Entries from May 2007 ↓

Check out the latest and greatest edition of the birding carnival, I and the Bird at A Blog Around the Clock.

There were some really interesting posts in this edition. One bird called an Asian Koel that lives in Singapore and India. Here in the United States, we especially love reading about such far away species. And you don’t want to miss these pictures from Panama La Verde.

Well, our goal was to find and photograph different species of birds eating the newly emerging Brood XIII Cicadas that come out every 17 years. So today we grabbed our cameras and headed for Kishwaukee Forest Preserve in Rockford Illinois.

Common Grackle Dining on the Picnic Table

We found 18 different species of birds gorging on cicadas, including a Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

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The results are in from the Spring Bird Count and they are a rather mixed bag. First of all, Winnebago County had 164 species, the sixth lowest total in the last 10 years but ten more species than 2006. At least 12 missed species were seen during our 72-hour birding event (but that was two weeks later).

Palm Warbler - there were 244 counted

There were some nice surprises such as Least Bittern, Red-breasted Merganser, and some late to leave birds: Dark-eyed Junco, Fox Sparrow, and Golden-crowned Kinglet. 15,805 birds were counted with noticeable decreases in Canada Goose, Wood Duck, Great-crested Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, House Wren, and others.

A big disappointment was the lack of shorebirds (expected) as less than 200 individuals were sighted in only seven species. Considering the majority were Killdeer, this is really lame and why we wish there was more shorebird habitat in our county.

One of the highlights for our birding team was sighting the only Hooded Warbler and one of the two Cerulean Warblers of the day. The spring count provides some of the best birding because it makes you really focus on every bird you find. We are trying to encourage other counts throughout the year to help provide a wider spectrum of birdlife in our area.

During The Birdfreak 72-hour Birding Event of Winnebago County, Illinois, we did not find many shorebirds. Winnebago County has many great forest preserves and different types of habitat, but no mudflat-type areas. It would be wonderful if Winnebago County would be able to create an area for shorebirds to stop by.

Solitary Sandpiper - Winnebago County
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There are many birds with white on them but some stand out more than others. With no criteria just biased opinion, here are the top 10 white birds.

1. American White Pelican - a great place to find these birds is Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin, where this picture was taken. Their huge wingspan makes for some impressive flight pictures and their fishing techniques are fun to watch.
   

   The White Pelican does not dive for fish as the Brown Pelican does. Instead, it dips its head underwater to scoop up fish. Several pelicans may fish cooperatively, moving into a circle to concentrate fish, and then dipping their heads under simultaneously to catch fish. -Cornell Lab of Ornithology

   

2. Great Egret - this picture was also taken at Horicon Marsh. These tall, elegant waders are one of three primarily white egrets found in the U.S., the other two being Snowy and Cattle Egrets. Little Blue, Reddish and even Great Blue Herons have white plumaged forms.
   

   The longevity record for a wild Great Egret is nearly 23 years. -Cornell Lab of Ornithology

   

3. Snowy Owl - a growing trend, we found a life Snowy Owl at Horicon Marsh during the winter but failed to photograph them. They often travel south in the winter to search for food.

An individual adult Snowy Owl may eat three to five lemmings per day, or up to 1,600 per year. -Cornell Lab of Ornithology

4. Sanderling - this picture was taken along the Gulf Coast in Texas, a wonderful place to view shorebirds.
   

   -It is common for nonbreeding individuals of Arctic-breeding shorebirds to remain on the wintering grounds through the summer. Why make that long trip if you’re not going to breed anyway? -Cornell Lab of Ornithology

   

5. Whooping Crane - this beautiful white bird was close to extinction, but with the help of captive breeding programs and a lot of extremely dedicated people, there numbers are slowly growing and there is hope.
   

   The population of Whooping Cranes has been rising steadily, at about four percent per year. The population reached 100 in 1987, about 250 in early 1995, and 468 by the end of 2004, with 213 in the wild. -Cornell Lab of Ornithology

   

6. Ivory Gull - this gull is only found high in the Arctic.
   

   The Ivory Gull casts up pellets of indigestible matter from its food, such as bones and fur. Pellet-casting is most frequent where lemmings are abundant and are the major prey. -Cornell Lab of Ornithology

7. Snowy Plover - can be found on beaches, dry mud, or salt flats. It can be found across North and South America, Eurasia, and Africa, but in North America it is limited to the Gulf and Pacific coasts, with a few inland exceptions. In England, it is called a Kentish Plover
   

   Young Snowy Plovers leave their nest within three hours of hatching. -Cornell Lab of Ornithology

8. Forster’s Tern - perhaps Horicon is just a gold mine for white birds. This bird was hovering over the water next to a dike and plunged to catch food.
   
9. White-tailed Kite - a medium-sized raptor of open grasslands and savannahs. Another hovering species with bright white plumage.
   

   Although some populations fluctuate regularly in size, it is unknown whether the White-tailed Kite is migratory, nomadic, or both. -Cornell Lab of Ornithology

10. White Ibis - one of three Ibises found in the U.S., the White Ibis is one of the most gorgeous.
    

    A wading bird of the deep South, the striking White Ibis is frequently seen on lawns looking for large insects as well as probing for prey along the shoreline. -Cornell Lab of Ornithology

    

Caught on tape! Exclusive footage of a lady Black-throated Blue Warbler by one cool New York birder!

The Black-throated Blue Warbler is a stunning bird. Two years ago, the Birdfreak Team was lucky enough to have one stop by for a drink in the Callaway Nature Preserve, but alas! we have not been so lucky since.

They do not nest in our neck of the woods, but we hope to see baby Blues on Mon@rch’s Blog!

Here are our pictures of our Black-throated Blue’s quick pit stop two springs ago!

For those not familiar with the ABA area, it is (currently) defined as this:

Specifically, the area encompassed is the 49 continental United States, Canada, the French islands of St. Pierre et Miquelon, and adjacent waters to a distance of 200 miles from land or half the distance to a neighboring country, whichever is less.

Excluded by these boundaries are Bermuda, the Bahamas, Hawaii, and Greenland. -American Birding Association

The Nearctic ecozone covers Greenland, Canada, the U.S. minus southern Florida and a large portion of Mexico (as seen in the map).

Currently the ABA breaks off at the U.S. political border but as the map shows, the ecozone does not follow that rule. Of course, Southern Florida is excluded from this region, something that would not be wise of the ABA.

We propose this to the American Birding Association:

Include all of North America in the ABA There really is no reason that all of Mexico can’t be part of the ABA. It would provide great incentive for U.S. birders to travel into Mexico to add lifebirds. The more demand for birding in Mexico, the safer and better it would be too. Conservation is infectious so if Mexican citizens realize their habitat provides a steady income, they will protect it.
Potential Drawbacks: Borderland birding could decrease - would birders not care to bird the Rio Grande Valley any more? Would southeast Arizona lose some of its appeal when some of the “rare” birds could be much more easily “gotten” a few hundred miles south? We think it would actually be the opposite. Anyone who’s birded along the border do so for one main reason - the birding is AWESOME! This wouldn’t change but would actually improve as the habitat south improved. And for anyone who keeps a state list, why not a U.S. list?

We feel the ABA could be a leading force in promoting bird conservation in Mexico.

Crimson-collared Grosbeak