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This year, for the second year in a row, Sector C of the Saratoga Christmas Bird Count was mine. Last year, Will, Tom, Bruce and I managed to track down 39 species but none of them were spectacular (though our four Red-winged Blackbirds set a new count high). This year, only Will joined [...]

After my last attempt at getting the perfect shot of a Cedar Waxwing in flight I vowed to try again so I was pleased to discover several waxwings have made the duck pond at Congress Park in Saratoga Springs their flycatching headquarters. I spent an entire lunch break yesterday trying to get the perfect flight [...]

I spent my lunch break in Congress Park again today and has the duckling situation changed! I have no idea where all of the Mallards hid their nests but ducklings were everywhere! Some were feeding in the grass, turning their little heads sideways to pull seeds off of plants:

And some were stretching their [...]

Just like Paula alerting me to the baby robins at her parents’, which have fledged, another coworker, Andrea, alerted me to a Killdeer nest at her sister and brother-in-law’s place in Malta, NY.  She actually called me last night to find out what kind of bird it was and to find out what they should do [...]

My lunchtime walk in Congress Park today was accompanied by many fewer ducklings then I had expected. Last week I saw three broods totaling 23 ducklings and today I only saw 8! Whether it was crows, cats, people, or other predators I don’t know, but I guess this is why Mallards have large [...]

Three broods, one of 11, one of 9, and one of 3, all in Congress Park in Saratoga Springs. I was wondering where all the female ducks had went…

The oddball duckling was with what looked like a pure female Mallard, and all the other ducklings looked like normal Mallards. Was some egg dumping going [...]

This morning in a pea-soup fog I drove up to the Saratoga National Cemetery before work in the hopes of tracking down Vesper Sparrows. They had been reported there over the weekend by Jory, who you met when we went looking for a Tufted Duck. I even spoke to Jory yesterday to make [...]