Chomping at the bit here for some insect life after months of winter. Sure, I’ve seen a few flies all winter long. And I took this picture of this Polyphemus Moth cocoon in December, but saw it still going strong (i.e. just sitting there) the other day. This is the only one of these I’ve…

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The Eastern Gray Squirrel comes in a handful of color forms. Gray is the predominate one. There were six squirrels in this silver maple the other day. Two were gray, the other four were a mix of very dark gray and black with reddish highlights. They were all eating the maple buds. Spring is cusping.

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The loudest avian voices during winter here are the Blue Jays. They will often mob a raptor, shrieking stridently and even attacking. It’s as good a raptor-alert system as any: attend the noisy Jays and you may very well find a Red-tail or a Cooper’s in the tree or shrub with them. They aren’t just…

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The House Sparrows are staking out their claims. Right next door, the Starlings are proclaiming their nest sites as well. Full-throated singing from a House Finch. A Song Sparrow being a little more subdued but still giving the syrinx a go. And, not pictured, a Northern Cardinal belting it out from the top of a…

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A magnificent Merlin in the sun. I must say, this one looked awfully big. I mean, for a Merlin. Females do run larger, as in many of the raptors. Look at those long falcon wings! She was looking this way and that, that way and this. Down below, in the same tree, a squirrel moved…

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This time, the bird is perched on one foot, with the other held up in the feathers and just peaking out. In the Dell, where there are several feeders, hence song birds, hence potential meals. Buteo lineatus means striped hawk, evidently for the stripes seen on the wing from above (?). These birds are renown…

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A Red-shouldered Hawk. Immature. No red “shoulders” yet. But a smattering of russet under the wing. And a touch of red to the tail feathers, too. Like an immature Cooper’s, this immature Red-shouldered has streaking all the way down the front. Red-tailed Hawks usually have a band of streaking across just the belly. It’s fairly…

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Looks like it’s a birthday week of raptors. Here’s a Cooper’s Hawk with nictitating membranes in action. This bird was pointed out by half a dozen Blue Jays screaming bloody murder. An hour later, on the other side of Green-Wood. Same bird? Maybe, maybe not. This one dropped down out of sight behind a yew…

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I still find the Accipiter Dilemma (or is it a Conundrum?) tricky. Cooper’s Hawks (Accipiter cooperii) are larger than Sharp-shinned Hawks (Accipiter striatus), but, with the extreme sexual dimorphism of these species, a male Cooper’s is about the size of a female Sharp-shinned. This bird, however, was tiny. Blue Jay sized. A male Sharp-shinned Hawk.…

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Two different Red-tailed Hawks eye-balling each other. The one on the ground has a couple of red feathers in its tail, on the way to full adult plumage. This one, seen about 15 minutes later, is showing a lot more, if not all, red. Ok, so that’s three distinctive birds… I had a dozen Red-tailed…

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