ABA Young Birders Conference

This past Saturday I woke up at 6:00 to go to Ashland Nature Center in Hockessin, Delaware, where the 2013 Mid-Eastern ABA(American Birding Association) Young Birders Conference was about to take place. I was really lucky to find out about this. My mom found it like a week before it happened online and signed my Dad and I up. It started out with a morning bird walk where I got 2 out of my 5 lifers of the day: (a lifer is a bird seen for the first time) Great Egret and Black Vulture. After that there were several talks one of which was by Jonathan Alderfer, illustrator for The National Geographic Field Guide who showed us a time-lapse video of him drawing then painting 2 Harlequin Ducks and here is a shortened version of it.

After that we went to Hawk Watch Hill and watched hawks. This part was a little insane because all the super-dooper birders were spotting hawks and stuff like a million miles away and identifying them right away while I could hardly see them at all. Although I did see a Bald Eagle(lifer #3) fairly close which was pretty exciting! Next there was a talk from a girl who won the 14-18 division of the ABA young birder of the year contest. It sounds pretty cool, I might have to give it a go some time. Next there were a bunch more talks and then my favorite part of the day, the afternoon bird walk. My favorite because I saw a lot of birds I knew and felt like I was getting to know some of the other kids there a little better and I saw #4 and #5: Tennessee Warbler and Black and White Warbler. Well, that was pretty much it except a hawk flew in front of the car on the way home that I had to get out and run back to identify (Red-Tailed Hawk) which was kinda exciting. Also I challenged myself to see as many birds as possible in one day. So here's the list (By the way it only counts if I see it or hear it not if somebody tells me that's what's there, I have to be able to identify it later)

1. Canada Goose
2. Mourning Dove
3. Downy Woodpecker
4. Hairy Woodpecker
5. Carolina Chickadee
6. Blue Jay
7. Carolina Wren
8. Chimney Swift
9. Gray Catbird
10. Northern "Yellow-Shafted" Flicker
11. Rose-Breasted Grosbeak(Female) - Really good view through somebody's scope
12. American Crow
13. Great Egret - #1
14. Black Vulture - #2
15. Bald Eagle - #3
16. American Robin
17. Turkey Vulture
18. White-Breasted Nuthatch
19. Tennessee Warbler - #4
20. Black and White Warbler - #5
21. Wood Thrush
22. Red-Tailed Hawk

Project FeederWatch

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology runs several "Citizen Scientist" projects where basically you record data and send it in to Cornell to help them in their nation wide studies. One of these projects is  Project FeederWatch. Its main purpose is to document winter population and migration patterns of all birds in the USA and Canada. It's very simple and easy too, all you have to do is set aside 2 consecutive days out of the week to periodically watch your feeders and write down how many of each species of bird you see and put down the weather conditions also. This year is my 3rd year doing it. It's fun stuff too, especially seeing something new. Also, it's a good way to start birding as it's for experienced and inexperienced birders.
Here's the link if you want to try it: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/

Intro to The Shrike

Greetings birders, non-birders, and people that have no idea how they got here, I'm The Shrike, why shrike? It’s my favorite bird (Loggerhead to be exact) although (its kind of pathetic) I've never actually seen one :/. I hope to change that sometime this coming year. But to the point this is my blog, the purpose of it is education for me and for you basically. So I hope I can educate you in some sort of way.       

My Life List

Here is my life list. If you don't know a life list is a list of all the species (birds in this case) you've seen for the first time in you're birding career "life". How I lay it out is Bird - Place - Date. So here is the extremely humble beginnings of my life list:

1. White-Breasted Nuthatch - Briar Bush Nature Center  -  9.15.10
2. Northern Cardinal -          "                                    "    "          "
3. Mourning Dove -              "                                    "    "          "
4. American Robin                "                                    "    "          "
5. Downy Woodpecker -      "                                    "    "          "
6. American Goldfinch - Penny Pack Park - 9.15.10                      
7. Tufted Titmouse -                 "            "    "           "
8. Black-Capped Chickadee -  "           "     "          "
9. Wild Turkey -                       "           "     "          "
10. Blue Jay - My Neighborhood - 9.22.10
11. House Sparrow - My Yard - circa 10.2010              
12. Red Bellied Woodpecker - Briar Bush Nature Center - 10.22.10
13. Dark-Eyed Junco - My Yard - 11.12.10
14. American Crow - My Neighbor's Yard - 11.25.10
15. House Finch - My Bird Feeder - 12.3.10
16. Turkey Vulture - The Sky Over My House - 12.8.10   
17. Red-Tailed Hawk - A Friends House - 12.17.10
18. European Starling - Carrollton, TX  - 12.27.10           
19. Carolina Wren - My Yard - 1.21.11
20. Cooper's Hawk - My Neighbors Tree - 2.8.11
21. Common Grackle - Briar Bush Nature Center - 2.19.11
22. Brown-Headed Cowbird - My Yard - 4.27.13
23. Gray Catbird - My Yard - 4.28.11
24. Tree Swallow - Penny Pack Park - 5.8.11
25. Great Blue Heron - Peace Valley Park - 6.6.11
26. Red-Winged Blackbird - "                 " -  "       "
27. Mockingbird -         "                         " - "        "
28. Canada Goose -  circa 5.2011
29. Mallard Duck - Susquehanna River - 6.14.11
30. Chimney Swift - Local Playground - circa 6.2011  
31. Ruby-Throated Hummingbird - Peace Valley Nature Center - 8.17.11
32. Green Heron - Briar Bush Nature Center - circa 8.2011
33. Hairy Woodpecker - Fort Washington State Park - 9.9.11
34. Northern Flicker - Penny Pack Park - 10.8.11
35. Ruby-Crowned Kinglet - "              " - "         "
36. American Kestrel - "                       " - "         "
37. Sharp-Shinned Hawk - "                 " - "         "
38. Black-Throated Blue Warbler - "     " - "         "
39. Yellow-Rumped Warbler - Penny Pack Park - 10.23.11
40. Eastern Towhee - Penny Pack Park - 1.7.12
41. Eastern Bluebird - "                        " - "        "
42. White-Throated Sparrow - Briar Bush Nature Center - circa spring 2012
43. Rose Breasted Grosbeak - Peace Valley Nature Center - 5.20.10
44. Common Tern - Assateague Island - 8.23.12
45. Red-Breasted Nuthatch - Briar Bush Nature Center - 4.21.13
46. Wood Thrush - Briar Bush Nature Center - 8.22.13

So That's it, I'll post updates as they come.