Book Review: Field Book of Wild Birds & their Music

I've been reading a lot this summer, so I've decided to periodically post reviews of some of the bird/nature books I've read so far.

Field Book of Wild Birds and their Music
F. Schuyler Mathews

I first came across this little gem in my college library last fall. I had just finished a big research project and was completely dead beat, when it randomly occurred to me to see what kinds of bird books were in the library’s collection.

I found the typical field guides, studies, reference books, and then a little black leather-bound diminutive tome tucked in the middle. It was an original 1904 copy of F. Schuyler Mathews’ Field Book of Wild Birds and their Music.

It immediately captured my attention. The grayscale watercolor paintings stood out, but not so much as the musical notation written for the song of almost every species in the field guide. While such musically annotated birdsong books are fairly common today, in research I discovered that Mathews’ guide was one of the first of its kind.

As a pianist of 11 years, there was no way I could pass up a book that combined two of my favorite pastimes – birding and music. I checked it out, and ran to the music practice rooms to try my hand at some of the “songs.”

Most of the musical notation in the book is little more than one or two lines, but the notes are surprisingly accurate considering the time period in which they were written. As this was published back before the age of fancy recording equipment, the author transcribed the songs of all 127 species in the book by ear.

This isn’t the kind of thing I could read cover to cover, but I find it useful as a reference. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m terrible at identifying birds by sound, and since getting my own (newer!) copy of this guide I’ve been able to make the fundamental connection between music and birding.

I would rate Field Book of Wild Birds and their Music a 7/10. Although very dated, it’s a unique find and one of interest to any musically-inclined birder.

Until next time,

Happy birding!

Surprise!

I went on a nice long bird hike today and saw/heard a lot of common species: Carolina Wrens, N. Parulas, Tufted Titmice, Cardinals, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything new, although I heard a few calls that I didn't recognize.

It was later in the afternoon, however, when I got home that I was treated to a surprise.

I was happily playing the piano, and my parakeet was sitting on the back of a chair beside me. He became restless. He flew up to to the window, and tried landing on the half-closed blinds. I shooed him off, and went back to playing.

He tried it again. Same thing, I shooed him off, fussed at him, and went back to playing. Again, he flew up to the window and peered out.

"What's out there, Tuki?" I asked, as he climbed onto my finger giving me an inquisitive look.

"Oooohh my GOD!!" Outside my window, not six feet away was a Red-shouldered Hawk standing under my birdfeeder. It had caught a lizard or some other unfortunate reptile.

I grabbed my camera, even though the batteries were pretty much dead, and started snapping pictures through the blinds. My parakeet flew back to his cage, and started preening his feathers.

This hawk was beautiful. It didn't even seem to notice the zoomed-in lens of my camera through the window.
I don't think I have ever seen a wild hawk so closely before. It is such a powerful looking bird; big and brawny, colorful, and intense-looking.

So... no new birds today, but I certainly got a new look at a bird I see all the time.

And summer rolls in...

"Pay heed to the birds, and you'll know when summer has arrived."

With daily temperatures in the 90s, it seems that Mother Nature has settled down for a summer-long nap. The last of the migratory birds left my yard months ago, and even the few resident species are staying hidden out of the unforgiving sun.

The most active time of day is early morning and late evening, when the crepuscular animals come out, like the rabbit pictured, and a few birds.

I saw a Downy Woodpecker the other day in a neighbor's oak tree and I see Cardinals daily. They dominate the yard.

I've also been hearing a strange bird that I can't identify. At first I thought it sounded like a Black-throated Green Warbler, but the pattern was different and I wouldn't expect to hear one this time of year.

The best way I could describe it would be Zee ^Zee_{zoo zoo}^Zee. (zee's are higher pitch than zoo's) It has almost the same pitch and "voice" as the BTNW, but the pattern is different than I've heard before. I wonder if it's another bird making imitations (like a wren or mockingbird)?

With my luck, such as it is, I'm sure this bird is something common and obvious. That tends to happen to me a lot. My "newbieness" catches up with me, and I misidentify the easiest of birds. Oh well... what can I say? I have to learn somehow. Even if it's the hard and embarrassing way at times.

Life goes on.

Happy birding!

CMBS | Part 3

"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees..."

- John Muir

On the second day of the Coastal Maine Bird Studies camp, we packed our lunch and took a field trip to Morse Mountain and Seawall Beach, near Phippsburg, ME.

This area was extremely diverse in habitat. As we hiked up the mountain trail, we passed through balsam pine forest, hot muggy swamps, and rocky, wooded terrain. And, just on the other side of the mountain was Seawall Beach, which I will get to later.

One of the first birds I saw in this park was a lifer -- a Glossy Ibis! We also saw Snowy Egrets, Red-winged Blackbirds, and many species of warbler.

The hike was long, and, although it was the only second day of camp, I had completely lost track of time.

I was so immersed in the experience, in being outdoors, in seeing so many new sights, time had no meaning. Accept when my legs began to ache and the mosquitos whined insistantly in my ears.

When we reached the peak of the mountain, the view was breathtaking.

We sat on the flat rocks to rest, setting down our spotting scopes and other equipment.

A Dark-eyed Junco sat at the top of a scraggly pine tree to my left, singing loud and clear. This was another life bird for me, and a bird I would see often in the coming days.

We then hiked halfway down the mountain and then drove to Seawall Beach, a striking coastal area where we hoped to see Piping Plovers and Northern Gannets.

We spent a good amount of time here, and indeed, found our Piping Plovers. They scuttled about here and there, and were extremely hard to see, even through the spotting scopes.

Cute as these birds were, though, one of my fondest memories is of watching the Northern Gannets from the beach.

When someone spotted the seabird, we set up the scopes, and gathered around to witness the bird's aerial acrobatics as it hurled itself into the waves.

This was one of the first moments I really connected with my "inner birder." It was amazing to be standing there with those other kids as they all gasped and Oooed and Ahhed and were just as captivated by the experience as I was.

It's funny how a small, insignificant moment as that could be such a turning point, the moment when everything just... clicks.

***

Check back in a couple days to read about a Peregrine Falcon!

Semi-successful Birding

"Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul..."

-Emily Dickenson

Well, I had high hopes for my mini birding trip today, but alas, I was not as succhessful as I had anticipated. Nonetheless, I visited two parks and saw some cool birds -- only one year bird, but I'll get to that in a moment. Can you tell what is in these two pictures? The first thing you'll probably notice is the lovely (and of course totally natural) soda bottle floating serenely in the algae. But look closer.

This is actually a picture of baby Moorhens! There were 2 adults swimming around with all the garbage and four chicks swimming standing by their nest. It was really cool to watch. You could even hear the babies cheeping very faintly.

It was unfortunate how badly the park was polluted though. My mom and Brother and I picked up trash where we could, but the place was disgusting and most trash was far out of reach.

In this picture, you can see a Fish Crow on the left side of the tree and a Blue Jay on the right side. They seemed to be cawing irritably at each other, but neither was inclined to move away.

Afterwards, we headed off to another park out of the urban area and closer to home. This was a fantastic looking tree covered in Red Lichen! I've never seen one so red before.

Red-bellied Woodpecker. Hard to get a good shot of him.

And... last but not least, my year bird: A Northern Parula! I haven't seen one of these guys in almost a year. It took probably 20 minutes or so before I finally got a good long look at it.

Considering the circumstances, I guess I'm lucky to have seen one year bird today. :-)

Happy birding!

Good news and bad news

Let's start with the bad news: it turns out I've been miscounting my life list. Apparently, some birds had been repeated and/or counted twice (due to messy handwriting). This unfortunately brought my life list down by 2 birds.

On a happier note, I received new binoculars and a bird feeder for Christmas! One squirrel has already found the feeder, and I have been intermittently trying to fend it off while typing this entry.

The binoculars are amazing, and work so much better than the ancient pair I had been using before. I can't wait to go birding again!

And last but not least, I finally (finally, finally, finally!!!!) saw a European Starling!! Finally! They're such common birds here, but I've never seen one before and it's been driving me insane. I saw one up close today, standing on a birdhouse and in full winter plumage. It was making the most fascinating sounds.

Well, that's all for now. Until next time...

Happy birding!

Do you hear what I hear?

Sometimes it's just as exciting to hear a bird, as it is to see one. I haven't seen any new species lately -- just the usual Warblers, Woodpeckers, Goldfinches and Chickadees.

But today I heard a new sound, and it sounded very much like this. Can you guess what it it is? A Barred Owl! I saw a Barred Owl when I was little, but like the Purple Galinule, I haven't seen or heard one since I started birding.

When I heard the Owl today, it was far off in the cypress swamp, and a very startling sound to hear in mid-morning. I'm still not sure why it was calling at that time of day, but I'm sure it had its reasons. :-)

Anywho, it was a fun holiday surprise.

Until next time,

Happy Birding!

Killdeer Sighting

Saw a Killdeer today! They were out in the pasture chillin' with the horses. I've seen Killdeer once before (last time I saw one with chicks!!), but this time my mom got a picture.

I also got to hear their calls for the first time today. It sounded very much like the one recorded here: http://www.naturesongs.com/kildeer1.wav

Killdeers' calls are very interesting, and sound somewhat like an insistant, ascending whine. The flock I saw wasn't too talkative, but a couple would hollar now and again.

Anywho, a fun and unexpected find for the day.

Until next time,

Happy Birding!