I cannot remember when I wasn’t interested in birds, my parents were not the least bit interested. When I was about 12 my father would drive my sister and I to the beaches just to enjoy the ride. I remember him telling us that Terns were baby Seagulls. I didn’t have any thing to go by but I knew that terns didn’t come from Gulls, “Give me a break”. I got my first bird book on Christmas 1947. I remember I was really thrilled with that book. However it was sure a let down when you tried to use it. The name of the book was the Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Birds by Leon Augustus Hausman P.H.D. This book even for the time was not for anyone starting birding. It had 540 pages of the poorest black & yellowish pictures all hand drawn. If you didn’t know what the bird already was you sure didn’t know after you looked for it in that book.
Everyone knows what a Red Wing Blackbird looks like “ Right” I thought for sure there was no doubt in my mind. However this book had all sixteen sub species all with 16 black and white Drawings all looks the same I probably could have picked out a more exotic Name for the Red wings I saw like the Rio Grande Redwing or one of the other 16.
One funny part I kind of liked was there description of a black bird. It goes like this….the bill is always stout, and sharp, sometimes short or long, but never longer then the head, the tail is not longer than the wing And is usually rounded or squareish at its tip not forked and has 12 feathers In general the bird is black or blackish which ever is prominent the voice is usually rich and full or harsh and guttural. What other description could you ever need?
We have come a long way with field guides for birds, especially, you
should have one real good guide if you do any birding at all. Two is better I Find sometimes you get a better feeling if 2 books compare exactly then you’re sure its right.. I have 5 bird guides all the best ones any way but I found you never need that many. I keep about 15 other guides Trees, Wild flowers Butterflies, Moths, etc. I find the Stokes Nature Guides as The best books for any advanced reading on Bird behavior, wild flowers, Insect lives, animal tracks, etc. The guide to Winter is what I am reading now. I read it once a year.
Now that I have difficulty getting out I built a feeder on the end of our deck
The end of our deck just about reaches our kitchen window now I have 4 Feeders all together about 8 ft I covered them with hemlock and spruce Boughs The birds seem to enjoy it I have one squirrel proof feeder. The only one that works, I have a covered feeder on top of a 8 ft pole about 2 feet beneath the feeder is a (Beer Ball). Finally have the squirrels stumped. They just can’t get around that slippery ball. I Always make sure they have one store bought feeder a year to destroy for about$ 15 a year it keeps them busy and they think they outsmarted me another year.
My feeder this year is a success the only problem I had was if it rained or we had snow the birds had to use the covered feeders. I solved that by putting an old umbrella in the middle. They thought they were in Florida for sure.. They kind of liked it the titmouse would go up inside the top of the umbrella and hop around the cross pieces. When they went down to get seed they slid down the metal center pole like a fireman. About 2 weeks ago our feeders reached there high point so far this winter... day and time we had 23 Juncos and about 50 Goldfinch 4 titmouse 6 Chickadees 15 \Tree Sparrows the usual Hairy & Downy Woodpeckers a Red Bellied Woodpecker has been coming to the feeder daily for several months.
On the north side of the house facing the road there is a horse ranch of sorts.
About 500 ft past the horse ranch is the Susquehanna. River we have a 10 ft picture window facing the river I have my scope set up in the window permanently
A Red tail Hawks frequent the trees along there as does the occasional Bald Eagle. The hawks on occasion will stop over for a Dove.
Changing the subject, a little was asked about the Christmas count Yes they are still doing that. This is the 108 th year of the count, Binghamton N.Y. was
the nearest to our area about 25 miles they counted 68 species. The long Island
area was counted by NassauCounty Bird club 57 counters 241hours tallied 113
species. The total Christmas count was 28,826,444 which was lower than usual.
The sad part is in the past 40 years of Bird counts including Bird breeding counts
In the U.S. most of the more common birds song birds and a lot of northern birds have lost 68 to 80 % of there numbers it is hard to recover as situations for them is deteriating.
One example (due in part by global warming) is that the permafrost and ground temperatures melt or the effect it has on the earth itself is moving the food source further and further north if birds and other creatures tied to living on what was once there even 10 or 15 years ago. Migrate north to less and less. That includes most shore birds of which there are millions food will soon have the same affect. Try to imagine what the figure 80% means thinking about they are only birds after all putting that figure in human terms the population of U.S right now is
301,147,000 say we had a major nuclear war at least 1000 bombs that would kill.
80% about 240,000.000 more or less that would kill every person in the U.S.except the state of California 36,400,000 and Texas 24,000,000
The rest of the country would be 100 % gone. So that is what is gone in the
Bird world if there was a bird keeping track. Even at that we would have a better chance at a come back then they will.
Bird of the month (Junco Slate Colored) One of the easy birds to identify
Mostly slate colored grey white bottom an white outer tail feathers. Actually Juncos are sparrows in winter they travel with other small birds such as Chipping Sparrows, Tree Sparrows Pine Warblers and others if you come upon a flock of mixed birds they will all fly up the top of a tree at once and scold you.
Juncos were until 1830 called snowbirds. A group of scientists didn’t think the
Bird was in the right class by the time they finished with it they changed it to
Latin name Junco meaning a seed. Generations called it Snow Bird and were
Not two thrilled with the change Juncos are true cold weather birds they
Nest as far south as the mountains of Pa. and high elevations of N.Y.
Bird of the month (Tree sparrow) this sparrow is easy to identify it is a clear
Breasted Sparrow except that give away spot in the center of the breast the rest of him has the usual brown back with light wing bars and rusty top hat.
One of the hardiest sparrows they winter in Northern N...Y. and southern
Canada. I have seen them nearly every place in winter on Long Island and]
The Adirondacks I have had them at my feeder the past month. They are on
A decline the northeast.
P.S. the next nature news # 2
How the birds keep there wood stoves going when it’s so cold and plants too;
Bill Reeves
1/27/08
Along the Susquehanna
View from our front window
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Newsletter #1
January 20, 2008
I was trying to feel my way around for a better idea. I was thinking of writing a nature-orientated column that I would send out every couple of weeks to interested parties. This is the first one. I have been an amateur naturalist and photographer for nearly 60 years I have been writing several stories about my memories and these will be available for those interested
I think it would be a good thing to go back a month to the Christmas bird count I think it would give us a better perspective on birds in general. The first Christmas count a few people got together forming sort of a club. There were only 27 individuals and they picked one area to count in. The only thing it accomplished was to start the idea. That year was 1900. The counting of birds and keeping records became a countrywide thing the 2003 count was broken up into 1,000s of sections taken in most of the country the count took about 2 weeks December 14 through January 5th. On this count 56,000 observers counted
73 million birds. .
I took part on several Christmas counts 1970 1973 & 1974
One of them was at Sapsucker Woods (Cornell Ithaca) it was kind of interesting but I didn’t see anything unusual. I had a total of 16 species. Some other observers got as many as 34 types they identified. Although some of those 34were discredited later. I think some observers feel they will not get recognition if they don’t come up with something unusual they credited me with all 16. Depending on the area you were assigned some areas identified as many as 65 confirmed.
According to the Fish and Wild Life Service in 2002 there were 62.9 million bird watchers in the U.S, and bird watching had the biggest following of all wild life watching activities
And bird-watching had the biggest following of all wildlife-watching activities…It was amazing to me that we spent over 32 Billion dollars in 2001 on our feathered friends. If we considered special optics, canoes, tents rents of cabins and other travel expense such as food & gas that would be about 85 Billion. And that’s not counting supporting 863,000 jobs. Gee with all that money we could support at least 2 more wars. Or maybe buy a country like Brazil. But I believe the bird’s care they really don’t ask for it and they do not try to take over our space. However we seem to be taking over there space at a ..madding pace. Wherever we are they are there beauty and the way they fascinate us with some of the things they do makes studying them well worthwhile. God left them for us to take care of and enjoy. In the past we kind of made a mess of their lives,
Before 1900 the birds were on there own and it sometimes hard to imagine there was enough left for us to enjoy. Before 1800 birds in North America were not given much thought. The only time they were mentioned was how many there were and as food source. Ofcourse the birds were very important to the Indians, the white man did not see any importance to them until the 1940s.
Most history of Ornithology begins in the early 19th century Alexander Wilson and Audubon among the first to get the interest In birds There study and exploring and of course paintings started a real interest in birds there paintings along with others realy brought birds to the forefront. There will always be those that were skeptical of how Audubon painted his famous birds pictures shoot them how else, he was ridiculed then and still is today. The quantity of birds he shot personally or had others kill them for him was defiantly negligible. How could anyone imagine getting the true colors and the right details of hundreds of birds? You have to realize there were no binoculars field glasses or any other equipment to get that close to get an accurate life like painting. Some of Audubon’s early paintings were not of the same quality and were never published some of them were from guessing or without the right props.
There were several other bird and nature painters at the time just about all of them also shot birds if there was no other way. Usually they had shooters that would bring back whole birds or skins for the painters to work with. Of course most other naturalists or real birders with a interest in identifying new birds or birds they were not sure of also (up to 1900 at least were called Shot gun Ornithologists. That was the method used for at least 150 years. These collectors would not make much of a dent in the bird population. However some egg collectors eventually had an effect on some of the larger birds such as condors. The bird population in America will never be known. But most science and Ornithologist believe we only have 15 to 20% of our birds left. And many will not recover. The top ornithology naturalist “Wilson” took the first calculations on a regional bird population He estimated that 100 million birds entered (Pennsylvania) each spring. Figuring 400 nests per square mile Scientists now consider those figures grossly low. It was likely there were twice that count especially in the early 1800s.
Every one knows that the Passenger pigeons had some of the largest flocks of birds in North America. Wilson also used some a shewed back of the envelope figuring to estimate the size of a Passenger pigeon flock he witnessed in Kentucky, the flock was a mile wide and passed for 4 hours at a rate of a mile a minute he said assuming each square yard of space held 3 pigeons that would give two thousand two hundred thirty millions two hundred and seventy two Pigeons A similar flock seen by Audubon over the banks of the Ohio in 1813 that darkened the sky. His estimate was one Billion one hundred 15 million 36 thousand. That was
1,115,136,000. There are many others that witnessed the. Flocks at the time, The birds were shot, trapped, stupefied by smoke under there roosts, netted, stoned, clubbed some were used for food most ended up as fertilizer. Probably the sadist day in the bird world as well as ours….the last passenger pigeon a captive in a Cincinnati zoo in 1914 and there were a few there that it brought tears to there eyes knowing only then that extinction is forever.
Habitat loss and the demise of all the forests\ was more than they
Could cope with. JUST TRY TO IMAGINE WALKING OUT
YOUR FRONT DOOR AND SEEING A FLOCK OF SAY CROWS ABOUT A MILE WIDE MAYBE 25 FT DEEP AND 50
MILES LONG WOULD THAT MAKE YOUR HAIR STAND UP. To witness such a thing
P.S. Just a idea to see if this sparks an interest I have written other stories on my own experiences with birding and what you
Might call hunting How can you be a hunter without shooting any thing ,,,that’s easy. .
Bill Reeves
PPS: I hope I got all the spell, grammar and other checks taken care of. However the story is the most important part. Lynn
I was trying to feel my way around for a better idea. I was thinking of writing a nature-orientated column that I would send out every couple of weeks to interested parties. This is the first one. I have been an amateur naturalist and photographer for nearly 60 years I have been writing several stories about my memories and these will be available for those interested
I think it would be a good thing to go back a month to the Christmas bird count I think it would give us a better perspective on birds in general. The first Christmas count a few people got together forming sort of a club. There were only 27 individuals and they picked one area to count in. The only thing it accomplished was to start the idea. That year was 1900. The counting of birds and keeping records became a countrywide thing the 2003 count was broken up into 1,000s of sections taken in most of the country the count took about 2 weeks December 14 through January 5th. On this count 56,000 observers counted
73 million birds. .
I took part on several Christmas counts 1970 1973 & 1974
One of them was at Sapsucker Woods (Cornell Ithaca) it was kind of interesting but I didn’t see anything unusual. I had a total of 16 species. Some other observers got as many as 34 types they identified. Although some of those 34were discredited later. I think some observers feel they will not get recognition if they don’t come up with something unusual they credited me with all 16. Depending on the area you were assigned some areas identified as many as 65 confirmed.
According to the Fish and Wild Life Service in 2002 there were 62.9 million bird watchers in the U.S, and bird watching had the biggest following of all wild life watching activities
And bird-watching had the biggest following of all wildlife-watching activities…It was amazing to me that we spent over 32 Billion dollars in 2001 on our feathered friends. If we considered special optics, canoes, tents rents of cabins and other travel expense such as food & gas that would be about 85 Billion. And that’s not counting supporting 863,000 jobs. Gee with all that money we could support at least 2 more wars. Or maybe buy a country like Brazil. But I believe the bird’s care they really don’t ask for it and they do not try to take over our space. However we seem to be taking over there space at a ..madding pace. Wherever we are they are there beauty and the way they fascinate us with some of the things they do makes studying them well worthwhile. God left them for us to take care of and enjoy. In the past we kind of made a mess of their lives,
Before 1900 the birds were on there own and it sometimes hard to imagine there was enough left for us to enjoy. Before 1800 birds in North America were not given much thought. The only time they were mentioned was how many there were and as food source. Ofcourse the birds were very important to the Indians, the white man did not see any importance to them until the 1940s.
Most history of Ornithology begins in the early 19th century Alexander Wilson and Audubon among the first to get the interest In birds There study and exploring and of course paintings started a real interest in birds there paintings along with others realy brought birds to the forefront. There will always be those that were skeptical of how Audubon painted his famous birds pictures shoot them how else, he was ridiculed then and still is today. The quantity of birds he shot personally or had others kill them for him was defiantly negligible. How could anyone imagine getting the true colors and the right details of hundreds of birds? You have to realize there were no binoculars field glasses or any other equipment to get that close to get an accurate life like painting. Some of Audubon’s early paintings were not of the same quality and were never published some of them were from guessing or without the right props.
There were several other bird and nature painters at the time just about all of them also shot birds if there was no other way. Usually they had shooters that would bring back whole birds or skins for the painters to work with. Of course most other naturalists or real birders with a interest in identifying new birds or birds they were not sure of also (up to 1900 at least were called Shot gun Ornithologists. That was the method used for at least 150 years. These collectors would not make much of a dent in the bird population. However some egg collectors eventually had an effect on some of the larger birds such as condors. The bird population in America will never be known. But most science and Ornithologist believe we only have 15 to 20% of our birds left. And many will not recover. The top ornithology naturalist “Wilson” took the first calculations on a regional bird population He estimated that 100 million birds entered (Pennsylvania) each spring. Figuring 400 nests per square mile Scientists now consider those figures grossly low. It was likely there were twice that count especially in the early 1800s.
Every one knows that the Passenger pigeons had some of the largest flocks of birds in North America. Wilson also used some a shewed back of the envelope figuring to estimate the size of a Passenger pigeon flock he witnessed in Kentucky, the flock was a mile wide and passed for 4 hours at a rate of a mile a minute he said assuming each square yard of space held 3 pigeons that would give two thousand two hundred thirty millions two hundred and seventy two Pigeons A similar flock seen by Audubon over the banks of the Ohio in 1813 that darkened the sky. His estimate was one Billion one hundred 15 million 36 thousand. That was
1,115,136,000. There are many others that witnessed the. Flocks at the time, The birds were shot, trapped, stupefied by smoke under there roosts, netted, stoned, clubbed some were used for food most ended up as fertilizer. Probably the sadist day in the bird world as well as ours….the last passenger pigeon a captive in a Cincinnati zoo in 1914 and there were a few there that it brought tears to there eyes knowing only then that extinction is forever.
Habitat loss and the demise of all the forests\ was more than they
Could cope with. JUST TRY TO IMAGINE WALKING OUT
YOUR FRONT DOOR AND SEEING A FLOCK OF SAY CROWS ABOUT A MILE WIDE MAYBE 25 FT DEEP AND 50
MILES LONG WOULD THAT MAKE YOUR HAIR STAND UP. To witness such a thing
P.S. Just a idea to see if this sparks an interest I have written other stories on my own experiences with birding and what you
Might call hunting How can you be a hunter without shooting any thing ,,,that’s easy. .
Bill Reeves
PPS: I hope I got all the spell, grammar and other checks taken care of. However the story is the most important part. Lynn
For My Big Sister Doris
My Big Sister
The birds of winter how do you keep your fire so hot?
We know you have a secret stash and that is smart
Somehow you have a way that gets you through
20 below this morning but those sprites are not blue
These little Chickadees fires’ keep them warm all night
The world seems so cold to us but not for this sprite
He attacks each sunflower seed with a little punch
Every chickadee knows it takes a lot to get a lunch.
The howling winds try to shake him from tree to tree
It will take more than any mere wind to make him flee
There is a special lady who makes sure to stoke his fire.
Feeding them love and sunflower seed she will never tire
From all us birds and the animals to that love her too
HAVE A HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND WE ALL LOVE
Bill Reeves
1-25
The birds of winter how do you keep your fire so hot?
We know you have a secret stash and that is smart
Somehow you have a way that gets you through
20 below this morning but those sprites are not blue
These little Chickadees fires’ keep them warm all night
The world seems so cold to us but not for this sprite
He attacks each sunflower seed with a little punch
Every chickadee knows it takes a lot to get a lunch.
The howling winds try to shake him from tree to tree
It will take more than any mere wind to make him flee
There is a special lady who makes sure to stoke his fire.
Feeding them love and sunflower seed she will never tire
From all us birds and the animals to that love her too
HAVE A HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND WE ALL LOVE
Bill Reeves
1-25
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