Summer vacation is always a crucial window of opportunity for adventures, but it is all too short and often too busy. This year, I was thankfully able to find the time for a brief getaway. Although international travel still poses a bit of a thorny logistic challenge, we were content to set our sights on a domestic destination. It didn’t … Read More
The Season So Far: Fall 2020 Highlights
Each of the four seasons has something special to offer the birding world. I will always cherish the lively color and music of spring when birds return after months of absence. Winter brings the festive joy of Christmas Bird Counts and new year lists, while summer offers breeding bird surveys and plenty of free time for adventures. Even so, I … Read More
“Snowpril” Birding
I had thought we had seen the last of winter weeks ago, and temperatures in the 50s to near 80 degrees over the last many weeks was the norm. Migration was really starting to crank up in PA with many species of warblers arriving, orioles and grosbeaks showing up and some hummers making an appearance. All the fruit trees in … Read More
Lifer Black-backed Woodpeckers!
Yesterday, Anna and I pulled into the Island Park Public Library to check internet, but the library was closed. As we sat in the truck deciding where to go next, we heard and saw two woodpeckers in the pines above the parking area. We got out and figured they were the more common American Three-toed Woodpecker, but then realized they … Read More
Local birding
Just a few photos from birding around State College and showing Chad some of the local spots. Our best birds of the day were two Lapland Longspurs but they were too far out to get any good photos.