I'm not a picture taker, however my friends are so as soon as I get photos from I will post them.
Today I exercised the carpool rule to the max. at 6am my father, Todd, Adrian and myself met at a parking lot on Columbus Ave in South Philly. All four of us piled in the car to do a rarity sweep. Our goal was the Common Chaffinch in Hunterton TWP, NJ, Snowy Owl at Merrill Creek Reservoir and Say's Phoebe in Bucks County PA. The chaffinch is a first for NJ, it is a European finch, very common in gardens. Only 2 or 3 records before in NE Canada. The bird was visiting feeders behind a birder's house. I'll write more when I get the photos.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
added rule to Green Year
I am adding driving with a full car (4 passengers) to my Green Big Year list. Carpooling for birders is something I want to encourage!
I will keep a note of birds seen with aid of car and present two separate totals at the end of the year.
I will keep a note of birds seen with aid of car and present two separate totals at the end of the year.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Green Big Year
As of January 1st 2011 I will be doing a "Green Big
Year"
Going green isn't meant to be self imposed hardship or inconvenience. The point is to highlight alternatives to using large amounts of fossil fuel for a hobby.
1. I will only count birds seen from foot, bike, sailboat, human powered watercraft, or public transportation.
2. I will not count birds even under rule #1 if I flew, drove, or was driven to location specifically for birding. For example, if I flew to AZ for birding, I cannot count birds on a hike up Madera Canyon.
3. I can accept a short ride to a birding location if traveled by the rule #1. Such as accepting a ride to Militia Hill Hawk Watch, if I took the train to Ft Washington.
Year"
Going green isn't meant to be self imposed hardship or inconvenience. The point is to highlight alternatives to using large amounts of fossil fuel for a hobby.
1. I will only count birds seen from foot, bike, sailboat, human powered watercraft, or public transportation.
2. I will not count birds even under rule #1 if I flew, drove, or was driven to location specifically for birding. For example, if I flew to AZ for birding, I cannot count birds on a hike up Madera Canyon.
3. I can accept a short ride to a birding location if traveled by the rule #1. Such as accepting a ride to Militia Hill Hawk Watch, if I took the train to Ft Washington.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Cumberland County NJ birding
On January 24th I lead a field trip to Cumberland County NJ along the Delaeare Bayshore for the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club. However, we actually started the day off with a pre-trip to the Villas Wildlife Management Area in Cape May County. This is an old golf course for Schmidts Brewery that has been purchased by the sate of New Jersey. This spot sort of looks like a pine-oak savanna with a few ponds. I really like seeing the islands of pitch pines with thickets of holly surrounded by grasses. We had a really cooperative female merlin perched in a pitch pine that gave us fantastic looks. Other birds of note was an American tree sparrow and a hermit thrush. We stopped at Beaver Swamp on the way to meet the group and had the female bald eagle on the nest.
At noon we met up with 13 members and non-members of the DVOC and Wawa and headed to Turkey Point near Dividing Creek in Cumberland County. We stopped on the Maple Ave causeway to see what ducks were around. We had many black, bufflehead and common mergansers as well as mute swans. We had an immature bald eagle and saw the eagle nest but didn't see any attending birds. We would see 6 bald eagles for the day. Here we found the bird the day, a snow bunting, which was a most pleasant surprise. There wasn't much to bee seen at the Turkey Point observation deck and bridge besides harriers.
We headed to the final destination of Husted Landing for our target birds, the sandhill cranes. Seven cranes were there foraging in the salt hay. There cranes were there the whole time we where there and the rest of the flock never came in. We were hoping to see the common crane that is part of this flock. We were also treated to a beautiful 'gray ghost' male harrier. After greeting our fill of the cranes we stopped in to visit Dr Pete and his family who owns the land around Husted Landing. He was nice enough to show us his waterfowl collection, which included ringed teal, Mandarin ducks, and common pochards. He also has a stunning 'Nellie Stevens' holly in his yard. It was a nice trip indeed.
At noon we met up with 13 members and non-members of the DVOC and Wawa and headed to Turkey Point near Dividing Creek in Cumberland County. We stopped on the Maple Ave causeway to see what ducks were around. We had many black, bufflehead and common mergansers as well as mute swans. We had an immature bald eagle and saw the eagle nest but didn't see any attending birds. We would see 6 bald eagles for the day. Here we found the bird the day, a snow bunting, which was a most pleasant surprise. There wasn't much to bee seen at the Turkey Point observation deck and bridge besides harriers.
We headed to the final destination of Husted Landing for our target birds, the sandhill cranes. Seven cranes were there foraging in the salt hay. There cranes were there the whole time we where there and the rest of the flock never came in. We were hoping to see the common crane that is part of this flock. We were also treated to a beautiful 'gray ghost' male harrier. After greeting our fill of the cranes we stopped in to visit Dr Pete and his family who owns the land around Husted Landing. He was nice enough to show us his waterfowl collection, which included ringed teal, Mandarin ducks, and common pochards. He also has a stunning 'Nellie Stevens' holly in his yard. It was a nice trip indeed.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Welcome to Wild Philadelphia
Bartram's Gardens January 8th 2010. Photo by Liz Arnold
Welcome to Wild Philadelphia! This blog is a project by Clyde and Tony Croasdale, a father and son inspired by the book "Wild America" by James Fisher and Roger Tory Peterson. Published in 1955, "Wild America" is an account of the 100 day trip through North America that these two renowned naturalists took in 1953. Their goal was to visit as many places and see as much wildlife, especially birds, as possible. Our goal will be to visit as many places and see as much wildlife as we can within 100 miles of Philadelphia in a year. We would like to make as many people as possible in this region aware of the incredible nature to be found at our doorstep. From watching raptors migrate along mountain ridges, to finding frog in the Pine Barrens or exploring the plants growing in a brown field in inner city Philadelphia we will try to highlight the myriad of opportunities the region has for wildlife observation.
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