Innholdsfortegnelse for September/October 2019 i BirdWatching

In 1937, when the father of wildlife ecology, Aldo Leopold, wrote the essay “Marshland Elegy,” the Greater Sandhill Crane was in steep decline. The essay, part of Leopold’s seminal work, A Sand County Almanac, laments the loss of cranes in the marshes of Wisconsin, his home state. The Greater Sandhill subspecies has rebounded from fewer than 1,000 birds to more than 100,000 — a fact that I’m sure would delight Leopold were he here today. In this issue’s cover story, I write about the plight of the Whooping Crane. It occurs to me that although Leopold had Sandhills in mind, his essay certainly applies to Whoopers in 2019. Here is a frequently quoted yet apt passage: Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty.…

The most recent changes to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds, published in June, include new names for two hummingbirds and a split of White-winged Scoter. The Blue-throated and Amethyst-throated Hummingbirds were renamed as Blue-throated and Amethyst-throated Mountain-gems, matching the English names of the five other species in the genus Lampornis. Blue-throated is primarily a Mexican species, ranging from Oaxaca north to southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and western Texas. Amethyst-throated is a resident in Mexico and Central America. The scoter was split into three species, based largely on the continents on which they live. The North American species will retain the common name White-winged Scoter, and its new scientific name will be Melanitta deglandi. Velvet Scoter is the new name for the European species, matching the…

This past February, I crossed two related but distinct items off my bucket list. I attended the Whooping Crane Festival in Port Aransas, Texas, an event I had wanted to take part in for years. And I saw truly wild Whooping Cranes for the first time — four white adults and one tawny-headed juvenile. I’d bet a dollar that, if you’re a birder, these experiences are on your bucket list, too. The 23-year-old festival features a great lineup of speakers, including George Archibald of the International Crane Foundation, excellent birding tours, and a lively vendor area. And when you live in Wisconsin, like I do, it’s a no-brainer to want to spend a few days in winter on the Texas coast. Whether you have seen 30 species of birds or…

THE SALTON SEA, California’s largest lake, is an intriguing migratory stopover that shows a different facade with each season. At least until the last few years. The sea’s ecology has declined rapidly since 2016, threatening fish and bird populations. But first, let’s look back to better times, to see how we arrived at the situation the sea faces today. My first visit to the sea, located in the Colorado Desert in the southern part of the Golden State, on a crisp mid-February day in 2010, was an eye-opener. A thousand Eared Grebes bobbed and dove in the water, and large flocks of American White Pelicans skimmed the surface in search of fish. The clear water sparkled in the bright winter sunlight, and the sea looked vibrant and alive. Showing its…

The Wandering Tattler might seem unique among North American sandpipers, but it has a close relative, Gray-tailed Tattler. It breeds in Siberia and regularly shows up as a migrant on western Alaskan islands, sometimes on the mainland, and very rarely south of Alaska. Gray-tailed and Wandering Tattlers are similar in all plumages, not always safely identifiable by sight. Gray-tailed tends to be paler gray above. In breeding plumage, the barring on its underparts is less extensive, leaving part of the belly white, but a Wandering in molt can look similar. The juvenile Gray-tailed has slightly larger white spots on the edges of the scapulars, coverts, and tertials. Winter plumaged birds are usually whiter on the flanks, not strongly washed with gray as in Wandering Tattler. In all plumages, the pale…

HABITAT Marine and coastal habitats. TERRAIN Flat. Wheelchair-accessible. BIRDS More than 200 species. Winter: Brant, Northern Pintail, King and Common Eiders, Harlequin Duck, Black and White-winged Scoters, Long-tailed Duck, Common Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated and Common Loons, Red-necked Grebe, Great Cormorant, Ruddy Turnstone, Boat-tailed Grackle. Summer: American Oystercatcher, Piping Plover, Red Knot, Purple Sandpiper, Northern Gannet, Great Black-backed Gull, Least, Black, Royal, Common, and Forster’s Terns, Peregrine Falcon. Rarities: Snowy Owl, Dovekie, Thick-billed Murre, Razorbill, Black Guillemot, Black-legged Kittiwake, Glaucous Gull, Parasitic Jaeger, Wilson’s Storm-Petrel. WHEN TO GO Year-round. AMENITIES No facilities. Shops are driving distance. Beach is at the edge of the parking lot, walkway located along the inlet. ACCESS City park. Open 24 hours a day. Parking available. Parking: $3 per hour, first 30 minutes are free. TIPS…

Cape May offers many ways to experience spring and fall migration of hundreds of species. But to get close to shorebirds, get on the water. Since 1994, Bob Lubberman has been running birding safaris on the Back Bay, New Jersey’s southernmost salt marsh, aboard his pontoon boat, The Osprey. Captain Bob grew up along the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay, working on fishing boats since he was 13. For the past eight years, he has been navigating 200 birding trips a year, often accompanied by Vince Elia, a former Audubon researcher. They know every creek, island, spit, and mudflat, and the likely places to find birds that drop in or stay for a season. Every trip is different, depending on conditions, the tide, time of year and, mainly, what Bob…

EXCLUSIVE FOR READERS OF OUR DIGITAL EDITIONS elinor klapp-phipps park tallahassee, florida ocean city inlet worcester county, maryland lake yosemite regional park merced county, california back bay of cape may cape may, new jersey Watch for bonus digital content with our November/December 2019 issue, available on October 12! RETURN TO MAGAZINE…

Sightings of Plain-capped Starthroat, a hummingbird from western Mexico, in 2002 and 2003 put Ash Canyon Bed and Breakfast on the birding world’s map. Birders came from far and wide to this southeastern Arizona site to see the rarity. And soon, people realized that the yard attracted Lucifer Hummingbirds unlike anywhere else in the region. Later, Montezuma Quail became a nearly year-round visitor. The site’s owner, Mary Jo Ballator, opened up her yard to visiting birders, and she continued to keep it open even after health reasons forced her to close the bed and breakfast. Ballator died in late May at age 74, leaving a legacy of generosity, friendship, and love for the region’s birding community. The property has been renamed the Mary Jo Ballator Nature Sanctuary, and it reopened…

The 44th annual “Birds in Art” exhibition opens on Saturday, September 7, at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin. British colored-pencil artist Alan Woollett is the museum’s 2019 Master Artist. The exhibition, on view through December 1, will feature a selection of Woollett’s artwork along with more than 100 original paintings, sculptures, and graphics created within the last three years by artists from throughout the world. Learn more at www.lywam.org.…

During this year’s Whooping Crane Festival, George Archibald, co-founder of the International Crane Foundation and one of the world’s most accomplished conservationists, was asked why he dedicated his life to saving cranes. Here’s how he replied: “Well, we only have one life to live, and I discovered cranes when I was 18 years old in Alberta, Canada. That interest led to my graduate studies at Cornell on the evolution of cranes, and at Cornell, I learned a lot about international conservation and about how cranes are doing worldwide. And I knew if somebody didn’t do something to help them, we might be losing some of the species in the near future. So, I felt a great responsibility to help this family of birds, and I’m just one individual, so I…

Where to look: Rivers, creeks, lakes, bays, marshes, and canals with clear moving water attract this species. Look for places where overhanging branches provide perches that allow an unobstructed view of the water to maximize the kingfisher’s fishing success and the availability of vertical earthen banks for nest burrows. Belted Kingfishers spend much of their time perched alone along the edges of waterways, searching for small fish. They are also often seen perched on telephone wires, where they can view the water below. When to look: During winter and migration, this species may be found in almost any waterside habitat with clear water suitable for fishing. In the breeding season, it is more restricted to areas with suitable dirt banks for nesting holes, which may or may not be near…

From the 1980s to the 2000s, bird diversity and numbers at the Salton Sea were off the charts. The sea and the surrounding region hosted: About half of the Pacific Flyway population of Ruddy Ducks. An estimated 25-90% of North America’s population of Eared Grebes (1 to 3 million birds). About 30% of the continent’s American White Pelicans — as many as 20,000 birds. The largest interior wintering population of Western Snowy Plovers. The second-largest breeding colony of Double-crested Cormorants in North America as well as colonies of other large waders. Threatened or Endangered populations of Yuma Ridgway’s Rail and California Black Rail. And so on. In 2013, however, things began to change. The cormorants, which had as many as 10,000 nests on Mullet Island, near the sea’s southeastern shore,…

HABITAT Pine flatwoods, deciduous forest, lakeshore. TERRAIN Wide and mostly level dirt and grass trails. Some gradual inclines. Several good loop trails between 1 and 2.5 miles long. BIRDS Over 190 species. Northern Bobwhite, Red-shouldered Hawk, Pileated Woodpecker, Barred and Great Horned Owls, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, White-eyed, Yellow-throated, and Red-eyed Vireos, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Brown-headed Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Common Yellowthroat, Pine, Yellow-throated, Palm, and Yellow-rumped Warblers, White-throated and Bachman’s Sparrows, Eastern Towhee, Summer Tanager, Northern Cardinal, Blue Grosbeak, and Indigo Bunting. WHEN TO GO Year-round, but especially good in fall and winter. Best in the morning. Fall mornings after a cold front has moved through can yield high numbers of migrant songbirds. AMENITIES Restrooms available at the soccer field complex. Well-maintained trails with…

Located next to the newest University of California campus, Lake Yosemite Regional Park’s diverse habitats make it a near cross-section of Merced County. When birding the eucalyptus grove during the spring and summer, keep an eye out for nesting Great Horned Owls, Ash-throated Flycatchers, and Bullock’s Orioles. During migration seasons, the oak and willow groves host warblers, vireos, and flycatchers. The lake itself is a haven for deep-water birds including Common Goldeneye, Clark’s and Eared Grebes, American White Pelican, Herring Gull, and Caspian Tern. Osprey are common year-round, and a pair of Bald Eagles winter annually, usually perched in a eucalyptus tree on the north shore. Meanwhile, the grasslands surrounding the park are prime habitat for Long-billed Curlew (sometimes in the hundreds), Prairie Falcon, Burrowing Owl, and Horned Lark. During…

HABITAT Low salt marsh with mudflats, islands, and salt pans. TERRAIN The best way to explore the Back Bay is by boat. BIRDS Spring: Lingering waterfowl, nesting Osprey, and migrant shorebirds, including Whimbrel, Lesser Yellowlegs, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher, Semipalmated Sandpiper. Summer: Laughing Gull, Common and Forster’s Terns, Black Skimmer, Black-bellied Plover, Clapper Rail, Great Blue and Tricolored Herons, Yellow-crowned and Black-crowned Night-Herons. Fall: Migrant hawks and falcons, Bald Eagle, and egrets. Winter: Bufflehead, Long-tailed Duck, Common Loon, Purple Sandpiper, and Great Cormorant. Rarities: Bar-tailed Godwit, Brown Booby, Franklin’s Gull. WHEN TO GO Early to mid-May to see the most species. Mid-May through June for shorebirds. Fall for raptors. AMENITIES Loaner binoculars, snacks and beverages, and a restroom onboard. ACCESS Private pontoon boat. The Osprey, which has a capacity of 36…

Bird Therapy, by Joe Harkness, Unbound, hardcover, 2019, 304 pages, $18.60. Few birders’ stories are as profound and moving as that of Joe Harkness. In 2013, he attempted to take his own life. His healing process involved counselling and mindfulness — and along the way he discovered birds. They improved his mental health to the point where he started a blog and later wrote this book, in hopes of helping others address their own stresses. Harkness is British, so the book focuses on birds and locations in the U.K., but the message is universal: Birds can provide therapy for anyone who takes time to notice them. Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Western North America, by Nathan Pieplow, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, vinyl bound, 2019, 648 pages, $28. Birding without…

I volunteer at a national wildlife refuge and always see Burrowing Owls standing outside their burrows during the day, then out hunting at night. When do they sleep and for how long?— Carolyn Vance, Los Alamitos, California The times and places that birds sleep vary widely among different bird families and throughout the year. For example, many diurnal songbirds typically get most of their sleep at night, as you might expect. But if they are migratory species that fly each leg of their journeys overnight, they adjust their sleep schedule and are able to take multiple short naps throughout the day, often each less than 30 seconds. Burrowing Owls, unlike many owl species that are largely nocturnal, are active both day and night. However, they do much of their hunting…

IT first appeared as a tiny moving spot in the distance, an object gliding effortlessly on invisible waves of wind just a few feet above the rural meadow. With elegance and grace, it flew in a methodical and relentless pattern, evoking images of a military reconnaissance aircraft on a surveillance mission. Although the bird was still too distant to make out its features, I knew from experience that my quest that day to photograph the Northern Harrier was about to bear fruit. While the destination was reminiscent of images of a barren windswept tundra in the farthest reaches of North America, it was in fact smack dab in the middle of the most densely populated state in America — New Jersey. I was standing in a field in a public…

HABITAT Deep-water manmade lake, open grasslands, ephemeral ponds, light woodlands, irrigation canals with some riparian areas. TERRAIN Flat. Most of the core part of park accessible by car, and whole park can be walked. BIRDS More than 140 species. Year-round: Clark’s Grebe, Snowy Egret, Loggerhead Shrike, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, California Scrub-Jay, Common Raven, Rock Wren, Lesser Goldfinch, Savannah Sparrow, Western Meadowlark. Winter: Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, Eared Grebe, Greater Yellowlegs, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Say’s Phoebe, Hermit Thrush, Phainopepla, Orange-crowned Warbler. Breeding: Swainson’s Hawk, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Bullock’s Oriole, Black-headed Grosbeak. Migration: Warbling Vireo, Wilson’s and Black-throated Gray Warblers, Western Tanager. Rare: Cackling Goose, Common Loon, Forster’s Tern, Lesser Nighthawk. WHEN TO GO Good year-round; best mid-March to May and mid-September to February. AMENITIES Drinking fountains, restrooms, and picnic tables. A boardwalk next to the…