Habitats

7-6-10 Nine days till our birding trip to Iceland.

When we visit an unfamiliar country, we don't usually go looking for a specific bird. We did go one time to pine forests in Western and Southern Arkansas searching for one specific bird, the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker ( Picoides borealis ), and were successful with the help of Jeff Wilson, but that is not how we usually bird. I'd like to see the Black-Tailed Godwit ( Limosa limosa islandica ) when we're in Iceland. It's endemic there. But again, that is not how we bird.

What we usually do is go to a particular habitat where we think there might be birds. And observe what birds are there. The process can be hit-or-miss. Or, it can be very surprising what you find. We went to Nebraska to view the Sandhill Cranes ( Grus canadensis ). We stopped by the side of a road to look at a map. I heard something out the window. We looked in the agricultural field next to us and there were about 50 Sandhill Cranes, eating grain where the farmer had spilled it in the field. But you can't always be lucky.

First, we look for water, open water or a bog, because all natural life needs water. We try to get away from people, crowded places and noisy bunches of boaters or picnickers. I would advise a birder to avoid cities and manicured lawns, just on principle, yet we saw a small flock of Whooping Cranes ( Grus americana ) standing in someone's front yard in central Florida. And Berry and I just yesterday saw a male and female American Goldfinch ( Carduelis triste ) feeding on Zinnia seeds on the blossoms in our front yard.

Water, any water. We have seen Black Skimmers ( Rynchops niger ) on the ocean shore in Texas, the Snail Kite ( Rostrhamus sociabilis ) in the flooded swamps of southern Florida, the Forster's Tern ( Sterna forsteri ) nesting on sandbars in the Mississippi River, puddle ducks in puddles.

Grassland is sometimes difficult to bird, because the birds that live there are hidden by the tall grass. Scanning the tops of trees for flycatchers and warblers is called "tree-topping". Berry and I cannot drive by a radio tower with looking up.

In southern Texas we saw more than 50 Black Vultures ( Coragyps atratus ) at a vulture-convention on a radio tower. Throughout southeastern Texas we saw the Crested Caracara ( Caracara cheriway ) perched on fence posts along the country roads. In Kansas during migration we saw an amazing number of Bald Eagles ( Haliaeetus leucocephalus ) perched on electrical poles along the highway, each one with its own pole.

In Iceland we will go to many different habitats, and even peek in a few front yards, but two famous places we have heard about are the seaside cliffs of Látrabjarg in western Iceland and Mývatn Lake in the eastern part of Iceland. These two habitats are world class birding spots. The cliffs have 14 km of nesting area for a lot of pelagic birds we have never seen. And Mývatn Lake is shallow, very eutrophic, full of nutrients for a great diversity of ducks which we have never seen. It should be fun.

Nine days to go.

-Robert