Birding Book Assignment Example

1 This is an example of the standard assignment for the birding book portion of the Avian Project. The Big Year By Mark Obmascik Chapter 1 January 1, 1998

The author introduces the three main characters: Sandy Komito, Al Levantin, and Greg Miller. These men are birders who embark on a Big Year (within the birding world, this is a year in which a birder attempts to see or hear as many avian species as possible within the United States and Canada including Alaska). While they have the same goal, they couldn’t be much different in personalities and life experiences. Sandy Komito is a successful independent roofing contractor from New Jersey. In short, he’s a hustler looking for what breaks come his way. If the breaks aren’t there, he’ll create them. He’s driven, successful and obsessed with birding. Al Levatin grew up in the east. He pursued a career with a fortune 500 corporation where he rose to a vice presidency. His profession took him over the world. Now retired, he and his wife enjoy the rich, good life in a mansion near Aspen, CO. After a forty year corporate career and family life, he is pursuing a childhood birding dream. Greg Miller is unlike either Sandy or Al. He is recently divorced, over weight and unhappy. After an education for the Ministry, he surprisingly followed a career in computer science. In 1998, he was working double shifts at a power plant as a programmer debugging software for Y2K. Sandy began his Big Year in Nogales, AZ sipping a predawn coffee at Denny’s. He was in southern Arizona to see the Nutting’s Flycatcher, a Mexican vagrant which rarely visits southern Arizona, but dose count toward the Big Year totals. Sandy was successful. He spotted the flycatcher exactly where the tip from the Rare Bird Alert hotline said it would be - in the Patagonia Lake State Park. For Al, his Big Year started in his own back yard on Elk Mountain near Aspen. Not known as a birding hot spot, his “back yard” managed to yield over thirty species including three rare species of rosy finches. Too, Al was the first birder to launch a Big Year on skis! Miller launched his Big Year on a break from his Y2K work with a quick dash out of the office to the nuclear power plant’s cooling outflow into Chesapeake

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Bay. The area was alive with sea birds. While he only stepped out of his office, he was back in the hunt!

Note: This summary is a little long.

Legend: New Jersey to Patagonia, AZ Aspen, CO

Chesapeake Bay

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http://www.america-atlas.com/north-america.htm

Birding Hotspot for the Big Day Chapter: 1 Name: Patagonia Lake State Park Location: 400 Patagonia Lake Rd Patagonia, AZ 85624 (SW Arizona) Type: State park Stewards: Arizona State Parks Habitat(s): Riparian, lake, semi-arid grassland and desert

4 Birds of note: Elegant Trogon, Rufous-backed Robin, and the Black-capped Gnatcatcher (about 300 speciesin total). Other wildlife: Javalina, rattle snakes, mule deer Activities: Birding, fishing, camping and hiking Special Events: Avian Adventure Pontoon Boat Tour (Fall dates). Migratory birds

Photos: Lake and semi-arid grassland habitats http://azstateparks.com/Parks/PALA/index.html

Avian Data Sheet Species number: 26 14

Book: The Big Year

Chapter: 1

Page:

Common name: Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch Scientific name: Order:

Leucosticte tephrocotis

PASSERIFORMES

Family: FRINGILLIDAE - Subfamily Carduelinae •

Description:

Size: 14-21 cm (6-8 in) Wingspan: 33 cm (13 in) Weight: 22-60 g (0.782.12 ounces) Medium-sized finch. Dark brown overall. Gray cheek patches wrapping around back of head. Black forehead. Pink on belly, rump, and in wings. Long, pointed wings. White tuft of feathers at base of bill. Bill gray to black during breeding, yellow in fall and winter. Eyes brown. Legs and feet black.

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Conservation Status:

Little information. Remoteness of breeding sites reduces impacts of

human activity.

Male:

Sexes similar, but female with less distinct black in crown and less pink. Male's bill stays black longer than female's.

Female:

Young:

Juvenile similar to adult female, but duller, and lacking gray crown, black forehead, and pink on underparts.

Nest:

Bulky cup of moss, lichen, grass, and sedge, lined with fine grass, hair, wool, and feathers. Placed in crack or hole in cliff or on small cliff ledge under overhanging rocks, occasionally on the ground, and rarely on a building. Usually not visible, totally hidden in cracks or holes or among boulders.

Eggs:

White and unmarked, or with some reddish or brownish specks.

Habitat:

Breeds in alpine areas, usually near snow fields or glaciers, talus, rockpiles, and cliffs. Winters in open country, including mountain meadows, shrublands, roadsides, towns, cultivated areas, rocky hillsides, and margins of dry ditches.

Food: Seeds, insects, and some vegetation.

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Breeding range: Non-breeding range:

Call: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/audio/Graycrowned_Rosy-Finch.html Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xECA9PG4l4I

Source(s): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xECA9PG4l4I ; http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Gray-crowned_Rosy-Finch_dtl.html#description http://www.america-atlas.com/north-america.htm

Avian Data Sheet Species number: 27 Book: The Big Year Common name: Bonaparte's Gull Scientific name:

Larus philadelphia

Chapter: 1Page: 19

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Order:

CHARADRIIFORMES

Family:

Family LARIDAE - Subfamily Larinae

Description:

Small gull. White triangle in outer part of wing. Back pale gray. Underparts white. Head black during breeding. Dark spot behind eyes in winter.Size: 28-38 cm (11-15 in) Wingspan: 7680 cm (30-31 in) Weight: 180-225 g (6.35-7.94 ounces).

Conservation Status:

Male:

Numbers have increased over last 100 years.

Sexes look alike.

Female: Young:

Juvenile with much brown on head, neck, and back, a dark bar across the wing, and a black tail tip. Immature similar to nonbreeding adult, but with brownish black bar across the base of the wing, much black in the outer wing, and a black band across the tip of the tail. In first breeding plumage the black head is partly mottled with white.

Nest:

Open cup of twigs, small branches, and bark, lined with mosses and lichens. Placed in tree or bent-over rushes.

Eggs:

Buffy green, with dark spots and blotches.

Habitat:

Breeds around lakes and marshes in boreal forest. Winters along lakes, rivers, marshes, bays, and beaches along coasts.

Food: Small fish and large invertebrates, including insects. Does not eat garbage or carrion.

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Breeding range: Non-breeding range:

Call: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/audio/Bonapartes_Gull.ht ml Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0_My7RUSe8&feature=related

Source(s):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0_My7RUSe8&feature=related http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Bonapartes_Gull_dtl.html#fig1

http://www.america-atlas.com/north-america.htm