Cordilleran Flycatcher

Scientific Name: Empidonax occidentalis

Range / Habitat: Found in arid forest regions, summers east of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges in the western US and Canada. Winters into Mexico.

Field Notes: Small flycatcher with prominent pale yellow, almond-shaped eyering. Two pale yellow wing bars. Upperparts greenish-brown, underparts yellow. Pacific-coast Flycatcher (with which it used to be considered one species, Western Flycatcher) nearly identical, separated by range.

Personal Notes: Seen on the late spring ski slopes of Park City, Utah.

Stilt Sandpiper

Scientific Name: Micropalama himantopus

Range / Habitat: Breeds in sedge tundra near water in subarctic North America. Winters in a variety of water habitats in South America and part of Mexico and Central America.

Field Notes: Medium-sized shorebird, heavily barred in breeding plumage as above. Long, greenish legs, long neck. Long bill, drooped at the tip. Rufous patch to cheek. When seen among other sandpipers, tips tail high in the air.

Personal Notes: A record first at Deseret Ranch in Utah where seen in migration with Bill and Billy Fenimore.

Blue-headed Vireo

Scientific Name: Vireo solitarius

Range / Habitat: Breeds through the northeastern US and eastern Canada. Winters on the southeast coast of the US, the Gulf coast of Mexico (excluding the Yucatan), and into Central America. Preferred habitat is forest of various types.

Field Notes: Small to medium passerine, grey upperparts, generally white underneath, with two white wing bars and distinct white spectacles. Yellow wash to sides but throated white. Plumbeous Vireo and Cassin's Vireo similar (all three formerly called Solitary Vireo), but distinguished by range.  Yellow-throated Vireo with yellow throat and head.

Personal Notes: We followed this bird for a long time at Fort Snelling SP in Minnesota, where he was just passing through as a spring migrant, and only barely were able to capture him on film.

Philadelphia Vireo

Scientific Name: Vireo philadelphicus

Range / Habitat: Breeds in deciduous forest throughout central and eastern Canada. Winters in Central America, up through the Yucatan in a wider habitat range. 

Field Notes: Small, plain-winged vireo with white eyestripe and buffy to yellow throat. Warbling Vireo similar but easily distinguished by song. Other vireos have either wing bars or pronounced spectacles. 

Personal Notes: Seen during spring migration in Fort Snelling SP in Minnesota. Verified both visually and by song. 

Solitary Sandpiper

Scientific Name: Tringa solitaria

Range / Habitat: Breeds in taiga throughout Canada and Alaska. In migration and winter found along freshwater, more commonly in wooded areas. Winters in southern Mexico, including the Yucatan, Central American, Cuba and other Caribbean islands, and throughout northern South America.

Field Notes: Medium-sized shorebird with proportionate legs and bill. Brown upperparts, densely speckled white. White underparts and white eyering. Similarly sized non-breeding Spotted Sandpiper without speckling on back and with white eyestripe. Lesser Yellowlegs with prominent yellow legs and more mottling on back.

Personal Notes: Seen in migration at Minnesota NWR in May, 2014.

Sora

Scientific Name: Porzana carolina

Range / Habitat: Preferred habitat shallow wetlands with plenty of emergent vegetation. Winters in Florida, along the Gulf coast, in Mexico and Central America, through to the far northwest of South America. Summers in the northern US and Canada.

Field Notes: Small marshbird, unmistakeable in range with black face, grey neck and chest, and rufous back. That is, if you can see it. Distinctive descending whinny call.

Personal Notes: Seen sneaking along the roadside just outside of Frontenac SP in Minnesota.

Wilson's Warbler

Scientific Name: Wilsonia pusilla

Range / Habitat: Breeds in scrub habitats, particularly willow thickets in Canada, Alaska, and parts of the American West. Full migrant that winters in a variety of habitats in Mexico, including the Yucatan.

Field Notes: Warbler with bright yellow face and underparts. Back is olive, wings and tail olive-grey. Black beady eye and male with small black cap.

Personal Notes: Seen at Hok-Si-La city park in Lake City, MN.

Nashville Warbler

Scientific Name: Vermivora ruficapilla

Range / Habitat: Favours second-growth deciduous and mixed forests. Breeds in north-central North America and an isolated portion of the mountainous Pacific Northwest. Full migrant that winters along the coast of California and in central Mexico, excluding the Yucatan.

Field Notes: Yellow throat, breast, and belly with plain olive-green back and wings. Grey head with white eyering. Connecticut Warbler with grey down to breast and primarily found on the ground.

Personal Notes: Seen at Hok-Si-La City Park in Lake City, MN. Alternately know to the Spolts as the Memphis Warbler, Chattanooga Warbler, etc.

Northern Waterthrush

Scientific Name: Seiurus noveboracensis

Range / Habitat: Breeds in thickets near ponds, swamps, and bogs in northeastern US, Canada and Alaska. In winter, uses a variety of wooded habitats, generally near water, often in mangroves from southern Mexico, including the Yucatan, Central America, and into northwestern South America.

Field Notes: Large for a warbler, with a brown back and head. Buffy undersides with dark brown strips. Long buffy eyestripe. Constantly bobs tail.

Personal Notes: Seen at Hok-Si-La Park in Lake City, MN. Richard later found a several specimens outside Wellington, Florida in August -- not supposed to be there at that time of year!

Bay-breasted Warbler

Scientific Name: Dendroica castanea

Range / Habitat: Breeds in boreal evergreen forest throughout Canada, favouring the east. Winters in lowland tropical forest and second growth in Cuba, some Caribbean islands, and northwestern South America.

Field Notes: Small songbird but large warbler. Breeding male with black face and chestnut head and throat. Two broad white wing bars on black wings. Rufous on flanks.

Personal Notes: Seen at Hok-Si-La Park in Lake City, MN.

Ovenbird

Scientific Name: Seiurus aurocapilla

Range / Habitat: Breeds in hardwood forests from the mid-Atlantic states up through eastern Canada. Broader habitat range in the winter, when found in Florida, Cuba and other Caribbean islands, central and southern Mexico, including the Yucatan, and Central America.

Field Notes: Terrestrial warbler, olive above, boldly streaked / spotted below. Bold black-and-orange crown stripes and white eye ring. Song a loud, rapid-fire "teacher, teacher, teacher."

Personal Notes: Seen at Hok-Si-La Park in Lake City, MN

Least Flycatcher

Scientific Name: Empidonax minimus

Range / Habitat: Breeds in open woodlands of northern US and most of Canada. Winters along wooded ravines, woodland edge, and brush land on both coasts of Mexico, including the Yucatan.

Field Notes: Small flycatcher with grey to olive back, darker wings with two white wingbars. Underparts white and prominent eyering. Difficult to distinguish among other members of genus with call being the best determining characteristic. That having been said, Least Flycatcher is the smallest and most grey of the Empidonax.

Personal Notes: So small we initially mistook him for a warbler.

Barred Owl

Scientific Name: Strix varia

Range / Habitat: Year-round in large, mature, deciduous or mixed forests, often near water in the eastern US, across a swath of Canada and in the Pacific Northwest.

Field Notes: Unmistakable in range. Classic "who cooks for you?" song at night.

Personal Notes: Part of a wonderful "large bird day" at the MN Landscape Arboretum in early May, 2014.

Greater Scaup

Scientific Name: Aythya marila

Range / Habitat: Breeds on shallow, small lakes, rivers and pools in tundra and wooded tundra zones at high latitudes throughout the northern hemisphere. Winters mainly on coasts at lower latitudes, though can be found on inland lakes, particularly in central flyway of US.

Field Notes: Quite similar to Lesser Scaup and can overlap in habitat and the much discussed head colour. Overall, smooth head, larger black nail in bill, and white extending further down sides.

Personal Notes: We finally saw both scaups to compare on Albert Lea Lake in southern Minnesota. Only then did we realize the bottom photo (which we had taken at an aviary in Utah) was likely of the Greater Scaup.

Lincoln's Sparrow

Scientific Name: Melospiza lincolnii

Range / Habitat: Winters in scrubby areas of southwestern US and Mexico, excluding the Yucatan. Breeds in boggy areas of Canada, Alaska, and part of the American West.

Field Notes: Small drab bird with face marking similar to Song Sparrow. Habitat differentiates as does buffy malar stripe and fine, distinct streaks on a buffy chest. Swamp Sparrow with more rufous crown and back, complete grey collar, minimal streaking on grey breast.

Personal Notes: Great picture by Richard at Fontenelle Forest in Omaha, NE.

Marbled Godwit

Scientific Name: Limosa fedoa

Range / Habitat: Breeds in the northern prairies of the US and Canada and winters along the coasts of the US and Mexico.

Field Notes: A large shorebird with a long, upturned bill. Unmistakable in summer range.

Personal Notes:  Several seen (and heard calling) in the Ft. Pierre National Grasslands of South Dakota.

Painted Bunting

Scientific Name: Passerina ciris

Range / Habitat: Wooded areas in otherwise open habitat. Winters in southern Mexico, including Yucatan, Central America, some Caribbean islands, and the southern tip of Florida. Summers in northern Mexico, Texarkana, and the southeastern coast of United States.

Field Notes: Typical bunting size, shape and bill. Males are unmistakable in range with blue head and neck, rufous chest and belly, yellow and green on the back. Females, as above, are distinctly green to the back and head, yellow to the breast, pale eye ring. Other female buntings are clearly grey or brown in colour.

Personal Notes: A new species for us in El Rey ruins of Cancun, Mexico.

Blue Grosbeak

Scientific Name: Passerina caerulea

Range / Habitat: Found in forest edge, costal scrub, second growth and similar. Winters in southern Mexico, including Yucatan, down through Central American, and many Caribbean islands. Summers in northern Mexico and southern US.

Field Notes: Large, bright blue passerine with an enormous slate-colored bill and chestnut wing bars. Indigo Bunting much smaller overall and smaller bill.

Personal Notes: We captured the essential parts for identification in this photo from El Rey ruins in Cancun, Mexico.

Lesser Greenlet

Scientific Name: Hylophilus decurtatus

Range / Habitat: Year-round in humid forest of southern Mexico, including Yucatan, Central American and just barely into northwestern South America.

Field Notes: Small passerine, with pale yellow underparts, olive wings and back, grey head. Compared to similarly-sized passerines, large head with stubby tail. As with all greenlets, sexes are similar.

Personal Notes: We had previously seen, but not photographed, this bird in Costa Rica. We came across it again in Cancun, Mexico where Richard persevered in both the photo and the identification.

Limpkin

Scientific Name: Aramus guarauna

Range / Habitat: Year-round resident in swamp / marsh areas of Florida, the Caribbean, southern Mexico, Central America, and most of South America.

Field Notes: Large wader, overall brown with large white spots to back, neck and head, giving speckled appearance. Long, thick, slightly decurved yellow bill.

Personal Notes: Highlight of our trip to Disney World, found on an abandoned island in Bay Lake, which used to be the Disney Zoo, in the pouring rain.

Canyon Wren

Scientific Name: Catherpes mexicanus

Range / Habitat: Year-round in arid canyonlands of western North America and Mexico.

Field Notes: Medium-sized wren with rufous back, tail and belly but white throat. Long decurved bill and no eyestripe. Song a series of cascading notes.

Personal Notes: We had been searching for this bird a long time before finding him in Joshua Tree National Park.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Scientific Name: Picoides scalaris

Range / Habitat: Year-round in arid, desert areas of southwestern US and northern Mexico where it forages and nests in cacti.

Field Notes: Small black and white woodpecker with barring complete across its back and spotting on chest. Males with red crown. Downy Woodpecker with smaller bill length relative to head, white stripe down back and clear underparts.

Personal Notes: Seen in Joshua Tree National Park.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Scientific Name: Vermivora celata

Population Estimate: Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Found in shrubs and low vegetation. Breeds in Canada, Alaska and the western US. Winters in the southern US and Mexico.

Field Notes: Dusky olive-yellow warbler with yellow under tail. Breeding male has orange crown, but this is by no means a commonly seen field-marking. Faint eyestripe and tendency to stay put can give the impression of a vireo, but easily distinguished by song

Personal Notes: Richard took this amazing photo at the Salton Sea during a January 2014 trip, and we have also seen and heard them in Migration in Minnesota (May).

Least Sandpiper

Scientific Name: Calidris minutilla

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Breed in wet tundra and interrupted boreal forest across much of northern Canada and Alaska. In winter found along muddy shores and estuaries of the southern US, Mexico, and northern South America. They are not common on ocean beaches.

Field Notes: Smallest of the "peeps," not much bigger than a sparrow. They have a brown back and head with white eyestripe. White underneath with subtle neck striping. Black bill droops slightly. Distinctive yellow-green legs and a high-pitched "creep" call. Semipalmated Sandpipers and Western Sandpipers are slightly larger with stouter bills and black legs instead of the Least Sandpiper’s yellowish legs.

Personal Notes: A common sight, but hard to photograph, on the Salton Sea in California. Shown above with a Dunlin in the middle of the photo.

Black Phoebe

Scientific Name: Sayornis nigricans

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round near water sources in coastal California, Mexico, Central America and into South America.

Field Notes: Sooty black flycatchers with white belly. Eastern Phoebe only overlaps in range in winter in Mexico, but has pale neck and chest.

Personal Notes: Richard first spotted this bird from the car near Palm Springs. We were later rewarded with photos at Salton Sea.

California Thrasher

Scientific Name: Toxostoma redivivum

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year- round in chaparral of California and Baja California.

Field Notes: Large, long-tailed songbird. Overall brown with faint white eyebrow and "whiskers". Long, decurved bill. Crissal Thrasher has little overlap, darker and grayer all over, has a black mustache stripe, light eyes, and reddish under the tail. Le Conte's Thrasher is paler sandy gray, with the pale belly contrasting with the wash of rusty under the tail. Curve-billed Thrasher also with little overlapping range, but has spotting on the chest and orange eyes.

Personal Notes: Our last spot at dusk in Big Morongo Preserve outside Joshua Tree National Park.

Scott's Oriole

Scientific Name: Icterus parisorum

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Found in arid and semi-arid foothills and canyons with open woodland. Summers up to southwestern US, year-round in central Mexico and Baja.

Field Notes: Medium-sized songbird, male brilliant yellow and black, unmistakable in range. Female with light grey head and back, overall duller.

Personal Notes: Chance finding on our first drive-through of Joshua Tree National Park.

Lesser Goldfinch

Scientific Name: Carduelis psaltria

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status.

Range / Habitat: Year-round in scrubby oak, cottonwood, and willow habitats of the western US and Mexico.

Field Notes: Males bright yellow underneath with a glossy black cap and back Wings black with white patches. Tail black with large white corners. Females and immature males overall olive-yellow, wings darker with two whitish wing bars. American Goldfinch breeding male brighter yellow both above and below, black cap not complete. Non-breeding adult American Goldfinch more grey, more boldly patterned black and white wings, and pink bills.

Personal Notes: Seen at Barker Dam in Joshua Tree National Park.

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher

Scientific Name: Polioptila melanura

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in a variety of desert habitats in the desert southwest of the US and into northern Mexico.

Field Notes: Long-tailed small songbird with grey-brown upper parts, lighter underparts, black tail and white eye ring. Similar to the Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, but breast colored greyish not white, less distinct eye ring, black bill, and more black to underside of tail.

Personal Notes: Charming little pair of birds seen at 49 Palms Oasis in Joshua Tree National Park.

Bushtit

Scientific Name: Psaltriparus minimus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in shrubs and thickets of western North America into northern Mexico.

Field Notes: Plain brown-and-gray songbirds with a long tail. Often in flocks, moving continuously and making soft chips and twitters

Personal Notes: First seen at Petrified Forest NP, later photographed at Joshua Tree NP.

Canyon Towhee

Scientific Name: Pyrgisoma fuscum

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in rocky, arid scrubland of the southwestern US and Mexico.

Field Notes: Large, long-tailed sparrow frequently found on ground, particularly in parking lots picking bugs off of cars. All brown with rufous cap and under tail.

Personal Notes: Our last Arizona bird, found just before leaving Sedona after hiking Bear Mountain.

Juniper Titmouse

Scientific Name: Baeolophus ridgwayi

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in pinyon-juniper woodlands of the Great Basin / southwestern US.

Field Notes: Small, all-grey bird with small tuft to the head and beady black eye.

Personal Notes: Amazing photo by Richard in Arizona.

Costa's Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Calypte costae

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in desert and arid areas of the Baja Peninsula of Mexico, extending inland and up into southwestern US in summer.

Field Notes: Green upper parts and grey underparts. Male with iridescent violet face and gorget, which can appear black in places. Small, straight bill.

Personal Notes: Seen at the Sonora Desert Museum aviary.

Anna's Hummingbird

Scientific Name: Calypte anna

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in wooded, savannah, and urban areas along the Pacific coast of the US and extending into the southwestern US. In summer will extend up into Canada.

Field Notes: Green upper parts and grey underparts. Males with iridescent pink head and throat. Females overall duller, with few reddish feathers at throat as above. Short, straight bill. Costa's Hummingbird similar with range overlap but males with purple gorget, not pink.

Personal Notes: First spotted in urban Seattle and then later photographed in California.

Harris's Hawk

Scientific Name: Parabuteo unicinctus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in arid desert and savannah in southeastern US, Mexico and Central America, and much of South America.

Field Notes: Medium to large hawk, deep brown overall, white rump and under tail and white tip to dark tail. Legs and bare face skin yellow. Juvenile mottled as in bottom photo.

Personal Notes: A common sight in our travels in southeastern Arizona

Hutton's Vireo

Scientific Name: Vireo huttoni

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-rould in forested areas in along the US Pacific coast, southwestern US and northern Mexico.

Field Notes: Small active bird, greenish gray above and below, white eye-ring broken above eye and two white wing bars.

Personal Notes: Trust us when we say the above bird had those features. This flitty creature was seen in the southern end of the Apache-Sitgreaves NF in Arizona.

Phainopepla

Scientific Name: Phainopepla nitens

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in arid habitats of the southwestern US and northern Mexico. In summers extends north into riparian woodlands, in winters clusters in deserts areas of US (particularly Sonoran) and a variety of arid habitats in Mexico.

Field Notes: Long-tailed, crested songbird with red eye. Male all black, female all grey.

Personal Notes: Seen outside the Sonora Desert Museum near Tucson AZ then later in Joshua Tree National Park.

Pyrrhuloxia

Scientific Name: Cardinalis sinuatus

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in arid scrubland of southwestern US and northern Mexico.

Field Notes: "The cardinal of the desert," but grey plumage tinged with red.

Personal Notes: Seen in the San Pedro River Riparian Area near Hereford AZ.

Verdin

Scientific Name: Auriparus flaviceps

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in desert scrub of southwestern US and northern Mexico.

Field Notes: Small, active bird with grey body, yellow face, small rufous shoulder patch.

Personal Notes: Quite a task to photograph in the Sonora Desert Museum outside Tucson AZ but we later got better opportunities in Joshua Tree National Park.

Crissal Thrasher

Scientific Name: Toxostoma crissale

Population Estimate: Unknown, but Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Year-round in desert washes and riparian thickets of the American Southwest and central Mexico.

Field Notes: Large, all brown perching bird with a thrasher's long tail and prominent down-curved bill. Curve-billed Thrasher quite similar in appearance and overlapping in range, but habitat quite different.

Personal Notes: Seen in the San Pedro River Riparian Area near Hereford, AZ.