Photo of owl courtesy Phil Eager.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, I was able to tag along on part of Mimi’s business trip to London, for a mini-vacation. I didn’t have much of an agenda, so I spent most of my time just wandering around old and new London neighborhoods, but oddly enough not actually setting foot into a museum or church.

Not surprisingly I suppose, I also did a little bit of birding. We lived in London for a year a long time ago, long before we were birders, which meant that most birds there are ones that we’ve not seen before (or rarely). Lucky for me, and thanks to an amazing local birder, I was able to enjoy a particularly nice new bird: London’s only known breeding pair of Little Owls in Regent’s Park, a Royal Park and the largest park in Central London and only a 20-minute walk from our hotel.

Little Owls, which are indeed little, were actually introduced into the country in the 19th century and are not uncommon in England. However, whether it’s these owls or the Red-tailed Hawks in Central Park, I always think it’s particularly interesting to see birds like that in the middle of a huge city, seemingly so out of context but comfortably at home in the “backyards” of large metropolises.

My owl opportunity came about thanks to Tony Duckett, who runs a great blog on the birds of Regent's Park. I came across his website and blog while doing a bit of research on birding in London, and he offered to show me the owls on one of my mornings in the city. Tony actually works at the park as the Wildlife Officer, and his primary job responsibility is as caretaker of the waterfowl collection that has historically been an important part of the park. In fact, birding some of Central London’s parks can be a bit frustrating at times because you’re never quite sure if the ducks and geese that you’re looking at wild or part of the collection. Tony’s simple hint: If they fly away, they’re not part of his collection!

Over the years, quite apart from his main responsibilities, Tony (who is a birder and natural history enthusiast) has made great strides in re-landscaping portions of the park to provide more habitat for nesting and migrating birds. Much of Regent's Park is devoted to ball fields and the like, but even transforming some of the borders (with bushes and deeper cover) can really help with the bird populations. It’s a simple proposition to understand, but getting it approved and done in an urban park with many constituencies can take a lot of work and much persistence.

Although Regent's Park gets its fair share of migrating songbirds and rarities, it’s not a migrant “trap” in the same way as New York’s Central Park. In late May, spring migration has dwindled anyway so it's mostly the resident birds, like the Robin (the "real" one, not the American Robin which is really a thrush), several species of warblers (including Reed Warblers who have appropriately enough embraced the reeds that have been recently planted along the lake and elsewhere in the park) and, of course, the Little Owls.

I met Tony at 6 a.m. on my first full day in London, at a time when my body (still on California time) was just ready to go to sleep. Although Little Owls are more active during daytime than many owls, it’s still important to try and see them early in the morning, especially in a popular place like Regent’s Park, given foot-traffic as people headed off to work and the relentless traffic noise in central London. On this Friday morning, the owls showed up almost on cue, a few minutes after we pulled up to their area in Tony's green Royal Parks truck, using the truck as a blind. We watched them for 20 minutes or so, as they used a couple of large tree limbs as the lifting off spot for their foraging run in the early morning light gathering food for their owlets still in the nest.

After getting great views, and a few photos (which pale in comparison to the photos that Tony has on his website), Tony generously spared an hour or so to show me around the park, pointing out his restoration areas and identifying birds by voice that I didn’t have a chance to figure out on my own.

Mimi couldn’t come along on the Friday excursion because she was working, but we did retrace the route on Sunday morning so that she could enjoy the owls (and whatever else we could find without Tony's help). It was much windier that morning but we caught some nice glimpses of the owls, coming and going from their nest hole, especially after Tony wandered by and we were again able to use his truck as a blind. After that, we wandered around the park for a while, seeing what we could see--between the wind and being on our own in a foreign land, we didn't see too much, but still had a fun early Sunday morning well before much of London was awake.

Although I was particularly lucky on this trip, it’s always a great idea when you're traveling to new places to do an Internet search on birding in the area. Oftentimes, you'll find bird clubs, local Audubon chapters, or dedicated birders like Tony who have set up web pages or blogs dedicated to birding in their area or their local patch. You may or may not come across someone like Tony, but you'll almost certainly find out information about local hotspots for birds, bird checklists, and even information about field trips and walks.

I can't promise that you'll be able to enjoy something as nifty as a Little Owl in the middle of one of the world's largest and busiest cities, but you're sure to find a park or other local spot that may still have something new that you've not seen before. And there's something refreshing about being out and about in the morning in a distant city, as the city wakes up and everyone goes about their business, to make you feel a bit less like a tourist and maybe ever so slightly more like you belong.

Happy Birding!

+ + + + + + + + + + +

Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

This Saturday brings one of the more interesting events in the birding calendar: the 27th annual World Series of Birding organized by the New Jersey Audubon Society. It’s an event in which teams of birders fan across the state of New Jersey (yes, you read that right) from midnight to midnight in order to count as many species of birds as they can see and/or hear in that time period.

If it sounds a bit strange, it is, but the event does a lot for fundraising and very successfully promotes both birding in general and New Jersey as birding destination. The WSB (and many other bird-a-thons) are scheduled for the middle of May, in order to maximize the number of migrating and breeding species to be counted. In recent years, the winners of the statewide competition have counted upwards of 200 different species – in one day, in New Jersey! Just in Cape May County, the winning team last year had over 180 species.

Started in 1984 by Pete Dunne (Roger Tory Peterson was on the winning team that inaugural year), it’s now become big enough to be mocked by a baby-faced Jon Stewart and Steve Carrell in this Daily Show segment from 2000.

There are various categories of competition, from the statewide teams to teams focusing on specific counties, and there’s now even a low carbon footprint category for teams competing by bicycle, kayak, etc. There’s even a small team (with appropriate security clearances!) that counts bird species on the property of a nuclear power plant along the coast. I’m always particularly amused by the entertaining names that are chosen for teams – teams in last year’s World Series included, for example, the “Nine Inch Rails” and the “Limping Limpkins”.

The statewide teams usually start in the northern part of the state and follow a pre-scouted route south towards the finish line in Cape May, at the southern tip of the state. They really do start counting at midnight – with so many species counted by ear, a good WSB team can tally over 30 species before the sun even comes up.

It’s not just one day of sleep deprivation, nor is it a day of nice casual birding with your friends (there are other days for that). Teams spend weeks scouting locations and planning out their routes, identifying likely spots for as many species as possible before the big day. Even though it’s a serious competition, with serious bragging rights to the winners, it’s still a friendly competition since all of the money goes to good causes, and teams freely share information with each other. There's now even a Twitter hashtag (#wsob) to follow for team updates and scouting reports.

More than just a competition that intrigue sand confounds non-birders, the WSB has become a major fundraiser for a number of bird conservation organizations, large and small, including the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the Cape May Bird Observatory. According to this local news article from Cape May, CMBO raises around $100 per species seen and Cornell’s Team Sapsucker brings in about $1,000 per species. Although we’ve not done the WSB before (yet?), our annual problem is trying to decide how much to pledge to our favorite team, taking into account just how good these birders are (and the resulting check we’ll need to write!).

Although the World Series of Birding gets a lot of the attention, many large and small bird-a-thons and Big Days are scheduled around the country each year, including another biggie, the Great Texas Birding Classic, along the Texas coast each spring. The Los Angeles Times has a nice story on a big day commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Los Angeles Audubon Society, and Massachusetts Audubon and PRBO Conservation Science also organize well-known bird-a-thon fundraisers. There are even similar events scheduled internationally, from South Africa to the wonderfully named La Maraton de Aves in El Salvador.

I’m not advocating that we all rush out and criss-cross our states this weekend frantically counting birds, but keeping track of your species list (especially this time of year) can be a fun way to encourage yourself to pay just a little more attention to the birds you’re seeing. You never know when that next sparrow or warbler might be hiding around a bend in the trail, just waiting to be added to your day list.

Happy birding, and good luck to all of the World Series of Birding teams!

+ + + + + + + + + + +

Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

With the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico continuing to occupy my thoughts this week, I wasn’t feeling too inspired to write a bird posting and, in fact, I missed my Wednesday timeslot for the week. A couple of things changed my mind over the last day or so though.

First, a colleague reminded me that Saturday (May 8) is International Migratory Bird Day, a day on which we’re all supposed to celebrate and revel in the amazing phenomenon that is bird migration, but which this year has a sad twist to it, given the massive threats to migrating and breeding birds posed by the oil spill in the Gulf.

Second, I was watching a morning news program at the gym today about the oil disaster, and the reporter wrapped up her broadcast with the “good news” that only two oiled birds have been recovered so far, and that one of them, a Brown Pelican, was soon going to be released back into its “natural habitat.” Now, apart from the fact that an oil-soaked Gulf is hardly a “natural” habitat, the story (which I’m sure is being repeated in many news outlets) simply ignores the ongoing and devastating problems facing birds and wildlife in and around the Gulf. For most of the media today, if a point can’t be captured in a simple sound bite or with a piece of video, they’ll just ignore the deep and subtle issues involved and focus on the “good” (or at least, simple) news.

Fortunately, there are lots of other news outlets and conservation organizations that are keeping the focus on the threats to birds and other wildlife during the time of year when they’re most vulnerable. None of it is easy reading for anyone who cares about our planet and its wildlife, but it should be essential reading for all of us.

As I mentioned last week, and as the New York Times points out, measuring the extent of this disaster isn’t just a matter of counting oiled birds scooped out of the Gulf. We’re talking about an entire ecosystem and food chain under unprecedented threats, from the eggs of blue crabs to the unpredictable effects of oil and fumes on migrating or breeding dolphins and whales. The blog of the journal Science reiterates why the timing of this is just so awful, including one I hadn’t thought of: The start of hurricane season is less than a month away.

Several conservation organizations that focus on birds and birding have great web resources, including links to updated blogs and Twitter feeds about recovery efforts and information about the spill, including the American Bird Conservancy and the American Birding Association.

And some of our broader conservation colleagues, like those at the National Audubon Society, have web pages dedicated to the spill, along with press releases about which bird species are at risk and how the oil is slowly encroaching on the crucial bird areas of the region.

Field of View, the blog of Birder’s World magazine, contributes this map of Important Bird Areas threatened by the oil, as well as suggestions for what we can all do, and links to other resources for information on the spill.

Douglas Brinkley, the author of the brilliant recent biography, The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America, wrote an article today about Roosevelt’s visits to some of the very islands now threatened by the spill. It’s particularly apt and poignant today because it was an understanding of how fragile that ecosystem is that led Roosevelt to create the National Wildlife Refuge system, a system that has done so much to help protect our country’s birds but which is defenseless against man-made disasters like this one.

Finally, out on the front lines of rescuing and rehabilitating the birds and other wildlife affected by the spill is a large network of groups that do just that -- they are on-call every day for large spills like this, as well as for smaller spills that don’t make the news. The Oiled Wildlife Care Network has a blog about the ongoing efforts and challenges involved with the rescue efforts, as does the International Bird Rescue Research Center. The work these groups do is essential to saving the lives of wildlife every day, and we should all think about volunteering for or supporting our local wildlife-rescue group, even when they’re not in the news.

So, no, despite the TV news reports, all is not fine for the birds of the Gulf region and their “natural habitat.” I’ve been a bit guilty of feeling overwhelmed by the whole thing, and not wanting to think (or write) about it. But when you read about just how devastating this whole thing will be, and all of the amazing efforts of the Sierra Club and other organizations to help minimize the damage, you realize that we shouldn’t (and can’t) tune this out. Otherwise, the talking heads and sound bites on TV will prevail, and we’ll learn nothing at all from this latest disaster.

Oh, and don’t forget to get outside this weekend and try and enjoy some migrating birds. It’s good for the soul and might help recharge us all for what looks to be a long and difficult recovery.

+ + + + + + + + + + +

Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

Not that there’s ever a good time or place for something like the huge Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, but the disaster has occurred so completely in the wrong place at the wrong time when it comes to threatening untold numbers of birds and other wildlife. Coming right in the middle of spring migration and breeding season, it’s almost impossible to overstate the potential devastation facing any number of seabirds, shorebirds, and songbirds, as well as many turtles, whales, and dolphins.

Pictures of oiled birds are often what sticks in our minds when thinking about oil spills, and the first birds that are showing up in rehab centers are indeed oiled seabirds, like the Northern Gannet in this story. Once a bird gets coated in oil after landing on the water to rest or to feed, the effects are widespread and quickly become life-threatening. Once a bird’s feathers are oiled, it can’t preen itself, which hinders its ability to fly and to keep its feathers waterproof and properly aligned. Matted feathers lead to hypothermia, and the constant preening done by an oiled bird also means that it’s ingesting oil into its system.

However, as the Audubon Society describes in its comprehensive (and thoroughly depressing) press release, that’s unfortunately only one type of threat facing birds and other wildlife in the spring time. Many migratory shorebirds use the beaches and wetlands of the Gulf Coast as an important stopping-over spot on their northbound journey each spring. And the shorebirds and seabirds that nest along the shores will have their nesting grounds damaged, including the possibility of having their eggs, or their newly-hatched chicks, oiled. Even warblers and other songbird migrants may be affected as this is the peak of their trans-Gulf migration period. And who knows what effects the oil, fumes, and “controlled” burns could have on that journey.

As just one example of an imperiled species, the Brown Pelican is the state bird of Louisiana, and this oil spill is just the latest threat to the bird’s continued survival. As I wrote back in the summer, the Brown Pelican was just removed from the endangered species list last year, after decades of threats from DDT, habitat loss, and, yes, oil spills. It makes you wonder how well the population will survive with this latest huge threat in the middle of its breeding season.

There are efforts under way to try and control the threats to wildlife, but the poignant first photo in this BBC story shows just how hard of a task that is. Sure, you can put up containment booms offshore and along the beaches, but birds aren’t hard-wired to understand the threats of oil and the function of booms.

In a way, it’s a sad commentary on the prevalence of oil spills and other man-made disasters, but there are now so many experienced and capable bird rescue and rehabilitation centers that can spring into action in times like this. Whether it’s something on the scale of the Gulf disaster or Exxon Valdez, or something smaller, there are always incidents to be responded to. The International Bird Rescue Research Center in California is just one of these great organizations that is responding to the Gulf Coast, incident and you can follow their work and get updates on the rescue efforts on their blog.

So, what can we do about this? Obviously, the long-term solution involves breaking our dependence on oil and other dirty sources of energy (and stopping the expansion of offshore drilling), but in the more immediate term, there are a few things we can do. I suspect that, as with many natural or man-made disasters, a lot of groups and organizations will need money in the near term to help with their efforts-- but there are also other ways to be active. You can help support a wildlife rehab organization, like the IBRRC, or if you have the time and ability, you can see about volunteering your time either locally or in the Gulf region. Audubon has some ideas on how to help, including setting up a clearinghouse for volunteers, and the IBRRC has some other numbers and links about how to help.

As we’ve seen time and time again, ecosystems and their individual parts are more resilient than we might sometimes think, and we can only hope that this is the case again. But with the huge scale and the disastrous timing of the “river of oil” in the Gulf, our luck may have run out this time. I really hope not, but it’s just so painful to think of what might happen.

+ + + + + + + + + + +

Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

Photos by John Wilson.

It's one thing when you're hiking along a trail through the spring-green rolling hills of California, and someone says, "Look! A hawk!"

It's an entirely different kind of thing when your colleague walks over to your desk in an office building in the financial district of San Francisco, points to the office building next door, and says, "Look! A hawk!"

This happened to me last week, and it was astounding to look out the window and see this magnificent creature perched on the balcony just across the way.

My colleague John snapped some photos, which I emailed to Birder Phil, our Trails birdwatching blogger and guru. Here's what he wrote back:

"It's a Red-tailed Hawk -- you can even see its red tail, and that band of darker feathers across its belly is another good field mark."

Birder Phil also reminded me of some of his past blog posts that have city themes, like his inaugural entry, which I gave the silly title, "Hawk Child in the City." That post included a link to a "nest cam" focused on a Peregrine Falcon nest here in San Francisco, atop the PG&E building. It's worth checking out because there's a fledgling in the nest right now! And there was also the post called "How to Keep Buildings from Killing Birds." And one of my favorites, "Nice Day at the (Sewage) Pond."

So keep your eyes open folks, even if you're sitting at a desk in a sprawling metropolis every day. You never know what you might see!

As you’re no doubt aware, the 40th anniversary of Earth Day is coming up on April 22, and there are lots of events and celebrations planned. We hope you’re planning to attend an event organized by your local Club chapter or other group, many of which will take place the weekend of the 23rd and 24th.

In recognition of the upcoming day, Audubon California came up with a handy list of 20 things we can do to “Make Earth Day for the Birds.” Their great Audublog is running posts about the topic each day.

Like the Sierra Club’s own Earth Day pledge sweepstakes, many of their suggestions are great, small changes we can make to not just help the birds, but also to contribute to a healthier ecosystem, like reducing our use of plastic and remembering to bring your own reusable bags to the store.

In previous entries, we discussed a few of the bird-specific ways to help, like buying organic and shade-grown coffee and helping reduce bird collisions with windows. Audubon has a number of other ideas that are well worth pondering as you think about how to make a difference on Earth Day and beyond. For example, they have some great backyard-habitat suggestions for making your patch of green just a bit greener and more hospitable to birds and other wildlife.

Besides the things you can do on your own for Earth Day (and the rest of the year), be sure to keep an eye out for local events organized around the day, like habitat clean-up and restoration that you can do with family and friends. With migration and breeding in full swing, now is a good time to make sure wildlife patches are as wild and clean as they can be.

Mimi and I will actually be in Arizona for a bit of birding (and some baseball) next week, so it’s a safe bet that we’ll be out and about and enjoying nature on the 22nd.

Happy early Earth Day, because after all, every day really is Earth Day!

+ + + + + + + + + + +

Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

Back in January, Birding Phil let us all know about the Great Backyard Bird Count, to wit:

Speaking of backyards, one fun event that’s coming up in February is the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, a joint project of Cornell and Audubon. The GBBC is exactly what it sounds like: participants count birds in their backyards (or other local spots), making it a great activity even in cold or bad weather, letting you count and enjoy birds from comfort of your living room, especially if you have feeders up. It can also be a great family birding experience. The website has helpful regional checklists (handy even when not doing the count), and you can easily enter your sightings through the data entry forms on the site.

Well the count happened, the results are in, and I want you to guess which bird species was seen the most. Go ahead -- guess!

The answer: Robins!

Here's some info by the numbers, according to this article and the Great Backyard Bird Count website:

63,000 -- Number of volunteers who participated
602 -- Total species observed
11,233,252 -- Total individual birds counted
1,850,082 -- Number of American Robins counted
748,356 -- Number of Canada Geese counted (second to Robins)

There are many other fascinating tidbits on the Great Backyard Bird Count website -- check 'em out here.

And hey, if you haven't participated in the past, why not plan on it next year? It's a great activity to undertake with children.

Just make sure you keep the cats inside.

In the spirit of spring migration, we’re in the middle of our own personal migration, moving across town in San Francisco. While not nearly as long or arduous as the twice-annual migration of, say, the Arctic Tern, it has cut into my blogging time this week (and our birding time this month), so I thought I’d just point out a few interesting stories that have caught my eye over the past couple of weeks.

Speaking of eyes, Tioga Jenny sent me this fascinating story of a possible new bird species distinguished from its closest relations only by the color of its eyes. With DNA advances, the discovery of new species happens more often than you might think, but the sobering point at the end of this story is that many such species (which have such small populations) are on the brink of extinction.

In Southern California, Bald Eagles are breeding again on the Channel Islands, and you can check out three nests on these web cams set up by the Institute of Wildlife Studies on the islands of Santa Cruz and Santa Catalina. In an interesting example of the interconnectedness of ecosystems, the return of the Bald Eagles (through a long reintroduction program) has been beneficial to the native Channel Island fox. For decades, with the Bald Eagle population plummeting because of DDT, the foxes were impacted with predation by Golden Eagles who moved in to take the place of the Bald Eagles (which are primarily fish eaters). So, with the recovery and reintroduction of the Bald Eagles to the Channel Islands, and the elimination of overgrazing, the fox is hopefully on the road to recovery too.

On the topic of breeding raptors, you’ve probably heard of Pale Male and the famous Red-tailed Hawks of Central Park in New York City, but did you know that in the past decade or so, hawks have been nesting all over the city? On his wonderful The City Birder blog, Rob Jett does a great job of trying to keep track of all of the nests in various city parks, and he’s starting to muse about whether they’re following him on his travels around the city.

And, finally, in an “only in New York” kind of a story, a female coyote was captured in a Tribeca parking garage in downtown Manhattan this week, after evading capture for a few days. Interestingly, according to the New York Times, the law requires that she be released within the five boroughs of the city, which fortunately does have more open space than you might think (especially in the northern reaches of the city). You might remember that there was a coyote in Central Park earlier this year, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled the next time you venture out in the big city.

A coyote in a more usual habitat, Mt. Diablo, CA. Photo by Phil Eager.

On that note, back to dealing with our move, and fighting with the cable company. Writing about birds and coyotes is much less stressful!

+ + + + + + + + + + +

Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

With spring just around the corner for much of the country (despite snow in Denver today), it’s a good time to start thinking about working a spring birding festival or two into your travels this year. Back in the fall, I wrote about the advantages of attending a birding festival, whether in your area or a bit further afield, and spring is the other big season during which you’ll find lots of festivals scheduled.

The schedule for spring festivals tends to move north with the approaching season – the San Diego festival was a few weekends ago, but the Copper River Shorebird Festival and Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival in Alaska are in May and the Acadia Birding Festival in Maine isn’t until June.

With still time for you to plan a trip, I’m not the only birding blogger or writer thinking about this topic at the moment. All About Birds has a nice summary by Laura Erickson on the benefits of birding festivals, plus as a good round-up of upcoming ones across the country, from Georgia and Florida to Minnesota and Alaska. The American Birding Association’s website also maintains a searchable database of upcoming festivals.

To augment that list, I thought I’d mention a few that we’ve either been to or would like to get to (if not this year, then soon!), with a focus on a couple festivals that are new this year in great birding hotspots in Ohio and California.

Its name might be a cue, but the Biggest Week in American Birding, from May 6 to 16 in northwestern Ohio, is timed and located to take advantage of one of the great migration spectacles in North America: the spring migration of the colorful warblers and other songbirds from their wintering grounds in Central and South America northward to their breeding grounds in the northern United States and Canada. The festival has a great list of organizers (including the Black Swamp Bird Observatory), as well as some amazing programs, including ones led by Kenn Kaufman. Definitely worth checking out if you like the idea of, as the website says, a “warbler migration madhouse.”

Another first-year entrant is the Point Reyes Birding Festival from April 23 to 26, centered in and around the Point Reyes National Seashore and other birding hotspots in West Marin County, just north of San Francisco. While warbler migration isn’t the main thing on the West Coast, Point Reyes has a wonderfully diverse habitat, so field trips are planned to take advantage of great shorebirds and migratory songbirds. There’s even a pelagic trip scheduled for some great seabird watching.

In addition to these exciting new festivals, there are a bunch of well-established big festivals around the country, including the Cape May Spring Weekend in New Jersey and the Kern River Valley Spring Nature Festival in California, both in May. You can’t go wrong with festivals like this, with great birding (and other wildlife) opportunities in regions teeming with a great diversity of species and habitats.

Finally, one of our favorite birding festivals (fun, quirky, birdy) is the Mono Lake Bird Chautauqua, centered on the shores of Mono Lake in Lee Vining, California, on the other side of Tioga Pass from Yosemite National Park. In addition to being a good excuse for a wonderful drive along Tioga Road, with some good birding along the way, there’s a really interesting mix of birds along the shores of the lake and in the nearby canyons and Jeffrey Pine forest. And, really, who doesn’t love a festival that wraps up with a bird calling contest?

These are just a few of the big festivals that are out there in the coming months, but oftentimes, the smaller, local ones can be just as fun, and their smaller scale makes it easier to meet people, make new friends, and enjoy the field trips. So chime in with any ideas of your own, or any birding festival info that may have crossed your radar screen lately.

Good birding, and happy trip planning!

+ + + + + + + + + + +

Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

In trying to write a nice topical St. Patrick’s Day theme for today’s blog, I searched for interesting tidbits about St. Patrick and any fun connection he had with local Irish birds, but, alas, he didn’t seem to have had a way with the avian wildlife in the way that St. Francis did.

And, although Mimi and I had an amazing trip to Ireland a number of years ago, we hadn’t yet been bitten by the birding bug, so no fun personal tales of Irish birds from me either. Looking back, we traveled through lots of interesting habitat which undoubtedly hosts lots of new birds, so we do definitely need to retrace our route and add birding to our itinerary, in addition to lots of good Guinness and traditional music!

So, I’m left with green birds as my rather tangential connection between St. Patrick’s Day and birds. And, unlike blue birds (a broader category than Bluebirds), there aren’t actually a whole lot of birds in the United States that are primarily green. There are a number of birds that have green patches or other spots, like Black-throated Green Warbler or Green-winged Teal, and the Green Heron is a nifty looking bird but isn’t really all that green.

For the most part, truly green birds are birds of warmer regions, like the tropics and subtropics, which means that in the United States, they’re mostly encountered in Texas. We’ve seen Green Jays and Green Kingfishers, both of which are at the northern edge of their range in the southern parts of Texas in the birding hotspots along the Rio Grande River.

The Green Jay is gregarious like its cousins (if you have Blue Jays at your feeder you know what I mean), and, as you can see from this great photo on the 10,000 Birds blog, they could easily be the “Green With a Whole Lot of Other Colors Jay” as they’re a striking combination of green, yellow, blue and black. Green Jays are pretty hard to miss in their territory and at feeders in their area; after all, they are a bright green member of the Corvid family (not the most retiring grouping of birds!).

Green Kingfishers, in contrast, are uncommon and often inconspicuous around the small pools and resacas (oxbow lakes) of the Rio Grande Valley, hunting for fish from low branches over or near the water. They’re a smaller (and greener) cousin of the much more widespread Belted Kingfisher that you’ve probably seen if you spend any time near rivers, ponds, or pools in your area. While not quite the jumble of colors as the Green Jay, the adult male Green Kingfisher has a broad swath of rufous across its white chest, while the female has a couple of extra bands of green in that same spot.

So, unfortunately for lovers of both birds and good beer, green birds in the United States are a lot less common than green beer on St. Patrick’s Day, which makes them all the more satisfying when you do find them. Guinness may not be the best choice of beer when celebrating your encounters with these birds in the Texas heat, but how about a nice Shiner Bock instead?

Now, back to trying to find a connection between St. Patrick and some cool Irish hawk for next year’s blog . . .

+ + + + + + + + + + +
Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

Cooper's Hawk after a successful hunt. Photo courtesy Phil Eager.

Our weekend was a bit busy, so we didn’t really have time for a longer birding outing, but instead took advantage of the fact that our local birding “patch” includes the Presidio and Crissy Field in San Francisco. It’s still a bit early for much spring migration; nevertheless, there was a lot of activity on our pleasant walk of a few hours, with Red-shouldered Hawks calling overhead and White-crowned Sparrows singing away.

The most interesting moment of our walk came while we were hanging around El Polin Spring, a natural spring in the middle of the Presidio that’s undergoing a massive native habitat and watershed restoration. Many of the former trees and plants (non-native) have been torn up in the Tennessee Watershed, of which El Polin is a part, but the small flowing spring continues to attract lots of birds, including many sparrows and lots of Anna’s and Allen’s Hummingbirds that were pausing from their courtship and territorial displays to bathe in and drink from the spring.

As I was standing and just staring blankly at the spring, there was a flash of gray (about the size of a large pigeon) which darted into my field of view from a nearby tree and swooped quickly at the spring, not more than a few feet from me. The gray blur had circled back to the nearby tree before I realized that it wasn’t a pigeon at all, but instead a small hawk of the Accipter family (either a Sharp-shinned Hawk or a small Cooper’s Hawk). Much like hawks at backyard birdfeeders, the hawk was simply trying to catch a songbird or hummingbird off-guard as it was frequenting the spring.

As Mimi and I were marveling at the speed and audacity of the hawk, which had left empty-handed (or taloned, more accurately), it came flashing past us again, paused briefly at the spring, and then shot off in the direction of a larger group of trees, this time with a tiny Allen’s Hummingbird clutched in its talons! It seriously all happened in the blink of an eye, no more than 10 seconds or so from the beginning of the swoop at the water to heading off to enjoy its snack. The chattering of other smaller birds told us that the hawk was still in the trees, but it had tucked itself somewhere away from our prying eyes. We didn’t see it again, but I suspect if we had stuck around, we would have seen it returning for more. After all, the tiny the hummingbird was little more than a nibble for the hawk.

We’ve seen all sorts of hawks hunting and feeding in various habitats (including a Bald Eagle snatching a Mallard duckling in a marsh in Alaska, and Red-tailed Hawks eating pigeons in Central Park), as well as our backyard Cooper’s Hawk. This is the closest encounter I’ve had with an actively hunting hawk, though, and it was both exhilarating and a bit unnerving just how close the hawk came to us on its hunting sorties.

The fact that it all took place in the middle of the Presidio, an urban park in the middle of San Francisco, made it somehow even more memorable and surreal. It also goes to show that you just never know what you’re going to come across, even in your own backyard.

As Mimi exclaimed at the time, “That was cool!” It certainly was.

+ + + + + + + + + + +
Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

Burrowing Owl. Photo courtesy Phil Eager.

On Sunday, having recently gone north and east of San Francisco, we headed to the southern end of San Francisco Bay for some birding in and around the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge unit in Alviso. This particular area, at the bottom of the bay, is an odd combination of wetlands, some dwindling open space and agricultural lands, and, of course, the continuing sprawl and expansion from nearby San Jose and the Silicon Valley. As a town, Alviso has a long and interesting history including as a port on San Francisco Bay for the developing town (now city) of San Jose.

One of the most interesting aspects of the area is that much of the area has been impact by many years of salt production in San Francisco Bay, which not surprisingly drastically changed the ecosystem in the area from the historical tidal wetlands to large-scale industrial salt ponds. Until we moved to the area, I had no idea that San Francisco Bay was a hotbed (so to speak) of salt production in the United States.

Fortunately, over the years, there has been a gradual recognition of the importance of tidal marsh land, not just for birds and other wildlife (including the endangered California Clapper Rail and the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse), but for the overall health of the local ecosystem. The Don Edwards NWR was formed back in 1974 as the first urban national wildlife refuge (in cooperation with Cargill, the large salt producer) and now spans 30,000 acres of open bay, salt pond, salt marsh, mudflat, upland and vernal pool habitats.

And there are now several large scale projects aimed at reclaiming some of these industrial ponds and turning them back into functional wetlands. One such project, the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, aims to restore 15,100 acres around the bay, at three sites, of which Alviso is one of them. Although reversing many years of industry and other impacts on the bay is an ambitious project to say the least, there’s at least some hope that the wide range of work underway now will help solve the problems.

Although not a salt marsh denizen per se, one bird we always hope to see on our trips to the Alviso area is the Burrowing Owl, a formerly common bird in its California range but which, like the salt marshes, has been fighting a losing battle against a number of threats. The Burrowing Owl does actually live in burrows and it requires short grasses for protection and hunting habitat, so it’s easy to imagine the problems that the owl has encountered with modern society. Breeding groups in California have declined by 60% in just the last two decades.

The owl doesn’t dig its own burrows, but instead relies on ground squirrels and prairie dogs to do that work, and those mammals are facing their own threats from agriculture and other trends, resulting in fewer burrows. Then, of course, there’s the fact that there simply isn’t as much open grasslands anymore, not just in California but across the owl’s range. As a result, many Burrowing Owls these days are found in places such as airports and on golf courses and college campuses, which have (relatively speaking) more open space than their surrounding suburbs.

We did manage to see one Burrowing Owl on Sunday, tucked in low among the lush green grass of a nearby field. I can’t blame it for tucking into the grass (which is the whole point of that habitat anyway), and the photo above is from one out in the open down near the Salton Sea in Southern California (an odd place worthy of its own blog post!).

The owl isn’t on the federal endangered species list (it’s listed by some states), meaning there’s no comprehensive plan to protect the species, so we’re going to need to rely on education (such as this great booklet from the State of Utah) and overall habitat protection to try and save this cool and unique bird. I’m well aware that there are flaws and controversy inherent in our system of protecting endangered and threatened species, but do we really want to live in a society which can’t even protect a species like the Burrowing Owl?

OK, enough education, history, and conservation for the week: what do the readers want to talk about over the next few weeks before spring migration kicks into high gear? Spring travel, birding festivals, ID questions, subtle ID tips for shorebirds? I’m just kidding about the last topic, but do let me know what’s of interest out there.

+ + + + + + + + + + +
Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

Sandhill Cranes. Photo courtesy Phil Eager.

The calendar on Sunday still said it was mid-February, and we were smack dab in the middle of the Winter Olympics, but there were definitely plenty of signs of spring out in the Central Valley of California, where Mimi and I managed to squeeze in four hours of birding before the next rain storm.

It might still be really wintery where you are, but late February and early March are fun times to bird in many places because you can definitely start to see the overlap of the seasons. In the Central Valley, signature wintering birds like Sandhill Cranes and lots of ducks and geese are still around and the resident birds are starting to set up shop for the breeding season. Even in colder spots like New Jersey, Red-winged Blackbirds are in full voice by February, claiming the best clump of marsh grass or tree limb as their singing perch.

Western Meadowlark. Photo courtesy Phil Eager.

On Sunday, we were treated to the sight of huge flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese flying overhead and settling into the wetlands at the Cosumnes River Preserve, while newly arrived Swallows darted across the gray sky, chattering as they went. We watched an adorable pair of Pied-billed Grebes engaged in courtship displays with their odd little grunt of a call. There were all sorts of other birds singing or calling, either to establish their territories or to entice potential mates, from Wood Ducks to Virginia Rails to Anna’s Hummingbirds. One of my favorites, the Western Meadowlark, might not have quite the seasonal theme to its song as the Eastern Meadowlark (whose song sounds like a drawn-out trilling “spring of the year”), but they were a conspicuous part of the morning chorus.

The spectacle of flocks of Sandhill Cranes (the area is one of the main wintering grounds for the species in the United States) is always a highlight of winter trips to the Central Valley, and although they’ll head north to their breeding grounds soon, we saw plenty on Sunday. They’re ungainly, but still beautiful, birds that gather in large numbers in the agricultural fields and wetlands, some of which have been protected to provide wintering habitat for the cranes. And non-birding friends always find it odd that cranes are found so close to the big population centers of the Bay Area. If people think about them at all, they seem to think of cranes as birds of the interior prairies of the west and midwest, and not really California.

So, tear yourself away from the tape-delayed Winter Olympics and go out and search for some live (and real time) signs of spring. Even if you’re still primarily seeing your local wintering birds, it’s only a matter of time before the first spring birds will sneak in, and spring will be in full swing before you know it.

It’s that seasonal cycle that helps us get through the shorter days and colder nights, and makes us all appreciate the first singing Red-winged Blackbird of spring.

+ + + + + + + + + + +
Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

I'm not really much a birder -- OK, I'm not a birder at all. And I wouldn't exactly call myself a photographer, either. But as someone who gets out and about on hikes and bicycle rides, I can't help but notice birds, and I do occasionally manage to get a picture. Looking through my Flickr photos, I find robins, ravens, turkey vultures, herons, egrets, various hawks and, of course, pelicans -- all common sights around the Bay Area.

This shot from a couple of weeks ago, though, may be my favorite. Usually, I see pods of brown pelicans flying in formation in the Golden Gate. Lately, they've been less numerous -- they seem to have followed the sea lions who decamped from Pier 39 in search of better fishing grounds. But on this day, I did see a brown pelican perching on the fishing pier at Fort Baker, not far from the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge. I zoomed in as much as I could with my point-and-shoot and slowly approached while taking pictures. When the pelican abandoned his perch and took off, I held down the shutter button for multiple exposures -- not really sure whether the bird was even still in frame.

When I got home, the one shot where the pelican was mostly in frame was had a terrible exposure, but with a little tweaking I was able to adjust it until I had this image. I desaturated the image to highlight the contrast in the bird's feathers. What really struck me was how long and powerful the wing looked when captured like this.

This is why I try to have at least a small camera with me whenever I head out on a hike, ride, or ramble.

Pacific Tree Frog. Photo courtesy Phil Eager.

OK, so this cute little Pacific Tree Frog isn’t a bird, but we saw it while out birding, so that counts, right? We were birding at Point Reyes on Sunday, trying to avoid the Super Bowl hype for a long as possible, when Mimi saw the little frog hopping in the wet.

We often hear these frogs but this was the first one we’d ever seen, and it’s amazing how well it blends in when it stops. According to the park rangers we spoke with, there were frogs all over the place during the winter rain storms, and they had to drive extra carefully along the entrance road to avoid hitting all of the frogs in the road! Even without the frog sighting, it was a lovely day with lots of good birds and other wildlife (including Tule Elk, a local specialty, and just a bit larger than the Pacific Tree Frog!). It definitely felt like an early spring day rather than early February.

In the spirit of general wildlife exploration and enjoyment, not just birds, I thought I’d point out a few photo and video highlights that I’ve come across on the web lately.

In the category of interesting non-avian sightings, a Coyote has been seen periodically in Central Park in the middle of Manhattan over the last couple of weeks. The Coyote hasn’t yet been captured (he or she is apparently laying low during the winter storms), but Bruce Yolton captured some amazing photos of the visitor crossing, and frolicking, on a frozen pond. Coyotes show up occasionally in Manhattan, and it’s always a bit of a mystery as to how they get there (or at least which bridge they take!).

Not nearly as out of place but still pretty neat is the Photo of the Week from US Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region’s Flickr stream: a Short-eared Owl sitting on a classic National Widlife Refuge sign in New Jersey. The Short-eared Owl is one of the highlights of some of the marshes along the Delaware Bay that are protected by the Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, so maybe this owl was just showing its appreciation for the help. A cool photo, and I had no idea that the USFWS even had a Flickr account.

[Update: as Marcy points out in her comment below, as luck would have it, the photo was taken down by USFWS, so you'll just need to take my word for how cute it was. Their Flickr stream is still active, and there are some other interesting photos in there if you want to check them out. As a consolation prize, how about a Great Horned Owl?]

Starr Ranch, an Audubon California sanctuary in Southern California, is running a nifty webcam of a Barn Owl nest, and so far 3 owlets have hatched. There’s also audio, so you can hear the eerie chatter of the Barn Owls, and the chirping of the chicks, especially when a parent is nearby and tearing up a delicious rodent for their meal.

Finally, don’t forget the Great Backyard Bird Count this week. If you’re in one of the places that’s been hit with the winter storms, don’t despair. If you can dig yourself out enough to get outside and put up or refill your bird feeders, you might up end up with lots of birds this weekend.

Happy birding and happy counting!

+ + + + + + + + + + +
Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds. Photo courtesy Phil Eager.

On Sunday, Mimi and I took advantage of the break in the rain to finally do a little bit of that winter birding that I was exhorting everyone to do last week.

Our destination on a foggy morning was the Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds, in Marin County (about 30 minutes north of San Francisco). Walking along its couple miles of trails, around several ponds, we enjoyed great views of any number of wintering species of ducks (including Canvasbacks) and shorebirds, as well as seven different species of hawks and falcons buzzing the trails, hovering over the marshes, and even starting some mating displays (yep, it’s springtime already!).

The walk combined some pleasant birding, with nice views of the nearby marshes out towards San Francisco Bay, and we wrapped up with a nice little lunch at a picnic table overlooking one of the ponds.

This all sounds like a perfectly normal birding outing, right? What if I were to tell you that the Las Gallinas Wildlife Pools are run by the Las Gallinas Valley Sanitary District, and that many local birders (and guides) refer to them as the Las Gallinas “sewage ponds”? Yep, our lovely and productive birding morning was spent wandering past ponds that are part of the Las Gallinas water treatment plant which treats the wastewater of thousands of Marin County households.

And this isn't as odd (or rare) as it might seem!

... (more)

Geese at Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, California.
Photo courtesy Phil Eager.

Sure, it might be the dead of winter where you are (or just really wet where I am) but that doesn't mean there aren't birding opportunities out there while we all wait for spring.

At this point in the birding year, migration hasn't really yet started. Most of the birds that are wintering here will stick around for a bit longer before heading north for the breeding season, so now is a great time to try and catch up with wintering waterfowl (ducks and geese) and raptors (hawks and owls), or the birds hanging out in your backyard. Gulls? Well, those are a topic for another blog posting (or two or three)!

Speaking of backyards, one fun event that’s coming up in February is the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, a joint project of Cornell and Audubon. The GBBC is exactly what it sounds like: participants count birds in their backyards (or other local spots), making it a great activity even in cold or bad weather, letting you count and enjoy birds from comfort of your living room, especially if you have feeders up. It can also be a great family birding experience. The website has helpful regional checklists (handy even when not doing the count), and you can easily enter your sightings through the data entry forms on the site.

... (more)

I just stumbled on this amazing video and thought I'd share it with you (see below) for a little mid-week birding tickle. It's from the BBC show "Animal Camera," and features spectacular footage shot from two tiny cameras mounted on the back of a Golden Eagle in Scotland. It zips through forests and soars over mountainous terrain. Hold your stomach!

On a related topic, I was intrigued by this blog post from Cornell University about how new scientific information came to light when cameras were mounted on the back of a Black-browed Albatross.

Enjoy!

+ + + + + + + + + + +
Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

Hope everyone’s holiday season and New Year’s were happy and birdy. We managed to do two Christmas Bird Counts this year – the Point Reyes event that we’ve done for the past six years, plus the Cape May count (which we only managed to pull off because the original date was snowed out). It was particularly fun to do counts on both coasts, in really great birding spots, to really appreciate all of the differences in bird distribution in the winter.

Speaking of the holidays, I’m guessing that a lot of us got a new iPhone or iPod Touch (or another electronic gizmo) as a gift, or a present to ourselves. Or maybe you have an iTunes gift certificate burning a hole in your pocket. If so, now is a great time to go shopping for one of the cool birding applications for your snazzy new device. Yes, there is indeed an app for that – lots of them.

... (more)

Long-Tailed Ducks, male on the left and female on the right. Photo by Phil Eager.

Well, the Ivory Gull that I wrote about a few weeks ago disappeared from Cape May before we arrived back east for the holidays, and the weather hasn’t been too hospitable for too much birding (with wind chills in the teens yesterday and the threat of another winter storm for New Year’s Eve). That’s not to say that there isn’t still interesting and fun birding to be done at the beach in the middle of winter.

This morning, I took a walk along the beach at dawn; it was still cold (below 20) but the winds had died down from yesterday, and it was a peaceful winter morning on a deserted beach. Early mornings at the beach are always my favorite time to be there, regardless of the time of year. It’s always calmer and quieter then, with plenty of time to be alone with your thoughts and just enjoying the beginning of a new day.

... (more)

If you've got any fellow birdwatchers on your holiday gift list, the obvious choices are things like tools of the trade, like binoculars and bird feeders.

But how about a book? There are some great suggestions in this discussion in our Forums about birdwatching books. Birdwatching Phil weighed in, along with some other folks with helpful ideas.

My personal favorite is...well, you can read about it in the Forums!

Happy Birding!

During our Thanksgiving birding weekend with friends to Humboldt and Del Norte counties in northwest California, we saw a bunch of cool birds and some rare ones, the most unlikely one being a Crested Caracara, a large raptor of the Southwest which has an odd pattern of vagrancy along the California coast. However, in addition to searching out rarities, we were also paying more attention than usual to the common local birds we encountered during our trip.

 

Why, you might wonder, did we care whether we saw yet another Western Gull or Surf Scoter or American Robin when they’re all easily seen in San Francisco? The simple answer is that we’d never birded in that area before, so these were automatically new birds for our “county lists” for Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.

 

... (more)

 

On the eve of Thanksgiving, we're rushing around a bit to get organized to head up to far Northern California for a long weekend of birding with friends, and that got me to thinking of the things about birds and birding during this year for which I'm grateful.

As is often the case with lists like this that just pop into your mind, it's a bit of a random list of things, but as 2009 winds down, I find myself thankful for:

... (more)

Brant Geese, a popular sighting along the Atlantic coast during the winter bird count.
Photo by Phil Eager.

It’s just about time for the annual Christmas Bird Count organized by the National Audubon Society, a major event on the birding calendar, and one that I particularly look forward to each year. The count period this year runs from December 14 to January 5, and the concept is as simple as its name: counting birds during the holiday season. As the journal Nature wrote last year, the Christmas Bird Count has become the model for effective citizen science projects , and may be the longest-running such project in the world. It's also a fun social event, which allows you to make new friends and to see people you don't see all year.

 

We now look on the Christmas Bird Count as a good excuse to go birding in the winter and to take a break from all of the holiday craziness, but its origins are rooted in conservation. The first Christmas Bird Count was organized in 1900 by Frank Chapman and the young National Audubon Society as a kinder and gentler answer to the Christmas "side hunt,” a gruesome holiday tradition in which groups would compete to shoot the most birds in a given day.

 

... (more)

Photo of Brown Pelican by Phil Eager.

In a bit of good news for one species of seabird, it was announced today that the Brown Pelican is being removed from the endangered species list. The Brown Pelican was hit particularly hard in the 1970s and 1980s by its exposure to DDT (and teetered on the edge of extinction as a result), but even before then it was hunted for its feathers. Amazingly enough, the effort to save the Brown Pelican started under President Theodore Roosevelt, who established Pelican Island in Florida as the first refuge in what became the National Wildlife Refuge system. As Audubon California notes, the delisting is an encouraging development for the pelican, but it certainly doesn’t mean the species is in the clear: they face plenty of long-term challenges, including pollution, rising ocean levels, and the continued crashing of the fishing stocks in the Pacific. But it’s definitely progress.

Speaking of challenges, on the opposite end of the spectrum for seabird news were the disturbing and depressing stories in the media in the last few weeks about the albatross populations in the Pacific Ocean. You’ve probably heard about the Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch (or patches, unfortunately), an accumulation of floating plastic and other garbage that spans an area the size of Texas. But you might not have thought about the impact all of that floating plastic has on seabirds that forage for food that lies close to the surface of the ocean. To a seabird, the floating pieces of plastic can look dangerously similar to its food sources.

... (more)

This month’s SIERRA magazine has a great discussion on eco-friendly coffee, in which coffee experts picked some of their favorite growers, distributors, and roasters around the world. The panel picked coffees that were “planet-positive” based on a number of factors, like social responsibility, organic growing techniques, and fair-trade practices.

 

So, sure, we all want to be well-caffeinated with eco-friendly coffee -- but what does that have to do with birds? Well, although the contributors to that article don’t mention it specifically, many of the coffees they picked (including from Taylor Maid Farms and Counter Culture Coffee) are shade-grown, which is an essential element to a coffee being “bird friendly.”

 

... (more)

You know it's a cardinal by sight. But would you recognize it by its song alone? Photo © by Motorrad67

If you’ve ever gone on a birding walk with a local expert, you might have been amazed (and jealous) about his or her ability to pick birds out that you can’t even see. Many good birders use their ears as much as their eyes, having spent years refining the art/skill of birding “by ear”, or the ability to find and identify birds by their song or their simpler call notes.

 

I’m the first to admit that I’m not at all good at birding by ear; my wife (who also has an uncanny knack for remembering song lyrics) is much better at it than I am. But I certainly appreciate how it helps and enhances your overall birding experience. And you don’t need to be like some of our friends who can stand outside at 4 a.m. during fall migration and identify the chip notes of warblers and thrushes flying overhead. Talk about jealousy!

 

I once read a great piece of advice about how to get better about birding by ear.

 

... (more)

Hey Trail-heads -- Birding Phil is out today, so I promised him I'd blog about our feathered friends myself. This gives me the great opportunity to make sure you know about one of the coolest-ever books from Sierra Club Books, which just so happens to be about birding.

It's called "Birding Babylon," and it's by a National Guardsman from Connecticut -- Sergeant First Class Jon Trouern-Trend -- who arrived in Iraq for a year's posting in 2004. He'd been a birder since age 12, so when he arrived in Iraq he started looking for birds. He found them -- in surprising number and variety around Anaconda Base in the Sunni Triangle, where he was stationed: old-world warblers near the laundry pond, kestrels at the dump, wood pigeons by the airstrip, owls on the cement bunkers.

... (more)

Hermit Thrush -- doing okay so far!

Last week on my way to work in downtown San Francisco, I found a dead bird lying in the middle of the sidewalk. At first, I walked past it along with all of the other commuters, and then my mind clicked in and I had to go back and at least figure out what it was. Turned out to be a Hermit Thrush. Not having anything to put it in (and not wanting to walk around all day with a dead bird in my pocket!), I picked up the bird with a tissue, looked at it to confirm the ID, and then wrapped it up and put it in the nearest trash can. Although unsatisfying, that somehow seemed preferable to leaving the bird right in the middle of so many unknowing footsteps.

 

The thrush was most likely the victim of a collision with a downtown office building during its migration, which is a common and increasingly well-documented phenomenon during spring and fall migration. It often happens on foggy or cloudy nights during those periods, when birds can easily get disoriented, and it's particularly dangerous when large office buildings leave their lights on overnight, as that only increases the disorientation of the birds. The numbers can be alarming: In Toronto, it's estimated that 10,000 birds a year are killed in building collisions in their downtown area alone.

... (more)

This cluster of migrating Monarchs gathered on a tree branch in Santa Cruz, California.

If you’ve been out and about the last few weeks, whether birding or hiking or just wandering around your town, you might have noticed that birds are not the only winged creatures that are migrating at this time of year. The fall migration of Monarch butterflies is well under way, as Monarchs from across Canada and the United States head south to their wintering grounds. Other butterflies are definitely more noticeable as well, but Monarchs are the one species of butterfly that everyone notices and knows.

 

I’ve even seen migrating Monarchs and Swallowtails (another group of large, colorful butterflies) in downtown San Francisco, which is both inspiring and a bit nerve-wracking as they often fly low to the ground, zigzagging in between traffic.

 

... (more)

Photo of Marin Headlands' Rodeo Lagoon courtesy Phil Eager.

On Sunday, the day of the premiere of The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, we spent the day birding in the Marin Headlands, just north of San Francisco, neatly combining a couple of recent blog topics in one outing: some birding in the National Parks (the Marin Headlands are part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area) and some hawk watching on Hawk Hill in the headlands.

 

Even though the day was a bit slow in terms of raptor migration, it wasn’t foggy, which is one of the main hazards of fall birding along the Northern California coast. In fact, the afternoon turned out to be downright hot on top of Hawk Hill, with the temperatures reaching into the low 90s.

 

Along with the expected hawks (including close views of Broad-winged, Sharp-shinned, and Cooper’s), our most interesting fly-by was actually a songbird, a Lapland Longspur, which was truly unexpected at that spot and in apparent migration. Wandering through other spots in the headlands, we searched patches of cypress trees for migrant songbirds, but the weather was actually too clear to trap any interesting strays (oftentimes, it’s the foggy weather that throws off the migration path of songbirds and which causes interesting things to show up). And there was a nice collection of shorebirds on the shores of Rodeo Lagoon, including Pectoral and Spotted Sandpipers. Wilson’s Snipe, and Long-billed Dowitchers.

... (more)

Half Dome as seen from the John Muir Trail, Yosemite National Park. Photo courtesy Tom Valtin.

In case you hadn't noticed, Sunday is the premiere of the much-anticipated new documentary series from Ken Burns, The National Parks: America's Best Idea. I hope you're planning to spend your evenings in front of the TV next week.

I thought that was a good excuse to talk a bit about birding in our national parks -- not that an excuse is ever really needed to talk about and plan your next trip to a national park. The national park system truly is a national resource, and it’s one that holds within it a vast range of habitat and scenery, stretching from Maine’s Acadia National Park to Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida, and from Denali National Park in Alaska to Hawaii’s Haleakala National Park.

That means lots of different birding opportunities in lots of different places. Your birding experience in a national park can include breeding warblers and seabirds in Acadia, Chihuahuan desert specialties in Big Bend National Park in Texas, resident Gyrfalcons and ptarmigan in Denali, or Greater Flamingos after a bit of a hike in the Everglades. Depending on your interests, you can pick a destination for its scenery, hiking, or camping and simply enjoy the birds you come across. Or plan it the other way around, with a focus on birding (or specific target birds) in a place that just happens to be gorgeous and wild.

 

... (more)

Photo of Tree Swallows courtesy Phil Eager.

For a good part of our vacation last week, the weather in Ocean City, New Jersey was impacted by a slow-moving storm that lurked off the Atlantic coast, bringing high tides, strong easterly winds, and off-and-on rain. Conditions like these aren't good for songbird or hawk migration, but they did give us a good excuse for birding off our back deck overlooking a large coastal salt marsh.

 

This gave us a front row seat on a migration phenomenon that doesn't get as much birding press as the warblers or the hawks, but is still fascinating in its own way: the fall migration of Tree Swallows to their wintering grounds of southern North America and Central America.

 

... (more)

"Brig" wildlife refuge with Atlantic City in the background. Photo courtesy Phil Eager.

With the cool cloudy weather on Tuesday morning not portending a good beach day, my wife and I headed north from our vacation spot in Ocean City, New Jersey to the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge (commonly referred to by its location, Brigantine or Brig). In pretty much any season, Brigantine and its eight mile loop road (and several walking trails) hosts a vast number of birds in its diverse habitat mix, whether it’s thousands of Snow Geese and Brant in the winter or masses of shorebirds during fall migration.

 

Brigantine is the next town up from Atlantic City, so one of the odd sights from the refuge is the lights and towers of the casinos looming just across the bay from acres of marshes. As impressive as the coastal habitat already is, a juxtaposition like this always helps remind you of just how important open spaces like this truly are, especially in a heavily populated region like the middle Atlantic coast.

 

... (more)

Photo courtesy NASA/Gary Rothstein

For me, one of the highlights of fall migration is the southbound migration of hawks, falcons, and other raptors, which is starting up now and really starts to peak in mid-September through November in most places.

It may be because the first organized birding event that I attended was a fall hawk migration workshop given by the Cape May Bird Observatory in New Jersey, an experience which really got me "hooked" on birding. But it's probably just as much because the raptors moving past are so iconic, powerful, and majestic. You might find yourself staring at a Bald Eagle soaring overhead one moment, and then being buzzed by a Peregrine Falcon the next. Sometimes it's simply the sheer numbers of a particular species, like Sharp-shinned Hawk, even if the bird itself is fairly common and might not garner a second look if you saw a single bird over a nearby field.

As a bonus, hawk watching can be a social event, especially on slower days. Unlike warbler migration when birders and the birds are constantly on the move, or shorebird migration where most of the time is spent puzzling over the fall plumage of "peeps", hawk watching has a fairly steady ebb and flow to it, not unlike a good baseball game. Unless, of course, you happen to be at the hawk watch during a "good flight", in which case your head will be spinning at the sheer number and variety of birds.

The websites of the following hawk watches have a wealth of information about the logistics and ideal timing of visits and the differing mixes of raptors you'll see at any given point during the fall. Even if you don’t go to one of the ones listed, a lot of the information will come in handy with any spot you might pick.

Cape May, New Jersey. Cape May bills itself as the "Raptor Capitol of America”, and it hosts a very active and very “birdy” hawk watch each fall. Different from many hawk watches that have a geologic advantage (usually a mountain or ridge to concentrate the thermals on which raptors rise and soar), Cape May has a geographic advantage at the end of the state, which helps concentrate the southbound hawks when they confront the vast expanse of Delaware Bay. And, yes, they still do offer the hawk migration workshop (see the online calendar for details).

Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania. The official count at Hawk Mountain started in the 1930s, and it’s a particularly well-established hawk watch with miles of trails (check out the great Trails entry by David Meiser), several lookouts, and a visitor center. Hawks here move past you at eye level or even below you, giving you a much different perspective than at places like Cape May. It’s also an important spot in the history of bird conservation: the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary was established to help stop the slaughter of the hawks and other raptors that enthusiasts now gather there to enjoy.

Hawk Ridge, Duluth, Minnesota. Taking advantage of a ridge along Skyline Parkway outside of Duluth, which helps to concentrate the "thermals" on which raptors soar, Hawk Ridge is one of the major hawk watching spots in the Midwest and has been conducting its official count since 1974. The Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory staffs the hawk watch with interpretative staff during the peak months of September and October, and they host a hawk weekend scheduled for mid-September.

Veracruz, Mexico. Each year, up to 2 million Broad-winged Hawks and 1 million Swainson’s Hawks funnel through Veracruz on their way to wintering grounds in Central and South America, giving the phenomenon the apt nickname of "River of Raptors" (so well described by Rob Bierregaard on his website). It's become a very popular destination for birders who want to admire the spectacle while enjoying some great overall birding in the area. The American Birding Association is organizing a conference there this fall, timed to coincide with the River of Raptors.

Hawk Hill, Marin County, California. Located in the Marin Headlands, just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, Hawk Hill combines the “funnel” aspect of a place like Cape May (with the birds confronted with San Francisco Bay) and the elevation of some of the other hawk watches. In addition to organizing one of the more prominent hawk watches on the West Coast, Golden Gate Raptor Observatory has a very active banding and tracking project to gather invaluable data about long-term trends and the migration routes that the birds take.

These are just a few of the major hawk watches, and the Hawk Migration Association of North America has a location tool on its website to help you find a local hawk watch.

OK, now that you’ve figured out where you want to go, there are many resources to help with raptor identification. For simple ID guides to get you started or to stuff in your pocket for a trip out into the field, be sure to check out those on the websites of the Hawk Migration Association of North America and the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. The Hawk Mountain website has a great resource page with a bunch of information and ID guides, including a coloring book!

For more in-depth coverage, a couple of my favorite books are Hawks in Flight by Pete Dunne, David Sibley, and Clay Sutton, and The Photographic Guide to North American Raptors by Brian Wheeler and William Clark.

Even if you don’t have time to study up beforehand, many of the organized hawk watches have interpretative staff or volunteers to help visitors spot and identify the birds, so don’t let your lack of experience keep you away from your local hawk watch. Trust me, the excitement is infectious: you will learn a lot on your first trip while having an amazingly fun time!

 + + + + ++ + + + + +
Birding Phil started birding in Cape May, N.J. and Central Park in New York City more than 10 years ago. Since then, his birding adventures (with his wife, Mimi Calter) have included trips to Alaska, Belize, and mainland Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands, along with a bunch of other hotspots in the continental U.S., including Florida, Texas, and Arizona). Phil was included in Chris Santella's book "Fifty Places to Go Birding Before You Die: Birding Experts Share the World's Greatest Destinations," in which Phil talked about Pt. Reyes, CA. Birdwatchers -- head on over and join the Birdwatchers group on Trails.

As we all deal with the end of summer and catch our collective breath before the onslaught of fall migration, I thought I’d change things up a bit this week and do a round-up of a few interesting stories from the media and other birding blogs that caught my eye over the last week or so, some of which tie into some earlier posts on this blog.

 

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s report on the demographics and economic impacts of birding, noting the fact that the low participation of minorities was a bleak note in an otherwise positive report about the popularity of birding and birdwatching in this country. Kenn Kaufman’s blog posting this week on “Living Colors: Diversity and the Future of Birding” does the topic much more justice than my passing mention, explaining why we should all care. Birding with Kenn and Kimberly (Kim is his wife) is always filled with great insights (and birding tips), and you should add it to your blog reading list if you haven’t already done so. And speaking of diversity, Kenn is also responsible for the only Spanish language field guide for North American birds, Guía de campo Kaufman a las aves de Norteamérica, which was quite the project to get approved and into print.

 

... (more)

A Long-billed Curlew leaves "footprints" in the sand. Photo courtesy Phil Eager.

On Sunday, Mimi and I volunteered for the fourth annual survey of wintering Long-billed Curlews in California’s inland valleys. Our particular survey patch was an area of the Central Valley and California delta just north and west of Lodi, consisting primarily of farmlands. Most of our previous birding in the Central Valley had been in the winter (it’s a well-known spot for wintering geese and Sandhill Cranes), so it still promised to be an interesting day even if we didn’t see any curlews.

The Long-billed Curlew, a large, beautiful shorebird with a dramatically long down-curved bill, breeds in the grasslands of the Great Plains and the Great Basin. The inland valleys of California are among of the most important regions in the world for Long-billed Curlews during migration and winter. That important agricultural habitat is rapidly being lost or altered, which is one of the reasons the Long-billed Curlew is on the Audubon WatchList and is listed in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service’s Shorebird Conservation Plan as “highly imperiled.”

... (more)

If you’re like me, you’ve already had your summer vacation and now it’s time to start planning your next trip. With that in mind, I thought a preview of some of the upcoming birding festivals could help kick-start your fall planning.

Always a good introduction to the birds and habitat of their location, successful birding festivals combine good field trips (usually a half-day, but sometimes the whole day) for regional specialties, workshops on things like optics, digiscoping, and ID tips, interesting keynote speakers (like David Sibley in Cape May, and Kenn Kaufman in Ohio), and dinners and receptions to meet fellow birders. They also usually have an expo area where you can test out and buy the latest optics, meet field-guide authors, and buy more t-shirts and bags than you can shake a stick (or tripod) at.

... (more)

 

On Tuesday, despite being on vacation (or maybe because we're on vacation), my wife and I set the alarm for 4:40 a.m., to get some birding in before hitting the beach with my extended family. We're vacationing at the beach in North Carolina, but a section of the Croatan National Forest is just a 30-minute drive from our place, and the prospect of a few hours of birding in the first light of day was too good to pass up.

... (more)