Hooded Warbler, Scarlet Tanager @ Mendon Ponds, NY
This Hooded Warbler sang his heart out for me in Mendon Ponds today. I like that in a bird.
This Scarlet Tanager also exercised his mid-day vocals. Seemed he wanted to let the Great Crested Flycatcher know whose throat was more scratchy.
Perfect bird. Perfect light. Perfect lens. Imperfect fotografia. But at least he turned his head towards me for this shot.
I'm am equal opportunity creature-gawker.
This cuteness factor of this Chipping Sparrow increased ten fold when I downloaded the foto and noticed nesting material in his beak.
I’m enjoying your site- I’ve been searching for local birding blogs to get the scoop on sitings in the area. My 9 yo daughter is passionate about birds, and we would love to get a glimpse of a scarlet tanager. Where were you in Mendon Ponds Park?
Hi Karen,
Thrilled to hear a young girl is intersted in bird watching. Seems all the insane–i use that term nicely– birders I know started at 8 or 9 years old.
This tanager was on the 5-mile Esker Trail. I started on Pond Road, headed south, east, then north, and found it about a mile or two into the trail (in the wooded area not far from where all the trails criss-cross each other).
I also know of a tanager that nests in the ancient Seneca site, Ganondagan, in Bloomfield (http://www.ganondagan.org/). Drive to the Granary Trail at Fort Hill, walk across the hilltop meadow, and listen for it in the woods just west of the meadow. A Finger Lakes Trail takes you down into those woods, but you shouldn’t have to go far if the same bird I know of is still around.
For another local birding blog, check out Bob Marcotte’s The Word on Birds blog at the Democrat and Chronicle.
http://php.democratandchronicle.com/blog/birds/
One of the editors of 10000birds.com lives locally, and he occasionally reports his local sightings.
Good luck! Feel free to e-mail me for more details.
Laura
Thank you Laura! We will check out those leads. This weekend we are having a family picnic at Mendon Ponds Park, so we ‘ll poke around then. BTW, do you think the chickadees will still be eager to hand-feed on Songbird Trail by the afternoon? Sometimes we’ve had such poor luck feeding them, but I can’t pin it down to season or time of day. We planned on meeting at the trail at 2:00, but we could adjust to later if that would be a more active time. What do you think?
Karen,
I just picnicked at Mendon Ponds last week!
Can’t say for sure about the chickadees, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are scarce due to the time of day combined with it being the season of abundance.
In winter, it’s quite common for feeder birds to be highly active in the morning, to break their fast, and then more active again before sundown, in anticipation of the night’s fast.
I’ve seen this in summer (to a lesser degree) at a few well-developed feeding sites, such as nature centers, but again, haven’t walked the Mendon Ponds trail enough to know their comings and goings by season.
I hope you see them! Have fun.