All posts by richardhoeg@gmail.com

Shorebird Identification

Year 4

Will the real American Golden Plover please stand up?!

Some of us are old enough to remember the TV show, To Tell The Truth! In this show, a panel of celebrities asked three guests questions in an attempt to determine who was the real guest, and who were impostors. Sometimes identifying shorebirds feels a bit like an episode of this game show. Shorebirds have many different plumage patterns, which vary by the season of the year, and whether a bird is a male, female, breeding male, breeding female or an immature bird.

Over the past few days I have seen many American Golden Plovers, and sandpipers on the Duluth waterfront as these birds migrate down from the shores of the Arctic Ocean to “southern” South America in the plover’s case. Mudflats near Lake Superior are favorite resting / feeding spots as these birds recharge for many thousands of miles that have yet to migrate.

Given, assuming some luck on my birding expeditions, I only see these shorebirds a few weeks out of the year during the northern and southern migrations. Given such a short viewing window for birds I only see a few days per year, and given the fact birds like the American Golden Plover have many plumage options, obtaining a proper ID is difficult. Here are some of resources I use to help with my identification process.

First … some photos that I took of the plovers, and then I will work through the identifications resources. However, the first resources that is very useful pdf booklet from the Migratory Shorebird Project.

Here are the photos I used for my initial ID’s

And a few other American Golden Plovers in varying stages of plumage …

My two other resources in addition to the pdf booklet, are the Peterson Bird App, and Cornell’s Merlin Bird ID. I like the Peterson app because its initial bird image screens show you many different birds at once in varying stages of plumage. After some initial work, I then can drill further into the app and review photographs. Some apps only show you a photograph of a breeding male on the initial screen for any bird specie. In this instance, that would be almost useless. Here are two screenshots from Peterson’s:

Assuming one is still having difficulties with obtaining a proper identification, I then move on the Cornell’s Merlin Bird ID. Using one of my own photographs, I am able to submit that image into Merlin which then returns a bird identification. Merlin then returns photos in all the different plumage options of what the app thinks is my bird. Merlin Bird ID scored perfectly. Here are some screenshots from my process of working with Merlin. Remember, I had to dramatically different plumage options of the same specie, the American Golden Plover.

Example 1:

  • Adjusting my photo to the input box
  • Confirming my birding date and location
  • Merlin’s educated guess. It’s correct!

 

Example 2:

  • Adjusting my photo to the input box
  • Confirming my birding date and location
  • Merlin’s educated guess. It’s correct!

I hope introducing these resources will help you with the difficult process of shorebird identification. Although I actually know the plumage options for American Golden Plovers quite well, I used the same process to confirm a Baird’s Sandpiper two days ago.

Optimizing Your Probability of Seeing Northern Lights

Year 4

Here is an educational Aurora Borealis post. If folks ask the question, will the Northern Lights be active on a certain date in the future, here is information which will help you with trip planning.

While some folks may have different opinions, if I were planning a trip to the Lake Superior Region, Alaska, Norway, Iceland, etc. with the hopes of also viewing the Northern Lights as part of that trip, I would take into account the following information before choosing trip dates:

  1. September would be my first choice of months due to increasingly longer nights, and stable weather.
  2. October and March would be my second choices for months as nights are long, but weather tends to be a bit more suspect … cloudy nights.
  3. Any other month between November and February, inclusive.
  4. I would avoid the Summer months due to short nights in terms of darkness, and no darkness if you travel far enough north. However, Northern Lights do dance in the Summer. I have personally watched great Aurora displays in northern Minnesota in early August (see example). True darkness at night occurs approximately between two hours after sunset and two hours before sunrise.
  5. I would browse to SpaceWeather.Com and check their 28 day cycle long range forecast (scroll down on page linked immediately below). I have included an annotated screenshot to show you what I mean.
  6. Remember, the sun’s cycle is about 29 days, while the moon is about 28 days. Long range Aurora forecasts are based upon the recent Solunar Cycles. If sunspots were occurring about 28 days ago, there is a decent chance there may be sunspot activity today. Sunspots with CME’s directed towards earth cause Auroras. (CME = Coronal Mass Ejection)
  7. If you have to plan more than 28 days in the future … choose dark nights (duration of dark sky each night plus moon phase) and stable months in terms of weather. Really bright moonlight tends to wash out the any possible good viewing of the Northern Lights.

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Always Look in the Rear View Mirror!

Year 4

Last night the Northern Lights numbers skyrocketed, but viewing was difficult due to the almost full moon, and ground fog forming from the 37F temperature. My first stop was Little Stone Lake near Brimson, Minnesota where the Aurora fought with the ambient light from the lingering sunset and almost full moon.

My next stop was a very remote wilderness lake deep in the Superior National Forest. I struck out on viewing opportunities at the lake due to ground fog caused by 37F temperatures. However while driving home I took a longer glance in my car’s rear view mirror. I noticed the lights were starting to pop. Thus, I found an unknown river and watched a short dance. The river was “in the clear”.