It was last year in February that I really delved into the bird nerd world.  Starting in winter is likely not the way most people start, but for me it means that the month most people consider to be a bust in Nova Scotia birding has been really special for me.

One of the things that make Year 2 in birding great is seeing returning migrants.  And I was really happy to get views of the Rough-legged Hawk last week at Hartlen Point who comes to Nova Scotia for the winter. Not too many years ago homes had field guides and Robie Tufts books full of handwritten notes and dates with the birds seen each year.  And the old ways of doing things should never be forgotten in my opinion.

The winter has not been cold enough to be locked up reading books, but I digress.  Every advanced birding book will tell you that you can’t look at a photo of a bird and go in the field looking for it.  Birding does not work like that.  You need to learn the shape of birds, their features, plumages, behavior, and preferred habitats.  I can’t argue the convenience of posting a photo to an online group and having it immediately identified, but I am learning way more since I decided to advance my own skills and make my own efforts.

My notes are not handwritten but they are still being written, much of which I share here in the interest of encouraging others.  And eBird tracks all my sightings and logs them as parts of their “citizen science” project.

So armed with a wealth of digital information and books as a new birder I feel fortunate to have so much available to me.  Fortunate is also how I feel that other birders will share their knowledge in the field.  A group of us went to the valley last week primarily to enjoy the sunshine and exchange ideas, but also to find the Eastern Towhee that had been hanging about.

I found a great article a while ago about birding photography and letting the birds come to you which reiterated what I’ve already figured out.  You have to learn the birds, study the birds, and once you know their behavior you can get their photographs.  As a newer birder I’ve many times photographed an uncommon bird not knowing what it is at the time but there is little satisfaction in that for me.  That being said my “snap everything” approach landed me a photo of a Broad-winged Hawk which is uncommon in Nova Scotia at this time of the year.  The people I was with knew it was something other than a Red-tailed Hawk but I was completely unaware and just shot it and moved on to other things.  The after study will help me to recognize one down the road though, perhaps this summer when they are more commonly around.

Broad-winged Hawk – Fred Thomas Road – Canning, NS – Feb. 19, 2016

There is a joy in recognizing the bird and happening upon it naturally and nabbing the photo.  Or getting better photos of birds the second time round.  And third and fourth, you get the picture.

And I got the picture of the Towhee.  It was my first in Nova Scotia but my 3^rd sighting as I’ve seen them in Maine and because of that I was able to spot the bird in the bushes and anticipate his behavior.  My first 2 attempts to photograph a Towhee were photos of bramble and the reward is this clear photo.

And so it was also this February that I found a large group of Black-headed Gulls in the same place I first saw them last winter and realized with a big smile on my face that they come every year to this spot.  This year I didn’t photograph them and go home later and study photos on the internet and field guides trying to figure out which of the “little gulls” they were, I knew right away.  This year I was able to recognize 3 different plumages, and enjoy their noisy calls and antics.

For certain year 2 of birding is going to be amazing, although if I’m this excited now I’m going to lose my mind next month when the Warblers arrive!

PS – here is another assortment of Gulls in varying plumages I have photographed in an attempt to let them wash over me as they say.

They say February is a terrible month to bird.  I’m not so convinced about that and for me it is a special time in birding as February last year was when I really started to bird.  So all the birds I’m seeing now are the ones I saw for the first time in my life for the most part last year.

Imagine if you had never seen one of the beautiful winter ducks in your life.  Or even an Eider in winter plumage.  Imagine if you had never considered there were ducks anywhere other than the place where the ones your Dad took you when you were a kid to throw bread to were, let alone in the winter.  Well that was me a year ago.  It was all new and it never occurred to me to look at the ocean with a pair of binoculars and look for ducks.  And they are pretty oh my they are a sight to behold.  Behold our lovely Long-tailed Ducks, Common Goldeneyes, Mergansers, Buffleheads, Harlequin Ducks, just to name some of the more spectacular winter fowl.

This all followed very quickly after my indoctrination into birding as the superstar Eurasian Kestrel was hanging out not far from where I live.  One day in January kind folk with field guides helped me learn the difference between the Kestrel, Northern Harrier, and the Rough-legged Hawks all of which were putting on good shows daily at Hartlen Point last winter.  The Snowy Owls I could at least recognize myself  😉

So I got hooked, and it was cold oh gosh it was cold.  And I couldn’t go too far with all the nasty weather so I started bundling up and walking places close to home like Rainbow Haven (and David Currie took me there to see our wintering Yellow-rumped Warblers), the Salt Marsh Trail, the Shearwater Flyer Trail, and Hartlen Point and really all I saw were the winter ducks.  One day I was about a half hour onto the trail in the freezing cold and near froze my hands off to photograph a pair of Hooded Mergansers in fact.  And I’d do it again.  And I am doing it again, but thankfully this winter has been much tamer.

Today it was a gift of a day sunny and warm and kelp flies in full force and I thought maybe if I zipped down to Hartlen Point I would find some Horned Larks as they do come in the winter and they do like the kelp flies.

Alas no Horned Larks but 300+ Starlings were delighted about the kelp flies…and the Rough-legged Hawk was delighted about that I reckon.

The first bird I saw was the Rough-legged Hawk which is amazing as I’ve not seen one yet this year and really been hoping to.   And the coolest thing is this makes bird number 100 for my winter list.  And the other really neat thing is I would never have kept a winter list if it were not for bumping into Richard Stern some time ago who mentioned I should see if I can get 100.  And the thing is, Richard is the Raptor man so I think this is very fitting.

My photos today of the Rough-legged are poop but the live show was amazing.

Birding serendipity is really my thing and I had a strong urge to walk around Hartlen today that I could not shake.  I had been invited to bird elsewhere but passed it up and now I know why.

See…you just never know what you might find when you are looking for things with wings.

The Rough-legged Hawk put on a great show for me pretty much the whole 3 hours I was there and tonight I am still smiling.

I had been trying to get Patches the Lesser Black-backed Gull for my 100^th bird but I think mother nature is letting me know I am not meant to bird in parking lots.  We know this anyway, right?

Well I’m sure I’ll get back to the parking lot to look for Patches, but nothing beats a long walk in the sunshine on a winter day with an old friend flying above you.

Happy February,

Angela

PS – here is a much better photo of a Rough-legged I took on March 14th, 2015

Rough-legged Hawk at Hartlen Point March 14, 2015 (cropped)