339. Northern Gannet

Date         November 23, 2022

Location    Gulf of Mexico near Dry Torguas National Park, Key West, FL

On the boat ride from Key West to Dry Tortugas, I was standing on the outside deck right at the front of the bow. Off to port and forward some distance ahead I saw three birds flying. All three clearly had the white body and black wing tips seen here. I could not discern the warm buffy tones on the heads. They flew together for quite a long time, maybe 10 minutes, just over the surface of the ocean, and gradually moved out of site.

I didn't have my field guide with me, and I postulated in my head that I had seen some sort of shearwater or maybe even an albatross due to the size. They definitely had long wing spans. These were large birds.

I finally got home to investigate, and I was surprised that this bird fit the description. For some reason I had thought that these were roughly the size of a gull, but in fact they are, as the Cornell guide states in the first sentence of the description, "nearly as large as an albatross." Combined with the clearly discernable color pattern, and range, I was able to identify my trio of birds as Northern Gannets.

I think from the tip of the bill to the base of the neck, this is one of the most beautiful birds out there. So while I have officially ticked this species off, I do want to see them again up close. They are featured in the film Winged Migration and I am always struck with their beauty.

Cornell: Northern Gannet

338. Snowy Plover

Date         November 22, 2022

Location    Key West Nature Preserve, Key West, FL

This nature preserve is quite small, consisting of a trail that goes right by a condo on the left (as you walk toward the beach) from a trailhead on a street with no parking, and a marsh to the right. There is a boardwalk that leads to a viewpoint in the marsh, but it was blocked off due to hurricane Ian damage. That looked like a productive spot, but I was only able to see a little bit of the water through the thick trees.

The trail goes for no more than a quarter mile and ends at the beach, where there is a viewing platform above the surface of the beach but no access to the beach itself. So while there was a great view and a good variety of birds there, there is no way to get any closer to something if you wish.

Such was the situation as a I was able to spot several of these plovers. They were just close enough to able to discern their color and behavior. These things and the range confirmed that they were Snowy Plovers. The beach was very much like what is seen in the photo above.

Cornell: Snowy Plover

337. Henslow's Sparrow

Date         June 10, 2022

Location    Big Jump Prairie, Oregon, IL

Big Jump Prairie is part of Nechusa Grasslands. I researched on eBird where I might find this species. I picked out four locations that had them reported in the spring of 2022, two in the Nechusa area and two up by Rockton. Big Jump Prairie was my first stop.

I proceeded down the "trail" from the parking lot -- it was basically an overgrown dirt road. Very tall grass surrounded me on both sides. There were some trees about a hundred yards to my right and a small pond. I could immediately hear Field Sparrows and Dickcissels, so I knew I was in a promising location.

I listened very intently for the short song, figuring I probably wouldn't actually see them, only hear them. I pulled up about 10 minutes in, but I eventually decided that it was a terse cricket.

About 10 minutes after that, I unequivocally heard the song, repeated just three times. After wandering down the trail a bit more, I decided to head back. I began hearing the song a lot more. I paused and did a little pishing just for the heck of it. Whether it actually worked or not, I do not know, but shortly thereafter, about 30 yards away, a bird flew up and perched on one of the long stalks of grass. It was a Henslow's, with the greenish head, chestnut back, and streaky sides. He/she just perched there, shifting back and forth on the grass, for a couple of minutes, then finally dropped down back into the thick cover. I did not see it sing, so it was possibly a female.

I was gratified to read in my field guide the following, because it jibed with what I had just observed: "Secretive, but after being flushed several times may perch in the open for a few minutes before dropping back into cover."

Cornell: Henslow's Sparrow

336. Harlequin Duck

Date         May 26, 2022

Location    LeHardy Rapids, Yellowstone National Park, WY

LeHardy rapids is the most reliable place to find Harlequin Ducks. They were, of course, spectacular to behold.

Cornell: Harlequin Duck 

335. Dusky Flycatcher

Date         May 25, 2022

Location    Market Lake Wildlife Management Area, Roberts, ID

For this bird's picture I'm taking the unusual step of showing the page from the field guide instead of an actual photograph because this page (and the Audubon app) were integral to the identification. I made the ID on this Empidonax flycatcher without using voice, so a thorough explanation is warranted.

First, a description of what I saw. There were two white wing bars and a complete white eye ring. I also viewed it from behind -- the head was essentially gray and the back a greenish-gray, both of intermediate shade (neither dark nor light).

This particular habitat was a small forested area near an extensive wetlands. I was not in the mountains. The trees were mostly deciduous.

Even though this was obviously an Empidonax, and it wasn't making any noise (call or song), I decided to give a shot at identifying it, even though I usually don't bother trying under such circumstances.

I first narrowed it down by range. Only one eastern bird made the cut (Least), and four western birds were possible: Hammond's, Gray, Dusky, and Cordilleran. Least seemed unlikely since it was the extreme western edge of its range; Gray was out of range, but only by a little bit, so I included them for completeness.

Least is described as having a "rather bold white eye ring," and I did not observe this. The white eye ring was there, but it was thin. Along with the unlikelihood due to range, I eliminated Least.

Gray was eliminated rather easily since it is mostly gray and white -- no greenish or olive-colored areas. Plus, as noted above, it would be out of range according to the field guide. The season-specific drawings in my field guide were particularly useful here, as the Gray does have some olive coloration in the winter, but not in the spring.

Hammond's was eliminated by both habitat and eye ring. Hammond's are generally in coniferous woods in the mountains, which was not the habitat I was in as noted above. Also, the eye ring flares out creating an "almond" shape. As noted above, I saw a simple eye ring.

Cordilleran can also be eliminated by habitat, as in breeds in coniferous forests in the mountains, not the lowlands where I was. The wing bar on the Cordilleran is also less white.

This leaves only Dusky, and perhaps the flip side of the question: does Dusky match what I saw? In other words, rather than eliminating all the possibilities and being left with one, can I start with Dusky and match it to what I saw? The answer is yes. Coloration, habitat, range, eye ring, and wing bars all match the Dusky. 

I never thought I would be able to identify an Empid without sound, or perhaps even dared, but there were enough clues in this case to be confident about the ID.

Cornell: Dusky Flycatcher

334. Calliope Hummingbird

Date         May 24, 2022

Location    Dornan's Pizza Pasta Company, Grand Teton National Park, WY

After successfully identifying the Broad-tailed, we were watching another hummingbird on the north side of the trail, across and downhill a bit from the Broad-tailed's favorite perch. I was stuck on the idea that this might be a Calliope because the range fit and, well, it did look rather small, even though I know this is an unreliable cue. In any case, we had plenty of opportunity to observe him because he was doing courtship flight displays.

During some iterations, he would fly high up in the air, and then, with his back turned toward us, gradually descend to a favored perch. This gave us a great view of the shiny green back feathers. Other times he would do the U-shaped display.

While on the perch, he would flare out his gorget feathers, giving us a fantastic view of the brilliant iridescent fuchsia (and solidly diagnostic) "color." The sun was behind us now, so we got all the color available. The photo above is very similar to what we were able to witness through our binoculars.

Cornell: Calliope Hummingbird

333. Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Date         May 24, 2022

Location    Dornan's Pizza Pasta Company, Grand Teton National Park, WY

We arrived to eat lunch after our river raft adventure. As we exited the vehicle, Logan and I heard a buzzing sound that we couldn't really identify but sounded intriguing. We went inside the restaurant.

North of the restaurant is a short paved trail to the Snake river and a small historical display of an old river ferry. As we sat at our table waiting for our pizza, we looked out the window in that direction and saw two hummingbirds. After eating, we decided to investigate further. At first, we didn't get our binoculars because it seemed like a long shot, but after seeing a fox and another hummingbird, we ran to get our optics out of the Jeep.

The Broad-tailed was spotted first (another species is described in the next entry). He kept coming back to the same perch over and over just a little ways down the path. The photo above is our actual photo of this bird, taken by Mieka on her iPhone. Unfortunately, the sun was mostly behind the bird from this vantage point, so the throat was mostly black, but we did manage to see a little magenta on the edge of the throat.

Cornell: Broad-tailed Hummingbird

332. Mountain Chickadee

Date         May 23, 2022

Location    Taggart Lake Trail, Grand Teton National Park, WY

I heard this one calling, but I'm very familiar with the Black-capped/Carolina vs. Mountain calls, so the ID is solid. I had an experienced western birder with me as well to confirm. The pine trees prevented me from actually finding him/her.

Edit: a couple of days later I saw one building a nest in Yellowstone NP.

Cornell: Mountain Chickadee

331. Violet-green Swallow

Date         May 22, 2022

Location    Perrine Memorial Bridge, Twin Falls, ID

On the east side of the bridge near the landing zone for the BASE jumpers, I spied several swallows flying about the south cliff face. Viewing through binoculars, I was able to easily see the green, purple, and white in all the right places as seen in the photo above. The sun was shining and I was viewing them from above, so everything was very clear.

Cornell: Violet-green Swallow