Derek Stoner is the Publicity and Outreach Coordinator for the Delmarva Ornithological Society. Â A past president of the organization, he is the co-founder of the Delaware Dunlins Youth Birders Club, a leader of the Delaware Bird-A-Thon, and an avid field birder who enjoys creating events that help to popularize birding and encourage the next generation of birder-conservationists. Delaware is … Read More
This Week in Birding 42
:: Rarity season has begun! Canada Rare Bird Alert: A Tundra/Taiga Bean-Goose  (Code 3/4) was found in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, on November 8th. This is a first record for Nova Scotia. :: Canada Rare Bird Alert: A Calliope Hummingbird showed up at a feeder in Selkirk, Manitoba. The Calliope Hummingbird is a record first for the province. :: ABA Rare Bird Alert: An Amazon Kingfisher (Code 5) was … Read More
MEGA: Gray Kingbird in Delaware
The madness, if you will, started late Wednesday morning as I was sifting through insects for my grad research. I got an eBird Rare Bird Alert for Delaware that listed a Clay-colored Sparrow about ten minutes from my house. I sent the guy an email to see if I could come look for the bird. He replied a half our … Read More
The Farallones: Far-out and Far-flung
Spelunking and birding aren’t two hobbies that usually have much in common, unless, perhaps, one is searching for rockfowl in West Africa. I never thought my lack of caving experience was any detriment to my ability to find or identify birds. That is, until I came to the Farallones (Figure 1), a collection of rocky islands thirty miles west of … Read More
Three Western Kingbirds at Fort Hill, Massachusetts!
After a successful morning of chasing Rhode Island’s Mountain Bluebird and the Bridgewater, Massachusetts Northern Lapwing, my friends and I shot over towards Cape Cod. While crossing over the Bourne Bridge, we noticed noticed about 250 Common Eiders floating beneath it so we pulled down around for a better look – what a great way to kick off our time on Cape … Read More
Saltmarsh Sparrow, Bucks County, PA – 4th State Record!
On Friday, Alex, Josh and I traveled to the southeastern side of the state to see a few rare PA birds that would be new state birds for all of us. On our list were Saltmarsh Sparrow, Calliope Hummingbird, and Black Skimmer, among other things. We left State College in the dark and while Alex drove, I took a long … Read More