New Birding TV Show - Birding Adventures

This guy stole my dream job. Has anyone seen this show? It's only on in the southeast US it seems. The host is a South African. Maybe Quintus knows something about it...

Home town gull

Sorry for the lack of posts folks. Life's been busy!

I got a note that an Iceland Gull was found at Spring Lake Park in South Plainfield, NJ. This is the town I grew up in. My high school was right behind this park and I spent many horrible hours running around that park for our "mile test." Ugh. The lake itself has always been covered in Canada Geese and FULL of goose turds. I was shocked to hear about an Iceland Gull being there. I can't imagine what there is to eat there besides trash. The only interesting bird I ever saw at Spring Lake was a banded Snow Goose that was likely injured. I'll have to find the banding report I got and post it here. It goes to show you that you never know what you'll find! Maybe it'll be the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect and a Ross's Gull will swoop in.

I'm going to try to swing by the lake tomorrow to get a glimpse of this bird.

Loud Squawking Crow Forces FAA To Ground All Flights Indefinitely

From The Onion

Leaf-footed Bug ID Needed

Beth found this Leaf-footed Bug sitting on our window sill today. It's about 20 degrees outside and has been cold since a warm spell in early February. I wonder how it got in and I wonder what its story is. Anyone know the species? I posted an ID request to bugguide.net which is usually a quick way to an answer.

UPDATE: Thanks to Nuthatch for IDing it as a Western Conifer Seed Bug. Funny because I IDed one of these for someone else last year! They are native to the Pacific Northwest but have undergone a tremendous range expansion into the northeast. It's unknown if it's natural or human-assisted. In general, it is considered a pest, but a cool-looking pest in my opinion.

Some silliness

I swear this was sent to me and I didn't find it myself. From icanhascheezburger:

NJ Great Backyard Bird Count Notes

Well, the Great Backyard Bird Count has more or less come to an end. Please continue entering your sightings if you haven't already. As the count reviewer in NJ, I get to see some interesting observations. Here are some highlights from this year here in NJ:

• 160 species recorded. We had 163 last year. Someone counted the Monk Parakeets in Edgewater which wasn't done the last 2 years.


• Tons of Pine Siskins all over the state (except in MY yard!)


• 81 White-winged Crossbills - definitely a record in the years recorded online. The previous high count was 4!


• A well-known birder found an Atlantic Puffin from Barnegat Light State Park - pretty cool!


• Other rarities included Cackling Goose, Eurasian Wigeon, Barrow's Goldeneye, Eared Grebe, American Bittern, Black-headed Gull, Glaucous Gull, Rufous Hummingbird, and Bohemian Waxwing


• Last year NJ was #1 in individual birds thanks to some BIG counts of Snow Geese in south Jersey. This year, we are #8. Those same counts of Snow Geese were not reported this year.


• Six species of owls including Snowy


• As opposed to past years, several of the "Red-headed Woodpecker" sightings turned out to actually be Red-headed Woodpeckers!


• Someone reported a Northern Goshawk, which is always a nice find in winter. I emailed the person to confirm it. Sure enough, she sent me pics of a gorgeous adult bird from her yard.


• Several sightings of Baltimore Orioles - one person told me how they love to feed it grape jelly all year long. Wintering Baltimore Orioles at feeders are an annual occurrence. You never know when one might be a Bullock's and the viewer just doesn't know better.


• Personally, I had seen a Belted Kingfisher in the retention pond near my house the last 2 years. No luck this year.

Fun times! Thanks to everyone who participated. What observations did you make about your state?

Siskins (not at my feeder)

So I seem to have the only feeder in NJ where there are no Pine Siskins. I've had 4 Goldfinches, which is nice for my yard. Beth and I spent the weekend in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. We stayed at a little B&B and just relaxed. We had a great time, some great food, and some fun browsing in the shops of Doylestown and nearby New Hope. We spent a little time birding at Peace Valley Park so I could try out the new tripod. It works wonderfully! This was actually my second trip to this park. The first was an unsuccessful rarity chase for a Redwing back in February 2005.

The first birds we immediately noticed at the park were all the siskins. They were calling like crazy and filling all of the nearby feeders. We got some terrific photos. Enjoy!

Leucistic Kestrel

Check out this photo of a leucistic American Kestrel from Arizona.

Definition of leucism vs. albinism here.