New bird alert! New bird alert!

My wife and I saw our first Canyon Towhee today! We went on a pleasant hike through cactus country, but is that where the bird was? No, it was at the nearby restaurant with the okay food but great window-side birding. Pickings were slim today other than the Canyon Towhee, but just before we left I did finally see a Pyrrhuloxia that my wire reported I'd missed at the start of the meal when I was off washing my hands.

#birding #lifebird

Having reviewed the leader's ebird list, our memories, and our North American field guide, we had 5 lifers on Sunday's guided bird walk!

Mexican duck
Blue-winged teal
Blue-gray gnatcatcher
Orange-crowned warbler
Black-throated gray warbler

#birding #lifebird

Hello, Little Blue Heron! What are you doing in Michigan?

(Second life bird this week!)

#birds #birding #heron #PureMichigan #LifeBird

Forster’s Tern Over Cape May Harbour

While scanning the skies above Cape May Harbour, I spotted a slender tern gliding past the boat. At first, I wasn’t sure which species I’d photographed—Caspian, Common, or Forster’s? Back at home, subtle field marks confirmed it was Forster’s Tern in breeding plumage. A life bird. One that taught me to look closer.

https://islandinthenet.com/forsters-tern-sterna-forsteri/

Wild goose chase success! Life bird taiga bean goose encountered today in Saratoga County, New York. An extraordinary vagrant, I think this might be the first record in all of the eastern US? 50+ eBird reports for this guy today, I'm so glad so many people got to see it.

#birds #birding #lifebird

A handful more life birds from my recent trip - Cassin's vireo, Hammond's flycatcher, grass wren. This latest batch puts me up over 550 species, wow! Toluca, México, October 2024

#birding #birdwatching #avesmexicanas #llenadevida #toluca #edomex #lifebird

Life bird! I'm sure I've seen so many more hummingbird species than are on my life list and I just wasn't able to identify them. They can be so tricky in areas where there is a lot of diversity. But there was no mistaking this one - a violet-crowned hummingbird, with a shining white underside and without any of that typical hummingbird green. Taxco, Guerrero, México, November 2024

#birding #birdwatching #bird #hummingbird #colibri #taxco #pueblomagico #lifebird #avesmexicanas

Just hit 500 species on my life list - and what a spectacular number 500- Montezuma Oropendola!

#birding #birdwatching #ebird #lifebird

Took a pelagic trip recently, didn't keep my camera on me much as I was afraid I'd get seasick all over it 😬 - though I did manage to capture a northern gannet, razorbill, and a dovekie! New York Bight, January 2024

#birding #birdwatching #pelagic #lifebird #oceanlife