Feb 22, 2011 12-1pm sunny 34` Bold Point, East providence, RI

I spotted the Redpolls almost instantly. They were flitting about on the other side of the weedy, industrial field which overlooks the tip of Narragansett Bay then they landed and I lost sight of them. I noted down the regular birds as we walked towards them: a Mockingbird there, some Mallards and Canada Geese over there, Red-breasted Mergansers, Greater Scaup, Hooded Mergansers, American Wigeons, a Gadwall and some Mute Swans on the water and the general assortment of gulls.

There they were again; chittering madly, reminding me of the twittering of Budgies which are commonly reported in display boxes at PetCo. Streaked backs, red caps and black chins, the males had a pinkish tinge on their pale slightly streaked breasts. They were unmistakably Common Redpolls! We followed them back and forth, photographing wildly. They were incredibly active barely staying thirty seconds on any one perch. sometimes they would land only ten feet from us though they preferred to keep their distance. They were presumably feeding off of the seeds of the bushes and Goldenrod. Though I have been searching for Common Redpolls for years today was the first day I have ever had any luck!

Hopefully we will see them here more often as they are known to occur at Bold Point. I am though, unaware at the moment how just how frequently they are seen.

Purdy - our Dirty Birdy

We Found her on a Friday (Nov 19, 2010). Swan Point was fairly limited for species; a few gulls and swans on the water, a Red-tailed Hawk in a tree, a crow flying lazily by. It was an ordinary day for winter birding. But then we saw her, a miserable writhing heap of dirty feathers. It was an American Goldfinch, her neck was twisted a weird angle making her left eye look to the ground.

Picking her up we rushed home where we fed her and gave her water. We set up a temporary home for her in an old mouse cage and named her Purdy after a cartoon character (you can see the cartoon here). She could barely move when we first found her. We thought she wouldn't last the night but she did. Day after day she got better and better.

Visiting our grandparents pet lovebird made her happy and stronger. She was almost fully recovered (flying about easily with her head just barely twisted) and then she had her first crash! One day we woke up to find her looking like she did the first day we found her. But once again, within days, she made a remarkable come back.

Then a week later it happened again. But as always she survived. I want to mention at this point how tame she was. We could hand feed her if we pleased though she preferred the seed bowl where she enjoyed munching on homemade suet, apples, clementines and niger seeds. Every day when we reached into her bird cage (by this time we had replaced the mouse cage with a bird cage) to fill up her water and seed bowl she would watch unfazed from inches away.

Then on the fifteenth of December, thirty minutes after feeding her breakfast, we found her shivering in her water bowl. We removed her from the cold water and put her in a cosy spot to hopefully recover. Twenty five minutes later she was dead.

I suspect that the Purdy got injured when a hawk flew by and and scared her head first into a tree.

At least this interesting little bird's last day's were spent in comfort and warmth.

Feburary 4, 2011 12:30am Lyons St, East Providence RI

We were dropping my sisters off at their friends house. My mother had gone in to say hello while my brother and I preferred to wait outside. Suddenly a weird rolling call best described as a "Grrrrrrrau-Grrrrrrrrau" caught my ear. I looked in the direction the noise had come from. There was a squirrel running along the ground. I knew that squirrels could make odd noises but I had never heard one say anything like this. Then on an impulse I looked up. Overhead flew a huge Corvus (Corvus is the name for the jay and crow family). It had a wedge shaped tail, was a rich black and emitted the odd noise. The instant I saw it I knew what it was-a Common Raven!

I watched excitedly as the bird flew steadily South and then disappeared into the distance. Although I am pretty sure that I have seen ravens in Massachusetts-I have never seen one in Rhode Island. In 1992 there had only been two records of ravens in Rhode Island but now ravens are growing increasingly common-and one pair is even nesting in South Kingstown. This is the first time I have ever positively identified a Common Raven.

On the same day that we saw the Common Raven we went and adopted a puppy. We are calling him "Sir Theodore Digby Chicken Ceaser" (Theo for short). We named him after a comedy (in which Sir Digby Chicken Ceaser is the main and funniest character). It's a very appropriate name because Sir Digbys side kick is called Ginger which is the same name as my grand parents dog. You can watch some episodes of it here.


Sir Theodore Digby Chicken Ceasar

Yesterday we went for a walk at Turner Reservoir with Theo. While we were there a man pointed out a Coyote watching us from the ice. Later when I looked for the coyote again I found that a second one had joined it! It was quite a sight.

January 29, 2011 2:30-4:30 pm 30` cloudy, Sachuest Point NWR, Middletown RI

A Red-tailed Hawk takes off


My brother, my parents,my grandfather and I (my sisters preferred to say home with our grandmother) were happily driving up the road to Sachuest and our first stop was the Second Beach campground to look for the Green-tailed Towhee. The two car parking lot was stuffed with cars so we were forced to park along the road. At least fifteen birders stood quietly next to the picnic table which we had sat on last time, all apparently waiting for the arrival of the towhee. Ironically the bird hadn't made an appearance all day and the birders were getting impatient. The ground was littered with countless American Tree-Sparrows (Sachuests most common winter sparrow), mixed in with the American Tree-Sparrows were Song, Savannah Sparrows and a few Black-capped Chickadees. The two highlights for the campground were two beautiful Fox Sparrows and an "Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow. Both the "Ipswich" and the Fox Sparrows were quite tame, and happily posed for my camera. I have never seen an "Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow. I have never found such tame Fox Sparrows. How odd it is that all these sparrows stay in one little section of the campground when they could be anywhere in the vicinity.


"Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow


Fox Sparrow

Up at the Sachuest parking lot we were greeted by a mixed flock of Northern Harriers, Birders and Short-eared Owls. The Short-eared Owls were amazing; swooping about and diving into the grass after scampering mice. They flew with slow, steady wing beats over us and every time one went overhead there would be thirty cameras raised to the bird. There were exactly four Northern Harriers, three Short-eared Owls and approximately 40+ birders. It was quite an occasion.


Short-eared Owl

On one instance we saw an owl tussle with a harrier but mostly the owls stuck to themselves. Every once in a while an owl would land in a tree or bush and cause an onslaught of camera wielding bird nerds to begin wildly snapping off photos with their 2 foot long camouflage lenses. What amazing birds these owls were.


Short-eared Owl

While scoping the bay I spied a speck of an owl flying lazily over the water towards Sachuest Point. The very first time I ever saw a Northern Harrier we were in Little Compton, directly across the bay from Sachuest. If harriers like it there then very likely owls do too (so maybe the owl was coming from there).

Once we saw an owl hover over the grass and snow and then slowly and quietly fall to the ground, you could just see some wings flapping and then suddenly the owl rose from the ground with a fat bundle of fur clutched in its talons.


Short-eared Owl


Short-eared Owl with a delicious fur ball

The only other highlight for the day was a mixed flock of sea ducks way out by some rocks in the middle of the bay. In the flock we found Surf, one (female) Black and White-winged Scoters, Common Eiders and Harlequin Ducks.

My only regret is that we were ignorant to the fact there was also a Barn Owl being seen a Sachuest.
All in all it was a great day, even with out the Barn Owl!

More on the mystery Mallard

A new theory for my mystery Mallard is far more reasonable. I believe now that it is an intersex Mallard; an elderly female which gradually looses its mottled plumage for the more splendid plumage of a male. You can see a photo of an intersex Mallard here. Intersex Mallards occur when a females estrogen decreases giving the appearance of a male.
Thanks to Warrech who suggested that it was a intersex.

Murky Waters: the case of the mystery Mallard!

Januray 25, 2011 12:30-1:30pm 10` cloudy Turner Reservoir East Providence RI

A thick layer of ice coated Turner Reservoir and the ground was covered with a heavy layering of whiteness making this winter wonderland look like a chef had gone over board with white icing (in truth this was as far from reality as you could get, as you very likely guessed it was just another snowy day!)

Today Turner was fairly uneventful; a Red-bellied Woodpecker here, some Tufted Titmice there and so on. The only excitements discovered were what I suspected was a Northern Flicker calling somewhere off in the woodlands and a bird feeder in a local backyard which had attracted a mass of House Sparrows, a White-throated Sparrow and a Northern Cardinal.

The Ten Mile River flows under the frozen Turner Reservoir, there is a dam at one end of the reservoir, over the dam water rushes and pours down 15 feet to the Ten Mile River which winds away into the woodlands. Here the water is open and Common Mergansers swim cheerfully about. When we had started our walk I thought I had seen a Ring-necked Duck with those Common Mergansers. So when we returned to our car we decided to split up, my mother and sisters going to the car to warm up and my brother and I continuing down the trail a little way more to see if we could find the Ring-necked Duck for a positive id.

We found a few birds other than mergansers and a Great Blue Heron who took off when we appeared on the river bank. Then as we clambered through the bushes trying to get a good luck at the water I noticed a pair of Mallards a male and what appeared to be a female. Suddenly I realized that the "female" had a greenish tinge to the head and a male's black and white tail with curved tail feathers to boot!

Every summer males molt loosing their green, chestnut and silver feathers for the more modest colors of a female (this is called an eclipse plumage). They then molt the eclipse plumage in fall for their bright breeding colors. The dull-colored eclipse Mallard as well as the breeding male and the juvenille Mallards all have a yellow or olive bill. This unusual Mallard had the orange blotched with black coloring particular to only a female bill. Funny bill, funny tail, funny head coloring. All in all it is one crazy Mallard!

The only conclusion that I could come to is that it is a gynandromorph which in more understandable terms means that it is both a female and male. Usually one side of a gynandromorph bird has female plumage while the other side has male plumage. Seeing that we could only see one side of the bird we can't be sure that on the other side there is the male plumage but I doubt that there is.

I have only found one reference to a gynandromorph Mallard and that was on a Seirra Nevada bird alert where the author (Will Richardson) writes as follows

"Cove East and the Upper Truckee Marsh were LOADED with Mallards!! The area of the Upper Truckee Marsh closest to the Cove East parking has
several inches of water on it, and the ducks are loving it! A few
pintail, but mostly just tons of Mallards, including an interesting
gynandromorph that looks really similar to one I photographed there a
few years ago. Same bird? "

Frustratingly he didn't leave a photo of the bird or any description.

The only photos of a gynandromorph bird that I could find was of a Northern Cardinal from Illinois. The birder also wrote about what a gynandromorph is on his blog, it is very interesting allbeit confusing. You can check it out here . Here is another link to his blog where he shows photos of the bird.

It would be great if it really is a gynandrmorph and a very unusual find.
I would greatly appreciate any help you could give.
Thanks

ps I found the Ring-necked Duck in the end (a year bird)!

The Case of the Unsolved Mystery Sparrow

LBJs are the hardest of the hard. LBJ stands for "Little Brown Job" and if identifying a little brown bird is a job then I sure have one tough job here. See if you can identify this sparrow as it is a true LBJ!!!!

In my January 10th post I mentioned seeing an "Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow, a pale variation of Savannah Sparrow. I have changed my mind about its identification and I now believe that it's a species of tern, nah - just kidding, I think that it looks more like a Vesper Sparrow than an "Ipswich" although I am definitely not ruling out Song or Savannah. I have sent the photo of the sparrow to a few people and have also put the photo on some Internet sites asking for help. Most people so far have said Song Sparrow (7 in total), 3 people have said Vesper Sparrow, 7 people have said Savannah Sparrow (counting me) and 3 "Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow. Unfortunately a very few people are one hundred percent positive about their id. Here are some of the remarks people have made about the sparrow:

"The supercilium is too well defined and the breast streaking is too extensive for Vesper. I'm on the fence between Savannah and Song currently." Brennan Mulrooney

"i don't think this bird has the broad/prominent malar nor the broad breast streaking of a Song nor does it have the right facial pattern (particularly the framing) of a Vesper." Warrech

"Regarding the sparrow, I consulted Peterson, Sibley and National Geographic field guides. They all give the two most important field marks for vesper sparrow as the white eye ring and the white outer tail feathers. Your photo shows a white eye ring very clearly and if you look at the tail, I think you can see a white line. The third field mark, rufous lesser coverts, are said to be harder to see and not always visible. Savannah sparrows are rather variable but the ones I am used to seeing have eyebrow stripes that are noticeably yellowish. In "Birds of Massachusetts" savannah sparrow is said to be "uncommon but regular in winter" while vesper sparrow is "rare and erratic" in winter. Of course, you were in Rhode Island but not that far from Massachusetts as the sparrow flies. All in all, I think vesper sparrow is more likely from the appearance in the photo." John Goodchild (my grandfather)

"I also agree that it is a Savannah, though I would not be terribly surprised, if the bird is observed again to find out it is a Song.
In addition to the mentioned reasons for it not being a Vesper, it is clearly far too red for that, there should be no red edging on Vesper sparrow tertials, whereas this bird clearly has that.
But why my feeling is that it is a Savannah over a Song (bear in mind, this is probably the most variable sparrow around here) is harder to pin down. The beak looks small, but it does not look that small, the streaking looks thin, but not that thin, the body looks brownish-reddish, but it does not look that brownish-reddish and the tail looks short, but it doesn't look that short. So the collection of these halfway wrong features for Song Sparrow make me think it is a Savannah. But the reddest, darkest Savannah I have ever encountered.
To muddy the waters further, in the last or second to last one of Christian's pics, there is some white visible, but I think it is just the undertail coverts, though that almost made me jump to the Vesper camp despite all the reasons it is not one.
Went out there a couple days ago and, unfortunately, did not see this bird - not that I knew to look for it then, but everything segregated easily into the Song/Tree/Savannah/Towhee camps.
Good luck - this will probably be argued for awhile (a good thing)."Eric LoPresti

Another birder has also apparently seen our mystery sparrow. He was calling it a Vesper Sparrow originally but now he too calls it a "Sparrow sp". Here a link to his Flickr page where you can see his photos of the bird. And here's another link to my brothers photo of the bird.

It sure would be great if it is a Vesper Sparrow - it would be a lifer!