Common Birds of the Northern Gulf of Mexico – Gulf of Mexico Citizen Science Initiative

Draft of Bird List/Photos for MAMA Phone app

Based on your experience birding on the coast, we need your help to decide which birds and which images of them to include in the free MAMA phone app. The MAMA phone app will allow non-expert users to quickly identify the birds, fish, invertebrates and mammals that they are most likely to easily see on the beach, salt-marsh, docks, coastal islands and near-coast waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. For birds, these would be species that people would notice with the unaided eye while standing on the shoreline or dock, or while fishing from a boat. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of all birds, nor is the app intended for serious birders. Think of it as a way for casual observers to answer their curiosity about the natural world while on the coast.

After you’ve read about the goals for this app (above), please let us know:

Are we missing any birds?
Are there birds listed here that we should not include?
Are there birds for which we need multiple pictures?
- for example, breeding and non-breeding plumage, adult and immature, male and female?
Do you have a (better) bird picture that you would let us use for free?

The easiest way to let us know this information is by completing an online survey after you’ve reviewed the photos below (or open the survey in a new browser window side-by-side with this one).

Ducks
We still need photos for the following:

Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) (winter) (male)
Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) (winter) (female)
Common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) (non-breeding) (male)
Common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) (non-breeding) (female)
Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator) (non-breeding)

We already have these photos:

Hooded merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)(female)

Hooded merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus)(drake)

Loons and Grebes

We still need photos for the following:

Horned grebe (Podiceps auritus) (need non-breeding)

We already have these photos:

Pied-billed grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) (year round)

Common Loon (Gavia immer) (non-breeding)

Other Waterbirds

We still need photos for the following:

Magnificent Frigatebird (Fregata magnificens) (Jun-Aug)
Northern Gannet (Morus bassanus) (non-breeding)
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) (non-breeding)

We already have these photos:

American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos) (non-breeding)

Herons and Egrets

We still need photos for the following:

Great white heron (Ardea herodias)
Yellow-crowned night-heron (Nyctanassa violacea) (year round) (adult)

We already have these photos:

Cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) (year round)

Snowy egret (Egretta thula) (year round)

Black-crowned night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) (year round)

Yellow-crowned night-heron (Nyctanassa violacea) (juvenile)

Reddish egret (Egretta rufescens) (white phase)

Little blue heron (Egretta caerulea) (juvenile)

Little blue heron (Egretta caerulea) (non-breeding)

Little blue heron (Egretta caerulea) (year round)

Great blue heron (Ardea herodias) (flying)

White ibis (Eudocimus albus) (year round)

White-faced ibis (Plegadis chihi) (year round)

Glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) (year round)

Roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) (year round)

Vultures, Hawks and Eagles

We still need photos for the following:
Black vulture (Coragyps atratus)
Northern harrier (Circus hudsonicus) (non-breeding)

We already have these photos:

Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) (mature)

Bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) (immature)

Rails
We already have these photos:

Clapper rail (Rallus crepitans) (year round)

American coot (Fulica americana) (non-breeding)

Common gallinule (Gallinula galeata) (year round)

Oystercatchers, Stilts, Plovers

We still need photos for the following:

Wilson’s plover (Charadrius wilsonia) (year round)
Semipalmated plover (Charadrius semipalmatus) (need non-breeding)
Dunlin (Calidris alpina) (need overwintering)
Least sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) (need overwintering)
Short-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) (need overwintering)

We already have these photos:

American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus)(breeding and year round)

Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus)
(year round)

Black-bellied plover (Pluvialis squatarola)
(only on migration)

Snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus) (non-breeding, year round)

Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) (non-breeding)

Sandpipers

We need a photo of:

Sanderling (Calidris alba) (non-breeding needed)
Dunlin (Calidris alpina) (need overwintering)
Least sandpiper (Calidris minutilla) (need overwintering)
Short-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus griseus) (need overwintering)

We already have these photos:

Red knot (Calidris canutus) non-breeding

Willet (Tringa semipalmata) (year round)

Semipalmated sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) (migration)

Western sandpiper (Calidris mauri) (winter)

Long-billed dowitcher (Limnodromus scolopaceus) (non-breeding)

Marbled godwit (Limosa fedoa) (non-breeding)

Lesser yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) (non-breeding)

Spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularius) (non-breeding)

Gulls, Terns, Skimmers

We still need photos for the following:
Laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) (breeding) (year round)
Laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) (non-breeding) (year round)
Herring gull (Larus argentatus) (winter) (eBird year round)
Royal tern (Thalasseus maximus) (non-breeding)
Sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) (rare?) (non-breeding)
Caspian tern (Hydroprogne caspia) (non-breeding and year-round)

We already have photos of these: