Common Yellowthroat

Scientific Name: Geothlypis trichas

Population Estimate: 32M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Summers throughout most of the eastern US and Canada. Winters in Mexico and Central America. Favors inland wetland habitats. 

Field Notes: Olive-backed songbird with yellow throat. Males with prominent black mask and white stripe above (as in the photos), females without. Song a repeated "witch-it-ty."

Personal Notes: We first saw this bird on a trip to Rhode Island, to visit Ted and Jo. 

Northern Mockingbird

Scientific Name: Mimus polyglottos

Range / Habitat: Year-round in shrub land throughout the United States and Mexico.

Field Notes: Medium-sized grey songbird with long tail, dark wings with white wing bars, and a black eye stripe. Similar overall appearance to both the Loggerhead and Great Grey Shrike, but the shrikes have slightly different ranges and wide black mask instead of an eye stripe. Townsend's Solitaire is also similar but has a more restricted range, is the same shade of grey all over, and has a white eye ring instead of a black eye stripe.

Personal Notes: It was remarkable to watch and listen to this bird with a seemingly endless array of different melodies.

Common Eider

Scientific Name: Somateria mollissima

Population Estimate: 3.5M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Marine bird breeding in circumpolar Arctic costal areas. Winters extending only slightly south of breeding grounds. 

Field Notes: Large duck with prominent wedge-shaped bill in both sexes. Breeding male unmistakable as above. Female dark brown with heavy black barring. 

Personal Notes: Our first view of an eider duck was while walking around Sachuest Point NWR, Rhode Island with Ted and Joanna Rolfes. Later seen at Acadia National Park. Finally, seen in huge rafts of birds in Iceland during breeding season. 

Song Sparrow

Scientific Name: Melospiza melodia

Population Estimate: 54M, Least Concern status

Range / Habitat: Found in open habitats in the southern United States in winter and northern United States throughout Canada in summer.

Field Notes: Sparrow with a streaky breast, and often with a central breast spot, that favors open, shrubby, wet areas. Will commonly sing from prominent perch. Face markings can vary considerably by region, but in general there is a russet cap and eye stripe on a grey head along with white and russet stripes along the jaw. Compared to other sparrows with streaky breasts, the Song Sparrow has more distinct facial markings and lacks the white eye ring of the Vesper Sparrow, whose range is nearly identical. The Song Sparrow has a slightly more restricted range than the Savannah Sparrow, and lacks its yellow eyebrow. Also similar to the American Tree Sparrow, the Song Sparrow's range is more southern and the streaky breast and jaw stripes are distinguishing.

Personal Notes: One of the first birds of spring in Minnesota, and most welcome!

Willet

Scientific Name: Catoptrophorus semipalmatus

Population Estimate: 250K, Least Concern status

Range: Summers in the interior western US. Winters along along the ocean and found from the mid-Atlantic and Pacific Northwest US down through northern South America.

Field Notes: Large, stocky sandpiper. Striking black and white wing pattern in flight. Otherwise nondescript.

Personal Notes: It was a treat seeing theses birds in the tree tops in Rhode Island.

Red-tailed Hawk

Scientific Name: Buteo jamaicensis

Population Estimate: 2M, Least Concern status

Range: Year-round throughout the United States and most of Mexico. Summers extends into Canada and Alaska.

Field Notes: The most common hawk in the United States. There are so many morphs it makes my head spin (see the Field Marks section on the Cornell site). The most reliable field note seems to be the red tail as in the top two photos above. I'm sure there are other ways to differentiate hawks, both in flight and while perched, but I just don't know them yet. I'll get back to you when I do.

Personal Notes: We have tracked many of these birds thinking they were something "different" only to find they were, while still majestic, the Red-tailed Hawk. As an aside, if you see it perching along the freeway in the United States, it's a Red-tailed Hawk. Really. Don't keep going back and forth on the freeway....

Double-crested Cormorant

Scientific Name: Phalacrocorax auritus

Population Estimate: 1.5M, Least Concern status

Range: Winters in the southern US interior, and more extensively on the coasts. In summer it is widespread throughout North America.

Field Notes: Most common cormorant in North America, found along coasts but also inland. All black bird with hooked bill that is yellow at the base. Juveniles more pale, as in top photo. Often found in groups, these are heavy fliers that cruise just above the water. Great Cormorant and Brant's Cormorant have very limited overlap. The Neotropic Cormorant has a shared range along the Gulf Coast in Mexico, but the Double-crested Cormorant is larger with brighter yellow bill base, and relatively shorter tail.

Personal Notes: The drying of feathers is my favorite pose.

Great Black-backed Gull

Scientific Name: Larus marinus

Population Estimate: 500K-750K, Least Concern status

Range: Year-round in coastal regions on both sides of the North Atlantic, though somewhat migratory.

Field Notes: Largest gull in the world. Overall white with dark-grey to black mantle. Yellow bill with red spot on the lower mandible. Legs pale. Lesser Black-backed Gull more dainty with yellow legs.

Personal Notes: Different than the New Zealand black-backed gull.