DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — Wonders abound in the odd intersections between time and space. There are spectacles and mysteries, traces of the past, and hints of the myriad future. When we bird, we place ourselves into those intersections deliberately, hoping to delve just a little deeper into the universe.

A Golden-cheeked Warbler recently arrived on a hilltop in Texas. He is singing now, staking out a territory for the mate he hopes to win. He flits to the top of a juniper tree, tilts back his head, and releases a brief, complex melody.

Below him, birders named Mike and David emit stifled exclamations. Farther away, down in the riverbed, huge three-toed hollows are a trace of the dinosaurs that once roamed this land. There were no Golden-cheeked Warblers then.

And what when another era has passed, and again, there are no Golden-cheeked Warblers? Warblers do not leave their footprints in stone, and their songs fade quickly in turbulent air.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — Here are a few updates on recent stories:

Grenada Dove (Grenada Dove’s existence threatened by sale of park)

BirdLife International says that despite mounting pressure, Grenada’s government is still considering the sale of a national park to a resort company. The government, apparently, wants to have its cake and eat it too. Meanwhile, an excellent post by Nic Winkler in Grenada reminds us that the issues at stake are very complex and their consequences far-reaching. Good on you, Nic.

Texas GBBC results (A few more cowbirds for the GBBC)

I said earlier that Texas probably recorded more species than any other state during this year’s Great Backyard Bird Count. But between continuing checklist submissions in and ongoing data review, Texas and California are neck and neck. The final tally could swing either way.

Reviewers sorting through the Texas results have disqualified several wacky reports. Perhaps the most bizarre was the report of a Passenger Pigeon!

I intend no unkindness to new or inexperienced birders, but this sort of absurdity is one reason that “citizen science” is looked down on by some. Reports of long-extinct or far out-of-range species are relatively easy to detect and eliminate, but the submission of such reports suggests that countless subtler errors are slipping through. However, organizers of events like the GBBC apparently believe that the risk is acceptable, that the benefits outweigh the confusion, and that millions of records aggregated over the years can in fact tell us something about our birds — even if someone did try to report a Passenger Pigeon from Conroe, Texas.

DNA barcodes (1,000 new bird species?)

Will a recently published paper usher in a whole new round of splits and lumps? Well … it appears that the original intent of the paper has been distorted by media coverage and hasty conclusions, as Bob Powell pointed out on BirdChat. In response to a message on Texbirds last night, I posted the following:

Unfortunately, some of the news stories and headlines that this research has inspired are misleading. This headline (”Genetics Reveal 15 New N.American Bird Species”) is particularly bad.

From the original paper’s abstract: “DNA barcoding seeks to assemble a standardized reference library for DNA-based identification of eukaryotic species. The utility and limitations of this approach need to be tested on well-characterized taxonomic assemblages.”

In other words, the researchers were testing the validity of the “barcode” idea by comparing their results against a relatively accepted standard. When their results differed from the standard, they tried to come up with hypotheses to explain the inconsistencies.

One hypothesis was that there could be unrecognized species in North America (surprise!). But that doesn’t mean that it’s the right answer, or the only answer.

Science can’t be stuffed into a headline.

The paper has generated discussion in all the major online birding communities, and some birders have had nothing but harsh words for the barcode project.

Bird blogs around the world

Today, I added several more bird blogs to my blogroll. My blogroll is not intended to be an exhaustive list; rather, it presents the blogs I enjoy reading regularly. As the number of bird blogs grows, I’m left wondering how many more I’ll be able to handle. Though I am a child of the computer age, I am still amazed that I have instant access to prose, poetry, photos, audio, and video of birds and birders from Estonia to Australia and Nunavut to Antarctica!

For a look at some of the recent bird-related posts from around the blogosphere, have a look at I and the Bird #43. This edition is hosted by Tai Haku, who regularly posts spectacular images of Caribbean marine life.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — An update on the story I blogged yesterday: One male Whooping Crane survived the carnage and was discovered with two Sandhill Cranes today. More from Operation Migration.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — I got back from a great day of birding to see sad news on the Texas birding list. Eighteen Whooping Cranes that were supposed to be the start a new migratory flock have been killed by the storms in Florida this week.

This sort of disaster is precisely the reason conservationists are trying to establish a second migratory flock. Whooping Crane numbers are increasing, but with so few birds in so few geographic locations, one or two natural disasters could mean extinction for these magnificent birds.

DUNCANVILLE, TEXAS — Exactly one year ago today, I was in Florida, birding with new friends Steve and Mary Pence. I’d sent Steve a list of birds I wanted to see, and we agreed on Snail Kite, Limpkin, and Florida Scrub-Jay as the most reasonable target birds for the weekend.

I flew into Orlando after dark, and before the sun had risen again, Steve and I were waiting at Brinson Park on the outskirts of Kissimmee. While we ate our muffins, waiting for daylight, we heard Fish Crows and — what? — Limpkin! The sun finally did rise, and it revealed not only a couple of Limpkins on the near shore but also several Snail Kites flying over the swampy expanse. One bird flew past close enough to give me a good look at the extremely long, fine, downcurved upper mandible, which I had admired in my Stokes field guide since I was a child.

Then we were off, headed south to take part in a banding event at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park.

We soon got to work, joining a team to drag a rope across the grassland and flush sparrows into a mist net. Once caught, they were carefully extricated by the experienced researchers and banders for identification, measurement, and banding.

The next morning, fortified by Mary’s fabulous meals, all three of us set off for Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, where we birded the Black Point Wildlife Drive. Waders, ducks, shorebirds, and other waterbirds were abundant and spectacular. I picked an adult Great Black-backed Gull and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull out from among the other gulls and was quite pleased. It was the first time I’d seen an adult Lesser Black-backed.

Perhaps the most interesting and comical spectacle was a Great Blue Heron wrangling with a large snake. The snake had wrapped itself around the heron’s bill, and the heron just stood there, appearing puzzled. Dropping its head, it shook the snake’s coils off its bill, but the snake quickly wrapped itself around again. The battle lasted for several minutes, but the heron was the victor in the end.

Deciding we weren’t quite ready to quit birding, we stopped by Orlando Wetlands Park on the way home. One of the first things we saw was a Bald Eagle that had caught a moorhen and carried it up into a tree. After careful searching, we found a brilliant Purple Gallinule, and we had intimate glimpses of a Limpkin as we exited the park.

Was it all really a year ago? I want to go back to Florida!