Tick Magnet

2011-10-28T18:56:00.000-04:00

Shame on You, Grackle!

2009-05-29T15:52:00.000-04:00

A grackle was in my backyard this morning. He arrived in a ginormous hemi SUV blaring hip hop music, quickly festooned himself with $27,000 worth of photographic equipment and repeatedly flushed a Snowy Owl until it died by the toolshed. Then, he robbed six songbird nests and directed some Cowbirds to the ones he couldn't get to. He whipped out a ten-pound bag of mixed Garlic Mustard and Japanese Honeysuckle seed and dumped it all over the neighborhood, keyed my car, sprayed DEET on my scope and binoculars, tore off my catalytic converter, and put food out for the feral cats.

He raised his middle primary to me as he fired up his Hummer, belched fledgling feathers, and roared home to sleep it off. Of course, I tracked him to his flop and rousted him. In the nest, under his carefully folded Klan robes, swastika armband collection and New York Yankees memorabilia, were grisly souvenirs crafted from the remains of the Lindbergh Baby, Jimmy Hoffa and Amelia Earhart.

This report generated by eBird.

Captain and Mrs. Miroshnikov

2008-12-21T16:39:00.005-05:00

Ivan Dmitryevich Miroshnikov was a captain -- maybe in the Red Army, maybe in Poland, and maybe during the Great Patriotic War. Tamara Arsenievna Miroshnikov was fond of hats.

Nikitenko behind them died on Halloween, 1973.

Monastery

2008-12-21T16:35:00.002-05:00

Heaven, Hell or...

2008-12-20T21:44:00.002-05:00

Abandon All Hope

2008-12-20T21:40:00.001-05:00

Monopoly

2008-12-04T23:06:00.000-05:00

There was a sharp-shinned hawk at the corners of Atlantic and Fredricksburg Aves. in Ventnor this afternoon. It was on the second of three brick steps going up to the front porch of a house. We did a quick U-turn to assure ourselves that we weren't seeing things and, sure enough, there it was. It had jumped up to the porch railing and was scoping out sparrows in the arbor vite. It didn't like us looking at it and it took off and flew across Atlantic Ave. toward the bay and landed in some sycamore trees. This is only the third time I've ever seen a sharpie on Absecon Island and I didn't want to spook it so we just left.

2008-10-22T23:59:00.000-04:00

I Never Said This Blog Didn't Have Its Faults

2008-10-21T21:48:00.005-04:00

An orchard transected by the San Andreas Fault. The fault is the diagonal line where the rows of trees are misaligned. The rows were straight when the tract was planted, but the shift of the Pacific and North American plates has thrown them out of kilter. Neato.

Something New To Keep Your Eye Out for at the Feeder

2008-10-21T19:09:00.017-04:00

hould you happen to live in equatorial Africa.

Smithsonian scientists published their discovery of a new bird species in Gabon in August. I just got the teletype.

Behold, the Olive-backed Forest Robin:

Olive-backed Forest Robin

Researchers first noted this dense-thicket creeper in the field in 2001, but only recently did closer lab examination and DNA work distinguish the bird from known Forest Robins -- or the known Forest Robin, as the taxonomy of the genus Stipthrornis is in some dispute.

Hartlieb named the nominate of the genus in 1855, and so things stood until 1996, when specimens of the the Sangha Forest Robin (pictured below) were collected in the Central African Republic's Dzanga-Sangha rain forest in the Congo Basin. These led to DNA work that suggested a division of the traditionally monotypical genus into a total of four species: S. erythrothorax, (Western), S. gabonensis (Gabon), S. sanghornis (Sangha), and S. xanthogaster (Eastern).

Sangha Forest Robin

The Stipthrornis genus of Forest Robins are part of the Old World flycatcher family of Muscicapidae or Chats, though they were once placed in the thrush family Turdidae, where you find our own American Robin and the rest of our true thrushes, the Veery, Hermit, Wood, Swainson's &c.

Anyway, whoever you are, Welcome, new guy.

Why Conservationists Should Be AGW Skeptics

2008-10-16T21:56:00.002-04:00

Too many (i.e. all) birders I know are avid "warmenists."

I'm of the opinion this is a poorly thought out avenue of advocacy. It blindly endorses a political notion born of "findings" by an embarrassingly amateurish cadre within a nascent scientific discipline with little consideration (much less apprehension) of the positive effects of global warming itself, and the detrimental impact Anti-Global Warming focus has on more specific and readily addressed environmental and conservationist issues.

Say the average American gives $5.00 to "environmental" causes per year. Times 200 million adults, that's a cool billion. For one billion dollars, I could buy every private parcel of real estate in seven or eight rural Michigan counties, plant it with Jack Pine, and save the Kirtland's Warbler forever. For half of that, I could supply the entire watermen fleets of Jersey and Delaware with quality bait bags, reduce their horseshoe crab requirements by 70% and save the North American subspecies of the Red Knot forever. For one quarter of that, I could bird-proof 50,000 tall buildings in migratory pathways. For one tenth of that, I could outbid a developer on sixty-five beachfront acres of saltmarsh and sandbar and maybe save the Piping Plover for a while. For one 100th of that, I could offset the entire year's legal and operating expenses of a grassroots organization fighting to save a historic property from demolition and development that would threaten a prized and vulnerable preserve next door.

Well, somewhere between that 65 acres and the measly million is what's left after donations to global warming causes are factored out.

I certainly hope that these errant dollars actually have a positive impact on the 92 per cent of all species "threatened" by global warming in the online taxonomic resources. These same resources inform me that the American Roadrunner is threatened by sprawl, without comprehending that the warming that "threatens" the Cerulean Warbler will expand the Roadrunner's habitat by a factor of a billion (assuming you rely on Albert Gore for your science).

I don't like contradictions. I won't justify them, and I certainly won't accept them as scientific.

Fuck carbon, fuck TV ads from gigundo corporations with "green" graphics, fuck lighbulbs, ethanol and brainwashing kindergarten kids about footprints. I'll take the Warbler.

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 17

2008-01-28T19:21:00.000-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 16

2008-01-28T17:09:00.000-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 15

2008-01-28T17:02:00.000-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 14

2008-01-28T16:52:00.001-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 13

2008-01-28T16:44:00.000-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 12

2008-01-28T16:32:00.000-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 11

2008-01-28T16:23:00.001-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 10

2008-01-28T16:14:00.001-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 9

2008-01-28T15:58:00.000-05:00

My nephew, Jack, is watching me post these paintings.

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 8

2008-01-28T15:48:00.000-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 7

2008-01-28T15:37:00.000-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 6

2008-01-28T15:26:00.000-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 5

2008-01-28T15:17:00.000-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 4

2008-01-28T15:09:00.000-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 3

2008-01-28T14:48:00.000-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 2

2008-01-28T12:59:00.000-05:00

Bird Portraits in Color Plate 1

2008-01-28T08:52:00.000-05:00

Test Post of Google Map

2007-12-29T17:52:00.001-05:00

View Larger Map

Favorite Bird

2007-06-07T11:18:00.000-04:00

lack Skimmer is mine. Here is a bird that's got it all: Gross manifestations of evolutionary biology, plumage at once striking and understated, sleekness of form, and grace of flight. It sleeps like a passed out spring breaker after 15 pina coladas, five bodyshots and a bong session.

Memorial Day Report - Part I: Exodus

2007-05-30T13:22:00.000-04:00

t's a bit tardy, but when the reporter and the editor are the same guy in different hats, that's what you get. That's rustic.

It was a nifty, long weekend in Central New York, a part of the country I haven't visited since I was eight years old. Cooperstown, NY has always been a destination on my list. This village on the shores of Otsego Lake is home to the Baseball Hall of Fame and takes its name from the father of James Fenimore Cooper, the noted American fabulist behind the Leatherstocking Tales and Last of the Mohicans. Cooper's novels are set in this part of New York's middle tier, and Otsego is the model for his fictive "Glimmerglass."

As luck, and her parents' insurance policy, would have it, the GF did all the driving to Cooperstown, ably piloting our borrowed Acura north with an even hand and a mostly even head. As navigator, I was freed up to enjoy 200 miles of whiplash birding as the interstate-scapes of Northern Jersey, the winding blue highways of the Catskills and the rolling agricultural straightaways of New York's Central Valley rolled by under a bright sun.

Turkey Vultures rocked overhead throughout the drive, scouting out roadkill. Perched Kestrels watched the holiday traffic from phone lines. And a Cooper's Hawk was unceremoniously chased out of Roscoe, NY by a mob of Starlings and Grackles. A Common Raven sat in a farmhouse lawn outside Delhi, NY, and Chipping Sparrows tittered at my technique while I peed over a guardrail just south of Oneonta (at least I hope it was my technique). Finally, in the irony department: Bank Swallows over a barn in Otsego County, and Barn Swallows over a bank in Delaware County (a pond edge, not an S&L).

Tomorrow... Cooperstown, Baseball, Mascot Birds, Thoughts on B&Bs, etc.

Dickcissel or Dick Sisler? Both, Baby!

2007-05-25T09:14:00.000-04:00

ne is a sparrow-like prairie bird, the other is closely associated with Cardinals and preferred a highly specialized habitat consisting of grassy fields in urban areas. Though the Dickcissel is declining, Dick Sisler is extinct, having expired in Nashville in 1998.

For more of this silly wordplay, check this old thread from the message boards at America's finest formerly-broadcast-but-now-internet-streamed radio station.

Anyway, I'm off to Cooperstown for the long weekend, where both birds can be experienced in one form or another in close proximity to Baltimore Orioles. I intend to take in all of the Baseball Hall of Fame that I can, and hopefully squeeze in as much birding as possible in the vicinity of Lake Otsego (James Fenimore Cooper's "Glimmerglass").

Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend. All three of you.

Weekend Roundup

2007-05-21T10:57:00.000-04:00

riday was my first trip ever to Braddock (North Hudson) Park in North Bergen and it lived up to the hype I'd heard from other Hudson County birders. What it lacks in shorebird opportunities, it more than makes up for in arboreal habitat, with extensive trails through a mature deciduous forest with a continuum of understory ranging from tangled thicket to damp, muddy openings. There's also a large pond with a wooded central island and several acres of old-growth-over-grass parkland.

Temperatures were a bit on the cool side, and I experienced numbness in my fingers on a few extended viewings, but it was well worth it. Lots of warbler variety: Life-list Wilson's (yeah, I'm a n00b), Chestnut-sided, Blackpoll, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Yellowthroat, Black-and-white, Black-throated Blue, Black-throated Green, Ovenbird, Redstart and Magnolia. Warbling and Red-eyed Vireo were also about, as were Hermit Thrush and Veery. Over the pond, Barn and Northern Rough-winged Swallows were swooping in big numbers -- 30+ of each -- and pausing occasionally to perch on the coping for nice, clear looks.

Saturday, I hopped the train to Liberty State Park to track down some shorebirds that had been mentioned on the Jersey Birds list as having shown up in the marsh and mudflats: Dunlin, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Black-bellied Plover and Short-billed Dowitcher. I was able to spot a half-dozen each of Dunlin and Dows, and 10-12 Semipalmated Sandpipers, but the only plover around were Semipalmated. Singletons of Glossy Ibis and Yellow-crowned Night Heron livened things up a bit. The big treat was on the way in though, as several Grasshopper Sparrows were buzzing on the fenceline.

Sunday I managed only a quick trip to LSP, with little to report from the scrape and mudflats except a Northern Waterthrush, finally. First of year after four weeks of trying.

I and the Bird Is the Emperor of Ice Cream

2007-05-17T15:50:00.000-04:00

he 49th installment of I and the Bird is being hosted -- in verse -- by Dave Bonta at Via Negativa. A more handsome, better written, and wider-ranging blog you will seldom see. Hie thee thither forthwith and dally.

Time's Fun When You're Having Flies

2007-05-17T15:13:00.000-04:00

ust a couple new arrivals at Liberty State Park this morning for me, and both Flycatchers: Willow and Eastern Wood Pewee.

Other good showings were made by a pair of Yellow Warblers pulling high Gs in barrel rolls around and through a stand of birch, Scarlet Tanager preening in a cottonwood, a Spotted Sandpiper picking and bobbing through the peat in the Grove of Remembrance, and a hair-ruffling blast of jetwash from a near collision with a Northern Flicker as I rounded a blind corner on the IC trail.

Also, a first-ever Hoboken bird on a smoke break at work: Male Common Yellowthroat singing in an apple tree in front of the downtown post office.

Is the AGW Science Settled?

2007-05-17T11:33:00.000-04:00

eems that the scriptural literalists disagree. Which repugnant, god-bothering draft animal to hitch one's wagon to -- the monotonous plantation pedant or the grinning Okie troll?

For now, I'm firmly in the skeptical camp, and here's why: Some of the most committed, serious scientific advocates of human agency in global warming sum up the research as follows:

"Despite current uncertainties, it nonetheless remains a widespread view among paleoclimate researchers that late 20th century hemispheric-scale warmth is anomalous in a long-term (at least millennial) context, and that anthropogenic factors likely play an important role in explaining the anomalous recent warmth."

Sentence-length distillations of settled science don't require more qualifications than the last five seconds of a prescription drug commercial. There are no "current uncertainties" that humans are possessed of a pancreas; it is not a "widespread view" among medical researchers that the pancreas excretes insulin; it is not "likely" that insulin metabolizes sugar; and a pancreas that fails to excrete insulin is not a "factor likely playing an important role in explaining" diabetes.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat

2007-05-14T11:25:00.000-04:00

his was an odd weekend for me, as I only went to Bayonne, and only made one trip. I wasn't in the WSB, since I'm still a bit of a novice (started spring 2005) and my friggin' shin splints were killing me. I made it to Liberty State Park this evening for a few hours as well.

Saturday at Bayonne wasn't too bad. Not the big Wood Warbler concentration of Friday, but still good -- if typical -- variety: Redstart, Magnolia, Common Yellowthroat, Black-and-white and Ovenbird. Not much to listen to, as only the Ovens were in throat. Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Red-eyed Vireo were firsts of the year for me, and Blue-headed Vireo was also around. Veery and Robin only among the thrushes, no singing Woods like the day before.

The mudflats are starting to show more peeps, with ample Least and Spotted Sandpipers to go along with a couple Greater Yellowlegs. Semipalmated Plovers were new for the year as well, darting around the Great Black-backed Gull that's still working to pick clean his Channel Cat (he drags it into the tidal stream when he's done, and knows exactly where to retrieve it when he gets a hankering for rotten fish).

This evening at LSP was very quiet, with only Red-winged Blackbirds and a couple of Baltimore Orioles violating radio silence with any consistency. Yellow Warblers, maybe five or six, were the busiest warblers, followed by Yellow-rumped. These were joined by pairs of Black-and-white and Common Yellowthroat. A single Northern Parula added a bit of spice, allowing nice views from four feet as he picked through some mulberry on the landward edge of the Interpretive Center woods before moving off into the floppy, concealing leaves of a cottonwood.

I've got some more involved articles in the works on the politics of bird conservation from a libertarian perspective, hoping to get something posted that I'd be willing to submit for I and the Bird. With links and stuff, and without ham-fisted attempts to come up with fresh ways of saying, "Then I saw a Redstart!" or "I went to Bayonne this morning." You know: content.

Bonanza!

2007-05-11T15:21:00.000-04:00

ou never know how a birding hike is going to turn out. Woke up at 5:15 this morning to the sound of thunder and heavy rain beating on the roof and thought, "Shit." But the downpour had already diminished to a patter by the time I was clean and dressed, and the weather guy said the t-storms would be intermittent and clearing by mid-morning, so I decided that I'd take the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail down to Bayonne and see what might be out despite the weather.

The patter petered to a spritz, and then cleared out completely before my train left Hoboken, and though overcast, the light was going to be sufficient for my purposes.

And am I ever glad I gave it a shot, as Gregg Park was avian bedlam. The south end of the escarpment -- always good for a few Wood Warblers -- yielded no fewer than ten species of bright mites, all within the terminal 500 square feet: Black-and-white, Ovenbird, Common Yellowthroat, Black-throated Blue, Blackpoll, Redstart, Magnolia, Black-throated Green, Yellow-rumped and Northern Parula. Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Eastern Kingbird and White-throated Sparrow were also milling in the same space. I had to take a break at one point because it was such absolute psychedelic chaos -- focus on that flash of yellow, and -- zip! -- there goes a blur of orange through your sight line. Turn for that, and blue blazes in your peripheral vision. I nearly got whiplash.

A host of thrushes as well: One tableau contained Hermit, Wood and Veery (Ovenbird, too) all sharing one little hollowing in the trees. Veery was a first for me in the Garden State.

All tallied, I turned up over 50 species in two hours and ten minutes, scarcely covered three quarters of a mile, and the only raindrops that hit me were the occasional ones shaken down by squirrels.

New Arrivals at Bayonne Parks

2007-05-10T12:20:00.000-04:00

ow that's a bit more like it. Wood Thrush was filling the escarpment with song, though I only spotted two (actually, they were "spotted" before I came along, har.). A first-of-year Scarlet Tanager was hopping branch to branch in the top of a White Oak as well. And a pair of Baltimore Orioles were located at the far (south) end of the line, as a Green Heron was prowling the banks of the pond. A Northern Flicker was raising hella racket by drumming on the top of a streetlight.

Also saw Common Yellowthroat, Redstart, and Black-throated Blue Warbler. Then, my stumbling approach saved an Ovenbird from a feral cat, which glared at me from a rock after I spooked him from his stalk.

The mudflat held Spotted and (again) Solitary Sandpipers, a Great Egret, and the usual assortment of larids.

Usually choppy, Newark Bay was still and glasslike this morning. A persistent, light mist obscured three Common Loons a bit, but they along with several Double-crested Cormorant, a pair of Gadwall, Canada Geese with goslings, and a pair of Mallards were still easy to spot without the usual roiling on the bay's surface.

Much better than yesterday, and my leg wasn't nearly as bothersome.

Bayonne Dawn

2007-05-08T19:57:00.000-04:00

morning train ride to Bayonne to check out the twin parks this morning (despite some nagging shin splints) yielded very few warblers, just a couple Black-and-whites and a solitary Ovenbird. I heard but did not see Warbling Vireo and Black-throated Blue Warbler. The Eastern Kingbird I've spied in the willows and birches overhanging the pond was back, and did a little hunting just over the water's surface before returning to his perch to sing. This also marked my first walk since mid-April without White-throated Sparrow.

The boardwalk was interesting, though, with Least and Spotted Sandpipers, a Great Egret, Gadwall, and three Great Black-backed Gulls tearing up a washed up Channel Cat. Also dipping around the mudflat was a Solitary Sandpiper, which caused a doubletake. This was an odd setting for this bird in my experience, but green grass is now showing in the middle of the flats and may have attracted the puddle-picker to the area. Kingfisher wasn't around, and no Yellowlegs either.

No Pheasants or Warblers in the scrub meadow, so I packed up and headed for work.

Another Ivory-billed Woodpecker Anecdote

2007-05-08T13:27:00.000-04:00

ia Scott's Lovely, Dark and Deep comes welcome word of Albany Times Union birding blogger Rich Guthrie's sighting of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker while on a hunt for it with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology team.

Guthrie has a full accounting on his blog, and will be relating the story in greater detail on the Albany NPR affiliate, WAMC, tomorrow (Wednesday) at 2:00 p.m. EDT. If you're not in their broadcast area, there is a live stream available at the link above.

LSP Morning Mile

2007-05-08T09:53:00.000-04:00

arbling Vireo, picked out with the assistance of Vince K., was the morning highlight at LSP -- though he couldn't turn up his White-eyed Vireo when we went back so I could get it.

Others noted were: Baltimore Oriole (3), Eastern Kingbird (1), Towhee (3), Black-crowned Night Heron (2), Downy Woodpecker (3), Redstart (2), Ovenbird (1), Yellow Warbler (3).

White-throated Sparrow is finally thinning out, and Catbirds have taken over their role as distracting pathside rummagers.

Outside Interests

2007-05-07T21:15:00.000-04:00

et's take a look at what kinds of non-birding things birding bloggers are linking to on their sidebars, shall we?

Short answer: Not a whole hell of a lot. Very few avibloggers link to anything that's not related to feathered pursuits: Other birding sites, precision optics, environmental organizations and causes, parks, natural science sites...

Lovely, Dark and Deep has a non-birding section: Daily Kos and Wonkette are leftist political blogs, as is the local Democracy in Albany, but more subtly so. SPQR is about "Baseball, Birds, Books, Classical Civilization, Movies, Music and Video Games…" Does that count as non-birding? Horny Gandhi is a humor blog.

Birdchaser's got a "Friends" section with some non-birding stuff: Boneyard Media is a pretty cool and nostalgic music blog (the Dictators! Hadn't thought about Big Dick Manitoba in years) -- I subscribed to the feed. A pair of epicurean blogs -- Extra MSG about Portland, OR and Dallas Food about, well. The Underview is radical, hard left political bombast, and In Media Res is thoughtful, progressive, Christian, political philosophy (it was already in my RSS reader). And finally, a pair of personal, family-oriented blogs: Chef Messy and Eva Calidris Bailey.

Laura Erickson wants to be on the Colbert Report.

Those are the only ones from my blogroll that have anything. I got nothing.

Birding Bayonne

2007-05-07T08:39:00.000-04:00

ayonne's Rutkowski Park and Hudson County's Gregg Park are contiguous parcels fronting on a three-quarter-mile stretch of Newark Bay. Though they comprise a relatively small area, the habitats present are tremendously diverse.

Gregg Park's upper level is traditional, urban parkland -- widely spaced deciduous growth sans understory (home to a variety of Woodpeckers and the hunting purview of at least one Merlin, which I watched pursue and snatch a Downy last week). It's lower level is level athletic field stretching westward to a promenade along the bay and encompassing a small grass-edged pond.

Separating the two levels is a steeply graded, woody escarpment that is a Warbler and Vireo bonanza (Black-throated Blue, Black-and-White, Ovenbird, Redstart, Yellowthroat, Yellow-rumped, Magnolia and even a Cerulean Warbler on Saturday 5/5, with Blue-headed, Warbling and White-eyed Vireo also in evidence). It offers easy views of tree-top birds when you walk the upper path, and the upslope facing the lower path steals depth from the understory for good views of ground-feeders and tangle-hoppers like Thrasher, Towhee, Common Yellowthroat, Thrushes, Ovenbird and Catbird.

Rutkowski Park begins with a quarter-mile boardwalk that traverses a small lagoon and a three-acre mudflat/tidal stream/tidal pool (depending on the tide). This has yielded Egrets, Kingfisher, Gulls, Diving and Dabbling Ducks, Peeps, Greater Yellowlegs, and Herons. The boardwalk exits onto a sandy beach on Newark Bay (Double-crested Cormorant and Spotted Sandpiper in May; Great Blue Heron, Red-breasted Merganser, Bufflehead, Greater Scaup, and Red-throated Loon in April) that gives access to a brushy meadow with six well spaced pines (Palm and Pine Warblers in April; Kingbird, Phoebe, and several varieties of Sparrow now) and a scrubby edge where I saw Ring-necked Pheasant in a Saturday morning mist.

Oddly, despite this concentrated variety of birding vistas (I've had 50+ species on two occasions in less than three hours), these two parks are sparsely birded compared to North Hudson County Park in West Bergen, and Jersey City's Liberty State Park and Lincoln Park West. Two regular Hudson County contributors to the indispensable Jersey Birds listserv -- one of whom lives in Bayonne -- never seem to file reports from these areas.

Other advantages are a good proximity to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail stop at 45th Street, and a pleasant, old-style New Jersey neighborhood surrounding the landward side of the parks (full of House Finch). It only takes five minutes to give the Great and Snowy Egrets a moment of privacy and grab a cup of coffee from a bodega, or a slice of great pizza from Johnny's on Avenue C (try that in Wisconsin or Southeast Ohio!). Give it a try if you're in the neighborhood.

A Word on the Artwork

2007-05-04T17:05:00.000-04:00

ll the artwork on this site, save for portions of the banner and the ubiquitous parasitic doohickeys, is the work of John James Audubon. You may have heard of him. I presume it to be in the public domain, copyright notices on the Musee de la Civilisation site I link in my Resources list notwithstanding.

I won't be posting photographs here, as I am not a photographer -- amateur or otherwise -- and operate this weblog as a writing exercise and an opportunity to hone my dreadful design skills.

Ample, superior bird photography is available elsewhere on the web. I trust that those with sufficient interest in the subject of New Jersey birding to pass through this unswept corner of the Internet know what a Northern Parula looks like without a hackneyed shutter job accompanying my tortured prose.

Marlboro Man

2007-05-04T11:01:00.000-04:00

like cigarettes. I'm a smoker; not a particularly heavy smoker -- about 15 nails a day -- but a smoker just the same. I derive great pleasure from tobacco, which I find to be mentally stimulating and physically relaxing at once.

I am considerate of others in my indulgence: I don't ask to smoke in non-smokers' homes or cars, nor do I exhale my fumes in the direction of others. I don't cast my butts about carelessly. I wash my hands after a cigarette and I am one of the world's leading individual consumers of Febreze. I oppose indoor smoking bans, but I honor them when they are imposed, as they have been in my adoptive home of New Jersey, neighboring New York, and most recently, my home state of Ohio.

Because of my judicious and courteous tobacco practices, I feel justified in giving no quarter to busybodies. Any and all unsolicited advice on the health effects of my legal, adult behavior from strangers is met with the ill humor and insult it rates. I've reduced two grossly obese women to tears, tainted the lexicons of ill-reared children with the imprecations of longshoremen and soldiers, issued Blackwellian sartorial critiques, and mocked the belief structure of a hectoring Scientologist. And I'm likely not done yet.

Anyway, I sometimes smoke when I'm out birding, though almost never in the company of others. I always select my site, light up, extinguish, and pocket my ends with due diligence to the prevention of litter and fire. I never treat myself near dry brush, grass, or wood, nor smoke unsheltered from high wind that can carry off a spark. I snuff 'em in water if it's around, others are rubbed in dewy grass, or ground on the sole of my boot if necessary.

I have never observed any repellent effect on my subjects. If anything, they seem to sense my preoccupation and appear when I can't deploy my bins, just as they uncannily detect opportunities for back-lighting and interpose themselves with devilish glee precisely between the sun and my eyes.

All this to bring up the fact that I encountered another birder in LSP today, a Brit whom I've seen a time or two else, and I'll be damned if he didn't fire up a heater!

Smoke 'em if you got 'em, brother. Solidarity.

In actual birding news: Nada nueva on the warbler front, but Eastern Kingbird has made the scene.

It's been a little sparse for a couple days. LSP's got a bad feral cat problem, and they've got keen instincts for the best spots in the area -- two on the IC path today, and a third in the wood-fenced marsh in the center of the park.

(Good) Lights, (No) Camera, (Passerine) Action!

2007-05-03T10:49:00.000-04:00

rairie Warbler and Common Yellowthroat were ready for their closeups today at LSP, both taking star turns from 25-30 feet along the IC trail. Solitary Sandpiper -- thoroughly typecast -- lived up to his billing as a desperate loner, dipping in a puddle near the IC parking lot. Ovenbird, along with Carolina and Marsh Wren were, regrettably, only available for voiceovers. As expected, the comedy team of Canada Goose and Brant literally chewed the scenery.

Yellow-rumped (10) and Black-and-white Warblers (8) answered the casting call in droves, as did White-throated (50), White-crowned (30) and Chipping Sparrows (50+). Song, Savannah, Swamp and Field Sparrow made cameos, but Vesper and Lincoln's were not on set. Redstarts continued to steal scenes in supporting roles, as did Northern Waterthrushes, Blue-headed Vireos, and Magnolia Warblers. Towhee, Catbird, and Brown Thrasher were available for crowd scenes, and rounded out the cast of thousands.

Two thumbs up.

Back with an evening report soon enough.

PM Update: Not much to add, I'm afraid. Scared up three Wilson's Snipe on my way out at sunset, trying somewhat laughably to pass themselves off in the middle of the grassy parkland as -- what, guys? -- golf divots?

Notes on Recent Walks at LSP

2007-05-02T11:13:00.000-04:00

've managed to make the morning trip to Liberty State Park every day this week, and sadly, have little new to report. Sparrows are out in good variety, with White-crowned being the latest arrival, first seen on April 30 as a singleton, and up to eight today. Only Fox has departed, so most days now are revealing the aforementioned WCs, along with Swamp, Song, Savannah, Chipping, White-throated and Field, with the Savs and Swampies tailing off a bit.

Others new to show: Carolina Wren (3), abundant Brown Thrasher (10+), Catbird aplenty (16), Blue-headed Vireo (6), American Woodcock 4/30 (1) and Eastern Meadowlark 5/2 (1).

Warblers have been tougher sledding, as my pre-work rush jobs through the Interpretive Center path are just too hurried to devote the necessary time. Only Yellow-rumped and a Black-and-white thus far this week, over a period that's got other LSP birders turning up Redstart, Ovenbird, Northern Waterthrush, and Common Yellowthroat.

I'll make an evening run tonight in hopes of picking up on some little piece of the fallout that's been reported at Garrett Mountain and Allendale.

Can the EU Halt Spring Hunting in Malta?

2007-05-01T13:02:00.000-04:00

ach spring, millions of migrant birds overfly the seven-island archipelago of Malta en route from Africa to their breeding grounds in Europe. As they pass, Maltese hunters -- some licensed, some not -- unleash variably discriminant bursts of bird shot into their ranks, bagging a variety of species, some (by local standards) legal, many others not. At the same time, throngs of conservationists (some local, some imported) pour over the islands and present every bloodied, illegal bird and ex-bird they can find -- some shot, others likely not -- to the numerous and accommodating scribblers and photographers of the continental press assembled for the occasion.

Faced with a strong, organized and often pugnacious hunting lobby (site only partially in English) the government in Valletta has thus far dragged its feet in fully adopting EU restrictions on spring hunting (Malta acceded to the EU in 2004). By demonstrating a willingness to cast votes for members of parliament based solely on their stand on the issue of spring hunting, the hunters have managed to cow both Malta's major political parties into backing the current law, under which icensed hunters may still bag two vernal migrant species, Turtle Dove and Common Quail. This law will stand until at least this fall, when court hearings in Brussels that will end in a final decision on whether to exempt Malta from the Union's Birding Directive. The government argues that the EU-sanctioned hunting season, during autumn migration over the Mediterranean, leaves too few targets for its hunters. Unlike the northbound spring migrants that are forced by conditions aloft to funnel over Malta, Africa-bound fall birds are abetted by fairer weather and favorable winds that enable them to disperse widely over the Med, avoiding landfall and sprays of lead over the island chain. Precedent does not favor Valletta, though, as the EU Court of Justice torpedoed a similar Finnish defense in 2005 seeking a spring exemption for three duck species.

But this dispute over dove and quail is rapidly taking a backseat to the mounting evidence that many among the 12,000 estimated Maltese gun hunters have a grossly flexible taxonomy of "European Quail" and "Turtle Dove." Marsh Harrier, European Bee Eater, Purple Martin... all have been discovered wounded or killed by birdshot, despite the threat of heavy fines called for under new legislation Valletta enacted to protect all but the disputed species. But the 80 or so police and soldiers charged with enforcing these laws in Malta's 100 square miles of hunting preserve are outnumbered by hunters over 100:1 (they outnumber the entire Maltese Armed Forces by a factor of six-to-one!), and must try to keep tabs on organized and radio-equipped subjects bent on eluding them.

Even with the expected ruling from the Court of Justice, it looks pretty clear that some level of illicit spring hunting will continue in Malta, and that it will likely not be limited taxonomically. Likewise, fall hunting will increase, again with less than selective shooting. In the end it will come down to the EU's willingness to put real punitive force behind its policies. A willingness that has been notoriously absent in previous encounters with ballistic bad men.

Mr. Peabody to the Courtesy Phone

2007-04-26T11:38:00.000-04:00

r. Sam Peabody, please pick up the white-throated courtesy phone.

All White-throated Sparrow, all the time, in stereo. Today's sunrise trip to Gregg Park in Bayonne was dominated by these ubiquitous passerines, with a Towhee or six, and a Great Blue Heron thrown in for good measure.

Not much variety, and with the dang Rutkowski Boardwalk padlocked again (the Nor'easter aftermath, I understand, but today? Why? And good luck getting an answer since the City of Bayonne and Hudson County both claim the other runs it over the phone), there was little to do but trace back and forth along the escarpment and pray for Warblers, any Warblers. Suffice it to say, prayers unanswered. Not. A. Single. Warbler.

Others encountered: Hermit Thrush, Northern Mocker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Double-crested Cormorant, American Robin, Common Grackle, Mallard, Red-throated Loon, and the Tom, Dick and Harry of Gulls (Ring-billed, Herring, and Great Black-backed).

LSP Morning Mile

2007-04-25T10:50:00.000-04:00

t was gorgeous, cool, and sunny for the Morning Mile today, with an intermittent light southerly breeze.

Common Grackle, Robin, Savannah Sparrow and Red-winged Blackbird were noisy and active in the wooded swamp between the NJ Turnpike overpass and the park entrance, but the pine grove on the opposite side of Zapp Drive was quiet -- still not hosting the Pine Warblers I'm expecting, and its been inactive since I saw a singleton Prothonotary Warbler and a couple Eastern Phoebes in there ten days ago.

Spied a Swamp Sparrow dabbling along the edges of the recessed, reedy stream right off the bat, but none of the Waterthrush the spot seems designed for, and which are turning up in all the Jersey bird reports from points south.

The Grove of Remembrance fenceline and willow planting hosted the usual Ruby-crowned Kinglets, Savannah and Song Sparrows, Robins, Starlings, Brown-headed Cowbirds and Northern Mockers. Two pair of House Finches and six to eight American Goldfinches are new arrivals to this area of the park, though the Eastern Towhee, Yellow Warbler and Wood Thrush -- first-of-years all -- that showed here earlier this week failed to make encores. The numerous Mallards nesting in the brushy swampland beyond the fence hopped in short flights, mostly in pairs, from hole to hole, and Canada Geese overflew twice in 15-20 bird formations.

I cornered the fenceline, checking fruitlessy in the other reed-sheltered creek for Waterthrush while darting Savannah, White-throated, Chipping and Song Sparrow caused constant distraction. The southerly trek up the chainlink set the rising sun to my back, allowing nice looks at the Sparrows and Robins ground feeding the road berm and grass edge. Red-winged Blackbirds dominated the chorus from higher perches in the cottonwood and birch across the fence as I spotted the day’s first Towhee kicking up bursts of dead leaves at the base of the barrier. Goldfinch also sang and performed acrobatic chases.

Made the eastbound turn to skirt the marshy area south of the Interpretive Center, which has the greatest concentrations of Tree Swallow and Boat-tailed Grackle, but encountered only about a dozen Trees, mostly perched on the split rails. One male was buttering up his chosen with flutter flight and bowing. The Solitary Sandpiper that I’ve seen three or four times previously was back, dipping in one of the last vestiges of the Nor’easter flooding. I startled it and it winged off to the west before I could get a proper look.

I scattered a rolling wave of Sparrows as I made my way back up to the road and made for the IC path in search of Wood Warblers and other new passerines that may have checked in since yesterday, but with little luck: Twelve Yellow-rumped Warbler and a couple Ruby-crowned Kinglets above, and a carpet of White-throated Sparrow below. Two more Eastern Towhees were down among the Sparrows, as were four Hermit Thrushes. Still no Blue-headed Vireo, and the Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and Black-throated Blue Warbler I thought I might have seen the day before were disguised as empty branches today. The two male Northern Cardinals of a few days back are now three matched sets, and provided most of the soundtrack. Alas.

The return journey up the fenceline showed more of the same, with only my first Cedar Waxwing of the year and distant sightings of possible Bobolink and Broad-winged Hawk to lively things up.

My usual farewell glances into the lawn and embankment behind the Light Rail station turned up only Common Grackle and Robin.

Barnies Back in 'Boken

2007-04-24T12:20:00.000-04:00

ork-tailed daredevils dive-bombing the sun worshipers on the Grass Beach. Spring at last!

Diversity of avifauna is not among the Mile Square City's charms, so I applaud all new arrivals that break up the House Sparrow and Starling monotony