7.11.16 - Camp Wingate*Kirkland - Day Camper Bird visits
Yarmouthport, MA

This morning I got to start my week of with the "littles" 3-6 year old day campers at Camp W*K.  Bird Spy Bingo was our main objective to begin with.  It's kinda funny how the participants quickly realized I couldn't possibly keep an eye both to the sky and on them at the same time to be certain that they were truly finding what they were looking for...
Some examples: Bird on a branch, bird flying, two birds together, bird carrying something, bird droppings, feather

Camp W*K is literally in the middle of the woods in Yarmouthport, and with all of the wonderful sheltering foliage, it can definitely make bird watching a challenge, but it's a worthy challenge - especially when stickers are the reward, it turns out!  We also moved on to my Nature Shapes to inspect all of the different things that could be found and how each piece of nature is an important part of the healthy natural puzzle.  It's important to take care of every piece of earth, no matter how small, or originally seemingly insignificant.  The Nature Shapes that I use are simply cut from old pizza boxes (never a shortage of those in my home!) wrapped securely in duct tape.  They last forever and kids love to safely toss them & then run to inspect the tiny plot of land for rocks, dirt, grass, leaves, pinecones, acorns, sticks... and hopefully NO TRASH! (double click photos to enlarge)

Bird Spy Bingo

(which I think should be renamed "Bird Spy Bing"... 

there are only 4 in each row)

Someone spotted a friendly frog in the frog pond

Amphibious close up

Round nature shape

Small piece of trash... what might become of this trash?

Maybe used in a nest, & hopefully not eaten by any

living thing

Mostly picked apart pine cones

Leaves were in this Nature Shape

Caterpillar, AKA bird food

The Bird Spy Bingo clip boards ready to go

And they were off!

Bird droppings, always a fun find!

Chipping Sparrow foraging in the leaf litter on the edge of the field

Searching for birdie clues

What a beautiful spot to spend a morning

Elishas pond was like glass this morning

Happy Birding!

7.7.16  Camp W*K Bird Club - Camp Wingate*Kirkland

Yarmouthport, MA

Back to the Bird Club!  One of the challenges that Will Rubenstein, co-owner & co-director of Camp Wingate*Kirkland proposed to me when I told him I'd love to incorporate painting nest boxes, is that he really would LOVE to have some campers paint & donate their creations to the birds who reside at Camp W*K.  After the initial painting session earlier, 2 established and 2 new-comers to the bird club walked around some of the campground in order to decide to hang painted nest boxes.  What an awesome idea!  This way, not only do the boxes provide needed shelter for the birds, but also, these campers can check on their painted nest boxes year after year when they're at camp!

We set out in the direction of some fields.  The nest boxes that I bring are originally designed for Eastern Bluebirds.  They tend to prefer to nest near open fields so their food supply, bugs especially, will never be too far.  Location, location, location!  The campers chose some wonderful spots for the boxes.  We marked the specific trees by setting up a makeshift arrow with some fallen branches.  We will have to add more decorated boxes as more campers paint & donate!  I can't wait to see their hard work adorning trees all over Camp W*K!  While on our walk, naturally we encountered a few species of bird flitting and flying about.  Great job guys! (double click photos to enlarge)

Our List:

Red-winged Blackbird

Gray Catbird

Song Sparrow

Pine Warbler

Downy Woodpecker

White-breasted Nuthatch

American Goldfinch

High bush blueberry bush... bird (& people) food!

Checking out Song Sparrows in the Sibley Guide 

An oak marked with an arrow so we remember where to 

hang one of the nest boxes

Frogs are always exciting to hear & see at the bog

Check out how much this guy was sticking out

of the water's surface!

White-breasted Nuthatch silhouette

Red-winged Blackbird - male

Gray Catbird

Another tree getting marked for a future nest box

Happy Birding!

7.6 & 7.7.2016  Camp W*K Bird Club - Camp Wingate*Kirkland 
Yarmouthport, MA

Living on Cape Cod has advantages galore!  One of the things I love about this crazy peninsula is that it often feels like one big small town.  We are all so very connected. When volunteering at a fundraising event at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History, I was fortunate to meet an enthusiastic bird-loving family.  Turns out this family runs a local camp, Camp Wingate*Kirkland.  We got to talking and well... lucky me...I get to work at this camp with some amazing campers, sharing the love and knowledge of the birds all along the way!  I will be visiting Camp W*K as often as my schedule permits and on these first two morning visits, I had some of the campers painting nest boxes.  

When painting, I do my best to recycle materials, not only to save money, but also to reduce the need for alternative supplies.  I use plastic egg crates that formerly housed happy eggs from happy free range chickens.  I know it sounds odd to say, but chickens are birds too.  We humans happen to have chosen them to be greatly involved in our own food chain.  It's nice to know that there are chicken farmers who do take great care in raising happy & healthy birds.  So the palattes for the paint are egg crates, the cups for water used to have yogurt or applesauce, or Italian ice in them.  I feel strongly mentioning all of this to the painters.  It's good to keep materials to re-use.  WE ALL ARE so connected, a mindful thought...it's not just Cape Cod after all.  

Many of the beautifully painted nest boxes will be finding homes themselves on certain camp trees &/or posts so that the birds who live in & around Camp W*K will be sheltered and appreciated on a whole other level.  Great job Bird Nerds!  (double click photos to enlarge)

Using former egg crates for paint palattes

Happy messy paint hands

Happy Birding!

6.30.16 - KidSummer Bird Walk - Cape Cod Museum of Natural History
Brewster, MA

Before I know it, I'll be enjoying bird walks Monday through Friday with the KidSummer Birding 101 group.  KidSummer is a nature oriented day camp offered at The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster, MA.  It is sponsored by IFAW, whose international headquarters is two towns away in Yarmouthport, MA.  IFAW has sponsored hundreds of deserving local children the past several years through the scholarship they offer to send these kids to a quality day camp they would otherwise not get to enjoy.  One of the benefits to KidSummer is the diversity of the attendants, children aged 3-15.  

One of the counselors for Nature Sleuths (5&6 year olds) asked if I would lead a bird walk for their group.  HAPPY TO!  They were animated and interested and gentle with nature, which are qualities we bird nerds like to experience.  Thanks for having me along for one of your morning activities Nature Sleuths!  (double click photos to enlarge)

Friendly Eastern Chipmunk

American Crow, being scolded by...

...a Red-winged Blackbird - male

Testing out birdoculars

White-tailed Deer & fawn on the marsh in the distance

Song Sparrow

Checking wingspans

Osprey pair

Found feather...always a treasure

Osprey soaring

Red-winged Blackbird - male

He was scolding us for being in his territory

Another Osprey nest

Someone found a roly poly bug

Honey bee, collecting & pollinating

Inspecting the honeybee

Happy Birding!
If you're interested in KidSummer, click here for more information.  My Birding 101 course is M-F 9-11:30 and is offered for children 7-12 years of age.

6.29.16  Bird Nerd Moment - Sam Diego's outdoor patio
Hyannis, MA

What a PERFECT summer night on Cape Cod!  It happened to be the end of the baseball season in our area as well, with all teams from the district converging on one of the local ball fields.  After the awards and the announcements and the endless games of catch...we were pretty hungry and we allowed our young baseball player to choose where we would go out to supper.  He decided on a family favorite, Sam Diego's in Hyannis.  What I forgot to consider on the way there was the weather being a factor on where we would get to sit.  We ALWAYS opt for the outdoor patio!  It is so comfortable out there, and between the atmosphere of the festive restaurant itself and the well-groomed landscaping,  you don't really notice that you're on a very busy traffic corner.

We could easily see the local gulls slowly flapping their way back to their nearby rooftop nesting grounds.  Many of the local businesses that have flat roofs have been dealing with an over populous gull colony.  There are no predators on the roof!  They thrive up there and are rarely disturbed.  

As we were sitting and enjoying our dinner, I, naturally, cannot help notice bird sounds that occur when I'm anywhere.  I am particularly distracted when it's a bird sound that I cannot identify.  My curiosity takes over, and I do my best to figure out who is making what sound.  It was an interesting sight to see once the two birds came into view along side the patio.  Brown-headed cowbirds (an invasive species) have somehow decided that laying an egg in someone else's nest and then taking off leaving it to be  warmed, cared for, hatched by & fed by another species, is advantageous.  They are a non-parenting species.  I've seen it in action with a poor, exhausted looking Chipping Sparrow in my own driveway a couple years ago.  Here on this night in Hyannis, I got to see it again... this time, camera ready! (miraculously!)

There was this incessant younger sounding bird who was badgering a smaller bird, this time a Song Sparrow.  The Brown-headed Cowbird juvenile was chirping and begging and squatting down in the "FEED ME!" pose, over and over and over again.  I couldn't help but feel for the frazzled Song Sparrow, who fed this comparitively oversized youngster, over and over and over again.  This time, I got photos... Sorry Song Sparrow.  Better luck, next brood!  (double click photos to enlarge)

Song Sparrow foster parent on the left

Brown-headed Cowbird juvenile on the right

 

Happy Birding!