March 14 and 15 -- Detective Work IDing Birds at the Overton Wildlife Area

On Friday March 14 I met Norm at the Overton Wildlife Area's parking lot at 0730 for what's becoming our routine of counting birds there. We headed north on one of the dirt roads and proceeded to get the usual Canada Geese in a grain field, but also saw a Snow Goose hanging with them, along with 3 Greater White-fronted Geese later. The day was surprisingly scarce of raptors -- we didn't see one Red-tailed Hawk, when on previous days we rarely saw less than 5. Our final count after a little more than 4 hours was 60 bird species -- though we had a surprise later, which is where the detective work comes in...There is a pond here that shorebirds seem to prefer, at least until the pond eventually drys up. We observed what seemed to be a Long-billed Dowitcher fly in, and thought nothing of it as we'd seen LBD's before at the wildlife area. But, when I checked my photos of the bird on my computer later, hmmm....

For one thing, Long-billed Dowitchers have more markings on the underside, and the head markings are all wrong on this bird. So what type of shorebird is it? I brought out my "National Geographic Field Guide To Birds Of North America" and flipped through the "sandpipers" section, hoping it was something good. It turned out to be -- a Dunlin, which while not particularly rare is nevertheless a Life Bird for both me and Norm. The ID clincher was the head and bill; the dark patch behind the eye, the slash of white in front of the eye, and the dark bill made it a Dunlin. So instead of it being a "common during migration" bird of SE Nevada, it became an "uncommon in migration" one. But it also goes to show that a photo, and a good one at that, really does help in finding the correct bird ID. 

The same thing happened yesterday the 15th. I was back at the Overton wildlife area, this time accessing it from the north end at Honeybee Pond and hiking with the 500 f/4 lens as cars, technically speaking, aren't allowed on the weekends -- only foot traffic. I got some good birds from the get-go when I saw this group of male Red-breasted Mergansers at the pond --

They're considered as common to the area in winter, but this was the first time I'd seen Red-breasted there, and I'd seen the much rarer-for-the-area Hooded Mergansers a few times in the past 2 weeks. Then a bit later, I saw a fast-flying bird out of the corner of my eye; it was definitely a raptor, and its flight made me think falcon. It suddenly dived out of sight -- and up popped a Northern Harrier seemingly in its place! Well, that really got me a bit confused. I did get good, though far-away, photos  of the raptor, so I checked them on my computer when I returned early that afternoon (I ended up seeing 41 species in a little over 4 hours). It was definitely a raptor...

And judging from its flight pattern, and the way it was holding its wings, it's a falcon of some type. But that overall dark brown color is unusual...Norm and I had seen a Merlin the day before, so that's what first came to mind. But the only type of Merlin that would have that coloring was a subspecies found in the Pacific Northwest, so the mystery deepened. I then went online to a Facebook bird ID group, where I showed this photo and and mentioned thinking it was a Merlin. Meanwhile, I messaged via Facebook Dan Berger, a veteran raptor bander with extensive knowledge of falcons, especially Peregrines. The first clue was that people at the FB ID site said it was too big to be a Merlin. OK, perhaps a Prairie Falcon? The juvenile CAN be a brownish color. I left to attend a dinner of corned beef and cabbage for the upcoming St. Patrick's Day, then when I came back Dan had replied, saying "the head" made him think Peregrine Falcon. And the juveniles ARE brown "on top", like this one is. Others at the Facebook ID page agreed, saying the "jizz", or look of the bird, felt like Peregrine -- and that's what we have; a juvenile Peregrine Falcon. For those doubters out there, this is an instance where Facebook can be used for a worthy purpose...But the detective work wasn't yet finished. I saw this Grebe also at the wildlife area -- 

I assumed it was an Eared Grebe in winter plumage because it's a fairly common bird here, and the markings seen in the field made me think that. But on checking my bird guide back at my trailer, Eared Grebe doesn't have that "white spot" in front of its eye, and the face is darker overall. So what we have is a Horned Grebe in winter plumage -- and its status goes from "common resident" to "unusual in winter". Fun stuff, this detective work, and it's one of the joys I get from birding. Here are a few more photos from the morning at the wildlife area; this is the entrance to Honeybee Pond which is in the middle distance, looking southwest towards the Valley of Fire -- 

And here's the dark-morph Red-tailed Hawk resident in "his" tree -- 

I'll be going back out to Honeybee Pond and the Overton Wildlife Management Area again this morning, seeing if I can find some more "good birds"...