Cackling Goose

 

Cackling Goose
Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline, Richmond, California, USA
November 2020
Member of the Ducks, Geese, and Swans Family
§A Plump of Geese§

~True Bird Fact~ So, where to begin? Probably, we should address that most people with cursory bird knowledge would look at this bird and say "that's a Canada Goose". Yes, this bird is nearly indistinguishable from that familiar and frequently villainized waterfowl. Now this is nothing new for bird identification- I could rattle off a dozen pairs of birds that are nearly indistinguishable from one another to the untrained eye. However, in this case, it is only since relatively recently that this bird has been considered to be a different species from the Canada Goose. The primary difference is really just the size. Check out the picture below, which has a Canada Goose or two in it as well. The largest sub-species of Canada Goose is 4 times as large as the smallest sub-species of Cackling Goose. Incredible as this may seem, up until 2004 this bird was just considered to be "a small Canada Goose" basically. 

After the split was made, one ornithologist, Harold C. Hanson (can't quite explain it, but this is the most Ornithologist name you can have) suggested that the Canada Goose be further divided into 6 species and 200 sub-species. It's hard to tell to me, as an amateur, if this proposition was sincere or more of a "fuck it, they're all different species now" from Harold. In terms of the other ways to distinguish whether you have a Canada Goose or a Cackling Goose, if you were inclined to try to do so, there's something about the neck ring being thinner, but that's not even always visible. When you google search for Cackling Goose, the second result is an article about how to tell them apart from Canada Geese, which should tell you something about the processes. I suggest just finding them in a mixed flock, like I've done.

"Don't Talk to Me or My Son Ever Again"

And finally, it's time to return to probably my actual favorite segment we do here on the blog- Bird Reviews from BackyardChickens.com!

These reviews were pulled from a forum thread rather than an official review page, because these are a non-domesticated species of bird.

"there are very few of us that own these geese"

"I have Cackleing geese .... LOVE THEM!!!" ... "They free range every day and get along with everything." ... "they are not bonded to me, but are not terribly wild either."

"She does not know she's a goose. She thinks she's a dog. She has stayed around here, even though she can fly, likes her kiddie pool, doesn't like to share with other geese, but if you bark at her she comes running and honking."

"Cackling geese are better and smaller and easier to take care don't get them pinned" [as compared to Canada Geese]

Tricolored Blackbird

Tricolored Blackbird
Vanden Road, Vacaville, California, USA
April 2019
Member of the Blackbird Family
§A Merl of Blackbirds§
★North America's Most Colonial Landbird★ (see below to find out what that means)

~true bird fact~ To encourage their fledglings to leave the nest, parents will arrive with food, but then, instead of feeding the babies, immediately fly off again. This encourages the young to follow. Good parenting? Bad parenting? Sound off in the comments.

Sings badly, but enthusiastically
Can say something off the cuff that just sounds like a well known quote
Pays attention to keeping their white patch looking really white. If it were mine it would probably have a stain on it in seconds. How do they do it?



How Endangered Are They? Classified as 'Threatened' by the IUCN (that's the middle one). There's a lot of disagreement on how many of these nice birds there are now, but everyone seems to agree they're in quite a lot of danger. In my research, I saw numbers between 145,000 and 300,00, depending what year and who was estimating, and everyone seems to think numbers are still declining pretty precipitously. A significant loss, regardless, for a bird that used to number in the millions. Why so endangered? Well, like many birds that have been wiped out (think Passenger Pigeons), they are colonial breeders- meaning that their breeding colonies are relatively few, but in extremely high numbers. Descriptions exist of million-bird flocks. This kind of breeding helped protect colonies from predation. However, now that the marshy habitat they breed in is so regularly lost to development, there are few places that can support such great numbers of birds. The group I observed was probably less than a hundred. Many of the few places that would support them are farm land, which get harvested regularly, leading to massive causalities. Combine this with their small range (they are basically only in California's central valley), and you have a recipe for disaster. Still, many people are trying to save them. They're a 'priority bird' for the Audubon society, and they have their own webpage and conservation program over at UC Davis. Let's all cross our fingers that we can get it together for the Tricolored Blackbirds

For comparison purposes, this is a Red-winged Blackbird, a close relative. They flock together with Tricoloreds and sometimes these guys even have yellow epaulets to make you even more confused. You're looking for bright white. Also, their call is much different.

Young Birds, Tricky IDs

Lately I've had this experience a lot, where I get a picture of a cool looking bird that I don't think I've gotten before, and wind up stumped. After lots of time intensive searching I discover that the bird doesn't match anything in my guides. Did I just discover a new bird? Well, no, of course not. I'd be lucky to discover that I've remembered to bring my camera with me these days. Mostly what I run into is juvenile birds. Let's go through a few examples, shall we?

Here's a guy who has fooled me twice lately. And you know what they say..
Yes, I know he's just a sparrow, but your amateurnithologist is so hard up for birds lately that even a new sparrow can be a source of excitement. It's going to happen one of these days. Anyway, you'd think the markings here are quite distinctive, and on the head too, which is really the sweet spot for sparrow identification. Rufous streaks on either side of the crown and behind the eyes. Simple as that. Well, turns out this guy is actually a White-crowned Sparrow, who kinda looks nothing like this in adulthood.

Do you see the resemblance? Nah, neither do I.

Here's another great example

Wow, now that is a cool bird! Check the distinctive coloration- and also of note, this guy is big, and a bird of prey to boot. Should be easy as can be to identify. Well, it actually sort of was, once I could do a little searching around. Turns out in their younger days White-tailed Kites are quite colorful. Actually got a picture of him sitting next to an adult, for contrast.

Hey bird? Where'd all your coloration go? Gosh.

So, like, what are you supposed to do about identifying these guys? Well, for me, the most important tip was paying attention to the other birds around them. In both cases, the adults of the family were nearby. Also, if you start to encounter something that looks truly unusual, just start google image searching for "juvenile ______", where the blank is birds that you know are in the area, and belong to the family of the mystery bird you've spotted. I know I'll be going to the juvenile well much more quickly in the future, after these misadventures in bird spotting.

In conclusion, birds are weird. I hope you've enjoyed these birds for what they are. They may not be new, but they look new, and in it's own way, isn't that almost the same thing as being new? The answer is 'no, not really', but a blogger can dream.

Island Scrub-Jay

Island Scrub-Jay aka. Island Jay aka. Santa Cruz Jay aka. Santa Cruz Island Scrub-Jay
Prisoners Harbor, Santa Cruz Island, Channel Islands National Park, Ventura, California, USA
July 2018
Member of the Crows and Jays Family
§A Party of Jays§

~True Bird Fact~ Once considered to be a sub-species of Scrub-Jay, but spun off into his own species in 1995 (while the other Scrub-Jays became Florida and Western based on where they lived). Since then, we've also seen Western split into Woodhouse's and California Scrub-Jays. Complicated stuff for a bunch of birds that look very alike. Let's see just how alike, shall we?

Island Scrub-Jays are supposedly brighter in color, larger (by 15%), and have a larger beak (20%) than their mainland relatives. The species split about 150,000 years ago, and the specialized island lifestyle (i.e. thick-shelled acorns = thicker, stronger beak) has resulted in these changes manifesting fairly quickly. Side by side like this? I can kinda see it. They also have somewhat different personalities, with these Island guys having less of a fear of people and more curiosity. After I first spotted them, they seemed to follow me around for a while and see what I was up to. Which one do you think is which, reader? Highlight for answer- Top is California, Bottom Island

How Endangered Are They? One of the rarest birds in the USA, there are only about 2,300 of these guys, and they only live on Santa Cruz Island, one of several islands that are part of California's Channel Islands National Park. While they're pretty easy to find once you're there, their entire habitat is less than 100 square miles, which makes them vulnerable to catastrophic events, like a fire, or the outbreak of disease. They are categorized as Vulnerable by the IUCN. They are one of only two species that are endemic (found nowhere else) to California, along with bird blog alum Yellow-billed Magpie.

This great, great bird was first described by

Henry Henshaw

(1850 - 1930)

Born in Massuchutsets, he got his start as a field naturalist when he had to give up school due to poor health, and instead went on a collecting trip to Louisiana. I don't really know how that is better for your health, but I guess it worked for Henry. He went on a number of successful collecting trips throughout the Southwest. During this time he co-founded a lot of bird related clubs, including the Nuttall Ornithological Club, the American Ornithologists' Union, and the National Geographic Society.

In 1893 another bout of ill health led to him moving to Hawaii (has poor health ever been better for anyone than it was for this guy?) He continued to research birds there, and his witnessing of the mass extinction of native Hawaiian birds led him to dedicate the rest of his life to conservation and the popularization of birding. He gave permission for his popular birding book, Fifty Common Birds of Farm and Orchard, to be published in National Geographic, which led to the creation of the National Geographic Field Guide to Birds of North America. His lobbying efforts led to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act being signed into law in 1918. He seems like he was a really good guy.

Western Meadowlark

Western Meadowlark
Richardson Bay Audubon Center and Sanctuary, Tiburon, California, USA
January 2017
Member of the Blackbird/Oriole Family
§A Pod of Meadowlarks§
★State Bird of Montana, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming. The only bird with more states to his name is the Northern Cardinal. They are, of course, fierce rivals over this issue.★

{Etymology Corner} The Western and Eastern Meadowlark are so similar that the Western version remained an unidentified species until John James Audubon himself named them. He called them Sturnella neglecta because they had been ignored for so long. The main way to tell the two bird species apart, by the way, is their significantly different songs. So good luck with that if you live in the middle of the country, where their ranges do overlap.

~true bird fact~ Western Meadowlarks have unusually strong bill-opening muscles. This facilitates their number one method of feeding, which is sticking their bill into soil or bark or whatever, and prying it open to get at the insects and stuff within. This method of feeding is named, unfortunately, gaping.

A little rude to strangers
Confident and willing to lend expertise
Has a need for love and attention that can never really be filled
Has mantras that he often repeats

Hawaii's Cardinals

Cardinal A

Cardinal B 

Welcome back to 2 Different Birds, the popular feature in which we help you step up your amateur birding game by explaining how to tell the difference between two different birds. In this case, I feel like the name is going to give away a lot, so I'll hold off on that for a minute. Today's subjects are a pair of non-native Hawaiian birds with a lot in common. First, they're both called Cardinals, and neither of them actually are (although you can see why someone thought maybe they were). They're tanagers native to South America. The most striking similarity is their distinct coloration pattern, but their shape, size, habitats, and behavior are all pretty much right in line. So what do you think, dear reader, how would you tell these birds apart. I'll give you a minute to think about it...















Have you thought about it? I know you have, I trust you. We here at Amateurnithologist all trust you. You might be thinking that it's that crest, right? The mohawk-style hairdo that only one of these birds appears to be rocking. You would be mostly correct, but actually this crest is not always on display. What else do you have? A minor difference that could help is in the coloration- the dark wings of Cardinal A are darker, almost black, while Cardinal B's dark wings are more of a grey color. There's also a dark triangle on the chest of Cardinal A, where Cardinal B continues to be red there. If you're a longtime Amateurnithologist reader, familiar with our motto "Always get Light on the Feet" you might have already stumbled upon an even more obvious difference. Cardinal A has yellow legs, Cardinal B, grey. Finally, and most helpfully is that beak. Cardinal A has a bright yellow one, and Cardinal B is again, you guessed it, grey. So how did you do, reader? Did you win the game? As always on 2DB, the lesson here is one that can be generalized for even greater bird learning. Pay attention to beaks, as well as legs, because those things are specific colors. Let's close by learning a few things about our Two Different Birds.

Cardinal B is...

Red-crested Cardinal aka. Brazilian Cardinal

Hanalei Bay, Kaua'i, Hawai'i, USA
December 2015
Member of the Tanager Family
§A Season of Tanagers§

~true bird fact~ Introduced to Hawaii in 1928.

Always willing to fight for what he believes in. Like, physically fight. Just likes to fight, really
Not one to let others get in the way of his personal relaxation time
A philanderer

While Cardinal A is revealed to be...

Yellow-billed Cardinal
Kailua-Kona, Hawai'i, Hawai'i, USA
December 2015
Member of the Tanager Family
§A College of Cardinals§

~true bird fact~ A popular caged-bird throughout South America, their population on Hawaii was probably established by escaped pets.

Prim and proper, good manners
Resents being associated with cardinals, who he sees himself as better than
Highly alert to his surroundings

Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary

Let's be frank, your amateurnithologist is in over his head here. I never realized how difficult shorebirds could be until I visited the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary in beautiful Alameda, California. They are pretty much innumerable here.

That's a lotta birds. But not only that, dear reader, that's a lotta different types of birds.

When I visited, back in October, I kind of assumed I had see probably 4 or 5 different species of shorebirds. Once I started doing my research, I wasn't so sure. According to very reliable sources at ebird.com, the Else Roemer Bird Sanctuary is home to no less than 147 species of birds. What??? I didn't even know there were that many birds.

Rather than attempt to profile all of them now, I'll share a few that I saw and share my current best guess. Did I egregiously mislabel a bird? Sound off in the comments! I promise I won't get mad at you.

Marbled Godwit
pragmatic

Elegant Tern (center)

OR Caspian Tern OR Royal Tern (distinguished based on size of tern and color of bill. But who knows, life is uncertain)
Jocular

Black-bellied Plover
OR Pacific Golden Plover (could be really anything, apparently distinguishable by his "white rump", but your amateurnithologist is dubious)
Constantly looks annoyed, even when not

Also spotted at the sanctuary were our old friends
Long-billed Curlew (aka. Candlestick Bird)
Willet (ft. above in 2nd picture along with godwits)
Black Phoebe
& Snowy Egret
Among probably many others

We attempt to capture the utter bird chaos with the follow .gif

By the way, this bird sanctuary is named after a local conservationist, best known for her efforts to preserve the San Francisco Bay's natural salt marsh habitat, which was being drained and developed at a breakneck pace in her time. Her park now provides shelter for, the aforementioned 147 birds, including endangered species like Heerman's Gull and the California Clapper Rail, which is kind the ultimate reward for a fighter for birds, I suppose.

Common Gallinule and Purple Gallinule

Today on amateurnithologist we bring you two similar members of the rail family who are, in fact, different birds. Looking at these two, you might not see how a mistake could be made, since once is so much more colorful than the other. However, these are swamp birds, meaning you're often going to be observing them under less-than ideal conditions. If you've got poor light, or the bird is covered with muck, or hiding among reeds, you might miss the Purple Gallinule's distinctive iridescent green and blue feathers, especially if you've seen a dozen Common Gallinules already that day. Or maybe you're trying to identify juvenile birds. Who knows what you're doing out there in the swamp. Amateurnithologist doesn't judge you.

Let's look at these birds
Common Gallinule aka. Common Moorhen aka. Florida Gallinule aka. Swamp Chicken (colloq.)
Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Delray Beach, Florida, USA
Member of the Rails, Gallinules, and Coots Family
§A Plump of Moorhens§

~true bird fact~ Like another bird he is commonly confused with, the American Coot, Common Gallinule has some neat feet.  They lack webbing and have long toes, which they can use just as easily to swim as to walk atop floating vegetation.

Starts every morning with a cup of coffee
Pragmatist
Gets impatient with wishy-washy people
Likes hats

Purple Gallinule aka. Yellow-legged Gallinule
Wakodahatchee Wetlands, Delray Beach, Florida, USA
Member of the Rails, Gallinules, and Coots Family

~true bird fact~ The fact that Florida even has Purple Gallinules at all is a testament to their incredible powers of travel. Although they look like kind of dopey fliers, they must have something going on. They're essentially a South American bird, but regularly make it all the way to destinations like Canada, the Northern US, South Africa (?), and Europe (!?).

Expects a lot from her friends
Has a sensitive heart
Good taste, but doesn't need things that are 'fancy'
Lives out her ideals in a way that most don't

So how do you tell these guys apart? The easiest way, as I alluded to before, is not always the color. You need to get a really good look to tell the difference in real life, when you're far away. A good thing to look for is the beak, especially the extended plate-y part above it. If it's just red, you've got a common Gallinule, if it's pale or light blue you've got a Purple, and if it's not there at all you're looking at a coot. Another distinguishing feature is that the Common Gallinule has a white stripe along her side. I hope this helps you next time you have to pick a Gallinule out of a police lineup or something.

Lake Merritt Duckstravaganza!

Ducks! Ducks! Ducks!

Pictured above: A Chaos of Ducks

Blog readers, I promised you I would blog more ducks this year, and have I got ducks for you today! Let's visit the ducks pictured above and get to know them a little better. All pictures taken in beautiful Oakland California by your amateurnithologist.

Canvasback
Largest diving duck in North America
A bit vicious when it comes to getting what he wants

Lesser Scaup aka Little Bluebill (probably)
Named, perhaps, after the noise the female makes
Good at creative pursuits. A natural talent

Greater Scaup aka Bluebill (perhaps)
Named, maybe, after the Scottish word for the food he primarily eats
Smart and athletic. Works hard to get to where he is

Can you tell these two ducks apart? Neither can anyone else, but they are, apparently, different. Here are some of the nonsense things people will assure you will help you tell them apart. The greater one is larger, has a rounder head, and has brighter white sides. Me, I took these pictures while the ducks were in breeding season, so I'm going based on the sheen of their plumage. The Greater Scaup, it is said, has a slightly green tint, as compared with the Lesser's purple. But no one knows, really.

Mallard aka. Wild Duck
The wild ancestors of most modern domestic ducks
Gregarious. Has big get-togethers that go smoothly

Ruddy Duck
A major pest species in Europe, currently being culled in Great Britain. Messing up all sorts of local duck ecology by his, quoth wikipedia, "aggressive courting behavior and willingness to interbreed".
Thinks it's very funny when people get mad. Winks a lot.

Tufted Duck
The real prize of a birding trip to Lake Merritt. A native of Siberia, he really shouldn't be here in California. There's only ever one sighted, but he shows up more years than not. A recent local birding email thread turned up sightings from as early as 1970. So either this is a very old duck, or there are a few of them, or the duck is immortal somehow.
Has a deep love for American culture and a funny sounding accent. No one makes fun of him for it, though, it only makes him more appealing and fun to be around.

Different Birds: Cattle Egret vs. Snowy Egret vs. Great Egret

Ready for some birdin' 101? Of course you're not, you are only a casual consumer of bird knowledge. Otherwise you'd be visiting one of those other "more professional" bird blogs where "experts" "know what they're talking about" and aren't "ignorant". But still, wouldn't you like to be the guy or gal who, when out hiking with a group of friends, can confidently point to a cool looking bird and name him? Of course you don't. But our mission statement here at birdateunithologist dot com involves the pursuit of useless knowledge and plenty of it, so we press on.

Today we'll be covering a trio of terrific waterbirds with subtle yet still visible-to-the-naked-eye distinctions from one another.

Cattle Egret

Sarapiqui River, Heredia, Costa Rica
Member of the Herons/Egrets/Bitterns Family
§A Stampede of Cattle Egrets§

~true bird fact~ One of those rare, resourceful birds who have made humanity into an ally rather than a threat, Cattle Egret loves agriculture. Spending most of his time with domesticated farm animals, he gets his daily meal of insects by following the clouds of them kicked up by the activities of larger animals. He is also known to eat the ticks right off of them. What a good friend. In different parts of the world, Cattle Egret preys on the stir-up of camels, elephants, giant tortoises, and airplanes.

Rises to the top when times get hardest.

Snowy Egret (who we already know)
Corte Madera, California, USA
Member of the Herons/Egrets/Bitterns Family
§An RSVP of Egrets§

Secretly reading epic fantasy novels.

Great Egret
Corte Madera, California, USA
Member of the Herons/Egrets/Bitterns Family
§A Wedge of Egrets§
★Symbol of the National Audubon Society★

~true bird fact~ Like many in their family, Great Egret rocks the distinctive s-shaped neck. In there is a very unusual long vertebra that acts like a hinge, enabling him to strike out quickly at far away targets.

Does really have a private life due to his important position. No one knows what he's really like, except through hearsay.

Ok, let's break this down. What differences did you notice? Were they all obvious? They might not be, out in the wild, when there's no one else to contrast them with, though, eh? The first thing you might look to is color of the break, since we are drawn to look at the faces of things as human beings. That'll help you differentiate between the Snowy Egret and they other two. If you want to stay with beaks, you can notice that the Great Egret has a thinner, longer, pointier beak than his Cattlesome brother.

The biggest difference is probably in the physical size of these birds. Next to each other you'd never mistake them. They go smallest to largest Cattle, Snowy, and Great. There is also some difference in general bulkiness vs. slenderness. Of course our great motto of 'always look at the feet' serves you well here too. Cattle Egrets have yellowish-greyish feet and legs, Great Herons have black feet and legs, and Snowy Egrets split the difference by having black legs, and weirdly yellow toes. Of course if the bird is standing in mud, you're out of luck.

Sometimes the sad truth of the matter is the only way to know what bird from what is location. This is where knowledge and research come into play. Cattle Egrets mostly hang out in open fields, while the other two are mostly water's edge types. The other things that's important to note is breeding season, during which all these birds look dramatically different. So good luck with that!

Are you ready for your final test? Ok.. What bird is this-



Click here when you're ready to find out if you got it right!

Totally Different Birds: Greater Yellowlegs vs. Willet

Greater Yellowlegs
Berkeley, California, USA
Member of the Sandpiper Family

~true bird fact~ Greater Yellowlegs are notoriously understudied by scientists because they generally live in such inhospitable, mosquito-ridden, and generally unpleasant-to-hang-out-in places. Yup, that's all it takes.

Idiosyncratic taste in music and movies (likes things that are really trash)
Says "woop! woop!" over and over again. No one knows why.
Has his own ideas about morality, which may be confusing to some, but are at least internally consistent
Lives this way because he wants to, not because he must

Willet
Berkeley, California, USA
Member of the Sandpiper Family
Is into scrapbooking now

You remember Willet, don't you? Our very own third bird portraiture subject. My how far we've come, in terms of photography at least. Anyway, your Amateurnithologist was taking a walk at the Berkeley Marina and took what he believed was a nice picture of our friend Willet. Cause you can't have too many pictures of birds, right?

On a whim, I decided to check if there were any other birds that looked like a Willet, and found out about Sir Yellowlegs up there. Care to take a guess about the only visible difference between a Willet and a Greater Yellowlegs? I am left to what has become my mantra of bird identification lately- "always get good light on the feet." So there I was with a new bird to feature on the blog, but I felt like I would be remiss to not tell this story and to point out the at-times ridiculously minor differences that separate one bird from another. I mean really, it's like one of those 'can you spot 5 differences?' puzzles for children. This is what I see as one of the major barriers to entry into the hobby and we here at your bird blog want to do our best to normalize your birding experiences. At amateurnithologist "we're dumb too" is our motto.

Any pair of birds that make me say "C'mon! That is SO not a different bird!" will get featured in this way. Thanks for tuning in birdfans and til' next week- may all your birds be noticeably different looking.