Kickapoo CBC pics

Here's some pics I took during the CBC yesterday.


First this RN Pheasant:


Then some Horned Larks showed up:






Bobwhite Habitat. but no Bobwhites:


a small snowed in valley:


One of the 3 Bald Eagles we found:


The road into Biscuit Valley:


The Road going back out:


A beautiful winter Sunset to end the day:


Happy Birding!

Kickapoo CBC 12/27

Barb Duerksen and I did the Kickapoo CBC yesterday. All in all we had a fun day. It started a bit slow but picked up after a little while. Our first bird of the morning was a Turkey, calling from the woods. Our last birds were two Great-horned Owls.
Below is our results by county.

Time spent Owling: 2 hours (0600-0730 & 1630-1710)
Time spent birding: 9 hours
Total time: 11 hours.
Weather: Cloudy in the morning-Clearing in the afternoon.
Temp: morning low: 25 Daytime High: 35
Wind: NW@ 5-10 MPH. Dying down by late afternoon and evening.

Vernon County Results: 28 Species
132 Turkeys
41 Am Crows
47 cardinals
10 White-breasted Nuthatches
20 Chickadees
99 Juncos
18 Blue Jays
18 Mourning Doves
39 Gold finches (and our only species of finch that day)
12 Red-bellied Woodpeckers
6 House Sparrows
44 Starlings
8 Horned Larks
11 Red-tailed Hawks
1 Rough-legged Hawk (our only one of the day)
1 Rock Pigeon
3 Downy Woodpeckers
21 Tree Sparrows
2 Pileated Woodpeckers
1 RN Pheasant
1 Flicker
1 Song Sparrow
1 Am Kestrel
2 T Titmouse
3 Harry Woodpecker
2 Bald Eagle
1 N Shrike (Hooray!!!)
2 Great-horned Owls


Monroe County results: 18 Species
218 Starlings
118 House Sparrows
23 Cardinals
95 Juncos
6 Red-bellied Woodpeckers
42 Crows
9 Blue Jays
110 Rock Pigeons
17 Mourning Doves
10 Chickadees
2 Downy Woodpeckers
2 Hairy Woodpeckers
1 Am Kestrel
5 White-breasted Nuthatch
24 Horned Larks
19 Am Tree Sparrows
5 Red-tailed Hawk
1 Bald Eagle

Interesting, we found a total of 28 species. There were no species found in Monroe county that we didn't find in Vernon county.
Late in the day, we ran into (or rather, they ran into us) Noel and Seth Cuthright. They had found 2 Golden Eagles that day. (I still need one for this winter.) Maybe I need to go hang out in their count area for a day.... Hmmm......
Anyway, we had a good day. If not a long day.

Happy Birding!

Merry Christmas!!!! It's the whole subject at the feeders today! (feeder chat)

It's Christmas already?


You bet it is. Mmmm, look at all this food. Yummmy!


Whew, gotta get all these presents home.


Christmas?? It's Christmas?


I don't think it's Christmas. I hate Christmas. Away with ye.


What? you really mean it? it is? and it's a party day??


Alright! I'll go get the guys.


Let's have a party!!


Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Birding and weather Fri and Sun.

I went out birding on Fri. There wasn't much around though. it was pretty foggy. Visibility up on the ridge was down to about 100yds or less. I found most of the winter species. 4 flyby Horned Larks were the highlight.

We recieved about 8.5" of snow last night. The weather is currently snowing, blowing snow and winds 10-25mph. not fun weather. The feeder is popular right now. Besides the three Downy Woodpeckers, my resident female leucistic Cardinal is sitting on my feeder.





Also this Downy Woodpecker



Well, not much else going on. I'll finish that post about Warbler ID sometime this week.
If I have a chance to go skiing, I'm going. Other than that, nothing until the Kickapoo CBC on Thurs (unless something rare shows up of course.)

Happy Birding and Merry Christmas!!

Identification of N American Wood-warblers.

Warblers. They're a group of birds that many people struggle with. If you think about it though, they're really easy. Here's how I do it:

So, your first step is IDing a Warbler. The question then comes up, what is a warbler?
Warblers are small insectivorous birds of the family Parulidae that live mostly in woodland or woodland edges. They are generally not any bigger than 6-8". Sometimes being smaller than 3". They are active foragers and have many strategies for catching insects and larvae, including flycatching;most glean insects directly from branches, as vireos do. They are generally easiest to ID in the spring when they are in full breeding plumage. When fall comes around, they lose their spring colors and become drab and plain, making them more difficult to ID.

So now you know about Iding the family. What about species?
Once again, divide the birds into different groups. Start by dividing them into Warblers with wingbars and warblers without wingbars. Now you have two distinct groups. The warbler family and sub-families are divided into 18 genera in N America. I will be focusing on the major genera and mostly eastern warblers. The genera I will be focusing on will be mostly Dendroica, Vermivora, Wilsonia and Oprornis warblers because these are the biggest groups and are the most easily recognized.

Now take your "warblers without wingbars" group and separate the Oprornis Warblers. The 4 Oprornis warblers are Mourning, Connecticut, MacGilivray's and Kentucky Warblers. These warblers are easy to ID in any season because fall plumage is very similar to spring plumage. Within this group, only Mourning and Connecticut are difficult to tell apart. Connecticut though, has a bold, complete, white eye ring. This feature is probably the best one to use to tell them apart.
Oprornis warblers are medium size, rather chunky looking warblers that prefer brushy woodland habitat. usually with some source of water nearby. The best way to ID these birds is to learn their songs. You almost never actually see them since the tend to stay deep in the undergrowth. In fact, usually the only way you know they're there is because you heard them. Connecticuts have a distinctive "tip tupa teepa tupa teepo". Kentucky warblers sound more similar to Carolina Wrens or Ovenbirds with their warbled "churree churree churreee". Mourning warblers sound similar except that they say Churree churree churree" with a whistled "to meet you" at the end.

Anyway, back to warblers. I could write a whole essay on differences between Oprornis warblers.

(to be continued.......)