Nature Photojournal #2

Today's post is about birds. I do classify myself as a bird watcher, although I tend more toward casual bird watching than the all-consuming passion that some others have. I don't spend oodles of cash on equipment. I was gifted a nice pair of binoculars last year (thank you, husband!) and my Sibley's field guide was also a gift. That's pretty much all you need if you want to bird watch. A scope is optional, but useful for looking at things that are too far to see in your binoculars.

I started my birdwatching when I was pretty young. My mom used to take us to the park to feed cracked corn to the Canada Geese. We spent a lot of time outside in the summer, and I would use my mom's old binoculars to check out the birds in the back yard. Cardinal, chickadee, blue jay...these are all pretty common. Later on in life, I met my husband, who is a passionate bird watcher. I learned about keeping lists. A lot of birdwatchers keep a 'life list'- essentially a list of all the different birds you've seen in your life, where, when, etc. This makes it a challenge to see as many new birds as possible. You can also keep a 'year list', which is a list of all the birds you've seen in 1 year. That makes each new year exciting (especially January 1!). There are also yard lists, where you catalog what birds you see in or from your yard.

These lists can also be cataloged online, which provides valuable information as to the health of different bird species. Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a good resource for beginning birders. The Audubon Society also has different events through the year, such as the Christmas Bird Count and the Bird-a-Thon, which help raise awareness of birds and their needs.

Anyhow, onto two birds I managed to get photos of. Birds are not easy to photograph, and I am envious of those photographers who can get great shots.

Brown Creeper
 This small, camouflaged brown bird is not often seen because it is secretive and blends in well with the bark of the trees that it forages on. It is similar to a nuthatch in feeding habits, gleaning insects from tree bark. This bird species is widespread, occurring in most of North America. It can be more easily spotted in the winter when the trees are bare. Listen for its call, a high-pitched 'see-ee'.

Photo credit: Jennifer DesRochers

Eastern Screech Owl
This one was a great find! My husband and I had hiked down to a quarry and were standing on a rock, checking out the scenery. We were just about to leave when a duck box caught  my eye. Usually, these boxes are for nesting wood ducks (yes, some ducks nest in trees!). Something looked different about this one, so I checked it out using my binoculars and got a surprise when I saw a red-phase Eastern Screech Owl snoozing in it! We were so excited to see it in the wild. It was a good distance across the lake of the quarry, but I still managed to get a decent photo of it:

Photo credit: Jennifer DesRochers

They are so cute! I was trained how to hold one on glove when I worked for an Audubon nature center- they weigh so little, you can hold them on one finger. In the wild, they hunt at night for small mammals like mice, and voles and also eat songbirds (and starlings). One of their calls is a descending whinny. This is a territory defense call. I can imitate it quite well- sometimes when we go out owling, we try to call in owls this way. I haven't had any luck so far.

Hope you enjoyed the post. Have a great start to 2012, and get outside!