Archive for the 'Bird Identification' Category

Apr 28 2009

Weekend Celebrities & Monday Morning Warblers

I spent much of the last several days leading trips and hanging out at various events associated with the Delmarva Birding Weekend. Though I had a great time, I took virtually no pictures. When you’re leading a big group of people it’s darned near impossible, in my experience, to take any time out even for scenic [...]

7 responses so far

Apr 23 2009

“This cute, small flycatcher is so colorful as to be essentially unmistakable.”

Ornate Flycatcher, Milpe, Ecuador
How often do you find the words cute and unmistakable in the same sentence with flycatcher? Bob Ridgeley combined them to capture much of what makes this bird special. My photo, unfortunately, only shows the ventral side of the bird. Add in the glowing yellow rump and rusty-based tail and you’ve got quite [...]

One response so far

Feb 17 2009

Weslaco Rarities

Published by jeff under Bird Identification, Birding, Travel

Monday was an odd day. It was very uneven weather-wise, with off and on rain and lots of cloud cover, but also some tentative breaks of semi-sun. We spent most of the day in Weslaco, first visiting Estero Llano Grande State Park, then the Frontera Audubon Thicket. These refuges are newly accessible, having opened to [...]

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Feb 09 2009

Vultures at a Deer

Few people like to be reminded of the practical aspects of mortality. When we encounter death, we like to do it in a church, funeral home or a similarly sanitized, perfumed setting. It’s easy to understand. So I’ll take no offense if you don’t want to look at this photo series. I promise you, though, [...]

3 responses so far

Feb 04 2009

Before the Spark

So many birderwatchers can name, without a moment’s hesitation, the bird that turned them into a birder, their encounter with it leaving them forever changed in a kind of ornithological epiphany, or birding conversion experience. Like converts of all sorts, the vast majority of birders delight in telling their personal story–the story of their spark bird.
I have [...]

23 responses so far

Dec 20 2008

Northeast Mexico Endemics III: Bronze-winged Woodpecker

OK, here is where the American Ornithologist’s Union and I part company. They still officially consider the green, Red-bellied Woodpecker-sized woodpeckers that occur in Northeastern Mexico to be a distinctive subspecies of the Golden-Olive Woodpecker Colaptes rubiginosus, a wide-ranging neotropical species. They designate these birds as Colaptes r. aeruginosus, the “Bronze-winged Woodpecker.” I say–and this is hardly a [...]

4 responses so far

Dec 18 2008

Northeast Mexico Endemics II: Altamira Yellowthroat

I’ve got a thing for yellowthroats. I always thought they were cute and had lots of personality–everyone thinks that. Otherwise, they weren’t especially on my radar. But traveling into Mexico at the dawn of the 1990’s really turned my head around. Of course, there was the opportunity to see Gray-crowned Yellowthroat (click that link for [...]

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Dec 17 2008

Northeast Mexico Endemics I: Tamaulipas Pygmy-Owl

Ever throw a really cool party, then go into semi-hibernation until you recovered? That’s pretty much what’s happened to me since hosting I and the Bird #90 last week. My sincere thanks to all who showed up, both bloggers and readers. It was really nice having you all stop by.
Getting back to the Mexico series, [...]

2 responses so far

Nov 17 2008

Cave Swallows, at last!

A strange thing happens within birding circles–a rare bird can go from a point of pride to a source of a certain kind of shame. Up until this year, having seen a Cave Swallow in Delaware was a distinction that would have produced at least low-level envy among many in this community. Now, it’s rapidly reaching [...]

6 responses so far

Oct 27 2008

Fourteen Sparrows

We had a terrifically successful sparrow trip yesterday, tallying 14 species of Emberizids (the family that includes New World sparrows, as well as things like towhees, longspurs, juncoes & some of the buntings).

photo by Jim White
We began at Indian River Inlet, where the marsh was very, very good to us. We enjoyed soul-satisfying studies of [...]

6 responses so far

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