Birding 2023

December 19, Field Station, Ann Hamilton Trail, Indiangrass Preserve, Coastal Prairie Conservancy, Waller, TX

• King Rail*
• Sandhill Cranes
• Phoebes
• Meadowlarks
• Le Conte's Sparrow*
• Vesper Sparrow*
• Mockingbirds
• Harrier
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• Crested Caracara pair*
• Cormorant
• Great Blue Heron

December 14, Big Slough, Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, Houston, TX

• Carolina Wrens
• Black Vultures
• Belted Kingfisher
• Barn Swallows (huge!)
• Loggerhead Shrikes*
• Snowy Egrets
• Great Egrets
• Little Blue Herons
• Eastern Meadowlarks
• Forster's Tern*
• American Coots
• Pied-billed Grebes
• Blue-winged Teal
• Great Blue Heron
• Harriers
• American Kestrel*`
• Great Crested Flycatcher (?)
• Northern Mockingbird
• European Starlings
• Crows
• Red-winged Blackbirds
  

December 12, Houston, TX

• Eurasian Collared Dove

Willow Waterhole:

• White Ibises
• Muscovy Duck*
• Great Blue Herons
• Mockingbirds
• Kestrel
• Blue Jays
• English Sparrows
  

September 30, home

Black-throated Green Warbler

August 20, home

Tennessee warblers - a group of 5 in the backyard!

June 8, home, Kent Co., Walker, MI

Female hummingbird buzzed around me. The female Downy has been pecking at the tallgrass stakes as if they contain insects - seems odd.

Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI

• American Redstart pair
• Wood Thrush pair

May 18, home, Kent Co., Walker, MI

• Pine Siskin (male) pecking at the window
• Ovenbird in backyard

May 16, Blandford Nature Center, Walker, Kent Co., MI

• Indigo Bunting
• Red-eyed Vireo

May 8, Blandford Nature Center, Grand Rapids, Kent Co., MI

• 2 Rose-breasted Grosbeak males & 1 female
• Yellow-shafted Flicker
• Baltimore Oriole
• Black-throated Green Warblers
• Wilson's warbler !!!
• Yellow-throated vireo
• Least Flycatcher
• Great Flycatcher (heard calls)
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet
• Great Blue Heron
• Song Sparrows
• Tree swallows
• American Robins
• Blue Jays
• Red-winged Blackbirds
• European Blackbirds
• Brown-headed Cowbirds
• Cardinals
• American Goldfinches
• Hairy Woodpeckers
• Red-bellied Woodpeckers
• Tufted Titmice
• White-breasted Nuthatch
• Black-capped Chickadees

May 6, Home, Kent Co., Walker, MI

• White-crowned Sparrow

May 5, Home, Kent Co., Walker, MI

• White-throated Sparrow

May 2, Trethevy, Cornwall, UK

• Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) in the garden!!!
• Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) calling !
• SWCP: Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) nesting - 3 pair

May 1, Tintagel, Cornwall, UK

• Rook (Corvus frugilegus) !

April 30, St. Nectan's Glen, Cornwall, UK

• Dipper (Cinclus anclus) going into its nest in the riverbank (Trevillet River)

April 29, Crynant, Wales

• Eurasian Wren

April 28, Gower Peninsula, Rhossili, Wales

• Rock Pipits (Anthus petrosus)
• Stone Chats (Saxicola rubicola) - both male and female singing, perched on top of Gorse
• Pied Wagtails (Motacilla alba) - in town
• European Goldfinches

April 28, Crynant, Wales

• Coal Tits
• Nuthatches (Sitta europaea)
• European Siskins - including juveniles
• Chaffinches (Fringella coelebs)

April 27, Crynant Community Forest, Neath, Wales

• Common Firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla) - like our Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Corthylio calendula)
• European Siskin (Carduelis spinus) - looks like our American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis)
• Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)
• Goldfinch
• Chaffinch
• Robins
• Blackbirds (Turdus merula)
• Songthrush (Turdus philomelos) - kept thinking it was a blackbird; 2-5 reps of other birds' songs
• Woodpigeon

Thanks to a great post called The Great Tit Confusion plus several other sources, I was able to figure the following out:

Great Tits (Parus major) and Coal Tits (Periparus ater) have a black cap that includes the eyes, white cheeks, and black chin like our Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus). In fact, I think the Coal Tits and Chickadees look just alike. Great Tits and Eurasian Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) have yellowish bellies. However, Great Tits here often have a black stripe down their breast and belly; they have barred/striped wings like American Goldfinches. Blue and Coal Tits are about the same size, smaller than the Great. Blue have a blue cap (sometimes raised to a crest like a Tufted Titmouse, Baeolophus bicolor), white head with skinny black stripes, blue wings, and a green back. These 3 Tits, Chickadees, and Titmice are all Paridae. 

Fun finding the commonalities.

April 26, Crynant, Wales:

• Blue Tits 
• Robins
• Blackbirds
• Woodpigeons

April 24, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK:

• Jackdaws
• Dunnock
• European Goldfinch
• Magpies

April 23, Rodborough Commons Views walk, 1 mile on limestone grassland.

• Eurasian Magpies
• (Carrion) Crows
• Red Kite
• European Robin

April 22, "The Heavens," Stroud commons, Gloucestershire, UK:

• Greenfinch (Chloris chloris)
• Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)
• Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)
• Goldcrest (Regulus regulus) - looks just like our Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa)
• Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) - warbler
• European Robin (Enthacus rubecula)
• Dunnock (Prunella modularis) - these little brown birds sing from the top of bushes
• Blackbird (Turdus merula)
• Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) - sounds like a catbird imitating other birds such as hawks, jays, etc., from 2-5 repetitions of each snippet
• Eurasian Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)
• Great Tit (Parus major)
• Magpies (Pica pica)

• Leveret and Hare (make little "scrapes" on the grass, not burrows)

April 21, traveling from Cambridge to Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK

• 2 Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus)
• Magpies (Pica pica) - entirely different from the Australian Magpie - does not sing beautifully

April 19, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK (punting on the river Cam; later: Librarians' footpath)

• Eurasian Wrens (Troglodytes troglodytes)
• Eurasian Jackdaws (Corvus monedula)
• Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula) - these are thrushes and sing beautifully!
• Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) - warbler that wags its tail

April 18, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK

• Red Kites (Milvus milvus)
• Robin (Enthacus rubecula)
• Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus) - these are huge!
• Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
• Tits (couldn't identity)

April 13, Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI

• Brown Creeper (heard calls)

April 8, home, Kent Co., MI

• Phoebe (heard call)

April 7, Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI 

• Golden-crowned Kinglets (heard calls)

April 5 

• Blandford Nature Center, Walker, Kent Co., MI
• pair Mallards alongside Milo road in a flooded place
• Hooded Merganser male in Brandywine Creek
• over the Grand River at M-45, Ottawa Co., MI
• 3 Bald Eagles flying
• Amy saw a Great Egret on the pond west of the West Michigan Academy of Environmental Science on Leonard (just west of Wilson) 

April 4, traveling, Ottawa Co., MI

• 3 Sandhill Cranes flying - on the way to work
• 1 Sandhill Crane flying - on the way home

April 3, Aman Park, Ottawa Co., MI

• Pileated Woodpecker
• Downy Woodpecker
• Red-bellied Woodpecker
  
• Yellow-rumped Warbler
• Sandhill Crane (heard call)
  
• Black-capped Chickadees
• Tufted Titmice
• Cardinals 
• Red-winged Blackbirds
• Robins
  

February 27, Home, Kent Co., Walker, MI

• Turkey Vulture

February 26, Highlands - Blandford Nature Center, Kent Co, Grand Rapids, MI

• Red-winged Blackbirds
• Yellow-shafted Flicker
• Crows
• Robins
• Blue jay
• Chickadees
• Red-tailed Hawk