Swainson's Warbler, Yes!

Fondly remembering Swainson's Warbler, a hard-to-see grail warbler, that I saw a number of times during fallout on Sanibel Island. This skulking, understory warbler breeds in southern swamps and wooded ravines. Given it lurks in the understory I was on my stomach for one of these photos! Hope a lot of you see it during migration.

The Red-tailed Hawk Project unraveling mysteries of the Red-tailed Hawk

Next time you see a Red-tailed Hawk look twice! Ponder that there are still mysteries about this common species that when solved will lead us to a greater understanding of its many plumage colors (there are 16 subspecies and some are polymorphic), genetic and ecological associations and even to a better understanding of the dynamics of avian evolution. See this great article by Scott Weidensaul on The Red-tailed Hawk Project a large research collaboration that is working to unravel the mysteries of this abundant raptor. My photos in winter show two different eastern subspecies. Top photo is the Buteo jamaicencis borealis subspecies with a white throat, chest and moderate belly band. The next two birds are the abieticola subspecies with a dark throat, colorful rusty chest and belly band with heavy dark blobs. The Red-tailed Hawk Project is cautiously examining and classifying what are the subspecies. It will be exciting to see what their research comes up with.

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/.../red-tailed-hawk.../

WOODCOCKS ARE DISPLAYING NOW!

 

"Peent" last night heard (they are hard to see in the dark) an American Woodcock displaying to attract a mate. Woodcock males walk around open areas in the eastern part of the country at dusk "peenting" then launch into an amazing aerial display in which they can spiral up 300 feet, wings creating a chirping sound, then land and continue "peenting." Females come to the display grounds, choose a mate then go into the woods, nest on the ground, and raise the young themselves. Go listen at dusk near open field areas near woods. Woodcocks use that long bill to probe for earthworms in the mud eyes perched atop their head provide surround sight to look for predators. Woodcocks are truly one of the avian wonders this time of year.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY GREEN BIRDS

Monk Parakeet

Green-winged Teal

Painted Bunting

Green Heron
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY green birds. Go through your bird field guide and look for the green birds, then look for where the green occurs and ponder why and why there are not more green birds. Then go have some Irish Coffee.

Red-tailed Hawk, subspecies abieticola

Red-tailed Hawk subspecies abieticola

Red-tailed Hawk subspecies borealis

Map from The Red-tailed Hawk Project

I did the Hawk Migration Association's Winter Raptor Survey yesterday in MA in cold, completely cloudy skies with about 7 In. snow cover. The Red-tailed Hawks were not soaring, but hunted by perching. Look at the fascinating difference in these two Red-tailed Hawks I saw. The colorful one on the left, with a dark throat, buffy wash aross the chest, and much heavier, blobby belly band might possibly be a candidate for the abieticola subspecies (Buteo jamaicensis abieticola). There has been confusion and disagreement about this subspecies with much to learn. W.E. Clyde Todd was the first to describe it in 1950, naming it abieticola "dweller of the firs" since Abies is the genus of true firs and he thought its breeding range was in the Balsam Fir range. Its breeding range is in the boreal zone from Alaska to Atlantic Canada. How cool is that to think this northern visitor has come to spend the winter here. The paler bird on the right looks like our local borealis subspecies who breeds from sw. Alberta east to Maritime Provinces on the southern periphery of the Boreal Forest, and south from cen. Texas east to n. Florida, winters from n. Great Plains, the Great Lakes region and s. New England south to e. Mexico. Red-tailed Hawk subspecies are complicated there are 16 subspecies (according to Birds of the World) in two groups with much regional variation.

The wintering range of abieticola is in the U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains and there is much to learn about the wintering and migration habits of this subspecies. You can help by paying more attention to the redtails you see and uploading your photos to eBird. To learn more about this subspecies see this excellent paper by Jerry Liguori and Brian Sullivan. There is also ongoing research on this and other subspecies of redtails by The Red-tailed Hawk Project who consider abieticola to be polymorphic. See here,

https://northernredtails.wordpress.com/.../rth...

https://redtailedhawkproject.org/subspecies-guide/

No way! After hoping and looking all winter for a Pine Siskin, one photobombs an image of a Carolina Wren, and I was not aware of it until I downloaded the wren photos!! This was the only time I saw it. Like an apparition from the Finch Superflight of 2020-2021 during which I wrote The Stokes Guide to Finches of the United States and Canada with co-author Matt Young, finches have a way of appearing just when I need them. My quote from the book "Lessons from finches: experiences like this are open to all who trust the improbable is possible. Yes, finches keep calling me, and I keep answering."