I’ve always appreciated the seasonality of birding. When you’re paying close attention to the goings-on in the world outside your windows, the annual cycle of nature is conspicuous and easy to track. This visible, reliable schedule has been a major boon throughout the pandemic, which has caused weeks and months to blur together and warp all perception of time. The … Read More
Will, Grundy, and Cook County Illinois Birding
Yesterday, I was able to get out for a day of birding with my friend and one of my mentors, Geoff Williamson. In 2013, the ABA bestowed Geoff with the ABA Ludlow Griscom Award, which is for those, “who have dramatically advanced the state of ornithological knowledge for a particular region” (http://www.aba.org/about/awards.html). Geoff helped me when I first found birding, … 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.
Northern Lycoming CBC
This year I decided to try a new Christmas Bird Count, one much further north that had a chance of producing interesting birds such as Rough-legged Hawks, Lapland Longspurs and Northern Shrikes. The CBC that fit this bill and worked for my schedule was the Northern Lycoming CBC. We started owling at 5:30am and focused on two roads that held … Read More