Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Great Backyard Bird Count
While all that is needed to enjoy the birds and participate in the project is ones eyes and ears, a pair of binoculars or a camera can enhance your ability to identify the different species of birds. Books guide you to certain field marks to look for. Red tailed hawks are quite common in the Delta in the winter. Yes, the top of their tail is red. However, the birds vary greatly in appearance from one bird to the next. They have one common field mark, their white breast, which allows us to identify them easily. We can tell that a red bellied woodpecker is in the area by its clear call of, “Chuck, Chuck, Chuck.” Today’s picture is of the license plate on my truck. Arkansas brags about its ivory billed woodpeckers, for years thought to be extinct, but found in the Cache River Basin 50 miles west of Peace Farm. The field mark of the ivory billed woodpecker is the white stripe up its neck. Let’s find more!