Category Archives: Uncategorized

Red-shouldered Hawk (Code 4) 24 Jan 2015

Area: Uncommon local resident and fairly common migrant, a few pairs are scattered across wooded areas of the county. Most commonly reported from Spruce Run Reservoir where a nesting pair is usually present.

Yard: Rare visitor, previous to 2015 only one sighting, a fall migrant flyby. Immature landed in trees in side yard 24 Jan 2015, mobbed briefly by group of crows, but they left it to sit for 15 minutes before moving on.

Classic Song Sparrow (left) and White-throated Sparrow (right).

Nobody could mistake a Song Sparrow for a White-throated Sparrow, right? The two don’t look anything alike. One has a streaked breast, often a central breast spot, and a prominent malar stripe or mustache. The other has an unmarked breast, prominent white throat, and yellow between the eyes and bill. Think again.

Streaked breast, central breast spot, prominent malar stripe–classic Song Sparrow, right? Nope!

What if you were a new birder and you saw this bird in your yard with a junco.  Maybe you haven’t seen that many sparrows before.  You thumb through your book, and you see read that Song Sparrow has a “striped face, streaks on the chest often run together into a central blotch” (Kaufman Guide) or that it is “coarsely streaked, with bold brown lateral throat-stripe and central breast-spot” (Sibley Guide).  You look back at the bird.  Three field marks tell you that this is a Song Sparrow.

Except it isn’t.  Most experienced birders would have no trouble telling that this is a first winter White-throated Sparrow.  But it isn’t even on the same page as the Song Sparrow in most guides, so how’s a novice to know?

This post really isn’t about how to tell the two apart, but more of a reminder of a few bird identification pitfalls.

We often say that you should ID a bird on more than one field mark.  In this case, without knowing better, you could make the ID based on three prominently mentioned classic field marks and still be wrong.  Bird descriptions and illustrations are usually helpful, but more so with experience.  We have to learn how to see birds.  Without experience, we often don’t know how to interpret what we are seeing.

And this doesn’t just go for new birders.  All of us have the potential to bump up against our experience gaps.  It may even happen more than we think.  How often do we make hasty calls, and if nobody is there to correct us, we are none the wiser.

How often do novices mistake young White-throated Sparrows for Song Sparrows?  Who knows?  Since they are both common in the Eastern US, it isn’t a mistake easily caught in eBird or elsewhere.  In the West, where White-throated Sparrows are less common, they would be more likely to be overlooked so the mistake might not be caught.

Since we all have to learn to see birds and how to interpret what we see, we should all be careful when we discuss bird ID with others.  Especially when dealing with a novice or non-birder.  Who knows what they are seeing?  You don’t have to be birding too long before you realize that not everyone sees the same thing when they are looking at a bird.  It takes birding socialization to align our perceptions with those of others.

So even if you think you could never mis-ID these two birds, perhaps there are still some valuable lessons to ponder from the Song vs. White-throated Sparrow ID dilemma?

Female Sharp-shinned Hawk, 20 Jan 2015

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Code 1) 16 Jan 2015

Area: Locally uncommon to fairly common winter resident, scarce local breeder, and common migrant.

Yard: Seen occasionally during the winter and more frequently during migration.  First bird of the 2015 was a female that bombed across the backyard briefly on 16 Jan.  The same or anther female bird popped up briefly on 20 Jan.  Photos aren’t great, but do show the squared off tail that is more consistent for this species than the more rounded tail of a Cooper’s Hawk.

More photos of the 20 Jan bird–all digiscoped with handheld iPod6 and Kowa 833 scope.

It’s been a tough slog the last few weeks, with only 2 new birds since January 2.  Spending every day with the same 20-30 species, and probably the same individual birds, is a real change of pace for me.  Normally by this time in January I’d have over 90 species for the county, and have logged hundreds of miles driving around to look for them all.  So far this January I’ve seen 42 species in the yard and a mere dozen or so other species elsewhere in the county.  It’s driving me a little crazy waiting for the birds to come to me!

Here are a couple eBird reports for the last few days
Jan 16
Jan 17
Jan 19

To keep myself going, I make sure to get out at least long enough to get my 20 Bird Minimum Daily Requirement.  I’m also filling in sound recordings for the audio big year.  Yesterday I added a recording of a calling Tufted Titmouse.

It has been interesting to watch for Canada Goose movements.  The last few days have been better for seeing flocks going over my house, so I’m scanning them for rare geese.  So far no dice, but it keeps me out looking!

Here are the species I saw in my yard in December, that haven’t shown up yet in January:  Cooper’s Hawk, Merlin, Greater White-fronted Goose (Code 4), Common Raven (Code 3), Common Grackle, Purple Finch (Code 2).

Waterfowl are moving–with most of the small ponds in the area frozen over, they are accumulating on the reservoirs and different species seem to show up on different days, so I know they are moving in the area.  How to see or hear them from my yard is the mystery!

It’s cold birding in January. Sundays I switch out the cold weather clothing for a suit and tie and take a break from the backyard big year.

I’m hitting my backyard big year pretty hard, outside in the cold at least 2 hours each day, and spending many more hours watching from inside, listening live to my OldBird 21c microphone, or reviewing audio recordings from the day or overnight recording sessions.  By the end of the week, my birding muscles are shot!

Sunday is my day of rest.  Since I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sunday is our Sabbath.  It is a day devoted mostly to family and church, and a rest from our normal daily labors.  For me it’s a great day to take a break from the backyard big year and recharge my birding batteries.  Since I’m currently 1.5 years into a usually 5 year gig as a Mormon bishop, my Sundays are pretty busy filled with leadership meetings, conducting services, counseling with church members, and often more meetings in the evening.  I’m usually out of the house by 7:15am and sometimes don’t get back until after dark.

This Sunday was no exception.  About half an hour before our main service (“sacrament meeting”) we determined that at the freezing rain was making travel too dangerous and we canceled services for the day.  Fortunately we were able to reach 200+ members by phone to let them know so they could stay home safe rather than risk driving in an ice storm.  Even though services were cancelled, I still ended up at the church until 2:30 with other meetings, then I had to drive to Morristown, NJ for leadership meetings.  I was home about 6:30pm after a very long day.

And no birds.

OK, I saw a couple species when I walked out to my car in the morning, but that was pretty much it.  And that’s OK.

Because now my bird muscles have relaxed and I’m ready to hit it hard again.  The birding sabbath is over for the week, and I’m ready to roll.  Bring it!

Eastern Screech Owl  (Code 2)  1 Jan 2014

Area: Common resident and breeder in woodlots throughout Hunterdon County.  Christmas Bird Counts in the region (Upper Bucks, etc.) often get high counts for the nation.

Yard: Uncommon, at least one bird presumably resident in the neighborhood, though infrequently heard.  I called up the bird at 12:42am on 1 Jan 2015 to start the backyard big year.

The following calls (whinny followed by trill) were recorded with my OldBird 21c microphone at 1:09am on 9 Jan 2014.

Here’s a stronger recording a few seconds later–two whinnies before the trill.

documentation shot, 9 Jan 2015

Snow Goose (Code 2) 1 Jan 2015

Area: Abundant winter resident and migrant, with tens of thousands roosting in the Lehigh Valley and often at Merrill Creek Reservoir just north of the county. Flocks more often found to the west and north of the country, but some flocks fly into the county to forage in fields during the day.

Yard: Uncommon winter flyover, though apparently regular and found almost daily with consistent effort.

Audio:

Beyond the yard and immediate neighborhood, the local area can have a big impact on a Backyard Big Year or yard listing.  Landscape and habitat features within a few miles of the yard will attract birds that may fly over your yard, or be visible from your yard.

Hoffman Park woodlands, ponds, and open grasslands just north of my neighborhood in Union Twp, Hunterdon, New Jersey.

Spruce Run and Clinton Wildlife Management Area northeast of my neighborhood in Union Twp, Hunterdon, New Jersey.

Wider view of my local area in Hunterdon County–Hoffman Park, Spruce Run, and hills to the north and farmland to south.

In my case, I’m less than half a mile south of Hoffman Park, a Hunterdon County Park that features many acres of grassland and woodland (161 species eBird list here).  Bobolinks nest here, and it probably helps me get Bobolink and Savannah Sparrow flyovers at my house.

2.5 miles northeast of my yard is Spruce Run Reservoir, probably the best birding site in Hunterdon County (273 species eBird list here).  Hopefully some of the waterfowl and shorebirds attracted to this (the third largest reservoir in NJ) will overfly my house.  As it is, every morning during the winter, I can see a mass exodus of gulls from Spruce Run as they fly west to the landfill in Easton, PA.

Local eBird hotspots and personal locations in my local area–including Hoffman Park, Spruce Run, Round Valley Reservoir. Lots of good birding in my local area bringing in over 311 species (currently recorded for the county in eBird).

In addition to these two major bird habitats, I’m less than 10 miles from the Delaware River, and have mostly open land and scattered residential development in the five miles around my home.  So there are lots of birds, and hopefully I can figure out how to observe most local species moving through this landscape.

Building on hillside 3.1 miles away as viewed through my Kowa 883 scope. Will a Wild Turkey flock ever walk through that yard?

The photo above is an example–with my scope I can look through the trees and over my neighbor’s house to watch a hillside that is 3.1 miles away.  I can see deer on the hillside, so maybe someday I’ll see Wild Turkey there.  Between me and the hillside I see thousands of gulls stream by each morning heading west from Spruce Run.  I can even ID Snow Goose and Canada Goose flocks flying above and behind the hill.  My first Gadwall for the yard was a pair seen flying through my view while scoping out this spot on 1 January.

See also Lay of the Land I: The Yard and Lay of the Land II: The Neighborhood.

Reviewing my OldBird 21c recording from last night, there were several possible waterfowl wing whistles.  Here’s the clearest one, from 12:11am.

Spectrogram of unknown wing whistle.  Click to enlarge.

Looking forward to spending more time on duck wing whistles as we push the Backyard Big Year into the audio ID frontier!

The yard itself is only one important landscape for the Backyard Big Year.  Since all birds seen or heard from your yard count, the neighboring yards and landscapes provide important habitat and opportunities for finding birds.

My yard is surrounded by wooded exurban yards, subdivisions, and an old farm (much of which was developed into the yards my neighbors and I live in.

Facing west (up), notice wooded slope to north and west, more open yards and old farm to the east, subdivision to south and northeast.

Birds eye view of neighborhood looking east (up).

The woods to my west and northwest provide a nice patch of woods, that connect to woods to my south, forming a wooded corridor that seems to funnel migrants.  The Old Farm Road pond to my east is usually empty, but sometimes hosts Mallards, Canada Goose, Great Blue Heron, and once upon a time, a drake Redhead.  Here’s hoping it attracts additional waterbirds this year, though it’s quite small.  A creek runs from the pond up onto my property, and flows down past the pond to feed into a larger creek and eventually the reservoir (see Lay of the Land III: The Local Area).

In addition to cover, the topography of the neighborhood is also important–I have almost no view to the west as this direction is dominated by raising ground and trees.  To the south, the road runs near the ridge of our hill, and the yards across the street drop off in elevation again, and since this area is also wooded, visibility is not great in this direction.

Too map of my neighborhood, showing roads, small pond to the northeast, creek, and hill rising to the west/northwest.

I’m sure I’ll learn a lot more about my neighbor’s yards as I’m walking around my own yard.  Remember to be a good neighbor and let your neighbors know that you’re going to be birding in the yard, and not staring into their homes with your high powered optics!

See Lay of the Land I: The Yard and Lay of the Land III: The Local Area