Thursday, February 5, 2015

Bruce's Bountiful Backyard (02Feb2015)

Sherry and I went over to Bruce's house around noon on Monday after a rain squall had passed so we could tick Baltimore Oriole for the year.  He has 7-8 of them coming regularly to his jelly feeder. Sure enough when we got there they were all sitting there in the yard waiting for him to put some jelly out.  Since they are a bit skittish, I was standing in Bruce's garage where I could see the feeder.  I thought there was enough light on the subject feeder that the pics would be fine but it turns out the light inside the garage was low enough that all the pictures came out crappy.

He had all the normal resident birds and I was snapping away because until now I have not even bothered with Blue Jays, Cardinals, Downy WPs, White-throated Sparrows, House Finches etc.. However now that I finally got a chance to look at the images, I have scrapped all but a couple.  I didn't want my visit to Bruce's to be totally for nil so I am posting two new birds.


Baltimore Oriole


Red-bellied Woodpecker


Bruce's Baltimores.

Later that afternoon I flew out to Philadelphia for a 3 day work trip.  I was hoping to spend some significant time on day one at Heinz NWR right across the street from PHL where a Northern Shrike has posted up for the past 4 years, but my flight was delayed and I got to Heinz just before dark.  I was running around in the windy conditions frantically trying to locate a bird that I knew was probably hunkered down.  On the last day after my meeting, I had a late flight so I thought I would have time to look again, but by the time Philly traffic released me it was 5pm when I made it to Heinz.  How frustrating it was knowing that the bird was out there somewhere but it was too dark and too late.

The good news is I am on a Patteson Pelagic this weekend!!!!!  It was this time last year that we found the Yellow-nosed Albatross.

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4 comments:

  1. UnknownFebruary 6, 2015 at 7:02 AM

    Hello Jamie, Love the Baltimore Oriole photos. There's a Wake Audubon member in Raleigh who gets them every year to her backyard. She also had a Rufous Hummingbird spend the winter in her yard. Let me know if you are in Raleigh and want an intro. Our American Bittern is once again wintering at Prairie Ridge Ecostation... the bird is warier than last year, so it's tough to see the bird. Like most Bitterns.
    Good luck with your pelagic trip this weekend! They were cancelled last weekend due to rough seas. May still be rough due to the disturbances up in New England coast.
    I will be at Fort Fisher and Wrightsville Beach again on Sat., 2/7, with another crop of endurance-birders. We leave Raleigh at 5:30 a.m. to get to FF by 8. We hope to see plenty of good birds, just like last Saturday. I am going in reverse order from last week, working my way south to north, due to the tides. Don't know when I will get out again for an all-day trip. It was great seeing you at the JM Pier last Saturday. I will be sure to tell you if we get something wonderful and new at our seven hotspot targets! - Erla

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  2. UnknownFebruary 6, 2015 at 7:03 AM

    PS I don't know if the Rufous is in her Raleigh backyard THIS winter. I will check on that.

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  3. Paul AdamsFebruary 6, 2015 at 9:40 AM

    My good wishes too for the pelagic trip. Check out my blog bhhummer.bogspot.com for recent videos of a Bahama Woodstar feeding at Pink Powderpuff and White Bird of Paradise - Dad

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  4. Paul AdamsFebruary 6, 2015 at 9:40 AM

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