Mindful Birding Missive: 20 August 2026
Dear Bird Friends,
 
Eight of us met at the south Hummel Lake parking area in the forest on this balmy, calm morning. From high in the trees floated the calls of Red-breasted Nuthatches and Chestnut-backed Chickadees. In the field across Center Road, tens of Canada Geese stood alert with black necks fully stretched and white chinstraps dapper. They flew overhead, wings squeaking to land on the lake. One domestic "Toulouse Goose" joined them; Dana aptly described it as a "Spanish Galleon" with its raised white rump.
 
In honor of the geese, Beth shared a few lines from Wendell Berry's poem "Wild Geese":
 
Geese appear high over us,
pass, and the sky closes.
Abandon ...
holds them to their way, clear,
in the ancient faith:
what we need is here.
 
A flock of wee Bushtits foraged, often hanging upside-down, from the twigs of a weeping birch; they didn't stay in one place for long. One female Western Tanager in olive-green put in a brief appearance at the top of that tree before flying off into a hawthorn. 
 
Out on the lake dock, we turned back and forth between the water and the cattails/trees, watching the geese and songbirds. One particular Cedar Waxwing perched in the sun on a bare branch, pale yellow and rust front glinting. Suddenly, a Virginia Rail burst into "oinks" from the cattails. These secretive birds are very hard to see. Great Blue Heron, on the other hand, was front and center flying by the dock at eye level for a grand view. Belted Kingfisher rattled and dove over by the boat launch.
 
Along the path back, Song Sparrow and Chipping Sparrow hopped ahead of us, offering comparisons of the larger, darker Song and the paler, rusty-capped Chipping. The Song is much more common on Lopez. Wilson's Warbler sang his "chee-chee-chee" song from the shrubbery, never putting in an appearance.
 
Beth closed with lines from Mary Oliver's "Wild Geese" poem:
 
Meanwhile, the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are ...
the world offers  itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese,
harsh and exciting - 
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
 
The next walks will be on Tuesday, September 1 and Thursday, September 17. Outings are limited to 6 people for a quality experience, so please sign up early at the library or by emailing Beth@LopezLibrary.org
 
With gratitude and wonder for birds,
Beth

Recommended Resources
Cornell Lab's All About Birds

An amazing free resource from Cornell University. A field guide online plus articles, Live Cams, Courses, and more. Look up each bird we saw to see multiple photos of each species, including male/female/immature, perched/flying images, as well as food, nesting, behavior, and conservation information.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America
by Jon L. Dunn

National Geographic's iconic, best-selling guide for birders and birding enthusiasts of all levels includes unique subspecies maps never before seen in a field guide; extensive migration information overlaid on species maps; field-mark labels on all artwork; text updates with new species; reorganization reflecting taxonomic changes in the bird community; organization, readability, and increased page count.
Peterson field guide to birds of western North America / : Includes Birds of Hawaii
by Roger Tory Peterson

"A new edition of the best-selling field guide, with 25 all-new plates covering the birds of Hawaii"
The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America
by David Allen Sibley

Now completely revised and updated, the authoritative guide to over 700 birds of the American West from renowned birder, illustrator, and New York Times bestselling author David Sibley Compact and comprehensive, this guide features 715 bird species, plus regional populations, found west of the Rocky Mountains. Entries include stunningly accurate illustrations--more than 5,046 in total--with descriptive captions pointing out the most important field marks. Each entry also includes the most current information concerning frequency, nesting, behavior, food and feeding, voice description, and key identification features. This improved edition includes: - Updated habitat, description, behavior, and conservation text for each species account and all family pages.- New and revised illustrations of species and regional forms.- New design featuring species accounts in columns, allowing for better comparison and more illustrations and text.- Current taxonomic order and up-to-date common names.- All maps revised to reflect the most current range information.- More species and rarities included. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America contains more than 652 updated maps drawn from information contributed by 110 regional experts across the continent, and shows winter, summer, year-round, migration, and rare ranges.