Glossy Ibis, Long-billed Dowitchers

Here are a few more photos I took while at the Space Coast Birding Festival. These Long-billed Dowitchers were at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Those very long bills enable them to feed at a deeper level in the water, where they poke the long bills into the mud to get tiny creatures. There is another shorebird species, called a Short-billed Dowitcher, which also has a long bill, but not as long as the Long-billed Dowitcher's. So maybe they should be called the Long-billed Dowitcher and these the Very Long-billed Dowitcher.

You can see why this is called a Glossy Ibis. When the sun shines on its plumage you can see those wonderful iridescent blue and green colors on the bronze plumage. This is an adult in winter plumage. The juvenile (Jul.-Nov.) plumage is browner with little iridescence. Use your The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America to age the birds you see, it has the most extensive clues to aging and sexing the birds. It's fun.

Space Coast Birding Festival Crested Caracara

I just took this photo of this Crested Caracara (2nd yr.) this morning at the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands at Viera, one of the birding places as part of the Space Coast Birding Festival, where we are keynote speakers tonight. Crested Caracaras southern raptors mainly found in FL, TX and AZ. They eat small animals, fish, reptiles and carrion, as do vultures.

Awesome bird! Awesome photo ops are available at Viera.

Stokes at Space Coast Birding Festival

Florida Scrub-Jay

Come escape the cold and see us at the Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival, Titusville, FL where we will be giving a keynote talk and book signing on Tues., Jan. 26th at 6:30 pm. Here's a photo of one of the central FL special birds you might see, a beautiful Florida Scrub-Jay. In our keynote talk we will tell you how to fast-forward your birding skills by using "quantitative shape" to identify birds, an approach pioneered in our new field guide, The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. "Quantitative shape" will help you distinguish difficult species apart faster, help you ID tricky birds when they are standing alone, and help you nail an ID when color and plumage clues fail you.

The Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival goes from Jan 25th to 30th. See you there.

Sunset Heron

Tri-colored Heron, sunset

One of the fun things is going to Ding Darling NWR, Sanibel, FL, at sunset and watching all the herons move about, many of them flying to their nightime roosts. Even more fun is trying to get photos of them. That's where the high ISO settings (goes up to 12,800 ISO) available on my Canon 1D Mark IV camera make shooting in low light possible, when other photographers must quit. Yes, for me, way fun!

Tale, (tail) of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. The undertail is completely white and white extends through the undertail coverts.

What's faster than a speeding warbler? That would be this little bird, a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a very hyperactive bird found in winter in far southern areas of the country, including FL. Here in Ding Darling, NWR on Sanibel, you can see them flitting through the mangroves, hunting for small insects in the leaves.

"The adult male in summer has a thin black eyebrow, mostly in front of eye and extending to forehead"(SFG) but not in winter. In summer their breeding range extends throughout much of the country.

I love the way the top photograph shows the full tail fanned, something they do often. The outer tail feathers are mostly white. In the bottom photo you can see how, when they close their tail, it's like a fan closing. The two outer tail feather come together and when the tail is fully closed it would appear all white from underneath. On this bird, there is white extending all the way from the tail feathers continuing down through the fluffy white undertail coverts. This may help ID it as to subspecies.

There are 3 subspecies, "caerula (KS-cent. TX and east); m. back bluish gray, undertail white through undertail coverts"... obscura (w. TX-WY and west); m. back darker undertail mostly white but black just before the undertail coverts... deppei (s. TX) like caerula but smaller" (from The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America.)

In today's world of digital photography, where many a birder carries a digital camera, it becomes possible to see intimate details of a bird's plumage and tell things about it never before possible. Look closely at your digital photos, blow them up on your screen. Our new Stokes field guide will help you discover new things about the birds you are seeing.

As to getting a photo of this hyper species, moving through mangroves, well, that's a topic for another blog post.

MId-Air Catch, Ahinga

Anhinga's are amazing birds. They can swim underwater, stab a fish, then toss it,

and catch it, then it goes down the hatch. Here you can see the fish in it's bill, with the

fish tail still sticking out! One of the things I love about digital photography is that you can blow up your photo and see fantastic details about a bird.

Anhingas often climb out of the water, then they can spread their wings and dry them. They do this because their feathers are adapted to be more wettable than other birds, allowing the Anhinga to submege underwater. Don and I never tire of watching and enjoying all the birds, even the more common ones. Anhingas are easy to see here at Ding Darling NWR.

Brown Pelican, excedrin headache

We spoke of how White Pelicans feed in yesterday's blog. Here's how Brown Pelicans feed. They fly up, then plunge head first into the water and grab a fish, then let the water drain out of their bill. They are specially adapted to be able to do this all day without getting an excedrin headache.

Have a nice weekend. Stay warm and keep the feeders full.

White Pelicans, up close and personal

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 only thing white is these White Pelicans, as well as Snowy Egrets, White Ibis, and Great Egrets. Often these White Pelicans have a little feeding frenzy in Ding Darling NWR in Sanibel, FL. When the wind pushs the tide out more than usual so the water levels are low, it congregatesfish. 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.
Enjoy!

Hunting

Green Heron, imm. waiting in the mangroves, to strike at a passing fish.

While other birds, like this Double-crested Cormorant, actively chase their prey. Just how do you think it will get that catfish down?

hippie Anhinga

"She looks like something we wore in the '60's" said the lady next to me as I stood photographing this lovely female, adult Anhinga. I smiled.

The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America, current favorite..

Fun fact: This Pileated Woodpecker photo on the back of The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America was taken by Lillian Stokes, at the Sanibel, FL, Lighthouse park. The bird flew off a tree (not at a nest) and Lillian got the photo.

We continue to get praise for our new field guide. Here is some of the latest:

"Each of the last four years has brought us a new photographic field guide to the birds of North America. They’ve each had their merits, but The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America is my current favorite photo-based guide. It is an excellent reference that is worth having even if you already have a dozen other NA field guides."

From, The Birder's Library Book Reviews

"I've had it a short time and won't leave home without it. I already find myself reaching for it first when I've got a perplexing sighting to resolve or I want more information on a particular species. I could go on and on about this excellent birding resource."

Patty

"An outstanding guide, the many pictures of birds with different molting conditions as well as the pithy comments make this guide an essential for birders. The section on Gulls alone makes this worthwhile."

P. Mishell

"Beautiful Pictures, excellent descriptions, and a sweet surprise.,

We ordered this item as a Christmas gift for my mother and am now thinking of ordering a second for our home."

Miss Manda

Pied-billed Grebe ballerina

Pied-billed Grebe, photographed in soft light, taking off, looking like a ballerina, so ungrebe-like. I love experimenting with unusual lighting opportunities. Makes you look at birds in a whole new way.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull, adult winter

Here's another of the same bird.

Here's a 3rd winter Lesser Black-backed Gull. Note the black on bill tip.

Eating a crab.

First winter Lesser Black-backed Gull

and in flight. Note the broad tail band and contrasting whitish rump.

Just saw 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on Sanibel Island, FL beach. This is an unusual gull to see here where mainly there are Laughing Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls and some Herring Gulls. We were lucky.

Yellow-throated Warbler, Yum spider!

Yellow-throated Warbler, Dendroica dominica

We're down in Sanibel Island, FL where the birding and bird photography is just great. I photographed this Yellow-throated Warbler in Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, it was wrestling with something big, not sure what is was.

A-ha! A tasty, big spider, yum! Gutsy warbler.

Yellow-throated Warblers are aptly named and gorgeous, with that lemon yellow throat dramatically outlined by black.

This is a relatively slower moving warbler, as warblers go (which means it's fast compared to many birds). It creeps around trunks and limbs, much like a Black-and-white Warbler or nuthatch.

It also has a relatively long bill,

all the better to poke and probe crevices and under bark, as here, to find insects and prey.

Very cool bird. I love warblers and was happy to have a chance to photograph this one. I hand-held (necessary to track this quick moving bird in the foliage) my Canon 1D Mark IV camera with my Canon IS 300 mm lens plus a 1.4 teleconverter, and bumped up the ISO to 1250 in some of these photos where the bird was in the shade.

Redpolls are coming to a feeder near you!

Common Redpoll, male

Common Redpoll, female, who is about to

dive off the perch to go to our feeder.

Common Redpolls are seen in flocks and move or "irrupt" down into the U.S. when their winter food supply is scarce.

Attract them with feeders that allow for multiple birds to feed at once. They like hulled sunflower, which we are feeding here, and Nyjer (thistle) seed and finch mixes.

Common Redpolls are being sighted in NH and elsewhere and predictions are for more of them to show up and move south. We had 10 at our feeders recently here in southwest NH. What a treat to see these little "irruptive" red-capped finches from far northern areas (breed in Canada and AK) who move from their usual winter range when their food supply of seeds and cones is sparse.

There is another, less commonly seen, species of redpoll, called Hoary Redpoll, which also can move down into the northern parts of the U.S. in winter. Hoary vs. Common Redpoll is a very tricky ID. Here's the page on Hoary Redpoll with 8 photos, in our all new The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America, which gives you all the most complete and up-to-date clues you need on Hoary Redpolls. There are 10 photos and 2 pages on the ID of Common Redpoll in our new guide. What, you didn't get The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America for Christmas? You can always use those gift cards for it. Congratulations, and enjoy, to those of you who did get our new guide from Santa, you're all set to nail those redpoll IDs.

Happy Holidays From Lillian and Don Stokes

Enjoy your holidays!

We wish all of our blog readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year full of wonderful birds in 2011!

Thank you so much for reading our blog and we will keep bringing you more great photos and information in 2011. Be sure and sign up for our free email newsletter to keep up-to-date.

Stokes talk birding on NPR Radio's The Animal House

Lillian and Don

We recently had a wonderful time being interviewed on the NPR radio show, The Animal House, WAMU, a great show about wildlife conservation, animals and pets. We talked about our how to use our brand new book, "The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America," bird behavior, why birds sing, attracting birds and tips on the best ways to get involved in birding, You can listen to our interview and learn more about these and other topics we covered, go to the website HERE, and click on the "Listen" button on the top left.

Hairy vs. Downy Woodpecker size comparison

Downy Woodpecker, m. (left), Hairy Woodpecker, f. (right) on Stokes Select Deluxe Suet Buffet feeder.

Wow, look at the size difference. In this photo you can see the bars on the outer tail feathers of the Downy Woodpecker. This usually occurs on most subspecies of Downy Woodpecker except the "leucurus subspp (s.e. AK-. NE south to AZ-NM) may lack barring on tail." (from The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America, which contains information on all subspecies of birds, no other field guide does). The Hairy Woodpecker usually has white unbarred outer tail feathers (except in a few subspecies).

Stokes CBC 2010

One of the highlights of our Christmas Bird Count was a Pileated Woodpecker flying over our heads. Part of the excitement is, you never know what you'll see when you spend a whole day looking for birds.

Having coffee just before dawn and waiting for the first birds to arrive at our feeders. It was 18 degrees outside.

American Tree Sparrow, Spizella arborea

As the sun came up, one of the first to arrive was this American Tree Sparrow, sitting low on it's feet; better to keep warm. Check out the yellow lower mandible! We had 8 at our feeders. This is a beautiful far northern breeding species that migrates down into the U.S. in winter. It's the largest of our sparrows in the Spizella genus.

A Dark-eyed Junco joined it, feasting on the white millet seed we put on our deck. There are a lot of subspecies of juncos and they are divided into 5 groups*, thus juncos can look quite different depending on where in the country you're located. Our juncos here in NH are in the Slate-colored Group ("Slate-colored Junco," Hyemalis Group) which includes 3 subspecies.

Pine Siskins were one of the birds we hoped we would see. This is another species that breeds in more northern and western areas and "irrupts" or migrates farther south in years of less food availability in it's usual area. These found no lack of food availability at the Stokes well-stocked feeders. Hulled Sunflower was on the menu.

Finches love to feed in flocks and you can get more at your feeders if you provide more seating room. Here are Pine Siskins (upper right) an American Goldfinch (center) and an American Tree Sparrow (left).

Another cool "irruptive" species we had was a Common Redpoll. Our neighbor had 7 in her yard that flew right over our heads before we could get a good look at them. We cinched the ID by the call notes they gave.

We luckily saw Red-breasted Nuthatches, a species who has cornered the cute market. Our team saw 9, the most in our Christmas Count Area.

Bundled up to the max in the early morning. We've been doing the Christmas Bird Count together for 30 years.

Since every bird counts, one of the things I like best is to embrace the beauty of the common birds, not just seek the rare. These Blue Jays were gorgeous against the snow, eating mixed seed from the ground in front of the brush pile we built by our feeders — just a magnet for the birds.

People ask us how do you know you're not counting the same birds.

Here's a tip on how know Hairy Woodpeckers as individuals.

Notice the pattern of the patch on back of their heads, which varies, and draw or photograph it. This male has a red patch divided by a thin black line. Another male we have has no black line dividing the red. This method of telling birds apart also works for females and Downy Woodpeckers as well. We know we have 2 different pairs of Hairy Woodpeckers on our property and we can identify them as individuals.

The day warmed up into the 20's and was sunny with no wind, it was beautiful. This is a frozen river. You'd think there would be birds in this mixed habitat but nada. We were reduced to talking about the species we had seen in this area in former years! This year we found a lack of birds, in general, compared to other years.

Meade and Sandy are our CBC birding buddies and have been on our team for the last several years.

Here's the countdown party, hosted at our house. All the teams from our Christmas Bird Count (which is the Peterborough count, in SW New Hampshire) gathered to socialize and turn in their numbers and we got to hear how everyone did. Lots of wine, beer, special greek pizza (yes they make awesome pizza especially the feta and spinach one), snackies, salads, brownies, and great chocolate chip cookies. You gotta feed well the tired, cold, hungry, hard-working birders; they all deserved it!!

Most unusual bird of our count (seen by another team) was an Eastern Meadowlark. That was the first time it has ever been recorded on this count.

There were lower numbers of many birds such as robins, sparrows, grosbeaks. Speculation in this area was that the severe drought we had in spring and summer depleted the usual levels of seeds and some fruits and thus the birds were not as plentiful here as in past years.

What were the highlights of your Christmas Bird Count?

* Subspecies information from "The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America", our newly published, national field guide which contains all the subspecies (no other guide does).