Last month (late Aug 2010) I had the pleasure of spending some time at the Nature Conservancy’s Pine Butte Guest Ranch in Montana, where an irruption of Red Crossbills was in full swing. Each day around the ranch I saw and heard hundreds of crossbills, of two main call types, and these offered a great […]
Red Crossbill call types act like species Read More »
Maps updated with comments received as of 11 Aug 2010 In the 51st supplement of the AOU Checklist (July 2010), Whip-poor-will is split into Eastern and Mexican species. Basic identification of these two species is already covered in the Sibley Guide to Birds, but range maps need to be updated. Below are maps showing the range
New draft range maps for Whip-poor-will Read More »
Maps updated with comments received as of 11 Aug 2010 In the 51st supplement of the AOU Checklist (July 2010), Winter Wren is split into Eastern and Western species. Basic identification of these two species is already covered in the Sibley Guide to Birds, but range maps need to be updated. Below are maps showing
New draft range maps for Winter Wren Read More »
The eGuide for iPhone was recently updated with all new high-resolution images which can now be displayed full screen; a cleaner and simpler navigation interface, and dozens of additional sounds. More details are here. Several users have reported issues with some of the new sounds added in this update. Uninstalling and reinstalling the program seems
Updates to the Sibley eGuide to Birds of North America Read More »
A little-known subspecies of Cliff Swallow in Mexico and Arizona appears to be very distinctive, and I offer a tentative guide to identification (and lots of questions). Click to see a Google map showing the distribution of dark-fronted Cliff Swallows. Please leave a comment or contact me with any further info. Variation in Cliff Swallow
Mexican Cliff Swallows Read More »
The following photo has been the subject of a discussion on the ID-Frontiers listserve recently. It’s a Swainson’s Thrush, but is it the first-ever record of a melanistic Swainson’s Thrush, or just a normal bird seen in shadow?
Color Illusion and thrush identification Read More »
Be sure to sign up at 10,000 Birds for your chance to win an original David Sibley painting of Spoon-billed Sandpiper – and help bird conservation efforts at the same time. New photos of bill shape and new survey results in southeast Asia. Jeremiah Trimble has posted a fascinating photo he took in Thailand here.
Updates on Spoon-billed Sandpiper Read More »
I have updated my events page with several public events in the next few weeks, including a live radio show with Ken Gale on Tuesday March 9th at 11 AM on WBAI, 99.5 FM NYC or live-streamed on http://www.wbai.org. March 6th in Westminster, MD March 10th in New York, NY March 20th auction of a small
Upcoming Events – March 2010 Read More »
Here is another video showing two minutes of footage of foraging Spoon-billed Sandpipers at Pak Thale, Thailand. All three clips included here show the “shoveling” method of foraging. Watch for a lifting action as the bill is pushed forward into the mud and then lifted to a more horizontal angle (which causes the head to
More video of feeding Spoon-billed Sandpipers Read More »
One of the most distinctive birds in the world, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper hardly seems like an identification problem, but to pick one out of a flock of stints is really more difficult than you would think. Overall shape and size, color, and behavior are very similar to the stints. The spoon-shaped bill is surprisingly hard to
Identification of Spoon-billed Sandpiper Read More »