Bird ID tests color-coding skills
What is most important when looking at and watching birds? The easy answer is to carefully look at the entire bird.
You will have lots of time afterwards to consult bird book field guides. Obvious characteristics of shape, habitat it is using, feather colors, help eliminate many choices or narrow the choices to a family type grouping.
Ducks and geese go together. Warblers go together. Large wading in the water birds go together. Hawks and eagle shapes are another easy grouping. These associations are endless and helpful.
If one has a well done bird identification guidebook, it will likely have over 1,000 sketches, photos and/or artwork paintings of each species. That is a lot to decipher.
Ocean coast birds are not usually found in the interior of the Midwest. But if you travel to a coastal setting, you may not be familiar with birds new to you, but very familiar to people who live in coastal environments. Active birders may make prior arrangements to hire or consult with other bird identification experts to help out during new-to-you birding sites.
Closer to home, where most bird watching takes place, local city and county parks, trails, wildlife areas, prairie grasslands and lakes or rivers are all good places to sit down for a good watch and wait session.
In hand will be your observing eyes, a good pair of binoculars, a notebook to make essential comments of the day’s activities and a bird ID book. Spending time outdoors is always good.
If bird watching is of any interest, then you always have a hobby to spend quality time outdoors.
During May, this author, who lives close to the Mann Wetland natural area located south of Albion, has made occasional observations with my eyes, my cameras, binoculars and spotting scope. Many usual birds of a marsh wetland have been observed including swallows of several kinds as they fly fast and dive bomb to intercept insects to catch while in flight. Ducks and geese are common and expected.
One unusual site — and just plain good luck to be watching at the right time — was a group of about a dozen Black Terns. These birds were observed mid May at the Mann Wetland. Their large size was interesting, in addition to their long pointed wing tips, black body plumage and their head looking straight down into the wetland water.
A deeply forked tail shape was unmistakable. Periodically the terns would dive into the water and come up with some sort of morsel in their pointed beak. I expect that this flock of Black Terns was on their way toward Northern Midwest lakes, marshes and wetlands all the way into southern Canada.
Their ability to quickly change flight directions was obvious. Black Terns are masters of the air.
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JUNE 20 will be the first day of the summer season. Time is going by very fast. Pretty soon, the days will get shorter on Earth’s inevitable journey toward fall and winter.
June 1 day length is 15 hours and 2 minutes for us earthlings living in Marshall County. Come June 30, the day will be 15 hours and 12 minutes long.
Earliest sunrises will take place from June 9-23 at 5:34 a.m. Latest sunsets will happen between June 22 and July 3 at 8:50 p.m.
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Mother Nature caused rain events during May. The moisture was most welcome and nourishing to newly planted crop lands, gardens and lawns.
Sufficient rain water helps refill the Mann Wetland marsh. Iowa River flows increased to near bank full, therefore some minor backflow flooding took place on the low lying floodplain lands north of Marshalltown adjacent to Highway 14.
The rises in river flow are anticipated when the 1,200 square miles of watershed from counties to the north of us contributed excess water runoffs. During May at my home in Albion, rain event totals came to about 3.25 inches.
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FREE FISHING weekend will take place in one more week, on June 6-8. This summer time-off from fishing license requirements is an encouragement to get outdoors to enjoy fresh air and sunshine.
Daily limits on fishes caught do still apply. If you do not have a fishing license, just buy one now since it will be valid until the end of the year.
Iowa has 15,000 miles of fishable streams, 43,235 acres of natural lakes, and well over 4,500 acres of state-owned artificial lakes and a large amount of old gravel pits now filled with water, and fish. Farm ponds are almost too numerous to count but are most numerous in southern Iowa landscapes.
Old river oxbows now cut off from the main channel may also contain catchable sized fish. These oxbows may be more temporary due to periodic flooding.
Each type of water provides a different experience. Northeast Iowa’s cold water streams are conducive to trout habitat for Browns, Rainbow and Brook. Iowa DNR fisheries folks have already stocked some of these streams with hatchery raised trout.
Access for fishermen and women is available on established sites. A map of all trout areas of northeast Iowa is also available to assist with your stream choice.
A good day fishing is always a great day.
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Garry Brandenburg is the retired director of the Marshall County Conservation Board. He is a graduate of Iowa State University with a BS degree in Fish & Wildlife Biology. Contact him at: P.O. Box 96 Albion, IA 50005
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- PHOTOS BY GARRY BRANDENBURG — Bird identification is largely a color-coding exercise along with attention to detail about each species regarding size, body shape, bill configurations, habits and habitat. Since bird sizes range from little wren types to very large, as in bald eagles, their size alone is a key factor. Many birds are “robin sized” even if they are not robins. Which means there has to be a lot more specific detail to tell them apart. Luckily, some bird plumages are so unique that identification becomes a straightforward exercise. Today’s birds are the Scarlet Tanager (male) with its bright red body, black wings and black tail. An Orchard Oriole (male) is chestnut brown on its body, has a black head, and several white wing bars on its otherwise all black wings. May has been a good month to keep lists of different bird species observed.
