Visual ID of American vs. Fish Crow...

How does that make you feel? I'm posting a few crow photos from today with the hopes of generating some discussion as to everyone's comfort level in using visual characteristics in separating these species in a semi-vagrant setting (Ontario).

Set/bird #1:

Set/bird #2 (plus an OOF bird) -

What say you?! I'll write my (100% honest and not influenced by whatever anyone else says) opinions in a few days...

Right now, mega migration is unfolding!!

PS - if you want to know more on these species, check out the holy grail link here: 

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/FishCrow.htm

UPDATE:

Radio-silence leads me to believe that no one is comfortable with visually ID'ing crows... Here's a few more pics from today (one day after the pics above) - if you want to try some more before commenting! 

(I think there are 3 birds in this series, but I may have included a fourth) 

And one more bird:

===================

Edit #3 - 

Here's my take.... 

The fieldmarks for birds in flight are generally not reliable... It may be that there are differences in size/shape in the flight feathers between adults & first year birds (anyone have pyle handy? mine is buried)....

The moe "swept back" the wings are, the harder it is to assess the appearance of P5 vs. P4, P6 & P9...

I can find "one off" pictures of both AMCR & FICR that appear to show exactly what that species SHOULD NOT show... (both primaries and bill structure) 

Therefore I think it'd take 10+ photos (with different postures) to properly assess any differences in primary ratios...

Here's my thoughts on the above birds:

First five photos: 

A key problem here is all my photos show the bird with the wings swept back, which seems to favour FICR appearance regardless of species... 

However, in each photo, P5 seems to have no interest in looking like a finger (or at all longer than P9) and the bill is very hooked, so I'm inclined to identify it as a Fish Crow (with the full disclaimer I'm not really worried if I'm wrong, and am happy to adjust going forwards as we get better information on these birds). 

Second set of five: 

This bird, and the previous (first set of five) were a flock of five crows that flew past... I managed to get a series of two only... This bird spreads out a bit more, and I'm inclined to say the same features apply regarding the primaries (P5 looks more like P4 than it does P6 - aka not a finger)... The wing spread is a little better in trying to say that P9 is roughly equal to P5, although you can see that each wing looks a bit different, highlighting how awful this is to try with photographs..

(the bill is hard to see)

One other interesting element is that the out of focus crow in the background of two of these images is clearly showing P10-6 in both shots (with the third and final below) with P5 MIA... 

So in summary, I had a flock of 5 crows - that all looked odd to me - so I took pics.... I now have ~30 photos of three birds, and none show any features either strongly against FICR, or strongly pro AMCR, so I'm inclined to say the flock was a group of FICR... So if you're like me, and you enjoy trying to identify every single bird you see regardless of circumstances - it's an interesting thought/conclusion... 

IF you like enjoying your bird observations and NOT making mistakes when identifying birds, then this process probably seems insane...

----------

The last 12 photos (of 5 different birds, I think) - were all taken the next day, as I tried to get some new reference material to test these ideas on... I suspect they're all American Crows.... The vast majority of photos seem to show a semi or strongly-pro AMCR feature on first glance... Some images showed features that seemed to align with Fish Crow, however once I tried another mark (e.g. P5 vs. P9) it was more in line with AMCR... Check out some markups of the origional bunch:

Long story short:

The marks aren't definitive - photos can be misleading - take 15-20 photos of a bird in flight, and then you'll have a chance of being more confident, but not totally confident, if you care. 

Oh, and context is huge as well (I had 5 birds together in a FICR-plausible time/place, when peak AMCR migration has passed, which gave me a really weird vibe - after watching for these things fairly steadily since 2011). 

VLOG?!

Rarity alert! One of the earliest major-exciting weather events I can remember... Is it toooo early? Probably not. Great birding awaits! I'm back to making videos:

I'm probably not going to post these things every time (ok, I'm not) so if you're keen on them - don't be afraid to subscribe to the youtube page...

Get out there!!!

RARITY ALERT - Apr 9-10

I dedicated my third video to this! 36-48 hours of spectacular migration & high vagrant potential approaches.

ebird gull media upload

eBird checklists with photos! If you haven't used the ebird media database yet, I encourage you to do so! It's 2 million photos (& growing), and is an unbelievable tool when researching an unusual bird you've observed/photographed...

I use it so much, that I must also do my part, and kicked it off by uploading one of my favourite subjects: GULLS!

Check it out here: https://ebird.org/media/catalog

The odd mundane gull pic appears every once in a while, but for the most part I think they have something to offer... Hopefully they updated the "search options" in the future for added refinement (eg, "third winter Herring Gull")... But it's still pretty awesome...

I've tried to only paste an "active" link once, but occasionally I highlighted the same one twice when two really cool/unusual birds were photographed at the same date/site... I have a bunch more Glaucous/Iceland/Lesser Black-backed style photos, but have unfortunately lost my gusto to continue uploading them... At least the *good* stuff is online (until someone from eBird invalidates them!)...  Now enjoy this blog filler! -


Sabine's Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S11675426
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34154495
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34154644 (same bird, next day)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S5308395 (a dult)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34154906
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34155051
http://ebird.org/ebirdview/checklist/S8857549
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S8800462
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S6940582
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34158655


Black-legged Kittiwake:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33744521
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34153994
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34154147
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S5308395
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S5321679


Bonaparte's Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33744876
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33744765
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S14195895 (dark morph)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34002703
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34002888
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S6979081
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34158839


Little Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33744765
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33745748
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34002703
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34002888
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S14195918
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S11675426
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S8046017


Franklin's Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34002703 (same as a LIGU link)


Laughing Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33985697
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34002944
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34003148
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S16093325
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S6403130 (really bad)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S14195918
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S14138728


Great Black-backed Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33744765
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747386
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33984583
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34140298
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34145725
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34146658
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34146872
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34169158
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34172829
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34184884
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35655917


Great Black-backed X Herring / Herring:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35656522


Great Black-backed X Herring Hybrid (Great Lakes Gull):

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747736
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S15541952
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33984583
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33985424
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34120856
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9807875
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S10069432
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34147440
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34153172
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34153907
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34169431
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34169625
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747164
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34180718
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34183726
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S25786526
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S22413804


Great Black-backed X Glaucous Hybrid:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747328 (super excited to see this in ON)


Herring/Thayer's Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33744765
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34168712


Herring Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33744876
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33746963
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747229
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S8857549 (nutty bird)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33985424 (massive amount of white in the wingtips)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33990150 (massive white apical spots)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33991814
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S24399660
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9832015
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34139689
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34139918
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34145725
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34145934
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34146872
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34147270
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34161547
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34162057
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34168712
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34171899
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34172068
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S10037500
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34002099
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34179804
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34181550
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34181975
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S6872439
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S6824222
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34183475
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35655917
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35656522
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35656898
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35657229 (tailband alert)



VEGA (Herring) Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33748027


Herring X Lesser Black-backed Hybrid:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33990150 (2w)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S5426055 (the SAME BIRD a YEAR LATER)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34121417
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34153375
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747386
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34183726
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S24924528


Herring X Lesser Black-backed Hybrid / Herring Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9832015


Lesser Black-backed Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S6133802
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33744765
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747894
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S15384268
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33984583
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S5140299
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S14195918
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34121417
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9807875
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9832015
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9857032
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S10062498
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34139689
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S5426055
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34146658
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34153375
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S11675426
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34153793
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34153907
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34160172
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34160715
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34169179
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34179569
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34179804
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34179890
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747164
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34180718
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34181550
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S6870751
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35657158
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35657903
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35679366


Lesser Black-backed / Yellow-legged Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34140298
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34145934 (duh same bird)


Herring / Herring X California Gull Hybrid:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33746963
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747164


Herring X California Gull Hybrid:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S24924528


California Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S24399660
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33990150 (same bird)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S24399652 (new bird)
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33999991
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S19439806
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34000177
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34000328
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S23436424


Black-tailed Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S5376434


Ring-billed Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33744765
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33984583
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S24399660
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34139689
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34139918
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34145934
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34147270
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S14091329
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34181975
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S7410208


Ring-billed / Ring-billed X Laughing (?):

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35656189


Iceland (Kumlien's) Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33746963
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33991317
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S24399660
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34120856
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34121417
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34121645
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34137811
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9807875
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9832015
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9857032
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S10062498
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34139918
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34145624
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34145725
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34001482
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34146098
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34160715
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747328
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34160990
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34169158
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34171899
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S10037500
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747164
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34180718
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34168712
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34181975
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35655917
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34002888
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35679366



Iceland/Thayer's:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747328
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33991814
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S24399660
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34120856
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34121119
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34137811
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9807875
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9832015
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9857032
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S10062498
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34121645
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35655917


Thayer's X Iceland Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34160172
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34121645 (same bird as above, dif date)


Thayer's Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747328
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747736
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33747894
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33985775
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33991814
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S24399660
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34121119
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34121417
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34137463
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34137811
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9807875
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9832015
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9857032
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9898082
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S10062498
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34001482
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34160715
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34168914
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34169158
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34169493
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34171899
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34172068
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S10037500
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34179804
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34180718
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S19439806


Nelson's Inuk Gull (Glaucous X Herring):

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33753299
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33991814
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S24399660
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34001482
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34001610
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34002099
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33746963
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34120856
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34121119
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34121417
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34121645
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S10069432
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34171899
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S15733950


Glaucous Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S33991317 - barrovianus candidate
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S24399660
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S14195918
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S9857032
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S10062498
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34140298
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34145725
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34001482
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34146098
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34146872
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34147270
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S34181550
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S35655917


Glaucous-winged Gull:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S5140299

Birding Weather Videos?!

Is this a good idea or a bad idea? I'm not sure. Just wanted to try it out... Perhaps more interesting weather will = more interesting videos...

Whatcha think? Any suggestions?

Migration tonight!

I know there won't be many people reacting to this idea/post on ~8 hours notice (I kinda missed this approaching) - but I was surprised to see the wind/rain pattern unfolding tonight. As per usual, I'm using Point Pelee as an example...

Despite strong NE winds and colder temps, the rain is moving north of SW Ontario:

Harrow Airport says it's 3.5 degrees...

and here's the surface winds:

(yes, NE winds) - but the south winds aren't terribly far away!

This is (in my opinion) a great setup for big NUMBERS of birds to drop in at migrant traps (like Pelee!)... You'd never know from the ground, but warmer southerly air is flowing over Pelee from places further south. Check out the 850mb winds: 

This is a very similar setup to the BIG day from May 11, 2016 - with huge numbers of neotropic migrants from Pelee / Pelee Island...

https://peregrineprints.blogspot.ca/2016/05/crazy-birding-may-11th-2016-pelee-island.html

IF it turns out, tomorrow will be "March/April" themed - so flickers, winter wrens, kinglets, juncos etc - but it could be a pretty interesting show out there. I won't be there, but maybe you will be? Looking forward to the ebird checklists!

Bald Eagle X European Starling hybrid

Or maybe it's a partial albino Starling.. Who's to say? My lovely ladyfriend spotted this beast in our backyard during the recent snowfalls... Snowfall = more birds at your feeder, and spring snowfall = oodles of migrant blackbirds at your feeder!

Managed a few quick grabs from inside the house. Not much else to say about it - although I was pretty surprised to see just HOW the white was coming through... I am not knowledgable about the exact causes of plumage abnormalities in birds (I believe there was a great article several years ago on how the mechanisms are different in birds vs. mammals)  but it seems a little more unusual that the feathers are part normal part white (greater coverts) - or part normal part paler-than-normal (primaries) - or straight up white (head etc). 

20 San Diego Bird Photographs

For the first time in some time, I ventured forth on a bird-photography-specific adventure. My destination was San Diego, where I was lucky to get some tips & tricks from the legendary San Diego birder/photographer Jim Pawlicki. (Thanks Jim!)

Long story short, is that I somehow managed to take 19,000 photos... Since I don't really have a functioning website these days, I came up with roughly twenty photos (each showing a different species) that also happened to be some of my favourite images from the trip. Needless to say, there are more, but i'm not really sure if/when/where they'll surface in the future.

Hope you like them!

Nature Photography 104 - Feb 16, 2017

Back in the day (way back in the day) I did several posts looking in depth at some of my bolder editing practices & recently edited a photo that convinced me to do another post.... Inevitably I dislike doing a lot of editing, preferring to get it right the first time, but rarely I end up with a photo that I decide to "do some work" to see if I can save it... Here's the final product:

And here's what I started with:

(Full frame)

With of course, guest appearances by the photos that I took immediately before and after this one:

So, as you have guessed - I used the body parts of the other two photos that weren't clipped, and stuck them on with the magic of photoshop... With a cropped photo (or even when using a teleconverter) - this is easy peasy... Unfortunately I was shooting with just the 600mm, so you end up with the mostly invisible but forever present "vignetting" ... Because I'm shooting through a round piece of "magnification glass", the corners/edges bend the light slightly differently and you end up with a brighter centre / darker edges... On a clean background (like this) is easily detected... 

To see it, or to find pesky dust spots on a clean background, I temporarily adjust the "levels" much darker... Check out this screen capture: 

So - while this is all fine and dandy... It helps illustrate my next point - that even though I added "canvas" to the sides of the *final* copy (first image I posted), it is hardly a "perfect" job due to the gradient present in the originals... I did my best to tidy it up a bit, but overall I just don't care enough to try and make it better! (maybe you or someone else could do a better job - here are the underlying secrets of the final copy):

Pretty difficult to see until someone points it out... I shutter to think what would happen if this was printed for a book/mag... Hopefully it'd stay invisible but sometimes digital to print just doesn't work out the way you had planned!!

Speaking of which, I've also conducted all of this editing on my macbook, which seems to do a TERRIBLE job of properly displaying photos, so there's a chance i'll get onto a *better* computer in the next few days and be terrified at this version...

So there we go... A blog post... Done. 

PeregrinePrints.com ... Blog: RANT (Red-tailed Hawks)

I'm going to rant about Red-tailed Hawks. If the entire world can shift to emotion-based politics, I assume the birding community can handle this completely fact-free rant. If not, there's the door.

When I was a kid, I'm reasonably sure this is how Red-tailed Hawk subspecies were treated:

Note: I'm ignoring Harlan's... 

Abieticola was a mythical RLHA-like bird that hailed from the treeline in northern Quebec/Labrador... Over ten years ago I observed a bird that fit this bill - a freak juvenile looking RTHA with belly markings unlike anything I had ever seen (80-90% odd dark triangles across the belly) and sitting on the GROUND in a wide open field.... Then we had "eastern", "western" and something called Krider's from the prairies...

Maybe hindsight is 20/20, but it was pretty obvious that the "Eastern" birds that nested in the boreal were darker than the local birds... When our birds were sitting on eggs, it was possible to see a steady migration of heavily marked birds at the spring hawkwatch in Beamer/Grimsby...

Now that I've been "out of the raptor loop" for several years, I peek back and this is what I interpret:

"Eastern" RTHA is now subjected to the pale local RTHA, and anything with a belly band is being called abieticola... Seemingly eating into the range of every other subspecies... 

My confusion grew during a June/July visit to southern Saskatchewan, where I encountered DARK MORPH Red-tailed Hawks breeding just shy of the Manitoba and North Dakota borders.... and of course a quick search around the interwebs led me nowhere in trying to find a proper definition of "western" red-tailed hawk range... 

Which leads me to believe that we actually know very little about where these population start & end, and trying to put any sort of a subspecies label on them is bordering on pointless... In the future, I'd love it if we could define them on a slider-scale of "northerly to southerly" and "more eastern or western" in their traits, perhaps with slightly more contrasting demarcations when dealing with ecozones (eg,/ Florida, Carolinian, Boreal, Prairies, Destern/Southwest, Northwest/mountains, Newfoundless).. Perhaps something like this: 

Alright! That's it! Rant over. 

Crazy crazy idea - looking for associates !

I'm just throwing this out there, with absolutely no idea what type of response I might get... Here it is:


Aerial Survey (via helicopter) of coastal James Bay in Winter!


Sounds like fun, right? Here's the skinny:

Off the SW tip of Akimiski island in winter is a feature called a polynya -  one that occurs year after year - an area of open water surrounded by sea ice. Beyond that, most of James Bay doesn't actually freeze solid - meaning there will be cracks or leads within the ice. It's hard to find a graphic that illustrates this, but I've done my best:

Red = where we would expect to find the reliable polynya

Yellow = where (weather permitting) we would find leads/cracks in the ice


What would we expect to see? Well I'm glad you asked... In general - not a whole lot, but I think the experience alone may be worth it... At a minimum I'd like to think we'd see Common Eider and Black Guillemot - two species that ALWAYS overwinter on James Bay and presumably rely on the polynya... Where those two species are hanging out, I'd also expect to see King Eider and Long-tailed Duck. Anything beyond that may well be gravy, but I wouldn't be shocked to see Glaucous Gull, Snowy Owl and/or Gyrfalcon.

A major natural history bonus would be the possibility of seeing Beluga, Polar Bear or Bearded/Ringed Seals.

IF we were to see something "rare" - I'd place my money on Ivory Gull... Unexpected but no-less appreciated birds would be scoters (White-winged?), other gulls (Iceland, Herring or perhaps Kittiwake)... IF we saw a Dovekie, Thick-billed Murre or a Fulmar, I'd be darn happy - but I'm not getting my hopes up...

But WAIT! There's more!

(What is this, an infomercial?)

There's an additional major selling point to this little adventure... We will DRIVE to Attawapiskat. That's right... In recent years a WINTER ROAD has been maintained from Cochrane to Moosonee to Attawapiskat... So we'll drive the whole way, presumably scoring ALL of the northern goodies from Spruce Grouse to Sharp-tailed Grouse to Pine Grosbeak to Hoary Redpoll flocks to Great Gray Owl to Northern Hawk Owl and perhaps more.

And by more I mean WILLOW PTARMIGAN IN WINTER. Hopefully. I can only hope that somewhere on that lonely road from Moosonee to Attawapiskat we'll come across one of these white beauties... I have it on good authority that the winter road should be open in the next 7-10 days!!!


SO - here comes the hard part...


Helicopters are EXPENSIVE... And there are several variables depending on who wants to go and how much each individual is willing to pay.... For example:


IF we wait for the Helicopter company to ALREADY be in Moosonee or Attawapiskat, we could save a lot of money... However we would lose all ability to plan the dates of the trip, tailor it to weather, or there could even be the possibility that the dates don't work out and the trip doesn't happen at all...

IF we pay for what we want, it's more expensive, but then we can ensure we're up there for optimal weather (or optimal dates for your personal life) and more freedom in general...

SO -

My bare minimum estimate is $2500 ... and the more we're willing to get into the $4000-$4500 range, the more freedom we will have.

IF you're interested - please e-mail me!!! - I'll send you my cell number and we can go over additional details together... I can't really sort out a more accurate estimate until I know who wants to go and how many of us there are.....


===========================================

Edit:

I meant to put this in, I should have put this in, and I didn't put it in originally! Thanks to Josh & Adam for pointing this out.

I tend to follow the "Ontario" border from google, which shows that most of the way from Moosonee to Fort Albany would be in Ontario, From Fort Albany to Attawapiskat we would probably be on the border somewhere (likely in Ontario earlier in the winter, possibly Nunavut later in the winter as the fast ice builds)... And then the polynya would most likely fall in Nunavut (however it's possible to be very close to the border or even in Ontario depending on ice conditions - but probably Nunavut)...

From a "list" standpoint, or birding in general, I think we will be venturing into a realm totally unknown when in the helicopter... It is very hard to say if there will be massive flocks of eiders (as our anon. poster highlights from an amazing adventure in the first comment) as the eastern shore (or the Belcher Islands) may be quite different than the western shore... As far as I know, the results of what we see may be the first of their kind to be presented to the wide world (web, print etc).

For me, I don't really expect to see anything I couldn't see otherwise in Ontario (even the possible mega rares like Fulmar, Dovekie, Murres, Ivory Gull etc). It's all about the "experience" of flying over a frozen James Bay birding in a place where we would have no idea what to expect. The possiblity of beluga, seals or polar bears are (nearly) as exciting as the birds... Plus  - I expect to see great birds regardless on the drive in the form of Grouse, Finches, Owls etc!

Thanks again gents for pointing this out! If anyone has any questions, comment, email etc. and I'll do my best to answer...