I’ve been birding since 1989. I am surprised now that I didn’t start earlier but I didn’t. I owned a copy of Peterson’s Field Guide for a number of years, but I didn’t actively go out looking for birds, I identified birds that came my way when I was hiking or canoeing. Looking back I can say that I didn’t know much for the first few years. The one thing I learned is that the only way to really identify a bird is to watch a lot of birds. Field guides are good but until you see a bird in the field you don’t really know it. Some birds may be almost unmistakable. I cannot imagine anyone misidentifying a Northern Cardinal or an adult Bald Eagle, but field guides only go so far, they cannot show how a bird moves. In the past few years since I have mostly worked at home, I have been able to spend a lot more time birding. Species that were hard to identify have become a lot easier one you see them a few hundred times. Downy vs Hairy Woodpecker, not an issue once you’ve seen them every day.. Empidonax Flycatchers another story.
Just a few days ago my wife and I saw a mature male Northern Harrier. When I was in NJ I saw a lot of them, but almost all of them were immature or female. Here in MN we have been seeing the male more frequently. Very different in color but the movement is the same. So, when we saw it we didn’t take more than a second to ID it. In the field you cannot mistake a Harrier for a Red-tailed Hawk or a Bald Eagle. I posted a photo of it above. Unfortunately the photo is static. It doesn’t give a feeling of how the bird looks when flying.
The advantage of doing a lot of birding is the ability to spot the odd birds when they show up. My wife and I take bird drives a few times a week. We live in rural MN, and only last year we started to realize that some of our best birding opportunities were within a few feet of our home (yes, the good witch Glinda was right, there is no place like home). We have seen some fantastic birds. A few weeks ago we saw an unfamiliar bird, my first reaction was that it might be a Mockingbird (possible in MN but not likely up here). It was the Western Kingbird. Not a rare species but neither of us had ever seen them before.
Western Kingbird 6/10/13
We were seeing bunches of different Flycatchers and for a few days the Olive-sided seemed to be everywhere. It is gone now (they have a very easy song to identify so I know they aren’t nesting here). Here is a photo taken 2 weeks ago.
This has been a very late Spring. The migration of the birds was much later and slower than normal. Some birds that were early last year, such as the Eastern Bluebird, came later and in much smaller numbers than expected. Other birds, such as the Zonotrichia Sparrow, were more or less on time, and very well welcomed by us and other birders.
The Warblers have started to show up all over the place, even if not in the numbers we would hope for. The highlight for us would be the Cape May Warbler. We don’t get them every year so they are always welcomed. Some of the best birds this Spring have been birds we haven’t gotten good photos of or any photos at all. We saw a Black-billed Cuckoo a few days ago, no photo. Shawnne heard a Golden-winged Warbler, no photo.
Baltimore Orioles have been numerous and noisy. Always welcome here. We’ve been getting Pine Warblers at our suet feeder, the bugs must be in short supply. The top photo is a Bobolink. They have just started to come in and we should see them all summer. Most of the photos were
Redheads with Blue-winged and Green-winged Teals 5/2/13
The Winter is finally over, really really really over. It is our favorite time of the year, the Spring Migration. Fall is fun but Spring is easier because we aren’t trying to identify green or brown birds hiding behind green or brown leaves.
There is a Moody Blues song with this title which is so appropriate at this time of the year, more so than usual this year. Last year Spring came early and some birds, like the Red-winged Blackbirds, never left for the Winter. This year Spring has been very late, some birds, like the Bluebirds, that we expect to see in numbers have barely appeared. Real Spring weather started to arrive this Friday, when we hit a high of 64. We have taken advantage of the change to drive around and look at all the birds we have been missing. We have had 14 birds make their first appearance of the year. Below is a list of the birds and the dates for each:
The weather this afternoon was sunny and mild, at least it was mild for this particular April even if it was quite below normal. We decided to do an afternoon bird run. We saw a Hermit Thrush. This is a bird this is common in Spring, but it is not one that usually stops in your back yard. We were driving along county road 31 not too far from home and we were just lucky enough to see it. This was only the second time I have seen it in Minnesota. Again it isn’t a rare bird, but it doesn’t frequent backyards and you need to look for it.
We saw the usual suspects for Minnesota: Horned Larks, Eastern Meadowlarks, Sandhill Cranes, Trumpeter Swans. We saw our first Osprey. The local lake isn’t open yet, so I wonder where he/she will find his/her dinner.
It is now past mid April and our birds are coming in very slowly. I don’t think I have seen a single Bluebird on my daily walks with Molly. Still it is Spring and the birds are arriving even if our ground isn’t ready. We are seeing ducks not on lakes or ponds but in free standing water from the melting snow. Shawnne saw something a few days ago, probably a Merganser, but she wasn’t able to get a good look at it. Today we saw both our first Wood Duck and Blue-winged Teals of the season. It is a very soft picture but it was the best I could get.
We are getting some larger birds, birds one expects on lakes, on the melted snow. Today we saw Tundra Swans along with a bunch of ducks and geese on that standing water.
At our feeder at home we have started getting Fox Sparrows. We’ve seen the since the 7th, the photo below is from April 13th. We are expecting a major thaw once this weeks storm ends. That should begin the heavy migration. (We hope.)
Yesterday we took a side trip on the way to our normal Friday food shopping. We saw a few birds, in particular we saw a Meadowlark that we could not fully identify.
Today we saw our first Red-winged Blackbird of the season. I imagine that we will be sick of them in a few weeks, but today we were pleased to see them.
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