Common Buzzard

On July 3, 2022 Judy and I were in Portugal with a guide, Bernardo Barreto of Birds and Nature Tours in Portugal, taking a birding tour of the Sado Estuary. He identified a common buzzard which I got a poor photograph of and reported it on iNaturalist. I did a blog post on it on August 17, 2022. Two other identifiers agreed with me, but then a third disagreed and labeled it a black kite. One of the other prior identifiers agreed and changed their identification. I looked closer and changed my mind as well. So although I've previously posted on the common buzzard, this is my first post on a real common buzzard. 

I've subsequently seen two common buzzards. The first was in Maulbronn, Germany on May 23, 2025. I was with Judy's entire family (all siblings and their spouses) on a family trip to honor and recognize her deceased grandfather. We were in the town square and the common buzzard was flying over. 

At the time I thought this was my second common buzzard siting. 

Then recently, we were with Judy's family again, all of here siblings and their spouses, on a Viking Cruise which originated in Istanbul and ended in Athens. We were docked at Heraklion harbor on the island of Crete. They'd scheduled an afternoon shore excursion and the morning was free. So I went to the harbor entrance and hired a taxi to take me to the Aposelemis Wildlife Refuge. The driver took me to the dam instead, which turned out to have a few birds, but nothing of real interest. I asked him to drive me up the road into the mountains and we crested a ridge and drove into the Langada Valley, at over 5,000 feet in elevation. There I got photos of what the taxi driver said was a local hawk, standing on a power line. Later, iNaturalist identified it as a common buzzard. That makes two, both seen when I was on trips with Judy's entire family, once in Germany and the other in Greece. 

There are lots of subspecies of conflicting number. It appears that both of my sightings were ssp. buteo. When I hear the term "buzzard," I still think of a vulture. Something that comes from my youth. AI says that people in North America often use the term "buzzard" to refer to vultures. Some believe it is because early North Americans mistakenly called vultures "buzzards" because they soared high in the sky like the buzzards back in Europe. Another take on the matter is here. 

An illustration of ssp. buteo from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World. 

Common Redstart

In June 2019 we had a firm trip to Iceland, Greenland and Denmark. Then Judy and split off at the end and traveled to Poland and Kaliningrad, an oblast of Russia, where my grandfather, Edwin Q. Cannon, served an LDS mission from 1907 to 1910. In a park near the Kaliningrad Cathedral I photographed a common redstart, my one and only, so far, of that species. 

There are two subspecies and I saw the nominate ssp. phoenicurus, found all over Europe and into Siberia. Redstarts get their name from their orange-red tails. "Start" is an old word for tail. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.

Swamp Nightjar

In July 2025 we stayed at the Nkima Forest Lodge on a hill above the Mabamba Swamp and Lake Victoria. I went out with an excellent local birding guide, Wilson, and he guided me to a swamp jar, which I flushed, and then went to where it flew and flushed again. I was not able to get a photo, but I was very close to it. By far the closest I have gotten to a nightjar, I was within a few feet of it when it flushed. 

Illustration of a female flying from Birds of the World.

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Monk Parakeet

On July 23, 2021 Judy and I were visiting Andrew in New York City and we took the subway into Brooklyn and visited the Green-Wood Cemetery which houses the remains of Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Morse, Horace Greeley and many other distinguished and not so distinguished New Yorkers. I was excited to see the monk parakeet that Andrew said were all over the entrance facade to the cemetery. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Range from Birds of the World. Wikipedia notes that they are native to South America, but feral populations can be found all over the world. It notes populations in New York and specifically mentions Green-Wood Cemetery. 

Lincoln's Sparrow

In July 2021 I was with Judy in Horseheads, New York, near the southern end of Seneca Lake. I got up early for a 64 mile drive to Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, five miles east of Seneca Falls at the northern end of Cayuga Lake. It was there that I saw my one and only, so far, Lincoln's sparrow. 

It is a less common sparrow that is often hidden under thick ground cover and often near water. It is very secretive and often not seen or heard, even where they are common. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.

Dark-Eyed Junco

The dark-eyed junco is a surprisingly varied bird with 14 or 15 subspecies. At one time they were considered separate species, but they interbreed extensively in areas where they contact each other. There is an Oregon or brown-backed group which includes ssp. Thurber's dark-eyed junco found in the interior of California from San Bernardino to Modoc County. That is the ssp. I am most familiar with. 

Seen near the Chilao Visitor Center in the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles. 

Seen at Lake Silverwood near the Cajon Pass in the San Bernardino Mountains. 

In our backyard in Redlands, California. 

In Oak Glen, San Bernardino Mountains. 

It also includes the Nevada dark-eyed junco, ssp. mutabilis, found in the Great Basin. I saw those below at Fish Springs NWR near Delta, Utah.

 Ssp. pinosus is found in coastal California from Santa Barbara to Del Norte County. 

Found at the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum in Santa Cruz, California.

Found in Portola Redwood State Park in northern California.

I'm not sure what ssp. these are, found in Caprock Canyon State Park in the Texas Panhandle.

This slate-colored dark-eyed junco was seen in Shawnee Mission Park in Kansas.

Illustration of a slate-colored ssp. hyemalis male from Birds of the World. Females are less colorful. 

Illustration of a brown-backed ssp. oreganus male from Birds of the World. Females are less colorful.

Range from Birds of the World. 

Chipping Sparrow

I saw my first chipping sparrow at Letchworth State Park in western New York State on June 27, 2021. Judy and I were with our son, Andrew, and his girlfriend, Lauren, and it was on the edge of a parking lot while we were near the "Grand Canyon of the East." 

It is a breeding adult with a rusty crown, an unstreaked gray belly and black eyeline. 

This non-breeding chipping sparrow was seen in Shawnee Mission, Kansas on November 1, 2024 while I was accompanying Judy to a conference in Kansas City, Missouri. Note the more subdued color on the head. 

Given its range, particularly in California, I'm surprised I've not seen more of them. The answer might be that they mainly breed in coniferous forests in the west. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.