Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula)
You have to love the beautiful colors on the feathers of this Common Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula), one of the most encouraging and uplifting signs of spring here in the middle of winter. The bright sunlight lit up this glossy iridescence at just the right angle for me. This February bird was with several others of its species looking for snacks on and pausing in this oak tree. They were all chattering away, as always. Scott Kruitbosch Conservation & Outreach Coordinator
Read MoreCitizen Science Update; HWA Survey Results
This past Saturday, staff from RTPI and the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy, along with JCC students and community volunteers, conducted a Hemlock Woolly Adelgid survey on the Cassadaga Creek Preserve in the Town of Stockton, NY. This preserve is a high priority monitoring site because it has one of the highest densities of hemlocks out of all of the CWC preserves, and also because it’s position along a stream creates a potential corridor by which birds and other wildlife could potentially transfer the invasive Hemlock Woolly Adelgid insect pest. As you may glean from the photograph in...
Read MoreMerlin Meal
Here’s a little Throwback Thursday to a very recent day – my Christmas Bird Count! This Merlin (Falco columbarius) was the last new species added to our section of the count circle, and we enjoyed it chasing House Sparrows upon initially sighting it. A Cooper’s Hawk came out of nowhere and scared all of the birds, startling the falcon and causing it to drop its prey. However, a little while later we saw it had successfully captured another House Sparrow, this time without losing the meal. It took the bird to a snag and went on with its early evening dining under cloudy late...
Read MoreResplendent Quetzal
RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser recently had his best looks ever at a Resplendent Quetzal (Pharomachrus mocinno) at Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve in Costa Rica. The bird certainly looks splendid! What a magnificent and magical creature.
Read MoreMerry Christmas!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all of us at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History! Please be sure to stop by soon to see us at our Jamestown, New York headquarters to enjoy Michael DiGiorgio’s From Field to Frame exhibition, and visit our nature store! Purchases from the store help support RTPI’s important and ongoing Art, Conservation and Education programs.
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