Bird Observer

The Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) is a big-headed, short-necked, stocky, middle-sized heron with an exceptionally wide breeding range. A cosmopolitan species, it breeds on all continents except Antarctica and Australia, and some consider the Australian Nankeen Night-Heron a conspecific. The Black-crowned Night-Heron’s shape and appearance distinguish it from all other heron species.

Roger Tory Peterson called Mount Desert Island (MDI) “the warbler capital of the world.” Peterson also suggested that birding on MDI can be difficult, because it is “necessary to be a bird listener as well as a bird watcher to recognize and fully appreciate the birds of Mount Desert Island.” (Harrison 1976)

The History of Bird Observer - Chapter 7: Smooth Sailing

Photo Essay: William Brewster’s Photographs

Birders should be looking for them; any flock of more common Glossy Ibises (Plegadis falcinellus) deserves scrutiny, especially in the fall when both species sport their nonbreeding plumage. This is what to look for.

Northern Flickers (Colaptes auratus) often sit sideways on tree branches, but clearly this flicker was doing something else. It was late summer in September 2021, a warm day in Easton, Massachusetts, with not a cloud in the sky. My first thought was to anthropomorphize her behavior because it looked as if she were flirting with the male Northern Flicker that was just to the right in the same tree snag.

Bird Sightings: January-February 2023

This issue’s mystery bird is a football-shaped, slim-necked, bubble-headed, swimming waterbird. Although size can often be difficult to judge from a photograph, especially one that offers nothing for comparison, the impression of the pictured bird is that it is not very large. When the list of options is thoughtfully considered, some of the more viable identification possibilities include ducks, loons, grebes, cormorants, and coots. Other waterbirds that swim, including petrels, shearwaters, storm-petrels, rails, phalaropes, and alcids, can readily be eliminated because of shape, pattern, coloration, or a combination of these traits.

iNaturalist: A Community Science Tool for Reporting Bird Mortalities; Request for Information about Diets of Eastern Red Crossbills