…you get a text message that reads like this:

6 CAGO x/ CAGO COx BL

And you know what it means.

Congratulations Danika.

Well maybe not.  But its sort of cool looking anyway.  For the last few days, what appears to be a Budgerigar has been visiting my feeder.  Now, Albany, New York is not a place you would typically expect to find any kind of Parrott, but this one has taken command of a flock of House Sparrows.  The Sparrows no doubt provide protection, while the Budgy gets to feed at the feeder.  Obviously there is a pecking order as ALL the House Sparrows feed on the ground.  I wonder how long it can survive.

Also, I have yet to personally see this bird.  EVERYONE else in my family has seen it, but me.  Go figure.

Click on the images for a larger view.

This past weekend, Rich Guthrie spotted an unusual hawk along the road near Coxsackie in Greene County, New York.  The bird did not fit any of the ‘expected’ raptors, so he wisely photographed the bird.  He then sent the photos out to other birders and it took a couple of days, but eventually the bird was deemed to have been a juvenile Swainson’s Hawk!  Rich left a message with Danika and I passed the info on to HM Birds, but it appeared it was a one day wonder.

Then on October 6, at just about dark, my phone rang and it was Rich stating that he had refound the bird.  It was too late in the day for us to try and find it, but we made arrangements to get down there the next morning. 

Even though the day woke dreary and gloomy, with heavy rain during the ride down, the bird was present.  Pulling off the Thruway and into the Sunoco Station, we met Don Gresens and Rich who already had the bird scoped out on the wires about 50 yards away.  Even the gas station clerk came out and photographed it with his cell phone.  After awhile, the bird moved form the wires to a large billboard which lists all the local business.  We watched the bird for about 45 minutes, before it was time for me to go to work.

Thanks Rich for getting the word out and be sure to check out his original discovery over at his blog.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Once again I turn to the Albany, NY Times Union for another interesting article, this time about a Butterfly, the endangered Karner Blue.  This small blue butterfly, finds its home in isolated pine barrens, ranging from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Eastern New York and parts of New Hampshire and very local with in those areas.

According to the article, the Karner Blue butterfly has been extirpated from Schenectady County and in serious decline in Warren County.  It did mention that the Butterfly seems to be holding on, even making a bit of comeback in Saratoga County, but its last real strong hold in Eastern New York, the Albany Pine Bush, the Butterfly has declined drastically.  And experts are puzzled as to why.  Some are targeting the use of herbicides to deal with invasive species near the Pine Bush in the decline of wild Lupine, the Karner Blue’s main food source.  And while herbicides are not allowed inside the preserve proper, there are no rules governing their use on the large amount of private property that surrounds the preserve and in some cases in the preserve.

Others have pointed out a lack of snow cover, which leaves more eggs exposed to be eaten by hungry birds or just exposed to extreme cold.  Others have looked at a string of cold, wet springs which may impact the Karner Blue’s caterpillars.   The article quotes a DEC official by who said that sometimes Butterfly populations crash from unknown reasons.

So what can be done to save this species?  New York and other states are raising caterpillars at a facility in New Hampshire to be released  Currently it is estimated between 1,000 and 5,000 butterfly’s currently live in the Pine Bush in Albany.  It is estimated that 3,000 is needed to have a sustainable population, so there are either barely enough or not nearly enough.  Other conservation efforts such as controlled burns, to encourage Wild Lupine growth have been done and will continue to be done.  But a major difficulty is this is a small animal in a large area, making it very difficult at best to study and get an accurate population count.

The Full Article Can be found here:

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=848099

New York State DEC Web Page on the Karner Blue:

http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7118.html

The Times Union newspaper in Albany, NY ran an article about a Red-tailed Hawk which was recently released back into the wild after being shot by a worker at the track.  The Hawk, was doing what it did best and was eyeing a cage full of Pigeons on the roof of the track grandstand.  The man, who was from Guatemala, used a rock and sling shot to shoot the hawk, breaking its wing.  The bird plummeted from the roof and the scene was witnessed by several bystanders who alerted authorities.  The bird remained missing for a while, before being found by another track employee and given to a rehabilitator.

DEC was able to track the man down, where he plead guilty and paid a $250 fine (pretty cheap if you ask me), but according to the article he had some immigration issues and since returned home.  The hawk however healed, and was happily released very near where it was shot.

The full article can be found here

  http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=848063

At least to a somewhat regular blog update schedule.  But while you are waiting for more exciting blog posts, be sure to check out the pages on the page here, most of them are still “works in progress”, but I’ve spent quite a bit of time updating them and will have more updates on them as we go.

I’ve added 2 more blogs to the blogroll.  If you are casual blog reader, you’ll love Jochen’s Bell Tower Birder  Blog, as he seems to update his blog only during the waning phase of harvest moons.  While he only posts  infrequently, they tend to be real gems.  Plus you will often find Jochen spreading his famous German humor (oxymoron?) on blogs such as this one.

The other blog is the Picus Blog.  Not only are they located close to me (well sorta) in Massachusetts, but are always having local adventures with all the birds that make living in the Northeast worthwhile.  Plus they have a lot of pictures (usually) and always a good tale to tell.

So be sure to check back and see all the of the great things, tales, adventures, rants we have in store from you!  Also be sure to check the author, as it’s not just me anymore, but my wife Danika add her thoughts and opinions from time to time.

Good Birding!

An update on the Dredging Project to clean up the Upper Hudson River near Ft. Edward, Washington County, NY.

A short interesting video on the Origins of the Hudson River.

Bah!  Every weekend is September has been filled up with one thing or another.  As such I haven’t been able to get out as much as I would like.  Besides… having kids makes it that much more difficult, plus a wife who works a lot of Saturday’s which would be my normal birding day.  But don’t worry, we are cleaning out the computer of photos and will have lots of new posts, starting October 1.

See you then!

We have just updated the About and Handicapped birding sections of the blog.  This is a work in progress and we will be devoting some time to the latter section in particular soon.