...

Here is a new bird website that I found the other day. It has information,pictures, and movies of birds and how to attract them.

-the birdman-

bird of the week... pileated woodpecker

The Pileated Woodpecker (this is the kind of woodpecker my blog woodpeckers are) is one of the biggest woodpeckers in the USA. The very endangered Ivory-Billed woodpecker is the only one bigger. When this woodpecker calls it sounds like it is laughing. You can hear them pecking a quarter of a mile away! here is some information about them. Here is a video and a photo of males.
here is a picture of some Pileated woodpeckers and here is a coloring page just like it.

-the birdman-

neat thing about Titmouse name

This is a neat thing I found out the other day about the Titmouse name. The word Titmouse comes from the old Icelandic word mase wich means small and the Anglo-Saxon word tit which means bird. So, the name Titmouse literally means small bird.

-the birdman-

wing banded ring-billed gull

Back in January we saw a wing banded Ring-Billed Gull in the Walmart parking lot. I entered it on a banding website. Today, I got a certificate of appreciation for entering the information. It was banded in Worcester County, Massachusetts a year ago today (3/26/08). It hatched in 2005 or earlier,they do not know the sex of it.
If you ever see a banded bird, write down the band number and the species,location, etc. Then, go to this website and enter the information. They will send you a certificate with all of its info. This is not just for fun, it also helps scientists track them. Scientists can learn important stuff about birds behavior,movement and other important things.

-the birdman-

Wordless Wednesday: Surprise Pie...we made it ourselves

the great backyard bird count...

Don't forget to mark your calendar to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, February 13-16,2009!
For more info visit The great backyard bird count website!

guest blogger ... Mag

The other day the Bald Eagle was very close. He was out in the front field, he was feeding on 2 Canada Geese. Jay got some pictures, here are two of them:



**Birdman's note...although he was the closest we have ever seen him, it was still too far to get very good pictures with our camera.

wordless wednesday : 11 busy children = 1 tired doggy!