For all the moms out there... And mine too!

     Take some time today to wish a mom a happy mother's day. It can be your mom, a mother-figure in your life, someone you know who is a mom, so this one is for all the moms out there with a special shout to to my one and only!

Clapper rail with the kiddos in tow...

Common tern watching its very graceful chick stomp off with a snack it provided...

Mama wood duck keeping it together with the whole gang of ducklings...

Mama great horned owl knows best...

She might have killer talons but even mama owl has a softer side, for her future top predators.

     I thank my mom for teaching me strength, independence, to give it your all, how to succeed, share kindness, nurture others, and do it all with grace and poise (although, I question my poise...). My mom also has been 100% accepting of my love of animals and never, ever forced those norms of society on me, for which I thank her for letting me be who I am; digging up insects and making habitats for snails and fireflies helped me become who I am today. She beat the hell out of cancer while nurturing her immediate and extended family, and always held her head high through some of the hardest points in her life. My mom is my #1.
     My mom has even been tracking a bird in her life, a killdeer she named, "Birdda." Here are some of her adventures with Birdda:

Here is Birdda.
My mom called me at work and was concerned for her nest, located at her workplace parking lot. I shared how this bird and her nest is protected by federal law. She was worried about people and their pets who frequent the area.
I informed her that the best she can do is to rope off the area and keep folks out. 

She recruited workers at her job to rope off the nest.
How amazing is my mom?
She shared with me compassion for others and I am so glad to see her share that compassion with wildlife.
She updates me about Birdda, who has been doing well for the last almost 2 weeks.
I also got the chance to share with my mom how birds nest in all places from your typical sticks in a tree to a scrape on the ground. I also shared with her how birds like this don't really eat seeds or bread (ever), as she has wanted to provide her food and I shared how she will feed on insects.
My mom has asked so many great questions and is assured she is finding worms to eat.

But of course, my mom can't not provide or do something to help. So she has informed me that she has left out for Birdda a source of fresh water.
How cute is my mom?!

This is my mom's latest picture of Birdda.
She sent it yesterday.
She always checks in on her and I sure hope she is rewarded with seeing Birdda's family.
She may have anthropomorphized Birdda a little bit, but honestly, I love the connection she has to this little wild bird and how much she cares about her and her family.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers and mother figures out there, thanks for being you and sharing your best selves with those around you!

This Week in South Brooklyn

     Earlier this week I birded before work, I birded after work, and today, late in the morning in either the Salt Marsh at Marine Park or at Floyd Bennett Field.
     In all my outings I have noted that there are a ton of yellow warblers, house wrens, Carolina wrens, and a good showing, seeing at least one white-eyed vireo on each outing! The birds have been showing up and doing their thing as their settle in or fuel up and keep the journey moving. Spring is such an exciting time but there is so much FOMO when I am at work so it is always a treat to get out and take in the scenery.

Happy to see this face as I entered the Salt Marsh in the morning before work. Yellow crowned night herons always look sharp. Like they are too cool for school, and are always in style.
I was never a yellow crowned night heron, and I doubt I ever will be.

While I didn't see a heck of a lot that morning, I did see and become very familiar with the white-eyed vireo's song as I stumbled upon two of them. I also got my first magnolia warbler of the year, and checked in on the osprey family.
On my way out I said hello, and goodbye to this greater yellowlegs and headed off towards work.

After work on Wednesday I went back to the salt marsh, but wanted to take some time to explore the other side of the marsh, where there is more shrub and tree growth, which I thought could be good for warblers.

Oh yeah, there were also a lot of these guys (and gals, too) everywhere, common yellowthroats. Or as I like to call them, batman birds.

Love seeing a garden snail, or banded snail, as is their common name. Also it is common to find that they are not always banded.

I love catbirds.
A lot.
I love their personality. They can sing a sweet melody, turn on the attitude as needed, they will find you before you find them, and they make meows!

This one is not meowing or singing... it's gulping down a berry.

The female common yellow throats have this glowing presence. I love seeing them just as much as I enjoy seeing tehir batman counterpart.

The yellow warblers were out in force, singing their "sweet sweet I'm so sweet!" song. And looking so good aganst a blue sky and tender new leaves. 

An American Lady Butterfly. I am looking forward to seeing more and more pollinators as the weather warms up!

Almost walked into this yellow-crowned night heron on my way out of the salt marsh.

Today at Floyd Bennett Field, I got all the feels.
I experienced happiness, sadness, and anger.
This little round friend brought me sadness after I got a better look at him...

Birds are freakin' tough. They can mask it all until they are on their deathbed.
This little ruby-crowned kinglet is missing a chunk of it's face, or has its face smashed in a bit.
It was a little slow. I even (I admit) tried to see how close I could get, because if I could capture it, I would have sought out a rehabber. But it still knew to get away from me, but I know something faster will put an end to it's time in this world. 

I can't even imagine how this little fella got this way.

But, gosh, he is one tough nugget.

This bird made me so happy.

For a solid 7 seconds this bird came out, sat 10 feet away from me and belted out in song before another two individuals of its kind chased it off.
The white-eyed vireo is a damn cool bird.

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What in the world did I do to deserve this special moment?!

And then in the blink of an eye, he was off, continuing his song, being chased and giving chase to the other birds.

 And then, this. This hurt my heart, and made me angry....

I watched this bird swoop down to the fields, grab the bag and fly off with it. Osprey are notorious for using trash in their nests.

:(

We can do better. We need to do better.
Single use plastics suck.

Saw a different bird with proper nest material, flying off in a different direction.

Remember that tomorrow is migratory bird day and the Birdathon! Please consider supporting our Feminist Bird Club team: The Rowdy Turnstones.

We are using all the fund to help the Brooklyn Bird Club adopt some space in the Choco in Columbia that benefits our migratory birds!

My First Cape May Trip

     I've been to Cape May before. Eaten the salt water taffy, saw the cute little downtown area full of kitschy tourist shops, and even visited the zoo (it's a cute zoo!). I had never been on a birding trip to Cape May and Cape May is THE birding destination. So I was pretty stoked, to say the least.
     Birding has become such a large part of my life because it fulfills so many of the things I enjoy. This was such an amazing trip and it 100% met all my expectations. I even got a few life birds and am already excited to make a visit again.
     13 of us ventured down in a caravan of carpools, birding our way there and back. Many of us scoring life list birds, firsts of season, or firsts of the year. We celebrated together, watched in awe, laughed, and maybe even shed a few tears over how amazing some of our sights were. And the sights were oh so good...

Many of us took Friday off and began the trip down with a stop at Sandy Hook NWR. I had never been there before and it didn't disappoint. I finally saw a yellow-throated warbler that I had been furiously seeking in Prospect Park.
At one point we had two super cooperative rose-breasted grosbeak males.

One of them even posed a bit.

The forecast was in our favor in that it didn't rain, but overcast conditions made photographing bird tough so I skipped the camera for some portions of our trip.

We saw a lot of these: great crested flycatcher, which make some pretty funny noises.

We also stopped in Sea Bright for a nice rare sight, a Wilson's plover. a Life bird for many of us!

The misty, grey conditions made for really wonderful photos.

These birds don't too much venture past that Del-Mar-Va area, so seeing them in the middle of New Jersey was a treat!

We drove down to Cape May and made it at later in the evening. Giving us some time to explore the preserve down the road from our rental house.
The next morning we awoke, bright and early, at 5:15 AM to go down to the Higbee Beach Area. We had plentiful birds of blue hues, mainly indigo buntings but also (seen here) blue grosbeak.

We saw a lot of these. everywhere. osprey. so. much. osprey.

At Higbee Beach we were graced by the presence of a few living fossils: horseshoe crabs.

A male and female doing the deed. The thing that helps many a shore bird complete their migration northward.

We were also delighted to see dolphins out in the bay.

Later in the day, we all went to Cape May Meadows which also didn't disappoint. We were greeted by Purple Martin which were for quite a number of us a life bird.

Also, a treat, a close look at a killdeer parent on the nest.

A boardwalk took you through the marsh where we viewed familiar waders like great egret.

Also lots of these noisemakers... red-winged blackbirds.

A fun mammal sighting: Muskrat!

Then we watched this Osprey seek out its inner duck as it bathed.
American wigeon and gadwall watched on, perhaps they even admired.

We were ready to cheer on this pair of Foster's Terns...

And it was like, there they...

Stand,
They're standing. 

Still standing.

Least tern watches them.
As they stand.

And they stood just a little longer.
And then it was over.
The standing ended.

And all while that stand occurred we got a Bonaparte's gull and for many of us, our lifer whimbrel flew overhead.

At the beach we found this loaf of birb.

This great loaf of birb is the American Oystercatcher.

I love that the terns are trudging north. Especially these mighty little nuggets, the least tern.

A Northern redbelly cooter with its smaller painted turtle friends. 

A tree swallow claims a nest box as its own.

I kinda like the female purple martins better than the males...

They have very frogmouth-like faces when looked at head-on.

My favorite thing that birding has become is a way to make friends. You know you are in good company when you are all fawning over a killdeer, cheering on a friend as they get their lifer purple martin, or trying to help other friends, who are just getting their birding career started, break that 200 species mark on their life list. This has been the most rewarding aspect of birding, meeting some pretty kick ass human beings.

We on Saturday also went to the Cape May Lighthouse and looked at birds there too. From the Hawk Watch platform, I watched this robin with a mouthful of fresh ground spaghetti.

On some of the trails, a freshly fledged mourning dove followed its parent around the low branches.

A beautiful female blue grosbeak snacks on some tender spring leaves.

I like how she has these little hints of that cobalt blue under that honey brown plumage.

Oh hai.

Don't be fooled. This floofer is a top predator,
Don't mess.

Green frog.
...that's the species. Green frog.

A shimmering tree swallow. The only time the sun was fully out on our trip.

So shiny.

A little less shiny and a little more awkward, a Northern rough-winged swallow.

With those big doe eyes and that tawny coat, it's still damn cute. I have never had the chance to enjoy one so still at eye level.

A Forster's tern hovers to try and get a good look at prey before making a dive into the water.

Speaking of cute birds, field sparrow.

This is 100% a cute bird.
I love cute birds.

AND THEN.

A CAPE MAY WARBLER.

IN. CAPE. MAY.

This species was first discovered in Cape May. But it really doesn't spend too much time here, nor is it super common here. It simply just passes through as it moves towards either its breeding grounds to the north or its winter retreat in southern climes.

I've seen Cape May warblers before. But seeing this bird, flit around in this beach plum in full bloom, with our entire crew. This was absolute perfection. A perfect moment. A memorable moment.

Thanks, little buddy!

On our way home, we stopped at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR. We saw seaside sparrow (lifer), got some gull billed terns (lifer),  caspian tern (lifer), SAW a clapper rail, great gatherings of black skimmer, a single red knot and then these interesting Canada geese showing some leucism around their faces.
I call them panda geese.

This trip was amazing and I'm glad I got to share it with some pretty great people. I had never been on a bird trip with other bird folks and this was just a shit ton of fun. The weather was in our favor and so were the birds!

So, since the fun never ends, a few of us are raising money on Saturday by way of the Brooklyn Bird Club's Birdathon. We put together a Feminist Bird Club team and we are raising funds to Save the Choco, a region that runs from Panama, through Columbia and into Ecuador. It is a place where many of the birds that we hope to see (like warblers, tanagers, and others) spend the winter among many tropical species in this biodiversity hotspot. Please consider supporting our team... and more importantly, the Choco Region by donating on behalf of our team, The Rowdy Turnstones, here: https://forms.gle/7y8aRZpzkpvWouHW7