Ornithology 3 A&B Summary (Spring 2014)
If you miss a class, please check this page and study the listed topics in your field guide. Click here for last semester's calendar.
Note: Please park in the Hayes Street Parking lot. All spaces are available except disabled and drop off for the child care center. If the lot is full and you park in the Grove Street lot you will likely get a parking ticket unless you display the temporary parking passes which have been emailed to all registered students. These passes must be stamped by the John Adams office!
Class notes by Elisabeth Koster are here. (Plumage and molt terminology here. )
Please register at eBird and email me your eBird ID. I can then offer to
share field trip lists with you.
Click here
for a summary of bird name changes from the 53rd AOU supplement.
Click here for a summary of bird name
changes from the 54th AOU supplement.
Marsh Sandpiper account.
Northern Gannet photos.
Click here for
a recent Vaux's Swift photo by Kris Olson which I edited for her.
Click here for a pdf
of the article I wrote about the White-collared Swift in California.
Les Chibana's photos of White-throated Swifts mating in mid-air are here.
Click here for my photo of a fledgling Elegant
Trogan in Arizona.
Class Notes by E. Koster: (Swifts & Trogons)
This was be the last class for the semester. We resume September 9, 2014. Registration
is available starting July 1st. Thank you for your interest and support.
Click here for discussion with photo of Lesser Nighthawk.
Click here for discussion with photo of Common Nighthawk.
Click here for a photo of a Chuck-will's-widow
from Crescent City, California.
Click here for sonograms, voice recordings
and notes on an Eastern Whip-poor-will in California.
Click here for a photo of Buff-collared Nightjar
from Oxnard.
Class Notes
by E. Koster
Northern Saw-whet Owl in San Francisco
and juvenile. at Half Moon Bay.
Burrowing Owl in Niland and two
more in Knightson.
Class Notes by E. Koster
Click here for my photo of Ferruginous
Pygmy-Owl from Texas.
Northern Pygmy-Owl at Putah Creek with
detailed notes. Click here for
my photo of Northern Pygmy-Owl from Gazos Creek.
Click here and here
for my photos of Eastern Screech-Owls in Texas.
Whiskered Screech-Owl
in Arizona.
Barred Owl photos here and here.
My Spotted Owl photos and notes.
My full account with photos of a Snowy Owl. Additional
Snowy Owl photos here, here,
here and here.
Barn Owl with taxonomic notes.
Click here and here
for Long-eared Owl photos and here for a discussion
of another Long-eared Owl photo.
Great Horned Owl with young. Another
on nest. More here and here.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo photos are here and here.
A Black-billed Cuckoo photo is here.
Smooth-billed
Ani - my photo from Panama.
Common Cuckoo from Watsonville here, here
and here.
Click here
and here
for my Smooth-billed Ani photos from Tobago. 10-12 January 2007 - Cuffie River Lodge, Tobago. These social cuckoos
are famous for building a large singe communal nest. Several females lay eggs in the same nest and often incubate
together during the day while males may incubate at night. They are also very social at other times. It was fun
watching a group gather together in the evening to roost in a tree outside our window where they snuggled together.
This species is common throughout the tropics. It also occurs marginally in Florida where it was formerly fairly
common but now very scarce.
Groove-billed Ani - my photos from
Belize. Another here.
This was the last class for Part A. Please register for Part B (EA125) as soon as possible if you have not already done so.
Click here for information on feral parrots in
San Francisco. Red-masked Parakeet photos.
My Red-lored Parrot photo from Belize.
A photo of the Bolinas Oriental Turtle-Dove is here.
My photo from Japan.
Click here and here
for Common Ground-Doves in Santa Cruz.
My Ruddy Ground-Dove notes and photos are here,
here, here,
here and here.
My photo from Panama.
More Ruddy Ground-Dove photos are here, here,
here, here,
here, here,
and here
(09 January 2007 - Asa Wright Nature Center, Trinidad.
This small dove was common on both islands, but I found they were difficult to photograph because they kept moving,
bobbing their heads as they walked rapidly on the ground. Females are similar to males but browner, less reddish.
This is the subspecies C. t. rufipennis which ranges widely from Mexico to northern South America and which
occurs marginally in the southern United States. It has less black and more cinnamon on its underwings cf. C.
t. talpacoti which ranges further south in the South American tropics.)
My photo of Inca Dove from Texas is here
(18 January 2006 - Salineno, Texas. This small dove has been expanding its range and increasing in numbers over
the last century. It has adapted from its native arid desert habitat to suburbs and gardens where they frequently
attend feeders.). Photo from the Imperial Vallely, California are here
and here.
White-tipped Dove from Tobago is here
((14 January 2007 - Blue Waters Inn, Tobago. This species was fairly common in Tobago, where the endemic subspecies
L. v. tobagensis looks and sounds quite different (lower pitched) from the nominate race which occurs on Trinidad
and the adjacent mainland.Tobagenis is paler below and lacks the copper sheen on its nape found on other
races). My photo and notes from Panama.
Spotted Dove - My photos
from Thailand.
Click here for my photo of a Band-tailed
Pigeon at Coyote Point.
Click here for my photo of a Red-billed
Pigeon from Belize.
Click here for my photos and analysis of Eurasian Collared-Doves
in the Imperial Valley. Click here, here
(5 October 2008, Fish Docks, Point Reyes, Marin County, California) and here
for additional Eurasian Collared-Dove photos.
Zenaida Dove - My photo from Puerto Rico
Click here for my photo with
distributional and taxonomic notes on White-winged Dove in Puerto Rico.
Click here for a photo of Rhinoceros Auklets in Alaska.
Horned Puffin photos are here,
here, here,
here and here.
Click here for a Tufted Puffin from Alaska.
For the puffin poem, click here. For an explanation
of how puffins hold so many fish, click here.
Parakeet Auklets in
California. Click for photos of Least Auklet, Parakeet
Auklet and Crested Auklets from Alaska.
Click here for my photos of Pigeon Guillemots
in Monterey.
Long-billed Murrelet photos are here,
here, here
and here.
