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The Helpful Birder

Featured Posts General Birding

Where to Find Birds

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Featured Posts General Birding

Not All Blue Birds are Bluebirds

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How Nature Reuses Its Resources

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Species Spotlight: Swallow-tailed Kites

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  • How to Photograph Birds in Flight
    Bird Photography

    How to Photograph Birds in Flight

    One of the hardest things to photograph in nature is a bird in flight. It’s a technique that takes both study and practice. If you’d like to improve your bird in…

    February 7, 2022
  • judging the size of a bird
    General Birding

    Why the Size of a Bird is Such a Difficult Field Indicator

    One useful way to identify a bird is by size. Everyone knows an eagle is bigger than a sparrow, a mallard duck bigger than a cardinal. In fact, it’s a great…

    January 12, 2022
  • Where to find birds
    Featured Posts General Birding

    Where to Find Birds

    Birds are everywhere, right? That’s totally true, except when you’re armed with your field guide, a pair of binoculars, a packed lunch, and a camera. Then they’re nowhere to be found.…

    January 6, 2022
  • Eastern bluebird, Flagler County, Florida
    Featured Posts General Birding

    Not All Blue Birds are Bluebirds

    For beginning birders, the easiest way to identify a bird is by color. Northern Cardinals are red, American Goldfinches are yellow, Eastern Bluebirds are blue. (After all, that’s why they’re called…

    January 6, 2022
  • Featured Posts General Birding

    How Nature Reuses Its Resources

    I find it fascinating how resources are reused by nature in many ways. One example of how nature reuses things is a basic hole in a pine tree. I have really…

    August 2, 2020
  • Florida Scrub-Jays
    Bird Species

    Species Spotlight: Florida Scrub-Jays

    Many of us here in eastern North America know and love (or hate) the beautiful Blue Jay. But there are many other jays present in the US as well, and one…

    May 27, 2020
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Lifer 370 / 541 is this Bewick’s Wren, who has suc Lifer 370 / 541 is this Bewick’s Wren, who has such a beautiful song! We saw this one on the trail that runs on the other side of the creek behind the Santa Rita lodge.

Lifer 368 / 539 (2nd and 3rd photo) was a Townsend’s Warbler. Not great shots, but I’m happy to have some photos of it.

Not shown: 369 / 540 Hutton’s Vireo - never saw it, but we heard them several times, again on the trail.
Lifer 366 (US) / 537 (World) for me is the Pine Si Lifer 366 (US) / 537 (World) for me is the Pine Siskin, and 367/ 538 is the Lesser Goldfinch. You’ll see some of both in these photos. The image at the water feature that has two different species shows the goldfinch on the left and the siskin on the right.
Lifer 365 (US) / 535 (World) is this adorable Brid Lifer 365 (US) / 535 (World) is this adorable Bridled Titmouse. There were tons, but they spent so much time eating that I don’t have many photos except gathered around a feeder. I did think these three were particularly cute, though!
Although not rare, I was very excited to get to se Although not rare, I was very excited to get to see the Mexican Jay (Aphelocoma wollweberi) in Arizona. Although not mentioned in the bird’s common name, it’s actually a scrub-jay, in the same genus as our Florida Scrub-jays. I noted a lot of similar behavior as well, some of which you can glean from the different micro-habitats in these photos.

Lifer 364 (US) / 535 (World)

#mexicanjay #santaritalodge #maderacanyon #arizonabirds
Lifer #363 (US) / #534 (World) is the Arizona Wood Lifer #363 (US) / #534 (World) is the Arizona Woodpecker. Apparently it is much less common than the Acorn Woodpecker I posted yesterday, but a regular visitor to Santa Rita Lodge in the Madera Canyon. I believe these photos are likely a male, a female, and a male again - based on the red (or lack thereof) on their heads.

BTW this lodge is an excellent place to visit even if you don't stay there. (Though I wish we had stayed there!) You can pull up, park, and sit in front of the feeders to take pictures, all at no cost - though donations are recommended! They have a little gift / coffee shop, and there is a hiking path that runs just on the other side of the creek. There are no restrooms on site, but there was one just back down the road, pretty close. (People warned me about how bad it was, but those people must have never experienced the Fellsmere Stick Marsh...these were fine IMO!)
The gorgeous Acorn Woodpecker is my life bird #362 The gorgeous Acorn Woodpecker is my life bird #362 (US) / 534 (World). There are several individuals shown. 

The last slide is lifer 360 / 531, Rivoli's Hummingbird. Not a great shot. It was really close and in the shadow.

I skipped a few lifers that I don't have good photos for:

361/532 Broad-billed Hummingbird
359/530 Green-tailed Towhee
358/529 Rufous-winged Sparrow
357/528 Gilded Flicker

I'm finally back to processing photos after a long break. Now I'm having to remind myself of the species I saw in Arizona, as it's been almost 3 months. Lots has transpired in the meantime, including a trip to London with my daughters for their college graduations. While there, even though it wasn't a birding trip at all, I actually got lifer #563 in Little Venice, the Common Pochard. Seems like an odd bird to have missed on my previous visits. Anyway, that's just a little life update :)
It’s baby season! The parents of these Northern Mo It’s baby season! The parents of these Northern Mockingbirds are running the ragged. They’re so cute though! (iPhone photo)
Life bird 356 (US) / 527 (World) was the unique Ph Life bird 356 (US) / 527 (World) was the unique Phainopepla. The white feathers in their wings aren’t apparent at rest but they show up so distinctively in flight. Please swipe to see an additional closer crop of this same image.

Not that anyone is keeping count, but I skipped a bird because the photo looks too much like the moth photo I posted yesterday. I’ll work it back in later 🤣

I hope everyone had a wonderful Earth Day! 🌎🌱🌳
A little bird break, here’s a hungry White-lined S A little bird break, here’s a hungry White-lined Sphinx Moth at the Desert Museum. It was so active!!!
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Red-cockaded woodpecker foraging for food in the woods at St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge in Wakulla, Florida (not far from Tallahassee)
Red cockaded woodpecker
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