Just in from an excellent study of an adult Lesser and an adult Greater at the Richmond Sewage Lagoons southwest of Ottawa. Continue reading Separating the yellowlegs →

As a birder, when describing a feature that is pretty much “fixed,” like, say, the proportionately large bill of a Rose-breasted Grosbeak or the red coloration of an adult male cardinal, a cautionary prefix such as “averages” or “in most cases shows” is unnecessary. Continue reading Using cautionary prefixes when describing the appearance of birds →

Juvenile Swamp Sparrows are distinguished from juvenile Song Sparrows by examining a combination of features. Continue reading An ID note on Swamp and Song Sparrow juveniles →

This up-coming migration period, try getting out birding with birders with more field experience and mention ahead of time that you’re looking to work on (enter bird group name, i.e., shorebirds or fall warblers) and call some of the ID’s, but would prefer to have them vetted for accuracy afterwards. Continue reading Developing confidence in the field: a note from experience… →

A superb platform for learning bird songs and calls. You can create your own study lists and quizzes and the samples of songs & photos for each species is comprehensive. Continue reading Learning Bird Songs & Calls: Dendroica, NatureInstruct →

Differential Migration is a fascinating subject and is appreciable by observing the migration of Least Flycatchers. Migrant adults precede immature birds by about a month (Hussell et al. 1967). Continue reading Differential Migration of Least Flycatchers in Fall →