Natural History

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.

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…

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

Presidential Natural History and Exploration

November 1, 2009 By Drew Fulton 1 Comment

Can you imagine reading the following headline in The New York Times?

“Former President Bush near death after exploring unknown Brazilian river”

No? Sounds beyond absurd right? Well, in 1914, it would have described Former President Theodore Roosevelt nearly perfectly.

For the past few weeks I’ve been listening to the audio version of the book, The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard. The book describes the journey of Roosevelt in 1913 down the totally unknown and unmapped River of Doubt, now the Rio Roosevelt, in South America The book is a fascinating portrayal of a former President who lived life large and advocated a life of hard work, particularly in the outdoors.

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Filed Under: Natural History, Sunday Essay Tagged With: Brazil, exploration, Natural History, photography, Theodore Roosevelt

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.

Alley North: Science, Photography, and Subject Welfare

October 25, 2009 By Drew Fulton 6 Comments

As you may know, the Florida Everglades are near and dear to me as I spent nearly two years dedicated to my project, Everglades Imagery: Intimate Detail of a Vast Landscape. I have not spent any significant time in the region for quite a few years so I have planned to spend some time there in January. As I have been planning this trip, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the experiences I had when I lived in the National Park during the first half of 2005. One of those experiences was so unique that I thought I’d share it with you today.

On the morning of March 30, 2005, I found myself on an airboat headed out several miles into the open sawgrass prairie of Water Conservation Area 3, an area north of Everglades National Park. I was in the company of two students and their research advisor and we were trailing another couple airboats also loaded with researchers. Our destination? The Alley North Rookery.

The Importance of Scouting

October 11, 2009 By Drew Fulton Leave a Comment

Mallefowl on Nest, Victoria, Australia - I created this image after consulting local birders and scouting the nest the night before.

Would you ever walk into a business meeting with a possible new client without first doing background research on who they are, what they want, and how you can best market yourself to them? Would you go on stage as the leading role in a play without first memorizing your lines and running through numerous rehearsals? Would you take an exam without ever having studied the material?

Of course not!

Then why would you go to a place to photograph without a thorough understanding of what to expect, where to find it, and when to be there? Scouting is a simple and easy step overlooked far too often.