Hudson Gardens 9-14-2013

Todays hike at Hudson Gardens was a great success! We had a large flock of mixed sparrows about a fourth of the way into the walk and no matter how hard we tried we couldn't get a great view of all them. They were constantly flitting up and down and left and right and back and fourth. The good looks we did get turned up several Song Sparrows, a few Vesper Sparrows, a Lincoln's Sparrow and the most exciting a Clay-colored Sparrow! Several other species went unidentified because of brief glimpses. One we thought perhaps was a Field Sparrow because it showed some rusty red on its head, a grey nape, as well as a strong eyering, no one ever got a good enough look however so it is going uncalled.

We also had another great opportunity of observe Mallard in their eclipse plumage. Now why look at Mallards you say? If you know the common birds like the back of your hand your less likely to misidentify them as something else when they change into winter or non-breeding plumage.
Male Mallards in eclipse plumage look a lot like the females but pay attention to the color of the beak and the feet and also the males will have a much darker breast than the females but often without a female right next to the male it can be hard to tell the difference. Remember female Mallards match, they have a orange (and black) beak and orange feet. While male Mallards don't match they have a yellow beak and orange feet.

We stopped at the Songbird Gardens and watched several Black-capped Chickadees, American Goldfinches and House Finches feed and chase each other around. As we made our way back to the gift shop we walked through the pine forest and enjoyed the scent of the various conifers. We passed a few very vocal Black-billed Magpies and came upon a lovely butterfly bush surrounded by butterflies. There was a Painted Lady, a Monarch and Fritillary Sp. all feeding at the same time.

 

Todays complete list of 32 species.
Canada Goose
Mallard
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Snowy Egret
Osprey
Ring-billed Gull
Mourning Dove
Belted Kingfisher
Downy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker
Western Wood-Pewee
Blue Jay
Black-billed Magpie
Common Raven
Barn Swallow
Black-capped Chickadee
White-breasted Nuthatch (heard only)
House Wren (heard only)
American Robin
European Starling
Cedar Waxwing
Clay-colored Sparrow
Vesper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Common Grackle
House Finch
Pine Siskin
American Goldfinch

Thanks for reading
-Megan

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Birds Parts, Terms and Uses.

 

Buffy malars, no primary projection, white supercillium? these are all terms heard coming from the mouth of any birder at some point in time, but what does it all mean? These are all terms for different parts of the body that may be used to point out a field mark. Below is a White-throated Sparrow, which isn't common here in Colorado but their facial patterns are nicely defined.




Primary and Wing Projection can be a confusing set of terms because they both relate to the length of the primaries but the object of comparison isn't the same. Primary projection is the length of the primaries. Some birds have shorter primaries than others. Wing projection is how far the wing goes past the tail. The long wing projection (the wing going past the end of the tail) would be one indicator of this being a Swainson's Hawk. Its also good to make note of the Cere, which is the fleshy yellow spot just above the beak. This is present on all raptors.

 

 

 

Feather group names can be important in certain situations. The photo bellow is an exotic species, the Mandarin Duck, spreading its wings showing us all those lovely coverts. 

 

The black lores on this bird tell us its a male Yellow-breasted Chat

An eye ring is a white outline around the eye.
 They can be found in some flycatchers,
 warbler, kinglets and many more.

This McGillivray's Warbler is showing a broken eye ring.



Notice the complete eye ring on this Field Sparrow

 

These are just a few of the really common ones if you can't read one of the photos let me know and I'll enlarge it. There are many more terms that can be applied to parts of the bird that aren't used in everyday situations but are still interesting. If anyone is interested in knowing some more specific terms I can create a part 2.

 

Thanks for reading!

-Megan