Innholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2019 i BirdWatching

No doubt about it, chasing rarities is a big part of the birding culture. When the birding gods drop a way-out-of-range bird in a place that has a fair number of local birders, the news flashes quickly across state listservs, national and local Facebook birding groups, and other media. If the bird sticks around, and especially if it’s colorful or otherwise striking, local TV stations and newspapers may pick up on the story, sending a reporter who invariably tells viewers or readers that we birders are “flocking” to the scene. Despite the bad puns, the coverage is typically a good thing: It can open more eyes to the wonders of birds and the fun and unexpected joys of birding. A situation in Ottawa, Ontario, this past winter, however, led to…

The theme for this year’s World Migratory Bird Day on May 11 is “Protect Birds: Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution.” The campaign puts the spotlight on the impact of plastic pollution on migratory birds and their habitats. Cuban artist Arnaldo Toledo Sotolongo created the artwork (above), which is featured on posters, T-shirts, and other materials. Sotolongo depicts a Magnificent Frigatebird in the center surrounded by (from lower left): Magellanic Penguin, Black Skimmer, Chilean Flamingo, Lesser Scaup, Common Tern, Northern Fulmar, Osprey, Belted Kingfisher, Tricolored Heron, Killdeer, and Prothonotary Warbler. Straws, a plastic bag, and other items float in the water below. For more information, visit www.worldmigratorybirdday.org. Correction In our March/April 2019 issue, the photo caption on page 30 is incorrect. The photo shows a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, not a Honduran…

Birding has long been a passion of mine. Birds lured me into woods at a young age, and I never looked back. I began keeping lists of the birds I had seen, and family vacations always meant new potential species and experiences: Burrowing Owls and Roseate Spoonbills in Florida, Black Guillemots and Atlantic Puffins in Maine. Last summer, I worked at a county park in New Jersey with one of my best friends, Ben. We had both been heavily interested in birding since we were kids, and when we met in college, birds were one of the main things that sparked our friendship. Finding and identifying different species is one of the great draws of birding; indeed, the diversity of birds makes them the perfect group of organisms to tackle.…

Two ecosystems meet at the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area: the Blackland Prairie and the dry upland forests of the Eastern Cross Timbers. The Elm Fork of the Trinity River winds through the area as well. Most of the original ecosystems are long gone, but the completion of the Lewisville Lake Dam in 1955 led to the site that you can visit today. At the time, 2,000 acres were set aside for flood control, and a wilderness eventually came back. More than 260 bird species have been recorded — from common birds like Wood Duck and Great Blue Heron — to unusual species for north Texas. In recent years, for example, Barn Owls and Bald Eagles have nested on the property for the first time. In spring, you may spot…

Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park is one of the largest urban parks in the world, covering 9,600 acres with miles of woodland and riparian trails. But one pocket of the park was closed to the public for 50 years — during which it became a pristine habitat and stopover for more than 170 species of birds. The opening of the site as the Discovery Center last September, a collaboration of Audubon Pennsylvania and Outward Bound, is cause for celebration for every area birder. The adjacent lake is the largest open body of freshwater in the city, and the birds appreciate it. Canvasbacks, coots, and mergansers plunge in for food. Great Blue Herons and Belted Kingfishers hunt along the shorelines. Geese, loons, and gulls bob on the waters. Migrant warblers, vireos, flycatchers, and…

The Sun Is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds, by Caroline Van Hemert, Little, Brown Spark, hardcover, 2019, 320 pages, $27. In this magazine in 2011 and 2012, we reported on studies about chickadees and other birds in Alaska that had significant beak deformities. One of the researchers was Caroline Van Hemert, a wildlife biologist at the Alaska Science Center. Long days in the lab started to take a toll on Van Hemert, and she worried that she was losing her passion for nature and science. To reconnect, she and her husband set off on a 4,000-mile journey from the Pacific rainforest to the Alaskan arctic. This book tells the incredible, epic story. How to Know the Birds: The Art and Adventure of Birding, by Ted Floyd,…

Two recent studies shed new light on the past and future effects of climate change on migratory birds. The first was based on long-term monitoring data from 21 European and Canadian bird observatories and included almost 200 study species. The team of 18 co-authors analyzed data dating as far back as 1959 to 2015 and found that, on average, bird species have “advanced their spring migration by a little over a week since the late 1950s,” says Aleksi Lehikoinen from the Finnish Museum of Natural History in Helsinki. Migratory periods for short-distance migrants (birds that winter in Europe or North America) have moved ahead about 1.5-2 days per decade. For long-distance migrants that winter in the tropics, migration has advance approximately 0.6-1.2 days per decade. Some species show much greater…

Events: Looking for new places to bird? Download our guide to more than 85 spring and summer birding festivals. Go to www.BirdWatchingDaily.com/birding-festivals-guide. Interview: Acclaimed photographer Frans Lanting recently told us about places he likes to shoot, his go-to camera and lenses for photographing birds, and more. Find the interview in the Photography/How to Photograph Birds section of our site. Great Black Hawk: The Great Black Hawk that wandered to Maine last year (March/April issue, page 52) was euthanized after developing frostbite. In March, we learned the hawk will be displayed at a museum in Augusta. For more details, see our News & Features/Science section.…

North American Butterfly Association A good general resource for entering the world of butterflies. www.naba.org North Jersey Butterfly Club The New Jersey chapter of NABA is particularly active, and its identification page is a great resource for all northeastern butterflies, not just those in New Jersey. www.naba.org/chapters/nabanj/images.html Jeffrey Glassberg’s books This pioneering authority on the field identification of butterflies has published several field guides, including the Butterflies through Binoculars series, Butterflies of North America, and Swift guides to butterflies. Kaufman Field Guide to Butterflies of North America This 2006 guide, by Jim P. Brock and Kenn Kaufman, covers every butterfly found from south Texas to the Arctic. BAMONA Butterflies and Moths of North America is a website that collects, stores, and shares species information and occurrence data. www.butterfliesandmoths.org…

Historically, Snail Kites in Florida dined almost exclusively on the Florida apple snail, an aquatic species about the size of a golf ball. But in the early 2000s, larger, exotic apple snails, native to South America and escaped from the aquarium trade, began showing up in Florida waters. At least four non-native apple snail species are now established, and some are becoming abundant and widespread. Invasive species often cause major conservation problems, and it’s likely that these exotic snails will damage Florida wetlands. But in the short term, they’re having a surprising effect: They’re supporting an increase in the Snail Kite population. The exotic snails reproduce more rapidly than the native one, breed over a longer season, and may be more tolerant of pollutants. The adults may be too large…

HABITAT Prairie, forests, wetlands. TERRAIN More than 6 miles of meandering trails. BIRDS Spring: Vultures, herons, hawks, Northern Shoveler, Spotted Sandpiper, yellowlegs, Black-chinned Hummingbird, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, American Pipit, Pine Warbler, Spotted Towhee, American Redstart, Lazuli Bunting, Baltimore Oriole. Summer: Wood Duck, Neotropic Cormorant, Osprey (rare), Great Horned Owl, Bank Swallow, Northern Mockingbird, Sprague’s Pipit (accidental), Summer Tanager, Dickcissel. Fall: American Wigeon, Green-winged Teal, Hooded Merganser, egrets, herons, Northern Harrier, Sandhill Crane, Stilt and Solitary Sandpipers, Forster’s Tern, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Western Kingbird, Blue-headed Vireo, Tree Swallow, Tufted Titmouse, Northern Mockingbird, Sprague’s Pipit (accidental), Pine Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Spotted Towhee. Winter: Gadwall, Ring-necked Duck, Northern Bobwhite (rare), Northern Harrier, Red-tailed Hawk, Least Sandpiper, Forster’s Tern, Loggerhead Shrike, Cedar Waxwing, Field Sparrow, Rusty Blackbird (rare). WHEN TO GO Year-round. AMENITIES Portable…

your view From our readers! Let’s hear from you! Submit photos as full-resolution, high-quality JPG files via email (no TIFFs, please). Include a short description of the photo; include the bird name, the equipment used, and the location. Please include your name, address, phone number, and email address. If we publish a story or photo of yours, we’ll send you a complimentary copy of the issue in which it appears. There’s no payment for use of text or photos in “Your View.” Send your photos and stories to: Your View Editor BirdWatching Magazine yourview@birdwatchingdaily.com…

EXCLUSIVE FOR READERS OF OUR DIGITAL EDITIONS lewisville lake environmental learning area lewisville, texas discovery center philadelphia, pennsylvania Watch for bonus digital content with our July/August 2019 issue, available on June 8! RETURN TO MAGAZINE…

Q Don’t Ospreys eat only fish? I swear I saw one carrying something with a long skinny tail. — Nora McAllister, Wilmington, North Carolina A About 99 percent of an Osprey’s diet is fish. However, the species has been noted taking a variety of other prey, including snakes and rodents, either of which might fit the description of your observation. Semi-aquatic creatures in this category that might give the appearance of being tailed would include various water-loving snakes, muskrats, or salamanders. Birds, voles, and squirrels have also been reported in the diet of Ospreys. On rare occasions, Ospreys have been seen feeding on dead fish or carrion. By and large, though, it’s fish only, and while they are not extremely choosy, in any given area, Osprey tend to eat only…

HABITAT Deciduous forest, shorelines, and wetlands. TERRAIN A three-quarter-mile natural trail circles most of the lake. Easy to moderate in difficulty. BIRDS Spring: Wide variety of warblers, including Blue-winged, Black-and-white, Prothonotary, Tennessee, Nashville, Connecticut, Mourning, Hooded, Cape May, Cerulean, Blackburnian, and Black-throated Green. Also, vireos, orioles, thrushes, and other migrants. Summer: Breeding songbirds include Warbling Vireo, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Yellow Warbler, and Baltimore Oriole. Also, Bald Eagle, Osprey, Green Heron, and Common Nighthawk. Fall: Palm Warbler, Eastern Phoebe, Cedar Waxwing, and other migrants. Winter: Canvasback, mergansers, and other diving ducks. Loons and grebes visit in late February to late March. Rarities: Long-tailed Duck, Red-throated Loon, Red-necked Grebe, Dovekie, and Nelson’s Sparrow. WHEN TO GO Year-round. Best time to visit is morning. AMENITIES Interpretive exhibits and Audubon programs designed for all ages.…