DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — Preface: When I hosted I and the Bird almost two years ago, I gave a nod to a father of English poetry, Chaucer. This time, I decided to do something a little more 21st century. This is (drumroll please) the first I and the Bird to be hosted by video! You will need a browser with Flash and maybe JavaScript to view the videos. Enjoy.

We begin with selections from two first-time contributors, nature photographers David Kleinert of Australia and Remo Savisaar of Estonia. Both men are skilled and passionate artists; I recommend their photoblogs highly.

Remo shares an intimate portrait of a songster we North Americans should be seeing before too long, the Käblik (Winter Wren).

David’s striking Pallid Cuckoo reminds us that you don’t have to flash bright colors to be beautiful.

Another first-time contributor, Alan from Birds in Tasmania gives us a glimpse of his encounter with a drop-dead gorgeous White-bellied Sea Eagle. Alan’s posts are always interesting and very well illustrated.

Speaking of Australians, Duncan writes about baby Red Wattlebirds (it’s spring down there after all) and shows off a Common Bird Orchid, too.

On the other end of the planet, Matt has the joy not only of great birds but also of introducing a new life to the thrill of birding.

What happens when you put an owl under a blacklight? Drew shows us the answer (and much more) in his fascinating post on banding Saw-whet Owls.

Moe offers a photo and information about his favorite bird (maybe), the American Goldfinch.

Vultures, Vultures Everywhere! says Jayne. And she’s got the pictures to prove it.

Nate is doing some work with a North Carolina museum’s bird collection, and he brings us a very interesting post about determining ages in various tern species.

Spoon-billed Sandpipers are in serious trouble; the global population has dwindled to a few hundred birds. Rob is thoroughly disgusted that they’ve been driven to the brink of extinction and offers a contact email for those who want to protest.

Did you participate in this year’s Big Sit? Patrick did, and despite bad winds, he got a life bird.

Lynette is an Australian nature artist, and really like her collection called “Tawny Expressions”. Great bird, great artwork. Wow!

Intermission:

Timo went birding at the end of the rainbow, which, apparently, is somewhere in Helsinki, Finland. He found waterbirds, acrobatic siskins, and crisp late autumn air, which is probably better than gold anyway.

The blog of Singapore’s Bird Ecology Study Group is always very, very good, but the recent photo series of Black-shouldered Kites mating is especially spectacular.

A singing Carolina Wren brightened Kay’s day. What’s not to love?

Did you chase the Green-breasted Mango in Wisconson? Gwyn did, and she’s got pictures to prove it.

Lavender is keeping a close eye on a Little Wattlebird family in Sydney.

During her weekend of Red-tails, Birdchick helped band several hawks and got some really nice photos in the process.

If you think chachalacas and Clay-colored Robins are “pretty boring,” then you should probably skip Antshrike’s latest missive from the Rio Grande Valley. Otherwise, check it out!

The Ridger shares photographs of a neighborhood peacock named Big Bird.

Rarities abounded … at the quilt festival, reports Liza Lee. I want a Blue-footed Booby quilt!

Leigh had a great birdathon in California — 134 species!

John highlights a recent report that pummels the USFWS Spotted Owl recovery plan.

A fascinating essay from Grrlscientist explains the physics of certain feather colors, like white and blue.

National Wildlife Refuges in Illinois are in trouble, reports the Birdfreak team.

“Grassland gems” is a lovely way to describe Ammodramus sparrows and other birds that Greg saw with friends last Saturday.

Mary got pictures of herons, egrets, and other waterbirds on a short hike near her California home.

What is “pishing”? Mike explains what it is, whether it works, and how to do it.

Rick and friends saw good birds in Sonora, Mexico. Hummers and parrots and anis, oh my!

Ecobirder shares some shots from a gorgeous fall day in Minnesota.

After observing a stream of Bonaparte’s Gulls, Greg got to thinking about the mysteries, perils, and origins of migration.

Oh right, I almost forgot my own contribution. How many Soras can you see in a day?

Send your links to Nate (naswick at hotmail d0t com) by Tuesday, Oct. 30 for inclusion in the next I and the Bird!

Disclaimer: I tried to include every link I received. If you sent me a link and don’t see it here, it is accidental and not deliberate. Send me a reminder, and I’ll put it up right away.

And a couple of outtakes:

ORLANDO, FLORIDA — I had a chance to walk around a bit this morning (I’m in Orlando for about 25 hours). The first thing I saw was not a bird but an armadillo! I don’t see live armadillos very often, so this was fun.

Three Sandhill Cranes were the morning’s best birds, as far as I’m concerned. My most unexpected sighting was a single Western Kingbird. Some Western Kingbirds winter in south Florida, so I don’t think the sighting is rare, but I haven’t found any good information yet. Anyone have any thoughts?

Songbirds like House Wrens, Common Yellowthroats, and Palm Warblers were fairly active but secretive, and I had one yellowish warbler that was probably a Prairie (why did I leave Sibley at home?). I’ll look it up later.

I had a couple of distant Fish Crows and a Red-shouldered Hawk. The Boat-tailed Grackles here sound different from those on the Texas Gulf Coast. Their songs are more varied and slightly more musical. Like the Texas birds, though, they are dark-eyed.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — Remember, I am hosting I and the Bird this week! Time is running out — please send your submissions by the end of Tuesday, Oct. 16. This is a very busy week for me, so you can help me out a lot by sending those links right away. Don’t miss out; it’s gonna be fun!

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — A cool front came through earlier this week, and the weather is much more tolerable — now it’s only in the 80s! This morning, with a temperature near 60, I decided to see whether any winter residents had arrived yet.

They have!

• Double-crested Cormorant - 35 in a V headed south
• American Coot - several hundred (numbers have rather suddenly exploded)
• Northern Flicker - 4 (No, flickers don’t generally breed here, but they are common in winter.)
• Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 3 (To see my first kinglet brought a smile.)
• American Pipit - 3 (Only two previous reports in the state this season, but today they were seen in several places.)
• Savannah Sparrow - 7

I still can’t find a Sabine’s Gull at Joe Pool Lake (or much of anything, other than coots), but I did see a flock of about 20 Monk Parakeets fly by. They are well established in the surrounding areas, but I hadn’t seen them from the dam before. With a yellow sea of broomweed behind them, their greens and blues were spectacular.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — By the time I found my second Sora, I was feeling pretty good. I watched the bird as it walked gingerly along submerged cattail leaves, picking at the duckweed on the surface of the pool. Marsh Wrens and yellowthroats flitted higher in the cattails, offering brief views and snatches of song in the case of the wrens.

By the time I’d seen four Soras and heard a fifth, I was pretty amazed. But I still couldn’t imagine what was to come.

By the time I left Village Creek yesterday afternoon, I had seen 16 Soras and heard two others! Sixteen! They seemed to appear nearly everywhere I looked, sometimes in loose family (?) groups of three to four birds.

I keep dreaming of cool, crisp fall weather, but Dallas is still hot, sticky, and stale. It’s a disappointment I feel every autumn that I spend in Texas. In college, my poem called “Protesto” began with the line, “It’s November, for crying out loud.”

But regardless of the weather, there are subtle signs that it’s autumn. The high number of Soras I observed is likely due to a push of migrants moving through. Coots are starting to return in good numbers — I saw at least a couple hundred yesterday. More Northern Shovelers have joined the flocks of Blue-winged Teal, and the males are starting to get their bright colors back. Yesterday, I had one drake pintail too.

Summer residents like Painted Buntings have either disappeared or become so inconspicuous as not to be noticeable. I haven’t seen one in several weeks. Other breeders — and post-breeding wanderers — are still around. Scissor-tailed Flycatchers and Barn Swallows are still here, of course.

Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks remain numerous and conspicuous at Village Creek. Yesterday, one juvenile White Ibis joined about 20 of its White-faced cousins in the grassy edges of the pools. (OK, yes, there could have been a Glossy tossed in there too, but if there was, I sure couldn’t tell. Fall is not the time to be trifling with the dark ibises.)

Shorebirds are still moving through. Most of the water at Village Creek is too deep for shorebirds, but in small patches of habitat I found several species:

• Solitary Sandpiper - 1
• Least Sandpiper - 30-50
• Long-billed Dowitcher (I think. I guess. I’m confident! Err, yes.)
• Wilson’s Snipe - 1 (Gorgeous, orangey plumage. Wow.)
• Killdeer - ubiquitous
• Stilt Sandpiper - 1 (Much easier to identify than sometimes believed.)
• Lesser Yellowlegs - 2 (Killdeer-sized — a handy comparison if Killdeer are present.)
• American Avocet - 8 (Best shorebird ever! Gorgeous.)