Field Sparrow
The fields are alive with the sound of music…and in this case it was the voices of many Field Sparrows (Spizella pusilla) singing on territory in the grasslands and open country across the region. Let’s all focus on keeping our open habitats healthy and available for birds like this! Development and unchecked regrowth of forests without natural wildfires will all but eliminate them otherwise while invasives, monocultures or chemicals can degrade them further. Sometimes we have to work to preserve nature after all we have done to modify our natural world. Scott Kruitbosch...
Read MorePrairie Warbler (Setophaga discolor)
Here’s a Throwback Thursday to a Prairie Warbler (Setophaga discolor) that I photographed several years ago. The species begins to return to us in the Northeast right abouttttt…now! I hope to be able to spot one or two in migration so that I can get some better shots and enjoy their buzzy, rising song. Look for them in scrub or shrub habitat, old fields, power line cuts, or even forests – just not the prairies. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreEastern Towhee
Have you had an Eastern Towhee in your yard yet this spring? They seem to be here, there and everywhere that they should be – feeding stations to shrubs to forest edges. This male was watching me and occasionally telling me to drink my tea. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MorePine Warbler
Spring Pine Warblers males are stunning little beacons of light on bright mornings, especially when in a pine tree! Have you seen or heard any yet this April? The warblers are coming…
Read MoreNorthern Flicker
Here is the species that started everything for Roger Tory Peterson – the Northern Flicker. It and all birds came to represent to Roger all the freedom, beauty and vitality of the natural world. This Northern Flicker is a male as you can see by the black mustache. The bird is feeding on the ground, as many flickers do, searching for ants, beetles and other insect life. This winter is a good example of how a warmer than usual stretch of weather can impact a certain species as these strongly migratory birds might not have to fly so far to find uncovered, unfrozen earth. Climate change...
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