I did slightly better with bird observations today than I did yesterday. I did have one odd observation. I was looking at some juncos and kinglets when I heard someone behind me calling my name and turned around to find our neighbor Barb on a large white horse named Toby! I don’t see that everyday! We both agreed that it was a nice day to be out of the house!
The last visit to the Stroud Preserve was way back on October 26th just before Hurricane Sandy came to town. In the nineteen days between visits I can safely say that fall departed and winter arrived; all the leaves on the trees have fallen, all the weed that the Purple Finches and Goldfinches were feeding on were now lying prone on the ground; the land, for the most part, had that quiet packed away feel to it. Most of the birdlife has moved on to some other place. In fact, this was the lowest species count that I have recorded on all of my visits to the preserve, a whopping 24 species!
As I mentioned in my blog post from 31 October big storms like Sandy are usually followed by a short period of extreme birding excitement. In fact, many unusual and out of place birds showed up all cross the northeast part of North America in the week following the storm. Perhaps the most unusual of these was a Pterodroma petrel found under a mailbox in the middle of Pennsylvania. It was taken to a animal rehab center but died shortly there after. Pterodroma petrels are notoriously difficult to identify in the field and apparently they are difficult to identify in the hand as there is still some question as to which species of petrel this is.
Unfortunately I was unable to get out and see any of the storm related rarities. Instead, I lived vicariously through the email posting of others. One strange thing that I noticed after Sandy was concerning, not a seabird, but Golden Eagles. Most of the hawk migration monitoring sites post their daily totals to the local list servers. After the storm most all of them experienced daily and seasonal all time record high numbers of Golden Eagles.
Below are the numbers from the monitoring sites in the mountains. The coastal and piedmont sites didn’t see an unusual change in Golden Eagle numbers. I have often wondered about the winter distribution of Golden Eagles on the east coast. We have a fair number of them pass through in migration, as shown below. However south of here, observations are few and far between. My guess is that they stay in the mountains spread out over a large geographic area where there are fewer birders in winter. Whatever they do in winter the numbers below are exciting to see!
This past weekend my friend from art school Gerry Bannan and his wife Betsy hosted a show of my paintings in their studio gallery in Roanoke, Virginia called BanG Studio. I have often heard that if you want to get anywhere in the art world (or any world for that matter) it is all about who you know. Well, let me tell you, if you are going to do anything concerning art in Roanoke you need to know Gerry and Betsy! Not only did I get the royal treatment and the honor of being the first painter to show at their new space, but I also got to witness power tool drag racing and a speech by former President Bill Clinton! The number one thing that I learned form the weekend is that Roanoke doesn’t suck!I’ll let you figure out why it was once called the Big Lick.
As I said Gerry and I go way back to undergraduates at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and we also traveled around Europe together in the summer of 1987. When I was at Tyler, I often wondered how I ended up in a school with so many fantastically talented people, and Gerry was surely one of them. See his works here. After we graduated from Tyler, Gerry went off to graduate school at the Pratt College of Art in NYC where he met Betsy, who is also a fantastically talented painter. See her works here. They married and eventually ended up in Roanoke, where Betsy’s family is from and have been there ever since. They recently moved their studio out of their house and into a formal studio space in downtown Roanoke.
This space is nothing but awesome! They use about half of it as a studio work space and the rest as a place to show art. I am honored to be the first painter to show work in their new space. This is especially good for me as I haven’t shown work in a gallery setting in about 25 years! Having over 30 of your paintings all in a row allows you to see and think about your work in ways that you otherwise can’t. The opening was great and well attended. I especially liked that mom and dad were able to come up and see it. It is nice to show them that my art school education is still working for me. I also want to thank all of Gerry and Betsy’s friends that came out to see it and made me fell like I was at home. What a wonderful art community you have there! I look forward to more visits in the future. Checkout photos of BanG Studio and the opening here.
The next day, Saturday, was one busy day. It started off with breakfast at Ernie’s with mom and dad in downtown Roanoke. We had planned to eat at Thelma’s Chicken and Waffles but they didn’t open until 9 AM. This was not good as we were hungry at 8 AM. Ernie’s it is. I’ll have to give Ernie’s the thumbs down as the grits that we ordered were instant grits. I could tell they were instant just by looking at them. It is a cardinal sin to serve instant grits south of the Mason Dixon Line! After breakfast we walked around the open market place and then mom and dad got on the road. I headed back to the Bannan house where we then promptly head off to the Power Tool Drag racing.
I must admit I was a little skeptical that these racers would race, or move forward in any significant way. On Thursday night we visited the workshop of Rob Humphrey the organizer and a racer in the event. Also there working away was Matt Ames, the race announcer and also a racer in the event. They tinkered away for a while and when they tested the Philosophy Inc. entry it didn’t move so well. I am happy to say that by race time all the bugs had been worked out of the system because these things moved like bullets! Check out the photos of the race here.
After the racing Betsy, Gerry and I were feeling hungry. I made the point that it was after 9 AM and Thelma’s should be open. Gerry and Betsy mentioned that it was about the only place in Roanoke that they had never eaten. Decision made and we were off. Now, I have eaten lots of strange meals in my day but this was as simple as this; hashed potatoes with bacon (I’m also pretty sure the potatoes were cooked in all of the bacon fat), a big huge piece of fried chicken, and a Belgian waffle. Nothing green or remotely healthy, just southern comfort food at it’s best. It rocked!
It was my original plan to head back to West Chester at about this time, however, Betsy and Gerry somehow convinced former President Bill Clinton to come speak just blocks away from their house. How could I leave after all the trouble they went through to get him to come and speak to me? I couldn’t, so I stayed.
No matter what you think of Bill Clinton, he is one of the most iconic figures of our time and one of the greatest orators ever. And just incase any of you are unaware, I am a dyed to the polar fleece, union loving, latte sipping, progressive, liberal democrat. Needless to say I was very excited to see President Clinton. The event started at 7 PM and we got in line at 4, and it was worth it! He was as a dynamic speaker in person as he is on TV and we enjoyed every minute of it. Check out the photos of the event here.
Woo. What a weekend. Sunday I got up early and had a very uneventful drive back to West Chester.
Thanks Betsy and Gerry, and the rest of the Roanoke crowd for a wonderful weekend!
Russell
This is just a quick update to let everyone know that everyone at 302 N Franklin St in West Chester PA is doing just fine. We were very lucky in that it seems that we missed the worst parts of Sandy. The places here that took the brunt of the strom were low lying and coastal areas. We hardly had a flicker with our electricity nor did we get any basement leaks.
This was a good test for the basement. When I arrived here last summer the basment walls only seemed to slow down the water. I spent the first couple of months here doing a lot of work trying to find the leaks an dry out the area. I am happy to say that I could not find a single drop of water down there at all.
Now, don't get me wrong, Sandy was not a good thing for many reasons which I need not go into now. But I can tell you that as a birder and ornithologist, events like this are very exciting. Why? Well, birds have wings and storms like Sandy will send animals with wings to far off places that you would never see them otherwise.
Over the last two days ther has been an absolutely unprecedented number of oceanic and coastal bird throughout Pennsylvania. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Pennsylvania's geography, we have neither coast nor ocean here. Large numbers of Leach's Storm-Petrels, Jeagers, Terns, Oyster-catchers and other such birds have been seen throughout the state. Unfortunately for me, I have not been able to get out and see anything myself, but it has been terribly exciting to see the reports of others. The best report that I have seen so far is of a Red-billed Tropicbird (photo above salvaged from the web) which found alive in southern New Jersey. It is only the second record for the state ever!
Stay dry!
Russell
Well, the last game of the Philadelphia Union's 2012 season was yesterday. They played the New York (New Jersey) Red Bulls (pink cows). We had high hopes that the Union would put a hurting on them, but in the end, they put a hurting on us: Union 0, Pink Cows 3.
This season was hard for the Union fans, the team went through many painful changes and their performance showed. That said, Steve and I had a blast going to the games and yelling obscenities at the opposing team (and sometimes at the home team). We missed the third member of our party, Enrico, who only made it to one game this year. He was faced with a big decision, soccer or art. He chose art. Who could have guessed that his studio/gallery Parallel Art Space would be such a success! Congratulations Rico! (Just for the record, Steve and I have devised a alternative soccer plan for 2013 that he will not be able to back out of).
I wanted to thank Mary for allowing me to slip away a couple times a month to see the games. Also, thanks to Rico for allowing us to bring some friends to the game every so often in his place. Steve and I are already looking forward to the 2013 season. We have moved our regular seats from the supporters section to a corner section. Mainly because in the supporters section you must stand for the entire game. Steve and I both turned 50 this year and we have discovered that sitting down is a good thing!
See some photos of the last game here.
Doop, doop, doop, do, do, doop, doop, doop! 2013!
Russell
Today’s walk was by for the calmest of the season. I’m thinking it is the calm before the storm and it seemed as if the birds know what is coming our way. I did manage to see the Cackling Goose again. It (I’m assuming it was the same bird as yesterday) was in with about 300 Canada Geese that lifted up from one of the fields in the Preserve around 9:30 AM. They are very easy to pick out of a crowd being half the size of everyone else. Here is the rundown on the day.
Today was a good day as I added three new species to the preserve list! The Preserve list is now 161 and my personal list is 141. Green-winged Teal, Cackling Goose, and Black-capped Chickadee. The teal, eight in all, were amongst the first birds I saw when I arrived as they were sitting down stream from the bridge over the Brandywine. They were still there as I left. The chickadee was at the old farm pond. I have suspected that there were probably a few mixed in with the Carolina Chickadees, but wasn’t really sure until today when one was singing and calling. That removed all doubt. The bird of the day however was the Cackling Goose that flew in over the preserve with about 45 other Canada Geese. These are considered rare on the east coast of North America and are pretty easy to identify, especially if they are with Canada Geese as the Cacklers are about half their size.
Here is a complete rundown of the day’s observations. Notable species in bold.
Today was a big day. First off all three kids had an orthodontist appointments in succession this morning. The only one of the three who was really excited to be there was William, and it was all because his braces were coming off! Emily was there just to have hers tightened and Paddy was there to get sized up.
On the day that the braces come off, they give the kids a big back of candy that they were not allowed to have while they were wearing them. William got home from school and immediately ran over to the bag and started munching. A few minutes later he came over holding out his hand in it was a small white lump that looked like it was covered in blood.
“What’s that?” I asked. He points to his mouth and opens it. There’s blood everywhere. I said “Is that your tooth!” He nods his head yes. “William! We just went through all those braces and you break off your tooth with in the first 8 hours of having them off!” I look at it and think that it kind of looks like a molar baby tooth. I called the orthodontist and asked. They said “oh yeah, he still has his baby teeth back there. Woo. That was a relief!
William’s smile looks great. Paddy’s, however, is going to need some attention. He has a real issue as one of his front incisors is coming in behind his lower incisor. As I told Dr. Burkland, I’m not dentist, but that just doesn’t seem right. Dr. Burkland told me that I had great instincts for dentistry.
Check out other photos of our day in orthodontics here.
Russell
It is with great sadness that we tell you the news that our friend Chris Appleford passed away on Wednesday, 17 October 2012, after a long struggle with cancer.
In 1991 Mary and I packed up our wagon and headed west. We drove west from Philadelphia until we reached the point that if we drove any further we would need to find our passport. This stopping point in our journey westward just happened to be the doorstep of Chris Appleford and Marcia Bruno. They took us in for the summer until we could securely set anchor in the Pacific Northwest.
What we learned about Chris that summer was that he was the person upon which the Seattle stereotype was modeled: he was the ultimate dorky nerd (or is it nerdy dork?); he loved coffee; he knew the brewing schedule for every microbrewery within 100 miles; he loved the outdoors; he loved hiking, camping and, most of all, his bike; rarely dressed up; a hopeless optimist; and above all else, he was the nicest person you would ever want to meet.
Chris was the first to introduce me to many of the natural wonders of Washington State. My first visit to Mount Rainier was with Chris. My first view of a genuine Northwest old growth forest was on a hike with Chris to the alpine lakes above Darrington. I remember one of our first camping trips to Eastern Washington was to a spot called Wenas Creek. It was about two hours east of Seattle, up in the ponderosa pines near Ellensburg. I remember like it was yesterday because it was what I imagined the western forest to be. Elk grazed here in winter, big horned sheep roamed the Yakima Valley below. Cowboys chased cows around. What I really like about the place was that in and around the ponderosa pines lived one of my favorite birds – the White-headed Woodpecker. I revisited Wenas Creek many times (something on the order of 5 or 6 times a year). In 1999, I used the site as part of a study that I did on White-headed Woodpeckers when I was working as a wildlife biologist. Each time I visited Wenas Creek, I recalled that first camping trip with Chris. I can still hear him trying to calm and keep that silly dog of his, Spammy, who was still a puppy at that time, from whining, “Shhh Spammy! Your going to keep everyone awake.” Of course, he was unsuccessful at keeping Spammy from whining and we were all wake all night.
When I arrived in the Pacific Northwest, I already had a well-developed environmental ethic. It is not easy for anyone to have any influence over that aspect of my life, most of which is set in stone, yet Chris was able to do just that. My approach to being out doors was to analyze it and know all if its parts. Chris’s approach was to simply be outdoors. Chris showed me how to do that. It wasn’t an easy thing for me to do. This, however, was not Chris’s biggest influence over me. That involved a simple machine with two wheels that would carry me further than I could have ever imagined and has forever changed my life in profound ways.
Back in 2004 in an effort to lose weight I blew the dust of my bike. It had been siting in our garage for way to long. Knowing that Chris liked these things, I’d call him up and ask his advice about this, that and the other and Chris would talk to me at length about it. Looking back I can see now just how dumb most of my questions were. Yet, Chris would address all of them with an unparalleled level of enthusiasm as if he was hearing it for the first tine. Slowly but surely Chris guided me along to becoming a respectable and knowledgeable cyclist of my own. I so happy that I got to ride hundreds and hundreds of miles of Washington’s roads with Chris; the Hood Canal, the Olympic Peninsula, the Carnation Valley, Bainbridge Island’s “Chilly Hilly,” Seattle to Portland to name a few. My only regret is that I wish it could have been thousands of miles instead.
Knowing Chris has left with me a greater appreciation for the good stuff in life, something that I will certainly carry with me for the rest of my days and hopefully be able to pass along to others. He may be physically gone from this earth but he will certainly live on in the hearts and minds of many people for a long time.
Ride lots, stop often,
Russell
For those of you who knew Chris and are in the Seattle area, there will be a memorial service for him on 11 November 2012, starting at 2:00 PM at The Hall at Fauntleroy, 9131 California Ave SW, Seattle Washington.
Chris asked that in lieu of flowers people could make a donation to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. Chris also requested that his ashes be spread over a mountaintop somewhere in Washington. Marsha said that this event will take place sometime next summer. When the location and time is set I’ll post the details here.
I've posted a few of the photos that we have of Chris here.
The morning walk today was overcast with a little rain! Not quite as was predicted. It was still unseasonably warm. Total numbers were higher, and Robins were definitely on the move.
Wow. So I thought last week was warm. Things are certainly seem to be going in the wrong direction. Today started out at 48 and it was 55 by the time I left. The high today is going to be around 70, which is predicted to be the lowest high for the rest of the week! As with the nice weather last week, today’s nice weather didn’t bring in a whole lot of species diversity, but it does make for a nice walk.
What beautiful day to be outside! And what a slow day for birds! Even though I saw a the average number of species, 43, it seemed as though I only saw 44 individual birds (actually since 9 September my daily average is 44 species). Still getting out for a couple of hours on such a nice day does the sprit good, and today, I needed it. Here is a rundown of what was out there.
Today’s walk around the Stroud Preserve was very calm, but full of birds. The first four birds of the day were an adult Cooper’s Hawk, adult Bald Eagle, male Kestrel, and adult Red-tailed Hawk. Not a bad start. The parking lot was completely empty when I arrived and I saw almost no people despite the nice weather. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been reading about an invasion of Pine Siskins to the Delaware Valley. Flocks of hundreds of them seemed to be everywhere except the Stroud Preserve. Finally today they arrived.
After yesterday’s visit to the preserve we had big front move through. In the afternoon it rain buckets! The effect on the bird life this morning was clear. Many of those lingering migrants seem to have packed their bags and headed to other places, hopefully further to the south! Here are the numbers
As with yesterday, it was fairly slow for birds, but very warm which made for a good walk. It was a good day for sparrows with seven species total. I saw Savannah Sparrow for the first time since the spring. Starting temperature was 63° and it was 68° by the time I got back to the car! It was overcast skies with a 70% plus chance for rain by the afternoon. In fact, by the time I got home it was raining.
Today William and I decided to take an afternoon walk down at the Preserve. It was unseasonably warm above 70! Also a bit windy. We saw many caterpillars of many varies. William picked all of them up. See photos here. All in all it was pretty slow. No warblers around at all.
Today’s visit to the Stroud Preserve was chilly as I noted the first frost of the fall. The photo above shows frost on the railing of the parking lot. I did not see any frost on the ground. We may not see it for the next week or so either as the predicted lows for the next five days are all above 45°.
I started out an hour early at about 7:45 today as Mary was home and could take Paddy to the bus stop. I told Mary that compared to yesterday I would need to see a condor for the day to amount to anything. Nonetheless, I headed out under mostly clear skies, a bit chipper, and a light wind. I stayed out until 11:00 AM, the first two hours were slow and methodical birding, the last hour I pick up the pace to get my heart rate up. Here is what I saw. Total species: 52. Notable sightings in bold.
Back when we were living in Washington State and I would see something like Mount Rainier or a pod of orca whales, I would always say “well, you don’t see shit like that in Philadelphia!” Of course I was 100% correct, you don’t see shit like that in Philadelphia. Not by a long stretch. However, Mother Nature still has great and wonderful things to send your way here if you are looking for it.
For example, back in September 5th, after I had gotten the kids off to school and was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes. I took a look out the back window to see a little yellow bird hopping in and amongst the leaves of a hosta below me. When it hopped out into full view, I could see that it was a Connecticut Warbler! Perhaps the most sought after fall warbler species on the east coast. It has been at least 20 years since the last time I have seen one of these little guys! And a yard bird to boot!
While that was really exciting it was no match for today’s excitement. For most of September and October I have been birding for a couple of hours a day down at the Stroud Preserve, which is just three miles away from home. Ecologically speaking, there is nothing really special about the place other than a small serpentine outcrop that has a few really rare plants. For the most part it is a fractured landscape consisting of small chunks of forest, streams, open grassy fields and row crops. It essentially resembles the rest of Chester County’s agricultural lands. I have seen many good birds there over the past year. It occasionally produces some outstanding birds, and today I had two!
I usually like to ride my bike down to the entrance, but today William missed the bus and I had to drive him to school, so, I just decided to drive on the preserve. As I got out of my car I could see two large birds to the north flying low over the east fork of the Brandywine Creek. They were just close enough for me to discern that one of them was an adult Bald Eagle because I could clearly see its big white head and big white tail. It was unmistakable and could be nothing else. The other bird looked all dark to me so I assumed it was an immature Bald Eagle. The adult was chasing and harassing it.
I stood up, stretched, and put my binocular strap over my head and took a closer look. Immediately I was reminded why you shouldn’t make assumptions as the darker bird had a bicolored tail, with the outer half being dark and the base being white. This too was unmistakable and could be nothing other than a juvenile Golden Eagle!
For those of you who are unaware, Bald Eagles here are fairly common. In fact, my records show that I have seen them on about 36% of all of my visits to the Stroud Preserve. Golden Eagles on the other hand are not so common. They are considered rare in the Delaware Valley and when you do see them around here they are usually high overhead. I have seen them in the greater Philadelphia area before. Back in my freshman year at Temple (fall of 1981) I saw one flying over downtown Philadelphia. This wasn’t even my first one for the Stroud Preserve. Back on September 16th I saw one high over the preserve flying with approximately 4000 Broad-winged Hawks. It was so high up that I could barley discern that it was a Golden Eagle.
This bird today was low and it was moving towards me. I watched as both eagles dodged and darted at each other flying in tight little circles, with each circle bringing them a little closer to me. After about ten minutes of this areal dog fight between our avian giants they were right in front of me and only about 50 feet or so above the tops of the trees with the sun over my left shoulder, making for an absolutely stunning view of the eagles. I could clearly see the eye of the bird and the golden hackles of the nape. I can honestly say this was one of the best looks at a Golden Eagle in all of my nearly 40 years as an avid birder. (The photo above is of the eagle with my iPhone, you can just barely make out the white at the base of the tail).
At this point the Bald Eagle decided it had had enough and swiftly moved on down stream. The Golden Eagle stayed for the most part in front of me a spent the next 5 minutes climbing a thermal then heading off to the west-southwest, which is the direction that all the migrating hawks have been heading.
Not a bad start for the day! The rest of my walk around the preserve was pretty slow. I saw only the usual cast of characters, which were in fairly low numbers. However, a minute or so after I turned around to head for the car, the second great bird of the day popped out of the woods hear the old barn. This bird was large, about the size of a Red-tailed Hawk, with a broad, heavy body, dark streaking down the breast, long rounded tail, short rounded wings, and the clincher, a broad white supercilium. This could only be one thing, an immature Northern Goshawk! Wow. It flew out over a grassy field where it was immediately descended upon by a hoard of crows. It quickly headed for the shelter of the trees and disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Either of these two birds would have been the highlight of a day, week or month. To have them only a few hours apart on the same day was special. To see them along the Brandywine, where George Washington’s army marched past two and a half centuries ago is not something you could see in Seattle!
Keep looking up!
Russell
There are many differences between the schools that we had on the north Olympic Peninsula and the ones here in West Chester. Almost all of the advantages are for the West Chester Schools. Simply put it is just a large system with loads more money and resources. The one glaring category that the Sequim schools exceeded in is bikes. Each of the schools there, had a bike rack and they were all filled with bikes. From the Elementary school to the High School. Kids were able to ride bikes to school and park them in a designated spot. None of the schools here have a bike rack. Zero. And as far as I can tell, Paddy and I are the only ones that ride a bike regularly each day. The only other bike that I have seen a any of the schools is this one at Henderson High School. It is locked up on one of the metal benches at the stadium in front of the school. It looks like some bike advocacy is in order...
