Birding in New England - Recent Comments

Bluebirds

chautauqua — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:59:37 GMT

I live in Minnesota and just this past Spring "adopted" several bluebird trails totalling 52 individual boxes through a variety of environments. There are individual state organizations dedicated to bluebird recovery that are well worth checking out. The work (all voluntary) has been interesting and very rewarding.

Glenn Lee
Northfield, MN

Thanks

Julie Waters — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 03:11:12 GMT

the real fun was all the work I had put in the hour before to setting up the camera at the feeders to get that perfect hummingbird photo: camera pointed towards feeders, remote control in hand, standing a distance from the camera to wait for the bird to come in. Then, a few hours later, just sitting on the porch after mowing and seeing the bird pop up by the bleeding heart and grabbing a few quick shots and that being the best photo of the day :)

What a beautiful photo Julie!!

tallmom — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:15:41 GMT

Please let me know if you get interesting birds nesting there

Julie Waters — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:51:07 GMT

I'll come and take photos :)

Bluebird nests

styrofoam1 — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 09:46:57 GMT

Last spring, the Manchester (Vt) Lions Club and several of their friends placed 25 bluebird houses at the Manchester recreation park. They were inhabited almost immediately, but by swallows, not bluebirds. There is a lot of bird activity getting started this spring, and we are hoping we get a few bluebirds to nest there instead. We'll keep you posted.

Great shots Julie

tallmom — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:11:32 GMT

It is so great to spot these beauties every once in a while.
I've seen 2 this past month myself - alas, no camera and no time to stop and just enjoy watching them for a few moments...

The woodcocks are back!

tallmom — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:22:28 GMT

I swear they brought all their cousins with them - I have never heard such a number singing and dancing their way thru the sky. Truly the best thing in this long winter- and I was out trying to track down a pair of owls hooting to eachother!
Next come the peepers and I will believe that spring is returning to Maine.

Funny thing

Julie Waters — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:59:30 GMT

I translated that in my head without even realizing :)

Hmmm..

steveo — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:43:11 GMT

In my earlier post I Said "the color of a red tailed fox". I don't know what I was thinking I guess I meant red fox or even better the tail of a Red-tailed Hawk. Sorry bout that.

nods

Julie Waters — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:58:11 GMT

One thing I noticed when we were in New Mexico this year was how similar the Spotted and Eastern Towhees were in terms of their behavior when feeding with people around: stay mostly in bushes and creep out here and there to scratch the ground for grub.

Fox sparrows, from what little I've observed of them, behave in an extremely similar fashion. Song sparrows do a little of this, too, but I see them as a lot more willing to come out when humans are about.

Fox Sparrow

steveo — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 23:24:11 GMT

Agreed on all counts. To reinforce the color difference the Fox Sparrow is rufous toned almost the color of a red tailed fox. Dare I say orange(ish). It is significantly larger that the song. The fox will "chicken Scratch" the ground with both feet in a Jumping forward type motion this is a cool behavior exhibited by many species of bird. The streaks on the fox are more spots in a line than true lines.

First RWBB today.

steveo — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:36:04 GMT

I could'nt believe it they usually show up a flock all clucking and fired up. This one was solo right to the feeders.

Glad to have you aboard!

Julie Waters — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:06:32 GMT

Hope you enjoy the site. I still need more people involved to keep it active.

I got really lucky with an evening grosbeak a couple years ago:

Thanks for the helpful comparison

tallmom — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 14:31:53 GMT

I am forever confusing the two