The Big Year: A Birders Review

When I compare the efforts and obsession of the characters depicted in the movie The Big Year and I think of my own efforts, I almost hesitate in calling myself a birder.  The movie was based on a book and the the book was written by one of the birders depicted in the movie.  I must admit that is the extent on my knowledge of the background of the movie but I was still looking forward to it with anticipation.  I even went to see the movie on opening night, something I'm not sure I've ever done before.

What is a "Big Year"?  In the world of those slightly obsessive bird watchers, called birders, there is an unofficial challenge some attempt, to see the most bird species possible in North America during one calendar year.  The movie follows the story of three men who are attempting a Big Year and meet at various bird sightings.  It delves into the world of birding while also keeping a human story line by showing the personal lives of each and how the Big Year attempt impacts those relationships.

I like it!   I really like it!  I went in assuming I would hate it, an entire movie, a comedy, devoted to making fun of something I have such a passion for.  The truth is, I'm not sure I would like it so much if I weren't a birder.  I admit that birding isn't the most alluring hobby for most, although it's not stamp collecting or anything.  The movie actually gives the world a glimpse into birdwatching without ridicule (well maybe a little), and is relatively entertaining.

I giggled at many points in the movie, most of the time over birder-esque things.  I think there could have been a little more slapstick comedy in it.  I mean we've all had some falls while hiking through the woods or been so focused on finding THAT bird that we've stepped in something unpleasant.  And while there were a few of those moments, mostly by Jack Black's character,  I think there could have even been more.  I mean seriously.... no one even got pooped on. 

The non-birding guy I went with said that he enjoyed it... but I think the thing he laughed at the most was when we got out of the movie and the first thing I did was to check my phone and the CT Bird Listserv to see if anyone had reported anything interesting.  Yeah, I think I'll laugh a little more at myself too.

Window Strikes Again

Almost every morning that I drive into campus, I make a swing under what I have started to call the 'corridor of doom'.  It's not 1 but 2 floors of elevated glass hallway that connect two buildings here at work.  I guess I should clarify, two unoccupied buildings here at work.  I've asked if they would be willing to lower the shades all the time, at least until people move in.  Of course, the answer is that it is an impossibility because it's automatically programmed to close and open based on temperature in the blah blah blah.  I must admit to me it sounds like, the hallway is too pretty to keep shaded and I'm not going to put the trouble into figuring out how to do it. 

Casualties of the Corridor of Doom: Ruby-throated Hummingbird and Black-throated Green Warbler

One fall we had a HUGE fallout of Juncos and unfortunately many did not survive.  Luckily, that has been by far the worst accrual of death we have had due to window strikes.  I can't blame all the death on those corridors however; our building also has three ground-floor passageways with glass on both sides.  One side of one passageway causes most of the window strikes in our building and we've been lucky that we have gotten away with hanging newspaper on the windows and no one has taken it down.  Lucky except... there's a glass door with a glass header over it and the birds still fly into that. 

Last week I went out for a quick walk-through the courtyard and didn't see anything by the windows and was happily enjoying the White-throated Sparrows that have just shown up on campus, the American Robins feasting on random berries, and a Common Yellowthroat hopping around in the underbrush. 

Then as I was heading in the doors, here was this little bird sitting on the cold cement slab panting.  Ruby-throated Humingbirds are still migrating through Connecticut with mostly females and first year birds left.  Most of the hawkwatch sites count the Ruby-throats they see and by this time the numbers are starting to drop off with most of the birds already reaching the southern U.S. on their way to Mexico and South America to overwinter. 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird- female/ immature type

So why did I pick this bird up and not just leave it where it was to recover?  Hummingbirds burn a lot of energy and they have a very small body which doesn't retain heat very well.  I picked it up to donate some of my body heat while the bird was recovering.  After a few minutes of sitting on my open palm, it recovered enough to fly up to a tree branch in the sun about 15 feet above me.  I watched it for about five minutes but it was still sitting in the tree when I left, I figured it could probably do without the stress of having me still so close. 

Ruby-throated Hummingbird- recovering from window strike

Birds and Vegetables

After reading a post on the CT bird listserv I headed over to the Stratford Community Garden to look for a bird that I had never seen before.  A Dickcissel is a House Sparrow-sized bird that breeds throughout the Midwest and winters in Central America.  Every now and then a few birds get turned around and head east instead.  A local Stratford birder had reported two at the community garden and I was lucky enough to find one!  A life bird!

Dickcissel

Another great bird that was stopping by the garden was two Bobolinks.  Bobolinks are normal migrants through our area but they aren't as often seen as heard.  That's why I was excited to see these two.

Bobolink

Bobolink- notice the sharp tail feathers

One last little surprise was a Marsh Wren who was pretty elusive.  I heard a few short chip call notes and saw it hop up and down on some fencing but it never really came out into good view.  This was the best shot I got.... pretty sad.

Marsh Wren

I had another great day today in the birding world.  I joined the Sunrise Birding group led by Luke Tiller on a warbler walk and we were successful!  The best part of this trip was the first fifteen minutes when we found a little group of warblers, two of which were life birds for me!  Both a Prairie Warbler and a Blackpoll Warbler were part of the group!  Not that they are unusual or even uncommon warblers, it just shows how much time I haven't put in to birding during migration.  No pictures this time but I'm sure now that I have seen them, they will show up everywhere.  Case in point, first great looks at a Wilson's Warbler (not a super common bird) was this week at work, my first CT sighting in fact and today we had two Wilson's Warblers in full view on our walk.  Oh Birds!

Yes That Many Hawks!

Last year at work my coworker Sue and myself took a two-hour break on a mid-September day to experience an amazing piece of natural history that's visible from many spots in Connecticut.  This time of year is prime time for the migration of Broad-winged Hawks.  These small Buteos breed all over the Northeast and begin a mass migration south every year at this time.  Our hawk migration last year was great BUT we realized quickly we needed to spend more time watching for a real idea of what was flying over.  So, this year we planned a full day to set up shop in the corner of a parking lot and count some hawks.  Luckily, the weather conditions leading up to the day and the day itself was perfect for Broad-winged Hawk migration.  Check out the results here.  http://www.birdingwestcampus.blogspot.com/



Osprey: un-modified



For anyone who hasn't taken part in a hawkwatch, I wanted to give an idea of what hawkwatchers are looking at and how one goes about identifying the dots.  The first thing to do is prepare for a neck-ache.  We took out plastic Adirondack chairs that were slightly reclined so we could keep our eyes to the sky without having to get too sore.  But as soon as we see a hawk it's time to jump up quick and get ready to follow it with your binoculars.  It's not an easy task to identify a bird that can be thousands of feet above you.  The first step is to identify the silhouette of the bird.



Osprey: lightened to show plumage



This Osprey has a very distinctive shape with very long wings in relation to the body length. The wings are also fairly narrow and have a bend along the leading edge.  Osprey that are fairly close are also easy to distinguish with their strong contrasting plumage of light and dark.  Two other groups of raptors that are common at this time of year are the Accipiters and falcons.  These two groups are similar in size and both have long narrow tails but the Accipiters have broader wings with the back edge usually curved.  The falcons have pointed wings and the trailing edge of the wing is fairly straight.  Accipiters also fly by doing a few quick wing beats and then a quick soar.  Falcons tend to flap their wings for longer periods of time before gliding across the sky. 

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk: ventral view showing belly band

The group of hawks known as Buteos, like the Red-tailed Hawk above, tend to have fairly bulky wings and shorter tails.  They also have a bulky body appearance.  Often there are easy clues in the color of the plumage to identify the species.  Red-tailed Hawks are mostly pale below with a darker band across the belly and also a dark spot in the middle of the leading edge of the wing.  Red-shouldered Hawks on the other hand are identified by locating two pale crescents at the ends of the wings.

Kettle of Hawks

Here's what we really see though when counting hawks such as these Broad-winged Hawks that migrate at this time of year in huge numbers.  We look at behavior in most cases to get an identification of birds at this distance.  When there are that many hawks and they are all flying together and behaving similarly at this time of year, you can pretty much make an identification that they are Broadies.  But when we can get a little closer by looking through binoculars you start to pick up more features.

Broad-winged Hawk kettle

Now we can see that they are all about the same size.  They all have similar silhouettes and are flying in the same manner.  While it's easy to count when the birds are streaming, going over in one long stream of birds, it gets more difficult when they form these kettles where they are trying to use the thermals to gain altitude again. 


Broad-winged Hawks

 Finally, When we get a better look at a few closer up we can see that they are mostly white underneath with black fingertips on the wings and the trailing edge of the wing also has a black line.  Notice the strongly zoned tail with equal amounts of black and white.  Both of the birds above are Broad-winged Hawks, sometimes size is difficult to judge depending on how high up birds are and also, every species has variation in the size of individuals.  That's why as a hawkwatcher you have to look at a bunch of smaller characteristics to be able to finally make an identification.

In the end, all of our work was well worth it.  We had a great day outside and saw quite a few different species.  And it's great to hear people react... "You saw that many hawks, here?", when we tell them we saw over 1800 raptors in one day.

Sun, Wind, and Hawks!

I spent the morning with the Connecticut Butterfly Association members and other butterfly enthusiasts at Lighthouse Point Park in New Haven.  We gathered this morning to tag some monarch butterflies as they migrate their way south to Mexico.  Monarch numbers were low but it was still an enjoyable time and the best part.... I just walked across the field and did some hawkwatching when we were done!

I didn't bring the camera because I figured I wouldn't need it since the hawks would be too high to get decent images.  For the most part that was true until the afternoon when a male Cooper's Hawk flew over our table, a resident Red-shouldered Hawk made a trip around the field, and an Osprey decided to fly fairly close and check us out.  We has strong winds today, almost making it chilly, but they were coming mostly from the East and not exactly the best for a hawkwatch.  I have no idea what total numbers were but here are the raptors I remember seeing, migrating or not.

Osprey
Northern Harrier
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Cooper's Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red-shouldered Hawk
American Kestrel
Merlin

I picked up a few ID hint/ helps but as one would expect...  I still need a ton more practice.  We are planning on doing a hawkwatch at work this Friday as long as the weather and winds look good for it.  With what we've seen around so far it should be great.  http://birdingwestcampus.blogspot.com/2011/09/hawk-watch-season.html For this past weeks hawks at work.

Baby Hawks

Cooper's Hawk- first sighting

I went over to lunch today at the roomies parent house in Orange, whose yard has many large spruce, hemlock, and white pine trees.  While sitting outside we had a number of hawks flying around the yard or sitting in the trees calling loudly.  At one time there were 2 hawks visible flying through the air, with up to four hawks calling.  I never saw an adult bird but here are a couple shots of the immature birds I did see.  Finely streaked chest, mid-sized bird, and rounded tail indicate it's a Cooper's Hawk (Accipter cooperi).



2nd bird

2nd bird- calling

Not a flattering picture but shows the tail feathers well!

First Pelagics!

A friend of mine decided on her 30th birthday that she would make a list of 30 things to do throughout the year.  One of the items was to go on a whale watch and I very willingly told her I would come along.  Since I began my more serious birding pursuits 2 years ago, I haven't had a chance to get out on the water and so my official list of pelagic birds was at 0.  Yup a big fat goose egg.  Yesterday that all changed when we took a three-hour drive up to Gloucester, MA and boarded the Privateer IV of the 7 Seas Whale Watch. 


My plan was to study my Sibley guide a bit during the days leading up to the watch.  Also, I wanted to see if I could find a list of species that had been seen by other birders in the area who had recently done some pelagic watches.  Once again life got in the way and so with only one list of birds seen on the 7 Seas trip from last week and a quick glance over of about 5 species we headed out to sea.  Within 20 minutes I felt a bit more secure that I wouldn't miss too many birds as the naturalist mentioned that she would talk about some of the birds we were seeing as well.  She lied.  This is pretty much a whale watch and if you happen to see some birds you are in luck.  The naturalist did mention on the way back in (near the end of the trip) that she had seen 2 species of birds while we were out.

Herring Gull- a sign you're getting close to land

By the shore we had the usual suspects making an appearance, Herring Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, Greater Black-backed Gulls, and a few Laughing Gulls.  Then as we made it out into more open waters the first bird I saw was a Greater Shearwater.  The bird came close enough to positively ID with only my quick study session and I was able to shoot a few pictures to verify later on. 

Greater Shearwater- views of the top and bottom

Greater Shearwater- showing ID marks- black cap, white underside with some buffiness, and dark under tail coverts.

As we got a little further out I started to notice some smaller birds here and there close to the surface.  Robin-sized, dark bird with a white rump patch.....  It must be a Wilson's Storm-petrel.  The naturalist did inform us at one point that this species is the most abundant species in the world but unless you went out on the water (or to their breeding grounds in the "arctic").  You would never know.  By the way, according to Sibley, they breed in the subantarctic. 

Wilson's Storm-Petrel- white rump is a quick way to ID

I did snap a few pictures of these resting Shearwaters as we motored out to the area where whales had been reported.  I tried to get an ID as we zipped by but wasn't able too.  Now that I can look at the images though it's clearly visible that they are Manx Shearwaters.  The white c-shape behind the eye and the white 'butt' clearly separate it out from the other species. 

Resting Manx Shearwaters

Manx Shearwater- note there is no buffiness on the underside

A few more Greater Shearwaters flew by and then I was distracted by the surfacing humpback whales.  We saw a total of 10 humpback whales and 2 minke whales and then we headed back to Gloucester.  On the way back I  did catch a look at this dark Shearwater that the image confirmed was a Sooty Shearwater.  I had thought I had seen some in a group feeding far out earlier on as well. 

Sooty Shearwater

The bird highlighted below was an added bonus.  I totally admit that at the time, I didn't have a clue as to what it was.  We were speeding back toward shore and I was chatting with my friend when something caught my eye.  I left off the conversation mid-sentence and picked up my camera to snap a few shots.  With the speed the boat and the bird were travelling I knew I didn't have a shot at getting an ID on the bird in the field.  I had completely forgotten about it until I was checking out my pictures from the day and I realized I had caught a shot of a Cory's Shearwater. 

Cory's Shearwater- the yellow bill is a give away.

All in all a great day on the water, 4 Shearwater species as life birds and a Wilson's Storm-petrel too.  The water was as smooth as lake water and we barely had a cloud in the sky.  A few random peeps flew toward shore but way to fast to get an identification on and a lone Great-Blue Heron also looked like he was heading toward Cape Cod for a vacation.  I can't wait to have a chance to get out on the water again. 



Northern Gannet- surprisingly only one of a few seen.

If you want to see the whale on the trip, check out my general nature blog....  Daily Dose of Dorkiness.