Saturday Wild Goose Chase - Part Three: Allen's Hummingbird

Our friends Adrian and Debbie are (were*) hosts to a hummingbird that is not often found in these parts. To say nothing about the fact that hummingbirds aren't usually around here during winter at all.

An Allen's Hummingbird. A species normally found in the Western United States. And certainly not outside Philadelphia. But being birders, they left their hummingbird feeder out on the off chance that the start migrant would appear. And so it did.

Did I mention that Adrian and Debbie live a mile or two from where the Tundra Bean Goose was trying to blend in with all those Canada geese? (Does this count as a mention?)

Adrian is a tour leader for Wildside Nature Tours (highly recommended) with whom we've gone on several wonderful trips.

And while this was not a life bird for either Patty nor I, it was for Terry. And when one 'badass birder' gets a lifer we all celebrate. 

This was the end of our birding adventures for the day (sorry no part four). And since we were in the area (relatively speaking) we visited Patty's brother and then sister and delivered (and received!) Christmas presents. Doing our part to keep Santa in Christmas.

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* The hummingbird was not seen on Sunday, nor has it been seen since. We all hope it is ok. As far as I know the owl is still around.

Saturday Wild Goose Chase - Part 2: Tundra Bean Goose

One of these things is not like the others ...

Yeah, that one in the middle, with the orange legs.

A Tundra Bean Goose. A mega-rarity in these parts. THE wild goose that prompted the chase.

A life bird for me, Patty, Terry (more later), and pretty much everyone else who saw it.

Here is the eBird range map, zoom in to see where we saw it (hint, it is near Philadelphia).

🦆  🦆  🦆  🦆  🦆

Our friend Terry is another of these so called "Badass Birders of Burlington County" and apparently the only one 'badass' enough to brave the wilds of greater Philadelphia, although she need to have her non-birder husband drive her across the river. But I digress ...

As Patty and I were driving back from seeing the Snowy Owl at Brig, and looking forward to a nice breakfast and a relaxing afternoon after waking up way too early, Terry called Patty. "Want to chase the Goose?", she asked. A conundrum, as Patty wanted to go on Thursday. Patty had a plan. Get the goose and deliver xmas presents to her siblings. 

What to do? 

Well this whole post is a spoiler alert now isn't it?

Good thing we went, as the goose appears to have left the area.

And of course there was that hummingbird ... (foreshadowing ...) ...

Another Cat Visits the Deer ...

... this time it is our cat Max, who somehow escaped from his leash.

As with the other cat, Max was not all that interested in the deer. Just exhibiting that well known feline curiosity it seems.

Also note the deer is covered in snow. It has been very cold of here of late. This is no doubt dampening any decomposition, and thus any odors, which in turn explains the lack of interest by the local wildlife. As it warms up over the next few days I'm sure that will change.

And we'll watching.

Stay tuned.

Snowpie Visits Too!

As noted in the previous post, this is the third time we've set out a roadkill deer to attract wildlife to our yard. And just as with previous deer, Virginia Opossums have visited the deer. 

It is not clear that the Oppies are eating any of the deer meat, but they are opportunistic eaters, so it is quite possible that they are.

But this one did not. And the deer remains untouched.

For now ...

Saturday Wild Goose Chase - Part One: Snowy Owl

Our friend Pam put out the call, "Snowy Owl at Brig, who's in?".

Patty and I were in.

We woke up way too early, dressed very warmly (it was 19° F when we left), and headed off to meet Pam at the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.

Yay for us the entry fee was waved! 

Deer hunting was underway, and not all of the refuge was open.

Boo for us.

But it turned out to be enough, although for a while we weren't so sure.

There were actually two Snowy Owls at the refuge, although we only saw this one.

But one was good enough.

And we did see some wild geese, Snow Geese,  ...

... but these were not the one we would be chasing ...

🦉  🦉  🦉  🦉  🦉

Pam, and Patty, (but not me) are members of the "Badass Birders of Burlington County". And other than Pam and Patty (and me) none of those birders were badass enough to brave the cold and get the owl.

Our plan, Patty and I that is, was to go to Brig, get the owl, and return to spend a relaxing Sunday at home. Nope. As another of those so called 'badass birders' would call Patty as we were driving home. But that's a story for another post. 

You probably knew that from the "Part One" in the title.

Am I right?

Snowppie!

It actually snowed a bit a week ago. And even more surprisingly it stuck. More snow than I think we got all last winter. We had expected snow, and then rain to wash it away. And while it did rain, and heavily at times, the snow lasted the week. Although now it is pretty much gone. And with more rain forecast for Christmas Eve and Day it won't be a white Christmas for us.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

But it did make for some nice scenery that night.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

And some nice photo opps for one of our resident Virginia Opossums.

Soaring Over the Yard, Critter

While we have had this critter as a Yard Bird* for a couple of years now,  they have all been flyovers. This is the first time they've hung around long enough that I could go inside, get a camera, get back outside, and get some pictures.

And while these aren't great images, 'blog-worthy' at best, they do document that this critter was here.

The Common Raven.

Common Ravens are not all that common around here, but numbers do appear to be increasing. I first saw them in our area back when I was doing Grassland Bird Surveys for NJ Audubon at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station, just a bit north of Piney Place. And two years ago there were over twenty at Whitesbog, which is between here and the Air Station.

Noted scavengers, I wonder if they where interested in the deer? If so, they seem to have quickly lost interest, as the deer continues to lie undisturbed.

🐦  🐦  🐦  🐦  🐦

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

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* "Yard Bird" is a term birders use to describe birds seen or heard in or from their yard. So far, our yard list here at Piney Place is 135 species, 112 of which have visited this year, four for the first time. We first saw Common Ravens here in January 2018.

Stalking ....

 ... the dead deer.

The reason we have a dead deer in our parking area is to attract wildlife. Extreme critter feeding if you will. It all started with Patty noticing a Bald Eagle in a tree above a roadkill deer, in the road in front of our house, and her desire to get an Eagle in our yard (and get pictures!).

And while we've yet to get an Eagle, we have had Turkey and  Black Vultures, Red-tailed Hawks, Foxen, and other critters visit our dead deer.

And the first critter to visit this deer is ...

... a cat.

One we've seen before in the yard, at the back bubbler.

Note the white boots. 

Here it is stalking the deer.

But in the end it was not interested. And while there were some vultures in the trees above earlier in the day, so far the deer carcass has not been disturbed. Much to our disappointment.

It's Just What She Wanted

Our neighbor, the one with the Christmas Jersey Devil, gave Patty and I a Christmas present yesterday. One that Patty just loved.

Yep, he gave us a dead deer. Patty has a thing for dead deer.  (This is actually her third one.)

Just a little bit creepy if you ask me ...

🦌  🎅🏻  🦌  🦌  🦌  🎅🏻  🦌

The house across the street from us was flipped early this year and the fellow that bought it came over to introduce himself one evening. And said absolutely nothing about the dead deer in the parking area. And to our surprise he came back, along with his wife. And we explained the dead deer thing.

And Monday evening his truck pulled into the parking area. With a dead deer in the bed. Seems he had hit it on the way home and immediately thought of us. 

Yep, we're those weird people across the street that collect dead deer.

And thus a thoughtful, if rather unusual, Christmas gift.

Welcome Back

It has been quite a while since we've had a Red-shouldered Hawk has visit the yard.

Or at least since we've seen one. Although we have heard them. 

Or Bluejays doing impersonations ...

And it, or ones very similar, has frequently been in the yard of late.

And there is certainly plenty of prey in the yard* to keep it coming back.

And it is certainly welcome

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* Prey posts forthcoming. Stay tuned ...

Creepy

 Another "Winter is Coming" bird has arrived in our yard.

Although it can be difficult to spot.

A Brown Creeper.

We see these birds every winter. But unless we are paying close attention they are hard to miss.

Although having them right outside the the living room makes it a bit easier.

Puffy Chickadee

It has been chilly around these parts of late. And I noticed this unusually large Chickadee at the bird bath.

It appeared to me to be much larger than the other Chickadees in the yard, like the one on the remains of the Pokeberry below.

Was is puffed up because it was just cold? Was it on some type of bird steroids? Was it just a big bird?

I don't know. And I've not seen it since.

A fun mystery.

Yard Critter of the Season

 The Jersey Devil, Christmas style.

Ok, so technically, this critter was in our neighbor's yard, across the street, and not in our yard.

But we can see it from our yard. So that counts! (My blog, my rules!)

So let's all join the Devil and have a drink to celebrate the end of 2020, and the hope that comes with a new year. 

👹  👹  👹

You can find all of the Yard Critter posts listed here.

Oppie

 It is not just Flying Squirrels that like the peanut butter.

Virginia Opossums do too.

This one was already waiting for the peanut butter when I went out to the feeders. And it played 'possum', barely moving while I put the peanut butter on the feeder and took this, and three other, pictures.

Alas, when I moved away so did Oppie, obviously scared of the big beast in the feeding area. It, or one very like it, came back and enjoyed the peanut butter. And all was good.

Looking for Lunch

 Before:

After:

There was a lull in the Siskin Storm and this young Cooper's hawk was the reason.

It seemed surprised, where'd they all go, as it was looking all over for them.

It had to be thinking, there were so many, I'm bound to get at least one.

But it was not to be.

It did not find any. And as far as I could tell, despite visiting several feeders, it flew off still hungry.

But as I noted in the Siskin Storm post, the Siskin numbers are way down ...

Wildlife at the Door

The other morning I wake up, wander into the living room, and see this:

Turkeys on the doorstep. 

And then I go and open the front door, to let more light in, and who's there?

Mr. Squirrel.

No, you can't come in. None of you.

Siskin Storm

Some days and posts ago, I wrote about Pine Siskins. Recall this line in particular: 

Some years, as this year appears to be, we get these in large numbers ...

Did we ever.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

While sitting at her desk on the last Sunday in October, Patty spotted a small flock eating seeds in our garden.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

Look closely at the above image. I see at least eight Siskin. 

We would have over twelve times as many this day.

Above are a few more eating seeds in another one of our gardens. I count seven.

And just above the previous image, which I had taken when putting out more birdseed on the platform feeder shown here, we have a bit of a crowd. Forty plus Pine Siskin. 

Those keeping score at home (or wherever you may be reading this) know we are over fifty Siskin so far.

This shot, out our living room windows, has over fifty more Siskin. You'll need to bigafy to see them, and even then it is tough as they blend in with the leaf litter. The post for the platform feeder shown in the previous image can be seen at the upper left edge of this image.

Another view of the birds out my living room window. There are over fifty Siskin in this image.

Another twenty plus bird on the top step immediately outside the living room. 

They were everywhere ...

Crazy.

Since the 'storm' we averaged forty to fifty Siskin daily for close to two weeks. And now we are down to maybe ten a day. It seems our yard was just a rest stop. A stopover on their migration further south. As can be seen from this linked range map, they spend the winer in much of the lower forty-eight and in to Mexico.

Crazy.