Bird Call
The pursuit of birds in view appeals to lots of people for lots of reasons. Beyond the activity's obvious natural allure, "chasing" birds keeps watchers physically fit. Learning and identifying hundreds of species on the fly challenges the intellect and intensifies awareness. And for photographers and illustrators, there is no better subject. The concentration of ridges, valleys and wetlands in our area holds a fortune of interaction with the avian experience any time of year, but especially in spring.
The spring thaw brings back all those species that migrated to warmer climates in the fall. Waterfowl, including green-winged and blue-winged teal, ring-necked and wood ducks, and pied-billed grebes are some of the early birds to show up as the ponds thaw. Positive signs of spring include the first red-winged blackbirds that start staking out territories during late February and eastern phoebes that sometimes come back even before their insect dinners come out. Eastern bluebirds also become more obvious in early spring. From late April through May our diversity of habitat brings dozens of types of warblers and vireos, scarlet tanagers, northern orioles, indigo buntings, thrushes and brown thrashers into our forests.
Watchers identify birds by any number of different strategies. Size is probably most obvious and quickly differentiates an osprey from a wren. Silhouette and posture can also easily distinguish the crown of a cardinal, the stoutness of a crow, or the alert stance of a robin. Some birds walk, some hop, and others waddle. From a distance an expert birder can tell what bird approaches by its flight pattern or beat of the wing while it still appears a black speck in the sky to most of us.
Familiarity with habitat teaches us that different kinds of places host different kinds of birds in fields, forests or marsh. Bird groups are common to each habitat, but the species within each differ. The "field marks" on birds serve as crucial evidence in the identification process. Beaks come short and thick for seed-eating grosbeaks, spatulate for ducks and geese that strain water for food, hooked for raptors that tear flesh, thin for warblers that pick at and eat insects, and chiseled for woodpeckers that bore trees. Feet come in styles suited for swimming, clawing, fetching, perching, or climbing. Field marks continue on forever, discerning crowns, eyelines, throat patches, chins, whiskers, wing bars, tails, feet and so on. The more you look, the more you see
Scientific classification (taxonomy) of birds is ever changing as new clues to evolutionary lineage constantly appear. Taxonomically birds are a class of life (Aves) subdivided into orders, then families, genus, and finally species. Some orders have many more families and species than others. The common loon, for example, is the only member of its order, gavilforme. Owls have their own order, as do woodpeckers and waterfowl. Perhaps the most readily identifiable "cousins" within an order are the diurnal raptors vultures, osprey, falcon, hawks and eagles.
Passeriforme is the largest order of birds and contains over 5,000, more than half, of all avian species. Passerines are generally small, and most of them perch. Many are songbirds, having evolved complex muscles to control their sound-producing organ called a syrinx, different from our vocal chords. The more you listen, the more you hear passerine calls in all their incredible beauty and complexity. Families within the passeriforme order include flycatchers, chickadees, thrushes, warblers, sparrows, finches, larks, swallows, jays, crows, and starlings. Within those families are hundreds of species that make up most of what we see and hear in our woods and fields. A robin, for example, is a thrush, and a kingbird is a flycatcher.
There are innumerable manuals to help you on your way to avian expertise, the standard bearers being the Peterson Field Guides. Of enormous interest is the recently released The Easy Bird Guide (Globe Pequot Press, ) by John and Edith Bull and Gerald Gold and illustrated by local naturalist and artist Pieter D. Prall. Rather than adhering to strict taxonomy, the plates containing Prall's illustrations are organized by similarity of bird color, pattern, behavior or habitat. On the web, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds is enormously helpful for beginners. Finally, New Jersey Audubon serves as an outstanding resource on the internet, through their publications and a year round schedule of talks, demonstrations and guided birding trips. Local Audubon outposts are located at the Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary in Bernardsville (908/766-5787) and at the Weis Ecology Center in Ringwood (973/835-2160). Statewide and nationally, Audubon sponsors the annual World Series of Birding in mid spring, in which you are heartily invited to participate. Please refer to our calendar pages for information on this and other birdwatching events.
We have presented here a small sampling of the birds available for viewing in Northwest New Jersey. Most are passerines along with a few woodpeckers, owls and water birds. We have left the largest (raptors) and smallest (hummingbirds) for another day.
Photographs and short descriptions have been contributed by three constant companions of our publication: Donna Traylor, Bob Koppenhaver and Dan Bacon. Take a look, take a walk and awaken your senses.
