Indigo

 I think of the indigo bunting as difficult to see, but yesterday I heard at least five through the merlin app and saw at least two, in different locations. They are loud and distinctive-looking, and almost want to be seen, but they can be elusive too. 

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In Utah over the weekend I took a hike with my aunt Dorothy and her husband Robert. They didn't know if there would be any birds, but they aren't birders so they simply hadn't been attentive to what was there. There were quite a few think to see, including a warbler that was new to me.  

Bird vocabulary

Birds are a part of our everyday environment, while at the same time carrying portentous meanings. The mostly commonly seen birds will be known to virtually everyone. For a birder, a bird seen several times over the course of several years will not be "rare," simply uncommon. Birds seen every day or week or month form the basic vocabulary, expanded from there into more species. Being able to rapidly identify a common bird is helpful, because it serves a point of comparison. 

Literally too, our visual vocabulary corresponds to a nomenclature. We have extra adjectives or descriptors to distinguish species, instead of just duck, goose, sparrow.  

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I guess I'm looking for a pretentious way to express a rather dumb and basic idea: we see common birds commonly, and know the words for them. Birding is [simply] an extension of that.   

Pectoral Sandpiper

 We're in migration time, so I've been going out on field trips with the local Audubon people. I got several new birds, like pectoral sandpiper and Harris Sparrow. We saw egrets and herons, blue-winged teal ducks. Red-winged blackbirds and tree swallows are abundant. Great-tailed and common grackles. 

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Yesterday, some crows and a hawk were making a racket outside my apartment complex.  

Birding in DC and KU

 In Maryland, we saw some yellow crowned herons nesting in a suburban street, later some black crowned herons in DC. 

Yesterday, I saw a kestrel high in a tree on the KU campus. Today, with a field trip near the KU boathouse on the river, yellow-rumped warblers, yellow warblers, wood duck, eastern bluebird, numerous cow birds and sparrows, along with the usual finches, robins, cardinals. 

My life list cracked 100 over the weekend.   

field trip

 We had another field trip today. There were about 30 people and we were east of the Baker Wetlands. Bald eagle, hawks, cormorant, tree swallows, red-winged blackbirds, phoebe, shoveler duck, kestrel. Several kinds of sparrows. Several others varieties of duck and geese. 

We parked and then went down the road. Other people took their cars every 200 yards to the next stop, but I walked and got 2 miles in.  

From parking lot to building...

From parking lot to the building where I work, I had the Merlin app open and was recording for 3 minutes. I got 

Common grackle

House finch

Mourning dove

Northern cardinal

American robin

American goldfinch

American crow

European starling 

I heard and saw the finches; I heard dove and crow; saw robins. Listening back to the recording I hear myself breathing too loudly, the sound of my own steps; isolated human voices. 

Clinton lake

 At an Audubon field trip this morning, horned grebe, savannah sparrow, eastern meadowlark, northern harrier, were new sightings for my life list. When I got back home a cardinal greeted me from a tree, then landed on my balcony.  

Loess Bluff

 Went to Loess Bluff in Missouri on Jayhawk Audubon Society field trip.  Abundant waterfowl: trumpeter swan, pelican, snow goose (other geese too); 8 new birds for my life list, mostly new ducks. 

At the feeder

 I refilled the bird feeder. For a few days, I got no visitors, but then they discovered it all at once. Black-capped chickadees, finch, cardinal, starling, blue jay, woodpecker, tufted titmouse. 

Birds seen today

 At home: starling.  

At the wetlands: crow, Carolina wren, cardinal, song sparrow, goldfinch, red-bellied woodpecker, tree swallow, assorted waterfowl (geese, ducks).  

Bird census

At the bird feeder and balcony, cardinals, doves, other usual suspects. 

Near the apartment, robins, starlings. 

At the wetlands, loons, ducks, geese, blackbirds, tree swallows, grackles.   

Another cardinal. Fox sparrows? (I think.) A bluejay.  Sandpiper (a new one for me).  A heron.  

Census

 At my bird feeder today:

house finch (5 or 6)

downy woodpeker (2)

starling (1); wasn't at feeder per se, but stopped by

black-capped chickadee (2-3)

cardinal (2); male and female

tufted titmouse (1-2) 

Hawk

 A huge hawk landed on my balcony while I was doing zen practice by zoom. I couldn't get a picture of it. 

My brother-in-law is in emergency surgery in California. I thought this hawk could be an omen. 

August birding

 They say birds can be harder to see in late summer, but yesterday I saw dickcissel, goldfinch, blackbird, house finch, dove, indigo bunting, cardinal, the usual sparrows and swallows, along with numerous wading and swimming birds (egrets, herons). Whenever I have low expectations I tend to be surprised by a great abundance and variety.  

Mink

 I saw a mink today at Baker Wetlands, crossing the path. Several rabbits. There were many mourning doves and dickcissels, the usual blackbirds and swallows. Sandpipers and herons, finches. At home at the bird feeder, more finches, chickadees and a woodpecker. I almost always see cardinals. 

Song

 Bird song is not even a metaphor: it is a catachresis, like when we talk about the "teeth" of a saw or the "legs" of a table. But is not even that. It is more like the word phrase or meter, words used for two separate but analogous things, without one being a metaphor for the other. That is: we view the teeth of a saw as a metaphorical extension of animal or human teeth to something else, but with bird song, this is not a metaphorical extension of human song, but song itself. 

The bright red of the male cardinal. The female cardinal is attracted to it, and we like it too. In other words, we appreciate the beauty of something that already has a functional beauty of its own. 

May 26

 Dickcissel, goldfinch, bunting, cowbird, heron, egret, sparrow, cardinal, wren, blackbird, swallow, grackle... 

And the usual birdfeeder birds... 

To be able to identify 40 birds is to know a few hundred things about birds. If you have seen a bird, you know where you have seen it, what it was doing, how often you see it, whether you see it alone or in flocks. You might also know a few other random facts about it, like its relation to humans (is it popular or hated? what does it symbolize?).  

Indigo

 I was walking and heard a loud whistle. I turned and there was an indigo bunting. Then a few yards down the woodland path another one, almost as though they wanted me to seem them. Now there is avian life in great profusion. Herons, egrets, sandpipers, and large numbers of blackbirds, swallows, and sparrows. 

Ibis

 I probably saw more new and old birds today than any other day. Ibises, herons, egrets. Many songbirds, including what I thought was an indigo bunting. Several species I couldn't identify. Wrens or mockingbirds? Summer tanager?  Numerous sparrows. 

A new bird-feeder bird, a nuthatch. 

I'm guessing it is because it Spring and variety and populations are near their high point. 

baby geese

 I looked through my binoculars at some geese, and saw that they had some babies with them, yellowish and looking quite unlike their long-necked parents. I also saw the cormorant again, flying to the same tree as before. 

It struck me that I could be unsure about the identification of a bird, but never unsure about a species that I have seen repeatedly and well.  The "garden variety" birds of everyday are simply too familiar to be mistaken for anything else, but I could easily be wrong about the vireos and warblers that I don't know well at all. Even if I get a very good look at something, I am just too inexperienced with genera and species.