Front Row Seat

I was granted a few hours last Sunday morning to go birding, so I grabbed bins, scope, and cameras and hit the road to some local hotspots. Heading towards Boulder Reservoir, I ran into swarms of runners on the nearby roads and remembered that the Boulder Backroads Marathon was in session, with the start and end at the Res. Needless to say, I changed plans to avoid the mob scene there, and diverted to Walden Ponds. That turned out to be a fortuitous choice, as some nice birds were working a patch of pond near a rocky point.

I slowly insinuated myself down to the water's edge, aiming for a small cluster of stumpy snags to sit among with my feet practically in the water. I moved very slowly, waiting when possible for birds to get to the far part of their circuit to make incremental movements until I got where I was going. Then I just sat, letting the birds get used to me (which they did in about 10 minutes.) Then it was a matter of waiting for good light on the partially cloudy day, watching for interesting behavior as the birds got close to me.

Among the birds was a small group of migrant American Avocets, now almost totally in basic plumage (a few had a wee bit of salmon coloring left.) They flew in and waded their way over towards me, staying in the same room-sized patch of the large marsh for almost two hours- must have been keying in on some extra tasty prey there. Luckily, that's where I was planted, so I got some fun shots. While they occasionally worked the muddy shore, more often they were out in pretty deep (for them) water, tipping their whole heads under water like dabbling ducks to reach the bottom. I think they were swimming much of the time instead of wading- pretty cool to see that behavior in a shorebird (I also watched a Greater Yellowlegs swim across the pond instead of wading or flying.)





The birds that drew me to the spot in the first place were 3 Snowy Egrets. I didn't really have much in the way of good Snowy Egret photography prior to Sunday so I was hoping they would cooperate, and they did! Like the Avocets, they kept looping back and forth through the same small section of the bigger marsh, snagging small fish from time to time. They completely adjusted to my quiet presence among the stumps and would come by quite close, fishing as they went. Sometimes they would squawk and chase each other, but even the ones that got run off would slowly work their way back, trying to avoid the wrath of the dominant bird. The last two pics were taken sequentailly 1/5 of a second apart- those egrets are quick! (Click to enlarge the image and you will see the fruit of the egret's labor, looking pretty bummed about the whole deal.)

Rescue Me

A couple of weekends ago I had the pleasure of teaching a photo workshop for The Nature Conservancy at their wonderful Carpenter Ranch property. What a great place to spend a long weekend!! We spent a lot of time in the amazing habitats of the Yampa River Valley photographing birds and wildlife, balanced with some time inside discussing equipment and technique. A few of the topics we dicussed included managing digital files and simple digital darkroom workflow. Whenever I teach about this I stress the importance of always keeping unedited originals somewhere and backing them up. I also mention that memory cards can sometimes wonk out, but that file recovery software may be able to rescue images that seem to be lost to the corrupt card. I never actually had to rescue images until my card went haywire as I was showing everyone how to download files quickly using a card reader (Murphy's Law, I guess.) Nothing like having a tech meltdown in front of an audience!

So I just switched to a previously downloaded photo file set for purposes of carrying on my discussion at the workshop, but when I got home I set about attempting to salvage the pics, running the Image Rescue software that came for free with one of my Lexar compact flash cards. It was able to scour 150 or so photos from the card, but that was it. I knew some great shots were missing, so I went online in search of a program that might get everything off of the bad card. I settled on trying PhotoRecovery. One of the really nice things they offer is a free demo download that you can run on a corrupt card to see what it finds. They have a watermark across the previews and you can't save them, but it is an ideal try-before-you-buy situation because you will know what you'll get off the card. In the free demo I could see that all but three images were recoverable (those three only had the top of the frame showing, with the rest just gray.) It also found images that I had trashed long ago, including some from my Utah trip in June (even when "deleted", files are still on the card until they are overwritten by new files.) $40 got me the full version to download, which let me immediately save my recovered JPEGS and NEF files- yea!!

The morning session that day targeted Sandhill Cranes. The neighboring Yampavian Ranch plays host scores of the birds that roost near the Yampa River that splits the property. One of the hay meadows is flooded for irrigation and the cranes find it irresistable, stopping there both on their way in to and out of the riverside roost. Interestingly, the cranes were dancing (not to mention cavorting, capering, and frollicking, accompanied by their gutteral bugles) a lot despite the fall season. I guess they want to keep their pair bonds going strong, and they might be teaching their fully-grown (but not red-headed yet) youngsters a little about how to boogie down. All of these shots were from the rescued batch of files- thanks, PhotoRecovery!!

Tune In

In celebration the late Roger Tory Peterson's 100th birthday, Houghton Mifflin just published the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of North America. An amalgamation of RTP's original paintings and 40 new paintings by Michael O'Brien, with new range maps and re-written text, this guide supplants the Eastern & Western Peterson Field Guides and joins the growing list of recently published top-notch North American Field Guides.

I peeked at a preview copy at the ABA's annual convention in Utah last summer, and was impressed with the look and feel of the guide. But what is really cool to share with you all right now is the series of podcasts (33 episodes totalling nearly 3 hours of content) that Bill Thompson III and Jeff Gordon produced as digital supplements to the book. I am honored to have contributed photos for the project, and encourage everyone to check them out. The podcasts include family overviews, species profiles, tutorials, and RTP biography episodes. There's lots of info for birders of all skill levels. While I haven't watched them all yet I know I will- they offer a great way to review bird families quickly, kind of like video birding Cliff Notes. For beginning & intermediate birders this will be an awesome resource, distilling the decades of birding experience & accumulated knowledge of BT3 & Jeff Gyr into potent digests. Watch the intro podcast at the top of the page first- it sets the stage really well. Nicely done, gents- I know RTP would approve!

Shake A Tail Feather

My yard has had the expected push of female/immature-type hummingbirds for the last few weeks, so I decided to deploy my Wingscapes BirdCam in attempt to remotely capture images of the birds. It is nice getting bird photos even when I'm off teaching, birding somewhere else, or sleeping in!

Figuring out adult male hummingbirds isn't too big a deal, but dealing with females and youngsters can be a little trickier. One thing I noticed in the images as I reviewed them were significant differences in tail patterns. Many guidebooks don't help much in this area, but page 278 in the 5th edition of National Geographic has a nice comparison plate featuring the spread tails of Broad-tailed, Rufous, Allen's, and Calliope Hummingbirds. Steve Howell's Hummingbirds of North America, The Photographic Guide is also an invaluable reference for sorting out these hummers. So to set the theme, here's a little tune from The Blues Brothers (Shake a Tail Feather.)

The first subject is a Broad-tailed Hummingbird. True to its name, note the wide tail, with a bit of rufous in the inner corners:

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

In profile, this hummer shows a moderately long, slightly curving bill along with a warm wash on the flanks (described by Howell as vinaceous-cinnamon!) I think this is an immature bird, perhaps female, based on the throat spotting pattern and what I think is a lack of a contrasting forecollar (which an immature male would show better.)

Broad-tailed Hummingbird

Next up is an immature male Rufous Hummingbird. Here we see extensive rufous throughout the basal half of the tail, spilling into some of the uppertail coverts. How do we rule out Allen's? Well, for one I'm in Colorado, where that species has yet to be documented. I expect Allen's to turn up in the state, however, and it is going to be a photo like this that proves it. Perhaps a hummingbird bander will get the shot, but I wouldn't rule out digital photography of freely flying birds like this. You can see the strongly notched tip to R2 (the second tail feather out from the middle), diagnostic for male Rufous. Additionally, R4 & R5 (the outermost tail feathers) would be even narrower than these in male Allen's.

Rufous Hummingbird

Beyond the tail pattern, notice the overall chunky look of the bird, bull-necked and with a fairly short, straight bill (giving a much more compact appearance than the Broad-tailed.) A nice rufous wash on the flanks and white forecollar also mark the immature male Rufous.

Rufous Hummingbird

The third species I commonly get coming to my flowers and feeders is Calliope Hummingbird (North America's smallest.) The last of our tail patterns today, you'll notice no rufous in this individual (though a wee bit near the base is present in some birds.)

Calliope Hummingbird

Beyond that, this diminutive hummer has a short straight bill and a funny pot-bellied look. I think they are shaped kind of like a bowling pin. Also, note it isn't nearly as warmly colored on the flanks as either of the preceding birds.

Calliope Hummingbird

Surprises in the Scope

My dad & I took a swing to Jumbo Reservoir in NE Colorado on the auspicious date of 8/8/08, hoping for a serious hit of shorebirding. Shoreline conditions were pretty good, and the numbers and diversity of shorebirds were good, too. I always like re-tuning on peeps, and we had decent looks at Colorado's common little guys (Least, Semi-palmated, and Western Sandpipers) to calibrate on. Baird's Sandpipers were spread around about every section of shoreline, offering a good size standard to compare numerous other species to. A smattering of larger shorebirds like Willets, Marbled Godwits, and both Yellowlegs upped the interest level, as did a small group of 15 or so dowitchers. Soon after we stopped to examine them more closely my dad mentioned a bird that had the makings of a potential Short-billed Dowitcher (pretty unusual in Colorado.) Juveniles are pretty straightforward, but this was an adult. Marks that he noticed and that I liked, too began with the overall feel of the bird- slightly smaller looking, paler below, and flatter-backed & less rotund than nearby Long-billed Dowitchers when it was feeding. Perhaps it was coincidental, but the bird never mixed into the main group of Long-billed Dowitchers, instead keeping off to itself at the outskirts of the group. I moved in for a bout of digiscoping, keeping enough distance between myself and the dowitchers on the open shore to avoid flushing or disturbing them. Getting home, I liked what I saw for SBDO and some birding pro friends of mine agreed.

Molting adult Short-billed Dowitcher (hendersoni subspecies.)

Short-Billed (left) & Long-billed (right) Dowitchers, plus a Baird's Sandpiper in the foreground.

Short-billed Dowitcher with Lesser Yellowlegs

5 shorebird species- can you ID them all?

Anyway, after working on the Dowitchers I began scanning farther down into the SW corner of the lake to see if I could pick out any other good shorebird concentrations. A pod of plegadis ibis was cool, and there were Black Terns and Franklin's Gulls about everywhere in droves. Then something really odd-looking popped its head up from behind the loafing gulls- a Tricolored Heron! That was a new state bird for me- I ran back to get my dad & we enjoyed our views despite some bad air distortion, and I got some digiscoped record shots:The bird eventually came walking by directly in front of us while we were eating our lunch, offering great views of its juvenal plumage before flying across the bay. I was a little bummed for some friends of mine who were driving up to see it, but at least it wasn't gone- just far across the lake.
I then turned my attention back to the ibis I had spotted earlier in the corner of the lake, and dang if there wasn't a Tricolored Heron on the shoreline near them. I figured that it had somehow flown back over without me noticing, but I had a funny hunch that I should have noticed that so I looked back across the lake and sure enough, that Trike was still there. Shazam- two Tricoloreds in one spot!! That's the only time this has happened in Colorado as far as I can tell. The second bird was darker, and I initially thought it was an adult. But now, looking at the pictures, I think it is also an immature bird. I don't know if these have a 2nd-year plumage or if juvs are variable- any comments on the 2nd bird's age? To cap it off, the redder bird flew back to our side of the lake and the two birds foraged together, working their way down the shoreline right in front of us. I shot some frames of the birds together and got a video clip showing them with a pair of Snowy Egrets.
Here's the vid:

Hot Off The Press

In the last few weeks a few new publications have come out featuring my photography. One is a book by Sharon Stiteler (aka The Bird Chick) called City Birds Country Birds. It's a nice book covering these topics highlighted on the back cover:

• Secret methods for attracting birds to any location
• Info about feeders, seed, and bird houses
• Special tips for apartments, condos, and more
• How to attract wanted guests and learn to live with unwanted visitors
• Frequently asked questions, success stories, and other resources

If you feed or house birds you should pick up a copy- I think it would be a great gift, too. Don't you know someone, perhaps a casual bird watcher who feeds birds or has bird houses but would like to have more success? This is the book for them.

I also got some copies of the SE Colorado Birding Trail printed guides last week. Most of the bird pics in the guide are mine- cool to see this in print now in addition to being online. I'm not sure where these will be distributed but keep an eye out on the web page for updates. I also understand that part 2 (out of a planned 4) of the Colorado Birding Trail, the SW portion, is on the way.

The other nice surprise that arrived in the mail recently was the new brochure for Yosemite National Park. It features a Black Swift photo of mine (just left of the center waterfall pic.) The NPS site says that Yosemite gets almost 4 million visitors a year- I'm guessing this is the widest audience so far for my photography!

Flying Pennants

Here in Colorado, serious summer dog days have set in. Denver tied a 134 year-old record of 18 consecutive days reaching at least 90°, and will break that tomorrow with forecasted highs of near 100 for the next couple of days, and more 90°+ weather after that. It is dry, too- the mountains had great snowpack last winter so reservoir water supplies are OK, but Boulder has only had 0.09 inches of precipitation this month, tying 2001 for the most arid July unless some rain comes through tomorrow...

Anyway, there is still always something interesting going on if you go out and look. On Sunday, Ted Floyd and I found a Black-chinned Hummingbird nest near Hygiene (yeah, a very clean town), a little hamlet in Boulder County. Seems like this might be the first nesting record in the county, but not completely unexpected since this species is expanding their range northward and have been found nesting in the next county north of here (Larimer.) We saw the bird carrying cottonwood down, and it hunkered in the nest a time or two, but didn't want to stay long for the time we waited. I wonder if it is still building the nest- no little bills peeking out over the rim were evident. Seems late, but the Birds of North America online (a must-have subscripiton for anyone even remotely interested in wild birds) indicates the potential for late nesting, particularly with potential second broods:

Texas: Egg dates 4 Apr-21 Jul, with young in the nest as early as 18 Apr and as late as 12 Aug (Oberholser and Kincaid 1974). At Big Bend National Park, arrival by the second week of Mar, with nesting beginning immediately; young ready to leave nest by 4 May (Wauer 1973); breeding (2 broods when food supplies and predators permit) may extend to end of Aug (P. Scott pers. comm.).

Checking BNA again, the nest construction fits the description to a T:

Nest cup-shaped and primarily composed of plant down (often almost exclusively from the underside of sycamore leaves, but also from down of cottonwood and willow; will take advantage of unbleached cotton if provided) and held together primarily with spider webs and insect cocoon fibers.

Overall, though, birding around here is pretty slow these days. I'm still waiting for a serious influx of hummers to my yard- I've had a few but they aren't sticking around much despite great flowers and feeders waiting for them.

Still, hot summer days are really good for another fun pastime- dragonfly hunting!! I don't know much about odonata (AKA odes, dragonflies & damselflies), but I like to stalk and photograph them, sussing out their identities as best as I can when I get home. I like my long lens for dragonfly photography- I can often get close enough for detailed photos without spooking the bug from its perch.

One dragonfly I do know and look for with anticipation is the Halloween Pennant. This is maybe my favorite dragonfly around here. In his book, Dragonflies through Binoculars, Sidney Dunkle lists them as common in the East but they are more scattered in Colorado, apparently found reliably only in a few locations. Luckily for me, a couple of these spots are pretty close to home.





Amongst the Halloween Pennants and other odes, I found a dragonfly that was new to me. Looking it up when I got home, I determined that it was a Calico Pennant. This species isn't shown as occurring in Colorado according to Dunkle's book, but the USGS dragonfly site shows them in a couple of Colorado counties (so much for finding the first state record...) Anyway, If Dunkle didn't map it in Colorado I'd guess it is at least uncommon in the state. Probably goes to show that there is a need for updated odes info, at least out west. Perhaps the void will be filled by a book that I heard was coming out (soon?) by Dennis Paulson. Anyone know more about the project? Hopefully it will include damselflies, too, but even if it is just a dragonfly book I look forward to the additional reference when it becomes available.