Oak leaves falling on Mallards
What do you believe the birds think as the world is literally falling around them? The bright, vibrant existence most of them are born into during the spring and the summer suddenly fades in the Northeast with cooling temperatures, shortening days and leaves floating to the earth from increasingly bare trees. Here is their reality collapsing further on a crisp November autumn day as these Mallards feed and contemplate, possibly wondering when the process will begin to reverse.
Read MoreFox Sparrow scratching like a chicken
This Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca) was doing its best chicken impression while scratching at the earth to find seeds in the leaf litter, primarily oak leaves, on a cold, wet and dreary November day.
Read MoreExtremely abundant common sparrows
This Dark-eyed Junco can be seen chowing down on a seed while nearly 200 more of its friends were doing the same nearby. I cannot recall a time where I have seen a greater sustained abundance, perhaps for the last three or four weeks, of a few common sparrow species spread across the region. There have been huge flocks of Song Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, and White-throated Sparrows seemingly everywhere in appropriate habitat. Have you noticed the same? Maybe they had a very productive nesting year and perhaps they are also irrupting due to a lack of food in the north. Thankfully there is no...
Read MoreAlways look up! Bald Eagles
You do not have to be “birding” to find and enjoy birds! One of the first things I tell new birders is that our avian friends are three-dimensional…huh? I mean that birds are not simply in the bush or tree in front of you or scratching at the earth below us, nor do you have to be at a special location to see spectacular birds in the air. If you remember to look in every direction, especially up, you will find some rare and wonderful things flying by when you least expect it. This is a good time of year to do so and find random Bald Eagles, like this overhead young bird and...
Read MoreWhite-throated Sparrows massing and feeding
White-throated Sparrows have arrived in tremendous numbers across the region, ready to eat you out of house and home all winter long! Before then, while the grass and earth is still exposed, without being snow-covered or frozen, they can feast on more natural meals. I took a bunch of photos of a few individuals in a group feeding on the lawn last week. There would not be much to chow down on if this were uniformly treated bright, green grass, one species that was chemically induced to look like the perfect lawn. These monocultures are taking up valuable habitat real estate and often consist...
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