Early in March 2020 I visited the US, mainly to follow my Aviation hobby. I am always on the look-out for birds when aircraft-spotting and vice-versa. Most of these photos were taken in the Pacific Northwest in Washington State. My the time we arrived in Utah the Covid-19 pandemic suggested we should high-tail it home and give the bird- (and aircraft-) rich states of Arizona and Nevada a miss. So here we go ...
This is a drake Greater Scaup. Same genus as ‘our’ Tufted Duck but with a finely mottled back. The two Scaup species are hard to separate – I call this ‘Greater’ on the basis of the rounded head-shape and the size of the bill. All a bit subjective. The extent of black on the bill tip is supposed to help: this bird shows no black at all!
This looks like a Goldeneye but in the US more care is needed. Drake Barrow’s Goldeneyes have a more crescent-shaped white face patch which this bird seems to show. However first year drake Common Goldeneyes tend to show an elongated patch – as here. I conclude this is a Common Goldeneye because of the large bill and the head-shape – on Barrow’s Goldeneye the rear of the head bulges more than shown by this bird.
A different first year drake Common Goldeneye. This is easier to identify due to the extent of the white on the back.
This is duck Common Goldeneye in flight. The small amount of yellow on just the tip of the bill confirms.
This startled-looking bird is a duck Hooded Merganser. Only distantly-related to our mergansers and goosanders.
Her mate also looks a bit startled. So are most people when they see this remarkably-patterned bird. Just what is the evolutionary pressure that resulted in this?
This exquisite duck is a drake Bufflehead. Like the Goldeneyes it nests in tree cavities. I always wonder how it finds them. You do not expect to see ducks flying through a wood looking for holes in trees.
In the UK we have just Cormorant and Shag to separate. The Americans have six species to choose from, each with its array of immature variations. This is a first-winter Double-crested Cormorant. The adults show the crests only briefly in the breeding season.
North America has a large number of hawk-like species. Familiarity with the common species soon enables more unusual species to be spotted. This is an adult male Northern Harrier – we call it a male Hen Harrier. Overall rather grey with a black head, black wing-tips and rather long narrow wings.
This species also has a black head but broader wings with a black trailing edge and well separated primaries. It is the most common ‘hawk’ in the US – a Red-tailed Hawk.
The red tail is most obvious from above though can be seen when the sun shines through. It is in the same genus, Buteo, as ‘our’ Buzzard. Now if we could train Buzzards to feed on Grey Squirrels, as this species does ....
This VERY distant view is of a fast-departing Prairie Falcon. Generally paler than most Peregrine Falcons. The clinching feature I only saw from the photo is the dark auxiliaries – the inner part of the underwing.
A species that occurs in the UK, mainly in winter, is this Merlin. A small falcon that pursues its prey, usually small birds, relentlessly. Here watching for something to chase.
A close relative of our Sparrowhawk is this Cooper’s Hawk. This is an immature. We can separate from the similar Sharp-shinned Hawk by the obviously long tail and buffy tips to the flight feathers.
From underneath the streaks on the body in this species are rather sparse.
If you think gulls are hard in the UK try the Pacific Northwest. There are 21 species possible with several of these known to hybridise. With that in mind some of my identification must be regarded as tentative! This I am reasonably certain is a third-year American Herring Gull. For many years this was regarded as the same species as ‘our’ Herring Gull. However immatures are very different at all ages and adults can, with practice, be easily separated. DNA analysis has confirmed them as different species.
This seems to be a second-winter American Herring Gull on the basis of the extensive yellow at the base of the bill. No European bird would show dark on the belly like this.
With a darker bill I would vote for a first winter American Herring Gull.
This species of gull has yet turn up in Europe. It does seem largely confined to the Pacific Northwest. It is an adult Glaucous-winged Gull. Very similar to an adult (American) Herring Gull but the black wing-tips are grey and there is a larger white trailing edge to the secondaries. I would not be surprised if this bird did not have some Herring Gull genes as the tone of the wing-tips seems darker than on many.
This is a more-typical adult Glaucous-winged Gull showing the wing-tip pattern – all glaucous.
And here is a different adult Glaucous-winged Gull striding out.
Compare this with the last bird. Here there is a definite contrast between the mantle tone and the darker primaries suggesting Glaucous-winged x Herring Gull hybrid.
This brown-looking gull seems to be a first-winter Glaucous-winged Gull. Below it are three duck Scaup (with white on the face) and one duck. I cannot be certain as to whether they are Lesser or Greater Scaup. The extent of white on the face suggests Greater Scaup.
This is more satisfactorily a first-winter Glaucous-winged Gull, the primaries being no lighter than the rest of the wing (as in Glaucous Gull) or darker (as in American Herring Gull)
And from below. Glaucous Gull would show a very distinctly pink-based two-toned bill and would appear paler overall – difficult to judge from a photo.
With noticeably pale inner webs to the primaries I believe this is a first-winter Slaty-backed Gull though books show the tail as all dark.
There is always naming confusion when in the US. These gulls look like Common Gulls, always known in the US as Mew Gulls. Now considered a separate species as they are slightly darker. On the water we see what Americans call Common Mergansers. We would call them Goosanders.
And here is a duck Common Merganser. Just like our duck Goosander – because that is what it is.
Clearly a crow but which? Well either American Crow or Northwestern Crow. Only separable by voice – OK if you know all the calls of American Crow. Otherwise anywhere near the Pacific Coast in Washington State, Canada or Alaska call it a Northwestern Crow.
With the well-fingered wing-tips and hackles on its throat this looks just like a Raven – which is indeed what it is. This species is holarctic, covering almost the entire Northern Hemisphere.
Another naming foul-up. An American Robin. Just because it has a red breast .... This species is closely related to ‘our’ Thrushes and nothing to do with our Robins (which are Chats). Here is a rather pale female: males have a much brighter red breast and the tone is much ‘redder’ than our Robin.
America calls this a Black-capped Chickadee. It is very closely related to, indeed in the same genus as, Willow Tit and some of the calls are almost identical.
There are literally dozens of ‘Wood Warblers’ in North America with a bewildering variety of plumages in the breeding season. At this time of year (March) most are still on their wintering grounds in Central and South America. One exception is the Yellow-rumped Warbler which stays in many milder areas of the US all winter. This ultra-long range shot does not show too many features – apart from the yellow rump!
This is a Dark-eyed Junco, a species closely-related to the sparrows of North American – these are unrelated to our House Sparrows that are descended from African weavers. This species consists of at least six recognisable and very different forms that were often treated as separate species until the DNA-men got in on the action. Even more confusingly males and females differ in plumage tones. This is the ‘Slate-colored Junco’ form, the most widespread of all forms.
This IS one of the many and confusing species of North American sparrows. Luckily many occur very locally and this one – a White-crowned Sparrow- is frequent and ubiquitous and acts as a reference from which to compare ‘strangers’. ‘White-crowned’ you say?
As it jumped at my feet in the hope of being fed – ‘White-crowned’ indeed’.
What American’s call ‘blackbirds’ are a diverse family of dark-coloured Starling sized birds. This is a female of the most common and widespread species – Brewer’s Blackbird. She is sitting on a boat at the sea-side: the mighty Pacific.
Slightly confusing the focus on the camera by standing behind tall grass is a male Brewer’s Blackbird. Unlike females the males are very glossy with a staring white eye.
Another ‘glossy blackbird’ is this male Brown-headed Cowbird. Apart from the obvious brown head note also the thicker bill.
Here uttering its most unmusical wheezy song it shows a bill shape reminiscent of ‘our’ buntings. This successful species is a brood-parasite (like out Common Cuckoo) and is decimating the wood warbler population in many areas of the US.
The most common ‘finch’ throughout most of North America is the House Finch which is what I assumed this was. Not so: House Finch has a curved culmen on a larger bill and this is a Purple Finch. Females of both species are this colour: the males are red on the face and breast.
It was not all birds ... taken while passing at 80 mph (the legal limit in Idaho) and through the tinted windows of our vehicle is a deer. I am almost certain that it is a young or female White Tail Deer – it is amazingly difficult to find photos of American deer on the web except those showing guys proudly posing with their antler-bedecked slaughtered males.
Keeping lookout from a rock above its burrow is this ‘gopher’ – except it is not. Gophers are rarely seen above ground and this is a species of ground squirrel. Very noisy they were too when they sensed danger.
(Ed Wilson)
