Yesterday I walked around Cutler Wetlands and the surrounding area. The angle of the sun and my unwillingness to walk through the water to get closer shots (plus my inexperience) really hindered the photos you're about to see. But it added a few new species to my list and provoked some interesting questions.
There was minimal breeding evidence: some species being in breeding plumage and Red-winged Blackbird males calling territorially. But I'll only be contributing records that I'm sure of to the Atlas, which includes a bird building a nest, a bird on a nest, or young chicks. This brings up an scientific method question that I'm sure most citizen science projects face: Do I submit everything, even the data I'm not sure of, and risk submitting incorrect information or do I censor my data and risk not submitting data I don't realize are important? Decisions, decisions....
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| Blue-winged Teal |
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| Some kind of ibis I think. |
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| Mottled Ducks. |
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| American Kestrel |
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| Little Blue Heron that I assume was eating something or vocalizing? |
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| Some kind of raptor. Again, can't tell which kind. If it turns out to be a Turkey Vulture I'm going to be really embarrassed... |
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| Some kind of tern. This is especially interesting because terns aren't really reported at this location at this time of year. Too bad I can't identify it |
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| I spent a lot of time agonizing over this photo: Common Grackle or Boat-tailed Grackle? I went with Boat-tailed |
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| This wasn't taken at Cutler Wetlands, but it's a new species for the blog. Loggerhead Shrike! They impale their prey on sharp sticks and barbed wire |
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