Blog Birding #83

David Sibley offers his thoughts on a very bizarre Cattle Egret in Florida:

In late April 2012, Roy Halpin found and photographed an entirely buff-colored Cattle Egret in Saint Augustine, Florida. This is a particularly interesting bird because it provides an opportunity to consider the unusual nature of Cattle Egret coloration, as well as the identification of Cattle Egret subspecies.

At 10,000 Birds, Clare Kines checks in from Nunuvut with signs of spring in the far far north:

The valley opens up at the ocean to a wide flat delta with a lake in it, and when the explosion of returning bird life happens soon it would be a very busy place. Littered with goose droppings there is little doubt that many Snow Geese nest there, and the gravely delta is an ideal place for Semipalmated and Common Ringed Plovers. But for now, there were only the occasional Raven passing over, and several Glaucous Gulls making themselves at home.  It wasn’t a very birdy weekend, but then I didn’t expect it to be.

The Eyrie's Alexandria Simpson reviews some of the most popular bird apps on the market:

Lately, I’ve been researching the various bird guide apps. I have narrowed my choices down to three major ones: iBird Explorer Pro, Sibley eGuide to the Birds of North America, and National Geographic Handheld Birds. Since some young birders may be interested in purchasing one (or all!) of these, I have put together a brief comparative review.

I usuallly like to focus on North American birds here, but this story at Whitehawk about Vampire Bats parasitizing Orange-breasted Falcons at their nests is too cool, and a little gruesome, to leave out:

In 2008, Marta, Yeray and myself, members of Whitehawk who at the time were working for The Peregrine Fund, were able to document how a Vampire Bat was parasitizing a female Orange-breasted Falcon while she was incubating, something that had never been observed or described before.

Andrew Baksh, the Birding Dude, catches up with one of the many Ruffs that have touched down in North America this spring:

When word of an apparent Ruff (Philomachus pugnax), was still being reported in Connecticut, it did not take much convincing to get my juices going for a chase especially when it would be a lifer shorebird.  That is exactly what we did when Heydi Lopes and I successfully chased down the target bird on May 18th, in Connecticut at Hammonasset Beach State Park CT.  It was touch and go on the way as we were not picking up any reports of the bird being seen that day while on route, but we erased any negative thoughts and hoped for the best.