BIRDING BY HINDSIGHT: A Second Look at Identification References
[Author's Note, August 2010 – The have been two Hindsight articles with updated information on more recent journal articles: http://mbwbirds.com/id-journals-ii.html and http://mbwbirds.com/id-references.html.]
At the time of this writing (mid-January), you’ve probably already been over to Blue Lake a dozen times to see that Tufted Duck. It’s certainly a great bird, but it still looks the same as it swims around in those less-than-pristine waters.
So now what to do until spring migration gets underway in a couple months? Drive north to look for boreal specialties? Perhaps, although the owling and finching thus far during this third consecutive mild winter are not all that spectacular. Or fly south to Texas to look for exotic strays along the Rio Grande? Not a bad idea, although after looking at Green Jays dozens of times they become as routine as Tufted Ducks. Also routine are those 70 degree temperatures you have to put up with day after day.
Here’s another idea. Stay home and study up on those bird identification challenges you’ve been struggling with over the years. That way, you’ll be ready to face with confidence all those migrants which will be returning soon. Regular readers of this Hindsight series certainly know by now that this involves much more than thumbing through your trusty National Geographic field guide. Indeed, one of the articles in this series (see http://mbwbirds.com/id-books.html) was an annotated listing of books on identification devoted to specific bird groups. This present article is a supplement to that: a list of articles in various journals which also discuss specific ID problems.
As with the other articles in this series, only information on birds which have been found in Minnesota is included. And note this is hardly intended to be your assigned reading list to be completed by the vernal equinox. This listing is something to refer to from time to time when you find yourself in need of additional “beyond-the-field-guides” ID information on a particular species. Note as well this list is more subjective than it is comprehensive. Excluded are some articles which I consider to be of limited value, and there are probably other ID articles I am unaware of which would be of use to Minnesota birders.
Eight journals are referred to, some of them easier to find than others. To find those less familiar journals and those older articles listed, it would probably be best to contact myself or someone else with a library of birding journals who might then be able to lend you the articles to read or photocopy. [Author's Note, July 2016 – The content of some of these journals are now available on-line; see the cited websites for more information.]
These periodicals are:
• North American Birds (previously American Birds): formerly published by
National Audubon Society; now a quarterly publication of American Birding
Association (http://publications.aba.org); currently called North American Birds.
• Auk: quarterly journal, primarily of scientific articles, of the American
Ornithologists’ Union (http://www.aoucospubs.org/loi/tauk).
• Birders Journal: bimonthly Canadian journal (8 Midtown Drive, Suite 289,
Oshawa, ON, Canada L1J 8L2). [Author's Note, July 2016 – This journal has
ceased publication.]
• Birding: published bimonthly by American Birding Association (see above).
• Birding World: monthly British journal (not to be confused with Birder’s World;
http://www.birdingworld.co.uk/index.htm)
• British Birds: another monthly British journal (https://britishbirds.co.uk).
• The Loon: the quarterly journal of Minnesota Ornithologists’ Union.
[Author's Note, July 2016 – Western Birds, published by Western Field Ornithologists (http://www.westernfieldornithologists.org) has occasional ID articles and is now recommended in place of The Western Tanager newsletter (which was included in the original version of this article).]
Without further ado, following are the ID articles from these journals:
Ross’s Goose
Auk 88:856–875
Birding 25:50–53
Swans
Birding 23:88–91
Birding 26:306–318
Female-plumaged ducks
American Birds 42:1203–1205
The Loon 68:168–172 (http://mbwbirds.com/ducks.html)
Teal
Birding 23:124–133
Tufted Duck
Birding 30:370–383
Goldeneyes
Birding 18:17–27
Common and Red-breasted mergansers
American Birds 44:1203–1205
Loons
Birding 20:12–28
British Birds 79:365–391
Horned and Eared grebes
American Birds 46:1187–1190
Western and Clark’s grebes
Birding 27:54–55
The Loon 61:99–108 (reprinted in Birding 25:304–310)
Snowy Egret and Little Blue Heron
American Birds 45:330–333
Night-Herons
American Birds 42:169–171
Birding 31:410–415
Glossy and White-faced ibis
Birders Journal 1:241–256
Birding 8:1–5
The Loon 67:123–129
Hawks
The Loon 70:110–115 (http://mbwbirds.com/hawks.html)
Eagles
American Birds 37:822–826
Accipiters
American Birds 33:236–240
Birding 16:251–263
Red-tailed Hawk
American Birds 39:127–133
American Birds 40:197–202
Gyrfalcon
Birding 32:22–29
Birding World 6:67–74
Shorebirds
The Loon 67:100–103 (http://mbwbirds.com/shorebirds.html)
The Loon 68:121–124 (http://mbwbirds.com/western-sandpiper.html)
Yellowlegs
Birding 14:172–178
Semipalmated, Western, and Least sandpipers
American Birds 38:853–876 (and reprinted 41:212–236)
White-rumped and Baird’s sandpipers
Birding 19(2):10–13
Dunlin and Curlew sandpipers
American Birds 44:189–192
Dowitchers
Birding 15:151–166
Birding World 8:221–228
Gulls
The Loon 67:157–161 (http://mbwbirds.com/gulls.html)
Laughing and Franklin’s gulls
Birding 26:126–127
Black-headed and Bonaparte’s gulls
American Birds 47:1156–1159
Mew and Ring-billed gulls
American Birds 34:111–117
Birding 25:386–401
Thayer’s and Iceland gulls
Birders Journal 7:305–309
Birding 12:198–210
Birding 23:254–269
Glaucous-winged Gull
The Loon 68:3–13
Common, Arctic, and Forster’s terns
American Birds 41:184–187
Birding 25:94–108
Jaegers
Birding 28:129–131
Birding 29:372–385
Owls
The Loon 69:155–160 (http://mbwbirds.com/owls.html)
Woodpecker drumming
Birding 24:351–355
Empidonax flycatchers
Birding 17:151–158
Birding 17:277–287
Birding 18:153–159
Birding 18:315–327
Ash-throated and Great Crested flycatchers
American Birds 36:241–247
The Loon 63:4–11
Tree, Northern Rough-winged, and Bank swallows
Birding 17:209–211
Birding 28:111–116
Bluebirds
American Birds 46:159–162
Warbler songs and call notes
Birding 25:159–168
The Loon 70:52–57 (http://mbwbirds.com/songs-iii.html)
Fall warblers
The Loon 69:95–99 (http://mbwbirds.com/fall-warblers.html)
Orange-crowned, Yellow, Hooded, and Wilson’s warblers
American Birds 45:167–170
Pine, Bay-breasted, and Blackpoll warblers
Birding 15:219–222
Birding 28:284–291
Connecticut, Mourning, and MacGillivray’s warblers
Birding 22:222–229
Chipping, Clay-colored, and Brewer’s sparrows
Birding 28:374–387
Le Conte’s Sparrow
Birding 24:70–76
Longspurs
Birders Journal 7:68–93
Tanagers
American Birds 42:3–5
Rose-breasted and Black-headed grosbeaks
Birding 23:220–223
Lazuli and Indigo buntings
Birding 8:135–139
Meadowlarks
Birding 8:349–352
Rusty and Brewer’s blackbirds
Birders Journal 4:97–101
Baltimore and Bullock’s orioles
Birding 30:282–295
Purple and Cassin’s finches
American Birds 40:1125–1127
Birding 8:231–234
Birding 23:157–158
The Loon 60:3–9
Red Crossbill
Birding 27:494–501
Redpolls
Auk 109:771–785
Birders Journal 5:44–47
Birding 27:446–457
Birding World 9:6–69
British Birds 84:41–56
The Loon 69:214–216 (http://mbwbirds.com/redpolls.html)
Songs and calls
The Loon 68:62–66 (http://mbwbirds.com/songs-i.html)
The Loon 69:32–37 (http://mbwbirds.com/songs-ii.html)
The Loon 70:52–57 (http://mbwbirds.com/songs-iii.html)
The Loon 71:42–46 (http://mbwbirds.com/songs-iv.html)
* * *
There’s certainly more to be written about all this, more articles I could have listed: e.g., articles on the ID of species with potential for being seen in the state (see http://mbwbirds.com/first-records-i.html, http://mbwbirds.com/first-records-ii.html). But, no time now, I have to finish packing. By the time you read this, I will probably be enduring the routine of yet another day of Green Jays and temperatures in the 70s.