Early Birds

On Sunday, our resident Northern Cardinal was singing at 5:09 AM, which seemed pretty early to me. The last two mornings, the American Robins of the neighborhood have been in full chorus at 4:20 AM, a full 1.5 hours before civil twilight and 2 hours before sunrise.

Black Vultures and Sun Dogs

At 5:00 P.M. yesterday evening, I spotted a small, swirling and whirling flock of 12 Black Vultures over the Blue Ridge Elementary School, located on Route 9 near Mannings, Jefferson County. This is the largest single group of Black Vultures I can remember seeing in the Eastern Panhandle.

And at 5:40 P.M., a faint yet distinctive sun dog (or parahelia) was visible in the sky over Martinsburg. I generally associate this atmospheric phenomena with much colder temperatures.

Birding News

Hidden within the pages of the American Birding Association's Web site is a blog-formatted feature called Birding News. True to it's title, Birding News highlights notable happenings in the birding world. The site does not provide links to individual articles, but articles are archived into downloadable "editions" at approximately 2-week intervals. Forty-seven articles have been posted and archived since this feature began in mid-November 2002. This site should be on the "Favorites" list of all concerned birders.

Environmental Consequences of War in Iraq

Is the Department of Defense required to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement before embarking on a military compaign? Birdlife International has compiled an extensive dossier on the potentially dire environmental consequences of war in Iraq, not the least of which will be to birds. The American Birding Association has posted a condensed version of the same information.

Altona Marsh Birding

I spent two hours this morning (7-9 AM) hiking the railroad tracks at Altona Marsh, Jefferson County, West Virginia, my first visit to the area since last fall. It was nice to see an abundance of water after last year's drought conditions.

Highlights: Pine Warbler, Swamp Sparrow, Rusty Blackbird.

The full list: Canada Goose (208, including at least a dozen pairs acting territorial), American Black Duck (2), Mallard (8), Wood Duck (4), Green-winged Teal (2), Killdeer (1), Mourning Dove, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Carolina Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse (1), Blue Jay (4), Carolina Wren (1), American Robin (a few 10’s), European Starling (many 10’s), PINE WARBLER (1), Northern Cardinal, SWAMP SPARROW (2), Song Sparrow (several 10’s singing on territory), RUSTY BLACKBIRD (12), Common Grackle (a few 100’s), Red-winged Blackbird (several 100,s), American Goldfinch. Total species: 23.

Common Late-Winter Birds of West Virginia

What species of birds is the average West Virginia most likely to encounter on an average day in late winter? What species can he or she expect to find in greatest numbers? The logical place to find the answer to those questions is in the data submitted by volunteer observers during the Great Backyard Bird Count sponsored annually by the National Audubon Society during the third weekend in Feburary. Here, I summarize West Virginia data for the past five years (1998-2002):

The Top-Ten Most Frequently Encountered Species

1. Northern Cardinal (reported 918 times)
2. Mourning Dove (882)
3. Tufted Titmouse (854)
4. Downy Woodpecker (737)
5. Dark-eyed Junco (729)
6. American Goldfinch (726)
7. White-breasted Nuthatch (684)
8. Blue Jay (642)
9. House Finch (576)
10. American Crow (555)

Honorable-mention recognition goes to the second tier of ten species (listed in declining frequency of occurrence, from 537 to 253): Red-bellied Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Song Sparrow, European Starling, Carolina Chickadee, Carolina Wren, American Robin, White-throated Sparrow, and Hairy Woodpecker.

The Top-Ten Most Abundance Species

1. American Goldfinch (9916 birds counted)
2. European Starling (8565)
3. Mourning Dove (6229)
4. Dark-eyed Junco (6112)
5. Northern Cardinal (5643)
6. American Crow (4793)
7. Canada Goose (4567)
8. House Finch (4362)
9. American Robin (4096)
10. House Sparrow (3346)

Honorable-mention recognition goes to the second tier of ten species (listed in decreasing order of abundance, from 2772 to 1366): Tufted Titmouse, Common Grackle, Blue Jay, Rock Dove, Black-capped Chickadee, White-throated Sparrow, Carolina Chickadee,
Downy Woodpecker, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Mallard and Song Sparrow (tie).

Top-Ten Most Ubiquitous Species (found by adding together the frequency and abundance ranks):

1. Mourning Dove (combined rank of 5)
2. Northern Cardinal (6)
3. American Goldfinch (7)
4. Dark-eyed Junco (9)
5. Tufted Titmouse (14)
6. (tie) American Crow and European Starling (16)
7. House Finch (17)
8. Blue Jay (21)
9. Downy Woodpecker (22)
10. (tie) American Robin and White-breasted Nuthatch (26)

These species would probably rank among the most ubiquitous species in most States east of the Mississippi River.

Birds in the News

Wyoming Gas Boom is Bad News for Sage Grouse (03/04/03)

Tricking Squirrels to Feed the Birds (03/04/03) - Its's big business.

Protesters Target Island’s Black Rat Cull (03/04/03) - What a sad commentary--an animal rights group more concerned with protecting black rats than restoring a world-famous seabird colony.

West Nile Virus May Have Huge Impact on Birds (03/03/03) - One expert speculates that the 14,100 birds known to have been killed by WNV in 2002 should be multiplied by a factor of 100 to 1,000 to arrive at a more realistic estimate of actual mortality.

War Threatens Fragile Iraqi Marshes and Their Birds (02/24/03 - Iraq contains 42 Important Bird Areas.

Links to Birds Etcetera

The following sites--all excellent in their own way--have been kind enough to provide links to Birds Etcetera, for which I am very appreciative:

Bird Links to the World--West Virginia (click on North America, United States, and WV)

Chris Mooney’s Bird Blog (listed under Birding Resources)

Field Notes (listed under Blogs)

Massbird.org (listed under Interesting Bird Info)

Reflections in D Minor (listed under Blogs and More)

Birding Analogy Applied to Members of the Bush Administration

"They don't like to travel. Seeing senior Bush officials abroad for any length of time has become like rare-bird sightings [emphasis added]."

(Source: Tom Friedman in an 02/19/03 article in the New York Times, thanks to an excerpt posted to the BirdChat listserv on 03/04/03 by Shireen Gonzaga)

Big-Breasted Birds Advertisement Causes Furor

The London Underground banned the display of this ad protesting the treatment of commercial poultry on grounds that it exploited women as "sex objects."