Yellow Warbler Identification

Yellow warblers are bright little birds that are not the easiest to ID or photograph. Often, I see a little yellow blur flying fast and furious, and when it lands in the dense foliage, it quickly weaves in and out of view. Unless I get a clear shot, (if I’m able to lock down focus at all), this warbler can easily be confused with other yellowish warblers.

The Warbler Guide

For my birthday, I received The Warbler Guide by Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle. It’s a wonderful, thick book with dozens of distinctive photos of all angles of male, female and juvenile warblers, in all seasonal plumages. Warblers are one the most challenging birds to ID. It’s important to be very precise when reviewing the color and shape of any discernable eye rings, the color and location of streaking on the breast, the length of tail feathers and edging on the wing feathers, the body shape, the bill length, eye color, feet color and on and on.   Oh My!

The Warbler Guide is a great book with which to sit down and relax, learn new things about warblers, and sort and compare my photos with the guide’s photos. After spending some time comparing back and forth, this with that, I may finally feel sort of comfortable that I have a good ID. However, if I get a feeling that my ID may not be quite right, I go ahead and upload my photo to Whatbird.com for the experts to give me final confirmation.

Facial Recognition of Birds

Wouldn’t it be cool to have sight and sound recognition DSLR cameras…. a digital camera with an artificial intelligence ID chip built into its computer that would be able to identify the bird on which the lens is focused?

This marvelous invention can not be that far into the future because scientists at Columbia School of Engineering have already developed an visual recognition bird ID app and are working on incorporating a bird recognition ID chip into binoculars.

Birdsnap- An Advanced Digital Field Guide

Currently, birders and photographers can download a free app call “Birdsnap”. Once installed on your smart phone, all you need do is upload a clear, full bodied photo of a bird into the app and follow the prompts to point out the locations of the tail and eye of the bird. Birdsnap will then scan your photo, compare it to its database of 500 bird photos and come up with possible matches.

A future enhancement for this app is under development that will incorporate voice recognition…the various bird songs, whistles and calls that match the bird photos. To ID a bird by song, (hypothetically) users will only need to engage the recording component of their smart phones while the unknown (and possibly unseen) bird is vocalizing, and then upload that file to the app.

Right now I have two GPS enabled apps on my smart phone that allow me to view multiple photos of a bird species, hear their vocalizations, and map their summer, winter and migratory range. But these apps require that I see the bird (or a photo of the bird) or hear the bird, then make a judgement as to whether or not the bird ID info I’m viewing in the app matches the bird I am seeing and/or hearing.

Birdsnap is programmed to do what computers do best: Sort through massive amounts of data, make computer based distinctions based on facial and birdsong recognition, and then select one or more matches. Human judgements will still be necessary to determine if the selections made by Birdsnap are correct.

Warbler ID Tools

I still love my Warbler Guide, It has fascinating information and endless details on the characteristics and lifestyles of 50+ warblers. The Birdsnap app is a good tool to turn to first for Warbler ID. That way, I have possible warbler names to take to the book index and start my search.

Some day, I will be quick and competent at bird ID, but that day is not today.

For more information on the Birdsnap app, click this link.

To read my post about auditory bird ID, click this link.

Wonder of Wonders

I am captivated by the bird migration phenomena. It’s still late summer and over the last couple weeks, a parade of migrating birds have stopped in our yard to rest and replenish. So many that I am getting fairly good at warbler ID.

The trees are still in full summer foliage. The Vireos and Warblers weave in and out of sight between the branches and leaves, flittering every which way in search of insects and grubs. Because they move so fast, it is difficult to track their movements with my lens. I have to keep both of my eyes on the area of the last sighting and then watch for the slightest movement in the leaves and branches. When a new bird comes into view (even a partial view) I quickly point the 300 mm lens with 1.4 extender, focus and hold down the shutter. The advantages of  shooting from the library windows are that I am fairly close to the bushes and trees in which the birds forage and the library window is higher than ground level, allowing me to shoot at eye level.

The Great Lakes Migration Corridor

We live near the shores of Lake Michigan. Each spring and fall the shoreline becomes a nocturnal migration corridor for millions of birds on the move. There have been so many visitors in our yard this year that I have temporarily put on hold my usual routine of photographing birds in the Allegan State Game Area. Instead I watch and photograph warblers and vireos through my library window. This strategy is particularly productive during or after a storm and when the winds blow strong. Although exposure is always a challenge on low light, windy days, it’s worth the focusing hassle and less than tack sharp  images to see these unfamiliar and beautiful travelers through my lens.

Birdcast

Birders and photographers can find resources that help predict when migrating birds will be passing through their regions. The Birdcast weekly forecast is a project funded by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.  Weather radar, satellite imagery, e-bird data, acoustical monitoring devices, and sophisticated computer models are combined to determine, by region, what species of migrating birds (out of 400+ species) will likely be passing through during a particular week. The goals of this project are to get a better understanding of the migration phenomenon (when, where and how far birds go) and to determine the impact of environmental change on bird behavior.

Birdcast Predictions for August 29-Sept 4

Here is a sample of the kind of information BirdCast provided for the my area during the week of Aug 29 through Sept 4.

“Upper Midwest and Northeast

Scattered light to moderate movements were in evidence for the weekend, as small scale disturbances moved across the region in several areas. By Monday night, however, changes were evident, as northerly flow and cooler air brought heavy movements to the western Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi River valley. As the frontal boundary responsible for these changes moved east, so did the moderate to locally heavy movements it facilitated. By Wednesday night these movements were apparent in coastal areas, and also as widely scattered movements farther inland. Species on the move this week included Swainson’s Thrush, Magnolia Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Hudsonian Godwit, Tennessee Warbler, American Golden-Plover, Warbling Vireo, Wilson’s Warbler, Northern Parula, Black-throated Green Warbler, Black Tern, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Pectoral Sandpiper, American Redstart, and White-eyed Vireo.”

From this predictive list, for the week of Aug 29-Sept 4, I was able to photograph in my yard the Magnolia Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Warbling Vireo, Wilson’s Warbler, Black Throated Green Warbler, and American Redstart. 

A Scientific Approach to Finding Migrating Birds

If you are interested in learning more about scientifically based predictions that gauge which migrating species will pass through your geographical area,visit this link.

If you are interested in seeing the other migratory birds that have visited our yard so far during this migration (2014), please visit my flickr album .