Icteridae

Icteridae is a family of passerine birds found in North, Central, and South America. There is a wide variety of variation between the different species of Icterids but all have long slender pointed beaks. Icteridae consists of 97 species in 27 genera, most of which are found in the tropical regions of Central and South America. North America has 23 species in 8 genera. The North American species and genera include:
Xanthocephalus- which consists of only the yellow-headed blackbird. Even though it is called a blackbird it is more closely related to meadowlarks then it is other new world blackbirds.
Agelaius and Euphagus- Angelaius consists of the tricolored blackbird and red-winged blackbird. While Euphagus is closely related to grackles and consists of the Brewer's blackbird and the rusty blackbird.
Dolichonyx- consists of just the bobolink which combines characteristics form multiple other genera.
Molothrus- consists of the cowbirds including the brown-headed cowbird, shiny cowbird and bronzed cowbird. All three species are parasitic nesters, laying their eggs in the nests of other birds and leaving the other birds to care for the chicks.
Quiscalus- grackles, including the common grackle, great-tailed grackle and the boat-tailed grackle. Grackles are larger then blackbirds with larger bills and a longer tail.
Sturnella- which consists of the eastern and western meadowlark. It is difficult to distinguish the difference between these two species in the field. If I was better at my bird calls I would probably have an easier time since most people say that their song is the easiest way to identify them.
Icterus- These are the Orioles including streak-backed, Bullock's, Baltimore, hooded, orchard, altamira, spot-breasted, Audubon's and Scott's orioles. These are the most colorful of all of the Icterids found in North America.

Bowdoin NWR

Yellowstone in May is not exactly a birders paradise so we typically arrange another stop or two, while on vacation, to do a little bit of birding. This year we left Yellowstone a day early so that we could visit a couple of other parks on our way home. Unfortunately due to bad weather and a flat tire we only had the opportunity to make one stop.
Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge is located in the short and mixed grass prairie region of North-central Montana. It is home to many western prairie species of birds such as the western kingbird and western meadowlark, pictured above.
Bowdoin was established back in 1936 to help protect vital resting, feeding and breeding habitat for migrating birds, particularly waterfowl and shorebirds. The refuge encompasses 15,551 acres, 8,675 of which is wetlands. The wetlands provide homes to a variety of birds such as the yellow-headed blackbird pictured above.
The refuge is centered around Lake Bowdoin. In preglacial times it is believed that the lake was actually an Oxbow in the Missouri River but over time the river has moved 70 miles south of the lake. What was left behind is a variety of habitats including saline and freshwater wetlands and native prairie. These are perfect habitat for the marbled godwit pictured above.
Before 1936 Lake Bowdoin was used by the Montana Bureau of Reclamation as a catch basin to help manage the waters of spring floods, irrigation return flows and seepage. Each spring snow melt would pour down into the lake from Beaver Creek and the Black Coulee drainage flooding the land around the lake. This provided good habitat for shorebirds and waterfowl that were migrating north at about the same time, like the white-faced ibis flying above.
Once the refuge was established the Works Progress Administration began the construction of the refuge headquarters as well as a system of water control structures designed to help manage the wetlands to provide the proper habitat for waterfowl and shorebirds like the Wilson's phalarope pictured above.
Lake Bowdoin sits on 5,459 acres of the refuge. Islands in the lake hold breeding colonies of white pelicans, double-crested cormorants, California and ring-billed gulls. Wetland areas around the lake provide habitat for American avocet, black-necked stilts, ducks and grebes. Eared grebes in breeding plumage are a common site at this time of year.
In the upland prairie areas you can find pronghorn antelope, deer, sharp-tailed grouse and raptors. We found a pair of northern harriers hunting in the fields just outside the refuge. I was happy to get a shot of the mail in flight. I see females pretty frequently around home, mostly during the fall, but I hardly ever see the males. Female harriers are mostly brown compared to the light gray color of the males from which they have received the nickname, "the gray ghost".

Western Meadowlark

One thing that we always enjoy when we go out west is to listen to the melodic song of the Meadowlark. We do get meadowlarks in Minnesota but mostly in the western portions of the state and not so much in the Twin Cities. So getting the opportunity to list to several of these birds sing while we were at Bowdoin, NWR in Montana was a treat.

Meadowlarks are birds of the open prairie. They can be found throughout the western two thirds of North America, with northern populations migrating to the south during the winter. They eat a variety of different grains and grass seeds as well as insects, as pictured above. They nest on the ground and often build a partial roof on the nest to help keep it hidden.

My World: Celebration Park

Another location in the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA that we stopped at was Celebration Park.

Celebration Park was established in 1989 and is Idaho's only archaeological park. The park is situated on the banks of the Snake River and was the wintering grounds for the Paiute Indians. Rock face petroglyphs, drawn by Native Americans some 12,000 years ago, are the reason why the park was established.Unfortunately we did not have very much time, only a day and a half total in Idaho, so I did not have enough time to go and photograph the petroglyphs. Instead I spent most of my time at Celebration Park doing what I usually do, photographing the flora and fauna.

The thing that I photographed the most at Celebration Park were the Bullock's orioles. This was another new life bird that we photographed on this trip.

The area was very beautiful so I did stop photographing the birds long enough to get a few scenic shots.

Another new life bird that we photographed on this trip was the California quail. We found these birds in quite a few locations around Snake River.

There were also western meadowlarks singing in the fields surrounding the park. I have photographed western meadowlarks before but since we do not see them very often in eastern Minnesota we stopped when ever one was out in the open singing to take some pics.

The river plays an important role in forming the habitat of the park. As you went away from the park the area was very dry with low scraggly vegetation. Near the river, however, it was very green with a lot more trees then could be found else where.

The river itself also provided habitat for some birds. I spotted numerous spotted sandpiper searching the shallows looking for aquatic invertebrates to eat.

There was a bridge with a walking path that crossed over the river but we were not sure that it looked very safe so we decided just to stay on one side.

But the bridge, power lines and other man made structures also helped provide habitat for the local wildlife.
There were plenty of swallows there hunting insects that used the power lines to perch and take a rest. It was interesting because there were only a few barn and tree swallows around and a lot of bank and cliff swallows. We have all these types of swallows in Minnesota but mostly I see a lot of barn and tree swallows and rarely bank and cliff swallows. So it was interesting when birders from the convention showed up and were more interested in the barn and tree swallows. I guess we kind of take for granted the birds that are common in the area that we live.

Home, home in Bowdoin where the birds and the antelope play

Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge has lakes, ponds and potholes but it also has prairie. We saw quite a few creatures living out in the fields surrounding the water.
The western kingbird is named such because its range extends through the western portion of North America. Over the past 100 years the range of the western kingbird has been slowly encroaching on that of its cousin the eastern kingbird, including a wintering population is south Florida.
There were plenty of western meadowlarks everywhere that we went it was nice to hear there song as we were driving along.Western meadowlarks can be found in open country such as fields, pastures and grasslands. They are a ground forager. They can often be seen searching the ground and the dirt for bugs, plants and seeds. This bird found itself what looked to be a plump cricket for lunch.
There were also plenty of insects in the fields including bees of several types, moths, grasshopper, and butterflies, like this sulfur. We were lucky that we did not really have any problems with mosquitoes. Maybe it was still too early in the year or maybe it was the low water level, either way we were grateful for not having to deal with the little pests.
One of the big surprises at Bowdoin was when we came across this pronghorn buck. We had seen a few rodents and other small mammals but we were not expecting to see anything like this while we were out birding. He was resting in the grass but decided to move further away from the road when we stopped the car to take a couple of pics.

Medicine Lake NWR Passerines

Friday, May 15th, the day that we were out at Medicine Lake was kind of an anniversary for me. It was one year, from that date, that I was diagnosed with diabetes. I think that it was one of the reasons that our 2007 Yellowstone trip did not go as well as other Yellowstone trips. Taking insulin and trying to figure out what I could eat and what I couldn't and how much complicated things a bit. This year it was not a big deal at all. Probably because I pretty much have things under control. Since I was diagnosed a year ago I have lost 20 pounds, which is not bad considering that I was only a little over weight to begin with. When I was diagnosed my A1C, a test that measures the average of your blood sugar level over the past several months, was at 13.9. Since you are supposed to be under 7.0 mine was pretty high, which is why they put me on a 24 hour insulin as well as pills. On my last visit my A1C was 5.4. Along with the drugs I have altered my diet and I am getting more exercise by hiking through parks chasing after birds and other wildlife with my camera. That Friday we also saw quite a few birds in the fields that surround Medicine Lake.
I am not really great with my sparrow identification so someone please correct me if I get one of the sparrows wrong. I believe that the one above is a vesper sparrow.
I think that this one is a clay-colored sparrow. Sparrows are the hardest type of birds for me to ID. They are all small and mostly brown with very subtle differences. Maybe after shorebird class later this summer I can find a class to help me better ID sparrows.

We have horned lark here in MN but mostly I see them from a distance on the side of roads during the winter. This horned lark let me get some nice shots.
Brown thrashers are a bit more common in the eastern US. The 3 or 4 that we spotted at Medicine Lake were in the western part of their typical range.
Once in a while we will spot a yellow-headed blackbird mixed in with red-winged black birds in the eastern portion of Minnesota but they are more common in the western half of the state. Out in Montana there were more yellow-heads then there were redwings.
The western kingbird is the cousin of the eastern kingbird that we typically see in Minnesota. However the range of the western kingbird has been moving east and now includes parts of western Minnesota.
We saw, and heard, quite a few western meadowlarks in the park and most of the places which we traveled through in Montana. In eastern Minnesota we can see either the eastern or western meadowlark, but these days, with most of the large open field being devoured for development, I rarely see either type. It is too bad because it was really nice to hear them singing as we were driving down the road.

A Little Appetizer from our Trip

So far we have only been gone 3 days but we have a lot of good pics, about 30gb worth. I did not have a lot of time, I would prefer to spend more time in the park shooting, but I did get up early to put together a couple of pics that we took on Friday, just to start giving you a preview of the posts that I will be making when I return.

western meadowlark
yellow-headed blackbird

I will try to post some more pics as we continue on the trip as well as a few more posts of warblers and other passerines that I took before we left.