Birding at the Manassas Battlefield Park

 The long weekend is over! I was hoping to go to the Piedmont trail and the Virginia Birding and Wildlife trail but my dog of 12 years has been really sick and we ended up needing to take him to the veterinary clinic. He is at the end of his life and it is heartbreaking to watch him die. Many years ago I had to euthanize my first dog and it left me with a guilt that will never go away. I swore never to do that again and now I am at that crossroad again. We decided to let nature take its course and we are doing everything to keep him comfortable. Just wanted to share a picture of him here.

But later that day I decided to go over to the Manassas Battlefield Park and try to catch some birds. It is a popular spot for birders and I decided to try my luck.

As we waked past the cannons we saw Tree Swallows in the meadows and one of them swooped into the cannon. We followed the bird and I set up my tripod close to the cannon to try and get some shots. We got lucky and I was even able to get a shot of its nest inside of the chase.

Also got some pictures of a Chipping Sparrow that seems wet( possibly covered in oil).

After walking around for a couple of hours we went back to the cannons hoping to get a few more pictures of the Tree Swallows and we weren't disappointed:

As we walked back to the parking lot, saw a Northern Mocking bird that was close to the parking lot. It kept flying into a nearby shrub and I didn't follow it immediately but I went back a couple of days later and decided to see why it liked that shrub so much and this is what I found.

 I couldn't get close enough to look inside but it seemed like it had made multiple nests in that shrub. I waited a little while to see if I could a picture of the bird in its nest but she didn't want to come down.

 After a little while I followed her into the meadows and was able to get a few shots. But I kept having issues with my camera putting out blurry images.

From a distance I heard the  Eastern Meadowlark's song and followed the sound. Found this fellow perched on the monument:

Before I could get a close-up, he flew away and while I was waiting for him to return I decided to record their songs.

I decided to hand around for some more time hoping to get a glimpse of a few other birds. Found a pair of  Eastern Bluebirds and their presumed nest. With that I decided to call it a day!



















Don't forget to check out my photographs on Flickr! You can view them here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shreeramaswamy/

My new birdhouse

A couple weeks ago, we set up 3 birdhouses in our backyard, one for a Wren and 2 for Bluebirds. I hadn't had a House Wren visit my feeder at all, so I was doubtful this would work. But the very next morning, I saw a House Wren at my feeder.



And sure enough, in the next couple of days, it took up residence in the Wren house that we put up.

 

A week later, a sparrow started building a nest in one of the Bluebird houses that we set up. It is probably too late for Bluebirds to nest this year but I hope to have some Bluebirds next year.

The squirrels have been keeping me busy. They would empty out my platform feeders on my deck in less than 24 hrs. This was until they pushed it off my deck! I purchased one of the tube feeders with a metal cage around it hoping it would keep the squirrels away. It didn't. They found a way to hang on to the feeder upside down and use their tongue to get the food out until they dropped this one too all the way from the top of my deck and broke the plastic inside into pieces. They broke my birdcake feeder as well and so I am down to one metal tube feeder wondering how to squirrel-proof my feeders and keep them from chasing the birds away. I tried making my own squirrel proof version of a bird feeder at home but that experiment failed miserably. I had been hoping to feed the squirrels as well but they were costing me a fortune in bird seed. I tried chili flakes, vinegar but nothing seems to deter them. Now they are going at my hummingbird feeder. They pluck the flowers out of the feeder and tip the feeder to get a good gulp. For now, I have temporarily solved the problem by using a straightened coat hanger to hang the humming bird feeder from the sides of the gutter. They have been so aggressive lately that I am worried that they will go after the bird eggs. I guess I will have to wait and see.

Green Heron

I added a couple of bird species to my list this week. As I went for a walk by the lake near our house, I spotted a Grey Catbird and a Green Heron. I usually get a lot of Canadian Geese. I had spotted at least 3 nesting geese and I was eager to see the goslings. I got lucky as I turned around to go back home and I spotted mama Goose with 2 of her goslings. I was able to get close enough to her to get some good pictures of the goslings. Here are some pictures:

 Grey Catbird

Canadian Goose with 2 goslings

Planning to go on a birding trail this coming weekend. I rented some supertelephoto lenses from lensrentals.com. I was surprised to see how affordable their rates are. Hopefully will get some great shots and I will share it here. Until then Happy Birding!

Need help identifying this bird!

Need help identifying this bird!!

This bird has been visiting my backyard for the last 2-3 weeks. I can seem to place it using the field guides. I have included some pictures of the bird from various angles. I thought it looked like a Savannah Sparrow but I am not sure. It also looks somewhat like a Skylark. Any help would be appreciated!

Global Big Day

While exploring some birding apps, I came across eBird. It is a great app for bird counting and you can submit your observations directly to the eBird website. The app is free and easy to use. Their website lists that the maximum number of birds recorded in a single day was 294. On that note, Global Big Day is on May 14th. For all you birders out there, this is a great way to make your observations count. It a 24hr challenge and the observations are tallied on a database maintained by Cornell Ornithology Lab. Check out the link here: http://ebird.org/globalbigday/

Their first Global Big Day was held last year on May 9^th.

Audubon lists the numbers from that day as below (excerpt from their website):

• 12,536 global participants; 8,840 participants in the Lower 48
• 5,827 species spotted in total.  This number is over half of the (approximately) 10,500 bird species that exist (and are known). 
• 635 species spotted in the Lower 48. Out of the participating countries, Brazil came in first for the total number of species spotted, with 1,055 out of the country’s 1,700 species being recorded.
• 468 species spotted by the top group, Audubon de Venezuela. That’s just over 8 percent of the total species spotted.
• 5,000 Lesser Flamingos spotted, the most of any species counted. Rounding out the top five: American Flamingos (3,936), the Gray Gull (2,000 spotted total), Gray-headed albatross (700) and the Black Guillemot (650).
• 21 species spotted in the South Polar region, logged by two participants: Adina Scott and Lucy Zoo.
• 51 species were found in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

Their facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/events/1570420463248283/

For those of you who would like to donate to this conservation effort, you can donate here:

https://give.birds.cornell.edu/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1806&ea.campaign.id=49372

May 14^th also happens to be International Migratory Bird day in North America. It’s a great day to go birding, whether you choose to do it at an event hosted at one of the nature centers or in your own backyard! To find an event near your location, you can check it out here:

http://www.fws.gov/refuges/news/SuperBirdFests2016.html

Happy Birding!

How to Find the Right Native Plants for Your Yard

How to Find the Right Native Plants for Your Yard

My Backyard bird list

Here is a list of birds that have landed in my backyard including a few flyovers and birds in my immediate community

Black eyed Junco
American Robin
House Sparrow
White-breasted sparrow
Chipping Sparrow
American tree sparrow
House Finch
White-breasted nuthatch
Downy Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Common Grackle
White-crowned Sparrow
Common Raven
Brown-headed Cowbird
Red-winged Blackbird
European Starling
Tufted Titmouse
Canada Goose
Mallard Duck
Ring-billed Gull
Carolina Chickadee
American Goldfinch
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Black Vulture
Turkey Vulture
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
European Starling
Song Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
Rose-breasted Grosbeak

There is a couple more birds that I haven't identified yet but I will update this list when I do.
Pictures coming soon!