Good Harbor Beach,Gloucester, Ma.

Howdee all

One very nice day last week we took a day trip to Good harbor Beach in Gloucester.

We packed our chairs, brought the binos,scope and here we go.

A small inlet on the south side of the beach, shallow water where Parents bring small children to play.A beach locked in by rugged rocks on the north and south side of the beach.

This is the the rocky area facing south..with amazing home built on it. This is the beach…facing north..see the rugged rock beyond the beach with the houses built above it?

This is the part of the beach facing east and the ocean…notice its not the dry sand if photo above. This is the area where high tide fills in..so most beach goers put their chairs above this area. Walking further north..note the rocky edges…more amazing homes. There is a small island off the beachYou can walk the little strip at low tide. Watch the tide..unless you don't mind a swim.  This photo taken from the island looking north west.         A nice place to relax…look at a few birds ( gulls for us that day)

And explore the beach for treasures

Stay tuned for Beach Treasures!

Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp outings

Howdee all,

A Ct. outing in the works for Saturday July 11th.
Looks like starting point is Milford, Ct.

Luke from Under Clear Skies has volunteered to be our guide for the day.
This is what he suggests for the day.

I would suggest (depending on how long people want to go for) to start at the Connecticut Audubon Center in Milford and work our way from there. I'll do some work on the tide times for the day which will help work out when is best to hit that spot and others. Milford is great for migrant peeps (what a joy I hear you thinking). Also good for other shorebirds, terns etc though and local spots should produce a nice array of birds such as YC Night-heron, Boat-tailed Grackles etc etc.

The list of attending Bloggers so far

Bev from Behind the Bins and Murmuring Trees
Christopher from Picus blog
Dan from Nature Observances by Forestal
Larry from The Brownstone Birding Blog
Steve from lightshedder.com and
Ingraham's Pic of the Day
Jeff and myself

may be attending
Nick from Shorebirder the birding journal

Birding Dude from Birding Dude

Please spread the word.
Spouses and significant others welcome.
Children..up to you.

Dont know if people will want to bird on Sunday as well...Jeff and I wont be able to...but feel free to make plans for Sunday...I will post them when I know if there is interest.

In the works..is a Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp meets Birds and Beers.

Birds and Beers is Birdchicks get together In MN. So if you will be in the Minneapolis,St. Paul area the weekend of August 14th we will do some birding and some beering!

Lynne from Hasty Brook

Ruthie J from Nature Knitter

attending and the list will grow..

If you would like to attend either event..add a comment and I will add you to the list.

stay tuned to my blog for further details.

My First Birds in flight!

Howdee all,

Yes that's right…I have finally been able to capture flight. I recently bought a new camera. Canon SX1 and I am loving the fast shutter speed.

As some of you know I was a simple point and shoot gal. This is still a point and shoot.

Running start

With a Fast shutter speed. ok…i know they may seem ordinary to you

Lift off

But it is a new discovery for me. I still don't know how to use all the controls on my camera But…I will get there…

In the meantime…

my first birds in flight…

I will be posting soon a few dates for Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp outings.

Hope you can join us!

click on the link below to view more birds!

Skywatch Friday, Plum Island,Newburyport, Ma

  Howdee all,

This Skywatch Friday comes from Plum Island.Newburyport, Ma.

What..this is not sky! Shame! but aren't these ferns lovely..

I know there are some sensitive ferns here…the large lobed ferns…and there is one whose name eludes me…it is the smaller daintier looking fern…its last leaves toward the bottom are curved down…like Yosemite Sam's moustache..Laura from The Interstitial Spaces blog knows the name..Laura…are you there???

OK is it sky photos you want?

We spent last Saturday with a group of Bloggers, Twitters and those that use Chirptracker..

Most of you know what Blogging is..and Twitter…but some…have not heard of Chirptracker. Chirptracker is Twitter for Birders. You can post your sightings, chat with other birders and eventually post video, photos etc. directly from chirptracker. (Chirptracker is still in beta) Chirptracker works with Twitter…you can post something on Chirptracker and it can automatically post the same thing to Twitter. Matt Bango and others are working hard to make Chirptracker work well for us Birders.

Oh..here's more sky…

Anyway…I use both mediums. I recently discovered this new cyber world..

oh…more sky

And this new world has been kind to me….As we travel and bird my Chirptracker and Twitter friends…are there to help me find the best places to bird.

Oh look…a boat for added sky pleasure..

Facebook is another community I use. I love to keep track of Family and Friends on facebook..and within the last five months have added Birdie friends.

Look ma, another sky..Oh and a small pond. do you see any birds?

I started a group on Facebook as a way to keep track of Birders who use Facebook that have blogs who may or may not also use Twitter and Chirptracker.

The group is called Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp.

Some people use just one or the other…I like all venues for different reasons.

      We had a second bird outing of Birders who blog this past weekend.

I plan on having more and encourage others to do the same thing.

Its allot of fun to share our common interest of birds, nature and blogging. 

The sky may be large….

 

Venues like Facebook, Twitter and Chirptracker make our world a little smaller.

I encourage you to try them out for size.  If you need any help understanding them feel free to email me.. I am still learning myself.

We would like to have a bird outing in Ct. this next month.

We leave for Ct, tomorrow.

In the works..is a Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp meets Birds and Beers.

Birds and Beers is Birdchicks get together In MN.  So if you will be in the Minneapolis,St. Paul area the weekend of August 14th we will do some birding and some beering!

Join us!

Respond to this blog, post. Facebook me, Tweet me…or send me a Chirp.

Oh yeah…and have a Happy Skywatch Friday…

now go..i have kept you much to long..

reach for the skies

Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp outing part 3, New Hampshire

Howdee all,

We had a great time birding and chatting our way through Plum Island, but we were way off schedule and needed to get to NH.

After yummy Roast beef sandwiches at the Courtyard restaurant in Newburyport we left for New Hampshire.

Lowie from the Worn Field Guide is doing a big year in NH and was our guide for part of this trip.

She took us to Newmarket to see the nesting Mississippi Kites.(read about the 2008 sightings and history of these birds At Picus blog) We saw mom on the nest….her head and tail..

Waited a bit hoping dad would fly in..but he didn't..

I didn't take a photo of the Kite on the nest but John from Birding in Maine did!

Ok..use your imagination the nest is in the one of those trees to the left of the telephone pole…or go to Johns blog for the real thing!

After seeing the nesting Kite. We went on to Chapmans landing to see the Saltmarsh and the Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrows.

We walked thru these amazing grasses which aren't the grasses that you see in the above photo..but ones that blended in with the grasses in the photo below..as we walked on the grass it emitted a wonderful fragrant odor reminiscent of cilantro! I wanted to bottle it. I forget what type of grass Lowie said they were…Lowie??? Lowie was determined to get both Sparrows for us! Thanks Lowie, You rock! We saw many Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrows and a few quick and not so cooperative looks at Nelsons.

Christopher or Steve will probably know what type of Dragon fly this is.Red-winged blackbird ….the black box upper right..is used in Green fly control, according to Sharon, from A New England Life.. Lowie left us to go farther north in NH…to add more birds to her big year.

Christopher our fearless leader took over and we listened to a Virginia Rail about ten feet from us..but it never showed itself.

Nice hat Steve!

it was in the shrubs and grasses to the left of our shadows. Do you see me taking the photo?Christopher then took us to Pease air force base to look for Upland Sandpipers. We saw Upland dots…small far away looks. So I didn't count it as a life bird..bummer..

Great looks of a Raven Mom and her young on tall dirt piles..

It was a long day and the sun was setting! We went to another area of Pease to see if we could get better looks of the Uplands. But officer…I am not taking photos for anti government espionage!… Never did get good looks of the Uplands..will save that until our next visit..

We had a wonderful time with some great people!

I would love to continue these outings for Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp..and encourage all of you to have outings as well.

You may purchase buttons for your BwBTC outings at Zazzle..or just wait until I come to your area and set up a get together…

I give them as a gift because…

I like to.

Thanks again To Christopher who did a marvelous job planning and Leading us.

Thanks Lowie for staying longer that you should have…

Thanks to my Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp friends for coming..It was so nice to meet all of you from blogs that I already know and love..and to meet others who's blogs are new to me.

See you all in Cyberspace…until we meet again!

Birders who Blog,tweet and chirp.. part 2 Plum Island Birds

Howdee all,

Yes believe it or not…amongst all the chatting..we managed to see a few birds on Plum Island…I saw more than I photographed….I still have a hard time with moving objects..but there were a few nice birds that stuck around for a photo or two.

Purple Martins A scolding Red-winged Blackbird Listen to him yell at us!

A Song Sparrow sang for us…A BobolinkOh look…black hooks in a fieldNope…not black hooks..Bev said they were eating flowers or grass…we watched

and saw they were stripping the grains from the grass.Beautiful in the field of flowers Off to find some other food source..This Savannah sparrow let us get very close…What a show off…Christopher said this same bird has been in the same bush before..

Some of us thought they glued the bird there…It let us all get very close…and sang its heart out..

Let me sing for you…

listen to all of us chatter in the background!

We saw Semi-palmated and White rumped sandpipers

Willow Flycatcher

And many more birds…

Thank you our fearless leader Christopher for taking care of us and making sure we saw some birds!

Jeff added two life birds….Solitary sandpiper and Least Bittern

I added one.. Least Bittern- thanks to Lauras keen hearing, and Bev's quick sighting of a flying bird!

next

Birders who Blog, Tweet and Chirp outing Part 3, Lowies favorite place to bird!

New Hampshire

check out more Bird photos by clicking on the photo below…