January 10th. Winter. BAH! Humbug!

*sigh*

Almost a month since my last post. Christmas has come and gone. New Year's, too. We've had one--count it, ONE--snowfall that required shoveling. But we have had many, many days where the high temperature was under 20 degrees F and the low was below 0 degrees.

******
I continue to feed three outdoor cats as well as the six indoor kitties. I've built two insulated shelters for the outdoor girls and on the real cold nights at least two of them make use of those shelters. Where the third goes, I have only have a few ideas--under the shed, under the hunting camp 150 yards down hill, or, perhaps, there's a hidden den on the hill somewhere among the branches and grape vines I've piled up.

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I've also been feeding the fireplace during the cold weather. I may actually burn all the firewood I've had stacked behind the garage--some of which has been there for three years. That's a good thing as some of it is starting to get a little punky. Mostly the softer poplar. It's also okay because I've some wood left from the crew that cleaned the powerline right of way to harvest as well as several birch, ash and maple trees I want to fell. As soon as the wind drops and the weather warms a bit.

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We didn't go into New Jersey on Christmas Eve because of weather forecasts of several inches of snow that we would have had to drive through on the way home. (That "storm" turned into a dud producing only an inch of snow at the Aerie.) We DID manage to get into NJ on January 7th for my grandniece's first birthday. NJ, of course, had a heck of a lot more snow than we did having just suffered the snowmagedon of the year.

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Tiadaghton Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count took place on January 1st. While the temperature was hovering between 5 and 6 degrees most of the morning, we did have very little wind and mostly sunny skies. We also got to see quite a few more birds than last year. Las year we may have spotted 15 BIRDS. This year we spotted 15 species and 270 birds. We did our birding from the car and covered 78 miles of back roads in central Tioga County--the southern edge of our club's circle. The club had a total of 52 species and 3670 birds within our circle.

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Terry and I have decided upon--and booked--a cruise of the lower Mississippi for May. We'll be on the Mississippi Queen, a paddlewheeler of the American Cruise Lines. The boat leaves New Orleans on April 28 sailing up the Mississippi to Vicksburg and then returns to New Orleans on May 5th so we'll be on the water for Terry's birthday (May 3rd). We've also decided to drive down and back so as to add a possible side trip to either Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri (to see Doug and Lucille) or to Columbia, SC (to see Jim and Pat). At almost $900 per person round trip for a flight out of Philly to New Orleans, we may actually save money driving!

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Terry will be getting a partial knee replacement tomorrow at the Corning Hospital. She's bone on bone and in significant pain that shots have not helped alleviate. She has the same doctor doing her knee as I had replace both my knees. This time, however, he'll be supervising a robot that will do the surgery. Maybe she'll have less leg bruising than I did. Both my legs were balck and blue after surgery.

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Well, I guess that pretty much sums up the last month or so.

Saturday Birding in the Rain

Those of you living in the North East do not have to be told about how wet it's been lately. Those horrendous storms from southern Missouri have made their way here and are likely to stay around for a good long while. While we haven't had the flooding the southern folks have experienced, we have had some tornadoes and wind storms that have produced damage. (Last Monday there were six tornadoes recorded in Pennsylvania--three were EF0 and three were EF1 in strength. Tuesday we had gusting gale force winds.) There's been a goodly number of power outages as a result. Here in Tioga County,  both Wellsboro and Mansfield have gone without power for hours on end.Even today (Saturday) Wellsboro lost power for a couple of hours as trees continue to fall and power grids get overwhelmed with recirculating the flow.

That said, the Tiadaghton Audubon Society held its regular Saturday morning bird walk at Hills Creek State Park today. With members absent to go to a birding festival in Erie and to band shore birds in Delaware, only Gary and I showed up to lead the walk--which started at 8 AM with just Gary and me. Two campers staying at the park did join us shortly after we started but we had to end the walk early when the rain returned.

I recorded 15 species in the HQ parking lot between 7 and 8 AM and another dozen or so in our brief walk around the beach area.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Ruddy Duck
Great Blue Heron
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Spotted Sandpiper
Hairy Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
European Starling
Ovenbird
Chipping Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Eastern Towhee
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Brown-headed Cowbird

There may have been other waterfowl on the lake near the northern end but they were too distant for a good ID. Some looked to be Double-crested Cormorants. And we didn't get into the best warbler zones on our brief walk and none of the little buggers bothered to come to visit us.

On the way home, I spotted 4 or more Wood Duck on a small beaver pond along Shaw road but didn't stop to look for more. Then I saw a Ruffed Grouse cross the road and meander into the woods. Not the brightest of birds, grouse depend upon camouflage and surprise to make good their escape. (Anyone who has unexpectedly had a grouse explode from cover at their feet will tell you how heart-stopping the experience can be!) This particular bird went for the camo.

Ruffed Grouse

Birding on May 9th, 2015

A decent morning birding with the  Tiadaghton Audubon Society at Hills Creek State Park and then a pretty nice picnic afterward. In between, I did a short walk of my own over on Pine Creek at Darling Run that yielded a few additional species including a First of the Year Baltimore Oriole.(Of course one also showed up at the picnic a few hours later so everybody got to see it.)

I tend to simply list species without trying to come up with a number of individuals. I know it's less helpful for scientific purposes but how can you be sure it's not the same bird fluttering ahead of you along the trail? Or, if you walk back the same way that you came, that it's not a different bird singing in the bushes? Besides, I keep the species list for my own curiosity.

Anyway, here's the list(s) I came up with today.

Hills Creek SP, Tioga, US-PA
May 9, 2015 7:45 AM - 10:15 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
36 species

Canada Goose
Mallard 
Great Blue Heron 
Turkey Vulture 
Bald Eagle 
Spotted Sandpiper 
Ring-billed Gull 
Pileated Woodpecker 
Eastern Phoebe 
Warbling Vireo [FOY] 

Red-eyed Vireo 
Blue Jay 
American Crow 
Fish Crow   [FOY]
Tree Swallow 
Barn Swallow 
Black-capped Chickadee 
Tufted Titmouse 
Red-breasted Nuthatch 
White-breasted Nuthatch 
Eastern Bluebird 
Wood Thrush 
American Robin 
Gray Catbird 
Ovenbird 
Common Yellowthroat 
Yellow Warbler 
Chestnut-sided Warbler 
[FOY] Yellow-rumped Warbler 
Black-throated Green Warbler 
Eastern Towhee 
Chipping Sparrow 
Dark-eyed Junco 
Northern Cardinal 
Red-winged Blackbird
American Goldfinch 

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23329809

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Pine Creek/Darling Run, Tioga, US-PA
May 9, 2015 10:50 AM - 11:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 mile(s)
17 species

[This list contains numbers because 1-it was an easy one to compile, and 2-it was submitted for the Migratory Bird Count,]

Canada Goose  14
Common Merganser  2
Belted Kingfisher  1
Red-eyed Vireo  2
Blue Jay  2
American Crow  3
Tree Swallow  2
American Robin  3
Gray Catbird  2
Ovenbird  1
Common Yellowthroat  3
Black-throated Green Warbler  2
Chipping Sparrow  4
Song Sparrow  6
Red-winged Blackbird  2
Common Grackle  1
Baltimore Oriole  1 [FOY]

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23329666

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

The Week That Was at the Aerie

Last Sunday, Terry and I drove into New Jersey to attend a surprise 40th Anniversary party for my sister Ruthann and her husband Al. Her daughters had set this up with family and a couple of friends. A quiet little backyard barbecue is what it was. Ruthann and Al had no idea and were completely surprised. A good time was had by all.

Monday and Tuesday were lovely days of little activity except for a few mundane things. Terry had a meeting with one of her embroidery groups. I think this one was up in Corning. Then she had to take the Aveo in to have some warranty/recall work done and get the sir filters replaced. (Smelled like something died in one of them!) I ran around on Monday to get a new battery for the RV's engine. I had let the old one sit int he vehicle too long last December and it lost charge and froze apparently cracking one of the cells inside and creating a short. Tuesday Joe came up--although I told him he didn't have to--to help me put that new battery (which I had already put in) and the axillary batteries into the RV.

Wednesday was a blah day with drizzle and rain showers all day long and temperatures in the low 60s. Compared to the sunny 80s of the previous days, it was a real downer. So I made some chocolate chip cookies.

Thursday it was back up to the 80s with a forecast of even higher temperatures on the way. Terry and I put the AC in the bedroom window just in case. Then we went down to Lowe's to purchase some perennials and some vegetable plants which I, of course, had to then put in the ground. (Terry did put the peppermint Joe brought up and the couple of herbs she purchased into the garden, but I did the rest.

I noticed the radishes, lettuce, carrots, some of the beets and snap peas that I had planted as seeds were finally popping up out of the soil. There's going to be a lot of thinning in the very near future!

Friday afternoon, I drove Terry up to the Corning-Elmira airport so she could catch a flight to Portland, Oregon to visit Rick, Sandy and our new granddaughter, Chelsea Rose. Terry will be there until the 19th or 20th and will do some cooking, teaching about the cooking of certain dishes and a lot of cooing over Chelsea Rose. I cut the lawn for the first time this year when I got back from the airport.

Saturday I attended the morning bird walk at Hills Creek State Park (I listed 36 species), did a brief walk over at Darling Run (another 17 species but many of them overlapped the morning list) and then went back to HCSP for the annual Audubon picnic. I'll put the bird lists in the next post.

Saturday Mornings Are for Birding

This morning's bird walk at Hills Creek State Park yielded several FOYs (First of the Year). The Eastern Towhee I've seen the last couple of days at home, but the Yellow Warbler, Northern Parula, and Brown Creeper were all new. We also got to see a Fox and three kits get flushed from behind one of the bluebird houses near the amphitheater and, later, saw the adult with a rabbit heading back.

Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Common Merganser
Ruddy Duck
Wild Turkey
Common Loon
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Osprey
Bald Eagle
Spotted Sandpiper
Ring-billed Gull
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Brown Creeper
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Gray Catbird
European Starling
Northern Parula
Blackburnian Warbler
Yellow Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Eastern Towhee
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
Red-winged Blackbird
Brown-headed Cowbird
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch

After we broke up, I went over to The Muck hoping to get some pictures from the blind. I stayed only 45 minutes but got to see my first Common Gallinule along with a Green Heron. Neither stayed around long enough for me to put down my binoculars and get the camera into action.

Canada Goose
Mallard
Red-winged Blackbird
Great Blue Heron
Green Heron
Common Gallinule

All in all a very good morning.

Out and About: Birding and Gardening

Got out and got active today...finally.

Started the day out at Hills Creek State Park with the weekly bird walk sponsored by the Tiadaghton Audubon Society. It was cool (35 degrees at 7:45 AM) but sunny (it got up to 45 degrees by 10:15 AM) and only a mild breeze blowing. We had seven folks show up and had a nice long walk (almost 2 miles) starting at the overflow parking area and going up to the amphitheater and on into the woods at the north end of the lake.

Things were quiet on the lake with only a few ducks, mergansers and grebes on the water. The shoreline was a different matter as there were hordes of warblers (mostly Yellow-rumped) and swallows (mostly Tree Swallows but others as well).

Here's the full list of species we saw today.

Canada Goose
Wood Duck 
Mallard 
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Common Merganser
Red-breasted Merganser
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Osprey
Cooper's Hawk
Bald Eagle
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

Red-bellied Woodpecker
Eastern Phoebe
Blue Jay
American Crow
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee

Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Eastern Bluebird
American Robin
Blackburnian Warbler
Palm Warbler
Pine Warbler
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Chipping Sparrow
Field Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal
American Goldfinch

******

After lunch, I grabbed a shovel and went out to turn the gardens over. I worked slow but steadily and finished four of the five garden plots. Almost ever shovel of soil turned over exposed three or four earthworms. I'll have no trouble obtaining bait when I decide to go fishing! 

With the soil turned, I'll let it dry a bit before spend time with the rototiller tomorrow afternoon to break up the clods of clay that  forms much of our soil despite the bags and bags of garden soil and peat moss I've added. I still have to get down to the store to pick up the snap pea, beet and radish seeds as well as onion sets. 

For now, however, I'll relax and watch the Mets do to the Yankees what the Yankees did to the Mets last night.

Monday I take the Tundra to get repaired. Tuesday, I got to the urologist to have the stent removed. Wednesday, If the weather permits, I'll get those seeds and sets in the ground.

Birding at Hills Creek State Park:May 4, 2013

We had another great day for birding at Hills Creek State Park today. The conditions were perfect with comfortable temperatures, clear skies and no wind to speak of. Lots of people showed up, too. While we racked up a respectable number of species in 2.5 hours, the actual number of birds was a bit disappointing and there were areas that should have had birds that didn't. Maybe some have moved north--or haven't gotten here yet from the south--or maybe those that were around were setting up housekeeping. Whatever the reason, this could be considered a good day and not a great one on the bird front but certainly a great morning to be out.

Here's today's list as reported to eBird:

Hills Creek SP, Tioga, US-PA
May 4, 2013 7:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.5 mile(s)
Comments: Beautiful clear morning. 40 degrees at the start, 60 degrees when we finished. Very calm.
34 species

Canada Goose X
Mallard X
Double-crested Cormorant X
Great Blue Heron X
Osprey X
Bald Eagle X
Red-tailed Hawk X
Ring-billed Gull X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker X
Downy Woodpecker X
Eastern Phoebe X
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Tree Swallow X
Black-capped Chickadee X
Red-breasted Nuthatch X
White-breasted Nuthatch X
Brown Creeper X
House Wren X
Eastern Bluebird X
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
Brown Thrasher X
European Starling X
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Black-throated Green Warbler X
Eastern Towhee X
Chipping Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco X
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
American Goldfinch X

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13985728

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Birding at Hills Creek State Park:April 27, 2013

Another Saturday morning that was just perfect for a bird walk at Hills Creek State Park. Nary a cloud in the sky and barely enough breeze to ripple the lake surface. The temperature started at 32 degrees at 7:30 AM but climbed steadily so it was 55 degrees when we called it a morning at 10 AM. We had a great turnout of both the human (22 people) and avian (37 species) kind.

Here's the day's list as reported to eBird:

Hills Creek SP, Tioga, US-PA
Apr 27, 2013 7:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling
1.5 mile(s)
Comments: Clear, calm morning. Started at 32 degrees but ended at 52 under bright sunshine.
37 species

Canada Goose X
Wood Duck X
Mallard X
Lesser Scaup X
Hooded Merganser X
Ruddy Duck X
Pied-billed Grebe X
Great Blue Heron X
Osprey X
Bald Eagle X
Spotted Sandpiper X
Bonaparte's Gull X
Ring-billed Gull X
Mourning Dove X
Belted Kingfisher X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker X
Northern Flicker X
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Tree Swallow X
Black-capped Chickadee X
Red-breasted Nuthatch X
Eastern Bluebird X
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
Brown Thrasher X
European Starling X
Palm Warbler X
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Chipping Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco X
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle X
Brown-headed Cowbird X
American Goldfinch X

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13899535

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

Birding at Hills Creek State Park: Saturday, April 20, 2013

Went out birding at Hills Creek State Park for the third consecutive Saturday. With the front that moved through last evening, it was assumed it would be a rotten day, especially since the winds were still pretty strong and there didn't appear to be much on the lake. Because of the cool temperatures and strong breeze we stayed pretty much inland, skirting the north end of the lake only in passing.

Last week we had scores of waterfowl on the lake and never really left the shoreline. This week there were many fewer swimmers and even seeing those was difficult because of the chop. The woods and fields, however, produced numerous species and individuals including quite a few warblers--a sure(?) sign that spring may be gaining a footing. The trees are just beginning to bud out so the birds couldn't hide behind leaves.

 At the end of the walk we had tallied at least 33 species and could have had more if we had worked at it by extending our walk to include the beach area. Waterfowl may have been low in number, but the number of species wasn't as greatly reduced as we expected. And the number of swallows zipping through the air over the lake was amazing! What they may have been eating is a mystery as we saw no bugs hatching from the cold water.

 Any way, here's the report I filed with eBird for today's outing which included 12 birders:

 Hills Creek SP, Tioga, US-PA
Apr 20, 2013 7:30 AM - 10:00 AM
Protocol: Traveling 1.5 mile(s)
Comments: Very breezy morning about 40 degrees. Partially cloudy with a bit of snow flurry. Cold front moved through the evening before.

33 species

Canada Goose X
Wood Duck X
Mallard X
Bufflehead X
Common Merganser X
Common Loon X
Horned Grebe X
Double-crested Cormorant X
Osprey X
Northern Harrier X
Bald Eagle X
Barred Owl X
Belted Kingfisher X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker X
Eastern Phoebe X
American Crow X
Northern Rough-winged Swallow X
Tree Swallow X
Barn Swallow X
Black-capped Chickadee X
Tufted Titmouse X
Red-breasted Nuthatch X
Golden-crowned Kinglet X
Eastern Bluebird X
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
European Starling X
Palm Warbler X
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Chipping Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Dark-eyed Junco X
Purple Finch X

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S13814903

Christmas Bird Count Results

The Christmas Bird Count turned out to be pretty much a bust for Terry and I.

The rails-to-trails bike path that runs through Lambs Creek Recreation Area was gated. (It was open on Friday.) Normally we would have had access to two miles of paved road, miles of bike path and access to a boat launch area on the Tioga River. Today we had none of that without the use of a bike--which we had left at home. We walked about 3/4 of a mile from the gate and saw precious little:
5 American Crows
17 American Goldfinches
11 Black-capped Chickadees
2 Downy Woodpeckers
1 Blue Jay
1 Dark-eyed Junco
3 Northern Cardinals
5 Mourning Doves

Leaving the boat launch access road, we drove up Lamb's Creek Road to Fire Tower Road and up to the fire tower on State Game Lands 37. As we drove we tried to keep track of the birds we saw in the 20-minujte drive, but even that was rather small:
10 American Crows
12 Mourning Doves
1 Blue Jay

At the fire tower, we ran into a group of two or three small game hunters working their dogs in search of rabbits. While they worked one area, we walked in the opposite direction. We heard no shots and saw few birds in the half hour we spent on the mountain top.
3 Blue Jays
8 Black-capped Chickadees

We then gathered with the others who had been out and about for a warm lunch at one of our chapter's member's home where we compared notes. Everyone reported a scarcity of birds with only one or two exceptions. Some folks saw lots of Starlings, some reported lots of Canada Geese (Lake Nessmunk outside of Wellsboro) and one mentioned that he saw 11 Bald Eagles at the overlook of Tioga and Hammond Lake. Despite reports of eruptive species, no one saw any this morning. (A few of us have seen a small number of eruptives--Evening Grosbeaks, Pine Siskins, Crossbills, Snow Buntings, etc. but no Redpolls--but only sporadically.)

Gary will be compiling everyone's counts and it will be interesting to see the totals. 

I believe Terry and I could have seen more species and more individual birds if we had stayed home and taken breakfast on our deck. We had a nice morning however and it was good to meet with the others.

Birding and Christmas Bird Count

Going birding in the morning. Our Tiadaghton Audubon Society chapter is doing its Christmas Bird Count tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be excellent with high temperature reaching 40 degrees and no rain or snow in the forecast until tomorrow night (50% chance).

I took a little ride over to where Terry and I will be make our first stop but I didn't see one bird. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

Saturday morning in the park.

Here's the results of our bird walk at Hills Creek SP Saturday morning. With the leaves of the trees growing larger and larger, more and more of the birds are first IDed by their singing. That will end soon for some of them as they pair up, build a nest and become a bit more secretive.

Hills Creek SP, Tioga, US-PA
May 12, 2012 7:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 mile(s)
Comments: Beautiful morning: Clear, cool (45-60 degrees), sunny, with little breeze.
42 Double-crested Cormorants flew over in a perfect V formation.
39 species

Canada Goose X
Mallard X
Hooded Merganser X
Double-crested Cormorant X
Great Blue Heron X
Osprey X
Spotted Sandpiper X
Chimney Swift X
Ruby-throated Hummingbird X
Red-bellied Woodpecker X
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker X
Pileated Woodpecker X
Eastern Phoebe X
Red-eyed Vireo X
Blue Jay X
American Crow X
Tree Swallow X
Barn Swallow X
Black-capped Chickadee X
Carolina Wren X
Eastern Bluebird X
American Robin X
Gray Catbird X
European Starling X
Ovenbird X
Common Yellowthroat X
Magnolia Warbler X
Yellow Warbler X
Chestnut-sided Warbler X
Yellow-rumped Warbler X
Black-throated Green Warbler X
Eastern Towhee X
Chipping Sparrow X
Song Sparrow X
Swamp Sparrow X
Northern Cardinal X
Red-winged Blackbird X
Common Grackle X
American Goldfinch X

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)