I’m long overdue for some Rochester birding so I hope to get out there. Rumor has it that Snowy Owls have been seen around Lake Ontario. Charlie will be flying into Philadelphia so look for him around the mean streets of Philly. As far as Corey goes, you can trust that he’ll be loitering around NYC parks, scanning for avian vagrants, as opposed to the human kind.

Whatever you plan to do this weekend, be sure to celebrate Sky Watch Friday…

Keep an eye out for migrating Brants, like this one Corey spotted at Jamaica Bay

Copyright 2008 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Copyright 2008 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

The rules are completely different this time.  There is no need to identify any birds at all.  And the answers are given at the end of the quiz.  How easy can it get!

One of the most popular field guides in North America these days is The Sibley Field Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley.  For this quiz, we are using the “big” version, which covers both east and west.  My edition indicates Sixth Printing, September 2001.

QUESTIONS:

1. What is the first species described?
2. What is the last species described?
3. What bird is depicted on the front cover?
4. What birds are depicted on the back cover?
5. What bird is depicted on the inside front flap?
6. On the inside back flap, there is a picture of David Sibley.  What color shirt is he wearing?
7. Ivory-billed Woodpecker – is it described in the main body of the text or is it listed as extinct in the Introduction?
8. The field guide has 545 pages.  On what page do sparrows begin (approximately)?
9. The field guide has 545 pages.  What group of birds is shown in the exact middle of the book (on pages 272-273)?
10. As he describes it “in the narrow view”, how long did David Sibley work on this guide?

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW IT?

Rating:

0-6 correct: Beginner

7-8 correct: Intermediate

9 correct: Expert

10 correct: We don’t believe you anyway!

The answers are below.  No peeking!  Feel free to post your rating in the comments.

ANSWERS:

1. Red-throated Loon
2. Nutmeg Mannikin
3. Red-tailed Hawk
4. Western Tanager and Scarlet Tanager
5. Elegant Trogon
6. Blue
7. Extinct
8. Page 472
9. Owls (Barn, Long-eared and Short-eared)
10. About five years

Hope you enjoyed the quiz and remember to leave your rating in the comments.

Copyright 2008 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

And see America they did!  From Newfoundland to the Dry Tortugas, from sunny California to the Yukon Delta, they explored more of America than many Americans had even dreamed of.  And they saw birds, lots and lots and lots and lots of birds.  How many birds? Well, that is where the footnote comes in to play.  In chapter 33, during which the two birders are in Alaska, they managed to break Guy Emerson’s record of 497 birds seen in North America in one year.  The sentence that is footnoted, “We sent Guy Emerson a telegram informing him that he had lost his throne as champ of the bird-listers*” already gives the reader an idea of what might be on the bottom of the page, but the footnote itself, well, let me reproduce it here in full:

*James pulled a fast one in Anchorage.  While I stayed in the hotel to work on a drawing he went with Ed Chatelaine of the Fish and Wildlife Service and came back with five new birds on his list.  He retained this margin until he returned to England; and so, for a month, an Englishman held the record list of birds seen in one year in North America.  It was not until I returned across the continent in August that I caught up.

Incidental information: my year’s list at the end of 1953 was 572 species (not counting an additional 65 Mexican birds). R.T.P.

Mine was 536, plus the 65 Mexican species, plus 117 others seen in Europe, a total of 718. J.F.

The North American record would not stay in American hands for long.  According to Mark Obmascik’s The Big Year:

Wild America was published in 1955.  The next year a twenty-five-year-old Englishman named Stuart Keith, fresh out of Oxford, was so enthralled with the travelogue that he decided to repeat it himself…he scored 598 birds that year–twenty-six more than Peterson.

Who would have thought that a single footnote could propel birders to spend an entire year chasing after birds around the continent?  Normally, one would think of history of being in the main text, and if something is a “footnote to history” it means it is not terribly important, more of an aside.  But Peterson and Fisher managed to make a mere footnote be one of the most memorable parts of their book, at least to the listing world.  Of course, since Stuart Keith’s record run in 1956 the record has been broken numerous times, but all big listers owe a debt of gratitude to Roger Tory Peterson and James Fisher, who not only each held the North American Big Year record, but did it in style and with grace.

This has been a Great Moment in Birding History…come back in a couple weeks for another.

Copyright 2008 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Copyright 2008 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

A real stunner right? Also stunning to me was how Collared Peccaries, also known as javelinas, graze unperturbedly beneath raucous jays, chachalacas, and doves.

Wicked eyeshine!

Bentsen is no joke. Within minutes of arriving, our merry group encountered killers like White-tipped Dove and Groove-billed Ani; sure, these species don’t inspire such awe in parts south where they’re fairly abundant but, man, are they a sight within the ABA area! The usual Couch’s Kingbirds, Ruby-crowned Kinglets, and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers couldn’t hide specialties like Black-headed Grosbeak and Altamira Oriole. The Altamira is a sensational bird - not only is it North America’s largest oriole, but its entire body radiates with the resplendent orange of a Blackburnian Warbler’s throat.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who finds Icturus gularis attractive. We encountered at least two Altamira-Audubon’s Oriole hybrids at Bentsen. Oriole wonks might enjoy picking out salient features from each parent in the photo below.

True to form, we had a number of target species for this excursion. A blazing orange oriole is nice, but what birding trip would be complete without an irrationally rare, utterly nondescript bird, preferably an itty bitty flycatcher. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you the Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet! Only a fraction of the world’s tyrannulets winter in the U.S. and only then in the Rio Grande Valley. Having already struck out on these guys elsewhere, I was eager to add it to my life list here, though not so anxious that I couldn’t enjoy the unexpected beauty of the Golden-fronted Woodpecker. Golden-fronts are as common in El Valle as Red-bellied Woodpeckers are east of the Mississippi. However, this magical Melanerpes shows many more colors on its proud head.

As I was saying, we were on a tyrannulet quest. Too bad the roving flocks of songbirds made our quarry so hard to find. Sure, on one hand, they helped us home in on where the bird likely was but that addition of frenetic kinglets and gnatcatchers increased the difficulty level tenfold. Spotting Black-crested Titmice and Orange-crowned Warblers, the latter a nemesis bird of mine until now, would have been a lot more fun were I not straining to spy one of the most unremarkable birds in the world. But our tremendously talented, not to mention patient guides got us on our target tyrannulet. See…

What, you can’t see it? Here’s a close-up…

Impressed? Seriously, if I never see a Northern Beardless-Tyrannulet again, it may be too soon. The Southern Beardless-Tyrannulet, however, is another story entirely but that will, with hope, be a tale for another day.

Copyright 2008 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Breeding-plumaged male Surf Scoters, Bolsa Chica, California. Feb 2008

I would imagine most birders will instantly recognise an adult male Surf Scoter - that enormous multi-coloured bill (which has given rise to a slew of colloquial names including Goggle-nose, Horse-head Coot, Plaster-bill, Snuff-taker, Blossom-billed Coot, Bottle-nosed Diver, Mussel Bill and (thanks Nate for reminding me) Skunk-headed Coot) is unmistakeable - but of course not all Surf Scoters are adult males…

In fact Surf Scoters come in a bewildering variety of guises, perhaps more so than any other common duck aside from the Mallard. They can be very tricky to age properly. Have a look at the photo of a typical group of Surf Scoters below and you’ll see what I mean…

Part of a mixed-age/sex flock of Surf Scoters (and a female Red-breasted Merganser),
Moss Landing, California. August 2008

I know that not everyone is ‘into’ aging ducks, but it’s surprising how much extra you can get out of birding if you give it a go (honestly). So, I’m going to try going beyond just saying “Oh, there are six Surf Scoters in the photo” and try and age them. Aging ducks when they’re asleep and hiding some key features is a bit risky, but - what they hey - I’ll take the risk and suggest that what we have here is a female, and what looks to me to be two 1st winter males, two second-winter males, and an adult male.

Why do I think that? Well, if I’ve interpreted the field-guides properly (and I’m not certain that I have to be honest) what I should be looking for is as follows:

• Females have brown to pale-brown eyes and dark bills. They look similar to juveniles (though they always have dark brown eyes), but as the other birds in the same group are so advanced it seems to me unlikely that the bird second from top is still in juvenile plumage, and should therefore be an adult. If I could see a pale nape and a dark belly it would definitely be an adult bird, but as I can’t I’m going with what I can see and deduce.
• Males take several years to reach adulthood, and the extent of both the white on the forehead and on the nape and the depth of colour in the bill increases with every moult. Males with smaller patches of white than full adults should therefore be younger birds.
• Older feathers often look ‘bleached’ and worn, and moulting birds often show a mix of scruffy paler feathers as well as darker ones. In combination with soft part (ie eye and bill) colours it should be possible to work out how old the birds are.

Using those criteria here’s the photo again but labelled this time:

Any comments either way from anyone better qualified than me?

Before the corrections come flooding in I may as well plough on. Now that I’ve got started on this I’ll have a go at aging some Goggle-noses I’ve photographed in the past (some of which are a darn sight easier than the half-sleeping birds in the large photo).

Juvenile/1st winter Surf Scoter, Bolsa Chica, California. Dec 2007

A juvenile/Ist winter on plumage but which sex? Is there a touch of colour coming into the bill (which would make it a male), or are those brown eyes a sign that it’s probably a female?

 

Ist winter female Surf Scoter, Bolsa Chica, California. Nov 2007

I don’t think this is an adult as the body feathers are paler brown than than the rich colour typical of an adult, and the pale tone of cheeks/lower neck seem to be too extensive.

 

1st winter male Surf Scoter, Moss Landing, California. November 2007

An immature but this one is clearly a 1st winter male: there’s already obvious colour in the bill and the whitish eye is also diagnostic.

 

1st winter male Surf Scoter (with a shellfish), Bolsa Chica, California. Dec 2007

A similar bird to the one above but photographed a month later (and several hundred miles south).

 

1st summer to 2nd winter male Surf Scoter, Moss Landing, California. Nov 2007

Superficially similar to both the above birds but I would think a year older - thus a bird in its second winter. Note the dark head with a hint of a pale nape coming through, and the more extensive whitish areas and pinkish colouration in the bill. It’s also interesting to note how the the dark spot at the base of the bill is becoming more clearly ‘circular’ and less smudged.

 

2nd winter/2nd summer male Surf Scoter, Bolsa Chica, California. late-Jan 2008

Another second-year bird (?) - though it’s difficult to say when a putative 2nd winter bird becomes a 2nd summer when it shows such a mix of old and new feathers (which creates the mottled effect). Note though the all-dark head, and again that the dark spot at the base of the bill is clearly ‘circular’ and less smudged than in younger birds.

 

2nd year male Surf Scoter, Bolsa Chica, California. Feb 2008

This bird appears far more advanced than the individual above, but was photographed at more or less the same time. It appears to have worn wing feathers and to have not attained the full amount of white on the head and is therefore possibly a second-summer bird….

 

 

2nd year male Surf Scoter, Bolsa Chica, California. Feb 2008

…but, all is not quite as it seems as this is the same bird just seconds later photographed as it dives - and it quite clearly has a broad white nape patch not visible in the earlier photo! Does that make it a 2nd summer or a worn adult?

 

Adult female Surf Scoter, Bolsa Chica, California. Jan 2008

 

I could have got that all hideously wrong, so please feel free to comment and perhaps we can get the correct answers together!

 

---

Surf Scoters, Vancouver. May 2006

Rarely diving in water that exceeds 30 feet deep, Surf Scoters forage - as you’d expect from the name - in the zone of surf/breaking waves, and habitually dive through foaming wave crests. Gulls, especially Glaucous-winged Gulls, often force surfacing ducks to relinquish their prey, thus flocks frequently dive in unison as re-surfacing groups are less likely to be kleptoparasitized than individual ducks due to the swamping effect. Blue mussels constitute nearly 30 percent of their marine diet - the stomach of one scoter was crammed with 1,100 small blue mussels. Immense rafts congregate in regions supporting extensive mussel beds. Hundreds of thousands winter in the coastal waters off British Columbia alone, and 200,000 scoters could consume about 43 tons of mussel meat daily (adapted from http://www.virtualbirder.com/vbirder/ibis/SUSC/SUSC401.html)

According to Birdlife International the species has a large range, with an estimated global Extent of Occurrence of 1,000,000-10,000,000 km². It has a large global population estimated to be 400,000-600,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2002). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores 2008

Copyright 2008 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Copyright 2008 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

Copyright 2008 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds

What is this little critter?

Stepping over the dainty little frogs that thronged on our sandy path, we quickly eyed expected species like Couch’s Kingbird, Green Jay, and Great Kiskadee along with the common complement of Harris’ Hawk, vultures and caracaras. Everyone was eager to pick up pygmy owl but they were slow in coming. Fortunately, the same could not be said for one of our most important secondary targets, Audubon’s Oriole. The fly in the ointment for this sighting, a lifer more many of us, was that this species seems to possess an uncanny ability to remain backlit, rendering its distinctive yellow and black markings academic.

Still, we were on the warpath for Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl. Once we got on one, we worked it for a long time, patiently waiting and calling until it gave up a glimpse. Alas, that first owl made fools of us. A second one almost did the same but couldn’t elude our sharp-eyed group. While I didn’t get photo-worthy looks, I can attest that this species is absolutely adorable, in the way that only tiny owls can be. It’s also a dangerous diurnal predator, using disproportionately large talons and ninja stealth to productive use.

One we had a pygmy-owl in the bag, we could pay attention to more frivolous fare, like the huge Texas Indigo Snake Jeff deftly wrangled out of the tall grass. You can see from the shot below how striking this snake is but you should really read Jeff’s account to see how impressive a five-and-a-half foot indigo snake really is.

Our next stop was a grassland that attracts meadowlarks and Sprague’s Pipit. We nabbed the former but found it both too wet in the aftermath of Hurricane Dolly and too early in the season to score Sprague’s, though we did get American Pipit flyovers. We also spied pleny of White-tailed Hawks. These beauteous buteos soared high above the ranch, rarely dropping down low but usually on display. What a raptor!

Excessive moisture massacred our chances at other tall grass species like LeConte’s Sparrow and Sedge Wren. The best we could do in that regard was a Sora peeping out of sight. But we did happen on plenty of waterfowl, including gadwalls, teals, shovelers, whistling ducks, coots, and both Pied-billed and Least Grebes.  The latter grebe is a neotropical specialty so spotting the smallest member of the grebe family in the ABA region is a treat. It’s cute too if you’re into that sort of thing. In fact, we encountered one family with three tiny grebelets in tow, a serious Cute Overload moment.

The King Ranch really delivered fine birding. The variety of habitats support a slew of fantastic bird, invertebrates, herps, and mammals so you’re unlikely to be anything less than engaged as you travel through.  Ecosystems boasting this level of biodiversity always produce a surprise or two. For some of our group, it was a Great Horned Owl, while others among us took the time to scrutinize the subtle differences between adult and juvenile Cattle Egrets.

See that brilliant Vermilion Flycatcher behind the egrets?  These killers turned up fairly often but, unsurprisingly it was the first-year males, distinguished by their patchy white chest plumage, that came the closest.

Copyright 2008 - For more of the same, visit 10,000 Birds