The Nature of Things

Ask your average birder about what families of birds are most difficult to correctly identify in the field and I can pretty much guarantee that gulls will rank high on their list. I mean they are all combinations of gray, white, and black. What can the poor birder latch onto as an easy way to distinguish individual species? Since the sainted Roger Tory Petersen published his first field guide to birds back in 1934, field identification of birds has focused on plumage - its colors and patterns. But this just doesn't work really well for gulls. In addition to the fact that they are generally combinations of the three aforementioned colors, or non-colors, they go through a series of plumage changes over the years from their juvenile feathers to adulthood. Moreover, even in adulthood, the plumage of a gull in winter can be drastically different from that during the breeding season. Again, what's the poor birder to do? Well, Pete Dunne and Kevin T. Karlson have some thoughts on that...

One of the really neat things about birds is that they are very adaptable creatures and they can be found almost everywhere on Earth. There is virtually no place you can go where there will not be at least a token presence of feathered flying critters. Of course, some places are birdier than others. I am fortunate to live in Southeast Texas which much of the North American population of birds passes through at some time in the year, either headed to more northern climes in the spring or to Mexico and Central and South America in the fall. Many of them do, in fact, linger with us throughout the year. So, I'm never at a loss for birds to watch in my own backyard. One might assume that the urban areas of the world would be unlikely places for people who enjoy watching birds, but one would be wrong. David Lindo in his recent book, How to be an Urban Birder , shows his readers just how wrong that assumption is. Lindo is a U.K. birder and most of the birds that he discusses in his book a...

On our recent trip to West Texas, I was able to get in a little birding, which is always one of my chief pleasures on any trip that we take. I also tried to take pictures of the birds that I saw, but I was generally disappointed with my efforts. I had all kinds of excuses.  There were too many people; it was spring break week and at times it seemed the whole world had descended on West Texas, normally a sparsely populated place. At Big Bend National Park, for example, usually a place of splendid isolation with its 1,252 square miles of desert and rugged mountains, we had to wait in a mile-long queue of automobiles for forty-five minutes just to get into the place. The ranger who checked us in remarked that spring-break is a four-letter word for the staff who work there. Americans of all colors, races, and creeds seemed intent on loving the great park to death. But though I saw people of many kinds, I didn't see so many birds. One covey of Scaled Quail , some Greater Roadrunners do...

I was doing some tidy-up pruning in the garden today before an afternoon shower drove me inside. But before the pruning, I documented with my camera some of the things I saw around the garden. There was a bit of activity at the bird feeders. These Blue Jays were checking out what was on offer at the table. They look a little disheveled because they are beginning their molt. They'll be losing all their old worn feathers and growing bright new ones. This juvenile Red-bellied Woodpecker hasn't got his distinctive red head and belly feathers yet, but he's learned where he can find a tasty meal. In the goldfish pond, the water lilies are flourishing. This Giant Swallowtail butterfly was very busy on the blooms of the 'Pride of Barbados'.  These flowers are favorites of many butterflies. The Sulphurs seem to prefer the flame acanthus ( Anisacanthus wrightii ) blossoms. Sulphurs are numerous in my garden in late summer and fall. And the Gulf Fritillaries are numerous thr...

Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas Gulf Coast is one of my favorite places for birding. It's an hour-and-a-half drive from my house, if the traffic is light, but it is well worth the effort. In the past, we've had a family tradition of visiting Anahuac every January, often on January 1. It's a nice way to start off the year. We haven't made the trip yet this year, but I'm hoping we will be able to in the next couple of weeks. Looking back over my records from previous January trips, I selected some of my bird photographs to show you. The refuge is visited by more than 300 species of birds throughout the year. Not all of them are there in January, but here are a few that are.  American Coots with their striking red eyes are always plentiful on the refuge. Forster's Tern searching for lunch over the bay waters. A small flock of Red-breasted Mergansers bob along in the waters. Willets look like very plain birds until they take flight and you can see ...