Archive for 2007
How Do They Do It?
Posted by: | CommentsMountain Plovers are among the birds I most look forward to seeing each Arizona winter, when small, apparently nomadic flocks inhabit a few traditional areas of bare fields and pasture. Sometimes a bird’s beauty is enhanced by its rarity, but I firmly believe that this would be a bird to admire for hours on end even if it weren’t one of the scarcest waders in the world.

Who could fail to love a face that sweet?
Friday’s birds let us approach to within a car’s length, and once they’d determined that we were no threat, they returned to their leisurely afternoon toilette, preening and stretching. And as we watched, we discovered that this species is an “indirect scratcher,” raising the foot over the wing, rather than reaching under the wing, to relieve an itch on the head or neck.

It’s the rare day when a birder doesn’t learn something new.
Underground
Posted by: | CommentsMy prediction Friday morning had been that my stake-out Burrowing Owls would be safely huddled in their warm caves, waiting out the coldest night of the season. I was wrong: at two of the sites we visited, birds were up and out, soaking up what warmth there was before retiring for a morning nap.

Graham spotted this one, a cobble-sized and -shaped bird that I would probably have driven right by. The resemblance to a rock ends, though, as soon as they fix you with that golden stare.
Only the Shadow Toes
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The long-staying Northern Jacana at the Dave White Golf Course in Casa Grande has been abundantly documented now with descriptions and photos; this is a very good thing, since for some reason all of my pictures have turned out to be even blurrier and more distant than I’d thought. I’ll have plenty of opportunity, deo volente, to improve on my efforts in days to come, but for now I’m pretty proud of the shadows cast in this image by those incredible toes.
Guyana: Sandbar Birds
Posted by: | CommentsThe rivers of Guyana left this boy from the prairies, one who has ended up in the desert, with his mouth agape and his eyes disbelieving. Our boat travel along the Essequibo took us to several stretches where the river was 5 kilometers or more across, the opposite shore a green blur on the horizon; a few of the islands in the river, I was told, are larger than Bermuda.
Sandbars and beaches provided great habitat for a number of really fine birds. Our landing strip at beautiful Rock View Lodge hosted a Collared Plover, and Pied Lapwings, beautiful creatures that in appearance bridge the gap between the “ringed” plovers and the larger lapwings, were familiar and confiding all along the river.

Black Skimmers were very common, too, and with them we found the occasional Large-billed Tern, a bird I had long dreamed of seeing.

There was a mild sense of vindication when I finally saw my first of this species. Many of you will no doubt remember the Memorial Day Large-billed Tern at New Jersey’s Kearney Marsh. I don’t remember where I was the day that that bird arrived, but I do know that I was not at home, and so my phone rang off the hook all day–and I didn’t find out about the bird until hours after it had departed. A shame: now that I have seen the tern, I really wish I hadn’t had to wait so long!
Guyana: Paradise Jacamar
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If you ask me, any place with jacamars is mighty close to paradise!





