Innholdsfortegnelse for November/December 2018 i BirdWatching

Cranes find allies in utility companies Whooping and Sandhill Cranes are gaining new allies as utility companies in Kansas and Wisconsin work to prevent the birds from colliding with powerlines during their migratory journeys. In Kansas, since 2013, utility companies have marked more than 100 miles of the riskiest powerlines to make them more visible to the birds. Although rare, collision with powerlines is the greatest known source of mortality for fledged Whooping Cranes. The work is taking place on lines in Kansas assessed to pose the highest risk to migrating birds within 5 miles of Quivira National Wildlife Refuge and Cheyenne Bottoms, which are important stopover areas between the species’ wintering and breeding grounds. By the end of 2019, 113 miles of high-risk lines at Cheyenne Bottoms will be…

Read more about the following topics at www.BirdWatchingDaily.com! Winners of the 2018 Bird Photographer of the Year contest The organizers of the Bird Photographer of the Year competition announced the contest winners for 2018. The contest, now in its third year, attracted thousands of entries form over 60 countries around the globe. Pedro Jacques Krebs from Peru won the top prize with the photo at right of American Flamingos. Other winners included stunning shots of Red-necked Phalarope, Western Crowned-Pigeon, and Northern Gannet. The contest helps raise funds for the British Trust for Ornithology, so far having raised about $8,450 from entry fees alone. The money has been used to help support the BTO’s Young Birders’ Camps aimed at engaging a younger generation of naturalists. Brian Small, the Los Angeles-based photographer…

Vision is the most important sensory system for birds, and it is more highly developed in birds than any other vertebrate, including humans. There are many reasons. First, bird eyes are huge in relation to the size of their heads. They are proportionately much larger than human eyes. The eyes of eagles and owls are about the size of human eyes or larger, and the eyes of the Common Ostrich are about twice as large as those of humans. In many bird species, including songbirds, the eyes are about as large as their brains. Because bird eyes are so large, they are literally crammed into the large eye sockets (orbits), making them generally immoveable. Consequently, when a bird wants to move its eyes, it moves its head. To compensate, in…

In much of the country, winter birding means scanning open water in search of ducks, loons, cormorants, and anything else that might be out there. The birds we find are often distant, and identification is a challenge not because the species are similar but because they are too far away to see details. In these situations, any clue that helps to sort out the possibilities can be helpful. We all naturally look for color, and even very general impressions of light and dark are valuable. (For example, cormorants almost always look blackish.) Habits like diving are important clues, and overall shape — neck length, prominence of wingtips or tail, etc. — is also useful. Another clue that is generally overlooked is flocking behavior. In the same way that flocking behavior…

Using cloud computing and data from 143 weather radar stations across the continental United States, Cornell Lab of Ornithology researchers recently estimated how many birds migrate through the U.S. and the toll that winter and the birds’ migratory journeys take. “We’ve discovered that each autumn, an average of 4 billion birds move south from Canada into the U.S. At the same time, another 4.7 billion birds leave the U.S. over the southern border, heading to the tropics,” notes lead author Adriaan Dokter, an Edward W. Rose postdoctoral fellow at the Cornell Lab. “In the spring, 3.5 billion birds cross back into the U.S. from points south, and 2.6 billion birds return to Canada across the northern U.S. border.” In other words, fewer birds return to their breeding grounds after going…

In July 2017, the American Ornithological Society recognized Cassia Crossbill, a species distinct from the widespread Red Crossbill. The new species occurs in just two small mountain ranges in Idaho — the South Hills and Albion Mountains — on the northeast edge of the Great Basin Desert, where it is engaged in a coevolutionary arms race with lodgepole pine. In the summer of 2018, Craig Benkman, the University of Wyoming ecologist who described the species, and a former graduate student reported that Cassia Crossbill’s population was approximately 5,800 birds in the fall of 2016. The species occupies about 26 square miles of lodgepole pine forest, they report. Not only are there relatively few of these crossbills, but earlier work showed that their population is vulnerable to hot summer days (higher…

INCREASINGLY, we live in a society estranged from the outdoors. In this age of passive indoor climate control and dual-passenger automobile climate settings, basic principles relating to staying dry, warm, or cool are no longer part of our cultural DNA. The result is that many new birders go afield without field skills pertaining to even basic dress. An old axiom in the outdoor recreation community goes like this: “There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad equipment.” To this, I will add “and poor preparation.” So, in this article, in place of my usual “Birder at Large” column, I offer advice on what to wear when you’re birding, especially in cold and wet weather but also in hot areas. And to reduce birders’ discomfort, I also give tips for…

THE DALLAS-FORT WORTH metro area is on the western edge of the breeding range for Prothonotary Warbler, the only warbler in eastern North America that nests in trees or other cavities. It breeds from central Texas and Oklahoma east to the Atlantic coast and north to the Great Lakes region. The species winters from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to northern South America and the Caribbean. (See the cover story of our August 2015 issue for a terrific profile of the species.) Clear Creek Natural Heritage Center in Denton, northwest of Dallas, is a good spot to search for the bird. The golden-yellow beauty is typically present from April through June. Flip the page to learn more about birding opportunities at the center, as well as a huge reservoir in North Carolina.…

When I fill my feeders during a blizzard or when temperatures dip to 20 below, I’m always thrilled to see my chickadees already there, waiting for me. They zip in for still-room-temperature seeds and not-yet-frozen suet before I step away from the feeders. It’s lovely knowing that my birds recognize me and appreciate my offerings. Bird feeding gives us pleasure on two counts — joy in seeing so many birds up close and personal, and gratification that we’re genuinely helping them. The first rule in feeding birds is to do no harm. Fortunately, many bird conservation organizations and BirdWatching provide a wealth of information about the best (and worst) food choices and the safest ways to offer food to backyard birds. If you want to do something even more helpful,…

Evening Grosbeak A stocky, showy finch of northern coniferous forests, Evening Grosbeak is quite a visual treat. Males are a contrast of bright yellow, black, and white, while females sport slightly more subdued grays and browns. All individuals have a large, conical bill. The maps above show where we might find it. In June, the species inhabits coniferous forests across the boreal zone of Canada and in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountains regions. In December, some individuals have moved south into the northern Great Plains, Midwest, and New England. The Evening Grosbeak’s movements are difficult to predict, and therefore the species is considered to be “irruptive” across its range. Look for this species in coniferous forest and also at bird-feeding stations, where it can appear suddenly. Black Scoter A…

IT’S safe to say that very few people who are new to birdwatching own high-quality optics or other top-of-the-line outdoor gear when they’re starting out. But as you get more and more into this hobby/sport/obsession, you’ll probably decide a few upgrades are in order. With that in mind, as well as the upcoming holiday season, I’ve rounded up a number of items that you might want to check out. On the pages that follow, you’ll find cameras, binoculars, spotting scopes, outerwear, and a few other pieces of gear at various price points. Perhaps you’ll find something here that would be perfect for a friend — or yourself! The prices listed are suggested by the manufacturers. You shouldn’t have trouble finding them on sale for less. I will also note a…

The Clear Creek area is my favorite place to go birdwatching, whether alone or with a group of birders or other naturalists. The center is the gateway to more than 2,900 acres of the Clear Creek Nature Preserve, a wonderful riparian area. It has diverse flora and fauna, with about 4 miles of interpretive, well-maintained loop trails. The area was created to restore and protect upland prairies and rare bottomland hardwood forest ecosystems. The best part of my first walk there was the sheer variety of birds I saw, along with many types of mammals — opossums, raccoons, and armadillos — that slowly disappeared into the undergrowth ahead of our group. I like to take the Wetland Trail to see waterfowl and herons. If you’re lucky, you will spot a…

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