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| Have You Seen These Birds? |
| Skia [Sasquatch
Yeti] |
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big footed bird of shores, lakes and mountains was once widespread
in North America, but has now been fragmented into several subspecies.
The northeastern, or Nordic race migrates cross-country, while
the northwestern, or Alpine subspecies migrates downhill. The
southern subspecies is restricted to open water. The Skia is
an interesting bird to observe in flight. Concentrations seem
to occur in Calgary, Alberta, and in Lake Placid, New York. |
| Observation Hint: In winter, Skias are often seen from chair lifts and rope tows. |
| Identification Aid: The various races can be separated by the foot lenght, although the southern subspecies is difficult to track. |
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| Military
Warbler [Plutonia Pentagonus] |
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small, elusive warbler is difficult to find, since it feeds
in dense thickets. Apparently evolving as a mutant from early
nuclear tests, this bird is now common only on widely-scattered,
high-security military bases. Call is a bugled “you can’t
get ‘em up, you can’t get ‘em up, you can’t
get ‘em up in the morning.” The tail pattern indicates
some sort of social rank. |
| Observation
Hint: Since access to high-security installations is not
possible, it is necessary to sneak onto the base. In addition,
the Military Warbler is so well camouflaged that it cannot readily
be seen. This fact is sufficient proof to list the bird. The
young may sometimes be attracted to C-rations. |
| Specialized
Training: Must be able to do the 50-yard belly crawl in
less than 40 seconds. |
| If
you have, either someone has put a little something extra in
the coffee you use to keep warm while birding or you have been
reading a wonderfully, hilarious book by Ben, Cathryn, and John
Sill called A Field Guide to Little-known and Seldom-seen Brids
of North America. This tongue-in-cheek tome captures the essence
of birding and bird watching. And it will keep you chuckling
for a long time after reading. In fact, you will swear you have
seen some of these birds in the wild. If one volume isn’t
enough to keeping you laughing, try the sequels - Another Field
Guide to Little-known and Seldom-seen Birds of North America
and Beyond Birdwatching: More Than There is to Know About Birding.
Soon you will be creating your own field guide. |
| PS: All of the Sills are excellent birders. Cathryn writes children’s
nature books. And you have seen John’s illustrations in
the Stokes series on Bird Behavior. |
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