More Desert Shorebirding!
written by Alex Lamoreaux
This morning, Anna and I went to one of our cuckoo sites near Blythe that hadn't been visited in a few weeks to see if there was any cuckoo activity there. We arrived at 5:00am and stayed for an hour and forty-five minutes, without hearing anything, so we left to go to Cibola NWR. Here Anna and I were planning on finding a few cuckoos that Anna had first discovered on a survey last week, specifically this one bird that we had captured and banded. We were easily able to lure in 4 different cuckoos using call-playback, and none of them were banded. We assumed, based on calls and behavior, that the four birds were 2 males and 2 females. Where could that banded bird have gone? We searched around other areas of Cibola NWR, and couldn't even find another cuckoo, let alone a banded cuckoo. Around the 'Cornfield Nature Trail' area we had a flyover group of 3 Greater Yellowlegs and 3 Wilson's Phalaropes. There were also a few other yellowlegs foraging in a flooded field near there. A little later, Anna said she had just heard a Whimbrel call. I doubted it and said it was probably a Killdeer or distant yellowlegs, but I should have believed her, because a few minutes later, while we were walking back to the car, a lone Whimbrel flew over us, calling! This was a new Arizona species for us!
Yellow-billed Cuckoo - this sneaky cuckoo wants to be captured....
Indigo Bunting - male at Cibola NWR
Greater Yellowlegs at Cibola NWR
After work, Anna and I swung past Hart Mine Marsh. At the south end of the lake we spotted a lone Snowy Plover near some Black-necked Stilts. This was another new state bird for us! A few minutes later, things got better when we found 4 more Snowy Plovers as well as some Western and Least Sandpipers. I also was able to spot two Forster's Terns loafing out on some pieces of wood sticking up out of the lake. One was an adult, the other was a juvenile.
Snowy Plover - adult at Hart Mine Marsh
Snowy Plover and Semipalmated Plover at Hart Mine Marsh
Forster's Tern - juvenile at Hart Mine Marsh
Great Egret at Hart Mine Marsh
On a small mud flat out in the lake, I was able to get distant looks at 2 more Snowy Plovers as well as my first Semipalmated Plover in Arizona! Other highlights from Hart Mine were 2 Least Bitterns, 3 Common Moorhens, and 1 Spotted Sandpiper. The Brown Pelican and Little Blue Heron that we had a few days ago here were to where to be seen.
On the way back to Blythe, I scanned the telephone poles for raptors, while Anna drove. At a spot we often see Peregrine Falcons, we were not let down. As we drove nearer, even without binoculars, I could see the distinct silhouette of a Peregrine. We pulled up so I could get some photos and Anna and I both realized this was the exact some individual falcon that we had seen on 7/16/11; a heavily-molting subadult, that was likely a female based on size. The bird flew over to the next pole, allowing me to get some in-flight shots that show the blend of adult and juvenile feathers well. Here is a link to more, up-close, photos of this bird from 7/16/11. This other link is to a post I wrote recently on how to age Peregrine Falcons in the field.
Peregrine Falcon - subadult; Note blend of juvenile and adult feathers
Peregrine Falcon - subadult; Note blend of juvenile and adult feathers
Peregrine Falcon - subadult; Note blend of juvenile and adult feathers
Overall, it was a very good morning of birding. Hopefully we can go back to Cibola NWR soon to capture and band the 4 cuckoos we found today!
Wing-tagged herons and egrets
written by Drew Weber
The biologists up at Environment Canada recently wing tagged over 150 waders and are now asking for birders to report any sightings of these birds.
From one of the biologists-
50 young Great Blue Herons and over 100 young Great Egrets from three sites in Lake Huron have been marked with Green or Orange wing-tags in the last month; each tag carries a unique number-letter combination. New York and Pennsylvania birders are asked to watch for these birds and send details of any sightings (date, time, location, observer, color of tag and number-letter combination) to chip.weseloh@ec.gc.ca. Also, please report any evening roosting sites and feeding aggregations of 6 or more birds.
So if you see any green or orange on the wings of a wader, be sure to check it out and help the researchers out by reporting them!
Great Blue Heron (photo by Alex Lamoreaux)
Birding resources online- Pennsylvania
written by Drew Weber
Pennsylvania is a great state to bird in; we have enough elevation change to afford us a large diversity of breeding and migrating warblers, we are well situated to observe a large and diverse raptor migration, and we have a large community of talented and helpful birders who are willing to share sightings and help others see good birds.
Birding Hotspots
PSO Site Guide- Berks County
There are many great resources available for discovering birding hotspots in Pennsylvania. One notable site is hosted by the Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology (PSO). The PSO Site Guide presents you with a map of Pennsylvania and you can then explore birding hotspots county by county. This site features the major birding area in Pennsylvania and generally has a short description of each spot. Some birding spots have extensive instructions on how and when to best bird the area (ex. Lake Ontelaunee) which is an excellent resource for people new to the area. Additional information for the counties such as number of breeding birds, the counties total bird list, and top county life, year and big day lists look like they will be added in the future as well. This resource will continue to expand as birders contribute additional details about hotspots and add new spots to the map.
Aviatlas is another place to discover birding spots in Pennsylvania. It is a wiki-like site where you can add birding locations as well as add info to already existing spots. There are already lots of birding spots which people have added additional details for.
Hawkcount!, which facilitates the reporting of raptor migration for HMANA is a good place to find a hawk watch near you and figure out the best time to go. Check out the Tussey Mountain page and it will tell you that the best time of year to see a Golden Eagle is the first 2 weeks of March and the middle of November.
Bird sightings
PSO publishes a quarterly journal, Pennsylvania Birds, which is great for learning of notable sightings across the state, bird quizzes, rare bird photos as well as great Pennsylvania-centric articles on the birds and conservation.
A place to find out about recent bird sightings is on the PABirds listserv. You can find details about subscribing to this email listserv but an easier option is to check out birdingonthe.net where you can find the most recent posts without cluttering your inbox. The State College Bird Club also has a listserv where you can find additional sightings for central PA.
PSO Rarities gallery
Another resource from PSO is the Rarities Gallery from the Pennsylvania Ornithological Records Committee (PORC) which is maintained by Dave DeReamus. This gallery has all the photographic records submitted for birds on the Review List as well as several other notable birds not on the list. This is a fascinating resource to look at some of the more notable birds that have been seen in Pennsylvania. It is also an interesting look at how the quality of reality/documentation photos have increased with the increase in digiscoping with high quality optics and cameras as well as the availability of more affordable digital cameras. If you want to check out some of my photos you can go to the page for Harlequin Duck and Ash-throated Flycatcher. The page also includes a link to send any documentation for Review List species that you see, which I highly recommend you do if you are lucky enough to spot a rare bird. It is always exciting to ponder what will be the next addition to the Pennsylvania list.
Another resource that is not necessarily Pennsylvania specific is the Pennsylvania eBird portal. The PA portal features news items that are directed towards birders in Pennsylvania. You can quickly explore bird all the data that birders have submitted and look up, for example, which birds to expect in Chester County.
I hope these resources help you when you are planning on birding in Pennsylvania. Let me know if you have any other birding resources for Pennsylvania.
Desert Shorebirding!
written by Alex Lamoreaux
A few of the cuckoos that we fitted with radio transmitters have gone missing, so this morning, Anna and I drove around to all of our cuckoo sites to search for them using our car-mounted radio-receiver. This 'cuckoo-finder', as we call it, has two yagi antennae's, that work in unison to be able to pick up a cuckoo's radio telemetry unit from quite a distance away. Below is a photo of the setup.
The 'Cuckoo-finder', with Anna searching for a lost bird's signal.
While we were at the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge 'Island Unit', we found an American Avocet foraging with Black-necked Stilts. We also flushed an adult Peregrine Falcon out of a a dead tree. This began our morning of good birding luck and many shorebirds. While driving to the Cibola NWR Cornfield Nature Trail, we spotted some Least Sandpipers and a non-breeding plumage Wilson's Phalarope in a flooded field. After we had checked all the Cibola NWR sites, we went over to Hart Mine Marsh, which is also on the NWR property. As soon as we pulled up, Anna spotted a juvenile Brown Pelican diving for fish. This species is quite uncommon in Arizona. Also at Hart Mine Marsh, were loads of Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Green Herons, and Great Blue Herons. We also flushed two Least Bitterns. Plus a highlight was finding a molting subadult Little Blue Heron. Little Blue's are rare in Arizona. We also found one subadult Black-crowned Night-Heron. As were we leaving, I spotted a Sora walking along the cattails, and when I stopped the car it flushed up and flew over the first row of cattails and went out of view. As far as shorebirds go, we were able to find Long-billed Curlew, Black-necked Stilts, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Greater Yellowlegs, and Killdeer at the marsh. There was also a flock of 41 Blue-winged Teal. In a flooded field near the Cibola NWR Cornfield Nature Trail, we found more Least Sandpipers, Killdeer, and a Wilson's Phalarope!
American Avocet - adult female at Cibola NWR - Island Unit
Brown Pelican (juvenile) and Great Egret - these birds were quite a distance away.
Little Blue Heron - molting subadult
Least Bittern - adult
Snowy Egret (juvenile) and Black-crowned Night-Heron (subadult) - at first I thought that this Snowy was a juvenile Little Blue, because of it's all-green legs, but the yellow lores back it a Snowy.
Anna and I checked one final cuckoo site to see if any of our missing birds were hiding out there, but couldn't find any. On our way back towards Blythe, we stopped to check out two flooded agricultural fields and found some more great birds. The field was packed with Cattle Egrets and White-faced Ibis (250 and 81, respectively). Anna spotted a 'Western' Willet and I spotted a Marbled Godwit. The godwit was out 10th shorebird of the day! There were also some Long-billed Curlew and Greater Yellowlegs foraging in the field. Just a few miles up the road, we stopped at another flooded field. This one had many Great Egrets, Cattle Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and Ring-billed Gulls. We were also able to find some Greater Yellowlegs here as well as Least Sandpipers and Killdeer. However, the highlight was seeing seven Black Terns flying around the flooded field, occasionally sitting next to the yellowlegs. My friend Tim Shreckengost stopped by about an hour later and wasn't able to find the terns, but did see a Peregrine Falcon, so perhaps the terns were scared off.
Black Terns and Greater Yellowlegs
Hopefully the farmers keep flooding their fields and the birds keep coming. I am lucky that I get to pass these areas everyday on my way to and from work, so I hope I can pick up some more shorebirds and other interesting species!
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