Archives April 2015

I have been watching for a purple finch all winter.

This chunky little bird is about the size of a sparrow and brightly colored. I was very exciting to see a pair of them this afternoon.



A member of the finch family, the scientific name is Haemorhous purpureus.

This little guy is a year round resident of our Northern NY. They seem a little more rare than the house finches or redpoll we get around the property. Some of them migrate South from Canada.

This batch may be headed back north and stopped by for a meal.

They were hitting the black oil sunflower seeds and loitering in the lilacs.

We will keep our eyes peeled and ears open for this one.

Learn more about the purple finch at Cornell University

This pair of Mourning Doves had been hanging around all day in the lilacs.

I have heard these called Turtle Doves or Rain Doves but we usually refer to them as just Doves.

When they take flight their wings make a whistling swoopy sound and clicks. Other than that they make a cooing sound. They are not very timid and if careful, one can often walk right up to them.

They remind me of the pigeons I used to keep when I was young except the doves seem to be a bit smaller.

We see them feeding on the ground around the station picking up millet spilled by other birds. I personally have never seen one in a feeder. We were going to remove the millet from the feeder but it seems like the doves eat it on the ground so I don’t think it will hurt anything to continue with the seed. I think the sparrows eat millet and small seed too.

This pair has been around for about a week and I wonder if they are looking for a place for a nest. I think I will keep an eye on them. I hope they will not choose one of the soft maple tree we have tagged for removal.

From what I have learned Mourning Doves are monogamous so maybe this pair will treat us to some little ones.

Today we were headed to Oswego to photograph a lighthouse while there was still ice in the harbor but as it happens all too often we were visiting and the time flew by so we decided to postpone this particular adventure until we had more time and a better list of things to do.

Instead we headed down to Pillar Point to see if there was any ice piling up, as it does from time to time. No dice, no ice. At least the accumulation we were hoping to see.

However… we did see some water birds. They were a ways off and smallish so I pulled out the longest lens and took a few shots. Close up examination on a small camera screen is sometimes near impossible, especially when the subjects are so far away.

When we arrived home and pulled the files up on a bigger screen we confirmed they were goldeneye ducks.
It’s easy to tell why they earned that name. The eyes are brilliant yellow gold. The white cheek helps to identify them from a distance.

Even though they were quite a ways off we had fun watching them dive under the ice and appear in an other hole. This is about as close as we could get and the sun was not optimum but there will be more chances.



On a side note, these guys were really hustling and this is a hand held panning shot and fairly tight crop at that using my new 80-300 Nikon lens. I am beginning to like this lens and feel like it is a good addition to my bag.

Late this evening and early this morning a soft sticky snow fell, covering the branches and feeders. This is not unusual for this part of the country as we are liable to get snow on the 4th of July.
That said, after a particularly cold and brutal winter we are looking forward to spring weather.

The birds were busy at the feeders tanking up as the temperatures were hovering around 30 degrees F. The Downy Woodpeckers spend time at the suet feeder. Phyllis makes a cake with rendered beef suet and peanut butter the birds seem to like, especially the woodpeckers.

Female Downy Woodpeckers are about 8 inches from tip to tail and a little bit smaller than the male. The female does not have the red patch on the back of the head.
Both the male and female are timid compared to a chickadee, who will sit close by on a branch and scold us until a fresh supply of black oil sunflower seeds is delivered.

We have observed the Female Downy Woodpecker taking smaller seed but they seem to like the suet feeders best and I know they go for bugs in the wild. This time of year there are not as many bugs readily available and the suet is easy.