Shoot first, ask questions later??

You may have noticed that with digital cameras of all shapes and sizes becoming more and more affordable, a growing percentage of birders are arming themselves with impressive photography equipment in the field. It's not uncommon to see someone (like myself) dragging binoculars around their neck with a spotting scope over one shoulder and a digital SLR on the other. Many others carry a point-and-shoot in their pocket for digiscoping. This is a promising trend, as a greater proportion of rare and scarce birds are being documented. It certainly makes records committee evaluations that much easier!

But there is a healthy debate that is growing in the birding community. Some (many?) birder-photographers have adopted a 'shoot first, ask questions later' philosophy in the field. I have personally seen birders, without even trying to identify the bird with optics, immediately pull up their cameras and fire away as many shots as they can, with apparently little interest in watching the bird! This occurs most often with flybys, in which case the birder may never actually get a good look at the bird and would rather rely on photo analysis to make the identification. The question is...is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Well, depends on who you ask. The purist will answer that these birders themselves are losing out on perhaps the most crucial part of bird identification: studying the bird in the field. As a result, their skills, along with the knowledge that would accumulate from field experience, will be slow to develop or even regress if this habit is developed.

But if you were to ask the folks with the quick trigger fingers, you'll be told that 100% certain documentation via photograph is so important that it trumps watching the bird with your eyes. After all, you can prove that you had a Gray-breasted Martin fly by with a photograph, but you can't prove it with a sketch (subjectivity and human error are possible, you know...). Besides, you can observe certain details in still photographs that you can't appreciate when the bird is moving in real time.

Personally, I'm not sure which group I fall into. Both viewpoints are valid in their own way. I have only owned a digital SLR for about 6 months, but I still seem to consider getting photos secondary to studying the bird in real time. Still, I have strayed from this on a few occasions and reached straight for the camera...though often with less-than-stellar results, leaving me wishing that I had just watched the damn thing before it flew away.

I have also noticed that younger birders tend to fall into the 'shoot first' category more than older birders. This is likely a product of young birders growing up with easier access to affordable high-quality digital photography. But this age-related difference is not something I'm a big fan of. Less experienced (which often means young) birders should, in my opinion, be focusing more on honing their field identification skills than analyzing photos on a computer screen.

Then there's this interesting question. Let's say you're on an east coast pelagic trip and you spot a distant seabird naked eye, flying on the horizon. It's too far to ID without optical help so you don't know what it is at this point. Rather than study the bird with optics you grab your camera and fire off a few shots. You've lost the bird, but you got your photos. You look down on your camera's LCD screen and zoom in...to find a barely identifiable shot of a Cape Verde Shearwater. So...can you count it?? If you had pulled up your bins for a peek, you would have noticed a shearwater that resembled Cory's in many ways but was smaller, slimmer, with a thinner and slightly darker bill. You would have suspected Cape Verde Shearwater, gotten others on the bird, and had the captain attempt to chase it down immediately.

Or perhaps it's late November, and you're standing vigil at the Lighthouse Point Hawkwatch in New Haven, CT. A presumed Tree Swallow passes by. Normally you would have studied it using your bins and/or scope, but you want a couple shots of late migrating TRES to post to your blog that evening. Later that night, when you upload the images at home, you drop your glass of wine to the floor like Chazz Palminteri dropped that coffee mug in the scene at the end of The Usual Suspects....photos reveal that the swallow was in fact a Violet-green...first state record. It goes on the official state list, but does it go on yours? In the field you had no idea you were looking at a Violet-green Swallow. It was only ID'ed after the fact with a photo. Sure it was your photo, but still...

What do you do when you're confronted with a shoot-or-study situation? It can be such a difficult call. I'm not sure there's a right answer. It probably depends on the exact situation. What about counting a bird identified solely via photo that could have otherwise been identified in the field? If you have any thoughts, let us know in the Comments section below.

- Nick

11 Feb - adult Kumlien's Iceland Gull

On Saturday afternoon Carolyn Sedgwick and I birded the central CT coast and stumbled upon a nice adult Kumlien's Iceland Gull at Circle Beach near the end of Neck Road on the Madison/Guilford line. It's one of the more lightly-marked adults I've seen locally in recent years, with limited gray on p7-p10. In fact when first seen naked eye we took it to be completely white-winged, only to notice the dark pigment with optics. A rather pale iris as well. Skies were overcast and the bird was hesitant to come in to popcorn and potato chips, but we did enjoy a few nice flybys.

adult "Kumlien's" Iceland Gull

- NB

CT "pelagic" trip

This morning 42 birders boarded Project Oceanology's 65-foot boat out of Groton, CT to explore the Connecticut waters of eastern Long Island Sound (thanks to Phil Rusch organizing a trip sponsored by the Connecticut Ornithological Association).

An organized CT boat trip has not been run in many years. Why the special occasion? From late-December through mid-January, an unprecedented incursion of winter pelagic birds was noted in the middle of eastern LI Sound along the CT/NY border by birders who rode the ferry from CT to Long Island. During this period birders recorded several Black-legged Kittiwakes and Common Murres and at least two Thick-billed Murres. In addition to the rarities were impressive numbers of Northern Gannets, Razorbills, and both loons. Even Minke Whales were reported from the area!! Clearly there was an abundant food source to be consumed.

Phil's brilliant plan was to charter a boat and spend a few hours working this stretch of Long Island Sound. He found a great boat at a fair price (came to $40 per person for 4+ hours on the water). The original date was actually 2 weeks ago but was unfortunately canceled due to snow. We rescheduled for today and headed out under sunny skies and a 10mph WNW breeze.

When we reached the target area, we were incredibly disappointed to find no life whatsoever. Couldn't even scratch up a gannet or Herring Gull. Unbelievable! Apparently the food source had moved out, and so had the birds. We were a couple weeks late.

Halfway through the trip we decided to cut our losses and head inshore to Fisher's Island Sound where there had at least been very recent Razorbill sightings. We were relieved to run into a few RAZO, which included some nice looks at an adult-immature pair feeding off Ram Island.

Razorbills

We also had an uptick in general birdlife. Multiple adult Northern Gannets flew by, and we were able to observe Common Eider and Surf & White-winged Scoter as well.

Northern Gannet

Not exactly what we had hoped for, but it was a great day to be on the water with a few dozen really great birding friends.

- Nick

Jan 8 - good January birds

Doug Gochfeld and I birded some southern CT location on Sunday morning from 0730 to 1230. We started off in Wallingford searching for geese around MacKenzie Reservoir. We had the continuing adult Greenland GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE and two "Richardson's" CACKLING GEESE. Other waterfowl on the res included a pair of LESSER SCAUP.

Greater White-fronted Goose

From there we moved toward the coast in search of lingering or rare passerines. Our first stop was at Ora Ave/Proto Dr in East Haven. The place was birdy but nothing too unusual around. Highlights included both kinglets, Gray Catbird, and Savannah Sparrow.

We finished at East Shore Park in New Haven, locally famous for lingering warblers and swallows. Sure enough we found the following lingerers: 3 (!) NASHVILLE WARBLERS, 4 Yellow-rumped Warblers, a "Western" Palm Warbler, and a YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT. On our walk back from the western border of the park, a NORTHERN ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW flew in and began to feed over the sewage plant. This is the second latest record of this species in CT. Four birds lingered into mid-Jan at the same location in 2008.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Yellow-breasted Chat

Nashville Warbler (one of three)

Overall quite a few nice January birds.

- NB

Jan 7 - interesting Herring Gull at the landfill

On Saturday afternoon a group of us visited the Windsor-Bloomfield Landfill. We had three really nice-looking "Kumlien's" Iceland Gulls (first cycle, second cycle, adult), but I found the gull photo'd below the most interesting of the day.

It's a first cycle "Herring" Gull. But it shows some features more in line with Old World taxa (perhaps European Herring Gull) than with your typical smithsonianus American Herring Gull.

The bird stuck out among the American HERGs of various ages by its frosty upperparts with thinly barred first-winter scapulars and checkered greater coverts. A closer look revealed pointy blackish primaries and a mostly black bill, and a blackish tail band of unknown width. Tertials were strongly notched laterally and had broad white tips distally. Undertail coverts barred dark and white, with white bars averaging wider than the dark ones.

In flight, we see an obvious pale inner primary window. The inner primaries are strikingly patterned: dark distal anchors with whitish subterminal spots on either side of the dark feather shaft. Secondary bar is blackish and contrasts sharply with pale wing coverts. The only decent view we have of the tail is from underneath, which appears to show the presence of a tail band set of by paler/marbled bases to the outer rectrices.

Unfortunately, we're missing the crucial uppertail shots to assess thickness of tail band and pattern on uppertail coverts.

There are certainly some things at odds with typical European Herring Gull. These include rather uniformly colored underparts and presence of some dark coloration on the inner webs of the innermost primaries.

Yep, another unidentified first cycle gull. Interesting though. I wonder where this bird was hatched. Maybe someday we'll be able to put a name to these things. For now, we file them away into a growing folder, to be opened at a later date when I feel like giving myself another headache.

As always, comments are very welcome.

- Nick

Book Review: "The Birds of New Jersey: Status and Distribution"

[Disclosure: A free copy of this book was provided by Princeton University Press for unbiased review.]

Status and distribution. Those two words probably excite me more than I should admit. If you don’t feel the same way, you might wonder why I would be eager to review this book. I don’t live in New Jersey. I rarely bird in New Jersey. And let’s face it, New Jersey simply leaves a lot to be desired. Just ask former NY Governor Paterson.

But if you are like me (you poor, poor bastard), you live for this stuff.

“The Birds of New Jersey: Status and Distribution” (paperback, 308 pages) by William J. Boyle, Jr. is a comprehensive look at the documented S&D of New Jersey’s avifauna. This type of book has been done before for many states – every state really should have a work like this at its disposal.

The book starts with an introduction, proceeds to the annotated species list, and concludes with a few appendices.

The intro is straightforward and to-the-point. We are given a summary of NJ’s geography with accompanying map, a brief history on previous bird S&D works dedicated to NJ, and a description of the purpose and responsibilities of the New Jersey Bird Records Committee (NJBRC). Then we have a few pages of what amounts to “how to use this book,” which is rather self-explanatory. The section ends with a brief discussion on New Jersey’s pelagic boundaries and explanation that these lines are far from “official.”

The meat and potatoes of the book is the Annotated List of Species, which is in taxonomic order and devotes a paragraph to each species. The text provides detail about that particular species’ - you guessed it – status and distribution in New Jersey. EVERY SINGLE species ever documented in New Jersey’s rich ornithological history is treated here. For regularly occurring species Boyle touches on preferred habitat, arrival and departure times, as well as peak migration periods and unseasonal sightings. If there is a particular population trend, it is noted. Identifiable subspecies are also treated. For rarities, exact dates and locations are given, and a significant number of color photographs are provided. For instance, the first species treated, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, includes a great shot of 4 birds from Cape May in May of 2009.

Of note, pages 139-152 (smack in the middle of the book, among the species accounts) are entirely devoted to glossy color photos with informative captions.

I particularly enjoy the rarity photos. I just think it’s cool to open the book and see a photo of the only Buller’s Shearwater ever documented in the North Atlantic. That's just one example of many.

Appendix A lists and provides information on seven species of “Exotics and Species of Uncertain Provenance or Status.”
Appendix B, entitled “Not Accepted Species,” are birds cited in other sources as being reported in the state but have not been accepted by the NJBRC.
Appendix C is the NJBRC’s Review List.
Appendix D, written by Kevin Karlson, provides identification information for five photos. Treated here are Ross’s vs. Snow Goose, Common and King Eiders, Pacific Golden-Plover, Lesser Nighthawk, and Archilochus hummingbirds. In these paragraphs, Karlson uses photos from the species accounts to illustrate the differences between similar species. Not only is it a nice little bonus to learn some ID tips here, but it also goes to show how important photo documentation has become when trying to positively identify a rarity.

Overall this is a very well-done status and distribution guide. Not just for NJ residents, this would make a worthwhile purchase for any serious eastern US birder, particularly those who reside on records committees.

- Nick

That time of year again...

**NOTE: The Xtranormal server is back up, so the video at the link below is again accessible.**

This gull post was quite popular last year. If you've ever spent any time at a landfill, check it out.

Hope to pick up the blogging pace a bit as the holidays approach! I've fallen a bit behind lately.

- Nick

juv THAYER'S GULL, Windsor Landfill

My first landfill visit of the season was highlighted by a crisp juvenile THAYER'S GULL among 1000+ LWHGs working the trash piles. Interestingly it was the only uncommon gull present...not a single Iceland, Glauc or LBBG. It's a small landfill that can be very hit or miss, but has a track record in recent years of pulling in some nice birds (two Slaty-backs and a few Thayer's). Let's hope this is the start of a productive season.

For anyone looking for the bird, some ID features to note are:

- more delicate head/bill structure than HEGU, heavier-bodied than most Kumlien's Gulls
- all black bill with just the slightest hint of paling at the base of lower mandible
- faint mask through the auriculars, more visible at some angles than others
- apparently all juvenile scapulars
- dark-centered tertials with marbled edging
- dark brown primaries (but not blackish) with thin pale fringes as seen on the folded wing
- short pinkish legs

In flight:
- dark outer webs of outer primaries contrast with pale inner webs ("Venetian blind" appearance)
- contrasting dark secondary bar
- dark tail band with marbling at bases of rectrices
- brown underwing linings contrast with whitish underside of flight feathers, with thin dark tips to outer primaries

juv Thayer's Gull

- NB