I grew up believing that dinosaurs were a sickly gray-green, while my little nieces and nephews think of them as vividly parti-colored.

Just how do you reconstruct the colors of an extinct beast?

The University of Adelaide has managed to match up stray fossil feathers with various species of moa, providing a glimpse of what those giant New Zealanders looked like in life.

Two Long-billed Curlews fitted with radio transmitters have begun their southbound migration from their breeding sites in the Nebraska sandhills.

Photo: Cory Gregory.

You can follow the birds on line here.

With 10,000 or more bird species recognized, the task of giving each a distinctive English name is not inconsiderable. The historical laxness with which such old names as “chat,” “robin,” “bunting” have been applied to birds across  family lines is notorious, but there is also at least one case where a single English noun is still used to refer to birds in different orders.

Both the Recommended English Names of the IOC and the latest edition of Clements use the English noun “racket-tail” (or “racquet-tail,” if you’re a fan of quaint obsolete spellings) as the name of a hummingbird and of a genus of parrots (Prioniturus).

Booted Racket-tail, Ecuador. Photo: Rick Wright.

The glorious little Booted Racket-tail more than deserves both parts of its name. A common species of the subtropical and temperate Andes, this hummingbird is seen on many of our tours to Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru, where, as in the photo, it is readily attracted to feeders.

The Prioniturus parrots, in contrast, include some of the rarest birds in the world. Restricted to the Philippines and neighboring island groups, all of the nine or so species in this genus are sadly threatened by habitat loss and collecting.

Photo: Chris West

After the excitement of the ABA Area’s first Gray-collared Becard, an immature male discovered two weeks ago in Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains, another was reported this morning from Sunny Flats Campground in the same range.

This second bird is reported as an adult male. Now if only a female or two would venture north of the border….

Both becards have proved themselves skulky and inconspicuous. Visiting birders intent on seeing one or the other of these great birds might wish to engage a local guide; you can visit AZ-Birding.com to request a reservation on line.

Rumors have been circulating for years now about a “split” in the Winter Wren complex. The only troglodytid to occur outside of the New World, this taxon exhibits noticeable morphological variation across its Holarctic range. Here in North America, studies have concentrated more and more on the differences in song between Winter Wrens in the East and their cousins in the West.

With the discovery in British Columbia of birds of each song type on adjacent territories, ornithologists looked for intermediates among the wrens in the contact zone–and they didn’t find any. “Genetically and behaviorally, the Tumbler Ridge wrens looked like separate species.”

With an eye to a future split, canny world birders are keeping track of where they see their Winter Wrens, what they look like and what they sound like. Who knows? One of these days, the field guides really may have to be revised, as this article suggests.

Bryan Bland has long been a favorite among WINGS birders, and with good reason.

Now This Birding Life, a series of interviews, readings, and musings on this our shared hobby-sport-passion, features Bryan in a new “podcast,” shot on a recent visit to Guatemala–where Bryan will be leading a new WINGS tour in February.

If you haven’t already had the pleasure of birding with Bryan, this interview will surely inspire you to join him soon.

James Lidster has posted some photos to his blog from the latest Morocco tour.

I leave it up to you whether he succeeds in not looking suspicious while searching for (and finding) Maghreb Tawny Owl!

Registration for this year’s Southwest Wings festival starts on Monday. Timed for the peak of diversity in southeast Arizona, this is one of the largest, best-attended, and of course birdiest events around.

Among this year’s field trip leaders will be Rich Hoyer, leading nearly every day, and Rick Wright, conducting one overnight tour to California Gulch  for Montezuma Quail, Varied Bunting, Five-striped Sparrow, and a surprise or two. This year’s keynote speaker is Kenn Kaufman, a giant on the birding scene and one of the most thoughtful birders, writers, and educators around. Join us!

California Gulch. Photo: Rick Wright.

Photo: Gary Froehlich

Many thanks to Gary Froehlich for some remarkable photos–and for this very helpful tip on seeking the Fan-tailed  Warbler he discovered at the Melrose Migrant Trap:

“Stunned disbelief is probably the best description of my intial reaction. In the three-hour wait that followed my calls to other birders, I learned the bird’s foraging patterns. Thus, I was able to sit quietly with camera in hand and let the bird come to me. It seemed more puzzled by my presence than frightened.”

Photo: Gary Froehlich.

Patience and quiet perseverance are wonderfully well rewarded–for birders and the birds.

Photo: Gary Froehlich

Photo: Gary Froehlich.

Melrose Migrant Trap, Roosevelt Co., NM. Photo: MATT BAUMANN

Many thanks to Matt Baumann for this photo of New Mexico’s first Fan-tailed Warbler–one of only about 10 US records of this charismatic species. The bird was discovered yesterday at the Melrose Trap, and is still showing nicely this morning, May 19.