An unusual visitor

Well, more than just one. We had hundreds of Common Nighthawks fly over our property several times this fall. We rarely spotted any in our valley, but suddenly, this year, there have been many sightings in our town. Wacky.

Click on photo to see the little black dots that are the Nighthawks

Common Nighthawks are pretty cool birds. They're in the Nightjar family. AllAboutBirds has a nice concise description of them. Even though they describe it as owl-like (I assume because they're generally nocturnal), when they're soaring overhead, they really look more like gulls or falcons with their pointy, boomerang-like wings.

If you want a more in-depth article, check out the American Birding Association link. ABA chose it as their Bird of the Year.

Have you ever seen one?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

My (not-so-)little birder

Son1 has been interested in birds for a long time. He took the Cornell Lab of Ornithology home-study bird biology course back when he was 10 (it's a college-level course, incidentally).

Now that he's a junior in high school, he qualified to take classes at the Indiana University campus through their OPEN program. He would have liked to take a bird biology course, but we decided that he should take the introductory biology course which is the pre-requisite to any higher level biology course.

In addition, he's been posting sightings regularly to both the local bird e-list and the Indiana birds e-list. He sounds so mature, yet cute, in those postings. Makes a mother proud. :)

Son1 took this photo of a Cape May Warbler

Here's a sample posting that he made on September 26th:

Hello all,


This morning I birded our property, hoping that yesterday evening's storm(s) would bring in some new things.  The morning started slowly with only an Ovenbird and Magnolia Warblers, but at the very end of my walk I happened upon a medium-sized flock of other warblers that provided some additional diversity.

Unfortunately, due to the wind and glare, many flyover birds went unidentified - along with a cardinalid tanager that may have been Scarlet.

One of the supposed Rose-breasted Grosbeaks stayed in one place eating Eleagnus fruit for a long time, and I was able to observe it for longer than usual.  That particular individual showed many characters I associate instead with Black-headed Grosbeak - strong salmon-colored wash up to the "collar", and a bill much darker than I've seen previously on Rose-breasteds.


Turkey Vulture - 7 (off-property, roosting in an American Sycamore)
Cooper's Hawk - 2 (apparent pair - 1 male, 1 female)
American Kestrel - 1 (female)
Chimney Swift - 3
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Northern Flicker - 2
Willow Flycatcher - 1 (no eye-ring noted; did not call; seen eating Common Buckeye)
Eastern Phoebe - 1
Blue Jay - ~
American Crow - 7
Carolina Chickadee - ~
Tufted Titmouse - 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Carolina Wren - 1
Eastern Bluebird - 2
Swainson's Thrush - 1
American Robin - 1
Gray Catbird - 2
Brown Thrasher - 1 (heard only)
European Starling - ~
Ovenbird - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 5
Nashville Warbler - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 5
Blackpoll Warbler - 1
Bay-breasted Warbler - 2 (first property record)
Magnolia Warbler - 5
Black-throated Green Warbler - 2
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 1
Palm Warbler - 4
Eastern Towhee - 1
Field Sparrow - 9
Song Sparrow - ~ (not especially numerous but not counted)
Piranga sp. -  1 (identified to genus by shape; possibly P. olivacea but color not seen well)
Northern Cardinal - ~
Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 5 (all assumed to be this species; see above)
Indigo Bunting - ~ (heard only)
Red-winged Blackbird - 8
Eastern Meadowlark - 1 (heard only, singing)
American Goldfinch - ~
House Sparrow - ~


While I was out, my mother saw a RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH at our feeder, a first for our property.  When I returned, Red-eyed Vireos were still around, but I had to wait a while before the RBNU showed up again.


Red-eyed Vireo - 2
Carolina Chickadee - ~
Tufted Titmouse - ~
RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH - 1
White-breasted Nuthatch - 1
Tennessee Warbler - 3


He was also invited by his biology prof and local birders to participate in the recent Big Sit. Unfortunately, the weather was awful, but he got to hang out with adults who share his keen interest.

Do you or your kids have a passion that have lasted a long time, or that led you to your profession? Mine was astrophysics...until I discovered that I kind of sucked at higher level physics and any math up to and beyond Diff Eq. *sigh*

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Birds, glorious birds, part 2

Birding is relaxing when you do armchair birding like I normally do, but there's also the thrill of the "hunt" too. Son1, especially now that he's keeping a life list, is eager to see his first of each species. AZ did not disappoint.

Here the guys are consulting the Kaufman bird guide (Son1's favorite) after we spotted the Vermilion Flycatcher:

Next along the path, we saw a Canvasback:

A group of them, in fact. A raft of them??

At Ramsey Canyon Preserve, an Arizona Woodpecker:

Bridled Titmice are so hard to photograph due to their constant (hyper)activity.

This curious mule deer wasn't too afraid of people.

It was weird seeing succulents like agave plants right next to a cool weather plant like a fern on the trail at Ramsey:

Back at the visitor center, we found this fellow. Anyone know what kind of lizard it is?

On the way out of Carr Canyon, we saw a Red-naped Sapsucker.

While lunching at the Sierra Vista Environmental Operations Park, we were joined by a Loggerhead Shrike, hubby's favorite bird.

On our last day in AZ, we were debating whether to stop at Saguaro National Park because we were running short on time. Boy, are we glad we did. Here are just some of the birds we saw:

Gila Woodpecker

Canyon Towhee

Black-throated Sparrow

Anyone want a Black-chinned Sparrow to go with the Black-throated Sparrow? This was an exciting find for Son1.

I was more excited about the Cactus Wren since I think wrens are some of the cutest birds around.

Son1 thinks this is a Clay-colored Sparrow:

You just can't take Gambel's Quails seriously; they look like little jesters.

This Pyrrhuloxia was a bit of a beggar. He must have been hanging around the picnic area too much and is used to being fed.

And last, but not least, is the Curve-billed Thrasher, a bold looking bird with brilliant yellow eyes. If I had one for a pet (which I thoroughly frown upon; I don't condone keeping wild birds for pets), I'd name it Data. ;)

Next blog post, I'll have a few pictures of the AZ landscape. Gotta milk the trip for all its worth!

Did you see any exciting birds in your neck of the woods this past week? Do you have Spring migrants passing through yet?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Birds, glorious birds, part 1

Oh great, now I'm singing the song from Oliver Twist.

Hubby needed a mental break from his job...a warm and sunny mental break, so he booked a trip to Arizona and off we went. It was mainly for birding since Son1 is a serious birder. Here I am with the kids, binoculars around our necks.

We weren't disappointed. At Catalina State Park, we had some good, close looks at Mexican Jays. (Remember to click on the photo to pull it up larger.)

At Cochise Lake outside of Willcox, there were a ton of Sandhill Cranes flying overhead.

More Sandhill Cranes...

Ok, one last one because I love them so much. ;)

Aren't these too cute? Son1 thinks they might be Semi-palmated Sandpipers. He's not as certain about shorebirds identification.

There were also flocks of American Wigeons. This is decent close-up of one of the males:

These are Northern Shovelers:

How about those honkers on the Shovelers?

It's not a perfect pic of the Northern Harrier, but can you see the banding on tail?

Almost as cute as the birds are my guys.

Right at the entrance of the lake area, there was a Say's Phoebe!

This isn't the best photo, but we saw a Horned Lark on our way out.

At San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Preserve, there were more White-crowned Sparrows than we've ever seen before in one spot. The bird on the left is a female Pyrrhuloxia.

Also at San Pedro, we had nice views of Lesser Goldfinches.

Does this remind you of a Stevie Nicks' song? White-winged Doves!

This was one of the most exciting birds for me on the trip: a Vermilion Flycatcher.

So that you don't get exhausted from all the excitement, I'll save the rest of the bird photos for - you guessed it! - part 2, next Monday. I know: how will you ever survive the week, right?

Have you been birding too? Did you do the Great Backyard Bird Count?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

Obsessed with birds

Robin's posts about the books she's reading inspired me to post about all the bird books we have in the house.

Because we're a family of birders, we have, um, just a few books on the topic, as you can see - click on the image to pull it up larger if you're curious about all the titles:

The only guide that's missing in this pile is the Kaufman Guide which is ds1's favorite and we keep it in the car so that we can reference it anytime we're out and about.

And because I won another haiku contest from WildBird magazine on Twitter, we will have a Peterson's guide to add to our stash soon!

Right now, we also have 2 bird books that we borrowed from the library. As if books weren't enough, we also have a bunch of birding magazines:

So, what do you think? Just a little obsessed? Maybe for some future posts, I'll compile my art books, knitting/crocheting books, the craft of writing books and science fiction books.  :)

What about you? Do you have a hobby that you love and have too many books and magazines of?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams

A-birding we will go

A couple of weeks ago, hubby was invited to give a talk at Northern Illinois University, so we tagged along to do some birding around the Great Lakes area.

Our hotel in Aurora was next to a pond so the kids and I did some birding outside while hubby was giving his talk.  There weren't too many birds there, at least not that we could see, although we heard plenty.  We spotted Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets. We suspect many more were hiding in the tall reeds.

The next day, we went to the FermiLab and walked around, hoping to see birds there.  Unfortunately, we didn't see a whole lot, but we had some nice walks.

Some fluffy wildflowers...not sure what they are.

Chicory is one of my favorite "weeds."

Son1 had been reading up on Monk Parakeets descended from escaped pets that now populated areas within Chicago, notably the Hyde Park area. He persuaded us to stop at a little park near the University of Chicago to look for them. We walked all around the park and didn't see any, and were just about back to the car again when we heard a squawking sound. Looking, there was a Monk Parakeet right above us. I tried to use the PS Express app on my phone to crop and sharpen the photo, but it's still not a very good one:

Maybe you can see it better in this photo?

After leaving the Chicago area, we went to explore Indiana Dune National Lakeshore. We were last here about 15 years ago, and it's shifted a bit.

Here are the guys dumping sand out of their shoes after we came back from the beach trail.

We didn't see anything at all on the beach trail, but saw lots of wonderful birds (including a Lincoln Sparrow, a Swamp Sparrow, and a large flock of Wood Ducks) at a marsh trail at the Dunes.

All in all, not a bad birding outing. And I think this is the part where I put in a plug for the Great Backyard Bird Count, Audubon, and WildBird Magazine to get you hooked on birding!

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams