November 18, 2008
Avian surprises
Birdwatchers (or “birders” as we’re also called) can get just a little excited when we hear about sightings of birds that are considered unusual for our state.
Iowa has resident birds that live here year-round, and then there are migrants that are expected every year in spring and fall as birds head north to breed and south to winter. Most of these migrants are easy to find if you go to their expected habitat to look for them. Some are more uncommon, with only a few sightings of a particular bird each year. It’s these uncommon birds that birders are always hoping to find.
One of these uncommon birds is the Black-legged Kittiwake. Normally this bird from the gull family is found along coasts, not in a land-locked state like Iowa. But just about every year a few show up here, often along major rivers or at a large reservoir. Just a couple of weeks ago, 2 Black-legged Kittiwakes showed up at Saylorville Lake in Des Moines. One was an adult bird and the other was a juvenile.
Reid Allen, a birder and photographer, was one of many Iowa birders who went to Saylorville to see the Kittiwakes. He took a number of photos and upon returning home and looking through his photos, he realized one picture was a bit different from the rest.
Black-legged Kittiwake
Take a look at this photo showing the juvenile Kittiwake in flight (click on the thumbnail to enlarge the picture). The bird is exhibiting some surprising behavior. Conversation on the birding list-serv about this picture suggests the bird may be expelling salt or coughing up some substance. Whatever it’s doing, Reid definitely got an interesting shot of the bird! Can you imagine turning your neck almost 180 degrees, much less doing that while in flight?!
Orange-cheeked Waxbill
Another unusual bird appeared at a bird feeder in Waterloo in late October. Rachel Anderson of Waterloo noticed this bird and realized she had never seen one like it before. She checked her bird ID books but couldn’t find any bird that looked like this one. So she then e-mailed the state birding list for help. Before long she had her answer. This is an Orange-cheeked Waxbill, a bird from the finch family that is native to Africa, not to North America. Probably this is an escaped cage bird, not a migrant bird that is way off-course. Check out the picture of this bird taken by Rachel’s father, George Hau of Waterloo.
I know I would be quite excited to see something this unusual show up at my bird feeders. But that’s the fun of bird-watching – you never know what you might find!
If you’re interested in following bird sightings in Iowa, go here to join the IA-BIRD Listserv. You can also read the bird sighting messages there without joining, if you prefer.
