Dakota's All Natural Experience

Birding With a Bum Leg

Dakota — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:10:12 +0000

Over Labor Day weekend I injured my knee. My neighbor’s dog ran into my leg and it twisted it backwards and it really hurt. The dog didn’t see me and ran into me but it was on accident.

So, birding has been no fun because I can’t walk very well. I was able to sit down and bird in the backyard though and luckily there are some warblers and other birds like Common Nighthawks to watch.

Hanging out in the Callaway Nature Preserve - photo by Birdfreak

In my backyard there are three Ruby-throated Hummingbirds that are coming to the feeders. They are fun to watch hovering and drinking.

It is hard to deal with not playing baseball or hiking and I don’t know yet how long I will have to wait to get better. I hope it is soon.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - photo by Birdfreak

Camera Critters #20 - Eastern Tiger Swallowtails

Dakota — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 22:57:49 +0000

My uncle Eddie took this photo in HDR, which is a process I am learning about. You take three photos of the same thing in different exposures and put them together through a software program called Photomatix.

Check out Camera Critters #20.

Photo Life List #10 - Mississippi Kite

Dakota — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:10:48 +0000

My Mom got a phone call about a Mississippi Kite spotted a couple miles away from my house. We decided to try to find it because it is pretty rare around northern Illinois.

When we got there we found a group of people pointing in to the sky. That is how we found where the Mississippi Kite was. This is a really cool LIFER for me!

There was two of them and they were soaring around and they flew really low and we got a great view. I got some really cool photos.

My Rhode Island Trip - Day Seven - Part II: The Birds

Dakota — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:41:35 +0000

On the field trip I got to go on in Massachusetts I saw a LOT of great birds. We saw different types of terns, gulls, and lots of shorebirds. Total LIFERS for this trip? 24!!! Most of the lifers I saw are from this trip to South Beach, Cape Cod.

Sanderlings are one bird that I saw for the first time. I can’t believe how many different kinds of birds were out there. There was also a lot of them!

Sanderling - photo by Birdfreak

One of the coolest birds I saw was the Ruddy Turnstone. It is one of the best looking birds and it actually turns the rocks over and we got to see them doing that! We also saw a big Ruddy Turnstone battle, but no one was hurt.

Ruddy Turnston battle - photo by Birdfreak

NEW To My Life List

Greater Black-backed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
Common Eider
Laughing Gull
Northern Mockingbird
Semipalmated Plover
Piping Plover
Black-bellied Plover
Common Tern
Least Tern
Roseate Tern
Arctic Tern
Black Skimmer
Ruddy Turnstone
Willet
Wilson’s Phalarope
Whimbrel
Peregrine Falcon
Snowy Egret
White-winged Scoter
American Oystercatcher
White-rumped Sandpiper
Red Knot
Sanderling

I saw Horseshoe Crabs and Gray Seals for the first time too. I had so much fun on this trip, I don’t remember another time that was so fun. I really got to explore and study a lot. My uncle took a lot of photos. I can’t wait to go on another birding trip!

Horseshoe Crab - photo by Birdfreak

Short-billed Dowitcher - photo by Birdfreak

Red Knots - photo by Birdfreak

My Rhode Island Trip - Day Seven - Part I: The People

Dakota — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:00:37 +0000

I was allowed to join a field trip to the Cape Cod National Seashore off the coast of Massachusetts. We had to take a boat to reach the salt marsh and then even had to wade a bit to reach the island from the boat. It was very cool.

Me on the boat to see cool birds! - photo by Birdfreak

I got an amazing number of LIFERS - but you will have to wait until tomorrow to read more about them. This post is about the cool birders and bird bloggers I met while on this field trip.

I met a birder and bird blogger named Corey Finger of 10,000 Birds. The Arctic Tern we saw was new for both of us!!! Corey is a really good birder and a very nice guy. I enjoyed talking to him.

Corey of 10,000 Birds - photo by Birdfreak

Another bird blogger I met on this trip was Julie Zickefoose. We talked about Horseshoe Crabs and Piping Plovers. We also saw a lot of both of these on this trip. She was very nice to talk to and a super good birder.

I also met bird blogger Sharon or Birdchick. I thought she was really good at birding and was fun to be around.

Birdchick - photo by Birdfreak

Ben from 600 Birds and John from Born Again Birdwatcher were both really nice too. Another young birder, Helena from Adventures of Bird Girl was also there. It was exciting to be around all of these birders and a lot of them are also bloggers which was so great.

Ben and John - cool birders - photo by Birdfreak

There were three guys from Swarovski too, Rob, Dean and Clay. Clay was the main guy heading the field trip. They were so very nice to us. Rob looked for Horseshoe Crabs with me and we found a lot of cool things on the beach. We even waded in the shallow water and talked a lot. I like that all the great birders did not treat me like a little kid on this trip and made me feel like a part of the group.

Rob and Dean from Swarovski - photo by Birdfreak

Clay - photo by Birdfreak

the whole gang - photo by Birdfreak

I was so lucky to be able to go on this field trip. It was one of the most amazing trips I have ever gone on and I saw a ton of birds, including a lot of LIFERS!!

My Rhode Island Trip - Day Six

Dakota — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:00:55 +0000

On Day six, Eddie hung out at Swarovski Optics and Grandpa and I hung out in Providence. We took the bus downtown and found an old arcade building that was really cool. But Grandpa and I wanted to find a real arcade so we kept looking and found a place called Dave and Busters at a huge mall called Providence Place. The arcade was closed, so we went to visit the capitol of Rhode Island.

The capitol was beautiful and made of all-white marble. The stairs and stairways were very neat. The library had a great spiral staircase that Grandpa could go up but I could not because it said: “No Children” so I was kindof mad. We saw the Senate and House of Representatives and other offices.

After the capitol visit, we did some more shopping. We ate lunch back at the mall and my Grandpa go Rhode Island’s Best Hamburger voted as the best for seven years in a row. We did some more shopping including some used book stores and bought books.

We didn’t bring a camera, but we had a great time. Oh, and I did get to go back to the arcade and played for awhile which was really neat!

My Rhode Island Trip - Day Five

Dakota — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:00:47 +0000

We spent day five in Rhode Island. Rhode Island is small but full of great scenery and things to do. We were lucky to have great weather here.

We saw more Greater Black-backed Gulls at Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge.

Greater Black-backed Gull - photo by Birdfreak

I spotted a bird flying….could it be? My THIRD LIFER - a Northern Mockingbird!! We saw Northern Mockingbirds a lot after that and I was so happy to see them.

Northern Mockingbird - photo by Birdfreak

We also found a large group of Double-crested Cormorants. Some of them were drying their wings and it was so neat to see them. We also found more snorklers. It looks like something I might want to try someday. Day five was very fun, hanging out in Rhode Island!

My Rhode Island Trip - Day Four

Dakota — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 13:00:31 +0000

Day Four (July 29) we left Vermont and went through a small part of New Hampshire and on into Massachusetts.

Welcome to New Hampshire! - photo by Birdfreak

We found a really nice restaurant called Quabbin Woods Restaurant to eat breakfast. It was in Petersham, Massachusetts. Then we drove through Massachusetts, and into Connecticut and then into our fifth state of the day…Rhode Island!

Welcome to Rhode Island - photo by Birdfreak

Two years ago in fourth grade I did a report on Rhode Island for school. I was so excited to finally get to visit!

We first drove across a bridge to Conanicut Island. There was a great lighthouse and and I got my first look at the Atlantic Ocean!

We went to Beavertail State Park and we walked along a ridge that looked out to the ocean. We saw scuba divers, snorklers and my first of many LIFERS, Black-backed Gulls! My second LIFER of the trip I also saw here: a Common Eider! Then we went down this narrow, trail down to a rocky area near a beach. It was really cool.

We drove to Newport Island and found an Osprey nest. We did some shopping for souvenirs and then went to our motel in Middletown, Rhode Island.

Osprey’s Nesting - photo by Birdfreak

My Rhode Island Trip - Day Three

Dakota — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:00:10 +0000

Our second night was spent in Ithaca, New York. In the morning (July 28) we visited the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. First we went into the visitor’s center. The visitor’s center had a library with tons of bird books. We hiked around and explored the area around Cornell. We saw two groups of smaller children learning in a class. The teachers had nets and buckets. I saw a Wood Thrush and heard an Ovenbird.

Me and Grandpa at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology - photo by Birdfreak

Checking out Cornell - photo by Birdfreak

After we left Cornell, we traveled to Albany, New York to visit the capitol. It was huge and beautiful. We saw the Senate and the House of Representatives.

photo by Birdfreak

I love the stairs and stairways in capitol buildings, they are very neat. The outside of the capitol looked kind of like a castle. We could only go three stories high, but it went up a lot higher.

Albany Capitol - photo by Birdfreak

After we left the capitol, we drove across the Hudson River on a really great bridge. We drove through Vermont and bought real maple syrup there.

Our third night we stayed in Brattleboro, Vermont.

My Rhode Island Trip - Day Two

Dakota — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 13:00:04 +0000

On day two (July 27), we visited Presque Isle State Park and saw a really cool lighthouse. This was in Erie, Pennsylvania.

photo by Birdfreak

We left Erie, Pennsylvania and headed to Allegany State Park where Mon@rch (Tom) lives. Tom is cool and really smart. We met in the parking lot and went for a short hike to look for Prairie Warblers.

We didn’t find any Prairie Warblers but it was fun. We went to the park station to check it out. Then I got the chance to do something very exciting! I got to help Tom band five baby Eastern Bluebirds!! I took them out of the box, and even got to put a band on one of them. One baby pooped in my hand.

Mon@rch helping me band baby Eastern Bluebirds - photo by Birdfreak

I learned how to tell male and female babies apart by looking at the color of their wings. I found out that if the color is in between you record a U which means you can’t tell if it is male or female.

Baby Eastern Bluebird - photo by Birdfreak

Tom then took us to Thunder Rocks. The rocks were huge and fun to climb around on. One was in the shape of a dinosaur’s head and tried to eat me.

Photo by Birdfreak

Tom asked a guy to take a photo of us all together. It was a great way to end our visit, which was too short. I liked hanging out with Mon@rch and we all had the best time.

Eddie, Grandpa, Mon@rch (Tom) and Me