Critters of the New

We found a bunch of cool critters on our hikes to and from climbing spots at the New River Gorge over the 4th of July weekend.


Leaving the crag one day I spotted a newly emerged luna moth (Actias luna) hanging out on a stick. The camera was buried somewhere in the backpack, so I found this (undoubtedly much better) photo on flickr to share. This was my second ever luna moth spotted in the wild, and the first for Doodle and Roo.


We found six of these juvenile red-spotted newts (Notophthalmus viridescens, red eft form) at the base of the Honeymooner's Ladders at Endless Wall. They made themselves scarce not long after we arrived, but we felt lucky to have spotted them out and about.


While J was retrieving the last bits of climbing gear at the end of our final day there, our friend Brenda spotted this brilliantly-colored bird hanging out in the understory - turns out it's a Scarlet Tanager! This is another flickr photo, as yet again the camera was buried.


We also found a beautiful Promethea silkmoth during our hike out in the rain. This is another photo from flickr, as we only paused briefly during the rainstorm to admire the gorgeous, large male moth obviously trying to stay dry on a tree trunk as we passed by.

The birds want you to...

Roo loves birds. He's also pretty easily distracted. The other day we were sitting at the table for breakfast and Roo was crumpling his waffle, laughing at his sister, and doing anything BUT eating. Finally he noticed the birds outside the kitchen door, pecking at the bird seed we'd scattered.

Me: "Roo, do you see the birds?"
Roo: "Yep!"
Me: "Are they eating?"
Roo: "Yep!"
Me: "You should eat too."
Roo: blank stare, continues to crumple waffle
Me: "The birds want you to eat too."
Roo: immediately starts shoveling waffle into his mouth

I think we're on to something...

GBBC

The Great Backyard Bird Count a couple of weekends ago was fun. It was nice to devote time to observing birds in our yard. I wish I could have gotten out to see more habitats, but we did make it to Millbrook Marsh for a quick Friday afternoon foray. Below are the lists of birds I saw in our yard (no new ones), and at the Marsh.

Our yard:
American Crow
Black-capped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Sparrow
White-throated Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Northern Cardinal

Birds at Millbrook Marsh:
Mallard
American Crow - there are TONS of crows in our area right now. TONS. As in campus has been shooting of fireworks to discourage crows from roosting and pooping on everything. I saw hundreds flying over in the hour before sunset that we were outside.
Black-capped Chickadee
American Robin
Red-winged Blackbird

I'm excited to get outside more as it warms up. Less snow means it'll be easier for Roo to walk on his own while we're outside (his snow boots are cumbersome and he falls a lot, so I carry him a lot). Roo walking/running means at least some of the time I'll have two hands free and could, in theory, bring binoculars along on an outing with the kids to squeeze in a little more birding. Depends on the bees though; they definitely take priority and I'm very ready to get out and start learning the Eastern apifauna around here. Come on Spring Beauties! I'm ready to see some Andrena!

Ready, set, count!

Just a reminder that the Great Backyard Bird Count begins tomorrow. Can you devote 15 minutes to looking at birds sometime in the next four days? That's all it takes. You can do more, of course, but the amount of time and energy you put into it is up to you. Curious? Here's a video with the details. I'm hoping to watch our backyard birds a few times this weekend, plus maybe make an outing to nearby Millbrook Marsh with Doodle and Roo to see some new (to me) birds and test out my slowly-improving birding skills.

I'll let you know after this weekend how our counts turned out. Happy birding!

Hawk!

Yesterday we had a very exciting bird sighting right from our dining table. I was getting lunch together for the kids when I glanced up and saw a hawk right outside our kitchen door! I ran to grab Roo and we slowly crept to where we could see out the door. The hawk was still there! It stood there for a second, looking at the holly bush next to the door while I quickly snapped the photo below, then flew off.

Hawk outside our kitchen door!

We ran outside to see if we could spot the hawk. It was sitting in a nearby tree, and flew farther away when we came out. We figured it was gone.

I went back to making sandwiches while Roo frantically signed bird over and over and over again, pointing at the door and wanting to see it again. Not two minutes later I saw a flash of brown past our kitchen window as the hawk swooped back into the holly bush it had been eyeing previously.

We dropped what we were doing and all stood near the door, waiting to see if we could catch another glimpse of this hawk. We were not disappointed. We saw rustling in the bush, heard a high pitch "cheep!" then saw the hawk hop out of the holly bush, a dark-eyed junco grasped in one foot. It looked toward the door and, spotting three mesmerized people, promptly took off with its prey.

We were stunned. It was amazing! Doodle was asking where the hawk was going and what was it going to do with the little bird. Roo was signing and saying "bird! bird! bird!" and hitting the door, trying to get me to go find him the bird again. Meanwhile I was scrambling for the bird books to try and identify this beautiful hawk we'd just seen. After consulting with an avid birder friend it's probably a Cooper's Hawk.

I took Roo outside to show him that the hawk was gone. Looking at the snow next to the holly bush we could see where the hawk had left one clear footprint and a larger indentation where the junco had been, complete with one lone junco feather stuck in the snow.

Enlarged image of the hawk from the previous photo.

We certainly were not expecting such an exciting sight while having lunch. The kids and I were all amped up the rest of the afternoon, talking about the hawk and the junco many, many times. No one seemed upset for the unfortunate junco; rather, the only tears that fell were for a hawk that failed to return despite much toddler pleading.

Last night we bought some bird seed and peanut butter to make our own little pinecone bird feeders for the yard. Maybe if we fatten up another few juncos we'll see the hawk again? (I'm kidding. Mostly.)

Neighborhood drama

These neighbors of ours are so loud and full of drama. Why, just yesterday the kids and I were outside playing when we witnessed some rather un-neighborly behavior. Mind you this isn't the first time this particular neighbor has been the source of a ruckus. Ohhh no. This one seems to bring the drama regularly, much to the dismay of her most common victim. I present to you exhibit A.

Exhibit A: Oak Tree of Dramaland. Moon arrow included to appease the 4y.o.

This oak tree is located just beyond our property line with the main branches-of-drama located above our property. The primary offender: a white-breasted nuthatch. This little bird is feisty. So far we have witnessed a couple of occurrences of the same un-neighborly behavior which has been inflicted upon the otherwise drama-free downy woodpecker.

On a given day Downy will be seen emerging from its hole (seen in exhibit A) and pecking at various places along the Oak Tree of Dramaland and other nearby trees. We hear very little from Downy, but enjoy the regular sightings of this familiar bird.

Enter Nuthatch. I don't know the back story on this one, so this behavior may be fully warranted. I don't know. What I've seen is this one's frequent attempts to usurp the Downy's hole, accompanied by much raucous chatter until the hole is claimed (while Downy is away). Nuthatch becomes silent immediately upon entering the hole, and sits quietly within the hole until Downy reappears and chases Nutty from the hole. Nutty leaves with much ruckus and wing flapping, even hanging upside down swinging back and forth while looking as big as a little nuthatch can. Eventually Nutty backs off, Downy regains ownership and peace is restored in the neighborhood.

But undoubtedly Nutty will be back, bringing drama and noise once again.

Sheesh. What a neighborhood.

Great Backyard Bird Count!

2010 GBBC overall photo contest winner

I just found out that the Great Backyard Bird Count is coming up in 11 days. It's running from Feb 18-21, 2011. The basic idea is to get citizen scientists out to observe birds for at least 15 minutes during at least one of the days it's running, and to catalog the numbers and species of birds observed during those times. This will help ornithologists track patterns in bird species distributions and has the added bonus of getting people out in nature to look at birds. Want to find out more? Here's how to participate, and here's where you can find out about local GBBC events in your area. There's also a photo contest associated with the GBBC, so if you're the camera-toting type be sure to check that out too!

I'm hoping to do some birding with Doodle and Roo in our yard, and if the weather cooperates we may make it out to the nearby marsh for a little birding variety. Here are some great tips for birdwatching with kids from the Go Explore blog, and here are some activities and tips from the GBBC kids page.

On a related note, I added another bird to my yard list today: a juvenile Northern Goshawk! It's another Accipiter species, and obviously different from the unidentified Coopers/Sharpie I saw previously. This one had a very obvious speckly back (like this) as well as a white supercilial (above the eye) and absent hooded/capped appearance. It sat perched in our neighbors' tree for hours this afternoon, obviously watching some of the feeder birds in the area. I didn't see it leave, but I hope to see it again.

Roo loves birds

He looks outside first thing in the morning, searching the sky. He looks at me, signs, looks outside again. He's searching for birds. He loves birds.

Our friend Liv recently posted a photo of a jay on her blog. Roo saw it, and for the next day kept pointing at the computer and signing bird. I told Liv this, and requested more birds on Roo's behalf. She replied with a bird photo post. Roo loved it. Here's his reaction, complete with hooting sound which he now uses for all animals:

Thanks, Liv!

Cabin Fever!

Roo's been sick so we've put ourselves in quarantine since Saturday. Stuck in the house with a four year old, a 15 month old, and a restless mama. We've done lots of reading...

(Roo is signing book here. He signs that and 'sleep' regularly.)

...and we've had lots of dance time. We watched Episode 1 and 2 of Project Bellydance, so now Doodle is alternating which awesome bellydancer she's pretending to be (the latest is Shems, a Utah lady now in Baltimore. We love Shems!). Note Doodle's innovative costuming - she's using the pink ruffly skirt as a bustle for her sparkle skirt, and a red sequined "scarf" as a hip drape. All her own design.

Sassy action shot

Bustle view. I think it works, don't you?

We've also been baking, perhaps a bit excessively - I've since crossed off (and eaten) the vanilla pudding too. Today: bagels maybe, or possibly pasta if Roo takes a nap and all the stars align just so.
I've also been teaching myself to knit, we've set up our own living room farmer's market, and since yesterday have been pretending to be cast members of Stomp (aka drumming on everything in the house. I had no idea it would be quite so popular with the kids, but it's a lot of fun).

Add in lots of coloring, outfit changes, and birding (see the sidebar bird list? we added that undetermined hawk this afternoon with much jumping and shouting of "Ooh! OOH!" while looking out the kitchen window. Some of the smaller family members may have been standing on the kitchen table to see. Birds are cool enough to warrant that behavior, after all). When we're lucky there's the occasional Roo nap and you've got a picture of what we've been doing for the past few days while J is out of town.

Only 46 more hours until he's home. Not that anyone's counting.

The decking of the halls

Every year until now we've held off on holiday decorating until after Doodle's Big Day. This year, being nearly four and full of opinions, we consulted her. Given the options of only birthday decorations until December 14th or decorate for Xmas now and add birthday decor on top, she chose the latter. I was slightly surprised, but I know how much she likes the sparkles and novelty of decorating for something special, so we went with it.

A small tree was purchased and thoroughly covered in fabric birds, cones gathered on hikes and then smeared with glitter glue, and a bazillion bells.

I love the blend of nature and glitz we have going on. Especially the little fabric bird sitting watch on top, possibly keeping an eye on its nest:

In further Bday-Xmas fusion style, Doodle has suggested that we put her birthday presents beneath the tree until it's time to open them. We'll see...

Birding

In addition to learning a new flora now that we're out East, I also have a new avifauna to work on. I've never been an avid birder, and am frankly a bit embarrassed by my general lack of birding knowledge. I have slowly been working to hone some birding skillz by attempting to identify all of the birds I see in or near our yard. I have started to keep a Yard Bird List over there ---> in the right sidebar (so you subscribed readers will just have to come look at my blog itself to check it out).

The birds so far are pretty standard for this area. The Downy Woodpecker is nesting in our neighbor's Oak tree, and had a territorial dispute with the White-breasted Nuthatch a couple of weeks ago that was very fun and interesting to watch. The Blue Jays and Dark-eyed Juncos have been making the circuit through our yard each morning for the past couple of weeks, as have the Cardinals a little later in the morning. I'm enjoying getting to know our avian neighbors a little better, and slowly work on my birding skills. Maybe by the end of winter I'll even have a handle on what the darn unknown sparrow hanging out with the Juncos is.

If you're curious and want to see some pretty photos of some of our local birds, check out this blog post by the folks at Shaver's Creek Environmental Center (just a bit south of us). If you've never seen a Tufted Titmouse you should really look at the photos to see what a cute little bird it is.

Oh, and I almost forgot! If you have a bird feeder and are interested in learning more about the birds in your area and conducting a little Citizen Science, check out Project Feederwatch. Lacking a feeder, I've opted not to participate this year, but they have some awesome resources like this poster of common Eastern feeder birds that I just stumbled across. I may figure out that sparrow yet!

Stuffed

Stuffed birds made to humor Doodle in her desire to decorate our Xmas tree "with birds! All over! And even a red one on the very top!" this year.

Morbid staging by me.