My backyard has been bare. Occasionally I see a House Finch, Cardinal or Downy Woodpecker. But my yard used to be full of them including about 6 American Goldfinches. I have not seen one of the Gold Finches since Irene came through.

The only birds I have are Crows and Mourning Doves. One theory I have as to why the feeders have been empty of the more preferred birds is that the Crows and Mourning Doves might be crowding the smaller birds out. To take care of this problem, I switched to Safflower seed this weekend. Safflower seed is high in protein and great for song birds getting fat for winter….but the black birds and Mourning Doves don’t like it. So far, it has made a difference with the Crows and Doves, but still no song birds.

My other theory is that a family of Red Tailed Hawks has still been chasing squirrels and Crows in the yard and I am wondering if the smaller birds have kept away while we have this much hawk activity. It has been very interesting watching the hawks attack the bigger Crows.

I will let you know what happens over the next few weeks. I even traveled this weekend to some of the places where I am usually lucky finding shorebirds, but not much luck. I’m sure I will get some emails about the bounty of hawks and other birds around Connecticut. The birding blogs I read are heavy with sightings. But you have to remember, I am a photographer and birder. Seeing a bird and being close enough to photograph a bird are two very different things ;-).

Well, Irene has come and gone. The damage in this area was great. In fact, 8 days later and still not everyone has power. I had hoped to do some bird photography this weekend. Long holiday weekend at one of my favorite spots, the east end of Long Island. I was curious how well the Osprey nest that I frequent held up. My wife picked me up at the train station and after greeting each other I told her to drive past the nest. Unfortunately, this is what I found.

All nesting material was piled up under the platform. I used my long glass to make sure none of the Osprey were in the rubble but I couldn’t see well as this pole is protected in a tidal marsh. One can only hope.

I have spent a lot of time over the last 2 years at this nest, I hope the breeding pair will return in the spring. I did spend about an hour watching and listening to see if I could locate any of the nests 5 previous inhabitants but they were no where to be found. In fact, there were 3 breeding pairs and chicks in 3 different nests along Dune Rd this year and none of them had any sign of Osprey :-(.

Here are some of the pictures I have taken from this nest.

And one of my all time favorite images……..

One positive thing came out of my disappointment in not getting to see the Osprey one last time this summer. I decided I need to keep better research notes. When I returned home and looked through the notes I had kept on the nest, I realized I did a poor job and needed to better document my birding experiences in the future. So now I am on the lookout for a good birding journal app for the iPad. Anyone know of a good one?