Dickcissel

During Sunday's field trip, one of the first places we visited was a sod farm. Where they were not actively growing your next lawn, there were some nice areas with tall grass. And where there was tall grass, there were Dickcissels. We do not get these in Virginia, and I had never seen one before, so this was a nice bird for me to see.

[Edit: Apparently we do get these in Virginia, but I have yet to see one here.]

At Home Again

The 2007 ABA Conference is officially over and I have made it back home. I return back to the daily grind tomorrow, and begin the arduous "post vacation catch up" process at work. I did go on a field trip yesterday, and will post a few of the pictures from that trip over on No Ceiling through the rest of this week. I saw a lot of birds yesterday on that field trip. Unfortunately, many of them were from the inside of a passenger van, so there are not large numbers of super crisp pictures.

Speaking of "a lot of birds"...I have done some tallying and I saw 154 different species of bird during the conference last week. Although I have not officially counted the number of lifers within that 154, I suspect the number will approach 20. Very nice.

The past two years, after I returned from the ABA Conference, I was burnt-out on bird watching. Several months would pass before I got the itch to go out looking again. Not this time. This year, I travelled to Louisiana to witness migration in process, but have returned to Virginia during migration. I am already thinking of places to go in the next several weeks to continue watching the birds flying through. Perhaps Shenandoah this Sunday.

Inca Dove

On the backside of the hotel there is a pool. Just after you walk through the door out of the hotel on your way to the pool, there are several trees. The first tree you see (and the closest to the hotel) is the current home of a nesting Inca Dove. She must be pretty used to people because that tree is next to the walkway to the pool. Lots of people walk by. And during this week at least, lots of people also stop to take pictures. Like I did.

Another Prothonotary

Today was a high-birding, low-photo kind of day. I saw lots of birds, but did not have great opportunities to take pictures. One exception was a very active Prothonotary Warbler who became somewhat predictable in his jumping around from tree to tree. I stood in the road and just waited for him to fly back into the tree in front of me, and when he did I snapped a few more pictures. Even though I posted pictures of a different Prothonotary yesterday, they are just too pretty not to take more pictures of them. Especially when they pose so nicely. Here are two that I think are the best of the bunch.

Tabasco

After we left Lake Fausse Point State Park yesterday, we drove to Avery Island. We ate our lunch here under some spectacular Live Oaks, and then later visited a rookery where there were a good number of nesting Great Egrets. What I did not realize was that Avery Island was the home of Tabasco Sauce production, and also one of five salt domes in Louisiana. During Hurricane Rita, the storm surge and associated flooding brought water to within four inches of the Tabasco factory, despite a 10 foot levee surrounding the place. To the delight of Tabasco lovers everywhere, they are currently increasing the levee to 20 feet.

Here are pictures of the Live Oaks, a Great Egret on a nest and the Tabasco Country Store. Being the curmudgeon that I am, I did not bother going into the store.

Prothonotary Warbler

Based on the variety of birds that I am posting, you can probably tell that Lake Fausse Point State Park was a pretty good place to see birds. Here is a photo of a somewhat cooperative Prothonotary Warbler.

Painted Bunting

This is still from yesterday's visit to Lake Fausse Point State Park. This picture is not very crisp, but since the subject is a male Painted Bunting in breeding plumage, it was worth posting. When I saw this bird, it reminded me of rainbow sherbet. I remember liking rainbow sherbet as a kid, but I can't remember the last time I tried it.

Red-shouldered Hawk

Some more photos from yesterday's visit to Lake Fausse Point State Park. The night before it rained quite a bit, so everything was wet the morning of our visit. Including the birds. The first photo shows a Red-Shouldered Hawk drying its wings. The second shows the same hawk sitting on its nest, with one hatchling visible (the white fuzzy thing to the right of the adult).

Mississippi Kite

Today's field trip started in Lake Fausse Point State Park. Right after getting off the bus, someone noticed this Mississippi Kite sunning himself in a tree right next to the parking lot. This was the first time I have ever seen a Mississippi Kite. The fact that he patiently posed for me to take pictures was even better.

ABA Lectures

As I mentioned in my previous post, I attended two lectures instead of going out to bird. There were no field trips scheduled in the conference, and the weather was iffy enough to keep me from going out on my own (they are calling for severe, potentially tornadic, thunderstorms in Louisiana today and tonight).

The two lectures were quite interesting. The first was about the use of weather radar to detect migratory birds. The second was about the psychology of identifying birds.

The weather radar lecture provided me a nice "duh!" moment. Weather radar is designed to bounce microwaves of of material that is in the atmosphere. Rain, snow, sleet, hail and other forms of precipitation are examples of material that will reflect the waves broadcast by radar, but so are insects, bats and birds. When you get enough insects, bats and birds, then the image produced by a weather radar will indicate their presence. The number of birds involved in spring or fall migration are easily enough to show up on a weather radar. Since birds migrate at night, you have to look at certain times of day to see it. And you have to know which radar imagery to use: many local television station's filter their radar images to only show reflectivity caused by precipitation. I will definitely be looking into this some more.

The second lecture, on the psychology of bird identification, was given by David Sibley. In his opening remarks, he said he was always interested in the topic, but the recent debate over the rediscovery (or not) of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and its associated evidence, really has intrigued him. He provided lots of interesting observations on phenomenon and human behaviors that prevent us from being entirely objective. In general, as our experience in bird watching grows, we evolve from a step-wise form of identification to a holistic one. This evolution allows us to make very educated shortcut guesses as identification, that tend to be correct (out of experience) but can also be risky (because the process skips the stepwise approach). There are other factors as well that I will not delve into. All in all it was a very interesting lecture that hit home with me several times. In many ways, the process of identifying a bird with limited information is very similar to the process of figuring out a software problem with limited information. In both cases it is not uncommon for what I would call "conspiracy theories" to form and grow. Human tendency is to note evidence that supports the theory instead of evidence that contradicts the theory. It requires a purposely objective approach to consider the alternatives and reach root cause (or identity).

Tomorrow is another field trip day. Because of the weather tonight (the storms are here, but no tornadoes near Lafayette), it is possible that all of the migrating birds that were going to leave tonight will be combined with all of the birds arriving tonight. If that happens, there might be a lot of birds flitting about tomorrow. We shall see.

Rubbing Shoulders

I am in Lafayette Louisiana for the American Birding Association 2007 National Convention. Today was not a field trip day so I got to sleep in a bit (woke up at 7:30am). Instead of field trips, there were a couple of lectures that I attended. More about those later. During each lecture there is a break for coffee and snacks. During the morning break I was in line to get some more coffee. A very long line that was moving slowly. Then I realized that the hold-up was a couple of ladies struggling to get more hot water for their tea. There was really no wait for the coffee. Except the guy in front of me did not realize it, or was being polite and not assuming he could move past the tea drinkers, or whatever. I was actually leaning forward in anticipation of the guy in front of me moving directly to the coffee, but he didn't. I wanted to say "go ahead!", but I restrained myself (I have learned not to trust my instincts in the morning when caffeine is low).

I am glad I did. The guy in front of me was David Sibley. In the world of birdwatching, he is a famous dude. I own four of his books. Um...excuse me, Mr. Sibley, can I get you some coffee?

Wilson's Plover

The little town of Cameron nearly took a direct hit from Hurricane Rita. At the remains of its Jetty Park, there were lots of birds about. The park is now closed and is covered in sand and weeds, making it a good place for this little Wilson's Plover to hang out.

Colorful Tree

At Peveto Woods this morning, this interesting color combination showed in up the same tree. The deep blues of a Blue Grosbeak and the brilliant orange and black of a Baltimore Oriole.

Summer Tanager

As I speculated yesterday, my field trip took me back to Peveto Woods on the Cameron Coast of Louisiana. The birding was about the same. There were birds to be seen, but no great fallout of migrants. The best photos of today's visit were of a male and female Summer Tanager. The male is red. The third photo shows one of the favorite meals of a Summer Tanager: bees. They snatch the bees out of the air and then rub them on trees to remove the stinger.

Today Was...

• Long. I was eating breakfast at 4:30am, and my field trip did not return to the hotel until 4:00pm. Now I need to shower and go have dinner.
• Claustrophobic. There were 13 of us in a single passenger van. Cozy.
  
• Overwhelming. When you bird with a group, the group is essentially a multiple-eyed monster. Someone is always looking somewhere, and when they see a bird, they generally announce what they see (or think they see) and maybe, if you are lucky, they will also announce directions to help others find the bird (as opposed to just generally looking in the same direction as the person who made the announcement). If you are really lucky, the directions will be good. The group I was in today saw 110 different species of bird. There was no way I could see every bird. There were just too many to see, or we were in the van and I could not see out the side of the van in the direction of the bird, or I was still lingering on some other bird, or whatever. Photography was even harder.
  
• Annoying. I lost my pencil halfway through the trip. For those who know how I bird watch, you will immediately understand. I like to write down the species of the birds that I am seeing as I see them. I might save up a few in my memory banks, but I know that to be a sure way to forget a bird, or to encourage me to second guess myself later. So I write them down on a little slip of paper. When I lost my pencil, I realized I had no backup. I even tried to type them into my Blackberry, but its battery was drained because we were running around where there was no signal. I had to borrow a pencil a couple times, but because I did not want to annoy others, I only did that when I was desperate.
• Windy. The wind was blowing so hard at times that I could not hold my binoculars or camera steady enough to be useful. This wind is in advance of a cold front that, I think, will be rolling through tomorrow.
• Fulfilling. I saw a ton of birds today. Most were birds that I had seen before somewhere, but there were definitely several "lifers". White-tailed Kite, Glaucous Gull, Pectoral Sandpiper, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Neotropic Cormorant were all "lifers" that I saw today. I probably saw a few more than that, but I will not know for sure until I get back home and enter my sightings into the software I use.
• Humbling. We birded areas of Louisiana, particularly near the town of Cameron, that were leveled by Hurricane Rita. You can still see lots of evidence of the destruction.

Brown Thrasher

Peveto Woods is a little sanctuary on the gulf coast. It offers the migratory bird a stand of trees to rest, eat and hide in, where there is otherwise nothing but marsh, grass and sand. To a bird that just flew across the Gulf of Mexico, this tiny stand of trees can be a huge advantage. Ironically, my picture here of a Brown Thrasher is not of a bird who just migrated across the gulf. Brown Thrashers winter in Louisiana. There were migrants to be seen in these woods, but none to be successfully photographed. I think I am coming here tomorrow for my first field trip, so perhaps I will get a picture of one of those migrants.

Just Beach

My drive along the southern coast of Louisiana took me past Martin Beach. As you can see from my pictures, there is nothing here really except for crabs, birds and one or two houses. What I cannot tell is whether there used to be more houses and this place is so desolate because nothing has been rebuilt, or if it has always been so nice and undeveloped. Whatever the reason, I like it like this. (As I looked for something to link to "Martin Beach", I found an article talking about beach closings in Louisiana due to bacteria levels...Martin Beach was one of them in 2005...perhaps this is why?)

Tricolored Heron

Today I drove south and west from Lafayette. I ended up at the Sabine Pass Swing Bridge. While that description of my travels today may seem random, I meant to go there. There is a colony of swallows nesting on the underside of the bridge, something that I wanted to check out. I got zero pictures of swallows because they fly too fast for my current photography skills. On the other hand, this Tricolored Heron was grabbing an easy meal (the food was easy enough for him not to care too much about me), and not flying, so I snapped a couple of photos. He is all pretty in his breeding plumage. The third photo shows just how close to Texas I got today.

Barred Owl

Owls are so cool. Whenever I see one I feel like it was a complete accident, or the owl decided that he wanted to be seen. That was how it happened today. I walked one of the trails in Acadiana Park when I just sort of looked up in a tree off to the right...and there was an owl watching me walk by. A Barred Owl, to be precise.

Hooded Warbler

I heard several Hooded Warblers within Acadiana Park. They were around every corner, but I only saw one because they tend to like thick underbrush. The one I saw stayed put long enough for me to get this picture.

Lizard

What an astoundingly plain post title. In my defense, I am much better at identifying birds. These are "just" lizards to me. I caught this pair sunning on a tree in Acadiana Park in Lafayette.

Anhinga

I was going through some photos yesterday when I realized there was a couple of photos from my recent trip to Orlando that I intended to put into a blog post, but somehow forgot to. I am fixing that now. These pictures are from Orlando Wetlands Park.

Anhinga are fairly common in Florida. You often see them perched somewhere sunning themselves to dry their feathers. When it is time to eat, they swim under water to catch their food. Their body remains underwater when they surface for air, leaving only their long neck and head sticking out of the water.

Green Heron

I am going to make this my last post related to my trip to Orlando. This is, I think, the last decent photo in the bunch. I may get some more photos in locally in the next couple of weeks, but the next big thing for me will be the 2007 ABA Convention in Lafayette Louisiana.

Back to this post. About halfway through the Black Point Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island NWR, I found this Green Heron perched on a drain looking for his lunch. I got a couple pictures of him before I spooked him to a nearby bush. Once in the bush, he still was very photogenic.

If you look at these pictures and wonder "Why is this bird called a 'Green' Heron?", then it would help you to know that there can be a patch of green on his back which you cannot see in these two pictures. In fact, they are sometimes called "Green Backed Heron". You may also see hints of green in his black cap and in his wings.

Sora

You don't see a Sora everyday.

I am still trudging through the photos that I took two weekends ago in the Orlando area. The last group of photos was actually not in Orlando, but near Titusville and Cape Canaveral, within Merritt Island NWR. If you like seeing wildlife, and you are visiting the eastern coast of Florida near Jacksonville or Orlando, then you should check out Merritt Island NWR. Its primary access to the public is the Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, where you drive through the park.

While I was in Merritt Island NWR I saw lots of birds. I pulled my car over at one point so that I could take a look at some distant birds via my spotting scope when I heard an odd noise behind me in the underbrush on the other side of the drive. I left my scope and walked across the road so that I could find the source of that noise, and discovered a Sora creeping about in the bushes.

I was very excited to actually see a Sora. They are usually a bird that you only hear calling because their preferred habitat is wetlands with lots of vegetation. I was even more excited to have my camera in hand with the correct lens. Here are a few photos. Once you can tell his legs apart from the vegetation, be sure to appreciate his long toes.

Aggressive Osprey

After visiting both Split Oak Mitigation Forest and Moss Park, I made a trip to Tibet-Butler Preserve. This is a chunk of land on the side of a lake. All other sides of the lake are being developed into subdivisions.

One trail within the Tibet-Butler Preserve takes you to the edge of the lake where you might get a glimpse of Ospreys. I managed to see not only an Osprey, but an Osprey that was, for whatever reason, showing some aggression towards an Anhinga.

I do not have a picture of the "victim" Anhinga prior to the incident, but he was perched at the top of a tree sunning himself. This picture of a different Anhinga shows what I mean.



This is a picture of the aggressor. In this case it is the Osprey that decided to dive-bomb the Anhinga perched at the top of a tree.



The result was captured in this picture. The poor Anhinga was doing everything it could to not fall all the way to the ground or swamp or whatever was at the bottom of the tree.



There was a happy ending. The Anhinga did manage to pull itself back up to a perched position. I just wish I had captured the impact where the Osprey actually knocked the Anhinga from its original perch.

Sandhill Crane

After I finished with Split Oak Mitigation Forest, I grabbed some lunch and sat in Moss Park while I ate. In the park there were two Sandhill Cranes hanging around. Sandhill Cranes are large birds. They can be nearly 4 feet tall. And their call is a very loud trumpeting sound.

Gobble Gobble

As I mentioned in my post about Split Oak Mitigation Forest, it was a chilly blustery day. There were a few birds to be seen, but it was not super birdy. As soon as I arrived, however, I did manage to see one of the species that are fairly common in the park: Wild Turkeys. There were three of them moving fairly quickly through a field. When they saw me, so they moved even faster.