Birding highlights in 2020

Goodbye to 2020

It has been a while since I posted about my own birding on this blog as it has turned into more of a birding and environmental news blog. However, I've been meaning to revive that aspect of my blog, which is how it got started. Patch birding does not really provide enough material for daily posts since I tend to see the same birds over and over. So instead I'll borrow an idea from the brewster's linnet blog and post periodic updates.

The COVID-19 pandemic has defined the year 2020. I have been fortunate not to lose anyone close to me, either family or acquaintances despite some scares. From a birding standpoint, it limited me to patch and local birding since longer trips would entail more risk of exposure. The pandemic also cancelled or altered events that I normally attend, like the birding days in East Brunswick.

Harris's Sparrow in Piscataway

My only life bird this year was a Harris's Sparrow at a friend's house in Piscataway. Harris's Sparrow had long been on my "most wanted" list so it was exciting to see one finally. That sighting left Golden-crowned as the only Zonotrichia sparrow that I have not seen (at least among ones that occur regularly in the ABA Area). I also saw four other new birds for Middlesex County: Mourning Warbler on my patch in May, Baird's and Pectoral Sandpiper in Cranbury Township in August, and Red Crossbill in Old Bridge at the end of November. All four were birds that I have rarely seen, in any location. A pair of Pileated Woodpeckers on the Raritan Estuary CBC were new for my patch (and the only ones for that CBC this year). A Nelson's Sparrow in September was another surprising patch bird.

Turkey Vultures at Davidson's Mill Pond during the World Series of Birding

The World Series of Birding was conducted under a new set of rules this year because of the pandemic. In the past, all team members were required to travel in one vehicle; this year team members could not travel together or even meet up. Normally the playing field is limited to New Jersey, but this year teams could participate in other states. My team, the Middlesex Merlins, had our best-ever result, with 148 species spread over two Middlesex Counties (one in New Jersey and the other in Massachusetts). This year's rules were branded as a "special edition," but I suspect the 2021 WSB may need to be conducted under the same rules. The pandemic shows few signs of letting up and vaccines will probably not be widely available soon enough to inoculate all participants.

Purple Finches in Highland Park

The most exciting birding event this year has been the massive flight of winter finches and other irruptive birds this fall. The first hint that it might be a good flight year came when I found a Red-breasted Nuthatch on my patch in August, which I think is the earliest I've had one in fall migration. Later in the fall I saw and heard 11 at the Phillips Preserve in Old Bridge, which I think is the most I've ever encountered in one location. Pine Siskins and Purple Finches came through in large numbers in October and November, and I even saw a pair of Evening Grosbeaks on my patch. The Red Crossbills mentioned above were the first I had seen in a decade. Most of the finches seem to have moved on, but I hope that at least a few will stay through the winter or pass through again in the spring.

Pine Siskin in Highland Park

Life birds that I hope to see in the new year: Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Hudsonian Godwit, Northern Goshawk, Bohemian Waxwing, LeConte's Sparrow. County birds I hope to see: the above plus Black Tern, Dickcissel, Connecticut Warbler, Short-eared Owl, Yellow-throated Warbler, White-winged Crossbill. I have not had a nemesis bird for a while, but Hudsonian Godwit is a candidate, and there are also some candidates at the local level: White-winged Scoter, Brown Pelican, and Snowy Owl.

Most of all, though, I hope that things are back to normal by this time next year.

2014 Birding Year in Review

Black-billed Cuckoo at Highland Park Meadows

This comes a little late, but as Nick wrote, bird bloggers are obligated to write a year-in-review post. So here it goes. As far as I can tell, 2014 was the first year since I started birding that I did not record any life birds. However, I did have some success locally and found eight new birds in Middlesex County.

Species	Place	Date
Red-necked Grebe	Edison Boat Launch	15 Feb 2014
Hooded Warbler	Donaldson Park	07 May 2014
Short-billed Dowitcher	South Amboy Waterworks Park	10 May 2014
Black-billed Cuckoo	Highland Park Meadows	22 May 2014
Alder Flycatcher	Highland Park Meadows	22 May 2014
Philadelphia Vireo	Ayres Beach	19 Sep 2014
Sedge Wren	Donaldson Park	20 Oct 2014
Orange-crowned Warbler	Ayres Beach	24 Oct 2014

I ended 2014 with 243 species in Middlesex County, which is more than I thought was possible when I started to focus more on county birding a few years ago and 200 seemed like a distant goal. I also saw some new birds in neighboring counties, including nine in Somerset County and six in Union County.

According to eBird's new Target Species feature, my next ten birds in Middlesex are likely to be:

1. Barnacle Goose
2. Northern Shoveler
3. Pectoral Sandpiper
4. Eastern Meadowlark
5. Mourning Warbler
6. Cattle Egret
7. Snow Bunting
8. Ring-necked Pheasant
9. Black Tern
10. Yellow-throated Warbler

I am not sure that I agree with that list, but those birds seem as likely as any others that I have not yet seen in this county.

Red-necked Grebe in a snowstorm at Edison Boat Basin

For the most part, chasing rare birds took a back seat to another project: the 100 Bird Challenge. I wanted to improve my bird photography skills, for my own satisfaction and also so that I would have an easier time documenting rare birds. So early last year I decided to try a photo big year, but with a set species goal of 100 bird species. I did not know at the time whether that was a reasonable goal, but it meant that there would be two measures of success: reaching the species goal and improving the quality of my bird photos.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Fairview Farm Wildlife Preserve

With regard to the first goal, I easily surpassed 100 species and ended the year with 140 species photographed. My 100 species was the Ruby-throated Hummingbird shown above, which I photographed on July 12th.

American Coot at Donaldson Park

In terms of improving quality, the results were mixed. Towards the end of last year, I took some pretty good photos, like the American Coot shown above. But even then, I was still producing bad photos of species that were too distant, out of focus, or simply uncooperative.

Orange-crowned Warbler at Ayres Beach

However, attempting the challenge did push me to try photographing birds that I would not have attempted to photograph before, such as small, fast-moving warblers. As a result, I was able to document two of my three Orange-crowned Warbler sightings when an unusually numerous wave pushed through the region last fall.

Eastern Bluebird gathering nest material at Glenhurst Meadows

I enjoyed the 100 Bird Challenge enough that I am going to try it again this year, but this time with a higher goal of 150 birds.

2013 Birding Year in Review

Little Gull at Morgan Mudflats

I saw four new life birds this year. Since I do most of my birding in and around New Jersey, it is getting harder and harder to find new species that I have not seen before. My life list ended the year at 359 species, and my New Jersey list is at 306.

Species	Location	Date
Pink-footed Goose	Monroe Twp	16 Jan 2013
Pacific Loon	American Rd. Corporate Pond	16 Mar 2013
Little Gull	Morgan Mudflats	12 May 2013
Clay-colored Sparrow	Donaldson Park	03 Dec 2013

These were all among my new state birds as well, with the one exception being a Western Grebe, a species I previously saw in California.

Species	Location	Date
Western Grebe	Cape May Harbor	10 Jan 2013
Pink-footed Goose	Monroe Twp	16 Jan 2013
Pacific Loon	American Rd. Corporate Pond	16 Mar 2013
Little Gull	Morgan Mudflats	12 May 2013
Clay-colored Sparrow	Donaldson Park	03 Dec 2013

My county list grew significantly, even though I doubted at the end of last year that I would be able to find many more species in the county.

Species	Location	Date
Pink-footed Goose	Monroe Twp	16 Jan 2013
Black-headed Gull	Raritan Bay Waterfront Park	04 Apr 2013
Blue Grosbeak	Davidson Mill Pond Park	11 May 2013
Western Grebe	South Amboy Boat Ramp	11 May 2013
Little Gull	Morgan Avenue Mudflats	12 May 2013
Wilson's Warbler	Cheesequake State Park	18 May 2013
Lincoln's Sparrow	Donaldson Park	03 Oct 2013
Red-headed Woodpecker	Ernest L. Oros Wildlife Preserve	12 Oct 2013
Nelson's Sparrow	Raritan Bay Waterfront Park	02 Nov 2013
Saltmarsh Sparrow	Raritan Bay Waterfront Park	02 Nov 2013
Tundra Swan	Duhernal Lake	26 Nov 2013
Clay-colored Sparrow	Donaldson Park	03 Dec 2013

With a similar number of new species in 2014, my Middlesex County life list (currently at 233) would pass my list in Cape May County (currently at 240) for my highest single-county total, something that was hard to imagine just a couple years ago.

2013 Birding Wish Lists

Bohemian Waxwings / Photo by John Harrison

Life birds wish list

1. Bohemian Waxwing
2. Little Gull
3. Buff-breasted Sandpiper
4. Ruffed Grouse
5. Arctic Tern
6. Hudsonian Godwit
7. Evening Grosbeak
8. Boreal Owl
9. Northern Wheatear
10. Pine Grosbeak

Middlesex County birds wish list

1. Red Crossbill
2. White-winged Crossbill
3. Eastern Meadowlark
4. Saltmarsh Sparrow
5. Black Tern
6. Tundra Swan
7. Red-necked Grebe
8. Kentucky Warbler
9. Mourning Warbler
10. Yellow-breasted Chat

Of course, any of the birds on my life bird wish list would be welcome finds in Middlesex County.

Broad-tailed Hummingbird in Cape May

The Press of Atlantic City has an interesting article on the Broad-tailed Hummingbird (a first state record) currently visiting a feeder in Cape May County. The has been there through the winter, but its identity was not recognized until recently because of its similarity to Rufous Hummingbirds.

A broad-tailed hummingbird is spending the winter in Lower Township, just a couple miles away from some of the world’s top birders at the Cape May Bird Observatory. These experts knew about this particular bird and some had even seen it with their own eyes, but they gave it scant attention because they thought it was a different, more common species.

Now they are feeling sheepish about their mistake.

Cape May birder and ecotourism guide Michael O’Brien was the first to realize the error when he took new photographs March 1 after the tiny creature had molted telltale spring plumage.

He immediately tweeted his colleagues his pictures captioned only with the expletive: “Oh, s***.”

Finding a bird never before seen in New Jersey is rare in a state that is so vigilant about such things. New Jersey has documented 465 bird species. Ignoring a new species that for months has had habits as predictable as the tides is simply embarrassing.

“We were going to pose for a photo with some scrambled egg on our faces,” observatory Director Mike Crewe said.

This story is a good reminder not to make assumptions about a bird's identity based on incomplete information. Most of the time, the danger is trying to turn a common bird into a rarer one based on a partial view or a momentary glimpse. Now and then, though, it might make us miss a true rarity while thinking, "Oh, that's just a [fill-in-the-blank]." This incident also serves as a reminder that even the experts can be wrong, and it is worth evaluating rare sightings for yourself.

Data in Underbirded Areas

EBird is encouraging its users to add distribution data to its database by birding underbirded areas.

eBirders often email us and ask where they should go birding to make the biggest impact in regions with little data. It's perhaps little surprise that eBird checklist submissions are most dense in areas with large human populations, so getting away from those areas is a good first step for filling in the data gaps in eBird. But seeing these gaps can be really astonishing, and with the help of map wizard Paul Hurtado, we've come up with a neat way to visualize eBird data density at the county level. These maps are a visualization of the total number of eBird checklists submitted in each US county in the month of January across all years. Pull up your state map and see how your home county is faring. And better yet, find a county that's white, pink, or yellow, and go do as many eBird checklists as you can there this January!

They provide a map that shows each of the states in detail. The lighter-colored counties are the ones with the least amount of data. My state is very well covered with few real gaps. The lesser birded counties are one urban county (Essex) and two far-flung rural counties (Sussex and Salem).

The Birds of 2011

I saw ten life birds in 2011. Three of them were during the Superbowl of Birding in Essex County, Massachusetts. As it turns out, I will not be going there in 2012, but hopefully some other fun events will take its place this year. My best bird was probably the Gray-hooded Gull at Coney Island. The Varied Thrush I saw in Central Park was a species I had long anticipated seeing. The Greater White-fronted Goose at Duke Island Park made up for some frustrating misses on past attempts to see the species. Here are all ten of my life birds from the past year.

Species	Location	Date
Varied Thrush	Central Park	11 Jan 2011
Dovekie	Gloucester Harbor--Jodrey State Fish Pier	29 Jan 2011
Barrow's Goldeneye	Cape Ann--Penzance Beach	29 Jan 2011
Lapland Longspur	Sunshine Dairy Farm	29 Jan 2011
Red Crossbill	Seven Presidents Park	31 Jan 2011
Sora	Charles Rogers Wildlife Refuge	01 May 2011
Curlew Sandpiper	Heislerville WMA	14 May 2011
Gray-hooded Gull	Coney Island Beach	02 Aug 2011
Eurasian Collared-Dove	Cape May Point -- Lincoln & Whilldin	10 Aug 2011
Greater White-fronted Goose	Duke Island Park	01 Dec 2011

2011 turned out to be an excellent year for county birding. I had tremendous luck finding unusual species on my patch, particularly a Grasshopper Sparrow that surprised me one morning. I also had the opportunity to explore some parts of the county that I had not seen before or had not visited in a long time. Each of those visits added new species to my growing county list, which is twenty-eight species higher than it was this time last year. Here are the rest of my new birds for Middlesex County.

Species	Location	Date
American Kestrel	Edison Boat Basin	06 Feb 2011
Common Redpoll	Donaldson Park	15 Feb 2011
Eastern Screech-Owl	Highland Park	20 Feb 2011
Redhead	Duhernal Lake	24 Feb 2011
Rusty Blackbird	Johnson Park	05 Mar 2011
Wilson's Snipe	Johnson Park	26 Mar 2011
Northern Gannet	Morgan Avenue Mudflats	09 Apr 2011
Glossy Ibis	Donaldson Park	12 Apr 2011
Broad-winged Hawk	Donaldson Park	14 Apr 2011
Northern Bobwhite	Morgan Avenue Mudflats	15 Apr 2011
Common Raven	Johnson Park	17 Apr 2011
Grasshopper Sparrow	Donaldson Park	27 Apr 2011
Purple Martin	Donaldson Park	06 May 2011
Chestnut-sided Warbler	Donaldson Park	09 May 2011
Prothonotary Warbler	Donaldson Park	10 May 2011
Worm-eating Warbler	Rutgers Preserve	11 May 2011
Marsh Wren	Cheesequake State Park	21 May 2011
Forster's Tern	Morgan Avenue Mudflats	26 May 2011
Black-bellied Plover	Pirates Cove	26 May 2011
Piping Plover	Pirates Cove	26 May 2011
Ruddy Turnstone	Pirates Cove	26 May 2011
Black Skimmer	Pirates Cove	26 May 2011
Acadian Flycatcher	Pirates Cove	26 May 2011
Little Blue Heron	Morgan Avenue Mudflats	05 Aug 2011
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron	Pirates Cove	05 Aug 2011
Caspian Tern	Morgan Avenue Mudflats	20 Aug 2011
Tennessee Warbler	Rutgers Preserve	16 Sep 2011
Least Flycatcher	Red's Marina	02 Oct 2011

By the numbers:

• Total life birds overall: 351
• Total state birds: 292 (12 of them new in 2011)
• 2011 New Jersey year list: 235
• Total county birds: 198
• 2011 Middlesex County year list: 178
• Total yard birds: 71 (3 of them new in 2011: Snow Goose, Wild Turkey, and Black-throated Green Warbler)

A Birding Big Year in 2011

Amidst the talk over the recent movie based on Mark Obmascik's The Big Year, a birder named John Vanderpoel is doing an ABA big year and compiling some impressive numbers.

John W. Vanderpoel, who now lives in Colorado, has spotted 736 species of birds in 2011.

That means he has the second-biggest Big Year ever. He trails only Sandy Komito of New Jersey, who logged 748 species in 1998.

The 62-year-old Vanderpoel passed Virginia birder Bob Ake, who had 731 species in 2010, for second place.

He is only the 15th birder in the United States to log 700 species on a Big Year.

Topping 700 made him “happy and humble,” he wrote on his Big Year blog.

Apparently he has already reached one of his original goals:

He said his goal was to get to 700 species, not to set the record. In fact, he was the quickest Big Year birder to reach 700 species.

He has also seen 911 species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians in his travels. His goal: 1,000.

Will he reach Komito's record? At this point it seems unlikely that he will pick up the 12 species he would need to tie the record (or the 13 to break it), but it is still possible. You can follow the rest of his big year on his blog.

The Hardest Part of Birding.

Unless you always bird by yourself, an important and under-appreciated skill is being able to get other birders onto a good bird. Nick Lund, who formerly wrote The Birdist, created this video to show just how difficult that can be sometimes. I know I have been involved in this type of conversation (playing both roles) many times.

Winter Finch Forecast for 2010-2011

Purple Finch / USFWS Photo

Ron Pittaway, a respected Canadian ornithologist, recently released his winter finch forecast for the upcoming winter. It has already bounced around a few birding listserves; that link points to the version on eBird. The forecast will eventually be posted on the Ontario Field Ornithologists website, where you can see an archive of forecasts from past years. Pittaway's forecasts are written primarily for birders in Ontario, but they are useful for birders in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic U.S. as well.

Most migratory songbird species, such as wood warblers and thrushes, migrate south each winter because their primary food sources (invertebrates) are not available during northern winters. Other species, such as cardinals and chickadees, tend to stay where they are since their food sources are usually not disrupted. A small group of boreal species, mostly finches, migrates south in some years but not in others. These migrations, known as irruptions, are triggered by year-to-year changes in the seed crops of conifers, birches, aspens, and mountain-ashes in the boreal forest.

Which bird species will irrupt in a given year can be predicted on the basis of which seed crops are abundant and which are scarce. Here are a few species that may migrate south this winter:

Purple Finch: This finch winters in the north when the majority of deciduous and coniferous seed crops are abundant, which is not the case this year. Most Purple Finches will migrate south of Ontario this fall. A few may frequent feeders in southern Ontario. Purple Finch numbers have declined significantly in recent decades due in part to a decrease of spruce budworm outbreaks since the 1980s (Leckie and Cadman in Atlas of Breeding Birds of Ontario 2007).

Common Redpoll: Redpolls should irrupt into southern Canada and the northern United States this winter. The Common Redpoll's breeding range in Ontario is mainly in the Hudson Bay Lowlands from the Manitoba border southeast to southern James Bay (Leckie and Pittaway in Atlas of Breeding Birds of Ontario 2007). Redpolls in winter are a birch seed specialist and movements are linked in part to the size of the birch crop. The white birch crop is poor across much of northern Canada. Another indicator of an upcoming irruption was a good redpoll breeding season in 2010 with double and possibly triple broods reported in Quebec. High breeding success also was reported in Yukon. Samuel Denault of McGill University has shown that redpoll movements at Tadoussac, Quebec, are more related to reproductive success than to tree seed crops in the boreal forest. Redpolls will be attracted to the good birch seed crops on native white birch and European white birch in southern Ontario and to weedy fields. They should be frequent this winter at feeders offering nyger and black oil sunflower seeds. Watch for the larger, darker and browner "Greater" Common Redpolls (rostrata subspecies) in the flocks. It is reliably identified by its larger size and proportionally longer thicker bill and longer tail in direct comparison with "Southern" Common Redpolls (nominate flammea subspecies).

Hoary Redpoll: The breeding population in northern Ontario is the most southerly in the world (Leckie and Pittaway in Atlas of Breeding Birds of Ontario 2007). Careful checking of redpoll flocks should produce a few Hoary Redpolls. There are two subspecies. Most Hoaries seen in southern Canada and northern United States are "Southern" Hoary Redpolls (exilipes subspecies). During the last large redpoll irruption in 2007/2008, several "Hornemann's" Hoary Redpolls (nominate hornemanni subspecies) were found and supported by photographs. Hornemann's Redpoll was previously regarded as a great rarity south of the Arctic, but it may be more frequent than formerly believed. Hornemann's is most reliably identified by its much larger size in direct comparison with flammea Common Redpolls or exilipes Hoary Redpoll. Note that white birds loom larger than life among darker birds and size illusions are possible.

Red-breasted Nuthatch: This nuthatch is a conifer seed specialist when it winters in the north, thus its movements are triggered by the same crops as the boreal winter finches. The southward movement, which began in the summer, signaled the generally poor cone crops on spruces, balsam fir and white pine in the mixed coniferous/deciduous forest region across Ontario and in Atlantic Canada, New York and New England States. Red-breasted Nuthatches will be very scarce this winter in central Ontario such as Algonquin Park. White spruce crops are excellent in the northern half of the boreal forest, but it is uncertain how many Red-breasted Nuthatches will winter that far north.

Most other species are unlikely to come south because they have abundant food sources somewhere in the boreal forest. See the full forecast for comments on the rest of the irruptive species. The species comments are informative, even for birds that will not come south. Past forecasts usually included some notes on boreal raptors as well, but those seem to be left out this year.

Splits in the New AOU Checklist Supplement

American Scoters at Cape May / Photo by Tim Lenz (Seabamirum)

The 51st Supplement to the AOU Check-list was published in The Auk in late July, and now it has been posted online as well (in pdf form). This supplement lists changes approved by the checklist committee in 2009 and 2010. Since the ABA usually follows the lead of the AOU, these changes will likely be reflected on that list as well. The big news is that the checklist is now a little longer because several species have been split. Here are a few of the changes.

Winter Wren and Pacific Wren: Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) was formerly considered to be a single species with a range covering the northern hemisphere. However, the species is now being broken into multiple species on the basis of genetics and vocalizations. The Eurasian populations will keep the name Troglodytes troglodytes. The eastern North American population will become Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis), and the western population will become Pacific Wren (Troglodytes pacificus). The research behind this split has been covered at Biological Ramblings and in two parts at Earbirding: part 1, part 2. David Sibley has posted draft range maps for the two wren species. This split is my one armchair lifer from the changes in this supplement.

Black Scoter: The Eurasian and North American populations were split. The Eurasian population will be called Common Scoter (Melanitta nigra), while the North American population will retain the English name Black Scoter with a new scientific name (Melanitta americana).

Eastern and Mexican Whip-poor-will: Whip-poor-will was split into two species on the basis of vocalizations, genetics, and morphology. The eastern population becomes Eastern Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus vociferus) and the western population becomes Mexican Whip-poor-will (Caprimulgus arizonae). You can read more about this split at Earbirding. David Sibley has posted draft range maps for the two Whip-poor-will species.

Several other splits concern species with ranges entirely outside of the continental United States. Eight species were added due to new records within with AOU checklist area. In addition to species-level splits, there are changes to the English and scientific names for multiple species, as well as rearrangement of the taxonomic order for some families and genera.

The AOU was busy revising warbler taxonomy over the past year. The genus Vermivora has been divided into Vermivora and Oreothlypis. Bachmann's, Blue-winged, and Golden-winged Warbler will remain in Vermivora (with the Blue-winged Warbler's scientific name changing to Vermivora cyanoptera). Tennessee, Orange-crowned, Nashville, Virginia's, Colima, Lucy's, Flame-throated, and Crescent-chested Warblers move to Oreothlypis. Oreothlypis will sit between Vermivora and Parula on the checklist. Another warbler genus, Seirus, is also being split. Ovenbird will remain by itself in Seirus, and Northern and Louisiana Waterthrush will form a new genus, Parkesia.

Here is the full revised North American checklist.

Splits, Splits, Splits

Winter Wren / Photo by ~Shanth

Yesterday David Sibley posted a list of the bird species that he thought were most likely to be split into multiple species. You can read his comments for each of the splits at his site, but here are the ten:

1. Willet
2. Whippoorwill
3. Winter Wren
4. Xantus's Murrelet
5. Yellow-rumped Warbler
6. White-breasted Nuthatch
7. Marsh Wren
8. Fox Sparrow
9. Spruce Grouse
10. Western Scrub-Jay

As far as I know, most of these are still being researched and debated, so the AOU may not take action on them for some time. 

The only one of these potential splits that would give me an armchair life bird is the split of Winter Wren into its western and eastern populations (currently Troglodytes troglodytes pacificus and Troglodytes troglodytes hiemalis). I still remember listening to the western subspecies when I was in Washington a few years ago. Their songs and those of Hermit Thrushes form part of my memory of the Cascades.

According to Nathan Pipelow, the AOU's Checklist Committee has already voted on the split of Eastern and Western Winter Wrens, and it will become official with the publication of the next supplement to the AOU Checklist in the summer. The only remaining question is whether to split the hiemalis subspecies from the Eurasian populations. If you would like to read more about the reasons for splitting, I would suggest this post by Nick Sly. Winter Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) has a Holarctic distribution; however, it has up to 44 subspecies, some of which may be species in their own right. The North American populations are being split because ornithologists found a contact zone where the eastern and western subspecies did not interbreed. In addition, these populations have subtle differences in appearance and sing different songs, and genetic studies found scant evidence of hybridization.

In addition to Nick's post, I would recommend Nathan's posts on differentiating eastern and western Winter Wrens by call and by song.

Western Willets are often reported along the New Jersey coast in the winter, so I could probably add that pretty easily if I took the time to separate the subspecies. Among the others, I still have not seen the western populations. In some cases, such as Whippoorwill, I have yet to encounter the species at all.

So what armchair life birds would you get out of this list? Are there any that would be easy for you to add?

Documenting Rare Birds

 A rare bird

Nate wrote an interesting post yesterday about rare bird reports.

Birding, like many activities that require developing specific skills, has an obvious hierarchy.  This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can be disconcerting and intimidating for those who are new to the hobby.  Because if you’re in the field enough you’re probably going to find something fairly unusual eventually, and if you’re interested in contributing to the greater birding community as well as to scientific study of vagrants (and you should be) you’re going to come up against a rare bird committee or an eBird reviewer at some point.  While it’s easy to get the impression that there’s some sort of secretive birding cabal standing between you and your rare bird sighting, that’s not true.  What these individuals are looking for is fairly straight-forward.  They want to know how well you saw the bird in question and how you made the identification.

Nate reviews unusual bird reports in the Carolinas for eBird, so he has had plenty of interaction with birders who submit unusual sightings. His post at the link provides some advice for writing a persuasive report and communicating with eBird's reviewers. A good report should include a clear and detailed description of the bird and discuss what details eliminate other similar species. Not all reports will require the same level of detail. A sighting out of season will not need the same level of documentation as a first state or county record.

I doubt that I have reviewed as many sightings as Nate has, but I have reviewed some, for both the Great Backyard Bird Count and the C&O Canal Midwinter Bird Survey. In my experience, as both a reviewer and as a contributor of sightings, being prepared to document a sighting is key to submitting a persuasive report. I think that contributors would feel less frustrated by the review process if they knew what to do ahead of time. This is especially a problem for the Great Backyard Bird Count, when many birders are participating for the first time.

Good preparation starts with a basic familiarity with what species are expected in a given area at a given time of year. If a bird seems out of place or out of season, there is a good chance that it is unusual enough to be reviewed. I find that it is difficult to remember details of a sighting hours or days later, when my memory has been diluted by subsequent sightings. The best thing is to take notes right away, while the bird is still visible, and to record as many details of the bird's shape, appearance, and behavior as possible. Photographs may help but are not always necessary, and even with a photo it helps to have a good description of the bird and what it was doing. Those notes will provide a basis for communicating with eBird reviewers or anyone else who wants details on the sighting. Even if it turns out to be unnecessary, note-taking is a good exercise for looking at birds more closely, so the effort will not be wasted.

Reporting Sensitive Species

Today eBird issued some guidelines for submitting sensitive bird sightings to the website. The guidelines were published for bird species (such as owls) that are easily stressed by disturbance, but they could be applied to endangered that need protection or observations on private land that cannot handle an influx of visitors. This is going to be a more common concern as more applications are developed to take advantage of the various data feeds produced from submitted checklists. The guidelines offer four ways to contribute a sighting to the eBird database while protecting the individual birds.

• Wait to submit the sighting until the end of the season or after the bird has departed the location.
• Map the bird to the general area rather than the exact coordinates.
• Wait a week to keep the bird out of the Notable Birds data feed. 
• Hide the checklist after submitting it using the option available through "manage my observations."

 These all seem like good recommendations. I was surprised to learn about the option for hiding a checklist. I had not noticed that option before.

Best Birds of 2000-2009

Some other bloggers are doing lists of their favorite bird sightings from the past ten years, so I suppose I might as well make one too. Since I have been birding for less than a full decade, this list is compressed towards the latter half of the last ten years.

1. Rufous Hummingbird (7 Dec 2003) – The first time I followed a sighting from a rare bird alert was for this Rufous, one of a succession of western hummingbirds that wintered at the Smithsonian in December 2003.
   
2. Scott's Oriole (28 Jan 2008) – I saw my 300th life bird in a square in downtown Manhattan.
   
3. Green-tailed Towhee (22 Mar 2009) – One of the few New Jersey rare birds to stick around long enough for me to see it.
   
4. Golden Eagle (9 Nov 2008) – My first sighting of a wild Golden Eagle was not of a bird soaring overhead but one cradled in the arms of another raptor bander. After its release (above), it stayed around for another day and hunted in the marsh near the banding blind.
   
5. Black Rail (27 Jun 2009) – A rare bird to hear and a rarer bird to see, even though it is widespread on the Atlantic coast.
   
6. Roseate Spoonbill (26 Aug 2009) –A big, pink, weirdly-shaped life bird out of its normal range.
   
7. Purple Gallinule (6 Jun 2004) – Another ostentatious bird outside of its normal range, but this time at Hughes Hollow rather than Brigantine.
   
8. Iceland Gull (5 Jan 2009) – I had long wondered if I could pick a white-winged gull out of a crowd of more common gulls, until the day I did.
   
9. Horned Lark (15 Dec 2007) – This bird is not uncommon but difficult to find in the places I normally go birding.
   
10. Cerulean Warbler (7 May 2006) – Needless to say, I was quite pleased when I finally saw the bird species I had chosen as an emblem for my blog.
    

You can see other lists at The Birdchaser and The Hawk Owl's Nest.

A Bird-finding App for iPhone and iPod Touch

Note: A week after I wrote this review, I was asked to join BirdsEye's staff on a temporary basis. I had no idea I would be joining BirdsEye at the time I wrote this, and I still stand by what I wrote here. However, if you would like to read an evaluation by an independent reviewer, there are now several other reviews published in print and digital media.

Yesterday BirdsEye, a new birding application, was released into the iTunes App Store. To date, mobile applications for birding have focused on the problem of bird identification in the field. Mobile apps have some advantages over traditional field guides as they can incorporate media such as audio, video, or extra photographs beyond what would fit on a printed page, all in a package much smaller than most books. A few apps already do this well. BirdsEye tries to solve a different problem: helping birders find out what birds are being seen nearby.

I had the opportunity to test BirdsEye while it was in beta, via a loaned iPod Touch, thanks to my friend Todd Koym, who is one of the app's developers. It was interesting to watch the application develop over the past few months, from its basic outlines to a fully-fledged app ready for release. While the content remained the same, the user interface improved dramatically. The descriptions and screenshots in this post are from the final beta, which should be substantially the same as the released version.

BirdsEye includes 847 species of North American birds. (The base version includes 470 species; additional modules are available for the other 377.) Each species has its own page, with a short text by Kenn Kaufman, photos from the VIREO database, audio files from the Macaulay Library of Sound, and a location map based on recent sightings reported to eBird. You can see a typical species page at left. Kaufman's text describes the habitat and range of each species, along with some behavioral notes, but generally avoids discussing field marks. This is intentional since BirdsEye is meant to complement field guides rather than replacing them.

Despite the lack of a physical description, BirdsEye can still be a valuable identification tool. High-quality (and sometimes spectacular) photos provide suitable visual aids if you know what to look for. More importantly, the audio files provide an impressive range of songs and calls that are clear and recognizable on even the iPod Touch's limited speaker.

The really exciting aspect is that finally we have a better way to harness the eBird database to find birds we want to see. From BirdsEye's homepage (see screenshot at top), a user can select a birding location. This could be a hometown or a destination on a road trip. Once a location is selected, one can view a list of birds that have been reported to eBird near that location during the past three years, with an option to view only the most recent ones. (I have the list of most recent sightings selected in the image at right.) Touching a bird species brings up the species page, which links to a map showing sightings within the past 30 days (via the bird on a stick pin button). On the home page, there is also an option to view nearby hotspots and what birds have been reported at them.

Finding the locations of target birds while on the road should work somewhat better with iPhone than the iPod Touch, as the iPhone does not need a wifi connection to download sightings from eBird. BirdsEye's species accounts, images, and audio will all work on the iPod Touch even without a wifi connection. However, the lists will not be fully up to date, and mapping will not work since hotspots are plotted using Google Maps.

Species maps show sightings at eBird hotspots. The map at left shows the recent Ivory Gull sightings in Cape May Harbor. Selecting a stick pin brings up the name of the site and how long ago the bird was seen there; touching the right arrow brings up more information about the hotspot.

For most uses this works very well, as eBird hotspots usually offer the best overall birding opportunities and provide the best sense of what birds are typical for an area. It also avoids the problem of exposing a truly private location, such as a residence or a restricted area. However, rare birds have a knack for showing up in places not on eBird's hotspot list. Those sightings will not appear on either the recent birds list or the species maps unless a hotspot editor approves a location for them before the bird departs. Finding rare birds with BirdsEye also depends on birders entering sightings at the most accurate locations, which is usually but not always the case. When rarities do show up at hotspots (and are mapped appropriately), a user can find out quickly where it is being seen and how to get there.

Despite those limitations, BirdsEye is an important step forward in connecting birders to the birds they want to see. Most birders will find this app very useful when planning birding outings. For beginning birders, it offers a guide to what birds are most probable in their areas. For more advanced birders, it can help with tracking down target species. Both can benefit from having a wealth of birding media condensed into such a small package.

Two New eBird Projects

At the end of last week, eBird announced two projects designed to improve the quality of its database. The first, and most important for continental and regional range information, is the County Birding Project. One problem with the current eBird database is that some counties, especially ones near metropolitan areas, get strong coverage from birders while other counties are barely covered at all. Within counties, population centers are often well-covered while outlying areas are not. There are suggestions at the link for surveys to improve county coverage, both within counties and regionally.

To assist in the project, eBird added a new checklist type for random location counts. Random locations are locations at fixed intervals along a driving (or cycling) route.

The county birding announcement links to a spreadsheet with county checklist totals from across the country. As one might expect, few counties in New Jersey are lacking in checklists. The county with the lowest number of checklists, Salem, has 449. The next lowest is Warren, with 949. Even nearby states are pretty well covered compared to other areas of the country. For example, South Dakota has 22 counties in single digits. Also, Nate's Century Club could fill some gaps.

The second announcement was for a Site Survey Project. This concept is not all that new, since eBird has long encouraged users to bird the same locations regularly to compile the most useful data. The new part is that users can register sites where they expect to bird at least once per week and participate in a discussion group about site surveys.

A Personal eBird Milestone

Yesterday I reached a personal milestone in my eBird usage. One of the features that makes eBird such a compelling site is that the ability to set up personal birding locations and generate bar charts and other abundance graphics for them. If you have a local patch, this feature makes it possible to monitor how many species you have seen at the location and when individual species have arrived or departed in the past. It also provides some additional motivation for birding there. Each new checklist makes the chart more complete and adds better abundance data to make it more useful. As Nate wrote, the charts start to look like real abundance charts in a very short time.

Bar charts are divided into months, which in turn are divided into quarters that more or less correspond to the weeks. (The last "week" in each month usually has more than seven days, since it stretches from the 22nd to whatever day the month ends, whether that be the 28th, 29th, 30th, or 31st.) Each checklist either fills a new week or adds sightings to a week that already had data. The bar chart can pull checklists from as many years as you want; the default is 1900 to the current year.

After I did my usual bird walk in my local patch (Donaldson Park) yesterday, I entered a checklist and checked the bar chart for the location. That checklist had filled the last remaining gap on the bar chart for my local patch, so that now every week of the year is represented by at least one checklist. The top portion of the bar chart is below; click through for a screenshot of the full page and species list.

Over the past few years I have recorded 132 bird species in the park. The only species I have recorded for every week of the year is Canada Goose. I have seen other common species like Mallard, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Mourning Dove, American Robin, European Starling, Song Sparrow, and House Sparrow during most weeks but missed them occasionally. There are also a few species like Killdeer that are present on almost a daily basis for most of the year but depart for a few months at a time. The list also includes a few relative rarities like Iceland Gull, American Pipit, and White-crowned Sparrow.

My bird walk yesterday included a mix of the regular birds and some migrants. The best bird was a White-crowned Sparrow at the east end of the park. It was only the second time I have seen on in that park, or in the county. There were also small flocks of Savannah Sparrows, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and Chipping Sparrows, in addition to a few Ruby-crowned Kinglets. In some ways the most impressive sight was a huge flock of Herring Gulls, a little under 800 strong by my estimate. Especially with such a beautiful afternoon, this walk turned into a great way to fill the last gap.

Birds in the Blogosphere

Last week I was without internet access on most days, thus the dearth of posts on this blog. (Here's why.) I am still catching up with reading and commenting on bird blogs.

While I get caught up, here are a few interesting posts I missed last week:

• The Marvelous in Nature: Forecasting birds (and rain) 
• Sibley Guides Notebook: Probability in bird identification 
• Chip Notes eBird Buzz: Revealing personal locations--how do you feel about it? 
• Birdchick: A Day In Frank Taylor’s Blind 
• The Drinking Bird: Wings vs. Wingnuts 
• Biological Ramblings: The New Vireos
• View from the Cape: ... and How Fast is a Peregrine? 
• Picus Blog: Bird Photography Weekly #58 (Fork-tailed Flycatcher)
• The Nightjar: Injured Hawk is Released
  

Feel free to drop links in the comments to this post.

A Birding TV Series

Readers of this blog might be interested in a new TV series about birding called Birding Adventures. It premiered last weekend on the Fox Sports Network and is also available through the new Untamed Sports channel. The show follows James Currie, a South African birder, as he travels around the world to find unusual and rare bird species.

The Fox Sports Network has chosen an unfortunate time to air it. On Saturday morning at 7:30-8:00 am, most birders are likely to be out birding or getting ready to leave. On Untamed Sports, the show airs Mondays at 3:30 and 11 pm and Thursdays at 11:30 am and 7:30 pm. Those times seem more likely to attract birders, at least if that station is available.