One thing that’s cool about migration is that huge flocks of small birds actually show up on radar.  Sites like www.woodcreeper.com show radar maps of recent migration activity.  Last night a birder posted to the Minnesota Birding Facebook page that this morning would be good for finding birds. I asked Evan if he wanted to go out in the morning.  He sometimes declines my offers to go out birding, but he said he wanted to go this morning.

I woke up early and decided to let him sleep in, even if it meant missing the prime time for seeing birds.  In fact, I was considering not going at all, but he woke up early on his own and said, “Dad, I thought we were going birding.” So off we went.

We got to Robbins Island Park right at peak time around 7:30.  We didn’t get too far from the car before we started seeing all kinds of bird activity.  Standing in one spot we saw a good number of warblers and vireos.  The most notable vireo was a Yellow-throated Vireo.  I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture of it, but I did manage to photograph a Blackburnian Warbler and a Wilson’s Warbler.

The warbler activity was intense for about 15 minutes, but then it was as if someone flipped a switch.  We could hardly find anything.  So we left our stationary birding spot to go walk through the park.

We were walking down a large, grassy hill and noticed about a dozen crows on the ground downhill from us.  Just then my sandal slipped on the dewey grass sending me to the ground.  I managed to keep my binoculars, camera, and body from injury, but now I was concentrating on not slipping again instead of watching those crows.  I did notice that they flushed, and then I heard Evan holler, “That was a hawk!” I then saw that the crows were indeed mobbing and chasing a hawk.  I’ve heard other birders describe how seeing this behavior had led them to finding hawks and owls, but we’d never witnessed it ourselves. The chase was on!

The hawk tried to take refuge in a tree as the crows kept pestering it.  I was able to get a glimpse and see that it was a Broad-winged Hawk!

The crows kept after this hawk, chasing him out of this tree and through the park.  We weren’t far behind as we were now running along trying to get another glimpse of the action through the canopy of the trees.

As we followed this circus, Evan claimed to have seen a second hawk being chased by the crows.  We eventually caught up to the flock of crows at the end of a long skinny peninsula on Foot Lake.  We watched from a distance and were able to see that a hawk was still with the crows.  Shortly afterward, the crows chased the hawk back toward us, and I was able to get this flight shot.Though the light in the picture was bad, I saw that this hawk belonged to the Accipiter family – hawks with long tails.  The Broad-winged hawk is a Buteo – a hawk with a wide fan tail.  Evan was right – there were two hawks!  Now we were dealing with either a Sharp-shinned or Cooper’s Hawk.  We eventually lost track of this hawk without making a positive ID.

We made our way back to the other end of the park and caught up with the flock of crows again.  Once more they were dive-bombing a hawk!  Back to jogging we went. Finally we caught up to the hawk, but what was it?

The crows helped me out by continuing to pester the bird until it was in a good view. And we saw that it was a Cooper’s Hawk.

So a relaxed morning of looking at warblers turned into a hot pursuit of hawks.  It was exciting to see not one, but two different hawk species.  It was also fun for us to witness a mob of crows dive-bombing raptors and be a part of a thrilling chase.

June 2012. I was driving a four-wheeler on my dad’s property when I heard a loud and beautiful bird song over the engine noise.  I had to find out what that bird was.  It didn’t take long to find the mystery bird singing its heart out on a low branch. I was awestruck with its beauty – a bright yellow cap and rusty sides on a white body.  I raced back to the house and searched through my dad’s tattered 1960s Peterson field guide.  The bird was easy to find – it was a Chestnut-sided Warbler.  At that moment a birder was born, and I went on to discover that over four dozen species of these beautiful birds known as warblers can be found in the United States.

Warblers are by far my favorite group of birds to pursue, so I was thrilled to be able to do a review of The Warbler Guide – a new, extensive field guide by Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle devoted just to this family of birds.  It goes where no other field guide has gone before in terms of its coverage and revolutionary approaches for warbler identification. To give you a sense of just how comprehensive this book is, look at the photo below.  The warbler section of the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America is paper-clipped below.  As you can see, The Warbler Guide is a significant expansion of information on these birds.

Don’t let the size of this book intimidate you.  While you may not cart it along on a birding walk, I think you’ll find it to be an invaluable resource to supplement your favorite field guide(s).  There is something in here for everyone, whether you are a complete newbie or an expert birder. As such, I will review this book as it relates to three levels of birders: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.

Beginning Birders

I use the term “beginning” to describe someone who can at least tell that a bird is a warbler when they see a small, hyper-active, colorful bird with a narrow, pointed beak. One of the most stunning features in this book that can help a beginner identify a warbler are the Quick Finders.  These full page photographs lay out pictures of all the warbler species next to each other from many different vantage points including: side view, 45° view, and under view.  One does not need to page through multiple pages back and forth to find the right bird because they can all be viewed at once.

Side View Quick Finder – The Warbler Guide

I showed this to a seasoned birder, and his response was, “Huh, I’ve never seen them all laid out together like that.”  This feature alone is priceless as it allows a beginning birder to quickly scan these images to find one that matches whatever bird was seen. Here is the Face Quick Finder – another quick tool for figuring out which warbler you’ve seen.

Face Quick Finder – The Warbler Guide

Princeton University Press has offered these Quick Finders as free downloadable files so that you can print them off and laminate them to take along when you go birding. I printed the side-view Quick Finder as a 16″ by 20″ poster for Evan’s bedroom wall. Here is the link for these files: The Warbler Guide Quick Finders.

In addition to the Quick Finders, each species has its own section in the book which are laid out in alphabetical order and not taxonomical order.  This intuitive approach is inviting to the beginner.  Additionally, each species section has a clean design that communicates key information visually.  There are loads of photos from different angles along with descriptions of key behavior. The reading is light but still gives the essential information.  Here is a sample.

Northern Parula Section – The Warbler Guide

What is particularly helpful is the silhouette section. It is mostly self-explanatory, but one graphic in particular deserves a lot of praise.  Note the green/black tree and bush.  This indicates the vertical level of where this particular warbler is found.  Until I went on a birding walk with a naturalist, I didn’t know that some species of warblers are found on the ground, others in the understory of the forest, and still others in the canopy.  You need to know where to look to find a certain bird, and this graphic quickly shows you. You have to carefully read other field guides to get this same information.

Another feature I like for beginners is the check mark that you notice above.  If you see that particular feature on a mystery bird, you can safely use that alone to correctly identify the bird.

Intermediate Birders

I would classify myself in this group.  I know all my male warblers by sight and some females.  I know several songs and have many more to go.  So here are some features that might be beneficial to other birders at this same level.

I really like the Quick Finders that focus on the underside of the bird.  Most of the time you see warblers from underneath as they flit about in the trees through the leaves.  Often you will just see a butt shot for a couple seconds at most.  I have found that I take lots of photographs and identify birds later.  Until The Warbler Guide came along, I had no idea that the underside of the tail is unique to each species of warbler.  It is now possible to make a positive ID just with a view of the underside of the tail.

Under View Quick Finder – The Warbler Guide

Undertail Visual Finders – The Warbler Guide

I put these visual finders to the test the other day when I was out birding.  Fall migration is underway, and the warblers are on the move.  In the picture below, I thought I might have seen a Northern Parula.

I compared the tail patterns, and my photo of the tail did not match that of the Northern Parula.  However, I did find this tail pattern to be that of a female American Redstart. I went to the American Redstart section to find more photos of the females, and I saw that the details were lining up with those on my photo.

Here is a fleeting shot of some warbler I saw that same morning.  I know there are many warblers that are yellow underneath, so I couldn’t safely identify it.

From the Quick Finders, there was only one bird that had a tail like this – the Yellow Warbler.  In fact, the picture of the tail had the signature check mark which indicates this feature alone is enough to make a safe identification.

In this next photo, I thought for sure I had the Pine Warbler.  But checking against the under tail pictures, I saw that a Pine Warbler’s tail is white underneath.  So what was it? Fortunately, the under tail visual finders also show pictures of non-warblers.  This helped me determine that this bird was the Yellow-throated Vireo.

In addition to the Under View Quick Finders, I also loved the migration and range maps.  You can see a separate map for spring migration routes and fall migration routes.  Additionally, you are given a time reference chart to know about when during migration you will see these birds: early, middle, late.

Expert Birders

Sonograms of American Redstart Songs

I am far from being a member of this class, but still I can recognize what they might appreciate in this book.  One of the incredible features of this book is the emphasis placed on the auditory component of bird identification.  The book introduces a system to differentiate songs, flight calls, and chip notes by their elements.  This is enhanced visually by sonograms of every possible sound a warbler could make.  To hear these sounds, you can buy The Warbler Guide Song and Call Companion and play any of the 1,000 audio files that are described in the book. Not being an auditory learner, this system is currently beyond my ability.  I foresee using this for when I really want to learn a target warbler’s song well in order to find the bird.  For example, the Hooded Warbler is my top-priority warbler for next summer, so I will be sure to learn all its vocalizations before I go out.

Something else that advanced birders will appreciate is that this guide helps to age and sex warblers and provides key photos in order to do that.

Summary

Connecticut Warbler – The Warbler Guide

This book is a must-have for a birder at any level.  It is ground-breaking in its visual and auditory approaches to warbler identification. Though the book is big, it has a very simplistic, inviting feel on each of its pages.  There is a nugget of knowledge for any birder, and everyone will appreciate the more than 1,000 incredible photos.

The only thing that could make this book even better would be photos and descriptions of typical habitat during the breeding season.  Most birders in the U.S. only see these birds during migration, so it is understandable why this information is not included.  But some of us like to go on the hunt for these birds during the summer months when they are on territory, and that information would be helpful.  Another feature that could have enhanced the book would be a state-by-state cheat sheet of where one could find certain species with relative ease.  For instance, Oberg Mountain in Minnesota has been a reliable place for decades to find the rare-regular Black-throated Blue Warbler.  I’m afraid, though, that the inclusion of that information would make this book even bigger. Perhaps, though, there will someday be companion book containing that information that will be just as awesome as this one.

Disclaimer: This review expresses the honest opinions of Josh Wallestad at A Boy Who Cried Heron.  The Warbler Guide was provided at no cost in exchange for this review.  A Boy Who Cried Heron received no monetary compensation from Princeton University Press or the authors.

For you birders that read this blog and live at our same latitude in west central Minnesota or further south, I have some great news: the warblers are in the midst of fall migration. I have been out birding in the early morning hours the last couple days while my family has been camping at Sibley State Park, and each morning has been action-packed.  I birded for nearly an hour the other morning just staying in one spot, and there was no shortage of warblers to look at.  I was brought back to that magical day in late May when the trees were dripping with warbler migrants on their way north.  Those of us who do not live in the nothern reaches of this country only get to see most of these birds when they pass through during spring or fall migration, so right now is a real special time!

I fully realize that many readers of this blog may not be birders and may not know a warbler from a vireo. For that reason, I thought I’d do a photo post of warblers from a spring and summer of finding them and chasing them.  I hope these pictures will open your eyes to this amazing family of birds that do not come to bird feeders as they are insect eaters.  The beauty is astonishing to say the least.  I am also doing this post as a preface to the review I’ll be writing on a new, exhaustive field guide I was given by Princeton University Press called The Warbler Guide by Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle.

Yellow-throated Warbler

Cerulean Warbler

Ovenbird

Northern Parula

Blackburnian Warbler

Nashville Warbler

Black-throated Blue Warbler

Black-throated Green Warbler

American Redstart

Yellow Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Cape May Warbler

Tennessee Warbler

Northern Waterthrush

Blackpoll Warbler

Chestnut-sided Warbler (my spark bird)

Golden-winged Warbler

Wilson’s Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Canada Warbler

Black-and-White Warbler

If you’re a birder, I hope these photos get you excited for migration.  If you’re not a birder, maybe these gems of the forest will spark an interest.  Whether you’re a serious birder or not, we’d love you to comment below on what you’re favorite warbler is and/or which one you’d most like to see!  Stay tuned for my upcoming review of The Warbler Guide.

Today was one of those days where the kids were driving us crazy, and we had to do something.  Plugging into our individual technologies all day was not an option.  So we decided to take a little day trip down to Lyon County’s Garvin Park.  Evan and I discovered this park when we chased the Cerulean Warbler in July.  On the way to Garvin is the town of Cottonwood which has surrounding marshes, lakes, and poop ponds that are known for its shorebirds.  The Cottonwood wastewater treatment ponds were also the location of a reported Western Kingbird – one that I’ve had my eye on for some time.

Driving around the poop ponds was a lot of fun.  Unlike other wastewater treatment facilities I’ve visited, the gate for this one was open.  Most have “No Trespassing” signs and have their perimeters secured with a fence.  This place was very inviting.  There were several of these large, perfectly rectangular ponds.  We were able to drive around them on the dikes that separated them.  Here’s a shot of Evan riding and checking out the rocks below – the perfect hiding spot for many of these shorebirds.

These tiny birds hide in plain sight as many are seen only when we flush them with the vehicle.  Here is a Least Sandpiper.

This next one was a new bird for us – the Semipalmated Sandpiper.

I really like this next shot because it captures three species: (top to bottom) Killdeer, Pectoral Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper.

Here is another shot of the Semipalmated Sandpiper.

And another of a Least Sandpiper.

I really enjoyed the beauty of the water at the poop ponds.  The blues and greens were amazing, and it didn’t stink!  Well, that is until we drove by one of the ponds which was very nasty.  We struck out on the Western Kingbird, but we did get another lifer when we stopped by a different marsh – the Solitary Sandpiper.  He was all by himself.  Go figure.

We finally went down to Garvin where the kids could enjoy this:

The kids had a great time playing on the equipment and running around, and we all enjoyed grilling out and eating a picnic supper at a quiet park.

We left and stopped by Cottonwood one last time to look for the Western Kingbirds.  Right when we got there I spotted two larger birds on a wire.  As I was reaching for the binoculars, one flew away and Evan calmly said that it looked like a Blue Grosbeak!  I got the binoculars on the second one before it was gone and confirmed his sighting by viewing the female of the pair!    I had seen a report that a pair was seen down here last week, so it wasn’t a complete surprise. It is still a very, very good bird to see in Minnesota.  We saw the Blue Grosbeak in June, but it was no less thrilling to see tonight.

It seems like just yesterday that Evan and I were well below the 100-species mark for our life lists.  Then migration hit, and we easily achieved that benchmark and went well past it.  We are now on the precipice of 200 species as Evan sits at 189, and I have 198.
One reason I take pictures of birds and write our stories on the blog is to show the reader the plethora of beautiful birds all around us and inspire him or her to start watching them.  To help one lucky reader get started in birding and to honor this impending milestone, we will be giving away a copy of the Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America.  We love this book and have learned a lot from it.

So how do you win?  Here are the rules:

1. In the comment section for this post (found by clicking the caption bubble to the right of the title), guess the date on which Evan will get #200.  The person who picks the closest date wins. You can guess a second date by posting that date to A Boy Who Cried Heron’s Facebook Page, and you can guess a third date by tweeting it to us @birdingbuddies

2. If multiple people choose the winning date, one person’s name will be drawn from a hat.

3. Entries will not be accepted after July 21st.

4. Follow the blog: The winner will be announced in the blog post detailing #200 and will have to email me a shipping address within 3 days.  I will provide an email address in that post.  If I am not contacted within 3 days, the book will be given to the next best guess.

5. All international addresses are excluded.  I will only ship within the U.S.

We woke up this morning to find that each of our schools were closed for the day because of this strange massive April blizzard.  It was a western Minnesota white-out.  Even though we could hardly see our bird feeders because of the falling snow and the snow-plastered to the windows, Evan and I had our noses pressed to the glass trying to sort through all the birds that came for a handout.  At just six feet, we were working with silhouettes and behavior only.  But we know our usual suspects and a couple did not match…

We did recognize this visitor from yesterday.  No, that’s not all snow on his head.

We had a good idea of what our two mystery birds were.  Thankfully the snow stopped and we got a good look.  Mystery Bird #1 was a lifer and a new bird for the yard list – the Brown-headed Cowbird!

This is not a good photo, but it shows off the contrasting brown head a little better.  He wasn’t around very much, so I did not get many opportunities to photograph it.

Mystery Bird #2 was also a lifer and a new bird for the yard list – the handsome Song Sparrow.  I think I actually saw this bird yesterday on my way home from work, but I wasn’t sure.  It was nice to make a definite ID today and claim it for the life list with Evan.

As I got into birding less than a year ago, I wrote off sparrows.  There were too many. They all looked alike.  LBBs (little brown birds).  Now I find them intriguing.  There really are some cool looking sparrows, like this Song Sparrow and the Fox Sparrow.  After watching the yard birds, it is almost a game or a challenge to find one that is different.  It’s like trying to find Waldo.  Below is the Song Sparrow with the female House Sparrow.

With the snow stopping for quite awhile, we got the driveway cleared out with some help.

We did some inside work too, but eventually cabin-fever got to us, so it was time to go out birding.  Who knows what feathered treasures awaited us.  After all, migration is underway, and this was one heck of a storm.  Plus, dark-bodied birds would be easy to spot today.  Evan and I headed out to our usual patch to check on the waterfowl and see if there was anything interesting on the way.  We ran into many American Tree Sparrows, but they are so shy that we couldn’t get a nice photo.  These birds should be on their way north by now.  While driving it was fun to see this belly shot of the Western Meadowlark.  I think we even heard part of its song today.

On our way home we checked out a huge flock of small darkish birds on a county road.  We were pleased to see they were Lapland Longspurs.  It was fun to find another flock of these just a couple weeks from our first sighting.  Again, these birds should be winging their way north.  It was cool to see nearly 200 of them and get a chance to photograph a nice male.  These birds are always on the go.

When we pulled off the road to observe/photograph these birds, we were shocked to see a pair of Northern Shovelers scuttle out of the way of our vehicle.  We were nowhere near any water.  These spoonbills are handsome ducks up close.

It was time to head home.  As we pulled into our neighborhood we got a photo-op in a neighbor’s yard of the Northern Flicker (Yellow-Shafted).

This little outing didn’t produce any new lifers.  But, with the two yard lifers and seeing lots of other cool birds, we couldn’t complain.  I think we would have been pretty depressed with this weather if we weren’t birders.  Who am I kidding, it’s still depressing weather but the birds and good family time took the edge off.

As I’m writing this I am actually wondering if school will be in session tomorrow.  This winter continues to hang on.  Before today the only remaining snow was in ditches and snow banks.  It was very slowly turning back into spring.  Then came this most recent winter storm turning the landscape white again.

The truth is I’m kind of excited for the potential backyard birding that a big storm during migration could bring.  We bought more food yesterday and stocked the feeders – there are still over a hundred Common Redpolls sticking around.  They should be home in Canada by now.  But this time of year there could be a lot of interesting things happening in the yard on any given day, especially as migration gets underway.

Today I was watching the backyard and got to see this and point it out to the family:

It was a leucistic (loo-sis-tic) Common Grackle!  As I’ve delved into birding I’ve heard of leucistic specimens of different species but have never seen one.  Leucism is condition caused by a recessive gene that results in cells lacking the ability to make all types of skin pigment.  This can affect the entire surface or just show up as irregular patches of white.  It is not the same as albinism which is just a reduction in the skin pigment, melanin.  Okay, science lesson over.  I hope I didn’t mess it up too bad.  Regardless, this was a pretty cool bird we got to see today.  Here is what a Common Grackle “should” look like.

Then out the front yard, Evan told me that the Fox Sparrow showed up.  We just saw it for the first time in our yard yesterday, and it was a life bird on Sunday.  It’s nice to have a new bird to watch, and it was fun to add a new bird to our Yard List.  You might have the Fox Sparrow too, but be on the lookout – they are just migrating through to Canada.

So, Storm, if you’re going to happen, at least drop off a few more cool birds.

It was a fluke.  All four of us were completely ready for church nearly an hour before church started.  I still have no idea how that happened as we usually walk through the church doors in the middle of the first song. Evan, being the opportunist, asked if we could go check out the patch.  Why not?  It’s only a couple miles out of the way.  After all, we are still in the hunt for the Ross’s Goose or the fluke American Black Duck.  Worst case scenario would be seeing some swans and other cool ducks.

As we traveled down the gravel road to the flooded field, Melissa noticed a different looking bird flying in a small patch of young trees and shrubs.  We tracked it down, and it turned out to be the Northern Flicker.  This was a life-bird for Evan.  I’ve seen several up north.  I didn’t get much of a picture, but it was enough for identification.

Common Grackles were flitting all over this little patch of woods and shrubs, but there was one black bird that did not match.  I knew it was something different.  It was right by the road, so I was able to get a couple of decent shots.  I didn’t know what the bird was, so identification would have to wait until after church.  We were super excited to find out it was the Rusty Blackbird – a species that is uncommon and in decline.  Not only that, but they only pass through our area during migration.  For being just a black bird, it was pretty cool.  Needless to say, this was another life bird.

We continued our drive.  I was hoping to run into all the Eastern Bluebirds we saw the day before so I could get some pictures, but they weren’t to be found.  These next birds were found by Melissa.  Even though they were in plain sight, I almost missed them!  In two weeks I’ll be hunting for a big tom.  The more I go birding, however, I just don’t know if hunting will be as exciting as looking for birds.  But it’s a bucket-list item.

After church we decided to fight back against this slow-moving spring by going out for another nature walk.  This time we went to Sibley State Park.  The weather was cool, but it felt good to walk and just be outside.  Evan had fun riding his bike through puddles and snow-covered paths.  We picked up our first Eastern Phoebe for the year and saw a lot of the common winter birds.  At the interpretive center, though, I looked at some birds high in a tree.  I snapped some pictures but couldn’t see the LCD well in the sunlight.  Getting into the car, I was able to see that we got the Fox Sparrow!  This was a definite life bird and one I had been anticipating because I’ve been monitoring the migration reports on MOU-NET.  It was really unusual for this trio of sparrows to be high in a tree.  They are usually found on the ground.

While we were packing up the car to go home, we heard a crazy bird noise behind the interpretive center.  “What is that?” I asked.  Without missing a beat, Evan said very authoritatively, “It’s the Sandhill Crane!”  With all his studying of his bird books and bird apps, I did not doubt him for a second.  I had no idea what a Sandhill sounded like, but we raced to the other side of the building to get a look. We’ve both seen Sandhills before; I just wanted to confirm his knowledge because it continues to impress me.  We didn’t find them; they were either on the other side of a hill or just flying through.  Later on I did listen to the sound of a Sandhill Crane on our bird app, and Evan was absolutely right.

Speaking of his studying and knowledge, we checked out a Wildlife Management Area on the way home.  We saw a meadowlark flying, and Evan asked if it was the Eastern or Western.  I told him I didn’t know and that he’d have to learn the songs of each as that is the best way to distinguish the two species.  He replied, “Yeah, I guess I’ll have to study….I suppose I’ll have to stay up until 9.”

After we got home I touched base with Steve, and we decided to chase Randy’s sighting of the American Black Duck from the previous day out near Pennock.  It was a rainy evening with not a lot happening in the bird arena.  We did get another life bird, though.  This time it was a shore bird – the Lesser Yellowlegs.  As I was searching for it so I could take a picture, I got distracted by this drake Blue-Winged Teal and never did get the picture.  I’ve always liked this duck, so I had to take the shot.

Steve did manage to get the Northern Pintail for his Big Year.  It had eluded him at the flooded cornfield on two attempts even though they’ve been regulars for most of our visits. All in all it was a good birding day.  It was nice to add some lifers and to spend time in the outdoors with family and friends.

This morning Evan and I headed out to the patch to see what was going on.  It was Tundra Swan City today.  There were nearly 50 of them out there.  I learned today that the yellow spot by the eye that determines if it is a Tundra can only be seen later when I look at the pictures.  I could not pick it out when I was looking at them live.  The swans were coming and going and gave me a chance to try some flight photography.  Evan and I must have watched this show for nearly an hour.

Melissa thought it would be fun to go hiking today at Sibley State Park or Robbin’s Island.  It would be a way we could all get out in the fresh air and maybe there would be some birds to look at.  We drove back out to the swan patch to show Melissa and Marin.  This time there were a lot more swans.  It was an unbelievable scene.  Here is a short video that captures what we saw.

On the way to Robbin’s Island we stopped by Foot Lake and then Willmar Lake to check out the waterfowl.  It was a good thing we did because #100 was waiting for us on Willmar Lake – the Red-breasted Merganser.  

Evan’s mom had told him that if we hit #100 today, we’d celebrate with some ice-cream.  (When I added the Red-breasted Merganser to his list, I discovered that I never added the Hooded Merganser.  Oops.  I guess at 101, Evan is already on his way to 200.)

Yesterday evening we had our small group Bible study.  Melissa and I were driving separately as she had to get a haircut.  I had the kids, and we had about 20 minutes to kill. On our way to Willmar we stopped by the new patch – a flooded corn field where we picked up the Northern Pintail two days prior.  It was loaded tonight with hundreds of ducks and other birds.  Right away we noticed huge white birds.  American Pelicans already?  I glassed it and was pleased to see several Trumpeter Swans.  Trumpeters aren’t new, but they are a really fun bird.  It was also fun to see more Greater White Fronted Geese – birds that just pass through during migration.  They are quickly becoming one of my favorite finds after just learning about their existence a couple weeks ago.

I snapped several pictures of the Trumpeters, but my camera battery died.  That was it for taking pictures.  I didn’t even get a chance to review my pictures on the spot.  It was just as well because we had to get to town, and the waterfowl all flew away anyway.

It wasn’t until late last night that I looked at my pictures of the swans.  I could not believe the first image I saw.  I did a fist pump and had to suppress my shout so as to not wake the sleeping children.  Do you see that yellow spot at the base of the bill on the swan to the right?  Look carefully, it’s the size of a dime.

It was the Tundra Swan!!  I had overlooked that little detail when I was focused on taking pictures.  This swan only migrates through our area and looks nearly identical to the Trumpeter.  As far as I could tell from my pictures, there was only one Tundra.

I did not need to get keyed up like this just before going to bed.  I couldn’t wait to show Evan in the morning.  When he finally woke up this morning, I told him I had something to show him on the computer. “What is it, Dad?”

“We got 99.  Come on.”

“What was it?”

I didn’t say anything and just pointed to the picture above on the screen.  Without missing a beat, he immediately exclaimed, “The Tundra!”  This boy knows his birds.  How many other 6 year-olds know such a minute difference between two swan species?

My special plan for #99 and #100 had to be put off.  There was a strong chance of rain for the location we would have needed to go.  So, we have no idea what #100 will be.  I’m just hoping its something really cool like our last few birds and not what my friend Patrick calls an LBB – a little brown bird.