Calidris fuscicollis

May 24, 1998: Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge South Pond, Dare, NC

Another wonderful find for the day. This one was spotted by Steve in a swarm of semi-palmated’s. Don’t ask me how he noticed it, but the bird was slightly larger than the other sandpipers, and the white eye-stripe was clearly visible in the scope. The wingtips extending slightly beyond the tail were also apparent. Although Kevin and Steve saw the redcap, I wasn’t able to really see a whole lot of red – just a bit of a tinge. Maybe it was the lighting. Still, this was a wonderful bird to find, especially since they are only in the area for about two weeks in the spring before moving on up north.

Calidris canutus

May 24, 1998: Hattaras Island, Dare, NC

Yeah! I finally get to see this interesting bird, and in breeding plumage! A pretty, medium-sized shorebird with a red breast, we saw two of these on the beach behind the motel, first thing in the morning!

Piranga flava

December 31, 1997: Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve, Santa Cruz, AZ

(Northern, hepatica Group) This bird almost became the greatest mystery of the trip, but after studying the National Geographic field guide, I figured it out! This was one of the first birds I spotted early in the morning. As we walked the creek trail, we’d been flushing hundreds of sparrows, and in the midst of all this activity, I spotted this bird up in one of the larger trees along the trail. My first impression was of a yellow-throated bird, about 8 inches long with a short tail and medium length bill. When the bird turned, the sun hit its throat which then blazed the most amazing, brilliant orange color. I’d never seen anything like this! The orange was just on the throat, with the upper chest and the face a normal yellow color. Unfortunately, the bird flew out of sight before a better look could be had. After looking through the Peterson’s, I was completely stumped. There was simply nothing that matched this description. Kevin thought the bird reminiscent of an oriole, but the tail and bill were both too short. And it was bigger than any of our warblers. It had been a long time since a bird was so confusing! I often have to give up after narrowing it down to two or three species, but I had NO idea about this bird. Later, I sat down and studied the National Geographic Guide, and noticed that the female Hepatic Tanager was pictured with a slightly more brilliant throat than upper chest. Sure enough, the description listed that throat as being distinctive. A birding mystery solved! An unusual occurrence, to match the unusual bird that prompted it! This one was fun and satisfying!

Pooecetes gramineus

December 30, 1997: San Rafael Grasslands, Santa Cruz County, AZ

Another sparrow in which I invested some time. This bird had barely noticeable rufous patches on the wing, and white edges to the tail in flight. Yay!

Calcarius ornatus

December 30, 1997: San Rafael Grasslands, Santa Cruz County, AZ

Spent LOTS of time on these birds. We found several flocks of these sparrow-ish birds along the roadside. The white tail flashes were easy to see, but it took a while to distinguish these from the McCown’s, which are also supposed to be found in this area. Finally, after chasing dozens of these little flits around, I got a good enough look at one flying away to call it a Chestnut-collared. Definitely a dark triangle on the tail – not the T-shape of the McCown’s. Someday, I’d like to see these birds in breeding plumage – they were pretty much entirely drab!

Falco mexicanus

December 30, 1997: San Rafael Grasslands, Santa Cruz County, AZ

After seeing so many harriers, this bird was immediately recognizable as different. Obviously a falcon, very light in color, with dark markings under the wing. We watched the bird reasonably close as it flew over the prairie before moving into the distance. A lovely sighting!

Anas diazi

December 20, 1997: Saddlebrooke, Pinal County, AZ

A few ducks on the golf pond.

Calonectris diomedea

August 30, 1997: Oregon Inlet Pelagic-Gulf Stream, Dare, NC

The second species of large shearwater we saw turned out to be even more plentiful than the Greater Shearwaters. As with the Greaters, by the end of the day I was able to identify the Cory’s from a reasonable distance by their generally uniform appearance and a general sense of their flying style with slower wingbeats. Numerous Cory’s were also in the large flock we saw in the afternoon, so I was able to see several at quite close range.

Ardenna gravis

August 30, 1997: Oregon Inlet Pelagic-Gulf Stream, Dare, NC

We were to see dozens of these birds throughout the day, and they are attractive close up, when you can really see their coloration and plumage. The first few of the day were just large flying blobs to me, pointed out by the guides, but by the end of the day I was calling them with great confidence, based on the rump band, and head and neck coloration. I got a bit of a sense of this bird, but not so as to be able to tell just by flying style. Great Shearwaters were among the stars of one of the highlights of the trip. It was afternoon, most everyone seemed fairly burned out, and we hadn’t seen many birds in quite a while. Suddenly, we could see a huge flock of birds in the distance, apparently drawn to this location by a large school of fish. Dozens of birds, all doing their thing – floating on the water, or flapping wildly fighting over fish, or skimming effortlessly through the air. It was wonderful, and included both Greater and Cory’s Shearwaters, a Pomarine Jaeger, and Sooty, Bridled and Common Terns.

Callipepla californica

December 27, 1996: Buena Vista Recreation Area, Kern County, CA

While following a couple of owls, I crossed the main road to find a field filled with these incredibly cute birds. There must have been at least fifty of them, probably more (I didn’t count). Big ones and smaller ones, all bopping around foraging in the field. They didn’t seem to notice me there, and I viewed them until Kevin came back to pick me up. I was glad he got to see them. Very cute!

Mareca americana

December 21, 1996: Malibu Lagoon, Los Angeles, CA

Spotted these birds on the ponds north of the Lagoon. Immediately, I guessed they were wigeons although I’d never seen this species before. Hey, my identification skills are improving!

Aegithalos caudatus

July 14, 1996: St James’s Park, London, England

A new bird for the last day of our vacation! I spotted this gorgeous bird flitting about in the bushes near one of the lakes.

Alcedo atthis

July 9, 1996: Kildare, Leinster, Ireland

I glimpsed this beautiful bird on a perch over the stream which ran next to Brighid’s Well. Unfortunately, it flew away before I had time to study it, but the colors were incredible! So bright, gorgeous. I hoped the bird would return, but no such luck!

Tadorna tadorna

July 8, 1996: Belfast Harbour, Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Milvus milvus

July 5, 1996: Highlands, Scotland

Spotted this bird while we were driving. Its was flying and kiting right along the side of the road. Although I had my best look after the bird had flown a ways away, there was no chance of misidentifying this really distinctive and beautiful bird. The sweeping line of the tail and the color made me certain of this ID, even though the bird was a bit out of its normal range. This bird is in the process of being reestablished into Scotland, so this may have been a released bird – but it was still a red kite for me! 🙂

Buteo buteo

July 4, 1996: Scottish Lowlands, Fife, Scotland

First seen while driving through the lowlands in Scotland. This most common hawk in Britain is very similar to our Red-tailed, and certainly fills a similar niche. I enjoyed seeing these familiar, yet new, birds throughout Britain.

Bufo bufo

July 3, 1996: Scottish Borders, Scotland

While driving after dark, there were dozens of amphibians hopping around on the roads. At first, I assumed they were frogs, but it turns out that Common Toads are more likely to be seen on the road, during their migration events. There were so many of them, and we were continually needing to swerve and slow down to avoid squishing them.

Apus apus

July 1, 1996: Museum Gardens, North Yorkshire, England

This European variety is simply called Swift in Britain. Very cute, similar to our North American variety when seen in flight.

Anser anser anser

June 29, 1996: St James’s Park, London, England

Saw both eastern and western form birds.

Cygnus olor

June 20, 1996: Saint Mary’s Lake, St. Joseph County, IN

While while walking on the sunny Notre Dame campus with my mom, we saw a pair of adults with three young birds. First we walked by them while they were foraging on the shore (they were only a few feet away from the path). Later we watched them swimming on the lake. HUGE and beautiful birds. Plus, I always enjoy seeing juvenile birds.