Young Birders Unite!

There is now a Young Birders Network whose goal is to provide resources for young birders to connect and learn, while giving adults resources to help them. It's important to get kids involved in birding, as they are the future of this hobby and the future guardians of birds. Birds, like this Bald Eagle, can be such a magnet for budding birders. 

Kids need to be taken out into the field, allowed to look through optics and get close-up views of special birds.

Don letting some kids look through his scope.

They need to be guided by caring adults, who will be role models for the kids.

Martha Kreik, right, is a third grade teacher, who encourages lots of kids to learn about birds and says these children are the ones who will take care of these birds in the future.

There are many resources for young birders, ranging from school and nature organization programs to the young birders clubs springing up across the country.
The newly formed Young Birders Network is a coordination between Black Swamp Bird Observatory and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, for kids from 12-18. The young birders themselves wrote much of the content. There is even a Young Birders Club Toolkit for adults and young birders wanting to start their own club.
There is also a Young Birders Home Page of the American Birding Association website for kids 10-18, where kids can sign up for the ABA Young Birder of the Year Contest, find out about their Young Birder Camps, read their blog and connect with other young birders.
So if you are a young birder reading this, or an adult who wants to help young birders, what are you waiting for, get started soon!

White Pelican Personality Profile

White Pelicans are such group-oriented birds.

They do the same things at the same time, preening

and then going out to feed.

Sending you some birds from sunny Florida where the things that are white in winter are White Pelicans, as well as Snowy Egrets, White Ibis, and Great Egrets. Often these White Pelicans have a little feeding frenzy in J. N.Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge in Sanibel, FL. When the wind pushs the tide out more than usual so the water levels are low, it congregates fish. These pelicans feed, often as a group, by "herding" fish and scooping the small fish up in their bills, letting the water spill out. Click on the video to watch them feed. It is such a treat to see them so close.

White Pelicans are winter visitors here. Their breeding areas are in western areas of the U.S. and Canada, such as MT, ID, UT, WY, etc. Their relatives, the Brown Pelicans, live in southern coastal areas all year, and have a different method of feeding by diving headfirst into the water to catch a fish.

After they winter here, in groups, they migrate back to their breeding areas.

Enjoy!

Common Nighthawk is the new ABA Bird of the Year!

Common Nighthawk

we saw 1,026 last Sept!

They flew by continuously

this is what it looked like through binos, most flying by at a distance

Flying down the river in front of the mountain

view from our deck

Check out the new American Birding Association Bird of the Year, the Common Nighthawk . Learn more about nighthawks and the ABA by watching this fun introductory video here. This is a super cool bird that you should get to know. We are lucky in that our NH property is on a nighthawk migration corridor. Sometimes we have fantastic experiences watching migrating nighthawks. For example, we had a mega number of Common Nighthawks migrating past our property this last Sept. 3rd, 2012. We sat on our deck and counted. It started out looking promising as several small groups of nighthawks went by at 5 pm. It just had the right "feel" for a promising nighthawk migration evening. Dragonflies were plentiful in the air, handfuls of Barn Swallows were up there with them. These are both insect eaters, just like nighthawks. Best of all, we saw flying ants dispersing. Nighthawks love these and eat them on migration.

From 5 pm to 5:30 pm, we counted 40 birds. You never know what will come next, so you just keep scanning the sky and try for patience. From 5:30 until 6 pm we saw no birds. We were quickly eating dinner outside on the deck, one person always watching while the other person brought out the food. 19 more nighthawks flew by between 6 to 6:30 pm.  Then, at 7 pm Don yells, Nighthawks!!! We got on the lead birds and just kept our binoculars trained, as a large, continuous stream of nighthawks flew by. A silent phalanx of flapping birds, all following the same path, rather high in the sky, heading south. You just keep counting, not breathing. You count by ones, as they fly by slowly enough for you to be able to do this. I lost a sense of time and suddenly, I was at 514, and they just kept coming...515, 516, 517.......and on and on. The sky was deepening in dusk and still they kept coming. Finally at 7:30 pm most had passed. We still stayed out until 7:45 and saw 2 more. It was too dark to see. Final number 1,026 Common Nighthawks.Wow!!

To put this in perspective, this was the second biggest night we had ever had from our site, where we have been counting nighthawks for at least 8 years. We live on a dammed-up section of a river and nighthawks traditionally follow river valleys for migration, possibly because they are rich with insects, and nighthawks feed while on migration. There is a nighthawk migration count website where numbers are recorded, called the SuAsCo/Nashua Rivers & Beyond Nighthawk Survey. It covers the main river watersheds in the lower part of NH and upper two-thirds of MA. If you count nighthawks in this area, record your numbers at this website. Our number of 1,026 Common Nighthawks, was the largest number recorded from a single site in a single night during this season so far, according to that website.

We usually get good nighthawk migration at our site, great some years, others not so. Our last big day, and record, occurred 8/27/05, when we saw 1,058 Common Nighthawks, most flying by in a continuous stream (just like these did) between 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Only thing is, strangely they were all headed north, while ours last night were headed south.

Common Nighthawk numbers have been declining in the Northeast. The purpose of the SuAsCo/Nashua Rivers & Beyond Nighthawk Survey is to count and record the annual fluctuations of migrating nighthawks in a defined area over time and create a longitudinal data set that might contribute to research on the long-term decline in abundance of this species.

Some days are good birding, others are great. This was one of them!

More Good Terns: Sandwich and Forster's

Sandwich Tern

Forster's Tern

More good terns, photographed at Sanibel Lighthouse. These are two of the most commonly seen terns on Sanibel.

One Good Tern: Common Tern in Sanibel, FL, in Winter!

Common Tern, juv./1st winter seen on Sanibel FL beach, note the dark carpal bar on the wing.

Here's another view, the solid dark on the head goes all round the nape.

Here it is next to the look-alike Forster's Tern which lacks a carpal bar and the black does not go all around the nape.

Terns are tricky, you must look closely to find something different. Here is the Common Tern standing with some Sandwich Terns, which are larger than it and have yellow tips to their bills.

You never know what you'll find, that's the fun of birding. So, on Dec. 16th, when Don and I were looking over a group of terns on Sanibel Island, FL, one in particular caught our eye. It was a Common Tern, which is listed as "rare to very rare during winter" in A Birder's Guide to Florida.

Looking at Terns means you have to sort out subtle clues. This Common Tern is a juv./1st winter bird. The juvenile plumage is kept from Jul.-Nov. according to our The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. We noticed the dark line, the carpal bar, on its plumage and also the stand out red base to the bill. This tern was smaller than the Sandwich Terns it was sitting with. It might be confused with a Forster's Tern, which is commonly seen here. The Forster's has a relatively longer and thicker bill, longer legs and a distinctive separate black mask over each eye, not connected by solid black around nape as in other similar terns, like Common Tern. Neither the adult nor juv. Forster's Tern would have the dark carpal bar.

In birding, the way to find rarities, is to look closely, very closely. And also to know what the possible rare birds are that could show up in your area. "Chance favors the prepared mind", as the saying goes.

What Was Your First Bird of the Year?

Red-shouldered Hawk, adult

Ours was a Red-shouldered Hawk, calling at dawn. It's always so exciting to think you have another whole year to see lots of birds. Just the anticipation of what may show up, what unexpected surprise bird will arrive in your yard, or what rare bird you will see while out birding somewhere, is enough to lift ones spirits and bring a glow of birding hope. What was your first bird of 2013?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Hope you have a rosy new year filled with beautiful birds!

Lillian and Don

Christmas Peregrine Falcon at Sanibel Lighthouse

Christmas Peregrine Falcon, adult of the anatum subspecies, at Sanibel Lighthouse this morning. There were lots of birders, photographers, tourists, an occasional appearance of a Razorbill, lots of Red-breasted Mergansers, and this Peregrine, who was chasing terns and looking for its Christmas present. (Photos taken with my Canon SX 40 HS from quite a distance from 100 to 195% digital zoom).

Merry Christmas everyone!

Razorbill Invasion of Florida Photos 12/23/12

Razorbill at Sanibel Island lighthouse beach today.

One came close to shore

Here you can see the back legs.

When they feed, they open their wings

and lunge forward and down.

Their wings propel them

underwater and they go really fast, like flying underwater, chasing mall fish, their main food.

In addition to the Razorbills, we saw this Horned Grebe.

Here are some photos I took today at Sanibel Island, FL, from the beach by the lighthouse. We saw 10 Razorbills from there and I was lucky that a few came near shore to feed, one as close as 20 feet from me. They were doing a lot of feeding and it was interesting to watch them dive for fish. They spread their wings, then dive down, zipping very fast underwater. Their main food is small fish. The Razorbill invasion of Florida is historic, with numbers never before seen here. There could potentially be thousands in Florida waters, all along the coasts. 

Razorbills Invasion of Florida Keeps Coming!

Razorbill

Razorbill group. Sometimes they are far offshore, as we viewed them 2 days ago on Sanibel Island at Blind Pass.

The Razorbills keep coming down into Florida and the invasion is growing. 34 were just seen off Anna Maria Island on the Gulf Coast. We keep seeing them off Blind Pass on Sanibel Island. On Dec. 23rd. we saw 10 Razorbills off Sanibel Island at the lighthouse. A few swam close to shore.

It is thought perhaps unusually warm ocean waters in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic in Razorbills traditional winter range may have dispersed the fish there, so the Razorbills must continue south in search of food. See article on ebird.org.

Razorbills, Gulf Coast of FL on Sanibel & Captiva

Razorbill, 1st winter plumage

Razorbill, winter plumage, off Sanibel Island, FL,  today. There's a Razorbill invasion of Florida going on with potentially thousands there.

One of the Razorbills, off Captiva Island, FL,  today. 

Here's a video of the Razorbill

Here's a Razorbill in summer plumage, for comparison, I photographed at Machias Seal Island, ME.

Here's another photo of the Sanibel Razorbill.

It mostly just sat on the water, but did stretch its wings.

We immediately posted our sighting of the Razorbill at Gulfside City Park, on the SWFLBirdline listserve, and several other birders came right out to see it. Don showed them the Razorbill through our scope. 

The Razorbill on Sanibel was rather far off shore but viewable with binos, and nice views through a scope. This is the view through the camera I was while standing on shore. Orange arrow points to bird. I zoomed way, way out, 140x to take the photos with the Canon SX 40, so excuse the quality of the photos.

There is a Razorbill invasion of Florida happening and today we saw 3 Razorbills off of Sanibel and Captiva, on the Gulf Coast of Florida. One Razorbill was off Gulfside City Park on Sanibel Island and we saw that about 3 pm. We watched for about an hour then went to Captiva Island and located the other two which where near the breakwater at Blind Pass. One was resting on the water, the other was feeding by diving near a large group of Pelicans. No one knows why thousands of Razorbills are coming to FL, as they usually winter in the Northeast down to the Carolinas, rarely to GA. After searching all morning, with no sucess at Bunche Beach in Ft. Myers where one had been seen two days ago, we finally located these three. Sweet! If you are in Florida and see Razorbills, report them to your nearest birding listserve and also ebird.org.
Make sure and send your record to the Florida Ornithological Society by filling out their FOS Bird Records Species Documentation form located here.

Florida Razorbill Invasion Is Happening!

Razorbill, 1st winter plumage

Razorbill, 1st winter plumage

Razorbill, summer plumage

Razorbill

Razorbill

There is an invasion of Razorbills into Florida with birds being seen from many locations. Yesterday 150-200 were seen off Boynton Inlet/Beach heading south. As of early December, there were maybe fewer than 10 state records for the Razorbill in Florida, so suddenly having lots of Razorbills showing up is very astounding. Razorbills are a large auk usually found in the north Atlantic Ocean, and they winter usually to New England and down to NC, rarely as far south as GA. Razorbills forage on small fish and sometimes crustaceans, feeding in waters less than 200 ft. deep. They catch fish while swimming underwater, at 5-20 ft. below surface. Their populations are thought to be declining. Why are they coming down into FL in numbers? Is it lack of food for some reason in their usual wintering locations? Some of the birds being seen in FL have seemed weak and one was washed up on the shore and taken to a marine hospital where it did not survive.

 Reports keep coming in.

Here is a link to a google map where the Florida sightings are being posted, click here

Report your sightings to your state listserves and also to ebird.

Above photos are of summer plumage Razorbills. In winter they have white on throat that extends behind eye, little or no white on lore.

White Pelican Magnificence

White Pelicans are such magnificent birds. There are quite a few here now in Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Sanibel, FL, where they spend the winter, just like the "snowbird" human winter residents of the island.

Preening is a big part of their job, gotta keep those beautiful feathers in shape.

After they feed as a group, herding the fish, then scooping them up in their bills. Then they swim or fly and splash down, over to their sand bar, where they rest up. Come spring they migrate to their breeding areas in the western areas of the U. S. and Canada such as MT, ID, UT, WY, etc. Their relatives, the Brown Pelicans, live in southern coastal areas all year, and feed by diving headfirst into the water to catch a fish.
Canon SX 40 HS photos.