Natural History Journal

During the first week of April, Eric and I spent six amazing days birding in South Texas, starting in the McAllen area and ending on South Padre Island.  Follow along with our journey here: Part I:  Lower Rio Grande Valley Thornscrub and Woodland Part II:  Coastal Prairie and Thornscrub Part III:  Gulf Coast Wading Birds Part IV:  South Padre Island Neotropical Migrants Situated along the western edge of the Gulf of Mexico, 113-mile-long Padre Island holds the distinction of being the world's longest barrier island.  South Padre Island, as the southern portion of the barrier island is known, is a renowned beach vacation destination, spring break hot spot, and (most importantly) the location of extraordinarily good birding, particularly during spring migration.   From late March through mid-May, birds migrating north from their wintering grounds in Central and South America to their breeding habitat in North America follow invisible yet ancient mig...

During the first week of April, Eric and I spent six amazing days birding in South Texas, starting in the McAllen area and ending on South Padre Island.  Follow along with our journey here: Part I:  Lower Rio Grande Valley Thornscrub and Woodland Part II:  Coastal Prairie and Thornscrub Part III:  Gulf Coast Wading Birds Part IV:  South Padre Island Neotropical Migrants Herons and egrets are some of Eric's favorite birds, and for many years, he and I have both been eager to see two species in particular that are not at all common in California: Reddish Egret and Roseate Spoonbill.   Happily, the Gulf Coast of Texas is an excellent place to find both of these species (and many more), so it was with great excitement that we made our way out to South Padre Island, to spend the day birding the boardwalks and mudflats along the Laguna Madre.    White Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill and Snowy Egret, living life along the edges of the Laguna Madre Tucked am...

While the North American continent waits in eager expectation for spring, the Central Valley of California is already enjoying its first glimpses of that most glorious season: Some birds are defending breeding territory through enthusiastic song, while others are already going about the business of nest site selection, nest building, even egg-laying.   For many North American birders, the return of warblers in the spring is a special time of year, and one that we Californians eagerly await as well.  But we've also been enjoying a few species of warblers all winter.  Notably, Common Yellowthroats, Orange-crowned Warblers and Yellow-rumped Warblers all spend the winter right here in the Valley, often in our own backyards!  (Black-throated Gray and Townsend's Warblers are around all winter as well, but they're not nearly as frequently encountered, in my experience.) Male Common Yellowthroat I was blown away when I first learned that a bird as gorgeous as the Commo...

Most of the time, I am prompted to write about birds and other wildlife that I have encountered recently while out and about exploring.  Today, I am writing about a bird precisely because I haven't seen it recently, or at all this entire 2023-24 fall-winter season. Rough-legged Hawks are special birds in California's Great Central Valley, and certainly one of my favorite raptors.  For one, they are simply gorgeous hawks.  But they're more than a pretty face: They are incredible migrants and amazingly hardy, nesting on cliffs and rocky outcroppings in remote tundra, boreal forest and alpine regions of the Arctic, where they spend the short summer breeding season feeding on lemmings and voles.     But every winter, the world's entire breeding population of Rough-legged Hawks leaves the Arctic behind to migrate south, where they spend the colder months feeding on the rodents of open habitats across much of the U.S., including prairies, fields, shrublands and ...

Christened the "Rocky Mountain Plover" in 1834 by John James Audubon, the Mountain Plover, as it is now called, is actually a bird of short grass prairies rather than true mountain habitats.  Named for its breeding range in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States, specifically in parts of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, a large percentage of Mountain Plovers spend a significant portion of their lives in California, where they winter on remnants of grassland, alkali flats and, most notably, plowed and fallow agricultural fields. The Mountain Plover is a habitat specialist, adapted to life on short grass prairies and other areas of bare ground and sparse coverings of very short vegetation.   And in California, the bare ground that Mountain Plovers need to survive is rapidly dwindling. Mountain Plover, Yolo County California, January Almost exclusively insectivorous, Mountain Plovers spend their entire lives on the ground, scurrying along with a distinctive run-and-sto...