Midwest Birder

Saturday, February 24, 2007

San Diego, Salton Sea, and Southeast Arizona for Sean!

<-- Harbor Seals - Point La Jolla, San Diego

<-- Heerman's Gull Western Gull (above)

Dad and I made a quick weekend trip out to southern California a couple of weeks ago to pick up a car that my dad bought in San Diego. We were able to get an afternoon's worth of birding in on the southern CA coastline (mainly Point La Jolla in San Diego), major birding at the Salton Sea the next day, and then Tucson area including Madera Canyon the next. Saw many neat birds including 20-some life birds. A few of my favs were Yellow-footed Gull, Mountain Plover, Rufous-winged Sparrow (thanks to a tip from my friend Tom Prestby on the Broadway Ave "Desert"), Arizona Woodpecker, Painted Redstart, and Bridled Titmouse. I wasn't able to get too many photos as we were trying to cover as much ground as possible with our limited time. I've included some of my better ones, but they leave much to be desired. The frigid reality of life back in Grand Rapids, MI was none too pleasant upon my return when temps reached below zero for nearly an entire week...ridiculous!

Ecology of the Indian Tropics

I has the unbelievable opportunity to take a class in southern India this past January term and spent almost three weeks traveling all over the southern province of Tamil Nadu with 7 other students learning all about the ecology of south India. I was able to see a decent representation of many of the more common species there and ended up seeing close to 260 species during my stay (all but 15 of which were new for me). To view some photos I was able to take check out:

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/556865958TmnAFT

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Field Sparrow - 12/26/06 - Burlington - WI

I glanced out at the window feeder this afternoon and was surprised to see a Field Sparrow feeding in the tray in association with a handful of Dark-eyed Juncos. I was able to take a few quick photos of the bird through the window in the fading light. Unfortunately I didn't see this bird until after my local Christmas Bird Count's (Burlington) count day and week are past... This is only the second time I've found a Field Sparrow in the winter in Wisconsin. The last time being during the Great Backyard Bird Count in mid-February in 2002 or 2003.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Tennessee Herps

A quick weekend trip down to my grandparents 200 acres of foothill country near Clinton, Tennessee (Anderson County) yielded a few birds but my primary focus on this trip was to find herps (salamanders, turtles, and lizards). The most noteworthy birds were a few warblers (Black and White, Yellow-rumped, Blue-winged, Yellow, Ovenbird, and Common Yellowthroat), Great Crested Flycatcher, Osprey, and some migrating Broad-winged Hawks.
The salamanders that my dad and I found were all either Southern Two-lined or Dusky. I don't know what specific species of Dusky they are - if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Other herps I observed but I was unable to get photos of include Wood Frog, Pickerel Frog, and a Hog-nosed Skink. The species I managed to get photos of are below.

Common Whitetail (juvenile male on left, adult female on right) - 4/22/06 - Anderson Cty - TN - Thanks to Tod Highsmith and Nick Walton for the correct identification and aging of these dragonflies!