See you at sunrise...

Bodega Bay

2012-01-29T01:19:00.005-06:00

We spun over to Bodega Bay in Sonoma County this weekend.

Most of our highlights came from our first stop, the well-known Diekmann's Bay Store. I think the very first bird we saw was the continuing BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK:

I should add with the above photos that distinguishing pheucticus grosbeaks can be somewhat tricky. With adult male breeding birds not yet in the picture, we're left with 1st-winter birds and nonbreeding adults. Identifying it would be easier if the breast was all orange with no streaks (1st-winter male BHGR) or if there was heavy streaking across the entire breast (adult nonbreeding female RBGR). However, we're stuck in the middle with some orange and streaking. We can focus then on adult nonbreeding female Black-headed and 1st-winter male Rose-breasted. I'm leaning towards this being a nonbreeding female BHGR. I'm wondering if the bicolored bill, best seen in the last picture, might be the best factor pointing towards BHGR? Any thoughts out there from birders used to making that call?

I'll admit, it was enjoyable seeing 5 warbler species in a day in January. Here is a TOWNSEND'S WARBLER:

... a YELLOW WARBLER:

.... an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER:

.. and this NASHVILLE WARBLER which has also been somewhat reliable:

A brief walk around "Hole in the Head" yielded 4.3 million YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. Here is one:

This "SOOTY" FOX SPARROW was downright sharp:

We also checked out Porto Bodega where the usual suspects were around. I snapped a few pictures of a couple of different PACIFIC LOONS, noticing especially the differences in the "bumps" on the forehead:

When this predator comes around....

... all the MARBLED GODWITS and WILLETS completely lose their cool. In fact, we saw dozens of godwits actually land on the water and swim around "duck style". They all were able to pop up off the water and take flight once the danger had passed:

Hmm, a gull. Think the mantle is dark enough for a pure Western? Doesn't the yellowish orbital ring and pale eye point towards Western? Based on the dark markings on the bill I'm guessing this is a 3rd cycle going into 4th? I'm not sure if the wing coverts are ratty or just oiled/dirty/wet....

Short-eared Owls

2012-01-28T22:57:00.000-06:00

There were a couple of SHORT-EARED OWLS just south of Elk Grove, Sacramento County. These were spotted at dusk hunting over a portion of Stone Lakes NWR. Here are a couple of pictures of a distant SEOW hunting:

To bird this area, we parked at the dead-end of Nestling Circle and walked along the walking path alongside the grasslands. Here is a map of where the owls were flying around (feel free to use the "+" icon to zoom in and see where Nestling Circle is located):

View SEOW @ Elk Grove in a larger map

Other than that, it was nice week in the Central Valley after a weekend of solid rain. Doing some survey work at Staten Island is quite enjoyable when you can see snow-capped mountains in the distance!

But of course bird surveys are ALWAYS enjoyable when you can look at a field with thousands of GREATER WHITE-FRONTED and SNOW GEESE. Such was the case on Staten Island:

I was also near Modesto recently for work and again spotted a PHAINOPEPLA along the San Joaquin River. I first spotted a PHAINOPEPLA at this location back on 5 January (you can view that post on my blog here). I didn't spend much time working on getting good pictures, just enough to prove it:

The last picture is not of a bird, but a COYOTE instead. This particular one near Modesto wasn't afraid of me (which is rather disconcerting):

Harris's Sparrow

2012-01-23T12:15:00.000-06:00

The HARRIS'S SPARROW was still present first thing this morning at the Cosumnes River Preserve in Sacramento County:

The sparrow, as described yesterday in the listserv posts, was with a large flock of White-crowned and Golden-crowned sparrows along the south side Desmond Road just west of Bruceville Road. The flock moved around a bit but the HASP remained on the south side of the road when I was there. Here is a map of where I had it:

View Harris's Sparrow in a larger map

"DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES OF THE EAST" by Dennis Paulson

2012-01-18T11:45:00.001-06:00

In case you have forgotten, I write reviews of books published by Princeton University Press on this blog every once in a while.

"DRAGONFLIES AND DAMSELFLIES OF THE EAST", by Dennis Paulson, was published in 2011 by Princeton Press.

Let me start by saying my history with dragonflies has been a short one. Although I started birding when I was 10 or 11 years old, it took me quite a while before I appreciated insects. Even then, 15 years later, I focused more on butterflies. My interest in dragonflies started to take hold when I lived in Iowa. Can't you picture it? I'm walking through a remnant prairie... but I already know that what I'm hearing is a Henslow's Sparrow... and that the big butterfly other there is a Regal Fritillary... but what is this dragonfly?? I'm not saying I know everything about birds or butterflies, but dragonflies naturally became an interest of mine and I soon found that searching for dragonflies can be just as rewarding as searching for butterflies.

First and foremost, you may recall that this guide is the eastern counterpart of the book released in 2009 by the same author, "Dragonflies and Damselflies of the West". It is that book that I ended up using in Iowa/Nebraska and on many of my travels and I can't recommend it enough. This book covering eastern species is laid out in exactly the same manner.

This book illustrates all 336 eastern species of dragonflies and damselflies in about 538 pages. The book isn't exactly a "pocket guide" but it's not too large to take into the field either.

Each species account comes with:

Common Name
Scientific Name
Total length (in mm)
Hindwing length (in mm)
Description
Identification
Natural History
Habitat
Flight Season

Here is a sample from the book, this one of the Canada Darner:

For me, in the beginning phases of learning odes, I've always found it important to have a good idea of distribution. In most cases, it really helped me to be able to dwindle down the number of possibilities. I'm pleased that Paulson's book includes range maps for most, if not all, the species covered in the book. Here is the range map for the Eastern Forktail:

Pretty exciting stuff, I'm really happy that this eastern guide has finally been released! I would definitely recommend it to anyone who lives out east.

I'll leave you with the start of another species account, this one of the Westfall's Snaketail:

Disclaimer:

I received a complementary copy from the publisher for review purposes, but the viewpoint expressed in this article is entirely my own.

A Humboldt humbling

2012-01-17T00:24:00.001-06:00

We took advantage of the long weekend and swung up to Humboldt County for the first time. Anyway, before we got there, we stopped in Bodega Bay first to check things out.

Along with the usual suspects, I snapped a picture of this MEW GULL doing a fly by:

I also saw this first-cycle THAYER'S GULL with some pretty pale primaries from Porto Bodega:

We checked out Owl Canyon but didn't find much except for a giant flock of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. Instead, I just took a picture of the "canyon" itself:

Here's the sunset overlooking the harbor:

We ended the day by doing some owling along Salmon Creek Road. We dipped on Northern Saw-whet Owls but heard three SPOTTED OWLS and some GREAT HORNED OWLS. The SPOTTED OWL was at the very top of my nemesis list so it was super rewarding to sit in a dark, quiet canyon and listen to them hooting away.

The next day found us up in Humboldt County. Our first stop was the north jetty:

View North Jetty in a larger map

Things fell into place perfectly starting with great looks at a ROCK SANDPIPER:

The SURFBIRDS were common, several of them practically asking to be photographed:

This BLACK TURNSTONE was also extremely tame:

A bit more uncommon at this location this time of year was a lone WANDERING TATTLER:

Even a LEAST SANDPIPER was on the jetty, apparently looking for acceptance with the shorb crowd:

In terms of gulls, there had to have been at least 20 BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES in the area. Here is one flying by:

Judging by the underside of the primaries, I was thinking this gull was a THAYER'S GULL:

Giving me a chance to *try* to learn more about the hybrid gulls in this part of the world, I first thought this was a WESTERN GULL due to the yellow orbital ring but looking at how pale the mantle is (among other things), it's a hybrid WESTERN X GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL instead:

These GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL-things have apparently figured out that they can digest starfish... if they can just swallow them:

"Do I have..... something.... hanging out of my mouth?"

There were some neat ducks around the north jetty as well including all three scoter species, two HARLEQUIN DUCKS and three LONG-TAILED DUCKS. Here is one of them:

After birding the north jetty, we went to Arcata Marsh to look for BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES:

View Arcata Marsh in a larger map

We eventually found a swarm of chickadees but before we found those, we paused to look at a EURASIAN WIGEON amongst a flock of AMERICAN WIEGON. Anyway, it seems silly to target BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEES but out here in CA, they only occur in the extreme NW corner of the state. We eventually found quite a swarm of them:

The next morning was rainy and dreary but we started anyway by looking for the TROPICAL KINGBIRD that has been in the area for some time. A little looking and we found it low in a pasture nearby:

Here is a map of the spot we had it:

View Tropical Kingbird in a larger map

We then headed to Russ Park in Ferndale to look for GRAY JAYS. We will note though that Google maps didn't lead us to the right spot for this park. Instead, from downtown drive east on Ocean/Bluff Street until you see the dirt parking lot on your right. Here is the spot:

View Russ Park in a larger map

What an awesome canyon, I desperately wish I lived closer to places like that. Before long, we heard a GRAY JAY whistling. Further up the canyon Ash spotted a loose, high-flying flock of GRAY JAYS moving from tree top to tree top.

Other birds at Russ Park included PACIFIC WRENS, HAIRY WOODPECKERS, FOX SPARROWS, both KINGLETS, and many VARIED THRUSHES like this one:

We ended the day in Oakland. Our target was to find the wintering TUFTED DUCK at Lake Merritt:

View Lake Merritt in a larger map

We honestly didn't think much of the park... until we saw the flock of ducks! They literally have become tame "puddle ducks" which actually made for fun photography. Never before had I walked up to a lake looking for a TUFTED DUCK with my naked eyes, pointed down at it, and said "There it is".

In fact, we saw 6 aythya species on the same lake. That got me wondering... has anyone ever had 7 aythya species on one lake anywhere in the world? I can't imagine it. Either way, it was a treat seeing up close GREATER SCAUP:

REDHEAD:

RING-NECKED DUCK:

And even this BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON was extremely tame:

Lazy Sunday

2012-01-08T23:51:00.000-06:00

Ash and I took a spin to some local areas today. We first birded at Cosumnes River Preserve in southern Sacramento County. We then checked a field or two on Staten Island in San Joaquin County. We finished up at Stone Lakes NWR just to the SW of where we live in Elk Grove.

We spent about 4 hours out and tallied 91 species:

Greater White-fronted Goose
Snow/Ross's goose
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Tundra Swan
Mallard
Gadwall
Green-winged Teal
American Wigeon
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Cinnamon Teal
Canvasback
Ring-necked Duck
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Ruddy Duck
Pied-billed Grebe
Eared Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
American White Pelican
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin
Peregrine Falcon
Sora
Virginia Rail
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
Long-billed Curlew
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Forster's Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Oak Titmouse
Bushtit
House Wren
Marsh Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Wrentit
Western Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Fox Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Purple Finch
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

As the day list winded down, I realized there were several species we missed that I might have expected. Things like White-breasted Nuthatch, Downy Woodpecker, Common Raven, Cattle Egret, Yellow-billed Magpie, Lesser Goldfinch, and Loggerhead Shrike.

Here are some pictures from the day. First up, a NORTHERN SHOVELER at Cosumnes:

GREEN-WINGED TEAL:

I really like this photo of a GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW, mainly for the debris up in the air from the kicking action:

I took a picture of a SONG SPARROW and didn't realize until making this blog that it was banded. I'll have to do some digging to figure out what's the story with this guy:

I don't see HERMIT THRUSHES every day. This one was at Cosumnes as well.

I had just finished complaining how I thought we were going to miss WRENTIT today. Soon after, we heard the little "pig grunts"coming from the nearby brush:

2011 Year List

2012-01-07T21:10:00.001-06:00

As many birders do, I keep a "year list" of all the species I see each calendar year. Of course, anyone can keep any kind of list they want to. For me, the year list that I tend to care most about is one that takes place within the American Birding Association area (Alaska, Canada, and the lower 48 states).

Last year, in 2011, I realized as I was finishing up grad school in March/April that my year might end up being pretty decent. I had plans to take the summer off and travel/bird so I figured I would keep careful track of what year birds I had.

In fact, I was lucky to see a lot of the country last year, I visited at least 41 different states. For the first time in many years, I didn't bird in Canada or Alaska so my year list essentially became a "lower 48 year list".

Many people asked me throughout the year "How's the Big Year going?" but I always had to explain. I didn't do a Big Year, that was never my intention. A Big Year is one of those behemoth goals where people spend thousands of dollars criss-crossing the country ticking every single species they can. If something shows up in Alaska that they need, they fly there. Me, well, I just kept track as I putzed around the country. Even when December came around, I never went far out of my way just for a year bird... I didn't want it to turn into that. Maybe I should have targeted stuff in hindsight? Nah.

Anyway, I ended up tallying 586 species last year in the lower 48 states. My previous best year list that I have records of is 465 set in 2008, 100+ fewer species. With 586, 2011 became my best year ever (and will likely stay that way for some time).

Here is a family-by-family run down of what I saw and what I didn't:

Family Anatidae - DUCKS, GEESE, SWANS:

I had 43 species in this family with highlights being BARNACLE GOOSE, MUSCOVY DUCK, EURASIAN WIGEON, and FALCATED DUCK. I didn't see any of the 4 eiders or TUFTED DUCK.

Family Odontophoridae - NEW WORLD QUAIL:

The only miss in this family was MOUNTAIN QUAIL. We almost missed MONTEZUMA QUAIL in Arizona but we eventually got lucky near Paradise. Fitting, huh?

Family Cracidae - CURRASOWS, GUANS:

There is only one species in this family in the ABA, the PLAIN CHACHALACA which is common in South Texas.

Family Phasianidae - PARTRIDGES, GROUSE, TURKEYS, OLD WORLD QUAIL:

I barely snagged half of the birds in this family. Highlights were LESSER PRAIRIE-CHICKEN and GUNNISON SAGE-GROUSE although I ended up missing GREATER SAGE-GROUSE, GRAY PARTRIDGE, and CHUKAR. Other misses include all of the PTARMIGAN and SPUCE GROUSE.

Family Gaviidae and Podicipedidae - LOONS, GREBES:

The only miss from these families was ARTIC LOON which I didn't expect in the lower-48 states.

Family Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae - ALBATROSSES, PETRELS, SHEARWATERS, STORM-PETRELS:

I didn't participate in any pelagic trips in 2011 which essentially means this category is a wash. In fact, I only tallied two species from this category from land: SOOTY SHEARWATER and PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER.

Wow, ok, making this blog is taking forever. I'm going to speed things up.

I've often said how I think it's more interesting to look at the misses in a given year than the birds you actually snag. I think you'll agree that some of these misses are just plain funny. Without further ado, the top 25 most-embarrassing or most-painful misses from 2011:

Mountain Quail
Gray Partridge
Greater Sage-Grouse
King Rail
Bar-tailed Godwit
Red Phalarope
Glaucous Gull (!)
Iceland Gull
Sabine's Gull
Common Tern (!)
Arctic Tern
Smooth-billed Ani
Long-eared Owl
Flammulated Owl
Spotted Owl
Allen's Hummingbird
White-headed Woodpecker
Hammond's Flycatcher
Pinyon Jay
Bicknell's Thrush
Baird's Sparrow
Chestnut-collared Longspur
Audubon's Oriole
White-winged Crossbill
Lawrence's Goldfinch

However, there were many highlights and good birds to balance things out. I ended up adding more than 20 new ABA birds which isn't easy to do once in the 650+ range. Some highlights that come to mind include:

Barnacle Goose (CT)
Falcated Duck (CA)
Common Ringed Plover (CA)
Ruff (OR & CA)
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (CA)
Roseate Tern (FL)
Antillean Nighthawk (FL)
Red-throated Pipit (CA)
Le Conte's Thrasher (AZ)
White-throated Thrush (TX)
Aztec Thrush (AZ)
Colima Warbler (TX)
Yellow-faced Grassquit (TX)
Crimson-collared Grosbeak (TX)
Spot-breasted Oriole (FL)

Last but not least, we were lucky to snag two different ABA Code-5 birds this year (in other words, they're extremely rare). First was a BLACK-VENTED ORIOLE in southern Texas. The other came on the second-to-last day of 2011, a NUTTING'S FLYCATCHER on 30 DEC in Arizona to wrap up a fun year of birding.

Phainopepla

2012-01-05T18:21:00.000-06:00

I'm still in the phase of "learning what's around" here in the Central Valley. For example, I was working today on private land near Modesto when I stumbled on a PHAINOPEPLA. Now, I've seen this species in foothill areas in the Central Valley before but never on the valley floor. If this is actually notable or not, I haven't a clue. Either way, I snapped a couple of pics just in case:

Nothing else around was too crazy. Here is a standard RED-TAILED HAWK:

... and a KILLDEER:

Today I had more WESTERN BLUEBIRDS than usual. In fact, a couple even perched within shooting-distance:

That's all for now. I hope to put together a post about my year list from 2011 eventually.

Dusky-capped Flycatcher, Glaucous Gull

2012-01-02T23:09:00.001-06:00

One of the targets on our quick trip to southern California was the DUSKY-CAPPED FLYCATCHER along Kingfisher Lane in Carlsbad, San Diego County.

We started by walking down the sidewalk from the tennis court parking lot (heading south) around 11:30 AM. This sidewalk is on the west side of Kingfisher Lane. I was about half way down to Batiquitos Drive when I heard the soft, mournful call note of a DCFL coming from the trees near the turn into the tennis parking lot. We got closer and Ash picked up on the bird there and we eventually got great looks as it foraged in a pine tree and called often:

Specifically, here is a map of exactly where we saw it:

View DCFL in a larger map

Another target was the LITTLE GULL that had been seen at Prado Regional Park in San Bernardino County. Despite looking between 3:00 and 4:45 PM, no LITTLE GULL to be seen. Instead, only this single BONAPARTE'S GULL kept us company:

However, it was during our wait there that this apparent GLAUCOUS GULL flew over. Nice snag for sitting on our butts:

Prado Regional Park had a lot of flycatchers including 10+ VERMILION FLYCATCHERS:

However, we didn't see the TROPICAL KINGBIRD that had been previously seen. No worries.

Game of Fly Overs

2011-12-20T22:15:00.001-06:00

It's no surprise that I keep all kinds of bird lists, I've been doing that ever since I was a young kid. However, one particular list has been especially fun to work on the last several years, the yard list.

I recently moved to California from Ames, Iowa where I also kept a yard list. My urban yard there provided me with more than 120 species. However, once I realized where I was going to live in California, I realized my yard list was going to be dismal. Not to fear, that's kind of the fun aspect of keeping a yard list. Sure, it may not be anything great or have tons of species on it. Instead, it's just another way to keep me actively looking for birds.

My "yard" in Elk Grove literally only consists of a patio deck up on the second floor. Instead of facing a stream like it did in Iowa, my patio faces a four-lane boulevard. The road is lined with some kind of ornamental cherry tree but other than those and a couple hedges and trees across the road, there really isn't much to work with. However, there is sky... and plenty of it.

When I moved here I told myself I would be happy if I could get to 20 or 30 species. Pretty high standards, eh? Soon after, I actually managed 20 or 30 species but thought that 50 species would be completely out of reach. Well, just the other day it finally happened; number 50 came in the form of a NUTTALL'S WOODPECKER that landed briefly in a tree top across the boulevard.

This raised a question I had; "How many of my yard birds have I actually seen PERCHED from my patio/yard?". For example, a flyover gull or hawk wouldn't qualify but the Nuttall's Woodpecker that landed within view for 20 seconds would. I started keeping track.

As it stands now, 66% of my yard birds are fly-over only, species that I have NOT seen perched. I imagine in Iowa, that percentage was lower than 20%.

Anyway, since I hit the 50 mark, I just thought I'd throw a post together to show folks what truly is common around this neighborhood.

Goose, Canada
Swan, Tundra
Mallard
Pintail, Northern
Goldeneye, Common
Cormorant, Double-crested
Egret, Snowy
Egret, Great
Ibis, White-faced
Vulture, Turkey
Kite, White-tailed
Harrier, Northern
Hawk, Sharp-shinned
Hawk, Cooper's
Hawk, Red-shouldered
Hawk, Swainson's
Hawk, Red-tailed
Kestrel, American
Falcon, Peregrine
Crane, Sandhill
Killdeer
Yellowlegs, Greater
Curlew, Long-billed
Sandpiper, Least/Western
Gull, California
Pigeon, Rock
Dove, Mourning
Swift, White-throated
Hummingbird, Anna's
Kingfisher, Belted
Woodpecker, Nuttall's
Flicker, Northern
Phoebe, Black
Scrub-Jay, Western
Crow, American
Raven, Common
Swallow, Tree
Swallow, Barn
Bushtit
Kinglet, Ruby-crowned
Robin, American
Mockingbird, Northern
Starling, European
Pipit, American
Waxwing, Cedar
Warbler, Yellow-rumped
Blackbird, Red-winged
Blackbird, Yellow-headed
Blackbird, Brewer's
Grackle, Great-tailed
Oriole, Bullock's
Finch, House
Goldfinch, American

Stockton CBC

2011-12-19T12:19:00.002-06:00

We participated in the 44th annual Stockton Christmas Bird Count this past weekend.

The tule fog made it difficult to see much until about noon but it eventually cleared. We tallied 88 species in our area in about 8 hours:

Pied-billed Grebe - 4

Double-crested Cormorant - 10

American Bittern - 3

Great Blue Heron - 4

Great Egret - 9

Snowy Egret - 5

Cattle Egret - 1

Green Heron - 1

White-faced Ibis - 87

Tundra Swan - 289

Greater White-fronted Goose - 160

Snow Goose - 152

Ross's Goose - 8

Cackling Goose - 632

Wood Duck - 1

Gadwall - 1

American Wigeon - 7

Mallard - 8

Northern Shoveler - 5

Northern Pintail - 41

Green-winged Teal - 5

Canvasback - 12

Common Goldeneye - 1

Ruddy Duck - 1

White-tailed Kite - 8

Northern Harrier - 12

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1

Cooper's Hawk - 2

Red-shouldered Hawk - 3

Red-tailed Hawk - 14

American Kestrel - 6

Sora - 1

American Coot - 395

Sandhill Crane - 124

Killdeer - 19

Black-necked Stilt - 27

Greater Yellowlegs - 7

Least Sandpiper - 10

Dunlin - 1

Long-billed Dowitcher - 6

Wilson's Snipe - 21

Bonaparte's Gull - 108

Ring-billed Gull - 97

California Gull - 1

Herring Gull - 6

Forster's Tern - 2

Rock Pigeon - 22

Mourning Dove - 20

Barn Owl - 8

Great Horned Owl - 2

Belted Kingfisher - 1

Downy Woodpecker - 1

Nuttall's Woodpecker - 1

Northern Flicker - 2

Black Phoebe - 5

Say's Phoebe - 2

Western Scrub-Jay - 5

American Crow - 30

Horned Lark - 45

Tree Swallow - 7

Bushtit - 4

Bewick's Wren - 2

House Wren - 3

Marsh Wren - 5

Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2

American Robin - 24

Northern Mockingbird - 1

European Starling - 40

American Pipit - 50

Orange-crowned Warbler - 1

Yellow-rumped Warbler - 2

Common Yellowthroat - 5

Spotted Towhee - 3

Savannah Sparrow - 31

Fox Sparrow - 4

Song Sparrow - 17

Lincoln's Sparrow - 5

White-throated Sparrow - 1

Golden-crowned Sparrow - 26

White-crowned Sparrow - 135

Dark-eyed Junco - 25

Red-winged Blackbird - 335

Western Meadowlark - 45

Yellow-headed Blackbird - 2

Brewer's Blackbird - 265

Great-tailed Grackle - 2

House Finch - 50

American Goldfinch - 3

House Sparrow - 44

Here are a few pictures from the CBC starting with a BEWICK'S WREN:

We had several COMMON YELLOWTHROATS as well including this male:

The WHITE-TAILED KITES were present in strong numbers as would be expected:

One of the better birds we stumbled on in our area was this WHITE-THROATED SPARROW:

We ended the day by watching up to 8 BARN OWLS hunting at a duck club. On our way out, we spotted this guy perched on a power line right next to the car:

Other than the CBC, we went out to the coast the previous weekend. Here is a WESTERN SCRUB-JAY near Bodega Bay:

I've enjoyed seeing MEW GULLS on a more regular basis. This adult was in Bodega Bay:

Ash spotted this flock of BLACK TURNSTONES and SURFBIRDS on Bodega head:

We swung by a Hudeman Slough in Solano County which has been hosting a RUFF. As usual, my distant digiscoped pics are pretty terrible:

While at the Ruff spot, this WHITE-TAILED KITE gave me a look I couldn't pass up on:

While working on Staten Island the other day, this AMERICAN MINK came out of the cattails while I was pishing for sparrows:

This FORSTER'S TERN also flew by at the mink spot:

A little later that morning this ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK put on a good show overhead:

I'm sure this isn't the first time I've posted a picture of an AMERICAN PIPIT, it probably won't be the last either:

A little closer to home, this NORTHERN HARRIER apparently had an itch to scratch right as it passed over my home patio:

Last but not least, I swung up to the Yolo County Landfill. My target was to relocate a LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL and GLAUCOUS GULL that had been reported by SH. I worked through the flock for maybe an hour and came away with the LBBG but not the GLGU. Here is a very distant digiscoped picture of the LBBG:

Already December

2011-12-10T14:21:00.000-06:00

If you don't check my Flickr page, many of these images from the last week will be new to you.

Last weekend we took a hike up along Cache Creek in Yolo County. Pretty neat country! We heard/saw things like VARIED THRUSH, CALIFORNIA THRASHER, and RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKERS.

In addition, we had great looks (which aren't all that common) of a WRENTIT:

The common CALIFORNIA TOWHEES were abundant. This one perched in nice light for a few seconds:

Later in the day we spun down through Solano County to look for various open-country birds. Our best sighting was this ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK which was my first of the fall:

If you spend much time in the Delta, pishing at most thickets will pull out GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROWS:

Another bird that is hard to miss are the many SANDHILL CRANES. Here is a particularly tame one:

NORTHERN HARRIERS seem to be the most common raptor where I spend my time working. Here is one that was soaring around me:

RED-TAILED HAWKS are also common. This one was being pestered by a PEREGRINE FALCON which resulted in some pretty amusing interaction poses:

I've really enjoyed being around shorebirds this late in the winter. I've essentially lived my whole life in places that had no winter shorebirds. One day this past week I tallied 11 species of shorebirds including this WILSON'S SNIPE:

... and this LEAST SANDPIPER:

The many canals around here host many AMERICAN COOTS and various grebes. This is a HORNED GREBE:

By far the most common winter warbler here are YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS:

Not entirely abundant but not all that rare either are COMMON GALLINULES:

The biggest highlight for us this month so far was seeing the FALCATED DUCK up at Colusa NWR in Colusa County. This ABA Code-4 bird was a lifer for both of us and would represent the 3rd state record for California (pending acceptance). The looks were very distant and the pictures are of a very poor quality (the duck is the sleeping bird in the back with the silver mantle):

Working around here near dusk provides some nice photo opportunities. Of course, this is only taken with my phone, nothing fancier:

Lazy Saturday

2011-12-03T19:59:00.000-06:00

I didn't get out early today, instead we spent the late afternoon at a couple local spots here in Sacramento County. We visited the short, public loop at Stone Lakes NWR as well as the Cosumnes River Preserve.

I typically don't post entire lists from outings, I usually find them annoying. However, before long we noticed we were amassing a little bit of a day list. If nothing else, one can get a good grasp on what's common in our area. So here are our 70 species from this afternoon:

Greater White-fronted Goose
Canada Goose
Mallard
Green-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Cinnamon Teal
Bufflehead
Common Goldeneye
Pied-billed Grebe
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Egret
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Cooper's Hawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
American Kestrel
Common Gallinule
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
Long-billed Curlew
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Wilson's Snipe
California Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Western Scrub-Jay
Yellow-billed Magpie
American Crow
Tree Swallow
Oak Titmouse
Bushtit
House Wren
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Wrentit
Western Bluebird
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Cedar Waxwing
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
Spotted Towhee
Lincoln's Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Golden-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
Purple Finch
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Lesser Goldfinch

I didn't take many pictures of birds (dragonflies took most of my attention). However, I did capture a couple of species.

First up is this COMMON GALLINULE along with a PIED-BILLED GREBE:

Next, we have a HERMIT THRUSH:

Last but not least, there were a couple of PURPLE FINCHES in an Ash tree. Here is one:

Sea Lion? Here?

2011-12-02T22:25:00.000-06:00

What I saw today in a canal along the east side of Staten Island in San Joaquin County really surprised me. A sea lion!

Turns out, they can frequent the Sacramento River and I found a couple of articles online talking about how the sea lions are taking a bite out of the salmon numbers in those rivers. Either way, I was pretty shocked to see one here. Here are some pics:

Here is a map of exactly where I saw it. You can zoom in with the controls to have a better idea of how in the middle-of-no-where I really was:

View Sea Lion in a larger map

While on the topic of mammals though, I was also happy to see this NORTHERN RIVER OTTER in a flooded potato field on Staten Island as well:

The resident BURROWING OWL was active and curious as ever this morning at Staten:

Along the theme I previously posted about, I also had this SWAINSON'S HAWK circling over Staten Island today:

Other raptors were circling today as well including these two RED-TAILED HAWKS:

In scanning the goldeneye flock on the canal between Bouldin and Staten islands, I spotted what I'm calling a female BARROW'S GOLDENEYE (on the right side of the flock). There was no sign of the male I saw at the same location a couple of days ago.

Canvasback anyone?

These WHITE-FACED IBIS were more tame than usual...

...whereas this flock of CACKLING GEESE along with a ROSS'S GOOSE was not:

M. Godwits

2011-12-02T08:43:00.001-06:00

I was doing some shorebird surveys down near Los Banos in Merced County yesterday and happened upon a nice variety of shorebirds at a particular wetland.

The birds I thought were the most odd were 2 MARBLED GODWITS. Thinking back, I realized these were the first I had seen in the Central Valley. Of course MAGOs come through during migration in the fall but do many winter in the Central Valley? I checked the maps on eBird and saw that 2-3 MAGOs wintered last year exactly where I saw mine yesterday. Other than that, there were very few records from the winter months.

The one pond had:

Black-bellied Plover - 2
Killdeer - 6
Black-necked Stilt - 39
Greater Yellowlegs - 1
Long-billed Curlew - 2
Marbled Godwit - 2
Dunlin - 70
Western Sandpiper - 5
Least Sandpiper - 40
Long-billed Dowitcher - 140
Wilson's Snipe - 3

Unfortunately the godwits were a bit too far to photograph given the 30 mph winds and lack of cover. Instead I'll give you a picture of an EARED GREBE from that morning:

Swainson's Hawks

2011-11-30T21:13:00.001-06:00

I honestly didn't know what Swainson's Hawks did out here in California (considering I moved here from Iowa). I figured that they were a species that essentially migrated out of the US come fall/winter. Well, I was wrong (kind of).

I was surprised a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled on half a dozen Swainson's Hawks near Modesto in Stanislaus County. Turns out, sources say they will rarely winter in the Central Valley of California. Pretty nifty.

Today I was back in the same area and again saw roughly half a dozen Swainson's Hawks. Here are some photos:

Roughly speaking, most of the SWHAs I've seen in the area were centered around Jennings Road and West Main Avenue southwest of Modesto:

View SWHA in a larger map

Barrow's Goldeneyes

2011-11-28T19:43:00.004-06:00

There was one male and one female BARROW'S GOLDENEYE with a flock of COMMON GOLDENEYES along the north edge of Bouldin Island, San Joaquin County. This is my first winter in the Central Valley and am not really sure how notable this is for the Delta area.

Here is the male:

Although this location isn't publicly accessible, one might keep an eye out for nearby goldeneye flocks. Here is a map of where the flock was:

View BAGO in a larger map

There was also an adult nonbreeding MEW GULL at the same spot:

Other birds with this flock included many AMERICAN COOTS, a couple of RUDDY DUCKS, and a lone LESSER SCAUP.

Tropical Kingbird - 26 NOV. 2011

2011-11-27T00:09:00.001-06:00

Our best bird today was a TROPICAL KINGBIRD we stumbled onto in Bodega Bay, Sonoma County:

The bird was located along Route 1, uphill from the Post Office. It was flycatching on the east side of the road from the powerlines and fences. This is across the road from a building with a grass roof. Here is a map of the location:

View TRKI in a larger map

Otherwise, things in Bodega Bay seemed on the slow side. We scoped from Bodega Head for a little while but the most notable things were a couple of whales (Gray? Humpback?).

In Owl Canyon, the most interesting thing was a TOWNSEND'S WARBLER (completely out of focus and backlit):

Between Sonoma and Marin counties, we tallied 17 species of shorebirds today:

Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Willet
Greater Yellowlegs
Whimbrel
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Black Turnstone
Sanderling
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Short-billed Dowitcher
Long-billed Dowitcher

You'll notice we missed some expected ones too such as Surfbird, Wilson's Snipe, and even Black Oystercatcher!

Here is part of a flock from within the Bodega Bay harbor:

Loons and grebes put on a good show today; here is a HORNED GREBE at Bodega Bay:

... and a PACIFIC LOON:

Here is another picture of the same bird. You'll notice how the posture changes neck patterns and overall shape:

We ended the day with 3 loon species, 5 grebe species, 8 gull species, and 3 alcids:

Common Loon
Red-throated Loon
Pacific Loon

Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Eared Grebe
Red-necked Grebe
Western Grebe

Bonaparte's Gull
Heerman's Gull (2)
Mew Gull
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
Glaucous-winged Gull
Western Gull

Common Murre
Pigeon Guillemot
Rhinoceros Auklet

At Millerton Point along Tomales Bay in Marin County we found a flock of CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES:

The same flock included several HUTTON'S VIREOS as well:

LTDU, EUWI - 19 NOV.

2011-11-19T21:55:00.002-06:00

There was a LONG-TAILED DUCK at Bodega Bay early this afternoon. The pictures of it are distant but identifiable:

Here is a map of where we saw it:

View LTDU in a larger map

The harbor has really filled up with BRANT lately. There must have been 3000-5000 present today. I scoped for a little while hoping for an Emperor Goose but no love.

We got down to Bolinas Lagoon with little daylight left. We managed to relocate one of the previously reported EURASIAN WIGEONS:

Birds of North America and Greenland

2011-11-06T19:30:00.002-06:00

You may have forgotten that I occasionally write reviews on this blog about new books published by Princeton Press. Hopefully this reminds you!

"Birds of North America and Greenland", by Norman Arlott, was published in 2011 by Princeton University Press.

This book is in the Princeton Illustrated Checklist series and I actually reviewed a book in the same series back in July. Click here to go to that post.

This is an interesting book for several reasons. I ended up learning a lot of things I had never seen in any of the other, more popular bird books I use. That surprised me. More on that in a bit...

I think it's clear that this book is intended for those interested in birds here in North America and Greenland but for those who aren't interested in getting down to the details that make some of the other popular bird books so bulky. What about a traveling birder who needs a small and compact guide? This might be perfect. Yes, this book is small which I actually like. It is 239 pages but feels much thinner to me. Compared to the Sibley Guide, it looks like a midget:

Here is a typical view when you open the guide:

I'll be honest, the first thing I noticed was, "Wait, are there no range maps?". I even flipped to the back of the book looking to see if the maps were separate. Turns out, you'll see the microscopic range maps when you REALLY open the book, as you can see below:

For me, visual references of range and distribution mean a lot. The range maps in this book just aren't meant to be a main feature; there is very little detail. Sure, I guess you could confirm that Ross's Gulls don't occur in Texas; and that really might be all that's needed for a visiting birder who just don't know the birds here very well. In the end, I'm ok with this guide not having better quality range maps but I would have loved to see more detail go into those.

A typical 2-page spread has anywhere from 5-12 species represented. The text and range map are found on the left and the illustrations of the birds are found on the right. The text includes basic information such as common name, scientific name, size (in centimeters), and some brief field notes, voice information, habitat, and distribution.

I was surprised by the alternate names that the author put alongside the common names. Many of them I had never heard of. Sure, I knew that Red Phalarope is also known as Grey Phalarope. However, I had no clue that Black Guillemot is also known as a "Tystie"! Here are some examples of alternate names that I hadn't heard of before:

Gray Flycatcher = Wright's Flycatcher
Common Myna = Indian Myna
Slate-throated Redstart = White-throated Whitestart
White-winged Crossbill = Two-barred Crossbill
Snail Kite = Everglade Kite
Spectacled Eider = Fischer's Eider
Horned Lark = Shore Lark

One of the aspects that I like the most is that the book contains every species that is on the ABA list. The only other book that I've seen do this is the new National Geographic guide. You can open it up to page 100 and see that Large-billed and Whiskered tern are indeed on the ABA list. This book goes a step further and even includes species from Greenland. Open it up to page 166 and see that Blackcap has actually been recorded from Greenland. Cool, right?

The art seems to be pretty consistant. Although I've seen art in books much much worse, something about a couple of the plates really throws me off. The vireos, for example, look way more confusing to me in this book than any other book. Similarly, the hummingbirds and hawks somehow become really confusing in this guide. Look at the flycatchers and you can just forget it.

For those who know me pretty well, you know that I'm a stickler of small details like bird codes and names. It pains my ears to hear people say things like "There's a Ross Goose" or "Is that a Cassin Sparrow singing?". Well, now I know why people say things like that... because it's typed that way in a book! Yes, page 60 shows a species by the name of "Harris Hawk". Ouch. However, they got it right later in the book with "Harris's Sparrow".

So will this book rival the Sibley Guide to Birds or the new National Geographic Guide to Birds? Well, not in my opinion but I'm wondering if that's not such a bad thing. If a child picks this book up someday and that's enough for him/her to become interested in birds, it's totally worth it.

Disclaimer:

I received a complementary copy from the publisher for review purposes,

but the viewpoint expressed in this article is entirely my own.

Sat, Nov. 5

2011-11-05T21:13:00.002-05:00

Today started out with this ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD at my feeders:

We then headed up to Capay Cemetery near the town of Esparta:

View Capay Cemetery in a larger map

We were impressed with the overall bird activity. We found at least two WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, one of them pictured below:

HERMIT THRUSHES were common as well including this one that didn't mind being out in the open as we walked under:

We were also happy to track down at least one RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER tucked behind the foliage:

There were other woodpeckers around though including this NUTTALL'S WOODPECKER:

After that, we decided to drive down the road a mile or two to see if the previously-reported BLACK-THROATED SPARROW was still around. It was. We pulled over at the spot and saw the bird from our car within a minute or two:

View BTSP in a larger map

The pictures are distant but unmistakable of this second Yolo County record:

We decided to drive up along Putah Creek, a place we have seen reports come from. It was a pretty neat corridor, I'd definitely like to check it out more often. Anyway, we saw another RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER:

Also this BAND-TAILED PIGEON was one of several that we stumbled on during our short exploration:

And hey, why not snap a picture of a YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE just to remind myself that we are indeed in central California:

Lastly, we looked for MOUNTAIN PLOVERS northwest of Rio Vista and managed to find a flock of 35 in a disked field south of Flannery Road. Here is a map of the location:

View MOPL in a larger map

Uncommon stuff!

2011-11-04T23:50:00.001-05:00

I figure I should post an update of some of the more uncommon birds we've seen in the last 3 weeks California.

Back in late October, we swung down to Santa Cruz to chase a Yellow-green Vireo. Guess what, we completely missed it. Oh well. Not as rare but still pretty uncommon as a fall migrant in California, we had this CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER:

On 25 October, several of us with PRBO were birding at Pescadero Marsh in San Mateo County when this grosbeak popped up. Thinking it had to be late for either Black-headed or Rose-breasted, I took a couple of pictures. Turns out, yup, it was a ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK:

Later that week, a YELLOW-BILLED LOON was found in Sunnyvale. We spun over one evening and had amazing looks:

While working on 28 October in Merced County, I found this SAGE THRASHER along a dry roadside mixed with a sparrow flock:

Definitely not as uncommon as SATHs, this BURROWING OWL down the road from the thrasher was still fun to look at:

The best bird (in my opinion) lately was a continuing RED-THROATED PIPIT over in Sunnyvale. My shots aren't anything special but you can get the gist of it:

Fall continues

2011-10-11T23:27:00.001-05:00

Time is flying by here in the Central Valley. In fact, it looks like it's been 1-2 weeks since I last updated my blog. Time to fix that....

Because I'm in the valley most of the week now, most of my birding excursions happen on the weekends. One example excursion was up to Folsom Lake in Placer County. Although I didn't find any jaegers or odd gulls, it was nice to find a big body of water to scan. It provided grebes though, no doubt of that. We had:

Clark's

Western

Pied-billed

Eared

Horned

In one of the parking lots was a NUTTAL'S WOODPECKER in a sycamore:

... along with the common OAK TITMICE:

I was at Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area just west of Sacramento early one morning for work. I couldn't pass up this eerie opportunity:

It was a dewy morning; here is a plant with some wet spider webs:

AMERICAN BITTERNS are quite common at Yolo, I'm gathering. I've seen multiple AMBIs each of my visits there and they actually stay year round. Here is one sticking it's head up above the field:

The highlights from Yolo that morning was a swarm of swallows that I scanned through for a couple of minutes. It was fun trying to photograph swallows in flight although it resulted in a hundred blurred photos. A couple turned out; here is a VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW:

... and a BARN SWALLOW:

Probably the neatest picture of the day was this TREE SWALLOW mirrored against the water:

However, my best BIRD of the day was this late CLIFF SWALLOW. I'm not entirely sure of the typical departure dates for this species here in California but I'm guessing this could be a new Yolo County record late:

Back at home, I continue to snap shots of my local ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRDS:

I've mentioned how common things like BREWER'S BLACKBIRDS were in previous posts. I decided to snap another picture of one considering the light was at my back:

Another very common species that has moved in for the winter is the WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW:

A juvenile SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER was found over in Petaluma last week which caught my attention; it was a no-brainer to go chase it one evening. Thankfully it worked out. We spotted it way out on a mudflat which was lucky considering the tide was out. The pictures are NOT good enough to ID it but I'm not heartbroken about it:

Another highlight in Petaluma was seeing and photographing PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVERS. This was a new ABA photographed species for me and the first ones I've seen in the ABA area in probably 10 years.

I was surprised to see a super-flock of LONG-BILLED CURLEWS regularly using a field along Interstate 5 just south of where I live. Even though I had worked on this species for several years, I had never seen a flock of 500+ before!! I stopped one evening and took a record shot of a part of the flock:

I continue to check a flooded wheat field on Staten Island on my own time to see what new shorbs have dropped in. To date, I've tallied 14 species (ordered from most abundant to least):

Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Killdeer
Greater Yellowlegs
Dunlin
Wilson's Snipe
American Avocet
Black-bellied Plover
Western Sandpiper

Black-necked Stilt

Lesser Yellowlegs
Pectoral Sandpiper
Long-billed Curlew
Red-necked Phalarope

Here is a flock of LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS flying around that field:

Staten Island has hundreds and hundreds of SANDHILL CRANES now as well. You can't visit and not constantly hear them in the air or in the harvested corn fields. Here are two as they flew by:

By far the most impressive spectacle at Staten Island for me so far are the huge numbers of CACKLING GEESE that can be found. These "Aleutian" CACKLING GEESE breed on the Aleutians of Alaska and winter in the Central Valley of California. Pretty neat to see such huge flocks; I'm fairly certain that EVERY bird in the next three photos is a CACG:

Another weekend trip took us up to the Bodega Bay area. Although I didn't take many pictures, I snapped some of this HARBOR SEAL down in the ocean below us:

There was a nice diversity of shorebirds in the bay once the tide went out a little. We tallied 16 species:

Killdeer
Black-bellied Plover
Black Oystercatcher
American Avocet
Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Black Turnstone
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Sanderling
Dunlin
Long-billed Dowitcher

There were several FOX SPARROWS singing at Hole-in-the-Head as well:

I'll close with a picture from Bodega Head:

Shorbs

2011-10-02T22:18:00.001-05:00

This evening there were 8 shorebird species in a flooded wheat field on Staten Island, San Joaquin County:

Black-bellied Plover (3)
Killdeer (20+)
Greater Yellowlegs (5+)
Dunlin (3)
Western Sandpiper (3)
Least Sandpiper (200+)
Long-billed Dowitcher (150+)
Wilson's Snipe (10)

Lots of GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE and CACKLING GEESE around as well.

Here's a look at a small portion of the shorb flock:

Visibility was pretty good out at Staten tonight. I'm not exactly sure how many miles those foothills are to the south-southwest but probably about 20:

Back at home, I had several raptors migrating overhead earlier today including this SWAINSON'S HAWK:

81 species

2011-10-01T17:57:00.001-05:00

I spent the morning birding a couple of spots in southern Sacramento County and northern San Joaquin County. Specific locations included Cosumnes River Preserve, Staten Island, and Woodbridge Road.

Although I'm new to the area and not really sure what is supposed to be around, I thought there was more of a fall feel to today with sightings like DARK-EYED JUNCO, WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW, HERMIT THRUSH, and DUNLIN.

As the corn disappears and flooded fields become more prominent, waterfowl diversity and crane numbers continue to rise. GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE have been here for a week now and today I had my first fall flock of leucopareia (Aleutian) CACKLING GEESE.

I started the early morning out at Cosumnes River Preserve where this backlit ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD was already awake:

This DARK-EYED JUNCO was my first of the season here in the Central Valley:

On Staten Island, there was a flock of Cackling Geese back from the Aleutians:

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS are also back in the area; here is a 1st-winter bird along Woodbridge Road:

I ended the morning with 81 species. Here is the entire list:

Greater White-fronted Goose
Cackling Goose
Canada Goose
Wood Duck
Mallard
Gadwall
Green-winged Teal
Northern Pintail
Northern Shoveler
Cinnamon Teal
Ring-necked Pheasant
Pied-billed Grebe
Snowy Egret
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
White-faced Ibis
Turkey Vulture
White-tailed Kite
Northern Harrier
Red-shouldered Hawk
Red-tailed Hawk
Swainson's Hawk
American Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Virginia Rail
Sora
American Coot
Sandhill Crane
Killdeer
American Avocet
Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
Long-billed Curlew
Dunlin
Least Sandpiper
Long-billed Dowitcher
Wilson's Snipe
California Gull
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Anna's Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Northern Flicker
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Black Phoebe
Say's Phoebe
Warbling Vireo
Western Scrub-Jay
American Crow
Horned Lark
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
Wrentit
Oak Titmouse
Bushtit
White-breasted Nuthatch
House Wren
Bewick's Wren
Hermit Thrush
American Robin
Northern Mockingbird
European Starling
American Pipit
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Wilson's Warbler
Common Yellowthroat
California Towhee
Spotted Towhee
Savannah Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Dark-eyed Junco
Western Meadowlark
Red-winged Blackbird
Brewer's Blackbird
House Finch
American Goldfinch
House Sparrow

At home in California

2011-10-01T00:09:00.001-05:00

We have lived in the Sacramento area now for a couple of weeks. My updates on this blog haven't come as regularly as I would have liked but here is a summary of some of the birds we've seen lately.

Where to start? We can start with my new yard (and new "yard list", of course). Although I was lucky to have a stream and some trees by my old yard in Iowa, my current and rather urban yard has given me a change of scenery and the chance to learn birds all over again!

For example, it didn't take more than 120 seconds of hanging up my hummingbird feeders that we were visited by an ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD. This species is by far the most common hummingbird in the Central Valley as far as I can tell. We were visited by at least 6 different Anna's within a day or two which was really neat to be around. Here is a variety of pictures of ANHUs from my yard:

Some other species on my new (and short) yard list include:

Bushtit

Double-crested Cormorant

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Brewer's Blackbird

Swainson's Hawk

Red-shouldered Hawk

California Gull

Belted Kingfisher

Western Scrub-Jay

In total, I think I'm at the 30 mark for the yard list. I WAS happy to spot this extremely distant PEREGRINE FALCON from my porch though:

My work puts me around a lot of raptors and I'm not complaining! For example, WHITE-TAILED KITES are one of the most common raptors I see on a daily basis:

Another common raptor around here is the RED-SHOULDERED HAWK:

As usual with being in open spaces in this part of the world, RED-TAILED HAWKS are common and seen on a daily basis. Here is a youngster:

I have been seeing many SWAINSON'S HAWKS on the job as well. Here are a couple different SWHAs:

A lot of what I do in the Central Valley revolves around shorebirds. Speaking of shorebirds, how can I not mention that a LONG-BILLED CURLEW found me rather quickly:

When moving to a such a different place, one isn't sure what is uncommon and what isn't. I saw these GREAT-TAILED GRACKLES and didn't think much of them. Turns out, I have yet to see more of these; I think they might be fairly uncommon this far north?

One thing I AM certain of, EUROPEAN STARLINGS are not hard to come by out here:

Another species that is just plain abundant is the BREWER'S BLACKBIRD. I see hundreds of these things each day:

I don't see these every day but they're definitely around my neighborhood in good numbers; the BUSHTIT:

One of the target birds I had in mind when I moved to this part of the country was OAK TITMOUSE. Sure enough, they aren't too hard to find if you find some warm forests with large oaks. This was a new ABA photo bird for me and only the second time I've seen this species before:

I'll be honest, seeing hoards of SAVANNAH SPARROWS each day doesn't exactly turn me on. Oh well, what can you do other than take a picture now and then:

This guy was NOT keen with me peering at it. It's a VIRGINIA RAIL keeping an eye on me from a few feet in a marsh. VIRGINIA RAILS are year-round residents in a good chunk of California:

I haven't seen many flycatchers here in the Central Valley as of yet other than BLACK PHOEBES (which are exceedingly abundant here). Thus, it was a nice change up to find a SAY'S PHOEBE at an open space near our neighborhood. These guys are winter-only visitors here:

A quick trip up to Yosemite National Park (which is only 2-3 hours from home!) yielded some expected birds like this AMERICAN DIPPER:

... as well as this rather unexpected BLACK-BACKED WOODPECKER:

Another change I've had to make in living here is expecting egrets everywhere I turn. GREAT EGRETS are downright abundant and SNOWY EGRETS aren't uncommon either. Either way, I'd hate to be a frog in THIS ditch:

Another heron that I've seen many of already this month is the cryptically-colored AMERICAN BITTERN:

I'll close with a photo of a typical flooded agriculture field here in the Central Valley. Note the LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS huddled together in the background:

Buffies in NE

2011-09-24T00:27:00.000-05:00

We were driving west through Nebraska on our way to California when I remembered "You know, I don't have Buff-breasted Sandpiper yet this year... wouldn't that be a silly miss??".

So while we were in Kearney, I searched "sod farm" on my iPhone and the resulting map showed a very close spot called "Gangwish Turf Farm". I checked it first thing the next morning hoping I would get lucky and find a BBSA. Surprise surprise, we actually did. Here are the two birds:

You can view the sod farm from either Landon Street or from a warehouse parking lot up off 6th Street. I highlighted the Gangwish Turf location here:

View BBSA in a larger map

CA/OR/WA

2011-09-18T22:00:00.002-05:00

I am way behind with updating this blog so this post will summarize some bird sightings after we left Arizona back in August and headed west.

Driving into California from Arizona, we were interested in stop at the Salton Sea for YELLOW-FOOTED GULL. As you can see below, finding gulls was NOT a problem. We found at least a hundred YFGUs in addition to many California Gulls, etc:

The Salton Sea had a lot of shorebirds but we didn't stick around to pick through very many of them. Here is a picture showing a couple of different species with some BROWN PELICANS in the background:

We later ended up at the San Elijo Lagoon just north of San Diego. This has been a favorite spot of mine for finding CALIFORNIA GNATCATCHERS among other things. It provided that species again along with the very common CALIFORNIA TOWHEE:

We also had a NUTTAL'S WOODPECKER at the San Elijo Lagoon:

To the north in Davis, we stopped by for the recently spotted COMMON RINGED PLOVER. It obliged willingly:

We caught word of a RUFF near Eugene so we stopped by and managed to stir it up:

We also stopped by in Westport and found a few things near the jetty including this WANDERING TATTLER:

We eventually reached one of my favorite spots in the lower 48 states, Cape Flattery at the northwest corner of Washington State. Here we had a couple of HARLEQUIN DUCKS:

... TUFTED PUFFINS:

... BLACK OYSTERCATCHERS:

... and of course some BLACK SWIFTS as well:

We spun by Mount Rainier and found this SOOTY GROUSE on one of the mountain roads nearby:

And hey, who can complain with a tree full of EVENING GROSBEAKS:

Back near Sacramento, we stopped by a local park and this CANADA GOOSE kept a close eye on me. I returned the favor:

Back in Missouri I was happy to see some warblers again like this GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER:

Of course, one of the common warblers that morning were the many MAGNOLIA WARBLERS:

BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS put a good showing as well:

Last but not least, many CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLERS were around as well:

Arizona again

2011-08-28T00:06:00.000-05:00

We spent a little bit of time around Portal in extreme southeast Arizona and some of the surrounding higher-elevation areas. For example, a pit stop at the Research Station near Cave Creek provided the usual tame SAY'S PHOEBES:

The research station also proved the easiest place to see BLUE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRDS for us this trip. Here is a rare angle that actually shows the throat:

Higher up in the mountains, we found some mixed flocks which included some migrant HERMIT WARBLERS:

A target of ours was the plain and drab JUNIPER TITMOUSE. We caught up to one in Paradise at the George Walker house:

Fast-forward a tiny bit. We decided to venture a couple of hours north for a chance at AMERICAN THREE-TOED WOODPECKER, a long-time nemesis of mine. I had only seen one before and that was many years ago now. We looked for several hours and finally, thankfully, stirred up a single bird. We got poor looks but we got to hear it call AND drum which was pretty reaming. This is the only photo I got of the bird; probably not identifiable. Oh well:

Any guesses what this drab bird is?

It is a GRAY VIREO, another target of ours. Thanks to the tip from Melody K., we found a couple of singing birds at a campground east of Phoenix.

Our last birding destination in Arizona, as fate would have it, was a reliable spot for Le Conte's Thrasher; the intersection of Baseline Road and Salome Hwy near Buckeye. We DID stir up a couple of LE CONTE'S THRASHERS which was a personal target of mine. Sadly, I didn't manage any photos of it but I was rewarded nearby with the best look I've ever had of a BENDIRE'S THRASHER:

After that, we headed west into California. Stay tuned for a post from that part of the world.

Arizona

2011-08-15T22:21:00.002-05:00

I'm having a hard time believing that I haven't posted an update on my bird blog in more than three weeks. Here is a long-overdue update...

First and foremost, Ashley and I have finished our stint in Iowa. Honestly, I'm not sure the next time I'll return. Because living in Iowa any longer wasn't my aim in life, we decided to temporarily relocate to Arizona.

Along with moving to Arizona came a big difference in birds! Even though I still have some work to keep me preoccupied, I have birded here and there.

Let's start with the Santa Catalinas which are just to the northeast of Tucson. Lowland places to bird include Catalina State Park whereas a nice diversity of upper elevation birds can be found up on Mount Lemmon.

At Catalina State Park we had 3-4 NORTHERN BEARDLESS-TYRANNULETS. These flycatchers are rather uncommon but can be found along riparian areas. Knowing their call is crucial! Here is a rough photo of one:

Also at Catalina State Park were a couple of VERMILION FLYCATCHERS including this male:

Some sparrows around included RUFOUS-WINGED SPARROWS. Through the years I have found that Catalina State Park is a wonderfully reliable spot for this southwest specialty:

Being in the desert, it was HOT. Hot enough for these PHAINOPEPLAS to be gaping quite a bit:

Some other birds we had at Catalina State Park included:

Elf Owl (3)
Western Screech-Owl
Common Poorwill

Some other lowland areas around Tucson yielded things like this GILDED FLICKER:

As usual, the GREATER ROADRUNNERS are around in force:

Mentioning the desert around Tucson wouldn't be complete without mentioning the abundant BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS. This one doesn't have a black throat and that's because it's a youngster:

The upper reaches of Mount Lemmon is a really neat place. You quickly leave the desert below and before long find yourself among misty pine forests. We explored several areas and found a nice diversity of passerines including this OLIVE WARBLER:

Literally hopping among the parked cars here are the tame YELLOW-EYED JUNCOS. I didn't spend all that much time chasing them around but here is proof:

Another species up in the mountains that was NOT cooperative was the RED-FACED WARBLER:

Some other birds from up the mountain included:

Virginia's Warbler
Steller's Jay
Bushtit
Mountain Chickadee
All 3 western nuthatch species

Birding in southeastern Arizona probably wouldn't be as interesting without Madera Canyon south of Tucson sitting on the northwest side of the Santa Ritas. Lower Madera Canyon is a neat place with all the singing sparrows and quail. Both BOTTERI'S and CASSIN'S SPARROWS are utterly abundant and can be heard singing nonstop. They CAN be tricky to see at other seasons but not once the monsoons start up. Here is a tame BOTTERI'S SPARROW:

This picture is kind of a joke but it's of a distant CASSIN'S SPARROW after it had just finished skylarking up and singing:

A quick walk around the Proctor Road pulloff always provides VARIED BUNTINGS. Here is a male with a meal:

Further up into Madera Canyon the bird diversity changes dramatically. You're surrounded by things like SULPHUR-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS giving their easily-recognizable squeaky calls:

Most of the birders that come to this part of the country are usually keen on finding ELEGANT TROGONS. Madera Canyon is a great place to look and although this is my fifth time here, I still am interested in checking them out:

Probably the best bird of the trip so far was this male AZTEC THRUSH in Madera Canyon. You can see I didn't put a lot of effort into photographing it, I'd rather give rarities space:

Another neat spot in the Santa Ritas is Montosa Canyon. The attraction there at this point are the recently-discovered FIVE-STRIPED SPARROWS that can be found singing from the road. What an easy spot compared to California Gulch!! We had very little trouble finding one singing even at midday:

Another species that we saw there are the common SCALED QUAIL. We have heard or seen this species between 5-10 times already. Here is one peeking at us from a roadside:

Further south near the town of Patagonia, the roadside rest once again provided a reliable spot to see THICK-BILLED KINGBIRDS. It was here that I got my lifer TBKI many years ago:

We have tallied 12 species of hummingbirds so far on this trip in Arizona. The absence of a White-eared, starthroat, or easy Allen's will likely keep our list at 12:

Lucifer Hummingbird
Violet-crowned Hummingbird
Berylline Hummingbird
Broad-billed Hummingbird
Blue-throated Hummingbird
Magnificent Hummingbird
Anna's Hummingbird
Costa's Hummingbird
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Calliope Hummingbird
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird

A highlight for me included 4 different LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRDS. Our first was this striking male at the feeders in Ramsey Canyon (which is in the Huachucas):

The other three Lucifers were at Mary Jo's in lower Ash Canyon. Many thanks to Mary Jo for continuing to allow birders to visit her property. As you might know, the recent fires engulfed a lot of homes in the area but thankfully her wonderful spot survived! I would highly recommend a visit to her place if you ever have the chance. Here are some of the male LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRDS at her place:

Mary Jo's feeders had some other highlights including this female/juvenile COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD (middle bird):

I hadn't realized how small COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRDS really are. You can see the small size compared to the relatively huge ANNA'S (left) and the moderately-sized RUFOUS/ALLEN's (middle):

Another neat hummingbird of the southwest is the VIOLET-CROWNED HUMMINGBIRD. We saw multiple VCHUs at places like the Patton's in Patagonia and also one at Ramsey Canyon. Here is an adult at the Pattons:

We had our best luck with CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRDS in the town of Paradise. We had at least 5 different ones including this male:

Another common bird so far has been BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS. This one was in Paradise as well:

A jaunt up into Garden Canyon in the Huachucas is usually productive. At the top of Garden Canyon, our main target worked out nicely where Sawmill Canyon splits off, the BUFF-BREASTED FLYCATCHER:

Here is a terrible photo of a GREATER PEWEE in Scheelite Canyon (also a subcanyon off of Garden Canyon):

Further east in the Chiricahuas, this BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW actually gave me pretty good looks for the first time in my life:

Last but not least, we ventured to Willcox where a rare TRICOLORED HERON showed up recently. We managed to find the heron in addition to shorebird species such as:

Black-necked Stilt

American Avocet

Western Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Baird's Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Wilson's Phalarope

Long-billed Dowitcher

Short-billed Dowitcher

Also a plegadis ibis and several BLACK TERNS were in the area flying around too. Just padding my growing Arizona list! :-)

That's all for now, stay turned.

Shorebirds... again

2011-07-23T22:50:00.000-05:00

No bird pictures today.

Erik E. and I did a loop around Saylorville but it ended up raining most of the time. Sorry bro.

I ended up with 9 species of shorebirds this morning in Polk County between two spots (Polk City WA and Chichaqua):

Killdeer

Semipalmated Plover

Solitary Sandpiper

Spotted Sandpiper

Semipalmated Sandpiper

Least Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

Wilson's Snipe (1, Chichaqua)

Short-billed Dowitcher (1, Chichaqua)

Also BLACK and FORSTER'S TERNS on the main lake. Some BALD EAGLES around as well.

Dusk in my neighborhood:

Shorbs

2011-07-22T18:13:00.000-05:00

I haven't done much birding lately. When I get outside, I've been focusing on butterflies and dragonflies more these days.

Despite this, I do have an update of sorts.

First and foremost, I was happy to see some shorebirds down in Polk County recently. I found most of the shorebirds at the Polk City Wildlife Area. Walking out along the backside of the main pond was most productive. From here, you can see the shorebirds on both ponds (as I'm doing here):

Here I saw:

Killdeer

Semipalmated Plover (2)

Spotted Sandpiper (3)

Solitary Sandpiper (2)

Semipalmated Sandpiper (15)

Least Sandpiper (75)

Pectoral Sandpiper (25)

Also of note, I had a PINE SISKIN at the Butterfly Garden near the Saylorville dam vistor center. At this point in the year, one has to wonder if it was a breeder or not. However, the BBA early/late date document shows a late date of 15 JULY so I guess I won't add it.

I saw my first obvious sign of fall migration in my neighborhood this morning; a LEAST FLYCATCHER:

Also, this BELTED KINGFISHER has been swooping back-and-forth along my yard for the last several days:

Birds of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific

2011-07-19T16:06:00.002-05:00

"Birds of Hawaii, New Zealand, and the Central and West Pacific", by Ber van Perlo, was published in 2011 by Princeton University Press.

The next in my series of book reviews is in the Princeton Illustrated Checklist series. If you're familiar with these types of books, great, but for those of you who are unsure what they're all about, this post is for you.

I was particularly eager for this book because I have spent time in Fiji (2004) and Hawaii (2006) and I remember thinking that there needed to be a better source for the region. This guide is the only book that encompasses these regions, no small feat considering this area of the globe is so expansive. Let's break it down little by little....

Size-wise, I would consider this book to be "pocket-sized" because, let's face it, if you're traveling to these areas, you won't want a giant beast of a book. You will notice that this book is considered an "illustrative checklist", not a mother-of-all encyclopedic sources of the meaning of life. As you can see, it's smaller and WAY thinner than the Sibley Guide to Birds:

Are first impressions everything? I would argue an emphatic "No!" to that. Why? The very first time I opened up this book was I actually unimpressed. However, the more time I've spent with it, the more I realized that it's actually quite good!

The plain-and-simple reason for that initial thought was the art. I have grown accustomed to field guides made by world-class artists and sometimes it's hard for me to adjust back to art that is not as detailed. But as I dug deeper into the book, I realized that the art was only a very small downfall.

For being a smallish book, I was surprised by how much information was given in the 12-page introduction. Topics like environment, plate tectonics, reef building, and vegetation types are all mentioned. Along with illustrations of these topics, it's a nice crash-course of natural history of Pacific islands.

The author then devotes another introduction section of the book to divide up the region into maps and to list the endemic species per map. For example, here is the intro map for New Zealand:

Regions that the author specifically puts a map for and lists endemics includes:

Hawaii (33 endemics)

Fiji (28 endemics)

Tonga (2 endemics)

Nauru (1 endemic)

Samoa (8 endemics)

American Samoa (0 endemics)

Kiribati (1 endemic)

Marshall Islands (0 endemics)

Micronesia (15 endemics)

Tuvalu (0 endemics)

Tokelau (0 endemics)

Niue (0 endemics)

Cook Islands (7 endemics)

Guam (1 endemics)

Wallis and Futuna (0 endemics)

Pitcairn Islands (5 endemics)

Northern Marianas (2 endemics)

Palau (10 endemics)

French Polynesia (24 endemics)

New Zealand (65 endemics)

After these come the 95 species plates.

Organization-wise, there is a range map for nearly every species as well as a short paragraph that discusses name, size, basic ID marks, habitat notes, and a shorthand for range. All of this information is found on the left side of the open book:

Here is a closer look at the range maps:

I was completely overwhelmed at first with the range maps. They pack a LOT of information into a very small space. As you can see above, some species have a purple box in the lower-right corner; this indicates that it's an endemic species (E.Sa = Samoa and E.FI = Fiji, etc). Green dots represent island populations and the yellow circled "R" in the lower right-hand corner represents "rare". There is also a series of stars and crosses which represent a "normal visitor" and "vagrant species" respectively. The color of those stars and crosses represent which season it's most likely to be seen (green = resident, red = Apr-Sep, blue = Oct-Mar.).

So look above again give it a try with those species... does it make sense?

I was concerned that I wouldn't know where exactly the green dot was (some of those islands are SMALL). Well, the author thought of this and gives a great solution. In the text of each species is a short-hand for range. Look on the last line of 42.4 below:

You'll see it says "NZ 1, 2". Flipping to the previously-mentioned maps at the start of the book, you'll see that the New Zealand region was split into 11 different islands (numbered 1-11) and the code says that this species will be seen on 1 (North Island) and 2 (South Island). This scheme is ingenius for island clusters with as many as 30 individually numbered islands.

So when you look at the map for Gambel's Quail, you'll instantly see that it's introduced to Hawaii (islands 1, 2, 4) and is rare. This method saves tons of space and allows the book to be compact.

If you look at the map for Grey-green Fruit-Dove, you'll instantly see that it's endemic to French Polynesia. The text says "FrPo 4, 14-19. E.FrPo". Flipping back to the blow-up map of French Polynesia, you'll find that this species is endemic to island #4, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19. Easy.

So are these data actually accurate? I spent 3 months at French Frigate Shoals in Hawaii (which is Hawaii number 11 in this book) and so this book would have been perfect for my time there. Too bad it was published 5 years later! Let's fact-check what the book says....

Bonin Petrel - The book says it breeds in Hawaii 13-18. Error. This species bred at FFS (#11).

Christmas Shearwater - The book says it breeds in places like Hawaii. They're right, they bred on #11.

Wedge-tailed Shearwater - Same deal, it's accurate.

Blue-grey Noddy - It says they breed in Hawaii 13-18. Hmm, error. They can breed on #11 in Ha.

Ok, so there might be a discrepancy here and there but overall, is there any other book that even comes close to summarizing all this information? No, not even close.

I really wish this book were in existence 5 years ago when I worked in Hawaii. I remember going to the island and not knowing what I was looking at! This book would have been a concise solution.

In summary, the small book size, informative maps, detailed endemic information, and broad geographic area makes this the best source of info for this area as a whole. You really should pick up a copy of this book if you plan to bird the islands, plain and simple.

Disclaimer:

I received a complementary copy from the publisher for review purposes, but the viewpoint expressed in this article is entirely my own.

Bored w/ birds

2011-07-16T01:22:00.001-05:00

It's July and I have found myself bored with birds. To see what I've been spending my time doing, head on over to my bug blog.

In the meantime, here are some pitiful bird photos from recent days.

There was a photogenic pair of BLACK-BILLED CUCKOOS down at Chichaqua Bottoms:

This DICKCISSEL didn't mind either:

My local RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD continues to sit and stare:

... and who could resist a pile of MALLARDS?

On a bright note, shorebird migration has begun here in Iowa. I saw this SOLITARY SANDPIPER at Harrier Marsh in Boone County:

Because I have so little to share with you in terms of bird sightings, I'll close this post out with just random, non-bird photos from the past week or so:

Last but not least, it appears that Ashley is still having difficulty perfecting her lumos charm:

AVIAN ARCHITECTURE

2011-07-09T10:22:00.000-05:00

"Avian Architecture", by Peter Goodfellow, was published in 2011 by Princeton University Press.

You will notice a couple of things when you first pick up this book without even opening it. First, this hardcover book is large overall but is rather thin. To me, this immediately puts it in the "coffee-table" category. Note that this is NOT a field guide.

It is about 160 pages long and, as the title explains, it looks in-depth at many interesting examples of birds building things (nests, mostly).

First things first, there is a two-page Forward by Mike Hansell before the the two-page Introduction. In the Introduction, the author describes how the book is laid out. Each chapter studies a different type of nest:

Chapter 1 - Scrape Nests

Chapter 2 - Holes & Tunnels

Chapter 3 - Platform Nests

Chapter 4 - Aquatic Nests

Chapter 5 - Cup-Shaped Nests

Chapter 6 - Domed Nests

Chapter 7 - Mud Nests

Chapter 8 - Hanging, Woven & Stitched Nests

Chapter 9 - Mound Nests

Chapter 10 - Colonies & Group Nests

Chapter 11 - Courts & Bowers

Chapter 12 - Edible Nests & Food Stores

Let's walk through the first chapter, Scrape Nests. When you open up to the chapter page, you'll immediately notice the full-size picture on the right of a Piping Plover standing over a nest.

And that brings me to the photo aspect; this book is filled with numerous photos, some of which are breathtakingly large and attractive. From bee-eaters to bowerbirds to Firewood Gatherers (yeah, I didn't know that was an actual bird name either), the photos complement the rest of the content very nicely.

But back to Scrape Nests. The chapter starts out with an introduction about scrape nests covering what kinds of birds build them, advantages of this nest type, and some interesting examples. Next comes the Blueprint. Each chapter has a Blueprint (printed on blue paper, none the less) that contains 2-3 figures, each an illustration of a different nest:

For this chapter they are Northern Lapwing (leftmost), Red-necked Phalarope (middle), and Snowy Plover (rightmost). Each of these nest illustrations give exact dimensions of the nest (the Red-necked Phalarope nest is 2-4 cm deep and 6.5-10 cm in diameter, for example). But remember, these illustrations aren't meant to be a field guide to nests, but rather just an explanation of different sizes and other interesting facts related to dimensions.

Each chapter also has a "Materials and Features" portion which is always printed on a black background. This portion of the chapter always focuses on one species in particular. For the Scape Nests chapter, it focuses on the Courser:

It's in this section that you learn things about the materials; such as how coursers use pellets of animal dung to help camouflage their eggs.

Sometimes this section gets followed by a "techniques" portion which gives a step-by-step illustration with how that particular nest-type is made. Here is an example of a Song Thrush:

This aspect of the books is really quite intriguing. Not very often do we get to watch birds actually make nests step-by-step; usually we spot an already-finished nest, or maybe a nest with begging chicks screaming out of it. But this section of the book gives detailed information on the actual process of nest-building. The Song Thrush, for example, starts by selecting a triple fork in a laurel and then laying down "beams" of silver birch twigs. Then comes the dried grass stems and moss. Later she attaches mosses to the outside of the nest, some leaves near the rim, and lines the inside with wood pulp (of three different colors, mind you). I honestly had no idea that these schemes some birds use were so repeatable.

Following comes 2-4 case studies of species that use scrape nests. For the first chapter, they are Killdeer, Ostrich, Arctic Tern, and Common Eider. Here is a look at an example of a case study:

Each case study gives the name of the bird, the classification (order, family, species), as well as a list of related species, the nest type they use, a list of species with similar nests, and nest specialization. The headers within each case study are not kept consistent throughout chapters but essentially focus on the interesting aspect of that study. For example, the Eastern Meadowlark case study mentions nest and nest building, young, and defense/parasitism/predators whereas the Winter Wren case study mentions males and multiple nests, nest building, and female nest lining. Either way, the case study is an interesting and in-depth look at the nest of each species.

This book examines birds from around the world and so it was very easy for me to become fascinated about birds or nest techniques I hadn't even heard of before. For example, I had no idea that some hummingbirds actually add hanging counterweights underneath their nests to keep it from capsizing! I'll admit that I had never heard of the Firewood Gatherer either. These furnariids live in South America and build a huge domed nest out of sticks that they gather one-by-one.

This book is not a field guide of any sort, but instead an attention-grabbing collection of colorful illustrations, photos, and diagrams. I wouldn't classify it as a textbook either, but more of a coffee-table book. With that said, it is surprisingly detailed. I don't think I have ever seen a book with so many interesting facts about birds and what they build.

So if you have ever asked yourself about how a Cactus Wren actually makes a nest in the middle of a cactus (like I have), this is the perfect book for you (just turn to page 74). Enjoy!

Disclaimer:

I received a complementary copy from the publisher for review purposes, but the viewpoint expressed in this article is entirely my own.

MT/WY MAMMALS

2011-07-06T11:42:00.000-05:00

Continuing in my MT/WY theme, this post is devoted to the different mammals we saw on our recent trip out west. I was surprised by the overall diversity; we ended the trip with more than 20 species of mammals.

It didn't take long to find some photogenic rodents; these COLUMBIAN GROUND SQUIRRELS at Glacier National Park were rather used to humans:

In Yellowstone National Park, UINITA GROUND SQUIRRELS were very common; here are three at the entrance of a burrow:

Continuing with the rodent theme, I tentatively identified these as LEAST CHIPMUNKS although I wouldn't be surprised if there were YELLOW-PINE CHIPMUNKS included:

We saw several RED SQUIRRELS on the trip as well:

Another new mammal was the WHITE-TAILED PRAIRIE DOG which favors sagebrush. We saw these in southern Wyoming:

We didn't see many carnivores but the one we did see was rather impressive! This BLACK BEAR was hunting ground squirrels in Glacier National Park right in front of us:

We saw MOUNTAIN GOATS several times on our trip but always through a spotting scope. We weren't ever up on the distant rock faces so all my pictures of goats were distant:

This clump of fur actually belongs to a MOOSE we spotted while driving. It was a bit too close and obscured to get a IDable photo though!

We saw BIGHORN SHEEP several places as well. These resting way up on a hillside were in Glacier National Park:

MT/WY BIRDS

2011-07-06T00:46:00.002-05:00

I recently returned from a quick trip to Montana and Wyoming. I took enough photos that I'm going to divide them up into separate posts on this blog. The first post will focus on birds.

We started out by stopping at McGregor Marsh in northern Minnesota. Target? YELLOW RAIL and NELSON'S SPARROW, of course. And like clockwork, we found a calling YELLOW RAIL around 11:30 PM. A NELSON'S SPARROW was also singing in the area: Here is a map if you're interested:

View YERA in a larger map

We continued west via North Dakota. We stopped at some prairies to check things out and ended up snagging things like SPRAGUE'S PIPITS and this defensive MARBLED GODWIT:

Now fast forward to Glacier National Park, our actual destination. It didn't take long to find numerous TOWNSEND'S WARBLERS singing in the forested areas. I didn't focus much on these guys and snapped only a couple of shots of a bird that was singing from the top of a spruce:

The campground at Two Medicine was really neat in itself. There was a reliable pair of PINE GROSBEAKS that favored one campsite in particular. Here is the male:

Another common species in the campground were the constantly-singing MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLERS. Here is a grainy picture of one taken during the early morning hours:

I was happy to hear some singing VARIED THRUSHES from the campground as well. Their bizarre songs have always ranked highly with me.

An early morning drive down the road from Two Medicine yielded this DUSKY GROUSE alongside a road. This was only the second time I've seen this species:

We later caught up to a RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER. These ended up being fairly common during our stay there. Here is one of the first ones:

I was surprised by how bold other MACGILLIVRAY'S WARBLERS were during our stay. I tend to think of these guys as being sneaky but they were the opposite during the morning when they perched out to sing:

This next photo is quite a joke. It's a male LAZULI BUNTING, in case you don't have your magnifying glass handy:

Ok, nevermind, THIS photo is a joke. It's a very out-of-focus MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD:

Eventually improving on my own pictures throughout the trip, we found a more agreeable RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER later on:

Over on the west side of the park, there were a couple of VAUX'S SWIFTS flying around a gas station. This was a new "photo bird" for me and although the photo isn't anything nice, it's enough to prove it:

I didn't have much of a reason to snap a shot of this RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH except that it seemed like it needed attention:

Another new photo bird (and thus a target of mine) was CASSIN'S VIREO. We found our first one on the east side of the park but later found several on the west side of the park. Due to camera difficulties I didn't get a great shot. However, I DID get some kind of proof:

Our next destination was southern Wyoming but I'll get to that in a second. To get there, we had to drive through Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. Camping was full so we didn't linger too long amongst the vacationers.

We birded along Blacktail Plateau Road in the northern half of Yellowstone and ended up seeing a couple of target birds. Although the road was gated off, we walked in a little ways and quickly found a pair of WILLIAMSON'S SAPSUCKERS. This was only the second time I've seen this species in my life and it was also a new photo bird:

Here is a map of the area that the sapsuckers were frequenting:

View WISA in a larger map

We also found another target species, CASSIN'S FINCH. Believe it or not, this was also a new photo bird:

... as was this putative DUSKY FLYCATCHER:

As we were leaving the area, we found a noisy bunch of CLARK'S NUTCRACKERS, surprisingly our only on the trip. Here is one perched up keeping watch:

Need proof that there are sapsuckers in the area? Check out this sapped tree along Blacktail:

Another target was BARROW'S GOLDENEYE, a species I hadn't seen yet this year. We eventually found a male along a river:

... and then a distant, solo male on Yellowstone Lake:

... and then promptly a flock of 40+:

I would welcome opinions regarding this four-year gull I photographed on a sandbar of Yellowstone Lake. Any of the four-year gulls are out of season in Yellowstone right now but during the winter, HERRING GULL is probably the most common. However, I thought the size of the bill on this bird was exceedingly large for a HERRING GULL. Might it be an out-of-place GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL? Unfortunately, the bird is so bleached out that it might not be possible to tell:

It was at this point that we left Yellowstone NP and headed south through Grand Teton NP. At a random overlook, this obliging GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE had NO qualms with singing at point blank in front of me:

One of our targets on the trip was SAGE THRASHER. Thanks to a tip, we found an easy one singing just north of the Jackson Hole Airport. The view wasn't great but it WAS a new photo bird:

We continued south and birded near Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge for a couple of hours and ended up with great looks (and photos) of another target bird, the SAGE SPARROW:

And of course we ended up finding more SAGE THRASHERS here. Thankfully they gave us some better looks:

That's all for now. Stay tuned for a post regarding the 20+ species of mammals we snagged on our trip!

BBA work

2011-06-15T13:21:00.000-05:00

I did a little Breeding Bird Atlas work over in southeast Greene County recently. Although it wasn't a record-breaking block-busting event, it was fun to get out and put some effort into an area.

Here is a VESPER SPARROW that was content with me pulling up along side it:

The highlight for me (which doesn't take much these days) was this UPLAND SANDPIPER, one of the few I've seen on the ground here in Iowa:

As I was coming back to Ames on Highway 30, I spotted this breeding-plumaged CATTLE EGRET in a pasture with some cows:

It's too bad it wasn't in a BBA block! It was where Highway 30 intersects Route 144 in Grand Junction:

View CAEG in a larger map

Back at home, the orioles continue to dine on the oranges. Here is the female giving it some tongue:

Henslow's, scaup, etc.

2011-06-11T13:17:00.000-05:00

Until today, I was really starting to think I was an idiot for missing Henslow's Sparrows this year. Well, a walk at Red Feather Prairie this morning solved that; there were at least 3 singing Henslow's. Here is one:

Here is a map of Red Feather Prairie and the area that I found the Henslow's:

View Red Feather Prairie in a larger map

Not exactly expected down here in June, there was a LESSER SCAUP at Polk City Wildlife Area:

Stopping at a reliable BELL'S VIREO spot two miles from my house was successful:

Magpies in Iowa

2011-06-10T20:34:00.000-05:00

BLACK-BILLED MAGPIES have been reported in recent years in extreme western Iowa but, as far as I can tell, very little is really known about them (except that they sometimes nest??). A report from the Armstrong's this spring mentioned a magpie over in Plymouth County. I went over today to work some magpie-magic and it actually happened to work out.

Their directions were "0.5 mile north of Joy Hollow on Butcher Rd". Those directions were spot on. Before we arrived to the exact spot, we saw a magpie in flight headed towards a clump of bushes/trees. Once we arrived at the spot, we got looks at 2 different magpies at the same time.

Here is a map of the clump that we saw the magpies in:

View BBMA in a larger map

So to reiterate, drive north between 0.5 and 0.6 miles past the Joy Hollow Girl Scout Camp. You'll pass under some power lines and directly on your right (southeast of the road) is a large clump of bushes/trees. It was this clump that the magpies were associated with. These birds weren't exactly bold. They would stay out of view and remain silent for 5-10 minutes at a time. Be patient and be sure to listen.

The other species in that clump included:

Bell's Vireo
Blue Grosbeak
Gray Catbird
Brown Thrasher
Field Sparrow
Blue Jay
Dickcissel

Here is the BELL'S VIREO:

On our way back east, we found some shorebirds at Dunbar Slough:

Killdeer
Semipalmated Sandpiper (3)
White-rumped Sandpiper (64)

Also a couple of BLACK TERNS were seen north of the boat ramp on B Avenue.

Here are where the shorebirds were:

View 10 June shorb spots in a larger map

HAWKS AT A DISTANCE

2011-06-08T15:02:00.003-05:00

"Hawks at a Distance: Identification of Migrant Raptors" by Jerry Liguori. 2011. Princeton University Press. 190 pages.

Let me start by saying something I've said many times before: "I would NEVER be a hawk counter".

-gasp-

Really? Let me explain. The reason for this statement comes from my relative unfamiliarity with distant raptors and, as we often do, we resort to our comfort zones (distant waterbirds for me). It's not that I don't like raptors and enjoying watching them, it's more of a realization I've come to that I simply do not understand them that well. I'm excited to say, however, this book helps me understand raptors in ways I never thought possible.

I've never had the pleasure of meeting Jerry but we share a couple of similarities. First and foremost, as you learn on the back cover, he has counted migrants at Whitefish Point in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This excellent spot for spring raptors is also a mecca for migrating waterbirds and I have been lucky to count at Whitefish Point many different seasons. I also have heard great things about Liguori from a mutual friend (Chris Neri) who has worked with Liguori in Nevada.

Liguori's latest book, "Hawks at a Distance" comes six years after his "Hawks from Every Angle" which I also own and reference. As you can see below, his newest book is slightly smaller than his previous one (although the newer one is slightly thicker):

Liguori starts with a 12-page introduction in which he covers basic things like terminology, glossary, hawk migration, helpful hints, anatomy, etc. He also gives examples (using photos) of the different flight positions of raptors such as soaring, head-on, gliding, wing-on, away, stooping, hovering, flapping, dihedral, and modified dihedral. He continues by explaining hawk counting, optics for hawk watching, and photography (including ethics). He closes the introduction with a couple of pages of basic timing of migrating raptors. By using a modified line-thickness schematic, he illustrates how Broad-winged Hawks migrate later in the spring than Golden Eagles, etc. Although this schematic would surely differ based on where you are, its main purpose is rather general.

What follows next are the species accounts (the meat of the book). He starts each account with 1-3 pages of text overviewing the species and giving some plumage pointers. Then come the photographs for that species.

Let me pause here and point out the photos. These are NOT full-frame, super-detailed photos of raptors but rather somewhat distant views and always of raptors in flight. This book is called, after all, Hawks at a Distance. Seeing every feather of a migrating Red-tailed Hawk really doesn't help you learn about shapes and flight styles at a distance, right? If you're interested in that side of raptors, I would recommend his other book which has larger photos in which the author focuses more on plumage.

Liguori doesn't leave anything out when it comes to photographs. If a raptor has a light, intermediate, and dark morph, he includes photos of all of those. He also includes photos of the different ages of a species (combined with all the different morphs). What's better, he includes photographs showing a wide range of viewing conditions and lighting. For example, a backlit and shadowed Ferruginous Hawk can look all dark, almost nothing like a Ferruginous Hawk that's extremely pale from flying over snow! Likewise, only in this book can you find photographs showing such unique comparisons. For example, consider the differences of viewing a head-on Broad-winged Hawk versus a head-on Red-shouldered Hawk. Would you know what to look for?

Photo counts:

So how many photos does he include per species? It varies depending on how variable the species is, color morphs, aberrant plumages, etc. Here are a couple examples of photo counts:

Sharp-shinned Hawk: 33
Red-tailed Hawk: 78
Broad-winged Hawk: 24
Gyrfalcon: 9
Short-tailed Hawk: 4

Here is an example of a typical layout of photos:

Silhouettes:

Remember the old-school Peterson bird guide? Yeah, the one that most of us had at one point during our early-birding days when we were learning the differences between a breeding Blackburnian and Blackpoll warbler. Do you remember those black-and-white silhouettes of birds in flight, perched on a power line, etc? I commend Peterson for including that basic but crucial part of identification. Until now, I haven't seen another bird book that includes silhouettes (which is a shame in my opinion). However, I was thrilled to see that Liguori includes a section towards the end of the book which emphasizes shapes and does so truly from every angle. Only in this book will you find silhouettes of a Peregrine Falcon's rear end and be able to compare it to a Merlin's rear end.

Here are the pages of silhouettes for Red-shouldered and Broad-winged hawk:

It's my opinion that most birders should spend MORE time learning shapes. Someone who only knows plumages is at a serious disadvantage in the field with real-life birding situations.

Overview:

In all, this is just brilliant stuff. Rarely does a bird book surface that portrays such an enormous amount of knowledge and skill. You can look for a better migrating-hawk guide but you just won't find it.

If this book had a downside, it may be that it's an overload for a beginner. If a birder is interested in first learning that a Red-tailed Hawk has a red tail, I might keep this book for later. But if you're interested in improving your skills with distant raptors, look no further. He leaves no stone unturned, exactly how a pro should do it.

In closing, if I were to be plopped on duty as a hawk counter, this would be the FIRST book I made sure I had. Liguori's knowledge and skill of identifying raptors is simply unsurpassed. His ability to tie together actual knowledge with photos makes for both an informative and yet concise book.

Oh, and if his wonderful book didn't seal my respect for Liguori, he also says in the introduction "However, I acquired Zeiss Victory FL binoculars in 2008 and believe they offer the finest image available". Finally, someone who knows what they're talking about.

Disclaimer:

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher for review purposes, but the viewpoint expressed in this article is entirely my own.

FLORIDA

2011-06-06T21:51:00.002-05:00

You had better get comfortable; this post is devoted to some of the birds we recently saw on a trip down to Florida (and there were a LOT of them).

Why go to Florida for birds at all? Well, some exotic but countable birds are only found in Florida and as a serious birder, one HAS to go to Florida for those specialties. Florida only has 1 truly endemic species, however, the FLORIDA SCRUB-JAY. That species is not found anywhere else in the world.

Speaking of the FLORIDA SCRUB-JAY, that was our first target on our way south. Where to? The infamous Archbold Biological Station, of course (thanks Michelle). The stretch of road highlighted below is great for seeing jays perched on the powerlines:

View FLSJ in a larger map

We pulled up and sure enough, the jays were there and waiting for us. Here is a banded individual:

We made our way south to Everglades National Park. Water levels were quite low so we didn't spend as much time working wading birds like herons. We did find ourselves above this GREEN HERON at Anhinga Trail though:

Also at Anhinga Trail was this AMERICAN ALLIGATOR chomping on a catfish:

One of the only wading birds at Anhinga Trail was a bunch of WOOD STORKS. Here is one coming in for a landing:

One of the most reliable spots for BARRED OWL that I can think of has to be Mahogany Hammock in the Everglades. This trip through was no exception:

SWALLOW-TAILED KITES were common in the Everglades, we saw maybe 10-20 in the park alone. Here is one that flew by:

Down at Flamingo, there were still some AMERICAN AVOCETS at Eco Pond:

Also at Eco Pond, some nesting BLACK-NECKED STILTS:

A treat at Flamingo were the many WHITE-CROWNED PIGEONS that we saw perched and flying around. I never thought they were supposed to be so common but they were. Here is a fly-by:

As we left Flamingo, this COMMON GROUND-DOVE saw us off:

After the Everglades, we headed east into some of the lush neighborhoods in Kendall to look for established (and countable) exotics.

A target was the SPOT-BREASTED ORIOLE. I had tried for this species many times before with no luck so it was pretty high up on my nemesis list. Things didn't look good when we arrived at the prescribed intersection but we wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes. Then, as luck would have it, what's perched up on the powerlines above us? A nice SPOT-BREASTED ORIOLE:

We swung by the Kendall Baptist Hospital which is well known for the exotic species usually found there. We couldn't find what we were looking for but did come across this MITRED PARAKEET which was kind of cool:

In the neighborhood due north of the hospital, we found this HILL MYNA:

We also found 3 RED-WHISKERED BULBULS in the same neighborhood:

I don't exactly remember the name of the city park... but there was a YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON there so I took a picture of it:

THE KEYS

A worthwhile destination if you're in the keys during spring and summer is the city of Marathon.

The Marathon Government Center has a couple of species of terns that nest on their roof! We were there specifically for a ROSEATE TERN:

Also in Marathon is a country club that has BURROWING OWLS that nest on the golf course. We swung by one evening and found two of them:

To wrap up the day, we ended at the Marathon Airport which is a reliable spot for ANTILLEAN NIGHTHAWKS. Right at 7:30 PM, a couple of them started flying around and calling:

I was surprised by how common WHITE-CROWNED PIGEONS turned out to be throughout our trip. It seems that hardly 30 minutes went by without seeing flocks of pigeons in transit:

A highlight for us on No Name Key was a pair of MANGROVE CUCKOOS. This skulking species was... well... not so skulking for us:

We reached Key West at the very tip of the keys and decided to take a look at Fort Zachary Taylor:

View Fort Zachary Taylor in a larger map

There wasn't a ton of variety around given the time of year and the hot, mid-day temperatures. We still managed a couple of species including this white morph GREAT BLUE HERON (sometimes referred to as Great White Heron). You'll notice that this bird has a heavy culmen and buffy legs whereas a Great Egret would have a thinner bill and blackish legs

MAGNIFICENT FRIGATEBIRDS were common and seen soaring and gliding around from just about everywhere. A few came by pretty low including this female:

We had seen GRAY KINGBIRDS just as we drove through towns on the keys. At the fort on Key West, I caught up to one "properly":

There were still a couple of migrants on Key West including SWAINSON'S THRUSH, GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH, and this AMERICAN REDSTART:

Once we got back up to mainland Florida, we started working our way north along the eastern side of the state.

I had a couple of targets still in mind. First, I wanted to add MONK PARAKEET to my list of photographed species. Thanks to the directions of a couple of local birders, they directed us to a street in Kendall that had numerous stick nests (interestingly, this is the only species of parakeet that doesn't use a cavity for its nest). Here a couple near their nest:

I had another main target in mind, the countable WHITE-WINGED PARAKEET. Despite looking for this species at a couple of different spots, we hadn't had any luck. Based on a tip from other birders, we ventured to the Ocean Bank in downtown Miami:

View Ocean Bank in a larger map

A short walk later, success, we spotted a couple of high-flying parakeets zipping by. Here is one:

One of our next stops was at the Wakodahatchee Wetlands:

View Wakodahatchee Wetlands in a larger map

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much considering it was free but I was really surprised! So many species were common and many of them were used to humans being around. For example, the usually somewhat-secretive PURPLE GALLINULE was abundant here and some of them were just an arms-reach away. I had to back up to take photos of some of them!

This gallinule was feeding a young chick; you can still see the "egg-tooth" that the chick has on the tip of its bill that it used to break its shell:

The wetlands had many ages of many different species including lots of chicks. I just had to take a pic of this young RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD gaping from the nest:

The wetlands had several pairs of BLACK-NECKED STILTS as well:

I've been in the land of WHITE-FACED IBISES for the last 3 summers so it was actually a treat to be around the other plegadis ibis, the GLOSSY IBIS:

... and here is a wonky young ibis with some down still on its neck:

A duck is just a duck... and this is just a MOTTLED DUCK:

We also went to Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge after a target bird, SNAIL KITE. Within the USA, Snail Kites can only be found in Florida and because of their limited diet (Apple Snails), they're rather uncommon and unpredictable. We were grateful when Lox provided kites as we had hoped; here is a juvenile perched alongside a canal:

Access was best on Lee Road and we saw SNAIL KITES from that access road:

View Loxahatchee NWR in a larger map

While at Lox NWR, a couple of BLACK-BELLIED WHISTLING-DUCKS zipped by. It's not a great photo but enough to prove the identity:

We were amazed at how abundant LIMPKINS were in this area. That afternoon, we spotted ~10 and sometimes from highways! Here are three together at Lox NWR:

Just for good measure, we spotted a couple of adult male SNAIL KITES hunting a canal after we had left the NWR. I pulled over for a couple of quick action shots:

A little further north we stopped at Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area for a couple of target species. Thankfully we snagged all of them.

One of the targets was RED-COCKADED WOODPECKERS and it didn't take too long before we found this banded individual:

Other targets we found included BACHMAN'S SPARROW, BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH, and the nonmigratory, endemic subspecies of GRASSHOPPER SPARROW. We also saw many PINE WARBLERS such as this one tucked up in a pine:

We had several more SWALLOW-TAILED KITES at this location as well:

Our next target was SHORT-TAILED HAWK, a species that only nests in Florida and Arizona within the USA. We went to the Lake Wales Ridge State Forest where this species is uncommonly reliable (or so they said). Specifically, the area between the road and the lake was supposed to have nesting hawks:

View STHA in a larger map

We sat there during the heat of the day without luck for at least 15-20 minutes. Then, thankfully, a dark-morph adult came in over the trees. One very cool hawk:

At this point, we didn't have any other targets in Florida so we skedaddled northward.

We stopped at Jekyll Island in Georgia to see what shorebirds were along the beach. Most common were the ubiquitous SANDERLINGS, these in varying degrees of plumage:

We also found some WILSON'S PLOVERS by the old shipwreck which was a year bird.

We also spotted these COMMON BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS swimming just offshore:

Another target was the secretive BLACK RAIL in North Carolina. We managed to find one at Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge where they are said to be very common. Although we didn't witness it, it's possible to hear DOZENS of Black Rails there on the right kind of night:

View Cedar Island NWR in a larger map

We then zoomed up to coastal Virginia where I targeted more year birds such as BLACK SKIMMER, SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER, and SALTMARSH SPARROW. The reliable marsh near Assawoman, Virginia provided SALTMARSH SPARROWS easily (just like it did last July!). I had amazing looks at 7-10 different individuals:

Even more common than the Saltmarsh Sparrows was the Atlantic subspecies of SEASIDE SPARROW:

The breeding WILLETS in the area were rather distracted by the 6'3" humanoid that smelt heavily of bug spray:

It was at this point we started our venture to northern Michigan. I didn't have much to take photos of so I started playing around with a photo I took at a rest area:

Fast-forward the rest of the way to northern Michigan where we enjoyed seeing one of the rarest warblers North America has to offer, the KIRTLAND'S WARBLER. It's not the best photo but it IS a neat bird nonetheless. We heard/saw at least 8 different individuals; here is one of them:

Finding these birds is extremely easy; they aren't more than 3 miles due east of Grayling, Michigan:

View KIWA in a larger map

Their habitat looks something like this; young (short) Jack Pines with a grassy understory:

On our way south through my old haunts in Berrien County, we stopped at Lincoln Township Beach to see the breeding (and very vocal) ALDER FLYCATCHERS:

Finding the ALDER FLYCATCHERS isn't too difficult. Just walk the boardwalk:

View ALFL in a larger map

CONW!

2011-05-20T14:31:00.004-05:00

Until today, I had never laid eyes on the reclusive CONNECTICUT WARBLER. I have heard them numerous times (including this spring already in Michigan) but they have always eluded me. Well, today that changed.

I bushed-whacked through Emma McCarthy Lee Park and Brookside Park here in Ames. After stomping through the forest at Brookside for a couple of hours, an adult male CONNECTICUT WARBLER popped up and perched in a small tree about 15 feet off the ground. The giant, mondo white eye-ring was so incredibly obvious, it's not even funny. By the time I reached for my camera, however, it didn't feel like being seen anymore. I guess I have to live with that.... and so do you.

Here is the general area that I flushed the bird from:

View CONW in a larger map

The habitat was interesting to me; it was in the middle of the forest but with a fairly open midlevel. It had considerable ground-cover; a layer of nettle about 1 foot high and numerous downed tress/limbs creating some tangled areas. Together, it made for tricky walking (wet logs you can't see are surprisingly slippery, just ask my shins). Here is the habitat that I flushed the CONW from:

The same area was great for MOURNING WARBLERS and OVENBIRDS as well as numerous thrushes and other warblers. In fact, I tried to make this female MOURNING WARBLER into another CONW but, alas, it's definitely not. However, this WAS the first female MOWA I had seen this spring in Iowa:

So both parks combined to yield 19 species of warblers this morning:

Golden-winged Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Northern Parula

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Palm Warbler

Blackpoll Warbler

Blackburnian Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstart

Ovenbird

Northern Waterthrush

Connecticut Warbler

Mourning Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Wilson's Warbler

Canada Warbler

The number of MOURNING WARBLERS and OVENBIRDS was impressive to me, I tallied 8 MOWAs between the two parks (4 at each). The first four at EMLP were all singing this morning. I estimate a total of 14 OVENBIRDS between the two parks and yet very few were heard singing.

Thrushes were in good numbers today with easily 30+ SWAINSON'S THRUSHES between the two parks. I also had 6-10 GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSHES including several that were in full-song (which was a first for me here in Iowa). Lastly, I had my second VEERY of the spring at Brookside.

Empids were around in big numbers as well. Brookside Park had at least 7-8 YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHERS, some at eye level. The ACADIAN FLYCATCHER remains at EMLP; it was singing again this morning. Other empids such as LEAST FLYCATCHERS and WILLOW/ALDER FLYCATCHERS were also numerous today.

Regarding vireos; besides the common species, I also had a PHILADELPHIA VIREO at Brookside Park:

The PALM WARBLER is almost getting-late so I snapped a grainy picture of it:

Acadian Flycatcher & warbs

2011-05-19T15:07:00.001-05:00

The best bird at Emma McCarthy Lee Park in Ames this morning was a singing ACADIAN FLYCATCHER. I wondered if I would find one there this spring but I wasn't betting on it. I even toyed around and recorded it via my phone.

Otherwise, I tallied 15 species of warblers and 5 species of vireos:

Northern Parula

Orange-crowned Warbler (1)

Tennessee Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Yellow Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Black-and-white Warbler

American Redstart

Ovenbird

Northern Waterthrush (1)

Mourning Warbler (2, 1 singing)

Common Yellowthroat

Wilson's Warbler

Canada Warbler (5, 1 has been singing constantly from the same spot for more than a week now)

Vireos:

Red-eyed, Philadelphia (1), Warbling, Yellow-throated, and Blue-headed Vireo (1).

Also Swainson's Thrush (4)

Here is one of the MOURNING WARBLERS from this morning:

We're only 10 or so days away from this ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER being on the late-side:

The park has been very reliable for PHILADELPHIA VIREOS this spring. Here is another one:

Hooded Warbler, EMLP

2011-05-17T14:30:00.000-05:00

The best bird at Emma McCarthy Lee Park this morning was this HOODED WARBLER:

It was in the vicinity of the wooden footbridge over the stream:

View Hooded Warbler in a larger map

We also had 15 other species of warblers including this CANADA WARBLER:

... and this male CAPE MAY WARBLER:

This park continues to yield BLUE-WINGED WARBLERS; another was heard and seen this morning. Here is a poor photo of it singing:

We also had:

Swainson's Thrush
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Philadelphia Vireo
Barred Owl

Back at home, Ashley spotted this ORCHARD ORIOLE, a new yard bird: