American Birding Association: wildflowers

Would you be so kind as to identify these wildflowers? I found the Wasatch Bloomers page but would appreciate some confirmations.

American Birding Association: Saturday

During the American Birding Association's convention in Utah, the Mirror Lake field trip on Saturday began with a stop at the Bald Mountain trailhead at 10,759 feet. The target bird for this snowy destination: Black Rosy-Finch. With intense scrutiny of this landscape...


the group eventually spied the small black specks against the white or blue backgrounds. The rosy-finches appeared along the top of the snow, mostly to the left side of the above photo. At one point, I saw four finches fluttering about at the same time.

Other finds at this stop included Townsend's Solitaire, a singing White-crowned Sparrow, Mountain Chickadees, Cassin's Finch, American Robins, gray-headed Dark-eyed Junco and mountain goats. Yes, mountain goats!

The goats' appearance along the top of the snowy ridge elicited gasps and squeals of delight. Seven goats eventually ambled across the snow, with the two kids scampering about and providing quite a show.

Moving to a lower altitude, we stopped at Trial Lake campground and received greetings from a singing Ruby-crowned Kinglet. What a vivid crown! A small group hung back and saw Pine Grosbeaks and Gray Jay before rejoining the crew that set up camp below the American Three-toed Woodpecker nest.


While waiting for the woodpeckers' appearance, I reclined on the road and soaked up sunshine and views of a Tree Swallow perched on a snag in the lake. I eventually saw peeks of a woodpecker's head and felt satisfied with that.

Our lunch spot -- Soapstone Basin, next to Provo River -- yielded looks at MacGillivray's Warbler, Red-naped Sapsuckers, Mountain Chickadee, Red-tailed Hawk and Dusky Flycatcher. All the aspen trees enthralled me.


At the last stop, Taylor Fork, I got to see a Warbling Vireo on its nest, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Northern Flickers, Cedar Waxwings and Red-naped Sapsuckers. On the drive home, I spied Black-billed Magpies -- reminders of a previous visit to Park City with high-school friends.

One of the field trip's highlights for me was the chance to capture a real snowbunny. You never know what you'll see while birding.

National Park and Recreation Month

National Recreation and Park Association encourages everyone to celebrate National Park and Recreation Month in July. You'll find a poster with an idea for each day of the month here. I particularly like the suggestions for July 5, 14 and 24.

Could you create a birding suggestion for each day of July? For July 1, I'd write "Walk next to the waves at Huntington State Beach, smell the salt air, and watch the Heermann's Gulls preen and the Willets probe the wet sand."

American Birding Association: Friday

At the Cliff Lodge at Snowbird, a seed feeder lured Cassin's Finches and Pine Siskins as well as the birders who wanted to pull up a chair on the patio and settle in for the show. I admit to being one of those birders, preferring to watch the siskins and finches -- the male finches looked like their heads were dipped in raspberry preserves -- rather than editing articles for the September/October issue.


(Yes, that's snow in the upper right part of the photo. Snow! In late June!)Eventually, the deadline breathing down my neck convinced me to move away from the feeder and to a more secluded spot.

Father Tom Pincelli spotted a shady alcove and provided a chair, too. Did I feel special! With a warm chai beside my chair, I got to work... but even this view distracted me from the articles, as did the American Robins and a little flycatcher that visited the greenery.


After a while, I admitted defeat and succumbed to a little quackery. The tree branches, however, didn't want to remain straight, and the ducks preferred to land on the ground rather than remain on the branches.

A few people looked at me with some concern while I scrounged in the tangled foliage for the errant ducks. Ah well.

American Birding Association: Thursday's evening program

After dinner on Thursday during the American Birding Association's convention at the Snowbird resort outside Salt Lake City, Utah, Ted Floyd provided the evening's entertainment: the 10 greatest birds in the world. The editor of Birding magazine, Floyd brings humor and energy to his talks -- a fact that I learned during his keynote speech at the San Diego Bird Festival in February 2005.

With large photos appearing on the wall behind him, Floyd counted down his top 10 greatest birds in the world and related anecdotes about each. I bet you'll be surprised by his choices.

10. European Bee-eater
9. Screaming Piha
8. Three-wattled Bellbird
7. Brown Trembler
6. Pygmy Wren-Babbler
5. Eastern Screech-Owl
4. Common Raven
3. American Robin
2. Chipping Sparrow
1. Swainson's Thrush

Floyd credited the thrush with helping him rediscover the wonder and amazement of nature and birding. Although many birders and nonbirders consider birding an escape from reality, Floyd said otherwise: Birding isn't an escape but a connection to the intensity of reality.

Do you think of birding as an escape? What are your top 10 greatest birds of the world?

American Birding Association: Thursday field trip

During the American Birding Association's convention at Snowbird resort south of Salt Lake City, Utah, the Bridal Veil Falls field trip began with a stop at Bridal Veil Falls to look for Black Swifts.

Bridal Veil Falls

Looking for Black Swifts... and finding 'em

Birdchick (in the center) avoiding "swift neck" -- a variation of "warbler neck"

The area also yielded Warbling Vireo, Yellow Warbler, Violet-green Swallow, Cedar Waxwing and slate-colored Fox Sparrow among others. I delighted in the singing sparrow and the four waxwings chasing each other.

The next stop, Vivian Park, included a bridge with an American Dipper nest. We could see the adults dipping, bobbing and collecting food in this channel.


Lookit Birdchick's images and videos of the dippers.

I enjoyed seeing a Bullock's Oriole (so bright!) and Cordilleran Flycatcher, too. After a stop at Vivian Park -- where I spotted little but soaked up the sun and scenery -- we ate lunch in the amphitheater at the Mt. Timpanogos trailhead. Various birds engaged the group's attention. Delightful spot.

Mt. Timpanogos trailhead

The last site: Sundance Resort, where we received free rides on the chairlift and wonderful views of the grounds' beauty. Birdchick, Gail and I lucked out by sharing the lift with an employee who provided lots of details about the resort's preserve, history and activities.

Eastbound

This morning, I get to fly to


and join these fun birders during the American Birding Association convention at Snowbird, outside Salt Lake City. Details to come as time and Internet access allow.

Fantastic conservation news in Florida

From CNN.com:

The state of Florida has agreed to buy nearly 200,000 acres of land from a major sugar producer in a $1.7 billion deal to help restore the Everglades, Gov. Charlie Crist announced Tuesday.

Crist said the purchase provides "a critical missing link" that will restore the flow of fresh water from Lake Okeechobee into the Everglades, the massive South Florida marshland.

"It is as monumental as the creation of our nation's first national park, Yellowstone," he said. "This represents -- if we are successful, and I believe we will be -- the largest conservation purchase in the history of Florida."

The 187,000-acre tract -- about 292 square miles -- comes from the cane fields of U.S. Sugar, which will be going out of business within six years as part of the deal, CEO Bob Buker said.

The Everglades need all the help they can get. Quite simply, birders can celebrate this land purchase.

An appropriate query

In a previous post about freelance writers' queries to magazine editors, Casey asked "You provide an example of what not to do, and give a few critiques or thoughts about why the example query was not a good one. Could you provide an example of a successful query?"

Here's a template for a query that reveals birding knowledge, writing skills and some business sense. The writer has no previous contact with me and sets a business-casual tone.

Dear Ms. Hooper:

I propose an article about backyard landscaping for hummingbirds for a future version of WildBird's annual hummingbird issue. The May/June 2008 issue included "Birdscaping for Buzzers" by Val Cunningham, but I can offer a different take on the topic.

As a long-time gardener and avid birder... [Convincing details ensue.]

The submissions guidelines cite six to eight weeks for a reply, so I'll follow up with you then. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to working with you.

Regards,
Orville Lewis

Why would that query prompt me to consider working with and paying this freelance writer? The query
* arrives via e-mail
* uses my name (not the previous editor's name and not the generic "Editor")
* correctly cites the magazine's name (attention to detail!)
* shows familiarity with the magazine's previous content and submission guidelines
* provides a different perspective on a previously covered topic
* offers clues about the writer's background and expertise
* comes across as businesslike but not stilted

Photo contest judging!

We did it. Today, the judges evaluated more than 40 bird photos for WildBird's annual photo contest.

What a pleasure it was for me to sit aside, see their faces and hear their exclamations of wonder and disbelief at the quality of the finalists. It felt very good to see my efforts -- evaluating more than 1,200 entries -- result in their deliberations... and some judges really hemmed and hawed about which photos deserved to earn prizes.

The 2008 winning images will appear in the September/October 2008 issue, available in late July to subscribers.

This is the 2007 grand-prize winner: Great Horned Owls by James F. Cowell of Milwaukee, Wis. He received a Canon EOS 40D as the grand prize.

Ghostly birds at the beach

During the drive north on Pacific Coast Highway this morning, a wall of fog stood past Superior Avenue and Cappy's Cafe. The fog completely erased the sunshine that lit my apartment just two miles away.

As my car crossed the channel where the Santa Ana River flows into the ocean, two Black Skimmers flew low over PCH. A smile lit up my face. Those birds are so cool.


My 30-minute walk on the damp sand didn't reveal many birds other than the usual gull gang. I had the place mostly to myself, soaking up this scene.



Maybe the next scavenger hunt -- because that's what birding walks are, right? -- will reveal more avian prizes. Good luck with your hunts this weekend!