Outside My Window

The Biggest Week in American Birding — May 3-12 — begins tomorrow in northwestern Ohio.

Birders are flocking from all over the world to see migrating warblers arrive at the south shore of Lake Erie.  The festival, headquartered at Maumee Bay Lodge, has great programs and outings scheduled for the next ten days.  Don’t worry if you haven’t planned ahead.  I learned at the San Diego Bird Festival that openings are often available — especially in mid-week.

If you live within a few hours of the festival it’s well worth the drive.  I’ll be at Magee Marsh but (alas!) only for the weekend.  I wish I could stay longer.  The birding will be great!   Here’s Kenn Kaufman’s report from Magee Marsh Boardwalk yesterday.

While there, be aware that Ohio Route 2 is closed between Magee Marsh and Metzger Marsh.  It’s the main road everyone uses so the organizers of the Biggest Week suggest this detour:  Click here for a snapshot of the directions or visit the Biggest Week website for more information.

I’m glad I checked the website.  Less driving, more birding!

Gotta run.  I hear warblers calling my name. 

(photo by Steve Gosser)

I blog about birds Outside My Window.  Glen Apseloff went a step further and photographed the birds outside his window.

Several years ago Apseloff set himself the challenge of photographing birds in his backyard in Powell, Ohio with an added twist — all the photos had to be taken through the window glass and none could use a flash.

He and his wife planted their garden for birds and set out the feeders with care.  The birds came to visit, some quite close.  The result is his book entitled Backyard Birds, Looking Through the Glass.

Accompanying more than 120 photos are descriptions of the birds’ plumage, their behavior, the foods he’s seen them prefer, and his experience watching them.  Occasionally he gives tips on photography.  For instance, “Around my house dark-eyed juncoes usually feed on dropped finch food rather than directly from feeders.  Males tend to be darker than females; females have more brown or a paler black in their plumage.  Males can be challenging to photograph in the snow and in bright sunlight because of the contrast between white and black.”

Glen’s book is like an outing to his backyard.  The birds are familiar and intriguing, often so close we can see their eyelashes.  As on all outings I like to pick a “Best Bird.”  My favorite:  The pileated woodpecker on page 96.

There are beautiful birds outside Glen Apseloff’s window.

(cover of Backyard Birds Looking Through the Glass by Glen Apseloff)

With orange eyes, fluffy down, and an enormous beak this baby made her media debut yesterday.

She’s the only Eurasian eagle owl to be born in an AZA accredited zoo in the last five years.  Hatched on March 13, she lives at the National Aviary where her very versatile mom is an education bird, an exhibit bird and now a breeding bird.

Eurasian eagle owls are native to Europe and Asia and virtually the world’s largest owl.  They resemble great horned owls but they’re 1.5 times larger.

Right now this baby is halfway grown up.  She’s cute but gawky, proudly displaying her tawny down.  I love her eyelashes.  Look at those feet!

You can see her for yourself at the National Aviary starting today, April 10, through May 24.  Since she’s just a baby she’ll stay behind the scenes most of the time and come out just twice a day –  at 11:45am and 2:15pm.

Watch her grow and change in the next six weeks.  By May 24 she’ll look like this.

(photos courtesy of the National Aviary)

I just opened The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors and could barely put it down to tell you about it.

Birders and Hawk Watchers, you’re going to love this book.

The first half of this slim volume (286 pages) is devoted to color plates of raptors.  Crossley’s method is to build the plate with the bird’s typical habitat in the background.  Then he adds sharp in-focus photos of the birds taken from every possible angle, in a variety of lighting and at various distances.   The flood of photos provides enough images that you “get it.”   This is what the bird looks like in the field.

For solitary species this flood of birds is fictional.  You’ll never see that many of them in the same place at the same time unless you’re at a hawk watch — and that’s where Crossley’s mystery quiz plates are a real help!

Among the ID plates are double-page spreads of mixed species.  After I learned about zone-tailed hawks (I’ve never seen one) I tried the “Dark Raptors of the Southwest” quiz on pages 108-109.  It really helped to see them soaring at a distance near turkey vultures.  Wow! they are similar.

The second half of the book contains range maps and beautifully written species accounts by Jerry Ligouri (Hawks from Every Angle) and Brian Sullivan.  Here’s an excerpt from the peregrines’ Flight Style:  “Their powerful, fluid, whiplike, rolling wingbeats enable them to accelerate to high speeds in seconds.  They are steady in flight at all times!”

Peregrine fans will really love page 136, the first plate of peregrine falcons.  The background habitat is a city where peregrines breed today, the home of “SW” who hatched in Pittsburgh and is now Queen of the Terminal Tower.  You guessed it!  The setting is the skyline of Downtown Cleveland with SW’s home in the center of it all.

Click here for a sampler of The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors, including the urban peregrine page.  Click on the photo above to order the book from Princeton University Press.

p.s. There are 10 peregrines on page 136.  Can you find them all?  Did I miss one?

(book cover photo from Princeton University Press.  Click on the image for more information and to order the book)

Come on down to the Aviary this weekend for their Falcons! event.

I’ll be there on Saturday March 9 from 10:00am to 12:30pm to answer your questions about peregrines.

Click on the image above for more information and directions.

(image from the National Aviary website)

Nesting season is coming fast.  Some raptors have already laid eggs so it’s time to start watching the nestcams for a window on the family lives of birds.

Here’s a selection of my favorites for your viewing pleasure.  In fact there so many nestcams online now that I can’t possibly list them all.

• Peregrine Falcons:
  • National Aviary falconcam at the Cathedral of Learning, University of Pittsburgh:  My all-time favorite webcam shows my favorite birds!  Above, Dorothy preens at her nest.  Watch for her first egg in late March.
  • Times Square Building, Rochester New York:  The female at this site is Beauty, Dorothy’s daughter.  If Dorothy had a computer she could watch her grandkids.
  • Terminal Tower, Cleveland, Ohio:  The female at this site was hatched in Downtown Pittsburgh.  Her name is SW.
  • Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Falconcam:  This cam rotates through several views.
  • Wilmington, Delaware:  The female at this site is often the first to lay an egg in the Mid-Atlantic.  Update: First egg, March 7!
• Bald Eagles:
  • Xcel Fort St. Vrain Eaglecam in Plattesville, Colorado:  These eagles are on eggs!
  • Alcoa, Davenport, Iowa:  They’re on eggs, too!
  • Southwest Florida Eagle Cam:  Bald eagles in Florida start breeding in late fall.  These juveniles are already as big as their parents and have brown feathers.  They’ll fly soon.
• Cornell Lab of Ornithology nestcams:
  • Start here on Cornell’s main nestcam page
  • Feeder cam in Ontario, Canada:  Not a nestcam but worth watching as you wait for other birds to lay eggs.  This cam shows northern species such as pine grosbeaks and common redpolls.

This list is just the tip of the iceberg.  If you have a favorite nestcam post it in Comments below.

(photo from the National Aviary falconcam at the University of Pittsburgh. Click on the image to watch the webcam)

p.s.  I’ll also add more of my favorites as they come online.

Want to help monitor the former Gulf Tower peregrines this spring?  Meet me downtown at 2:00pm on Sunday March 10 and I’ll show you where they live.

When the peregrines did not return to Pittsburgh’s Gulf Tower last month and when I heard very few reports of them I worried that they’d chosen yet another nest site.

I went downtown yesterday to check and am happy to report that they plan to use the same site as last year.  I found both birds nearby.

Here’s Louie perched across the street from the nest, roosting during a mini snow squall.

This smaller image is the same one, digitally zoomed and cropped.

And here’s Dori at the nest site, digitally zoomed.

My photos aren’t sharp because I don’t have a zoom lens.  If you do, you’ll get a nice portrait at this distance.  These birds are closer and easier to see than the peregrines at Pitt.

Come on Downtown on I’ll show you where to look for them.

Meet me at the Market Square Starbucks in downtown Pittsburgh (click here for map) on Sunday, March 10 at 2:00pm.  In less than an hour I can show you the ropes.

Bring binoculars or a camera.  We’ll walk 3.5 blocks to the site and do a short walking tour of other perching spots.

This event will happen rain or shine.  Dori will lay her first egg within two weeks of our visit so there’s no time to lose.

Sunday bonus: On-street parking is free in many places on Sundays.  For instance, along the Boulevard of the Allies at Point Park University.

Hope to see you March 10!

(photos by Kate St. John)

Fill your feeders and get ready!  The Great Backyard Bird Count kicks off this Friday February 15.

For four days — February 15 through February 18 — you can take part in this easy citizen science project from the comfort of your home.  All you need to do is count birds for at least 15 minutes, keep track of the highest number of each species you see, and record your count here.

If you don’t have feeders, you can count birds anywhere.  If you photograph birds, submit your pictures for the GBBC Photo Contest.

Count for hours or for as little as 15 minutes.  Have fun!

Read more here on how to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count.

(photo by Marcy Cunkelman)

This month Steve Gosser made a beautiful video of his favorite photos from 2012.  Spend just six minutes and you’ll see some of the best birds western Pennsylvania and Lake Erie shore have to offer.

Peregrine fans, Steve has included peregrines from Presque Isle and Tarentum.

(photos and video by Steve Gosser)