Birders' Nest

[Elgarian Redux]

My walking companion arrived, and after spraying well for protection against mosquitoes, we headed down the other boardwalk.
We continued down the boardwalk, and hurrah!! A Purple Finch, a new-bird-capture for the grad student, who has been trying hard recently to build a lifelist. The bird tried hard to hide, but then briefly showed itself:

"Purple?!?! You call that purple?!" The female Purple Finch is shades of brown and white, and that is what this one is. The male looks as though it has been dipped in red wine, or as Roger Tory Peterson described, a "sparrow dipped in raspberry juice." They are very similar to House Finches, the males of which also have red on them, just ... not as much. Birds are confusing; people who assign bird names might be even more confused. Purple.

Wooooah. Stop right there. I have to dive in at this point - I have to - because I know about purple finches. Or at least one particular example. This may be of no interest to you at all, but I have to tell you just in case.

There was an unfashionable American writer called Elswyth Thane, who wrote what we might call Historical Romances, and biographies relating mostly to early American history (Washington et al). My wife introduced her to me, and I loved her style of writing (and her love of England) and read most of what she wrote - including THIS:

Pub. Duell, Sloan and Pearce, NY (1947)

It's a true account of how she made friends with a purple finch, who decided to stay and live with her. I'm aware that the idea of this could be a real turn-off, but all I can say is that it isn't a sentimentalised account, and if you stumbled across a copy of this slim volume you might find it worth a look. Cheerily illustrated.

[Iota]

I did go out walking yestereve, and I took my camera. It was hot and humid, and when I arrived at the boardwalks, it was also very quiet. I saw one bird, an Eastern Phoebe, on the other side of the highway; she was too far away, and I was not still enough, for a decent photo, but here she is nonetheless... clearly aware of my presence, even at a distance:


As I waited for the grad student I often walk with, I walked a bit down one boardwalk; there were still ripe/ripening thimbleberries, and a Red Maple showed promise of a change to come.


My walking companion arrived, and after spraying well for protection against mosquitoes, we headed down the other boardwalk.

Quiet, quiet, quiet! No Red-winged Blackbirds called, and no parents to their children, either: the boardwalks were deserted. It was too humid, too hot, to be out, but ... birders be crazy, and though neither one of us would claim "birder" as a title, there we were... and then suddenly, little flurries of activity! Another Eastern Phoebe was hunting across the river:


A Yellow Warbler, one of several we saw, made an appearance:


And a Cedar Waxwing showed off its dark pink tongue:

I suspect it was actually trying to cool down

Our previous attempt to see hummingbirds -- there is only one expected in this area, the Ruby-throated -- was for naught, but our evening walk proved successful, and though the opportunity to photograph these fast-moving rascals was brief, we did have some success as a hummer fed on nearby pickerelweed:


We also saw a Spotted Sandpiper hunting amongst the lilypads, but he moved so quickly, I could not get a clear shot:

Slow down, you move too fast! You've got to make the photo op last!

We continued down the boardwalk, and hurrah!! A Purple Finch, a new-bird-capture for the grad student, who has been trying hard recently to build a lifelist. The bird tried hard to hide, but then briefly showed itself:

"Purple?!?! You call that purple?!" The female Purple Finch is shades of brown and white, and that is what this one is. The male looks as though it has been dipped in red wine, or as Roger Tory Peterson described, a "sparrow dipped in raspberry juice." They are very similar to House Finches, the males of which also have red on them, just ... not as much. Birds are confusing; people who assign bird names might be even more confused. Purple.

We saw a few other birds as well: Red-winged Blackbirds (so quiet, though! It was too hot to even peep.), a Swamp Sparrow, female American Redstarts, male American Goldfinches, and a few others, and even my state bird, a Baltimore Oriole:

Though I've seen these in my home state, I have never gotten a photo of them there. In Michigan, Ohio, Central America, Washington DC, etc, suuuuure, but in Maryland? Never... because I so rarely see them there.

And we also saw... an American Mink! I was so excited, I
turned off my camera!

By accident, of course. So stupid!! I did manage to get it back on and get one shot. Though the camera was not on the setting I usually use for wildlife, I can at least prove I saw the mink.


My walking companion did better, getting a burst of photos of the mink.

Notably, we saw no Bald Eagles. I am used to seeing them daily in this area, but this summer, I've had few sightings. They have apparently abandoned what I think of as the Eagle Tree, because I have seen them in previous summers perched on that tree, and they used to nest on the other side of the water from the university, but I haven't seen them there, either. The summer has been weird in several ways; the scarcity of eagle sightings is one of them. And so is the heat.

More lovely shots, owlice, that Yellow Warbler is really picture postcard! And if I may say, there's a lovely flow to the narrative too.

[Elgarian Redux]

I did go out walking yestereve, and I took my camera. It was hot and humid, and when I arrived at the boardwalks, it was also very quiet. I saw one bird, an Eastern Phoebe, on the other side of the highway; she was too far away, and I was not still enough, for a decent photo, but here she is nonetheless... clearly aware of my presence, even at a distance:

Just lovely. I have never even heard of most of these birds that you show us.

As I waited for the grad student I often walk with, I walked a bit down one boardwalk; there were still ripe/ripening thimbleberries, and a Red Maple showed promise of a change to come.

Just looked up thimbleberries and have discovered they look like raspberries. Crikey, the education you get here is second to none.

Quiet, quiet, quiet! No Red-winged Blackbirds called, and no parents to their children, either: the boardwalks were deserted. It was too humid, too hot, to be out, but ... birders be crazy, and though neither one of us would claim "birder" as a title, there we were... and then suddenly, little flurries of activity! Another Eastern Phoebe was hunting across the river:

Gorgeous!

A Yellow Warbler, one of several we saw, made an appearance:

Ooooh!

And a Cedar Waxwing showed off its dark pink tongue:

I suspect it was actually trying to cool down

Dick-Turpin-osaurus!

Our previous attempt to see hummingbirds -- there is only one expected in this area, the Ruby-throated -- was for naught, but our evening walk proved successful, and though the opportunity to photograph these fast-moving rascals was brief, we did have some success as a hummer fed on nearby pickerelweed:

Loud applause from all of us up here in the cheap seats.

We also saw a Spotted Sandpiper hunting amongst the lilypads, but he moved so quickly, I could not get a clear shot:

Slow down, you move too fast! You've got to make the photo op last!

He was clearly looking for fun and feelin' groovy.

We saw a few other birds as well: Red-winged Blackbirds (so quiet, though! It was too hot to even peep.), a Swamp Sparrow, female American Redstarts, male American Goldfinches, and a few others, and even my state bird, a Baltimore Oriole:

Though I've seen these in my home state, I have never gotten a photo of them there. In Michigan, Ohio, Central America, Washington DC, etc, suuuuure, but in Maryland? Never... because I so rarely see them there.

And we also saw... an American Mink! I was so excited, I
turned off my camera!

By accident, of course. So stupid!! I did manage to get it back on and get one shot. Though the camera was not on the setting I usually use for wildlife, I can at least prove I saw the mink.


My walking companion did better, getting a burst of photos of the mink.

Loud cries of 'Hoorah' emanating again from the cheap seats

Notably, we saw no Bald Eagles. I am used to seeing them daily in this area, but this summer, I've had few sightings. They have apparently abandoned what I think of as the Eagle Tree, because I have seen them in previous summers perched on that tree, and they used to nest on the other side of the water from the university, but I haven't seen them there, either. The summer has been weird in several ways; the scarcity of eagle sightings is one of them. And so is the heat.

I have never seen an eagle in the wild. How about that? It's not all gloom: I've seen Marsh Harriers doing their amazing acrobatics above their nest. But I have never seen an eagle.

[Iota]

Wooooah. Stop right there. I have to dive in at this point - I have to - because I know about purple finches. Or at least one particular example. This may be of no interest to you at all, but I have to tell you just in case.

There was an unfashionable American writer called Elswyth Thane, who wrote what we might call Historical Romances, and biographies relating mostly to early American history (Washington et al). My wife introduced her to me, and I loved her style of writing (and her love of England) and read most of what she wrote - including THIS:

Pub. Duell, Sloan and Pearce, NY (1947)

It's a true account of how she made friends with a purple finch, who decided to stay and live with her. I'm aware that the idea of this could be a real turn-off, but all I can say is that it isn't a sentimentalised account, and if you stumbled across a copy of this slim volume you might find it worth a look. Cheerily illustrated.

Haha, that counts as pretty copper-bottomed knowledge of purple finches to me! Nice story!

[Elgarian Redux]

And we also saw... an American Mink! I was so excited, I
turned off my camera!

At least you didn't drop it!

[Elgarian Redux]

Haha, that counts as pretty copper-bottomed knowledge of purple finches to me! Nice story!

The finch used to 'help' Elswyth to write her books. We have proof of this because my copy of the book was a presentation copy, with a signed photo enclosed:

[Iota]

The finch used to 'help' Elswyth to write her books. We have proof of this because my copy of the book was a presentation copy, with a signed photo enclosed:

What a lovely bit of memorabilia! 

[Kalevala]

The finch used to 'help' Elswyth to write her books. We have proof of this because my copy of the book was a presentation copy, with a signed photo enclosed:

Sweet!

K

[Kalevala]

@Elgarian Redux I think that it was you who was stung lately?  I ran across this article today about wasps and picnics and thought of you:  https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250808-the-simple-trick-that-stops-hungry-wasps-from-ruining-your-picnic

K