Pacific NW Birder

December 6, 2013  As you can see from the photo above I am no longer living in the Pacific Northwest. At the end of September Marlene and I made a long-dreamed move to the San Diego area....

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/12/not-pacific-northwest.html

In the Pacific Northwest there are several invasive species that wetlands managers attempt to control. These include animals such as bullfrog and nutria, as well as plants such as reed canary gra...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/10/wetlands-restoration-fail.html

"Now I suppose you're going to tell me that juvenile spotted sandpipers don't have spots." Well, yes; that is true. I know, fall shorebird identification is complex. As a volunteer eBird rev...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/09/juvenile-spotted-sandpipers.html

The BirdsEye BirdLog is an application that runs on your smart phone and allows you to create and submit your eBird checklists right from the field. Brian Sullivan of eBird tells me that about ...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/07/ebird-best-practices-using-birdlog.html

On June 22-23 the Oregon2020 project ran its first County Birding Blitz. The purpose is to inventory the birds in a small location (county) on a single day or weekend. It is apparently modeled a...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/07/what-is-county-birding-blitz.html

A family of Northern Rough-winged Swallows, 19 July 2011, Forest Grove, Oregon by Greg Gillson. The identification of swallows is generally considered a "beginning birder's" identification p...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/07/id-brown-swallows.html

There are many times when you are birding you may wish to record more than just species in eBird. For instance, the mouth of the Columbia River is the center of the breeding range for hybrid W...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/07/ebird-best-practices-recording-hybrids.html

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has a new feature. It is a series of videos for newer birders to learn bird identification. Presently there are four videos on this page . The four videos are: S...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/07/inside-birding-id-videos.html

Tree Swallow, Beaverton, Oregon, 18 May 2011 by Greg Gillson. Many beginning birders struggle to differentiate swallows from swifts. Even separating the different swallows from each other is...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/06/telling-swallows-from-swifts.html

During the age of dinosaurs Oregon was under the ocean. Eventually, lands rose and the Pacific Ocean coastline, formerly near the Idaho border, moved westward. The history of Oregon's previous li...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/06/75-years-of-bird-population-changes-in.html

You can embed photos, videos, and recordings of unusual or exciting birds to your checklists. If you have a photo sharing website you can find the URL of your image and insert it directly as: ...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/04/ebird-best-practices-add-photos-to-your.html

Back in January 2012 I discussed how birds that look alike aren't always placed in field guides next to each other (Field-friendly bird sequence: Part one ). Instead, they are arranged by presume...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/04/beginning-bird-identification.html

Photo from Princeton University Press. As this blog focuses on birds and birding in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, readers may not be personally familiar with The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Bir...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-identify-hawks-and-other-raptors.html

All Swainson's Thrushes reported before April 28 in the Pacific Northwest are probably misidentified. There. I said it. It may not be absolutely true, but true enough that if you think you saw ...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/04/no-swainsons-thrushes-before-may.html

Brown-headed Cowbird, Hines, Oregon, May 24, 2009 by Greg Gillson. The 13 categories of North American birds listed in the Field-friendly bird sequence: Part II are: Swimming Waterbirds ...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/04/field-friendly-bird-sequence-blackbird.html

I was quite impressed with the 2010 Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America. So when Lillian Stokes asked me to review their new (2013) Eastern and Western field guides I looked forward ...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/04/review-new-stokes-field-guides-east-and.html

Sage Sparrow, Malheur NWR, Oregon, May 26, 2007 by Greg Gillson. The 13 categories of North American birds listed in the Field-friendly bird sequence: Part II are: Swimming Waterbirds Fl...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/03/field-friendly-bird-sequence-sparrow.html

I started eBirding just over 2 years ago. eBird, as a phenomenon, is probably unprecedented. I rank eBird right up there in importance to birding with Peterson's first field guide, email birding...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/03/ebird-best-practices-be-ebird-advocate.html

Joseph sits over the rise below these Wallowa Mountains. February 2, 2013 by Greg Gillson (camera phone). Last month I visited Joseph, Oregon . The "excuse" was a rare Siberian bird called a...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/03/thank-you-joseph-oregon.html

Anna's Hummingbird singing, Cooper Mountain Nature Park, Beaverton, Oregon. February 15, 2013 by Greg Gillson Anna's Hummingbirds rival Great Horned Owls for earliest nesting bird in the Pac...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/03/annas-hummingbird-territorial-display.html

What would you guess are the most misidentified birds in the Pacific Northwest? That's a question I tackled on the Birding is Fun! blog last week. There I present 10 birds or bird-pairs or trio...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/02/most-misidentified-birds.html

Bohemian Waxwings, all photos at Enterprise, Oregon, February 2, 2013 by Greg Gillson. In early February I visited Enterprise, Oregon, in the remote NE corner of the state. I saw several spe...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/02/bohemian-waxwings-in-juniper.html

American Wigeon at Commonwealth Park, Beaverton, Oregon on January 21, 2013 by Greg Gillson. Your local city park with a pond may allow you better photos of ducks than a wild, isolated area....

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/02/american-wigeon.html

eBird is designed to automatically show your lists (county, state, year, life, etc.) as you enter your bird sightings. In fact, even if you're not a lister, eBird could turn you into one--especia...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/02/list-building-in-ebird.html

MacGillivray's Warbler, Hayward, Oregon, May 16, 2008 by Greg Gillson. The 13 categories of North American birds listed in the Field-friendly bird sequence: Part II are: Swimming Waterbir...

http://nwbackyardbirder.blogspot.com/2013/02/field-friendly-bird-sequence-warbler.html