Post #42 - My newest addiction...eBird!

I am sure that many of you are familiar with eBird, the crowd-sourced database where individual bird sightings go to become meaningful scientific data. As can be imagined, accurately assessing bird distributions is very difficult. Birds move around with seasonal periodicity, and they often inhabit or visit widespread areas. It is virtually impossible for one birder or researcher to generate a completely accurate, representative picture of how a species is distributed at any given time. However, if we pooled the observations of ten of thousands of observers, a more dynamic, more representative picture is going to emerge. This is the invaluable, curatorial function that eBird was conceived to perform. This is an article from the New York Times that uses a few more words to convey the same message.

Here is an idea of the sort of distribution information we can glean from eBird. The following 4 images are sightings of Magnolia Warbler, filtered by month for March to June of 2015. The purple boxes represent Magnolia Warbler sightings, with darker colors corresponding to increased frequency. We can literally see the birds moving north from their wintering grounds to their breeding grounds! How cool is that?!?! Bird migration in near real time! There are dozens of similar applications for an trends in the collected data. It is all archived and readily accessible and will be so in perpetuity (hopefully!)

March

April

May

June

Now, I will confess that I was a bit late to the eBird party; I only started eBirding in December of last year. Why did I wait so long to get on the eBird bandwagon? Much of it had to do with my career as a scientist where my entire professional existence revolved around counting various things: numbers of embryos, numbers of synapses etc. At that time, birding was my escape from data, and, as a result, I could not face additional data collection and entry on my personal time. Also, as I began to take a more-photography-centric view of birds, I didn't think my input would really prove that valuable since I wasn't really looking for birds beyond my photographic radius.

During my bicycle Big Year, I relied very heavily on eBird to help formulate bird finding strategies. One thing that became painfully clear to me was that I was taking infinitely more from the database than I was contributing to it. As my year started to wind down and birding settled down a bit, I decided that I should make a conscious effort to contribute. This was done as much out of feeling of obligation as anything else. I am a relatively competent observer, and I bird very frequently (or at least I did before I moved to LA!); I am exactly the sort of person who should be contributing to eBird.

Anyway, what I quickly discovered is that eBird is TONS of fun, so much so that I am now totally addicted to it. As someone who is obsessed with data, record keeping, and trends, it really cool to see not only the amount of data collected in eBird, but also how the site manages my personal data. I now have a list for everything (hemisphere, state, county, etc) - and they're all in one place! My data, beyond its obvious scientific utility, now functions as a personal birding history, a chronicle of what I saw when and where. I only wish eBird had been around from the instant I started birding. This is sadly not the case, and, as I cannot go back in time, I will make what efforts I can to ensure than my birding history moving forward is complete. It is fantastic that my data serves both a communal, scientific function and a personal, historical purpose. 

"I didn't eBird Broad-billed Sandpiper from Jamaica Bay in 1998!"

As I am headed to Texas next week for the Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival, I have been using eBird to keep daily tabs on 2 particularly interesting species: Northern Jacana and Collared Plover, both of which would be life birds for me. It's really a lot of fun to log in and see if the birds are still being seen. Fingers crossed that both stay put!

Lastly, I also want to send a shout out to the eBird curators and reviewers. I am sure that this job is usually thankless, but without proper administration and quality-control the long-term utility of the data would certainly be compromised. I am sure its a lot of work, so thank you.

Lastly (again), please also check out iNaturalist. This is a similar crowd-sourced data collection platform that includes (beyond birds) insects, plants, fish, mammals, whatever. It is also a very valuable resource!

Ooooo  Ooooo Ooooo. Before I finally go, here's an actual bird photo for you! I took this at Malibu Lagoon a few weeks back. Photography has been painfully slow recently, but I'm hoping to make it out for at least some shooting this weekend. Please stay tuned!

Spotted Sandpiper - Arctitus macularius

Canon 500mm f/4 IS on EOS 7D2

1/3200 at f/5.6, ISO 800

Manual mode, handheld 

Post #41 - The Curious and Controversial case of the Moustached Kingfisher

Moustached Kingfisher is an apparently rare bird that is found on - and only on - the Island of Guadalcanal (of WWII fame) in the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. I say 'apparently rare' as it has not been the focus of significant study and there seems to be at least some disagreement as to how many of the birds might currently exist. Miraculously, one individual wandered all the way across the Pacific and was sighted in Los Angeles this weekend! Just joking! Seriously though, this species has recently been in the news, and I wanted to take a few minutes to discuss the controversy surrounding it. 

Moustached Kingfisher

Guadalcanal is marked by the red pin

I am sure that many of you have already read at least something about the great Kingfisher Controversy of 2015. The basic idea is that a team of scientists recently caught, in a mist net, a male Moustached Kingfisher while on a research expedition to Guadalcanal. This species is rare enough that no western scientist had ever laid eyes on a male before that individual was captured. What little was known about the species was gleaned from 3 female specimens that dated to the first half of the 20th century. As no formal, systematic study of the species had ever been performed, they decided to sacrifice the captured bird and preserve it as a specimen to be taken back to the Museum of Natural History in New York City. There it would be further studied and archived in the museum's collection. Their decision to do this has sparked at least some amount of outrage, most of which stems from the fact that we do not have a concrete idea what the loss of this individual bird means for the sustainability of the kingfisher's population moving forward.

The truth of the matter is that we know very little about the population of this apparently rare bird. This is why research expeditions are initiated, to fill in the gaps in our current understanding or knowledge. Speaking with locals who know more about the species than they or any westerners did, the scientists decided the population could tolerate the loss of this single individual. The locals apparently concurred as the outrage has come mainly from elsewhere. 

I understand the uproar, but I fully support the decision to collect the bird. It is awful that this one bird had to pay die to further our understanding of the species? Yes, certainly. However, the potential upside for the species in my mind outweighs the cost of that one individual. Given the information they were presented by locals, their decision seems reasonable. While there is debate as to the precise population size and status, the chance that the removal of this exact individual will ultimately lead to extinction is small. However, that we will learn at least something beyond that that was known prior to the collection is difficult to debate. Many might say that DNA analysis, for example, could have been performed from feathers taken from the bird prior to release. This is certainly true, but this would not permit us to have an intact reference specimen, or "type-specimen" against which future comparisons could be made. It is as important that we have a reference specimen for each species as we do for weight and distance measurements, for example. As the definition of a species has become increasingly malleable in recent years, it is important that we have a reference point from which to start any taxonomic classification scheme or discussion. The specimen in question will serve as the reference point for all future discussions and analysis of Moustached Kingfishers. 

I am sure the scientists took no joy in taking the life of the bird, but I think that the cost of their decision to do just that will be paid by the longer term attention that will be focused on the species moving forward. Hopefully what I penned here makes at least some sense to some of you. If none one disagreed, there wouldn't be much point of putting my opinion out there, would there?

Lastly, and considering the subject matter of my last post, I thought this was too funny and appropriate. It's worth watching, I promise!

One more shot I found from Monterey a few weeks back
Pacific Golden-plover
Canon 500mm f/4 IS on EOS 7D2
1/2000 at f/5.6, ISO 800
Manual mode, Handheld (while in knee deep surf).

Post #40 - Some thoughts on our connections to the natural world

I am a biologist, not in the casual sense, but professionally. In the past 20 years, I have spent time designing and performing experiments to further our understanding of neuronal differentiation, molecular embryology, cell polarity, tissue morphogenesis, synaptic plasticity, small RNA biogenesis, and a host of other fancy-sounding fields that neither of my parents understand. The goal of my collective work, in the end, is to understand how our bodies and those of the other living things around us function at the cellular level. This basic biological knowledge, when applied by others to disease states, has the power to alleviate human suffering in many capacities. When reductionist work such as mine is coupled with the top-down approach employed by organismal and evolutionary biologists, a still more complete biological picture emerges. Beyond an understanding of our own intrinsic biology, we realize that we are actually just a single, though incredibly important and often destructive, player in a carefully coordinated biological dance that has been occurring at the planetary level for hundreds of millions of years.

A particular protein I study fused with a red

fluorescent protein in the C. elegans germline.

The protein localizes to the nucleus of the cell. 

I use this as a backdrop to explain and to explore an experience and series of thoughts I had today. Today is Tuesday, and like most, I find myself in my lab at USC. This morning I was analyzing some DNA sequence data. As per usual, I put some music on my headphones so as to block out any other distraction while I focused on the task at hand. Staring at the biological code as depicted in my sequence data, the seemingly endless quaternary code of nucleic acid bases that defines and dictates much of our biological existence, I caught my own reflection in the screen. Hands extended towards the computer keyboard, headphones upon my head, digital music formed by little more than 1's and 0's playing in my ears, I suddenly felt incredibly detached from biology, the same biology that I have dedicated my life to understanding. For a split second, I felt more a part of the machines to which I was connected than to my own biology, to my own being.

Lesser Goldfinch on Primrose

Apropos of more organismal approaches to biology

Canon 500mm f/4 IS on EOS 7D2

1/4000 AT F/5.6, ISO 800

Beyond a terrifying but altogether temporary experience, I think this sort of moment reinforces precisely why it is important that we maintain some form of connection to the natural world around us. Time with nature and the natural world's constituent organisms - both macro- and microscopic - reinforces the connection that we have to them, a connection that is sadly being lost as the sphere of human influence expands to previously undisturbed regions of the globe. In the digital age, not much of what we touch, see, hear, or generally experience has escaped the heavy hand of human design or manipulation. I am reminded that the time when I am the absolute happiest is when I am in some natural place simply looking at birds. Beyond photographic subjects and ticks on life lists, birds provide one of the most common reminders of the natural world that exists beyond the confines of our usually human-centric horizons. I know that when things in my own life seem their most tumultuous, I recenter myself by retreating into decidedly more natural spaces to sort myself out. Maybe today's brief episode is a reminder that I owe it to myself to do just this every once in a while. Biology is everywhere - inside AND outside the lab.

Post #39 - Interesting snowy egret behavior w/ PHOTOS! Plus herons doing cool stuff!

Two weeks ago I visited one of my "local" spots, Malibu Lagoon. I say "local" since there is zero true local birding where I live (see below). Anyway, on that particular visit, I spent quite a bit of time photographing Snowy Egrets. Beautiful, but sometime overlooked by birders seeking for rarer species, they are incredibly skilled fisherman. They generally hunt by stalking prey in shallow water, relying mainly on patience and lightning fast reflexes to catch prey that swims past them. All birders are familiar with a motionless Snowy Egret, a seemingly spring loaded-neck ready to extend the moment a fish approaches. It's basically industry standard for most waders.

I live at the red dot, smack in the middle of endless sprawl. 

Malibu is the small peninsula at upper left, 41 miles from home

The sprawl goes upwards of 50 miles in some directions.

On my last visit to the lagoon (Sept 20), I witnessed a foraging behavior that I had not before seen. On that day there seemed to be an ever-shifting throng of small fishes at water's surface. However, these fish consistently stayed well-clear of the shore and the half dozen hungry Snowies that lined it. Growing impatient, the birds took to the air to pursue the prey. Flying as slowly as possible, the egrets hovered above the water while they did their best to snatch fish from water's surface. The weren't truly hovering, more like awkwardly flapping as they tried to find a balance between directed forward flight and stalling completely. After a while I realized there was a periodicity to the behavior, and I set up shop to try to photograph it. Though not up to my normal technical standards, here is a series of shots of one bird that shows the behavior really well!

Target acquired

The plunge

Whiplash

Recovery

Meal time

The shots above were taken once the sun was higher than ideal. I also managed a number of nice single shots from earlier the morning when the light was a bit better.

Snowy Egret fishing "on the wing"

Canon 500mm f/4 IS on EOS 7D2

1/6400 at f/7.1, ISO 400

Snowy Egret slowly cruising over water's surface in search of fish

Canon 500mm f/4 IS on EOS 7D2

1/6400 at f/7.1, ISO 400

Sprinting after prey in the shallows

Canon 500mm f/4 IS on EOS 7D2

1/6400 at f/7.1, ISO 400

Lastly, here is probably the most unique shot I got all morning. How this bird didn't end up in the drink I have no idea. Light was rough as it was late, but its still a keeper.

Here are two particular videos that showcase other clever foraging behaviors. Both are pretty amazing, so take the few minuets to check them out. You won't be disappointed!

Here a Green Heron used bread as bait to attract fish......

and a Black Egret creates shade to attract fish.

Hopefully you have a new appreciated for how clever waders can be. See if you can find a common bird doing something different next time you are in the field!

Post #38 - Monterey seabirding, lifers! Honeycreeper news too!

First a quick note, I have fallen into a nice rhythm of updating this blog on Monday or Tuesday, so please make a mental note to check in early each week! Also, it would really mean a lot to me if you would consider "liking" The Speckled Hatchback on Facebook (click "like" button on the bird's shoulder after linking to page). Not only do I use it to disseminate relevant information, but (believe it or not) it will really help me when I finally try to publish my book about last year. Having folks who read the content I generate tells publishers there is at least some market for whatever I produce! OK, with that out of the way.......

This weekend I made my annual fall pilgrimage to Monterey, California for several days of sea birding with pelagic guru and close personal friend Debi Shearwater of Shearwater Journeys. Last year, during my petroleum-free bicycle Big Year, I wasn't able to do any pelagic birding beyond that which I could do from shore. I was certainly excited to get back onto the water this year!

Out on the wate-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!

Monterey Bay is the premier sea birding destination in North America, and, with 3 trips scheduled on 3 consecutive days, I hoped to tap into both the resident and potentially rare seabirds the bay has to offer. For those that have not visited the region before, I offer the following map. What you see here is the huge submarine canyon that lies beneath the surface of Monterey Bay. In a matter of a few miles, the sea floor drops from 100 to 1000 fathoms. Recall a fathom is 6 feet. That means the ocean is well over a mile deep at some points. That's deeper than the Grand Canyon! Nutrient upwellings along these step, underwater canyon walls attract little fish, bigger fish, and, in turn, marine mammals and pelagic birds. It was here that we headed on each of my trips this past weekend.

Monterey Seavalley

One thing that I think people generally fail to realize it exactly how dynamic the ocean is. My three trips, again on 3 consecutive days, were completely different though we generally visited the same general areas on each day, the section of the canyon directly northwest of the pin I have placed at Point Pinos. As is often the case with pelagic birding, we were at the mercy of the wind on each day. The first day was very blustery, blowing at 15-20 knots (A knot is a nautical mile per hour. A nautical mile is 1.15 standard miles). As a result we did not spend as much time as we had hoped in the deeper water. We did manage Sooty, Black-vented, and Pink-footed Shearwaters, all 3 Jaegers, Northern Fulmar, Black-footed Albatross, Black and Ashy Storm-petrels, and Red and Red-necked Phalaropes. The highlight of the day was the Humpback whale show in the inner bay (near Moss Landing). Upwards of 40 whales were feeding on huge schools of anchovies! It was very impressive! We also observed a Loggerhead Turtle, an apparently rare sight this far north the Pacific Coast. We also found a school of well over 1,000 Commn Dolphins. Photography on this day was virtually impossible, but I did manage a few shots before it got too bumpy.

Heermann's Gull - winter plumage adult

Black-vented Shearwater

The wind on Saturday, my second trip, cooperated a bit more. As a result we were able to spend a bit more time in the deeper water. Species were fairly similar to the first day with the notable additions of Manx shearwater, Buller's shearwater, Flesh-footed Shearwater (seen only at a great distance), and Least Storm-petrel (missed by me, ugh!). The whale show was even more impressive than the previous day with 50+ giants feeding all around the boat. At one point a group of actively feeding whales surfaced 35 feet from the boat. I was too busy yakking with Debi and did not have my camera ready - @#$%^&!

Black-footed Albatross

Black-footed Albatross

Pacific Golden-plover, back on shore after trip 2

So easy this year and so difficult last!

Day 3 was the most interesting of the bunch. The wind and seas were calm, but we had fog on and off throughout the morning. We fought through some bird thin times early in the day to find some very large Storm-petrel rafts later in the afternoon. Formerly common in Monterey Bay, Storm-petrel flocks of any size have been virtually absent for the past 2-3 years, possibly due to the warmer than usual waters associated with the current El Niño. Amidst hundreds of Ashy Storm-petrels, we found dozens of Blacks and a few Wilson's. Most notably, we found a single, silvery Fork-tailed Storm-petrel and several Least Storm-Petrels in with the others. These last two represented life birds for me and were cause for great excitement! As I was focused on observing the fast moving little lifers, I did not even bother with photos; I wanted to make sure I got countable looks before they vanished! 

Northern Fulmar

Northern Fulmar showing primary molt

The Storm-petrels represented ABA birds 696 and 697 for me. In related news, the Red-legged Honeycreeper I observed on Thanksgiving of last year was accepted (9-0) by the Texas Bird Records Committee! You can read more info on that here. If the ABA follows suit, I'll be able to add that bird at some point. The jury is still out on the potential ABA 1st Gray Thrasher I observed in San Diego a few months back. I assume I'll lose Hoary Redpoll as a lump with Common Redpoll at some point, but I'm knocking at 700 ABA species any way you cut it! Right now of my 697, 695 come from the lower 48 and 2 are from Canada. I have not yet birded Alaska. Maybe some day.....

Anyway, enough of the listing stuff for now. The whole weekend was fantastic. Sonia joined me on the  3rd of the 3 trips. She and Debi really hit it off. They had a good time giving me crap in between birds. For those that haven't met Debi, she's worth the price of admission on her own. If you ever make it to Monterey Bay, particularly in the fall, you should seriously consider taking a trip with her. It won't be dull, I promise!

Leaving the dock on Day 3

Fun with Debi and Sonia

Post #37 - Birding in Sweden, Part 2 of 2

As promised in the previous post, this edition will delve into the specific places I birded and the species I saw during the big Sweden trip - Let's get right to it! My trip started out in the southwest corner of the country at Falsterbo, a birding hot spot that I can most easily compare to Cape May, New Jersey (but take away all the people, houses, etc). Like Cape May, the peninsula funnels birds, most notably raptors, down a narrow strip of land before they are forced to cross a large body of water, the Delaware Bay in the case of Cape May and the south end of the Baltic Sea in the case of Falsterbo.

Falsterbo is the red pin

A more detailed view of Falsterbo

Despite generally crappy weather during my 2 day stay, I observed dozens of Honey Buzzards, Eurasian Sparrowhawks, and Eurasian Kestrels. Marsh Harriers and Hen Harriers were also present. Shorebirds included European Golden-plover, Common Snipe, Eurasian Curlew, Northern Lapwing, Common Ringed-plover, and Common Redshank; Garganey, Eurasian Wigeon, and Barnacle Goose rounded out the waterfowl. On the landbird front, swallows, swifts, tits, and wagtails were all in great abundance. For those thinking about visiting Falsterbo, you might want to coordinate your visit around the annual Falsterbo Bird Show in the fall. This 4-day event draws thousands of birders from all over Sweden (and beyond!), and a temporarily erected tent city houses information kiosks, optics and photography demonstrations, information on relevant conservation organizations, bird related art, and much more. I should here insert that almost everyone here speaks near perfect English; There is effectively zero language barrier. It was at this festival that I gave a talk (in English) about my bike trip to a large group of very attentive Swedish birders.

Bird show tents at Falsterbo

More bird show tents

Who, who, who, who let the dogs out?

More like, who, who, who, who let the owls out!  *cue rimshot*

Path at Skanör, a few miles north of Falsterbo.
Gathering rain clouds evident.....

Cows at Skanör

A few clear skies at Skanör

After departing Falsterbo/Skanor, I headed north towards Gothenburg for my next lecture. As I was driven on this leg by a local birder, we made a quick birding stop at Getterön Natural Reserve just south of Gothenburg. The stop was brief, but might have been my favorite of the entire trip. Though we only had half an hour, we observed hundreds of Graylag and Barnacle Geese, several dozen Common Cranes, and a lone White-tailed Eagle. However, shorebirds were the clear the stars of the visit. Eurasian Oystercatcher, Northern Lapwing, Common Ringed-plover, Common Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Common Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper, Ruff, Eurasian Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, Broad-billed Sandpiper, and Curlew Sandpiper were all present. It was a great opportunity to observe/study these species in their native lands as most of them they stray to North America at rare points (those italicized species are ones I personally have on my ABA list!). Birding around Gothenburg the following day I found Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Eurasian Skylark, Northern Wheatear, and Meadow Pipit, among others.

My third lecture was in Linköping (Lin-CHO-ping), east of Gothenburg. I managed a fair amount of birding between my various commitments that spanned 3 days. Birding in rural areas just outside of town I found Great spotted Woodpecker (very common but my favorite bird of the trip!), Lesser spotted Woodpecker, Eurasian Nuthatch, Eurasian Blackcap, and Fieldfare. The highlight of the inland leg of my trip was certainly my visit to Tårkern, a large inland lake/marsh with thousands of waterbirds. In addition to more cranes, geese, and ducks, I added Bearded Reedling, a specialty bird of the preserve. More common species included Long-tailed Tit, Reed bunting, Eurasian Reed-Warbler, Yellowhammer, Eurasian Sisken, and Linnet.

Entrance!

Early morning view from observation platform

Me with the frog prince

Me, my hostess Terese, and Linköpink visit

coordinator Kjell

Linköping center

The next stop on my tour was the island of Öland in the southeast corner of the country. Öland is a bit similar to Falsterbo though even more rustic. Most of the action occurs at the south end of the island, at the lighthouse in Ottenby. I spent two full days on the southern half of the island. During this time I observed thousands of waterfowl and cormorants. New species on the first day included Horned Grebe, Red-breasted Merganser, and Common Merganser, European Pied Flycatcher, Lesser Whitethroat, Eurasian Wren, Parasitic Jaeger, Red-backed shrike, and Eurasian Hobby. The sure highlight was the appearance of 5 European Bee-eaters as were standing on the observation tower. A group of them actually nested in the area, but were presumed to have migrated as no one had seen them in a full two weeks. They were certainly striking; Unfortunately, they never came within 75 years of us, so photos were out of the question (basically the same story for all the birds I saw). The scenery around Öland was fantastic! There is a very active birding community on the island, and it appears to be the retirement destination of choice for Swedish birders. Anders, my host and high-up in Birdlife Sweden, moved to Öland with just that plan in mind.

View from observation tower

Rocky shoreline

BAAAAAHHH! Sheep everywhere

Ottenby lighhouse

Boat

Other birds observed around Öland during my stay included Arctic Loon, Common scoter, Eurasian Dotterel, Arctic Tern, Merlin, Stock Dove, Rock pipit, Coal tit, Marsh tit, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, and Greenfinch. Speaking of green, favorite bird of this part of the trip was the Green Woodpecker we saw feeding on a neighborhood lawn. I have looked for this bird many times in the UK but missed it on each occasion. Finally seeing this incredible bird was a nice cap on my time on the island. 

I returned to Falsterbo for one final day before departing. On that day, I managed 2 Black-tailed Godwits between yet further bouts of wind and rain. Apparently the weather this summer and fall has been terrible; My 3 rainy days split over 2 weekends at Falsterbo certainly confirmed this. The weather during the intervening week was great, so I did get a break from the gales and the gloom the weekends brought. 

On the whole the trip was fantastic. Though dodgy at times, the weather generally cooperated, and I spent many hours birding some truly beautiful areas. I will certainly return at some point, likely in the summer when I an photograph birds nesting on the tundra. If anyone is thinking about a Sweden birding trip, please feel free to contact me with any questions. I'll do my best to answer them or, if I can't, point you in the direction of someone who can!

Swedish Pancakes, just because......