I waited for the traffic lights on the busy avenue to turn red, and for the traffic to clear. Then I hurried across the four lanes, the bike paths, the median strip, and the bus lanes. I eased into the woods and began to pick my way down the rocky path, descending into 1,800-acre Wissahickon Gorge. At the bottom of the path is the river; I followed the roadway upstream.
The steep sided valley of the Wissahickon River was Philadelphia's industrial center in the 17th and 18th centuries. As the industrial revolution rendered small mills obsolete, buildings and businesses were abandoned. In 1868, the city transformed the river valley into an urban park. The park wanders seven miles through Philadelphia's northwest section. On one side it is bordered by neat, working middle-class neighborhoods, on the other by upscale upper-middle-class neighborhoods. The single road is closed (forbidden) to motorized vehicles; hikers, walkers, joggers, bikers, and an occasional sedate equestrian use the road and the maintained trails. Deer share their paths with other wildlife.
The Wissahickon Valley is also a favored place for bird watchers; it is not unusual to see one or more bird watchers staring into the tree tops.
On the day in question, I carried my camera. I knew that there were at least a dozen Wood Ducks along the river. I planned to photograph them.
Snow Geese are beginning to make the passage overhead on their way to coastal wintering areas along the mid-Atlantic. On a few occasions I have had the good fortune to watch as thousands of birds have materialized out of the gray sky in line after line, then reset their...
In a post on my blog some time ago, I made a passing comment that European birds are dull. My comment prompted an e-mail from a British birder: “You have obviously never felt the numinous awe when in the presence of a Garden Warbler in full nuptial splendour! Some...
The breeding season for the birds is just about over. In my yard it has been a successful and entertaining season, with a succession of young birds being fed in the trees and bushes and around the feeders. But what I see in my yard is just a fraction of the activity, challenges, and drama of the breeding birds. As an example, let's begin with a few dry facts about the American Robin. The male and female build a cup...
When we lived in Pennsylvania, some winters our yard was visited by thieves who descended upon the birdfeeders in a flock of 10 to 20 birds, cleaned the seed from the feeders, then flew on. The attack was repeated every two or three weeks, until Spring finally returned. Then they would be gone, not to be seen again for another two or three years. Evening Grosbeaks were irruptive winter birds in my previous home. In spite of the spike they...
I drove slowly along the refuge road at Brigantine on the New Jersey coast, watching the small birds popping up from the reeds and grasses and disappearing again quickly. Most were Song Sparrows still in the early stages of their annual breeding cycle: the males singing and defending their territory, the females building nests. Between scanning the mud flats for shorebirds, I was checking out these small birds, looking for the Seaside Sparrow or the more elusive Saltmarsh Sharp-tailed Sparrow.
Large, black, ubiquitous, and noisy, the crow does not make many people's list of favorite birds. Maybe that's because the crow is also intelligent. Edward Howe Forbush wrote that the crow “knows too much; his judgment of the range of a gun is too nearly correct. If Crows could be shot oftener they would be more popular.” The Birdwatcher's Companion says: “Some taxonomists believe the crows to be the most highly evolved of all bird families, based on the charming...
Last spring, when I was touring Windham County with a friend during a day of birding, we kept an eye on the sky for soaring birds. The atmosphere was rather heavy, and these soaring birds were not getting lift off the ground. In the early afternoon, my friend matter-of-factly said, “There's our buzzard.” He was referring to the dark shape soaring high overhead, its wings forming a distinctive v-shape as it teetered on the air currents. On another recent occasion,