Pine Siskin Feeding
Pine Siskins have been eating everything in sight at many homes across the region in the past few weeks, devouring seed at increasing rates with the increasingly stormy and snowy weather. If you are fortunate enough to have a flock you may be aided in pulling in a Common Redpoll, another winter bird that has been seen more frequently, albeit in lesser numbers, this February. I have yet to have the fortune of a Redpoll for the winter of 2014-2015, but I have spotted some Siskins. Even if you miss out on these two species during their winter stay keep your feeders filled through March and...
Read MoreRusty Blackbird
The Rusty Blackbird Spring Migration Blitz is coming up soon as March is only a couple weeks away! Please help us find and record all the Rusty Blackbirds you can from March through June wherever you are in North America, entering them into eBird to help scientists and conservationists rushing to save the species that is secretly vanishing from our world. Do not let them become but a shadow like the Passenger Pigeon or Labrador Duck before them. See more here in this previous post. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreChautauqua County Snow Depth
Our friends at the Chautauqua Lake Snowmobile Club have this NOAA/NWS snow depth map regularly updating on their website to let members and the visiting public know how much snow is on the ground in Chautauqua County. While it has gone down a bit recently due to a brief warm-up (very brief, and I am being very generous in saying “warm-up”!) and some rain, freezing rain, and sleet, there is still a ton of snow covering the earth in the region. You can see the escarpment well in this photo and the effect of elevation on snowfall and temperature. It will be utterly frigid later this...
Read MoreFeeding Fox Sparrow
Twan snapped this snappy shot of a fine Fox Sparrow (Passerella iliaca) feeding in the snow here at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. We have a solid snow cover thanks to the lake effect madness off Erie in the past week, though certainly nothing of the magnitude our neighbors just to our north do. Fox Sparrows are notorious for seeking out feeders during inclement weather. If difficult conditions strike at the right time, especially in the March movement north, you may end up with several or even over a dozen in your yard. Have you had any of them visiting you this...
Read MoreDusky-capped Flycatcher (Myiarchus tuberculifer) by Twan Leenders
This Dusky-capped Flycatcher (Myiarchus tuberculifer) taken Meet Your Neighbours style by Twan while in Costa Rica may not be coming all the way north to visit us in New York but other flycatchers will be shortly. We’re getting closer to March, a busy time for migrants, and tomorrow we’ll be one month away from spring.
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