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. 

House Finch (Argus)

I took a walk with my boyfriend this afternoon (June 17th) and got a sunburn.  I thought I'd be fine as it was past 2 p.m.  So much for those "prime tanning hours."  My neighborhood has plenty of lawns, shrubs, and mostly deciduous trees.  On our way home, we saw a bird perching on a telephone wire.  We listened to it call for a short time before my brain kicked in to take a picture:

We determined after some argument that it was a house finch.  Finches come in a variety of shades.  House finches, by distinction, come in shades of red and yellow depending on the amount of pigment present in the food they eat.  This guy (although tough to tell in the picture) had a bright red head but was more yellow on his chest.  Finches are small birds, somewhere between a sparrow and a robin.  House finches have brown and white speckled wings and bodies; the color is confined to their face and upper chest.  Their tail is square-shaped.  It was nice that we heard his song for so long; we were able to identify the bird by it!

Raccoon (Rachel)

Full disclosure: this picture was taken on June 14th of 2014.  We were camping at Fair Haven Beach State Park.  This area is a deciduous forest surrounding a pond set just off of Lake Ontario.  The first time we camped at this site years earlier brought us a visitor while we were making s'mores.  We were shocked and scared.  Raccoons are known to be vectors of rabies, and the fact that it was coming close to us made us nervous.  After a couple of years of visits, sometimes with a few babies and sometimes alone, we grew to expect her.  At 7:15 p.m. on a cool, clear night, she stopped over to see us.

Raccoons are medium-sized mammals with a tell-tale black mask around its eyes and ringed tail.  They have nimble hands which is what makes them a "nuisance" animal.  While camping, we have had them break into trash cans and cause a mess.  Considering that they typically live 2 - 3 years in the wild, I bet that we have been host to generations of this raccoon's family at this point.  We are going up to Fair Haven to camp in two weeks.  I hope we get to see this lady's granddaughter.

Mallard Duck (Howard)

Ducks are so commonplace that I never pay much attention to them.  I recognize them as being less aggressive than geese, so my mind blends them into the background.  Another early morning walk along Manatawny Creek gave me some time to observe a family of ducks.  I watched a mother lead her ducklings down the creek.  It was June 3rd at 6:15 a.m. and already in the 70s.  I envied their time in the cool water.  After I sat still on a nearby bench for a while, a few male Mallards swam into view to bathe and preen their feathers.

Male Mallard Ducks are distinguished by their shiny, deep green heads that seem to have a bright white choker necklace separating that green from the rest of them.  They have yellow beaks, brown chests, and a light brown body.  While females are speckled brown on their whole body for camouflaging, they are distinguished by a dark saddle shape on their orange beaks.  Both sexes have an almost iridescent blue bar on each wing that is highlighted with a white border. 

Great Blue Heron ('dem legs)

As soon as I read the syllabus for Wildlife Education, I started taking pictures of birds when I was out and about.  On May 24th I woke up extra early and walked down to Memorial Park in Pottstown, PA.  It was just about 7 a.m. and not quite 70 degrees Fahrenheit when I walked along Manatawny Creek.  This area is a floodplain forest.  I caught sight of this Great Blue Heron as it took flight.  It stopped once it was far enough away from me.

Great Blue Herons are fairly easy to identify.  They are large birds with long legs and a long neck.  Their feathers are a grayish-blue.  Their large yellow beak and black plume help them to stand out from other egrets and herons.  That large beak is used for impaling fish, which is why they tend to be found near waterways.  For a bird that looks a bit awkward when wading in the water, it is amazing to watch them take off and fly away so gracefully.

Blue Jay (Foster)

While visiting my friend Jenn, this was the second video we caught.  This was on June 10th, 93 degrees Fahrenheit and muggy in Lyons, PA.  Jenn's yard is full of shrubs, bushes, and deciduous trees.  Although we barely recorded it, we were so excited to see this Blue Jay.  After landing on the ground for a moment, it flew up to a nearby tree and ate some Spotted Lanternflies (an invasive species in the area).

Blue Jays are "easy" to identify around here because there aren't tons of blue colored birds of that size--almost a foot long.  They kind of remind me of a modified cardinal.  Blue Jays are distinguished by their blue crest and blue, white, and black bars on its wings and tail.  It is difficult to see in the video, but Blue Jays also have what looks like a black necklace that shows against its white belly.

We thought that the bird we continued to video was a female red-bellied woodpecker because we had watched a male climb up a nearby tree moments before.  Upon research, it seems that females also have a red nape, and this one definitely didn't.  So I think it is probably a juvenile.

Red-Bellied Woodpecker (Woody)

June 10th was pretty yucky out--93 degrees Fahrenheit and very humid.  While socially-distanced visiting my friend, Jenn, we caught two birds on camera in her yard in Lyons, PA.  Her yard has many deciduous trees, and she makes it a point to plant shrubbery and keep feeders out for her "feathered friends."  The first find was this strapping gentleman:

We knew it was a woodpecker because of the size of the beak, the tree-climbing behavior, and the red head.  It took a bit of looking and confirmation, but I determined that it is a Red-bellied Woodpecker.  The black and white speckled back is common of many woodpeckers.  What was telling was the white face under the red head and nape. 

Northern Cardinal (Francis)

This afternoon as my daughter left for work (3 p.m., June 13), she stopped and signaled for me to run for my phone.  This guy was right outside of our front door:

Northern cardinals are easily identified in this area by their bright red coloring, cone-shaped bright orange bill, and crest of "hair" feathers.  Today was sunny and warm (about 75 degrees Fahrenheit).  The courtyard of our apartment is full of deciduous trees and bushes.  In a nearby park, I saw a female Northern Cardinal for the first time.  They are similar in shape and size, with some brown mixed in with their red feathers.

Turkey Vulture (Ziggy)

Today (June 13) I took a walk around a shopping center parking lot while waiting to get my taxes done.  It was the first day in a few that wasn't rainy or horribly humid.  Just sunny and a lovely 75 degrees Fahrenheit.  At about 2:30 p.m., I saw a shadow cross over me in the macadam.

I know; it's not the best photo.  But I was able to determine, even from afar, that this was a turkey vulture because of the white pattern on the lower part of the wings and its method of soaring.  Turkey vultures are large scavengers.  They ride thermal vents without much wing flapping, so they just keep their wings extended in a V shape.  Their body is covered in dark feathers, but the underlying flight feathers are almost silver.  If I had had my binoculars with me, I would also have seen their reddish head.  This is a rather large parking lot, but is studded with deciduous trees and some shrubbery.  The surrounding area has a small mixed forest.

Red-winged Blackbird (Mac)

The red-winged blackbird is one of the few that I have been able to identify since I was young.  My dad first pointed them out to me while camping in upstate New York.  He also pointed out their songs.  He even knew which noise was the male and which was the female answering him.  I see them frequently, but today (June 8th) I saw and heard them again with a new awareness.  It was about 5 in the afternoon, sunny, 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  My boyfriend and I took the conservation trail at Exton Park. 

The red-winged blackbird is fairly easy to identify.  They are robin-sized, but I notice that their body is more stocky.  Either that or the way they hold themselves is different, like they are pulling their shoulders to their ears all the time.  They are completely black with a bright red scapular patch edged in yellow.  This park is a wetland area and we saw the bird right at the edge of the pond.  He was flying back and forth between branches and a hidden spot on the shore line.

Blue-Winged Warbler (Angry Bird)

Today (June 8th) was another gorgeous day--in the early 80s, so it could be hot in the sun.  I took a walk through Exton Park in the afternoon (4:30 p.m.).  A mile-long trail in the park is designated as a conservation area due to the amount of wetlands.  No recreation or even dogs are allowed along it.  There is a pond in the center.  It is densely wooded (mixed forest) with a small path maintained for observers.  I saw so many birds here!  It was just tough to get good photos:

That red arrow is pointing to a Blue-Winged Warbler.  This was a bit of a difficult identification process.  Blue-Winged Warblers are tiny birds and have a mostly yellow body.  They have a pointy black bill and black lines going back towards their eyes (almost like eyeliner!).  Their wings are bluish-gray with wingbars.  The observation that determined the ID for me was their song.  I kept thinking I periodically heard some sort of buzzing insect--it was the warbler!

Eastern Chipmunk (Dale, perhaps)

After a quick snack (12:45 p.m.), I walked to another side of a small wooded area at Boyertown Park.  It was June 7th, sunny and warm (73 degrees Fahrenheit), with a nice breeze.  I was looking for a chipmunk.  I knew they had to spend time in the area, given the size of the park and the fact that the area I was searching had trees that were somewhat closely packed, bushes, and the ground was covered in forest debris.  I finally started to see them; this was the best picture I could take:

Eastern Chipmunks blend into their environment so well, I had to add an arrow into the picture.  They are a relatively small rodent (not quite a food long and weighing about a quarter pound) with reddish-brown body fur.  They have alternating dark and light brown stripes running along their pack, parallel to their spine.  Their dark tails are not as long or bushy as a squirrel's.  Their face has distinct light brown stripes of fur--one pair running from their nose to ear, the other pair running along the lower eye lid and back to the ear. 

My favorite experience with Eastern Chipmunks occurred while camping.  My daughter (4 at the time) left some art supplies on a picnic table while she went to the restroom.  When we got back to our campsite, two chipmunks were grabbing her markers.  She screamed "no!" and approached the table.  They carried as many markers as they could and ran up a nearby tree.  A few days ago, my daughter (23 now) told me that she felt guilty about losing her markers because she had stuffed candy into the ends of the lids, and she thinks that's why the chipmunks wanted them.

White-tailed Deer (the stag of Baratheon)

My trip to Boyertown Park in the early afternoon of June 7th was eventful.  The park's mowed areas are surrounded by deciduous forest, some parts denser than others.  I figured I might have better luck spotting animals in the thick of it.  While walking off-trail to try to find some small mammals, I instead found the track of a large one.  This morning was a sunny, 73 degrees Fahrenheit day, but it had rained for the past two afternoons, so the ground was soft enough to capture this track:

White-tailed deer are the state animal of Pennsylvania.  This medium-sized ungulate has reddish-brown fur at this time of year.  Adult males are antlered, and juveniles' backs are spotted with white.  They are aptly named due to a white spot of fur on the underside of their tail which they display when alarmed.  I was first sure that this was a White-tail track because they are the only species of deer that I am sure occurs in Southeastern Pennsylvania.  But I was able to verify the species with my mammal pocket guide (cited below).  White tail hoof tracks have a slightly larger space between the thicker end of their toes than other even-toed ungulates.

Howell, C. H. (2016). National Geographic pocket guide to the mammals of North
     America. National Geographic.

Downy Woodpecker (and family!)

I went to Boyertown Park on June 7th at about 11:30 a.m.  It was an absolutely beautiful morning!  About 73 degrees Fahrenheit with occasional cloud cover.  My daughter was playing disc golf with some friends, so I brought along my binoculars to do some wildlife spotting.  This is a mixed forest area (although mostly deciduous) with wide, mowed lawns.  In spite of many people and dogs engaged in recreational activities daily at this park (walking, having picnics, playing disc golf, playing on the playground), a downy woodpecker made a nest in the trunk of a chopped down tree.

I watched from a bench nearby as mom and dad stopped by to feed or check on the hatchlings.  I had a difficult time determining which type of woodpecker I was seeing, as hairy and downy woodpeckers look so similar.  They both have speckled black and white wings, white bellies, and the red spot on the crown of their head (in males).

The differentiating factor was the beak size.  When I managed to take a picture through one of the ocular lenses of my binoculars, I could clearly see the shorter beak on this female:

Eastern Cottontail (Peter)

I have "bunnies" in the courtyard at my apartment that venture out occasionally to nibble at some plant or another.  This particular sighting, however, was after months of not seeing my significant other.  We were finally able to arrange a safe visit on June 7th, and we went on a walk.  He lives in West Chester, PA.  While this suburb has many built-up, commercial areas, Chester County also has a strong open space program.  They are in the process of purchasing small pieces of land to ensure habitat corridors throughout the region.  This is a mixed forest area with plenty of mowed lawns and open fields.  We spotted this little guy at about 5 p.m.  It was sunny and clear, about room temperature with low humidity--the perfect afternoon. 

Rabbits are distinguished from hairs by their stockier bodies, shorter ears (although still elongated), and shorter legs.  Eastern cottontails have brown fur that is sometimes mixed evenly with white and and a bit of reddish fur over their back and white bellies.  The tell-tale sign is their poof of a tail. 

American Robin (another Robbie)

When I first read through the syllabus of my Wildlife Education course, I got incredibly nervous about the birding I would have to engage in.  Years ago, my daughter got interested in observing mushrooms on nature walks.  I bought her a few wildlife identification laminated pamphlets (fungi, mammal tracks, and edible forest plants).  When we went camping that year, my dad brought his North American bird field guide with us as well.  I didn't do too much identification on the trip, but every time my dad turned around he was announcing "robin red-breast!" or "red-winged blackbird!"  Those were the only birds I learned.  So when I read that we would be identifying birds, I knew I was in trouble.  I took a walk that very day and saw tons of birds... and when I saw each and every one, I thought "I think that's a robin red-breast." 

It turns out that we do have a large population of American Robins in my neighborhood.  They can be identified by their gray-brown body, dark head, yellow bill, and reddish chest.  Their preferred habitat is a woodland, but they will live in many different ecosystems.  The suburbs are the perfect environment for these birds--lawns, sporadic trees, and parks with open grasslands where they can get to worms, insects, and various berries. 

I took this picture about an hour ago (maybe 6 p.m. on June 4th) from my favorite chair in my living room... right out the front door.  If you zoom in a bit, you can see that the bird is panting.  It's 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and this robin is attempting to cool himself off in the courtyard.   

Eastern Gray Squirrels (Robbie)

Check out this guy (or gal... I am not actually sure):

Eastern Gray Squirrels are prevalent in Pennsylvania in many habitats.  They are distinguishable from other squirrels because of their gray body color, white belly, and the reddish and dark accents in its tail.  While they are at least 1.5 feet long, half of that length is tail.  They typically only weigh one pound.  These dimensions also help to differentiate the Eastern Gray Squirrel from others in the area which are either bulkier or much smaller.  This is one of two who regularly climb up and down the outside of my apartment, using their nimble fingers to grip our screen storm windows.  I've named it Robbie.  This particular sighting was on May 22nd at about 9:30 a.m., another sunny and room temperature day.  Our apartment is in Pottstown, a borough in southeastern Pennsylvania.  We are lucky to have a beautifully landscaped courtyard in the middle of our apartment complex.  Squirrels love the area because they feed off of the products of various nut and berry trees. 

Canadian Geese (Honkers)

I have had relationships with Canadian Geese for years, mostly of the tumultuous nature.  My family has camped at Fair Haven Beach State Park in upstate New York for about forty years.  Every summer, we would take walks around Sterling Pond to go swimming in Lake Ontario, fish along the channel, or watch the sun set over the water.  Every summer we would get honked at and chased by Canadian Ganders protecting their young and step in the goose feces that covered the shore of the pond.  Canadian Geese are recognizable because of their black neck with a white "chinstrap."  Adults are fairly large birds: over two feet tall, weighing 12 pounds on average.  Their body is covered in brown feathers, speckling into a white belly.  When they started to infiltrate the campground in greater numbers, they became a management issue for the park.  Loud noises were played over an intercom throughout the area to deter the birds.  Different plants were used that the geese supposedly didn't enjoy.  My family and I just started to walk a bit farther from the shore and run whenever one approached us. 

I identified this flying V of Canadian Geese yesterday morning (June 3rd) at about 6:50 a.m. in Memorial Park.  This area has a creek where the geese often bathe and tons of grassy fields where the geese feed.  While binoculars confirmed my thoughts, the honking sound was so familiar to me that I didn't really have to look.  It was a fairly sunny and room temperature day.  For one of the first times in years, I didn't cover my head to protect it from poop as birds flew over me.

Mourning Doves (not morning)

I woke up unusually early and couldn't fall back to sleep, so I went to a local park to sit by the water and see what I could see.  There were relatively clear skies this morning, and it was a little cooler than room temperature with a nice breeze blowing.  Memorial Park in Pottstown, PA is partially classified as a Palustrine Forest (in this case, a Sycamore-dominated floodplain).  A big portion of the park, however, has been turned into recreation areas--baseball fields, BMX track, dog park, etc.  I was sitting on a bench along the riparian zone of Manatawny Creek.  By about 6:45 a.m., I was watching a Mallard Duck couple drift along and heard noise behind me.  When I turned around, I saw a few of what I thought were pigeons because of the way they moved.  That head-bobbing motion when they walk as if they are even seeking food in the air makes me think of being in the city and hoping I don't get pooped on.  They were pecking around in the grass just at the edge of an asphalt walking path (perhaps another reason I immediately thought--pigeons!).  I am incredibly new to this whole world of bird watching and identification, so I pulled out the field guide I bought myself: National Geographic (cited below).

I quick-referenced "pigeon."  No way.  The coloration was totally wrong, although the body shape was a bit similar.  So I turned the page and saw doves... this body shape was exactly what I was seeing: short legs, a bit plump to my eyes but with a more distinguishable neck than the thrushes and sparrows I have observed lately, small head, dull gray-brown in color with black speckles on its rump/scapular area and darker primary feathers, with a long tail that came to a point at the end.  Mourning doves.  I have heard the name, but, in my ignorance, thought they were birds that came out in the morning, not named because of their sad-sounding call.  I watched them collect seeds for a while, feeling like a busy-body and wondering if they minded someone watching them eat.

Dunn, J. L. (2017). Field guide to the birds of north america 7th edition.
     National Geographic Society.