WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2025   |   SUBSCRIBE    ARCHIVES   

BACKYARD BIRDING
 
Purple Martins are specialized cavity nesting birds that nest in colonies, and they are the largest of North American swallows. But wait, are they really North American birds? After all, they spend most months of the year in the Amazon River Basin in South America. Nonetheless, almost every North American can connect Purple Martins to the largest of birdhouses, sometimes in the form of apartment house replicas for birds, often in the form of artificial gords hung in a colonial cluster provided especially as a Purple Martin nesting site.
BIRDING NEWS
 
April means birding festival season is building toward a peak as migration highlights change almost weekly. In fact, there are so many birding festivals taking place during April that we will provide the April list in 2 parts – in this article and in the article scheduled for next week. At April’s birding festivals you can observe a variety of resident and migrating birds on field trips with local birders, including bird photographers. There are also opportunities to increase your knowledge of birds and bird behavior during featured presentations and workshops.

Alaska has a lot to offer birders – birds that can’t be found in the Lower 48, birds that are in full color on their Arctic nesting territories, Asian birds that cross the Bering Strait that stop at the Pribilofs or St. Lawrence Island, and more. You can even hear bird songs and see behavior that is rarely witnessed in wintering birds that migrate south from Alaska. There’s a lot to attract people from other states, Canada, and birding tourists worldwide to Alaska – and a new study reveals resident, national, and international birders spend almost $400 Million Dollars in Alaska each year!

Sometimes binocular views don’t reveal all the minute details of bird plumage, bird behavior, and even bird identification. But a photograph is still worth a thousand words, and more, when it reveals the details of a split-second behavior that hasn’t been described or verified before. That’s what happened when an ace birder and bird photographer documented a behavior he thought he witnessed, but needed that split-second look that only a photograph can produce to show that a Vermilion Flycatcher was actually catching more than flies – it was catching fish!

EDITOR AFIELD
 
In spite of a strong north wind Friday, there seemed to be something of a migration happening, led by a Red-tailed Hawk sighted as it flew into view just above treetops outside my bay windows. That was the first of 7 Red-tails, 3 Northern Harriers, an adult Bald Eagle, a Rough-legged Hawk, and a big surprise – a yearling Ferruginous Hawk – all within 7 miles south of my office. Less than a half-mile away from my desk a few hundred Cackling Geese found open water along the north edge of Melody’s Marsh; about 15 percent of that grand flock were White-fronted Geese with a few pairs of Canada Geese, plus Redheads, Mallards, and Ring-billed Gulls.
GEAR
 
Leica has long been known for quality binoculars, especially among European birders; but in the past 5 years the 3 impressive Leica birding models – the Trinovids, the Ultravids, the Noctivids,– have been improved and updated to make them among the best binoculars available in North America too. Handle them, look through them, try them in the field, and you will be very impressed. Each of the 8x42 models feature high quality optics, plus sturdy ergonomic design that feels comfortable in your hands and when viewing, while providing intuitive handling and precise focusing.
PRODUCTS
 
In case you haven’t already added the exceptional book, Penguins, to your library, this is truly a book that all birders should have on hand to appreciate one of the most endearing families of birds to its fullest. This second edition of Penguins covers all 18 species of the world’s penguins, which are expertly illustrated with more than 400 exceptional color photographs that provide a remarkable look at penguins throughout their annual cycles and in their variety of habitats. You will appreciate the informative species profiles and fun facts, along with the latest scientific insights about penguins and their conservation.

You can choose from 9 antique-finished colors of the Vintage Garden Bird Bath with fleur-de-lis design features that will make any of these bird baths a classic part of your yard decor while providing an important water source for resident, migrating, and nesting birds. Made of sturdy durable resin, these pedestal bird baths are frost- and weather-resistant to attract songbirds to your yard, flower garden, or feeding station. Fill the hollow space in the pedestal column with sand or water to weigh this bird bath down to keep it standing upright at all times.
 

BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY

Ice is a tricky form of water, frozen in place, suspended above ice cold; tricky this week because the edge of the ice changed day by day, and especially overnight when temperatures sometimes dipped below freezing, then thawed during daytime highs. The line between ice and water seemed in constant motion, with open water at a premium, mostly along the edges of marshes and lakes, slowly thawing toward the centers.

Truly at the edge of the ice, this pair of Redheads may be finding more food items along the ice during this short-lived thin ice period. The lighting and colors in this image are as good as can be hoped for by any bird photographer (600mm zoom lens, f-8 aperture, 1/1600 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

It seemed there would be more waterfowl in the area if there was more open water, especially if there was at least one ice-free lake. But realistically, with thousands of geese on hand including 5 different species, plus the most northern-thinking ducks, it was an interesting week of bird photography, creating kind of subtle images, so why not make ice the theme? On one hand, the ice didn’t seem to deter the geese from standing or lying on it, and the water couldn’t have been a big attraction considering its temperature at the edge of the ice, but the frozen lakes provided open views of the surrounding area, where geese could feel comfortable resting.

Most numerous of the ice geese were Snow Geese, and it really seems the geese prefer resting on ice to resting in the water. Near the center forefront of this photo, look for one larger, taller individual with a comparatively larger head; this goose may be a subspecies of Snow Goose usually restricted to the Atlantic Flyway (600mm zoom lens, f-10 aperture, 1/250 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

Ducks were definitely more water-oriented, and many seemed preoccupied with pairing, especially Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, and Common Goldeneyes; although Northern Pintails and Mallards were conducting mating flights regularly in some areas. I mostly stayed within 4 miles of home throughout the work week, partly due to the sketchy weather, but also because there were ample geese and ducks close by with occasional raptors passing through. Beyond my 4-mile area, birds were scarcer and more scattered, so staying closer to home was a good thing, and it emphasizes what an important area this is as a stopover site for 5 species of migrating geese, and as a stopover and nesting area for 16 species of ducks.

Cackling Geese have been especially widespread in the area surrounding The Birding Wire office during the past week. These small geese that resemble Canada Geese with a much shorter neck, smaller head and bill, also have different calls; they will fly to nesting areas in the Arctic, north of the nesting range of Canada Geese (500mm zoom lens, f-16 aperture, 1/1000 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

Back to the ice: While I managed a few photos of waterfowl and gulls near the edges of the ice, or on the ice through Saturday, when I had the idea of using ice as a theme for this article, Sunday seemed to be a breakthrough day. It was one of those “when you least expect it” days, in that it was extra-windy out of the northwest and overcast, but as the sky began to clear by mid-afternoon, the afternoon’s action increased and thrilled me flock by flock, bird by bird, until the sun was low, mostly within 4 miles of my office, mostly south.

Ice provided a uniform setting to create a field portrait of this pair of White-fronted Geese, part of a much larger flock composed of about 70 percent Cackling Geese and 30 percent White-fronts. Most of the hundreds of geese were resting on the ice next to open water, where the orange legs of the White-fronts really stood out in the mixed flock (600mm zoom lens, f-16 aperture, 1/640 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

While I was focused on publishing this issue of The Birding Wire, Tuesday I took a quick drive south, having seen the usual goose action above Melody’s Marsh I thought I’d see if there were any new ducks on hand. But I wasn’t prepared to see the wetland covered white by Snow Geese! There must have been 3,000 Snows, with the other 4 species represented too, but literally every ice-covered part of the marsh – most of it (4/5ths) – was topped by Snow Geese. It gave me another chance to take a couple more photos of the regal waterfowl at the edge of the ice.

Above the ice, an unusually white flock of Snow Geese with very few blue morph individuals and some Ross’s Geese mixed in provided a moody kind of photograph that is hard to create, but easier to select during the review process (600mm zoom lens, f-8 aperture, 1/4000 shutter speed, 800 ISO).

The future of outdoor ice will be fleeting in the days ahead, as warming temperatures thin ice from the top and from the warming water below, plus the wave action produced by strong winds from one direction, then another are increasing open water areas. That’s OK though, because at this point ice is just a prop. The birds will remain, migrate, and be replaced by other birds as time passes and the season progresses. The season of water and ice will be just a memory – until November. In the meantime, enjoy the changes in the spring season as the daylight periods increase, temperatures warm, and the numbers and variety of birds increases!

Article and Photographs by Paul Konrad

Share your bird photos and birding experiences at editorstbw2@gmail.com
 
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