%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
a place to express my love for birds |
This is a blog/journal about birds and birding. I grew up watching birds, as I lived in a rural area with farms, fields and forests. As an adult, I got into "serious" birding around the year 2015 when I went on my first "guided" bird walk at a local state park in Pennsylvania. In 2017, I kept track of how many different species I could spot in one year, which was 137. In 2017, I saw 201 species! So I have some goals for 2019: Five "lifers" (A "lifer" is a bird I have never seen/identified before) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Enter a checklist every day on www.ebird.org Visit 10 new "hotspots" (popular birding sites like parks, gamelands and sanctuaries) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.  Sharp-shinned Hawk in my backyard, December 2017  Snowy Owl in Fleetwood, PA, January 2018 |
| It's been an exciting week! On Sunday afternoon, I thought I saw a flash of bright orange in a neighbor's tree. There's really only one bird we have that color, so I kept an eye on my yard. I put orange halves out and something had been eating them. I thought it was the Gray Catbird, as I had a few of those last year eating oranges. Then I spotted a Baltimore Oriole  in my yard eating oranges!  I went for a walk at Locust Lake on Tuesday and I heard #146, Wood Pewee, and spotted #147, a Bank Swallow. They're very similar to a Northern Rough-winged Swallow, but I got a good look at it through my binoculars. Thankfully, it landed on the ground and sat still for a little bit! Swallows don't typically do that!  This morning I took a long walk at Tuscarora State Park, one of my favorite parks. I saw a bunch of good birds (still no Louisiana Waterthrush): Blue-headed Vireo Veery Pileated Woodpecker I almost went home, but I thought I'd check out another quick trail first. That's where I spotted #148, Scarlet Tanager ! I usually see one every year, but this was by far my best photo! They're usually high up in the trees but this one flew a bit closer. Actually there were two males and a little later, I also saw female!I can't believe I'm almost at 150 birds! Last year I saw 137 for the entire year! I'm having a good year!  |
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
