When you spend all that time on the road, you meet a lot of birders, and if you're like me, you wonder what the hell these people are doing. For as many years as I have kept my Notes from the Road journals, I have met countless birders and been fascinated by their strange hobby.
Surely, after all these years of ribbing them for their strange hobby, and at the same time sitting countless hours perched next to my tripod, I too slowly began to try to learn the names of that one animal order you can see anywhere, at any time. And I also felt myself asking more and more questions of these people with the everpresent binoculars.
A few months ago, I was on a trail with my wife, and a very old couple (they so often are) with binoculars (dead giveaway) excitedly came up to us and told us a ruby-throated hummingbird was displaying aggressive behavior atop a perch above us.
It indeed was exciting to see this brightly colored hummingbird whizzing past our heads, defending its territory with an energy that seems impossible for such a small thing. But the whole time, I was thinking...that's not a ruby-throated hummingbird, that's a rufous hummingbird. Ruby-throated hummingbirds don't live anywhere close to here. And then I realized just how far away from normalcy I had gone. I was counting birds.
Of all the species you could collect, birds attract the most people because they are the only animals that can be found anywhere in the world, any time of year.
Keeping tabs of all the new species of birds you have seen is a wonderful way to complement a life of travel. I record the species, the date and place for each new species. I also keep a list for fishes, reptiles, mammals, orchids, cactuses and wildflowers - but those lists come slowly: collecting bird species is the only species identification you can do from your window, your car, in the city and on the trail.
Acorn Woodpecker
Amazon Kingfisher
American Avocet
American Bittern
American Coot
American Crow
American Dipper
The American Dipper, found on the rocks of rough rivers, actually forages underwater. Try to catch them swimming underwater with binoculars.
American Golden Plover
American Goldfinch
American Kestrel
American Pipit
American Redstart
American Robin
American Tree Sparrow
American White Pelican
American Wigeon
Anhinga
Anna's Hummingbird
Anna's Hummingbird sticks around the cold winters of the Pacific Northwest, fluttering even during snowfall. This behavior would seem impossible for such a fragile family. But the Anna's Hummingbird has evolved the ability to fall into momentary states of torpor to cope and regenerate in such conditions. The male anna's hummingbirds have a brilliant pink throat (and sometimes entire head) in Spring - a brilliant color so rare in nature.
Antillean Palm Swift
Ash Throated Flycatcher
Bahama Mockingbird
Bahama Swallow
Bald Eagle
The aerial courtship of bald eagles is a rare treat. This pair dropped hundreds of feet in a bizaare aerial dance above the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean.
Baltimore Oriole
Bananaquit
Band-Tailed Pigeon
Bank Swallow
Bare-Throated Tiger Heron
Barn Swallow
Barred Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Bewick's Wren
Black and White Warbler
Black Faced Grassquit
Black Oystercatcher
Black Phoebe
Black Swift
Black Turnstone
Black Vulture
Black-bellied Plover
Black-bellied Whistling Duck
Black-Billed Magpie
Black-capped Chickadee
Black-chinned Hummingbird
Black-crowned Night Heron
Black-Headed Grosbeak
Black-Hooded Parakeet
Black-necked Stilt
The Black-necked stilt is my favorite North American bird. To some people, this may sound strange. But when you see one for yourself, you will understand it to be a form of pure avian aesthetics - a perfect shape, like a cheetah or a manta ray.
Black-throated Gray Warbler
Black-throated Sparrow
Blue-gray gnatcatcher
Blue Grosbeak
Blue Jay
Blue-crowned Motmot
Blue-Footed Booby
Blue-winged Teal
Brandt's Cormorant
Brewer's Blackbird
Brewer's Sparrow
Brown Booby
Brown Creeper
Brown Jay
Brown Pelican
The once endangered brown pelicans are among the most intriguing animals in North America. I wrote about them when I visited the islands of the Sea of Cortez.
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bufflehead
Bullock's Oriole
Bushtit
Cackling Goose
Cactus Wren
California Gull
California Quail
California Thrasher
California Towhee
Canada Goose
Canvasback
Canyon Wren
Cape May Warbler
Carib Grackle
Carolina Chickadee
Caspian Tern
Cassin's Finch
Cattle Egret
Cedar Waxwing
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
chestnut-headed oropendula
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Chimney Swift
Chipping Sparrow
Chukar
Cinnamon Teal
Clark's Nutcracker
Cliff Swallow
Collared Aracari
Common Goldeneye
Common Grackle
Common Ground-Dove
Common Loon
Common Magpie
Common Merganser
Common Moorhen
Common Murre
Common Poorwhil
Common Raven
Common Snipe
Common Yellowthroat
Coopers Hawk
Cooper's hawks visit our douglas firs every year. In the spring, watching them fly through the trees is stunning.
Crescent-eyed Pewee
Crissal Thrasher
Cuban Emerald
Dark Eyed Junco
Domestic Goose
Double-Crested Cormorant
This is a juvenile, and thus the striking blue eyes.
Downey Woodpecker
Dunlin
Eared Grebe
Eastern Kingbird
Eastern Screech Owl
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Eurasian Wigeon
European Starling
Ferruginous Hawk
Fork-Tailed Flycatcher
Forster's Tern
Fox Sparrow
Franklin's Gull
Gadwall
Gila Woodpecker
Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Winged Gull
Golden Crowned Sparrow
Golden Eagle
Golden Fronted Woodpecker
Golden Hooded Tanager
Golden-Crowned Kinglet
Goldfinch
Grasshopper Sparrow
Gray Catbird
Gray Kingbird
Great Blue Heron
Great Cormorant
Great Crested Flycatcher
Great Egret
Great Grackle
Great Horned Owl
Great Kiskadee
Greater Antillean Grackle
Greater Roadrunner
Greater Scaup
Greater White Fronted Goose
Greater Yellowlegs
great-tailed grackle
Green Heron
Green Jay
Green Kingfisher
Green-tailed Towhee
Green-winged Teal
Hairy Woodpecker
Harlequin Duck
Heerman's Gull
Hermit Thrush
Hermit Warbler
Herring Gull
Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo
Hispaniolan Parrot
Hispaniolan Woodpecker
Hoffman's Woodpecker
Hooded Merganser
Hooded Oriole
Hoopoe
Horned Grebe
House Finch
House Sparrow
House Wren
Inca Dove
Killdeer
Ladder backed Woodpecker
La Sagra's Flycatcher
Lapland Longspur
Laughing Gull
Lawrence's Goldfinch
Lazuli Bunting
Least Grebe
Least Sandpiper
Lesser Antillean Bullfinch
Lesser Goldfinch
Lesser Ground-Cuckoo
Lesser Scaup
Lesser Yellowlegs
Lewis's Woodpecker
Lincoln's Sparrow
Little Blue Heron
Loggerhead Kingbird
Loggerhead Shrike
Long-billed Curlew
Long-billed Dowitcher
Magnificent Frigatebird
Mallard
Marbled Godwit
Marsh Wren
Mew Gull
Montezuma Oropendula
Mountain Chickadee
Mourning Dove
Northern Cardinal
Northern Flicker
Northern Harrier
Northern Mockingbird
Northern Parula
Northern Pintail
Northern Shrike
Ocellated Turkey
Olive-Sided Flycatcher
Orange-crowned Warbler
Osprey
Pacific Loon
Palm Chat
Palm Warbler
Passerini's Tanager
Pelagic Cormorant
Peregrine Falcon
Pied-Billed Grebe
Pigeon Guillemot
Pileated Woodpecker
Pine Siskin
Plain Chachalaca
Prairie Falcon
Prairie Warbler
Purple Finch
Purple Martin
Purple-throated Carib
Red Breasted Sapsucker
Red Knot
Red Lored Parrot
Red Naped Sapsucker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-breasted Merganser
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Reddish Egret
Red-headed Woodpecker
Red-Necked Phalarope
Red-Tailed Hawk
Red-winged Blackbird
Rhinoceros Auklet
Ring-billed Gull
This is the most common gull of North America's interior.
Ringed Kingfisher
Ring-necked Duck
Ring-Necked Pheasant
Roadside Hawk
Rock Dove
Rock Wren
Roseate Spoonbill
Ross's Goose
Rough Legged Hawk
Royal Tern
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-throated Hummingbird
Ruddy Duck
Ruddy Turnstone
Ruffed Grouse
Rufous Hummingbird
Rufous Naped Wren
Rufous-crowned Sparrow
Sanderling
Sandhill Crane
Sandwich Tern
Savannah Sparrow
Say's Phoebe
Scaly-naped Pigeon
Sharp-Shinned Hawk
Shiny Cowbird
Smooth-Billed Ani
Snow Goose
Snowy Egret
Snowy Plover
Song Sparrow
Sora
I dragged my wife for months trying to find our first sora. It took about 12 weekends during her pregnancy, and after. Sora can always be easily heard, even a few feet away. But they are incredible masters of disguise, and nearly impossible to find. A month after our son was born, we caught a glimpse of this migratory marsh bird.
Spotted Sandpiper
Spotted Towhee
Stellar's Jay
Surf Scoter
Swallow-tailed Kite
Swamp Sparrow
Thayer's Gull
Thick-billed Vireo
Townsend's Solitaire
Townsend's Warbler
Tree Swallow
Tricolored Blackbird
Tricolored Heron
Trumpeter Swan
Tufted Puffin
Tufted Titmouse
Tundra Swan
Turkey Vulture
Varied Thrush
Vaux's Swift
Verdin
Violaceous Trogan
Violet-Green Swallow
Virginia Rail
West Indian Woodpecker
Western Bluebird
Western Grebe
Western Gull
Western Kingbird
Western Meadowlark
Western Sandpiper
Western Screech Owl
Western Scrub Jay
Western Stripe-headed Tanager
Western Tanager
Western Wood Pewee
Whimbrel
white fronted amazon
White Ibis
White Stork
White Throated Magpie Jay
White Throated Swift
White Wagtail
White Winged Dove
White-breasted Nuthatch
White-cheeked Pintail
White-crowned Sparrow
White-faced Ibis
Seeing ibises on the West Coast is an experience. It feels like something that should exist only in the tropics, or the Everglades. I had seen them in California and Oregon, but when my wife and I ran into a few birders at Ridgefield NRA, Washington, we were reportedly among the first to see them west of the Cascades in Washington in five years.
White-tailed Kite
There is nothing as cool as seeing a white hawk.
White-Tailed Tropic Bird
White-winged Dove
White-Winged Scoter
Wild Turkey
Willet
Willow Flycatcher
Wilson's Phalarope
Wilson's Warbler
Winter Wren
Wood Duck
Yellow Warbler
Yellow-bellied Elaenia
Yellow-chevroned Parakeet
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
We photographed this night heron from a kayak in Nicaragua. Their eyes are among the most unique and haunting I have ever seen.
Yellow-faced Grassquit
Yellow-footed Gull
Yellow-headed Blackbird
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Yellow-tailed Oreole
Yellow-throated warbler
Zenaida Dove
About the Site
about home The Notes from the Road story, about Erik Gauger, his equipment and approach.
along the way Photos I took along the way, and just had to show you.
Worthwhile Sites A list of travel websites, science websites, outdoor websites, adventure websites, art and photography websites that have maintained an independent and unique spirit.
Birds
A collection of birds I have identified while on the road. I always keep an eye out for new birds and this is one of the greatest pleasures of travel.
Count: 347
Fishes A collection of fish species I've counted in the wild over the course of my life.
Count: 141
Mammals
A collection of every mammal I have positively identified over the course of my life.
Count: 41
Reptiles & Amphibians A collection of reptiles and amphibians I have managed to identify positively.
Count: 39
Seashore Creatures Tidepooling and snorkeling is one of the greatest joys of independent travel. This is my collection of seashore creatures I have identified during my Notes from the Road years.
Count: 65
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