New mural takes flight at DL&W Terminal

New mural takes flight at DL&W Terminal: Art professor Joan Linder's "Birds of Buffalo" features 154 species of local birds and spans nearly 300 feet of the downtown train platform.

Bird Conservation in Erie County, NY

 My son made a new bird feeder from recyclable materials and the sparrows and cardinals are now regular visitors. We don't know for how long though -- the ground is already frozen and the birds may have to fly South. 

Frozen Ground in early November

The new bird feeder

He also made an interesting poster advocating bird conservation in Erie County -- the drawings of birds are inspired by the work of naturalist Charlie Harper. 

Sheltering from the rain

 

 

Black Drongo

Laughing Dove

Jungle Babblers (Also called Seven Sisters since they are 

usually found to go around in groups of seven)

Sharp shinned hawk on a tree outside our house.

More information about the bird is available here - https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sharp-shinned_Hawk/id

 

Identifying finches/warblers and Google's image identification software

American Goldfinch

From a distance

The wings

I spotted an American Goldfinch today during my morning walk. Check out more about them here.

Naturally, I was excited and wanted to photograph it, knowing well that finches/warblers are not cooperative subjects and in fact are among the toughest to photograph given their size and habits (they are small and very fast). Don't get mistaken by the size of the photograph -- I used a 12X50 High Power Magnification Monocular Telescope to get that picture.

But the point is this -- Google's image matching software was a disappointment. It identified my image as an Eurasian Golden Oriole. I have seen orioles frequently in India and at least know that they are much larger in size and have different features than finches/warblers. Their algorithm needs fixing.

Bird watching on a hot summer day

Conception of a nest

Eastern Phoebe

Cardinal

Barn Swallow

Homemade Bird Feeder

Homemade bird feeder swinging in the wind

Brown headed cowbird (Male and Female)

Close-up brown headed cowbird

Often considered a nuisance, because the females lay about three dozen eggs in other birds nests and leave their young there!!

The Gray Catbird 05/13

A sketch of the gray catbird. For a long time, I had mistaken it for a juvenile robin, until searches revealed otherwise. The  characteristic feature is the black crown and a cat-like call that the bird has.

Backyard Birds 05/13/2020

House Finch far away on a tree branch

A close-up

Robin hopping in the front yard