Iroquois and Montezuma NWR's...

I swung through the Iroquois and Montezuma NWR's again on my latest foray to conduct Northern Harrier and Short-eared Owl surveys in NY.  While both visits fell during a poor time of day, there were still some feathered friends kind enough to allow for viewing pleasure.  It was still very much spring and not yet summer, but the Tree Swallows were out and about, looking perfectly coiffed in all their sapphire glory...

 
This little guy obviously meant business and was likely to pull a Monty Python's Holy Grail-style rabbit-attack if anyone dared to not obey the sign...

Though my digi-scoping skills clearly have gone to rust, I was very excited to see my only-second-ever Caspian Tern on it's migratory pit-stop at Iroquois.  I think it may have been asking that American Wigeon for directions...

Since my last visit, Iroquois staff have been busy setting up nesting tubes for the ducks...

And the fowl, in turn, have been busy occupying them...

I finally got a photo of a militant Red-winged Blackbird (RWBL).  The word for that red-shoulder - 'epaulet', must be related somehow to the term for military uniform shoulder boards - 'epaulette', which is french for "little shoulder"...how perfect.  But I prefer to think that the RWBL's came first - inspiring military, runway, and rock-star fashions alike...

I saw more American Coots than I've ever seen in Maine and was delighted to actually hear them as well.  They made a sound I can only liken to a squeaky bicycle horn crossed with a kazoo...

Then at Montezuma there were these distant swans adorned with sassy green wing tags.  I think they were Tundras, but admit I was too hurried to bust out my scope and window mount.  The tractor trailer trucks on I-90 made for such a lovely background...

American Kestrels were seemingly everywhere and Turkey Vultures kept materializing out of nowhere...

 

Scoobs eventually tired of all the roadside birding, signaling it was time to head out...

Overall it was fun, fun, fun - and I look forward to once again stopping by these magnificent examples of habitat conservation and management during my next trip to NY.
  

Early Birds and Cat-killed Glaucomys...

Some birds have been showing up in Maine lately that we don't usually see during winter.  It's only mid-February and we've had Turkey Vultures cropping up all over the state, Northern Harriers making appearances, and warblers and woodpeckers (think Red-bellied and Red-headed) that just don't seem normal for these parts this time of year.  This isn't too surprising given the mild winter and continued reports of summer birds being spotted all over Maine (think orioles and warblers), but I'm grateful for the infusion of birds anyway...

I've spent a lot of time looking at the usual suspects this winter.  Loads of ducks, juncos, American Tree Sparrows, and sometimes just empty, birdless landscapes...

This week I was visited by some early birdies at my feeders - a Hermit Thrush showed up...providing what COULD have been a sweet berry-in-the-bill shot...if I had myself a better camera...

  

And then as if the Hermit wasn't enough, it was joined by this adorable little Pine Warbler...that I almost peripherally wrote off as an AMGO (American Goldfinch)...

These photos may be the final straw on needing a new camera.  They could have been great shots, but they're clearly sub par.  Yikes, a new camera is not really in the budget now...perhaps I can convince my sister to loan me her old one (the Florida AVICATION part I and II photos were taken with that one)...


And on a depressing note, there has been a cat lurking around my property lately.  I'm not sure if it belongs to someone or not, but if it does have an owner I really wish they'd keep it inside.  There has been a pissing incident in the garage already, and nobody likes the smell of cat urine - especially if you don't even have a cat.  Needless to say, Scoobs was not impressed.  There have been cat tracks in the snow and now the resident Glaucomys are starting to fall victim to the wanton killing of this potentially feral cat.  This little guy was found in the garage, barely consumed.  Wasted wildlife really chaps me.  I hope it leaves the birds alone, but I doubt it... 

 

But what course of action do I really have?  I could try and attach a note to the cat (if it even has a collar) to inform the owners (if it even has owners) that their cat is destructive?  Somehow I don't think that would work, I'd have to live-trap the thing and that seems like going a bit too far.  And the cat is only around at night, do people really leave their pets out all night?  If it were a strange dog pooping in a person's yard and killing their chickens I bet something would (or could) be done.  Civil suits would ensue and neighbors would become enemies!  Why are cats any different?  

And to leave you on a positive note, I'm really looking forward to seeing one of my favorite authors, Bernd Heinrich, give a talk on ravens tonight at Bowdoin.  I can savor the feel of being on a college campus again for a couple of hours - cradled by the intelligent arms of academia, all while listening to one of the most entertaining writers of the natural and biological world.  Oh, and it's FREE!  While I realize that most people get this excited only over rock concerts, nerds like myself clearly get much more fired up over informational lectures on corvid behaviors!  I'll keep you posted...