On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Still in Flyover Country, and headed back to Austrailia and the Cascade Loop!
Time moves fast for migrant birds, arriving here in April or May and kicking the kids out of the nest in June or July. They also become harder to photograph, as they spend less time singing and showing off and more time foraging to feed a hungry family.
Still singing in early June, this Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna) was not using an elevated perch; those are hard to come by on a prairie. This is one of the dominant voices in the local grasslands, replaced in the west by the very similar and even more melodic Western Meadowlark. Interestingly, there is little evidence that these two nearly identical species interbreed in the wild, and studies with captive birds demonstrate that the hybrids are sterile. This is quite unlike the case with Carolina and Black-capped Chickadees, whose hybridization substantially increases the confusion factor for birders in the hybrid zone. Click here for larger image.
This bird also is a distinctive voice in our local shrubby fields and woodland edges, but it is not as loud or as abundant as the meadowlark. Field Sparrows (Spizella pusilla) are familiar to birders in the eastern half of the country, and their distinctive “bouncing ping-pong ball” song is easily recognizable by beginning and experienced birders alike. Click here for larger image.
The canary-yellow summer male American Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) can be seen across the country and into southern Canada this month, but this species has an unusual breeding phenology, typically delaying nest-building and egg-laying until late June or early July. Prior to that they hang out in loose flocks, feeding on seeds of all sorts. Their late-nesting habits and granivorous diet make them relatively immune to cowbird nest parasitism; cowbird chicks in goldfinch nests usually fail to thrive. Click here for larger image.
I have watched this pair of Scissor-tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus forficatus) for four seasons, and wandered by their territory again this summer. I was rewarded with this picture of the two parents (female at left, male right) simultaneously bringing food for the chicks. Foraging was good that morning! Click here for larger image.
The nest was in a very exposed spot, atop the crossbar of a utility pole. Nevertheless, the chicks seemed to thrive, and they fledged all four youngsters this year. Click here for larger image.
Another spunky bird, this female Blue-gray Gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) was flicking and flashing her tail to startle insects, a clever foraging trick shared by quite a few bird species. The nest of this species, very well-camouflaged and hard to find, is a very neat and tidy cup on a larger branch, strengthened with spider webs and decorated with lichens. If you find yourself with a spare morning next spring, follow one of these birds around and see if you can locate the nest. Click here for larger image.
This recently-fledged Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor) has the scruffy look and yellow “baby lips” that are common to many hatch-year birds in the summer. It will molt into more weatherproof plumage prior to the onset of winter Click here for larger image.
One of the long-term citizen science activities that is also a hallmark of summer is the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). As you will see if you click on that link, this is old-school. Thousands of volunteers drive thousands of 25-mile routes in the US and Canada every summer, stopping for three minutes every half mile to see and listen for birds. Long-term trends in populations can be ascertained, and the scientific value of these data cannot be overstated. I have one of these routes, along the east side of Tuttle Creek reservoir, and this was my 19th year on that route. I’ve logged 117 species on this route in that time, typically finding 50-75 species in any given year. This year I counted 70 species and 524 individual birds. One of the early stops was blessed with a good view of the end of the rainbow. Click here for larger image.
On two of my BBS stops, I heard or saw Kentucky Warblers (Geothlypis formosa). This is a regular but uncommon summer resident here, found in the gallery forests of permanent streams or creeks, and their loud rollicking song seems appropriate for a bird with those Elvis sideburns. So I went back later to see if I could get a portrait of one of them, and he cooperated. Click here for larger image.
For the gardeners here at BJ.
There are a lot of abandoned farmsteads in this part of the country, and sometimes those are difficult to identify, since the buildings may have fallen down and gotten overgrown. But at this time of year, you can often spot them because they will have non-native flowers, relics of someone’s garden back in the day when these farmsteads were active and inhabited. Oftentimes these are irises or daylilies. But today I found a spot that had pink hollyhocks. No buildings, or even a foundation, could be seen from the road; everything had fallen down, or burned up, or both. I suspect it has been 100 years or more since someone tended and watered these hardy survivors. I collected some seeds and will see if these well-adapted feral flowers will survive in my yard. Click here for larger image.
OzarkHillbilly
Love that Meadowlark pic. They have long been a favorite of mine.
oldster
Beautiful pics!
Don
Fabulous pics. I wish I were that good at something.
J.
Great photos, as usual. The flycatcher pic is fantastic!
AM in NC
Thanks for these! That flycatcher shot is unbelievable. And really unbelievable? You found the end of the rainbow!
SiubhanDuinne
I always love the birbs —your photos and descriptions — but the picture of hollyhock is my favourite this morning.
When I was a kid, we always had hollyhock growing along the back fence, and I adored making “hollyhock dolls.” For those of you who may not know this ancient craft, you simply take a bud and a full bloom, fasten them together with a toothpick (the bud is the head, the blossom the full skirt), and float them in a shallow plate of water. Pretty dancing ladies!
So thank you, Albatrossity, for sparking that lovely childhood memory.
JeanneT
I hope you never get tired of posting these, because I can’t imagine getting tired of seeing them!
Geo Wilcox
That last picture hits home. We have an abandoned stone house that was built in the early 1800’s. Back then there was nothing but forest where I live (SE IN USA). We walk the road to see this old house some times. It has no roof but it used to house black vulture breeding when it had one. There were crocus plants and day lilies, as well as an ancient asparagus plant (HUGE!), all over the place and we dug some up to plant at our tree farm. They have thrived so hopefully your seeds will sprout and make a new home for the plants.
SteveinPHX
Have never seen a Kentucky Warbler. Thank you.
Madeleine
A special Monday morning— beautiful birds with their songs and nests (and commentary as always) . . . and hollyhocks! I spent part of my childhood on a small farm where there was a row of hollyhocks growing wild along the back of the barn. Loved them. Thanks for all this.
stinger
For years there was an abandoned farmstead a few miles north of me, a one-room house falling down, with a big Harison’s Yellow and a huge patch of hollyhocks, red, pink, yellow, salmon, white, in the overgrown yard next to the well. Occasionally there’d be someone parked in the lane with a camera, as it was very picturesque when in full bloom. Every time I drove by, I would think idly that I should stop and take cuttings of the rosebush and collect seeds from the hollyhocks. I just needed to come back with boots and rose shears. And then one day, it had all been bulldozed, including the yard, for a new house. They haven’t planted any noticeable flowers and I still don’t have a Harison’s Yellow.
I love the bobbing flight of a goldfinch!
ETA: Albatrossity, I admire how you can make last year’s dead grass stalks (e.g., top photo) look dramatic and artistic!
Winter Wren
I have fond memories of doing a BBS route with my dad back in the late 70s/80s in Maryland. Lots of good scientific data generated I am sure. Not sure who took it over since I moved away and my dad declined. Do you know if the data collected from different routes is accessible generally now to the public?
BretH
Heard the Western Meadowlark on my last trip to Boulder. What a lovely song!
Torrey
Wonderful pictures and informative commentary, as always. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an “end of the rainbow” or a picture of the phenomenon before.
NDVI
@Winter Wren: USGS has a site for the Breeding Bird Survey that you can get data from
Albatrossity
Yes, it is available. Go to the BBS link mentioned above in the caption for the rainbow image, click on “download data: raw results”, then the “retrieve raw data” button. On that next page, click on the button for online retrieval system, and then “species totals for a route”. Choose country and state, and then route, If you don’t know the route name or number, you are on your own from there! For my route, I enter United States, then Kansas, and finally the route (318-Olsburg). You can then get the data for all years that the route was run, or any given year etc.
zhena gogolia
Beautiful pictures! We saw a goldfinch yesterday!
opiejeanne
Thank you for this post. Beautiful photos, I especially like the yellow birds.
I just realized last summer that it has been years since I heard a meadowlark. They used to be everywhere in SoCal, back when there was still so much open land. I remember sitting outside at a newish fast food place in Riverside and hearing them singing nearby. You’d see them in fields as you drove east or south, flashing their black V-neck on their yellow chest. Maybe if I drove east of the Cascades I’d see or hear some.
The hollyhocks as indicators that someone had a garden once is how we used to locate older rose varieties that had fallen from favor and were thought to be extinct. Roses are tough and it takes a lot to kill the older varieties, unless they are grafted. Then all you’ll see are the rootstock, such as Ragged Robin or Dr. Huey. I’ve got some ragged robin in my yard, left over from the previous owner who didn’t maintain her roses. There’s been a movement toward “own root” plants in recent years which means they are slower to recreate for market, and sometimes weaker plants.
StringOnAStick
Thanks to your photos I get to see so many wonderful birds closely enough to deeply appreciate there forms and colors, thank you!
xephyr
Love the photos and commentary – thank-you. Eastern Meadowlarks were common where I grew up in mid-MI during the sixties, and their songs were ever-present in the summer months. So much so, that when I hear one these days (which is rare), feelings of nostalgia are triggered.
Winter Wren
@Albatrossity: Duh – didn’t notice the link you had embedded. Thanks – I will check it out!
rachel
Ah!
The song of a western meadowlark
With the perfume of wild mustard flowers
On a Montana morning!
Yutsano
BIRBS!!!
As always, your pictures are amazing. But I feel like that flycatcher pic belongs in a magazine somewhere.
KRK
Lovely as always, thanks.
Dmkingto
I went for a quick walk around the neighborhood this afternoon. As I was getting to the west end of Pine Lake Park (San Francisco) I spotted a woman with a huge white lens with a small camera attached (Sony, I think, but could have been Canon). Then a couple – one with binoculars & one with another camera with a large lens. Then more & more large lenses. These are unusual sights in the park. It’s primarily a dog play park & the home of Stern Grove. It finally dawned on me that there might be an unusual bird in the area, so I stopped and asked a guy with binoculars.
He said there was a rare warbler reported in the park – apparently it’s a Slate-throated Redstart. I immediately thought of Albatrossity
Mark von Wisco
That photo of the scissor-tailed flycatcher is one of your best so far this year. I live in Central Wisconsin, so will never see these birds without traveling.
I live near the Wisconsin River. I’ve been seeing a lot of Sandhill cranes, and also Pileated woodpeckers (when I’m out in the woods).