For most birders, there is usually at least one family of birds they find particularly difficult to identify. It might be shorebirds, or flycatchers, or maybe sparrows. Gradually, as they develop their identification skills, their ability to identify challenging species improves with experience.
Here’s a personal experience from many years ago. I was bird watching from a boardwalk at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in the city of Huntington Beach, California and caught up to another birder who was also on the boardwalk. The estuary was filled with shorebirds—a family of birds I had little experience identifying, as I grew up in Arizona which is not known for its shorebirds.
Wouldn’t you know it, the other birder asked me what kinds of shorebirds were in the wetlands. My reply was something like, “I don’t know, I’m not very good at shorebird identification, as I’m from Prescott, Arizona.” She then replied, “I’m from Prescott, too!” Small world. Since then, I’ve gotten a lot better at shorebird identification!
If there were a family of birds that I still find particularly challenging to identify, it would be small flycatchers in the genus Empidonax. I swear, they all look the same to me. Making it even more challenging, this group of birds is fairly quiet, and doesn’t do a lot of vocalizing.
My style of bird identification relies heavily on bird vocalization. I can literally identify hundreds of bird species just by the sounds of their call notes and songs. However, if the bird doesn’t open its beak, it makes it difficult to identify.
The one family that a lot of new birders dread is sparrows. This is one family that I am particularly confident in my identification skills. I admit, I love sparrows! Most people think sparrows are small, dull, brown birds.
To the naked eye they are small, dull and brown, but with the aid of either a good pair of binoculars or a spotting scope you will see that their plumage is actually quite striking. I love the intricacies of their markings. It is one of those families that I thoroughly enjoy seeing and identifying.
In the past week I have gone birding at Willow Lake on three separate occasions, as there has been a lot of songbird activity in the weedy habitat along the south shore. I saw a lot of different bird species, including orioles, grosbeaks, warblers, swallows, wrens, buntings, and sparrows!
I saw eight different sparrow species at Willow, and a ninth at Watson Woods Riparian Preserve: vesper, savannah, lark, black-throated, chipping, song, rufous-crowned and Brewer’s, as well as a stunning green-tailed towhee (which is in the sparrow family).
In my column last week, I mentioned how I was attempting to live trap some pack rats at the store. In the last week, I’ve caught and re-homed ten more rock squirrels, bringing me to a grand total of twenty-three in the last two weeks! So far, I’ve only caught two pack rats.
I also caught a skunk (not on purpose) this past weekend. I went by the store after church on Sunday, dressed in my suit, and was surprised to see a skunk in the trap. I certainly wasn’t dressed for releasing a skunk, but I trusted I could release it without getting sprayed. I talked sweetly to the skunk, and opened the cage, and after some coaxing, he ambled out and went on his merry way, with no unwanted consequences!
As a reminder, our 16th Annual Wild Bird Photography Contest submission period began this week (on Tuesday) and runs through September 30th. For more information, stop by The Lookout to pick up a flyer, or visit our website at www.thelookoutaz.com to see the contest guidelines. I encourage you to participate!
Until next week, Happy Birding!
Eric Moore is the owner of The Lookout, in Prescott, where you will find a Hallmark Gold Crown Store, wild bird products, and Swarovski and Vortex optics. Eric has been an avid birder for over 55 years. Eric can be contacted at eric@thelookoutaz.com.
