289. Loggerhead Shrike

Date         October 19, 2018

Location    Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, UT

My streak of at least one bird per year was in serious jeopardy in 2018, so it was fitting that a bird that I used to have on my list, but was later removed because of too much doubt, would save the day.

I was headed toward the one-way dirt road that goes through the refuge, and I decided to park first at the trail head and try out the little watch tower there. I roamed about the area and saw some pipits and what I thought was a shrike. There was a chain link fence that he was fond of perching on after sallying forth.


Cornell: Loggerhead Shrike

288. Cinammon Teal

Date         June 14, 2017

Location    Wapati Lane wildlife viewing area, WY

Continuing my free-styling trip, I found a little refuge park thing on the side of the road in Alpine, WY, which by the way is in a beautiful location near the Tetons.

A small parking area and boardwalk overlooked an extensive wetland area where I saw several males and females.

Cornell: Cinnamon Teal

287. Yellow-headed Blackbird

Date         June 14, 2017

Location    Swan Valley, ID

I knew that these guys were all over because Logan had seen one on the way in. I was kind of concentrating on driving the truck that was towing his car, so I couldn't bird by car very much.

But on the way back, as I drove through town, I did spot one in some random field. I was able to study these a lot better in Utah the next day at Bear River. I sampled a lot of their crazy singing, which is actually quite varied. I grew to like these guys and actually enjoy their "singing."

Cornell: Yellow-headed Blackbird

286. Mountain Bluebird

Date         June 14, 2017

Location    Clark Hill rest area, Ririe, ID

After spending quite a while at the rest area, I moved on. I was totally free-styling it, and I was loving it.

As I drove down the other side of a mountain pass, I spied a dirt road that just spiraled up the mountain a ways. I pulled off the side of the highway, turned my virtually empty U-Haul around, drove back up the hill and up the dirt road to a landing of the switchback. I was really hoping to find a Mountain Bluebird. I was in the mountains, right?

Such tactics are rarely rewarded so quickly, but almost right away I saw one. He was fairly close to the ground, perching in low branches.

Cornell: Mountain Bluebird

285. Cassin's Finch

Date         June 14, 2017

Location    Clark Hill rest area, Ririe, ID

After dropping off Logan at college, I had a drive from Idaho to Utah with no one with me.

Time to do some birding.

I found this really nice rest stop that overlooked a river, had lots of trees, cliffs, etc. It featured a Bald Eagle nest and Peregrine Falcons (probably also nesting somewhere in the cliff face).

I was on the sidewalk just down from the parking lot when he flew up into the trees I was looking at, singing. I was so used to seeing plain old House Finches out west that it took a second for me to realize that this guy was different. Song definitely helped.

Cornell: Cassin's Finch

284. Dunlin

Date         May 12, 2017

Location    Magee Marsh (road to boardwalk), Carroll, OH

Several cars were parked along the side of the road, so Logan and I decided to check out what was going on. There was a large flock of them in some mudflats near the road. Many were in their breeding plumage, making it quite easy to identify them. As far as we could tell, it was not a mixed flock. They were all Dunlins.

Cornell: Dunlin

283. Black Vulture

Date         January 4, 2017

Location    Renaissance at Sea World (hotel), Orlando, FL

I was doing a little birding in the parking lot, which had lots of trees and landscaping. I saw them overhead and noted the white tips on the wings. Slam dunk, not a Turkey Vulture.

Cornell: Black Vulture

282. Northern Fulmar

Date         June 24, 2016

Location    on the ocean near Graham Island, British Columbia, Canada

This was in the group of birds mentioned in the previous post. Like the picture in that one, the bird matches up nicely with the illustration marked by the red arrow.

This was the last bird of the trip. I was very happy with the results. Some of these birds are once-in-a-lifetime shots (although hopefully they don't turn out to be), and it was cool to see some truly arctic birds -- it was thematic with the trip.

My only regret is that I didn't see any alcids. I still don't have any on my life list from that family. (We actually did see a flock of alcids of some kind in Glacier Bay, but I couldn't identify the specific species as they flew past at a decent distance.)


Cornell: Northern Fulmar

281. Black-footed Albatross

Date         June 24, 2016

Location    on the ocean near Graham Island, British Columbia, Canada

I didn't do such a good job cropping this enough, but if you zoom in you can see that it matches the picture from Sibley's, especially the one with the red arrow that I drew in.

We were making our way back to Seattle when suddenly there was a whole group of birds at the stern, fading rapidly. Mieka took a bunch of pictures so I could have a something to study later while I looked through my binoculars (to not much effect).

I managed to identify two -- there may have been more. This albatross and the next entry (fulmar) are very common pelagic birds (like finding a sparrow and a House Finch in your backyard), but I don't mind at all. I may never have the chance to get them again.


Cornell: Black-footed Albatross

280. Black-legged Kittiwake

Date         June 22, 2016

Location    Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

For this bird and the next two, I will be posting the actual pictures of the bird I saw rather than a model picture from the internet.

The bird on the left is the kittiwake, on the right a glaucous-winged. There were many of both species flying around the ship as we slowly sailed into the bay to look at the glaciers. We were also buzzed by Bald Eagles only a few dozen feet from our balcony, like this picture shows:

The kittiwake is also an arctic bird, like the Arctic Tern, and we were also at the extreme southern end of its range.


Cornell: Black-legged Kittiwake

279. Varied Thrush

Date         June 21, 2016

Location    Chilcoot Trail, Skagway, Alaska

We went horseback riding in Skagway. I had already mounted and was waiting for the others to get mounted when I heard his song. I said to one of the tour guides, "hey, that's a Varied Thrush." She was like, yeah, it is, seeming a bit surprised that I picked it out. I was a little surprised she knew too, but I was hoping she did so I could show off.

Only identified by sound, unfortunately, but this one is unmistakable.

Cornell: Varied Thrush

 

278. Arctic Tern

Date         June 21, 2016

Location    Cruise ship dock in Skagway, Skagway, Alaska

I didn't realize until later what a cool find this was -- I mean, other than getting a bird with the word "arctic" in it. This bird is famous for its long migration from far to the south to far to the north. And I got it in its breeding area in the north, not during migration. Skagway is basically at the extreme southern end of its summer range.

Birding from the balcony was proving to be very productive.

Cornell: Arctic Tern

277. Mew Gull

Date         June 20, 2016

Location    Cruise ship dock in Juneau, Juneau, Alaska

While this was certainly not a birding trip (it was more of a second honeymoon), I did take every opportunity to look and listen for birds. As we waited to disembark in Juneau, I saw these gulls around the ship.

The gulls on this trip were in general easy to identify because there were full adults and one species at a time. No sitting on the beach with dozens of plumages trying to sort them all out.


Cornell: Mew Gull

276. Leach's Storm-Petrel

Date         June 19, 2016

Location    on the ocean near Graham Island, British Columbia, Canada

I spent a fair amount of time on our balcony looking for pelagic birds. The first one I saw was a relatively small blackish bird that was basically following the ship. We were at the rear, so I could watch it continually. It was off the starboard stern.

As far as I could tell, it never got any closer or farther away from the ship for about 15 minutes. I couldn't see any detailed field marks on the bird itself, but its flying style and behavior were good clues.

I looked carefully at a map to determine that we were technically in Canadian waters.

Wikipedia: Leach's storm petrel

275. Glaucous-winged Gull

Date         June 18, 2016

Location    Seattle Cruise Ship Terminal 91, Seattle, WA

As we sat on the ship, on our balcony to be specific, there were a number of these gulls on the dock and flying over the water.

Cornell: Glaucous-winged Gull

old 275. Northwestern Crow (deleted)

Date         June 17, 2016

Location    Cedarbrook Lodge, Seattle, WA

Mieka and I decided to take a cruise to Alaska. We spent the night in Seattle the night before in a nice hotel that was surrounded by trees.

Right outside our window, I could hear and see the crows probably because there were some dumpsters nearby. They sounded slightly different than the American species, but I went mostly by range.

Update: this bird has been removed from my life list because it has been lumped in with American Crow. Recent DNA studies have shown that they have hybridized to the point that they are no longer distinct species. I'll leave it here in case it gets split again some time in the future.

Cornell: Northwestern Crow

274. Lesser Goldfinch

Date         June 8, 2016

Location    Ogden Nature Center, Ogden, UT

This bird was being very irritating. I heard and recognized her call note, but I had to search for about 15 minutes before finally finding her, and the look was very brief.

Cornell: Lesser Goldfinch

273. Black-headed Grosbeak

Date         June 8, 2016

Location    Ogden Nature Center, Ogden, UT

I had made it all the way down the trail, up the observation tower in the swampy area, and had just started back when I saw him up in a tree.


Cornell: Black-headed Grosbeak

272. Black-chinned Hummingbird

Date         June 8, 2016

Location    Jeremy Ranch Road, Morgan, UT

This one took a long time and lots of observation to figure out. He kept coming back to the same section of flowers, probably about ten times before Logan and I decided to move on.

While that sounds like a lot of opportunity for observation, hummingbirds are just so hard because they move around so much, and the colors usually don't materialize. The light has to be just right. But we were eventually confident in the identification as we studied our field guides. All in all, a very fun puzzle.

And I guess I can't really complain about how hard he was; at least he did come back over and over. He gave us a chance, unlike other hummers I've stumbled across.

Cornell: Black-chinned Hummingbird

271. Green-tailed Towhee

Date         June 8, 2016

Location    Jeremy Ranch Road, Morgan, UT

In researching where to go on this trip, I kept coming across this "Jeremy Ranch Road," and I figured there must be more to it, but it was literally just a road up in the canyon. So we eventually just parked on the side of the road and walked around.

We heard him at first and then spotted him, continuing to sing. It took me a little while to recognize the song. The sun was quite bright, so his colors were washed out a bit, not as nice as you see in a field guide.

Cornell: Green-tailed Towhee

270. American White Pelican

Date         June 8, 2016

Location    East Canyon Reservoir, Morgan, UT

The reservoir was quite a ways down to the right from our vantage point, so it was a decent distance away, but it was still fairly obvious what it was because these are such large birds.


Cornell: American White Pelican

269. Golden-winged Warbler

Date         May 7, 2016

Location    Green Lawn cemetery, Columbus, OH

My son and I were there at the Pit, not really having much luck, when we were alerted that someone had a golden-winged. We headed out toward where we were directed, but got lost, but fortunately the guy came along soon after and corrected our course.

There was a guy there looking up a two very large trees. More people eventually came. It was way up there, so he was kind of hard to spot, but I eventually got it and was able to help some other people find him too. He was singing regularly.

It was awfully nice of him to just stay in those two trees for so long.


Cornell: Golden-winged Warbler

268. Yellow-crowned Night-heron

Date         June 20, 2015

Location    field behind Ripley's museum, Grand Prairie, TX

So there are ones you plan for and investigate and seek out, like the Painted Bunting, and then there are those that just drop in your lap. Sort of. I mean, I was on the lookout, as always, and I saw something unfamiliar, so we stopped to investigate.

We were just leaving the museum when we spotted a few of these birds just hanging out in the swampy field behind the building. I didn't have binoculars with me, but we did have a nice camera, so my wife managed to get some good pictures to aid in identification.


Cornell: Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

267. Painted Bunting

Date         June 19, 2015

Location    Oak Point Nature Preserve, Plano, TX

It almost seems surreal to have this entry. Yes, I've seen a Painted Bunting. I almost feel guilty about it for those who haven't seen one.

I was in Texas for a family reunion, and this time, I didn't want to trust to luck. So I contacted the local Audubon society and someone volunteered to be my guide.

She took me to this place in Plano where eBird had had some recent sightings. We finally did see one fairly low to the ground in a tree. We saw two more, one a pretty good distance away in the grass. (She complimented my good eye. Aw shucks.)

All were males. I wouldn't have minded seeing a female too, but I'd rather have all males than all females!

Cornell: Painted Bunting

266. Common Loon

Date         May 2, 2015

Location    Prairie Oaks metro park, Madison county, OH

On the way back from the northern end, the large pond was now on my left, and I saw a lone bird well out in the middle. He was not in breeding plumage yet, and he wouldn't swim any closer. I waited a while. No dice.

Cornell: Common Loon

265. American Pipit

Date         May 2, 2015

Location    Prairie Oaks metro park, Madison county, OH

On this day I ventured to an area of the park that I had never been to before. I took the trail that went north (left) after crossing the bridge over Darby creek. This northern end offered forest trails and some nice open areas with small ponds. A larger pond was on the way there on the right as you went north.

Somehow this bird had fallen off my radar, so I when I first saw him, I was really puzzled. What was this scrubby-looking robin thing? He flew behind some boulders, so I quickly moved much closer while I was out of sight. I got a better look when he reappeared and it finally dawned on me what it was.

Cornell: American Pipit

264. Northern Pintail

Date         December 29, 2014

Location    Blendon Woods metro park, Columbus, OH

Another duck that had by now become sort of a grail bird because it wasn't terribly uncommon. (Common Merganser now occupies that spot)

Blendon Woods comes through again.

Cornell: Northern Pintail

263. Wood Pigeon

Date         June 20, 2014

Location    Alhambra, Granada, Andalucia, Spain

Columba palumbus

The last bird in Spain would prove to be one of the more challenging puzzles but with a very satisfying ending. We were eating dinner right next to the great Alhambra castle complex, and I was done eating, so naturally I escaped the crowd of people and went outside to see if I could see any birds. (Chaperoning duty was less constricting when we were all together).

The light wasn't very good, but across the way I saw a couple of large gray birds perched in the trees. I convinced myself for a time that they were a falcon of some kind. I can't remember which, but in any case, the one I was looking at didn't have the little strip of white on the neck. Moreover, these birds were just perched together in a tree, not moving much at all over a period of about 15 minutes. It seemed odd behavior for a falcon, but I couldn't get anything else to "fit." (Dangerous territory when trying to identify a bird) However, the light wasn't very good either. Perhaps the white was a trick of the light?

Then I saw the additional picture in the Wood Pigeon entry and that really locked it in. In addition to having the requisite white stripe on the neck, the birds in the illustration looked almost exactly like mine in terms of behavior, habitat, etc. I realized my mistake and exulted in the knowledge that I had the right bird, no question. I'm not sure how I would have felt later -- I might have deleted the falcon entry. A cautionary tale, perhaps.

But then again, there's always that line: how sure do I have to be? 100%? Beyond reasonable doubt? The thing is, I've been 100% certain before, but then later realize that I had missed a field mark (kind of like in this case). It's ultimately up to the individual to decide.


Wikipedia: Common Wood Pigeon

262. Golden Oriole

Date         June 20, 2014

Location    road to Orgila, Orgila, Andalucia, Spain

Oriolus oriolus

The road to Orgila winds through hills and forests and offers fantastic views. As I looked out the window I saw this yellow bird with black wings, unmistakably a Golden Oriole.

It was a quick look to be sure, but I am positive I have the right bird.


Wikipedia: Eurasian Golden Oriole

261. Eurasian Jackdaw

Date         June 19, 2014

Location    church yard, Segovia, Valladolid, Spain

Coloeus monedula

This was the one time in which I wished I had binoculars. The church had a very nice courtyard with trees and paths. The jackdaws were numerous, so I finally got enough looks to conclude what they were.

Incidentally, I want to point out one of the valuable features of this field guide: they often have separate illustrations showing how birds will typically appear in the wild. There is nice little illustration of jackdaws on a chimney. These illustrations don't show field marks in the traditional sense, but they are valuable in aiding in identification. Seeing the jackdaws hanging around the church building, behaving like the ones in the illustration, helped cement the identification.

Another bird would have a similar type of picture that would prove invaluable to the identification. That entry is coming soon.


Wikipedia: Western Jackdaw

260. White Stork

Date         June 19, 2014

Location    highway to Segovia, Segovia, Valladolid, Spain

Ciconia ciconia

My very first view of these was as I was sitting on a bus on the way to Segovia. There were several to my left beyond the other side of the highway in a grassy area. I kind of didn't want to count them because it was barely more than a quick glance, but it was pretty obvious what they were. I got lots of better views at the castle we visited, even a nest at the top of some very tall trees by the entrance.


Wikipedia: White Stork

259. Blackbird

Date         June 18, 2014

Location    central park (with rowboat pond), Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Turdus merula

This was probably the most exciting puzzle of the trip. As we walked through the park on our way to the pond, I saw one of these hopping about on the lawn. If I had paid attention to the behavior more than the color, I would have arrived at the correct answer sooner, I believe. But given my unfamiliarity with European birds, I don't feel too bad about it.

After looking in my book, I decided that what I had seen was a Spotless Starling. But I didn't feel really good about that, so I flipped through the book some more. This was sort of a habit I had anyway; it helps solidify in my mind that I have the right identification by eliminating any other birds it could possibly be. (I correctly switched from Stellar's Jay to Phainopepla by doing this.)

If you look at that bird in the picture and change his breast to rusty red and his back to brownish-gray, what do you have? An American Robin. The Blackbird in Europe is actually a thrush. Thinking back on what I saw, I remembered that he indeed had moved like a robin, hopping and pausing, and not like a starling, which has more continuous movement with frequent changes in direction.

The real clincher, and what made this so fun, was that I looked up the entry in the field guide for American Robin, which is rare visitor in Europe. It reads:

"Confiding [tame], often a garden or park bird in America, and stragglers in Europe usually occur in same habitats, behaving much like a Blackbird or Fieldfare." (emphasis mine)

I had used an American Robin as a model for the Blackbird's behavior, and that matched exactly the process for identifying an American Robin in Europe! The ID was ironclad and elegantly closed.


Wikipedia: Common Blackbird

258. Common House-Martin

Date         June 18, 2014

Location    Plaza Mayor, Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Delichon urbicum

Very common in the enclosed plaza area.


Wikipedia: Common House-Martin