Vagrant orioles

This has been a good year for orioles in Pennsylvania. A Scott’s Oriole in February near Harrisburg started out the year with a bang, see pictures here. This was the first recorded Scott’s Oriole in the state. The usual suspects for Pennsylvania are Baltimore and Orchard Orioles. Now, its December and there is a Bullock’s [...]

Snowy Hawk Mountain

Last Saturday I counted again at Hawk Mountain. The weather was rainy on the drive up but as I polled into the parking lot I was met with snow. Upon reaching the lookout, I could see the line where the snow started further down. The trees and rocks were covered and it was beautiful. Unfortunately, [...]

Backyard Finches

For the last few weeks, finch numbers have really increased in my backyard, thanks in large part to a cool double sock nyger seed feeder that really seems to draw in both American Goldfinches and Pine Siskins. My high counts have been 32 goldfinches and 5 siskins at one time.

The double sock stuffed with njyer [...]

Bonies at the flats

A few days ago I spent the morning at Conejohela Flats, canoing around because the water level was extremely high following the 3 inches of rain we had just received. Generally we spend most of our time scoping the birds out from a blind that is on one of the small islands but now the [...]

My sparrow fest

So it seems like ever other bird blogger has gotten out to digiscope the sparrow migration and today was finally my day. I got some OK pictures but there always seemed to be something obstructing part of my subject.

Lincoln’s Sparrow

I managed to come across several Lincoln’s Sparrows and one cooperatively perched about 30 ft away [...]

More Arizona pictures

Juniper Titmouse @ Grand Canyon National Park
Black-headed Grosbeak @ Grand Canyon National Park
Broad-billed Hummingbird @ Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum
Barn Owl @ Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum
Anna’s Hummingbird @ Madera Canyon
Anna’s Hummingbird @ Madera Canyon

Arizona pics

So almost 2 months ago I was in Arizona for my honeymoon. We stayed in Sedona for a while enjoying the scenic canyons and visiting the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest National Parks. I did not manage any digiscoping on that part of the trip but we then went to SE Arizona for [...]

Birding has been good

With spring migration in full swing now, and no nasty weather to stop it sightings have really picked up. I was lucky enough to go home to Pennsylvania for a day and was able to find 7 species of warbler close to Lake Ontelaunee, one of my favorite places to bird in my county. My [...]

Warblers are a’coming!

Just to whet your appetite on what’s to come, here is my somewhat poor digishot of a Louisiana Waterthrush. I thought that putting everything in b&w except for the warbler itself would jazz it up a bit. I know that there have been recent controversies about doctoring photos but you have to remember that this [...]

Rainy day birding

There are some things that can be said for rainy day birding. There are also somethings that could be seen as a major drawback. From my experience this morning at Garret Mountain, I would suggest not going out in driving rain in early April. It’s just setting you up for a really damp bit of [...]