Philadelphia Vireo at Magee Marsh!

Vireos can be very deceiving, leaving birders without great views to ponder things like how contrasting the facial pattern was or the degree to yellow on the breast. Vireos are very warbler-like in that they can occupy a variety of habitats and use song to attract their mates. Nevertheless, these birds are not warblers and usually will sit still for long periods of time while singing in late spring and early summer. During the Midwest Birding Symposium, I made my target bird for the trip a Philadelphia Vireo. Many had been seen throughout the week, but I was still in Ohio on the last day of my trip without a Philadelphia Vireo. The last day was going to be eventful!

I had already dipped on the first-year male Kirtland's Warbler that had shown up, so I was determined to go home with my original target bird. People had been tipping me off all week that the west-end of the Magee Marsh boardwalk (famous for fall-outs) has hosted a few all week long. I was stationed there on Sunday morning with the intentions of pointing out birds to birders in the area. It didn't take very long before we had upwards of 5 to 6 Philadelphia Vireos swarming above our heads. A sight I had not witnessed in over three years.

I was carrying a Nikon 7x42 EDG binocular and my Nikon D200 and 300mm F4 Nikkor lens with which I took this photo. A few of these guys got close and were extremely social.

Philadelphia Vireos aren't too difficult to ID. In fall plumage, they wash out with a ton of yellow so they really resemble no other Vireo, however, duller birds can be confused with Warbling Vireos if your not too careful. As you will always hear me preach, size and structure are again the first things I look at when trying to ID a Philadelphia Vireo or any species for that matter. Philly Vireo's have a much rounder head shape and very stubby bill in comparison to others. Not to mentioned the shorter tail which makes this Vireo sp. look much stubbier than all the others. Having said all of this, we all know that birds can change their posture and with things like moisture and flight feather wear, birds can trick us all too often. Thus, it is essential to look at multiple attributes before making your final ID.

From a morphological perspective, Philadelphia Vireo's have most of the ventral yellow tones restricted to the upper breast, shown above. No other Vireo has yellow tones that gather on the upper chest. The face pattern is sort of in-between where it is not as strong/prevalent as the Red-eyed Vireo, but not as faded as Warbling Vireo. Philly Vireo's have a pretty distinct gray cap with very dark areas around the eye making the bird looked "Masked." Look for the dark lores and eye-line extending to the base of the bill. Some Vermivora genus warblers like Tennessee are superficially similar, but have straighter, thinner/pointed bills with a short tail. Also, Philadelphia Vireo has a yellow vent and undertail coverts most of the year whereas a Tennessee Warbler has white undertail coverts and vent. 

Philadelphia Vireos breed in the boreal forests in Canada as far west as British Colombia, but they take an easterly migrating path and funnel through the Great Lakes region with the most regualrity. This certainly, makes this species hard to find in fall Colorado birding.

 

So there it is, I got my target bird and it was like seeing a life bird for the first time. Now, I just got to find one of these in Colorado.

I encourage everyone to check out Bill Schmoker's photos of vireos here. He has an nice sample and some Philly Vireos that are much duller then mine. It is a real good comparative to make when learning these birds inside and out.

Good Birding and I hope you finish up fall birding with a bang!

Midwest Birding Symposium!

This year's Midwest Birding Symposium was held in Lakeside, Ohio and organized by Bird Watcher's Digest. The event was a huge success with over 700 registrants. Although there were no fall-outs to speak of there was a first-year male Kirtland's Warbler found at East Harbor State Park just around the corner from the festival and was the thirst state record of this species for fall. That bird created massive excitment and at times there were over a hundred birders stomping around the area looking for the bird on the trail it was found. Most everyone got great looks on the bird, but yours truly must wait for another day to get his life Kirtland's. Bummer!

I stayed in Marblehead, OH at Lake Point Motel where the owners, Beth and Keith, took great care of me and everyone else staying there. For 50 bucks a nigh it couldn't be beat. I looked out my door each morning to the crashing waves of Lake Erie and a tremendous view. This being my first time up here it was quite the delight. The fall weather was fantastic and the birding was just as good. Good laughs, great people, and a well organized event made for a terrific weekend. Thanks to Bill Thompson III and company for putting up a tremendous effort.

The show floor was packed just about round the clock and the optics vendors were very busy. I had the opportunity to show off our new Nikon EDG Fieldscopes and EDG binoculars while working the booth. The stunning yet unknown country of Guatemala was right next to me and gave me a chance to get re-acquainted with my good friends from Latin America.

The birding was good, but regular for this area. On my first visit to Magee Marsh (home of the Black Swamp Bird Observatory), I had seen some new things that I often do not see like Bay-breasted Warbler and Gray-cheeked Thrush (they come through in mast years on the eastern Colorado plains). However, the most common bird there were Black-throated Green Warblers (BTGR), shown above. This first-fall female jumped out in front of me and after some quick squeaking to entice the bird closer, it jumped right in front of my camera. Although, the foliage stopped me from taking great shots, this photo allows for a good study.

The most likely culprits for confusion would be Golden-cheeked Warbler and Townsend's Warbler. Black-throated Green Warbler is the only Dendroica genus warbler (that looks like this) to have a yellow lower belly. The Golden-cheeked and Townsend's are pure white in that area. Golden-cheeked doesn't have the contrasting auriculars, but rather a faint eye-line protruding from the eye back. There is the range to consider as well since a Golden-cheeked Warbler in Ohio this time of year would create quite a stir nationally. Also, the Townsend's migrates using the higher elevations into the foothills whereas BTGRs tend to stick to the lower elevation migrant traps. Townsend's is a possibility out west like here in Colorado, but the auriculars are sharply defined even in a first-fall female. Look at the ear coverts in the photo above. Would you consider them contrasting? Notice the yellow on the lower flank and belly! 

Thanks for reading and please check back. My target bird of the trip was Philadelphia Vireo, so I will let you know my results in the next post. Good Birding to all!

Nikon Digiscoping with France Dewaghe!

Nikon is proud to unveil our new Nikon Digiscoping/Optics videos on www.youtube.com/NikonBirding. Check out Nikon ProStaffer, France Dewaghe, walking through the very basics of what Nikon digiscoping is and how the elements are used to marry themselves into one entity for long-range photography. You can also reach the videos at www.nikonbirding.com. We have just added a new ProStaffer of the Month in Bill Schmoker, so get on Nikon's birding website for his amazing story and photography.

As for me, I am currently at the Midwest Birding Symposium in Lakeside, Ohio birding with a group registration of around 750 participants. I will be sure to keep you all updated on the events happening and I'll be hoping for a migratory passerine fall-out here on the lake shore!

Fall Spizella Sparrows!

Sparrows are just plain hard for most! I even have to ask questions to other birds most often to help in identifying these suckers. Like anything else, you need to use structure and size to first eliminate the bulk of the other species possible. Label them down to genus. Most genus' have distinct features that set them apart. I was out looking at the Buff-breasted Sandpiper in the last blog when this guy started jumping at my feet.

I looked at it for about four minutes or so then flashed some photos. The bird had a dainty elongated body, long tail, and roundish head. These attributes automatically put this bird in the Spizella genus of sparrows. Now that has been done, I know I am looking at either Field, Chipping, Brewer's, Clay-colored, and American-Tree Sparrow. These are the members of this genus that would feasibly show up in this area. Let's go through the motions.

First, American-Tree only winters here since it breeds in northern Canada and Alaska. Nevertheless, American-Tree has a much more robust body and usually will exhibit a plainer facial pattern and central breast spot.

We can see here that this bird has a defined eye-ring. Vesper Sparrows also shows up in the area (not Spizella genus), but has a flat head, large bill, well defined eye-ring, and streaking on the flanks and upper breast. We know because of the old plumage (well defined markings) that this is an adult bird, so we would expect a dark line through the eye even if faded, for this bird to be called a Chipping Sparrow. Also, Chipping Sparrows do not have an eye-ring at all. Field Sparrows are a bit stubbier in overall appearance, but we would expect an WELL-defined eye-ring, much buffier underneath and two defined wing-bars.

Look at the bird below. Though this bird is small in the frame, we can still see the lack of streaking and also a gray overtones as well.

Clay-colored is a huge possibility here since the bird is clean ventrally, has a gray neck band, and a defined face pattern. Look at the first picture! Clay-colored Sparrows have a extremely well-defined gray nape and neck. This bird's neck is faded so this doesn't bode well for Clay-colored. In the field, I was glad I could see these things at first to eventually confirm that my camera wasn't tricking me too much. I brought my Nikon  8x32 EDG binocualrs with me which have a close focus of around 7.5 feet. I usually don't care about close focus too much, but I needed it then and it was a real comfort to use the EDG bins at that point. I also happened to notice that the face was a bit dull for Clay-colored. Even young birds (first-winter) exhibit a strong pale eye-line, strong pale sub-moustacial stripe, and a contrasting throat.

This leaves us with one possibility after all. Brewer's Sparrow! Do you think this is a Brewer's Sparrow? I was of the opinion that our "drabbest bird in North America," was the culprit, but I consulted the likes of France Dewaghe, Bill Schmoker, Ted Floyd, and Christian Nunes. People whom I know to be very pragmatic when identifying a sparrow. Brewer's Sparrow was certainly in the discussion, but this Brewer's Sparrow was still too defined with it's markings. Ordinarily, those guys are even more drab the pictures elude to. Furthermore, Ted made an excellent comment. What about a hybrid? Would you consider a hybrid in this case after reviewing some of the details listed above for this genus? I would. I think that this could possibly be a Brewers x Clay-colored. The defined gray nape, facial pattern, and warmer tones might indicate a hybrid otherwise this is a bright Brewer's Sparrow. We'll never know!

It amazes me that I had to go through that entire process when I had the bird right in my darn face. Its so frustrating sometimes, but you need to remain patient when making these ID's. Wheeww, okay that was stressful, but fun.....errrrrr.....I'm weird, I know. The chase/challenge is always the reward!

Thanks for reading and I hope I was able to bring some light to Spizella sparrows. Good Birding!

Photos were taken by Mike Freiberg with a Nikon D200 and a 300mm F4 Nikkor lens.

There was no color manipulation in these particular photos. The first picture shows how warm the bird really was.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper in an unsuspecting place!

This last Sunday, my girlfriend and I are driving around looking for a new mattress right next to Cherry Creek State Park in Aurora/Denver, Colorado. An email came into my BlackBerry informing that a gentleman had just found a possible Buff-breasted Sandpiper in the park. Naturally, we were driving my girlfriend's car, so we had to ditch the mattress searching and head home three miles to go get my 4Runner and head to the park. I was second on the scene to check out the pond. The main water had some Least Sandpipers and lots of Snowy Egrets, but as I turned the corner to check out the outflow ditch there was this gorgeous Buff-breasted Sandpiper feeding on the mudflats.

Now, I used to live in Iowa (on their main migratory path), but those of us from the Midwest know that you usually see them at a distance in some sod farms through a scope. With my Nikon EDG Fieldscope, I could see the extremely pale edges to the back feathers marking this bird as a juvenile. It has been a while since I had seen one, but I recall the juveniles having a real scalloped back. I could even see this with my EDG binoculars since the bird was so close. NE Colorado will sometimes see these birds, but they are increasingly rare as you get closer to the Front Range. Also, NE Colorado is not heavily birded so who knows
what gets missed.

Buff-breasted Sandpipers are not to be confused with anything else. They are tall like an Upland Sandpiper with a body structure like that of a Black-bellied Plover. However, the Buffy is slimmer than the plover. The bird has yellow legs, light-orange coloration on the head, neck, and breast. The bill is all dark with a tapering action as you get towards the bill. The area around the eye is without streaking giving the bird a spectacled look. The face is clean with buffy coloration and there are fine streaks on the crown, back of the neck, and mantle as well. The head is small giving the black eye a HUGE appearance!

Besides all of that, the habits of the bird are even more interesting. The bird moves fast and bobs it's head kind of like a Rock Pigeon. They are very active feeders. I normally would expect them in an open field of short grasses, but this bird needed a rest I guess. This guy is on it's way to the Pampas in Argentina, Chile, and southern Brazil where they winter. I certainly hope this young'n can get there safely. As I am writing this post the bird may still be at Cherry Creek and I plan to go check later today to get some more photos if I can.

It had been a few years since I had seen one of these, so I am real excited and am glad you all could check my story out. Good Birding to all and please visit the blog again!

All photos were taken with a Nikon D200 and a 300mm F4 Nikkor lens.

Quick note: If you read my flycatcher post last week please visit www.10000birds.com to read Mike Bergin's Empidonax flycatcher quiz....always good for a challenge.