Seeing several changes as Spring 2009 gets closer & closer.

Already some Spring birds have entered my yard, including Red-winged Blackbirds, Common Grackles, Am.Robins, and a pair of Eastern Bluebirds establishing territory on my Bluebird trail.

In late February, I had Lifer birds, for me, 5 White-winged Crossbills, 1 female + 4 males, eating pinecone seeds from my backyard brushy area evergreen trees. Got some great looks at them thru mu KOWA 88mm scope.

Irruptive species this winter were large flocks (50+) of Pine siskins with a few Common Redpolls mixed in now and then, and the White-winged Crossbills. Sad to have no Red-Breasted Nuthatches at the feeders this winter.

Not on my property, but all over WNY this winter were more than the usual numbers of reports of Snowy Owl sightings. Owls that had moved down from Canada to search for better food sources. Same reason there were so many Crossbill sightings here, the pinecone crop in se Canada was poor, so they moved lower into the USA searching for food sources.

It was a cold & snowy winter this year for WNY. Our Highway Superintendant reported 219" of snow, or 18 1/4 feet of snow measured for my town in winter 2008-9

Raptor activity has been slow. But I have had a small Sharp-shinned Hawk in my frontyard birdfeeding area all winter (actually since late-August)

No unusual reports of winter waterfowl activities on Great Lake Erie. Mostly normal numbers of the usual species of dabblers & divers, herons, cormorants, coots, grebes, Canada geese, a few Bald Eagles and many Gulls. Ice on the lake is far out from shoreline now, so the waterfowl watching is more difficult.

Found excellent and inexpensive birding software download for my iTouch 2G (also for iPhone) an iTouch App named, "iBird Explorer Plus", a very useful and easy to use product with many features (including bird songs) and costs under $20 .. I am very pleased with this product and an iTouch is small enough to easily carry around in a pocket.

I also tried out a Pure Digital products 'Flip Video' pocket camcorder with a small lens size and 2x zoom. And found you CAN Digiscope using one by handholding it up to a spotting scope eyepiece. Results are useable and good enough for eMail or small still photos or short videos. Another product small enough to easily carry around.

A new book: "The Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State", by McGowan & Corwin, editors. Very well done, informative large format hardcover. This project was completed twice, first 20 years ago, and now this year, 20 years later, the same NY State areas canvased & reported again in the same manner, so as to visualize the changes in breeding bird patterns over those years. Check it out at Amazon.com

Watching for Zeiss Photo Scope T 85 T* FL spotting scope with built-in digital camera to come out this summer. A few 'scope & camera combos have come out the past few years but none have caught on big, so we'll wait and see.

My alltime favorite spotting scope is still my KOWA 88mm with coarse & fine focusing controls... just an unbelievably excellent & detailed view!

Gail R (WNY)