Week 1: So it begins Even though the first waves of Neotropical migrants typically arrive before the calendar changes to the fifth month, most East Coast birders would agree that May is the peak of the excitement. This year, some of my migration highlights came a little early. A few advance bouts of favorable conditions brought Prairie Warblers, Northern Parulas, … Read More
Tim’s Tips for Surviving the Birding Doldrums
Not all months are created equal. Seasonal changes can be a double-edged sword, and the same natural cycles that provide fresh turnover in avian activity can also result in relative droughts when birds seem few and far between. Here in New York, March is consistently the least exciting stretch of the year. With wintering species disappearing and the prospect of … Read More
Uptown Yellow-crowns
For PA birders looking for some exciting mid-summer birding, the Susquehanna River through Harrisburg offers excellent viewing and photo opportunities for herons and egrets. Great Egrets and Great Blue Herons nest and forage on islands in the river, along with lower numbers of Green Herons and Black-crowned Night-Herons. The real highlight though is the large number of Yellow-crowned Night-Herons that can be … Read More
Screech-Owls at the Biggest Week
Besides mind-blowing views of 30+ warbler species, another highlight for many birders during the Biggest Week in American Birding is seeing Eastern Screech-Owls sleeping out in the open. These little, camouflaged owls often have their cover blown by angry flocks of songbirds and can be spotted roosting out in the open, or if you know which owl nestboxes to keep an eye … Read More
Unusual American Golden-Plover – McLean County, Illinois
Vast agricultural areas aren’t exactly the first landscape that comes to mind when thinking of ideal migrant shorebird habitat. For me the vast coastal marshes of the Delmarva will always be at the top of the list for the country’s best shorebird-watching, but while doing bird surveys in central Illinois recently I was happy to encounter many large flocks of American Golden-Plovers flying … Read More
Rajah Scops Owl: Malaysian Mega
Rare birds are cool. This much we know. But what happens when a rare bird transitions from a neat stroke of birding luck to a downright biological discovery? That’s when the real fun begins and we get to go beyond birding. When migratory birds turn up in places they are not supposed to be, everyone gets jazzed to see it … Read More
Trumpeter Swans with ‘captive’ neck-collars in PA
Trumpeter Swans are rare but increasing in Pennsylvania, and more are found every year. Many of the swans found in PA have yellow neck-collars or yellow wing-tags from the Ontario reintroduction efforts. However, there has been an interesting rush of sightings of 3 different neck-collared Trumpeter Swans in PA since March 10th; all of which have stained, white neck-collars with 4-digit codes on … Read More
Cape May Pelagic – February 6th, 2015
This past Saturday was the Cape May See Life Paulagics trip, and our boat-full of eager birders were in for a great day on the ocean. We sailed out of the Cape May canal while the first hint of light rose above the horizon, passing 2 Harlequin Ducks, 7 Great Cormorants, 30 American Oystercatchers, and a nice spattering of the usual seaducks around … Read More
The August Brooklyn Pelagic a.k.a pterodroma magic
For the 3rd August in a row, I’ve managed to find myself on Paulagics fantastic overnight pelagics. This year they have moved to a new boat, the Brooklyn IV, and a new dock in Brooklyn which is more convenient than the old spot in Freeport. There had been several fantastic pelagics just north and south of us recently, including double-digit … Read More
Brooklyn Overnight Pelagic AKA Skua Fest 2015
East coast pelagic birding is what it is. Usually it’s relatively unproductive (ignoring the pelagic birding off of North Carolina) with low numbers of individuals, and you’re lucky to see one or two rare or heavily sought after pelagic species. On the west coast it is not unusual to see hundreds of shearwaters and tens of thousands of storm-petrels, plus the rare … Read More