Sunday, April 15, 2007

Birds Inside And Out




Before I attended Saturday's COA Meeting, I decided to take a quick look around . I spent an hour before the program started birding the Middlesex Community College Grounds. The nice thing about birds is that they are everywhere you go.



I saw a few species-maybe 15 or so. The most interesting to me was a Cooper's Hawk which kept gliding through the area. There was a Red-tailed Hawk in the area as well. One that I missed out on, was a Broad-winged Hawk that others said they had seen when I was inside.



This Brown-headed bird wasn't about to move until the cows came home. At least it was alive. I can't say that much for the birds I saw on the inside.




These poor birds look like they have seen better days. How many birds can you identify on this table of death?



Besides the excellent Singing Life of Birds program, I also watched a video that talked about the joy of watching hawks during migration. I'm going to touch on that in a separate post.



I purchased a paperback version of a book called-"Good Birders Don't where White." This is a collaboration of many authors several of whom have their own birding blogs including Bill Thompson III, Julie Zickefoose, Laura Erickson, Amy Hooper, and The Stokes. It is very entertaining and easy to read.



Another video presentation featured information about The Birder's Exchange Program. For those of you who might not have heard about this, click here to find out more. It is a program in which you can donate used birding equipment, field guides, or cash to South American birders. The more awareness their is of the importance of neotropical migrants in South America, the better the chances that people will have an open mind when it comes to conservation of habitat in that area.



It was nice to see many familiar faces. It's always fun to talk to others who share an interest in birding.-Wouldn't you agree?







6 comments:

Cathy said...

Yes, Larry - sharing our love of birding with others is half the fun of this challenging hobby.

I actually bumped into the Stokes on Sanibel Island this winter. They helped ID some LBJ - I'm so weak on these. (I'm partial to the colorful passerines - which is why that table of very recognizable birds is a titch paiful - so many lovelies :0(

Anonymous said...

I agree, you can see birds anywhere you go in the world and a great reason birding is soo much fun! BTW: Love your specimens on the table! Looking closer, I just realized that I have seen these skins numerous times before. A fellow bander brings them to our Eastern Bird Banding Association Meetings we have! They are also used during the North American Banding Council certification. At our meeting in Cape Cod, I think I remember her telling use that she was taking them to this meeting of yours! Small world isn't it!

Mary said...

Larry,

I agree with you. Anywhere you go, there are birds, unless you are looking for them :o)

It's very sad to see some birds on that table that I can identify.

Sharing birds on my blog is a pleasure for me. The information I have to offer about them isn't much, as I am very much a novice. If were to meet a "real" birder in person, I'd have trouble having an intelligent conversation with them.

I'm still learning, however.

Larry said...

Cathy-That's pretty neat that you ran in to some famous birders.-Sorry to subject you to the pictures of the birds on the table.

Monarch-That's really interesting that we almost went birding together.-we saw the same birds.

Mary-Have you ever went out on field trips with a club?-Don't worry about being a novice-every birder was a novice at one time.-I'm still new to birding myself.

Patrick B. said...

Any idea what the very top left bird is that is half out of the pic?

Black-billed Cuckoo
Northern Shrike
Bobolink
Eastern Bluebird
Hermit Thrush?
Meadowlark
Sparrow sp?
Flicker
Pileated??? I can't even make out a head.
Starling
2 Cedar Waxwings
WT Sparrow???
Harris's Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
???
Prothonotary Warbler
Mourning Warbler
???

Larry said...

-Nice i.d. skills Patrick.-I added another photo so that you can finish the list.