Month: December 2018

2018 Review: Year of the Bird

Happy New Year’s Eve! 2018 was official the Year of the Bird, and it was quite a year! Here are some of the highlights from our birding year.

January

February

  • Great Backyard Bird Count: 33 species, 793 individual birds. Plus 2 Life Birds: Tufted Duck and Redheads
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Tufted Duck (Image by BirdNation)
  • 2 Snowy Owls at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR.

March

  • Ponies on Parade (Image by David Horowitz)
  • Snow Geese (Image by David Horowitz)
  • Added 2 Life List Birds at Chincoteague: Brown-headed Nuthatch and Lesser Black-backed Gull
  • Snowy Owl at Forsythe (totaling to 3 Snowies this year)
Snowy Owl 3/18/18 (Image by David Horowitz)
  • Saw 81 species from January 1 to the first day of spring for Year List

April

  • My first dolphins!
  • Added Wilson’s Snipe to our life list at Taylor’s Wildlife Preserve

May

  • Global Big Day at Forsythe NWR: 60 species
  • Our first Red Knots at Delaware Bay
  • Participated in the 2018 Great American Arctic Birding Challenge with 62 species recorded between March 1 and June 1
  • Added 4 Life List Birds: Caspian Tern, Northern Parula, Canada Warbler, and Red Knots
  • Added 71 species to Year List, bring total to 152 by the first day of summer

June

Started working at Rancocas Nature Center

July

Roseate Spoonbill juvenile (Image by David Horowitz)
  • Also added to life list: Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Saltmarsh Sparrow, Chimney Swift
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron pair with eggs (Image by BirdNation)

August

Cape Cod vacation! Added 3 new Life List birds: Roseate Tern, Black Tern, Great Shearwater. Also saw my first Grey Seals. Went birding on the way home in Connecticut.

  • Seal Head Shot 2 (Image by David Horowitz)
  • Marsh Land (Image by BirdNation)
  • Black Tern juvenile (Image by BirdNation)
  • Common Loon on land (Image by BirdNation)

September

  • Had my last birding trip of my 20s at Forsythe on 9/16 😂
  • Added 14 species to Year List for summer, making total 166

October

  • First October Global Big Day at Cape May: huge Tree Swallow flocks and Western Palm Warblers. 31 total species
  • Gave my first birding presentation at Rancocas Nature Center, “The Miracle of Avian Migration’, on October 13 (World Migratory Bird Day)

November

  • Snow Goose Flock (Image by David Horowitz)
  • Black-bellied Plover nonbreeding (Image by BirdNation)
  • Added 9 more species to Year List for fall, making final total 175

December

  • Participated in my first Audubon Christmas Bird Count on 12/23 in Moorestown, NJ, with 35 total species for our count. Unsure of total count for other teams in the “Moorestown” circle. (Fun fact: Moorestown, NJ was one of the 25 towns to participate in very first Christmas Bird on December 25, 1900)
  • Close-up seaducks at Barnegat Light: Surf Scoters, Common Eiders, Black Scoters, Harlequin Ducks, and Long-tailed Ducks
  • Final hike 2018: Taylor’s Wildlife Preserve

Final 2018 Stats

  • Year List: 175 species
  • Life List: 16 new additions, current total 207.
  • Birding in 7 States: New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts

Looking forward to birding in 2019!

Duck-mas Eve

Last year we had a Snowy Christmas Eve….Snowy Owl that is.

Snowy Owl 12/24/17 (Image by David Horowitz)

We went back to Long Beach Island today…no Snowies. Instead we celebrated Duck-mas Eve! All the waterfowl attended…

Surf Scoters,

Harlequin Ducks,

Long-tailed Ducks,

Black Scoters,

Brants,

And Common Eiders of all plumage types. There were breeding males, females, and juveniles.

There was even a Common Eider parade.

A Snowy Owl Christmas Eve is great, but Duck-mas Eve is just as awesome! Merry Duck-mas!

Book Review: The Shorebird Guide

As birders, we’ve all been there: you’re at a beach or marsh and there’s a large group of shorebirds in the distance. You scan the flock with your spotting scope. There is definitely variation between the birds, however they seem similar. Are you seeing one species or a mixed flock? What’s a birder to do?

Consult The Shorebird Guide by Michael O’Brien, Richard Crossley, and Kevin Karlson. This guide is a fantastic resource for learning ways to identify shorebirds.

As the book begins, the authors explain that out of 217 shorebird species, about 50 are found regularly breeding in North America. Most birders will encounter about 35-40 of these species per year, so you’d think that it would be easier to learn to identify these species. However, many birders find shorebirds notoriously hard to identify. Plumage variation within a single species throughout the year depends on age and breeding status, which can be quite challenging. In addition, many times shorebirds are found at far distances, making it difficult to see their details.

O’Brien’s, Crossley’s and Karlson’s approach is not about the details, but the overall impression of the bird. Yes, plumage details are important, but in order to become better at shorebird id, one should first start with general size, shape, voice, and behavior. These characteristics are fundamental and less variable than plumage, so the more you practice birding by impression, the more accurate your identifications will become.

This field guide is split into four main sections. The introduction gives basic information about shorebirds in general, such as families, population threats, topography, molting, aging, and more detail about their identification approach.

I find the second section to be the most valuable: Species Photos. The top of each account shows a range map, the scientific name, size, structure, behavior, and status. There are 870 beautiful full color photos included in this guide. The variety of photos for each species is quite impressive. For each species there are close-ups, plumage variations, age variations, flocks at a distance, species in flight, and mixed species photos. Each photo has captions that go into detail about characteristics to look for, as well as some quiz questions to test your knowledge.

The third section is Species Accounts. This section has no photos. It includes information about status, migration, taxonomy, molting, vocalizations, and more details about behavior.

The final section features the appendix with the quiz answers and a glossary. I like that back cover contains silhouettes that are intended to be used as a quiz so you can practice.

I would highly recommend The Shorebird Guide to anyone who is interested in improving their shorebird identification skills.