The Calm before the Storm

Spring migration is beginning!  Sure it starts slowly: ducks start to pass through, geese wing their way north, and early migrants start to appear seemingly out of nowhere.  But it is all just a harbinger of what is to come.  Longspurs will be flocking through, starting any day now; Pipits will join them, first the American variety, then the more anticipated and highly frustrating Sprague's; and the advanced scouts of the shorebird infantry will appear, clearing the area for their brethren.

But before all of this starts, it is slow.  I have not picked up a new year bird since last weekend at Bird Runner.  That isn't to say that nothing has been happening.  I got my first Ross's Geese at Rooks State Fishing Lake.  Ducks are starting to overwhelm the farm ponds.  And birds are starting to sing with more regularity.

One of my favorite ducks: the Canvasback.  

I spent some time yesterday cruising the county roads, looking for waterfowl (c'mon Cinnamon Teal), longspurs, and trying to pick out the tune of an Eastern Meadowlark.  The meadowlarks should be showing up any day now, and I still need it for Rooks.  However, the only tune I could pick up with my less-than-expert ears was the highly repeated simple song of the Western Meadowlark.  I tried scoping a few birds to study details of the meadowlarks to help with identifying them when the Eastern's show up. All the field guides point to three characteristics to separate the meadowlarks: the color of the malar, the streaking/spotting on the flanks, and the amount of white on the lateral portions of the tail.

The color of the malar seemed a little bit subjective to me yesterday as I scoped a few birds that had very intermediate amounts of white and yellow.  According to the experts, a mostly white malar is an Eastern, and a mostly yellow malar is a Western.  One bird in particular that I studied sang the Western song, had all the other characteristics of a Western, but had a mostly white malar.  I guess these rules are not hard and fast.  

A Western Meadowlark with a typical mostly yellow malar, but with a bit of white still present.

Another field mark the experts point to is whether the flanks are spotted or streaked.  If the bird displays spots, it should be a Western.  If it displays streaks, it should be an Eastern.  Again, this seems rather subjective to me as streaks or spots look very similar.

Streaks?  Spots?  It looks like both to me?

The bird above was definitely a Western, but I can't really tell if it displays streaks or spots or both on its flanks.  I'll have to compare the flanks when some Easterns show up.

The final field mark is the amount of white on the lateral parts of the tail.  I didn't get any flight shots, so I'll have to wait for some images.  This again seems like a pretty subjective mark, though.

Of course the best way to distinguish the meadowlarks is by sound.  Learn the songs, and you will be able to identify the birds.  

One final identification problem I've had is what subspecies of Fox Sparrow I've been seeing.  I saw two birds that were definitely Red Fox Sparrows, but most of the others appear to be of the Canadian Rocky Mountain birds depicted in the large Sibley guide.  I haven't gotten any looks that are conclusive, but there just seems to be too much gray in some of the birds I've seen, and the red seems to have a browner tone that I'm used to for Reds.

Fox Sparrow-Red or intermediate between Red and Slate-colored?