Birding CT: Sunday Evening Walk-about

(Gray Squirrel: photo by Kathie 7-5-08)

This evening I took yet another walk about the streets in town. I found myself being observed as much as I was out to observe the birds. I walked behind a nearby restaurant where there is a wooded area along the edge of the parking lot in my search for birds. As I stopped to photograph a squirrel lying along the branch of a tree I happened to look up at the building behind me. It was actually a 2 story house and a man was leaning out the second story window watching me watch the birds! I jumped back, startled and apologetic. I didn't know there was a house there and I am technically standing in his back yard. He didn't seem to mind, though, and cautioned me to watch my step as I cut though to yet another parking lot down a small embankment.

From here I walked through the town office and police station parking lot. The manicured lawns are surrounded by tree where I often seen birds. Tonight the robins are out in force and before the night is over I would count 28 of them. I guess the people of this town must not get too many birders passing through because I get such stares and even questions about what I am doing. One gal asked me what I am taking pictures of and if it is my hobby. A child asks if I am a photographer. A man sitting on his porch drinking a glass of red wine asks what kind of birds I am looking for. Another man wanted to know if I am lost and need help! (I really think he wanted to know what I was up to. As soon as I told him I was trying to identify a bird in the thicket he lost interest!)

(Queen Anne's Lace; photo by kathie 7-5-08)

Queen Anne's Lace grows prolifically along the roadside. I smile to see this familiar flower, one of my favorites. It does not grow in Arizona where I now live.

(Killdeer in Parking lot; photo by kathie 7-5-08)

My route takes me past the schools I went to when I was growing up. So many memories fight with my desire to spot and count birds. A pair of Killdeer ran across the parking lot of a new school that has been built in the field that formally held our high school race track when I attended here. So many changes, but the old skating pond is still there on Halls Hill Rd. Only tonight it is ice free and full of lily pads with a Canada Goose family on the shore. As twilight starts to descend I look out over the water trying to find a few last birds. The geese walk towards me, begging for food I assume. When I offer none, the mother goose starts to hiss and snake her head at me. I stand my ground. Is she concerned for her goslings safety, or is she just mad that I didn't feed them? Finally she and the rest of her brood walk away and continue to graze on the tender shoots of grass that grow around the pond edges.

(Canada Goose Family: photo by kathie 7-5-08)

As I continue down Halls Hill Rd I come to the corner of Pleasant Street where I will turn towards home. Suddenly I spot something flying rapidly above my head. There are six of them and I am trying to decide if they are birds or bats. Their flight is swift, their bodies dark and chunky and their wings pointed and boomerang like. They remind me of the Vaux's Swift I have seen in Arizona and I realize that I am seeing the Chimney Swifts of the east coast--lifers for me! So, my evening ended in triumph as I head back to my mother's house which was once my grandparents home. Like all family homes, it is chock full of memories, along with the accumulated stuff of 70 years of life.

Note: The text of this post is taken from an earlier post but I have now added the photos I took that night. Click here to see the original: Hello From Connecticut.

Superbird Sunday

It’s Superbowl Sunday and we are headed to Coolidge to watch the Superbowl with my son and his wife. Gus has on his shorts, which he insists on wearing every weekend regardless of the weather, which is getting colder as a storm front moves in. He also has his Giants sweatshirt and Giants baseball cap on. He is ready for the game. However, my plan is to stop in Casa Grande on the way to see a bird reported on the Tucson Audubon’s Rare Bird Alert. It’s been at this location since last October and I am finally getting around to seeing it.

Casa Grande is an hour and fifteen minutes north of us and about 20 minutes west of where my son lives. It is about 2:15 p.m. when we pass the exit we would normally take to go to our son’s house, and Gus is getting anxious. He wants to be there by 3:30. We should have left earlier, but I am really bad at time management and so we left a bit later than I hoped for. Still, I reassure him and we press on. We follow the directions and park our car in the rain soaked dirt parking area at the north side of the Dave White Golf Course. As we pull in we notice other birders just walking off the course with cameras and spotting scopes. “Is it here,” we ask? “Yes. It’s in the pond on the left,” they reply. At first they think Gus is wearing a disguise, for they didn’t think real birders would be concerned with the Superbowl, but then we explain that Gus is the football fan and the photographer, while I am the avid birder. These people are visiting from Utah, but we never asked if they came all this way just to see this bird, or if they happened to be here for the winter, like so many others are as snowbirds.


And so we walk quietly up to the pond on a paved golf cart path between two ponds. Ahead of us a large flock of coots rests on the bank between the two ponds. As we draw closer they take to the water. We still haven’t seen the bird. While Gus continues around the pond edge I scan the shoreline desperately. And then I see it! It’s much smaller than I thought it would be, but there it is walking along the edge searching the shoreline, body tilted forward, long gray legs lifting spidery toes.





The eyes are hard to see in the dark face and the body appears to be wingless, but the bright yellow beak and helmet are clearly visible, and then the bird takes wing….



...revealing citron flight feathers!

What is it? A Northern jacana of course and a life bird for me!

Gus snaps off several pictures. He is relentless and I have to call him off. I don’t want to stress the bird. I read on another blog where a barred owl that crossed into Maine had to be taken into rehab due to malnutrition caused by over eager birders stressing the bird out.

In the flock of coots is an immature snow goose, another addition to my life list. I should have come here 4 days ago. I would have beaten Larry from the Brownstone Birding Blog, or at least tied him for our Big January Bird Count!

On the way back to the car a killdeer landed in a nearby puddle. Gus got some nice pictures of it also.


We drove over the mountain to Coolidge and arrive for the Superbowl in plenty of time. During the first half of the game I go for a walk around the neighborhood once again looking for birds. It is a cold and windy evening but I see a magnificent male harrier flying right over my son’s street. Other than that, blackbirds, mourning doves and great-tailed grackles rule the town. Their raucous chatter and the sharp whistles of the grackles could be heard all over the place. As dusk comes on the doves cooed to the night from their roosts. In a pile of brush someone set out near the road a flock of white-crown sparrows hops among the branches. I hope they don’t get too settled. The pile will be gone in a couple of days I’m sure.

When I return I watched the second half of the game with my family. My son and husband are loyal Giants fans. I watch them holler and jump with excitement. My daughter-in-law is a Patriots fan. She is rather quiet. It is an exciting end to the game. In case you didn’t hear, the Giants won, though I don’t remember what the score was. I am still thinking of the Superbird I saw on Superbowl Sunday.