Spring is sprung, the grass is riz - I wonder where the birdies iz?
Bolinaz!
April 12, 2014 at Horicon Marsh, Wisconsin - Time to bundle up!
For my dad, back in Wisconsin, Spring really does spring. We talk every Sunday morning right when Dawn Chorus goes up, and conversations often start with the weather report - is it walking weather? For him, one week is too cold/icy/snowy too walk, and a week later he's checking out Olbrich Gardens, which is fully in bloom.
April 12, 2015 at Bolinas Lagoon, California - a nice day for a stroll on the beach
Out here on the left coast in the vicinity of SF, we kind of slide into the season. One week you're out for your walk with your jacket zipped up and the next week it's unzipped. That's about it. Further inland, there's enough heat that the jacket can even come off, but near the water there's about a ten degree swing between seasons so we rely on different cues. Flowers open up, birds get courtly.
I was in Bolinas to take a one-day workshop on molt (!!) from Peter Pyle. I've studied molt on birds in hand for years, but this was focussed on birds in the field - a very different process. The first part of the day was spent in the field, followed by some classroom time. We weren't focused on seeing the greatest number of species or finding rarities; we were looking at familiar birds and trying to get more specific in our ID by aging and sexing them where possible.
First up: Cedar Waxwings. The bird on the left is a Second-Year bird (hatched in 2014) and the bird on the right is After Second Year (hatched in 2013 or earlier); in other words, an adult. I hadn't noticed difference in ages with Waxwings before - prolly just get stuck on "oooh pretty!" But look at how wide the bit of yellow is at the end of the adult bird's tail. You can't really see it in this photo, but the yellow is much narrower on the younger bird. Sibley shows the difference but doesn't label it, so I never noticed it until Peter it out to us.
Another sign of his adult status: When he turned to face the other way, we could see the red "wax" tips on his wings that give these birds their name.
No molt here, just two crows hanging out below an Osprey, scrambling for dropped scraps of fish.
Caspian Terns were out in abundance. Not a lot of molt to see here either, but terns are always sharp and always worth a look.
One way to figure out age and sex is to report a banded bird and let someone tell you what you've seen. This tern had a visual ID band, and maybe a second color band on its other leg. I reported it to the Bird Banding lab, so I'll mention it in a future Dawn Chorus when I hear more.
Even when they all look alike, sometimes you can figure out age and sex based on behavior. Spring is good for that, as these paparazzi-style photographs of two terns show. A gentleman tern is trying to impress one of the ladies with a nice fish.
She's not interested, alas. Or she's playing hard to get. (I'm sure the crows would be willing to accept it.) We watched him try to present his gift for several minutes. Better luck next time, guy!
Okay - how about a little molt!! This Greater Yellowlegs was making the transition from winter plumage to breeding plumage (or basic to alternate, if you want to use proper terminology). We usually only see them in their duller attire, so it was nice to get a hint of their more striking summer looks.
And here are some Long-billed White Crowned Sparrows.... errr, Whimbrels.
There's more gull molt (it really is starting to pay off a little) that I might add in the comments. But let's just finish with one bird in the full glory of nuptial plumage. Sometimes you need to stop studying and just appreciate.