Great Backyard Bird Count 2014

Long overdue post but that's what happens when you're in graduate school, homework comes first.  I did want to share some photos from the recent Great Backyard Bird Count.  My family and I went up to the mountains for some cabin time and my very first bird of the weekend was seen from the front porch - Steller's Jay!

You can see from the ruffled feathers that it was a bit windy.

The best part wasn't the beautiful blue birds but the plethora of Pygmy Nuthatches.  I have never seen as many, counted 11 in total at the feeder at one time!

There were also Mountain Chickadees, White-breasted Nuthatch, Hairy Woodpeckers, American Crows, and Clark's Nutcrackers.

I usually don't think of woodpeckers as being huge but this Hairy just looked ginormous to me in comparison to those little Pygmy Nuthatches.  I'll try to get a video up of the little devils attacking the feeder.

How was your GBBC weekend?

Migration Day: Big Sit

This year for Green Cay's annual Migration Celebration, we decided to host our first festival Big Sit.  Starting at 7AM, faithful volunteers and visitors counted all the birds seen from our 17 foot circle on the back deck.  The winds that day were gusting up to 20mph due to nearby Hurricane Sandy but the skies turned blue and the birds were around, albeit blowing about a little more than normal. 

I suspect our Big Sit totals were a little low due to the small passerines hunkering down and not attempting flights over the open water near out spot.  We still squeaked out a nice list of 42 species seen from 7AM-2PM.

Above shows you a photo of the nature center and in the center is the back deck count circle.  If you zoom in you will even see our faithful volunteers: Emily and Kimmie.  Special thanks for the optics go to The Friends of Green Cay, and the volunteers that really put in the hours which include Emily, Kimmie, and Holly.  Thanks everyone else that stopped by or helped with the count! 

The next Green Cay Big Sit is scheduled for December 22, 2012, starting at 7AM.  No reservations required, just stop by the back deck.

Spring NAMC at Green Cay

The results for Green Cay's spring North American Migration Count are below. It was a great day spent with some of my favorite birders. Thanks guys for joining me again!

Species	Count
Black-bellied Whistling-Duck	3
Mottled Duck	24
Pied-billed Grebe	2
Wood Stork	5
Double-crested Cormorant	7
Anhinga	19
Least Bittern	8
Great Blue Heron	4
Great Egret	6
Snowy Egret	1
Little Blue Heron	2
Tricolored Heron	14
Cattle Egret	1
Green Heron	7
Black-crowned Night-Heron	2
White Ibis	12
Glossy Ibis	7
Roseate Spoonbill	20
Black Vulture	3
Turkey Vulture	3
Red-shouldered Hawk	1
Purple Gallinule	2
Common Gallinule	48
American Coot	9
Limpkin	2
Killdeer	1
Least Tern	1
Rock Pigeon	2
Eurasian Collared-Dove	1
White-winged Dove	10
Mourning Dove	9
Chimney Swift	4
Red-bellied Woodpecker	4
Blue Jay	13
Fish Crow	5
Purple Martin	62
Northern Mockingbird	9
Brown Thrasher	2
European Starling	20
Northern Waterthrush	3
American Redstart	7
Northern Cardinal	24
Red-winged Blackbird	83
Common Grackle	34
Boat-tailed Grackle	62

Species Total: 45

Date and Effort: Sat May 12, 2012 7:00 AM

Protocol: Traveling

Party Size:4
Duration:3 hour(s), 15 minute(s)
Distance:3.0 mile(s)
Observers:Eva Matthews, Emily Chase-Jacobsen, Andy Lantz, Holly Krahe
Comments:NAMC

List generated by eBird.

North American Migration Count Coming Up!

Andy and I on last year's count.

If you're free this weekend then you should get outdoors and participate in the North American Migration Count.  The count starts Saturday and people across the continent will be counting birds for citizen science.  I have been doing this count at Green Cay since May 2007.  I'm hoping this year will be a big one and we hit 50 species for the day.  Anything is possible!

If you're at the wetlands on Saturday and see a good bird let us know, we may need it for the count!

The Big Sit: Green Cay

The Big Sit was a success even with the overcast weather and the occasional drizzle.  By 9AM we already had 30+ birds.  The goal I set for the day was 50 and I didn't think it would happen with much trouble.  Some of the volunteers that I had lined up to help out bailed at the last moment so I knew it would be a little more difficult but I was optimistic.

We focused on the alligator hole area for passerines.  I knew that warblers and vireos liked that patch and I was hoping it would pay off.  We did squeak out a Downy Woodpecker to my surprise and with a long day's effort we saw Yellow-rumped Warbler and Palm Warbler.

With the showers approaching, I was worried about the 50 goal.  We were sitting on 49, when across the open water we spotted a tern heading in our direction.  Sure enough, it was a Royal Tern.  High fives and cheering rang out from the crowd.  We had hit our mark!  And shortly thereafter I called the count due to the weather and the fact that I needed to close up the park.  It was a great day and I hope to host another Big Sit at the wetlands soon.  If you haven't done a Big Sit I highly recommend finding one or hosting your own.  

We ended the 8 hour Big Sit with 50 species and 2 additional heard only species.  Highlights included watching a Sharp-shinned Hawk chase a Cooper's Hawk, Caspian Terns flying by, Hooded Merganser fly-overs, and the nice people that stopped by to help out with the count or just learn something new about the wildlife of Green Cay.

I owe many thanks to all the birders that assisted me and the Friends of Green Cay Nature Center that sponsored the event.  Barbara Newcomb and Kim Curran get top honors for helping out with the volunteer aspect.

North America Migration Count

The Green Cay count was loads of fun this year and we had 55 species for the day with 504 individuals. Thanks to Holly, Andy, Emily, and Linda we were able to find 9 warbler species, 2 vireos, a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, and a few FOS species like Green-winged Teal and Sora. We had a few big misses such as White-winged Dove, Cattle Egret, and Black Vulture. With more time we may have been able to pick up 5 or more species and break 60 but it was a great count and one of our best.

Here's the break-down for those that are interested:
[_4___]____Double-crested Cormorant
[_24__]____Anhinga
[_1___]____Great Blue Heron
[_7___]____Great Egret
[_1___]____Snowy Egret
[_4___]____Little Blue Heron
[_10__]____Tricolored Heron
[_5___]____Green Heron
[_3___]____Black-crowned Night-Heron
[_26__]____White Ibis
[_3___]____Glossy Ibis
[_1___]____Roseate Spoonbill
[_1___]____Wood Stork
[_7___]____Black-bellied Whistling-Duck
[_1___]____Green-winged Teal
[_21__]____Mottled Duck
[_21__]____Blue-winged Teal
[_1___]____Turkey Vulture
[_1___]____Osprey
[_1___]____Cooper's Hawk
[_3___]____Red-shouldered Hawk
[_1___]____Sora
[_1___]____Purple Gallinule
[_130_]____Common Moorhen
[_1___]____Limpkin
[_2___]____Killdeer
[_15__]____Rock Pigeon
[_4___]____Mourning Dove
[_4___]____Chimney Swift
[_1___]____Ruby-throated Hummingbird
[_1___]____Belted Kingfisher
[_5___]____Red-bellied Woodpecker
[_22__]____Blue Jay
[_43__]____Fish Crow
[_12__]____Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
[_6___]____Northern Mockingbird
[_1___]____Brown Thrasher
[_1___]____Loggerhead Shrike
[_12__]____European Starling
[_1___]____White-eyed Vireo
[_1___]____Red-eyed Vireo
[_2___]____Northern Parula
[_1___]____Cape May Warbler
[_2___]____Black-throated Blue Warbler
[_3___]____Yellow-throated Warbler
[_3___]____Prairie Warbler
[_2___]____American Redstart
[_2___]____Ovenbird
[_1___]____Northern Waterthrush
[_1___]____Common Yellowthroat
[_10__]____Northern Cardinal
[_39__]____Red-winged Blackbird
[_23__]____Boat-tailed Grackle
[_2___]____Common Grackle
*Egyptian Goose

Thanks again count crew, you guys made this one a lot of fun!

 Photo by Emily Lark, this was her first official NAMC and she was in charge of counting all the Anhingas.

The Great Kestrel Count 2011

Robert Mortensen at the Birding Is Fun! blog has put together an idea to honor the American Kestral.  I invite you to participate in this year's event.  Here are the specifics:

When: Labor Day Weekend! Friday, Sept 2nd - Monday, Sept 5th

Where: Wherever you live or are birding that weekend

Why: To celebrate the American Kestrel, which is the ABA Bird of the Year, to introduce someone to birding, and to have fun!

How:
1. Take your kids, a family member, a neighbor or a friend on a drive, a walk, or a bike ride to look specifically for Kestrels for at least an hour during the long weekend.

2. Submit an eBird report of all the birds you see and count (all birds, but especially the Kestrels).

Please send Robert pictures, stories, and video clips of your celebration of The Great Kestrel Count 2011 and he will post them at http://www.birdingisfun.com/ to share with the world.  His contact info can be found on his website.


Follow and Share you experience on Twitter by using the hash-tag #KestrelCount

I'll be in Washington D.C. for Labor Day weekend and while I know I won't have much time for birding you better believe I'll have my eyes open for a stray kestral on my adventure!

NAMC May 2011

This year's North America Migration Count (NAMC) caught me by surprise and my team had to adjust last minute so we could even participate this year. Instead of hitting the trails in the morning hours we didn't start counting until 3PM. Despite the late start we still had a nice count with 43 species and a total of 464 individuals. Within the first half mile we had a very cooperative Least Bittern. The photo aboves shows you our perspective (basically straight down on it). Walking on an elevated boardwalk does have it priveleges.

It was a good day for waders with almost all the usual suspects seen like the Great Blue Heron seen above.

Emily joined the count this year in addition to my two normal partners, Andy and Holly. She was just along for the ride but she has some eagle eyes and not only relocated the Least Bittern but she also spotted the Purple Gallinule below.

I just love those long toes on the gallinules. Striking birds. As we made our count circle we found the breezy conditions to keep the count fairly cool. May has been a hot month and one of the issues of counting in the early afternoon is that birds tend to stay hidden but some overcast weather and a breeze proved to our fortune.

On the long stretch of the mile boardwalk we found a Roseate Spoonbill, Green Cay's FOS Chimney Swifts, and some fledgling Purple Martins that gave us a quite a stir.

We managed to count the parking lot and across the street at the Water Utilities pond but didn't pick up much except for a few yard birds. A heavy rain loomed and we ended the count but happy that we broke 40 considering the weather, the time of day, and the lack of migrants.

Thanks Andy and Holly for making this count so much fun!

Total species list:

Pied-billed Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Anhinga, Least Bittern, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Cattle Egret, Green Heron, White Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Wood Stork, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Mottled Duck, Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Purple Gallinule, Common Moorhen, American Coot, Limpkin, Killdeer, Black-necked Stilt, Spotted Sandpiper, Rock Pigeon, Eurasian Collared-Dove, White-winged Dove, Mourning Dove, Chimney Swift, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Purple Martin, Blue Jay, Fish Crow, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Blackpoll Warbler, American Redstart, Northern Cardinal, Red-winged Blackbird, Boat-tailed Grackle, and Common Grackle.

Purple Martin Nestwatch 2011

These photos were taken by my high school students at Green Cay Nature Center. They are having a great time studying the lives of our Purple Martins. I can't believe that this coming week that our babies will be potentially fledging. Come out to Green Cay to see the families emerge!

Great Backyard Bird Count 2011

This year's Great Backyard Bird Count was a lot of fun. While camping at Hopkin's Prairie in Central Florida, Andy and I decided to keep our "yard" list at the campground. We marked out our boundary as the little penisula that we were camping on that jutted out into a prairie wetland. We counted Saturday evening, Sunday, and Monday morning. Over the few days we were able to really get a sense of the bird life and what was using this habitat. Our list for the three days had some highlights for me personally including: Sandhill Cranes, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and of course the Great Horned Owl that we heard calling over the prairie at night. Here are the totals:

Number of Species: 47
All Reported: yes
Checklist:
Mottled Duck - 3
Blue-winged Teal - 2
Pied-billed Grebe - 1
Double-crested Cormorant - 6
Anhinga - 2
Great Blue Heron - 3
Great Egret - 3
Little Blue Heron - 1
White Ibis - 1
Turkey Vulture - 11
Bald Eagle - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 1
Sandhill Crane - 3
Killdeer - 6
Lesser Yellowlegs - 1
Mourning Dove - 2
Great Horned Owl - 1
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 2
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 1
Downy Woodpecker - 2
Eastern Phoebe - 2
Blue Jay - 1
American Crow - 7
Fish Crow - 5
Tree Swallow - 23
Carolina Chickadee - 2
Tufted Titmouse - 1
Carolina Wren - 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2
Gray Catbird - 1
Northern Mockingbird - 1
Orange-crowned Warbler - 1
Yellow-rumped Warbler - 6
Yellow-throated Warbler - 1
Pine Warbler - 2
Prairie Warbler - 1
Palm Warbler - 3
American Redstart - 1
Chipping Sparrow - 5
Song Sparrow - 1
Northern Cardinal - 2
Red-winged Blackbird - 3
Common Grackle - 42
Boat-tailed Grackle - 2

If you haven't participated in a Great Backyard Bird Count I hope that you are inspired for next year. It's fun whether you're counting your backyard or a local park. Check out the GBBC website for more details!

CBC

Miami Christmas Bird Count!

The Virginia Key team had an excellent day. Andy and I covered the section by car that covers most of the causeway up to the bridge. We didn't find any loons or buntings this year but we had a nice flock of warblers near Jimbo's and we stayed dry until the final walk where we were all properly soaked.

Miami CBC

Virginia Key Team on the beach

NAMC at Green Cay

Ovenbird on the NAMC at Green Cay, excuse the blurry digibinning.


After days of many Prairie Warblers we only managed to find one for the count.

Last bird of the NAMC was a flock of Roseate Spoonbills seen in the distance. As you can see from the photo it was a gorgeous day and we were rewarded with some slight breezes that kept us cool.

On Saturday September 18, 2010 birders from across the country particpated in the North American Migration Count. This year's Green Cay count team consisted of Holly Krahe, Andy Lantz, and myself. We started at 8AM and birded until well after noon. Our count area consists of the 100 acre Green Cay property and the Water Utilities pond across the street which has an additional 0.75 mi nature trail. I am very fortunate that my job allows me to participate in this count during work hours and it's always a day full of fun for me and my volunteers.

We started the count off with one of the best birds of the count, a Merlin. As we continued on we racked up the number of Common Moorhen and the usual waders. On the Cypress Island we found the Northern Waterthrush that has been hanging around all week but we dipped on the Prothonotary that was seen earlier in the week. We found a nice little flock on the Chickee Hammock that gave us the above photographed Ovenbird along with Red-eyed Vireo and young Brown Thrashers. Nearing the half mile trail we found a small flock of early Blue-winged Teal. More of these birds will migrant down in the coming months.

After scoping the parking lot we headed across the street to the Water Utilties pond. We found a few migrants over there as well including our only Prairie Warbler of the count along with quite a few American Redstart. After noon we disbanded our team but I gave it one more spin around the mile trail and managed to pick up the 7 Roseate Spoonbills seen above. We ended the day with 48 species, not a record but certainly a number of migrants were found. Our complete results are listed as follows:

8 Pied-billed Grebe
4 Double-crested Cormorant
13 Anhinga
1 Least Bittern
2 Great Blue Heron
5 Great Egret
3 Snowy Egret
8 Little Blue Heron
14 Tricolored Heron
7 Cattle Egret
4 Green Heron
16 White Ibis
2 Glossy Ibis
7 Roseate Spoonbill
28 Black-bellied Whistling Duck
34 Mottled Duck
16 Blue-winged Teal
5 Black Vulture
7 Turkey Vulture
1 Osprey
1 Merlin
1 Purple Gallinule
158 Common Moorhen
3 Limpkin
25 Rock Pigeon
8 White-winged Dove
1 Mourning Dove
2 Belted Kingfisher
3 Red-bellied Woodpecker
1 Downy Woodpeckere
10 Blue Jay
7 Fish Crow
12 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
9 Northern Mockingbird
6 Brown Thrasher
4 European Starling
4 Red-eyed Vireo
2 Yellow-throated Warbler
1 Prarie Warbler
2 Black-and-white Warbler
4 American Redstart
1 Ovenbird
1 Northern Waterthrush
1 Common Yellowthroat
6 Northern Cardinal
45 Red-winged Blackbird
28 Boat-tailed Grackle
4 Common Grackle

Many thanks go out to Andy and Holly for all their help and Kim and Chris for working the front desk and dealing with some difficult visitors in my absence. I can't wait until the next NAMC!

Green Cay Bird Count

Photo taken by Bill Kominsky at Green Cay.

On yesterday's bird count we had the following species:

Black-bellied Whistling Duck - 7 (including 2 juveniles)
Mottled Duck - 16
Anhinga - 10
Double-crested Cormorant - 2
Great Blue Heron - 2
Great Egret - 1
Tricolored Heron - 12
Green Heron - 2
Snowy Egret - 4
Little Blue Heron - 6
Yellow-crowned Night Heron - 1 (juvenile)
Glossy Ibis - 9
White Ibis - 16
Roseate Spoonbill - 7
Wood Stork - 6
Black Vulture - 1
Osprey - 1
Common Moorhen - 70
Black-necked Stilt - 19
Mourning Dove - 1
Common Nighthawk - 1
Chimney Swift - 6
Fish Crow - 1
Purple Martin - 16
Northern Mockingbird - 2
Northern Cardinal - 1
Boat-tailed Grackle - 10
Red-winged Blackbird - 6

Not bad for only 1 mile of birding, spanning about an hour of time. This is a typical bird count at the wetlands sometimes we can have as many as 35 species in the summer. Of course all that is going to change once migration starts. Shorebirds arriving any day now. I just hope the water levels will stay down.

NAMC Green Cay

Green Cay is lush green in bloom right now. The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and most of our winter birds are heading north. This weekend was the North American Migration Count and we had a productive morning. At Green Cay and across the street at the Water Utilities pond we counted 50 species with 569 individuals present.

The feeders were full of Painted Buntings just a month ago but now they are being swamped with Black-bellied Whistling Ducks and White-winged Doves.

The NAMC was most dominated by the year around residents such as Anhingas, Mottled Ducks, Green Herons, and Common Moorhens. We had a record high of 32 Black-necked Stilts, most of them already sitting on eggs.

We saw quite a few alligators on our count as well. They seem to be prime and ready for the new crop of baby moorhens and mottled ducks that they will be consuming soon.

The best birds of the day were a late-for-the-year Sora, a lone Roseate Spoonbill, and a Northern Waterthrush. All in all, not many migrants at the wetlands but plenty of diversity on a hot, near-summer day.

2 FOTS

The Green Cay weekly bird count went really well yesterday. The highlight was seeing not one, not two, but THREE Painted Buntings at the first habitat island, a First Of The Season bird for Green Cay. We just filled our cage feeders up last week for the first time since we lost our assistant animal caretaker to budget cuts and what do you know, the buntings came in just in time. I watched the male/female pair for about 15 minutes before exploring the rest of the island where I found another bright plumage male.

After meeting a few visitors and pointing out the buntings I continued on my way and finished the bird count with some good numbers. We had 28 Black-bellied Whistling Ducks including three familes. A lone Roseate Spoonbill was on the half mile trail. Also we had 69 Blue-winged Teal, which is evidence that their numbers are steadily increasing as the season progresses. The other big FOTS of the day was two Palm Warblers that were found on the Cypress Island. They were hanging out with some Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and a female American Redstart.

All photos taken by Bill Kominsky at Green Cay, used with permission.

All in all, it was a great day of morning birding. My only complaint was the hot temperatures but hopefully this will be the last heat wave before the cooler winter temps arrive and we have cold days in the 70s.

Today's Bird Count

Not much in the way of migrants today at Green Cay. On this section of trail I did manage a Prairie Warbler and a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. The Blue-winged Teal seem to be back in good number. And on the first day of October I had my first American Coot. Now it's time for the Sora to return!

Migration at Green Cay

All photos by Bill Kominsky, used with permission. Taken at Green Cay.

It's been a crazy week for me due to recuperating from my family's visit and suffering the loss of my laptop when someone decided to break into my home. Despite the violation to my personal space though the birds have tried to make it up to me. On Tuesday we had a great day of migration at Green Cay. The highlights included a gorgeous breeding plumage male Chestnut-sided Warbler, lots of Black-throated Blues, Northern Parulas, and Prairie Warblers. Also gracing our presence were Palms, Pines, Blackpolls, American Redstarts, Common Yellow-throat, Black-and-white, and a really great looking male Cape May. To top the day off I had a male and female Painted Bunting at the feeder. This weekend I'll be camping at Johnathon Dickinson State Park with some friends. Hopefully a little time outdoors will settle my spirits and offer up some more avian specialities.