Who doesn’t love a Big Day? Any excuse to get out and count birds in the name of science is a worthwhile cause in my book. eBird has been orchestrating Global Big Day events each May since 2015, an international effort to record as many of the world’s species as possible within a 24 hour period. Last fall, the Cornell-based … Read More
Yellow-billed Loon and Common Mew Gull – Race Point, Cape Cod
On February 27th, Steve Arena discovered the first Massachusetts record of Yellow-billed Loon at the infamous Race Point at the tip of Cape Cod. This huge loon species is a hard bird to see almost anywhere in the Lower 48, only found occasionally along the coast of the Pacific Northwest. This first-winter immature is only the second record along the East Coast, and … Read More
Long Island Chase – Common Ground-Dove 11/16
I recently took a hiatus from blogging (mostly unintentionally), but would like to change that in upcoming months. In these past few months, I have been getting accustomed to the college life, as I am now an undergrad at Cornell University (in Ithaca, NY). Birding out here is amazing, and the community around Cornell is quite special. Â There are many … Read More
Weekend Digiscoping Spotlight 23
The Weekend Digiscoping Spotlight will highlight some of the fun shots we’ve gotten recently with a camera paired with a spotting scope or binoculars. We welcome submissions of your favorite digiscoped shots to be featured in future spotlights, just use the contact form in the menu above. Alex Lamoreaux and I worked coastal Sussex County in 25 – 30 mph … Read More
Close Encounter of the Peregrine Kind
After enjoying Delaware’s 1st Anna’s Hummingbird on the morning of January 2nd Josh Lefever, Mark Mizak, and I drove towards Cape May, NJ. Our primary goal for the day was to spend some time birding Stone Harbor Point, one of my favorite birding locations in New Jersey. Stone Harbor Point rarely disappoints and more-often-than-not, we find species there that we don’t see … Read More
Cape May’s Weird Grebe
For whatever reason, this year has been better than average for vagrant Western Grebes on the East Coast. From northern Massachusetts to northeastern Tennessee, there have been a record number of sightings this past fall and so far this winter. Many sightings represent only the 2nd or 3rd time a Western Grebe has ever been recorded in some of these eastern states! … Read More
Storm Birding
As anyone in the United States should know, a large storm hit the mid-Atlantic last week, bringing strong winds and rain to much of the eastern United States. This powerful storm brought hundreds of seabirds inland, causing jaegers to show up on inland lakes and storm-petrels to be found flying around major rivers. Birders all over the region flocked to … Read More
New Jersey Birding – Part 1
Last Friday, November 19th, was the start of our Thanksgiving Break so my friends and I decided to go to Cape May, NJ for some birding with the hope of getting Tim and Josh some life birds and get me a few year birds for my Big Year. Nate Fronk, Tim Schrekengost, Josh Lefever, and  a friend of Nate and … Read More