Nine Warbler Morning

Had a nice walk at Peace Valley this morning, and picked up nine warbler species, as well as FOS Eastern Kingbird and Great Crested Flycatcher and Swainson's Thrush. Most of the warblers were silent, so it took a lot of looking up into the bright new oak leaves to find them.

Ended up with 52 species in two hours, not too shabby for here.

Location: Peace Valley Park (IBA)
Observation date: 4/30/10
Number of species: 52

Canada Goose 10
Double-crested Cormorant 45
Black Vulture 5
Turkey Vulture 1
Osprey 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1
Broad-winged Hawk 3
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Mourning Dove 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 2
Downy Woodpecker 1
Northern Flicker 1
Eastern Phoebe 2
Great Crested Flycatcher 1
Eastern Kingbird 1
Blue Jay 7
American Crow 5
Fish Crow 2
Tree Swallow 5
Barn Swallow 1
Carolina Chickadee 5
Tufted Titmouse 6
White-breasted Nuthatch 2
Carolina Wren 3
House Wren 2
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 2
Eastern Bluebird 2
Swainson's Thrush 2
Hermit Thrush 1
American Robin 4
Gray Catbird 8
Northern Mockingbird 2
European Starling 3
Nashville Warbler 1
Black-throated Blue Warbler 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle) 5
Black-throated Green Warbler 1
Palm Warbler 1
Black-and-white Warbler 1
American Redstart 1
Ovenbird 2
Common Yellowthroat 5
Chipping Sparrow 6
Field Sparrow 3
Song Sparrow 7
White-throated Sparrow 15
Northern Cardinal 12
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Common Grackle 5
Brown-headed Cowbird 5
American Goldfinch 6
House Sparrow 1

This report was generated automatically by eBird v2(http://ebird.org)

Audubon Birdscapes Blog RIP

When I was working for Audubon, I wrote an Audubon Birdscapes blog (www.audubonbirdscapes.org) to promote urban bird conservation. Shortly after I left Audubon last year, the site was taken down. I can't even find it archived anywhere out there. This screen shot is one of the last visible signs it ever existed.

So, RIP Audubon Birdscapes. And stay tuned, as next month I'm going to resurrect my old Urban Birdscapes blog on a new site. It's going to be better than ever!

FOS Chimney Swifts

I just heard my first Chimney Swifts of the Spring! Yeah!

Artificial Nesting Islands for Terns

This idea has been around for over 50 years, but here's a good example of a recent project in California.

Birdchaser in Vogelnieuws

For those of you who read Dutch, I just had an urban bird conservation article published in Vogelnieuws, the magazine of Vogelbescherming, the Dutch BirdLife partner. Let me know if you want a pdf.

Wild Turkeys on the Move

This time of year, Wild Turkeys are very conspicuous and active. Males are strutting, and females are gathering to check them out. I'm seeing a big gathering along Hwy 322 in New Jersey on my way to Rowan University each afternoon. On Sunday, I saw a lone female cross busy County Line Road in suburban Philadelphia. Hard to believe that 100 years ago there were maybe only 30,000 Wild Turkeys left--due to conservation efforts there are now over 6 million running around!

Cornell Ends Search for Ivory-billed Woodpecker

News here.

Peace Valley Morning

Stopped by Peace Valley this morning for an hour or so and had 33 bird species, including First of Season (FOS) Barn Swallow and Brown Thrasher. Some of the White-throated Sparrows are looking sharp, the one above was at the bird feeders at the nature center feeders.


Down by the Chapman Road bridge there were 192 Double-crested Cormorants hanging out in the water and on some trees. A few were preening each other and making a lot of weird dinosaur-like noises. Pretty cool.


On my way back home I noticed a male American Kestrel on a pole with a kestrel box on it. There aren't many nesting kestrels around here, so I took a look and noticed that the bird had a yellow wing tag on. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good enough look to read the number, but hopefully the bird will stick around and someone will be able to read the tag. I think it will stick around because after it flew from the box it landed in a low tree next to a female kestrel. Would be great to see them nest here this year!

(Sparrow and cormorant shots with Canon Power Shot SD780 IS through my Zeiss 7X42s, kestrel shot through my Bausch & Lomb Discoverer. Time to get a better scope?)

How to Save Birds from Windows

The American Bird Conservancy has a new handout on how to protect birds from flying into your windows. Check it out online here.

Hummingbirds support Darwin's theories

Perhaps the dumbest headline ever, from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Sort of like "Falling Man supports Newton's theories of Gravity".

Move along people, no news here...