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What to Do at High Island When the Winds are South

10,000 Birds

I should have known that birding High Island meant I would be 20 minutes away from a place where hundreds of thousands of shorebirds and waterbirds rest, feed, breed, and generally have a good time. I love American Avocets and I rarely see them in such marvelous breeding plumage, so I was in heaven. Clapper Rail. Back to the Flats.

Houston 201
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Field Guide to North American Flycatchers: Kingbirds and Myiarchus: A Field Guide Review

10,000 Birds

Because, although these flycatcher groups don’t have the sexy, challenging reputation of Empidonax flycatchers, they can be confusing–ask any East coast birder trying to figure out if a vagrant bird with worn tail feathers is a Western Kingbird or a Cassin’s Kingbird.

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Field Guide to North American Flycatchers: Empidonax and Pewees–A Field Guide Review

10,000 Birds

The second thing to note is that this is an excellent and courageous book that tackles a group of birds whose field identification has stumped the most skilled birders. The book expands field guide boundaries with its narrow focus on two genera (groups) with a bonus Tufted Flycatcher thrown in for good measure.