Fwd: Birding Lunch & Learn Wed Jan. 21st @ Schupf Center Lobby 11:30 am-1 pm

[Diane Weinstein]

Greetings Waterville Area Birding Enthusiasts & Friends!

We held our first 2026 Lunch & Learn last week and 5 of us gathered at the Schupf Center.  We will continue meeting there on Wednesdays from 11:30 am - 1 pm on the west/MainSt side of the lobby   The Schupf Center is the large building with glass windows facing Castonguay Square in downtown Waterville; there is street parking and public parking lots behind Main Street.    When the weather is accommodating, we may head out early or after 1 pm to do a little nearby birding; so you may want to have boots, binoculars and a warm coat.  A few folks after the meeting headed out along Water Street in Waterville's south end and spotted Common Mergansers and Common Goldeneye in the Kennebec River.  The Merlin app picked up some American Tree Sparrow vocalization in a field they have been previously seen; a Bald Eagle was on its usual perch overlooking the river and a bold Sharp-shinned or Cooper's Hawk flew past it landing on a nearby tree.  

Discussion included birding wish lists:  seeing a Fox Sparrow and any and all owls;  winter visitors recently seen in the area including Bohemian Waxwings and Evening Grosbeaks;  improving bird identification knowing field marks  and determining what some of the LBBs (little brown birds) people are seeing.   With both Savannah and Song Sparrows regularly being reported this winter, particularly in fields: below are a couple of identification tips.  

Savannah Vs Song Sparrow

--Savannah Sparrows have shorter, notched/forked tails whereas the Song Sparrow tail is long and has a rounded edge. 

--Savannah Sparrows have smaller bills and a smaller head than the Song Sparrow.

--Savannah Sparrows have crisper streaking on the breast than a Song Sparrow; both may have a dark smudge/spot on their breast but remember the smudge may not always be seen.

--Savannah Sparrows like Song Sparrows have after the eye patch a thin black whisker or malar mark, then a white malar stripe that can followed by a dark malar stripe.  In a Song Sparrow the dark malar stripe by the throat is considered a prominent feature for identification.

--Savannah Sparrows show yellow, in the stripe over the eye, which is known as the supercilium, that people may refer to as the eyebrow.  This yellow coloring extends to the lores, which is that small area between the eye and beginning of the bill.  The yellow coloring in the supercilium and lores in the winter is not as prominent and can almost appear beige.  Another bird you may see with yellow lores in the winter is a White Throated Sparrow. 

The book Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman was recommended as an interesting read.  Below is a book review

For decades, people have written off birds as largely witless, driven solely by instinct, and their brains as primitive, capable of only the simplest mental processes.  But it is not so.  In recent years, science has discovered that birds are much, much more intelligent than we ever supposed. Ravens, crows, jays, even hummingbirds do things that are just plain smart—and funny and sneaky and deceitful.  They craft and use tools, sing to one another in regional accents, make complex navigational decisions without asking for directions, remember where they put things using intricate geometrical concepts, understand the mental state of another individual, josh around with windshield wipers, and use rolling car tires to crack walnuts, all sorts of intelligent behavior that we can see in evidence in our own backyards, at our birdfeeders, in parks, city streets, and country skies, and all with a packet of brain so tiny it would fit inside a walnut. This book explores the new view of birds as cunning, playful, clever, artistic, deceptive, and socially and technically adept.was discussed and 

Note the drawings below are also included as an attached document in this email that you can more easily print!

Field Marks To Help You With Birding Identification 

 

 

Image by Charles Ripper/Cornell Lab

Image by John Schmitt/Cornell Lab.

·       Wingbars (stripes across the folded wing)

·       Wing patches (blocks of color on the wing)

·       Wing lining (the feathers covering the underside of the wing)

·       Primaries (the long flight feathers on the outer half of the wing)

·       Secondaries (the flight feathers on the inner half of the wing)

·       Speculum (the patch of colored secondaries that helps identify many ducks)

·       Wing tips

 

 

 

 

Image by John Schmitt/Cornell Lab 

 

·  Eyebrow stripe or superciliary:,line over the eye)

·  Eyeline (line through the eye and note how far it extends)

·  Malar stripes/whisker/mustache:  note whether thick, thin, multiple stripes and colors 

·  Throat patch

·  Upper and lower beak: note shape, size, color, whether upper and lower are same color

·  Lore color: area between base of beak and eye)

·  Crown stripes: stripes in the midline of the head)

·  Eyering:  ring of color around eye, note shape, may be broken or only an arc at top or bottom of the eye

·  Crest: if present note color 

·  Iris eye color