A Pink-footed Goose has appeared on a playground in Flushing, Queens. Long dismissed as escapes, individuals of this increasing species have occurred at several sites on the East Coast (and inland to Nebraska) in recent winters.

A pair of Rufous-capped Warblers was discovered yesterday in southeast Arizona’s Florida Canyon, near the entrance to Madera Canyon.

Remember that we provide customized day-guiding services, including in southeast Arizona. A WINGS leader can help you find the sites and the birds you’re looking for! Call or e-mail the WINGS office.

It can be very challenging for humans to determine the age and sex of certain birds, even in the hand. Sometimes the presence or absence during the breeding season of a cloacal protruberance (in males) or an edematous brood patch (females) is the only way to distinguish the sexes.

Wrentit, photo by Rich Hoyer.

But not even that works for the Wrentit. This odd bird of North America’s Pacific Coast is anomalous in many ways, not least in the fact that males and females alike develop both sexual characteristics while breeding. There are no known plumage characters that distinguish the sexes, making this the most difficult of all North American birds to sex without dissection.

Resplendent Quetzal. Photo: Gary Rosenberg

Costa Rica–small, peaceful, and outlandishly bird-rich–has long been the traditional first tour for birders new to the wonders of the American tropics. A bit smaller than West Virginia, with a bird list of some 800 species (and two excellent field guides), Costa Rica is diverse without being overwhelming, exotic without being alien.

I’ve been touched these past few weeks, and a little envious!, to find WINGS clients arranging gift certificates for their friends and family to visit Costa Rica and other wonderful birding sites around the world. If you’re looking for a present for that birder in your life, consider giving us a call!

A Crimson-collared Grosbeak was reported at noon today from the Frontera Audubon Center in Weslaco, Texas. Could this winter see a repeat of this northeast Mexican endemic’s 2004 invasion of the lower Rio Grande? We’re hoping at least that this individual, said to be a female, lingers for the participants in Gavin Bieber’s Whooping Cranes and the Rio Grande Valley tour next month!

Crimson-collared Grosbeak on our 2005 Rio Grande tour. Photo: Michael O'Brien

The 109th Christmas Bird Count starts on Sunday, and like so many of you, WINGS leaders will be taking to the field all across North America. For some of us, it means parkas and hot chocolate–for others, sunhats and cool, cool water. Wherever we’re birding, we’ll drive, hike, boat, and bike thousands of miles between now and January 5, tallying hundreds of species as we participate in the oldest “citizen science” project in the world.

So who’ll be where?

Arizona’s Atascosa Highlands Count, newly revived and compiled by Rich Hoyer, seems poised to set a new record for WINGS participation, with Gavin Bieber, Narca Moore-Craig, Beth Russell, and Rick Wright all planning to take part. Sneaky indeed will be the bird that gets past that crew! Once his compilation duties are done, Rich Hoyer will move on to counts in Patagoni, Tucson, and Dudleyville, Arizona; Monterey, California, and the Salton Sea; and Puerto Peñasco, Sonora.

In addition to the Atascosa Highlands, Narca Moore-Craig will be birding on the Peloncillo Mountains count and, for her home CBC in Portal, walking out the door to spend the entire day on foot, hiking into a madrone-filled bowl at the base of Portal Peak. Kathi McIvor will be birding the beautiful deserts west of Tucson on this year’s Avra Valley CBC.  Will Russell will join the Patagonia Count (which is hoping to be the only CBC in the US with “that wren” on its list), then head to the Gulf of California for the Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, count before moving back up the coast to Monterey, California. California counts in Bishop, Honey Lake, Eagle Lake, and Santa Barbara will find Jon Dunn covering his sectors. After the Atascosa Highlands, Gavin Bieber will be taking part in the Oaxaca Valley count–a little headstart on this year’s Oaxaca at Christmas tour.

Way out in the other corner of the continent, Derek Lovitch will be starting the CBC season with back-to-back counts in Greater Portland and Southern York County, Maine, followed by Brunswick-Freeport; my money’s on Derek this year for most White-winged Crossbills seen by a WINGS leader in the month of December! Even farther north, Bruce Mactavish will be on board a seismic vessel for most of the count period, but should be on land in time for the Ferryland, Newfoundland, CBC at New Year’s. Chris Wood will be shivering with counters at Montezuma NWR and in Rochester, NY.

And this year’s Bicoastal CBC Award goes to Jon Feenstra, who’ll be starting with three counts in Calilfornia–Tejon Ranch, Santa Cruz Island, and Pasadena–followed by three in New Jersey–Boonton, Long Branch, and Barnegat.

So now you know what we’re up to: Where are you counting? Leave us a comment and tell us which CBC’s are going to benefit from your participation–then follow up to let us know what you saw.

Join Managing Director Rick Wright at 6:30 pm Wednesday in Glendale, Arizona, for a lecture “Birds, Birders, and a New Bulgaria.” It’s almost guaranteed to be the only birding talk you hear this year that cites Ovid–and to be your inspiration to join one of our twice-yearly tours to Bulgaria with James Lidster.

Dip on in!

Two great waders, in two different corners of the North American continent!

Newfoundland’s Northern Lapwing seems to have settled in for a little while at least. The bird is at the east end of Portugal Cove South, and the encouraging latest word is that the ground there is still soft enough to provide this fancy rarity a good supply of earthworms.

And the Arizona Northern Jacana gives every sign of being happily ensconced for another winter at Casa Grande–just in time for Gary Rosenberg’s Arizona Winter Birds.

A photo from Steve Rooke‘s recent tour to the Roof of Africa:

Prince Ruspoli's Turaco

Prince Ruspoli’s Turaco (or simply “Ruspoli’s Turaco” in the more egalitarian parlance of the IOC’s recommended English names) is a colorful and greatly sought-after Ethiopian endemic, found only around Arero, Bobela, Sokora, Neghelli, and Wadera. Happily, though it is at present considered rare and endangered, there is some indication that this species is tolerant of human disturbance, and it may be more common than once thought.

But who was Prince Ruspoli? Eugenio Ruspoli was a princely botanist active in Ethiopia towards the end of the nineteenth century; Salvadori, the most important Italian ornithologist of the day, named this extravagantly coiffed species three years after the 27-year-old prince was trampled to death by an African elephant he had wounded.