Bird Notes
Here Are the Biggest Changes to the AOU Checklist of North American Birds
Hold onto your scrub-jays (or don't)—this update is shaking up taxonomies and putting a lot of new species up for grabs.
Article by Ken Kaufman at Audubon.org
For serious birders in North America, it’s become a July tradition to wait for the annual supplement from the AOU Checklist Committee.
For everyone else, the geeky statement above needs some explanation. The American Ornithologists’ Union (AOU) Checklist of North American Birds was first published in 1886. For the last 130 years and through seven editions, it’s served as the official authority on classification and names of all bird species on this continent. That redbird you’re seeing in the backyard is officially called the Northern Cardinal (scientific name: Cardinalis cardinalis) and it’s classified in the family Cardinalidae. Why? Because the AOU Checklist says so. When it comes to communicating about birds, it’s incredibly helpful to have one standardized list of labels. The whole article is here.
eBIRD: DO IT EVERY DAY
Ted Floyd at ABA Blog: As of August 28, 2016, I had entered at least one complete eBird checklist per day for 3,528 consecutive days....
Ted Floyd at ABA Blog: As of August 28, 2016, I had entered at least one complete eBird checklist per day for 3,528 consecutive days....
Virginia Lake Island is Reno's only nesting colony for Double-crested Cormorants, California Gulls, and Snowy Egrets 06/26/16
Many may remember that the City of Reno initially prosed removing the island at Virginia Lake in the fall of 2014. As a result of public meetings and comments from Lahontan Audubon Society and others, the City reconsidered island removal and since 2014 is moving forward with a revised plan to improve Virginia Lake water quality with the island intact. LAS applauds the City of Reno in this decision and we want to share some great news and views of the nesting colony of birds at Virginia Lake as of June 15, 2016.
The Double-crested cormorants start arriving at the Virginia Lake island around the second or third week of February to set up housekeeping. Over the last few years, there have been 20-plus cormorant nests on the island. The cormorants are usually well into nesting by mid-March. By mid June, the youngsters are almost bigger than the adults, but they are still begging for food, as you can see in the photos below. By the time your are reading this, many may have abandoned their island nests and joined their parents in fishing at Virginia Lake and in the Truckee River.
The island also hosts a colony of California Gulls. By mid-June, the young gulls were almost as large as their parents and a few were already joining their parents in swimming at the lake away from the island (but returning to dry land on the island periodically). By the time you are reading this (June 26), may have already joined the non-breeding adults in the gull "loafing" areas along the lakeshores.
Snowy Egrets also nest on the island at Virginia Lake. This year, they started arriving at the island to nest around the middle of April. This year's count was 7 Snowy Egret nests with young. Check out the photos that accompany this note. The total number of egret chicks is difficult to determine because the adults were sitting so close on the nests and shading the youngsters, but at least one nest boasted 4 gangly young egrets.
Check out the island at Virginia Lake in the next several days before all the young have dispersed.
Next year, start watching around the middle of February for the cormorants, followed by the gulls, and then the egrets. The island at Virginia Lake is an amazing resource. No where else can you have the opportunity to see the nesting birds so up close and personal. The three species that nest at the island at Virginia Lake select islands for nesting that are cut off from the shores for protection. Normally these birds at their nest are tiny specks in your spotting scope because they are so far from shore. Here, in the middle of Reno, they are up close and personal. What a great resource.
Oh, and by the way, the latest count of the number of species recorded at Virginia Lake and its nearby habitats is over 150 species!! Quite a great diversity for a small urban lake.
Many may remember that the City of Reno initially prosed removing the island at Virginia Lake in the fall of 2014. As a result of public meetings and comments from Lahontan Audubon Society and others, the City reconsidered island removal and since 2014 is moving forward with a revised plan to improve Virginia Lake water quality with the island intact. LAS applauds the City of Reno in this decision and we want to share some great news and views of the nesting colony of birds at Virginia Lake as of June 15, 2016.
The Double-crested cormorants start arriving at the Virginia Lake island around the second or third week of February to set up housekeeping. Over the last few years, there have been 20-plus cormorant nests on the island. The cormorants are usually well into nesting by mid-March. By mid June, the youngsters are almost bigger than the adults, but they are still begging for food, as you can see in the photos below. By the time your are reading this, many may have abandoned their island nests and joined their parents in fishing at Virginia Lake and in the Truckee River.
The island also hosts a colony of California Gulls. By mid-June, the young gulls were almost as large as their parents and a few were already joining their parents in swimming at the lake away from the island (but returning to dry land on the island periodically). By the time you are reading this (June 26), may have already joined the non-breeding adults in the gull "loafing" areas along the lakeshores.
Snowy Egrets also nest on the island at Virginia Lake. This year, they started arriving at the island to nest around the middle of April. This year's count was 7 Snowy Egret nests with young. Check out the photos that accompany this note. The total number of egret chicks is difficult to determine because the adults were sitting so close on the nests and shading the youngsters, but at least one nest boasted 4 gangly young egrets.
Check out the island at Virginia Lake in the next several days before all the young have dispersed.
Next year, start watching around the middle of February for the cormorants, followed by the gulls, and then the egrets. The island at Virginia Lake is an amazing resource. No where else can you have the opportunity to see the nesting birds so up close and personal. The three species that nest at the island at Virginia Lake select islands for nesting that are cut off from the shores for protection. Normally these birds at their nest are tiny specks in your spotting scope because they are so far from shore. Here, in the middle of Reno, they are up close and personal. What a great resource.
Oh, and by the way, the latest count of the number of species recorded at Virginia Lake and its nearby habitats is over 150 species!! Quite a great diversity for a small urban lake.
Island at Virginia Lake on 06/14/16
Photo by
Dennis Ghiglieri
|
Cormorant chick begging from parents.
Photo by
Dennis Ghiglieri
|
CA Gull fledglings with parents.
Photo by Dennis Ghiglieri.
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Snowy Egret Pair at nest.
Photo by Dennis Ghiglieri
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Snowy Egret chicks.
Photo by Dennis Ghiglieri
|
Your First Spring Warbler
05/02/16
"Spring is finally here and we birders can stop pretending that we actually enjoyed standing in the freezing wind looking at gulls."
These are the words of Nicholas Lund, author of Birdist’s Rules of Birding available at the National Audubon Society website.
We northern Nevada birders would not be so quick to diss gulls and face the wrath of our local gullophile, Martin Meyers.
Lund suggests that new birders might want to start honing their warbler identification skills with something easy: a warbler that they will likely spot first at the start of spring—the Yellow-rumped Warbler.
This beautiful warbler is actually around Reno all through the winter.
If you have been putting out suet cakes, it is very possible that you have seen a Yellow-rump (also aptly nick-named a Butter-butt) at your suet.
05/02/16
"Spring is finally here and we birders can stop pretending that we actually enjoyed standing in the freezing wind looking at gulls."
These are the words of Nicholas Lund, author of Birdist’s Rules of Birding available at the National Audubon Society website.
We northern Nevada birders would not be so quick to diss gulls and face the wrath of our local gullophile, Martin Meyers.
Lund suggests that new birders might want to start honing their warbler identification skills with something easy: a warbler that they will likely spot first at the start of spring—the Yellow-rumped Warbler.
This beautiful warbler is actually around Reno all through the winter.
If you have been putting out suet cakes, it is very possible that you have seen a Yellow-rump (also aptly nick-named a Butter-butt) at your suet.
