This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
A breeding bird atlas is a special kind of book. Corey did just this in this 2011 posting about Vesper Sparrow Pooecetes gramineus in New York State. They utilized GIS (geographic information systems) technology to pinpoint breeding bird location to a level far beyond the usual block-based geographic model.
That still leaves 11 Warblers that breed in Michoacán. But my experience suggests there is a fair amount of geographical overlap between the two ranges in my area. Like the Common Yellowthroat , the Yellow Warbler breeds no further south than the central Mexican highlands. It does breed in the U.S. But do they warble?
What I enjoy–almost more than any other moment of my birding year–is that special spring day when White-Crowned Sparrows deign to visit my humble home en route to their boreal breeding grounds. Happily, the sparrows finally arrived this weekend and have strutted around my feeders enough for me to fully admire their beauty.
The bird was a sparrow, that much was clear, but it didn’t seem to fit any of the easily boxes the other North American sparrows can be fairly easily sorted into. Superficially, it resembled the Black-chinned Sparrow of the southwestern United States with its gray chest and chestnut streaked with black back.
In July 2011 a Henslow’s Sparrow was found in Ames, N.Y., Although Henslow’s had been reliably found in nearby Sharon Springs for many years, the last documented sighting was in 2008, and the sighting startled longtime birders, waking them up to the fact that breeding sites in the state were rapidly being lost.
A wonderful Audubon magazine article on birds’ bills (“ Pecking Order “) notes that individual Great Tits in England experience a change in bill shape between summer and winter as their primary food sources shift. These are neither sparrows, nor finches, but tanagers.
I love sparrows, so seeing a feather-worn Vesper Sparrow this past July filled my heart with joy. I wanted to see prairie birds and I wanted to experience a new state. We saw sparrows–a total of 14 species–and we saw many other great prairie birds, and we often saw them perched on posts.
The burgeoning number of waders in the fall reminds locals that many herons and egrets disperse northward during the late spring and early summer to breed and feed, returning in the late summer and fall to seek refuge from the oncoming cold and lack of food. For me, these birds add a bit of mystique and mystery to the overall experience.
In this first installment, I will focus on my impressions and experiences in the highlands portion of our tour. The experience of seeing a pair feeding and calling in the mountains of Honduras felt like a much more genuine birding experience to me. Trips Honduran birding La Tigra motmot'
Above them, on limestone cliffs, Alpine Swift and Crag Martin breed. The good side of this popularity is presence of restaurants and inns (from personal experience I can recommend a place for carnivores called Vodopad – By the waterfall). Forest covers 70% of the area (hornbeam, beech and oak).
Southern Florida offers many unique wintering birds, but perhaps none more so then the sparrows that call different parts of Florida their winter homes. Their population is currently stable among the arctic regions where they breed. The song is very much like other Ammodramus sparrows in that it is buzzy, wheezy and high pitched.
As I have mentioned repeatedly over the past months, life this spring has gone topsy-turvy in central Mexico, as we experience what has certainly been one of our driest years in history. But the Black-chested Sparrow is also rather handsome, for a sparrow, and has an even smaller range.
These striking and inquisitive jays were perhaps the bird of the trip for me, and we took our time to soak in the experience of encountering these wonderful birds. This poorly documented swallow is a breeding endemic to these high mountains. A little further along the road, we stopped at a stake-out for Sinaloa Martin.
Few experiences birding get me more excited than adding a new bird to my Queens list. Two of the four Lark Sparrows I have seen in Queens Two out of ten is not good enough, leaving me smack-dab on the Mendoza Line. Sadly, it did not stick around to breed though I thought that it might. I must do better!
(And one that I have written about before when I was pleased to find Blackburnian Warblers like the one above breeding.). It also had nesting Gray Catbirds , fledgling Chipping Sparrows , singing Red-eyed Vireos , and a patch of jewel weed that attracted Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. How cute is this? Mom has a bug! I am adorable!
By their unexpected numbers and activity, I wouldn’t be surprised if they we’re planning on breeding here. Corey’s best bird of the weekend was a Grasshopper Sparrow in Queens, his first ever in his (adopted) home borough. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment.
With the easy-to-use platform offered by the Great Backyard Bird Count, birders of all ages and experience levels set out to find, tally, and document as many birds as possible within the boundaries of Miami-Dade. Although they breed on the west coast of Florida, Snowy Plover is a rare stray to this part of the state. Blue Grosbeak: 1.
And, not surprisingly, the breeding birds present were largely the same species as last year which was not a problem at all! After all, having fledgling Blackburnian Warblers , Red-eyed Vireos (like the one above), Chipping Sparrows , and Black-throated Green Warblers in the trees around the tent was awesome! That’s my boy!
My own trip was not an intensive birding experience, and August is clearly not the most productive month. Black Stork and three pairs of White-tailed Eagles breed here. In some years, Spanish Sparrows were reported breeding inside White Storks nests in Sakule. “I would certainly recommend Serbia to visiting birders.
Light blue boxes give brief facts on breeding age, strategy and lifespan. To an intermediate-level birder like me, the material in Better Birding –highly focused, detailed, based on the latest research and years of field experience– is daunting, but also fascinating. Le Conte’s Sparrow!” Authors George L.
Sure, Miami and the Florida Keys do not boast any endemics ( ‘Cape Sable’ Seaside Sparrow is close) at the species level. Coupled with its geologic youth, this makes the southern tip of the state function as a bit of an island experiment. However, few realize how unique and how good the birding can be here.
For 9 months of the year, this great, bellowing herd can be found in the Serengeti and watching the long lines of grunting wildebeest moving across the plains is truly a remarkable experience. Day upon day can be spent in this vast and productive wilderness of epic proportions without ever feeling that the limits have been reached!
It is home to four diverse forest ecosystems (deciduous, mixed, boreal, and lowlands), experiences seasonal weather systems ranging from cold dry Arctic winters to humid, thunder-storm filled summers, and, according to the latest official checklist, hosts four professional sports teams with bird names.* state and Canadian provinces.
This is an endemic breeding bird in North America and much is now being done by various federal and non-profit groups to ensure and foster its conservation. Piping plovers are always a treat to see, whether at their coastal or inland breeding grounds or whether at their southern wintering grounds.
Not to mention, its brilliantly bulbous crimson throat, bloated during breeding season must be a sight! They really appeared to enjoy this, because as soon as they swam back to the rocks they would line up again to repeat the experience. The Magnificent Frigatebird is the bird I would want to see.
If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment. I had a beautifull view on 5 horned grebe here (one in breeding plumage), in Ann Arbor Michigan, for the 3 seconds it lasted, until I heard a huge “CRRACK&# , and I fell through the ice. What was your best bird of the weekend?
June may be the gateway to summer in the Northern Hemisphere, but the birding still delivers the thrills of spring migration when you have access to the right birds’ breeding grounds. I visited Letchworth State Park this weekend, renowned for a ridiculous density of breeding wood warblers. How about you?
Carrie had been at Jones Beach pretty recently , but was happy to return, while I’m not sure that John had ever been, but he certainly seemed to enjoy the experience. She was lucky to get a breeding-plumaged male as a first look ( not like me ) which makes the moniker “harlequin” quite easy to understand.
Share Your Thoughts « A First Christmas Bird Count Experience Cerulean Warbler Gets a Boost in Colombia » To learn more about 10,000 Birds, Mike, Corey, or the many marvelous Beat Writers, please click here. As promised, one winner has been chosen at random from all entries that [.] Thanks for visiting!
Speaking of gifts, I finally tracked down that Henslow’s Sparrow that’s been singing its heart out dawn and dusk in a highly inconvenient field. The photo above portrays the field at Beatty Point, but you probably can’t see the sparrow, which made me wait far too long before popping out from cover. How about you?
The experience was marvelous — but it also weighed heavily on me. Here’s a diagram, available on the Audubon site , that compares its 2000 range with its anticipated 2080 range: Only 1 percent of the bird’s breeding range remains stable between 2000 and 2080 if global warming continues on its current course.
June in the Northern Hemisphere brings birds on their breeding grounds, some still frisky and others settled down taking care of their chicks. Lots of breeding songbirds live in those gorgeous woods, including several Hooded Warblers ! If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment.
Brown Pelicans , and the northernmost Brown Booby breeding colony on this side of the Pacific. Ringer Gannets and Boobies (Sulidae) Black-and-white gannets breed on the cold, rocky coasts of the northern and southern oceans. They can soar for hours, or plunge and twist after another bird with spectacular power and flair.
Being winter, this bird is in non-breeding plumage with more brown upper parts and lacking the white face it acquires in its aternate (breeding) plumage. A First Christmas Bird Count Experience » To learn more about 10,000 Birds, Mike, Corey, or the many marvelous Beat Writers, please click here. Beautiful bird.
Here’s hoping this bird makes it back to its home turf to breed and comes back to spend another winter in New York State! But after repeated good experiences with birders as individuals, Mr Jordan has consented to allow the bird to be made public before it leaves. It truly is a beauty, and worth the very long trip.
Informed literature bears out my experience that most birds are seen singly or in pairs. Outside of the breeding season a few birds may join together in a loose flock if the feeding is good. The former British colony’s Z.c. melli strain is one of as many as 12 races and shows a lighter face than many of the others.
Unlike other bird races where participants keep tight-lipped about bird species as mundane as a House Sparrow , this event gives a prize to the team that helps the most. Migrants will be around but their hormone driven urges to get back to the breeding grounds for procreation make them less than reliable on count day.
to the ongoing conservation of breeding Lesser Flamingos at Kimberley’s Kamfers Dam to the Albatross Task Force, which works with fishermen to find solutions to seabird bycatch (birds caught in fishermen’s nets). The small group was a good counterpart to the large, convivial ABA Safari group of 98 birders.
He brings to this book an academic background in biology and horticulture and, more importantly, decades of experience developing strategies for the best backyard bird feeding practices. Jim Carpenter is the founder of Wild Birds Unlimited, the popular bird feeder and seed franchise.
I read that the Peak was a great place for thrushes in winter; experience proved the veracity of that observation, but you’ll need to examine the underbrush closely. Hundreds massing at Mai Po, many coming into breeding plumage. 133 Eurasian Tree Sparrow. 9 Little Grebe. 4 or more seen both at Mai Po and in Starling Inlet.
I like sparrows. I like observing them, reading about them, grappling with species and subspecies identification, and even—on a good day—talking about sparrow taxonomy. The book does not include House Sparrow, an Old World sparrow that belongs to a completely different bird family. Scope of Book. Mexico border.
Seaside Sparrows were singing on both sides and occasionally popped up to give us a view before diving deep back into the Spartina grass, hopefully getting ready to nest. Seaside Sparrow. At the end of the road, we found two Nelson’s Sparrows who quickly flew out to a tiny bit of land in the channel. Eastern Meadowlark.
Harris’s Sparrows denote dominance by the amount of black on the head, the adult male birds with the most black ranking highest. Long-distance migrants, whose migration times are set by changes in day length, arrive at their breeding grounds only to find that the plants or insects they rely on are gone or eaten by resident species.
Also, I somehow doubt that whether I am stuck at work or not really influences how everyone else experiences spring but this is my blog post so I can use whatever criteria I want to measure how well spring has gone. Not much of a vignette but I have a nice picture of the sparrow so I feel that I had to mention it. Of course it did.
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 30+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content