A Bird’s Eye View -
2011 and 2010 Columns
December, 2011 The European Starling
I know. I know. I can hear it now. "An article about the starling?" you ask, the
icy contempt dripping from your voice. You mean just because it's an aggressive,
invasive, introduced bird, that's out-
November, 2011 Sparrows
I like sparrows—a lot—but it wasn't always so. Like many beginning birders, I found
them difficult and dull, shrugging them off as just another LBJ (Little Brown Job).
I clearly remember the day, though, that all turned around, when I "worked" on a
very cooperative sparrow that I had never seen before. It afforded me long looks,
and turned out to be a Clay-
October, 2011 Tom Edell
Every so often I use this space to highlight our county birders. One can hardly mention San Luis Obispo County without Tom Edell's name coming to mind, and not only locally, but throughout California. Tom is a highly regarded birder. His identification skills, his grasp of the status and distribution of county birds, and his tireless devotion to our local birding scene for many years borders on the legendary.
September, 2011 Shorebird "Fall" Migration
It's September, and local birders are looking forward to the end of the "summer doldrums"
and the arrival of our fall migrants. From mid-
August, 2011 Birding Far From Home
I've talked in this space about green birding, and birding close to home to save fossil fuels. I readily admit though, that it is very exciting to bird in unfamiliar territory. Whether it is a business trip, family vacation, or simply travelling somewhere to watch birds, the chance of life birds and new scenery is fun.
July, 2011 The Hunt For Black Rail
The Black Rail has been called the most elusive bird in the United States. This sparrow-
June, 2011 Birds Asleep
I would venture to say that most birders have not given much thought to how birds sleep. That was certainly the case for me, but in researching this article, it turns out that the habits of birds in the dark part of their lives is quite fascinating.
May, 2011 Bird Nests
IIn this part of the world, May is the month for nest-
From a simple scrape in the sand to elaborate stick castles, or maybe the oddest one yet—the swiflets in Southeast Asia who make their nest from their own saliva (and then made into bird’s nest soup), the diversity of nest construction is incredible.
April, 2011 Birding Secrets
For the last several months we have talked about beginning and advanced birding. On this first day of April, I thought I would share with you some of the secrets of the most advanced birders and other news from the birding world. I, like that WikiLeaks guy, am putting my reputation at great risk here, but it's time this information was made public.
March 2011 Advanced Birding
Last month we talked about beginning birding, and some of the basics you might need to know when you first start looking at birds. This month I will give you a taste of some aspects of advanced birding, what the experts look at in the field.
February, 2011 Beginning Birders
During four days of leading field trips for the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival I was asked some great questions by beginning birders. It brought back memories of my early days, seeing these neophytes struggle to identify small, fast moving birds, often high overhead in the trees. I will try to answer some of those questions here. I only wish I would have known some of these tips early in my birding career.
January, 2011 AC8 -
The California Condor once ranged over the entire west coast and east into Florida and even into New York. Because of climate change and the loss of the large Pleistocene mammal food supply, and even due to native Americans collecting the birds for ceremonial purposes, the large birds were pushed back into a fraction of their historical range, the mountains of southern California.
December, 2010 Pishing
If you think that birders have a nerdy stereotype . . . you know, old men wearing plaid shorts with black socks, half glasses and binoculars hanging on our neck, notebooks and field guides hanging from our belt loops. . . you should hear us in the field. A group of birders hissing, squeaking, and hooting on a bird walk does not help dispel that bird nerd image. This month we will talk about pishing, or the art of attracting birds.
November, 2010 Maggie Smith
Unlike some birders who have had a passion for the sport from an early age, Maggie started birding at age 62, but has certainly made up for lost time. By her own admission she is somewhat compulsive at her hobbies, loves to learn, and is very competitive. It's no surprise that she has quickly become one of the top birders in the area, with a county list (as of this writing) of 369 birds.
October, 2010 Coastal Migrant Traps
In the Fall, and more specifically mid-
September, 2010 Birds On The Wane
Back in the "good old days," when there were still vast unexplored frontiers in this country, John James Audubon and many other biologists would collect their specimens to study with the blast of a shotgun. No one worried about it because of the incredible abundance of wildlife in the United States. It's a different story now, with many birds either extinct or nearly so, due to habitat loss or outright depredation.
August, 2010 Bird Intelligence
The next time someone calls you a birdbrain, just smile and thank them. In the past few decades, scientists have discovered that the brain of many bird species is comprised of a processing system that works much the same way as our cerebral cortex. Many studies have shown that birds, especially the parrots and members of the crow family, are at least as smart as the dolphins and the apes.
July, 2010 Pelagic Birding
Birding opportunities do not end at the shoreline. This month we will explore the rewarding, but often challenging, world of pelagic birding. Pelagic birds—the albatrosses, shearwaters, petrels, and others—are a diverse group of birds that are rarely seen by most birders. They have one thing in common—they spend most of their lives on the deep, open ocean waters, coming to shore only to breed and lay eggs.
June, 2010 Yellow-
If a birder wants to check off every bird in North America, eventually he or she
must come to central California for the Yellow-
May, 2010 Birding Technology
Just like everything else it has touched, modern technology, especially the internet, has radically affected even the simple act of going out and looking at birds. This month we will look at some of the changes wrought by our new world, like it or not. Let me apologize in advance for an article full of blue, underlined links to birding websites. Just be sure to return to the Slo Coast Journal when finished.
April, 2010 What Is My Favorite Bird?
People often ask me what my favorite bird is, and it always stumps me. I've always felt awkward not being able to answer that question (after nearly four decades of birding), so I thought I would sit down this month and try to figure it out in front of you.
Of course, there are obvious contenders.
March, 2010 Attracting Birds to Your Yard
If you don’t already keep a yard list, I guarantee that you will be astounded at the variety of birds that visit your yard. Soon after I started birding, my uncle became interested in the sport. He was a farmer and worked outside almost every day of the year, and knew a few of the common birds around. Within a few years he had a bird list of over 200 species on his property. I grant you his “yard” was much bigger than most, with a creek running through it, but my point is that most birds go unnoticed in your yard.
February 2010 Carbonless Birding
I would say that most birders have a keen interest in the natural world, and those who have been at it a long time are acutely aware of the price some birds have paid for human intervention. Habitat loss, pollution, and the outright reduction or elimination of certain species are noticeable facts, so the green birding idea was embraced heartily by hundreds of birders from around the world. We hope our carbon free birding can offset some of our guilt for jumping into cars or onto a plane to chase a rare bird.
January, 2010 The List
I think I can safely venture that all but a very small minority of birders keep some kind of a bird list. Whether it's as simple as check marks and dates in the margins of their field guide or elaborate listing software on their computer, most birders keep a record of birds they have seen. My birding "career" started because of a list. In my first year of college, in 1973, our instructor, Bill Deneen, required we keep a list of birds seen that semester. Needless to say I was hooked, and I continue to add to that list today.
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