Young Birders

Ducks are awesome, and lucky for us, they are abundant in Rochester even in the winter. Lake Ontario and the Finger Lakes team with mergansers, scaup, scoter, Long-tailed Ducks, Redheads, Common Goldeneye, and more even on the coldest days.

Oftentimes when we’re observing raptors, they are tiny specks a thousand feet overhead. If we’re lucky, we see them perched in a tree or on a light post. This month, we have the opportunity to see Braddock Bay Raptor Research’s educational raptors up close.

The Careys live on the Ganargua Creek in Farmington, and their backyard is a fantastic woodlot filled with wintering birds.

April is a great time for migrating raptors and passerines, and we’ll take advantage of the timing by taking a walk through the Owl Woods.

The Whiting Road Nature Preserve is a 240-acre preserve with a variety of habitats ranging from grass fields to mature forest. Passerines are the star attraction in May, and we’ll spend the morning walking the trails in search of migrating warblers.

The Quaker Pond Trail at Mendon Ponds Park is a 2.7-mile loop that circles a large marshy area and pond. We may pick up lingering migrants, but we’ll be especially on the alert for local nesting birds setting up territories.

Woods and meadow provide great habitat for nesting species such as Indigo Bunting, Eastern Towhee, Blue-winged Warbler and Field Sparrow. We’ll walk a trail that circulates through forest and field, looking for breeding birds.

If you’ve been to the Lilac Festival, then you’ve been to Highland Park. Is it a little weird here to bird in September? Maybe – but someone has to do it, and this will be a nice relaxing trip after the craziness of the Muckrace the weekend before.

We’ll start by searching LaSalles Landing Park and the south end of Irondequoit Bay for waterfowl, gulls, and possible lingering shorebirds.

We’ll start by taking a walk through Durand Eastman Park. We’ll likely see a mix of winter passerines like woodpeckers, robins, chickadees, titmice, Cedar Waxwings, finches and cardinals, but with a little luck they’ll be supplemented by something special.

For 119 years, adults have counted birds every winter as part of the annual Christmas Bird Count, and now it’s time for kids to join the fun! The Christmas Bird Count for Kids is a family-friendly bird-watching event that builds bird identification skills and contributes to scientific bird count data.