Backyard Big Year

Eastern Towhee (Code 1)  7 April 2015

Hunterdon County: Fairly common breeding resident, uncommon winter resident in woodlands and forests across the county.

Yard: Uncommon though regularly seen in my yard.  2015 FOY was a male singing and foraging on the sparrow slick by the side yard.

Audio:  7 April 2015

Hooded Merganser (Code 3)  6 April 2015

Hunterdon County: Locally fairly common winter resident and migrant on reservoirs and scattered ponds and lakes.  Most easily seen during winter at Demott Pond just west of Clinton.

Yard: All time yard firsts and 2015 Yard FOYs were 3 female birds seen from the yard, foraging and resting on the neighbor’s pond on Old Farm Rd.

Herons and other birds are starting to move at night, and I’m picking up some interesting squawks on my OldBird21c microphone recording overnight.  Some are probably identifiable.  Others may be too distant or poorly recorded.  At any rate, I’m going to post some here for our enjoyment and discussion.  Any thoughts about the ID of any of these, I’m all ears 🙂

7 April 2015

12:36am

1:50am

2:40am–short and very low, similar to American Bittern flight calls.

5:20am–close together, presumably same bird going over.

Each month Team eBird issues a challenge.  In March, the challenge was to submit 20 complete eBird checklists recording at least one species of waterfowl.  I have been trying to fulfill each eBird challenge for the past six months or so, and really wanted to fulfill this one at home as part of the Backyard Big Year.  But with no water on the property, and most of the water in the county frozen over, it seemed like it would be a real challenge.

But, with a lot of perseverance and my trusty Kowa 883 scope helping me see off in the distance, I was able to record over 30 checklists listing 12 different waterfowl species–

Several of these birds were new for the yard. It was a lot of fun looking for waterfowl without water, learning when they might be flying, and putting myself where I could hopefully see them.  Also frustrating to have such limited viewing to the north towards the Mulhockaway Creek valley and Spruce Run Reservoir.  Many times I had only quick looks at distant ducks in fading light.  It killed me to have to just list them as duck sp. but that’s what I had to do on at least 10 checklists!

So it was a lot of fun, and I’m already working on the April 2015 eBirder of the Month challenge–report 20 complete checklists that include at least one Bird of Prey.  Since I’ve got vultures flying around the neighborhood every day, that one should be pretty easy, but it will be fun to see how many species I can pick up–and it gives me an excuse to do more scanning in the afternoons when the hawks are flying.

BTW, I also completed the February 2015 challenge of 20 checklists from my local patch (Union Township–including my yard, of course!) and the January 2015 challenge of 50 complete checklists during the month.  We’ll have to see how many of the monthly challenges I can complete from my yard this year!

2015 Yard FOY Chipping Sparrow, at seed under the feeders on the patio.

In case there was any question, spring is in the air.  Today brought 5 new birds for the year–first a Savannah Sparrow picked up calling overhead in passage by my OldBird21c microphone overnight.  This morning a Field Sparrow was singing, and 2 Double-crested Cormorants flew past the yard (scope views, very distant to the north).  A Belted Kingfisher also flew by, and last but not least the first Chipping Sparrow of the year showed up under the feeders.

Singing Field Sparrow–

Plenty of birds were moving overnight.  In addition to the Savannah Sparrow, my microphone caught several Great Blue Herons moving overhead, as well as Canada Geese, a couple of Killdeer, and a Chipping Sparrow.

Calling gull (presumably Ring-billed) and Great Blue Heron, captured by OldBird21c microphone overnight–

Fox Sparrow, new for the year list this month. At least one single bird seen daily for the last half of the month, and up to 3 seen on 31 March was a new yard high count.

March came in like a lion, with above average cold temperatures and all the standing water in the county frozen over.  It went out with another small snowstorm overnight on the 31st.  So a challenging month, but one that steadily saw improving birding conditions and some of the first spring migrant arrivals.

After a very tough February, I was happy to add 20 new birds for the year:

1. Merlin (2 Mar 2:30pm)
2. Purple Finch (5 March 8:40am)
3. Common Redpoll (5 March 1:31pm)
4. Red-winged Blackbird (10 March 9:25am)
5. Rock Pigeon (13 March 8:10am)
6. Ring-necked Duck (13 March 8:40am)
7. Fish Crow (16 March)
8. Killdeer (17 March)
9. Rusty Blackbird (17 March)
10. Green-winged Teal (17 March)
11. Fox Sparrow (17 March)
12. Great Blue Heron (17 March)
13. American Woodcock (19 March)
14. Wood Duck (23 March)
15. Tundra Swan (25 March, 10:00am)
16. Eastern Phoebe (26 March)
17. American Wigeon (28 March)
18. Northern Pintail (28 March)
19. Mute Swan (30 March)
20. Tree Swallow (31 March)

This brings my to the following totals:

Total Species: 70
Photo Species: 44
Audio Species: 33

On eBird, my yard currently ranks 4th in NJ for the year (highest total outside of Cape May County) and 53rd for United States.

Highlights were finally getting some more migrant waterfowl, most seen through the trees and distant to the north from my patio, or distantly to north from my 15 foot Delta Tripod stand in the front yard.  Unfortunately I had to move the tripod stand from its best vantage point because it was too close to my neighbor’s yard and was too creepy for me to be up there with my big optics whenever they came out into the yard!  So I’m struggling to see to the north, but still managed to see both Tundra and Mute Swans–new yard birds, as well as new yard birds American Wigeon and Northern Pintail.

Common Redpoll lured into the yard during a snowstorm with a recording of a feeding redpoll flock.

Another highlight was my experiment with audio social attraction during a snowstorm, when I was able to lure in a Common Redpoll to my feeders by playing a recording of a feeding redpoll flock!

I still have a lot of audio to go through from both daytime and nighttime recordings with my OldBird21c microphone, and know I have additional audio species to save files on and report on (Brown-headed Cowbird, anyone?).  Another highlight of the month was after three years of being strapped to a chair in my yard, I finally built a stand for my OldBird21c microphone to live on!

Nocturnal migration has been slow so far, with a few ducks and geese going over, but this month things should really start picking up and I should start seeing the benefits of a machine-assisted big year.  Hopefully I’ll pick up some really tough to find local migrants such as Virginia Rail and American Bittern.  Migration is picking up, so April should be a great month with lots of new species!

Finally, here are some American Woodcock recordings–its been fun to hear these most mornings and some evenings in my yard the last half of March.

Mallard (Code 3)

Area: Common migrant and winter resident.

Yard: Uncommon flyover, occasionally landing in neighbor’s pond on Old Farm Rd.

Audio:  Flyover bird 24 March 2015.

Killdeer (Code 3)  17 March 2015

Area: Locally fairly common breeding bird near reservoirs, and common to abundant migrant on fields.  Rare winter visitor.

Yard: Rarely detected.

Audio: Bird recorded pre-dawn, presumably in flight, 17 March 2015.

Fox Sparrow (with White-throated Sparrows) 17 March 2015

Fox Sparrow (Code 3)  17 March 2015

Area: Uncommon migrant and rare wintering bird.

Yard: Uncommon migrant, usually early spring.

Observations: 2015 Yard FOY 17 March, seen several more days–usually on sparrow slick near compost and spruce tree.

Audio:  Bird singing 9:55am on 27 March.

Area: Uncommon to fairly common resident, rarely observed except during spring when birds display at dawn and dusk.

Yard: Uncommon but annual the last three years during late March, displaying in yard before dawn.

Audio:  19 March 2015, 6:24am

Peen calls and display flight whirr.

Spectrogram of original peent note in the sequence.

20 March 2015, 6:25am–display flight