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
One of them is a waterfowl usage survey over the upper Mississippi conducted by plane…or as I like to call it: Duckmaggedon! Our job is to fly above the Mississippi River at a about 120 feet going about 100 mph and count and ID ducks. Can you make out any species in the above photo? Here’s an example of what we see.
With two of North America’s major flyways, Mississippi and Central, overhead, and with almost 400 miles of coastline Louisiana is one of those states where you can see Eastern and Western birds and a hell of a lot of shorebirds and waterfowl. Adventures of a Louisiana Birder: One Year, Two Wings, Three Hundred Species.
Each year, I hope to identify at least 600 species. That 600th species was a Streaked Xenops , an especially uncommon bird in Costa Rica usually seen at Tapanti National Park. That 600th species was a Streaked Xenops , an especially uncommon bird in Costa Rica usually seen at Tapanti National Park. Streaked Xenops.
There’s a new proposal before the American Ornithologists’ Union’s North American Classification Committee to split Painted Bunting into two species (yay! — maybe, more later) and to name the new species “Eastern Painted Bunting” and “Western Painted Bunting” (no!).
There’s no species of bird more associated with the North American desert than Greater Roadrunner. But Warner Brothers cartoons aside, Greater Roadrunner is a much more adaptable species that we give it credit for. But Warner Brothers cartoons aside, Greater Roadrunner is a much more adaptable species that we give it credit for.
This may seem like government agency hair-splitting, but the calls needed to be made not to the wildlife division of the wildlife agency, but to the exotic species division of the wildlife agency. The bird is a captive-bred Peregrine/Gyrfalcon hybrid owned by people with an Exotic Species Permit.
million years old, over one and a half times older than the earliest remains of most living species of birds. The Cuban Sandhill Crane , Grus canadensis nesiotes and the Mississippi Sandhill Crane , Grus canadensis pulla are listed as endangered species. The oldest unequivocal Sandhill Crane fossil is 2.5
Each time, a small notebook tagged along with me, and I would note the bird species I spotted, then put it away. And it’s true, I know that the Pied-billed Grebes show up around the same time the Mississippi Kites leave, because I make a note of both and it sticks in my memory. Otherwise I would never remember.”
I was happy to read that the wood stork ( Mycteria Americana ), a bird near and dear to me, was down-sited from the status of endangered to threatened species. Fish and Wildlife Service is down-listing the wood stork from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). As a biologist working for the U.S. Photo: U.S.
Sandhill Cranes , ancient and currently abundant – the most abundant species of crane in the world – are nevertheless almost miraculous to me every time I see them. The five subspecies – Greater, Lesser, Mississippi, Florida, Cuban – show the genetic marks of what the species has had to do to survive.
As of mid-November 2021, the Collaborative had submitted more than 4,200 checklists (up from 1,700 in 2018) and has observed 691 species in the United States (up from 618). Thus, there are now seven states with 200+ observed species. The state with the largest increase was Arizona , with 139 species added.
It’s all good, as of April 6, my yard list has more than 60 species and will certainly grow in the coming days. More likely are a suite of sparkling hummingbirds, the eye-catching Flame-colored Tanager , acrobatic Red-faced Spinetails , and various other species. Barred Antshrike. Flame-colored Tanager. The Caribbean Lowlands.
How are seasons like species? Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was a Mississippi Kite , though 17-year cicadas came a close second. In both instances, we can have trouble telling where one ends and the other begins. How about you? What was your best bird of the weekend?
I work part-time for the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area and here are some stunning views of our very urban park along the Mississippi River through the Twin Cities in Minnesota: This video is not only remarkable for the views, but also the places they take the small drone–behind waterfalls, are you kidding me?
The species is said to have never been common, a description I’ve always thought is applied too liberally to long-gone species almost as a convenient declaration of helplessness or shrug of the shoulders toss off in the face of its eventual demise. Mississippi in 1949. Photo by Jerry Payne, Charleston Co, SC, 1958.
Today, the species has all but disappeared east of the Mississippi River and has declined in western parts of its range, most likely caused by the expansion of the House Wren which destroys and removes their eggs from nest sites 1. A century ago, the Bewick’s Wren was beloved as the “house wren” of the Appalachians and the Midwest.
The official Florida checklist counts over 500 species, and thus Florida citizens had a wealth of State Bird candidates to choose from when they named the Florida state bird in 1927. This common bird is also the state bird for Arkansas, Texas (another avian hot spot), Tennessee, and Mississippi, so Florida even misses points for originality.
Fortunately, the folks at Princeton University Press agreed, and the person who correctly guesses my 300th species of bird in Queens will get a free copy of The Warbler Guide ( which Donna reviewed ). Write a comment in the comment section of the blog with the name of the species you think that will be my 300th. How do you enter?
It is one of several species in the Mallard -complex of ducks, along with American Black Duck , Mexican Duck , and quite a few others. You find them in the south from Florida to Texas and down into Mexico, occasionally as far north as the Carolinas in the east and up the Mississippi River as far north as Illinois.
Sure, the AOU has the final say in whats a species, whats not, yadda yadda yadda… but who tells them what to say? After all, there are some epic splits coming your way… what do you think about new species of storm-petrel and murrelet that can be found in the United States? But I digress.
That’s when the state and feds demand that we fill out complicated forms detailing every bird we’ve taken in during the year, supposedly using the North American Ornithological Society’s abbreviation for each species.
The justification was ridiculously laughable: in order to further study the species. The unique behaviors this mysterious species might exhibit? Researchers observing (live) Mississippi Kites provide very useful information on the timing, paths, and correlation with fronts that I use when releasing my kites.
states and thirty-seven counties, and added a whopping ninety-two species to my life list. Despite that, I managed to see 511 species in 2013 , which is not half-bad. Hopefully I will see at least that many species in 2014! Finally seeing my 300th species in Queens. a 17-Year Cicada. You will not be disappointed.
She lived on a stretch of the Mississippi River near a power plant that keeps the river open all winter long (even when it’s below zero). Do neighbors refer to you as bird species + Lady or Guy? A great example was the Swan Lady in Monticello, MN Sheila Lawrence. Are you the local Goose Lady? Grackle Guy?
So: we have bird identification shorthand, which is usually the bird’s North American Ornithological Society abbreviation, but which could be just one particular rehabber’s nickname for the species.
The species name is long enough to be the middle line of a formal English haiku. You also learn that for birds that spend most of their lives drifting above the ocean and sleeping on the wing, the species isn’t exactly aquatic. So we used MAFR, the American Ornithological Union’s 4-letter code. Oil was everywhere.
Sure, Miami and the Florida Keys do not boast any endemics ( ‘Cape Sable’ Seaside Sparrow is close) at the species level. Many visitors who come through Orlando or Tampa see maybe eight or ten species on a winter trip. However, few realize how unique and how good the birding can be here.
The Peterson Reference Guide to Seawatching offers two types of information: Species Accounts–descriptions of 112 birds within 15 families as they appear over and on the water, and Where to Watch, brief descriptions of 47 sites on the North American eastern coast and interior recommended for seawatching. No rails or gallinules.
I generally wait until I have at least a dozen species on my year list before having my first drink of the year. But which species of crow is our Old Crow – Fish or American? By my reckoning, 500 miles up the Mississippi River as the steamboat goes only gets you as far as the Mississippi-Louisiana-Arkansas tripoint.
Swallow-tailed Kite is an enigmatic species in North Carolina. Swallow-tailed Kites, and their equally graceful but less ostentatious cousins from Mississippi, have been found in at least a half-dozen fields in North Carolina in the last couple weeks, including a field not more than an hour from my home.
In February of 2013, I wrote a piece outlining my thoughts on which exotic bird species should be added to the American Bird Association (ABA) checklist. In 2014, the Florida Ornithological Society Records Committee (FOSRC) voted to add this species to the Florida state list. The ABA Checklist Committee quickly followed suit.
The proximity of both slopes also facilitates seeing a lot of different species in a short span because the montane barrier has resulted in differences in terms of species and habitats. This small antbird species is common in Panama to Ecuador but rare in Costa Rica.
Though I have been birding for a few years now, I had only birded west of the Mississippi once before my recent trip to Austin, Texas. I didn’t realize how many new species I would see within the city itself! Given how far west I found myself, I was hoping for at least a handful of new birds.
However, few realize that this flat, densely populated county boasts one of the highest list totals of any county east of the Mississippi. The final species tally for the four day blitz was 186 ABA-countable species, an impressive total in winter for any location in the United States.
Sedge Wren – There are records of this species in Queens, generally along the coast in fall. Great Shearwater – At this point, seabirds are my weakest family in Queens with the most species having reported in the borough that I have not seen. It leaves Barnacle Goose as the last remotely possible goose species for me to add. (0
As of mid-October 2018, the Collaborative had submitted more than 1,700 checklists and observed 618 species in the United States. The heat map is revealing: Unsurprisingly for a site founded and run by two New Yorkers (one of whom literally wrote the book on birding New York), the Empire State boasts the highest number of species (316).
This morning, they have seen some 10,000 Broad-winged Hawks , mixed up with two dozen Swainson’s Hawks , several Mississippi Kites and one or two King Vultures , Swallow-tailed and Double-toothed Kites , Merlins and Peregrine Falcons. But why would someone look for that, an easy and common one among the 920+ bird species of Costa Rica?
While I had heard Yellow Rails in North Dakota in 2010, to see this Ohio Review Species fly, not once but twice, right in front of me was an incredible experience. Susan Kailholz-Williams had raptors as her BBOTY: My best and thrilling bird of 2011: First confirmed nest of Mississippi Kites right here in Ohio.
Seeing 525 species was nice, as was the fact that I birded in four countries, nine of the fifty states in the United States, and fifty-one counties. I want to reach 500 birds in the ABA, get my Queens list to 295, see a total of at least 500 species, and get my World Life List to 1,100. But how did I see so many species this year?
Along that stretch, we enjoyed Fork-tailed Flycatchers and other species in the open fields and marshes including Harriss’s Hawk , the local Nicaraguan Seed-Finch , and, best of all, a pair of normally sneaky and secretive Yellow-breasted Crakes walking in the open through a grassy marsh!
I am shocked to be writing this post already, and doubly shocked that I’ve seen six new species for Queens since I guessed what my next five Queens birds would be just eight months ago, back in March. Eastern Whip-Poor-Will : It’s kind of amazing how rarely this species is reported in Queens. I’ll make it three!
Frigatebirds (Fregatidae) Five species of frigatebird ply the planet’s tropical skies and seas. Ringer Cormorants and Shags (Phalacrocoracidae) Cormorants are more speciose than other families in the order; 30-40 species range widely on every continent and many islands. Ringer is exploring the world one bird at a time.
The Cuban sandhill and Mississippi sandhill are both subspecies of cranes that are listed as endangered and are protected under the Endangered Species Act. SeaWorld Orlando’s Aviculture Team plans to release the adult and chick together, once the chick learns to fly and the adult is fully recovered.
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