Birding in Maine» bird

Photo of the Day: Northern Cardinal Portrait

John Briggs — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:56:58 +0000

Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) | Click thumbnail for larger view

While hiding in the shadows of our home trying to get a photograph of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird, I was surprised when this beautiful male Northern Cardinal landed about ten feet from where I stood. My camera was at my side, and not wanting to spook the bird, I slowly raised my rig. I silently prayed that the bird would stay put. I quickly got off two shots before the Cardinal fled. The first photo was completely out of focus, but the second one was great. Enjoy!

Happy birding!

Photo of the Day: Tree Swallow In Flight

John Briggs — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:08:25 +0000

Egg on my face! Thanks to Ed Hess for the correction on this species. This is an EASTERN KINGBIRD.

Tree Swallow in Flight | Click thumbnail for larger view

I am not one who tries to get flight shots of such a tiny bird as the tree Swallow. They are fast and hard to get focused. All this said, I was in the backyard a few days ago and saw several of these birds flying around. It was a relatively quiet morning and I decided to give it a try. It was all over in less than a second. One shot…. I got it!

Happy birding!

BPW: Gray Jay

John Briggs — Mon, 31 May 2010 19:09:01 +0000

Did you ever hear of the old saying, “We were so far back in the woods, they had to pipe in sunlight?” That’s about how far we traveled to add another bird to our life list, the Gray Jay. This bird has eluded us for so long and it was almost by chance that we finally got to see one.

Route 3 north of Colebrook, NH is a beautiful area running through the Connecticut Lakes Region to the Quebec border. Boreal forests. bogs and mountains make up the geography. You also pass over the 45th parallel, the half way point between the equator and the north pole. Attentiveness is a must! At any time, around a blind curve or just over the crest of a hill, a one thousand pound moose or a deer may be standing in the middle of the road.

Map is interactive. Hover cursor over markers for details.

We took a dirt logging road just north of the Second Connecticut Lake. After traveling for about one mile, the road came to a “T”. According to our maps and the GPS, the road to the left did not exist. We decided to take the left road. It was a lightly traveled, narrow dirt road with ruts and a washboard surface in places. Along the way, we saw Whitetail Deer, Snowshoe Hares, Porcupines and had a fleeting glimpse of a Black-backed Woodpecker.

On our GPS, the map was blank except for the marker designating our vehicle. It showed no roads or bodies of water, we were in the middle of nowhere. We had plenty of food and water, but we began to think about scenarios of our vehicle breaking down, flat tires or one of us needing medical attention. I checked coverage on my cell phone and there was no signal what-so-ever. We agreed it was a good time to look for a place to turn around. As we looked for a place to turn around, we noticed that the Canadian border was less than 1/2 a mile away. More than likely, there was no border station where we were, and even if there were, neither of us had our passports with us.

We came to a large boreal meadow bordering a bog. It was also a good place to turn around. Before we did, we paused for a while and listened. We heard, but could not see, Boreal Chickadees and several Yellow-rumped Warblers. A Spruce Grouse hurried across the road about 50 yards from where we stood. It was then that Sharon directed my attention to a broken off birch tree. Perched on the broken tree was a Gray Jay!

The following is an audio clip of a Gray Jay’s song and call. Click the play button.
Download audio file (gray-jay-call.mp3)

Gray Jay’s are a very curious bird. It wasn’t long before another one showed up. One of them nearly landed on my 400mm lens! I moved very little and the Jay’s landed near my feet, on a bush beside me and flew so near to me that I could have reached out and touched them. It wasn’t long until they flew off and were out of sight. It was an experience that I won’t forget!

Some of the following photos are tall. Tap your f11 key to open your browser to its fullest size before viewing. Clicking a thumbnail will open a shadowbox with a full-size view. All photos taken with a Canon 7D camera and Canon 100-400mm f/4 L IS lens.

Happy birding!

Photo of the Day: Plunge into water

John Briggs — Thu, 20 May 2010 17:19:07 +0000

Osprey in water | Click thumbnail for larger view

Are you tired of the Osprey photos yet? I’m not! Yet another photo of Osprey catching alewives at Damariscotta Mills, Maine. In this photo, the Osprey is in the water, talons locked onto an alewife and ready to take flight. Shortly after this photo was taken, the Osprey took flight, paused in mid-air to shake water from its feathers and continued on to its nest to share the fish with his mate.

BPW: Gray Catbird

John Briggs — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:02:20 +0000

The Gray Catbird is named for its cat-like mew call. Like the Northern Mockingbird, the Gray Catbird is regarded as a mimic. Like many members of the Mimidae, it also mimics the songs of other birds, as well as those of the tree frog, and even mechanical sounds. Because of its well-developed songbird syrinx (the vocal organ of birds), it is able to make two sounds at the same time. The Gray Catbird’s song is easily distinguished from that of the Northern Mockingbird or Brown Thrasher because the Mockingbird repeats its phrases or 3 to 4 times, the Thrasher usually twice, but the Catbird sings most phrases only once. The Catbird’s song is usually described as more raspy and less musical than that of a Mockingbird.

The following is an audio clip of a Gray Catbird’s song and call. Click the play button.
Download audio file (catbird.mp3)

Just over half of the Gray Catbird’s diet consists of insects, such as beetles, caterpillars, cicadas, crickets, grasshoppers, moths, ants, aphids and spiders. The rest of the diet consists of fruit such as wild berries, especially blackberries, berries of sweet gum, grapes and seeds of grasses. We attract this bird to our feeders by offering grape jelly, orange halves and a sprig of grapes fastened to a perch with a clothes pin. Northern Mockingbirds and Orioles will also eat these offerings.

Gray Catbird -- Dumetella carolinensis

Click a thumbnail to view photo full sized. Once a photo is open in the shadowbox, navigation arrows are at the bottom to go to the next photo. All photos taken with a Canon 7D camera and Canon 100-400mm f/4 L IS lens.

To end this post, I have included a short video clip of our backyard resident Gray Catbird sitting in a blueberry bush near the cove.

Click the play button to begin the video. To watch in HD, click 360p on the player to select HD quality. Video taken with a Canon 7D camera.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiSeWbOT12s

Happy birding!