All About Birds

Fabulous news to share today -- I am the new About.com Guide to Birding and Wild Birds. About.com, for those of you unfamiliar with the site, is part of The New York Times Company and is organized as a neighborhood of expert guides who share information, advice, news, events and more about individual topics with more than 35 million visitors per month. On my Birding and Wild Birds site, you will find detailed bird profiles, tips for attracting and feeding birds, equipment recommendations and reviews, birding travel ideas, conservation efforts, and other bird-related information.

It has been wild to get this job -- About.com has a nearly two month training and initial site building process -- but I'm thrilled to be able to share my expertise with a wider audience than just Utah birders. My first love will always be the birds in the backyard, however, and even when my birding takes me beyond the fences, I will always fly home.

A List for Life

Many birders keep life lists of all the species they've positively identified, and this is one area where I have been seriously remiss. While I've enjoyed observing birds for more than 25 years, it is only recently that I've become meticulous about ensuring that my identification is correct, and only those birds that I am 100 percent certain about now appear on my life list. Currently, my list stands at a paltry 40 species, but there are dozens more I'm fairly certain about but just can't quite guarantee accuracy.

When I seek to identify a bird, I use a minimum of two field guides and one website to check my observations on appearance, markings, behavior, habitat, size, and more, including a cross comparison with similar species. If a species has distinctive markings, I must have included those in my observations for a positive identification as well, which isn't always easy with birds I haven't seen in years. If even one of my sources disagrees or sheds serious doubt on my identification, I don't feel that I can include the species as a permanent member on my life list. While this may seem overly detailed, it is important to remember that there are approximately 10,000 species of birds in the world, and just a few incorrect assumptions can vastly inflate one's life list. This can have a devastating impact on bird watch projects, such as the annual Backyard Bird Count and Project FeederWatch.

It can be thrilling to add new species to my list, and for the time being I occasionally have the opportunity to make armchair additions as I browse through my field guides and verify identifications of birds I've seen in the past. Even as the temperatures continue to drop, however, I'm eagerly awaiting the opportunity to travel as well as the arrival of spring so my life list can grow and prosper just as the birds I hope to see in the backyard.

Have you voted in the October poll? Tell us about the types of feeders you use!

Dinner Visit

What a difference being in the right position with different camera settings can make. Our juvenile sharp shinned hawk has returned -- frequently -- for dinner visits, though with poor success from our menu of finches and sparrows. There is a tree just over our property line that he tends to perch in, moving to the same spot on the fence occasionally for a better view. Still, the smaller birds can spot his immature, unrefined approach from enough of a distance to seek shelter quickly, and he's left without a bite.

Twice today he's visited, ironically once at lunch and once at dinner, neither time to any avail. With a clearer picture, however, there is no doubt remaining that he is a sharp shinned hawk. The pale stripe over his eye is clearly visible, a trait that is lacking in both adult species as well as juvenile cooper's hawks. The thinness of his legs is also startlingly apparent. Whereas some birdwatchers would find his appearance unwelcome and unattractive, I find him noble and graceful. It's a delightful treat to have him so near, though I will refrain from putting meat in the feeders; the buffet I set for the smaller birds is undoubtedly enough to supply food for all visitors, even if not in the way intended.

If you have trouble identifying your own hawks between these two species, I highly recommend the accipiter identification table and other resources from Project Feederwatch. Happy hawking!

Walking Observations

On a picnic near the Provo River at Mt. Timpanogos park, just at the mouth of Provo Canyon, I spotted a new wild friend with easy identification: a Bullock's Oriole, a brilliant orange and black bird somewhat smaller than an American Robin and a cousin similar to the Baltimore Oriole of the east. He has a sharply defined black mask with a chin stripe that does not continue to his chest, and his vibrant color makes him easy to spot. This one was foraging in trees, nibbling off the leaf buds far above our heads, chattering randomly as he enjoyed his own picnic.

Spotting birds while walking trails is a great joy, but one that takes some practice in order to identify the wild wanderers. I would recommend going at a time when the light is good so any color variations in plumage are easily spotted, and try to get as close to the birds as possible so you can see details in their markings. Especially note the bill size and shape, head colorings, body size, wing markings, and rear view. If possible, also note what the bird is doing and any sounds you can clearly identify as coming from them.

When possible, snap a digital picture of the bird, one that you can zoom in on at a later date in order to compare the bird to books, field guides, websites, and other identification resources. Binoculars can also be a help, particularly for more reclusive species, if you have them available. My camera and zoom has helped me discover new species on several occasions, though with the clear and distinctive markings of the Bullock's Oriole, it wasn't necessary. I wouldn't recommend taking field guides with you while birding casually on a trail, since you'll waste valuable behavior observation time flipping through pages and making comparisons you can easily make after the bird has moved on.

With care and practice, you can easily find new and remarkable species no matter where you are, if you're prepared to observe them adequately. The best observation tools you have are your eyes, and with them, new birds can reveal a world you may never have known existed, a world that you share with many other intelligent and remarkable species.

Memorial

Sadly, feeding the birds is not always pleasant. Today, during the evening dinner rush, a female sparrow tragically collided with our patio door (plain glass), and seemed to break her neck in the collision. She didn't suffer, certainly, but the accident puts a pall on the joys of backyard birdfeeding. All backyard birders should be aware of the consequences of both highly reflective and clear windows -- both can be lethal for birds. They may be unaware the the window is there if it is so clear they can see through it, or they may see trees and plants reflected in the window that they believe they can fly to.

Studies indicate that as many as 100 million or more birds may perish as a result of window and building collisions each year, either immediately from the impact or shortly thereafter from injuries received during the collision. To prevent these accidents, backyard birders can do many things, including...

• Using soap, tape, whitewash, stickers, or other reflectors to break up the expanse of glass so birds are aware of the window. CollidEscape is a material that creates the appearance of a solid wall without obstructing the view - it is more expensive, but well worth the investment.
• Keeping feeders either very close to windows or greater than 10 feet from windows - if the feeders are close, birds can't gain the momentum necessary for an injury collision, and if the feeders are further away, they can avoid the glass more easily.
• Install exterior shutters, blinds, or netting to keep birds from contacting the glass. This has the distinct drawback, however, of obstructing the view and keeping you from enjoying the pleasures of winged visitors.
• Keeping windowscreens on windows throughout the year. While this cannot prevent collisions with patio doors, it can prevent window collisions.

I plan on installing CollidEscape as soon as possible to prevent other such accidents. It won't bring back the sparrow that has been lost, but today has been a lesson that won't be forgotten. For more information about bird window collisions and preventing such tragedies, I recommend this article from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as well as a detailed account from WildBird Magazine.

Fly free, little sparrow.

Birder in a Book

It's slow going with the yard recently, but the project is speeding along in my mind. I've recently read Backyard Birdfeeding for Beginners by Mathew Tekulsky and now I'm working on Impeccable Birdfeeding by Bill Adler, Jr. Both are excellent resources that I'd highly recommend for their easy reading style and strong advice for novices along with colorful and fun descriptions of different species and their behavior.

Spring is gradually creeping through the valley and the snow is all but gone. Still, March is an unpredictable month and there may yet be snow and freezing in the forecast, making it inadvisable to begin adding plants to the yard. Next week, however, I am beginning to get estimates on the concrete bits of the landscaping, namely taking out the small garden area and finishing the flowerbed curbing with an integrated dust bath. How much that will run I have no idea, since the garden area is partially buried and will take some demolition to remove. My husband and I may work on that manually, but it depends on the estimate.

Having no trees from which to hang feeders is certainly an obstacle, but I plan on creating a triad of platform feeders of varying heights -- likely also surrounded by curbing to allow for mulching beneath the feeders. Because the yard is so bare, no birds have yet consistently visited the two feeders I have out, but I plan on cleaning them soon to make them more enticing. I will also be switching from generic mixed seed to black oil sunflower seed, cracked corn, hulled sunflower seeds, and other tasty treats, and hopefully the yard will soon be a regular flocking destination, with or without cover.

For now, I'll have to content myself with learning more about my future visitors in the pages of other authoritative works. Soon enough I'll be learning firsthand and hopefully be able to write my own.

Birding Books

I got two new resource books this week -- Birds of Utah Field Guide by Stan Tekiela and The Backyard Bird Feeder's Bible by Sally Roth, both of which I would highly recommend. These augment my older two books, Birds of North America by Kenn Kaufman and Audubon North American Birdfeeder Guide by Robert Burton and Stephen Kress. Owning more than one field guide is extremely valuable for identifying species -- different books use slightly different descriptions of species and their behavior, and different photographs can help novice birders such as myself more accurately identify visitors. I especially appreciate regional guides as they are generally more comprehensive, and I see no sense in buying a field guide that will tell me mountains of information about birds that are hundreds or thousands of miles away that I have no hope of seeing visit my feeders.

The birdfeeder books will prove invaluable as I begin the landscaping projects needed to turn this bare plot into a suitable sanctuary. Already in reading through them I've gleaned many seeds of information I plan to implement -- ground level birdbaths, layering plants, non-seed foods to attract and nourish newcomers -- and I know they'll work wonders as the sanctuary takes shape.