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What a show: Battle of the Hummingbirds reaches its peak

by Anders Gyllenhaal
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

Only when we slowed the video way down and then blew it up could we see the ferocity of the encounter: The male Ruby-throated Hummingbird hovered above its competitor, then slammed bill-first into the female like a tiny gladiator.

The clash sent the two tumbling into the air. (See the video below.) Once again, the alpha male had done his job in the survival-of-the-fittest world of this smallest, most acrobatic of species.

A female Ruby-throated Hummingbird comes in for a landing on a favorite feeder. Photos by Anders Gyllenhaal

Much of the daily routines of nature are invisible to us. They take place deep in the woods, fields or wetlands, often at speeds that obscure any real details. Even the most avid birders get mere glimpses of how birds interact.

But the spread of hummingbird feeders all across the U.S. each summer doesn’t just help support these birds. In exchange for a supply of hummingbird sugar water, we get a close-up look at the way birds establish territories, settle into pecking orders, help and compete with one another and fight to survive.

We’re closing the year by publishing the most popular posts of 2021 — which was our year of travel across the country. Each weekend, we’ll run an updated version of the original story, a kind of tour of the birdscape from North Carolina to Hawaii, Florida to Wyoming. We’ll feature Snow Geese, Sandpipers, Hummingbirds, Tree Swallows, Pileated Woodpeckers and Palilas, the rare the Hawaiian honeycreeper. We hope you’ll come along with us on the tour. But if you’d like to skip ahead or go back and read one you missed, click on the links on these birds. Wishing you a wonderful year of birding ahead. 
      Here’s a video about the fierce competition playing out around the feeders:

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BirdingPhotography

Birds and Flowers: More than just a pretty picture

by Anders Gyllenhaal
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

Maybe it was because we’d been cooped up for much of the past year, but traveling the country this summer, we were swept away whenever we spotted birds and flowers together. It was like we were seeing them for the first time.

Birds and flowers have a longstanding relationship – going back at least 50 million years, as we’ll explain in a moment. They rely on one another for food, pollination, seed dispersal and nesting materials. They also make the most striking portraits, so much so that we started gathering photos from Florida to California, Hawaii to Kansas. Here’s just a fraction of the scenes we saw.

Flowers are like a dining room for birds. They can find nectar, insects, seeds and buds, a kind of smorgasbord in the right seasons. Birds return the favor by spreading around the pollen the flowers need for reproduction and dispersing the plant’s seeds after consuming them and expelling them as they make their daily rounds.

The connection between flowers and birds isn’t new. We came across this precious fact in reading up on flowers and birds: Scientists in Germany found a fossil of a bird that included remnants of pollen the bird had consumed back in the Cretaceous period 47 million years ago, they announced in a study published in the journal Biology Letters. How many of us can brag of relationships that go back even half that far?

One of the stars of the flower landscape, of course, is the hummingbird. These tiny, 4-gram acrobats are famous for their ability to drink their weight in nectar each day. (Here’s our most popular hummingbird post). While the birds love feeders, our favorite encounters are when hummingbirds go straight to the flowers for their nectar. 

A final note: You can use flowers and plants to attract birds to your yard. You can go after hummingbirds, for instance, with red flowers such as begonias, geraniums and petunias. Sunflowers will attract songbirds. Here’s the Audubon Society’s guidance on 10 native plants that will bring birds to you. Here’s a good post from Nextavenue on how to build your own bird sanctuary by choosing the right flowers, plants and trees. And here’s a post on how to attract hummingbirds to your yard. 

 

 

 

 

 

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BirdingBirding and the AirstreamPhotography

Our 10,000-mile update: Traveling the U.S. and writing a book

by Beverly Mills Gyllenhaal
written by Beverly Mills Gyllenhaal

Greetings from Yellowstone National Park, where Anders and I have just passed the 10,000-mile mark on a cross-country birding safari we started almost six months ago. Our quest to find some of the most fascinating birds in the hemisphere has taken us across bayous and rice fields in Louisiana; to a magical spring migration along the Texas Gulf Coast; to California’s sprawling Central Valley and Yosemite National Park; to a dreadfully hot desert in Idaho; and to Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii.

A Palila on Hawaii’s Big Island, one of the remaining honeycreepers found high in the remote mountain regions

Hawaii is home to a world of nearly extinct and reclusive birds that live high above the beaches in dense rainforests and atop volcanoes that resemble moonscapes more than a typical tropical paradise. While here, Anders and a scientist with the American Bird Conservancy both tumbled several feet down a hill in pursuit of the endangered Palila, one of the family of honeycreepers that very few people in the world ever get to see or even know exist in the first place. (Click here for Anders’ post on that episode.)

Along the way we’ve seen 50 species we’d never seen before, some rare and some not, every one captured in photos, some of which we’ll sprinkle through here. My passion is loading our observations into eBird, Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s massive citizen science project. But we’re doing more than chasing birds: the goal of this journey is to research an upcoming book for Simon & Schuster that Anders and I are writing about bird conservation across the hemisphere.

https://flyinglessons.us/2021/03/24/its-a-bird-eat-bird-world-pileated-woodpeckers-part-2/

This Pileated Woodpecker found a mate and built a nest cavity while we were in Melbourne. But all did not end well. (See the link three graphs down for the story.)

One of the best things about writing a book for a major New York publisher, (aside from an advance that pays for these adventures), is having an editor. In our case, that’s Mindy Marques, a vice president and executive editor at Simon & Schuster, who at this juncture is part boss, part cheerleader, and on occasion a quasi couples counselor.

Working in close quarters with your spouse has its rewards and challenges, of course, and so I’ll skip the details of a few shouting matches, (with me doing all the shouting), a few tears, (with me doing all of the weeping), and more than a few hours with both of us negotiating our differing work styles. With these minor skirmishes behind us, we’ve been having terrific fun and more once-in-a-lifetime adventures than we could’ve ever hoped for.

A Sandhill Crane, one of the many magnificent birds found along Florida’s coastlines

The journey started at our hometown of Raleigh, N.C., on February 1st as we packed our Ford F-150 to the gills and hitched up our tiny, but then wonderfully shiny Airstream trailer.  First stop: Melbourne, Fla., for a couple of months at Land Yacht Harbor, a favorite wintering ground not just for us, but for a host of egrets, herons, cranes, woodpeckers, hawks and spoonbills. (Click here for my post on snowbird “glamping” amongst a sea of all things Airstream, and here for the story of two Pileated Woodpeckers that ran into nature’s backlash.)

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BirdingBirds stories

The lion’s impressive, but don’t miss these visiting birds at one of the world’s great zoos.

by Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal
written by Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal

The most memorable encounter we had on a recent visit to the San Diego Zoo wasn’t the Golden Eagle, Andean Condor or even the African Lion that delivered a ferocious roar just as we walked up. It was a Hooded Oriole that hung around us singing throughout our lunch stop.

We spent a day at the park as a part of our visit to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance that has grown into a powerhouse of research, based at its Safari Park outside the city. We couldn’t pass up the chance to see the zoo’s original downtown location with its storied collection of exotic birds from all over the world.

An Anna’s Hummingbird works the flower baskets at the zoo.

But an odd thing happened as soon as we arrived. We couldn’t help but get distracted by all the wild birds that have taken up residence all over the grounds, from hummingbirds to egrets and herons to all manner of songbirds, including the bright yellow-and-black oriole that joined our lunch on a treetop patio overlooking the zoo.

As we made our way around the sprawling grounds to visit the exhibits, we kept our eyes open for wild birds attracted by the zoo’s rich landscaping and plentiful water and food supply. Some seemed to enjoy flaunting their freedom around their caged relatives.

The tiny Rufous Hummingbird slips in and out of the cages.

A California Towhee perches near the zoo’s noisy lion.

A Great Egret perched right at the top of the condor enclosure. One stop over, a Rufous Hummingbird, small enough to do as it pleased, kept landing right on the metal wires, half in and half out.

The lion’s roar echoed through his section of the zoo, but the California Towhees didn’t seem to see any threat. They perched on the trees within lunging distance of the big cat, suggesting he and his mate were getting all the meat they needed delivered by the zookeepers.

A Bewick’s Wren

We even came across a couple of species we hadn’t seen before. Looking much like its eastern cousins, a Bewick’s Wren danced around the outside of the bird section, an impressive string of aviaries with all manner of international species. Several of the hummingbird species were new to us.

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BirdingFlightMigration

The perfect gift: A wild warbler party on the gulf coast of Texas

by Anders Gyllenhaal
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

Prothonotary Warbler

Beverly’s favorite birds have always been warblers — the feisty, colorful world travelers that are among the hardest species to find. They’re shy, skittish and can move so quickly they’re often gone before you get a good look.

Last week was Beverly’s birthday, which just happened to fall on our stop along the Louisiana and Texas coasts. It was a warbler party every day, as thousands upon thousands had just arrived from their wintering grounds in Latin America and the Caribbean. These songbirds are famished and fatigued, and for once don’t seem to mind us humans hanging around.

Hooded Warbler: “Would you like a close up?”

Some of the birds we’ve encountered are old acquaintances, such as the Prothonotary and Hooded warblers. In other parts of the country and at other times of the year we’ve had to chase them for days to get just a glimpse. But on this trip along the Southern Gulf Coast, we’ve been seeing Prothonotaries at almost every turn. One recent day, a Hooded Warbler ambled around in the brush at my feet, as if saying, “How do I look from this angle?’’ and, “Would you like a close up?’’

Kentucky Warbler

Others are warblers we’d never seen before — the Kentucky, the Golden-winged and the Tennessee. At the Sabine Woods Bird Sanctuary on the Upper Texas Coast, the Golden-winged Warbler was so hungry that it fluttered from tree to bush, hanging like an acrobat, feeding furiously with every stop. It seemed oblivious to us as we followed along just a few yards away.

 

Golden-winged Warbler: An acrobat of a bird

Many types of warblers are getting harder to see because their numbers are going down. A host of forces are working against them: Much of their habitat is being lost to development, and they can fall behind in their breeding routine if insects and plants blossom ahead of schedule due to a warming climate. Warblers migrate thousands of miles twice a year, an exhausting journey that exposes them to hazards all along their routes, such as colliding into skyscrapers. Even something as innocuous as a house cat is a severe threat unless it’s kept inside. Outdoor cats kill millions and millions of birds, including warblers, every year in the United States alone.

Yellow Warbler

When you see warblers hit land just after their nonstop flight across the Gulf of Mexico, it’s easier to appreciate the breathtaking feat of migration. You can witness them jamming insects, fruit and worms down their throats in a glutinous spree that turns their beaks berry red. They’ve hardly swallowed, and it’s on to the next bite.

Migrators are traveling north on a mission, headed to their breeding grounds to claim a territory, find a mate and start a family. The males are dressed up in their springtime best for the courtship rituals ahead.

American Redstart (male)

While it’s hard to choose the most impressive warbler, I was struck this week with the near-neon glow of the black-and-orange America Redstart. Not long after we spotted the male, along came a female Redstart, so the fancy attire seemed to be working.

Thanks to the colorful feathers spring is the best time to see warblers, especially if you’re not used to looking for them. For the best chance, head out to the nearest woods or the edge of a brambly hedge between dawn and roughly 10 a.m., wear clothes in dull colors of leaves or twigs, bring binoculars, stay still and listen for high-pitched chirping and buzzing.

Blackburnian Warbler: Plumage like a sunset

Sometimes the late afternoon can be productive as well. We caught a Blackburnian Warbler at the top of a tree just as dusk descended. Its plumage shone like a sunset in the last light of the day, a blend of black, white, yellow and orange in lightning patterns across its head.

American Redstart (female)

Beverly’s love of warblers has only grown as we’ve gotten more familiar with them. That has meant I’ve spent many hours chasing them, too, trying for the perfect photograph, and as often as not, never getting more than a glimpse of these hyperactive birds. The truth is, I’ve come to be as captivated as she is by these birds and their stories.

Here’s a gallery of some of the warblers we’ve seen the past few weeks. As you can see, these are birthday gifts that don’t need wrapping – each different than the last, but all of uncommon beauty.

 

 

 

 

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BirdingPhotographySpecies

A visit to this exotic bird park is the perfect medicine for the winter blues

by Beverly and Anders Gyllenhaal
written by Beverly and Anders Gyllenhaal

Blue-crowned Pigeon

SCOTLAND NECK, N.C. — It was well into winter, and after weeks of grim headlines and overcast skies, I decided the only cure for a badly bruised equilibrium was a flock of flying things with amazing feathers.

The drab sparrows and robins outside our windows just weren’t doing the trick. A situation this dire required a shot of spring’s iridescent blue, startling orange and lemon yellow. With a nod of apology to my birding binoculars, my husband Anders and I grabbed our coats and drove to the zoo.

But not just any zoo. The 18-acre Sylvan Heights Bird Park in Eastern North Carolina is home to nearly 300 species, mostly rare, spanning five continents.

Caribbean Flamingo

Right at the entrance, a herd of lanky Caribbean Flamingos, each one attired in a ballet-skirt flounce of pinkish-orange feathers, stood perfectly still for as long as we wanted to watch.

The flamingos turned out to be a mere appetizer in this colorful feast. In a nearby enclosure was the Scarlet Ibis, decked out in a deeply hued combo of peach and coral.

These birds were more than enough to overhaul my mood, but the tour would go on in similar fashion over the next couple of hours. Anders needed to be prodded loose from one display area to the next. For a photographer used to wild birds, these tasty morsels were sitting ducks. “I feel like I’m cheating,” he said.

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BirdingHow we're birding now

Gucci discovers birding, and it’s never been more fashionable. You don’t want to miss this!

by Beverly Mills Gyllenhaal
written by Beverly Mills Gyllenhaal

It’s official. Birding’s cool factor is off the charts. And a certain bird nerd, one who has endured an abundance of ridicule and eye rolling from her offspring, is feeling fairly smug. Birding’s coolness is nothing short of a miracle, and here’s how it happened:

In March national headlines started blaring, “Birding is the New Black” and “You Have No Choice but to Become a Backyard Birder.” Then bird feeders started flying off the shelves, and bird watching was proclaimed an economic bright spot in an otherwise dismal economy.

Next came news of scientific studies proving bird watching’s positive effect on mental health – again, a bright spot at a time when global mental health is teetering toward the edge.

As a longtime birder and the butt of a few too many birding jokes, I find this appreciation for birding long overdue. With each new headline I’ve been texting my kids: “Look at this! See? I’m not the only one!” Their responses, on the other hand, haven’t been nearly as validating as a cultural shift of this magnitude deserves.

Here’s a glimpse of the Gucci/Northface clothing line that drops on Friday.

But as of this coming Friday, all of that changes. Luxury brand Gucci and outdoor apparel powerhouse The North Face are dropping a collaboration of “high-fashion meets functional” clothing with the stylish birder in mind.

I realize this is hard to fathom. So I am going to pause here for a few moments while you click here to enjoy a digital fashion spread that Gucci sponsored, called “Birdwatching with Gucci, The North Face and Flock Together.” (Flock Together is a club in England made up of real-life birders, some of whom were chosen to model the collection.) Be sure to scroll down to the video with the birders in front of a VW camper van, and click the volume button to start the sound. It’s a hoot.

Or you can go straight to the video on Facebook by clicking below. This isn’t like any birding outing you’ve ever seen before, which is part of the fun:

 

So there you have it. Birding has reached a pinnacle of fashion coolness that few will ever achieve. So take that, my dear children, take that! And what I will take is that Gucci birding jacket for Mother’s Day.

 

 

 

 

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BirdingBirding researchBirding technology

This small wooden box may hold the future of hi-tech birding

by Anders Gyllenhaal
written by Anders Gyllenhaal

The future of hi-tech birding arrived in a small FedEx package the other day. It was a delivery we’d been looking forward to for months, so we went right to work.

The Haikubox, which stands about a foot tall, records songs and calls and immediately identifies the bird species.

Within minutes, I slipped the sleek, wooden box out of its container and plugged it in on our porch, where it went right to work on its ambitious task: Recording all the birdsong, calls and chips from the yard and instantly suggesting which birds are behind every peep.

Not long ago, we wrote about the smartphone apps you can take on the birding trail if you need help identifying birds by ear. This new invention, called the Haikubox, is the mother of the birdsong ID tools. It’s designed to be set up at your home and detect every nearby bird around the clock, day in and day out.

It’s like an instant X-ray of your avian neighborhood  – or at least it will be when the development and fine-tuning is done about a year from now. 

We’re lucky enough to be among the 20 testing volunteers to test out the preliminary version of the Haikubox. We plan to follow its creation and let you know how it goes on its way to the retail market. It’s expected to cost somewhere under $500, although the price hasn’t been set.

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BirdingBirds stories

Looking for resolutions? Here are 10 ways to sharpen your birding skills

by Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal
written by Anders and Beverly Gyllenhaal

It’s not the best time to go birding in many places, but it is the perfect time to plan how we can become betters birders in the year ahead.

Over the last year, as thousands of newcomers found their way to birding amid the pandemic, we developed a series of posts in a Flying Lesson’s section called Beverly’s Birding Basics. We’ve collected them all on this page,  along with links, suggestions and tools. 

Beverly with her binoculars and birding bag, both topics in these posts.

Here are the 10 best of these posts. They cover everything from how to get started as a birder to how to find the right binoculars, from which birding apps are most effective to what you might want to take on the birding trail. 

You might even find a self-improvement goal or two if you’re still looking for resolutions. 

A good place to start is with the basic equipment of birding. Beverly’s three pieces on binoculars were among the most popular post of the year — and continue to draw constant traffic.

  1. Experts say a good place to start as a birder is to learn the common birds, such as this Eastern Bluebird.

    Enhance your birding life: The first to mention is her story on how a good pair of binoculars can change your birding life, a post that explores the power and beauty of seeing birds up close.

  2. Get the right first pair: The logical next post on how to buy your first pair of binoculars, which is a lot more complicated than you’d think. 
  3. Make the most of those binoculars: The last of this series is her story on how to make the most of your binoculars. It’s tempting to think that binoculars are a snap to use, but there are important things to understand as you get serious about birding.
  4. Advice on getting started: Our next recommendation is a post that gathers advice from some of the best birders around on how, where and when you’ll have the best success as you get started.
  5. Learning to bird by ear: As you get deeper into birding, identifying birds by their calls and songs is key skill. This post makes the case that while it’s not easy, putting in the time will deliver years of rewards. 

    Birding apps can be a big help on the trail. We look at which apps are the best, and which can help in what ways.

  6. Find the best birdsong apps: And if birding by ear doesn’t come easily, there are now more than a half dozen smartphone apps that will help do the work for you. Here’s our analysis on which of these works best. 
  7. Back-yard birding: Particularly during the pandemic, many birders have rediscovered the pleasure of birding in their yards and neighborhoods. This post looks at the apps that can help with that. 
  8. Follow birding etiquette: We all need to learn the obvious and subtle rules of birding, and Beverly’s post on how she learned them the hard way is a nice read full of advice.
  9. Take the next steps: Beverly’s post on how to elevate your birding skills has been one of the most popular.
  10. Be a generous birder: And lastly, we’ll offer up our essay on the importance and returns of helping others in their birding journey. Here’s to a great year of birding ahead!
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