American Birding Association: wildflowers

Would you be so kind as to identify these wildflowers? I found the Wasatch Bloomers page but would appreciate some confirmations.

American Birding Association: Saturday

During the American Birding Association's convention in Utah, the Mirror Lake field trip on Saturday began with a stop at the Bald Mountain trailhead at 10,759 feet. The target bird for this snowy destination: Black Rosy-Finch. With intense scrutiny of this landscape...


the group eventually spied the small black specks against the white or blue backgrounds. The rosy-finches appeared along the top of the snow, mostly to the left side of the above photo. At one point, I saw four finches fluttering about at the same time.

Other finds at this stop included Townsend's Solitaire, a singing White-crowned Sparrow, Mountain Chickadees, Cassin's Finch, American Robins, gray-headed Dark-eyed Junco and mountain goats. Yes, mountain goats!

The goats' appearance along the top of the snowy ridge elicited gasps and squeals of delight. Seven goats eventually ambled across the snow, with the two kids scampering about and providing quite a show.

Moving to a lower altitude, we stopped at Trial Lake campground and received greetings from a singing Ruby-crowned Kinglet. What a vivid crown! A small group hung back and saw Pine Grosbeaks and Gray Jay before rejoining the crew that set up camp below the American Three-toed Woodpecker nest.


While waiting for the woodpeckers' appearance, I reclined on the road and soaked up sunshine and views of a Tree Swallow perched on a snag in the lake. I eventually saw peeks of a woodpecker's head and felt satisfied with that.

Our lunch spot -- Soapstone Basin, next to Provo River -- yielded looks at MacGillivray's Warbler, Red-naped Sapsuckers, Mountain Chickadee, Red-tailed Hawk and Dusky Flycatcher. All the aspen trees enthralled me.


At the last stop, Taylor Fork, I got to see a Warbling Vireo on its nest, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Northern Flickers, Cedar Waxwings and Red-naped Sapsuckers. On the drive home, I spied Black-billed Magpies -- reminders of a previous visit to Park City with high-school friends.

One of the field trip's highlights for me was the chance to capture a real snowbunny. You never know what you'll see while birding.

American Birding Association: Friday

At the Cliff Lodge at Snowbird, a seed feeder lured Cassin's Finches and Pine Siskins as well as the birders who wanted to pull up a chair on the patio and settle in for the show. I admit to being one of those birders, preferring to watch the siskins and finches -- the male finches looked like their heads were dipped in raspberry preserves -- rather than editing articles for the September/October issue.


(Yes, that's snow in the upper right part of the photo. Snow! In late June!)Eventually, the deadline breathing down my neck convinced me to move away from the feeder and to a more secluded spot.

Father Tom Pincelli spotted a shady alcove and provided a chair, too. Did I feel special! With a warm chai beside my chair, I got to work... but even this view distracted me from the articles, as did the American Robins and a little flycatcher that visited the greenery.


After a while, I admitted defeat and succumbed to a little quackery. The tree branches, however, didn't want to remain straight, and the ducks preferred to land on the ground rather than remain on the branches.

A few people looked at me with some concern while I scrounged in the tangled foliage for the errant ducks. Ah well.

American Birding Association: Thursday's evening program

After dinner on Thursday during the American Birding Association's convention at the Snowbird resort outside Salt Lake City, Utah, Ted Floyd provided the evening's entertainment: the 10 greatest birds in the world. The editor of Birding magazine, Floyd brings humor and energy to his talks -- a fact that I learned during his keynote speech at the San Diego Bird Festival in February 2005.

With large photos appearing on the wall behind him, Floyd counted down his top 10 greatest birds in the world and related anecdotes about each. I bet you'll be surprised by his choices.

10. European Bee-eater
9. Screaming Piha
8. Three-wattled Bellbird
7. Brown Trembler
6. Pygmy Wren-Babbler
5. Eastern Screech-Owl
4. Common Raven
3. American Robin
2. Chipping Sparrow
1. Swainson's Thrush

Floyd credited the thrush with helping him rediscover the wonder and amazement of nature and birding. Although many birders and nonbirders consider birding an escape from reality, Floyd said otherwise: Birding isn't an escape but a connection to the intensity of reality.

Do you think of birding as an escape? What are your top 10 greatest birds of the world?

American Birding Association: Thursday field trip

During the American Birding Association's convention at Snowbird resort south of Salt Lake City, Utah, the Bridal Veil Falls field trip began with a stop at Bridal Veil Falls to look for Black Swifts.

Bridal Veil Falls

Looking for Black Swifts... and finding 'em

Birdchick (in the center) avoiding "swift neck" -- a variation of "warbler neck"

The area also yielded Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Violet-green Swallow, Cedar Waxwing and slate-colored Fox Sparrow among others. I delighted in the singing sparrow and the four waxwings chasing each other.

The next stop, Vivian Park, included a bridge with an American Dipper nest. We could see the adults dipping, bobbing and collecting food in this channel.


Lookit Birdchick's images and videos of the dippers.

I enjoyed seeing a Bullock's Oriole (so bright!) and Cordilleran Flycatcher, too. After a stop at Vivian Park -- where I spotted little but soaked up the sun and scenery -- we ate lunch in the amphitheater at the Mt. Timpanogos trailhead. Various birds engaged the group's attention. Delightful spot.

Mt. Timpanogos trailhead

The last site: Sundance Resort, where we received free rides on the chairlift and wonderful views of the grounds' beauty. Birdchick, Gail and I lucked out by sharing the lift with an employee who provided lots of details about the resort's preserve, history and activities.

Eastbound

This morning, I get to fly to


and join these fun birders during the American Birding Association convention at Snowbird, outside Salt Lake City. Details to come as time and Internet access allow.

Photos from the ABA convention in Louisiana

If you didn't join the American Birding Association festivities in Lafayette, La., in late April, then you might enjoy perusing pictures from three field trips.

ABA: Chicot bird calls contest

How many species can you identify in this clip of Chicot State Park during the April 26 ABA field trip? The winner can receive the brand-spankin-new Lang Elliott and Wil Hershberger book, The Songs of Insects, with an insect song CD.

ABA: Thursday

My second field trip during the American Birding Association convention in Lafayette, La., included three stops. I liked the second spot best.

At Alexander State Forest's Indian Creek area, we stopped to find Red-cockaded Woodpecker, Brown-headed Nuthatch (its squeaky call is so cute) and Pine Warbler. I saw all three multiple times. Eastern Bluebirds seemed to pose just for us.


That tree in the middle with two white rings indicates a RCWO cavity above.


After a short visit to the lake, which yielded a Bald Eagle perched on the opposite shore, we drove to Chicot State Park (pronounced "chee-koh"). What an awesome site. Can you see the alligator?


Can you see it now? (c:


We slowly meandered across the bridge, soaking up the sunshine and various species above and beside us: Black-crowned Night-Heron, Eastern Kingbird, White Ibis, Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Green Heron, Fish Crow, Barn Swallow, Prothonotary Warbler. It was delightful!


Walking among the trees beside the road and along a trail, we heard so many calls: Red-eyed Vireo, Downy Woodpecker, Northern Parula, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Hooded Warbler. I got to see a Chestnut-sided Warbler, Tufted Titmouse, Tennessee Warbler and finally Acadian Flycatcher.

Then we drove to Louisiana State Arboretum and eventually ambled along various trails amid the beech and magnolia trees. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds vying for sugar-water and Carolina Wrens at the visitor center amused me. As our group neared a bridge over a creek, a Prothonotary Warbler began bathing in the water -- what a sight!


Before getting to the wetland trail, the group encountered a Hooded Warbler that eventually hopped onto a log to eat a caterpillar. He provided "crippling" looks at his beautiful plumage. We also encountered White-eyed Vireo, Acadian Flycatcher... and a copperhead. The beautiful snake chose to relinquish the trail and settled just a few feet away, giving us a fantastic view of his colorful pattern.


By the way, anyone know the name of this flower?

ABA: Wednesday p.m.

For the afternoon workshop during the American Birding Association's convention in Lafayette, La., I listened to Andrew Farnsworth discuss "The Sights and Sounds of Migration: Interpreting radar and listening to flight-calls." Farnsworth is a post-doctoral candidate at Cornell Lab of Ornithology... and a former team member of WildBird's award-winning Great Texas Birding Classic team. Always a pleasure to see birders once affiliated with WB go on to big things!

Radar can tell birders where, when and how many nocturnal migrants are flying, and flight calls can tell which migrants are overhead, Farnsworth said. Radar, in conjunction with weather forecasts, gives birders an idea of potential migratory fallouts -- when birds stop flying to rest and forage -- before or after a cold front moves through a region.

Farnsworth provided a crash course in reading weather maps, understanding how radar works, reading radar scans and discerning the information in a vertical wind profile and a SkewT, among other data. He offered loads of information before the refreshment break, and he was obviously pleased with the local radar images and the potential for lots of birds on the Louisiana coast. He and Brian Sullivan (right) talked of driving southwest to Peveto Woods Sanctuary to check out the birding.


Then Farnsworth talked about flight calls: the unique or not-so-unique calls that birds make while migrating at night. He's studied flight calls for years and played his Rosetta Stone -- the flight calls of 48 regular North American migrating warblers -- at high speed, eliciting laughter from the workshop participants. At slow speed, we could begin to detect the subtleties.

Flight calls offer the best option to study nocturnal migrants, Farnsworth said. With that information, researchers can identify stop-over locations and migration paths, he said, leading to conservation of those areas and regions.

Have you heard of BirdCast? Farnsworth mentioned the now-defunct project that used weather conditions and radar to create bird-migration predictions. Microphones recorded flight calls at night, while observers visited sites in the morning to analyze the predictions. He said the participants found a good correlation between the forecasts and the subsequent activity.

Want to learn more? Farnsworth recommended these sites:
Radar
Clemson University Radar Ornithology Lab (CUROL)
University of Wyoming department of atmospheric science
National Center for Atmospheric Research RAP Real-Time Weather Data

Flight calls
Old Bird
Raven: interactive sound analysis software

ABA: Wednesday a.m.

During the American Birding Association's annual convention, the schedule alternates field trip days with workshop days. After Tuesday's field trips, many participants signed up for one or two of three workshops on Wednesday morning and afternoon.

In the morning, I attended the "Technology in Birding" presentation by Brian Sullivan, project leader for eBird from Cornell Lab of Ornithology. He emphasized that birders now have many tools at their fingertips and these tools make birding easier despite a sometimes steep learning curve.

According to Sullivan, technology can help birders find, identify and record/document birds, distribute/share and analyze data, and conserve birds and habitat. Among the tools to accomplish those tasks are digital field guides, digital sound recordings/playback, GPS (global positioning system) units, digital tools for checklists and myriad Internet resources.

Among those Internet resources are listserves (electronic mailing lists typically organized by geography or topic), identification forums, photo galleries, blogs, data gathering tools such as eBird and online publications. Sullivan described listserves as "a pretty cool window to the world," and a menu of many listserves appears on Birdingonthe.net.

Sullivan pointed out one such listserv that focuses on species identification. ID Frontiers gives birders of all levels around the world a chance to discuss confounding I.D. challenges.

Online photo galleries such as flickr, PBase and Surfbirds also allows birders share data, analyze images and identify unfamiliar birds.

Many of these sites do not charge participants, and some charge only for certain services. It's possible, for instance, to post photos for free on flickr, create and maintain a birding blog without any charges on Blogger, upload videos to YouTube for free, and then embed photo and video files into blog posts.

Among the data-gathering tools that Sullivan cited are radar websites, which he called "the most exciting technology," and eBird, on which he works. The latter site gives birders the chance to share their observations with other birders as well as scientists and conservationists.

eBird makes data accessible and organizes it in various ways, Sullivan said. "Every observation is valuable," he said.

Sullivan hopes that thousands more birders in the Western Hemisphere will change the way that they bird. "I want eBird to be an integral part of one's daily birding routine -- as crucial as bringing your binoculars," he said.

All that data becomes available to researchers and conservationists in the Avian Knowledge Network, which includes PRBO Conservation Science, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory and Bird Studies Canada as well as Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

ABA: Tuesday

The 2007 American Birding Association convention began Monday evening in Lafayette, La., but the birding officially began Tuesday morning with various field trips. I was in a bettin' mood and hopped into the van for the migration gamble at 5 a.m.

With Dave Muth and Gary Rosenberg at the front of the van, we drove west and south toward the Gulf Coast, specifically toward Holly Beach. During the two-hour drive and particularly on the coast, we saw evidence of damage from Hurricane Rita in September 2005, like a red compact car in the marsh and a huge sea buoy on the beach, and a brisk wind greeted us as we stood along the beach.


Amid the various shorebirds and terns, I really enjoyed watching 17 Brown Pelicans -- the Pelican State's official bird -- fly past us. They looked rather... regal.

Next, we stopped at Baton Rouge Audubon Society's Peveto Woods Sanctuary, and I fell in love with Summer Tanagers. Wowza. Known as a migrant trap, Peveto (PEVV-et-oh) wasn't dripping with birds during our visit, but I liked seeing Orchard Oriole, Baltimore Oriole, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Black-and-white Warbler, Blue Grosbeak, Indigo Bunting and Rose-breasted Grosbeak.

Here's one spot along the many trails through the live oaks.

As we drove toward the ferry to Cameron, we briefly watched a White-tailed Kite in the distance. Those raptors are so cool. While on the ferry, we saw American White Pelican and immature Black Tern.

On the drive to the Cameron jetty, two sharp-eyed birders spotted Clapper Rail in two sites. At the jetty, we ate lunch and got to see more hurricane damage up-close. The wind and rain from Rita scoured the campground facilities, and only concrete pads, bent rebar and snapped utility hookups remain.


On the beach, the huge numbers of Black Skimmers (such neat birds), terns, Laughing Gulls and Brown Pelicans included a Glaucous Gull, which prompted some digiscoping by Gary. Dave said the sighting could be a state record.

On the way to Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge, we saw various waterbirds along the road. At the refuge, I enjoyed Green Heron, Eastern Kingbird, Northern Shoveler and Roseate Spoonbill. Those big pink birds are fabulous.

We made another stop, but that turned out to be just a deposit in the Louisiana blood bank, thanks to the vicious mosquitoes! Don't forget bug repellent when birding here!

Aside from the birds, I enjoyed the flowers at various stops. Know what they are?