GENNY vs. HALLIE Big Year Challenge: September 2016

This evening, my friends Justin and Amy joined me in Vinoy Park to take a walk around the shoreline bike path. We saw and photographed a lot of the usual suspects, but got quite a few good shots of a few new bird species. Amy, who has come birding with me previously, and Justin absolutely get an attaboy for spotting most of the birds tonight! Thanks guys!

At the end of the 2 .5 mile trail, we discovered an island COVERED in birds. After photographing many birds of prey, this is quite possibly the scariest island I have ever seen. It was crawling with herons, ospreys, and cormorants.

Here are the best shots of the evening:

Yellow Crested Night Heron F 1 point

Yellow Crested Night Heron M .5 points

Yellow Crested Night Heron M

Great Heron F .5 points

Great Heron F

Great Heron M

Northern Mockingbird 1 point

European Starling 1 point

Pelagic Cormorant 1 point

Willet 1 point

Annnnnd Just for Fun:

When you stealth surprise Amy while she's waiting for you! :)

Detail of Bird Island

Bird Island

Night Hawk in the Bay Sunset

Amy and Justin!

TOTAL ACCUMULATED BIRD POINTS: 51.5

-Hallie

Over the Labor Day weekend I visited some friends in Boston who just had their first child. While visiting,I had the opportunity to visit one of two "Zoo New England" locations in Massachusetts - Franklin Park Zoo in Boston.

Not only did I rack up my "bird point" total with many local birds in the nearby park, but the Franklin Park Zoo houses literally dozens of species!

Birds seen in the wild:

Canada Goose - 1 point

Mourning Dove - 1 point

European Starling - 1 point

House Sparrow (Female) - 1 point

House Sparrow (Male) - .5 points

Birds seen at Franklin Park Zoo:

Wattled Crane - .5 points

Wattled Crane

Kori Bustard (Africa) - .5 points

Kori Bustard - This thing is basically a velociraptor with wings...

Emu - .5 points

Emu

Australian Wood Duck - .5 points

Ostrich - .5 points

Black Swan - .5 points

So pretty!

We'll see if Hallie let's me count this one...the Northern Brown Kiwi sleeping in the dark (.5 points)?

And while we are on the subject...another terrible photo of a nocturnal bird...This is an actual bird, believe it or not, called the "Tawny Frogmouth" - .5 points

When I first took this, I was pretty sure I had just taken a picture of some sort of stuffed animal or a weird bird feeder. or something...but it was crowded so I took a photo of the informational poster and just figured I would clean up the photograph when I got home (as you can see, not much luck) or chalk it up as a loss...

This is what the poster said was within this eerie blue light. So when
I snagged the above photo I was less than satisfied, and not at all
convinced that I had a shot of the "Tawny Frogmouth"

But then, I got home and googled "Franklin Park Zoo Tawny Frogmouth" ....and the photo below came up! A real-life version of my weird stuffed fluffball! This is not my photo (below) but it helps explain what you are looking at in mine.

Photo Source: Allen Wenchung

This thing is incredible! Very much like an owl but it not classified as one, the Tawny Frogmouth is a nocturnal Australian native. Most of them do not appear to be this "fluffy" in the wild, but at least I know I wasn't being duped with a stuffed bird!

Palm Cockatoo - .5 points

Citron-Crested Cockatoo - .5 points

Kea - .5 points

Kookabura - .5 points

Great Indian Hornbill - .5 points

Awesome bird!

Aww

Andean Condor - .5 points

Chilean Flamingo - .5 points

Sunbittern (S. America) - .5 points

Maccao Duck (male) - .5 points (apologies for blurry photo)

Mallard Duck (female) - .5 points

Ringed Teal (female) - .5 points

Golden-Breasted Starling - .5 points (this African bird looks like such an alien!)

Red-crested Turaco - .5 points

Another alien-looking species! This bird was very agile and difficult to photograph!

Boat-billed Heron - .5 points

Bearded Barbet - .5 points

TO BE IDENTIFIED!

Gouldian Finch - .5 points

TO BE IDENTIFIED!

Orange Bishop - .5 points

Ruffled up Orange Bishop

Maccao Duck (female) - .5 points

Bali Mynah - .5 points

This bird was just singing away - it was really neat!

Violet Turaco - .5 points (This illusive bird, much like it's red-crested cousin, it is verrrry difficult to photograph. Thankfully I photographed each of the zoo's posted signs so I know for certain that this is the right species!)

Siberian Crane - .5 points

Red-crowned Crane - .5 points

Saddle-billed Stork - .5 points

Hammerkop - .5 points

Scarlet Ibis - .5 points

African Pygmy Falcon - .5 points

TO BE IDENTIFIED!

Rüppell’s Griffon Vulture - .5 points

This African vulture is an endangered species with a wing-span of more than 8 feet!

Yellow-billed Stork -. 5 points

Hadada Ibis - .5 points

TO BE IDENTIFIED!

Green Honeycreeper - .5 points

Marlbled Teal (female) - .5 points

This zoo had a very cool "Aussie Aviary" that featured dozens of "Budgies" (Budgerigar). These birds are native to Australia, and in the U.S. are more commonly known as a "Parakeet"!

Budgerigar (Male) - .5 points

Budgerigar (Female) - .5 points

Fatty

For $3 they will give you a stick with birdseed glued to it, and the birds come right to you...$$$

Please don't poo...

And if you remember Parakeets from the '90's then you probably remember cockatiels too. The lady one of the lady cockatiels at this zoo was molting, so she looks kind of like a vulture. But don't judge her please!