PHOTO |
NAME |
DATE |
COMMENTS |
# |
|
European
Starling |
02/27/06 |
Seen in the parking lot of Golden Corral, scavenging
right
next to my car. Bright sunlight called out the irridescence
on
its body, and I thought I might be seeing a rare species. But
as
a neophyte, I didn't know what was common versus what was not, so I
just paid close attention to it and then looked it up later, with
Nancy's help. This was my first solo bird identification; now
I
see them all the time! NOT SEEN TOGETHER WITH NANCY at first,
but additional specimens have been shared. |
1 |
|
Bald
Eagle |
01/21/06 |
I still haven't seen one this close-up, but nancy and I
did
see a family of them out at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois,
nesting out on Plum Island which is a preserve. I attempted
photos with my basic wide-angle lens, thinking that I might be able to
enlarge them later on the computer, but even at the highest resolution
the birds are too small to see clearly. |
2 |
|
Great
Blue Heron |
01/21/06 |
Seen on Plum Island, a group of about a dozen sat on
the
strand; I needed Nancy's help to spot them at first. This is
another species I would like to see up close someday. At the
end
of May, I did see another one of these fellas chilling in a pond, but
again from far off. |
3 |
|
American
Robin |
03/23/06 |
I knew the robin from my youth; it is a common enough
bird,
and I recognized it readily. Still, it must get added to the
life
list at some point, right? |
4 |
|
Brown-Headed
Cowbird |
04/01/06 |
While driving around Cincinnati, looking at houses for
sale
with Nancy, we chanced upon a group of these distinctive yet common
birds, foraging on the ground. |
5 |
|
Killdeer |
03/31/06 |
On a visit to the Creation Museum in Petersburg,
Kentucky (an
open-house sort of thing, prior to their scheduled opening in 2007),
Nancy spotted on of these as it swooped in to land in front of the
parking lot. Its black "necklaces" were easy to see, and
Nancy
had been looking for it after hearing its call. |
6 |
|
Northern
Cardinal |
04/02/06 |
On a magical day in Mount Airy Forest in Cincinnati,
Nancy
and I began our big day together by stopping at a little gazebo by a
lake, and in amongst the trees we saw a few birds. I believe
the
cardinal was one of the first ones we saw that day. |
7 |
|
Mallard |
04/02/06 |
Waddling up out of the lake that day were a single
male,
handsomely bedecked as you see, and two females in their drab browns.
I told Nancy that I liked that example, two females per one
male,
and she laughed and did not hold it against me. Because I was
kidding. I really was. |
8 |
|
Red-Winged
Blackbird |
04/02/06 |
For quite some time, it had been Nancy's primary agenda
to
show me one of these distinctive birds. She had heard one out
at
the Creation Museum, but we were unable to find it in the trees.
Walking uphill through Mt. Airy forest, Nancy picked out its
call
again, and I trained my ears to it. He kept calling out, and
it
became difficult for us to figure out which tree he was in.
Finally, I thought to myself that if the direction is
unclear,
then maybe he might be right above us, and craned my neck.
Sure
enough, there he was; a look through the binoculars confirmed it, as
his red and yellow flanks caught the sun just enough, looking up from
below him. Mission accomplished! |
9 |
|
Brown
Thrasher |
04/02/06 |
Further into Mt. Airy forest, we found two of these
birds
chasing each other in flight, and darting from branch to branch in
close pursuit, with some impressive acrobatics. |
10 |
|
Eastern
Towhee |
04/02/06 |
After seeing some woodpeckers and a lot of deer, we
came
across a Towhee hopping on the ground; after Nancy pointed him out to
me, he leaped into flight and I saw the white on his wings.
Before I even considered birding, I might have taken this one
for
a Robin, but with the training I am getting I can see the differences
much more readily now. |
11 |
|
Tufted
Titmouse |
04/02/06 |
This little guy sat in a tree very close to us,
whistling out
in monotone calls of 5 or 6 beats, waiting patiently fo rus to find him
and then staying put while we each took long discerning looks at him.
My view was very similar to the photograph shown, though with
a
few more branches in the way, but he was even facing the same way. |
12 |
|
Pileated
Woodpecker |
04/02/06 |
As if God wanted to place a stamp of approval on our
day in
the woods, He sent this fine large bird on ahead of us as we were
leaving, its dark black body a column of smoke to show us the way in
the fading daylight, its bright red head a pillar of fire to guide us
into the coming dark. The bird flew low and kept ahead of us
enough that identification was at first frustrating, but then he
finally cut across to our left and couched himself on a log, showing us
his broad wingspan and the white bars across his wings. Nancy
had
never before seen one of these, and so it was a special treat to see
her excitement. |
13 |
|
House
Sparrow, Female |
04/10/06 |
From a third floor window at work, I saw a drab brown
bird
land in the tree outside and then jostle around for a comfortable
perch, bouncing on unstable branches. I studied it as best I
could, knowing that as an all-brown bird it may be difficult to
identify. Many species have females which lack the brilliant
plumage, so that they stay camouflaged while nesting. In this
case, it was more the body size and proportions which told me that it
was a sparrow. NOT SEEN TOGETHER WITH NANCY. |
14 |
|
House
Finch |
04/11/06 |
Again from the third floor at work, I saw this male
bird land
briefly on the fire escape just outside the kitchen window, and he
stayed there just long enough for me to note the red-orange head and
chest (more orange than this photo, which is a natural variation for
the species) and the overall finch proportions, especially the beak.
NOT SEEN TOGETHER WITH NANCY. |
15 |
|
Yellow-Breasted
Chat |
__/__/06 |
Seen perched on the eave of my neighbor's roof, from
the
third floor window, at first I thought I was seeing an anomolous robin
with a yellow chest. He sat there for a good long time,
letting
his image sear into my brain, and then it became a quest to identify
him. NOT SEEN TOGETHER WITH NANCY. |
16 |
|
Northern
Mockingbird |
__/__/06 |
From another third floor window, this time at work, I
saw
this one land on the phone wire outside and knew I had something new.
The grey and black body features were noted, but then when he
flew off I saw the telltale flash of white on the wings. NOT SEEN
TOGETHER WITH NANCY. |
17 |
|
Yellow
Warbler |
05/27/06 |
One of many seen on a stroll through Wooded Island in
Chicago, near the Museum of Science and Industry. May be the
first time I have been within walking distance of this museum and not
gone inside. |
18 |
|
American
Crow |
05/27/06 |
This was actually the first bird encountered at Wooded
Island, but there was a better grouping of them later on, cawing
together in the branches of a couple trees |
19 |
|
Cedar
Waxwing |
05/27/06 |
Actually some of these were seen previously at the
Morton
Arboretum, but at Wooded Island I was able to see them much closer and
even took a few photos. |
20 |
|
Barn
Swallow |
05/27/06 |
As we crossed a bridge on our way into the park, we
stopped
to watch numerous swallows flit and dive and put on an acrobatic show. |
21 |
|
Caspian
Tern |
05/27/06 |
Also seen from the bridge was a Caspian Tern, who flew
directly overhead so that we could see his deeply red-orange bill. |
22 |
|
Tennessee
Warbler |
05/27/06 |
We had to lie flat on our back, on an uncomfortable
log, and
look way up into a tree to see this guy hopping around. Not
being
able to see his topside made identification tricky, but because he kept
moving we eventually felt confident. |
23 |
|
Baltimore
Oriole |
05/27/06 |
Seen on multiple occasions while visiting Wooded
Island.
His yellow-orange plumage seemed to change color as the sun
dropped in the sky, and so I got excited when I found something that
looked orange-red. Nancy let me knnow that it was just
another
Oriole. |
24 |
|
Gray
Catbird |
05/27/06 |
While resting on the log where we watched the Tennessee
Warbler, we spotted a Catbird over to our right. He stayed
long
enough for me to attempt a photograph, but without a decent zoom the
shot didn't turn out to be very useful. |
25 |
|
Ring-Billed
Gull |
05/27/06 |
Several gulls were in the area, and we saw them several
times. |
26 |
|
Eastern
Kingbird |
05/27/06 |
Two were spotted perched in the branches of a fallen
tree,
the lack of leaves affording a rather good view through the binoculars. |
27 |
|
Black-Crowned
Night Heron |
05/27/06 |
It had been Nancy's stated purpose to find for me a
Night
Heron, but as the day wore on our hopes were fading. Then, as
we
were examining a small island, a big tawny bird came in to land on the
far side of a tree. Not having a view, but convinced it was a
Night Heron, we scrambled around to find a better vantage - and sure
enough, there he was, sitting still on the branch where we saw him land. |
28 |
|
Green
Heron |
05/27/06 |
One heron is not enough for my Nancy, so now the goal
became
a Green Heron. We used the remaining daylight to scan the
banks
of islands opposite our path for one. Finally, she spotted
one,
who was just sitting still among the reeds. |
29 |
|
Common
Grackle |
05/29/06 |
We went swimming on Monday, and while sitting under a
shelter, I saw a dark-colored bird hopping around the perimeter of the
pavilion. I knew its indigo head set it apart, and as soon as
Nancy told me the name I remembered it, having considered it when I
first tried to identify the Starling, my first bird. |
30 |
|
Chipping
Sparrow |
06/11/06 |
To mark the shortest ever visit between myself and
Nancy, one of these redheaded chippers bounded through the top of a
nearby bush as we both watched, there in the parking lot of the Steak
& Shake where we had shared a meal and just one hour of
togetherness. We had each driven halfway, in order to give a
friend a ride up to Chicago. |
31 |
|
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