A recent discussion about geographic variation in Herring Gulls (on the ID-Frontiers listserve) prompted me to go back and scan some photos I took in 1998 at Cape May. At the time I was sorting out what seemed to be two populations of Herring Gulls, identifiable in their first winter by plumage and shape. There […]
Variation in immature American Herring Gulls Read More »
As I work on the revision of my field guide I’ve been giving a lot of thought to how the book can assist the process of identification, and what information is most useful to a birder in the field. I’ve settled on the idea that there are two stages of bird identification, each one requiring
The two stages of field identification Read More »
Thanks to reader Anne DuPont for sending in these photos of a pair of Great Blue Herons at Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Delray Beach, Florida. It’s clearly a mated pair, but the female (sexed by behavior) has more white on the head and fore neck, paler legs and bill, white head plumes, paler rust color on the
A Wurdemann’s-like heron from South Florida Read More »
The sturdy box contains one hundred cards, each showing one species of commonly seen bird on the front, with details of habits, identification, and range on the back of the card. Click to view on Amazon.com: Sibley Backyard Birding Flashcards: 100 Common Birds of Eastern and Western North America Or click for info from the
Sibley Flashcards of Common Birds – on sale Feb 7 Read More »
Snowy Owls are making news this winter, as in the New York Times today (link) The conditions setting up this invasion started at least a year ago. Last summer, burgeoning lemming populations in the arctic provided abundant food for nesting owls, which were able to feed and fledge five or even seven young per nest
The origin of the Snowy Owl invasion Read More »
The Sibley eGuide to birds was recently adapted for the Kindle Fire tablet (and still works on other Android OS devices). You can find it at the Amazon app store. In other news an update for the Android OS is coming soon that will (among other things) remove the annoying requirement to verify over the
Sibley eGuide available for Kindle Fire Read More »
Like many other species of ducks that are distinguished by head shape, Common and Barrow’s Goldeneyes are at least as easy to tell apart when sleeping as when they are awake. Birds that are awake and active change head shape a lot as they go from relaxed to alert to diving, but sleeping birds are
Identifying sleeping female goldeneyes Read More »
For much of the year, distinguishing male and female American Goldfinches is easy (when the males show their brilliant yellow summer plumage, about March through September). Even in January and February many males have a few bright yellow feathers showing, but otherwise the gray-brown nonbreeding males can be hard to tell from females. There is
Distinguishing male and female American Goldfinches Read More »
There are four named subspecies of Scaled Quail, three in the US and one in Mexico. The subspecies found in southern Texas is distinctly different from the other three, at least in adult male plumage, and makes the list of field identifiable subspecies. Here’s a quick summary of the differences, based on study of specimens
Subspecies of Scaled Quail Read More »
A recent discussion on the ID-Frontiers listserver involved an immature gull photographed in Utah (photo by Norman Jenson here). The consensus (and I agree) is that it is a Western Gull based on plumage and shape. But questions arise from the fact that it looks barely larger than the California Gulls next to it –
Do “dwarf” birds exist? Read More »