A Birding Update

The leaves have returned to the branches and with them have come the migrants. The Avian gods whoever they might be seem to have favored me these last few days. I have managed to see and photograph two or more year-birds every day. This post will be composed of a few brief summaries of the last few twenty-four hour periods, along with photos and links to my eBird checklist from each location. 

April/16/2012 RISD Beach, Barrington, RI

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10466566

We had but one first of year (FOY): a flock of six Dunlin, all exceedingly tame.

Other highlights included 1 beautiful Greater Yellowlegs, 4 Tree Swallows, 2 Purple Martins and 22 Double-crested Cormorants. 

The beautiful Greater Yellowlegs, This bird was an extremely brave individual and came to within only ten feet of me, a distance that would have made an average yellowlegs tremble with fear. 

One of a small troop of Dunlin putting RISDs lovely marsh to good use.                                                                              

Another photo of a docile Dunlin. This one was less then five feet from the lens of my camera!                              

April/17/2012 Talbot's Point, East Sandwich, MA

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10479285

This walks two year-birds came to us at the very end of the walk and if a flock of crows had not alerted us to the larger of the pair, both their names would be lacking from my list.

The bigger of my two FOYs, a Great Horned Owl

And the smaller of my year birds,  one of a pair of Red-breasted Nuthatch. 

April/17/2012 Sandwich Boardwalk, Sandwich, MA

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10479396

Again a two year-bird walk the first species being Laughing Gulls and the second a pair of Piping

Plovers. 

And yes, although this Laughing Gull is obviously monstrously gigantic, it is still just a Laughing Gull.

                                                       An endangered pied piper.


April/18/2012 RISD Beach, Barrington, RI
http://ebird.org/ebird/ybn/view/checklist?subID=S10483646

A short walk at RISD Beach yielded nothing more exciting then FOY Least Sandpiper, 1 Dunlin, 4 Killdeer and 2 Greater Yellowlegs.

The Least Sandpiper dark colors blend in perfectly with its mucky surroundings. 

April/19/2012 Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, RI
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S10489044

Among the trills and whistles of Chipping Sparrows and Yellow-rumped Warblers my ears picked up the buzzing of what I initially mis-ID'd as a parula but after seeing the bird my original ID was withdrawn to be replaced by a Black-throated Green Warbler. My embarrassing identification was made up for in part when from a nearby tree came the song of the parula.

"zh-zh-zh-zheeeeee-up" says the Northern Parula

       While the Black-throated Green sings "zee zee zee-zoo zee!"

My binoculars are currently in their death throes. The left eye piece will now not focus and the right eye piece has gone all funny. So, here I once again humbly beg anyone and everyone who has a spare minute to post a brief recommendation suggesting me to the Bird Watcher's Digest judges who are giving Leica binoculars to a lucky young birder. You have a few days to do this because the deadline for entries is May 18th. I have explained the steps to follow in a past post linked here.

Here's the link http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/leicagreatleap/index.php. 

I would really appreciate it. Spring migration is here and I can't see anything!!

                                

Napatree Point, Westerly, RI Apr/15/12

My fingers clasped the pencil tightly as I scribbled my essential notes (date, time & location) into my moleskin notebook. We were at the moment bouncing down a dirt road one side of which was lined with shops, the other a sheltered harbor. Hunched forms rested on buoys bobbing at the surface of the harbor - I would tally 150 of these Double-crested Cormorants before the walk was through. 

Hopping from the confines of our car I was greeted with the formidable task of making my way through a swarm of beach goers without jabbing anyone in the eye with the pointed feet of my tripod on which my spotting scope was kept steady. Above the moored boats which lined the edge of the harbor a lone Barn Swallow flitted, just newly arrived back from its vacation in the South, having escaped the crowd of sand covered bipeds who were enjoying the far side of the beach (the side that looked out upon the open ocean and not towards Connecticut).

A few small groups of Red-breasted Mergansers sailed through the water, their tufted heads and slim red bills giving them strange almost punk-like appearances. Black legs dangling, a Great Egret soared over the water standing out from the gray clouds which nearly blocked out the sun's golden rays. The beach was NOT lined with Black-bellied and Piping Plovers, Dunlin, Sanderlings and oystercatchers as I had hoped but instead with a few Herring Gulls and dog walkers. In fact the only shorebirds we saw were a pair of distant flyover Oystercatchers easily identified by their unique and comical "wheeps". 

Although the nest area had already been cordoned off, the Piping Plovers seemed not yet to have arrived.

Walking down the beach too, far we were forced to take an unused trail to the other side of the dunes. The trail lead us directly under an Osprey nesting platform on which rested a pile of sticks and an alarmed Osprey. This white bellied raptor was soon joined by its mate who, as we watched spell bound swooped in and landed easily upon her back, where he stood and calmly stared down his hooked beak at us, then leaping back into the air he circled the nest twice then landed on a side beam where he stayed.

We were now on the ocean side of the beach and could see small distant flocks of Northern Gannets passing off shore. Closer to land scooted a large rolling mass of black feathers which with a quick scan through my scope transformed into White-winged Scoter. Bobbing just past the surf floated Horned Grebes, one of which, after close inspection, my overly imaginative mind turned into an Eared. The bird was the size and shape of a Horned Grebe, lacking the rounded head of an Eared - really the only thing that was at all Eared-like were the golden tufts on the sides of the black head. These tufts appeared smaller and more loosely feathered, the bird was probably just developing its summer plumage. At first I was almost certain of my preposterous identification but by the end of the walk I was losing hope fast, and by the time we had arrived back home I had lost all confidence and was now almost certain I was wrong. I put the photo I had taken up on Flickr and it was confirmed as a Horned almost instantly.

Above top a flock of Horned Grebe and above below my "Eared Grebe"

The walk ended with a total of 24 species. A full list is below:

2 Brant 

30 Whit-winged Scoter

15 Red-breasted Merganser

1 Red-throated Loon

2 Common Loon

17 Horned Grebe

0 Eared Grebe

21 Northern Gannet

1 Great Egret

2 Osprey

2 American Oystercatcher

80 Herring Gull

11 Great Black-backed Gull

3 Fish Crow

2 Northern Rough-winged Swallow

1 Barn Swallow

1 Carolina Wren

1 American Robin

5 Song Sparrow

1 Northern Cardinal

2 Red-winged Blackbird

1 Common Grackle

6 Brown-headed Cowbird

12 House Sparrow

04/03/12 - RISD Beach, Barrington, RI - 11:45-12:50pm

I was overjoyed yesterday to see, while submitting a list to eBird, that the list of likely birds in the area at this time of year now includes at least 8 warbler species, 2 vireos, 3 flycatchers, 1 swift, 1 whippoorwill  and a hummingbird along with a number of shorebirds. My brain is now filled with dreams of Swan Point and warblers. I can hardly wait for May but in the meantime I am appeased with some more early migrants.

Today we took yet another trip to RISD Beach and were delighted when the walk turned out to be even more successful then the last. Although the walk started out slowly we and it soon picked up speed after reaching the bottom of the hill. It sped up because at the bottom of the hill was the salt marsh and we, as a result of the force of gravity pushing us down the slope.

As the marsh came into view I was both taken aback and delighted to see not one, not two but four Snowy Egrets in full breeding regalia wandering about the marsh on golden shod feet. Accompanying the egret was a dirty white Mute Swan and a flock of Mallards and American Black Ducks (including one hybrid of the two species). Song Sparrows jingled merrily from all sides occasionally joined by the melodious warblings of a House Finch.

             The young Mute Swan and three of the Snowy Egrets.

Overhead the shabby black forms of Double-crested Cormorants went over in small flocks breezing northwards. Below them flitted a few newly arrived Tree Swallows many of them checking out the houses put up for them.

From the golf course, which is adjacent to the beach, came ringing forth the clear cries of Killdeer. Moving down the beach while watching gulls and Brant passing by offshore a Killdeer's call came from directly in front of me. The plover hopped out from behind a small sand dune and landed on the golf course among the littered golf balls, any one of which might actually be the egg of the Duffer Shank (reference: Another Field Guide to Little Known & Seldom Seen Birds of North America). The Killdeer continued calling even after hitting the green grass of the golf course.

Hoping to get a good photo I snuck closer and was excited to see not one but two Killdeer. The birds standing only a foot apart. They were suspicious of me and my camera and after carefully studying the wild-eyed, greasy-haired teen peering through a thin curtain of brittle Phragmites they began to wander off. They did not, however, go far and after walking a mere ten feet one of the pair plopped itself down onto the grass while the other bird moved to stand protectively over it's mate.

Presumably the sitting bird had below her a nest but I kept a respectful distance and couldn't determine the status of the nest positively.  I watched the pair for a few minutes before having to run back through the marsh to the beach to catch up to my quickly escaping family.

                        One of the Killdeer shows off its striking tail.

                      One of the Killdeer deciding if I can be classified as just smelly or smelly and dangerous.

                                                    The Killdeer on the nest.

After that the walk was pretty slow and nothing more of interest showed its beak, not even a Kentucky Fried Warbler damn it. Yeah, that was a really lame joke.

Here is a full list of all 22 bird species seen:

Brant 50

Mute Swan 1

American Black Duck 8

American Black Duck x Mallard 1

Mallard 9

Double-crested Cormorant 12

Snowy Egret 4

Killdeer 5

Herring Gull 40

Great Black-backed Gull 2

Mourning Dove 2

Blue Jay 1

American Crow 4

Tree Swallow 5

Black-capped Chickadee 2

Carolina Wren 2

American Robin 12

European Starling 8

Song Sparrow 8

Red-winged Blackbird 2

House Finch 4

American Goldfinch 1

House Sparrow 4

Good job to anyone who ID'd the Turkey Vulture in the last quiz. Here is your next puzzle.

This photo was taken this April at Blackstone Park in Providence, RI. Good Luck.

The results for the Young Birder of the Year Contest came in on the first and I am delighted to say that I have now won a place in this contest three years in a row. I was the first place winner for the field notebook module in my age group and second place winner in the writing. Both these places I won last year too.  Last year I won first place in photography module, oh well, we can't have everything.

Check out the results for the contest here http://www.aba.org/yby/win.html.

RISD Beach, Barrington, RI - Mar/30/12 - 1:25 - 2:15pm

This is just a quick post to share some of the early migrants I saw yesterday at RISD Beach. 

With clear skies, clad in shorts and a sweatshirt to cope with the not too warm, not too cold temperature, we were ready for anything feathered. We found 24 species in total. For those who don't know, 24 divided by 24 is 1 which is the exact number of egret species we saw today. The egret species was none other then RISD Beach's first of the year Great Egret, all the other egret species being rare this early in the season. The Great Egrets have only just arrived from their more southerly wintering quarters.

Perhaps the most fascinating scene of the walk came in the very beginning as we strolled down the grassy slope which leads to the beach. Robins and starlings covered the grass, fleeing at the slightest hint of a threat. The two Killdeers however did not and I was able to get within 12 feet of the two plovers. I was the last one to walk past them and stopping to snap a few photos I was fascinated to see one of the Killdeer hop up onto the other's back and stand there for a few moments.

They did not mate, probably not appreciating the camera aimed threateningly at them.

In the marsh there were a few Mallards and American Black Ducks, the before mentioned Great Egret and two Killdeer and Greater Yellowlegs. On our trip down the beach the birds were spread out throught the marsh, but as we waddled back towards the car the birds began to congregate. Egret, yellowlegs and ducks were, at the end of the walk, no more then a dozen feet apart. This was great for my photographic purposes and all the below photos except for the picture of the Osprey, the Killdeer and the Great Egret (which was photographed as it deserted the rest of the group) were taken of birds in that group.  

The bay was fairly calm although there were a couple of large Brant Flocks and a displaying group of Red-breasted Mergansers.

Today's one and only Great Egret.
This bird was very restless and flew at the slightest stinking whiff of danger.

An Osprey

One of the two Killdeer in the meadow.

Wings waving a Mallard readies itself for impact.

A splash landing.

One of the two yellowlegs seen in my beloved marsh. (I plan to live in that marsh someday.)

Here is a list of all birds seen:
Brant 60
Mallard 5
American Black Duck 3
Red-breasted Merganser 16
Osprey 1
Great Egret 1
Killdeer 4
Greater Yellowlegs 2
Ring-billed Gull 1
Herring Gull 30
Mourning Dove 2
Tree Swallow 2
American Crow 5
Carolina Wren 1
Black-capped Chickadee 1
Northern Mockingbird 2
American Robin 33
European Starling 26
Song Sparrow 5
Northern Cardinal 1
House Finch 3
Red-winged Blackbird 3
Common Grackle 6
House Sparrow 4

Petersham, MA - Mar/18/2012 – 11:30-1:10pm

Today is the ninth day of Spring and many migrant birds have started their Northward journeys once again. Already the phoebes have returned, quickly followed by the Tree Swallows. Killdeer can now easily be found around town and if you're lucky you may find an oystercatcher or two, maybe even a Piping Plover. Yellow-rumped and Pine Warblers are back and can already be heard warbling and trilling. Woodcocks are displaying and the migrant ducks and hawks have clearly returned. In this post I plan to recount to you my excellent birding in Petersham, Massachusetts on the 17th and 18th.

After having missed the Bohemian Waxwings at Hamilton Orchards and nearby UMass we returned home to Petersham with our heads lolling, brains twisted in disappointment. These two misses were slightly redeemed by some "upclose and personal" looks at Canada Geese, domestic and non-domestic Mallards and Ring-billed Gulls all crowding the silted waters of UMass's campus pond. Two of the gulls had wing tags, one reading 290 the other 291.

A Canada Goose

Number 291

A Ring-billed Gull

A domestic Mallard

That evening, in need of a good birds I decided to check the North Common Meadow; a location that has been ever gratifying in my search to see everything feathered. I had hopes of witnessing the amazing display flights of the American Woodcock and this time the avian gods smiled upon me for I was in luck. Their display flight consists of beeping, trilling, twittering songs and whirring wings that take the birds spiraling up into the air three hundred feet above the gently swaying grass and then sends them zig-zagging back down from on high. But it isn't easy to see; a small black speck whizzing through the evening sky, high above the meadows in which they display will be spotted and this is really all birders ever get to see of this shy species. We were lucky enough to see and hear three of these birds in the North Common Meadow that night. Their calls persisted late into the evening but we left just after dark.

The next day we spent most of the morning waiting for the fog to clear and watching TV. When the TV was accidentally turned off and the fog lifted we started our search for feathers, beaks and legs again.

Crossing the street we meandered along the tarmac until we came to the North Common Meadows, where the night before we had watched the comical forms of of Woodcocks looking bat-like in the quickly deepening darkness. The songs of a flock of goldfinches which are found from dawn to dusk in a neighbors yard assailed our ears in a jumble of burbling notes.

A handsome male Mallard

From the bottom of the meadow blackbirds cried, scarlet chevrons blazing upon black feathers, sounding like a robotic cat trying to sing while another robo-cat grooves the metallic behind of its fellow with its sharp claws. It is a metallic mix between minor pain and song and one of my favorite noises. To spice up the blackbirds shrieks came the jingling burbles of the Song Sparrow.

During the night a wave of migrants had swept through the countryside taking full advantage of this March's unseasonably warm weather, indeed it has reached the 80s in the last few days.
And no sooner then the cries of the blackbirds reached our ears then our eyes picked out the drab tail-bobbing phoebes flitting about at the bottom of the hill.

We had little time to delight over these cheerful birds for seconds after spotting them a warbler sang. The first name that popped into my head was the Yellowthroats, one of the more Northerly wintering species but then I remembered the Yellow-rumped Warbler and after listening to recordings of the two species I was certain. I felt a bit awkward scanning the trees along the side of the field for the Yellow-rump for next to the trees was a police station. A quick blur of wings was all we saw of the warbler as it flitted away.

We left the meadow and continued down the hill to the East Street Cemetery which is a small cemetery which connects three ponds; two small ones and a third larger one.

Not much stirred in the cemetery except for a few phoebes and bluebirds and the ponds contained no more then a Eastern Red-spotted Newt and a handsome trio of Hooded Mergansers.

Leaving we were stopped in our tracks by the yowling of a Red-shouldered Hawk. This call was quickly answered by another and seconds later we were watching no fewer than four Red-shoulders circling above our heads.

A calling Red-shoulder

Red-shouldered Hawks

After delighting over the hawks for a few minutes we again began to leave and again stopped in our tracks. A short burble and a flash of wings was all we saw of it before the wheeling Tree Swallow passed over head.

Birding died down after that although I was able to pick up another two Red-shoulders and a species of Accipiter (Coopers?).

Thanks to everyone who commented on the last post. I was thrilled to see that David Sibley commented saying that it looked like a “Ipswich” x Savannah Sparrow to him. I got to meet Mr. Sibley at this year's excellent Mass Birders Meeting. Sibley and Lisa White (another birder I met at the meeting) are both judges for this years “Young Birder of the Year Contest”.
The winners of this years contest will be announced on the first of April. I'm praying that I score a win. Wish me luck!

Good job to anyone who ID'd the Black-bellied Plover in the last photo quiz heres your next quiz!

This photo was taken this march in the North Common Meadow. Good luck!

Return to "The Case of the Unsolved Mystery Sparrow"

We all recognize that everyone is an individual and everything is an individual. Birds do not vary from this time honored rule. Yet some birds individuality can be more easily recognized than others. It is quite common for a birder to scan a flock of Canada Geese and come across one of these unique individuals; a bird with an all white head or perhaps a bird that lacks the Canada Goose's prominent white cheek. It is thus understandable that identification of some common bird could quickly turn into something much bigger.


The white eye-ring and the pink bill; both these field marks suggest Vesper Sparrow.
Photo by Christian Nunes

Some of you may remember the post I put up in January of last year. This post described my dilemma after coming across a sparrow which bore such a resemblance to both a Song (SOSP) and a Savannah Sparrow (SAVS), and equally to a Vesper (VESP). It seemed at the time, and still does today, unidentifiable. Today I plan to return to this birds strange and quite mysterious features and see if I can shed some light on it.

At first glance this bird appears to be a Savannah Sparrow but on closer inspection the birds broad malar stripe and the lack of of yellow on the lores suggest that this bird is a Song Sparrow (although not all SAVS have yellow lores). Yet now we notice the dainty pink bill and the spotting at the base of the lateral throat-stripes (the lateral throat-stripes are squeezed tightly in between the malar and the throat). The throat-stripe is dark and unspotted at the base in the SOSP. Now I'm sure you're all as confused me.


Notice the broad, buff malar and the strange colored streaking on the underparts.
Photo by Christian Nunes

So far it sounds that it's more likely a SAVS yet we still have not ruled out the VESP. This species seems quite unlikely due to the season and its rareness in the general area. But despite these facts some field marks seem to fit this species well although while others work against it. The VESP is a large drab sparrow, usually found in pastures and fields, it's two identifying field marks are it's white outer tail feathers which flash when in flight and the rufous coloring on the lesser coverts, which is unmistakable when seen but unfortunately these feathers usually remain hidden. Seeing that neither the tail or the lesser coverts weren't easily visible they didn't help us much.

The eye-ring is large and very white, this suggests a VESP. The crown seems to be streaked heavily, although each streak is very light. Yet there is a greater number of field marks which rule out a VESP: the malar stripe doesn't seem to wrap around behind the cheek, the back half of the supercilium seems to light and broad, the streaking on the underparts seems far to dark and thick, and like the SOSP the lateral throat stripe is unspotted.


Notice the thin streaking on the crown also suggesting Vesper Sparrow.
Photo by Ben Shamgochian

Enter "Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow. The "Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow is a large very pale subspecies of SAVS which breeds only on Sable Island, Nova Scotia and Winters all along the East coast. Although those of you that have seen my photo may be wondering why I would be considering an "Ipswich" when the bird in my photo is so dark. I tend to think that the photo I took is too dark. When comparing my shot with my brothers photo of the same bird taken at the same time one finds the color difference shocking. Also some photos of the same bird were taken by Christian Nunes (which seem to be in between mine and my brothers photos lighting wise) and by some New Jersey birder (who I don't know the name of), both ID'd it as an "Ipswich".


Compared with the "Ipswich" Savannah Sparrow on the right hand side our bird appears much darker, and all around different.
Photo by Christian Nunes

Then there is always the possibility that this bird is a hybrid. Ten percent of all bird species hybridize, eight percent of these are Passerines. Sparrows do occasionally hybridize, most hybrids are usually derive from birds in the Zonotchrica genus, but there is always the remote possibility that one could stumble across a Savannah x Song, or a Song x Lincoln's or something along the general line. I must say that although this bird showed no field marks pertaining to Lincoln's, the latter of the two hybrids is far more likely, both species being in the genus Melospiza while the SAVS is in the genus Passerculus. Maybe the sparrow that would look most like this bird would be a Savannah x Vesper Sparrow. But that this bird is a hybrid seems unlikely.

There is one more option I haven't considered: a 1/2 hybrid. David Sibley says that “Ipswich” Savannah Sparrows will breed with the more common subspecies when they come in contact. Though James D. Rising (a SAVS expert) points out that their breeding ranges don't overlap.
A subspecies hybrid seems to me more likely to be seen in the wild then a full hybrid. Maybe this is what we saw.


Photo by the NJ birder.

But without more information we probably wont be able to positively ID it. DNA testing would have been nice. I should have remembered to take a feather sample to run through my tree house genetic research tree house laboratory - next time I won't forget! They actually did test the DNA of a rare Rufous Hummingbird in Illinois, for identification purposes. Ref. Winging It Vol. 24, No. 1, February 2012, pg. 1).

Hopefully this post will restart the discussion on its identity that ended months ago. I love a good on-line bicker.


From left to right White-throated (upper left), Savannah (regular), "Ipswich" Savannah and the strange sparrow.
Photo by the NJ birder

Tell me what you think of this bird in the comments section of this post, I look forward to reading your replies!

Feb/26th-27th Excitements

Today we had to collect our father from his school job at the Providence Country Day School, where he is a Latin teacher. Passing the baseball field a white browed face showed itself to me, the sight sent tremors of excitement through my body. Arriving in the school parking lot, I was extra quick to leap from the car and slowly sneak across the field (camera in hand) to where I had seen this wonder, surely to the amusement of the nearby lacrosse players. Finally I reached a point close enough to raise my camera with any hope of getting a reasonable shot. "Snap" went the shutter, and in a second my photo materialized on the camera screen. There in the center of the image, surrounded on all sides by Canada Geese was a Greater White-fronted Goose. There seemed to be a little tension between the two species, and I captured photos of each species chasing the other. A hundred photos like the first quickly followed, but all too soon I had to return to the rest of my waiting family.

The Greater White-fronted Goose.

My prized goose.

A rare long necked duck, aka. a goose, with its more common relatives.

Have you ever seen a goose sprint - look at the orange feet.

Earlier in the day at RISD Beach I had been happy to find three Killdeer to lighten a quite birdless walk. Killdeer are rare this early in the year!

One of the three Killdeers at RISD Beach

A Ring-billed Gull

On the 26th we went for a walk at Borderland State Park. For the first half of the walk we literally didn't see a thing, then activity struck. Scanning the first pond we came to, I found nine Common Goldeneyes, three American Black-Ducks, two Canada Geese and one Mute Swan, in that order. Then a large black form was seen landing in a tree in the woods, having flown up from the ground. The Turkey Vulture posed for about minute before taking off to circle low above the trees, hoping in vain that our dog was not at that moment devouring whatever it was that the vulture had previously been gulping down. Did you know that vultures have been known to eat until flight is practically impossible with the pounds they had gained from their meal.

A Turkey Vulture

Later that day a pair of Killdeer were the lucky focus of our attention. Seen feeding in the baseball field of Hockomock Area YMCA. Baseball fields seem to be really good for birding - maybe I should take up the bat.