New York State has a new trail thanks to the Finger Lakes Land Trust. Near Lansing New York is a 224 acre protected conservation area named Sims-Jennings Preserve at Cayuga Cliffs. The out and back 3.4 mile trail can be located on AllTrails app.
Plenty of wildflowers
Ample parking is available at start, then a leisurely meadow walk and pollinator garden. Great hike for anyone wanting shade. Since it rained recently, we saw numerous examples of fungi. Plenty of black raspberries ready to pick! Further along there are vista points; cliffs over-looking Cayuga Lake; bench available to sit and relax. Four thousand feet of shoreline so better views could be from a boat if you happen to be on the lake!
Not much water at waterfall!
A trail worth checking out if you are in the area! Bird-wise it was quiet, so I distracted myself looking at mushrooms. Next blog post I’ll share some photos of fungi!
While visiting a friend who loves birds too, I noticed a bird feeder in the backyard. This one though is quite different from others I’ve seen. These bird feeders are solar-powered and with a camera. The camera captures a video of the bird(s) while they feed at the feeder. Cool!
Ruby-throated hummingbird was seen head-on as it slurped the sugary mixture. Wow, few times do we see them from that angle! That feeder is designed especially for hummers. Another feeder had seeds where sparrows and other birds frequented.
Birdbuddy feeder with camera!
If interested in seeing more about these smart bird feeders, check out: https://www.mybirdbuddy.com (I have no affiliation with this company. Do your research to find best deal if you go the purchasing route.) It was fun seeing birds at the feeders and watching the videos on my friend’s phone app. One gets to see a bird close-up and in action! Cool!
White-winged doves fly around our homes this time of year. Often they’ll sit on a railing and watch other birds visiting our bird feeder.
White-winged dove
Dove checking out the feeder
And with a closer look … is this do-able?
Recently I saw a dove attempt to latch onto the feeder I set out to attract woodpeckers and small birds. It was a puzzle for the dove as it sat on the feeder. Then looked below from the cap of the feeder to the food cylinder in the feeder. Finally the bird made some flying starts at the feeder to catch on …
Fly right into it???
Can I hang on???
Maybe ????? Maybe not ????
… all unsuccessful attempts. This feeder is not designed for this large a bird. I have seen black-headed grosbeaks, pyrrhuloxia and woodpeckers, but white-winged doves don’t have a chance! No worries though as I know the doves are getting enough food from the wild and looking healthy!
Bird festivals offer fantastic opportunities to anyone with an inkling interest in birds. At these festivals one can attend presentations about specific bird topics. Or sign-up for field trips to local areas with an expert and others to see birds in the area. Plus they often have keynote speakers. Festivals have vendors in attendance to present binoculars, cameras, etc where you can put your hands-on the items and environmental groups sharing their goals for our natural areas: land, water and air. Have you been to a bird festival lately?
Upcoming: August 12 – 16, 2026 is the Southeast Arizona Bird Festival in Tucson, Arizona. Many birds fly through the southeast and at the festival you’ll have an opportunity to view birds on field trips, meet fellow birders and learn from presenters. Stop by the nature expo too. You can register for the festival at tucsonbirds.org
When I was a 7th grade science teacher, an activity for my students was to create a beak for a bird to dig, grab and eat the bird’s food. Dependent on the student’s research of what food the bird eats would determine the shape of the bird’s beak. Then their challenge of creating the beak and only allowed to use two of their fingers to move their created beak. Really interesting creations were made and some truly worked in picking up “food”.
Often I think of this science activity as I observe birds working to find food in the natural environment. Every so often I also see other birds try to “steal” another bird’s food. While walking along the “north trail” at Imperial Beach, CA, I did see one gull try to get another gull’s food. I suspect this happens often, yet here was my opportunity to observe the action.
Here is a western gull with food in its beak and then another gull moving closer to the gull with food.
Western gull with its food.
Gull moved a bit too close to the Western gull.
I watched this activity between the birds for a couple of minutes and the gull with the food was having none of this annoyance from the other gull! Do not mess with my food!
Before my trip, I used colored markers and tried to be aware of some birds I may hear and/or see on my trip. Above is one possible bird.
My travel through the Balkan countries: Albania, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia was not a “birding trip”. However, I cannot help but notice when birds are or are not around. Then if I have some time I like to read about the bird and sketch it. I only used pencil to keep my backpack light in weight on this trip.
Of course, if it is a new bird for my life list, that is very exciting. But what I also noticed, is if I think I know the bird and work to identify it, the bird may be a totally different name and a new bird for me, such as the shag you’ll see in a sketch below. Surprisingly I knew house sparrows are all over the world. In Albania though, it got listed as a new bird in my life list. Had I never listed that bird before? Wow, I guess not!
Eight new birds in Albania, seven in Croatia and three in Bosnia-Herzegovina. No new birds in Montenegro and Slovenia since the birds there were already seen in a previous country.
Here are some quick sketches. Nothing is to scale!
In AlbaniaIn CroatiaAlso in CroatiaIn Bosnia-Herzegovina In Slovenia
Will I see new birds in Italy and Greece? Time will tell!
On our way to our hotel in Opatija, we stopped at a pasta-making class. With our aprons on, a swig of wine and clean hands, we made pasta! So simple, why don’t I make it at home!? Anyway, we created two differently shaped pastas and ate them! Delicious!!
Pasta-maker taught us how to make pasta! She went to Italy to learn pasta-making.IngredientsLunch!And more lunch!
Arrived at our destination…. Opatija. Wealthy people and tourists stop in this town where hotels are huge and overlook Kvarner Gulf, part of the Adriatic Sea. Way across the water is Venice, Italy. This place is so relaxed compared to any of my Venice visits!
Lady of the Seagull with live one on her head!Water is so clear!Some resorts have a swim area available. People were dipping their toes in the water.Beautiful!Our hotel’s use of the old ballroom!
My fellow travelers visited the hilltop towns of Motovun and Hum. It was an optional day tour with a truffle shop stop. I remained in sunny, windy Opatija to walk part of the 7.5 mile waterfront promenade.
In my free time I sketched some of the 14 new birds I have seen on the trip thus far. No colored pencils or paint with me here.
My farewell dinner at Opatija: pizza and wine:
I ate the whole pizza!A glass of Syrah wine.Chocolate and pistachio cake enjoyed when I joined my fellow travelers to hear about their truffle – tasting and lunch in the town of Hum, population 11 people. Good thing I walked many miles today as my dinner was huge!
Off to Slovenia tomorrow and I’m looking forward to our cave visit. Back in a few days…
Bird watching was not something I did during my youth. In my college days, the common loon may be considered my “spark bird”. (A spark bird is that bird making you more serious and interested in birding.) But in reality, I just loved seeing that bird. Hiking miles to Adirondack Mountain lakes in upstate New York State to see a common loon and sometimes its chicks was just a thing I did. Then I thought I started birding when the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. I did not.
Recently I found a bird journal of mine. It looked like I took my bird watching to another level on August 30, 2018! I literally recorded more specific notes than I ever remember completing. Amazingly I was teaching myself the difference between some birds as I was identifying my observations. I had a 30 -70 mm camera lens at the time to help with my identifications. Two years prior, in 2016, Merlin Bird ID became available for uploaded photos which no doubt helped me identify birds.
In 2019, I continued to list birds per outing along with the guidebook page, some notes, and additional info about other wildlife seen. I also collected pictures of birds I hoped to see when visiting upcoming locations, such as “Ding” Darling Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel, Florida.
I was really learning so much about birds!
On December 25, 2019, at Sweetwater Wetlands in Tucson, Arizona, I was caught standing between a good-sized javelina and a bobcat. I do remember that day because a woman from Florida was birding also and very scared. My only way to calm her was to have her stand on a bench as I was convinced the javelina would walk by and the bobcat would turn and leave. Which all of that did happen!
That was an interesting day; will always remember it!
August 2020 I attended my first bird festival in Tucson, Arizona. I may have believed I was a birder now as I bought camera lenses for improved bird photography. (In reality though I was birding since 2018.) Photography really helped me learn the names of birds. Attending bird festivals in Texas and California were most informative too.
I noticed in my December 2020 listing I was keeping track of my life list of bird species in eBird. So I was well on my way with 177 species, yet I thought I only began birding at the start of the pandemic. Interesting! Through 2021 and 2022, along with my sightings, I listed places for future birding visits. Time of year with possible bird sightings and directions to the place. Of course, I did set out to visit some of these places!
Interesting seeing these notes now that I am over 700 birds on my life list.
2023 I set a personal challenge to record one bird sighting, therefore bird checklist, per day. For 365 days there is at least one checklist per day of birds I saw, and sometimes there were more than one checklist per day. It was an especially fun activity as I traveled cross-country in my van and stopped at wildlife refuges, rest areas, family member’s backyards and parks … wherever I thought I’d see a bird … and created a checklist for the observations.
An endangered bird I did see here and 2 other times in my life so far.
2024, only a few notes of the many birds I saw in Sicily, Italy and later in the year in Australia and New Zealand. Now I no longer have a paper trail of the checklists of birds I see per outing. All is entered in eBird and I search there for date and locations of specific birds I need to know about from my observations. Part of me misses the writing of the info in a book. I do scribble in a list in my travel journal, but it feels different than the listings of years ago when I started birding. Now I am pre-occupied with sketching birds … that I hope to see … or did see. Who knows what format my future listings will take. But now I know I actually started birding in 2018!! In my future travel I hope to see this bird: European robin.
Will be looking for it in upcoming months!
If you are interested in learning about birds and to have access to all of the free and valuable apps from Cornell University, check out, click on this link at All About Birds. Go have some fun!
“Agua caliente” in Spanish means hot water. Here in Tucson, Arizona where this park is located it is very hot right now! We are twenty degrees warmer than the average temperature this time of year. No one is really enjoying it, especially the wildlife. Not every animal or plant can burrow into the ground or have enough energy to travel to a distant cooler location. Their survival rate can be affected. And similar to humans, animals can dehydrate and be in need of shade.
Things we can do to help wildlife: Provide shallow water containers with resting stones. Even bees can make use of it and not drown or have a way for small animals to move out of the water. Change the water often to keep it clean, disease-free and don’t use a metal container that will get hot. Provide shade and shelter. A good reason to not prune bushes right now. Lizards and others will hide out in those spaces. I’m sure if you research this topic you’ll find more suggestions.
Here’s what I did see at Agua Caliente Park in Tucson:
Cormorants spread their wings to dry them after swimming to catch fish or frogs, etc.
“Tipping point bird species” are those birds having lost more than half their population in the last 50 years. Reading so many reports about the decline of bird populations is simply depressing since the environmental threats affecting birds are also warning signs for our own health. (Remember the canary in the coal mine?) Simply put, we do breathe the same air as the birds! Beyond that their habitats are being destroyed and also areas to land, rest and feed during their migration. Fortunately some conservation groups, ranchers, farmers and others are addressing some of the issues.
While I knew the California condor and burrowing owls were, and have been for a while, on the “tipping point” list with more than a hundred birds on it, I recently learned the Lewis’s woodpecker and piping plover are on it. So I just wish to share some of my observations about these two tipping point birds: Lewis’s woodpecker and piping plover.
First, the piping plover:
Piping plover are small, move fast and a challenge to find!
The piping plover is a bird of major concern. A friend was part of helping protect a nesting area in California. I saw other protected nest areas in Indiana Dunes National Park in Indiana and also at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park in Michigan. I was fortunate to observe this bird in April 2022 in Middletown, Rhode Island and in May 2023 at Jones Beach in New York State. They are not the easiest bird to spot! I had no luck photographing one. This bird is endangered and I can only hope the nesting sites continue to be protected so future human generations will see this bird.
Notice the very small orange and blue areas where the birds might be!!
About Lewis’s woodpecker:
Lewis’s woodpecker
It was May 2021 and I was almost finished with a hike in Flagstaff, Arizona. I saw a large-sized woodpecker with a purplish-pink belly in a tree; unlike other woodpeckers I had ever seen! It was beautiful and I regret never getting a photograph. The greenish-black feathers, gray collar, red face and pinkish belly are most striking when you see it. I had no idea this bird is only spending time in a few western states in the USA.
Notice the winter and summer locations for this bird.
I didn’t realize when I saw the Lewis’s woodpecker again how fortunate I was. May 2022 again in Arizona and December 2023 at Death Valley National Park in California, there was the bird! Now I am worried about this near-threatened bird since I have not seen it in the past 3 years! By the way, the bird was discovered on the Lewis and Clark 1804-1806 expedition and named for the expedition’s co-leader.
If you are interested in knowing more about birds, download the free Audubon Bird Guide app at the app store. There is plenty of information about every bird. Give it a try! In the meantime, please be aware of the importance in caring about birds, thanks!
Easy app to use, plus it is FREE!
These are only 2 of hundreds of endangered and near threatened birds.
