You are browsing the archives of 2007 March.

Red Warbler Ergaticus ruber
Desierto de los Leones, Mexico City. 26 March 2005 and 24 March 2007

The dazzingly beautiful Red Warbler, a Mexican endemic found in oak-pine woodland between 2000 and 3500m, is common at Desierto de Los Leones (just outside Mexico City) where it’s distinctive “pseet” call is one of the commoner sounds along the [...]

There are many routes to take from the southern end of Albany to the western part of Saugerties. The fastest is straight down the New York State Thruway to Route 32 to Route 212. But the best birds you’ll see taking that route are Turkey Vultures, Red-tailed Hawks and American Crows unless you [...]

One endearing, some might say redeeming trait of sparrows is how the mix of species transforms dramatically based on geography and ecosystem. Sparrows,at least in North America, may always be there to bedevil you, but they won’t always be the devils you know. Travel widely enough and you may find a place where every sparrow [...]

Happy Belated Swallows Day! On March 24, San Juan Capistrano celebrated the annual Fiesta de las Golondrinas or Festival of the Swallows. Timed to occur on or around March 19, the observance of St. Joseph’s Day, the festival honors a momentous seasonal event, a harbinger of spring in full bloom. St. Joseph’s Day is [...]

Upon arriving home this evening, despondent about having left my camera behind when watching birds and it not being there when I returned, I posted to a birding listserv about the loss. Within an hour an email that the camera was picked up by a birder and I’m getting it back. Enormous sigh [...]

It was Friday night so what did I do? I went birding. Wait, on a Friday night? Yeah, say what you will, but I was out looking for my first Timberdoodles of the year. The cute, chunky, cryptically-colored, snipe-like, short-legged, long-billed, crepuscular, dancing and displaying bird had already been reported in [...]

I was logging into my Yahoo account just now and I noticed - at the bottom of the page - this charming mail from a concerned citizen (”They Can’t Deport Us All” - who in his Yahoo profile calls himself “a crazy mexican”) wondering whether shooting a fly-over Wood Duck in the way he did [...]

Crescent-chested Warbler Parula superciliosa
Desierto de los Leones, Mexico City. 24 March 2007

The beautiful Crescent-chested Warbler, usually placed in the genus Parula with the Northern and Tropical Parulas but sometimes in Vermivora with eg Orange-crowned and Virgnia’s Warblers, is a resident of montane oak-pine and mixed softwood forests of northern Mexico to Nicaragua. Some seasonal migration [...]

Desierto de los Leones Recreational Park, Mexico City
24 March 2007

>Mexico City is located near the southern end of the plateau of Anáhuac, at an altitude of c.7,800 ft (2,380 m). The horizons of the city are almost obscured by mountain barriers, and the peaks of Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl are not far off. The climate [...]

The Golden-cheeked Warbler (Dendroica chrysoparia) is one of the United States less accessible avian species. The golden-cheek closely resembles its cousin, the Black-throated Green Warbler, but its coloration is high contrast black, white, and brilliant yellow. This lovely little wood warbler winters in Mexico and Central America, migrating only as far north as a [...]