Bohemian Waxwing

A Bohemian lives a vagabond life, and so it is with the waxwing of the same name. This bird forms winter flocks that search for fruit, which tends to be an unpredictable resource. Therefore the waxwing's winter range is also unpredictable. I saw them regularly in the winter in South Dakota, where I took this photo, but, in Minnesota, they seem to be found more often in the northern half of the state.

This love of fruit has some interesting consequences. Fruit tends to be abundant but local in distribution. Often waxwings do not return to the previous year's breeding grounds. Waxwings do not hold territories. They do not sing. Individuals seldom fight and, in fact, often feed each other fruit. As they search for food, waxwings usually travel in large flocks, which are perhaps better for discovering trees with fruit.

Galapagos Hawk

DNA studies indicate that Galapagos Hawks diverged from a single colonization event by Swainson's Hawks. Consequently their genetic diversity is remarkably low, perhaps lower than in any other bird species (Handbook of the Birds of the World-Alive).

Galapagos Hawks are one of only about a dozen bird species with a cooperative polyandrous mating system. Up to seven unrelated males may copulate with a single female. All the males help with incubation and feeding the one young and also defend a single territory. Monogamous males raise more young per individual, but males in groups live longer than monogamous males.

Bare-throated Tiger-Heron

Bare-throated Tiger-Herons are found from Mexico to northwestern Columbia. I took this photo in eastern Mexico in the 1960s. Unlike many other egrets and herons, this species is a solitary breeder. This bird prefers coastal areas and is often found salt or brackish water. It is also found along rivers and streams away from the coast.

This heron is thought to be common across most of its range. Species has been recorded once in southern Texas.

Ash-throated Flycatcher

On the same trip as when we saw the Canyon Wren in New Mexico (May 2003), we photographed this Ash-throated Flycatcher in the El Malpais National Monument. This flycatcher is in the same genus as the Great Crested Flycatcher and looks similar. Note, however, the whitish throat and the fact that the rusty color on the underside of the tail does not seem to reach the tip.

Ash-throated Flycatchers are common summer residents in most of the western United States. They survive high temperatures and do not need to drink water. The Mal Pais environment certainly fits a bird with these qualities. These flycatchers nest in holes made by other species and also in nest boxes and hollow fence posts. Consequently, Ash-throated Flycatcher populations are expanding (Cardiff and Dittmann 2002).

Canyon Wren

I took this Canyon Wren photograph in May 2003 at the Catwalk Recreation Area run by the Forest Service near Glenwood, New Mexico. Due to fires and landslides, the area is now closed. This situation is a shame, because this park, largely consisting of a stairway up a narrow, rocky canyon, is intriguing—perfect habitat for Canyon Wrens.

Canyon Wrens are found across the western United States. They are often hard to see in their rocky environment, but their echoing, descending calls are distinctive. Their habitat is generally inaccessible, thus their biology is little known.  Only the female incubates but both adults feed the young (Jones and Dieni 1995).

Masked Lapwing

The Masked Lapwing is eastern Australia’s ecological counterpart of our Killdeer (just a bit bigger). This plover prefers pastures and wetland edges and is common in urban areas and wetland edges.

 Masked Lapwings are increasing their range. They were rare in Tasmania in the late 1800s, but are now common. They arrived in New Zealand in the early 1900s, and have also become common there. In fact, this species was responsible for 22% of all plane accidents in 1991—airfields are ideal habitat.  Consequently,the species is controlled at New Zealand airports, by nest destruction, shooting adults, and habitat alteration (Handbook of the Birds of the World—Alive).

Bay-breasted Warbler

I mentioned the importance of backing up files in my series of posts on digital photography. The subject is worth mentioning again. I back up all my files twice on two external hardrives. I save my RAW, TIFF, and JPG files. 

Why save RAW files after they have been processed? In one of my previous posts, I warned about technology advancing, leaving your old files behind. This photograph of a male Bay-breasted Warbler is a good example. In 2001, when I began taking digital photographs, I saved all my photos as GIF files. I was told that such files were the most robust. I did not save the other formats. Now I wish I had saved them all. Note the choppy patterns in the background. Now I wish I could backtrack and produce higher quality images.

This photograph is the only one I have of a male Bay-breasted Warbler. I took the photo in 2001 in South Dakota, where it is a relatively uncommon migrant. I am surprised that I have not banded a spring male here in Minnesota, where the species is much more common. I have previously blogged about fall Bay-breasted Warblers, and you can find these notes by entering the species’ name in the search box on the right column of this blog (or by using the index at the top of the page).

Photography Update

Some time ago, I published series of posts on my blog on the subject of photography—the series begins with the link, then goes through the subsequent posts in order.  I thought I would bring you up to date on my techniques (although I am not sure this photograph, taken in the Carleton College arboretum, merits being released for posterity).

I use a Canon Rebel XSi. I think if I were wealthier, I would go for one of the more expensive Canons, but the Rebel serves my purposes fairly well.  I went with the Canon because my earlier Canon lenses from the pre-digital age fit the new camera. In any case, I figure you can’t have too many dots-per-inch, especially for far away raptors.

Now I use a fancy Canon 100-400 EF lens. Its a long story, but I managed to fall flat on my face and on top of my old, $600 lens. That lens was insured, so we upgraded. Anyway, this lens contains image stabilizers and I usually hand-hold it. I use a monopod mostly for lugging this heavy toy around.

I also use a Tamron 1.4 tele-extender. I think this pushes my lens from 400 mm to the mid-500s. If you buy a tele-extender, be sure to check if it is compatible with your camera and lens before you purchase it. It might not fit even though it is supposed to. Or it may interfere with auto-focus. My camera and lens takes so long to autofocus and, because I am often unhappy with where the lens chooses to focus (like the bird’s breast instead of the eye), I am often happier manually focusing. Autofocus is also almost always unsatisfactory for dragonflies.

I take my photos in RAW format. I use a computer program called Capture One to convert the image to a .tiff format. Capture One is used my professional photographers and the latest versions are very expensive—they have left me behind, so I use an older version.

Next, I take the image through photoshop. Photoshop is an expensive program, but, there are great academic discounts if you are in anyway connected with an educational institution. Photoshop Elements is also an option. Generally I crop the image, get Photoshop to automatically adjust the curves, and bump the saturation up to 21. I often use a Photoshop add-on called Neat Image, which can do wonderful things by smoothing out the background and sharpening up the foreground. I think there are some free alternatives out there that do the same thing. Google “noise reducing Photoshop plugin."

Finally, for web images, I reduce the dpi to 72 and save the image as a .jpg file. At this resolution, I save the file at optimum size.  Then I use a free Internet program called picmonkey.com for some final tweaking, often just sharpening the image up a bit.

All this sounds like a lot of work, but the process flows along fairly quickly. I am often surprised when my photos do not turn out as I expect, either for better, but more often for worse. Digital photography really requires sunny days, unless you, unlike I, have fancy flash equipment like the pros use.

I would enjoy hearing from any of you who have different ways of handling digital photography. Why not share your systems through the comments section in this post? I am sure other readers will also be interested.

Great Black-backed Gull

In North America, Great Black-backed Gulls were nearly extinct in the 19th century—victims of feather and egg collectors. With legal protection and their love for garbage dumps, their population may now exceed historical numbers. This gull is now a common breeder in the northeastern United States from North Carolina to Labrador and across the Great Lakes. The species winters throughout most of this range, south to the Gulf of Mexico. This recovery is good news for Great Black-backed Gulls, but not so for Herring and Laughing gulls that are being replaced as the former species spreads (Good 1998).

I took this photo several years ago in Martha’s Vineyard. I have listed the species along the Duluth Harbor in February 2012.

Yellow-shafted Flicker

At first glance, having an ant-eating specialist surviving a Minnesota winter may be a surprise. But Northern Flickers—in this case the yellow-shafted form of the eastern North America—are actually generalists, consuming beetle larvae and a variety of wild berries and fruits during the winter. Obviously they also eat suet at bird feeders and they seem well adapted to human-modified habitats. 

Inexplicably, although presently abundant, flicker populations are significantly declining. Forest clearing, especially of trees with dead snags, and competition with starlings for nesting holes may be contributing to this decline. Whatever the causes, Breeding Bird Surveys and Christmas Bird Counts both show a 2 to 2.5% annual decline (Weibe and Moore 2008).