Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2021 i BirdWatching

The American Ornithological Society committee that makes taxonomic changes to the official North American bird checklist will likely announce its 2021 decisions in June or July. Here are a few of the proposals it is considering this year. Split Mew Gull. This suggestion would recognize the North American subspecies asafullspecies separate from subspecies in Europe and Asia. The North American birds breed in Alaska and western Canada and winter mostly along the Pacific coast. The proposal also calls for the common name to be Short-billed Gull. Split Band-rumped Storm-Petrel. A recent study shows significant genetic differences among the various populations of this seabird. The suggestion is to split it into three species. Split Magnificent Frigatebird. This proposal would split the birds that breed on the Galápagos Islands from the more…

At my bird-photography workshops and tours, the question I get asked most often is, “Hey Rick, what’s your f-stop?” Basically, the photographers are asking me for my camera settings: ISO, aperture, and shutter speed. I reply with a smile, “What’s your creative vision?” I share this because the answers to both questions are equally important: A photographer needs to have the best camera settings to get the best in-camera image, and a photographer needs to have a creative vision to make a good photograph. The first step to a great shot is getting it right in the camera. Let me take you through a few time-proven suggestions. Exposure triangle: The aperture, shutter speed, and ISO all affect your in-camera image. I usually do not shoot wide-open, meaning selecting the widest…

The plover family includes at least two dozen species around the world that are small with a single black ring, partial or complete, from the sides of the neck across the chest. Most have brown backs — the color of wet mud — but a few are much paler, the color of dry sand. North America has two species of small, pale-backed plovers of this group. The Piping Plover gets the most attention because it’s an endangered species found close to major centers of human population. The Snowy Plover, a more widespread bird, is more often ignored. Indeed, the Snowy Plover is easy to overlook. It’s the smallest plover in North America (half the bulk of an American Robin) and one of the plainest. Adult males in breeding plumage show…

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…

In June 2020, BirdWatching reported on the work of Debbie Leick and her colleagues recording and identifying nocturnal flight calls of migrating passerines through western Montana. Further data analysis has revealed a startling pattern of migration not just by passerines but also by Upland Sandpipers. Leick and her boss, Kate Stone, both work for MPG Ranch. When they installed their first three microphones in 2013, they were astonished to identify a trio of Upland Sandpiper calls among their many other recordings that year. Eventually, they installed 50 listening devices throughout the Bitterroot Valley, and with more microphones, the number of Upland Sandpiper detections ballooned — to 29 in 2018 and a whopping 51 the following year. The result is surprising given that Upland Sandpipers are almost unrecorded in Montana west…

Researchers from Germany say the “most Instagrammable” bird family is the frogmouths — a group of 14 nocturnal species characterized by large eyes, flat, broad bills, and a froglike gape. They occur in India, Southeast Asia, and Australia. Writing in the journal i-Perception, Katja Thömmes and Gregor Hayn-Leichsenring said the top showing by the frogmouth “seems to be a matter of poetic justice, as this nocturnal bird with very distinct facial features was once designated ‘the world’s most unfortunate-looking bird.’” They scored photos featured on nine of the largest bird accounts on Instagram and evaluated each image’s aesthetic appeal based on the number of “likes” they received from users. The study covered 116 bird families that had at least 50 photos each. Other bird families at the top of the…

Swifts are among the fastest migrating small birds around. When they aren’t breeding, Common Swifts of the Eastern Hemisphere stay in the air most of the time — up to 10 months of the year. Scientists had thought they traveled about 500 kilometers per day on average. Now, new evidence reported in the journal iScience in May shows that’s a conservative estimate. According to new tracking data, Common Swifts travel 570 kilometers (more than 350 miles) on an average day — but they can go much farther and faster. The maximum recorded distance in the study was more than 830 kilometers (more than 500 miles) per day over nine days. “We have discovered that Common Swifts breeding in the most northern part of the European breeding range perform the fastest…

I have long anticipated writing an article highlighting the many luminaries who have graced the Cape May Point Hawkwatch with their presence. So, before my memories fade, here are some of the best and brightest who dignified the platform. I begin in 1976 with the Godfather himself, Maurice Broun, the first curator at Pennsylvania’s Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. One day he walked up to the Cape May platform unannounced, declining to introduce himself, and, frankly, I confess to feeling a bit miffed. Professional hawk counters were a tiny and elite class back then. But Maurice was on a fact-finding mission, wanting to verify for himself the outrageous numbers of hawks I was reporting at a time that raptor numbers at other established hawk watches were faltering. I’m happy to say, after…

About 300 million years ago, a major evolutionary event occurred that paved the way for terrestrial vertebrates, including birds. Animals began to lay “land eggs” in a dry terrestrial environment, thereby breaking the hold that water had on fish and amphibians, the vertebrates at that time. The land egg had a hard shell (think turtle or chicken) that allowed air to pass through the porous outer covering but prevented water from moving through. The embryo produced membranes that were not part of the embryo proper but contributed essential functions. The fluid-filled amnion surrounded the embryo, protecting it from shock; the vascular yolk sac surrounded the yolk and brought nutrients to the embryo; the chorion and allantois fused to form a vascular membrane underlying the shell that facilitated oxygen and carbon…

The colors and patterns of feathers provide some of the most important clues we have for identifying birds and are generally quite reliable. Only a few things alter the appearance of feathers. They become worn and faded over time. They can be temporarily shifted out of place, disrupting the typical color pattern and sometimes revealing an unexpected grayish or whitish color of the exposed feather bases. Feathers can also become stained or discolored by external substances, and the most common of these is simple water. Feathers are water repellent, and water usually just rolls off (like water off a duck’s back), leaving the feather unchanged. When feathers are subjected to a real dousing, some of the water sticks to the feather, and they become wet. This happens most often when…

Joint ventures (JVs) are self-directed, nonregulatory partnerships working to conserve birds and their habitats. The JV network spans the U.S. as well as much of Canada and Mexico. The second-oldest joint venture, the Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture (LMVJV), founded in 1987, initially focused on recovering waterfowl populations. Today, it also addresses the conservation needs of landbirds, waterbirds, and shorebirds from eastern Oklahoma and Texas to the eastern edge of the Mississippi River’s floodplain. Sharing a common vision of bird conservation, the LMVJV has a 17-member management board that includes state and federal agencies and nonprofit organizations such as American Bird Conservancy. As a result of these partners’ efforts since the 1990s, more than 1 million acres have been reforested in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley alone. Anne Mini, LMVJV’s science…

The lead story in “Birding Briefs” in our February 2020 issue described a project of government agencies and conservation groups on the island of Maui aimed at saving one of the rarest and most critically endangered Hawaiian bird species, the Kiwikiu, or Maui Parrotbill. Surveys in 2017 estimated its total population at just 157 individuals. The last wild population is found in the high-altitude native forests of East Maui. After years of planning, the conservation project was set to establish a second “insurance” population at a site called the Nakula Natural Area Reserve, on the leeward slope of the Haleakalā volcano. A total of 14 Kiwikiu were released at the new site in October 2019. By late November, according to a report published in March 2021, “all birds either had…

The trail up Tow Hill, an isolated volcanic plug that rises to an elevation of 125 meters (410 feet) on Graham Island of the Haida Gwaii archipelago in western Canada, is steeped in the dark green of a coastal rainforest. Moss-covered trees and roots weave around the mountainous side of Tow Hill like arthritic hands, and in that dark are the chirps of unseen birds. The hike to the top of the hill is a 45-minute climb that leads to the Blow Hole, a unique coastal formation that shoots sprays of surf up into the air, but it is the thick downy ground cover in all shades of green that interests our group. Deep beneath the swirling roots and rocky soil are nests of the Ancient Murrelet, a rarely seen…

It is not uncommon for optics buyers to be both confused and daunted by binocular specifications. “Don’t you just pick them up and look through them?” Well, yes, you do exactly that whenever possible — after you have set them up for yourself by making three different adjustments (more on that below). For birdwatchers, it is important to gain a basic understanding of how to operate binoculars because, while most binoculars work for most people, some might not work for you. For years, I used binoculars that made birding a struggle, and when I see novice birders having a hard time in the field, I feel their pain and want to help! It is easy to feel overwhelmed, especially when the opportunity to test-drive the optics in person is limited…

PERHAPS THE GREATEST thing about watching birds is that you can do it pretty much anywhere. The hotspots featured on the following pages prove the point because they couldn’t be more different, yet they both offer the chance for thrills and impressive day lists, depending on when you go. The waterfall pictured above is just one spot along South Dakota’s Spearfish Canyon, a 22-mile-long drive with stunning scenery and birds like American Dipper and Golden Eagle. The other site we profile, Ford House in eastern Michigan, is a museum with a bird sanctuary on the grounds that has a checklist of more than 200 species. Grab your gear and get going! HOTSPOTS 313-314 no. 313 spearfish canyon scenic byway spearfish, south dakota no. 314 ford house grosse pointe shores, michigan…

Those of us in cities and suburbs may not think about attracting bluebirds, which are usually found in wilder or more rural settings. When bluebirds do nest or overwinter in cities or towns, they tend to be found in cemeteries, the expansive grounds surrounding college campuses (except where students gather), and similar areas that don’t see too much human activity. Bluebirds need wide expanses of open grassland and scattered trees or fences that furnish nesting and roosting cavities. Like other thrushes, they feed on insects on the ground, but unlike their relatives, bluebirds don’t run on the ground to find them. Rather, they scrutinize the ground from a perch, drop down to grab a promising-looking insect, then return to their perch. For a long time, people living in appropriate bluebird…