Birding at 70 miles/hour

Since we have seen so many photos of the prairie on Peter's blog,

I rather wanted to show you what else there was to see while we raced along the American highways.

I always keep my eyes open for the feathered creatures around.
Boy is it ever so difficult to get a decent shot out of the side window while driving at a speed of 70m/h! So bear with me for the blurriness.

A hawk on a pole. Probably a red tailed, because of the colour of it's tail feathers.

This long legged shore birds were hard to find,

but their colours where so distinct that I opted for "American avocets" in non breeding mode.

On a photo I borrowed from the net you see what it was that I actually saw.


When we had lunch the other day I looked at a huge coal shovel parked on the ground.

Movement around these holes in the side of it captured my eye.

 Clever sparrows had taken the openings in the metal as their dwellings.

 When we slowly drove bye I could take these shots.

 Cute.

Finally I found out: it helps to put the camera on manual. Then keep tuning the viewfinder while shooting multiple frames.

One of the shots will be sharp! :))

Another day I was scanning the darkening evening sky. What was that? See all those dots in the air!

Hundreds of migrating Canada geese up there.

An amazing view. A sure sign of the winter to come.

And of course - the vast prairie landscape and endless sky. 

For ever captivating.

@@@

The poem of the day

Saskatchewan Summer (Charles Nichols)

Wide the open spaces lie, 

Fields of yellow cheerfulness, 

Circled all by wheat and trees, 

Ruled soft by blue and white

Roads to nowhere but afar, 

Scattered perfectly with farms, 

Fences sent for ages outward, 

Clear broadness touched by prairie towns

Rippled ponds enclosed by rushes, 

Distant rivers pulling streams, 

Rolling earth, arms widely steady, 

Fields and cattle, wooden barns 

An outing to Machias Seal Island, ME

Today I just HAVE to write about an outing that a good friend of mine had last Saturday.
I got her permission to write about her experience and also to use the fantastic photos that she took.

For more information just click on the "links".
Last Saturday there was a "Bird Festival" nearby and D. Fitzgerald took the opportunity to book a trip to Seal Island near Machias, Maine.
Seal Island is "the home of the Atlantic Puffin" and other coastal animals.

Their event calendar shows a lot more activities if you are interested in birding and such. 

D. too a boat ride over the frigid waters and was not disappointed.  Visitors are allowed to use observation blinds, close to where the birds are.

Atlantic Puffins, Machias Seal Island, May 24, 2014

D. also explained that ["you have to book a seat on the boat to Machias Seal Island months in advance because it is so popular. It might be fully booked now for this summer but I don't know that for sure. The puffins only stay until late August so it's a short window to see them."]

There is another page on their website that lists what other birds can be found in this area.
This side also provides information about the other type of birds found in/on
Roosevelt Campobello International Park and
Campobello Island, New Brunswick:

["Besides Alcids and Gulls, many boreal nesting species also can be found among the more than 150 bird species sighted here. The island has nesting locations of chickadees, jays, Merlin, thrushes, woodpeckers, and quite a few warblers and other songbirds. Also watch for Canada Geese, grosbeaks, and Blue-winged Teal."]

Who knows how long we will be able to have puffins around here?
It might be a one of the last decade when we may see these birds in this area.
I recently read several articles in Norwegian newspapers that they found their famous bird island "Runde", near Aasund, totally abandoned this year.

Beautiful Atlantic Puffin

It was known that the puffin population there had declined over the last 30 years to by two-third, but this spring no puffins have shown up at all. There are gone. That is scary.

Researchers attribute the disappearance to the rising ocean temperatures worldwide and collapse of the fish population in the Northern Sea.
The food sources for the puffins have disappeared and the birds starved, no new chicks are raised.
Some birds might have started to find other areas where they can survive.

Another bird seen on Seal Island are the Razorbills.

Having Fun

Mating Razorbills, Machias Seal Island, Saturday, May 24, 2014.

Part 1: RAIN and more birding

I knew it would happen. I shouldn't have done the windows yesterday!

Today it was RAINING cats and dog! Again. UGH!

But before I started on something more sensible, I had to check out the activity at the feeders. I didn't rain that hard yet.

Yep! Some birds were there.

First I sat behind the window (on the right) only to find out that the background was too bright against the grey sky.

For obvious reasons I didn't want to use the flash light. 

This is the result I got within half an hour enduring the cold.A nuthatch, chicadee and sparrows turned out to be the less shy birds around the feeders.

Song Sparrow

Black Capped Chickadee

Red Breasted Nuthatch (rather wet)

In the distance on the lawn a Northern Flicker was about to drill holes.

He seems to think: "UHOH- I am on camera!

After that the rain just got too bad and I had to retract into the house and got back to work. 

I used the rest of the day to sort out some stuff in the storage room. Tomorrow is garbage-pick-up-day. 

To identify the birds i use a page called: all about birds . It also gives you the opportunity to listen into the songs of the bird you are looking at. Once I sat on the porch and 

screen-shot of the page to demonstrate where sound samples can be found

listened to the "mew call" of a catbird on my laptop. Few minutes later one of the real birds was around in the shrubs and answering the call. It probably wondered who and where the intruder was. Funny!