New camera and some AMAZING birding at Hampshire College

I want to start with an apology for having not posted for such a long time and now that I have said that let me dive into the first of todays to topics.

As some of you may know (especially the people that helped me save up the money) I have been counting quarters for a little over half an arduous year, saving for a DSLR camera. My brother was also saving and, I must admit was ahead of me moneywise. He has just created a photography blog. Click the link if you dare!

I finally had enough money with the recent arrival of the long awaited family tax return. Just a few weeks after my old Sony point-and-shoot had finally, after years of bumps and bruises, given out. I am now strutting, with my chest puffed out proudly, in full optical regalia with a Canon Rebel T3 swinging from my shoulder. The quality of the images taken by this new camera is more than I could have dreamed for.

A few of my favorite shots are shown below:

I'm actually pretty proud of myself for only taking about 200 photos of this Sanderling on Conimicut Point in Warwick.

This Turkey Vulture delighted us with his daredevil swoops which breezed him mere inches over the treetops of Chase Farm in Lincoln.

This one of the many Ring-billed Gulls at chilling at Conimicut Point.

A Black-capped Chickadee scolds me for standing so close to the bird feeders in our grandparent's backyard.

And this is Chase Farms very own resident white Red-tailed Hawk. I am unsure if this white coloring is natural or derives from some government experiment gone terribly wrong. Probably NOT the latter now that I think of it.

I admit that the last photo isn't that good but it's not every day that you see a pure white hawk!

Now we come to todays second topic which is equally exciting. Seeing that you've probably already read the title of this post I need not tell you where I was birding on the sunny afternoon of February 18th. Just in case you didn't read the title, we were birding Hampshire College. Hampshire College is located in Amherst, Massachusetts where it is surrounded by small dome shaped mountains and the usual prized attraction of our family's attention Atkins Farm, a small bakery and exclusive food market. Yet today Atkins pastries didn't even excite me as I was so worked up, the reason of this so called "working up" I will relate to you now. In early November of last year a Dickcissel was found sharing the twigs with House Sparrows in the bushes surrounding the Yiddish Book Center which is located across the street from Atkins Farm and on the outskirts of the college campus. Amherst Massachusetts is clearly not an Ohio meadow where it can typically be found residing. This small House Sparrow-like species amazingly is still lingering here and delighting the local birder population. After MONTHS of begging I finally convinced my parents to take us across the street from Atkins (which we visit fairly regularly I might add: they obviously aren't always totally obliging to my countless birding demands).

When I hippity-hopped out of the car I was fairly twitching with excitement. Thought ran though my head: what if it didn't show?, what if it showed but not well enough for us to confirm that it wasn't just a House Sparrow?, what if...you get the idea. We gave the area a quick but fairly thorough search and came up with a few House Sparrows and a flock of Dark-eyed Junco. Sorrowfully plodding back to the car with tears rolling down my face in a never ending stream resembling Niagra Falls in their intensity, I was surprised to come face to face with a young teenaged birder. He kindly guided us to where he had last seen the Dickcissel. It was instantaneous; one second there was nothing there, the next second the flock of Dark-eyed Juncos flew up from the ground chittering their snappy little calls and with them the larger yellow chested form of the Dickcissel appeared. I was delighted for this was life bird number 262.

The young birder who had helped us find the Dickcissel kindly pointed us in the right direction to the roosting site of a Long-eared Owl which is extremely valued information in the birding world. Better yet this roost was literally on the Hampshire campus. What could be better? Not finding this bird was just not a considerable option!

At first we had trouble finding the scent but we soon located it (I'm sorry but I am not supposed to tell you where exactly this roost was located so as not to drive the owl from its home). Soon after we discovered the trail we were silently and carefully scanning the thick stand of pines in which the owl roosted. Not a mottled feather was seen though I knew quite well that this medium sized owl was watching our every move with it's keen yellow eyes bearing a shocking resemblance to the cartoon character Coach McGuirk after days with no sleep.

Disappointed we started back towards the car, heads drooped in sorrow once again. I was interested however to find a small spattering of whitewash (owl droppings) this must have come from the vent of the previously mentioned Long-eared Owl. I scanned the trees above this white splotch but saw no hunched form. Raising the camera I took two shots of the whitewash in quick succession with my new Canon.

I haven't yet figured out how to turn the shutter on mute and currently it creates the most annoying noise, one that every person who has ever heard camera knows well. It is a noise which sounds quite similar to the scoldings of a chickadee, at least this is what a pair of nearby chickadees thought. We followed these two chickadees who started calling excitedly and moving quickly towards the stand of pines which we had just vacated. We followed them hopeful and praying that the owl was in these little birds sites. Entering the stand of pines I was still unable to see anything other than twigs and of course the chickadees who seemed to be scolding nothing. Then Ben's hoarse whispered exclamation came from my right and at the same moment the sought after owl took flight from where he had carefully tucked himself away and shot smoothly into the soon to be dark woodlands of Hampshire College.

Bird Watchers Digest Young Birders Contest

The birds and balmy weather have favored me recently. On the 4th of February we saw the continuing presence of Tundra Swans at Tiogue Lake in Warwick. At RISD Beach in Barrington in the last few days we had a male Northern Pintail hanging out with the very large American Black-Duck/Mallard flock and a handsome Gray Catbird in the small wooded lot behind the marsh. They were all year birds.

This winter seems to have been going through violent changes in the weather. One day there's six inches of snow layering the street, the next we're wearing shorts and t-shirts!

Anyway, the main reason I am writing this post is to get down on my slightly scraped and quite scarred knees and beg my readers to follow this link (http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/leicagreatleap/index.php) and recommend me to win the pair of Leica binoculars that are being donated to one lucky young birder (ages 12-18) by Bird Watchers Digest, one of my favorite magazines. All you need to do is:

1. follow the link,
2. click "nominate a young birder"
3. write your name and email address where asked and
4. write my name (John Shamgochian), my age (13), what type of binoculars I have (Vortex Furies 8X32 which I was thrilled to win for my entry in the 2009 young birder of the year contest) and why I need to win this pair of Leica binoculars. Other than the overwhelming fact that Leica offers of the most expensive and sharpest optics in the world please say that the reason that I need them is because my binoculars are currently monoculars which means that my focus knob focuses the two sides separately so while my left eye (the eye that I favor) is getting a nice look at a Lesser Scaup my right eye is focused on a branch 15 feet closer. I had this problem repaired once but a few days after having them fixed the same problem came back. They will also ask you for some more information about me. You could just mention that I won third place overall in the 2010 Young Birder of the Year contest sponsored by the ABA (the American Birding Association) and that I am currently one of the five student blog editors of the ABA's young birders blog The Eyrie. Oh, and you might give them a link to this blog. I would be so very grateful if you could do this for me as it is very hard looking through half focused binoculars! Thank you!

Review #3

The Crossley ID Guide - Eastern Birds

"Turning Birding Upside Down" reads the literally upside down double page advertisement for the Crossley ID Guide. It was instantly clear to me that this guide was going to revolutionize the birding world.

Six months later I was holding this very book in my hands and reverently flipping through the pages.

The Crossley is a big book not the slim, dog eared, field guides that birders can carry out in the field tucked away in a back pocket. This is more of a lap book designed for the birder to memorize the birds while sitting in their living room and sipping a cup of tea or coffee not while cruising through a field of waves on a pelagic trip.

What so attracted me and thousands of other bird enthusiasts to the guide were the stunning illustrations which have been put together in a way never before seen on the pages of a North American guide and probably not in any of the worlds many guides. A guide unique to itself. Photographic guides have rarely used more then five images for any one species and here was a book using hundreds of photographs. All the photographs were taken by the author.

Each plate is mosaic of richly layered photoshopped images; dragging and placing over 10,000 photos of 640 species. An individual, or sometimes two, in each different plumage is placed in the foreground while many more birds of the same species can be seen in the background. Often the birds in background are no more then specks. Crossley calls this reality birding. I enjoy it when I am able to recognize a place that I have birded, namely the sandy beaches of Cape May.

All these birds are placed on a background image showing the habitat the species is likely to be found in. Common and uncommon species are each given a whole page while rarities, vagrants and species restricted in range have half a page or less for their illustration and descriptions.

The descriptions discuss, habitat, status, identification, and often voice. Each description is written in a light tone along the lines of this: "Elegant and beautiful, or big and nasty, take your pick as both can apply. Takes over it's patch, immediately attacking any other swan that dares to come nearby. Nest is large and conspicuous. Young are protected zealously: an adult, standing it's ground, has hissed fear into many a human.". Quoted from Crossley's description of the Mute Swan.

The Crossley ID Guide is a very enjoyable book to read. It's the type of book I can spend hours thumbing through and still have not had enough.

Instead of the usual taxonomical order this book is arranged in the order which Crossley, Howell, O'Brien, Sullivan, Wood, and Lewington suggested in their November 2009 article in Birding titled "Taxonomy Vs. Utility" (pg. 44). They suggest that guides should be arranged in this order:
1. Swimming birds such as Alcids and Cormorants
2. Flying birds such as Tropicbirds and Gulls
3. Walking birds such as Oystercatchers and Herons.
4. Upland Gamebirds such as Quails and Grouse
5. Raptors such as Vultures and Falcons
6. Miscellaneous Larger landbirds such as Corvids and Nightjars.
7. Aerial Land birds such as Hummingbirds and Swifts.
8. Songbirds such as Tyrant-Flycatchers and Finches.

I find this a very reasonable ordering compared to some guides arrangements. Case in point: the American Bird Conservancy's All the Birds of North America muddled organization.

The body size measurements are given but wing span measurements are surprisingly absent; these on occasions could have been useful.

Next to the scientific and English names are the banding codes aka "alpha codes". I, for one, have not yet come across a guide which uses the codes so extensively. In the descriptions when Crossley mentions another species he will put the birds banding code in place of the full English name. For example in the description of the Tundra Swan (TUSW) Crossley writes: "Slightly smaller than MUSW with shorter and straighter neck. Head and bill profile strikingly different. With head tucked in, shorter tail is quite easy to pick out (TRUS is also short tailed).". This at times can be confusing if you haven't memorized all the codes - a challenging task. But these codes do allow more room for the text which is squished below the prominent illustrations.

Beside the descriptions are the range maps which look puny next to the oversized illustrations. These maps are no smaller then any other field guides and their puniness is just an illusion.

Occasionally a keen sighted reader will come across a stray species such as the puffins floating unobtrusively in the background of the Common Murre plate or the American Coot hiding behind an American Wigeon in the American Wigeon plate. I am unsure if these birds where intended to be in the background. For a beginner it may cause a misidentification though that is highly unlikely considering that these puffins are barely more then spots in the background and when a species is in better focus such as the Northern Pintails in the Cinnamon Teals plate it is almost always mentioned. I think that often times these species are used for size comparison, such as the male Mallard which is in the Cackling Goose plate. I have found the spot-the-stray-species game an enjoyable pursuit; a birders Where's Waldo.

I think this is an amazing guide and I look forward to the promised The Crossley ID Guide - British Birds and The Crossley ID Guide - Western Birds.

One can visit Crossley's website for more information on the book as well as some videos giving tips on birding, www.crossleybooks.com/.

I've had some great birding recently. On the the 10th I saw the Snowy Owl on Island Rocks at Sachuest Point NWR. This bird had been seen there since the 5th: really cool. My third Snowy in two weeks. Is it just me or has everyone noticed that quite often when you finally get a life bird you suddenly find yourself seeing this species on a regular basis. This was the case with the Barred Owl and the Roughed Grouse on my life list. Following this pattern I bet I'll see tons of Red Necked Grebes the next time I can convince my parents to bring us down to Satchuest.

I had an adult Bald Eagle circling over the Washington Bridge on the Providence/East Providence line. Wild Turkeys spotted grazing by the side of the Col. Rodman Highway and a very needed lifer Red-necked Grebe at Beavertail State Park.

So far I have seen 74 species of birds this year.

Good job to anybody who identified the last the two Dunlin and the Greater Yellowlegs in the last photo quiz. Here's your next quiz.

This photo was taken some time in November at Nayat Point in Barrington, RI

Dec/27/11 Parker River NWR aka. Plum Island: the greatest birding hotspot in New England

This year my family's annual "Solstice Bird Count" was delayed due to numerous factors and instead our walk was conducted on the 27th at Plum Island, the #1 birding hotspot of New England.

We (me, my brother and my grandfather) arrived at the Audubon, the clock reading 12:40pm giving us about 4 hours to see loads of life birds here at Joppa Flats and at Plum Island. Joppa Flats is a tiny speck of land located on the Southern side of Newburyport Harbor. Despite its size many an awesomely amazing bird has been sighted here by some overjoyed birder like Pomarine Jaeger and Black Skimmer.

Many Canada Geese, Mallards, Black Ducks and Buffleheads littered the water in front of the visitor center all divided into small flocks. As we were losing hope of seeing anything in the least bit interesting here I noticed a medium sized dabbling duck whizzing by overhead with fast shallow wing beats. What gave the bird's identity away was its overly large and ungainly bill. It was a female Northern Shoveler, a nice bird for the area and a great start for the day.

Although the Shoveler had seemed a good omen at the time we quickly realized that the birding wasn't half what we had hoped for. The quantity of American Black Ducks, Canada Geese and American Robins was vastly bloated while not much else stirred with the exception of a few Mallards and gulls.

Birding began picking up when we spotted a female Northern Pintail accompanying sixty or so Black Ducks in their wild endeavor to devour the marsh. It was a large slender duck with a long elegant neck and a dark blue black bill. Along with being a very handsome dabbler it was also a year bird. Way on the other side of the marsh we spotted a few small sandpipers wheeling about, their identity remains unknown but I suspect that they were Dunlins. We were surprised to see a posse of five Wild Turkeys making their way across the road and sweetly posing for the cameras.

A posse of turkeys - that is actually the official group title for turkeys.

Although we didn't check Hellcat Swamp's famed boardwalk we did go up the observation tower; a great place for viewing Snowy Owls and other fascinating birds, mostly in the duck department. Hellcat Swamp is a marshy section of the refuge, most of the Swamp is taken up by a wet deciduous forest, but also affords great looks at the salt marsh, which is best viewed from the previously mentioned observation tower. From the tower I could see a few Mute Swans, Common Goldeneye, Hooded Merganser and scaup of both species in the pond which had been dammed off by a dike on which the tower stands. In the marsh were a few American Black Ducks and Mallards.

A male Lesser Scaup

We learned from one of the many birders we discovered traipsing the refuge that the Snowy Owls where being seen at parking lot #7, aka Stage Island, at the very Southernly tip of the refuge. Lot number seven also had access to an observation tower along with an observation deck on the sand dunes which gives great looks at the ocean. On our way to lot seven I spotted a distant raptor perched precariously on the top of a bare tree which overlooked the marsh. Scoping it out from the car I was able to see that the bird had a dark back with a few splotches of white, a head (which most birds have) patterned like that of the Marsh Harrier of Eurasia, and when it took flight I was able to see the whitish tail with a black tip. All these field marks suggested a Rough-legged Hawk. As we continued down the road that leads a straight path through the refuge, I re-spotted the raptor. This time perched on an Osprey nesting platform. A tall sturdy wooden poll stuck into the marsh with a wooden rostrum placed on top, always the favored nesting site of any reasonable Osprey. This time the raptor was too far to ID but probably the same hawk as before. Talking to some other birders who had seen the hawk on the tree, we learned that their ID was completely different from ours. Though not certain, our group all leaned towards Rough-legged Hawk, they however, swore that the bird had been a juvenile Bald Eagle; a species I had instantly ruled out when I saw the size of the birds bill. Silently I categorized them as "dumbasses" and then we continued on our way.

We continued on to lot number seven. Scanning from the top of Stage Islands observation tower I picked out a few pintails and a mockingbird. Then turning our backs on the marsh we went to scan the dunes and beach. There wasn't a Snowy to be found.

The ocean was littered with eiders, scoters and mergansers, most of the birds gathered about a group of rocks which projected from the water in a set of gray humps. The large majority of the ducks were Common Eiders but many were White-winged and Black Scoters while others showed the distinctive field marks of Red-breasted Mergansers. Also on the water were a few Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls, loons of both species and some Horned Grebes. We were unable pick up a Red-necked Grebe, a bird which leaves a horrible blank spot on my life list.

We were informed by some other birders that the bird which we had seen on the Osprey platform WAS a "young, light morph, Rough-legged Hawk". We trusted the birder that had told us it was a Rough-leg but we decided to wait for a better look before marking it on our life lists.

By now the sun was sinking slowly below the horizon and our birding time was running short. We still hadn't seen a Snowy.

We started back down the refuge road heading towards parking lot #3 where we planned to wait for the owl to show. American Robins where everywhere gathering in large flocks which, come nightfall would descend upon the trees of the refuge blanketing them in a layer of sleeping birds. Two raptors soared low over a field by the side of the road, one clearly was a harrier, the other we weren't sure on having only caught a glimpse. This unidentified bird landed in a tree 20 ft away from one of the many parking lots on the side of the road. Pulling our car to a squeeling stop we hopped out only to see the hawk fly to a more distant tree. Watching the hawk in flight I was able to make out the distinctive wing pattern of a Rough-legged Hawk. I set my scope on the bird, my grandfather doing the same with his scope. Although the light was now fading fast we were able to make out many of the field marks which identify a Rough-leg. Due to the light and distance I wasn't able to get any good photos of the bird but amazingly my brother, who I have also classified in the order of Dumbass, took some much more reasonable photos with his Ipod through my grandfathers scope. The birders who had identified the last Rough-legged Hawk we had seen where there and for a second time that day they confirmed our suspisions that this was a "young, light morph, Rough-legged hawk". This time we had no doubt of its identity, a Rough-legged most certainly was.

We kept the car moving onward to parking lot 3 passing one of the two (very late) Great Egrets still hanging around the refuge. They are amazingly late for the season. This time it wasn't a hawk which waylaid us but the ranger, spreading the news of a report of a Snowy Owl which had been seen perched on the dike some 20 minutes earlier from the parking lot which we had just vacated. So we turned the car around and headed back up the road. We were unable to see the owl from the parking lot where we had seen the Rough-leg so we decided to check out the tower at Hellcat again from where we would have a great view of the dike.

Walking up the path which leads the observation tower, I spotted a small sparrow fly up from the side of the path and land in a bush. The bird was probably an American Tree Sparrow - but I didn't have time to identify it, for at that very moment I heard an angelic hoarse croak like no other. Looking up I saw the shape I had been dreaming to see for years - it was a Snowy Owl! It flew past me only 20 feet from where my feet were positioned, headed North West. This bird was a fairly dark individual with many a black spot showing on the more obvious white feathers. Its flight style is best described as a mix between a large herons and a moth and not as fast as most owls.

The Snowy Owl is one North Americas largest and heaviest owls and is by far the most amazing being dressed in white from head to toe. This was my fifth and favorite owl species that I have laid delighted eyes upon. I have never seen an owl yet which hasn't left me shaking from the thrill of the encounter.

The bird was headed towards the dike. Just as it passed over the top of the dike another white form which had been on the far side of the dike flew up to meet it. For a brief moment they seemed to tackle in the air before separating and flying in opposite directions. Then when they where about 50 yards apart they both turned and landed side by side on the banks of the canal where they stayed. Now the light had faded almost entirely, making these pure white giants fade away into the gray water behind them. Taking photos was wildly unsuccessful and we had run out of time. So we all took one more squint at these amazing birds before turning our backs and walking away.

Here's our (late) Solstice Bird Count list seen at Plum Island:
Canada Goose 500+
Mute Swan 2
American Black Duck 175
Mallard 24
Northern Pintail 3
Greater Scaup 3
Lesser Scaup 3
Common Eider 50+
White-winged Scoter 10
Black Scoter 9
Bufflehead 11
Common Goldeneye 7
Hooded Merganser 3
Red-breasted Merganser 10
Wild Turkey 5
Red-throated Loon 1
Common Loon 5
Horned Grebe 5
Great Egret 1
Northern Harrier 3
Rough-legged hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Ring-billed Gull 8
Herring Gull 35
Great Black-backed Gull 3
Snowy Owl 2 (!!!)
american Crow 13
American Robin 100+
Northern Mockingbird 1

Good job to anybody who ID'd the male Wood Duck in the last photo quiz.
Here's your next quiz.

This photo was taken at Chace Farm in Lincoln Rhode Island sometime in December. Hint: not all the rules of nature are set in stone. Aren't hints always cooler when you say them in a slightly riddle-ish way? Good Luck and Happy New Year!

Fantasy Birding in Iran

The long drive to Kiamaky was very successful; we racked up a list of 18 species, 13 of which were life birds! The land we drove through was mostly agricultural but we passed a lake at one point and a few times we went through more mountainous regions.

My list from the road:
Spanish Sparrows 17
House Sparrow 6
Rock Pigeons 6
Hooded Crow 1
Jackdaws 13 (mobbing the Buzzard)*
Common Kestrel 1*
White Wagtails 6*
Common House-Martins 40+*
Barn Swallows 20+
Bee-Eaters 2 (on a wire by the side of the road. One of my many goal birds)*
Swifts 16*
"Steppe" Common Buzzard 1* (was being mobbed by Jackdaws)
European Tree-Sparrow 1*
Whinchat 1*
Red-backed Shrike 1 (another of my goal birds)*
Wheatear Species 1 (I think it was a female Northern but I didn't a great look)*
Starling 5
Magpie 2*
Jay 1*

We arrived at Hadishahr at around 9:30pm, having left Yerevan at around 2pm. Our original plans were to stay in Marand but we realized after looking it up on the internet that it would require much too much extra driving so instead we decided to stay in Hadishahr which lies at the entrance of the park. We managed to find a motel in the city just before we collapsed in exhaustion after our long drive.

The next day I was up bright and early looking forward to our drive through the park. We have to drive because the park is very large and I am unaware of any walking trails although there almost surely are some. Before we started into the park I birded the town. I say "I" because everyone else was still wrapped in the sheets of the motels beds. Hadishahr wasn't that great for birding, although I got some nice looks at the local Barn Swallows. They were of the Middle Eastern subspecies, H.r.transivita, best identified from the nominate European subspecies by the distinct rusty underparts; the European subspecies (H.r.rustica) has white. H.r.transivita was first described by Ernst Hartet in 1910. The swallows were nesting in the eaves of many of the buildings. Their nests were fascinating structures constructed with mud collected off the road.

I was delighted to add a Golden Eagle to my life list. We all got superb looks at this majestic bird as it circled over Hadisahr.

Kiamaky Wildlife Refuge is a handsome place, filled to overflowing with beautiful vistas and bare, dry mountain slopes. There are a few small villages nestled within the parks boundary. Its habitat holds a number of species only found in this type of rocky terrain. As well as containing many species of birds, Kiamkay is also the dwelling place of such mammalian wonders as Wolf, Jackal, Red Fox, Brown Bear, Jungle Cat, Caracal Lynx, and Leopard!!! Any one of which I would be overly overjoyed to set my eyes upon.

As I had hoped, birding Kiamaky was very successful. As we started into the refuge Barn Swallows and House-Martins coasted through the air. Croaking, 6 Hooded Crows flew over. A small flock of Gray-hooded Bunting explored the top of a rocky slope. A Finsch's Wheatear flew from the dirt road calling. It was a small pure white bird which looked as if someone had taken a brush with black paint and with delight smeared the brush down the bird's sides from bill to tail.

As we went deeper into this mountainous park the swallows, martins and Spanish Sparrows faded away, to be replaced by buntings, larks and Alpine Swifts. To my utter delight I was able to pick out the distant but distinctive form of a Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush, one of my goal birds for the trip. As we watched the thrush, a trumpeting came from on high, as if an angel in training (a true angel wouldn't play this badly) was descending while blowing to high heaven his brazen horn. Looking up I saw a pair of birds that to me held as much significance as any angel would, they were Ruddy Shelducks! Although these ducks are far from rare they are fascinating and beautiful birds and a species of feathered fowl which I am unlikely ever to see again.

The birding was fabulous!
Our list from the park:
Black Redstart 1* "ochruros" subspecies
Finsch's Wheatear 3* "Lugens" subspecies
Tawny Pipit 2*
Spanish Sparrows 20+
Barn Swallows 6 "Transivita" subspecies
Common House-Martin 18
Grey-hooded Bunting 5*
Bimaculated Lark 1*
Red-billed Chough 3* seen circling a distant slope
Ruddy Shelduck 2* flyovers from the east, probably headed for the river
Alpine Swift 8*
Hooded Crow 6
Rock Petronia 2* flyovers
Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush 1*
In all we saw 14 species, 10 of which were lifers.

Black Redstart
Did you know that during and after World War II these small thrushes inhabited bomb craters which were a suitable alternative to rocky mountain slopes. Now Black Redstarts can be found in many a European city park, their mountain homes have been amply substituted by factory buildings, church towers and chimneys (boy would I like to live in a chimney with some twittering swifts!) though they do still breed in far more halcyon mountain settings.

House Martin
Until 2004 Delichon Urbicum (the House-Martin) held the scientific name Delichon Urbica due to a misunderstanding in Latin grammar!

Finsch's Wheatear

Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush

An Imaginary Birding Trip Across The Middle East

Recounting our epic fantasy family birding adventure across South Eastern Europe: starting in Yerevan, Armenia and ending in Rome. I dabble with endless supplies of cash in my imagination. Wars, borders, Visas, natural and not-so-natural disasters cannot stop us as we voyage in search of a mosaic of feathers. Carefully planned with overly excessive use of Ebird and Google Earth I write up an IMAGINARY birding exploit.

Part One, Birding Yerevan

We arrived at Erebuni Airport at around 10pm on the 20th of June. We found a motel on the outskirts of Yerevan to stay for the 2 nights we were to spend in the city. We filled up the first day exploring the city in a rental car. It's a fascinating place with lots of stunning architecture. We checked out the Botanical Gardens where we saw 6 lifers including a group of seven Hooded Crows which we saw flying over the Botanical Gardens and a male Common Rosefinch also in the Gardens. But by far my favorite find of the day was the communal nesting site of Lesser Kestrels on one of the buildings! Apparently Lesser Kestrels are big on communal roosting as well as communal nesting. One roost in Senagal contained 28,600 kestrels plus 16 Scissor-tailed Kites!!! DNA testing shows that the Lesser Kestrel is not closely related to the Common Kestrel which it resembles almost to the extreme.

We ended the day having seen 8 life birds, 6 of which were found in the gardens.
Here's a list of birds seen (a star next to their name means that they were lifers):
Lesser Kestrel*
Rock Pigeon
Common Wood Pigeon*
Hooded Crow*
Great Tit*
Garden Warbler*
Blackcap*
Common Rosefinch*
Spanish Sparrow*
House Sparrow

A female Lesser Kestrel, these photos were taken with my fantastical D3000,000,000 Nikon Camera!

A male Common Rosefinch

A Hooded Crow

A male Spanish Sparrow

The next day we got up at around 2pm suffering from an awful case of jet lag. We stopped by Lake Yerevan, scanning the lake from Shengavit Road, before starting the extremely long drive to Igdir, Turkey.

(A passerby who spoke fairly fluent English told us about a heroic act that occurred here in 1976: Shavarsh Karapetyan and his brother Kamo, both professional fin-swimmers, were running alongside the reservoir when they heard the alarming sound of a crash and saw a sinking trolleybus which had gone out of control and fallen from the dam wall. The trolleybus lay at the bottom of the reservoir some 25 meters (80 ft) off the shore at a depth of 10 meters (33 ft). Karapetyan swam to it and, under conditions of almost zero visibility due to the silt rising from the bottom, broke the back window with his legs. The trolleybus was crowded, but in less than an hour he saved all 92 passengers on the bus. An amazing story, but one that sounded true in the telling.)

The lake was fairly birdless; only a few Mallards, a small flock of Eurasian Coots (which bare a shocking resemblance to America's American Coots), flyby trio of Pygmy Cormorants (which sent us all into a hopping frenzy - not that the other lifers didn't, but these birds were particularly cool and one of the goal birds for the trip) and a possible Yellow Wagtail on the far side of the lake. I needed to look at the photos I took of the wagtail before I marked it down on my life list). Ben swears he saw a Common Redstart flyby (but I tend not believe him). We got some great looks at Black-headed Gulls and a (lifer) Armenian Gull.

A Pygmy Cormorant with a Eurasian Coot in the back

The Armenian Gull was formerly considered a subspecies of Herring Gull but was recently split, some people now lump the Armenian Gull with the Yellow-legged Gull.
We saw only one of these gulls which landed on the shore to fight for a scrap of fish collected by one of the Black-headed Gulls. Needless to say the much larger Armenian Gull got the stinking treat. The Armenian Gulls largest breeding colony is Lake Sevan a much larger lake then Yerevan. It is located to the east of Yerevan.

My Totally Awesome Fictional Plan from here: From Yerevan, Armenia we will drive 6 hours South to Marand in the North Western section of Iran. Here we plan to stay the night then the next day we bird at Kiamaky Wildlife Refuge. From there we will drive 3 hours North to Igdir in Turkey which looks excellent for farmland, marsh, river and lake birding. I know it would be easier to go due East from Yerevan directly to Igdir but for some reason (probably unfriendliness between the 2 countries) there are no roads from Armenia into Turkey so South into Iran is the only way to go. Going East from Yerevan would have cut out about 11 hours of driving but fantasy birding doesn't mean there are fantasy roads.

From Igdir we will drive 6 hours to Erzican stopping at Erzurum on the way. Then another 6 hour drive Erzican to Samsun will bring us to the Black Sea where we will look for... wait for it... some birds!

Then 9 hours of my father sleeplessly imaginary driving from Samsun to Istanbul, to look for some good birds on the Sea of Marmara particularly Lapwings and Collar Pratincole. Then to Kalamaria, Greece (7 hours from Istanbul). Here we should have large numbers of gulls and hopefully shorebirds. Then from Kalamaria to Athens, 5 hours away, for no trip to Eastern Europe would be complete without a visit to the famed city. Eight hours from Athens to Igoumenitsa (also in Greece) from there we will take a ferry across the Adriatic Sea to Brindisi in Italy. Brindisi to Naples (3 hours) then 2 hours to Rome from Naples. Where we will stay for about a week before taking a plane home.

The next post will be on how our luck went as we birded Iran.

Dec/3/11 Birding South Kingstown

I recently had the opportunity to go birding with another local young birder and his mother. Gabe and Cynthia (those being their names) were both great birders/twitchers. Twitchers are the highly evolved type of bird watcher that chase rarities many hours from their base camp or house. According to Sean Dooley, an Australian twitcher himself (sounds like the name of a bird doesn't it? - the "Australian Twitcher"),the word 'twitcher' derives from a pair of British birders who used to go chasing the rarities around the countryside in their open top car and by the end of these long drives they were twitching from the cold and presumably the thrill of the chase.

Anyway, I enjoyed birding with them immensely. I have noticed on numerous occasions that the majority of the young birder population online is fifteen years of age, as was Gabe. We started our walk at Trustom Pond NWR and from there we continued to Moonstone Beach. Trustom was quiet for the most part at least in the woods and in the meadows, barely a feather stirred. The only highlight in the woods was a Winter Wren which made a very brief appearance on the Osprey Point Trail. The feeders were just a bit better with many a Tufted Titmouse and Black-capped Chickadee, plus a few juncos, Mourning Doves, cardinals, White-Breasted Nuthatches, Downy Woodpeckers and White-throated Sparrows. I didn't even see a Blue Jay, let alone the rust colored denizen of the woods, the delightful Fox Sparrow.

In the damper, wetter sections of this ever-so-glorious refuge we were was able to rack up a fair list, although we missed such species as Cackling Goose, Redhead and Bald Eagle which had recently been reported here. Pied-billed Grebes were amazingly bountiful considering their shy and unsocial behavior (kinda like me). Did you know these little grebes (not to be confused with the Little Grebe of Europe) attack potential rivals who threaten their territories by going submarine style, sinking below the waters surface, then bobbing back up directly beneath the opposing bird. We counted nine grebes altogether.

Black sentinels perched unmoving on the distant rocks in the center of the pond. These shrouded figures transformed into primeval looking Great Cormorants with a quick squint through a scope. Next to the antediluvian cormorants floated: Common Goldeneyes, Red-breasted Mergansers and Ruddy Ducks. Also drifting about on Trustoms blue-gray waters, while not being next to the antiquated Great Cormorants bobbed: Canada Geese, American Coots, Greater Scaups and a lone Red-throated Loon.

We were able to pin point two solid gray forms on the bank; both turned out to be Great Blue Herons, above them wheeled a pair of female Northern Harriers, elegant wings upraised, white rumps flashing. Out over the rolling blue Atlantic waters gannets and a few loons flew.

Our return walk back to the car was uneventful, the only highlights being a Song Sparrow and a Red Bellied Woodpecker.


From Trustom we drove to Moonstone Beach. Halfway to Moonstone I spotted the distinctive silhouette of a Barred Owl in the quickly darkening woods. It was a miracle that I spotted it as it was very well camouflaged in the leafless woods. Due to the low light I was unable to get any good photos.

Moonstone had a fairly common array of birdies. There were many gannets over the water, below which loons of both species (and a few Common Eiders) bobbed over the waves. On the bank of Cards Pond was a Double-crested Cormorant who waddled into the water in a manner quite unlike that of your average cormorant.

Another local birder (Carlos Pedro) pulled up in the parking lot informing us that he had just seen a Virginia Rail run across the Moonstone Beach Road. So we ended the day's adventure by the side of the road playing the calls of the Virginia Rail on an Iphone. After a while we finally heard the distinctive call of the rail from somewhere in the marsh.

Scanning the opposite side of the road from the marsh, we came up with a few cardinals and bunch of Mourning Doves roosting the bare trees with a fairly late female late Red-winged Blackbird and best of all a female Rusty Blackbird! It was only the second Rusty Blackbird I had seen this year.

The walk ended with 42 species; 20 species larger than my usual birding list! Here is a list of all the birds seen on the entire enterprise. I've added a star next to the names of good birds, and two stars next the RI year birds and 3 for year birds:
Canada Goose 400+
Mute Swan 4
American Black-Duck 2
Greater Scaup 100+
Common Eider 4
Bufflehead 11
Common Goldeneye 15
Hooded Merganser 6
Red-breasted Merganser 50+
Ruddy Duck 50+
Red-throated Loon 4
Common Loon 5
Pied-billed Grebe 9*
Northern Gannet 22**
Double-crested Cormorant 1
Great Cormorant 12
Great Blue Heron 2
Northern Harrier 3
Virginia Rail 1***
American Coot 80+
Ring-billed Gull 12
Herring Gull 32
Great Black-backed Gull 8
Mourning Dove 16
Barred Owl 1**
Red-bellied Woodpecker 1
Downy Woodpecker 3
Blue Jay 2
American Crow 1
Black-capped Chickadee 8
Tufted Titmouse 5
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Winter Wren 1*
Golden-crowned Kinglet 4
American Robin 2
European Starling 14
Song Sparrow 2
White-throated Sparrow 5
Dark-eyed Junco 2
Northern Cardinal 7
Red-winged Blackbird 1*
Rusty Blackbird 1**

On the 23rd at Echo Lake in Barrington I had a shocking 81 Gadwall plus a few wigeons and Mallards.

On the 27th of November we were walking our dog at a local park (Blackstone Park) when I happened upon a pair of Northern Shoveler in the smallish pond which as always was overflowing with beautiful green headed Mallards (and brown headed in the case of the females).
Shovelers are really good birds in the area and I can count on one finger how many times I have seen them in New England. It was a great birthday present - my 13th being on the 29th of November.

Northern Shoveler

On November 28th at Second Beach Campground (the place where the Green-tailed Towhee was seen earlier in the year) we had a flock of Snow Bunting. But were unable to come up with anything more interesting then some Purple Sandpipers and a few Ruddy Turnstones at nearby Sachuest Point NWR (not even a Harlequin Duck damn it).

Snow Bunting

On the 29th (my birthday) I had a very large flock of Greater Scaup and some distant White-winged Scoter and Common Goldeneye at Sabin Point in East Providence.

I have seen the local Merlin which spends the winter in East Providence on the Sacred Heart Church Steeple quite a few times this week.

Good job to anybody how ID'd the Dunlin and the Greater Yellowlegs in the last photo quiz.
Here's your next quiz! Good Luck!

This photo was taken in August in Petersham, MA. This is a zoomed in on part of the bird.