Sibley Guide

I just got the Second Edition of the Sibley Guide to Birds. Although I prefer National Geographic's guide they are both very good. Here is a list of pros for each book that the other one lacks.

National Geographic:

• Better drawings with more accurate color
• Smaller size for easier use in field
• Subspecies taxonomic names are shown
• Range maps are better
• More rare bird species (just in case!)
• Special subspecies maps for a lot of birds

Sibley Guide:

• Easier to compare species
• More hybird and variant plumages
• More exotic birds
• Good tips for species comparison
• Checklist in back (although a lot of rare birds aren't included)

Other guides are good as well. There is the Peterson guide which is very informative. The Crossley guide uses many images from one species all on one page. I think that NG is the best choice but I do know people that like Sibley better, and they are both good guides.

Livingston Ripley Waterfowl Conservacy

Instead of birding on Saturday morning I went to the Livingston Ripley Waterfowl Conservacy (lrwc.net) in Litchfield, CT. Although it is 90 minutes away from my house it is a great place to look at captive ducks. They have so many species there! The first duck we saw was a Laysan Teal, which is arguably the rarest duck in the world. There are very few birds left and they are restricted to Laysan Island in the Pacific Ocean.

There were also Blacksmith Plovers, which, even though they aren't a duck, are a common part of the Conservacy. In the pond with the Laysan Teal there were also Baer's Pochard, Falcated Ducks, Lesser White-fronted Geese, Meller's and Hawaiian Ducks and Philippine Ducks.
In the second pond there was also some variety. There were a lot of sea ducks from America, like Harlequin Ducks, Long-tailed Ducks and Spectacled Eiders. There were also Baikal Teal, Scaly-sided Merganser and Red-breasted Goose. The Baikal Teal is probably my favorite duck, so this picture of one is one of my favorites.
I got good pictures of the other ducks as well.
  In pond three there were Smew, Red-breasted Goose, Red-billed Pintail, New Zealand Scaup and White-headed Duck.
 
Pond four probably had the most variety. I will try to post all the birds that were there: Marbled Teal, Magpie Goose, Nene, Puna Teal, Baer's Pochard, White-headed Duck, Falcated Duck, Scaly-sided Merganser, Masked Lapwing and West Indian Whistling-Duck.
I saw many other birds, including a Demoiselle Crane group who danced and courted their mates, and a Swan Goose who imprinted on us. That means that he would follow us wherever we went. There was obviously something wrong with him but he was very cool and harmless. There were Cape Barren Geese, who were very agressive because they were having goslings. We also saw some sea ducks, a falcon and some baby birds. All my photos are on my Flickr, right here!

April Break

So, this week was my April Break for school, so I did a lot of birding this weekend. It was cool that the Tree Swallows are here, and they are one of my favorite birds.

They were very easy to photograph, especially for the aerodynamic swallows that they are. They were often perched so that was good. We did go to the Mansfield Hollow Dam to see some birds, very close to home. We saw a lot of birds but as a subpar photographer, I had a tough time taking pictures. Here are some of the good ones.
On Sunday we went to Bluff Point and got some more yearbirds. My yearlist is at 63 right now, and we got some bad views of new yearbirds like Double-crested Cormorant and Northern Mockingbird. We also saw a female Common Merganser which yielded some more average photos. I will most likely do more birding this week. But that's all for now!

Birding in Hammonasset - First Outing with the new Camera!

 So as the title says, my dad and I went to Hammonasset Beach State Park on Sunday morning. We saw many birds, even a lifer here and there. I was hoping to get some Snow Buntings, since they had been sighted. So we set off for Hammonasset Beach.
 It was an hour-long drive from where I live, but it was worth the drive. As soon as we pulled up, we saw a small flock of Horned Larks, a lifer for the day.
 This was also the first picture with my new camera. Even just on the drive up we saw all kinds of sparrows, blackbirds and gulls. I knew it would be a good day. As soon as we started walking we were flooded with crows, grackles, and Red-winged Blackbirds. They were everywhere throughout the park, and here are some of the photos.
 So, we continued walking, As we went, we saw a Tree Swallow, another year bird. They were here early, and it was good seeing them for the first time. They seemed very cold, though. I guess they just weren't ready for that morning CT wind! (That would make two of us. I was also very cold.) We kept walking and saw more blackbirds and such, and they were very loud. We took a short detour, and we saw some doves and cardinals. Not many good photos came out of it though. All the photos are on the bottom of the post.
 However, we did hear some good news. We were looking at Song, Swamp and Fox Sparrows (the latter two are yearbirds) along with Purple and House Finches (yearbirds as well). There were also some blackbirds, Brown-headed Cowbirds and robins. Someone said that there was a Snowy Owl sighting at the boardwalk! Of course we wanted to see it! We went out there, and while seeing some Killdeer as well, we got a bad view of it. It was very far away, but it was there! I was excited to see it.
 After that, we saw a Yellow-rumped Warbler, which was very hard to photograph. Worse yet, my camera ran out of battery right about then! I will always remember to charge it from now on. So we decided to run back to the car, drop it off, and go see the beach.
 As we went to the beach we saw some Lesser Yellowlegs and some more crows. We saw lots of gulls (mainly Herring) on the beach. We also saw some black-headed gulls in the distance, but it was too inconclusive to identify. Even though the Bonaparte's Gull was most common in Hammonasset at this time, I didn't want to be assumptive and add it, because it would be a lifer. So I just called it Laughing Gull in my personal list and said gull sp. on eBird when I reported it. We also saw some Mallards and Black Ducks in the ocean, and a quick flyby of Red-breasted Mergansers. At the end of the point we turned around and headed home.
 Well, we didn't go home just yet. We went to another area in the park, still in search of the Snow Bunting. We did see some Hooded and Common Mergansers (that completes the merganser trifecta!) as well as some Great Black-backed Gulls (yearbird). After a quick look at more Mallards and some Canada Geese, we went home. We didn't see a Snow Bunting but I had a great time birding. Also, I did check Horned Lark off my life list, as well as adding ten yearbirds!
Photos:

Red-winged Blackbird

Horned Lark - Lifer

Hooded Mergansers and Common Merganser

House Finch

Snowy Owl

Common Grackle

Mallard

Tree Swallow

Great Black-backed Gulls

Fox Sparrow

Lesser Yellowlegs

Song Sparrow

Killdeer

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Mourning Dove

American Crow

That's all for now. Thanks for looking.

New Camera!

Today I am getting a new camera just for myself. Usually I use my dad's camera for picture taking, and most of the time he just takes all the pictures. But I am getting a camera for myself and it's a Nikon P510. I am very excited, and other birders are saying it's the best camera in my price range. I have been saving up money for like three years waiting for this camera. I am gonna get it some time today, and I will go birding tomorrow and get some nice pictures with it. I will most likely post those tomorrow too.

Birding in Hartford

Today, on Sunday, I took a short drive out to Hartford, about 30 minutes away from my house in eastern CT. My dad and I went to the Riverside Park, and even though it was cold some of the water was unfrozen and there was some good birding there.

We came in and saw a Northern Flicker, but it flew away too quickly to get a photo. When we got out of the car we would hear crows galore, and they were easy to see! There had to be 150 crows there, and they were very loud the whole time.

 These crows were some of the many crows that were in the trees, and there were many different individuals. Some of them were standing on the ice, and some were in the trees. But wherever they were they were calling loudly.
There were also some seagulls there. I didn't get any good photos, but I did get some. They are on Flickr, and the link is on the bottom of the post. I actually don't know what it is, but I am believing they are Ring-billed.

Tufted Titmouse

We saw some ducks in the distance, but had no idea what they were. So we went closer, and it actually yielded some other sightings. More crows, of course, and we saw some songbirds in the woods that we went by. We saw a Tufted Titmouse, a Northern Cardinal (no picture), we heard a Black-capped Chickadee, and we even saw a Downy Woodpecker in the trees, pecking. We also spooked some Mallards, who flied away quickly. I kinda stink at getting flight shots but I tried to get some.

Downy Woodpecker

The highlight however, was a flight picture. It was a juvenile Bald Eagle, which was something we were aiming to see the whole time. It was in flight, and since it was just soaring very slowly I could get a good picture. One of them is below, in flight. It was great to see the Eagle, which even though it isn't a lifer, is always a delight to see. We looked for the adult bird but we couldn't find it. We saw a quick view of a Red-tailed Hawk flying away, but we couldn't get a picture of it. But the eagle was certainly a highlight.

Juvenile Bald Eagle

So soon we got to a place where we could see the ducks that were just a dot on my vision a while away. One was a Brant, all by itself in the river. When I reported the sighting to eBird I found out that that Brant was the first Brant sighting ever reported to eBird! I was very excited when I found this out. We kept going (this is when I heard the Cardinal and then saw it, but we couldn't get a picture), and we found out the other birds were Common Mergansers. It isn't a life bird, but it's still a good sighting. We walked back, took some more crow pictures, and saw a small group of Canada Geese on the way out. Later we saw robins, starlings and pigeons too. But it was certainly great to see the eagle.

To see more of the photos: 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/100012535@N07/sets/72157641775733483/

To see all my photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/100012535@N07/

Great Backyard Bird Count!

Birding is always a lot of fun. I go whenever I get the chance. But this weekend provides a special reason to go birding: the Great Backyard Bird Count. This count (unlike the tedious and annoying Christmas Bird Count) only requires an eBird account (http://ebird.org/content/ebird/) and a little birdwatching. It is a fun way to contribute your findings to the world of ornithology. People from around the world contribute to this count. It is easy, free and fun! Learn more here and good luck birding.