Some cool birds

...oh, that I saw, I mean.

During my field ornithology trip I saw 66 different species. (I think that's right, anyhow. I discovered Friday morning that I'd missed marking some off on this checklist, so it might be a couple more. Who knows. And then I saw a house sparrow on the way home. And then I saw a House Sparrow on the drive home. And today at the zoo-- yes I realize this is no longer part of the field ornithology course, by any stretch-- I saw several of what I think-- my best guess from my field guide and just seeing them in passing, anyhow-- were Surf Scoters, flying by overhead. So the list will continue. Though not with the Surf Scoters marked off, yet. Need a more confirmed ID first.)

But anyway. I don't have many pictures of birds from the trips. First of all, because I was busy, you know, looking at birds. Looking for field marks. Comparing to other species we'd seen or were possible matches in our field guides. Asking Christy or Matt how they'd been able to identify birds that they told us, so I'd know what to look out for to positively ID those species in the future. Secondly, this was usually with the help of binoculars and/or scopes. So not like the bird was sitting on the end of my foot or something. It was sitting somewhere, and/or in flight, and/or all of the above, flitting back and forth while we tried to get a good view of the bird, unobstructed by branches or leaves or whatever. Also, because usually I was carrying binoculars and a field guide and field notebook and water and maybe some snacks, and didn't have hands for messing with a camera all the time. (I know I've explained this all somewhere else already, but for people who haven't read that. There it is.)

So here are some of the cool birds I saw. So you can be jealous. And/or just know about what I got to see last week.

American Kestrel. I've seen these before in town. They are SO precious. They are just the tiniest little falcons.

Swainson's Hawk. I can identify this in flight in about 2 seconds. 'Cause I'm awesome.

Mississippi Kite-- stunning bird, in flight too.

Belted Kingfisher

Northern Shoveler (this is the male, but we saw both)

Ruddy Duck (this is the male, but we saw both)

Blue-winged Teal (this is the male, but we saw both)

Redheads

Turkey Vulture. Lots of these. I'm a pro at identifying these too, though that started at the Grand Canyon.

Brewer's Blackbird. 

Common Grackle. Can you tell the difference between this, the Brewer's Blackbird (above), and a European Starling through binoculars at a distant? 'Cause I can.

Chipping Sparrow. This guy took some hunting down and patience. We could hear him long before we got a good visual fix on him. Chipping Sparrows sound like tiny machine guns.

Lark Sparrow

White-crowned Sparrow. Just saw one of these the last morning, while reviewing before the exam!

Western Scrub Jay

Pinyon Jay

Common Nighthawk. These are not actually exclusively nocturnal-- we saw them flying around multiple times during the day. Also, when diving in flight, their wings make the most bizarre noise (confused with a growl and a tent zipper, when we all heard it the first night).

Killdeer

Piping Plover (Plover rhymes with lover. You learn something new every day). Listed as threatened, there are only 7 breeding pairs in Colorado. Look up their range, there's one tiny, lone little dot in SE Colorado. We got to see one pair tending their nest (which is under a cage, to help protect it from predators). So cool.

Least Tern. Endangered. There are 18 breeding Least Terns in Colorado (at that same wildlife area as the Piping Plovers). We saw a good half-dozen flying around. One sat on the ground at the shoreline, bathing and preening itself for us to watch.

Barn Swallow. I have long loved Swallows, but now I can tell the difference between them!

Cliff Swallow.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow.

Lewis's Woodpecker. Doesn't it look like a giant hummingbird? Amazing. Also, random fact for you, it's named after Meriweather Lewis.

Downy Woodpecker. They have similar markings to Hairy Woodpeckers, but are about half the size. Aren't they adorable?!? I want to see one closer up.

Northern Flicker. Of course, I've seen plenty of these. They would also be hopping around the ground under the trees, eating bugs, in the park near my house when I lived in Lakewood. But I figured I'd include it for other people, since they really are pretty cool looking.

Red-headed Woodpecker

American Coot

Brown-headed Cowbird (male)

Yellow-headed Blackbird. Fantastic, right?

Great Blue Heron, of course. (I mean of course that's what it is. Not of course that I saw them. Though we did see a couple.)

Rock Wren

Bullock's Oriole (male). Saw several of these. They sing beautifully, too.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Cassin's Kingbird

Western Kingbird. Yes, I can tell one of these vs. a Cassin's Kingbird seated or in flight. Or an Ash-throated Flycatcher, which takes a look to differentiate from a Say's Phoebe. Could you? :)

Lark Bunting. This is the state bird of Colorado, which is funny because it is not widely found throughout the state. Mostly just the eastern part, apparently.

Cassin's Finch (who is this Cassin who has all these birds name after them??)

Long-billed Curlew. Rare sight in Colorado. We saw five, swooping around at dusk (see: birds of the apocalypse reference, previous post).

Eared Grebe

Western Grebe. Has this crazy cool courting ritual (not that we saw that. It is June, people).

Clark's Grebe. Likes to hang out with the Western Grebe, so you have to know how to tell them apart.

American Avocet. See the long, skinny, upturned bill?

Western Meadowlark

White-faced Ibis. So cool looking. Big stocky body like a Turkey. Iridescent head and wings. So cool looking. (Yes, I do know that I said that twice. It's true twice.)

Spotted Towhee. One of these visited the last few mornings. One day people were listening to a Spotted Towhee on iBird, and it was signing back. Also, I do a mean Spotted Towhee impression. (I mean audibly. I look nothing like a Spotted Towhee. I wish!)

Yellow Warbler. A.k.a. the flying lemon. Sings very sweetly.

Juniper Titmouse. Just the sweetest, most adorablest little bird. A family of them was nesting in a rather low-down hole in the back of a lamppost at our group camping site, and the parents would fly back and forth to the babies.