Request for Photos of Birds with Bugs
written by Alex Lamoreaux
Dr. Doug Tallamy, Professor and Chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, is looking for good photos of birds carrying insects for a study he is doing in hopes of measuring the impact of invasive plants on insect prey available to birds.
Here is what Dr. Tallamy is looking for in his own words:
"I need all the "birds with insects" photos I can get. I am starting a study to see just how specialized some species of birds are in their diet. The ultimate goal is to see how plant invasions change the availability of insects for birds and then to measure whether birds can adjust to those changes or whether they simply leave those areas. This is all hampered by having very poor data on exactly what birds are eating. "insects" isn't good enough. I need to know what species of insects. There are so many existing photos out there that are good enough to ID the insect in the beak that I thought I would start a data base from citizen scientists. There could be regional specialization so I think I will seek photos from all over the country. I won't use any pics other than to ID the insect. I would like to have the date the photo was taken, whether the bird was migrating or not (best guess), the location of the shot (nearest post office is usually good enough), and the photographer and the email address (if he or she feels like sharing that). All participants will be given credit when I publish the results. Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated."
I know there are some amazing bird photographers out there and even more beginning photographers, like myself, that must have quite a lot of 'birds with bugs' photos. If any of you have good quailty photos of birds carrying insects, please consider emailing them to Dr. Tallamy (dtallamy@udel.edu). This is a great opportunity for birders to help with bird research, and to further our understanding of the natural world. Here is a link to more info about Dr. Tallamy.
Loggerhead Shrike with insect prey - Miami, Florida (Photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
Zone-tailed Hawk – Photo Study
written by Alex Lamoreaux
While driving down from Mt. Lemmon last week, as we were entering the suburbs of Tucson, Arizona, a beautiful adult Zone-tailed Hawk was soaring right over the road! I couldn't believe me eyes; this was the closest I had ever seen a Zone-tailed Hawk. Usually when I see them, they are no closer than a mile away, so to have one soaring so close overhead that at times I couldn't even fit the entire bird in my camera frame was insane. I took close to 100 photos of this beautiful raptor, but below are the ones I liked the best. I hope you enjoy them as well!
Zone-tailed Hawk - adult in Tucson, Arizona
Zone-tailed Hawk - adult in Tucson, Arizona
Zone-tailed Hawk - adult in Tucson, Arizona
Zone-tailed Hawk - adult in Tucson, Arizona
Zone-tailed Hawk - adult in Tucson, Arizona
SE Arizona, Day 5 – Mt. Lemmon and Tucson
written by Alex Lamoreaux
This is the fifth in a series of posts about my recent trip to southeastern Arizona, the other posts can be seen at these links (day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4). On July 31st, we spent the night at the "Rooster Roost" cabin in Summerhaven. This put us already at the top of Mt. Lemmon the next morning, August 1st. We birded around the cabin for a few minutes and then drove up to the Ski Valley area, just about a mile up the road. All three nuthatch species could be heard calling and we ran in to some Red-faced Warblers foraging in a small flock. A Great Horned Owl was calling in the distance. Mountain Chickadee was a lifer for Chris, and some other mountain species such as Stellar's Jay and Yellow-eyed Junco were nice to see.
At a pulloff overlooking Summerhaven, we pulled over and spotted some close Pygmy Nuthatches. Chris called out that he saw some warblers nearby with yellow-ish throats. I knew right away that they could be Olive Warblers, and we were all very excited to see that they actually were! This was a lifer for both Chris and Mark.
Olive Warbler - female
Yellow-eyed Junco - fledgling
We then slowly worked out way down the mountain, stopping occasionally at pulloffs and forest roads to see what birds were around. One highlight was seeing multiple Virginia's Warblers, which were lifers for all four of us! Once we got back in to Tucson, Chris spotted a Zone-tailed Hawk. I drove over closer to it and we were lucky enough to have the hawk fly right over our heads! This was by far the closest I have ever been to a Zone-tail.
Virginia's Warbler
Zone-tailed Hawk - adult
After getting some breakfast, the four of us visited the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and then we drove around a section of the Saquaro National Park. Chris were able to pick up a few more lifers including Cactus Wren and Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. After that we all grabbed some ice cream, and the Anna and I had to drive back to Blythe to work the next day, while Chris and Mark went to their hotel for the night and flew back to Pennsylvania the next morning.
We were able to find 163 species of birds during our short trip, 83 of which were lifers for Mark and at least 90 were lifers for Chris! Anna and I each picked up 5 lifers!
SE Arizona Birding, Day 4 – Chiricahuas to Willcox
written by Alex Lamoreaux
This is the fourth posts in a series of posts about my recent birding trip to SE AZ (links to day 1, day 2, day 3). On July 31st, Mark, Chris, Anna and I woke up early and watched the hummingbird feeders outside of the George Walker House in Paradise, AZ. We really wanted to pick up Juniper Titmouse here, since that would be a lifer for Chris and Mark. We didn't have to wait very long before one flew in to grab a few seeds, offering us some great views. Mark and Chris were also able to get their lifer Black-throated Gray Warbler and Blue-throated Hummingbird at the George Walker House. The hummingbird feeders here were loaded; no where else that we stopped had as many hummers as the George Walker House, it was insane.
Chris standing at one of the feeders at the George Walker House as a male Magnificent Hummingbird comes in to drink.
We left the George Walker House around 8:00am, because we wanted to get down the the Herb Martyr area early to try again for our nemesis bird of the trip, Buff-breasted Flycatcher. We searched all up and down this road, from the Southwestern Research Station to the dead end, with no success....looks like I will have to work on this species on a future southeast Arizona trip. We did however, find some other good birds such as a distant Zone-tailed Hawk and calling Northern Goshawks (an adult and two juveniles). Around 10:00am, we went to the Southwestern Research Station and were offered excellent views of many Blue-throated Hummingbirds as well as six other hummer species. A male Hooded Oriole was another nice sighting as well as Say's Phoebes feeding their young.
Blue-throated Hummingbird - male
Blue-throated Hummingbird - female on nest
Rufous Hummingbird - male
Magnificent Hummingbird - male
Say's Phoebe
Next, we drove up towards the intersection of FR42 (the road towards Onion Saddle) and FR42B (the road towards Paradise) to search for Mexican Chickadees that had been reported there, which would be a lifer for Chris and Mark. There were already to birders there as we pulled up and we talked to them for a few minutes. They said they had hiked up the hillside there and had seen at least three chickadees with a flock of warblers and other birds. As I was talking to one guy, out of the corner of my eye I noticed a bear walking up to us. I yelled to everyone that there was a bear and we all were able to watch this probable one-year old Black Bear walk around and occasionally pick up some grass and eat it. The bear attempting twice to walk up to us, but we yelled at it and it would back away.
Young Black Bear
Young Black Bear
Mark, Anna, and I watching the Black Bear forage - photo by Chris Markiewicz
The two birders left, as did the bear, and the four of us walked around for a while listening and looking for chickadees; we didn't find any. We then drove down to Dave Jasper's house, where we had great looks at two Pyrrhuloxia's before beginning our drive towards Willcox.
Pyrrhuloxia - adult
In Willcox, we visited Lake Cochise and the Willcox Golf Course. At the lake, I was blown away by the number of shorebirds present. I was very excited to see Stilt Sandpipers and Baird's Sandpipers, two species I don't get to see very often, coming from Pennsylvania. Other shorebirds present included Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Least and Western Sandpiper, Wilson's Phalarope, and Long-billed Dowitcher. At the Golf Course, we all got our lifer Scaled Quail, a nice adult male perched under a mesquite tree. Afterwards, we drove back to Tucson, where we got dinner and then drove up to Summerhaven to spend the night.
Black Tern at Lake Cochise
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