We had expensive company from the Center East staying with us on Monday, my typical birding day. So this week, as an alternative of writing about my newest outing, which didn’t occur, I’ll discuss a number of of my favourite birds. These species will not be solely stunning or charming, however have a private resonance for me. I’m certain every of our readers even have sure birds which imply essentially the most to them; in reality, I’d love to listen to about yours within the feedback under.
Black-vented Oriole: set off chook #1
It’s an unnecessarily lengthy story as to why I first put a birdbath in my yard. However suffice it to say that when a Black-vented Oriole turned up for a drink, I spotted I wasn’t in Kansas anymore. (Or, extra precisely, I wasn’t in California, after which Baja California, any extra.) These orioles turned out to be frequent in our space, and infrequently go to my backyard, however they nonetheless have a spot in my coronary heart.
Grey Silky-Flycatcher: set off chook #2
It wasn’t lengthy earlier than I began trying out birds within the nature reserve on the opposite facet of my neighborhood. At some point I used to be trekking the reserve with my grownup son, and a flock of Grey Silky-Flycatchers flew shut overhead to a close-by fruiting tree. We have been entranced, and my curiosity in birds elevated. I quickly purchased an affordable pair of binoculars. They have been of horrible high quality, and shortly broke. However they did function a gateway birding drug.
Squirrel Cuckoo: Any individual else’s set off chook?
I used to be in that very same nature reserve, when a Squirrel Cuckoo turned up on the facet of the primary path. Since Squirrel Cuckoos are 15 in/37 cm lengthy, and superior, I needed to level it out to a passing father and son — the one folks round. The boy shouted “¡Qué padre pájaro!” (What a cool chook!) as he gazed at it. Maybe my first convert?
As an added level on this chook’s favor on my favorites record, this photograph of mine is at the moment on the Merlin app.
Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo: I get sport.
Round 2011 or 2012, I found an internet discussion board of a somewhat choose group of Mexican birders. For some inexplicable cause, they accepted me of their discussion board, permitting me to topic them to a collection of dumb newbie’s questions and unhealthy ID images. However once I put up a foul ID photograph of a Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo, I all of the sudden discovered that I too had one thing to supply. It seems this species could be very tough to see — in all places besides in my territory, since thus far I’ve now seen it 64 instances inside an hour of Morelia.
Sinaloa Martin
By 2015, I had found the tiny city or Paso Ancho, Michoacán, as my nearest choice for seeing the numerous endemics of Mexico’s Scorching Nation/Tierra Caliente. I had the great luck to make my first go to in July, and to handle satisfactory images of a number of the swallows and swifts wheeling overhead. Lots of them turned out to have strikingly darkish backs, with a shiny white bellies. These have been Sinaloa Martins, a big swallow so uncommon that even in the present day they solely seem on 161 eBird lists. As much as that time, these had by no means been reported for the state of Michoacán. However now, a few quarter of all these stories, and greater than half of all images, are from this one web site. And if the Chestnut-sided Shrike-Vireo allowed me to host some nice birders, the Sinaloa Martin has finished so twice as a lot.
An early photograph of mine, which can be nonetheless to be discovered on Merlin.
Hudsonian Godwit
Now this can be a chook that wants no private backstory to be particular. (However I’ll nonetheless present one.) It breeds on the shores of the Canadian and Alaskan Arctic, then gathers across the southern arm of Hudson Bay, to fly continuous all the best way to the southern tip of South America. Solely on its means north in late spring does it cease at completely different factors to relaxation and feed, largely close to the western shore of the Gulf of Mexico.
In Might of 2018, I included some somewhat unhappy images of what I had recognized as a bunch of 6 Lengthy-billed Dowitchers in my eBird report for Lake Cuitzeo. To my nice success, one in all Mexico’s greatest birders occurred to have a look at that report and spot the upswept payments and plumage patterns on these birds. Additional manipulation of those images confirmed that these weren’t dowitchers, however Hudsonian Godwits, exhibiting up a lot farther west than that they had ever earlier than been seen in Mexico.
Even higher, in 2022 I used to be capable of take a lot better images of a single Hudsonian Godwit, not too removed from my authentic sighting. I now suspect that this species is usually a chance for Lake Cuitzeo throughout the month of Might. I couldn’t take a look at this concept in 2024, as by that month the lake had disappeared. However since this 12 months’s wet season has began with 15 steady days with rain, I’ve excessive hopes for Might of 2025.
I additionally hope to see this 12 months’s crop of Sinaloa Martins this coming Monday. I’ll maintain you posted.