Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) - Summerhill State Forest, New York

Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis) - Summerhill State Forest, New York

Like yesterday’s Song Sparrows, many Dark-eyed Juncos hang around the area over the winter and are commonly seen at feeders.  They also set up territories and begin singing early in the spring.  They breed in forests dominated by conifers but are also seen in mixed woods.  I have had them singing in my back yard in the past few weeks, but I was able to photograph this male singing in Summerhill State Forest last week.  I have enjoyed photographing these sparrows both this spring and last fall because we don’t get them in central Florida.

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) - Summerhill State Forest

Talking about Song Sparrows as a migrant might not be totally fair as some birds stay over the winter and some migrate south.  However, regardless of whether they are returning migrants or just over wintering birds, Song Sparrows are one of the first birds of spring to start singing.  Here in Central New York they are everywhere and their song is ubiquitous.  It seems that nearly every time I put my binoculars on a sparrow, it turns out to be a Song Sparrow.

Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia) - Summerhill State Forest

As far as images go, I have some better images in my catalog from a few years back, but I am posting images taken last week so we’ll have to make do with this one.  Trees and underbrush is starting to really leaf out now so getting more spring like images should be easier next week.

Northern Parula (Parula americana) - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida

Yesterday I looked at the flycatchers that can be seen and photographed on a regular basis at Anhinga Trail, so today we’ll look at the Wood Warblers.  These small, typically colorful birds can be extremely difficult to photograph.  Most prefer the canopy of tall trees and rarely come down to eye level.  Well, at Anhinga Trail there are no tall trees so you can get lucky and get a canopy loving species like a Northern Parula at eye level.

The obvious warbler that is commonly seen at Anhinga Trail is the marsh loving Common Yellowthroat.  These birds are ubiquitous here, though they are often difficult to photograph.  They are fast moving, like dense vegetation, and never stay in one position for long.  Photographing any of these warblers will be an exercise in quick and accurate focusing and require a ton of patience!

In winter, Palm Warblers are also very common.  They can be a little bit easier to photograph as they will forage in open ground and perch some of the small trees in the open.  They are easy to spot and identify due to the constant tail flicking.  I’ve had decent luck with these birds feeding in the reeds, on the ground, in willows, and even in a small pond apple.  Be patient and position yourself so as the bird feeds, it works towards you.

Palm Warbler (Dendroica palmarum) - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida

I have also seen and photographed Northern Waterthrush, though I didn’t get any new photos of one this year.  You might also spot a Black and White Warbler in the trees and of course a trip into the Gumbo Limbo Trail can be even more rewarding, though it can be difficult photographic conditions since it’s so dense and dark.  Also in migration, warbler numbers can increase rapidly but heron and egret numbers at Anhinga Trail have decreased and the mosquito population has become hungry so if you visit, do so at your own risk.

Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida

Anhinga Trail is known as one of the premiere locations to photograph Anhingas, herons, egrets, Wood Storks, and more.  The place is so well known that on Saturday evening I witnessed well above $100,000 worth of lenses and camera equipment pointed at a single Great Blue Heron.  It’s a popular place and I have been there so many times, I am much pickier where I point my lens these days.  On Friday morning, I decided to focus on the often ignored songbirds of Anhinga Trail.

The marsh and reeds that line the edges of the canals can be extremely productive for a number of songbirds.  On most visits, I see at least several species of warblers, a couple flycatchers, a couple blackbirds, and typically a handful of other species.  Most photographers simply ignore these birds as they look for the charismatic herons and egrets.

Eastern Phoebe (Sayornis phoebe) - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida

Today I’ll share with you a few of the flycatchers that can be seen hunting and calling around the boardwalk.  The first, and most common one, is the Eastern Phoebe.  There are always at least a couple individuals that winter along the trail and seem to have their own preferred hunting areas.  I spent a few minutes observing this particular bird’s favored perches and then set up in a good position where I could photograph several of the perches.  After that it was just a matter of waiting and making the image when he landed on the perch.

Great-crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida

While I was waiting for the phoebe to land in the right spot, a Great-crested Flycatcher flew into range.  These much larger birds are a little more difficult to photograph though you can hear them calling on a regular basis.  I find they only like to sit low enough to be photographed for a brief period of time before moving back to the taller trees.  Because of this you have to work fast and make do with what he offers.  In this case, he used a couple perches in this area but this was the only clean shot I had.  I would have preferred to have him perched on one of the tall reeds but again, I’ll take what I got.

Tomorrow I’ll look at the different warbler species I have seen and photographed at Anhinga Trail.  Next time you are there, pay attention to the smaller birds hopping in the reeds above the heron you are photographing.

Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida) - Eco Pond, Everglades National Park, Florida

It’s always fun when you find an unusual or out of place bird when birding.  I had the pleasure to do just that twice over last weekend.  Now when I am talking about unusual birds, I’m not talking about the birds themselves being weird or strange, I’m saying that their mere presence is unusual.  So this past weekend I had two pretty cool and unusual species show up in Everglades National Park.

The first species I found on my own at Eco Pond in Flamingo on Thursday afternoon.  This location used to be one of my favorite haunts when I lived nearby in 2005, but today Hurricane Wilma has radically changed it.  More on that in an upcoming post.  On Thursday, I was mostly wandering around seeing if I could find any songbirds when a small brown sparrow dashed across the trail.  After about 10 minutes, I managed some great views of the bird only to quickly realize it wasn’t one of the species I see regularly and can identify by sight.  I made a mental list of all the field marks and back to the car I went, only a couple hundred yards.  With a field guide in hand, I quickly and easily identified the bird as a Clay-colored Sparrow.  This is a very irregular visitor to South Florida, judging by the range map, and listed as rare on the park checklist.

Since I hadn’t seen the bird before (ends up it is on my lifelist but with no date/location notation), I decided to head back with the camera and get some photos that could support my identification.  I spent a while chasing down this active sparrow and managed a few photos that clearly show all of the field marks and confirm the identity of this little beauty, but nothing that would be classified as marketable or saleable.  What you see on this blog are very significant crops of the original frames.

Clay-colored Sparrow (Spizella pallida) - Eco Pond, Everglades National Park, Florida

The second bird came Saturday evening at Anhinga Trail.  This bird could be called unusual in itself as it has a giant beak and is a little odd.  The Smooth-billed Ani apparently has been seen for about the last month, but it only showed up on the state wide bird lists in the last couple days.  This bird I did not find on my own, in fact I saw the bird with at least 50 other birders as one person spotted it and we then followed the “ani parade” to his location.  Like before, I was able to get confirmation and documentation type photos, not my usual high quality images.  Regardless, it is always fun to see an ani.

Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) - Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park, Florida

Smooth-billed Anis are resident here in South Florida but their numbers have crashed over the years and I’m not sure why.  I don’t think they were ever all that common, but they are seen on a regular basis.  Today, I only hear about specific birds a couple times a year.  There used to be a family group on the backside of the Ft. Lauderdale Airport that was very reliable, but I have no idea of that group is still there.  My first ani was as a very young kid at Eco Pond and it was a big deal then, though there weren’t 50 or more birders staking it out.

Finding rare and unusual birds is a lot of fun and if you choose to give it a shot there are a couple ways to approach it.  First, you can chase a bird someone else has found and posted to your state or regional Rare Bird Alert or email group.  This is easiest as there are often very specific directions and you know what you are looking for.  Or you can simply go find one on your own.  It takes a lot of patience and attention to detail, as you may need to double-check every common bird to ensure it isn’t something rare.  While chasing someone else’s rare bird is fun, finding one on your own can be even more rewarding!

Female Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) - Eco Pond, Everglades National Park, Florida

Last Saturday, I spent the day visiting Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and Orlando Wetlands Park with a close friend of mine.  Sean and I have known each other practically our entire lives and Sean is my only other friend who was interested in birds as a kid and will still go birding with me today.  My dad joked that he should drive us on Saturday so that we could stand on the center console of his car with our heads sticking out the sunroof looking for birds.  There was a time when we were kids that we both could do that at the same time.  I don’t think we’d fit today.

In any case, we headed off to visit some of our old haunts and track down a couple specific birds.  Our goals included a White-faced Ibis at Orlando Wetlands, a Painted Bunting at the same location, and then just a swing through Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge to see what else we could find.  We got all that and more…

It had been a long time since I had been to either location since I haven’t lived in Orlando in several years.  Major changes could be seen at both, particularly in the number of people.  It was great to see so many people out and enjoying a spectacularly beautiful day.  At Orlando Wetlands, I used to only see a half dozen or so other people, but on Saturday morning I would guess there were a minimum of 60 people visiting, probably a lot more in the afternoon as well.

Orlando Wetlands offered the usual suspects including all the herons and egrets normally found in a freshwater marsh in Florida including an American Bittern.  We had a dozen or so Purple Gallinules, as well as a great look at a Sora feeding out in the open while a King Rail called in the marsh.  The White-faced Ibis was feeding right where it was supposed to be and while we had distant views, we were able to clearly see the red eye and facial skin compared to the darker, bluer eye and skin of the much more common Glossy Ibis.  We stopped at the feeders on our way out and got Sean a life bird, the Painted Bunting.  We only had a couple females and while they don’t have the gaudy colors of a male, they still are quite beautiful.

About mid morning, we headed off to Merritt Island NWR where we stopped at the refuge office to pick up a bird checklist.  The visitor center was packed and understandably so as several pairs of Painted Buntings were coming in to feed at a feeder.  Sean was able to finally get some point blank views of these amazing birds, which was quite satisfying for both of us.

The main attraction at the refuge is Black Point Wildlife Drive, a 5 mile auto tour through a series of marshes and impoundments.  A typical winter visit will turn up huge flocks of ducks and coots, a handful of shorebirds species, and a couple raptors as well.  Historically, there is always a huge flock of ducks just after the second numbered stop on the drive.  As Sean and I pulled up getting ready to scope the ducks, we were shocked to find that there was not a single duck in the entire impoundment.  After searching for a few minutes, wondering where the thousands of ducks had gone, we found only a single yellowlegs.

Roseate Spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja) - Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, Florida

Further down the drive, we finally started to find some of the ducks.  I still think numbers were down from past years, and we may have been a little late in the year, but I am curious where they all are.  Have they moved due to water levels?  Are they simply not here this year?  Have they already headed back north?  Species diversity was there as we found Blue-winged and Green-winged Teal, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, and a single Gadwall, but I think that the overall numbers were down, but I could be wrong.

The drive itself turned up a huge number of Roseate Spoonbills, always a crowd favorite, as well as a number of Reddish Egrets.  Again, visitor numbers seemed to be high which  was great to see.  Merritt Island always has had good visitor numbers, but it was nice to see so many people enjoying the area.

After the drive, Sean and I headed out to the beaches at Canaveral National Seashore to see if we could pick up a couple more species of sandpipers, a few terns, and a Northern Gannet.  Our first stop turned up large numbers of gannets off the coast and subsequent stops yielded Sandwich Terns, Royal Terns, and Sanderlings.  However, the huge surprise was about 500 meters off the coast at one stop.  A North Atlantic Right Whale.

These large whales, averaging about 50 feet in length, are highly endangered with only about 300 individuals remaining.  Part of the population comes to this portion of the Atlantic each winter to calve, and individuals are occasionally seen from the local beaches.  I didn’t know all this at the time; I was just shocked and excited to see a whale from the beach.  A whale made the local news a few days later as it was seen breaching of the beach just to the north of where we were.

It was a great day with a lot of amazing birds, not to mention the whale.  We concluded the day with 113 species, which is a pretty great total for a relaxing day of birding.  The whale was a once in a lifetime sighting which just topped the day off.  As Sean said at one point, “you know its been a good day when seeing an otter feeding at close range was like the eighth best experience of the day.”

Florida Scrub Jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) - Oscar Scherer State Park, Florida

I have spent the last few days at my parents’ home in Orlando regrouping, finishing up a few projects, preparing for upcoming projects, and getting some good sleep.  It’s been a great break, but I am eager to get back into the field and that will be Monday at Archbold Biological Station in south central Florida where I will spend next week photographing Florida Scrub Jays.

If you are not from Florida, you may not know much about these birds, so I thought I would offer a little background.  They are found in a very specific scrub habitat that has become quite limited across the state due to development and urban encroachment and these small patches of habitat are the only place they are found in the world.  As an endemic species, they are on many of the most wanted lists for birders visiting Florida.

One of the most fun things about these birds is their tameness.  In the study tracts where I will be working, the birds will actually approach visitors, often landing on their heads and hands looking for peanut handouts.  This is also true at many of the other areas I’ve seen them throughout the state.  It makes for an interesting photographic challenge, as I’m not used to dealing with birds so incredibly close.

I’ll share one more tidbit, this one more biological.  The Florida Scrub Jay is a cooperative breeder.  This means that young birds do not attempt to breed as yearling birds, but instead stay in their parents’ territory and assist with territory defense, feeding, and raising the next year’s young.  The reasoning for this fascinating behavior is quite complex and I will be writing more about it in the coming week.

I will be spending the entire week working at Archbold and am unsure of Internet access and my ability to post.  So, while I will be writing posts, I’m unsure if I’ll be able to post them until I return the following week.  If the blog goes silent, you now know why and you can expect to see posts again starting February 8^th or 9^th when I return to Orlando. In the meantime, have a great week!

Snail Kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis plumbeus) with Apple Snail - Water Conservation Area 3A, Florida

One of the nation’s most unique and rarest raptor is the Snail or Everglades Kite.  This spectacular bird feeds only on the large apple snails found in the flooded prairies and marshes of the southern Florida.  It is currently listed as an Endangered species and can be difficult to find, much less photograph in southern Florida.  It should be noted that a substantial population, though a different subspecies, can be found in marshes throughout Central and South America.

There is one particular spot along the Tamiami Trail near Shark Valley that is fairly well known as the most reliable spot to see these striking birds.  Over the past few days I have driven by it about a half dozen times and only seen birds twice.  On Friday evening, not only was there a male present, he was hunting close to the road and would perch on a cypress to feed.

Separated by a canal, I couldn’t get any closer and this is a somewhat substantial crop, but is by far the best image I have of this species in flight.  Snail in beak, sweet evening light, beautiful background, and a striking male bird.  I couldn’t ask for anything more.  A perfect ending to a long day.

Plumed and Wandering Whistling Ducks - Parry's Lagoon, Western Australia, Australia

Yesterday I spent the day in the company of 4 other excellent birders as we worked our way around Lake Cayuga, into the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, and back down the far side of the lake.  Over the course of the day, we tallied up 24 species of the Anatidae family that includes Swans, Geese, and Ducks.  Other birders were also covering the same areas we were and at least 4 more species were seen that we missed.  Two of these species were represented by 3 individuals among a flock of over 8,000 Canada and Snow Geese.  These two species are essentially smaller versions of the Canada Goose (Cackling Goose) and the Snow Goose (Ross’s Goose).

So why did we not spend the time picking through these huge flocks for these few unusual individuals?  What does that mean about my group’s interest in the species concept compared the other groups?  Does any of this matter to the birds themselves?  Ultimately, why do we care about classifying these birds so specifically?

Why didn’t my group spend the time to find the few oddballs in the flock?  I’m not quite sure.  We did spend some time earlier searching through a smaller flock of Canadas looking for a Cackling.  We spent a good portion of the day picking out ducks at a huge distance, distinguishing the species in low abundance out of thousands of others.  I can’t tell you exactly why we didn’t find the Cackling and Ross’s Geese.  We thought about it.  In fact, I made a joke about looking for a Ross’s Goose.  It was a joke at the time and then I got home and saw that people actually had done exactly that.

For me, it has a lot to do with the experience of seeing a species.  Before I was a photographer, picking birds out of a flock with a scope at 500 yards or more would have been a rewarding challenge.  Today though I want to be closer.  Ideally, I want to be within 20 yards.  If it’s a songbird, I want to be much closer.  Years ago I was content with counting species.  Today I want to observe birds and behavior, preferably with both eyes, not just one through a high powered scope.  For me, both the Ross’s and Cackling Geese would have been new birds.  Don’t get me wrong, I’d be happy to have them on my life list, but I’d much rather add them when I can really see them up close and personal.  Then I could study the differences and behavior.  If I can get a photograph, great, if not at least I am more confident on the identification.

I can’t speak to the motivations of the other birders in my group or the other birders that did pick out those two odd geese species.   I can guess though that by taking the time and painstakingly identifying every individual in the flock, the other birders were more interested in documenting species numbers and distribution.  This motivation can come from a desire to contribute to academic research through citizen science project like eBird or even to further their personal records and understanding.  Maybe it comes from a desire to see two more species on that given day.  I don’t know, but I do know that birding and the experience of seeing and identifying a bird is very personal. It is different for every person and probably different every single day.

So does any of this mean anything for the birds themselves?  Overall, probably not.  The only way I see taxonomy affecting a specific bird is through one of two ways.  First, birds could be affected negatively if a specific subspecies was split into a full species and numerous birders flocked to a specific location to see the new species and ended up disturbing the population.  Seems theoretically possible but on the whole, not all that realistic for a major impact.

The second option can be much more significant and benefit a bird and that is conservation.  Splitting a single species into two species means that the overall population of that species gets cut significantly since some portion of the birds is now considered a separate species.  Since population size has a lot to do with conservation efforts, this could raise the profile of one or both of the new species, leading to increased conservation efforts.  The Gunnison Sage Grouse is a good real life example where this has occurred.  This could also go the opposite way with a separate species being reclassified as a subspecies, however when this happens the conservation efforts seem to continue despite the reclassification.  I’ve personally seen this with both the Cape Sable Seaside Sparrow and Attwater’s Prairie Chicken.

This all leads to a single ultimate question.  Why do we care if a specific population of birds (species or not) exists or doesn’t?  Why do we value biodiversity and why is it so important in our lives?  Does a species have some intrinsic value?  Tune in next week for a discussion of biodiversity and its importance in our lives.