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August 10, 2009

Early Fall Migrants

Before I get started on blogging about my New Mexico trip I thought I would post on a few birds I have seen in Iowa lately.
My mom and I went looking for Buff-breasted Sandpipers around the county late this afternoon without any luck. There weren't even any at a sod farm that had over 20 of them last year. Other shorebirds are on the move as evidenced by the nine species I saw. Although the Buff-breasted Sandpipers did not show up we did find nice and unexpected birds including a Least Tern and a White-faced Ibis. Both of these birds although regular in our area are hard to come by sometimes so it was nice to see them. The ibis was located at a place called Table Marsh. While looking at 20 Great Blue Herons, 5 Great Egrets, 1 Green Heron, a few Black Terns, and a couple Snow Geese a dark bird about heron size flew out of the weeds. It then landed and I quickly identified it as an ibis. The marsh has been one of the best place to look for waterbirds recently. All of these birds were joined by a lone SANDHILL CRANE back in July. I was the first to find the crane which one other birder was able to see.

This bird was a thrill to see as this species is rare in migration through our area not to mention mid summer. Fall migration has already begun for some birds so get out and enjoy it!

Bird Photo Quiz 4 Answer

Congratulations to Bill Bossman for correctly identifying the mystery bird. This Canyon Wren was hopping around the rocks at the bottom of a canyon at Philmont Scout Ranch. We had just descended 1,000 ft down the western side of the canyon and were resting in order to regain our strength to be able to climb up 400+ ft on the east side. Although not a very hard quiz bird I couldn't resist posting the photo as a quiz because it was just looked perfect for that.

August 9, 2009

Bird Photo Quiz 4

During my trip to New Mexico I got a couple nice quiz worthy photos. Here is the first one.
Post a comment to answer. All birds are on the ABA checklist which can be accessed by going to: http://www.aba.org/checklist/abachecklist.pdf

August 8, 2009

I'm Back

After finding 26 life birds, hiking 75 miles through mountains in 10 days, climbing a 11,020 ft mountain, climbing up a 600ft tall sand dune at Great Sand Dunes NP, 4 bear sightings, and after treating someone for hypothermia I finally made it back home safely from my boyscout backpacking trip at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. As you can tell I have a lot to tell you about so check in from time to time to read all about my three week adventure!