Birding

What is a Species, anyway?

November 15, 2009 By Drew Fulton 1 Comment

Once considered a distinct species (Melithreptus laetior), the Golden-backed Honeyeater is now lumped with the Black-chinned Honeyeater (Melithreptus gularis)

Over the past few weeks I have been able to add several new species to my life list mostly because I have begun to pay extremely close attention to the identification of some difficult birds. Since some of the species I have been looking for are so incredibly difficult to identify, I have begun to wonder about the definition of a species and why do we have this compulsion to classify animals.

Modern taxonomy started with Linnaeus in the 18^th century and today we continue to expand on his systematic classification of plants and animals. Taxonomy is the process of classifying a species within the context of other related species. Closely related species for example are placed in the same genera while closely related genera are placed in the same family. On and on it goes up through orders, classes, phyla, and eventually kingdoms.

Could this desire to classify and place each animal in a defined category be motivated by our attempt to seek order out of chaos? This classification does provide evolutionary context for a species, which can valuable for scientists trying to study any particular species. First, let’s back up a few steps to the very beginning…

What is a species?

Splitting Species: Snowy and Kentish Plovers

November 12, 2009 By Drew Fulton 1 Comment

Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) - Little Gasparilla Island, Florida

Today I finally had a chance to go back and read a couple recent scientific papers that looked interesting, but I hadn’t had an opportunity to review closely. I’d like to bring one particular paper to your attention today and talk a little about the research and the results. Back in October, Clemens Küpper, from the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, and his colleagues published a paper in the journal The Auk suggesting that that Kentish and Snowy Plovers be split into two distinct species.

The In Between Times

November 11, 2009 By Drew Fulton Leave a Comment

It’s that time of year when all of the breeding songbirds have moved south and the winter birds haven’t made it this far south yet. We are in between seasons and now we wait until things pick back up. As I am still learning my way around this region, I’m trying to spend this slow time finding new places to photograph and explore new areas. It’s a lot of fun and important to do, but it doesn’t produce instant results.

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Filed Under: Birding, Daily Musings Tagged With: autumn, Birding, migration, Rough-legged Hawk, season change, winter

BBB – Challenge of Identifying Juvenile Gulls

November 10, 2009 By Drew Fulton 2 Comments

Can you identify these two species? Treman Marine Park, Ithaca, New York

Every birder knows what a LBB or LBJ is… Little Brown Bird or Little Brown Job… and birders understand the difficulty in identifying some of the small brown sparrows, flycatchers, warblers and more.

What about a BBB? I’m talking Big Brown Birds, specifically young gulls in winter.

As mentioned earlier this month, one of my goals for this winter is to spend some time really studying the gulls in the area. I have never paid close attention to the subtleties of identifying some of the less common gulls as they are very difficult and can be quite frustrating.

Take the two images above. I will tell you now that not only are these are two different birds, they are two different species. One is extremely common and one is rather rare. I’ve spent the last three days looking through flocks of gulls carefully examining each and every one of the common birds to find the one single rare species, a Thayer’s Gull.

Read on to learn more about these two species and which one is which…

Hurricane Ike: Impact on Natural Areas

November 8, 2009 By Drew Fulton 4 Comments

Debris field after Hurricane Ike - Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge, Anahuac, Texas

With the prospect of a late season hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast later this week, I wanted to post some images from a project I worked on this time last year. In October 2008, Hurricane Ike slammed into the Texas coast, devastating coastal communities near Houston from Galveston to Sabine Pass and produced significant damage inland as well. The media was inundated with photographs and video of the damage to the coastal towns, but there was very little focus on the natural areas of the coast. That is where I found my niche…

Interactive Habitat: Winter Spruce Bog

November 6, 2009 By Drew Fulton 1 Comment

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Summer Hill Spruce Bog #1

A spruce bog is a habitat that I am totally unfamiliar with so as of now, I don’t have a whole lot of information. It is a really amazing habitat and hosts a huge diversity of wildlife as they typically are somewhat small and create a lot of edge effect, where two habitats come together. In late fall and winter, bird life is relatively quiet. However, just this morning I saw Ruffed Grouse, American Crow, Blue Jays, Black-capped Chickadees, and more. Early in the year I had huge flocks of Song and Swamp Sparrows and other fall migrants including several Ash-throated Flycatchers. Mallards and Wood Ducks as well as Canada Geese call this marsh home as well. Spring and summer host numerous breeding warblers and other songbirds and I will bring you more on that in the spring.

Interactive Habitats: Series Introduction

November 6, 2009 By Drew Fulton Leave a Comment

Kalkadoon Grasswren - Mt. Isa, Queensland, Australia

This week will see the launch of a new weekly series, Interactive Habitats. One of the greatest skills for a birder is the ability to recognize a specific habitat and then know immediately what birds and other animals are likely to be found there. This sounds fairly simple but it can be deceptively difficult if you don’t have a decent working knowledge of botany. I think I may have a solution…

Brant! Despite a Dog

November 2, 2009 By Drew Fulton 3 Comments

Brant - Cass Park, Ithaca, New York

For the last few weeks, flocks of Brant have been passing through the Ithaca area on their way south. My first looks at these geese were in a scope at a distance of probably 400-500 meters, not exactly the most exciting and rewarding experience. As people have been reporting these birds throughout the region, I keep chasing them down for a chance to photograph them. I’ve now seen Brant on a number of different occasions but usually at either great distances or in situations where I couldn’t make a photograph. Sunday evening that finally changed!

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Filed Under: Birding, Daily Musings, Natural History Tagged With: birds, Brant, Cass Park, Cayuga Lake, dog, dog park, geese, ithaca, photography

New Theories in Breeding Patterns for Migratory Birds

October 29, 2009 By Drew Fulton 4 Comments

Yellow-billed Cuckoo - Everglades, Florida

Traditionally, migratory songbirds are thought to follow a fairly standard life history. Breed in the United States and Canada during the spring and summer and then migrate to Central and South America for the winter to avoid the harsh weather conditions and food scarcity found across much of North America. However, new scientific evidence may turn that on its head, at least for a few species.

Woodpeckers Everywhere

October 27, 2009 By Drew Fulton 1 Comment

Red-bellied Woodpecker - Everglades National Park, Florida

I was going stir crazy sitting in front of the computer all day, so this evening I headed out for a walk in the woods. I decided to explore a patch of forest known as Monkey Run as I had never been there before, and an immature Red-headed Woodpecker had been seen there a couple times in the last few days.