Birds and Wind Power
posted over 2 years ago, updated 2 days later | 4 comments
As birders we’re all aware of the controversy swirling around wind power and bird mortality. While electricity generated from non-polluting, renewable energy sources is environmentally preferable to conventional, fossil fuel power generation, wind...
Sensational Southbound Shorebirds
posted over 2 years ago, updated 4 minutes later | 2 comments
Some birds beguile us with bright colors, mesmerize us with their majesty, or entertain us with endearing behaviors like noshing from feeders within a few feet of our houses. Shorebirds take a more subtle approach: they draw us in with the incompa...
Running the Gauntlet
posted over 2 years ago, updated 12 minutes later | 0 comments
In my last blog entry I reported that many of our common North American birds are fast disappearing as we alter and eradicate their habitats through our collective life choices. Making our yards more hospitable with feeders and plantings for the v...
Common Birds in Decline!
posted over 2 years ago, updated 2 minutes later | 1 comment
When people ask me what I think of the Bald Eagle being de-listed as an Endangered Species, I reply “Big whoop! Hundreds of formerly common birds are in free-fall declin...
The Woodpecker Wonderland
posted over 2 years ago, updated 2 minutes later | 1 comment
With their incredible wood-whomping adaptations and charismatic personalities, woodpeckers are surely among the most fascinating and fabulous of all the world’s bird families. And where is the place where you can see more different kinds of woodpe...
Identifying Mystery Birds
posted over 2 years ago | 0 comments
Whether you’re a casual yard-birder or a Ph.D. ornithologist, Mystery Birds (MBs) are a fact of birding life. Skill, knowledge, experience, great binoculars -- even these cannot protect us from the frustration (I call it the “Aaargh!! Factor” or A...
Puffin Stuff
posted over 2 years ago | 1 comment
On a scale of 1-to-cute, puffins are stop-the-car cute! If you’re like me, you just want to kiss ‘em, hug ‘em, preserve their habitat and support their ongoing conservation. Even though they spend most of their lives out at sea, their long-term su...
The Best of the Fest
posted over 2 years ago, updated 2 minutes later | 1 comment
Birding for Dollars
posted over 2 years ago, updated 5 minutes later | 3 comments
If this blog entry reads like it was written by someone in a daze, that’s because it was. I just got back from competing in Birdathon -- the world’s largest birdwatching ...
Meet the Warblers
posted over 2 years ago, updated 1 minute later | 0 comments
Spring migration is now in full swing, and birders across North America are thrilled to see their favorite, brilliantly colored birds. Most of us know and appreciate the comparatively large and conspicuous orioles, tanagers and buntings that we ca...
