Birthday Blog

Almost since I began birding, I have tried to make a point of getting out and enjoying nature and birding on my birthday. Having a late April birthday makes this particularly appealing, especially as my parents, brother, and sister have birthdays in the winter ranging from December 22 to February 29. This year my birthday fell on a Sunday and Nancy joined me for an itinerary hastily put together based on what was around. Our first stop was Beaudette Park, a small park on the southwest side of Pontiac, Michigan, that was unknown to me until a friend, Christine Bommarito e-mailed me that she'd found a Bell's Vireo there on Saturday. I have not seen a Bell's Vireo in Michigan since they bred in the southwestern part of the state in the 1980s. The vireo was singing intermittently so was easy to locate, but being a very active species it was not very easy to photograph.

There were lots of other migrants in this small park, including Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, and Palm Warblers, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and Chimney Swifts. The vireo was hanging around with a group of boisterously singing Ruby-crowned Kinglets.

Next it was on to Metro Beach Metropark where a Worm-eating Warbler had been reported. We, along with a number of other birders, spent considerable time looking for this bird without success. I managed a couple photos, including this one of a female Red-winged Blackbird giving an "obstructed view" as discussed a while back on Jochen Roeder's blog. When I repositioned myself for a better angle, she repositioned herself to the other side of the marsh.

When we returned to the Nature Center, we saw this nice Red-headed Woodpecker on the post that they coat with peanut butter to feed the birds.

It had apparently just arrived, as nobody in the Nature Center had seen it yet this spring.

Our final destination, this one for salamanders and wildflowers, was the Highland State Recreation Area. The Ecology Trails in the vicinity of Haven Hill Lake have been one of our favorite local spots for finding salamanders. And we had good luck today too, but not before enjoying some of the wildflowers of the area. There were more Spring Beauties (Claytonia virginica) here than anywhere else I've been this spring.

And many picturesque clumps of Common Blue Violets (Viola sororia) were also in evidence.

One of my favorite violets is the Long-spurred Violet (Viola rostrata), not only for its pale pastel purplish color, but also because it is fairly easy to identify!

We checked a patch of Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) along the trail where in years past we had found the rare (in Michigan) Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla). It has a flower that is similar to that of the Bloodroot, but the leaves are quite distinctive and give the species its name. We were happy to find one plant, no longer in bloom, as we had failed to find any in our "secret" patch in recent years.

Turning over logs (and returning them carefully), we find a lot of other interesting things. At Oakwoods Metropark on Saturday an Eastern Chipmunk exploded off into the leaf litter when I uncovered his hiding place! Many insects also use rotting logs and loose bark to hide under during the day. Beetles, like this American Carrion Beetle (Silpha americana), are occasionally found.

And we had good success with the salamanders too, considering how dry the woods are this spring. Some years we have found 40-70 Red-backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) on our two-mile "route" at this locale. This year we found seven, four of the all-gray "lead-backed" color morph and three of the "red-backed" morph.

The Red-backed is Michigan's most widespread salamander species. They lay their eggs on the underside of damp logs on the forest floor in August and September, and can be found in virtually any moist woodland with enough "litter" covering the ground during spring. The Blue-spotted Salamander (Ambystoma laterale) lays its eggs in vernal ponds, which dry up by late summer. They retreat to underground burrows after they've laid their eggs so are less frequently encountered as they are above ground for a briefer period each spring. We were happy to find three Blue-spotteds this day, one smallish one (still bigger than the small Red-backs), and two really big ones.

We returned home in late afternoon and spent some time watching our hummingbird feeders, hoping for our first arrival of the spring. But our vigil went unrewarded. Many others have already reported their first hummingbirds earlier than normal this year, but details on that will be covered in the next blog entry in a couple days.

Earth Day - April 22, 2008

In Michigan, Earth Day (April 22, 2008) sees Michigan woodlands in a state of awakening after a long period of dormance over winter. I wanted to get out and get close to the earth today, and decided that the Michigan Nature Conservancy's Nan Weston Preserve at Sharon Hollow would be a great place to do that.

Spring wildflowers were in bloom everywhere, and "getting close to the earth" means laying down on your belly in the trail in order to see them well. Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) is the earliest blooming wildflower around here, often getting covered over with late snowfalls. The patches of large green leaves indicated that most of this species had bloomed weeks ago, but some of the odd flowers of this plant were still in evidence.

Another species that was forming carpets of green in certain areas was Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris).

On the drier parts of the forest floor, one of the commonest wildflowers was the Rue Anemone (Anemonella thalictroides).

And many of the conspicuous "usual suspects" that are expected in a Michigan woods this time of year were in bloom, including Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)...

Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis)...

Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Hepatica acutiloba)...

Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria)...

...and Cut-leaved Toothwort (Dentaria laciniata).

A number of less conspicuous flowers were also found. Although the purplish stems of Blue Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) are fairly conspicous, the flowers can be difficult to see unless you look closely.

Although there were leaves everywhere of the Large-flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), only a few were in bloom.

And, even fewer Northern Blue Violets (Viola septentrionalis) were in bloom.

Even an orchid species was found, though it wasn't in bloom. The striped leaves of the Puttyroot, or Adam and Eve Orchid (Aplectrum hyemale), is very conspicuous in early spring, but will whither before the plant flowers in late May.

A familiar sight in woodlands throughout Michigan this time of year is the Spicebush shrub (Lindera benzoin) with its yellow flowers. Less familiar, because it is somewhat rare, is the Leatherwood shrub (Dirca palustris).

Among the non-flowering species, the Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), which stays green all winter, was easily found.

And a couple species of sedge, this one unidentified (I don't do sedges!), were in flower.

Other plants found in the woods today included Spring Cress (Cardamine bulbosa), Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense), Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), Beechdrops (Epifagus virginiana,seed pod only), Wood Strawberry (Fragaria vecsa), and Harbinger-of-spring (Erigenia bulbosa).

Insects were very much in evidence, not the least of which was the cloud of gnats that seemed to be everywhere I wanted to go. No biting insects were out, however. Among the butterflies seen were Mouning Cloak (Nymphalis antiopa), Cabbage White (Pieris rapae), Eastern Comma (Polygonia comma), and Spring Azure (Celastrina ladon). A couple of Green Darners (Anax junius) were the only dragonflies seen.

There was much activity around the blooming flowers, many pollinators getting some of their first feedings of the spring. But few honeybees (Apis mellifera) were out, only a few Carpenter Bees (Xylocopa virginica). The main pollinator seemed to be the Large Bee Flies (Bombylius major). Here is one on a Bloodroot flower.

Brown Click Beetles (Melanotus sp.) were out doing whatever it is they do.

And this tiny jumping spider was hunting the leaf litter. I believe it is Pelegrina proterva.

Reptiles and amphibians emerge in the spring as well, and in addition to a fleeting look at a Common Garter Snake (Thamnophis sirtalis), I managed a photo of this Northern Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus septentrionalis). A Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) was sunning in the river.

Frogs and toads were heard calling, including Western Chorus Frog (Pseudacris triseriata), Eastern Gray Treefrog (Hyla versicolor), and American Toads (Bufo americanus). At the breeding pond where Spotted Salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum) can be found, I had no luck, but at other places in the woods I did see a few Red-backed Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus). Due to the warm temperatures - it was approaching 70 degrees - most of them were much more active than they usually are on cool damp mornings, so I managed but one photo of a single individual of the "lead-backed" color morph.

And of course, there were the birds. Thirty-one species were either seen or heard. One of my favorites of the day was the Louisiana Waterthrush (Seiurus motacilla) whose song rang throughout the woods during most of the morning.

Once I located the singer and took a few photos, for nearly an hour I enjoyed its beautiful song, in this beautiful woods, on this beautiful planet.

Spring?

Spring officially arrived to Michigan in the very early morning hours (most of us call it night!) this past Thursday, March 20. I decided to go out birding and see what was around. The skies were clear and great for photography, but the wind was howling at 15-20 mph, preventing me from doing any sound recording. And, the morning temperature of 25 degrees (f) wasn't very spring-like! At Metro Beach Metropark (http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.58102,-82.82095&spn=0.082032,0.1581&z=13), I found this Killdeer on the edge of a frozen puddle, which characterized the morning to that point.

But as I walked around, scouting out the banding area for this coming spring, there were definite signs of the season. A male Cooper's Hawk, sexed based on his small size, was breaking off branches and adding them to the nest in the maple tree where there had been an active and successful nest in 2006. He was clearly not the same bird that nested there before, as he was a second-year bird. He could be aged second year because he was still retaining his brown-backed, streaky-bellied juvenile plumage and had a bright yellow eye.

These birds have nested in the area for several years, and both adults and young have become very tolerant of the presence of well-behaved humans. The female, easily told by her larger size, was found perching near the ground in the same area as the male. Although she is not retaining her juvenile plumage like the male, she also can clearly be aged as second-year because although many of her back feathers are blue-gray, there are still some juvenile brown feathers mixed in. Her eye is no longer yellow, but a pale orange color, which will probably become deep maroon as she ages (this is somewhat variable). She was showing the black-capped, pale-naped feature that is very characteristic of the species, distinguishing her from the similar Sharp-shinned Hawk.

Then, as I was describing the butterfly-like display flight of the male Cooper's Hawk to a friend that I had run into, the male was seen doing this display flight. Great timing!

On Friday, March 21, I spent the day in Kalamazoo helping banders with their horde of Common Redpolls and, hopefully, we'll learn something from this winter's exceptional invasion. And, as if to remind us that, in Michigan, winter isn't over until Old Man Winter says it's over, we got another snowstorm.

If you'll forgive me going into geezer-mode, and as I stated in my last posting, this winter has been very similar to the winters I've experienced in the 1960s and 1970s both in temperatures and in snowfall amounts. The snowfall for this winter in southeastern Michigan has been ranked in the top ten, so those of us who are weary of this long, hard winter can take heart in that it was at least a little unusual in some ways.

I am eagerly awaiting the emergence of the Western Chorus Frogs, Spring Peepers, and the four species of "mole" salamanders we have here in southeastern Michigan.

Northern invaders & hummingbird arrivals

I have had precious little to write about in the past month or so, partly due to a computer crash but also due to not getting out much for various mundane reasons.



I have been thinking a lot about two very different aspects of bird distribution recently. The winter in southern Michigan this year has reminded me of what I have long considered "normal" based on patterns from 15-20 years ago. Lots of cold and frequent snow. Although tied to food sources and not weather, we have been visited by some northern species in what appears to be unprecedented invasions. Common Redpolls have been very common this year throughout the southern half of Michigan (except at MY feeders!), and along with them an extraordinary number of Hoary Redpolls, many of which have been confirmed with photos. Even Ohio and Indiana have seen good numbers of redpolls this year; quite an unusual event for them. The Common Redpoll in the photo below was visiting the feeders at Belle Isle in the Detroit River. This year there have been several reported there, probably for the first time ever.

Even more extraordinary this winter is the southerly invasion of Pine Grosbeaks and Evening Grosbeaks. Pine Grosbeaks especially seem to have come south in numbers greater than the last time I remember them in the Detroit area, which was in the late 1970s! Evening Grosbeaks have also moved south, but in small numbers, but again both species have set records by going south into Ohio and Indiana.


Perhaps the most interesting and exciting invasion this winter has been the Bohemian Waxwings. From late December through early January, the individual in the photo below was not only the first ever on Belle Isle, but only the third record for Wayne County! The first record was a lone individual from Dearborn in January 1945 (record published by Alice Kelley), and the second record was 7 in Detroit in January 1970 (J. Bartell, published in Michigan Bird Survey).

Large flocks are being reported around Lansing, Mount Pleasant, and in Berrien County, and individuals have drifted south into Indiana and Ohio.

It has been a very interesting winter to be sure, but I'm getting restless for the winter to be over and the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds to return. In just the past few days, the first individuals have made landfall on the Gulf Coast. Check out the map on the website of my friend, Lanny Chambers, to watch them make their way north.


http://www.hummingbirds.net/map.html





Only two more months and they'll be back in Michigan!

Panama Trip - Day 11 & 12

November 27, 2007

We left early again this morning, heading southwest of El Valle for the Pacific lowlands and "dry" forest near El Chiru, an area that has been little explored by birders. Of course it was raining lightly when we arrived, but it soon stopped. The group that came here yesterday had sunny weather, but for us it was cloudy. Good thing, because it was plenty hot without the sun! As expected, among the common birds were more Groove-billed Anis.

There were no hummingbird feeders in the area, but we had several Sapphire-throated Hummingbirds. Only this one female was cooperative enough for photos.

Perched right next to the road at one point was a nice Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture. An old name for this species is Savanna Vulture, which makes a lot of sense although I've also seen them in large marshy areas.

In an open field we saw and heard the resident subspecies of Eastern Meadowlark. This bird sounds at least as different as Eastern and Western Meadowlarks do from each other, so maybe someday it will be split? I will be posting my recording of this song onto the Xeno-canto website in the coming weeks. A Streaked Flyatcher flew into a large dense tree at one point, carrying food, and it quickly came back into view without the food. We did not locate the nest.

We birded a Eucalyptus plantation for a while and got good looks at Brown-throated Parakeets, and worked an adjacent hedgerow and cane field for quite some time before getting good looks at two shy and skulky Crested Bobwhites. We also had a good look at a Panama Flycatcher here before moving along to our next destination. We returned to the Pan American Highway and started down a long, long, bumpy, potholed road toward the Pacific coast and Playa Juan Hombron. At one point, Tino spotted a hummingbird perched in a tree. It turned out to be a Panamanian endemic, a Veraguan Mango! This was the last (of 7) of the world's mangos I had left to see, and it was also my 11th life bird of the trip, my 185th (of 339) hummingbird and my 3700th life bird!

This species was formerly lumped with Green-breasted Mango but as the photo above clearly shows it lacks any black on the underparts. Luckily, this was one time when a photo taken through Tino's scope came out well (it was difficult to do without my photo adapter). The Veraguan Mango had been seen at this locale several times, which represents an eastward range expansion from what is currently known, but this photo is the first solid proof of its occurrence there.

We finally arrived at the beach at Playa Juan Hombron, where we stayed and had lunch. Far offshore there were a couple of fishing trawlers that had hundreds of Magnificent Frigatebirds following behind. Try as I might, I could not spot any boobies or other unusual pelagic species. There were some shorebirds on the beach, like these two at opposite ends of the size scale.

The Sanderlings were nervous and flighty, while the Whimbrels seemed quite unconcerned and allowed close approach.

A group of Willets spent most of the time sleeping and it wasn't easy getting a photo of an active one.

One of the Whimbrels wandered between a couple of Willets, allowing me to get a photo I like to call a WWW photo (Willet/Whimbrel/Willet)! Or, perhaps this could be called a Whimbrel Sandwich!

And speaking of Sandwich, it was the terns that held our attention the most as we noted five species here, including of course, Sandwich Terns.

Several Gull-billed Terns were seen flying offshore, and were a life bird for Tino. But none of them landed on the beach, and the few Common Terns flying out over the Pacific did not approach us either. The expected large, orange-billed tern here is, surprisingly for the Pacific coast, the Royal Tern. Oddly, we saw only one Royal Tern on the beach, here with a Laughing Gull and sleeping Willet. Ther were, perhaps, a couple more flying far out over the water.

We had plenty of discussion about all the other orange-billed terns on the beach, and flying out over the water. They just didn't look right to us for Royal Terns. The bills looked too thin and curved, and the eye was not set off on the face, and many of them had shaggy black crests.

As we got closer, and had better views, it became clear that ALL the other orange-billed terns on the beach were in fact Elegant Terns.

There were at least 15 of them on the beach, and perhaps just as many flying offshore. It was interesting to see the color variations in the bill. Field guides often state that the bills of Elegant Terns are more yellow than those of Royal Terns. But this photo shows two pretty different bill colors on birds that show bill shapes and head patterns that are clearly Elegant Terns. Obviously there's a bit of variation, and bill color should not be considered a reliable field mark.

Elegant Terns are rather uncommon anywhere in Panama, as their migration route along the Pacific takes them from their west Mexican (and SW U.S.) breeding grounds to their South American wintering grounds by a more direct pelagic route. Panama's Pacific coast runs east-west here so it is not exactly on the flight line. Our group of 20-30 Elegant Terns is probably one of the largest ever recorded in Panama.

In fact, it is possible that Elegant Tern may have been photographed in Panama very few times, if ever. Juvenile Elegant Terns have red legs, and rarely an individual will retain this color long after it leaves the nest. One such bird was among those on the beach here. As the bird opens its wings to preen, it is quite evident it is retaining some juvenal plumage.

Click here to view a video of a red-legged Elegant Tern.

After lunch we explored a freshwater marsh that was perhaps 100 yards from the ocean. We found quite a few Ruddy Ground-Doves here, and had good looks at Rufous-browed Peppershrikes and a pair of Northern Scrub-Flycatcher. Two Black-crowned Night-Herons were roosting in a small hammock of trees, and an unusual find was a female Common Yellowthroat.

The rain started again, of course, so we started heading back for the Canopy Lodge. Although we had been here a few days, this early afternoon trip back up toward El Valle was the first good opportunity to photograph the scenery on the way. Our driver was very accommodating, but stayed safe.

We arrived back at the Canopy Lodge in the early afternoon. I spent some time working the feeders, trying to get some last minute photos before we left Panama tomorrow. One great challenge was getting a photo of the numerous Clay-colored Robins OFF the feeder. I finally succeeded.

Just the opposite, this Black-striped Sparrow was almost never seen on the feeders.

And there were many more female Thick-billed Euphonias around than males.

The Blue-gray Tanagers continued to be numerous.

The Crimson-backed Tanagers were a little more challenging as the light wasn't great, and they didn't come in very often.

The Flame-rumped Tanagers were even more difficult, and I never managed a photo of one of the spectacular males, only this slightly blurry shot of a female.

On my way back to the hummingbird feeders, this small lizard (probably Norops polylepis) gave me a chance for a quick photo.

There were two hummingbird feeders in a sort of central court of the lodge, which was very dimly lit, and which provided easy access to the woods behind the buildings. I found that Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds liked to come to the feeders here in addition to going to the flowers along the river.

These shady feeders seemed to be the main place where the Violet-crowned Woodnymphs were hanging out, and was the only place I saw a female.

It seems odd to me that the males, bright green and purple birds, spend so much time in the shade where they look all dark.

Then we decided to walk back up to Chorro el Macho to look for the day-roosting owl that we'd missed twice so far. On the way, we saw this Spotted Woodcreeper down quite low. Although the light is poor I've included the photo here just because it is difficult to photograph any woodcreeper in any light.

When we got to the dimly lit tangle where the owl had been seen, it was in residence this time. A very nice Mottled Owl. It was a great "last bird" for the trip.

November 28, 2007

Five of us had 8:45 a.m. flights and since it was at least two hours to the airport, we departed the Canopy Lodge at 4:30 a.m. As we entered Panama City it was getting just bright enough to see a few birds, including Laughing Gulls, Royal Terns, and Magnificent Frigatebirds over Panama Bay. The tide was in so there were no mudflats, and so no shorebirds. One final addition to the trip list was a small group of Yellow-crowned Parrots in a bare tree in the middle of downtown. Surprisingly, Panama City is a very good place to see this species. On arrival at the airport, we were informed that our flight was delayed. I had late morning flights so we wouldn't have to depart so early, but the airline changed the schedule before we departed. So, the bottom line is that we ended up leaving at 11:30 anyway! Mike and Stella, who were scheduled to depart later, actually left earlier than we did. Once in Miami, we parted company with Jeff and Cheri, and caught our flight to Detroit, arriving on-time at 9:45 p.m.