BirdMan Paul

Summer is here and hot weather. I will be banding my first ever Blue Birds in my back yard later this week. More to come…….

I have a few Kestrel boxes with either eggs or young to band. It is getting late but I hope to band a few more young for 2010′s nesting season.
More to come….

I have been so busy with the Kestrel Nest Box Program. I have banded at a record pace so far. I have many boxes to check and band the young.

Just a few days ago Max Angle was along for a day of checking the boxes. He is very interested in all wildlife. He is centered on insects and wants to learn as much as he can. I enjoyed him along and will look forward to have him working with me in the field of banding. Max and I also banded Blue Birds and Tree Swallows that day.

Max will also be working with me on Monarch tagging this summer.

I’ll give a full report very soon on all my bird banding I have done in the last 5 weeks!

BE BACK SOON,

Paul

As always my Kestrels have returned to their nesting boxes and it looks like I’ll be having a record year. Blue Bird/Tree swallows every where. on a sad note my colony of Chimmey swifts have dropped to 3 near my house. Nights they are joined by at least ten more but when it comes time to dive into my area chimmey, only three take the dive. Last year i had 7 birds return and it grew to 15 with the new young ones.

I’ll be out checking the K boxes soon.

Paul

I always wondered about a special Army Buddy from back in the late 60′s. We were together here in the states and then almost 13 months in the bad lands. I found him last night and we have connected.

More on my friend  Terry after our 43 years seperation.

Kestrels are everywhere. Bald Eagles at Portland have three young. Peregrines at PPL, Martins Creek plant down on eggs. Delaware Water Gap Peregrines still there. Not sure if we have a nest yet.

This afternoon I banded four young House Finches on my front porch. They were just about ready to fly.

Trail cameras active, a very larege Black Bear didn’t like his picture being taken and ripped the camera off the tree. I’m building a bear proff box and it’ll be back on line asap.

This Saturday is openning day for Gobblers, I’ll be sitting in my spot at 4PM ready for a nice long beard.

Hope everyone is enjoying this weather here in wet PA.

Later

paul

Work has slowed me down on my wildlife projects but many Kestrels have returned to my study area. Our local population is second to only a few other locations in the USA. My Kestrel friends in OR and Ca are also doing well. Also my friends in VA with K-boxes are holding their own. We must keep these populations with the help of nest boxes or we’ll see major drops as other areas are reporting.

The Delaware Water Gap (PA side) has been closed to the public to give the Peregrines a chance to nest.

Peregrines have been there since late Dec into this year again. Every year they are chased off by the climbers that climb to the Peregrines roost tree and nest area. If they do nest this year it’ll be the first time since the 1940′s. What a thrill this will be for thisgreat falcon to retun as a local nester. We have a pair nesting at PPL Martins Creek area and downtown Allentown are.

Portland Bald Eagles are still tight in the nest. I have not visited the nest the past few weeks.

Ospreys are returning also.

Look for Bands on all Ospreys

I have seen a few Kestrels this past week near the nest boxes. Next weeks 80 degrees will pack them back in.

Click here and see if you know what this great animal is? I have never seen one of these in the wild in all my 48 years treaking around in the woods.

Click Here MEOW

Here is a still

Coyote Video    ( click link )    I have ventured into Trail Cams. This is a very exciting thing to enjoy. Check out this picture….

Check out the video