Reach out to migrating birds with a full array of foods topped with fresh water to attract the widest variety of birds to your yard to date! As we head into one of the most exciting months of the year, in our yards and at our feeding stations, it's time to pull out all the stops – if you haven't already. With the prospect of orioles, tanagers, hummingbirds, grosbeaks, catbirds, warblers, finches, native sparrows, towhees, thrashers, and thrushes migrating into view to join the likes of cardinals, woodpeckers, nuthatches, and whatever else shows up. "Be prepared" is the name of the game during May.
Are you ready to join in the biggest, most important spring day of birding with more than a million birders from across the country and around the world? The Global Big Day is coming up Saturday May 9th, when birders around the world will identify, count, and report the birds they see – anytime, anywhere that Saturday. Last year birders in 204 countries and sub-regions joined together during Global Big Day to report a record number of 8,039 different species of birds! Birders demonstrated the power of their collective action and showed that Global Big Day is officially more than a day of birding together – it's a movement!
As we enter the most active period of bird migration, you can check live migration maps and other valuable information provided by BirdCast across the contiguous United States. This daily information is filed to be available to refer to anytime for any given night or day – and it's all free and available online 24-7. Using weather radar to detect the numbers and flight directions of migrating birds, BirdCast provides information to birders in a number of different ways, most notably on their Live Migration Map and Local Migration Dashboard. There are also 2 migration forecasting programs: Migration Forecasts and Migration Alerts, both of which look 3 days into the future.
An inspiring trip to Minnesota lakes country last Wednesday, which was coincidentally Earth Day, yielded looks at 4 active Bald Eagle nests and 2 active Osprey nests, as well as a sighting of an Osprey flying with a fish in its talons. After a warm walk through the woods filled with the sounds of Song Sparrows, American Robins, Red-winged Blackbirds, a Blue Jay, a Red-bellied Woodpecker, a Downy Woodpecker, and pierced by a loud Pileated Woodpecker call, I made a second check for Common Loons. With the wind calmed to a murmur, the first pair of loons of the season materialized in a familiar location, which prompted me to approach a bit closer on foot. But the loons turned the table on me and actually approached me, which was both surprising and exciting.
Locate birds quicker with a wider view of your surroundings and get edge-to-edge sharpness right to the corners of the image with Kowa BD II 8x42 XD Wide Angle Binoculars. These Kowa BD IIs have excellent optics that create bright, sharp, high-contrast images that emphasize natural colors of the birds you encounter. When combined with the especially wide-angle field of view of 429 feet at 1,000 yards this model gives every birder the edge during spring migration, or anytime. These Kowas feature XD lenses and other optics features that set a new standard for binoculars in its price point – they are affordable without compromise.
The title of the newest book on the market, The Return of the Oystercatcher, seems vastly understated if not misleading considering it is not focused on a single species, but explores the recovery efforts that are not only preventing declines in bird populations, but helping birds to thrive. From the spectacular recovery of North American raptors, with numbers that have increased dramatically during the last 50 years, to the mind-bending resurgence of Canada Geese in Maine that increased by 146,000 percent during the same period, author and ornithologist Scott Weidensaul shares impressive stories of hope and progress in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.
A primo oriole feeder available this spring is the Kettle Moraine Super Oriole Feeder that permits you to offer 2 orange halves with 2 bowls of grape jelly to orioles and other feeder visitors. The orange-colored plastic base is made of recycled plastic, measures 12 inches in diameter, and has 2 aluminum stakes for orange halves along with 2 removable glass bowls to fill with grape jelly. The orange pagoda-like roof is made of galvanized steel and measures 14 inches in diameter; it can be attached or removed, depending on your preference.
A Third State Record Crissal Thrasher that was documented at Wild Horse Mesa in Colorado was the only new record documented recently, but there have been a wealth of exceptionally rare bird sightings that included a Cuban Pewee in Florida, a Baikal Teal in Ontario, a Mexican Duck in Colorado, a Whooper Swan in Alaska, a Ruff in Nebraska, a Little Stint in California, a Common Black Hawk and Tricolored Heron in Colorado, and the Kelp Gull has returned to the nesting colony in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and there are many continuing rare birds.
Sitting on the cool ground in the early morning darkness felt right as we waited for first light with other-worldly sounds emanating outside the tent blind, made by what looked like gray ghosts. How’s that for an introduction to photographing Sharp-tailed Grouse at the lek where they gather in anticipation for mating? The grouse had already endured many cold dark mornings of dancing and displaying, before sunrise and after, to predicate little skirmishes. And for the dominant males positioned in the center of the lek, the possibility of mating with females that visit the lek to choose a male added even more intensity to the lek activities. Witnessing these annual rites of spring is difficult, but constitutes a rite of spring that every birder should experience.
Sunrise light provided a uniquely colored glow in this photograph of a male Sharp-tailed Grouse in full display mode at a remote lek northeast of Bismarck, North Dakota. To photograph under the early low-light conditions, the ISO was increased to 1600 and the aperture was set at the narrowest level permitted by the 600mm lens (f-6). Although the action was fast and the shutter speed especially low, this image is sharp enough to see the details of the eye, beak, and yellow comb above the eye, as well as fine variations in the plumage (600mm zoom lens, f-6 aperture, 1/250 shutter speed, 1600 ISO).
As the first rays of sunlight broke above the horizon I began to test the levels of solar illumination as the grouse continued to dance, sometimes in groups, sometimes one-on-one, calling, cooing, even cackling at times, with periods of stare-downs and possibly, moments to catch their breath as they laid on their belly but ready to spring forward in a split second to resume Sharp-tail interactions. To get true colors, it would take a bit more waiting for the sun to be positioned higher in the sky, but while the early morning sunlight was dim and absolutely tricky, it was very interesting and worthy of surprises with the understanding that what you get photographically was not necessarily what you imagined or expected.
The 2 photos of displaying grouse were taken 42 minutes apart, showing a dramatic difference in sunlight quality and color reproduction in the photos. The necessary narrow aperture setting blurred the background out of focus, which helped to emphasize the displaying Sharp-tail (600mm zoom lens, f-7 aperture, 1/1250 shutter speed, 1600 ISO).
The low light quality dictated the tech settings for my camera, with my aperture set at the lowest (narrowest) position possible, f-6, to provide the fastest possible shutter speed to try to stop the ultra-fast action of the grouse performances. That was not nearly fast enough to take a photo using my usual ISO of 800, so at a level of desperation I increased the ISO setting to 1600 and waited for the sunlight to become brighter. My first successful photograph was taken with a shutter speed of only 1/250, which is half the speed I would prefer, but for a single photograph – my favorite photo of the morning – it worked. That photo was taken 16 minutes after sunrise, and I took the second best photo 42 minutes later, when the sunlight was quite bright and the shutter speed was 1/2500 – fast enough to stop any grouse action.
Between dancing bouts or territorial interactions, grouse faced off for varying lengths of time. It was difficult to show a broader perspective of the activities that were taking place, but there were about 30 Sharp-tails active on the lek that provided a memorable spring photo experience (600mm telephoto lens, f-7 aperture, 1/1250 shutter speed, 1600 ISO).
Earlier in the morning I did try to take some low light, slow shutter speed photos that would show motion, maybe even some ghostly images in the gloom of first light. But ultimately they didn’t materialize as publishable images of Sharp-tail action at the lek in the midst of especially exciting, active, interesting rites of spring in the open grassland. Some years ago I photographed at a Sharp-tailed lek southwest of Bismarck with my friends Keith and Jeff, and I photographed Greater Prairie Chickens in Wisconsin soon after moving from southern California to rural North Dakota. But every spring I’ve wished for a chance to photograph at an active Sharp-tailed Grouse lek again, but opportunities were always between distant and nonexistent.
The closest, clearest photograph of a Sharp-tailed Grouse was taken as it ran toward another male that shared its lek boundary. After a long time since I last photographed from a stationary blind, it was an exciting experience that provided something of a primal connection to nature (600mm zoom lens, f-7 aperture, 1/1250 shutter speed, 1600 ISO).
Photographing at a Sharp-tail lek is a tough experience on the best of days that requires waking in the middle of the night and getting to a photo blind before first light; then waiting and hoping for the best during an extra-cold morning a couple hours in mid-April. But that’s after you have a lek site located (the most difficult task) and a photo blind already set up. A few weeks ago I received some new information and made a new birding contact through a couple phone calls and arranged to meet a small group of birders led by Drew, who studies grouse, pheasants, and similar birds in North Dakota. Drew certainly made the experience easy and enjoyable, and through his advance efforts I appreciated the chance to fulfill a long-time interest to photograph Sharp-tailed Grouse displaying at their lek. Thanks in a big way Drew! I hope every birder makes an effort to experience seeing the lek action of a grouse species – it’s a unique and thrilling way to see these birds in a very different way!
