The Networked Bird Observatory Blog

Dr. Selma Glasscock at the Welder Wildlife Refuge was good enough to forward me a checklist of birds seen at the refuge. I want to create an HTML version of this for convenient web browsing, but until I have a chance to do that I wanted to share the Word document that she forwarded to me. It breaks down bird species into common, uncommon, occasional, rare, and accidental, and gives those designations for each of the four seasons (Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter). I can see this being very useful to us in trying to figure out some of the trickier IDs.

Here it is: Birds of the Welder Wildlife Refuge (75K MSWord document).

Update: Now available in HTML form for online viewing: Checklist of Welder Birds.

Here are a number of shots from the last few days that have me scratching my head:

rafa got this shot yeterday, though I didn’t notice it until it was pointed out in the comments today:

I’m not sure what I’m looking at there; it seems to be a male oriole, or maybe a male Black-headed Grosbeak, but it’s hard for me to say what’s going on at the top of the bird; is that the back of its head? Its shoulders, with its head ducked down out of sight?

Compare it with these two photos taken today by robin54 and kryptonkay, respectively:

I’m getting an oriole feeling from these images, but beyond that I’m not prepared to commit myself.

Here’s another shot of what looks very much like a woodpecker, perhaps the Golden-fronted Woodpecker that was possibly photographed on the same tree yesterday. This shot was taken by avatar99 at 9:15 a.m. today:

Here’s a shot that txbird got today at 11:57 a.m.; the bird is hard to see until you notice it perched in the sticks on the left side of the image:

It’s hard for me to say what it is, but compare it to this next one. This is a bird that I really wanted to get a closer shot of, but by the time we got done wrestling over the camera it flew off:

birderbf mentioned in chat that he or she got a shot of this bird, too, and ID’d it as a female Painted Bunting. Looking at the shot I got, I could totally see that; I’m looking forward to seeing any other shots that show up after they’re done being “embargoed” for the hour that has to elapse before players other than the person who took the shot can see them.

Update: birderbf and thedevilbird both got a shot almost, but not quite, identical to the one I got, with their two shots being actually identical to each other. Here’s the shot they got:

So again, I don’t think I’m completely comfortable with calling this a female Painted Bunting based on these shots alone, but it certainly looks as much like one as anything else I can find, and I’m willing to defer to someone who has actual experience with seeing the bird in real life (which I don’t).

Update: And now the shot I got, and the shot that thedevilbird got (which again, was pretty much identical to the one that birderbf got) have both been ID’d as Painted Bunting.

I got this shot a few minutes ago. I’m posting it here even though it’s not a great shot because I think it shows a new species in the game. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what species it is. The bird, which was walking fairly quickly along the edge of that muddy patch left of the pond, is near the top of the shot, walking from right to left:

I’m pretty sure that’s either a Louisiana or a Northern Waterthrush. I’ve emailed Dr. Selma Glasscock at Welder to ask if they have any information about what species have been seen at the refuge, and what dates they’re typically seen on; that might help narrow things down. But in the meantime, don’t forget to check that muddy patch. It’s been producing really good birds.

User osprey got this very interesting shot this afternoon:

I’m not positive, but that sure looks like it has a bright yellow beak. And if it does, I’d be inclined to call it a European Starling. Worth keeping an eye open for, at any rate.

On the other hand, I’ve seen shots before where a piece of flotsam (or whatever) in the background lined up just right with the bird to make it look like it had a feature that it actually didn’t. So maybe this is actually a blackbird, and that isn’t really its beak. But it sure looks like it.

Update: The above image has now picked up enough votes to get an ID of European Starling. Also, birdbrain had this image, for which he or she entered the following comment:

Had very bright yellow beak… and somewhat speckled.

So far this one doesn’t have enough votes for an official ID, but I was willing to vote for Starling.

Swallows weren’t the only birds interested in the mud puddle. Check out these shots by rafa and avatar99 from earlier today:

A Northern Mockingbird is a pretty familiar bird for most suburban North Americans (including me), but for some reason we never got one from Craig’s deck with CONE SF. It’s exciting to get one now. Congratulations rafa and avatar99!

Someone left the hose running in the pond, which created a muddy patch to its left, and look who showed up to gather some mud for nest-building. The first image was by avatar99, the second by rafa:

It was ID’d as a Barn Swallow, which I think I can go along with. I wish the tail was more visible in the shots. There doesn’t seem to be a pale collar, which would tend to rule out Cave and Cliff, but what you can see of the underparts seem pretty light-colored for Barn. Then again, Sibley talks about the female Barn Swallow having both lighter underparts and a shorter tail than the male, so that sounds pretty good.

Anyway, if they’re building a nest they’ll probably be back. All three (Barn, Cave, and Cliff) are possibilities based on the Sibley range maps, so let’s keep our eyes on the mud puddle!