Summer Heat

Immature Female Hooded oriole 7-15-09

The summer heat we were suppose to have in June has finally arrived in July. With temperatures running about 10 degrees above normal we hit 107 yesterday and we are on our way to 108 or better today. Right now at 11:00 a.m. MST here in Sycamore Canyon it is already 100 degrees F. In spite of the heat, the birds are still coming to my feeders and seeking shade anywhere they can find it. This little female oriole surprised me by landing on the window over my kitchen sink last week in the middle of the afternoon. She acted like she wanted to come inside out of the heat of the day. As you can see, she is panting, as are all the birds around here latley. I decided she was an immature female hooded oriole based on the fact that she has a thin curved bill with a pale lower mandible.

Female hooded oriole trying to get at nectar 7-15-09

I also think it is a hooded oriole because of its slender build, more extensive yellow on the body and not as bright of color as a female Bullock's would be.

Roadrunner in Sycamore Canyon 7-14-09

Apparently the summer heat has brought out the roadrunners. I saw this fine bird early on Tuesday morning when I went out to count birds on Harrison Rd. When I first moved here to Sycamore Canyon I would see roadrunners on a regular basis up by my house, which is further up the canyon, but I have not seen one there in well over a year, so I was quite please to even find this one down here. Later on that afternoon as I was shutting the blinds to help keep the house cool a roadrunner suddenly appeared right by my back patio door! I stood there astonished at first, then went to grab the camera, but the bird was too fast for me and all the other blinds were shut, so I was unable to get a shot of it in my yard. Then, this morning when I went to fill the feeders outside the den window I was startled by a roadrunner that was hiding under the front yard bushes. So, I'm pleased to report that roadrunners are still present here in Sycamore Canyon after all.

Pitiful curved-billed thrasher 7-7-09

Right after I returned from Connecticut this pitiful looking curve-billed thrasher showed up at my feeders without its tail feathers! I don't know whether it was just molting or whether a coyote or some other animal had grabbed it by the tail as it flew away, I only know it made a comical sight. The poor thing looks so out of balance without its tail, but I am happy to report that I have seen it numerous times since I took this shot and the tail is gradually growing longer!

Our Mesquite tree 7-14-09

On a final note, the mesquite tree survived the insect attack of a week ago. It continues to grow and provide shade for us and shelter for the birds. The velvet mesquite tree is the native species here in the Sonoran desert and the birds just love it. With a steady supply of water, this tree should grow quite large and shade the whole back yard one day. Thank you all of you who commented on last week's post and have since inquired into its health. We finally made it down to Rio Rico on Friday where the birds and the bugs are plentiful in spite of the heat!

(Click on any photo to enlarge for the bestview)

Temperature Update: 12:45 PM/103 degrees F.

Skywatch Friday: Weather Window

Nana's Kitchen Window 7-1-09

Every year when I return home to Colchester I stay with my mother in the house she grew up in. I know it as Nana and Grandpa's House, but it has been my mother's since 1999. As is typical in many New England homes, not much as changed since I was a child. The kitchen still has the old cast iron farm sink and the cupboards are still painted in the same colors as when my Nana was alive. I don't know when it started, but it became my ritual to go to this window first thing in the morning and at various times throughout the day to look at the sky and check on the weather and read the old thermometer that hung outside on the glass. Living in New England is all about the weather and somehow that old thermometer gave me a sense of comfort to look and see that the temperature was as good or as bad as I suspected. So, imagine my chagrin when I arrived this year and walked to the window and the thermometer wasn't there! Apparently it had been removed last year when the storm windows were taken down to be repainted. No one had bothered to put it back up again.

For me, I felt lost without it. I could not believe what a ritual checking the thermometer had become, and though I knew it wasn't there any longer, the whole time I was at my mother's house I still kept walking to the window to check on the weather. I hope she puts a new one up before I come back next year. I don't think I could take feeling this lost again!

SKYWATCH FRIDAY!

Colchester: Walking The Lane

The Lane 6-17-09

It is my first evening in Colchester and I am going for a walk. Gray skies boil overhead as I follow the familiar streets. I walk past places that are still the same and others that have changed so much. Each step is a memory as I watch and listen for birds. I am seeking escape from the traffic and noise in the center of town where a weekly car rally is being held on the town green. Eventually I find my way to the field behind St. Andrew's Church on Norwich Avenue. All along the way I am mostly seeing starlings, robins, and barn swallows. To my utter surprise I have seen a few cedar waxwings right here in town! The typical house sparrows are out and about, but I have found a few chipping sparrows as well as a song sparrow or two. But now as I reach the farthest edge of the field all thoughts of birds are forgotten. I pause before the back of a small gray shingled house and look at the mowed path that runs alongside it. In my mind I am running down this path as a child, running for my life in fear of the Big Black Dog!

The lane 6-17-09

It was shortly after I turned 8 years old when we moved into the house on 23 Pleasant street. My mom was a single mother raising five children on her own. My grandfather still ran a few dairy cattle on the old family farm in the center of town and every few days he gave us some fresh milk. It was the job of my oldest brother, Rick and I to get the milk and bring it home. We carried the milk between us in an old-fashioned milk can, the silver kind with a handle on each side and a tight fitting lid with a handle on top. To get to the farm we had to walk down the lane, and to walk down the lane we had to pass the little gray house to which the Big Black Dog was chained. The Big Black Dog didn't like kids passing his house. The Big Black Dog would rush snarling and snapping to the end of his chain which just barely missed reaching the edge of the lane, and though I knew this, the Big Black Dog still struck terror in my heart. Rick and I would walk across the road, then he would rush past leaving me to fend for myself. I would stand there at the edge of the yard, then run past as fast as my little 8 year old legs could carry me, sure that I could feel the dog's hot breath on my legs. There was little doubt its ferocious barking resounded in my ears. Once safely past the Big Black Dog it was a pleasant walk the rest of the way down the lane. I turn to see the path now dark in the gray light of evening made grayer still by the leaden sky. A light rain is falling on me and I see the once clear lane overgrown thickly with brambles and brush, with a small forest growing where the pasture once was.

The Old Brown Family Farm 6-29-09

Eventually Rick and I would emerge on South Main Street at the old Family Farm. This is the house as it looks now, but it used to be white and gracious. The wide veranda was like a big hug waiting to sweep you up in welcoming arms. It was where we all gathered at Christmastime for the ultimate family feast. It was where I learned all the complexities of family relations from second cousins and great aunts to first-cousins-once-removed.

The house has been sold twice now with the passing of my grandparent's generation. First it was made into a gift shop and now it is being remade into offices of some sort. But I remember it as a place where great-grandmother lived and died and where my great aunt Ruth always welcomed me inside. I remember it with a wooden swing hanging from a huge tree alongside the dirt drive that led down to an old barn pungent with fresh hay and manure. It was there in the basement of the old barn where the cattle stanchions held black and white Holsteins. That was were the fresh cows milk was stored in an old refrigerator. That is where my stern grandfather watched as Rick and I grabbed onto the handles and lifted the can of fresh milk between us. Then we carried the cooled milk back across the street and down the lane past the Big Black Dog to our little apartment on the second floor. Once safely home we'd lift the lid to see the thick cream rising and mom would pour it into smaller bottles to be stored in our refrigerator and we would have to remember to shake the milk before we poured ourselves a glass or we'd get all cream at first, and all skim milk after awhile. The Big Black dog never did get me, though it did make me cry a few times and it haunted my nightmares for years. Somehow I never transferred this fear to other dogs and so I was able to have dogs as pets and best friends growing up. My feet are soggy from the wet grass as I walk away from the lane and head back to my mother's house. I smile as I think to myself that though it is an old-fashioned term, I now see why it's called, "Taking a trip down memory lane." In this case it is both symbolic and literal!

My World: Cohen Woodlands

Lily Pads in Cohen Woodlands Pond 6-30-09

On my last day in Connecticut I took a drive out to the Ruby and Elizabeth Cohen Woodlands located on McDonald Road off Route 354 in Colchester. After two weeks of endless rain, this day dawned bright and sunny. The property is named for Ruby and Elizabeth Cohen. Ruby Cohen served 30 consecutive years in the Connecticut legislature. He was also the one-time owner of Harry's Place, a favorite hamburger stand still in operation in Colchester Center. This 121 acre property was owned by him and purchased by the town in 2000 as a town park.

Ruby and Elizabeth Cohen Woodlands 6-30-09

There is an ample parking lot with a porta potty on the edge.

Gazebo 6-30-09

Right next to the parking area is a shady gazebo.

Baby Barn Swallow on the Gazebo 6-30-09

Which also serves as a launching pad for baby barn swallows!

Pond and meadows across from Parking lot on McDonald Rd.

McDonald Road bisects the park with a pond on either side. The ponds are surrounded by towering trees and grassy meadows.

Gazebo Pond by parking lot. 6-30-09

Beyond the gazebo pond lies a vast woodland with shady trails. I did not venture down the trails, but chose to stay out in the bright sunshine!

Northern Rough-winged swallow takes flight 6-30-09

There was so much to see right here in the open, with Canada geese in the pond, a great-blue heron stalking fish, Eastern bluebirds hunting insects and swallows on the wing!

Bees in the Bird House 6-30-09

A row of bluebird house rim the pond across the street. While some are occupied by swallows, this one has been taken over by the bees...

Song Sparrow 6-30-09

...and in the grassy meadows the song and savannah sparrows sing,



A Quiet place to sit 6-30-09

...while I wander back to the picnic tables that sit beneath the towering white pines. I find a quiet place to sit and think with bird song filling the air, sunshine warming my skin, and and a soft breeze ruffling my hair.

I would highly recommend Cohen Woodlands as an excellent place to watch birds. I was able to identify 31 species in the short 2 hours I spent there but I know there were a few more that I could not. Next year when I return to Connecticut I will certainly return here, for there is so much more to explore.

And that's...

Birds seen at Cohen Woodlands:

1. Canada Goose
2. Great-blue heron
3. Turkey vulture
4. Mourning dove
5. Ruby-throated hummingbird
6. Great-crested flycatcher
7. Eastern kingbird
8. Blue jay
9. American Crow
10. Tree Swallow
11. N. rough-winged swallow
12. Barn swallow
13. Black-capped chickadee
14. tufted titmouse
15. Eastern bluebird
16. Wood thrush
17. Robin
18. Gray Catbird
19. Cedar Waxwing
20. Pine Warbler
21. Ovenbird
22. Common yellow-throat
23. Eastern towhee
24. Chipping sparrow
25. Savannah sparrow
26. Song sparrow
27. Northern Cardinal
28. Red-winged blackbird
29. Brown-headed cowbird
30. American goldfinch
31. House sparrow

Saturday Morning Surprise

It is Saturday morning and we are up early. We've eaten our breakfast and packed the car. I am excited because we are heading down to Rio Rico before the temperature rises for the day. I give one quick glance out the back door as I lock it when I stop in my tracks and exclaim out loud, "oh NO!"

Outside I see some kind of insect buzzing all around my mesquite tree. At first I fear it is bees and I will have to take my hummingbird feeders in again, but then I notice that something is dropping like snowflakes to the ground. I unlock the door and slide it open. I step out into the blinding eastern sun. My jaw goes slack with disbelief as I see hundreds of beetles on my tree devouring leaves that float softly to the ground.

Gus joins me outside and grabs the hose. he starts to blast the insects off the tree. they cling tenaciously. Those that fall quickly climb the block wall. I scurry inside as fast as a bug and grab my gloves and a bucket. I fill the bucket with steaming hot water and vinegar. With gloved hands and a trowel I start flicking insects into the bucket. I will defend my tree at all costs.

Last year when this happened I did not know what what happening. That time the beetles ate the leaves off my tree also. Someone had commented the insects might be blister beetles and that they secret a toxin that can irritate the skin. Although these insects are differently colored, they act the same, so I am taking no chances. I do not touch them without gloves. However, It wasn't long before I run back inside for my hat!

Gus keeps on spraying away but it isn't doing much good, so, although it is only 7:15 he takes off for Ace Hardware to see if he can find something more effective than water to save our tree. Meanwhile, I keep on plucking away, depositing beetles in the hot water solution. One by one I pick them off and plop them into their doom. Soemtyimes the beetles start to crwal up my legs. Yuk! I feel like my skin is crawling but I keep on plucking. I have worked to hard to get this tree to this point. It is grwong so nicely and providing us with shade and privacy. I do not want to loose it now!

This is the first bucket I filled with beetles. I flush these down the toilet and refill the bucket again. Gus calls to say the store is not open yet, so he drives into to town to try someplace else, but this early on a Saturday none of the stores are open. He heads back home to our local Ace Hardware instead, which is open by the time he gets back.

The insects tried to hide behind the new cherry berry pyracantha I planted but I sprayed them out of there. Slowly their numbers diminished. I even see some flying off. Then, a bigger bug flies in. I do not hate all bugs.

This beauty is an Arizona June bug. Much more colorful than the ugly brown ones I grew up with in Connecticut. However, it still freaked me out as it buzzed around. I did not want it to land in my hair! After it landed on the tree I stepped outside to photograph it. Just look at the rainbow of colors it has!

Here you see the damage done by these Striped Blister Beetles.

The yard beneath the Velvet Mesquite tree is littered with the new green leaves they cut off. I researched the insects on the Internet and from what I could discern they may be Striped Blister beetles, the most poisonous of all the blister beetles. Though their larva are beneficial because they eat grasshopper eggs, if these beetles get into alfalfa and are eaten by horses they can cause severe colic, diarrhea and even death. Apparently they swarm like this when they are mating. Well, far be it for me to interrupt anyone's reproductive cycle, but if that ritual involves destruction of my tree, well, you have a battle on your hands! Go mate and feast someplace else you bugs you!

Gus did come home with an insecticide that the salesperson told him was environmentally safe, but with further reading of the package label it said to wear gloves and that it was toxic to birds. Needless to say, we did NOT apply it to our trees! We will be returning it to the store and I may try the organic oil that Nature Girl suggested last year when this happened. Though, if this follows last year's pattern, they are probably gone until the next orgy.

We are not going to Rio Rico after all. By the time Gus came back and the crisis was over it was already too hot. We are staying home and our son is on his way down with our grandson, whom I have not seen since before I left for Connecticut. We will seek refuge from the heat in our air conditioned house. Typically it is at least 5 degrees cooler here in Sycamore Canyon than it is in Tucson and 10 to 15 degrees cooler than the Phoenix area. The birds in Rio Rico will have to wait for another day.

If anyone has any more insight about these insects or has a different interpretation of what species they are, feel free to tell me in the comments section! I am still not sure!

Skywatch Friday: Welcome Home Sky

Sycamore Canyon Sunset 7-2-09

In last week's Skywatch post I mentioned that I hoped to see a beautiful sunset upon returning from the rainy east coast. Well, I was sitting in my livingroom Thursday evening when I noticed a lovely golden light being cast on the new house that is going up behind me. I grabbed my camera, ran out the door and started snapping. This is the sunset that greeted me....

...and this is the golden light it cast.

I have not doctored these photos at all. This is truly the way it looked, from the new house across the wash...

...to golden Mount Fagan above. It was my "welcome home" sunset, and the next night...

...I got my welcome home toad!

This is a Sonoran Desert Toad, and the first I have seen this year. These toads only emerge during the Monsoon to mate and reproduce before disappearing in to the dry desert soil once again. The large watery bubble you see behind the ears are really parotoid glands that emit a protective poison. This prevents the toad from being eaten by predators, but it will also be absorbed through your skin, so you don't want to handle one of these creatures. You also don't want your dog to pick one up in its mouth or you will find yourself on the way to the vet's! Caution! This poison can kill a full grown dog!

I gently guided this creature out through the gap in the drainage block of the block wall, then foolishly blocked its return by placing a couple of bricks in front of the holes. It was all well and good until another thunderstorm rolled though during the night and I found myself outside at 1 a.m. ankle deep in water removing the bricks so the run off could drain out!

Happy Skywatch Friday!

Happy Monsoon Arizona!

Our temps are headed into the 112 degree range this weekend.
I may be longing for some of those east coast rains before too long!

My World: Birds Are Everywhwere

Green Heron on the Airline Trail 6-29-09

Colchester, CT

In My World Birds are Everywhere and I am always counting them. It's a strange hobby for a person who has always hated math and numbers to be so obsessed with counting birds, but I have always loved birds. From my earliest memories I was aware of birds. Robins, blue jays and Baltimore Orioles are part of my childhood memories. I can remember looking up bird species in my grandfather's bird guide or in the pages of our family encyclopedia.

Gambel's Quail chicks 6-15-09 Sycamore Canyon

On the morning before I left for Connecticut this family of newly hatched Gambel's quail scurried into my yard. They had to be the smallest babies I had ever seen for they were little bigger than the pea gravel they scampered over and they seem more interested in sitting down and taking a nap than trying to feed with their parents. To me they looked like marbles with legs, or living popcorn. There were so many of them that I could barely keep track of them but my best guess is that there were at least 14 of them!

Chipping Sparrow 6-17-09 Lake Hayward, CT

One of the first birds I saw upon awakening in Connecticut was this cute little chipping sparrow beneath the feeder at my brother's cottage in the woods around Lake Hayward.

Blue jay at feeder 6-17-09

I think he was eating the spillage from this greedy guy!

Worm Eating Warbler 6-17-09 Lake Hayward, CT

A walk towards the lake revealed a worm eating warbler, my first for CT and my second since first seeing one in West Virginia at the New River Birding Festival earlier this year.

Downy Woodpecker 6-17-09

Down along the beach I found this cute little Downy clinging to a weathered fence.

Barn Swallow 6-17-09 Bacon Academy fields.

I also watched birds while my siblings and nephew practiced for the Adams Road Race on the track at Bacon Academy in Colchester. I counted 16 species of birds in and around the fields there, because Birds Are Everywhere.

Female Towhee with nesting material in Inwood Hill Park,

New York, NY 6-21-09.

Even in New York City there are birds. Central park is now well known for the many species of birds that pass through during migration or live there year round, but at the far north end of the city lies a little known place called Inwood Hill Park. Though the day was mostly gray with showers, we were able to find this female Eastern towhee building a nest near the ground at the edge of a clearing.

Geese and Garbage in the Hudson River 6-21-09

Down by the Hudson River at the Dyckman St. Pier we watched a family of Canada geese swimming with tires, the refuse from our human lives. Geese get a bad rap for the droppings they leave behind that can pollute our lakes and beaches but what about the pollution they have to live with every day? I suspect their dropping will be gone long before this tire is.

An Ovenbird throwing its voice at the sky 6-22-09

Back in Colchester I found this little ovenbird sitting on the wires outside my sister's house. It sang for all it was worth and I enjoyed its song.

Great Blue heron 6-24-09 Lion's Pond, Colchester, CT

The morning after the Adams Road Race I was up early counting birds again. I drove up to the Lion's Pond on Hall's Hill Road. This area has always been a successful place for me to count birds. When I was young we called it Steg's pond and we ice skated here in the winter. When I showed these pictures to my mother she told me that my Grandfather was in the Lion's Club and he was part of the group that developed this pond as a park for the town. He probably never imagined I would be here so many years later watching birds. Neither did I for that matter, but here I am, because Birds are Everywhere.

Song sparrow 6-24-09 Lake Hayward

I left the Lion's Pond and stopped by Dunkin Donuts for some hazelnut coffee and donuts to go. From there I drove out to Lake Hayward and stopped at the boat launch to drink my coffee, eat my donuts, and watch birds. (I quickly discovered that it's awfully hard to focus your binoculars when you have coffe of a donut in hand!) Here I found another blue heron, some woodpeckers, blue jays and song sparrows. I hoped to find something new and wonderful but I saw the same old birds I had already seen, but I didn't mind, because I love the birds. Though much of the lake is private, I believe the boat launch is a public place and you can watch birds here. There is a porta-pottie, should the need arise.

From the boat launch I continued around the lake stopping at all three beaches. Since my brother owns a cottage out here, my mother has a parking pass, which I used. This cardinal mother and chick barely even noticed me as she fed her young on a wire by the beach.

Double-crested cormorant 6-24-09 Lake Hayward

While out on the water this cormorant tried to dry its wings. With a steady drizzle falling, I did not give it much hope of that happening!

Cedar Waxwings 6-22-09 Colchester, CT

It seems that everywhere I went this year there were cedar waxwings. I counted them in the center of town. I counted them at Bacon Academy. I counted them at Lake Hayward and at my sister's house. Just about every bird count I submitted to eBird on this trip had cedar waxwings on it. I counted them at the rest area in New Hampshire and at various locations in Maine. It will be interesting to see if this is part of an irruption, for I have seen more cedar waxwings in these two weeks than I have ever seen in my whole life!

Birds in Maine

Hairy Woodpecker at Mantle Lake Park, Presque Isle, ME 6-26-09

Yellow warbler at Bicentennial Park along the Presque Isle Stream

6-26-09

Herring Gull at Falmouth Town Landing 6-29-09

Black duck on driftwood, Mackworth Island Causeway 6-29-09

Scarlett Tanager Windham Rd, Colchester, CT 6-30-09

On the next to my last day in Colchester I drove up a country road I know and stopped by yet another pond I used to ice skate on. It was privately owned then and it is privately owned now. We knew it as Gregory's pond, though that owner is long since gone. Here in the thick woods I found a few species of birds I had not seen anywhere else, including a scarlet tanager, and 5 American Redstarts. I thought these were the final icing on my Connecticut list for this year until the next day when I was sitting on the veranda at my mother's house. I kept hearing this funny sounding crow outside. I had heard it the day before and in other locations. I finally decided to investigate the sound and after researching it on the All About Birds web page I discovered I was listening to a fish crow! The only way to tell the difference between an American crow and a fish crow is by voice, so, with its ID confirmed, I added my final bird to my Connecticut list for the year. And, since birds are everywhere, I counted birds all along the highway while my mother drove me to the airport for a late afternoon flight. It was after 10 PM when I finally arrived home in Sycamore Canyon and Gus and I fell right into bed exhausted. So much had happened so fast that I felt like it was all a dream, especially when I opened the shutters the next morning to discover...

Gambel's Quail chicks 7-2-09!

(Did I really ever leave?)

All photos click to enlarge. Please be sure to visit MY World Tuesday's website to visit other parts of this wonderful world and who knows, you might even find some other birds, because....

Birds Are Everywhere!

In the end I counted 62 species of birds in Connecticut this year, 49 species in Maine and 29 species in New York. The constant rain put a severe damper on bird watching and bird photography but I was able to get a few decent shots.