Window Blind White-throat In The Snow

As you can see from my backyard, we had a bit of snow Sunday night into Monday. Portland only had a total of about 10 inches but the wind gusts were strong enough to knock over one of my heavy wooden chairs.

I spent most of Monday shoveling snow and making homemade chicken noodle soup but managed to sneak in a little backyard birding. I set up a simple blind by hanging an old blanket over my breezeway door and putting a piece of cardboard in the window with a hole cut out for the camera lens. Surprisingly, we didn't have a lot of bird activity. There were lots of juncos, 1 Carolina Wren, 1 Mourning Dove, 1 Downy Woodpecker, 2 Northern Cardinals, and a few White-throated Sparrows. Normally, I see a lot of birds at the feeders during a snowstorm.

I set up branches for the birds to land on but they always seemed to land in a position where they were obstructed by other branches or were facing in the wrong direction. I know there are certain methods to control the way the birds land so that is something I'll work on in the future. At least the White-throated Sparrow cooperated by landing in the snow near the window blind. They breed mostly in Candada but I look forward to their return to Connecticut each year in the late Fall.

It's interesting how different a bird can look when it changes it's posture. This photo is of the same bird as in the previous photo but it looks a lot taller in this photo. There are two different forms of the White-throated Sparrow. There is a tan-striped form and the white-crowned form seen in these photos. I think the white-crowned form are more striking to look at. I learned this interesting fact at whatbird: "Individuals almost always mate with a bird of the opposite morph. Males of both color types prefer females with white stripes,and both kinds of females prefer tan-striped males." Don't worry, I didn't set up a secret snow trap just to get this photo. Little birdy did it all on his own.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I want to wish you all a Happy New Year!

Birding Blind 2: Beneath The Platform

I made a stop at the Helen Carlson Bog in Portland on Sunday. I spent most of the morning looking and listening for birds from the top of the platform. I was just getting ready to leave when it occurred to me that the support walls beneath the platform might serve well as a blind for taking photos of birds. I believe the wooden walls were designed with spaces to let water pass through when the water level was high but it also serves well as a place to stick a camera lens through.

I had to wait for a quite a while before any birds showed up but a Dark-eyed Junco finally showed up.

Next, a small flock of bluebirds took turns landing on branches that were fairly close.

The photos didn't come out as well as I would have liked but I was good to find another place where I can have an opportunity to get a little closer to the birds without them seeing me. Finding more ready made blinds is on my list of things to do this year.

I also found this wren sneaking around the edge of the bog. I'm guessing it's probably a Winter Wren from what I can see of it. Some of the other birds I saw at the bog included: Red-shouldered Hawks, Common Ravens which were making some strange vocalizations, Wood Ducks, Mallards, yuk-ducks, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, Hairy Woodpecker, Ruby-crowned kinglets, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and about a dozen White-throated Sparrows. Some of the sparrows were singing their old-sam-peabody song while others were busy rustling through the leaves looking for food. I tried to sneak up on them by crawling on my hands and knees. Needless to say, that method didn't work as well as the blind.

Watching Flickers From A Natural Blind

I was on my way to a birding location when I decided to check a field that was along the way. I never made it to my intended destination. Instead, I spent the next couple of hours hiding in the bushes watching birds. While out birding , I've been trying to make a conscious effort to find areas where the birds are most active and try to get close to them without scaring them away. In this particular field which is located in Middletown, I noticed that many birds were landing on a dead tree snag which a large bush and other vegetation in back of it. I had to do a little bushwhacking to get into position but eventually settled into a good spot where most of my body was hidden. I even stuck a couple of branches in my hat to blend into my surroundings a little better.

I've tried this sort of thing before and a lot of times it doesn't work out but this time it worked like a charm. I did run into a couple of minor problems. I had difficulty getting my tripod legs to set flat on the ground because of all the roots and tangle. When I went to fold the tripod back up I noticed that the little rubber caps on the bottom of the legs had fallen off when I had to pull the legs back up out of the vines. I couldn't find them so I just bought new ones which were better anyway. The other problem was that I was often looking at the underside of the bird which wasn't always a good angle for taking photos but the birds put on a great show.

-

-At one point, there were 7 Northern Flickers stretching their wings, calling, climbing, and tapping on wood just a feet away from me. I read in the David Sibley book, The Sibley guide To Bird Life & Behavior, that Northern Flickers have a variable clutch size of 3-12 eggs. An experiment was done by a researcher who would remove one egg a day from a flicker nest but always leaving at least two in the nest. The female flicker ended up laying 70 eggs by the end of the season. I found that to be interesting. The whole section woodpeckers had good information.

I watched as young Eastern Bluebirds would land on the highest point of a branch only to be chased away by another bluebird which would land in the same spot.

A handful of Cedar Waxwings stopped to rest before moving on to other areas.

This Eastern Kingbird has a mouthful of something. It doesn't look very eastern kingbirdy from this picture but it was at the time I was there.

I believe this is an Eastern Wood Pewee. They're easier to identify when they're singing but this one was quiet. I couldn't get it in focus using the auto setting so I blindly turned the wheel to a different setting and tried the manual focus button. It did come into focus but who knows what kind of crazy setting I had it on.

This Blue Jay was last bird I saw before leaving. I plan to keep a record of places where I'm able to watch birds while hiding in the natural surroundings. Birds seem to behave differently when they're not threatened by human presence. This makes them more interesting to observe and easier to photograph.

click to play

Here is a video of some flickers in action.

Name That Mockingbird Tune!

Haddam Meadows-There were a couple of things I had in my mind when I set out to look for birds on Monday. First of all, I wanted to make a point of using my camera with a tripod to take videos and pictures. I just bought an extra quick release plate which allows me to easily switch between using the scope or my camera on the tripod. The other thing I wanted to do was try out the new chair blind that I recently purchased.

I started my morning at Haddam Meadows State Park. There was the usual mix of birds that you would expect to see this time of year in Connecticut including lots of Song Sparrows like the one above and also a good number of Red-winged Blackbirds in the swampy portion of the park.

I did see my first Tree Swallows of the year perched in the highest branches. They were preening and catching a little sun. It was nice not to worry about my hands staying steady while taking photos using the tripod but it didn't get me any closer to the birds. So would the new bird blind solve that problem? The Chair Blind Blues-I recently mentioned that I had purchased the Ameristep Chair Blind. After setting it up in a wooded location, I sat in it for about two hours. I could hear Tufted Titmice and Black-capped Chickadees flying right past me. Their were also Cedar Waxwings and Northern Cardinals nearby as well. Unfortunately, none of them landed in a location where I could snap a photo. The blind sets up easy enough but I can't say that I enjoyed using it. Here are a few of the problems that I had while using this product.

• The chair is attached to the blind so that any movement by the person seated in the chair causes the whole blind to move.


• It is big enough to sit in but the cramped space makes it difficult to set your gear up.


• It is designed with flexible metal bars that attach to the chair and tent portion. It feels very awkward when you have to fold this product back up again. It's as though you are trying to force it back into shape and it barely fits back into the carrying bag.


• It is 11 pounds which doesn't sound like much but it is a pain to lug around if you add that to your tripod, camera and binoculars.

I just don't think it's going to work out for me. Taking photos from your car or photos from a window in your house are two easy and effective ways to get a closer view of birds without scaring them away. I plan on making a list of places that have already built permanent blinds for wildlife viewing. I've found a few but they don't seem to be set up in a location where you would see a lot of birds.

Here are some of the other ideas I've read about:

• Setting up a tent in the backyard and making some holes from which to look through.

• Making you're own portable bird blinds using camouflage material-(I think Wal-mart sells it) and pvc pipe.

• An old refrigerator box from an appliance store can also be used as a temporary blind. I haven't given up on this idea though. It would be great if I could find a way to get really close to birds so that I could get some closeup photos.

The bottom line is that I would like the blind to be where the birds are before I am. That means I will want to use something that I don't have to worry about being stolen.

Last week it was brought to my attention that there was a mysterious bird making its way around people's backyards in Orange Connecticut. The mystery bird turned out to be a Silver Pheasant which is a bird that is not native to this area. This photo was taken by Patricia Villers. She writes for The New Haven Register and also has her own blog called Late Bloomer Boomer. She recently wrote a story about the Silver Pheasant. Click here to read the article.

Name That Mockingbird Tune:

Here is a short video of a Northern Mockingbird imitating the songs of other birds (No camera shake-I used the tripod!).

Can you identify any of the species that the mockingbird is imitating?