A hatch year female that has been hanging out in our garden was caught and banded by Fred Bassett and Fred Dietrich (of the Hummingbird Study Group) last friday. She weighed a whopping 3.3 grams! I didn't see her for a while after being banded but she has been visiting our flowers and feeders frequently since yesterday. She represents the 4th winter hummingbird that Fred has banded in our yard since 2004. Fred banded several more hummingbirds in Tallahassee that day including another Calliope. He also saw a Buff-bellied at another house but it didn't fly into the trap. It's turning into yet another steller winter hummer season here in Tallahassee.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Archilochus colubris

For more information on winter hummingbirds and how to contact your local hummingbird bander if you have a winter hummer in your yard please visit the Hummingbird Study Groups website at www.hummingbirdsplus.org

Every fall, usually at the beginning of October, we start to see Chipping Sparrows in our garden and by early January the flock grows to approximately 100 birds. It seems the flock has almost grown to that size already and they are eating about 5lbs of White Millet a week! Our friend Ross banded quite a few the last couple of winters and we are seeing at least 6 banded Chippies this winter but unfortunately Ross and his wife Anna moved on to better things in North Carolina. We miss you guys. Anyway a few weeks ago I noticed one of our neighbors had chopped down a dying tree and left the logs by the side of the street. We salvaged a couple of large chunks and are using them to put the millet on, which makes it easy to view the sparrows. Apart from a single Dark-eyed Junco the only sparrows we have seen are the Chippies but as winter progresses I'm hoping we get some White-throated and maybe another White-crowned. The junco was really early for us, we don't usually see them until late December.

Chipping Sparrows Spizella passerina

I spent the morning birding in Jackson county on monday the highlight being a 1st winter Franklin's Gull at the dam on Lake Seminole. There were lots of Canvasbacks on the lake, more than I've ever seen before plus the usual rafts of American Wigeon, Northern Pintail etc. There were also 7 female Red-breasted Mergansers, the most of them I've seen on the lake. There are usually only a couple every winter. I drove around the agricultural fields for a couple of hours hoping to find some Horned Larks or maybe a longspur but my search proved difficult due to the farm activity taking place. Most of the cotton fields were being ploughed. The fields at the junction of Bullfrog Rd and Tower Rd had well over 100 American Pipits as well as a few Vesper and Savannah Sparrows. I was joined by the two farm dogs, who I now consider my Jackson county birding friends and we sheltered behind my truck and enjoyed the pipits. Some were close enough for digiscoping except I left half my kit at home! Plonker! It was therefore strange that I did not go on to find something mega rare. At three rivers I had a Winter Wren and a Golden-crowned Kinglet.

The number of Chipping Sparrows in our garden is slowly increasing and there are at least 75. We now only have a single Baltimore Oriole and maybe 2 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

Chipping Sparrow Spizella passerina

Spent the morning at St. Joe Peninsula State Park yesterday counting migrants, finches mostly, as they headed north along the peninsula. A cold front passed through the night before and the wind shifted around blowing a steady 15mph from the NNW. Ideal conditions for vis mig at the park. Migrants tend to be pushed south onto or off the coastline and as they reorientate they are funneled to the state park and are easily observed from eagle harbor, which is the narrowest point. The wind steered the majority of birds to the western sand dunes so I positioned myself by the road and watched them flying low along the dunes. Super cool to watch them fly by at low level (25-75ft above ground). The birds involved were mostly American Goldfinches (334), which had small numbers of Pine Siskins (36) in with them, although I did have one pure flock of 7 siskins. Other birds noted included 7 American Pipits, 1 Orange-crowned Warbler, 10 Myrtle Warblers, 147 Red-winged Blackbirds, 1 American Kestrel, 1 Cooper's Hawk and 1 Northern Harrier. I decided to head to a couple of other spots, which proved birdless and I wish I'd have stayed at the harbor all day. You live and learn!

Pine Siskin Carduelis pinus

Interestingly most of the siskins were really yellow looking compared to the brown/gray ones I usually see visiting feeders in Tallahassee. I notice that the Sibley guide states that yellow siskins are scarce and most frequent in the southwest. It wouldn't surprise me if these birds were heading back west after drifting east on the cold front.

Northern Harrier (male) Circus cyaneus

Since I started digiscoping a couple of years ago I have found that I appreciate common birds a lot more than I used to. For me getting a decent picture of a common bird makes me appreciate its beauty and behavior a lot more. It also makes me appreciate how tough it can be to digiscope certain species, common or not. Wrens for example always give me the run around but I had a little luck today. Pity the sun wasn't out but I managed an ok shot of this House Wren who scolded my pishing from a barbed wire fence.

House Wren Troglodytes aedon

I have to admit that wrens are one of my favorite bird families. House Wrens aren't the most attractive of the family but they have big kahoona's! You'd think they were the size of a mockingbird considering the decibel level of their song and various calls. This little guy bounced up and down on the fence giving me plenty of gip until he realized that I wasn't a threat.

Carolina Wren Thryothorus ludovicianus

Carolina's are really loud and they are always on the move. Out of all the birds I regularly encounter and attempt to get a digiscope shot of, this little bugger is the most difficult. They never keep still! Their genus thryothorus is derived from the greek thourus, which means rushing or impetuous.

Mourning Doves on the other hand are the droopy dogs of the bird world. Joe Lieberman eat your heart out!

Mourning Dove Zenaida macroura

This female EasternTowhee tried her best to avoid my camera.

Eastern Towhee Pipilo erythrophthalmus

Pipilo means to chirp, cheep or peep and erythrophthalmus is derived from greek and means red eye. This individual was of the red-eyed form but we do get white-eyed towhgees here in the south-east as well. The further north you go the more red-eyed you will see.

Downy Woodpecker Picoides pubescens

this female Downy obliged and spent an age pecking the crap out of this small branch. If you look closely you can see some kind of gloop running from the tip of its bill to the branch.

I also ran into a flock of about 50 Eastern Meadowlarks but they were very restless. I couldn't get near enough for a decent digiscope shot and a hunting female American Kestrel was giving them the willies! Here is a meadowlark pic I digiscoped last winter at St. Marks.

Eastern Meadowlark Sturnella magna