Ruffed Grouse

Ruffed Grouse aka. Patridgde, aka. Pheasant, aka. Prairie Chicken (all colloq., inaccurate) aka. Thunder-chicken

East Glacier Park, Montana, USA
August 2023
Member of the Turkey, Grouse, and Partridge Family
§A Pack of Grouse§
★The State Game Bird of Pennsylvania★ (Ranked the worst state bird by this website, due to not being a state bird (Pennsylvania does not have one)
★The most widely distributed game bird in North America★

~True Bird Fact~ They are described as an "immensely popular game bird" by allaboutbirds.org, and I see no reason to argue with that characterization, given that they appear to have an enormous organization named after them. Yes, you heard me, The Roughed Grouse Society exists, and appears to have an extremely slick website, and a history of working with state governments to improve forest management to create more appropriate grouse habitats. 

Yes, these are hunters, which is not really my thing, but I think the lesson to take here is that a bird species thrives when attention and care is paid to it, although maybe not for ideal reasons in this case. Anyway, this aforementioned website is filled with great quotes. Like this one, about the birds comfort with humans "they can still be killed with a canoe paddle or thrown stones in Minnesota wilderness forests, and are not considered much of a sporting bird in western mountains and north into Canada due to their confiding “fool-hen” nature."

And this one about Ruffed Grouse chicks "The chicks are precocial, which means that as soon as they have dried following hatching they are ready to leave the nest and start feeding themselves. Grouse chicks are not much larger than a man’s thumb when they leave the nest. They are surprisingly mobile and may be moving farther than 1/4 mile a day by the time they are 3 or 4 days old. They begin flying when about 5 days old, and resemble giant bumble bees in flight."

I also learned that "Ruffed Grouse are almost exclusively “flower-eaters,” living on the dormant flower buds or catkins of trees such as the aspens, birches, cherries, ironwood and filberts. Extensive feeding upon flower-buds in apple orchards caused Ruffed Grouse to be placed on the list of bountied animals in some New England states at one time."

Man, what a great website.

So anyway, I went to Montana, to Glacier National Park specifically, to continue my bucket list dream of visiting all the National Parks. Didn't actually get that many birds there, due to not really taking a birds-first approach, but I did get some, that I'll be posting in the coming (months? years?). I did also capture some strange non-bird animals, that maybe you'd have a passing interest in. Like this one

Moose (Shiras subspecies)

Fishercap Lake, Glacier National Park, Swiftcurrent, Montana, USA
August 2023
Member of the Deer Family
§A Herd of Moose§
★Largest and Heaviest Member of the Deer Family★

{Etymology Corner} from the Algonquin "Moosh" from the Innu people. Meaning "stripper and eater of bark"

A Beginners Guide to Hummingbirds that have Appeared on this Blog (with bonus mystery bird)

Wow, quite a Summer we had, bird fans. We really crammed it in here on the blog, with The Great Hummers of Late Summer being an unvarnished success by all metrics that matter (quantity, quality, name of feature). We also proved that it is theoretically still possible for this blog to come out on a weekly basis, if highly unlikely. Yes, my recent trip to the greater Tucson area proved very fruitful (read: birdful), especially for hummingbirds, and we had some great blogs about them. However, when you stop and think about it, what did we gain?

That's why today I'm going to talk a little bit about how we might take the hummingbird friends we've made this month and actually gain some knowledge that will help us find them again, in the wild. When I started this blog I never thought that it might be something people who have any interest in identifying birds would read. After all, there are so many better resources out there for that. So instead I chose to focus on 'birds for the casual bird enjoyer'. However, if there's one thing that's become clear the longer I've stayed in this hobby, is that it's at least a little bit contagious, and regular readers often catch the "I want to look at that bird and know what it is" bug (read:bird). So read on, and you too might add some hummingbirds to your life list. But probably not, unless you live, like, in the far South West.

And one more quick ground-rule- these ID tips are intended to be for birds found in the USA. There are places that have like, tons of hummingbird species, and they all look the same, so no help from me there.


Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Key Identification Feature: You might think that the ruby throat would be the dead giveaway, and you're sort of right. But something you'll see as we go down the list is that these color features are highly dependent on 1) male birds and 2) getting the right light. You see Hummingbird coloration is largely structural, not pigment-based. This means that seeing those bright colors depends on the light hitting them just right. An easier ID is that if you live on the East Coast, this is basically your only hummingbird, baring weird accidental appearance. Other than that you have the green body with a white belly, but that's a pretty common color scheme.


Anna's Hummingbird
Key Identification Feature: They have a redish-pinkish head, almost to the point of looking like they're wearing a full hood. Lives on the West Coast. For me, the vast majority of the time, if I've seen a hummingbird along the pacific, it was an Anna's. Pretty easy ID


Allen's Hummingbird
Key Identification Feature: Crazy colors! Unlike most hummingbirds, this one has spots of orange mixed in with spots of green, mostly along the top. As compared with a later orange hummingbird, this one has less orange, more green, generally speaking.


Costa's Hummingbird
Key Identification Feature: A hard one! Very similar to Anna's, but if you see something you think is an Anna's, but the 'hood' has weird points that extend downward, kind of like lapels or shoulder pads (and sometimes away from the head), it might be an Anna's. Also a purple colored head, vs a more red or pink one in Anna's (but the colors here are not always easy to see, as I mentioned earlier). Smaller, more 'hunched' posture than Anna's, which are sleeker looking. It you're not sure, it's probably an Anna's, as these are not seen as often in most places.

Broad-billed Hummingbird
Key Identification Feature: Pretty easy, I would say. Super colorful, blues and greens all over the body, even without hitting the right light. The bill, though, is really where it's at. Red, slightly curved, with a black tip. Not many hummingbirds have this combination. It is also reported that the bill has a 'broad base', which is what the bird is named for, although it's not exactly the kind of feature I think a normal person would notice or remark on.


Black-chinned Hummingbird
Key Identification Feature: A dark head and a distinctive color pattern on the throat that goes black chin, purplish necklace (sometimes just looks black), white collar. Also has a little white spot behind the eye. The top of the head is always green, in contrast with some of our more colorful hummingbirds above.


Rufous Hummingbird
Key Identification Feature: Extremely orange. If you see a hummingbird and are like "wow, I didn't know there were orange ones", it's probably a Rufous. You might see little bits of green here and there, but less so than in an Allen's. I've been informed that there are basically no differences between an Allen's and Rufous female, so you probably shouldn't even try.


Rivoli's Hummingbird
Key Identification Feature: Big! Darker than most. If you trust pictures on the internet, very colorful throughout, but that's not how I saw it. If you see a hummingbird that looks a lot sturdier and a little slower than normal, it's probably this guy. Long wings and tail with prominent black. Another white eye spot haver.

So, given all that information, we're probably all hummingbird experts now, right? Well, not so fast, because you see, this is a guy I haven't been able to identify. I also posted in the usually very accurate "What's this bird?" Facebook group and there was no consensus. I got Violet-crowned, Broad-billed, and Violet-crowned x Broad-billed hybrid, which is apparently something that can happen. So I present to you now, this Mystery Bird. Maybe some day with lots of training, it'll be YOU who finally tells me what he is. But probably not! The combination of fast moving, super small, highly variable color patterns within species, and colors that requite light to hit at certain angles make hummingbird identification pretty hard. You'll be accurate probably 90% of the time just saying it's a Ruby-throated if you're on the East Coast and an Anna's on the West, to be honest.





Potential Violet-crowned Hummingbird
July 2019

Key Identification Features: Looks a lot like a broad-billed, but check out that streak of blue along the head and back. Also, take a look at the white neck and belly, and then go look at the Broad-billed again. Much more white! However, it's not perfect, since these guys are supposed to have very straight, red beaks. And ideally there'd be an even more white. What's going on here? A trick of the light? Some weird hybrid? Maybe we'll never know. Still, I think I'm probably going to count it, since I saw it at the wonderful Patton Center for Hummingbirds, which is a place that reports daily sightings of these otherwise fairly rare birds.

Still, if you think you know what this bird is with confidence, sound off in the comments. Until next time, bird fans-

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.

Birds Talk: Patriotism

Helloooooo blogfans! Trying out a new feature today where we ask birds-on-the-street to weigh in on various topics in current events. We're kicking off this feature today with the topic of patriotism, because today is Superb Owl Sunday (widely regarded to be the 2nd-4th most patriotic day of the year). We asked birds in Roseville, California "What are your feelings about patriotism on this, Supreb Owl Sunday?" It's a big topic to tackle, but we've come to the field with a goal, so let's get ready to rumble!

Downy Woodpecker: America is great! I think that the football men should not only stand for the national anthem, but maybe should get a ladder so they can stand even higher to respect our flag more.

Red-shouldered Hawk: Why can't someone express their patriotism by being critical of the bad parts of America? If you love this country, you should be willing to work hard to fix it, not just ignoring select parts of it. I hate that I'm putting so much effort into this answer, because I don't think the people arguing the counter position are being intellectually honest anyway.

 Northern Flicker: This question is bullshit [flies away]

American Goldfinch: Whenever I see a football player take a knee, I get so mad that I have to drop everything I'm doing to complain about it on social media. Why would anyone want to protest anything in America, in the greatest country on earth. Protesting should be illegal.

Wild Turkey: (visibly drunk) You know I was supposed to be the America bird before that stupid Eagle. Stole my title just like he steals fish. And now there's a whole holiday where I get eaten, and the Eagle has a football team. I'd like to see the foot on the other shoe, and see how he likes getting eaten.

European Starling: In Europe we call soccer football, and we call patriotism nationalism. We had a lot of wars over that, you know? The nationalism, not the football, although we may very well have a football war at some point.


??Mystery Bird??: 🏱︎♋︎⧫︎❒︎♓︎□︎⧫︎♓︎⬧︎❍︎ ♓︎⬧︎ 🙰◆︎⬧︎⧫︎ ♋︎ ♍︎□︎■︎⬧︎⧫︎❒︎◆︎♍︎⧫︎ ♎︎♏︎⬧︎♓︎♑︎■︎♏︎♎︎ ⧫︎□︎ ◻︎❒︎♏︎❖︎♏︎■︎⧫︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ⬥︎□︎❒︎🙵♓︎■︎♑︎ ♍︎●︎♋︎⬧︎⬧︎ ♐︎❒︎□︎❍︎ ◆︎■︎♓︎⧫︎♓︎■︎♑︎ ♋︎♑︎♋︎♓︎■︎⬧︎⧫︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎♓︎❒︎ ■︎♋︎⧫︎◆︎❒︎♋︎●︎ ♏︎■︎♏︎❍︎♓︎♏︎⬧︎📪︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ♍︎♋︎◻︎♓︎⧫︎♋︎●︎♓︎⬧︎⧫︎⬧︎ ♋︎■︎♎︎ ⧫︎♒︎♏︎ ♌︎♋︎■︎🙵♏︎❒︎⬧︎📬︎

Bird Ornament Detective

Happy Holidays nerds! One of the nicest things about the holiday season for your amateurnithologist is the prominent placement of birds in decoration and festive embellishment around this time of year. Whether they're adorning your Christmas Tree, Hanukkah Bush, or your Kwanzaa Kinora, these birds embody the spirit of peace and love the holidays are meant to represent.

But what are they though? A question only asked by the most compulsive of birders, sure, but one still worth considering, at least academically. Could a bird ornament be IDed? It turns out there's a lot of variety in how much veracity these ornaments have. The core philosophies of creation seem to range from extremely intentional recreation of a specific species to "make a bird". Today we're going to be looking at a couple of examples. Pull a cozy chair up to the fireplace and sip your hot cocoa as you join us for this pedantic holiday exercise.

As a fun bonus we're going to be running the very impressive Merlin Bird ID app through its paces to see if it can offer any additional insights beyond my own arcane system.

Key Features: Drab coloration, rufous crown, brown streak across chest, sparrow-shaped
Best Guess: Bachman's SparrowMerlin says:  Brown Thrasher

illustrated images copyright whatbird.com

I feel it's clear they were going for a certain type of bird at least, but how much further they went than that is anybody's guess. There are a few defining features that could be used for identification, but sadly most of them rule out real birds. The yellow eye is most damning, but the small black beak also doesn't help. At this point it's worth noting that many bird ornaments don't have feet, but rather flexible wires, which to my knowledge is not consistent with any known bird species. Still, the red crown and brown streaked breast make me fairly confident of my identification. This raises another question however- why would anyone make an ornament that looks like a Bachman's Sparrow?
Ornament Rating: 🐦🐦🐦

Key Features: Prominent red coloration, black features including crown, chest, eye stripe [left]
Yellow head, black, curved bill, blue wing spot [right]
Best Guesses: Cardinal [left] Yellow-headed Blackbird [right]
Merlin Says: Northern Red Bishop [left] Yellow-throated Toucan [right]



Terrible, just terrible, in both cases. The red bird, to me, is clearly meant to represent a Cardinal (the crest really gives it away), a really Christmas-y bird. However, it's got these needless features that make it completely incompatible with any real bird. If you were already 90% of the way to making a serviceable cardinal, why would you make a black crest and eye stripe? The other bird is just as bad, having a combination of colors and body shape that make it mostly impossible. The most prominent feature is the yellow head and dark body, which rules out pretty much everything other than the Yellow-headed blackbird all by itself. You could be extremely generous and assume that the blue wing is a kind of opalescent sheen that you can sometimes seen on black birds. I did find some examples of budgies with yellow heads and blue bodies, but the tail and beak take this too far away from the essential shape of the bird to be what they intended.
Ornament Ratings: 🐦 (each scored half a bird, together they get 1)

Key Features: Owl shape, prominent white mask, black eye ring, dark wings
Best Guess: Northern Saw-whet Owl
Merlin Says: Northern Saw-whet Owl (We got one!!)

"What if Bratz, but an Owl" a criticism of this ornament (which may or may not be a promotional item from the ill-fated owl adventure, Guardians of Ga'hoole) might go. But then you remember that a Northern Saw-Whet Owl is actually a thing, and that this looks almost exactly like it. While I'm not fully convinced that they thought they were making anything other than a cute owl, this ornament gets high marks for accuracy. Needs a little more streaking and a lighter breast, but the face is pretty darn close.
Ornament Ratings: 🐦🐦🐦🐦

Key Features:  Bluish back, yellow belly, white eye mask, upturned tail
Best Guess: Blue Tit 
Merlin says: Bananaquit (?!)

This is really close, in my opinion, to a real Chickadee or Nuthatch of some type. The only issue is really the shape of the white eye mask. The shape of the bird is just right, and for the most part the colors are all within throwing distance of the real thing. In fact the ornament's so detailed that I'm almost feeling like my ID is the problem, and there's some real bird that looks just like this.
Ornament Ratings:🐦🐦🐦🐦

Key Features: Silvery-grey, prominent tuft, black beak, darker wing
Best Guess: Black-crested Titmouse
Merlin Says: Black-crested Titmouse!

Apologies for the very bad photo, call this one a #worstbirdornamentpic. To be honest, this ornament is just about perfect. The only criticism that I'd make is that as a group of birds, the titmouse family is not particularly distinctive, with really only the crest and overall shape being what clues me in.
Ornament Ratings:🐦🐦🐦🐦

Key Features: White, crested, black ring around the neck, spotted wings, striped tail
Best Guess: Leucistic Bluejay
Merlin Says: Mourning Dove

This is undeniably a leucistic Bluejay, and was clearly made either by someone with an obsessive knowledge of birds or someone who was trying to make a bluejay, but ran out of blue dye. That black necklace really is what gives it away. Either way, a brilliant post-modern deconstruction of our ideas about the bird ornament genre.
Ornament Ratings:🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦

There you have it birdfans. Now you have all the example you need for how to irritate your friends and relatives by flailingly 'identifying' the birds hanging on your own tree at Christmastime. And I was pretty impressed by Merlin as well, although it's got a long way to go before I can start using it to identify pokemon and stuff.

Mystery Birds from Texas

Birds. They're so mysterious. Sometimes it's literally impossible to tell what they are, even with access to amazing new technologies and a wealth of personal knowledge. I encountered an unusual number of difficult birds on my Big Texas Birding Adventure. Chihuahuan/Common Ravens, all sorts of Flycatcher trouble, and the birds bellow. Maybe these are juvenile, or rare variations, or unusual migrants, or maybe I've discovered some new bird species. It's not like I usually have any trouble identifying birds, so it must be one of those possibilities. Let's check these birds out now, shall we?

All birds are from Big Bend National Park and surrounding areas, taken in July 2017

 Best Guess: Red-winged Blackbird
 Likes spicy candies. Weird

Best Guess: Ladder-backed Woodpecker
Always insists on treating at meals


Best Guess: Brown-headed Cowbird
Really sneaks up on you

Best Guess: Summer Tanager
Gets nervous when handling delicate things

Best Guess: Bullock's Oriole
Sentimentally wears accessories from family members

Best Guess: Black-billed Magpie
Laser-like focus

Phew, that was a lot of birds I couldn't identify. Do you know any of them? Maybe don't tell me because I'm feeling very self-conscious about my bird identifying skills. Or maybe do, and let me know in the comments.

Who's that Pokebird? pt.2

Welcome back to the world of birds! I may not be a real bird professor, but I'm definitely a bird fan. If you didn't see last week's blog, we've got a trending topics special: Identifying the bird-type pokemon that (theoretically) appear in recent smash hit Pokemon Go. Check out part 1 here, and then come on back.  Make sure you save your game and change your gameboy's batteries, because these are some birds you won't want escaping.

Farfetch'd
Defining characteristics: definitely a duck, brown coloring, black brow, yellow bill

Who's that pokebird? Mottled Duck
I was hoping to find a duck with Farfetch'd distinctive tuft, but there was no bird that had both that and his coloring. I feel like this is a pretty good match, at least better than Golduck from last week. One fan on facebook pointed out that the Psyduck line might resemble more of a platypus than a bird. Blasphemy for a monster with 'duck' in its name? It might be more possible than you would imagine, since the etymology is not especially on point in pokemon, especially in the first game.

Doduo
Defining characteristics: flightless, thin beak, brown, long legs, two heads..
 
Who's that pokebird? North Island Brown Kiwi
This is for sure a Kiwi and bears little to no resemblance to its namesake, the dodo. A very good match as far as shape, color, and beak, there's little doubt in my mind. Historical evidence of a kiwi with two heads is lacking, but we can allow for a little fantastical element in this, a video game. It's not going to get any better from here on out, that's for sure.

Dodrio
Defining characteristics: crest, long sharp beak, elongated tail, often depicted running

Who's that pokebird? Greater Roadrunner
Ok, so I'm not super satisfied with this one. There is simply no bird that matches the unique coloration pattern of dodrio (brown on top, black on the bottom, red tail). I was unsatisfied with my options among flightless birds, but the body shape never felt right, and none had crests. I settled on Greater Road Runner eventually, as I felt it best captured the je ne sais quoi of Dodrio. In my research I did learn of a species of flightless rail who lives someplace called Inaccessible Island. It's name? The Inaccessible Island Rail. Marvelous.

Articuno
Defining characteristics: blueish, distinctive crest, long tail, powerful wings, appears to be a bird of prey
 
Who's that pokebird? Harpy Eagle
I think this guy looks great. You can even find some pictures where the blue-ness is played up. What eventually sealed it for me was those head feathers, despite this guy living in South American Jungles. Other good options included the Gyrfalcon and Stellar's Sea Eagle, who actually live in icy environments, but the coloring and shape made the Harpy Eagle the best match. It also helps that it's an insanely large bird, befitting of legendary status.

Zapdos
Defining characteristics: yellow, black elements, pointed beak, splayed feathers

Who's that pokebird? Northern Yellow-Shafted Flicker
I know I just talked about it working out nicely that a large, imposing bird should be the inspiration for a legendary, but this guy is just totally in the woodpecker family. This is backed up by one of his signature moves being 'drill peck', something neither of the other legendary birds learn. This might be the best match of all, and if a Yellow-shafted Flicker got struck by lightning, who can say for sure that it wouldn't turn into this. If you wanted a little bit of a fancier alternative, maybe I can interest you in a Greater Bird-of-paradise.

Moltres
Defining characteristics: reddish coloring, wildly bushy feathers, angry eye, sharp + pointed beak

Who's that pokebird? Reddish Egret
Egrets? I've had a few. And this bird clearly is one. He's at least in that crane/egret/heron family somewhere, as indicated by body/neck/head shape. I went with Reddish Egret for obvious coloration reasons. There are redder options such as Roseate Spoonbill or Scarlet Ibis, but they lacked the right beak shape.

Whew, there sure are a lot of these things... birds I mean. At least they don't come out with another new hundred you have to catch every few years. I think for now I'll be refraining from IDing the 'mon from the next generations, mostly because they got a lot more obvious. I mean, do you really need amateurnithologist telling you that Pidove is a dove or that Noctowl is an owl? Well, never say never, I suppose. Until next time, may you bird them all.