Osprey (Olivia and family!)

My family and I have spent the week at Fair Haven Beach State Park.  There is a "pier" (concrete walkway) that makes a large L shape out into Lake Ontario.  The entire thing might be a mile in length.  One end of the L separates the lake from a small bay.  The other edge of the L is parallel to another cement walkway across a wide channel for boats to go into and out of the bay.  On my way to the end last night (June 24th, 7:45 p.m.), there was a sign that said "Osprey next ahead.  Please give them space."  I could see the bird perched on the light post at the end of the opposite pier.  And once we got to the end of our walkway, I was amazed.  The entire nest was this beautiful stick construction--haphazard and, at the same time, strong and organized.  The bird started flying from her perch back towards her nest.

As you can hear in the video, it was an extremely windy evening.  The sky was clear, but it did not get above 72 degrees Fahrenheit all day.  Ospreys are identifiable by a few characteristics.  In flight, they take an "M" shape because of a bend in their wrists.  Their curved beak and sharp talons are typical of birds of prey.  They have a dark colored back and wings with light underparts as well as a white head with a dark band travelling back from the sides of their eyes.  For a somewhat menacing looking bird, one of their calls is a rather sweet sounding whistle.  What a great experience I had observing them (Mom and Dad were hanging around the nest.  If my sister wasn't so afraid of most birds, I would have stayed for hours.

Muskrat (Clyde)

We noticed a small mammal years ago in the pond near our campsite at Fair Haven.  When I saw it poke its head up and swim, I kept picturing otters.  But I knew that otters were not found in the area.  So once I got identification books for this class, I figured out that what I had been seeing was a muskrat!  This particular muskrat lives in the tall grasses and cattails at the edge of a small inlet of Sterling Pond.  It swims from there out into the rest of the pond periodically, dipping its head up.  I tried to get several pictures this past week when I'd see it swimming in the evening, but they just looked like a tiny dot on the surface of the pond.  So this photo is credited at the end of my post.

The muskrat is slightly smaller than a raccoon with brown fur on its body and a grayish belly.  They can be misidentified as beavers, but they are much smaller, typically slimmer, and have a much thinner tail.  The most surprising bit of information to me was that one muskrat can have 8 babies at a time up to 8 times a year.  Can you imagine having to take care of 64 kids at once?  Oh, wait... I'm a teacher, so I can imagine that.

Martin, A. (n.d.). A muskrat swimming along in a pond [Photograph; jpg].
     https://www.123rf.com/photo_97014909_a-muskrat-swimming-along-in-a-pond.html

Mute Swan (Melody)

We arrived at Fair Haven Beach State Park on Saturday, June 20th.  It was a hot day--82 degrees Fahrenheit with enough humidity to make it uncomfortable.  My family comes here each year for a cabin-camping vacation.  We have stayed in the same few cabins around Sterling Pond for at least 30 years.  Every year, there is usually a swan or two swimming along the far side of the pond.  This year, I was surprised to see several families.  On my way to watch the sun set over Lake Ontario, I came across this trio preening in the pond:

Mute Swans are technically considered invasive, although in this area they seem incorporated into the ecosystem.  They eat so much that they can out-compete other waterfowl.  Mute Swans are large, completely white birds with long necks which they dip into the water to feed.  They are distinguished from other swans by their beaks.  Adults have a bright orange, downwards-pointing beak that has a black base.  When they fly from one side of the pond to the other, it almost sounds like a helicopter due to their large wings and how close they are to the water!

Ring-billed Gull (Mr. Mine)

We drove up through Pennsylvania to upstate New York.  When we hit Fulton (still a half hour from Lake Ontario), we started to see "seagulls."  This one was sitting outside of a Wendy's over the parking lot, probably waiting for someone to drop a scrap of food.  Fulton is a suburb of Syracuse, NY.  The Oswego River runs through it, and there are scattered trees and shrubbery in neighborhood lawns.  It was a hot day--Saturday June 20th; 82 degrees Fahrenheit and relatively humid.

It is a bit of a difficult task to accurately identify gulls.  There are tons of them, and they all look very similar.  Considering our location, I narrowed it down to either the Ring-billed or Herring Gull.  Both have white bodies with grayish wings.  At the tips of the wings, both birds have much darker gray (sometimes black) feathers.  The true difference lies in the adult beaks and tail feathers.  While both beaks are yellow, the breeding adult Ring-billed Gull has a black ring towards the tip of the beak and white tail feathers.  Herring breeding adult Gulls have plain yellow beaks and dark feathers on the underside of their tails.  This one happened to be a Ring-billed Gull.   

Chipping Sparrow (Potato)

On Friday, June 19th, Pottstown had a huge thunder and rain storm in the afternoon.  So by 7:00 p.m. while I was taking a walk, there were birds all over the place trying to get the freshly displaced worms.  I was going through a memorial garden that is a huge grass field with a few deciduous and evergreen trees spread throughout it.  At first I thought this one was a chipmunk:

The Chipping Sparrow has almost the same coloration as a chipmunk, which is why I mistook it.  Chipping Sparrows are small birds with brown feathers that have a tint of red to them (maybe that is called auburn?)  The body and wing feathers are intermixed with white and black speckles, and they have a white belly.  To differentiate these sparrows from others, I used the black eyeliner that they have on each side of their face.

Gray Catbird (Lily)

I saw this plain-looking little gray bird on Friday June 19th at 6:30 p.m.  It was just around the corner in my neighborhood, hopping along the sidewalk next to a huge grassy field.  It's a mixed-forest area right next to a small stream.  It was a warm and sunny afternoon, about 78 degrees Fahrenheit, but it had stopped raining within the last hour.  Although the bird seemed a little boring to me, I knew I had never spotted it before.

I had to use an app and verify with my North American birds book to determine that this was a Gray Catbird.  I didn't know there was such a thing as a cat bird!  They are apparently related to mockingbirds.  They were named Gray Catbird because they mimic the sound of a cat and have a meow-like call.  This is about the same size as a robin.  Its gray color and dark head make it a bit simpler to identify (although depending on the age and season it can be a bit more on the blue side).  They also have a tell-tale burst of rust-colored feathers on their rump.

American Crow (not Edgar)

On Wednesday, June 17th, I was walking home at about 2:30 in the afternoon.  It was in the upper 70s by that time of day, and although it was a bit cloudy there was a nice breeze that cooled things off.  So much so that I got sunburned!  I saw a shadow pass over the land in front of me and looked up to see this:

I know it requires zooming in, but I couldn't cut any of this gorgeous view out!  Two American Crows were flying alongside of a Turkey Vulture as it did its thermal circling.  The crows were yelling occasionally and swooping down in a threatening manner, but they never touched the vulture.  In a nearby tree, a couple of other crows were cawing at the scene above.  American Crows are fairly easy to identify.  They are all black and spend some time soaring as they are scavengers.  They are distinguishable by their wedge-shaped tail and "caw" call.  I watched them moving with each other until my eyes hurt from the sun.