Northern Flicker!

Today I have a new bird to add to my life list: The Northern Flicker!

I was at the riverfront waiting for a friend today, watching little finchy things flying to and fro, when suddenly this much bigger bird with swaths of yellow flew over me.

What was that?

I followed it with my binoculars and noticed its spotted breast, which reminded me of a thrush. Then up to the head I found a patch of red on its face and it reminded me of a red bellied woodpecker, but without the red head. I had spotted my first flicker!

I took some horrible photos. I'm not going to blame the camera because my father has the exact same camera and he takes fabulous pictures. But I am going back to my old camera after today.

I also took terrible pictures of my other fantastic finds today: common merganser (a male and two females), adult bald eagles, and a belted kingfisher.

Chautauqua, NY Area

Mute swans (orange on bills) on Cassadaga Lake, NY:

Visiting the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, NY:

Lots of new summer birds

Lately I have been seeing a lot of new birds...some totally new to me, first time ever! Unfortunately I haven't been carrying my camera around. But yesterday I had it with me and was able to take these shots down by the south side river trail:

Brown Headed Cow bird (he was with a female as well, she was gray):

 Baby robin, still has a spotted breast, eating Juneberries:

Cedar waxwing, first in a sycamore tree, then in the Juneberry tree:

 

I am so happy to have seen a cedar waxwing! I've wanted to see one for a while, even dreamed about having seen one once, and now, finally, here it is. It was also my first time seeing the cowbird and the baby robin (with speckled breast.)

I've also been spotted and trying to differentiate swallows. I saw a gray headed catbird for the first time, a yellow warbler and a wood thrush (oh I wish I had my camera...it would have been a good picture, it didn't flit about like the yellow warbler!) I also saw a scarlet tanager. The thrush and tanager were in Cedar Creek, along the GAP bicycle trail (Great Allegheny Passage).

So many of these birds are along the river trail!

Kingfisher!

How did I not post this? I got an excellent video (and pictures) of a Belted Kingfisher by the Monongahela river in April. I'll see if I can pre-date this entry (it's really June 6, 2013 but I took these pics/videos on April 8, 2013).

I love the sound this cutie makes before diving into the water...it's like a war cry! And the big splash is awesome. :-)

There were also a couple of hawks (red tails?) in Frick park that I got pictures of today:

Grrrrrrackle!

I thought I saw them yesterday, but the beaks were yellow (Starlings.) But they showed up at my feeder today....grrrrrackles! (black beak = grackle.)

And then she (he?) showed up to mock me:

I'm glad we put the new bird seed in...but so is Foxy, our resident (fox) squirrel.

Red Winged Black Birds

I thought I saw a red winged blackbird on my neighborhood walk earlier. This time I was awakened from a nap by its unmistakable call...but where could they be? There are no bodies of water in my neighborhood, no cattail reeds for them to fly in and out of. They were at my feeder! I just put the new bird seed in (well, not in, but around) and guess who found it?

Walking Around the Neighborhood

Today I saw what looked like a red-winged black bird hanging out with a bunch of starlings:

The noisy starlings, which I first thought were grackles but then learned that if they have yellow beaks they are starlings:

This hilarious mocking bird did the best blue jay impression ever:

And here's another news story about our resident eagles.

Another day of birding in the 'Burgh.