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Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Bird Control for Building Renovations

Sometimes contractors working on building renovations run into properties that have had serious bird problems--including pigeon infestations in abandoned buildings.  To help contractors get on the right path, here's a bird control article I recently had published with Retrofit Magazine online.

Crossing the Finish Line--1000 Species Challenge Final Day

Sora, Cold Brook Preserve, NJ
The day started with my not knowing exactly how many species I needed to cross the 1000 species threshold, as I hadn't tallied up all my species from Saturday.  But I thought I needed at least 30 species to finish the day.

After teaching my classes at East Stroudsburg University, I stopped by the greenhouse and picked up what I hoped would be at least a dozen species.  Then I stopped by Cold Brook Preserve to look for the Sora that had been there the last two days.  After many days of looking for this bird this fall and last fall, it was nice to get good looks of an adult Sora feeding on the edge of the small marshy pond there.

Then I headed home to be with my kids as they got off the bus from school.  We wandered the yard and turned over logs hoping to get enough species to finish out the month.  By bedtime I was sure I had gotten 1000 species, but didn't know what my final tally would be.  As it is, the final tally will go up as I identify additional plants and moths that I have photographed this month, but for now at least the goal was met.

Later I'll post a recap and retrospective of what I learned doing this challenge this month.  I'm already thinking about how to go bigger next September :-)

Final Species Tally: 1004+

New Species
Jumping Spider Salticidae sp.
Orb-weaving Spider Araneidae sp.
Wolf Spider Lycosidae sp.
Sora Porzana carolina
Woodlouse Oniscidea sp.
Ant  Formicidae sp.
Band-winged Grasshopper Oedipodinae sp.
Bumblebee  Bombini sp.
Fruit Fly Tephritidae sp.
Large Carpenter Bee Xylocopinae sp.
Orange Sulphur Colias eurytheme
Northern Short-tailed Shrew Blarina brevicauda
Birdbill Dayflower Commelina dianthifolia
Bowstring Hemp Sansevieria hyacinthoides
False Lilac Leptodermis oblonga
Fire Lilly Cyrtanthus elatus
Fuchsia Fuchsia hybrid
Grass Aloe Aloe verecunda
Hippeastrum Hippeastrum vittatum
Hippeastrum Hippeastrum aulicum
Hummingbird Bush Anisacanthus quadrifidu
Lindheimer's Beeblossom Oenothera lindheimeri
Pelargonium Storksbill Pelargonium sp.
Pink Friesland Sage Salvia nemorosa
Porcupine Tomato Solanum pyracanthum
Purple Passionflower Passiflora incarnata
Red Clover Trifolium pratense
Rose Cactus Pereskia grandifolia
Spotted Touch-Me-Not Impatiens capensis
Turquoise Crossanda Ecbolium viride

1000 Species Challenge Homestretch--Day 28 Update

Northern Brown Snake

A big day, starting early driving down to Philadelphia to take my Rosemont College students on their first birding expedition to the John Heinz NWR.  We met up with a small group and walked the dike trail out into the refuge, and picked up a lot of new birds for the month including Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, and Marsh Wren.  I also picked up four reptiles--including a Northern Brown Snake, and several turtles.


On my way home I stopped off at Todd Marcus Birds Exotic in Delran, NJ and picked up a couple dozen exotic birds, mostly parrots.


The last species of the day reflects the difficulty of identifying many species in the food trade--wild caught Chinese Crawfish.  One can only hope these are accurately labeled, though I can only guess that they are native Asian crawfish, which would be from the family Cambaridae.  I don't have any other crawfish on my list, so it is a new species for the month even if it is misidentified.  But it sure would be nice to have species labels on seafood--and hats off to those companies that I found this month that do label their packaging.  Lets hope they are accurately labeled!



Cumulative Species Total: 974

New Species
African Grey Parrot                            Psittacus erithacus
American Black Duck Anas rubripes
Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Black-capped Parakeet Pyrrhura rupicola
Blue-and-yellow Macaw Ara ararauna
Blue-fronted Amazon Amazona aestiva
Blue-headed Parrot Pionus menstruus
Blue-winged Teal Anas discors
Brown-headed Parrot Poicephalus cryptoxanthus
Canary Serinus canaria
Chestnut-fronted Macaw Ara severus
Cockatiel Nymphicus hollandicus
Curl-crested Aracari Pteroglossus beauharnaesii
Eclectus Parrot Eclectus roratus
Galah Eolophus roseicapilla
Gouldian Finch Erythrura gouldiae
Greater Yellowlegs Tringa melanoleuca
Green Singing Finch Serinus mozambicus
Green-backed Twinspot Mandingoa nitidula
Green-cheeked Parrot Ara severus
Green-winged Macaw Ara chloropterus
Green-winged Teal Anas carolinensis
Hyacinth Macaw Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus
Lesser Yellowlegs Tringa flavipes
Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea
Marsh Wren Cistothorus palustris
Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx serripennis
Pacific Parrotlet Forpus coelestis
Palm Cockatoo Probosciger aterrimus
Peach-faced Lovebird Agapornis roseicollis
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus
Pied-billed Grebe Podilymbus podiceps
Pin-tailed Wydah Vidua macroura
Red-rumped Parrot Psephotus haematonotus
Red-winged Blackbird Agelaius phoeniceus
Ruby-crowned Kinglet Regulus calendula
Salmon-crested Cockatoo Cacatua moluccensis
Scarlet Macaw Ara macao
Snowy Egret Egretta thula
Star Finch Neochmia ruficauda
White Cockatoo Cacatua alba
White-bellied Parrot Pionites leucogaster
White-crowned Parrot Pionus senilis
Yellow-crowned Amazon Amazona ochrocephala
Boxelder Acer negundo
Common Mugwart Artemesia vulgaris
Creeping Primrose Willow Ludwigia repens
Goldenrod Solidago altissima
Pickerel Weed Pontederia sp.
Purple Loosestrife Lythrum salicaria
Spatterdock Nuphar advena
Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata
Tickseed Sunflower Bidens aristoa
Wild Rice Zizania sp.
Northern Brown Snake Storeria dekayi
Northern Red-bellied Turtle Pseudemys rubriventris
Red-eared Slider Trachemys scripta
Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina
Chinese Crawfish Cambaridae sp.
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