Great Plains Birding...in New Jersey!

Yesterday I felt like some Great Plains birding, so I drove out to the wide expansive grasslands south of Phillipsburg.  This isn't a little town in Nebraska, though if you didn't know where you were, you might think it was.  

Believe it or not, this is New Jersey.  But it might as well be Nebraska.  This area is called the Alpha Grasslands, and it is a traditional spot to find Rough-legged Hawk, Short-eared Owl, and the focus of my search--Lapland Longspur.  

When I realized I couldn't remember the last time I saw a Lapland Longspur (I had flyovers in Texas back in the early 2000s), I figured I needed to make a bigger effort.  So I drove over to Alpha (its not far, just the next county over) and drove around the area until I started seeing Horned Larks.

It didn't take long to see smaller birds mixed in with the larks in flight, but it took a bit of scope work to finally get a look at one on the ground.  Here's an Alpha male longspur :-)

Lapland Longspur, Alpha Grasslands, Warren Co, NJ 29 Jan 2013.  Digiscoped HTC Incredible phone/Kowa 883.

So, not the greatest shot.  The birds were over 100 yards away in a field.  But at least I got some decent scope looks at two birds.  I could have spent a lot more time enjoying my Great Plains birding and maybe looking for other birds in with the larks, but duty called and I had to get back to work.  But not before finding this locally rare Glaucous Gull out at Spruce Run Reservoir on my way home!

Birding with Manti Te'o

Did I tell you about the time I went birding with Manti Te'o on the north shore of Oahu?

Or maybe we didn't really meet up over there.  Maybe we just met online.  Or maybe we didn't meet at all.  It's all so confusing.  I really feel for the guy.  He's had a tough year.  I think after the NFL draft we should all volunteer to take him out birdwatching for some relaxation.  

Manti, if you read this...give me a shout out and we'll take you out birding 4 reelz.

In the meantime, forget Flat Stanley.  In this digital day and age, if you'd like to take Manti birding yourself, here's something that should help:

You know what to do!

Barnacle Goose in Clinton, New Jersey

There have been several Barnacle Geese--rare visitors to the Eastern United States from Iceland--kicking around New Jersey this winter (see eBird map).  I narrowly missed seeing one at Spruce Run Reservoir near my house this past Wednesday (I was working out and got the text too late--it was gone by the time I arrived an hour later).  I've been watching flocks of geese all week hoping to relocate the bird, but without luck.

This afternoon there were almost no geese on Spruce Run, but I saw birds landing below the dam...so finally I drove over there and scoped out the geese.  Nothing.  Actually, there was a Cackling Goose mixed in with the larger Canada Geese.  And 10,000 gulls streamed over the dam heading south with an amazing orange sunset behind them.  And a couple flocks of Snow Geese flew over high going south.  So it should have been enough for anyone's soul.

I met another birder and we talked for awhile as we continued to enjoy the sunset and I scoped out the birds streaming overhead.  After she left, the sun was gone, it was getting pretty dark, and I decided to scope out the flock of geese in the field below the Spruce Run Dam.  And there was the Barnacle Goose!

It was so dark I couldn't even see the goose in my phone screen while I tried digiscoping it...but fortunately the HTC Incredible phone camera came through and I at least got a couple of shots to document the record.

One of these things is not like the others...can you spot the rare goose?  Barnacle Goose after sundown, Clinton, Hunterdon, NJ, 19 Jan 2013--cropped but otherwise unretouched, HTC Incredible camera phone through Kowa 883 scope.

Barnacle Goose after sundown, Clinton, Hunterdon, NJ, 19 Jan 2013--cropped but otherwise unretouched, HTC Incredible camera phone through Kowa 883 scope.  Note also the two presumed Barnacle x Canada Goose hybrids with dark chests to the left of the Barnacle Goose. 

I was so focused on the Barnacle Goose, that I didn't notice the two birds with dark breasts that were with it--after Frank Sencher Jr relocated the goose the next morning, and reported two hybrid Canada x Barnacle Goose with the Barnacle Goose did I take a second look at my photos and sure enough there are two geese with dark chests to the left of the Barnacle Goose in the lower photo above.  Also, thanks to Michael Rehman for finding this goose earlier in the week--otherwise I might not have been watching the geese flocks this intently the past few days.

3 Northern Lapwing in New Jersey

Yesterday I heard about 3 Northern Lapwing found at the back of a pasture in New Egypt down in Ocean County (these will be the 4th NJ record for this species).  That's about an hour and a half from my home.  I had time to make it there before dark, but not unless I ditched the kids.  So I did the dad thing and waited until they got home and took them out to look at a Canvasback in nearby Cushetunk Lake, reported earlier in the day by Joe Dolan.

This morning, after the kids got on the bus, I cruised down to New Egypt with Alan Mart, and the lapwings were still there.

Here's the crowd gathered to see the birds...a half dozen more were down the road a few yards.

Here's the giganormous muddy pasture they are in...looks like the Dutch countryside to me.  Maybe it does to the lapwings too!

And here is one...

two...

and three Northern Lapwings.

Not something you see every day on this side of the Atlantic, and a scene I never expect to see here again!  It has been an unprecedented year for lapwings in North America, with multiple birds seen up and down the East Coast.  A few more of my distant digiscoped photos are on Flickr.

First New Jersey Record--Mew Gull

This afternoon I got a text from Frank Sencher, Jr. that a Greater White-fronted Goose was at nearby Spruce Run Reservoir.  I headed over there and was able to see the goose.  We then headed over to the other side of the reservoir to scope out the gulls.  Within a couple of minutes I spotted this bird, fortunately easily visible on the edge of the flock on the ice.

Mew Gull, Spruce Run Reservoir, Hunterdon County, NJ 1-10-2013

I called Frank over and within minutes he was texting and calling everyone to get the word out.  Fortunately another half dozen birders were able to get to the reservoir before the bird flew off with most of the flock an hour later at dusk.

Here are a few more photos, and more are posted on my Flickr page.

Apparently this will be a first record for New Jersey if accepted by the bird record committee.  Not a bad way to end the day--or start the year, for that matter :-)

2013 Bird of the Year

OK, not the ABA Bird of the Year, but my personal first bird of the year was...

Tufted Titmouse.  I had tried for owls at midnight, but the wind or who knows what else conspired against me.  I was up until late and didn't get an early start.  While making breakfast for the kids, we watched the feeder together and my personal first was a Tufted Titmouse right after my son got Black-capped Chickadee for his first.  While we were watching, a Red-breasted Nuthatch--only the third one we've seen in the yard--came in to the suet feeder and my youngest daughter identified it right away.

So, one of the most common birds around here is my 2013 Bird of the Year.  Usually this probably isn't the most auspicious bird, but perhaps it foretells more time birding with my kids and focusing on the close and familiar, rather than the rare and exotic.

Best Yard Birds of 2012

Over at Birding Is Fun, I posted a recap of my Top 10 Birds of 2012.  I had a great year birding in my local county, with a few longer trips here and there including a cross country road trip to Oregon and Utah with my family.  But I also had a great year birding in our new yard.  

After moving into our home in October, I started 2012 with 67 birds on my yard list.  In 2012, we've seen 94 species in the yard.  But since I started recording the nocturnal bird migration this spring, we've also heard or recorded many other birds.  As of the end of  2012, our yard list is at 122 species--up 55 from last year.  Here are my Top 10 Yard Birds for 2012.

Whimbrel recorded 5-25-2012

1) Whimbrel--there is no way I would ever have this coastal shorebird on my exurban Hunterdon County yard list without my OldBird21c microphone.  Fortunately, I was able to hear and record this bird flying over my house on 25 May 2012.  There are very few county records for this bird, and none in eBird for the past 10 years.

2) Short-billed Dowitcher--same situation as the Whimbrel, recorded on 23 May 2012.

3) Virginia Rail--another recorded flyover, I didn't actually get to hear this one, but the microphone picked one up calling overhead on 15 April 2012.  Nobody was able to see or hear one of these on the ground in the county this year.  

4) Philadelphia Vireo--an uncommon migrant through the county, I was fortunate enough to see one in our yard on 6 September 2012.

5) Alder Flycatcher--another uncommon or rare migrant through the county, I was able to hear and record this bird flying over my house on 23 May 2012.  Since I was also able to hear one at a local reservoir, it wasn't my only one for the year, but as sweet bird to get on the yard list!

Gray-cheeked Thrush recording, showing maximum frequency at 4.5kHz

6) Gray-cheeked Thrush--another bird heard overhead and recorded.  Several of these passed overhead on a couple of nights in September.  Hopefully next year I'll be able to record a Bicknell's Thrush going overhead, but so far I haven't found one (though I have a couple of nights worth of recordings to go through more carefully so maybe it has already happened!).

7) Clay-colored Sparrow--this is a locally rare or uncommon migrant that I was actually able to see in my yard this fall, the first record for the county this season.

8) Yellow-breasted Chat--a rare breeder and migrant, I saw one flying up my side yard during my Big Sit in October, and it was the only one I saw in the county this year, and one of only three reported in the county b anyone this year.

9) Black-billed Cuckoo--these are very tough to find in the county, but I was able to record several birds each night during their peak migration period in May, so nighttime listening is probably the best way to find these illusive birds.

10) Bald Eagle--OK, not the rarest bird in the county, but how could I not include this as a highlight on my yard list!  I was finally able to see one flying over our house on 3 November 2012.

Runners Up--

Microphone recorded Black-crowned Night Heron, Solitary Sandpiper, American Bittern (how didn't this bird make the Top 10?!?), Bobolink, and seen Prairie Warbler, Blackburnian Warblers seen with my daughter, and Pine Siskins--dozens at the feeder and my daughter getting them to land in her hand.  

So, what were your best yard birds of 2012?

Best Bird Book Picks for the Holidays

Jon Young, What the Robin Knows: How Birds Reveal the Secrets of the Natural World, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Julie Zickefoose, The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

John Muir Laws, The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds, Heyday.

2012 has been a great year for bird book publishing, with many worthy books to enjoy, but the three books covered here stand out to me as groundbreaking in that they have the power to fundamentally change how you see and enjoy birds.

What the Robin Knows--I've already mentioned this book before, and the more time I've spent with it, the more I like it.  But even better, the more it has changed the way I go birding.  While I haven't yet designated a sit spot and committed myself to sitting and fully exploring the world of my backyard birds, I have slowed down and spent more time sitting and watching.  I've also found myself pausing while birding and listening more to take in what is going on around me.  I've also become more aware of how my actions are influencing the birds I am trying to find and enjoy.  Just yesterday I was walking and found myself caught up in my own thoughts and not finding anything.  I stopped, refocused, and within a minute had clued in on a flock of juncos and several other birds nearby.  I changed my gait and my pace, and enjoyed more birds in a few minutes than I had in the previous hour.

What the Robin Knows provides a great introduction to what tracker, nature educator, and author Jon Young calls bird language--the way birds communicate and respond to their environment.  By better understanding what the birds are doing, and what they are responding to, birders and nature enthusiasts can a) find more birds, b) see more secretive wildlife, and c) become more in tune with their local landscape and environment.  I enjoyed Young's anecdotes of experiences with bird language from New Jersey (where he grew up and I now live) and the Pacific Northwest (where I grew up and Young now lives), but the lessons his experiences teach are useful wherever you may live.

The book, and accompanying web-based sound files, instruct the reader and listener how to hear and interpret various vocal cues including alarm calls from common birds.  Also very attractive and instructive are a series of illustrations showing typical bird responses to intrusions or interruptions in their environment.  My favorite is the Bird Plow--the widespread fleeing of birds before the arrival of oblivious hikers or walkers.  Since reading this book, I've seen this in effect a lot in public places.  I've also seen most of the other 11 major bird responses illustrated and described in the book.  As I've learned to pay attention to these birds, and as I try to walk in a way so as to avoid provoking the most severe responses, I've found myself enjoying nature more and seeing more birds and other wildlife.  Several times in the past month, I've found myself freezing, looking up, and looking right into the eyes of a red or gray fox that I otherwise hadn't noticed.  Very cool.

The Bird Plow--birds fleeing from an oblivious walker

I recommend What the Robin Knows for everyone who enjoys birds, or wants to better connect with their wild side.  Birders will find a greater appreciation for their quarry as well as a tips on improving their field skills--especially birders like me who sometimes need to slow down and pay more attention to the birds around me.  Backyard birders and the general public will also have their eyes open to a whole new world of birds and how they respond to us and our shared environment.

The Bluebird Effect--When I was working on my dissertation on urban bird conservation, I was enchanted by an NPR piece that Julie Zickefoose produced about her experience with baby hummingbirds.  I was fascinated by the insights that bird rehabilitators gain from their close interactions with birds.  While my chapter on bird rehabilitators never made the final draft of my dissertation, I've continued to be fascinated by the stories I hear from bird rehabilitators.

In The Bluebird Effect, Zickefoose gives us her best work yet--including amazing stories of birds she has known and usually helped as a rehabilitator.  By getting as close as she does, she is able to often come to know birds as individuals.  I've always been a sucker for this kind of intimate bird knowledge, and Zickefoose clearly delivers!  Her stories are not only charming, but when you step back and realize how carefully she has observed--and recorded--her observations, it is an inspiration for us all to more carefully observe and record what we are seeing.

Baby American Robin sketches and notes by Julie Zickefoose.

In addition to stories, The Bluebird Effect is lusciously illustrated with her sketches and paintings of the birds she knows.  I think the sketches here are her most beautiful and enjoyable art yet.  They capture the moments and personality of the birds better than many more "finished" bird portraits.  I've spent a lot of time just flipping through the book enjoying these sketches and smaller paintings.  They make me wish I'd spent more time over the years working on my own artistic skills.

The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds--As if to answer that desire, John Muir Laws has put out perhaps the most visually stunning bird book of the year, an insanely beautiful and useful guide to not only drawing and painting--but seeing birds.  If you've ever wanted to be a bird artist, or to just better see and know the birds around you (like Julie Zickefoose), this is the guide for you.  Even if you don't want to draw birds, you won't be able to put this book down because it is just so amazing.  Muir walks you through not only how to erdraw birds, but how to see them and understand why they look the way they do.


Perhaps my favorite illustration in the book is a "cutaway" view of a Hermit Thrush, showing the tiny naked bird body inside the fluffy feather coat (below).

John Muir Laws cutaway view of a Hermit Thrush.  See more of this at his website.

You've got to see this book to fully appreciate it.  There are quite a few pages viewable on Amazon.  Take a look and enjoy!  Then get the book!  You can also see a lot of Laws' work and get some drawing lessons at his website.  

My wife suggested I give this book to our kids for Christmas.  Heck no!  Maybe they can borrow it from me, but I'm keeping it for myself!

New Year's resolution for 2013--spend more time sitting and watching bird language, take better notes of bird behavior, and draw more birds.  These three books will be my guide.  Perhaps you'd enjoy taking these books for a ride as well!

Disclaimer
Review of What the Robin Knows and the Laws Guide to Drawing Birds based on review copies provided by the publishers.  The Bluebird Effect reviewed from a library copy, hopefully Santa will bring me a copy for myself!

Urban Bird Conservation for Birds and People

Download here (pdf)

BirdLife Netherlands is a great organization doing fantastic work with urban bird conservation. Last year they sponsored a workshop on urban bird conservation in New Zealand, and I was able to attend and have since helped write up a report of the workshop that you can download here (pdf).  I'm currently working on another project with these guys, a survey of urban bird conservation programs carried out by BirdLife International Partners around the globe--so stay tuned!

Common Redpoll

Common Redpoll, Spruce Run, Hunterdon, NJ 15 Nov 2012

The last couple of days I've had flyover Red Crossbill, White-winged Crossbill, and Evening Grosbeak in the county, but no rare winter finches on the ground.  Today I got a report of a Common Redpoll at Spruce Run and was able to see this bird in a birch tree feeding on the catkins.  It was seen for at least 4 hours in the same tree--maybe a new record for a redpoll to stick in a tree here!

Hand Feeding Pine Siskins

While I was working in the yard getting ready for Hurricane Sandy, my daughter decided to try and hand feed the Pine Siskins that have been swarming our feeders for a couple of weeks.  At first she tried in her Halloween costume dress, then decided she would need to sit and wait it out in something more appropriate.

Pine Siskins can be quite approachable!

Close, but no takers yet

Come on, you know you want these sunflower seeds.

Settling in for a longer wait.

Success at last.  Pay no attention to the chipmunk.

All in all, over the course of about 20 minutes, she was able to get them to land in her hands three times before we had to get back to hurricane preparations.  Not a bad way to spend half an hour with dad, and the birds.

NJ Nocturnal Migration--24 October 2012

A spot of rain about 3:30am didn't seem to slow things down very much.

Here is a sample of calls:

Mostly White-throated Sparrow, but some Savannah Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, and Yellow-rumped Warbler in the mix.  A quick look at the sort showed found a Common Yellowthroat and probable White-crowned Sparrow as well.  

More details as I sort these more carefully.

Pine Siskin Swarm

Having fun watching a swarm of 75 Pine Siskins invade my patio and sunflower seed feeder.

Birding Becoming Less Popular?

So, we all want to believe that birding is as popular as ever, maybe even growing in popularity.

But here are some sobering figures--Google search trends.  Here is a graph for Google searches on the term "birding"--

Is that a graph that inspires confidence?  Looks like birding has dropped quite a bit as a Google search term,  though perhaps holding steady now?

Likewise with the American Birding Association.  I personally think the ABA is doing a lot better these last few years.  But the Google search trends for the ABA don't show it picking up as much as I would like to think--

So these appear to be going down.  Here's how birding compares to declines in overall searches for hobby and leisure category:

I don't know what to make of this, or what it all means.  But it looks like something worth talking about, so I'll throw it out there.

What's going on with these numbers?  Why is birding and the ABA not showing stronger results?  What are we looking at here?

Update: This topic has provoked an interesting exchange over at the ABA Facebook site.

NJ Nocturnal Migration--16 October 2012

Big sparrow flight on the night of 16-17 October 2012.  388 calls including 17 Thrush-X detections (mostly Hermit Thrush and Swainson's Thrush).

Lots of White-throated Sparrow and Chipping Sparrow, with Savannah Sparrow, Song Sparrow, and perhaps others.  Warbler calls detected include Black-throated Blue Warbler, Palm Warbler, and Yellow-rumped Warbler.  There are bound to be additional species here upon closer inspection.

NJ Nocturnal Migration--15 October 2012

So last night there was a moderate amount of bird movement shown or NEXRAD in NJ and across the coastal NE states after the front moved through earlier in the afternoon and evening.

Note line of green storm clouds moving off the east coast, with bird migration behind it.

Between 7:10pm and 6:30am, my microphone autodetectors picked up 69 detections, all from the Tseep-X detector, as the thrush migration winds down.  Here are the first 63 calls (click for larger view):

As seen so far this week, mostly sparrows including White-throated Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, and Savannah Sparrow.  Also still a few Common Yellowthroat (eg. 1C and 2F) and a Black-throated Blue Warbler (not shown).  Some of the calls (eg. 6C and 7D) are high pitched and faint, and I'm not sure yet what they are--perhaps waxwings or kinglets.  Stay tuned!

2012 Machine Assisted Big Sit

Since I normally don't bird on Sunday, I haven't done a real Big Sit since the mid-1990s in Texas.  This year, with the decision to open up the event to Saturday sitters, I jumped back in with a Big Sit from my back patio here at home.

Big Sit view from the patio

Actually, I got a slow start, so I kind of just eased into it.  I meant to get up early and listen to the nocturnal migration, but I was just too tired.  I did decide to do a machine assisted Big Sit--and count the night flight calls (NFCs) of birds that I was able to detect with my OldBird 21c microphone.  So first thing I did was check my recording in the morning (see nightly summary here), to start out the Machine Assisted Big Sit with:

1) Swainson's Thrush--NFC
2) Gray-cheeked Thrush--NFC
3) Hermit Thrush--NFC, FOS
4) White-throated Sparrow--NFC
5) Savannah Sparrow--NFC
6) Indigo Bunting--NFC
7) Common Yellowthroat--NFC
8) White-crowned Sparrow--NFC (new yard bird)
9) Northern Parula--NFC
10) Song Sparrow--NFC
11) "Zeep call"--NFC, probably Blackpoll Warbler
12) Palm Warbler

In the morning, I thought I would only sit for a few hours and call it good, but I forgot how much fun it is sitting there and watching birds go by!  See the eBird report here.  In the AM I added:

13) Pine Siskin--over 20 birds at my feeder most of the day
14) Purple Finch--over 10 at my feeder most of the day
15) American Goldfinch
16) Downy Woodpecker
17) Canada Goose
18) White-breasted Nuthatch
19) Tufted Titmouse
20) Dark-eyed Junco--FOS
21) American Crow
22) Blue Jay
23) American Robin
24) Northern Cardinal
25) Black-capped Chickadee
26) Chipping Sparrow
27) Red-breasted Nuthatch
28) Red-bellied Woodpecker
29) House Finch
30) Black-throated Blue Warbler--male and female together
31) Carolina Wren
32) Sharp-shinned Hawk (quick bird through the trees)
33) Mourning Dove
34) Northern Flicker
35) Red-tailed Hawk
36) Brown-headed Cowbird (flock flyby)
37) Turkey Vulture
38) Golden-crowned Kinglet
39) Yellow-breasted Chat--new yard bird, 2012 county bird--locally rare highlight of the day at 10:35am
40) House Sparrow

The chat was awesome!  I had looked for chats in the spring and they are always on my mind when I am birding brushy hedgerows in the fall, but we are on the edge of their range and they are rare here.  As I was sitting and watching, I saw a yellow catbird-sized bird fly up from the multiflora rose and grapes on the edge of my woods.  I quickly got on it and saw the black lores and white spectacles.  I watched it for a few seconds before it slipped back into the brush.  I ran and got my camera, but it was moving quickly through the brush in the woods and I never got a shot of it.

Well, at this point I pretty much decided I would be watching in my yard all day and do a full Big Sit!  In the afternoon, things are usually slower, and the landscapers were putting in a walkway in the back, so I watched from an upstairs window over the patio (see eBird report here), adding:

41) Black Vulture--2:00pm after a long watch with no new birds
42) Northern Harrier--new yard bird, a migrant soaring with vultures at 2:20pm
43) Cooper's Hawk
44) Yellow-bellied Sapsucker--3:30pm
45) European Starling--4:00pm
46) Yellow-rumped Warbler

At 5:15pm I had to go to a party at church, so I missed the last hour of the day.  After I got home in the evening, I wanted to finish up right, so I got out my iPod and called up:

47) Eastern Screech-Owl

The OldBird21c microphone manned the station again from 8pm-midnight, but the autodetectors didn't pick up anything that would be new for the day--though perhaps on further review of the tape there might be a goody or two in there that the detectors missed.

So, not bad--47 species, including 10 only recorded by the microphone (I got White-throated Sparrow and Palm Warbler myself later during the sit).  While I could have seen more birds at Spruce Run, or one of my other local patches, I liked the personal feel of doing the sit in my yard--and it payed off with some new yard birds and a county year bird.  But more than anything, it was a way for me to connect with my yard and bird neighbors.  Next year I'll get my kids more involved, and maybe have some friends over as well for a Big Sit party!

NJ Nocturnal Migration--14 October 2012

Another slow night of migration, with sparrows dominating--61 detections.

Thrush-X: 1 detection
Tseep-X: 56 detections
Other: 4 detections, including series of finch calls 1A-1D and apparent Pine Siskin 1E/7A.

Sparrows dominated by White-throated Sparrow calls, a few Savannah Sparrows (1F-1H), and Chipping Sparrow (eg. 5H).

NJ Nocturnal Migration--13 October 2012

Migration slowed recently, and the switch from warblers to sparrows in the mix is almost complete.  On 13-14 October 2012 the autodetectors located 68 calls, including

Tseep-X: 3
Thrush-X: 60
Other: A series of finch calls (1A-1E)

Here are most of the calls:

Note mostly White-throated Sparrows, with a few presumed Savannah Sparrow (2H, 4A).  Thrushes appear to be Swainson's Thrush (1F, 1G, 1H).

Birdchaser at Wyncote Audubon

I'll be presenting a talk on Birds of the Ancient and Modern Maya to Wyncote Audubon outside of Philly this Friday.  Come and check it out if you are in the area.

Plymouth Friends Meeting House on Germantown Avenue at Butler Pike in Plymouth Meeting.


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