Category: Birds

Posted on in Birding Trips, Hotspots

Birder Heaven: A Large, Plain Estuary

“Have you seen the Rose-throated Becard? It’s at Estero Llano.”
“You still haven’t seen a Pauraque? You’ve got to go to Estero Llano Grande.”
“The birding here is good, but the best birding is at Estero Llano Grande State Park.”

After hearing all the comment, we just had to go check it all out for ourselves.

duck_esterollanograndesp-tx_lah_4363_filteredEstero Llano Grande State Park (which means “large plain estuary”) didn’t exist when I was in Texas five years ago—it was still a sorghum field and dry lake bed. Since habitat takes time to return to its natural state, I wasn’t sure that reality could possibly live up to all the hype. I forget that plants grow faster in south Texas than they do in high, dry Colorado!

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Posted on in Chickens

And Then There Were Five

chickens_blkforest-co_lah_9289Last week we had nine hens. Six were young, prolific layers less than a year old. Three were old biddies past their prime. I’d been meaning to cull the three unproductive hens for a long time, but just couldn’t bring myself to actually follow through. Then I went to the feed store yet again, and realized that we were supporting three hens that were eating one third of my feed bill. That sealed their fate. So earlier this week I humanely dispatched three hens in their sleep and fed the local wildlife. I guess the local wildlife enjoyed the feast, because…

We got home late last night, and I headed out after dark to collect my half-dozen eggs. But instead of six, I found only five eggs—and five chickens. Alarmed, I searched the coop, but I couldn’t really see much in the moonlight. The five hens were perched on their roost, asleep, so I secured the coop and headed for bed.

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Posted on in Birds

Avian Imports

rock-pigeon_denverzoo_20090527_lah_1325When we think of non-native birds, the Big Three usually come to mind: Rock Pigeons, European Starlings, and House Sparrows. All three are major nuisances, threatening native species, eating our harvests, and causing millions of dollars in property damage every year. But these aren’t the only aliens among us. In fact, there are nearly one hundred imported bird species that have established breeding populations here in the United States.*

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Posted on in Bird ID Quiz, Birds

Bird Quiz #2: Answer

To refresh your memory, here again is the photo for Bird Quiz #2. Read no further if you still want to have a shot at identifying this bird.

quiz-2-1aI saw this bird in Santa Cruz, California in February. We were standing on the sea wall north of the pier, scanning the ocean for anything interesting. I took the photo through my scope in hopes of getting a better look, then pulled out the field guide.

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Posted on in Bird ID Quiz, Birds

Bird Quiz #2

(Make sure you also saw Bird Quiz #1 last month!)

Can you identify this bird? The photo was taken in Santa Cruz, California in February. This is exactly how I saw it from shore though my binoculars. The lower photo is cropped and enlarged in hopes of showing more detail. Sorry for the poor quality, but this is what I had to work with. My answer will appear next Monday.

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Posted on in Birding Tips, Birds

Join the Club

may_meeting1rev

Do you want to be a better birder? Would you like to meet more people who share your interest? Are you curious about some near-by birding hotspots, but you’re not sure exactly where they are, or how to get there?

While birding is fine as a solo pursuit, there are times when hanging around other birders is just a lot more fun.

One day, about eight months after I first became interested in birds, I was finishing up a walk around the ponds at our local nature center. I stopped by the visitor center to see if anything special had been sighted recently. The volunteer behind the counter saw my binos and asked if I was a birder.

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Posted on in Bird Profiles, Hotspots

Valentine Finches

rosy-finches-on-wire_lavetaco_20100320_lah_0036nef

In honor of Valentine’s Day and all things pink, today’s post features Rosy-finches.

There are currently three species of Rosy-finch. The most widespread are Gray-crowned Rosy-finches (2nd and 5th in photo above), which winter in the inter-mountain west and breed throughout interior British Columbia, Alaska and the Yukon.

Next are Black Rosy-finches, which have a more restricted range, being found throughout the central Rockies from southern Montana to northern New Mexico, and east into Idaho and Nevada.

Then there are the Brown-capped Rosy-finches (Nos. 1, 3, and 4 above, and all 3 birds below), which are only found from southern Wyoming though Colorado to northern New Mexico.

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Posted on in Birding Trips, Birds, Hotspots

Birder Heaven: Sabal Palms Sanctuary

sabalpalms-brownsville-tx_lah_4301I was a woman with a mission. On our previous trip to southern Texas (five years ago) I had added the Ringed Kingfisher to my life list, but the Green Kingfisher eluded me. In the following years, I’d hiked miles of southern Arizona, following tips from local birders, but still—no Green Kingfisher. Now that we were back in Texas, I was determined to not only see one, but photograph it as well.

With that goal in mind, we headed to Audubon’s Sabal Palms sanctuary. Situated near the mouth of the Rio Grande, mere yards from the border, this sanctuary protects one of the few remaining groves of sabal palms and the associated habitat. Plenty of trails lead through the thick undergrowth, and you can walk out to the edge of the river and gaze across at Mexico.

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Posted on in Bird ID Quiz, Birds

Bird Quiz #1: Answer

quiz-1c1To refresh your memory, here again is the photo for Bird Quiz #1. Read no further if you still want to have a shot at identifying these birds.
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I had been actively birding only a week or two when I took a trip to Yellowstone National Park. There I saw and photographed a bird just like the bottom bird in the photo. I thumbed through all the pictures of sparrows in my brand new field guide, but couldn’t ID the bird. I filed the photo under “to be identified” and forgot about it.

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Posted on in Bird ID Quiz, Birds

Bird Quiz #1

How good are you at avian ID? Identification quizzes abound, and I find them both fun and educational. Some are really difficult, made for experts. Mine are more aimed at the beginning to intermediate birder. Who knows, maybe I’ll even slip in a few that have me confounded.

I aim to post one quiz a month during 2012. My answers will be provided the following Monday. And please note: I am certainly not an expert at this. If I get something wrong, let me know. I can always stand to improve my own skills!

Many quizzes don’t include any information about where or when the photos were taken. That doesn’t seem fair to me. In real life birding, we always (hopefully!) know where we are and what the date is. Of course, birds tend to stray a bit, so I’m not sure how helpful this information is going to be.

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