Author: nicoletteharpford

Eagles in February

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I hope everyone is having a fantastic February! I know the weather has been fairly variable depending on where you are on the planet, but I was fortunate enough to get in a day of bird watching.

Winter is one of my favorite times of year to take a stroll in the park because the foliage on the trees is gone, making spotting birds much easier than other seasons. I also don’t mind a bit of cold. Where I am today, it was rather windy, but I figured that was okay because whenever there’s a strong wind, I tend to spot raptors or other birds who like “floating” in the sky.

I was rewarded for my February adventure when I got to spot a bald eagle couple! I had seen eagles before (the zoo, once very quickly while driving through the Smoky Mountains, etc.), but this was my first time seeing them while on one of my own birding excursions, and it was amazing!

About a month ago, I had spotted what I thought was an eagle’s nest far up a tree near one of my local walking paths. I was unsure though, considering that it was more likely to be a squirrel nest or some other creature’s home, but today confirmed the nest was indeed what is known as an eyrie.

An eyrie is a type of birds’ nest that is specifically inhabited by raptors like eagles or hawks. They tend to be in high places and quite large, which probably explains the human needs to give it a different name than simply nest. They truly look other worldly, like someone has built up sticks in anticipation of a small bonfire at the top of a tree.

On my outing today, I was approaching the same tree where I had previously seen the eyrie (except at this point, I didn’t know it was an eyrie). I happened to spot what looked like a large raptor sitting in a tree across a field. Looking at the bird through binoculars (This is a big deal for me. I often do not have them. I know, I am a very bad bird watcher), I almost concluded I had seen a vulture. The eagle was a bit in the shadows, and the white head was in doubt, but then, the bird moved, and I knew, it was an eagle!

It took off. I managed to follow it right to the tree with the eagle’s nest. As soon as it landed, another one popped its head up! It was a couple. If I had to guess, I would say that they were taking turns tending to eggs, hunting in shifts. I don’t blame them. Eagle eggs are very tempting for a lot of birds, especially corvids like crows.

I stayed for a bit, watching as what I presumed to be the other eagle take it’s time playing in the wind, searching the fields for dinner. After a while, I went ahead and headed home to the warmth of my house. As I write this, I hope the eagles are nice and warm in their home tonight too.

I’ve included some photos of the nest below (Regular disclaimer, I am one of the world’s worst nature photographers. I even included an image that my husband took in which I attempt to use my binoculars to take an extra zoomed in picture of the nest. The blurry photo is the result of that…).

Birding With Warm Thoughts

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With the holidays upon us, for many, it is that time of year for destination travel. So even though the temperatures are dropping outside my window, and I’ve been stacking the books up, readying myself for hours of reading under cozy blankets, I’ll be focusing my thoughts on someplace warm, maybe even tropical!

A lot of birds migrate in the winter months from the United States and Canada to the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America, but not all birds travel far. Some are year-round inhabitants to the sun kissed tropics.

One of my favorite birds who doesn’t have to concern themselves with harsh winters is the Scarlet Macaw. This beautiful bird can be found in humid rainforests. Their lifespans are long for birds, with some able to live into their 80s or older. They are incredibly loud birds, with many mistaking their aggressive calls for other, often more dangerous, animals in the rainforest. Despite their vocalizations, they greatly enjoy socializing with others and preening their partners.

Three Scarlet Macaws at an eco-park in Honduras. These birds can freely roam the open forest.

Not all tropical birds seem as otherworldly as the Scarlet Macaw. Another bird that is easy to spot in the tropics is the great-tailed grackle. The males look similar to the common grackle seen in the United States and Canada with the exception being that the tropical counterparts are much larger. (This in itself is fascinating as animal species tend to be smaller when they live closer to the equator as opposed to away from it! Look up “Bergmann’s Rule if you would like a deep-dive.)

Male and female great-tailed grackles in Mexico.

So as the cold bears down upon many of us in the northern hemisphere, maybe the thoughts of these beautiful birds will keep you warm.

Sending you cozy thoughts. Until next time!

P.S. If you’re interested in learning more about bird migration, I recommend this interactive map from Audubon.org. The Indigo Bunting is a nice bird to start with since its winter and summer zones are easily distinguished on the map. I’m a fairly amateur birder, so I’m sure that others with more experience and knowledge will definitely enjoy the app as much as I did, if not more!

Pigeons in the Military and The American Pigeon Museum

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Happy August! I hope wherever you are, you’re staying cool in all this heat!

One thing I love about summer is that it’s a great time to travel. I recently took a trip to Oklahoma City, and while I was there, I stopped at The American Pigeon Museum.

As someone who enjoys birdwatching, I couldn’t resist a short trip to the quirky museum, and let’s just say, I wasn’t disappointed!

Personally, I don’t know a lot about pigeons other than that they’re doves, and they are horrible nest makers. Visiting this unique exhibit changed that! I came away with so much interesting knowledge about these birds that seem to be everywhere in our cities and towns.

The museum was divided into three sections, and the one I found most fascinating was the military room. Like most kids in school, I had learned about pigeons being used to send messages during the World Wars, but the idea of studying them deeply never crossed my mind.  Well, my opinion on that has changed since visiting the pigeon museum!

Pigeons weren’t just a footnote during the World Wars, they were actually valued soldiers and members of the United States Army Pigeon Service (USAPS). At a young age, they were trained to fly hundreds of miles to be able to deliver messages in times of emergencies. Several pigeons even earned military awards for their bravery by delivering messages during battle. Two of the pigeons showcased in the museum that caught my eye were the decorated veteran Cher Ami, who was credited with saving 194 soldiers and went on to receive the Croix de Guerre (a prestigious French military award), and President Wilson (the pigeon, not the man!!), who was credited with delivering a message during WWI despite his leg and breast having been injured by gunfire.

If you are curious to learn more about these heroic animals, The American Pigeon Museum and Library is a great online resource as is the National Archives website.

I’ve included one of my favorite pictures from the museum below. It’s of a pigeon paratrooper ready for takeoff (or I suppose, ready for jumping?).

Birds at Ellis Island

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Hello everyone, and happy almost June!

I think I’ve missed almost all of spring as I’ve been hidden away, finishing up the fourth installment of the Emma Finch series! It is now available on Amazon in paperback and eBook.

While I’ve been busy writing about Emma and have neglected my blog a tad, I’ve still had some fun birding experiences since I last wrote on here. My favorite by far was a trip I took to New York City to see Ellis Island.

I had planned the trip because I wanted to experience the place that so many people traveled to when coming to the United States, but I ended up finding something that I think my fellow bird enthusiasts will appreciate.

When people were processed on the island, they often spent long periods of time waiting in the Immigration Station. I’m sure as you all know, waiting for hours tends to lend itself to boredom. Our generation usually defaults to our phones in these scenarios (or for a lot of us readers, our books!), but I think we’ve all had a friend or two that doodles when they have time on their hands. Well, the same can be said for those who waited in those long lines at Ellis Island. Today, the museum still preserves small sections of the walls to show the graffiti that weary travelers left behind.

As I was going through the museum, imagine my delight at discovering one of those graffiti doodles was of a bird! I know many people love birdwatching, but seeing that someone took the time to draw a bird on the walls of Ellis Island reminded me that birdwatching isn’t just a hobby, it’s a pastime that humans have enjoyed for generations. It’s fascinating to think that when we go out looking for a certain bird, or even go hiking just to see what’s around, we’re participating in a tradition that our ancestors enjoyed so long ago.

You can see the picture below. What do you think it might be? Personally, I’m stumped.

Taking the Plunge

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Happy February! I hope you are staying warm and reading some wonderful books. It’s been a bit chilly where I am lately, so I’ve definitely been indulging in some indoor reading and not so much birdwatching.

Something that I find funny about birdwatching is that one of the best times to do it is in the winter when the trees have lost their leaves, but it’s also the coldest time of the year. I decided to brave the cold and go for a short hike not too long before Valentine’s Day to see if I could catch sight of a belted kingfisher. They are local to my area, and I live just a short drive to a wetland with an elevated walking path.

Despite the conditions being promising, I never got to see my belted kingfisher, but I did see several great blue herons (several adults and one plume-less juvenile) along with a large spattering of mallards. And while these weren’t exactly the birds that I had gone out searching for, I still had a wonderful time.

My favorite moment was when I was able to watch a pair of mallards walking across the icy shallows. They ended up “taking the plunge” and landing in the water unexpectedly (at least I didn’t think they were expecting it). I thought it was fitting for the month dedicated to romantic love and commitment.

Anyway, stay warm! And I’ll post again soon.

Winter Watching

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Update 2025: New Year, New Learning!

It’s a new year, and I wish you and your loved ones all well!

A lot of people set new goals around this time of year. Usually, my personal goals revolve around things like wellness, reading, and writing, but something I’ve been trying to do a lot more recently is to become more knowledgeable when it comes to my birdwatching!

Like many amateur birders, I tend to learn about birds through casual reading or the observations I make about our feathered friends while on hikes or nature walks. Recently, I decided to step up my learning about ornithology by joining online groups that focus on birdwatching and identification.

I’ve found these online communities incredibly helpful when it comes to bird identification. Some tips I’ve gleaned include paying attention to a bird’s beak shape to determine its diet (and thus, its species) or watching to see how extensive a particular pattern appears on the bird. These discussion I come across often lead me to research more and grow my knowledge when it comes to birds.

All of this new information had me thinking back on some of my older blog posts (like this one), and I wondered if I could go back and make better identifications of some of the birds I’ve written about in the past, or at least provide more information about them.

This blogpost in particular came to mind because I’ve learned a lot about mallards since last year. Specifically, I’ve learned that mallards have been heavily bred with other ducks. Overtime, these hybrids have produced a myriad of new domestic duck breeds. Put simply, it is easy for mallards to breed with a lot of birds outside of wild mallards, and it gives them a great genetic variety, which can show up in their coloring. This, in turn, can make it even more difficult for amateur birdwatchers like me to determine if a mallard truly is a leucistic bird, or just a bird who has a domestic parent (or ancestor) but chose to live on the wild side.

In other words, it seems that the more I learn about birds, the more questions I have!

So, what do you think? Could the bird below be leucistic? Or maybe just a mallard hybrid or a domestic duck that has gotten a bit lost? Could it be something else completely?

[Original Post, January 27, 2024]

Normally, birdwatching in the winter months involves watching birds hunt on the frosted ground for remnants of berries and seeds, but this weekend, I was able to get outside and see some spring-like sights.

Currently, my area of the country is experiencing a rare warm-front. Because of this, I ventured to a local lake, and I had the pleasure of watching a variety of birds out and about who were enjoying the weather just as much as I was. I saw the typical winter birds that tend to be prevalent in much of the US and parts of Canada during January such as Canadian Geese and Mallards, but I also had the unique opportunity to spot what appeared to be a Mallard with leucism. Birds who have leucism will lack the coloring that many other birds in the same species possess, but not to the point that they can be considered albino. The one I spotted appeared to be a male based on his markings and lovely yellow beak.

Who knows though? Maybe the bird I spotted wasn’t a Mallard at all, but just a lonely waterfowl who made some odd friends as he was passing through. Check out the photographs below and let me know what you think!

The Mallard next to a Canadian Goose
The bird on the far right has the same body shape and bill as the other birds in his flock despite lacking similar coloring

Winter Coats

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I hope you are all having a wonderful time now that the cold, winter season is upon us! Surprisingly, winter seems to be a contentious subject with some loving it and some despising it.

One thing I like about winter is the wardrobe. There’s something about a nice pair of boots that makes me feel warm and cozy. Another thing I know that keeps me toasty is a nice winter coat, but did you know people aren’t the only ones who have winter coats? Some birds shed their feathers and replace them with darker colors this time of year.

One that stands out to me is the starling. Unlike their shiny summer coats, they go speckled in the winter. The goldfinch is another bird that sheds its summer jacket for something a bit more mundane. Male goldfinches turn a bit olive when temperatures drop. I find this makes them trickier to identify in the winter than the summer since the males resemble pine warblers. Relying on range maps can be helpful in this scenario.

Not all birds shed their colors in the winter months. I think my favorite bird to see in the winter is the cardinal. The males retain their bright red bodies and black masks throughout the season and the females their dusky rose.

So, what’s your favorite winter bird?

Crow Season

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Happy end of October! I hope that wherever you are, you are enjoying some of the fun activities autumn has to offer.

This weekend, I got into the festivities myself and carved a pumpkin. I tried my hand at creating a crow silhouette (other than the feet, it didn’t turn out too well!).

It’s easy to understand why birds like crows are associated with autumn. Their calls sound spooky, and their dark coloring and reaching wings remind us of night. But in general, I think crows get a bad rap.

Some people may be surprised to learn that crows are particularly smart creatures compared to many of their fellow birds. People familiar with the species know that they actually enjoy gift giving! Among those who count birdwatching as a hobby, it’s a common story to be heard that those who feed crows often times receive gifts from their flying friends in the form of shiny objects. (I’ve never had this happen to me, but then again, I haven’t had the chance to form any bonds with the local crows!)

The closest I’ve ever come to experiencing this unique ritual was between a mother crow and her offspring. While a large crow and what I presumed to be her two children explored a grove of trees, one of the smaller birds picked a fresh, green leaf off a branch and held it out towards the larger bird the same way a human child would to their parent. The mother bird didn’t take the leaf, but that didn’t deter the smaller bird from holding it out to her for a long time.

In my mind, I like to think I experienced an attempted crow gift-giving (but maybe I just came across a crow who was a little odd!). Anyway, I thought the small story fit well with the season since in a couple of days, children will be bounding about, trick-or-treating, and hoping that their neighbors will give them a small candy gift.

Happy autumn!

New Writings!

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It’s the beginning of September, and it’s the beginning of a new chapter.

I’m excited to announce that the third book in the Emma Finch series is officially available on amazon in the eBook format! The paperback is coming very soon.

For this novel, I chose for Emma to focus on the American goldfinch.

The American goldfinch is a bird found across the United States and Canada. It is one of the most identifiable songbirds due to its bright yellow plumage. I find that it’s one of the few birds that stops people in their tracks regardless of if they are birdwatchers or not. While people tend to think it’s rare due to its plumage, it is a fairly common bird.

One of the reasons I chose to write about the goldfinch in general is because it is a timeless bird. It has captivated the interest of humans for centuries, often appearing in art as old as the Renaissance (obviously the American species isn’t found in the paintings, but you get the idea). I think the idea that people long ago found the bird as majestic as we do today is pretty unique. It makes me wonder if some of the great artists of the time period were birdwatchers just like us?

Happy birding!

A long overdue post

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Welcome to the most recent entry of my bird blog! I know that I haven’t posted in a while, but the great news is that’s because I have been spending time working on the third installment of the Emma Finch series. I won’t dwell too much on it, but let’s just say Emma will be off to somewhere new again!

In terms of my own bird watching, I’m definitely not as dedicated to it as Emma is, but there are some fun things I thought I would touch upon now that it’s summer and the weather has changed.

With the higher temperatures, it feels like it is impossible not to catch some ducklings in the park swimming after their mother, but did you know that these baby birds aren’t the only type of birds that need some parenting? Fledglings are birds that are no longer babies, but they’re not exactly mature enough to be called adults, and in some cases, they’re still reliant on their parents for guidance. One thing a lot of birds do is teach their children how to forage for food—I guess it’s similar to how we teach our own children how to go to the grocery store (just kidding!)

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of observing a parent grackle with their fledgling as they poked around and looked for their breakfast. In fact, the calls of the fledgling are what alerted me to the pair. Despite looking like a full-grown bird (minus the colorful markings and shine of the adult grackle), the fledgling cried just like a hatchling. It was funny to see a large bird chirping at its parent for food. By far, the most interesting part was when the parent grackle fed its baby just like they would’ve done if the two had still been in the nest.

Check out the freezeframes I was able to get from a video of that morning below! (The original video was giving me some issues, so I decided the slideshow below would work. It allowed me to emphasize the shot of the baby opening it’s mouth as well. One of the tell-tale signs that you are watching a fledgling and not an adult bird is that fledglings usually have wide mouths similar to baby birds. The image below is a nice example of this).

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